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 § 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) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ISHIGAME et al. WO 2020250708 “ISHIGAME” (IDS), in view of KIRUTHIKA US 20210036767 ”KIRUTHIKA”.
Regarding claim 1, ISHIGAME discloses a computing system (ISHIGAME, (Fig. 1; ¶ 0014, i.e. The satellite operating company has a satellite group management device 11 that manages a plurality of satellites 21, and a plurality of communication devices 13 that communicate with the satellites 21. The satellite group management device 11 and a part of the plurality of communication devices 13 may be devices owned by a company other than the satellite operating company. The satellite group management device 11 and the plurality of communication devices 13 are connected to each other via a predetermined network 12. The communication device 13 is arranged at the ground station (ground base station) 15. Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which the number of communication devices 13 is three, that is, the communication devices 13A to 13C, the number of communication devices 13 is arbitrary.) comprising:
a communication link with a plurality of observation satellites (ISHIGAME, Fig. 1, communication link between ground station and satellites);
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one or more processing logic (as cited above, i.e. ISHIGAME, ¶ 14) configured to: receive as input a Zone Of Interest (ZOI) selected in a ZOI database, said input being received at the occurrence of an event (ISHIGAME, ¶ 0018:, i.e., instruction for imaging a predetermined region; ¶ 0211: i.e. wherein the imaging instruction is received by the satellite and contains imaging target position that represents a region on the ground to be imaged, i.e., a ZoI. ¶ 0207-0208, i.e., that the imaging instruction is transmitted, and thus received in a satellite, in response to the occurrence of an event, see ¶ 211, i.e. (1) Event detection in farmland Multiple sensors (transmitter 251 including sensor unit 273 or sensor 293) are installed at regular intervals in a predetermined observation area of farmland, and each of the plurality of sensors causes pest outbreaks and disease outbreaks. Etc. are detected. The transmission device 251 or 291 transmits an imaging instruction to the satellite 21 according to the detection result of the abnormality of the farmland as an event. The satellite 21 performs, for example, RGB imaging and R (Red) and IR (Infrared) imaging for vegetation indicators such as NDVI. The sensor detection range of the sensor that detected the abnormality is assigned to the required imaging target position added to the imaging instruction. The satellite 21 that has received the imaging instruction may image only the sensor detection range of the sensor in which the abnormality has occurred in the observation area in which the plurality of sensors are arranged, or may image the entire observation area over a wide area. Further, the imaging conditions such as zoom may be changed to perform both imaging of the sensor detection range of the sensor that detected the abnormality and wide area imaging of the entire observation area); send to one or more observation satellites belonging to said plurality of observation satellites instructions to perform one or more observations of said Zone Of Interest (ISHIGAME, ¶ 0211, see the citation above); detect one or more objects in the output of said one or more observations (ISHIGAME, Fig. 13; ¶ [0216], wherein an application for vehicle detection, see i.e. ¶ 181; ¶ 216: (1) Confirmation of germination of agricultural products by high resolution (remote sensing for agriculture)Observations to confirm germination of crops require a resolution of several centimeters. By synthesizing images captured by multiple satellites by formation flight, it is possible to achieve a resolution that exceeds the resolution of a single satellite, and it is possible to detect germination.The satellite group 31 performs imaging with the same point on the farmland as the imaging target position. Each satellite 21 may be imaged from different positions at the same time, or may be imaged from the same position with a time lag. In order to direct the imaging target position of each satellite 21 to the same point, it is necessary to grasp the satellite position in advance.In the image composition process, it is not necessary to know which satellite 21 captured each captured image, but if it is possible to grasp which satellite 21 is used to capture the image, the angle and time at the time of imaging can be determined. Efficient image composition is possible.For the format of the processed image after compositing, for example, the Geo TIFF format can be used, and the fact that it is a compositing image by formation flight, and the imaging position, imaging time, imaging condition, etc. of each captured image of the compositing source are meta. It can be attached as data. As the imaging position information, the imaging position information of any of the captured images (representative captured images) of the synthesis source can be used.);
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identify one or more targets from said one or more objects (ISHIGAME, ¶ 182, wherein it is identified whether the target is a vehicle or a person, i.e. (5) Information extraction Calculate vegetation detection information such as NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and water detection information such as NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index) using different bands such as R (Red) and IR (Infrared). Can be done. It is possible to perform highlight processing of a specific subject such as a vehicle, a moving body, or a school of fish, information on a specific band, and extraction of a change point from the previous imaging…. (3) Three-dimensional measurement Three-dimensional information can be obtained from the parallax image. In addition, the accuracy of object recognition on the ground can be improved by using three-dimensional information. For example, it is possible to determine whether or not an object is a vehicle (even if the image does not immediately indicate that the object is a vehicle, if what is on the road is not a pattern but a three-dimensional object, it can be determined. Can be presumed to be a vehicle).).
