DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 15-16 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Levin (US20160051345) in view of Steensma et al (US20070273762).
Regarding claims 1, 15 and 20, Levin teaches a method of generating a high-resolution surface scan of an intraoral cavity, the method comprising:
sampling a surface of the intraoral cavity by capturing a plurality of single images of the surface with a scanner;
(Levin, Figs. 3 and 5A; “scanning the one or more portions of the intraoral cavity with the intraoral scanner to generate one or more topography scans of the one or more portions of the intraoral cavity”, [0005]; “the scanner 250 can be a “continuous scanner” configured to continuously obtain scan data ... as the scanner 250 moves through a plurality of positions and orientations relative to the intraoral cavity. Scan data collected by the scanner 250 can be processed ... to reconstruct the surface topography of the intraoral cavity, thereby generating a 3D digital model of the intraoral cavity”, [0046]; “viewfinder that provides two-dimensional image data of the intraoral cavity corresponding to the field of view of the scanner ... The viewfinder images can be displayed to a user in order to guide the scanning procedure and can be updated as the scanner moves to reflect changes in the scanner's field of view”, [0047]; the preamble and sampling step by capturing images/scans of the intraoral cavity using a scanner to generate a 3D model)
Levin does not expressly disclose but Steensma teaches:
computing a bandwidth of a transmission;
(Steensma, Fig. 1; “bandwidth detector which is arranged for detecting a momentary available bandwidth of the transmission channel”, [0001]; “the transmitter 1 comprises a bandwidth detector 4 which provides the instantaneous bandwidth available on the transmission channel 2”, [0022]; computing bandwidth and detecting the available bandwidth for data transmission; Levin teaches transmitting data in a communication network but does not disclose bandwidth control in communication, “the data representative of the surface topology can be transmitted through an appropriate data port such as, for example, a modem 88 or any suitable communication network (e.g., a telephone network) to a recipient (e.g., to an off-site CAD/CAM apparatus)”, [0042])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Steensma into the system or method of Levin in order to leverage Steensma’s explicit teaching of splitting a video stream into a lower-quality “first part” for real-time transmission and a stored “second part” for later completion under improved bandwidth conditions, thereby reinforcing and motivating Levin’s approach of transmitting reduced-resolution low‑resolution frames in constrained bandwidth and subsequently updating them with residual information to reconstruct the original high‑resolution scan while maintaining continuous, usable visualization of the scene for the user. The combination of Levin and Steensma also teaches other enhanced capabilities.
The combination of Levin and Steensma further teaches:
reducing a resolution of one or more single images of the plurality of single images associated with at least one region of the surface responsive to computing that the bandwidth is lower than a predetermined threshold, by converting the one or more single images into respective one or more low-resolution frames and respective one or more residual frames associated with the at least one region; and
(Steensma, Figs. 1-2; “In case of a bandwidth constraint ... the bandwidth detector 4 detects that the momentary bandwidth of the transmission channel 2 is reduced ... In this constrained mode of operation, the transmitter processing means 5 are arranged to provide the surveillance data at a reduced resolution and/or frame rate according to the constrained bandwidth to the transmitter 1 and store the remainder of the surveillance data at the local storage medium 7”, [0024]; “the first part of the data stream is a video stream having frames with a lower image quality ... The required bandwidth may be reduced with a factor of 1-100”, [0006]; “After the bandwidth of the transmission channel 2 is restored, the residual image information is transported and each poor quality image frame is reconstructed to the full quality ... transmit (and hence store the residue) of an image in different qualities”, [0027]; reducing resolution when bandwidth is low (constrained) by creating a first part (low-resolution frames) and storing the remainder/residue (residual frames) for later transmission)
sequentially transmitting the respective one or more low-resolution frames to a receiver at the bandwidth;
(Steensma, “processing means (5) being arranged for selecting and directly transmitting a first part of the data stream corresponding to the detected available bandwidth”, [claim 1]; “By using a lower image quality, less bits are transmitted which may fit the actual available bandwidth of the transmission channel”, [0006]; transmitting the low-resolution frames (first part) immediately at the available bandwidth)
sequentially stitching, by the receiver at a first time period, the respective one or more low-resolution frames to continue the surface scan to generate a stitched model;
