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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/16/2024is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Oath/Declaration
The receipt of Oath/Declaration is acknowledged.
Drawings
6. The receipt of Drawings is acknowledged.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 11-15 are allowed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 –
(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.
Claim(s) 1-10 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hall (US PG. Pub. 2021/0058526 A1).
Referring to Claim 1, Hall teaches a reading device (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), comprising:
a reading zone (See Hall, Fig. 1, Sect. [0081], The detection Zone) configured to receive a document to be read, in particular a document positioned by a user (See Hall, Fig. 1, Sect. [0081] lines 20-37, the detection zone can comprise an air space above a perimeter of at least a distance above any edge or corner of a receiving port, receiving platform, or receiving tray of the identification system 100 to accurately or precisely receive a top sheet from a stack of sheets for reading and of sheet dimensions and orientation of sheet.);
one or more image sensors (See Hall, Fig. 1, Sensors of the Detection Unit 102 embodied within the Identification System 100, Sect. [0069] lines 1-3, The detection unit 102 can comprise one or more components to sense a target object object, such as a document sheet.) configured to read the document positioned in said reading zone (See Hall, Sect. [0087], the identification system 100 may be configured to provide documents for further read processing, such as scanning the documents such that information stored thereon can be extracted. For example, information on the documents may be extracted using one or more optical scanning techniques. One or more character recognition algorithms can be applied to convert the information into digital format. In some instances, information from the documents can be extracted using an optical character recognition (OCR) process.);
a remote detection sensor configured to detect the document positioned in said reading zone (See Hall, Fig. 2, Remote Controller, Sect. [0127] lines 8-19, A remote controller can be positioned at a different location in a facility from a location in which the system 200 is located, or at a facility different from that of the system 200 via wired and/or wireless network can be configured to determine a boundary of the document, an orientation, and/or coordinates of the sheet or the stack of sheets based on the comparison.);
wherein an electronic controller is configured to correct a reading performed by said one or more image sensors based on the detection performed by said remote detection sensor (See Hall, Fig. 7, Sect. [0160], the alignment system 700 can facilitate accurate and/or precise alignment of a first sheet relative to a second sheet via machine learning, wherein the first sheet is upstream of the second sheet. The alignment system can correct discrepancies (e.g., systematic error) in performance of one or more hardware of the system over time.).
Referring to Claim 2, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said one or more image sensors (See Hall, Fig. 1, sensors of the Detection Unit 102 embodied within the Identification System 100) comprise two or more image sensors (See Fig. 7, Sensors 710-720 corresponding to the Detection Unit 102 and Image Capture Device 230, Sect. [0164] lines 10-15 and Sect. [0165] lines 1-10, Each of the plurality of sensors 710-720 can correspond to any sensor (e.g., components of detection unit 102 in FIG. 1, image capture device 230, etc.). The plurality of sensors 710-720 can each be a same type of sensor, a different type of sensor or a combination of one or more different types of sensors comprising a combination of a first set of optical sensors optical sensors (e.g., image capture device 230 in FIG. 2) and a second set of sets of a sensor array (e.g., double sheet sensors, etc.).
Referring to Claim 3, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said remote detection sensor comprises at least one signal emitter (See Hall, Fig. 2, LEDs of Illumination Modules 210, 212, 214, 216 and 218, Sect .[0116] lines 4-7, each of the plurality of illumination modules can comprise one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) configured to emit light in the visible range) and at least two or more receivers of a return signal arranged in different positions from each other (See Hall, Sect. [0121] lines 6-14, each of a plurality of illumination modules positioned at different locations relative to the pedestal can be activated in sequence such that images of the sheet or stack of sheets can be captured while being illuminated from different angles. The captured images can be transmitted from the image capture device to the controller 202 for analysis, for example such that a boundary of a document, and/or one or more coordinate lines 254 can be identified.).
Referring to Claim 4, Hall teaches the device according to any one of the preceding claims claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said remote detection sensor is configured to detect a situation of poor lighting of the environment and/or of the document to be read (See Hall, Sect. [0120] lines 13-15 and Sect. [0121] lines 1-6, the imaging device 230 can be configured to detect the specific type of illumination provided by a specific type of illumination source and can be configured to capture one or more images of a sheet or stack of sheets on the pedestal 250 each time the document or document stack is illuminated by each of a plurality of illumination sources 210, such as the plurality of illumination modules 212, 214, 216, and 218.).
Referring to Claim 5, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said electronic controller is configured to correct the reading of the document performed by said one or more image sensors based on the intensity of a return electromagnetic radiation detected by said remote detection sensor (See Hall, Sect. 0070] lines 11-20, the detection unit can include one or more of an emission source and a measurement device configured to emit a detection signal configured to probe the sheet and/or stack, including for an electromagnetic signal and/or an acoustic signal and can comprise both an emission source and a measurement device configured to measure an electromagnetic radiation signal emitted by and/or reflected by the sheet, due at least in part to a response of the sheet to the detection signal emitted by the emission source. ).
Referring to Claim 6, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said electronic controller is configured to use information received by said remote detection sensor to recognize possible aberrations in the document and thus correct the reading of the document image performed by said one or more image sensors (See Hall, Sect. [0172], data collected from sheets at a downstream location can be used to correct an alignment of sheets at a location upstream of the downstream location in real time. An iterative machine learning process can aid in maintaining a desired alignment in real-time. For example, one or more tools (e.g., air actuators, other mechanical elements) may wear and change over time, affecting consistency in performance or adding incremental systematic error to the process. The machine learning process can aid in maintaining consistency and/or correcting any deficiencies in consistency by continuously and iteratively monitoring an upstream action and a downstream result.).