Although ISHIGAME discloses of the transmission device or the sensor unit is stored, and thus, to store the corresponding ZOI given by that sensor unit (region represented by the target position) in a ZOI database and select it. It is noted that ISHIGAME is silent about database as claimed.
However, KIRUTHIKA discloses in ¶ [0128] that databases (¶ 128, i.e. As shown in FIG. 10, memory device(s) 1025 can also store data 1035 that can be retrieved, manipulated, created, or stored by processor(s) 1020. Data 1035 can include, for instance, any other data and/or information described herein. Data 1035 can be stored in one or more database(s). The one or more database(s) can be connected to computing device(s) 1015 by a high bandwidth LAN or WAN, or can also be connected to computing device(s) 1015 through various other suitable networks. The one or more databases can be split up so that they are located in multiple locales.) can be contemplated to store data. Thus, to store the AOI mentioned in paragraph [0051] in a database and select it seems to be a straightforward option that the skilled person would easily contemplate without any inventive effort in so doing. See KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 51, In some embodiments, image acquisition commands 155 can comprise instructions to capture one or more images of one or more subjects of interest (SOIs). In some embodiments, an SOI can be an area of interest (AOI), such as, for example, a geographical area of which images are desired. For instance, an image acquisition command 155 can specify one or more coordinates for capturing images depicting a location and/or an area.).
Both ISHIGAME and KIRUTHIKA teach systems with photographing the SOI from satellite, and those systems are comparable to that of the instant application. Because the two cited references are analogous to the instant application, it 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, to include in the ISHIGAME disclosure, finding ZOI from a database, as taught by KIRUTHIKA. Such inclusion would have increased the usefulness of the system by having more efficient satellite communications that reduce latency presented by communication methods that include orbital access/pointing/range requirements toward ground stations for uplink and downlink, and would have been consistent with the rationale of combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results to show a prima facie case of obviousness (MPEP 2143(I)(A)) under KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Regarding claim 2, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing logic is configured to identify said one or more targets if values of parameters (KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 135, i.e. For instance, the satellite 1050 may recognize that an object within a category of SOIs is depicted within image data captured by the satellite 1050 (or optionally image data captured by another satellite, in some embodiments), whereas the computing system 1005 may additionally be able to identify the object as a specific SOI indicated in an image acquisition command and provide additional instructions to the satellite 1050 to proceed with imaging of the object) of said one or more objects match values of parameters of descriptors of targets (KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 134, image recognition model: For instance, in one embodiment, one or more onboard computing devices 1055 of the satellite(s) 1050 can process image data with one or more image recognition models to determine a probability that an SOI is depicted therein. In some embodiments, based on the probability determined, the satellite(s) 1050 can identify the SOI and capture images thereof.)
Regarding claim 3, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processing logic is configured to identify said one or more targets if values of parameters of said one or more objects do not match values of parameters of any descriptor of a non-target object (KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 135, i.e. In this manner, the computing system 1005 may be able to recognize additional aspects of the image data not resolved by the pre-processing. Based on this further processing, the computing system 1005 can communicate with the satellite 1050 via signals 1010 to confirm, correct, and/or otherwise supplement the operations of the satellite 1050. For instance, the satellite 1050 may recognize that an object within a category of SOIs is depicted within image data captured by the satellite 1050 (or optionally image data captured by another satellite, in some embodiments), whereas the computing system 1005 may additionally be able to identify the object as a specific SOI indicated in an image acquisition command and provide additional instructions to the satellite 1050 to proceed with imaging of the object.).
