Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on July 24, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed July 24, 2026 with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Regarding claim 1,
(1) applicant states that “Amended claim 1 relates to a target tracking method for a movable platform. The method comprises, inter alia, "in response to the loss of tracking of the target to be tracked, adjusting the photographing device carried on the movable platform based on the motion information ..." Neither Wan, Li, nor Driessen, alone or in combination, discloses, teaches, or suggests the foregoing limitations.”. Examiner disagrees with this statement. It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Wan to incorporate the teachings of Li to search for the target to be tracked that is lost from tracking based on the motion information and the target area in order to enable the occluded target to be accurately and stably tracked, and at the same time improve tracking speed and improve tracking. Driessen further teaches tracking a target to be tracked via a photographing device (In our case, the sensor is a video camera and the output from the sensor is digital images. Page 13 3rd paragraph) carried on the movable platform (This thesis is focused mainly on the tracking aspect of the see-and-avoid problem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Abstract). It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teachings of Driessen to track a target to be tracked via a photographing device carried on the movable platform in order to develop a sufficiently effective real-time navigation system. And it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teachings of Feng to in response to the loss of tracking of the target to be tracked, adjust the photographing device carried on the movable platform based on the motion information, in order to continue to track the target, thereby reducing the failure rate of target tracking.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment of July 24, 2026 overcomes the following objection:
Objection of claim 3 because of informalities.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4, 6-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan (Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN106651916A), hereinafter Wan, in view of Li (Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN103903282A), hereinafter Li, further in view of Driessen (Object Tracking in a Computer Vision based Autonomous See-and-Avoid System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Master’s Thesis in Computer Science at the School of Vehicle Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology year 2004), hereinafter Driessen, further in view of Feng (PCT Patent Pub. No.: WO 2019/085621 A1), hereinafter Feng.
Regarding claim 1, Wan teaches a target tracking method for a movable platform, comprising: tracking a target to be tracked (S103 performs a target search in the target area of the electronic map corresponding to the actual geographical area according to the preset attribute and the first attribute information of the searched target to be searched, and obtains an operation tracing track corresponding to the target to be tracked. Page 8 3rd paragraph) via a photographing device (The method comprises the steps of: acquiring snapshot information of a plurality of cameras arranged in an actual geographic region. Abstract); obtaining a target map area (according to a preset search interval and the first attribute information of the searched target to be tracked, carrying out target searching in a target region of an electronic map corresponding to the actual geographic region so to obtain an operation tracking trajectory corresponding to the target to be tracked. Abstract) and motion information of the target to be tracked (At this time, the total length of the two paths is judged and the path with the total length path is determined as the motion path. Page 12 5th paragraph), wherein the target to be tracked is in the target map area (S103 performs a target search in the target area of the electronic map corresponding to the actual geographical area according to the preset attribute and the first attribute information of the searched target to be searched, and obtains an operation tracing track corresponding to the target to be tracked. Page 8 3rd paragraph); the target map area (according to a preset search interval and the first attribute information of the searched target to be tracked, carrying out target searching in a target region of an electronic map corresponding to the actual geographic region so to obtain an operation tracking trajectory corresponding to the target to be tracked. Abstract) comprises a section of a road in a map (Among them, the positioning and tracking method of the object provided by the embodiment of the present invention also needs to load the initialization information including map information, monitor camera information, target area information, and personnel information. Where the map information may be a map in a preset area acquired by the map plug-in from the network for drawing a layout area, a person track display, etc. Page 8 5th paragraph) and at least one road area on the section of the road (The main direction of the movement is to monitor the direction of the camera in the opposite direction, and follow the direction of the street. Page 8 5th paragraph); matching (S103 performs a target search in the target area of the electronic map corresponding to the actual geographical area according to the preset attribute and the first attribute information of the searched target to be searched, and obtains an operation tracing track corresponding to the target to be tracked. Page 8 3rd paragraph), based on the motion information (the first attribute information at least comprises first position information, first time information and first direction information. Abstract), a target road area from the at least one road area (according to a preset search interval and the first attribute information of the searched target to be tracked, carrying out target searching in a target region of an electronic map corresponding to the actual geographic region so to obtain an operation tracking trajectory corresponding to the target to be tracked. Abstract); and searching (S103 performs a target search in the target area of the electronic map corresponding to the actual geographical area according to the preset attribute and the first attribute information of the searched target to be searched, and obtains an operation tracing track corresponding to the target to be tracked. Page 8 3rd paragraph), via the photographing device (The method comprises the steps of: acquiring snapshot information of a plurality of cameras arranged in an actual geographic region. Abstract), for the target to be tracked based on the motion information (At this time, the total length of the two paths is judged and the path with the total length path is determined as the motion path. Page 12 5th paragraph) and the target road area (according to a preset search interval and the first attribute information of the searched target to be tracked, carrying out target searching in a target region of an electronic map corresponding to the actual geographic region so to obtain an operation tracking trajectory corresponding to the target to be tracked. Abstract).
