ETAILED ACTION
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because the white boxes fail to show details as described in the specification. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) 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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the method comprising comprising:” appears to be a typo. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 15-16, 18-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FUJIMOTO (US 20170109932 ) in view of SHEN (CN 107680092) .
Regarding claim 15, FUJIMOTO teaches a computer-implemented method for determining a target position when automatically positioning a load on an object, the method comprising:
sensing the object with a laser-based sensor ([0043], 3D or 2D sensed data provided from the sensors) ;
creating a 3D point cloud representing the object( [0072], generates 3D sensed data, a so-called point cloud);
projecting the 3D point cloud into a 2D projection plane([0078], projects a 3D point group existing on the plane model to a two-dimensional projection plane);
detecting, from the 2D projection plane([114], a “plane detection process” that detects a plane region formed by a 3D point group included in the 3D point group);
back-projecting the 2D projection plane Into three-dimensional space ( [0127], references the plane region data corresponding to the plane region selected in Step S501 and projects a 3D point group existing on the plane model); and
determining a position of the structure in the three-dimensional space([115], projection parameters including a projected position and a projected size in a case of projecting a content to the plane region).
FUJIMOTO does not expressly teach,
using image processing by a neural network, for positioning the load a structure constructed as a twist lock on a loading bed of a truck
However, SHEN teaches
using image processing by a neural network ( page 2, last paragraph, establishing a depth neural network based on deep learning by cascade of framework network and multi core convolution network and classifier and return network, namely box angle detection model,), for positioning the load a structure constructed as a twist lock on a loading bed of a truck ( Page 2, last paragraph, obtaining the position of the box corner in the image, and giving the position as the confidence of the box corner; Page 2, second to last paragraph, Because the relation of the lock catch and the box corner is the lock catch right below the box corner, so using the geometric relation to determine the position of the lock catch may exist),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of FUJIMOTO and SHEN, by substituting the detection method in FUJIMOTO with that taught by SHEN, with motivation of “high automatic detection efficiency of container lock catch, accurate early warning, which can greatly reduce the working intensity of the operator, avoid the safety accident caused by manual leakage” ( SHEN, Abstract)
Regarding claim 16, FUJIMOTO in view of SHEN teaches the method of claim 15, wherein the load Is a container and the object is a truck or a further container of a container mountain(SHEN, Page 2, The container locker is a conventional locking device disposed at each corner/bottom of the container, each of which is to be locked to a lower container or a ship deck) .
Regarding claim 18, FUJIMOTO in view of SHEN teaches the method of claim 15, further comprising comparing the 2D projection plane with training data of the neural network(SHEN, Page 3,second to last paragraph, training the box angle detection model)
Regarding claim 19, FUJIMOTO in view of SHEN teaches the method of claim 15, wherein the 2D projection plane comprises pixels to which at least one channel having height Information, a remission or information about a surface normal (SHEN, Page 3,second to last paragraph, a depth neural network) .
Regarding claim 20, FUJIMOTO in view of SHEN teaches the method of claim 15, further comprising determining at least two 2D projection planes having different projection directions ( FUJIMOTO, 13, 14 in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 21, FUJIMOTO in view of SHEN teaches the method of claim 15, wherein the 2D projection plane is composed of at least two partial planes, which are combined to form the 2D projection plane ( FUJIMOTO, 41L, 41R in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 22, FUJIMOTO in view of SHEN teaches the method of claim 21, further comprising determining at least one additional transition plane, which contains a connection region of the at least two partial planes( 41 in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 23, FUJIMOTO in view of SHEN method for automated positioning of a load on an object using the determined position of the structure, with the method as set forth in claim 15( see rejections to claim 15)
Claims 24-28 recite the medium and system comprising a crane for the method in claims 15. Since SHEN also teaches medium and system comprising a crane ( page 2, using the crane to lift the container), those claims are also rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 17 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANGENG SUN whose telephone number is (571)272-3712. The examiner can normally be reached 8am to 5pm, EST, M-F.
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JIANGENG SUN
Examiner
Art Unit 2661
/Jiangeng Sun/Examiner, Art Unit 2671
Prosecution Insights