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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on January 8, 2026 in response to the previous Office Action (10/16/2025) is acknowledged and has been entered.
Claims 1, 3 – 12 and 14 – 20 are currently pending.
Claims 2 and 13 are cancelled.
Applicant’s amendment overcomes the following objections/rejections in the last Office Action:
Objection to claims
Rejection under 112(b)
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed January 8, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., 3D coordinate system, use of sampling point and nearest points) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Applicant argues that Li does not disclose point-line matching pair, when Li was not used to reject that limitation. Applicant argues that Peng uses a single image, however fails to Li uses two images and Peng is used for the point-line concept.
In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, the technical features of Peng play the same role as the technical features of Li
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, 2 – 12 and 14 – 20 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 and 12 recites the limitation "the sampling point in the second point set" in the added limitations. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 and 12 recites the limitation "constructing…the sampling point and the straight line" in the added limitations. Which sampling point is it talking about, the one from the first point set or the second point set?
Claims 2 – 11 and 14 – 20 rejected as being dependent on claims 1 and 12.
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) 1, 3, 6, 8 – 10, 12, 14, 17 and 19 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Peng (CN11529966A machine translation).
Regarding claim 12, Li discloses an electronic apparatus, comprising: a processor (751); and a memory (752) configured for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured for reading the executable instructions from the memory, and executing the instructions to implement the following steps of: acquiring multi-frame environmental images from different view angles collected by a plurality of cameras provided at different orientations of a movable device (par. 68, 69: images are captured by cameras at the front, back, left and right of a vehicle body); performing detection of a predetermined type of object respectively on the multi-frame environmental images to obtain initial detection information respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images (par. 7 6, 8 4: preset road surface marking lines on the road surface are detected and are a predetermined type of object); mapping the initial detection information respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images to a pre-set coordinate system corresponding to the movable device to obtain transformed detection information respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images par. 8 9, 90, mathematical expressions f(L_iAf, K_f, T_f), f(L_iAl, K_l, T_l), f(L_iAr, K_r, T_r) (only visible in the original Chinese text of Dl in its par. 44): the detected lines are transformed to a top view which is in a pre-set world coordinate system associated with the vehicle, see par. 77); dividing the plurality of cameras into at least one camera group based on the spatial layout of the plurality of cameras (fig. 3, par. 88-90: a camera group comprising the front and the adjacent left camera is formed, and a group comprising the front and right cameras); constructing, for each camera group of the at least one camera group, cross-image matching information of a predetermined type of object based on the transformed detection information respectively corresponding to each camera included in the camera group (par. 88, 89 and in particular the equation comprised in par. 88, only visible in the original Chinese text of Dl as the first equation in its par. 44, which shows that for each group, a sum of differences for different lines is constructed); and performing extrinsic parameter calibration on the plurality of cameras based on the cross-image matching information respectively corresponding to the at least one camera group (par. 8 6, 8 7, 90), wherein the constructing, for each camera group of the at least one camera group, cross-image matching information of the predetermined type of object based on the transformed detection information respectively corresponding to each camera included in the camera group comprises: determining a first point set representing the predetermined type of object in the pre-set coordinate system based on the transformed detection information corresponding to one camera in a first camera group, wherein the first camera group is any camera group of the at least one camera group; determining a second point set representing the same predetermined type of object as the first point set in the pre-set coordinate system based on the transformed detection information corresponding to another camera in the first camera group; determining a sampling point from the first point set; searching for two points satisfying a pre-set distance relationship with the sampling point in the second point set; determining a straight line connecting the two points (¶87-89: the first position, the second position and the third position determining the corresponding relation of the first image and the second image; the corresponding relation is used for representing the corresponding relation of two target road mark lines belonging to the same preset road mark line on the first image and the second image; aiming at each two adjacent image collecting device, the distance between two of the target road mark line corresponding to the two adjacent image collecting device is the minimum optimization target, two external reference of the two adjacent image collecting device is the to-be-optimized variable, establishing an optimization model; after solving the optimization model, obtaining each of the image collecting device respectively corresponding to the target external parameter…only visible in the original Chinese text of D1 as the first equation in its par. 44, can be construed such that two groups of two cameras are formed, i.e. the left and front cameras and the front and right cameras. D1, par. 89 and 90 disclose determining first and second point sets f(L_iAf, K_f, T _f), f(L_iAr, K_r, T _r) representing road surface marking lines). Li fails to explicitly disclose determining a straight line connecting the two points; constructing a point-line matching pair comprising the sampling point and the straight line; and determining cross-image matching information corresponding to the first camera group based on the point-line matching pair.
