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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kahle et al. (US Pub. No. 2012/0323534).
Regarding claim 1, Kahle et al. discloses:
A computer-implemented method for determining a set of locations for placement of an optical measurement station for a marking device, comprising:
receiving site layout information including location information of a plurality of marking targets on a site (0007, 0010-0011, 0020, 0026, 0028);
defining potential optical obstructions to the optical measurement station in the site based on the site layout information (0019-0020, 0027, 0029);
and determining a set of locations for placement of the optical measurement station on the site based on the plurality of marking targets and the defined potential optical obstructions (0007, 0010, 0020, 0026-0027, 0033-0034).
Regarding claims 2-3, 5-6 and 10, these features are known from Kahle et al. (0007-0011, 0019-0020, 0026-0029, 0033-0034, FIGS 1-4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 7-9 are 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.
Regarding claims 12, the prior art of record neither discloses nor suggests that the controller is designed to define a marking target list comprising a plurality of marking targets and their location information based on the site layout plan; determine, for each station placement location, the visible marking targets from the marking target list; and add a station placement location with a greatest number of marking targets visible from that location to the placement list. Regarding claim 15, the prior art of record neither discloses nor suggests that the instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: define a marking target list comprising a plurality of marking targets and their location information based on the site layout plan; determine, for each station placement location the marking targets from the marking target list visible from the placement location and the total number of marking targets that are visible from the station placement location; and add a station placement location with a greatest number of visible marking targets to a station placement list. Therefore, claims 12-15 are allowable.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to G. BRADLEY BENNETT whose telephone number is 571.272.2237. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH, 8:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter Macchiarolo can be reached at 571.272.2375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571.273.8300.
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/GEORGE B BENNETT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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26 JUN 2026
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