CTNF 18/781,139 CTNF 97268 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority 02-25 Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Singapore on 08/10/2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Singapore patent application No. 10202302275P as required by 37 CFR 1.55. Claim Objections 07-29-01 AIA Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 17 recites “the image,; and “ in line 6. The comma appears unnecessary . Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA 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. 07-34-01 Claim 11 is 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 11 recites the limitation "the one or more target points" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the prior art purposes, claim 11 has been interpreted as being dependent on claim 6. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101 07-04-01 AIA 07-04 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows: Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. Claims 1 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) steps of calculating a distance and estimating a rotation angle. These steps fall within the enumerated groupings of abstract idea, i.e., mathematical concepts and mental processes, because the calculating step corresponds to mathematical relationship between two points in the image and the estimating step corresponds to concept performed in the human mind, e.g., evaluation, and judgment, respectively. With respect to claim 12, the examiner notes that the mere nominal recitation of a generic processor does not take the claim limitation out of the mental processes grouping. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional limitations, such as the recitations of the head of the person and the image, is a mere attempt to generally link the judicial exception to a particular filed of use. For this reason, the claim(s) also does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. For these reasons, claims 1 and 12 are not patent eligible. Claims 2-11 and 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. With respect to claims 2, 3, 5, 6, 13, 14, 16, and 17, the claims recite calculating/adjusting the rotation radius, calculating a displacement, estimating the rotation angle, and/or multiplying the distance with the coefficient. These limitations fall under the enumerated groupings of an abstract idea, e.g., mathematical concepts because they correspond to mathematical relationships between variables. Since the claims do not recite any additional limitations that may integrate the judicial exception into a practical application or amount to significantly more than the judicial exception, claims 2, 3, 5, 6, 13, 14, 16, and 17 are not patent eligible. With respect to claims 7, 8 , 10, 18, and 19, the claims recite detecting and selecting reference points, determining and detecting vertically apart and target points and/or estimating the rotation angle using the detected points. These limitations fall under the enumerated groupings of an abstract idea, e.g., mental process and mathematical concepts because each corresponds to either concepts performed in the human mind with pen and paper, e.g., an observation and judgment, or mathematical relationships between variables. Since the claims do not recite any additional limitations that may integrate the judicial exception into a practical application or amount to significantly more than the judicial exception, claims 7, 8 , 10, 18, and 19 are not patent eligible. With respect to claims 4, 9, 11, 15, and 20, the claims recites either a value of the coefficient used in the calculation of the rotation angle or human anatomies associated with the calculation of the rotation angle. Each of these limitations is a mere attempt to generally link the judicial exception to the field of human head pose/posture detection because they merely indicate the field of use. Since the claims do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application and do not and cannot amount to significantly more than the judicial exception, claims 4, 9, 11, 15, and 20 are not patent eligible. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 6, 7, 11, 12, 17, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Us patent application publication no. 2018/0225842 to Wang . For claim 1, Wang as applied discloses a method for estimating a rotation angle of a head of a person using an image comprising a frontal view of the person (see, e.g., abstract and FIGS. 1, 2) , the method comprising: calculating a distance between two or more vertically apart points on the head of the person from the image (see, e.g., pars. 55, 67-89 and FIGS. 2A-D, which teach calculating lengths of the line segments between vertically apart points on the head of the person) ; and estimating a rotation angle of the head of the person based on the distance (see, e.g., pars. 85-100 and FIG. 2A, which teach obtaining a face rotation angle of the head of the person based on the line segment lengths). For claim 12, Wang as applied discloses an apparatus for estimating a rotation angle of a head of a person using an image comprising a frontal view of the person (see, e.g., FIGS. 4-5) , the apparatus comprising: at least one processor (see, e.g., pars. 151, 168 and 172-176 and FIGS. 4 and 5) ; and at least one memory including computer program code (see, e.g., pars. 151, 172 and 176 and FIGS. 4 and 5) ; the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: calculate a distance between two or more vertically apart points on the head of the person from the image (see, e.g., pars. 55 and 67-89 and FIGS. 2A-D, which teach calculating lengths of the line segments between vertically apart points on the head of the person) ; and estimate a rotation angle of the head of the person based on the distance (see, e.g., pars. 85-100 and FIG. 2A, which teach obtaining a face rotation angle of the head of the person based on the line segment lengths). For claims 6 and 17, Wang as applied discloses: calculating a horizontal displacement of one or more target points on the head from a vertical reference line across the head generated from the image (see, e.g., pars. 69-76, which teach determining a first distance of the first facial feature point, e.g., the point at the tip of the nose, from the third line segment, which runs vertically across the head) ; and estimating the rotation angle of the head further based on the horizontal displacement (see, e.g., pars. 85-100 and FIG. 2A, which teach obtaining a rotation angle of the head of the person based on the ratio of the first distance and the line segment length). For claims 7 and 18, Wang as applied discloses: detecting a reference point of the person from the image, wherein a position of the reference point remains relatively unchanged from the frontal view regardless of the rotation angle of the head (see, e.g., pars. 47-54 and FIGS. 2A-B, which teach detecting midpoints between the symmetrical facial feature points, which remain relatively unchanged during the lateral rotation of the head) ; and generating the vertical reference line cutting across the reference point (see, e.g., pars. 67-84, which teach generating line segments connecting the midpoints of the symmetrical facial feature points, e.g., AB or A’B’) . For claim 11, Wang as applied discloses that one of the two or more vertically apart points comprises at least one of a glabella and a sellion, a chin and a supramentale (see, e.g., pars. 55 and 67-89 and FIGS. 2A-D, which teach using the midpoint between the inner eye corner/sellion as the purported vertically apart point) ; and the one or more target points comprises at least one of a sellion, a pronasale and a subnasale (see, e.g., pars. 69-76, which teach using the point at the tip of the nose/pronasale as the purported target point) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 2 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of us patent application publication no. 2009/0109400 to Yoshinaga et al. (hereinafter Yoshinaga) . For claims 2 and 13, while Wang as applied does not explicitly teach, Yoshinaga in the analogous art teaches: calculating a rotation radius of the head based on the distance (see, e.g., pars. 53-57 of Yoshinaga, which teach determining a radius of the head based on the face organ center position, which is estimated based on the positional relationship between face organs) , wherein the rotation angle of the head is estimated based on the rotation radius (see, e.g., pars. 54-57 of Yoshinaga, which teach determining the face direction based on the rotation radius). