DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/18/2024 has been considered by the Examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: 330 in Figure 1. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1, 2, 11, and 12, the term “fine weather” in line 7 of claim 1, line 14 of claim 2, line 4 of claim 11, and line 14 of claim 12 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “fine weather” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is unclear whether the applicant is referring to "fine weather" as sunny weather, partly cloudy weather, cloudy weather, or non-rainy weather in general. What is considered "fine" to one person may not be considered "fine" by another person. Therefore, applicant has failed to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or joint inventor regards as the invention.
As for claims 3-10 and 13-20, these claims are dependent on claims 1, 2, 11, and 12 and fail to clarify what “fine weather” is defined as.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the primary reason for indication of allowable subject matter is that the prior art fails to teach or reasonably suggest obtaining second rain streak information indicating second rain intensity with a higher level than the first rain intensity from a second generative neural network to which the first rain streak information and the real image are input, and generating a composite image in which a rain streak representing the second rain intensity is applied to the real image, using the real image and the second rain streak information, in combination with the other elements of the claim.
The closest prior art (NPL titled “Synthesized rain images for deraining algorithms” by Choi et al. (“Choi”) teaches a learning device, comprising: a processor (Section 3.5, line 1) and a memory operably connected to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to obtain first rain streak information indicating first rain intensity (Section 4.2, line 17-20) from a first generative neural network (Section 3, line 7; Fig 2) to which a real image representing fine weather and noise data are input (Section 7, lines 1-2; Fig. 2), but fails to specifically teach obtaining second rain streak information indicating second rain intensity with a higher level than the first rain intensity from a second generative neural network to which the first rain streak information and the real image are input, and generating a composite image in which a rain streak representing the second rain intensity is applied to the real image, using the real image and the second rain streak information.
Claim 11 has limitations that are substantially similar to claim 1. Therefore, the reason for indication of allowable subject matter of claim 1, please see above, also applies equally to claim 11. Additionally, Choi teaches a method that performs the steps described in claim 1.
Claims 2-10 and 12-20 are dependent upon independent claims 1 and 11, respectively, with indication of allowable subject matter. Therefore, claims 2-10 and 12-20 also have indication of allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL Y DANG whose telephone number is (571)438-9519. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 8am - 5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John Villecco can be reached at (571) 272-7319. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Rachel Y Dang/Examiner, Art Unit 2661
/JOHN VILLECCO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2661