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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-6 in the reply filed on 12/30/2025 is acknowledged.
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 1-6 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation: "… the segment regions … the segment region …" (emphasis added to accentuate insufficient antecedent basis). The plurality (segment regions) is followed by singular (segment region), therefore, rendering a lack of clarity.
For the purposes of examination, the limitation is interpreted as the following:“… the segment regions … the segment regions …”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gigler et al., hereinafter referred to as Gigler (US 2025/0297964 A1).
As per claim 1, Gigler discloses a spectral image-based foreign matter detection device (Gigler: Para. [0011]; Abstract.) comprising:
a spectroscopic camera that acquires a spectral image of a cathode active material (Gigler: Para. [0011] discloses a “spectroscopy unit (27) comprising a line scan camera (21) … capture hyperspectral images of the forward-moving electrode web”. Further, Gigler: Paras. [0008], [0032] disclose a slurry composed of NMC (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) or graphite [known cathode active materials] applied to the electrode web.); and
a processor (23) functionally connected to the spectroscopic camera (22) and configured to (Gigler: Fig. 4 & Para. [0067] disclose the line scan camera 22 connected to the evaluation and computing unit 23.):
control the spectroscopic camera to acquire a current spectral image of the cathode active material (Gigler: Para. [0015] discloses “manufacturing control system (24), to which the spectroscopy unit (27) is connected and which is configured to trigger the spectroscopy unit (27) for measurement”.),
separate a foreground area where the cathode active material is distributed, and a background area other than the foreground area in the current spectral image (Gigler: Para. [0081] discloses “analyses can be supplemented by preprocessing steps, for example by freeing the coating foreground from the substrate foil”.),
divide the separated foreground area into a predefined number of segment regions (Gigler: Paras. [0016], [0039] disclose compressing data of the spectroscopic imaging in a vector and assigning it to the local position, which is a measure of the lateral distribution of materials. Further, Gigler: Para. [0076] discloses a “640×1 vector,” indicating division of the image data into defined vector segments.),
compare each of the segment regions with a pre-stored reference model to determine whether a foreign matter is contained (Gigler: Paras. [0011], [0033], [0078] disclose determining “inhomogeneities” (defined as deviation of chemical composition [0011], which encompasses foreign matter). It states “the inhomogeneity can be determined by a comparison with previously ascertained reference images (=target variables) [0033], or by “calibration of a model which … maps the spectra onto a target value” [0078].), and
output information about the segment region containing the foreign matter (Gigler: Paras. [0011], [0012], [0035] disclose “ascertain and save the local position of the inhomogeneities” [0011]. This saving is effected by “marking on the electrode web” [0012] or storing spectral characteristics with spatial encoding [0014], which corresponds to outputting information about the segment regions containing the foreign matter/inhomogeneity.).
As per claim 2, Gigler discloses the foreign matter detection device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to distinguish between a segment region containing the foreign matter and a segment region not containing the foreign matter, and to output distinguished information to a display (Gigler: Paras. [0011], [0016] disclose an evaluation unit (processor) configured to ascertain “inhomogeneities” (foreign matter) and their local positions from hyperspectral images. Further, Gigler: Para. [0077] discloses generating an image wherein “Inhomogeneities are represented here by different gray shades”).
As per claim 3, Gigler discloses the foreign matter detection device of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to separately classify the cathode active material of the segment region containing the foreign matter and the cathode active material of the segment region not containing the foreign matter (Gigler: Paras. [0011], [0016], [0039] disclose an “evaluation and computing unit” [processor] configured to “ascertain inhomogeneities” [foreign matter/deviations] in the slurry [active material]. Further, Gigler: Paras. [0011], [0031] disclose the processor is configured to ascertain and save the local position of the inhomogeneities [separately classify the segment region containing the foreign matter] and Para. [0077] discloses that “Inhomogeneities are represented here by different gray shades”, therefore distinguishing and classifying regions containing inhomogeneities from regions not containing them.).
As per claim 4, Gigler discloses the foreign matter detection device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to separate the foreground area and the background area through unsupervised learning-based clustering by applying a nearest neighbor technique or an autoencoder to the current spectral image (Gigler: Paras. [0019], [0078]-[0081] disclose analyzing measured spectra using deep learning methods or autoencoders. The analysis involves “freeing the coating foreground from the substrate foil” as a step supplementing the analysis.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 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 provided that the rejections pertinent to 35 U.S.C. 112(b) are overcome.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and can be viewed in the list of references.
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/PEET DHILLON/Primary Examiner
Art Unit: 2488
Date: 01-21-2026
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