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Wang to obtain and use the rotation radius as taught by Yoshinaga because doing so would allow accurately estimating the face direction when the face is directed rightward or leftward by more than 45 degrees (see par. 57 of Yoshinaga) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 9 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of us patent application publication no. 2022/0366664 to Youn et al. (hereinafter Youn) . For claims 9 and 20, while Wang as applied does not explicitly teach, Youn in the analogous art teaches that the reference point comprises at least one of a jugular notch and a shoulder centre between two shoulders (see, e.g., pars. 116-117 of Youn, which teach using the center of the shoulders as a reference center of the face region) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Wang to use the shoulder center as a reference point as taught by Youn because doing so would align the center of the face region with the rest of the body (see par. 117 of Youn) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Us patent application publication no. 2020/0069034 to Godlieb et al. (hereinafter Godlieb) . For claim 10, Wang as applied teaches detecting the two or more vertically apart points and the one or more target points on the head from the image (see, e.g., pars. 38-43 and FIGS. 2A-B, which teach detecting multiple facial feature points ). While Wang as applied does not explicitly teach, Godlieb as applied teaches: determining whether each of the two or more vertically apart points and the one or more target points is associated with a second confidence score exceeding a second threshold confidence score (see, e.g., pars. 42-47 of Godlieb, which teach determining whether a confidence value for each landmark/feature of the user’s face is above a defined confidence level) , the second confidence score indicating a probability of the each of the two or more vertically apart points and the one or more target points being accurately detected and the second threshold confidence score indicating a minimum probability for determining that there is a high probability of the each of the two or more vertically apart points and the one or more target points being accurately detected (see, e.g., pars. 42-47 of Godlieb, which teach that the position of the user’s head can be determined when the confidence value is higher than the defined threshold) ; wherein the estimating the rotation angle of the head is further based on a result of determining that the second confidence score of the each of the two or more vertically apart points and the one or more target points is associated with exceeds the second threshold confidence score (see, e.g., pars. 42-47 of Godlieb, which teach that determining the orientation and position of the head are at a defined threshold level of accuracy based on the confidence in positions of facial features of the head are above a defined confidence level). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Wang to use the confidence values and the thresholds as taught by Godlieb because doing so would yield predictable results of making the subsequent angle determination more robust since the landmarks/features are accurately detected (see MPEP 2143(I)(D)) . Additional Citations The following table lists several references that are relevant to the subject matter claimed and disclosed in this Application. The references are not relied on by the Examiner, but are provided to assist the Applicant in responding to this Office action. Citation Relevance Jeong et al. (us pat. pub. 2011/0274316) Describes a method of recognizing a location of a user including detecting the user's two eyes and mouth of their face. In one embodiment, the method includes calculating a ratio of a distance between the two eyes to a distance between a middle point of the two eyes and the mouth, calculating a rotation angle of the face according to the ratio, and detecting a distance between the face and the camera based on the rotation angle. Sasahara et al. (us pat. pub. 2011/0052013) Describes a face pose estimating device, a face pose estimating method, and a face pose estimating program that allow high accuracy estimation of a face pose even if a face organ cannot be detected from an image. In one embodiment, a face organ detector 11 of the face pose estimating device 10 detects a face organ from an image frame. A face pose candidate set generator 16 generates a face pose candidate set. A first similarity estimator 12 computes 3D-model-based similarities. A second similarity estimator 13 computes appearance-based similarities. A first likelihood estimator 141 computes a first likelihood corresponding to the 3D-model-based similarity. A second likelihood estimator 142 computes a second likelihood corresponding to the appearance-based similarities. An integrated likelihood estimator 143 computes an integrated likelihood by using the first and second likelihoods. A face pose estimator 15 estimates the face pose by using the integrated likelihood. Dedhia et al. (us pat. pub. 2015/0348269) Describes estimating object orientation. One example includes determining a first estimate of object orientation using a first technique and image data. In this example, a second estimate of the object orientation can be determined using a second technique and the image data. The first estimate can be corrected with the second estimate to generate a corrected object orientation estimate which can be output. Table 1 Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See Table 1 and form 892 . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WOO RHIM whose telephone number is (571)272-6560. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 9:30 am - 6:00 pm et. 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, Henok Shiferaw can be reached at 571-272-4637. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /WOO C RHIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 2 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 3 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 4 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 5 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 6 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 7 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 8 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 9 Art Unit: 2676 Application/Control Number: 18/781,139 Page 10 Art Unit: 2676
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