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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/2/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
First, Applicant argues that Bendale is flat and does not teach hierarchy. The examiner believes the applicant argues the references individually. Bendale is being used to teach open world (incremental category addition), meaning it inputs new labels/categories into a classifier when a new category is found. Yan teaches a coarse to fine hierarchical CNN architecture and multiple branching CNN’s which outputs are valid for a subset of categories. The new additional categories from Bendale are added into the Yan’s multiple coarse to fine architecture.
The examiner believes that under BRI, adding a new lower category to a higher category does not require an explicit tree data structure but only requires that a more specific (or fine) category be added.
Also, it is not required for the training to be done online or offline. The examiner is just showing the combination of Bendale and Yan teach adding new categories to a coarse to fine architecture. The examiner also does not believe that this is impermissible reconstruction because the heirachial classifies of Yan is still being used. Bendale is only being used to teach that when a new category is discovered it can add a new incremental label to Yan’s coarse to final architecture.
The examiner recommends further defining the relationship the relationship between the lower category and higher category.
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.
Claim(s) 1-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan (20160117587) in view of Bendale (Towards Open World Recognition).
Regarding claim 1, Yan teaches a recognizer training apparatus comprising: an obtainer configured to obtain an image (par. 32); and
a controller configured to train a first object recognizer which consists of a plurality of stepwise determiners in a multilayer structure including a top-layer determiner and at least one lower-layer determiner and which recognizes a target in a captured image by classifying the target stepwise from a higher layer to a lower layer, the top-layer determiner classifying the target into one of categories, the at least one lower-layer determiner classifying the target in a category determined by a stepwise determiner in a higher layer into a lower category (pars. 30-32, coarse to fine),
wherein the controller is configured to train the first object recognizer by causing the stepwise determiners to classify a target in the image obtained by the obtainer from a higher layer to a lower layer (par. 30-32, stepwise is coarse to fine).
Bendale teaches adding a new lower category to a higher category corresponding to a lower-layer determiner that cannot classify the target into an existing lower category (see section 3, definition 1, makes new category based on threshold).
It would have been obvious prior to the effective filing date of the invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in Yan the ability to add input layers as taught by Bendale. The reason is to allow the system to add a new category into the set of learned categories.
Regarding claim 2, see section 3, definition 1 of Bendale.
Regarding claim 3, see the threshold in section 3 of Bendale.
Regarding claim 4, see threshold and outlier model in section 3 of Bendale.
Regarding claim 5, see the rejection of claim 1, Yan teaches top layer determiner and Bendale teaches creating new classes.
Regarding claims 6-16, see the rejection of claims 1-5.
Additional Prior art
The examiner is also citing Roy (“Tree-CNN: A Hierarchical Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Incremental Learning”) which teaches adding new layers to a tree structure neural network.
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 HADI AKHAVANNIK whose telephone number is (571)272-8622. The examiner can normally be reached 9 AM - 5 PM Monday to Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Henok Shiferaw can be reached at (571) 272-4637. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HADI AKHAVANNIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2676