Detailed Action
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 .
Response to the arguments
Response to the arguments on 112b
Based on the amendment and the explanation provided by the remarks, previous 112b rejection has been withdrawn. However, newly amended limitation invokes new 112b rejection. Proper amendment and clarification are required.
Response to the arguments on IDS
The information disclosure statements filed on 04/10/2024 have been considered. However, it is noted that there are over multiple hundreds references with over fifty pages, and therefore, only a cursory review could be performed. If applicant is aware of any particular reference that is pertinent to the claimed invention, applicant should respond with that information in the next reply.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 189 and 192-195 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
As to claim 189, the claim recites the limitation of “pixels” as “estimating gas column density at one or more pixels and summing the estimated gas column density over a plurality of pixels corresponding to the gas cloud, determine a plurality of edge pixels in the current frameby identifying pixels located within a predetermined distance from pixels indicating gas detection”
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
It is not clear how those recited pixels are related and some of indicated pixels are the same or different.
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Clarifications are required.
Dependent claims 192-195 are also rejected since they inherit the indefiniteness of the claims from which they depend.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 189 and 192-195 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112, 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
After completing a thorough search of independent claims 189, the closest reference to Duparre (US 20130088637 A1) discloses a sensor with focal plane with array of pixels for each optical channels wherein each optical channels optimized for different portion of spectrum, Hinnrichs et al. (US 20030086091 A1) teaches detection of presence of a particular gas in a volume of gas by multispectral image sensing, and
Hagene et al. (US 20060044562 A1) gas volume measurement by absorption spectroscopy thereof. But none of the searched prior arts alone or in combination discloses the claimed invention having the following recited limitations of independent claim 189.
As to claim 189, none of the prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach of a data-processing unit comprising one or more processors and configured to: generate a gaseous volume estimate associated with a current frame based on spectral data obtained from the optical system by estimating gas column density at one or more pixels and summing the estimated gas column density over a plurality of pixels corresponding to the gas cloud, determine a plurality of edge pixels in the current frameby identifying pixels located within a predetermined distance from pixels indicating gas detection and having gas column density values below a threshold derived from a range of detected gas column density values, and generate an augmented gaseous volume estimate associated with the current framey adding to the gaseous volume estimate an estimated gas loss corresponding to the plurality of edge pixels.” along with other limitations of claim 189.
Claims 192-195 are indicated as allowable due to their dependencies only.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNGHEE Y GRAY whose telephone number is (571)270-3211. The examiner can normally be reached on T-R, 8:00 am-4:00 pm and F 8 :00 to 2:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kara Geisel can be reached on (571) 272-2416. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-4211.
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/SUNGHEE Y GRAY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2886
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