DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 112
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-18 are 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.
4. The term small in claims 1, 7, and 13 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term small is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not possible to determine what is small or larger in terms of disaster influence and claims 1-18 are rejected for being indefinite.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 1-18 allowed are allowed over cited references.
6. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 1 recites the limitation specify a position of an object in an overhead image obtained by capturing an image of a region that includes the object before a disaster, based on a result of collating the overhead image with a section in a target image that includes a situation of the object after the disaster, the section satisfying a criterion for determining that an influence of the disaster is small; and display an image that includes the situation of the object and information by which the position of the object in the overhead image can be specified which is neither disclosed nor suggested by the cited references, either singly or in combination.
7. Claims 7 and 13 recite limitations similar to those of claim 1 and are allowed as well over cited references.
CONTACT
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANK S CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7993. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8-11:30 and 1:30-6.
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, Kee Tung can be reached at 5712727794. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FRANK S CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2611
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