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 filed 09/05/2025 have been considered but are moot in view of a new ground of rejections.
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 3-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (US 2009/0059011 A1 – hereinafter Sun), Faragher et al. (US 2021/0409665 A1 – hereinafter Faragher), and Liu et al. (US 2018/0089831 A1 – hereinafter Liu).
Regarding claim 3, Sun discloses a calibration system comprising: a calibration target (Fig. 2; [0035] – a calibration target set up at a target coordinate frame Ot-xtytzt); an imaging unit at least partially directed towards the calibration target and configured to capture a calibration target image (Fig. 2; [0033] – a camera set up at a coordinate frame of camera at Oc-xcyczc and directed towards the calibration target and configured to capture a calibration target image as shown in Fig. 3 and described at least in [0034]); a structured light unit configured to project structured light at least partially towards the calibration target (Fig. 2; [0014]; [0034] – a laser which is a structured light unit configured to project structured light, e.g. a pattern of light stripes towards the calibration target), wherein a control and image processing unit is configured to calibrate the structured light unit with the imaging unit via the calibration target image from the imaging unit ([0041]-[0047]; [0052]; [0054]; [0056]-[0057] – a processor, which corresponds to the recited control and image processing unit, receives the captured calibration target image from the camera to calibrate the structured light unit with the imaging unit), the calibration target image including the structure light unit on the calibration target ([0034]; [0036] – the calibration target image including the light stripes generated by the structured light unit).
However, Sun does not explicitly disclose an actuator operatively coupled to the calibration target, the actuator configured to displace the calibration target relative to the imaging unit in variable increments; and a control and image processing unit communicatively coupled to the imaging unit and structured light unit, wherein the control and image processing unit is configured to: generate a signal for the actuator to displace the calibration target by a selected increment; and generate a signal for the actuator to adjust a position of the calibration target for calibration purposes based on received position information.
Faragher discloses a control and image processing unit communicatively coupled to an imaging unit and a structured light unit (Fig. 2; [0035]-[0036] – a computing device communicatively coupled to an imaging unit 209 and a structured light unit 207).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Faragher into the system taught by Sun to coordinate operations of various components of the system correctly.
However, Sun and Faragher do not disclose an actuator operatively coupled to the calibration target, the actuator configured to displace the calibration target relative to the imaging unit in variable increments, wherein the control and image processing unit is configured to: generate a signal for the actuator to displace the calibration target by a selected increment; and generate a signal for the actuator to adjust a position of the calibration target for calibration purposes based on received position information.
Liu discloses an actuator operatively coupled to a calibration target, the actuator configured to displace the calibration target relative to the imaging unit in variable increments (Fig. 2; [0015]; [0031]; [0035] – an actuator to displace a calibration target relative to a camera in variable step size under control by a controller), wherein the control and image processing unit is configured to: generate a signal for the actuator to displace the calibration target by a selected increment (Fig. 2; [0015]; [0088] – generating signal to control the movement of the target by a selected step size); and generate a signal for the actuator to adjust a position of the calibration target for calibration purposes based on received position information (Fig. 2; [0035]; [0080]-[0081]; [0088] – generating a signal for refining motion stage calibration parameters).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Liu into the system taught by Sun and Faragher to improve the accuracy and precision of the system (Liu: [0003]).
Regarding claim 4, Sun also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, wherein the imaging unit has a field of view with a center area, and the center area is directed towards the calibration target forming an imaging unit angle between the center area and the calibration target (Fig. 2 – the FOV of the camera has a center area, which is an area around the optical axis of the camera, such a center area is directed towards the calibration target forming an angle); wherein the structured light unit projects structured light towards the calibration target forming a structured light angle between the structured light and the calibration target (Fig. 2 – the structured light unit, e.g. the laser source, projects structured light towards the calibration target, forming another angle as shown in Fig. 2), the structured light angle having a different measurement relative to the camera imaging unit angle (Fig. 2 – because the camera and the structured light unit are set up at two different positions, directed toward the same target calibration area, thus forming angles with different measurements).
Regarding claim 5, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, wherein the control and image processing unit calculates an error of each distance by comparing a calculated distance of a camera coordinate point with known dimensions (Liu: [0080]-[0088]).
Regarding claim 6, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, further comprising the actuator moves the calibration target from a first location to one or more other locations ([0024]; [0046] – the actuator, as taught by Liu above, moving the calibration target multiple times, thus from a first location to one or more other locations).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Liu into the system has been discussed in claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 7, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 6, wherein the imaging unit angle at the first location equals the imaging unit angle the one or more other locations ([0034] – moving the calibration target arbitrarily, thus including to locations that form the same imaging unit angle, e.g. linearly along the optical axis of the camera).
Regarding claim 8, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, wherein the calibration target includes a row and a plurality of columns, wherein the plurality of columns alternate between a first and second color (Figs. 2-3).
Regarding claim 9, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, wherein the calibration target includes a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, wherein the plurality of rows alternate between a first and second color and the plurality of columns alternate between the first and second color (Figs. 2-3).
Regarding claim 10, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, wherein the target moves linearly relative to the imaging unit ([0034] – moving the calibration target arbitrarily, thus including moving linearly along the optical axis of the camera).
Regarding claim 11, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, wherein the calibration target comprises at least three locations of interest with predetermined positions ([0034]; [0051] – about 4 to 200).
