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 Objections
Claims 3 & 8 objected to because of the following informalities: The claimed subject matter “532nm” should be “532 nm”. Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 208, 210, 212, 214, & 220. Examiner suggest correcting the number in figure 2 which displays 108, 110, 112, 114, & 120. 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. 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.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “conical reflector” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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 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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NOBUHIRO JP H0988471 in view of Sky Management, “Mount Ring Camera on a wall (Best Way) 4K”, Aug 3, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22JTUmrA094 hereafter Sky Management in further view of Liberato US 10134004.
With respect to claim 15, Nobuhiro teaches a pelagic laser tomographic (PLG) instrument, comprising:
a lighting module comprising a light source (fig 4, 45) and a conical reflector “conical mirror” (fig 4, 43) (0005), wherein the lighting module generates a toroidal light sheet “captures the entire circumference image” (0006, lines 1-2) that surrounds the PLG instrument and that is oriented normal (fig 4) to an optical axis between the light source and the conical reflector;
an imaging module (fig 4, 44) comprising one or more cameras “camera” (0006, lines 1-2).
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Nobuhiro does not teach the one or more cameras being rotated and tilted such that its focus is coincident with a position.
Sky Management, in the same field of endeavor of cameras as Nobuhiro, implicitly teaches rotating (fig 2 & 3) and tilting (fig 1) a camera via a mount so that a focus is coincident with an object of interest. At the time prior to the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to combine Sky Management’s mount to Nobuhiro’s camera to provide secure attachment to the housing while enable flexible movement of the camera towards one or more desired position(s).
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The combination does not teach a processor and a memory with instructions stored thereon, wherein the
instruction upon execution by the processor cause the processor to receive information representative of signals captured by the one or more cameras of the imaging module.
Liberato, in the same field of endeavor of cameras as Nobuhiro, teaches a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to receive image data from a camera. At the time prior to the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Liberato’s processor and memory with the combination’s camera to visually observe images captured by a camera.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NOBUHIRO JP H0988471 in view of Bong KR 2018083776 in further view of UNHCR Technical Support, “Well Construction: Borehole Camera Inspection”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02C0TkDYtfY Jun 23, 2020 hereafter UNHCR in further view of Sky Management, “Mount Ring Camera on a wall (Best Way) 4K”, Aug 3, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22JTUmrA094 hereafter Sky Management.
With respect to claim 16, Nobuhiro teaches a method of operating a pelagic laser tomographic (PLG) imaging system, comprising:
disposing the PLG imaging system into water “underwater with groundwater” (pg. 2, 0002, ¶ 4), wherein the PLG imaging system
includes a light source (fig 4, 45) configured to project a light beam, a conical reflector “conical mirror” (fig 4, 43) (0005), wherein the light source faces toward the conical reflector along an optical axis;
configuring the light source and the conical reflector to produce a toroidal light sheet “captures the entire circumference image” (0006, lines 1-2) oriented normal to the optical axis (fig 4);
Nobuhiro does not teach a lens.
Bong, in the field endeavor of lamps, teaches a white light source comprising a lens, wherein the lens enhances distribution of light drawing by broadening spreading angle (pg.1, ¶ 1, line 10). At the time prior to the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute Nobuhiro’s light bulb for Bong’s light source and lens for illuminating a larger surface with a more efficient light source.
The combination does not teach dragging the PLG imaging system along a desired underwater trajectory and recording, by the one or more cameras and on a two-dimensional image particles or particle aggregates suspended in the water.
UNHCR, in the same field of Nobuhiro of underwater borehole inspection, implicitly teaches dragging a camera upward to retrieve the camera from a borehole (fig 1 & 2), wherein the camera captures two dimensional images of particles or particle aggregates suspended in the water (fig 3). At the time prior to the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to drag the combination’s camera underwater to detect unwanted particles within the underwater trajectory.
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The combination does not teach adjusting a rotation and tilting of one or more cameras of the PLG imaging system such that a focus of the one or more cameras is aligned with a position.
Sky Management, in the same field of endeavor of cameras as Nobuhiro, implicitly teaches rotating (fig 2 & 3) and tilting (fig 1) a camera via a mount so that a focus is coincident with an object of interest. At the time prior to the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to combine Sky Management’s mount to Nobuhiro’s camera to provide secure attachment to the housing while enable flexible movement of the camera towards one or more desired position(s).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 are allowed. Claims 17-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims or to include the limitation(s) and any intervening claims into the base claim. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claim 1, the prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious “one or more cameras disposed in the pressure housing and oriented towards the cylinder; a light source disposed in the cylinder, the light source configured to project a light beam; a conical reflector disposed close to one end of the cylinder and away from the one or more cameras, wherein the light source faces toward the conical reflector along an optical axis; and a lens disposed along a path between the light source and the conical reflector, wherein the light source, the lens, and the conical reflector are configured to generate a toroidal light sheet oriented normal to the optical axis,
wherein the one or more cameras are capable of being rotated and tilted such that a focus of the one or more cameras is coincident with a position of the toroidal light sheet”, in combination with the rest of the limitations of claim
As to claim 17, the prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious “repeating generating of the toroidal light sheet and recording of the two dimensional image, to generate a three dimensional
model that comprises spatially contiguous slices of the two dimensional images”, in combination with the rest of the limitations of claim 17.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAURICE C SMITH whose telephone number is (571)272-2526. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kara Geisel can be reached at (571) 272-2416. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MAURICE C SMITH/Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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