(Levin, “The displayed viewfinder images can be updated at a suitable rate (e.g., approximately 30 Hz) so as to provide real-time or approximately real-time updates of the field of view as the scanner is moved relative to the intraoral cavity”, [0055]; “one composite image produced by registering and merging a series of previously recorded viewfinder images with each other (e.g., an image mosaic), such that the composite image corresponds to the scanning coverage over a plurality of previous scans”, [0074]; stitching (registering and merging) images to generate a model/view during scanning; Steensma, “In case of the constrained bandwidth, the receiver processing means 8 receive the data stream from the transmitter 1 at the reduced frame rate and/or resolution, corresponding to the available bandwidth of the transmission channel 2, and store it in the receiver storage means 9. The data can be retrieved immediately for real-time viewing of the reduced quality surveillance data”, [0025]; the receiver processes the low-resolution frames immediately (first time period); Combining Levin and Steensma, it would be obvious to use the transmitted low-resolution frames of Steensma to perform the stitching/modeling of Levin to maintain the real-time scanning workflow)
selectively updating, at a second time period that starts after the first time period starts, the respective one or more low-resolution frames based the respective one or more residual frames within the stitched model; and
(Steensma, “retrieve and transmit the second part of the data stream at a later moment in time when sufficient bandwidth of the transmission channel is available”, [0004]; “upon reception of a second part of the data stream, retrieving the first part of the data stream from the receiver storage means, merging the first part and second part to obtain the data stream”, [0009]; “After the bandwidth of the transmission channel 2 is restored, the residual image information is transported and each poor quality image frame is reconstructed to the full quality at the receiver 3”, [0027]; updating the low-resolution frames (first part) using the residual frames (second part/residue) at a later time (second time period) to reconstruct the full quality data)
generating the high-resolution surface scan of the intraoral cavity.
(Levin, “reconstruct the surface topography of the intraoral cavity, thereby generating a 3D digital model”, [0046]; Steensma, “allows to obtain the complete original data stream afterwards when all data has been transmitted from the transmitter”, [0005]; “reconstructed to the full quality at the receiver 3”, [0027]; the combination of Levin 's intraoral scanning goal and Steensma's full quality reconstruction results in the generation of the high-resolution surface scan)
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Levin and Steensma teaches its/their respective base claim(s).
The combination further teaches the method of claim 1, wherein sequentially stitching the respective one or more low-resolution frames comprises registering and stitching the respective one or more low-resolution frames associated with the at least one region in a sequence with the plurality of the single images of remaining regions already scanned to generate the stitched model of the surface.
(Levin, “Scan data collected by the scanner 250 can be processed by the processing unit 230 to reconstruct the surface topography of the intraoral cavity, thereby generating a 3D digital model of the intraoral cavity”, [0046]; “one composite image produced by registering and merging a series of previously recorded viewfinder images with each other (e.g., an image mosaic), such that the composite image corresponds to the scanning coverage over a plurality of previous scans”, [0074]; registering and stitching images in sequence to generate a model; Steensma, “the receiver processing means 8 receive the data stream from the transmitter 1 at the reduced frame rate and/or resolution, corresponding to the available bandwidth of the transmission channel 2 ... The data can be retrieved immediately for real-time viewing”, [0025]; transmitting the low-resolution frames immediately. Combining Levin and Steensma, the receiver uses the sequentially received low-resolution frames from Steensma to perform the registering and stitching process of Levin)
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Levin and Steensma teaches its/their respective base claim(s).
The combination further teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the scanner stores the respective one or more residual frames of the one or more single images within an image buffer of the scanner.
(Steensma, Fig. 1; “while the second part is stored at the transmitter (3)”, [abstract]; “processing means are further arranged to store a second part of the data stream in the local storage means, the second part being formed by the remaining data from the data stream”, [0004]; “store the remainder of the surveillance data at the local storage medium 7”, [0024]; storing the residual/remaining data (second part) at the transmitter/scanner)
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Levin and Steensma teaches its/their respective base claim(s).
