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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks at page 10, filed 19 February 2026, with respect to the objection to the abstract of the disclosure have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks at pages 10-11, filed 19 February 2026, with respect to the objections to the claims for minor informalities have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks at page 11, filed 19 February 2026, with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive in part. Each rejection is withdrawn as necessitated by Applicant’s amendment, except for the rejection of claim 14 with respect to the antecedent basis issues with respect to “the visible” and “the infrared” as well as the confusion as to the difference, if any, between “a camera in the infrared” and “a thermal camera”. Accordingly, this rejection is maintained because the amendment to claim 14 does not resolve the aforementioned issues.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “L1” in line 6 of claim 1 should be changed to “L1” to be consistent with how the term is used elsewhere in the claims, e.g., in the last line of claim 1 or in line 2 of claim 3. Appropriate correction is required.
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 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 14 recites, in part, “a camera in the visible, a camera in the infrared or a thermal camera” (emphasis added). The limitations “the visible” and “the infrared” lack antecedent basis because visible light and infrared light can include any number of particular ranges of wavelengths. For example, some optical cameras acquire a subset of wavelengths in the visible spectrum depending on filters used to block or mitigate certain visible spectrum wavelengths. Thus, there is more than one visible spectrum that may be referred to by “the visible” and it is unclear which spectrum is intended. The entire infrared spectrum comprises sub-spectra, e.g., Near Infrared and Far Infrared. Thus, there is more than one infrared spectrum that may be referred to by “the infrared”. Additionally, it is unclear how “a camera in the infrared” is any different than “a thermal camera” (emphasis added) because both types of cameras operate on light in the infrared spectrum. While all thermal cameras are infrared cameras, not all infrared cameras are thermal cameras. However, the claim does not provide enough context for a POSITA to understand the difference between the recited “camera in the infrared” and “thermal camera”. For purposes of applying prior art, “a camera in the visible, a camera in the infrared or a thermal camera” is interpreted, based on paragraphs 36, 66 and 70 of the specification, as “a visible light camera Near Infrared LIDAR camera
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if amended to overcome the objection to claim 1 for minor informalities set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2-13 and 15-20 would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims while also amending to overcome issue raised in the objection to claim 1 for minor informalities set forth in this Office action.
Claim 14 would be allowable if amended to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action and rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims while also amending to overcome issue raised in the objection to claim 1 for minor informalities set forth in this Office action.
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.
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/RYAN P POTTS/Examiner, Art Unit 2672
/SUMATI LEFKOWITZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2672