DETAILED ACTION
This action is filed in response to the application filed on 9/06/2023.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgement is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) form PTO-1149 filed on 9/06/2023. This IDS has been considered.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Limitations being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) are:
Claim 1: image capturing means, length measurement means, grid construction means, full/empty ratio calculation means, table creation means, conversion means.
Claim 2: model choice means
Because these claim limitations are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, they are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. Examiner has found the following corresponding structure described in the specification:
Claim 1: Image capturing means can be interpreted as a camera (See Specification [Pg. 8 line 25])
Length measurement means can be interpreted as a sensor (see Specification [pg. 8 line 27]
If applicant does not intend to have these limitations interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitations to avoid them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitations recites sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weng (WO2008070537A2) in view of Revkov (US20200364935 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Weng teaches System for choosing an article of footwear, comprising: image capture means (e.g. see [0030] “In the preferred embodiments of the invention, optical scanning method is used in the reverse-engineering process for acquiring the 3-D computer model of the foot. In the optical scanning process, a laser strip travels through the foot surface. A camera captures the curved laser strip as it travels along the foot surface so that the images can be processed to reconstruct the shape of the foot as discrete 3-D points”) suitably configured to capture an image of a sole of the foot of the user (e.g. see [0014] “FIGURE 6 is a computer model of the plantar surface of the foot (i.e. the sole), which is generated from the 3-D model of the foot”),
length measurement means suitably configured to measure a length of the foot of the user from a rear end of the heel to a front end of the hallux (e.g. see [0013] “FIGURE 5 shows examples of the key features of a foot, as well as the method of extracting these features from the 3-D computer model of the foot. Here the features displayed include: foot length, forefoot width, rear-foot width, ball girth, waist girth, instep girth, and heel girth”);
grid construction means suitably configured to construct a grid on the image of the foot captured by the image capture means (e.g. see [0035] “the 3-D foot model is loaded into proper CAD software, such as Pro/Engineer. The CAD software should have the capability of handling complex 3-D surfaces. The 3-D surface model of the foot can be further converted into any other CAD model format to facilitate the measurement process. As the first step, a 3-D Cartesian coordinate system is bound onto of the foot model, as shown in Figure 4. Therefore, a set of cross- sections can be constructed with the reference of this coordinate system. In these cross-sections, the following geometric information of the foot is contained: the line on which the foot length is measured; the lines along which the fore-foot width and rear-foot width are measured; the planes on which the ball girth, the waist girth, and the instep girth are measured, and more,” Examiner notes the cross section and coordinate system constructed on the 3-D image constitute a grid);
said grid has a rectangular shape and comprises twelve identical squares disposed in two lines and six columns; six squares are disposed above a longitudinal axis of the image of the sole of the foot and the other six squares are disposed under the longitudinal axis; the grid begins from the rear end of the heel of the image of the sole of the foot and has a total length equal to the length of the foot plus a constant value; each square has a side with a length equal to the total length of the grid divided by six (e.g. see [Fig. 4-5] showing the grid, and [0036] Examiner notes Weng [0036] teaches inputting the foot image into “any other CAD model format to facilitate the measurement process,” and therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to design the grid with the specific lengths and squares of the instant application based on design incentives in order to obtain the predicated result of measuring the foot, See MPEP 2143(I)(G)),
a table creation means suitably configured to create a user table that contains twelve full/empty ratio values of the twelve squares of the grid (e.g. see [0024] “the database is composed of multiple data tables. Each table corresponds to a footwear style, and is composed of a set of electronic lasts of the style. In the custom last database, more dimensions are used to define the geometry of the custom last than those used to define conventional non-custom lasts. Furthermore, finer scales are used in all these dimensions. The dimensions used to describe the last geometry, as well as the scaling of these dimensions, are collected according to the gathered foot statistics from a test population,” Examiner notes the prior art teaches custom tables displaying foot geometry and dimensions taken from users, therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize these tables to display any foot geometry or dimension information to obtain the predictable result of aggregating foot measurement data in order to select footwear, See MPEP 2143(I)(F) and MPEP 2143(I)(D));
