DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The Information Disclosure Statements filed 21 November 2024 and 15 October 2025 have been fully considered by Examiner. Annotated copies are included herewith.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-5, 9, 15-17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tailang (US-2023/0154075) in view of Mangu (US-2021/0357113).
Regarding claim 1: Tailang discloses a computer-implemented method comprising: determining a set of outlines corresponding to boundaries of a set of segments within a raster image (fig 3(302,304,306) and [0045]-[0046] of Tailang – raster image 302 segmented as segmentation map 304 with corresponding outline paths drawn 306); selecting, from the set of outlines, an outline corresponding to a segment of the set of segments in response to a client device input (figs 7-9, [0042], [0056]-[0058], and [0068] of Tailang – particular outline(s) of segment(s) of the image selected according to client device input); providing, for display within a graphical user interface of a client device, a highlighted indication of the outline corresponding to the segment (fig 9(902,904) and [0063]-[0064] of Tailang); and generating, within a vector image, a vector path based on the outline corresponding to the segment in response to a selection of the outline via the graphical user interface (fig 7(216), fig 9(904,910,912), [0046], and [0061]-[0064] of Tailang).
Tailang does not disclose selecting the outline corresponding to a segment of the set of segments in response to a client device input indicating one or more points located within a threshold distance of the outline.
Mangu discloses selecting the outline corresponding to a segment of the set of segments in response to a client device input indicating one or more points located within a threshold distance of the outline (figs 4A-4F, [0021]-[0022], [0072]-[0073], [0077]-[0079] of Mangu – whether snapping-to-grid or not, each gesture point (user/client device input) is set according to a particular path point, determined with respect to a threshold distance, each path corresponding to a particular segment of a plurality of segments of the image object(s)).
Tailang and Mangu are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely image data processing according to image objects. Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select the outline corresponding to a segment of the set of segments in response to a client device input indicating one or more points located within a threshold distance of the outline, as taught by Mangu. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow a user to more easily select and process segments of the image data deemed more desirable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Tailang according to the relied-upon teachings of Mangu to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Regarding claim 2: Tailang in view of Mangu discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein selecting the outline comprises: determining a first bounding box for the outline (fig 7(704) and [0057] of Tailang); determining a second bounding box for the client device input (fig 7(710) and [0058] of Tailang); and selecting the outline based on the first bounding box intersecting with the second bounding box (fig 7(216) and [0061] of Tailang).
Regarding claim 3: Tailang in view of Mangu discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1 (as rejected above), further comprising: generating, utilizing an object detection model, an object mask for an object within the raster image utilizing semantic analysis (fig 9 and [0042] of Tailang – shows object mask, which is based on semantic parsing and vectorization); and generating, utilizing an object segmentation model, the set of segments within the raster image by segmenting the object based on the object mask ([0039] and [0042] of Tailang).
Regarding claim 4: Tailang in view of Mangu discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1 (as rejected above). Tailang further discloses providing, for display within the graphical user interface of the client device, an additional highlighted indication of the additional outline corresponding to the additional segment, wherein the additional highlighted indication is visually distinct from the highlighted indication of the outline (figs 9-10 and [0063]-[0065] of Tailang – multiple highlighted indications for multiple outlines of multiple segments).
Tailang does not disclose selecting, from the set of outlines, an additional outline corresponding to an additional segment of the set of segments in response to determining that the one or more points are located within the threshold distance of the additional outline.
Mangu discloses selecting, from the set of outlines, an additional outline corresponding to an additional segment of the set of segments in response to determining that the one or more points are located within the threshold distance of the additional outline (fig 4D, fig 4E, [0060]-[0061], [0072], and [0094] of Mangu – additional outline for additional segments of the set of segments of the image object). Tailang and Mangu are combined for the reasons set forth above with respect to claim 4.
Regarding claim 5: Tailang in view of Mangu discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein selecting the outline comprises selecting the outline in response to utilizing a hit detection operation to determine that the one or more points of the client device input intersects with the outline (fig 9(910,912,632) and [0064] of Tailang).
Regarding claim 9: Tailang discloses a system (fig 1 and [0033] of Tailang) comprising: one or more memory devices (fig 1(108) and [0034]-[0035] of Tailang); and one or more processors (fig 1(102) and [0033] of Tailang) configured to cause the system to: determine, for a raster image, a first outline corresponding to a boundary of a first segment and a second outline corresponding to a boundary of a second segment (fig 3(302,304,306) and [0045]-[0046] of Tailang – raster image 302 segmented as segmentation map 304 with corresponding outline paths drawn 306 for multiple segments); receive, from a client device, a client device input indicating a point in the raster image (figs 7-9, [0027], [0042], [0056]-[0058], and [0068] of Tailang – particular outline(s) of segment(s) of the image defined by control points selected according to client device input); provide, for display within a graphical user interface of the client device, a first highlighted indication of the first outline and a second highlighted indication of the second outline in response to the client device input (fig 9 (902,904) and [0063]-[0064] of Tailang); and generate, within a vector image and based on a selection of the first outline, a vector path with a geometry associated with the first outline (fig 7(216), fig 9(904,910,912), [0046], and [0061]-[0064] of Tailang).
Tailang does not disclose the client device input indicating a point in the raster image within a threshold distance of the first segment and the second segment; and the client device input being within the threshold distance of the first segment and the second segment.
