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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/23/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/24/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5 and 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nakano (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0004947 A1).
As per claim 1, Nakano discloses an evaluation system (abstract, evaluation device 20) comprising at least one processor (figure 3: processor 201), wherein the at least one processor is configured to: acquire a target image (paragraph [0064]: capture an image of an evaluation target, and the evaluation image is transmitted to evaluation device 20) showing an object having a base material and a coating region on the base material (paragraph [0079]: “Specular reflection is sometimes caused when the evaluation target has metallic luster. Specular reflection is sometimes caused depending on the state of coating of the evaluation target”); input the target image to a trained model (figure 10, paragraph [0061]: neural network) estimating the coating region from an input image to identify the coating region of the object (paragraph [0087]); and calculate an evaluation value related to the identified coating region (paragraph [0088]: “the neural network NN uses the evaluation image as an input and outputs the match rate of each of categories.”).
As per claim 2, Nakano discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to calculate the evaluation value related to covering of the base material by the identified coating region (figure 3 processor 201 is configured to calculate coverage % as shown in figures 11 and 12, paragraphs [0097]-[0098]).
As per claim 3, Nakano discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to calculate, as the evaluation value, a coverage indicating a ratio at which the base material is covered by the identified coating region (paragraph [0097]).
As per claim 4, Nakano discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to: input the target image to the trained model to identify a plurality of coating elements forming the coating region; and calculate a statistical value related to the plurality of coating elements as the evaluation value (paragraph [0108], and see statistical value in figures 11 and 12; the examiner notes the dent regions as shown in figure 8 and evaluation region Re are coated with at least metallic luster coating as explained above).
As per claim 5, Nakano discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to: set a central region of the object shown by the target image; and calculate the evaluation value in the central region (see figure 18a).
As per claim 7, Nakano discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to display an image showing at least the identified coating region (see figure 8).
As per claim 8, Nakano discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to: acquire an original image showing at least one object; convert the original image into a binary image; perform distance transform on the binary image to identify, for each of the at least one object, a center and dimensions of the object; and generate the target image showing the object entirely appearing in the original image, based on the center and dimensions of each of the at least one object (see binarization process in paragraph [0070]).
As per claim 9, Nakano discloses wherein the object is a particulate material (see paragraph [0079] for at least metallic luster material).
As per claim 11, see explanation in claim 1.
As per claim 12, see explanation in claim 1, the examiner notes Nakano’s system is a computer-like system, which inherently includes a non-transitory computer readable medium.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TOM Y LU whose telephone number is (571)272-7393. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9AM - 5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Matthew Bella can be reached at (571) 272 - 7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TOM Y LU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2667
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