Referring to Claim 7, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said remote detection sensor is configured: to detect a geometric conformation of the document positioned in said reading zone (See Hall, Sect. [0079] lines 2-10, the controller unit 104 may give positioning instructions to the interaction unit 106 to facilitate accurate detection of the target object by the detection unit. For example, one or more components (e.g., tools, mechanical components, positioning components, etc.) of the interaction unit may interfere with detection of a sheet or a stack of sheets by the detection unit in instances where the respective presence one or more components of the interaction unit is in a detection zone of the detection unit.).
Referring to Claim 8, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said remote detection sensor comprises: optical sensor and/or means for emitting at least one laser pulse and for receiving at least one return signal and/or at least one LiDaR sensor (See Hall, Sect. [0079] lines 11-17, such presence of the interaction unit can impact the accuracy and precision of detection by interrupting a line of vision for optical detection sensors, interrupting an emission and subsequent receipt of signals (e.g., electromagnetic waves) from one or more sensors, interrupting a movement of one or more sensors, and/or interrupting an illumination path from the illumination source.).
Referring to Claim 9, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said one or more image sensors comprise one or more CCD sensors and/or one or more CMOS sensors and/or one or more active pixel sensors (See Hall, Fig. 2, Sect. [0120] lines 1-4, The image capture device 230 can be an area-scan camera. The camera can be digital or non-digital. In some instances, the image capture device can be a 5-megapixel camera.).
Referring to Claim 10, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), comprising a user interface connected to said electronic controller, said electronic controller being configured to send signals to said user interface based on the detection performed by said remote detection sensor (See Hall, Sect. [0106] lines 7-12, the user interface may be co-located with the system. In some instances, the user interface may be remote from the system, for example to enable remote operation of the system and/or remote viewing of one or more parameters of the process performed by the system.).
Referring to Claim 16, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said remote detection sensor is configured to detect the document based on a time elapsed between the emission of a pulse and the reception of a return signal (See Hall, Sect. [0070] lines 9-16, the detection unit can include one or more of an emission source and a measurement device. In some instances, the detection unit can be configured to emit a detection signal configured to probe the sheet and/or stack, including for example an electromagnetic signal and/or an acoustic signal. In some instances, the detection unit can comprise both an emission source and a measurement device.).
Referring to Claim 17, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said remote detection sensor is configured to detect information on the document positioned in said reading zone based on at least one intensity of a return signal received after an emission of a pulse (See Hal, Sect. [0157], a linear actuator or other positioning component (e.g., robot arm) can introduce a vibration and/or pulse to the top sheet to generate one or more waves and/or facilitate isolation of the top sheet from the adjacent sheet via the one or more waves. The vibration or pulse can be generated by providing a shaking motion, a back-and-forth motion, an oscillatory motion, and/or other periodic motions. The motion can be linear or nonlinear. The motion can be a lateral motion which is substantially parallel to a plane of the top sheet when the top sheet is not lifted. The motion can be a vertical motion (e.g., direction of lifting and/or releasing the top sheet). Alternatively, the motion can be a combination of the above and/or a motion having any direction. In some instances, the vibration and/or pulse, and/or a wave formed by the vibration and/or pulse).
Referring to Claim 18, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1 (See Hall, Figs. 1-7, Identification System 100-700), wherein said remote detection sensor is configured to detect information on the inclination and/or curvature of the document and/or on the three-dimensional geometry of the document (See Hall, Fig. 2, Sect. [0112] lines 5-10 the illumination modules can be at different locations relative to one another. Illuminating the document or document stack from different positions can allow capture of different shadow profiles of three-dimensional features, such as the edges of a single document and/or any three-dimensional objects protruding from the top of the document or document stack, such as a fastener).
Referring to Claim 19, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1, wherein said remote detection sensor is configured to detect information on the presence or absence of objects extraneous to the document such as, for example, a finger of the user (See Hall, Sect. [0061], A target object can be presented to the identification system 100 for processing. The target object may be presented to the identification system manually by an operator of the system and/or via an automated process. The identification system can be configured to receive the target object presented in various forms. The target object may comprise one or more documents. For example, the target object can be a single sheet of document, a plurality of sheets of documents, a single stack of documents, and/or a plurality of stacks of documents. Alternatively or in addition, the target object can be a plurality of sheets that are presented as a stack, pile, or any other compilation or bundle of sheets. The plurality of sheets can include sheets having various characteristics, including various materials, sizes, shapes, thicknesses, and/or various orientations.).
Referring to Claim 20, Hall teaches the device according to claim 1, wherein said remote detection sensor is configured to determine a three-dimensional space mapping of the shape of the document positioned in said reading zone while the document itself is subjected to reading by said one or more image sensors (See Hall, Fig. 2, Sect. [0072], The detection unit may be configured to provide information to enable determining three-dimensional (3-D) information relating to the target material. In some instances, the detection unit may be configured to obtain information to determine a boundary of a sheet of document. In some instances, the detection unit can be configured to enable edge detection of a sheet of document (for example determined by the controller unit 104). Through one or more sensors and one or more detection techniques described herein, the detection unit 102 may enable identification of coordinates and dimensions of every top sheet of a stack of sheets.).
Cited Art
11. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure Maki et al. (US PG. PUB. No. 2006/0268359 A1) discloses An image processing system comprising: an image acquisition unit for acquiring a scanned image; a non-voltage storage medium that stores correction information corresponding to a known object having a three-dimensional shape defined by the standard; when an object of the scanned image is the known object, a correction unit that corrects a shadow area of the scanned image corresponding to a shadow resulting from thickness of the known object, on the basis of the correction information.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARRYL V DOTTIN whose telephone number is (571)270-5471. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached on 571-270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARRYL V DOTTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
/DARRYL V DOTTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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