Wan does not teach the following limitations as further recited, but Li further teaches obtaining target area and motion information of the target to be tracked at a moment of loss of tracking (when the target pixel loss number is greater than 90, the target is occluded, and step 3 feature extraction and feature matching are performed. Page 4 3rd paragraph. Step 4, Kalman prediction: Call the Kalman filter in the LabVIEW control and simulation module, using the best matching position information of the previous frame: target coordinates, speed and direction, predict the position of the current frame target, the current frame matching is completed. Page 4 last paragraph), wherein the target to be tracked is in the target area at the moment of loss of tracking (Step 4, Kalman prediction: Call the Kalman filter in the LabVIEW control and simulation module, using the best matching position information of the previous frame: target coordinates, speed and direction, predict the position of the current frame target, the current frame matching is completed. Page 4 last paragraph); and searching, for the target to be tracked that is lost from tracking based on the motion information and the target area (Step 4, Kalman prediction: Call the Kalman filter in the LabVIEW control and simulation module, using the best matching position information of the previous frame: target coordinates, speed and direction, predict the position of the current frame target, the current frame matching is completed. Page 4 last paragraph).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Wan to incorporate the teachings of Li to search for the target to be tracked that is lost from tracking based on the motion information and the target area in order to enable the occluded target to be accurately and stably tracked, and at the same time improve tracking speed and improve tracking.
The combination of Wan and Li does not teach the following limitations as further recited, but Driessen further teaches tracking a target to be tracked via a photographing device (In our case, the sensor is a video camera and the output from the sensor is digital images. Page 13 3rd paragraph) carried on the movable platform (This thesis is focused mainly on the tracking aspect of the see-and-avoid problem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Abstract).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Driessen to track a target to be tracked via a photographing device carried on the movable platform in order to develop a sufficiently effective real-time navigation system.
The combination of Wan, Li and Driessen does not teach the following limitations as further recited, but Feng further teaches [[and]] in response to the loss of tracking of the target to be tracked, adjusting the photographing device carried on the movable platform based on the motion information (Illustratively, if the UAV determines that the target cannot be identified outside the contoured area of the obstacle, ie, any part of the target cannot be identified, the UAV may be controlled to surround the obstacle Flying or hovering until the UAV recognizes part of the target again, or identifies all targets, and controls the UAV to continue tracking the target. Page 8 3rd paragraph).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Feng to in response to the loss of tracking of the target to be tracked, adjust the photographing device carried on the movable platform based on the motion information, in order to continue to track the target, thereby reducing the failure rate of target tracking.
Regarding claim 3, Li in the combination teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining of the target map area and the motion information of the target to be tracked at the moment of the loss of tracking of the target to be tracked comprises at least one of (A) or (B), wherein: (A) obtaining relative position information of the target to be tracked relative to the movable platform at the moment of the loss of tracking and position information of the movable platform, and determining the position information of the target to be tracked at the moment of the loss of tracking based on the relative position information and the position information of the movable platform; [[and]] or (B) obtaining a plurality frames of first information by the photographing device (firstly, the initial frame is made into a template. Page 2 6th paragraph. The next frame matches the search, and then the step 4 Kalman prediction is performed. Page 2 6th paragraph), and determining the velocity information of the target to be tracked at the moment of the loss of tracking based on the plurality frames of the first information (Step 4, Kalman prediction: Call the Kalman filter in the LabVIEW control and simulation module, using the best matching position information of the previous frame: target coordinates, speed and direction, predict the position of the current frame target, the current frame matching is completed. Page 4 last paragraph).
Claims 2, 4, 6-16 and 19-20, unamended and are rejected based on the revised combination of Wan, in view of Li, further in view of Driessen, further in view of Feng as applied to claim 1 above. The grounds of rejection established in the last Office Action is fully incorporated herein.
Claim 5, unamended and is rejected based on the revised combination of Wan (Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN106651916A), hereinafter Wan, in view of Li (Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN103903282A), hereinafter Li, further in view of Driessen (Object Tracking in a Computer Vision based Autonomous See-and-Avoid System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Master’s Thesis in Computer Science at the School of Vehicle Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology year 2004), hereinafter Driessen, further in view of Feng (PCT Patent Pub. No.: WO 2019/085621 A1), hereinafter Feng, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang (Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN103149939A), hereinafter Wang.
Claims 17-18, unamended and are rejected based on the revised combination of Wan (Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN106651916A), hereinafter Wan, in view of Li (Chinese Patent Publication No.: CN103903282A), hereinafter Li, further in view of Driessen (Object Tracking in a Computer Vision based Autonomous See-and-Avoid System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Master’s Thesis in Computer Science at the School of Vehicle Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology year 2004), hereinafter Driessen, further in view of Feng (PCT Patent Pub. No.: WO 2019/085621 A1), hereinafter Feng, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ningniao (Chinese Patent Pub. No.: CN 110490902 A), hereinafter Ningniao.
Conclusion
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/LEI ZHAO/Examiner, Art Unit 2668
/VU LE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2668
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