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 .
Claim Status
Applicant's preliminary amendments filed on 4/4/24 have been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: in the sixth line from the bottom, it is suggested to replace the article “a” with --the-- for the claim term “a calibration plane” in order to avoid a double inclusion issue.
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: the reference characters Rx, Ry, and Tz have not be labeled/defined/named in the claims, and it is suggested to assign labels/names for the reference characters in order to improve clarity.
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: the reference characters Rz, Tx, and Ty have not be labeled/defined/named in the claims, and it is suggested to assign labels/names for the reference characters in order to improve clarity.
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: the reference characters Rz, Tx, and Ty have not be labeled/defined/named in the claims, and it is suggested to assign labels/names for the reference characters in order to improve clarity.
Claims 4 and 6-7 are also objected to due to dependency.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-7 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 recites the limitation “the geometric transformation” in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Regarding independent claim 1, for the limitations: “two targets aligned along the longitudinal axis of the world frame, two targets aligned along the transverse axis of the world frame, and a target arranged at the origin of the world frame”, it is unclear, based on how the claim is written, if there are five (5) separate, distinct targets or if some targets are being recited again. For examination purposes, it is assumed that some targets are being recited again.
Regarding claim 4, for the limitations: “two targets are aligned along the longitudinal axis, three targets are aligned along the transverse axis, two targets are aligned along the longitudinal axis and two targets are aligned along the transverse axis and one target is arranged at the origin of the world frame”, it is unclear, based on how the claim is written, if there are ten (10) separate, distinct targets or if some targets are being recited again. For examination purposes, it is assumed that some targets are being recited again.
Claim(s) 2-3 and 5-7 is/are also considered to be indefinite since it/they depend(s) from the indefinite parent claim(s).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 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.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding independent claim 1, in combination with the other structures required by the base claim and intervening claims, the prior art fails to disclose, teach, suggest, or render obvious the claimed configuration and steps of “at least three non-collinear targets that are arranged on a flat surface forming a calibration plane, and that are placed so that the set of targets comprises at least: two targets aligned along the longitudinal axis of the world frame, two targets aligned along the transverse axis of the world frame and a target arranged at the origin of the world frame, the method comprising at least: an initial step of locating the targets, which aims to determine the coordinates of the targets in the sensor frame by the sensor for taking three-dimensional measurements, a first step of estimating the roll, the pitch and the vertical translation by minimizing a first cost function based on the geometric characteristic of arrangement of the targets on said flat surface forming a calibration plane, and a second step of estimating the yaw, the longitudinal translation and the transverse translation by minimizing a plurality of second cost functions based on the geometric characteristic of alignment of the targets in the world frame.”
Briggs US20200174107 teaches, in Fig. 3B, non-collinear targets/markers 320 on a calibration surface/plane 130, “minimizing the point-to-plane distance cost” ([0020]), different variations of cost functions ([0022]), but does not teach “a target arranged at the origin of the world frame” nor “a first step of estimating the roll, the pitch and the vertical translation by minimizing a first cost function based on the geometric characteristic of arrangement of the targets on said flat surface forming a calibration plane, and a second step of estimating the yaw, the longitudinal translation and the transverse translation by minimizing a plurality of second cost functions based on the geometric characteristic of alignment of the targets in the world frame.”.
Dhayalkar US20210294328 teaches, in Fig. 2A, a world frame 202 with a corresponding fixed origin 208 ([0069]), three reference frames 202/212/220, two transformations 210/216, and transforming localized points along any of y, z, roll, pitch, and/or yaw axis/axes ([0097]), but does not teach “at least three non-collinear targets that are arranged on a flat surface forming a calibration plane, and that are placed so that the set of targets comprises at least: two targets aligned along the longitudinal axis of the world frame, two targets aligned along the transverse axis of the world frame” nor “a first step of estimating the roll, the pitch and the vertical translation by minimizing a first cost function based on the geometric characteristic of arrangement of the targets on said flat surface forming a calibration plane, and a second step of estimating the yaw, the longitudinal translation and the transverse translation by minimizing a plurality of second cost functions based on the geometric characteristic of alignment of the targets in the world frame.”.
Akkaya US20180146186 teaches a calibration target 220 with calibration fiducial markings, a rotation matrix, and “The variables may be determined by minimizing a suitable cost function using the real world coordinates of fiducials 221 imaged by range camera 20 in picture images of calibration target 220” ([0042]), but does not teach “at least three non-collinear targets that are arranged on a flat surface forming a calibration plane, and that are placed so that the set of targets comprises at least: two targets aligned along the longitudinal axis of the world frame, two targets aligned along the transverse axis of the world frame and a target arranged at the origin of the world frame, the method comprising at least: an initial step of locating the targets, which aims to determine the coordinates of the targets in the sensor frame by the sensor for taking three-dimensional measurements, a first step of estimating the roll, the pitch and the vertical translation by minimizing a first cost function based on the geometric characteristic of arrangement of the targets on said flat surface forming a calibration plane, and a second step of estimating the yaw, the longitudinal translation and the transverse translation by minimizing a plurality of second cost functions based on the geometric characteristic of alignment of the targets in the world frame.”
Claims 2-7 are also allowable over the prior art due to their dependency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bradley US20190056484 teaches autonomous vehicle lidar calibration using a turntable 140 and fiducial targets 145.
Hu US20210056306 teaches, in Fig. 2, a calibration mount 208 at the origin of the vehicle coordinate system 204 in comparison to the camera coordinate system 202.
Okada US20200096623 teaches a marker calibration process and designating a center position of a bed portion as an origin for a second coordinate system.
Finn US20170302909 teaches “calibrating a sensor coordinate system to a world coordinate system via a calibration matrix”.
Li US12461213 teaches lidar calibration that includes “performs a plane transform of the reference frame to obtain a lidar sensor plane and determine from the lidar sensor plane a pose of the lidar sensor.”
Abari US12032102 teaches vehicle sensor calibration and “a first transformation matrix for performing a transformation from a local coordinate system of the first sensor to a local coordinate system of the second sensor”.
Dunne US11914077 teaches determining origin displacement for laser rangefinding.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN MALIKASIM whose telephone number is (313)446-6597. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 8 am - 5 pm (CST).
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/JONATHAN MALIKASIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645 7/27/26
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