Regarding claim 12, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 6, wherein the actuator moves the calibration target to at least two predetermined positions ([0024]; [0046] – the actuator taught by Liu above arbitrarily selecting predetermined positions).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Liu into the system has been discussed in claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 13, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, wherein the calibration target is positioned a predetermined distance from the imaging unit (Fig. 2), the structured light unit projects structured light towards the calibration target (Fig. 2; [0034]; [0036] – the laser projects a pattern of light stripes on the calibration target), and the imaging unit captures a calibration target image, the calibration target image at least partially including structured light on the calibration target ([0036] – the camera captures a calibration target image, the image includes the light stripes projected by the laser projector); wherein the control and image processing unit: detects the calibration target and structured light unit of the calibration target image ([0036]-[0047] – detecting the calibration target and the structured light projected in the image to calculate the equation and matrices); converts the detected calibration target and structured light unit to undistorted points ([0036] – correcting the distortion); calculates a rotation and translation vector between a camera coordinate system corresponding to the imaging unit and a calibration target coordinate system corresponding to the calibration target ([0041]-[0042]; [0052]; [0054]; [0056] – calculating a rotation matrix R and a translation vector T); calculates structured light points in the camera coordinate system using the rotation and translation vector between the camera coordinate system and the calibration target coordinate system ([0044] – calculating coordinates of the light stripes in the camera coordinate frame using the rotation matrix and the translation vector); and fits a plane to the structured light points in the camera coordinate system and calculates a normal and centroid of the plane ([0047]; [0057]).
Regarding claim 14, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 13, wherein the calibration target is moved in one or more intervals of a predetermined distance relative to the imaging unit until the calibration target reaches a predetermined number of calibration target locations ([0024]; [0046] – moving arbitrarily multiple times, thus including moving “in one or more intervals of a predetermined distance relative to the imaging unit until the calibration target reaches a predetermined number of calibration target locations”, i.e. ‘predetermined’ by the user).
Regarding claim 15, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 3, further comprising a validation target, the validation target having a plurality of steps with known dimensions (Figs. 2-3; [0034] – each square is interpreted as a step).
Regarding claim 16, Sun in view of Faragher and Liu also discloses the calibration system of claim 15, wherein the known dimensions of the steps include at least a height, the height being a distance between one or more of the plurality of steps ([0034] – a dimension of the square, i.e. from about 3 mm to 50 mm); wherein the height varies between each step of the validation target ([0034] – given by the tolerance of each side are from about 0.001 mm to 0.011 mm).
Claims 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun and Liu.
Regarding claim 18, Sun discloses a calibration method comprising: moving the calibration target to a plurality of locations ([0024]; [0046] – moving the planar target multiple times, thus to a plurality of locations); projecting structured light onto a calibration target via a structured light unit at each of the plurality of locations (Fig. 2; [0034]; [0036] – the laser projects a pattern of light stripes on the calibration target at each of the plurality of locations where the target is moved to as described in [0024] and [0046]); capturing an image with the imaging unit at each of the plurality of locations, wherein each image includes the structured light unit on the calibration target (Fig. 2; [0033] – a camera set up at a coordinate frame of camera at Oc-xcyczc and directed towards the calibration target and configured to capture a calibration target image as shown in Fig. 3 and described at least in [0034], thus at each of the plurality of locations where the target is moved to as described in [0024] and [0046]); detecting the calibration target and one or more structured light unit points in each image ([0034]; [0048]; [0057] – detecting the calibration target and light stripes, which are the structured light unit points) and undistorting the calibration target and structured light unit points ([0036]; [0044] – performing distortion correction on the light stripes and feature points); and converting the structured light unit points to a camera coordinate system using a rotation matrix and translation vector between the camera coordinate system and a calibration target coordinate system, the camera coordinate system being the coordinate system of the camera or structured light unit and the calibration target coordinate system being the coordinate system for the calibration target ([0040]-[0041]; [0052]-[0057]).
Sun does not disclose moving, by operation of an actuator, the calibration target in selected increments relative to an imaging unit to the plurality of locations; monitoring a position of the actuator; and adjusting a position of the calibration target calibration purposes based on the monitored position of the actuator.
Liu discloses moving, by operation of an actuator, a calibration target in selected increments relative to an imaging unit to a plurality of locations (Fig. 2; [0015]; [0031]; [0035] – moving, by operation of actuators, a calibration target relative to a camera in a selected step size); monitoring a position of the actuator (Fig. 2; [0015] – obtaining, by a control system, a plurality of initial values for a plurality of motion stage calibration parameters including a position of the actuator as further described at least in [0088]); and adjusting a position of the calibration target calibration purposes based on the monitored position of the actuator (Fig. 2; [0035]; [0080]-[0081]; [0088] – generating a signal for refining motion stage calibration parameters).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Liu into the method taught by Sun to improve the accuracy and precision of the method (Liu: [0003]).
Regarding claim 19, Sun in view of Liu also discloses the calibration method of claim 18, further comprising: fitting a plane to the structured light unit points in the camera coordinate system ([0057]); calculating a normal and centroid of the fitted plane ([0045]); and saving the fitted plane, normal, and centroid of the fitted plane ([0045]; [0057] – at least saving the calculations for further processing).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17 and 20 are allowed.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1116. The examiner can normally be reached IFT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thai Q Tran can be reached at 571-272-7382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HUNG Q DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484
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