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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 27, 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Maunz et al. (US 2020/0025921 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Maunz discloses a measuring device for determining a position and/or orientation of one or more walls of a room, the measuring device (See Fig 1, Fig 3 and [0040] [0055]) comprising:
a datum for positioning against a first wall of the room such that the measuring device has a known alignment and offset relative to the first wall (See [0055] device held with back against the wall section);
a plurality of motion sensors configured to measure rotational and linear movement of the measuring device in a body frame comprising orthogonal x, y and z axes, wherein the body frame x-axis and body frame y-axis are parallel to a datum plane defined by the datum and the body frame z-axis is perpendicular to the datum plane (See [0050-0060] wherein the body frame x-axis and body frame y-axis are parallel to a datum plane defined by the datum and the body frame z-axis is perpendicular to the datum plane (see Fig. 1 and corresponding description [0034-0040]); and
a ranging module configured to measure a distance from the first wall to a second wall in a ranging direction parallel to or transverse to the datum plane (See [0006] measuring beam unit, see Fig 1, measurement axis R is orthogonal to the datum plane, i.e., back side [0055]); and
a data processor (See [0057] computer unit) configured to:
receive first motion data from one or more of the motion sensors when the datum is positioned against the first wall (See [0055-0058] receiving measurement data when positioned against the wall.);
process the first motion data to determine a position and/or orientation of the first wall (See [0055-0058] confirmed position, See also [0057] predefined direction);
receive ranging data from the ranging module indicative of the distance from the first wall to the second wall (See [0069] [0081] [0055] recording the distance from the starting point reference); and
process the ranging data to determine a position and/or orientation of the second wall (See [0055] [0065] [0069-0071]).
Regarding claim 27, Maunz discloses an apparatus for processing data comprising a data processor (See [0057] computer unit) configured to:
receive motion data from one or more motion sensors of a measuring device, wherein the motion data is recorded when a datum of the measuring device is positioned against a first wall of a room (See [0055] device held with back against the wall section);
process the motion data to determine a position and/or orientation of the first wall(See [0055-0058] confirmed position, See also [0057] predefined direction);
receive ranging data from a ranging module of the measuring device, wherein the ranging data is indicative of a distance to a second wall in a ranging direction parallel to or transverse to a datum plane defined by the datum(See [0069] [0081] [0055] recording the distance from the starting point reference); and
process the ranging data to determine a position and/or orientation of the second wall, relative to the first wall (See [0055] [0065] [0069-0071]).
Regarding claim 30, Maunz further discloses a measuring device for identifying one or more openings in a wall of a room (See Fig 1, Fig 3 and [0040] [0055]), the measuring device comprising:
a datum for positioning against a first wall of the room such that the measuring device has a known alignment and offset relative to the first wall (See [0055] device held with back against the wall section); and
a plurality of motion sensors configured to measure rotational and linear movement of the measuring device in a body frame comprising orthogonal x, y and z axes, wherein the body frame x-axis and body frame y-axis are parallel to a datum plane defined by the datum and the body frame z-axis is perpendicular to the datum plane (See [0050-0060] wherein the body frame x-axis and body frame y-axis are parallel to a datum plane defined by the datum and the body frame z-axis is perpendicular to the datum plane (see Fig. 1 and corresponding description [0034-0040]); and
a data processor configured, based on motion data received from the motion sensors to recognize a sequence of relative positions and/or orientations of the measuring device, for identifying a feature and/or an opening in a wall of the room (See [0006] measuring beam unit, see Fig 1, measurement axis R is orthogonal to the datum plane, i.e., back side [0055-0056] [0065-0066]).
Regarding claim 2, Maunz further discloses the measuring device of claim 1, wherein the motion sensors comprise inertial sensors (See [0061] IMU).
Regarding claim 3, Maunz further discloses the measuring device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the ranging direction is parallel to the body frame z-axis (See Fig 1 and Fig 3 [0055]).
Regarding claim 4, Maunz further discloses the measuring device of any preceding claim 1 wherein the ranging module is configured to measure a plurality of distances to the second wall in a plurality of angularly offset ranging directions (See [0057-0060] Fig 3, measurements 4 and 2 are distance measurements with respect to the same wall at different angle offsets).
Regarding claim 7, Maunz further discloses the measuring device of claim 1, wherein the a range controller is configured to control the ranging module to measure the distance to the second wall when the data received from the motion sensors indicates that the measuring device is stationary and/or when the datum is positioned against the first wall (See [0055]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12-14, 18-22, 24, 31-34 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:
The prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, alone or in combination, all of the features of dependent claims 12-14, 18-22, 24, 31-34.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FERNANDO ALCON whose telephone number is (571)270-5668. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:00am-7:00pm.
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, Brian Pendleton can be reached at (571)272-7527. 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.
FERNANDO . ALCON
Examiner
Art Unit 2425
/FERNANDO ALCON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425
Prosecution Insights