Regarding claim 4, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 1, wherein said event is a detection of said one or more targets in said Zone Of Interest (ISHIGAME, ¶ [0252], wherein the event is a detection of a requested imaging target position.)
Regarding claim 5, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 1, wherein said one or more target is a vehicle, and said event is a detection of a disappearance of, or a loss of communication with said vehicle (ISHIGAME, ¶ [0254]-[ 0255], the disappearance of the vehicles typically will trigger a tracking of object using other technologies).
Regarding claim 6, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 5, wherein said vehicle is configured to communicate with a surveillance system, and said event is a detection of a lack of reception of signals from said vehicle (ISHIGAME, ¶ [0254]-[ 0255], the disappearance of the vehicles typically will trigger a tracking of object using other technologies).
Regarding claim 7, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 1, wherein the Zone Of Interest is centered on one of a last know position (KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 60, i.e. tracking using the LEO relays) of the target, or an estimated position of the target (ISHIGAME, as cited above, ROI, i.e. region to be imaged, as cited above, such ROI will be zoomed in by the satellite camera.)
Regarding claim 8, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 7, wherein one or more dimensions of the Zone Of Interest is dependent upon a position uncertainty (KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 60, i.e. tracking using the LEO relays) of the target (ISHIGAME, as cited above, ROI, i.e. region to be imaged, as cited above, such ROI will be zoomed in by the satellite camera.)
Regarding claim 9, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 8, wherein said target is an aircraft, said Zone Of Interest is a 3D volume (KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 60, i.e. tracking using the LEO relays), and a height of said 3D volume is dependent upon an altitude uncertainty of the aircraft (ISHIGAME, as cited above, ROI, i.e. region to be imaged, as cited above, such ROI will be zoomed in by the satellite camera.)
Regarding claim 10, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 1, wherein said one or more processing logic is configured to define a plurality of Zones Of Interest around one or more estimated positions of the target (ISHIGAME, as cited above, ROI, i.e. region to be imaged, as cited above, such ROI will be zoomed in by the satellite camera.)
Regarding claim 11, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 1, wherein said one or more processing logic is further configured to locate said one or more targets (ISHIGAME, ¶ [0026] wherein the displacement detection of the object
implies to locate it, see also KIRUTHIKA, ¶ [0126]. Fig. 3 implies a plurality of observation satellites.)
Regarding claim 12, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, further discloses the computing system of claim 11, wherein said one or more processing logic is further configured to determine one or more additional Zones Of Interest to observe based upon one or more of an observed position (KIRUTHIKA, ¶ 60, i.e. tracking using the LEO relays) and estimated future positions of said one or more targets (see KIRUTHIKA, ZOI citation above, where the locations is observed with coordination of different satellites).
Regarding claim 13, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, discloses an observation system, comprising:
a plurality of observation satellites (KIRUTHIKA, plurality of satellites, as cited above);
the computing system of claim 1.
Regarding claim 14, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, discloses a computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:
receiving as input a Zone Of Interest (ZOI) selected in a ZOI database (see rejection of claim 1), said input being received at the occurrence of an event (see rejection of claim 1);
sending to one or more observation satellites belonging to said plurality of observation satellites instructions to perform one or more observations of said Zone Of Interest (see rejection of claim 1);
detecting one or more objects in the output of said one or more observations (see rejection of claim 1);
identifying one or more targets from said one or more objects (see rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 15, ISHIGAME /KIRUTHIKA, for the same motivation of combination, discloses a computer program product, stored on a non-volatile computer-readable data-storage medium (see KIRUTHIKA, abstract), comprising computer-executable instructions to cause a computer system to carry out the computer-implemented method according to claim 14 (see rejection of claim 14).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 12379466 B2 Classification of matter from space
US 12241970 B1 3D scene reconstruction using multi-static cluster receivers
US 11733693 B2 Data acquisition method and apparatus
US 11429168 B1 Space-based data processing using available energy
US 11228362 B2 System and method for satellite constellation management and scheduling
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/FRANK F HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485