Mangu discloses the client device input indicating a point in the raster image within a threshold distance of the first segment and the second segment; and the client device input being within the threshold distance of the first segment and the second segment (figs 4A-4F, [0021]-[0022], [0072]-[0073], [0077]-[0079] of Mangu – whether snapping-to-grid or not, each gesture point (user/client device input) is set according to a particular path point, determined with respect to a threshold distance, each path corresponding to a particular segment of a plurality of segments of the image object(s)).
Tailang and Mangu are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely image data processing according to image objects. Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the client device input indicate a point in the raster image within a threshold distance of the first segment and the second segment; and the client device input be within the threshold distance of the first segment and the second segment, as taught by Mangu. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow a user to more easily select and process segments of the image data deemed more desirable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Tailang according to the relied-upon teachings of Mangu to obtain the invention as specified in claim 9.
Regarding claim 15: Tailang in view of Mangu discloses the system of claim 9 (as rejected above), wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select the first outline and the second outline by: determining a first bounding box corresponding to the first outline (fig 7(704) and [0057] of Tailang); determining a second bounding box corresponding to the second outline (fig 7(710) and [0058] of Tailang); and selecting the first outline and the second outline in response to determining that a third bounding box corresponding to the client device input intersects with the first bounding box and the second bounding box (fig 7(216) and [0061] of Tailang).
Regarding claim 16: Tailang discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions which, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations (fig 1 and [0033]-[0035] of Tailang) comprising: segmenting one or more objects in a raster image into a set of segments utilizing an object segmentation model (fig 3(302,304,306) and [0045]-[0046] of Tailang – raster image 302 segmented as segmentation map 304 with corresponding outline paths drawn 306); generating a set of outlines corresponding to contours extracted from the set of segments (fig 3(306) and [0046] of Tailang); selecting, from the set of outlines, an outline corresponding to a segment of the set of segments in response to a client device input drawing one or more points (figs 7-9, [0042], [0056]-[0058], and [0068] of Tailang – particular outline(s) of segment(s) of the image selected according to client device input); providing, for display within a graphical user interface of a client device, a highlighted indication of the outline corresponding to the segment (fig 9(902,904) and [0063]-[0064] of Tailang); and generating, within a vector image, a vector path based on the outline corresponding to the segment in response to a selection of the outline via the graphical user interface (fig 7(216), fig 9(904,910,912), [0046], and [0061]-[0064] of Tailang).
Tailang does not disclose the client device input drawing one or more points located within a threshold distance of the outline.
Mangu discloses the client device input drawing one or more points located within a threshold distance of the outline (figs 4A-4F, [0021]-[0022], [0072]-[0073], [0077]-[0079] of Mangu – whether snapping-to-grid or not, each gesture point (user/client device input) is set according to a particular path point, determined with respect to a threshold distance, each path corresponding to a particular segment of a plurality of segments of the image object(s)).
Tailang and Mangu are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely image data processing according to image objects. Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have the client device input drawing one or more points located within a threshold distance of the outline, as taught by Mangu. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow a user to more easily select and process segments of the image data deemed more desirable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Tailang according to the relied-upon teachings of Mangu to obtain the invention as specified in claim 16.
Regarding claim 17: Tailang discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 (as rejected above), further comprising: determining a modified client device input based on receiving an indication of a removal of a point from the one or more points (fig 8 and [0059] of Tailang); and providing, for display within the graphical user interface of the client device, an additional highlighted indication of the additional outline (figs 9-10 and [0063]-[0065] of Tailang – multiple highlighted indications for multiple outlines of multiple segments).
Tailang does not disclose selecting, from the set of outlines, an additional outline corresponding to an additional segment of the set of segments in response to the modified client device input being located within a threshold distance of the additional outline.
Mangu discloses selecting, from the set of outlines, an additional outline corresponding to an additional segment of the set of segments in response to the modified client device input being located within a threshold distance of the additional outline (fig 4D, fig 4E, [0060]-[0061], [0072], and [0094] of Mangu – additional outline for additional segments of the set of segments of the image object). Tailang and Mangu are combined for the reasons set forth above with respect to claim 16.
Regarding claim 19: Tailang in view of Mangu discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 (as rejected above), wherein selecting the outline comprises: determining a set of bounding boxes corresponding to the set of outlines (fig 7(704) and [0057] of Tailang); determining an input bounding box corresponding to the client device input (fig 7(710) and [0058] of Tailang); selecting a subset of the set of outlines based comprising a subset of bounding boxes of the set of bounding boxes that intersect with the input bounding box; and selecting the outline from the subset of the set of outlines (fig 7(216) and [0061] of Tailang).
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 6-8, 10-14, 18 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 6-8, 10-14, 18 and 20 each distinguish over the prior art. The closest prior art discovered is the combination of Tailang (US-2023/0154075), Mangu (US-2021/0357113), Bork (US-2023/0277249), Price (US-2022/0198671), and Liu (US-2022/0114698). However, none of the cited prior art, nor any other prior art discovered by Examiner, fully teaches any of claims 6-8, 10-14, 18 and 20.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James A Thompson whose telephone number is (571)272-7441. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-6pm.
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/JAMES A THOMPSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2615