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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant’s amendment/response filed on 05/20/2026, which has
been entered and made of record. Claim 1-3, 5-10 are amended. Claims 1-10 are pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Claim interpretation under 112(f) is withdrawn in view of the amendments. Applicant does not provide arguments for 112(b) rejections.
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 1-10 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 “perform clustering processing of classifying each point of a point cloud representing a three-dimensional object as a set of points into a cluster, for each color of a predetermined number of colors, to convert the point cloud having a normal structure into the point cloud having a cluster structure;” It’s not clear what is the relationship between the “predetermined number of colors” and the rest of the sentence. Whose color it is. Proper clarification is required.
Claim 10 recites similar limitations, thus is rejected accordingly.
Claims 2-9 are rejected for depending on the rejected claim 1.
Examiner called Applicant on 06/17/2026 and left detailed message and try to get clarification about claim 1 limitation. However, Applicant failed to call back.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claim 1, Kato et al. (US 2022/0075077 A1) teaches:
An information processing device comprising:
perform clustering processing of classifying each point of a point cloud representing a three-dimensional object as a set of points into a cluster ([0363], “The processor 430 generates point cloud data on the basis of the distance measurement data from the distance measurement apparatus(es) 100A specified in step S5170. The processor 430 clusters the data points and extracts a cluster corresponding to the vehicle closest to the position of the vehicle control system 1000 specified in step S5160. Additionally, the processor 430 changes the position of the vehicle control system 1000 to the coordinates at the center of gravity of the extracted cluster.” [0366], “The processor 430 clusters the point cloud data extracted in step S5200. A region where the density of data points around clusters is low and points not included in any cluster are distributed is considered to be a region of displaced data points. For data points included in clusters and displaced data points, the processor 430 determines which vehicle control system 1000 or distance measurement apparatus 100A the data points come from, and extracts the confidence level of the data points. The processor 430 recreates clusters using only data points with a high confidence level. For data points with a low confidence level included in the displaced data points from the original clusters, the processor 430 sets a movement vector so as to maximize the number of data points that overlap with the recreated clusters, and moves the three-dimensional positions to merge the point cloud with the clusters.”) and
encode the point cloud of the cluster structure generated by the clustering processing, ([0329], “The point cloud data may also be outputted in an encoded or compressed form.”) and
the cluster structure is a data structure in which the position information of each point of the point cloud is classified into the cluster,([0388], “The processor 520 generates tracking data for each cluster recognized as an automobile, a bicycle, or a person from among the clusters of moving bodies recognized in step S6540. The tracking data may be four-dimensional point cloud data combining information about a region that the point cloud of the cluster occupies in three-dimensional space with the information about the precise time read out in step S6520.”)
On the other hand, OH et al. (US 2022/0174317 A1) teaches:
wherein the normal structure is a data structure in which position information and color information of each point of the point cloud are indicated for each point,([0094], “The point cloud content providing system according to the embodiments (for example, the point cloud transmission device 10000 or the point cloud video acquisition unit 10001) may acquire a point cloud video (20000). The point cloud video is represented by a point cloud belonging to a coordinate system for expressing a 3D space. The point cloud video according to the embodiments may include a Ply (Polygon File format or the Stanford Triangle format) file. When the point cloud video has one or more frames, the acquired point cloud video may include one or more Ply files. The Ply files contain point cloud data, such as point geometry and/or attributes. The geometry includes positions of points. The position of each point may be represented by parameters (for example, values of the X, Y, and Z axes) representing a three-dimensional coordinate system (e.g., a coordinate system composed of X, Y and Z axes). The attributes include attributes of points (e.g., information about texture, color (in YCbCr or RGB), reflectance r, transparency, etc. of each point).”)
However, both Kato and Oh do not teach:
for each color of a predetermined number of colors, to convert the point cloud having a normal structure into the point cloud having a cluster structure;
and the color information of each point is indicated by the cluster into which the point is classified.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/YANNA WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2615
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