DETAILED ACTION
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on 11/08/2024, 08/13/2025 and 05/07/2026 have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Emami (US 2021/0350612 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 12 and 20, Emami discloses a method of target positioning, applied to a smart terminal and comprising:
[claim 12: an electronic device, comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor, when executes the program, perform acts comprising: (¶¶ 67 and 71)]
[claim 20: non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored computer instructions for causing a computer to perform acts comprising: (¶ 70)]
obtaining image data of a surrounding environment; (¶ ¶ 17, 34 and 51: capturing image data of a physical world location using a camera on a mobile device)
generating a spatial image of the surrounding environment based on the image data; (¶¶ 35 and 55; creating a spatial representation of the physical world location based on the image data including sparse point cloud)
determining and obtaining the spatial image corresponding to a positioning target; (¶¶ 32, 48-49, 56-57; sending a spatial representation to a service, compares it with stored spatial representations, and identifies a matching spatial representation corresponding to the anchor location)
generating anchor point information corresponding to the positioning target based on the corresponding spatial image; and (¶¶ 17, 36, and 46-52; determines virtual spatial anchor pose information within or based on the matched spatial representation)
determining a specific location of the positioning target using the spatial image and the anchor point information. (¶¶ 26-27 and 57-62; using the spatial representation and perspective dependent anchor pose to display location, direction, and updated wayfinding information for the target anchor)
Regarding claims 2 and 13, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein the smart terminal comprises a lidar; obtaining the image data of the surrounding environment comprises: scanning, by the lidar, the surrounding environment, and generating point cloud image data based on a scanning result. (¶¶ 34-35, 41, 54-55, 75, 79 and 81)
Regarding claims 3 and 14, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein the smart terminal comprises a depth sensor; obtaining the image data of the surrounding environment comprises: detecting, by the depth sensor, a distance of an object in the surrounding environment, and generating depth image data based on a detecting result. (¶¶ 34-35, 41, 54-55, 75, 79 and 81)
Regarding claims 4 and 15, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein after generating the spatial image of the surrounding environment based on the image data, the method further comprises: outputting the spatial image to a cloud database for aggregating and storing, by the cloud database, the spatial image transmitted from the smart terminal and other smart terminals. (¶¶ 25, 32, 38, 44-48, 67 and 73)
Regarding claims 5 and 16, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein after generating the anchor point information corresponding to the positioning target based on the corresponding spatial image, the method further comprises: outputting the anchor point information to the cloud database for aggregating and storing, by the cloud database, a correspondence between the anchor point information and the corresponding spatial image. (¶¶ 38, 44, 46-47 and 52)
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein generating the anchor point information corresponding to the positioning target based on the corresponding spatial image comprises: determining a boundary distance from at least one point on the positioning target to a boundary of the corresponding spatial image; generating a three-dimensional coordinate system based on the corresponding spatial image; and determining, based on the boundary distance, a corresponding coordinate point or point set of the positioning target in the three-dimensional coordinate system to generate the anchor point information. (¶¶ 35-36, 40, 42, 50-51 and 79-81)
Regarding claims 7 and 18, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein determining and obtaining the spatial image corresponding to the positioning target, and generating anchor point information corresponding to the positioning target based on the corresponding spatial image comprises: in response to the positioning target being a further smart terminal, determining whether a region where the further smart terminal is located has the corresponding spatial image; in response to the region having the corresponding spatial image, obtaining the corresponding spatial image and sending a positioning instruction to the further smart terminal to generate the anchor point information by the further smart terminal. (¶¶ 15, 32, 48-49, 53-57, 62 and 64)
Regarding claims 8 and 19, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein determining the specific location of the positioning target comprises: obtaining and displaying network map data; inserting the spatial image at a location corresponding to the spatial image on the network map data; and loading the anchor point information into the spatial image to determine the specific location of the positioning target. (¶¶ 19-23, 26-27, 58, 77-78 and 81)
Regarding claim 9, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein after loading the anchor point information into the spatial image, the method further comprises: positioning the positioning target in the network map data based on the spatial image loaded with the anchor point information to generate navigation information. (¶¶ 19-23, 26-27, 58, 60-62, 77-78 and 81)
Regarding claim 10, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein after generating anchor point information corresponding to the positioning target based on the corresponding spatial image, the method further comprises: outputting the anchor point information to an external network for other smart terminals to obtain the anchor point information; and determining the specific location of the corresponding positioning target using the anchor point information. (¶¶ 25-27, 32, 38, 44-52, 62, 76-78)
Regarding claim 11, Emami discloses the claimed invention wherein the positioning target at least comprises: the smart terminal and a target input by a user through the smart terminal. (¶¶ 15-17, 26 and 36)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BOBBAK SAFAIPOUR whose telephone number is (571)270-1092. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephen Koziol can be reached at (408) 918-7630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/BOBBAK SAFAIPOUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2665
Prosecution Insights