The combination further teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the receiver requests to receive the respective one or more residual frames from the scanner on detecting that the bandwidth is above the predetermined threshold.
(Steensma, “The receiver processing means may in a further embodiment be arranged for communicating an available transmission bandwidth signal to the bandwidth detector of the transmitter”, [0012]; “In the recovery situation, the capacity of the transmission medium 2 is restored, and the receiver 3 receives both the previously captured image data ... and the surveillance data”, [0025]; the transmitter initiating the send based on the detector, the receiver's communication of the bandwidth signal acts as the request mechanism)
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Levin and Steensma teaches its/their respective base claim(s).
The combination further teaches the method of claim 5, wherein the respective one or more low-resolution frames are transmitted with associated identifications (IDs) to enable requesting of the respective one or more residual frames from the scanner by the receiver.
(Steensma, “the data stream transmitted from the transmitter processing means 5 comprise a payload section ... and a substantially smaller overhead section, which may be used for ... fixed identifiers”, [0030]; “The stored data consists of, for example, the image frames 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, ..., etc. while the transmitted data comprises frames 0, 5, 10, 15, ..., etc. After a bandwidth recovery, these former frames are inserted ... to produce the complete data stream”, [0028]; using identifiers (frame numbers) to distinguish between transmitted (low-res/subset) and stored (residual) frames, enabling the receiver to merge them correctly)
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Levin and Steensma teaches its/their respective base claim(s).
The combination further teaches the system of claim 15, wherein the receiver is configured to register and stitch the respective one or more low-resolution frames associated with the at least one region in a sequence with the plurality of the single images of other regions of the intraoral cavity to generate the stitched model.
(Levin, “Scan data collected by the scanner 250 can be processed by the processing unit 230 to reconstruct the surface topography of the intraoral cavity, thereby generating a 3D digital model of the intraoral cavity”, [0046]; “registering and merging a series of previously recorded viewfinder images”, [0074]; the receiver (processing unit) registers and stitches images; Steensma, “receiver processing means... merging the first part and second part”, [0009]; the receiver processes the first and the second parts)
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Levin and Steensma teaches its/their respective base claim(s).
The combination further teaches the system of claim 15, further comprising: a user interface configured to,
visualize at least one region within the stitched model with a sampling rate lower than a predetermined sampling rate; and
guide a user to capture one or more new single images from said at least one region using the scanner.
(Levin, “insufficient overlap with previous scans that would result in gaps in scanning coverage, ..., a warning indicator can be displayed if the amount of overlap is smaller than a predetermined amount”, [0057]; “identify unscanned regions. ... in response to a warning indicator alerting the user to insufficient overlap, the user can maneuver the scanner to increase the area of overlap”, [0058]; “the user interface 600 comprises a viewfinder window 602 ... visual indicators (not shown) can be overlaid onto the viewfinder images displayed in the viewfinder window 602 so as to allow the user to identify previously scanned portions of the intraoral cavity... the user interface 600 can also comprise a separate scanning window 604 used to present surface topography data obtained during the scanning procedure, e.g., as a three-dimensional virtual model”, [0081]; a user interface that visualizes regions with low overlap/coverage (indicative of low sampling rate/data density) and guides the user to capture new images in those regions)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2, 7-14 and 17-18 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening Claim(s).
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim(s) 2, 7, 9 and 17 recite(s) limitation(s) related to conditional update logic: adding or replacing low-res frames based on residual resolution comparison; mapping low-sampling regions and requesting specific residual frames via IDs for those regions; detecting low bandwidth by monitoring transmission queue length exceeding a maximum limit; and Receiving residuals when bandwidth is high to replace low-res frames and generate high-res scan. There are no explicit teachings to the above limitation(s) found in the prior art cited in this office action and from the prior art search.
Claim(s) (7-8 and 13-14), (10-12) and 18 depend on claims 7, 9 and 17, respectively.
Conclusion
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/JIANXUN YANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2662 2/9/2026