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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-4, 11-12 in the reply filed on 3/26/2026 is acknowledged.
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) 1-4, 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seleznev (RU 2728888 C1) in view of Lee (WO 2022/198130).
Regarding Claim 1, Seleznev (RU 2728888 C1) discloses an automatic (permanent monitoring, p. 3) visual analyzer (monitoring of environment, p. 2) for remotely (remote visual inspection, p. 3) analyzing (survey, p. 2) … channels (intended use/work acted on by the invention, no patentable weight), the automatic visual analyzer comprising:
a. a viewing body (solid metal case with six compartments, p. 2) having a plurality of cameras (six video cameras, p. 2) mounted thereon (located in the metal case, p. 2) in fixed related directions (spaced 90° and providing 360° viewing angle, p. 2) to allow a defined directional scan (i.e., 90°) of the [] pathway ();
b. a drive line (carrying cable-rope, p. 2) …;
c. at least one communication system (transceiver 7, cable 8, transceiver 9, control module 10, p. 2) connected to the body and/or drive line (cable 8 is connected to transceivers 7 and 9 and the metal case, p. 2) for control communication of the viewing body (surveillance and recording control, p. 3) and communication with the plurality of cameras (signal from cameras fed through the transceivers 7, 9, cable 8 for storage or display, p. 2);
and d. at least one controller (laptop-based control module on the boat or on shore, p. 2-3) for transmitting or receiving communication (surveillance and recording control, p. 3) from the at least one communication system (transceiver 7, cable 8, transceiver 9, control module 10, p. 2) allowing the communication to be transmitted or received (surveillance and recording control, p. 3; signal from cameras fed through the transceivers 7, 9, cable 8 for storage or display, p. 2) external of the [] pathways being analyzed (laptop-based control module on the boat or on shore, p. 2-3).
Seleznev does not disclose, but Lee (WO 2022/198130) teaches analyzing (mapping [0081]) confined pathways such as sewers and sewer access channels (manhole chamber 602, Fig. 6a);
scan (full 360° view of the environment [0081]) of the confined pathway (manhole chamber 602, Fig. 6a);
line (rope 510, Fig. 6a) for providing a directional path (up and down, Fig. 6a) along the confined pathway (manhole chamber 602, Fig. 6a) by which the viewing body can be driven (lowered into the manhole [0091]);
confined pathways being analyzed (manhole chamber 602, Fig. 6a).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the application was filed would have been motivated to adapt the camera module of Seleznev to view sewers, as in Lee because Lee teaches that inspection of sewers is difficult, dangerous, slow, and expensive, and there is a need for a cost-effective solution to inspect such subterranean infrastructures [0003], and the module of Seleznev has all of the features that enable it to be adaptable to subterranean inspection, making it a suitable base solution for improvement.
Regarding Claim 2, Seleznev (RU 2728888 C1) discloses an automatic visual analyzer according to claim 1 and the plurality of cameras are at fixed predetermined spacing (there are four cameras in the horizontal plane having their principal meridians spaced 90° apart from each other, providing a 360° view, p. 2-3).
Seleznev does not disclose, but Lee (WO 2022/198130) teaches including a LiDAR (LIDAR sensor can replace the light module [0066]) wherein the LiDAR are at fixed predetermined spacing (array of lights—which are replaced by Lidar, can be spaced-out, covering the area of 360° images [0054]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the application was filed would have been motivated to adapt the camera module of Seleznev to view sewers, as in Lee because Lee teaches that inspection of sewers is difficult, dangerous, slow, and expensive, and there is a need for a cost-effective solution to inspect such subterranean infrastructures [0003], and the module of Seleznev has all of the features that enable it to be adaptable to subterranean inspection, making it a suitable base solution for improvement.
Regarding Claim 3, Seleznev (RU 2728888 C1) discloses an automatic visual analyzer according to claim 2.
Seleznev does not disclose, but Lee (WO 2022/198130) teaches including a 3D generator for generating a digital representation of the confined pathway (The mapping can he reconstructed in 3D as a sparse point cloud [0121]) by the overlap known directional scans (visual simultaneous localization and mapping (VSLAM) process using the visual data from a camera module 102 [0121]) by the plurality of cameras mounted on the viewing body in fixed related directions (array of cameras that provide a 360° view [0052]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the application was filed would have been motivated to adapt the camera module of Seleznev to view sewers, as in Lee because Lee teaches that inspection of sewers is difficult, dangerous, slow, and expensive, and there is a need for a cost-effective solution to inspect such subterranean infrastructures [0003], and the module of Seleznev has all of the features that enable it to be adaptable to subterranean inspection, making it a suitable base solution for improvement.
Regarding Claim 4, Seleznev (RU 2728888 C1) discloses an automatic visual analyzer according to claim 1 wherein the confined pathway is substantially in the range of 0.5 meters to 10 meters (intended use/work acted on by the invention, no patentable weight).
Seleznev does not disclose, but Lee (WO 2022/198130) teaches wherein the confined pathway is substantially in the range of 0.5 meters to 10 meters (manhole chamber 602, Fig. 6a).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the application was filed would have been motivated to adapt the camera module of Seleznev to view sewers, as in Lee because Lee teaches that inspection of sewers is difficult, dangerous, slow, and expensive, and there is a need for a cost-effective solution to inspect such subterranean infrastructures [0003], and the module of Seleznev has all of the features that enable it to be adaptable to subterranean inspection, making it a suitable base solution for improvement.
Regarding Claim 11, Seleznev (RU 2728888 C1) discloses an automatic visual analyzer according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of cameras mounted on the viewing body in fixed related directions is mounted coplanar in a direction normal to the directional path of the driveline (four cameras of the six provide 360° view in the horizontal plane, p. 2, Fig. 1, which is normal to the direction of the carrying cable-rope attached via fasteners 3 to the top of the metal case, p. 2, Fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 12, Seleznev (RU 2728888 C1) discloses an automatic visual analyzer according to claim 11 wherein the number of the plurality of cameras is dependent on the relative location and the coplanar field of view of the lens of the plurality of cameras (there are four cameras in the horizontal plane having their principal meridians spaced 90° apart from each other, providing a 360° view, p. 2-3) and wherein the number of the plurality of cameras each have a related light mounted adjacent on the viewing body (each camera in window 2 has lighting lamps installed in sealed holes 5, p. 2, Fig. 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 10060252 B1 – raising and lowering a camera in a manhole
US 20240121363 A1 – generating a 3d model and lidar camera in a camera in a stormwater drain
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/SHADAN E HAGHANI/Examiner, Art Unit 2485