Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/685,907

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPATIAL LOCALIZATION

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
Feb 23, 2024
Examiner
TORRES, JOSE
Art Unit
2664
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
BEIJING UNICORN TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
82%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 82% — above average
82%
Career Allow Rate
521 granted / 637 resolved
+19.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+12.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
660
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
9.0%
-31.0% vs TC avg
§103
44.0%
+4.0% vs TC avg
§102
19.6%
-20.4% vs TC avg
§112
21.4%
-18.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 637 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
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 . Comments The Preliminary Amendment filed on February 23, 2024 has been entered and made of record. 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. Claim 12 is 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 12 recites the limitation “wherein, before using a PnP algorithm” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The usage of a PnP algorithm is firstly introduced in claims 2, 3 and 6, none of which claim 12 depend upon. Appropriate correction is required. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1-11 and 13-20 are allowed. Claim 12 would be allowable if rewritten 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 and to include 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: the closest prior art made of record (See for example, Steedly et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0329516) teaches the determination of a pose of a first device with respect to a second device (See for example, “the poses of a HMD and a handheld controller may be tracked as the devices are moved through space by a user to provide inputs to control a user interface of the HMD”, Paragraph [0032]), by matching pixel locations in an image to three-dimensional coordinate frame system in space (See for example, Paragraph [0052]). However, Steedly et al. fails to disclose the usage of 3D points on a 3D model of a second device to perform a feature matching in order to obtain a first correspondence between at least three non-collinear 2D points of the second device and the 3D points on the 3D model of the second device, as claimed, in addition to the features claimed. Therefore, the closest prior art made of record fails to disclose, teach, and/or suggest, inter alia, the determination of a pose of a first device in a world coordinate system, by at least, capturing a device image of a second device, the device image comprising 2D points of the second device and descriptors corresponding to the 2D points, performing feature point matching between the 2D points of the second device and 3D points on a 3D model of the second device using descriptors corresponding to the 3D points on the 3D model of the second device and the descriptors corresponding to the 2D points, to obtain a first correspondence between at least three non-collinear 2D points of the second device and the 3D points on the 3D model of the second device, the 3D model of the second device comprising 3D points and descriptors corresponding to the 3D points, determining a localization of the 3D model of the second device in a world coordinate system according to a localization of the second device in the world coordinate system and a second correspondence between the second device and the 3D model, and determining the pose of the first device in the world coordinate system according to the localization of the 3D model of the second device in the world coordinate system and the first correspondence, as claimed. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure: Chornenky disclose the determination of spatial information about environment; Steedly et al. disclose the tracking of wearable devices and handheld object poses; Xu et al. disclose simultaneous localization and mapping; Muhlethaler et al. disclose a cross reality system for large scale environments; Ma et al. disclose a method for tracking a head mounted display; Qiu et al. disclose the tracking of a pose of an object in a field of view of a camera; Urfalioglu disclose an image processing arrangement for estimating a likely pose relative to a spatial region; and Grundmann et al. disclose a probabilistic measurement model for local interest point based 6 DOF pose estimation. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE M TORRES whose telephone number is (571)270-1356. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Mehmood can be reached at 571-272-2976. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JOSE M TORRES/Examiner, Art Unit 2664 01/07/2026
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Prosecution Timeline

Feb 23, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 07, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §112 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
82%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+12.3%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 637 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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