a database that contains a lookup table comprising: a size vector comprising a plurality of footwear sizes (e.g. see [0038] “the feature vector extracted from the 3-D foot model is applied as the input in the search process for a best-fit last in the custom last database. In the preferred embodiments of the invention, the automatic last look-up process is to compare the feature vector of the foot and that of a custom last with the desired style”); a fit vector comprising a plurality of fits for each footwear size (e.g. see [0020] “conventionally, the index system for a last set comprises the discrete information including customer group (e.g., boys, girls, men, ladies, etc.), foot size (foot length, forefoot width, and rear foot width), and foot girth (ball, waist, and instep). For instance, a last record with key field as Ladies”); and
a table matrix containing a plurality of reference tables that correspond to each size and to each fit; wherein each reference table of the table matrix has been created in an experimental way and comprises twelve full/empty ratios that correspond to a given footwear size and to a given footwear fit (e.g. see [0025] “In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the custom last database is constructed referring to the US standard foot-last reference tables for mass production footwear industries”),
conversion means suitably configured to convert the length of the foot of the user measured by said length measurement means into a footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user (e.g. see [0024-0025]),
wherein the conversion means and the table creation means communicate with said lookup table of the database in order to identify the size of the user in the size vector of the lookup table and to identify the reference table in the table matrix in closest position with respect to the user table created by the table creation means (e.g. see [Fig.1] Examiner notes figure 1 shows the database directly in communication with the lookup algorithm, and [0018] “Given the wearer's preference for the style of the footwear, the foot features are then used as the inputs of a last lookup process for the best-fit last in the custom last database. The last look-up process is fully automatic and is guided by a set of fitting algorithms derived from the rules of an expert system”),
said lookup table being configured in such a way to output said footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user, and a fit that corresponds to the size and to the reference table identified in the lookup table (e.g. see [0024-0025]).
Weng does not explicitly disclose full/empty ratio calculation means suitably configured to calculate a full/empty ratio of each square of the grid; said full/empty ratio is the ratio between an area of a full surface of the square occupied by the image of the sole of the foot and an area of an empty surface of the square not occupied by the image of the sole of the foot.
In the same field of endeavor Revkov teaches full/empty ratio calculation means suitably configured to calculate a full/empty ratio of each square of the grid; said full/empty ratio is the ratio between an area of a full surface of the square occupied by the image of the sole of the foot and an area of an empty surface of the square not occupied by the image of the sole of the foot (e.g. see [0074] “Step 309 is the process of identifying the closed contour of the foot and shin in the images. Step 311 is the process of cutting off excessive voxels from an initial voxel box using the obtained foot contour to generate a 3D voxel model 312 of the scanned foot and leg,” Examiner notes the “excessive voxels” are the empty surface and in order to remove them they must be located and separated from the filled squares thus inherently fulfilling the embodiment of the instant application, and [0084] “FIG. 6D and 6E represent the projection of the voxel box after further chipping out the voxels guided with the foot contours in images 319 and 325 of FIG. 3B where images 667 and 671 are the front view projections, images 669 and 673 are the lateral view projections, and images 681 and 683 are horizontal view projections respectively. As the excess voxels are gradually cut off from different angles as illustrated in FIG. 5 and in step 311 of FIG. 3A, a fairly accurate 3D-model voxel model of the leg 675 is formed (FIG. 6F). The obtained 3D voxel model is further converted into polygonal representations with additional smoothing and grid adjustments”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to combine the grid of Weng with the full/empty ratio of Revkov for the purpose of determining the size of the foot in the image with the advantage of locating the empty space in the image.
Regarding Claim 2, Weng and Revkov teach the limitations of Claim 1. Weng further discloses wherein said database comprises a plurality of lookup tables wherein each lookup table refers to a fit model and foot morphology that can be associated with a footwear model (e.g. see [0024] “The database is composed of multiple data tables. Each table corresponds to a footwear style, and is composed of a set of electronic lasts of the style. In the custom last database, more dimensions are used to define the geometry of the custom last than those used to define conventional non-custom lasts. Furthermore, finer scales are used in all these dimensions. The dimensions used to describe the last geometry, as well as the scaling of these dimensions, are collected according to the gathered foot statistics from a test population. [0025] In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the custom last database is constructed referring to the US standard foot-last reference tables for mass production footwear industries, as the follows”) and said system comprises model choice means suitably configured in such a way that the user can choose the footwear model; said model choice means being connected to the database in order to choose the lookup table according to the footwear model chosen by the user (e.g. see [0026-0027] “In this way, the custom last database is constructed by combining the fine-tuned foot-last reference tables. [0027] Any last table of the database can be targeted after the wearer picked a specific style, and searched automatically to find the last that best- fits the biometric features of the wearer's foot”).