In a similar field of endeavor, Peng teaches a vehicle-mounted ring-view system and calibration method wherein discloses that the distance between road surface marking lines in an image may be computed as the distance from a first endpoint of one of the lines to the other line, which can be considered to have endpoints satisfying a pre-set distance relationship with the first endpoint (¶65). In light of the teaching of Peng, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to use Peng’s teaching in Li’s system because an artisan of ordinarily skill would recognize that this would result in evaluating the difference between the road surface marking lines in the top view and increasing image precision of the system
Regarding claim 14, Li in view of Peng discloses the limitations of claim 13. The combination also teaches wherein the mapping the initial detection information respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images to a pre-set coordinate system corresponding to the movable device comprises: mapping the initial detection information respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images to a pre-set coordinate system corresponding to the movable device by using respective initial extrinsic parameters of the plurality of cameras (par. 89, 90: initial extrinsic parameters of the cameras are corrected by minimizing the difference between the road surface marking lines in the top view); wherein each of the cross-image matching information comprises a plurality of the point-line matching pair, and the performing extrinsic parameter calibration on the plurality of cameras based on the cross-image matching information respectively corresponding to the at least one camera group comprises: for each of point line matching degree in the cross-image matching information respectively corresponding to the at least one camera group, calculating a distance between the sampling point and the straight line at the point line matching degree; calculating a distance sum based on the distances to which each of the point line matching degrees in the cross-image matching information respectively corresponding to the at least one camera group respectively corresponds; and correcting, by taking a minimum sum of the distances as a correction target, the initial extrinsic parameter corresponding to each of the plurality of cameras to obtain a corrected extrinsic parameter of each of the plurality of cameras as an extrinsic parameter calibration result of the plurality of cameras (par. 65 and 68, which disclose that the distance between road surface marking lines in an image may be computed as the distance from a first endpoint of one of the lines to the other line, or the average of several such distances).
Regarding claim 17, Li in view of Peng discloses the limitations of claim 12. Li also teaches wherein the multi-frame environmental images constitute an image set; and extrinsic parameter calibration is performed multiple times, during each time the extrinsic parameter calibration corresponds to a different image set and the extrinsic parameter calibration is used for obtaining a corrected extrinsic parameter data comprising a corrected extrinsic parameter of each of the plurality of cameras; after the performing extrinsic parameter calibration on the plurality of cameras based on the cross-image matching information respectively corresponding to the at least one camera group, the processor is further configured to implement the following steps of: adding sequentially the corrected extrinsic parameter data respectively corresponding to the extrinsic parameter calibration performed multiple times to a data sequence; statistically analyzing data characteristics of a first pre-set number of the corrected extrinsic parameter data ranked at the front of the data sequence; determining, in response to a continuous second pre-set number of the corrected extrinsic parameters of the remaining corrected extrinsic parameters in the data sequence meeting the data characteristics, respective target extrinsic parameters of the plurality of cameras based on the second pre-set number of the corrected extrinsic parameters (par. 92-99: corrected extrinsic parameter data respectively corresponding to the extrinsic parameter calibration performed multiple times is added to a preset database, i.e. a data sequence. A first preset number of corrected target external parameters stored in the preset database is analyzed as to whether it meets a data characteristic of the difference between any two target external parameters being less than a difference threshold. If yes, the original external parameters are replaced. This procedure is repeated for a second preset number of corrected target external parameters).
