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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 01/18/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN2024100802839 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 5 depends from claim 3 and expands on step (3), while claim 3 only expands on step (1), leading to ambiguity. Looking at claims 4 and 6, the examiner is unsure if claim 5 contains a typo and should depend on claim 1. Clarification is respectfully requested.
Claims 2-9 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claims recite “wherein, in the step (1-8)”, which is grammatically awkward. The examiner respectfully suggests removing ‘the’ to promote conciseness and clarity.
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 1-9 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.
Claim 1 discloses “A polarization orientation method based on sky region prior and morphological template matching of transform domain, comprising a computer readable medium operable on a computer with memory for the polarization orientation method, and comprising program instructions for executing the following steps of”. It is unclear to the examiner whether the claim is intended to be a method claim or a CRM claim.
Per MPEP 2173.05(p), “See In re Katz Interactive Call Processing Patent Litigation, 639 F.3d 1303, 1318, 97 USPQ2d 1737, 1748-49 (Fed. Cir. 2011). In Katz, a claim directed to "[a] system with an interface means for providing automated voice messages…to certain of said individual callers, wherein said certain of said individual callers digitally enter data" was determined to be indefinite because the italicized claim limitation is not directed to the system, but rather to actions of the individual callers, which creates confusion as to when direct infringement occurs. Katz, 639 F.3d at 1318, 97 USPQ2d at 1749 (citing IPXL Holdings v. Amazon.com, Inc., 430 F.3d 1377, 1384, 77 USPQ2d 1140, 1145 (Fed. Cir. 2005), in which a system claim that recited "an input means" and required a user to use the input means was found to be indefinite because it was unclear "whether infringement … occurs when one creates a system that allows the user [to use the input means], or whether infringement occurs when the user actually uses the input means."); Ex parte Lyell, 17 USPQ2d 1548 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1990) (claim directed to an automatic transmission workstand and the method of using it held ambiguous and properly rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph).”
The examiner respectfully suggests one of the two below corrections: (Method): A polarization orientation method, comprising: (1)-(9).
(CRM): A non-transitory computer readable medium operable on a computer with memory for the polarization orientation method, and comprising program instructions for executing the following steps of:
(1)-(9).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 further recites “(9) providing a transform domain model for an angle of polarization, introduces template matching to solve a sun blur of a binary feature map that resulted in an accurate sky region based on the polarization orientation method, therefore, improving a robustness of orientation.” The limitation contains numerous grammatical errors such as: “providing… introduces…” Additionally, it is unclear what “that” (regarding “providing a transform domain model for an angle of polarization, introduces template matching to solve a sun blur of a binary feature map that resulted in”) refers to, ‘providing’ or ‘template matching.’ Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Note: If claim 1 is intended to be a CRM claim (see 112(b) rejection), claim 1 is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim in light of the specification concludes that the claim as a whole covers a transitory signal since the definition of “computer readable medium” leaves open the possibility that the medium could be transitory.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 are allowable over the prior art if rewritten to overcome outstanding objections and rejections.
Cui (‘Image dehazing algorithm based on optimized dark channel and haze-line priors of adaptive sky segmentation’) discloses an optimized dark channel and haze-line priors method based on adaptive sky segmentation to improve the quality of dehazed images including sky areas.
Golts (‘Unsupervised Single Image Dehazing Using Dark Channel Prior Loss’) discloses an unsupervised method of training via minimization of the well-known, Dark Channel Prior (DCP) energy function.
Neither Cui nor Golts, neither alone nor in combination, discloses a polarization orientation method based on sky region prior and morphological template matching of transform domain, comprising a computer readable medium operable on a computer with memory for the polarization orientation method, and comprising program instructions for executing the following steps of:
(1) calculating a polarization dark channel image, a degree of polarization, a gradient of the degree of polarization and a gradient of an angle of polarization by using 0°, 45°, 90° and 135° images shot by a polarization camera, calculating a light intensity binary image and an occlusion binary image according to the polarization dark channel image, calculating a binary image of the degree of polarization according to the degree of polarization, and calculating a gradient binary image according to the gradient of the degree of polarization and the gradient of the angle of polarization;
(2) setting a number of clusters according to the light intensity binary image and the occlusion binary image;
(3) carrying out polarization dark channel clustering according to the set number of clusters to obtain a polarization dark channel clustergram, and acquiring a sky region image through the polarization dark channel clustergram;
(4) calculating an image of the angle of polarization, and carrying out feature extraction on the image of the angle of polarization to obtain a feature binary image of the angle of polarization;
(5) constructing a two-dimensional plane by taking (0°, 360°] and [-90°, 90°] as horizontal and vertical directions respectively, and projecting the feature binary image of the angle of polarization onto the two-dimensional plane by a space domain transform method to obtain a sun position binary feature map;
(6) obtaining a sun position and a reverse sun position by matching according to the sun position binary feature map, and determining a real sun position according to a constraint condition that the sun is above a horizontal plane;
(7) ignoring a difference between a Rayleigh scattering model and a real atmospheric model, calculating a sun position deviation, and considering a detection result to be true and reliable when the deviation is less than a threshold Tₘ ; and considering the detection result to be unreliable when the deviation is greater than the threshold;
(8) calculating a course angle by combining the angle of polarization with the sky region image; and
(9) providing a transform domain model for an angle of polarization, introduces template matching to solve a sun blur of a binary feature map that resulted in an accurate sky region based on the polarization orientation method, therefore, improving a robustness of orientation.
Accordingly, the features identified, in combination with other claim limitations, are neither suggested nor discussed by the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ASHLEY HYTREK whose telephone number is (703)756-4562. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:00.
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/ASHLEY HYTREK/Examiner, Art Unit 2665
/Stephen R Koziol/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2665
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