Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/503,080

METHOD, APPARATUS, COMPUTER DEVICE AND MEDIUM OF OBJECT DETECTION FOR DRIVING ASSISTANCE

Final Rejection §112
Filed
Nov 06, 2023
Priority
Nov 09, 2022 — CN 202211400000.1
Examiner
PATEL, PINALBEN V
Art Unit
2673
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Black Sesame Technologies Co. Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
496 granted / 557 resolved
+27.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+9.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 3m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
574
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.4%
-37.6% vs TC avg
§103
67.4%
+27.4% vs TC avg
§102
2.5%
-37.5% vs TC avg
§112
17.7%
-22.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 557 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
DETAILED ACTION With regard to the amendment filed 03/16/2026, the Applicant amended claims 7, 13, 18 and 21. Claim 11 is cancelled. No new matter is added. Claims 1-10 and 12-21 are pending. Response to Arguments Claims are sufficiently amended to overcome rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101. Therefore, rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101 are withdrawn. The remarks for rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) are persuasive for parts and non-persuasive for part of the claims. Therefore, rejections are maintained. See section below. The remarks for rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 are persuasive in view of cited prior art references. With further search and considerations, the rejection of claims under 35 U.S.C. 103 are withdrawn. Therefore, rejections are withdrawn. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). 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. Claims 7-10 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 7 recite limitations – “acquiring a sample image”, appears to be directed to randomly selecting part of candidate bounding box and its expanded bounding box to feedback into the object detection model to detect object in the sample image. However, it is not clear if the sample image is acquired from the images of the driving scene video or any other set of images. Therefore, Examiner suggests amending claim 7 as –“acquiring a sample image of the driving scene to train the object detection model” in order to clarify that the image is representative of the similar environment and represents sample of sufficient positive and negative samples for object detection as described specifications paragraphs [0014]. Furthermore, Examiner would like to point out -- Claims 1, 12 and 13 recites limitations -- acquiring a driving scene video, and acquiring a driving scene image of each moment of the driving scene video; determining a plurality of non-overlapping basic candidate bounding boxes on the driving scene image”, appears to be directed to obtaining a driving scene image from driving scene video of each moment an further process the obtained driving scene image. However, it is not clear as to which specific of the each of the moments the driving scene image from among the driving scene video is acquired for processing as there would be multiple images captured in order to describe the driving scene video. Therefore, it would also be recommended to further clarify the limitation by modifying and adding –"acquiring a driving scene video, and acquiring a driving scene image at a current moment of each moment of the driving scene video; determining a plurality of non-overlapping basic candidate bounding boxes on the driving scene image at the current moment”, as each next moment the driving scene image is predicted and updated from the driving scene image at the current moment. Therefore, Examiner recommends to further modify the claims in order to clarify the discussed above in order to render the claims definite. Dependent claims 8-10 do not remedy the deficiencies introduced by the claim, therefore, similarly rejected. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1-10 and 12-21 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 PINALBEN V PATEL whose telephone number is (571)270-5872. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 10am - 8pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chineyere Wills-Burns can be reached at 571-272-9752. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Pinalben Patel/Examiner, Art Unit 2673
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 06, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 16, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §112
Mar 16, 2026
Response Filed
May 21, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §112
Jun 29, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Jun 29, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
89%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+9.7%)
2y 3m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 557 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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