Regarding Claim 3, Weng teaches a method for choosing an article of footwear, comprising the following steps: capture of an image (e.g. see [0030] “In the preferred embodiments of the invention, optical scanning method is used in the reverse-engineering process for acquiring the 3-D computer model of the foot. In the optical scanning process, a laser strip travels through the foot surface. A camera captures the curved laser strip as it travels along the foot surface so that the images can be processed to reconstruct the shape of the foot as discrete 3-D points”) suitably configured to capture an image of a sole of the foot of the user (e.g. see [0014] “FIGURE 6 is a computer model of the plantar surface of the foot (i.e. the sole), which is generated from the 3-D model of the foot”),
measurement of a length of the foot of the user from a rear end of the heel to a front end of the hallux (e.g. see [0013] “FIGURE 5 shows examples of the key features of a foot, as well as the method of extracting these features from the 3-D computer model of the foot. Here the features displayed include: foot length, forefoot width, rear-foot width, ball girth, waist girth, instep girth, and heel girth”);
construction of a grid on the image of the foot captured by the image capture means (e.g. see [0035] “the 3-D foot model is loaded into proper CAD software, such as Pro/Engineer. The CAD software should have the capability of handling complex 3-D surfaces. The 3-D surface model of the foot can be further converted into any other CAD model format to facilitate the measurement process. As the first step, a 3-D Cartesian coordinate system is bound onto of the foot model, as shown in Figure 4. Therefore, a set of cross- sections can be constructed with the reference of this coordinate system. In these cross-sections, the following geometric information of the foot is contained: the line on which the foot length is measured; the lines along which the fore-foot width and rear-foot width are measured; the planes on which the ball girth, the waist girth, and the instep girth are measured, and more,” Examiner notes the cross section and coordinate system constructed on the 3-D image constitute a grid);
said grid has a rectangular shape and comprises twelve identical squares disposed in two lines and six columns; six squares are disposed above a longitudinal axis of the image of the sole of the foot and the other six squares are disposed under the longitudinal axis; the grid begins from the rear end of the heel of the image of the sole of the foot and has a total length equal to the length of the foot plus a constant value; each square has a side with a length equal to the total length of the grid divided by six (e.g. see [Fig. 4-5] showing the grid, and [0036] Examiner notes Weng [0036] teaches inputting the foot image into “any other CAD model format to facilitate the measurement process,” and therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to design the grid with the specific lengths and squares of the instant application based on design incentives in order to obtain the predicated result of measuring the foot, See MPEP 2143(I)(G)),
creation of a user table that contains twelve full/empty ratio values of the twelve squares of the grid (e.g. see [0024] “the database is composed of multiple data tables. Each table corresponds to a footwear style, and is composed of a set of electronic lasts of the style. In the custom last database, more dimensions are used to define the geometry of the custom last than those used to define conventional non-custom lasts. Furthermore, finer scales are used in all these dimensions. The dimensions used to describe the last geometry, as well as the scaling of these dimensions, are collected according to the gathered foot statistics from a test population,” Examiner notes the prior art teaches custom tables displaying foot geometry and dimensions taken from users, therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize these tables to display any foot geometry or dimension information to obtain the predictable result of aggregating foot measurement data in order to select footwear, See MPEP 2143(I)(F) and MPEP 2143(I)(D));
creation of a database that contains a lookup table comprising: a size vector comprising a plurality of footwear sizes (e.g. see [0038] “the feature vector extracted from the 3-D foot model is applied as the input in the search process for a best-fit last in the custom last database. In the preferred embodiments of the invention, the automatic last look-up process is to compare the feature vector of the foot and that of a custom last with the desired style”); a fit vector comprising a plurality of fits for each footwear size (e.g. see [0020] “conventionally, the index system for a last set comprises the discrete information including customer group (e.g., boys, girls, men, ladies, etc.), foot size (foot length, forefoot width, and rear foot width), and foot girth (ball, waist, and instep). For instance, a last record with key field as Ladies”); and
a table matrix containing a plurality of reference tables that correspond to each size and to each fit; wherein each reference table of the table matrix has been created in an experimental way and comprises twelve full/empty ratios that correspond to a given footwear size and to a given footwear fit (e.g. see [0025] “In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the custom last database is constructed referring to the US standard foot-last reference tables for mass production footwear industries”),
conversion of the length of the foot of the user measured by said length measurement means into a footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user (e.g. see [0024-0025]),
use of said length of the foot of the user and of said user table in said lookup table to output said footwear size that corresponds to said length of the foot of the user and a fit that corresponds to the size and to the reference table identified as the lookup table (e.g. see [Fig.1] Examiner notes figure 1 shows the database directly in communication with the lookup algorithm, and [0018] “Given the wearer's preference for the style of the footwear, the foot features are then used as the inputs of a last lookup process for the best-fit last in the custom last database. The last look-up process is fully automatic and is guided by a set of fitting algorithms derived from the rules of an expert system,” and [0026-0027] “In this way, the custom last database is constructed by combining the fine-tuned foot-last reference tables. [0027] Any last table of the database can be targeted after the wearer picked a specific style, and searched automatically to find the last that best- fits the biometric features of the wearer's foot. A tolerance value is set in this last lookup process to constrain the allowed geometric difference between a last and the foot”).