Regarding claim 19, Li in view of Peng discloses the limitations of claim 17. Li also teaches wherein the processor is further configured to implement the following steps of: after obtaining the corrected extrinsic parameter data by any extrinsic parameter calibration, updating respective initial extrinsic parameters of the plurality of cameras by using the corrected extrinsic parameter data obtained (par. 86, 91, 99).
Regarding claim 20, Li in view of Peng discloses the limitations of claim 12. Li also teaches wherein the pre-set coordinate system is a vehicle coordinate system (par. 77: the pre-set coordinate system is a world coordinate system wherein the top view of a vehicle is located, which is considered a vehicle coordinate system.).
Claim 1, 3, 6 and 8 – 9 are rejected as applied to claim 12, 14, 17 and 19 – 20 above. The method steps as claimed would have been implied by the apparatus of Li in view of Peng.
Claim 10 rejected as applied to claim 12 above. The method steps as claimed would have been implied by the apparatus of Li in view of Peng.
Claim(s) 4 – 5, 11 and 15 – 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Peng in view of Griffith et al. (US 2022/0227380).
Regarding claim 15, Li in view of Peng discloses the limitations of claim 12. Li fails to explicitly disclose wherein before the constructing, for each camera group of the at least one camera group, cross-image matching information of a predetermined type of object based on the transformed detection information respectively corresponding to each camera included in the camera group, the processor is further configured to implement the following steps of: determining a device pose matrix of the movable device at respective collection time points of the multi-frame environmental images; and performing time synchronization on the transformed detection information respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images based on the device pose matrix respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images, and wherein the constructing, for each camera group of the at least one camera group, cross-image matching information of a predetermined type of object based on the transformed detection information respectively corresponding to each camera included in the camera group comprises: constructing, for each camera group of the at least one camera group, cross-image matching information of a predetermined type of object based on the time-synchronized transformed detection information respectively corresponding to each camera included in the camera group.
In a similar field of endeavor, Griffith teaches which discloses determining a device pose matrix of a movable device at respective collection time points of multi-frame environmental images (¶38: For an image captured by a camera at time t=m, between states t=j and t=k, the IMU sensor pose Xm is interpolated from Xj, Vj, wj and Xk, Vk, wk", wherein the IMU sensor pose is a device pose matrix of the movable device). In light of the teaching of Griffith, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to use Griffith’s teaching in Li’s system because an artisan of ordinarily skill would recognize that this would result in multi-sensor calibration for sensors located in a vehicle with pre-defined and/or endurable markers.
Regarding claim 16, Li in view of Peng in view of Griffith et al. discloses the limitations of claim 15. Griffith also teaches wherein the performing time synchronization on the transformed detection information respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images based on the device pose matrix respectively corresponding to the multi-frame environmental images comprises: selecting one camera from the plurality of cameras as a reference camera; determining an inverse matrix of the device pose matrix corresponding to the environmental image collected by the reference camera; and synchronizing the transformed detection information corresponding to a first environmental image of the multi-frame environmental images to the target collection time point by using the inverse matrix and the device pose matrix corresponding to the first environmental image, wherein the first environmental image is any one of the remaining environmental images among the multi-frame environmental images except the environmental image collected by the reference camera, and the target collection time point is a collection time point of the environmental image collected by the reference camera (¶38: For an image captured by a camera at time t=m, between states t=j and t=k, the IMU sensor pose Xm is interpolated from Xj, Vj, wj and Xk, Vk, wk", wherein the IMU sensor pose is a device pose matrix of the movable device).
Claim 4 – 5 and 11 rejected as applied to claim 15 – 16 above. The method steps as claimed would have been implied by the apparatus of Li in view of Peng in view of Griffith et al.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 and 18 would be allowable if rewritten 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 and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTOINETTE SPINKS whose telephone number is (571)270-3749. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7am - 5pm EST.
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/ANTOINETTE T SPINKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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