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 .
The Information Disclosure Statements
The prior art cited in the information disclosure statements filed on 11/11/2024 has been considered.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-8, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Svensson (US 2022/0072649 A1) in view of Howard, III (US Patent # 5,945,341) [hereinafter Howard].
As to claim 1, Svensson teaches a method for providing color measurement functionality to end users, the method comprising: providing calibration substrates (200, Fig.2A,B; paragraphs 0048, 0052), to said end users (paragraph 0103), each substrate bearing an indicator (210, Fig. 2A,B; paragraph 0049) that is associated with the color of the substrate; selectively conduct a comparison between a received spectrum and the spectrum of the color of the calibration substrate; and in response to the comparison, perform one of a predetermined group of actions (paragraphs 0067-0068; note various devices/components are instructed to perform based on data comparison).
Svensson is silent to: providing a spectrophotometry system to said end users, the system including a spectrophotometer adapted to generate a spectrum associated with a measurement and an
arrangement which is adapted to: receive spectrums from the spectrophotometer of an end user; receive the indicator of a calibration substrate. However, Howard, in the same field of endeavor, teaches spectrometer providing spectrophotometric reading of a test sample (abstract; column 3, lines 34-58; 10 of Figs. 1-2) and an arrangement (20, 16, 32, Figs. 1-2) which is adapted to: receive spectrums from the spectrophotometer of an end user; receive the indicator of a calibration substrate (note the calibration substrate/chip is received via 20 of the spectrometer 10, the spectrometer reads spectral reflectance to be displayed by 16 ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the spectrometer/spectrophotometer of Howard to Svensson system in order to measure/characterize light a sample absorbs, transmits, reflects at specific wavelengths.
As to claims 2, 3, Svensson in view of Howard teaches all as applied to claim 1, and in addition Svensson teaches wherein the indicator is a QR code (210, Fig. 2A; paragraph 0049, 0042).
As to claims 4, 5, Svensson teaches all as applied to claim 1, except wherein if the received spectrum and the spectrum of the color of the calibration substrate are within a predetermined threshold of divergence, the arrangement informs the end user that the spectrophotometer is functioning. However, Howard, teaches comparing data to determine whether a proper method/result were followed/obtained or not (column 8, line 49 to column 9, line 8).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to determining the spectrophotometer functionality based on comparison/matching of a measured and reference data.
As to claims 6-8, Svensson in view of Howard teaches all as applied to claim 1, except wherein the arrangement is adapted to permit the user to trigger a calibration step, wherein the arrangement is adapted to prompt the user to scan the calibration tile. However, examiner takes Official Notice that providing such arrangement is known in the art.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide such arrangement in order to verify/ensure that the characteristics of the illumination has not changed during data acquisition or the calibration step/arrangement to be controlled by the user.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Yajko, Michael (CN 106461373 A) teaches providing for applying coating prediction and detection of digital enhancement system and method of imaging. digital imaging and processing device provides the digital imaging data of the acquired image acquisition, processing and display to allow the user to identify change except by using naked eye to observe the coating or substrate to identify changes. digital imaging and processing apparatus may also be provided before coating and after coating inspection capability and coating prediction capability (abstract).
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/ABDULLAHI NUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2886
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