Weng does not explicitly disclose calculation of a full/empty ratio of each square of the grid; said full/empty ratio is the ratio between an area of a full surface of the square occupied by the image of the sole of the foot and an area of an empty surface of the square not occupied by the image of the sole of the foot.
In the same field of endeavor Revkov teaches calculation of a full/empty ratio of each square of the grid; said full/empty ratio is the ratio between an area of a full surface of the square occupied by the image of the sole of the foot and an area of an empty surface of the square not occupied by the image of the sole of the foot (e.g. see [0074] “Step 309 is the process of identifying the closed contour of the foot and shin in the images. Step 311 is the process of cutting off excessive voxels from an initial voxel box using the obtained foot contour to generate a 3D voxel model 312 of the scanned foot and leg,” Examiner notes the “excessive voxels” are the empty surface and in order to remove them they must be located and separated from the filled squares thus inherently fulfilling the embodiment of the instant application, and [0084] “FIG. 6D and 6E represent the projection of the voxel box after further chipping out the voxels guided with the foot contours in images 319 and 325 of FIG. 3B where images 667 and 671 are the front view projections, images 669 and 673 are the lateral view projections, and images 681 and 683 are horizontal view projections respectively. As the excess voxels are gradually cut off from different angles as illustrated in FIG. 5 and in step 311 of FIG. 3A, a fairly accurate 3D-model voxel model of the leg 675 is formed (FIG. 6F). The obtained 3D voxel model is further converted into polygonal representations with additional smoothing and grid adjustments”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to combine the grid of Weng with the full/empty ratio of Revkov for the purpose of determining the size of the foot in the image with the advantage of locating the empty space in the image.
Regarding Claim 4, Weng and Revkov teach the limitations of Claim 3. Weng further discloses wherein said database comprises a plurality of lookup tables wherein each lookup table refers to a footwear model (e.g. see [0024-0025] “The database is composed of multiple data tables. Each table corresponds to a footwear style, and is composed of a set of electronic lasts of the style. In the custom last database, more dimensions are used to define the geometry of the custom last than those used to define conventional non-custom lasts. Furthermore, finer scales are used in all these dimensions. The dimensions used to describe the last geometry, as well as the scaling of these dimensions, are collected according to the gathered foot statistics from a test population. [0025] In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the custom last database is constructed referring to the US standard foot-last reference tables for mass production footwear industries, as the follows”);
a step of model choice being provided, wherein the user can choose the footwear model in such a way to choose the lookup table of the database according to the footwear model chosen by the user (e.g. see [0026-0027] “In this way, the custom last database is constructed by combining the fine-tuned foot-last reference tables. [0027] Any last table of the database can be targeted after the wearer picked a specific style, and searched automatically to find the last that best- fits the biometric features of the wearer's foot”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
WO2008036398 A1 teaches a foot measurement apparatus.
WO2007000758 A1 teaches foot imaging and sizing.
US 20190139252 A1 teaches a method for footwear sizing.
US 6741728 B1 teaches a footwear sizing database.
US 20170053335 A1 teaches a system and method for sizing shoes
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NYLA GAVIA whose telephone number is (703)756-1592. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Catherine Rastovski can be reached at 571-270-0349. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NYLA GAVIA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2863 /Catherine T. Rastovski/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2863