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 November 1, 2024, October 24, 2025 and January 2, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-3, 5, 8 and 10-11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2, “to casue” should read “to cause”
Claim 2, “equals to a” should read “equals a”
Similar issue in claim 10
Claim 3, “equals to a predetermined” should read “equals a predetermined”
Similar issue in claim 11
Claim 5, “detect-a” should read “detect a” in both line 3 and line 5
Claim 8, line 2, “detect-the” should read “detect the”
Appropriate correction is required.
Specification
The title of the invention has minor informalities. The title should read “Boundary line detection device and method” so that “boundary” is spelled correctly. A new title is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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, 7-9, 12 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 7,593,571 to Wakabayashi (hereinafter Wakabayashi), and further in view of U.S. Patent No. 7,903,168 to Pillman et al. (hereinafter Pillman).
Regarding independent claim 1, Wakabayashi discloses An apparatus for detecting edges of an uncoated portion within battery electrodes (column 1, line 9, “The present invention relates to a component edge detecting method, a component edge detecting program and a component inspection apparatus, and, in particular, to a component edge detecting method applicable to an appearance inspection for an electronic component mounted on a printed circuit substrate, a component edge detecting program for causing a computer to execute the method, and a component inspection apparatus carrying out this method.” Column 3, line 56, “According to the present invention, for the purpose of achieving the above-mentioned object, a first edge detecting step detecting an edge of a component from image data of the component based on a predetermined first characteristic; and a second edge detecting step detecting an edge of the component from the image data of the component based on a predetermined second characteristic are carried out.”), the apparatus comprising:
at least one processor (Figure 6, element 14, “control apparatus”); and
memory having programmed thereon instructions that when executed, are configured to cause by the at least one processor (column 1, line 9, “The present invention relates to a component edge detecting method, a component edge detecting program and a component inspection apparatus, and, in particular, to a component edge detecting method applicable to an appearance inspection for an electronic component mounted on a printed circuit substrate, a component edge detecting program for causing a computer to execute the method, and a component inspection apparatus carrying out this method.” Column 10, line 25, “The operations described above with reference to FIGS. 7, 8A and 8B may be achieved in the following manner: For example, a CPU (not shown) included in the control apparatus 14 or the image processing apparatus 13 reads a component edge detecting program according to the present invention stored in a predetermined recording medium (such as a CD-ROM), or downloads the component edge detecting program from an external server via a communication network such as the Internet, a LAN or such, and writes it in a hard disk drive (not shown) also included in the control apparatus 14 or the image processing apparatus 13. After that, the CPU reads instructions of this program in sequence and executes the same, and as a result, automatic execution of the operations described above with reference to FIGS. 7, 8A and 8B can be achieved.”) to:
obtain pixel information of temporary edges on both sides of the uncoated portion in the electrode from the first electrode image (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.”); and
detect final edges on the both sides of the uncoated portion from the second electrode image based on the pixel information (column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.;” column 5, line 66, “ From the thus-obtained binarized image, the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”).
Wakabayashi fails to explicitly disclose as further recited. However, Pillman discloses obtain a first electrode image of an electrode and a second electrode image of the electrode, wherein the first electrode image and the second electrode image are captured while the electrode is located at a same location (abstract, “In a method and digital camera, initial evaluation images of a scene are captured with the camera. A change in scene brightness between two or more of the evaluation images is computed. When the scene brightness change is outside a predetermined brightness range, a metric of scene-to-capture mismatch in the evaluation images is determined. When the brightness change and the metric are both outside predetermined ranges, the camera is shifted to a second capture state prior to the capturing of one or more additional evaluation images;” read in that depending on the brightness, additional images of the same scene are obtained)
Wakabayashi is directed toward, “A method for detecting an edge of a component mounted on a substrate (abstract)” Pillman is directed toward analyzing scene images obtained from a camera (abstract). As can be easily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date, Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward similar methods of endeavor of image processing. Further, Pillman allows for imaging the same scene under different parameters. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would be aware images obtained of a scene using different parameters allows for viewing features that may not be present in other images. As seen in Pillman in the abstract, “When the brightness change and the metric are both outside predetermined ranges, the camera is shifted to a second capture state prior to the capturing of one or more additional evaluation images.” Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Pillman to analyze one scene under different conditions to reveal additional scene information.
Regarding dependent claim 4, the rejection to claim 1 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi in the combination further discloses wherein the pixel information of the temporary edges on the both sides of the uncoated portion is obtained based on detection of the temporary edges on the both sides of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.”)
Regarding dependent claim 7, the rejection to claim 1 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi in the combination further discloses wherein the final edges include a first final edge and a second final edge, and wherein the instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to
obtain pixel coordinate information of the first temporary edge and the second temporary edge ( column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A;” detecting an edge is read as determining coordinate information (i.e. to know where an edge is, there must be some sort of coordinate data)),
obtain a first virtual edge corresponding to a location of the first temporary edge ( column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A;” the virtual data is just read as the first location data of one edge );
obtain a second virtual edge corresponding to a location of the second temporary edge ( column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A;” the virtual data is just read as the second location data of another edge );
determine a first inspection area and a second inspection area based on the first virtual edge and the second virtual edge, respectively, and detect the first final edge and the second final edge from the first inspection area and the second inspection area, respectively (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.;” column 5, line 66, “ From the thus-obtained binarized image, the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”).
Regarding dependent claim 8, the rejection to claim 7 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi in the combination further discloses wherein the instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to detect-the first final edge and the second final edge based on first pixels having a first maximum value in difference of a brightness value compared to neighboring pixels within the first inspection area (column 5, line 67, “the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”); and
second pixels having a second maximum value in difference of brightness value compared to neighboring pixels within the second inspection area (column 5, line 67, “the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”).
Regarding independent claim 9, the rejection of claim 1 applies directly. Additionally, Wakabayashi discloses A method for detecting edges of uncoated regions within battery electrodes (column 1, line 9, “The present invention relates to a component edge detecting method, a component edge detecting program and a component inspection apparatus, and, in particular, to a component edge detecting method applicable to an appearance inspection for an electronic component mounted on a printed circuit substrate, a component edge detecting program for causing a computer to execute the method, and a component inspection apparatus carrying out this method.” Column 3, line 56, “According to the present invention, for the purpose of achieving the above-mentioned object, a first edge detecting step detecting an edge of a component from image data of the component based on a predetermined first characteristic; and a second edge detecting step detecting an edge of the component from the image data of the component based on a predetermined second characteristic are carried out.”), the method comprising:
obtaining pixel information of temporary edges on both sides of the uncoated portion in the electrode from the first electrode image (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.”); and
detecting final edges on the both sides of the uncoated portion from the second electrode image based on the pixel information (column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.;” column 5, line 66, “ From the thus-obtained binarized image, the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”).
Wakabayashi fails to explicitly disclose as further recited. However, Pillman discloses acquiring a first electrode image and a second electrode image wherein the first electrode image and the second electrode image are captured while the electrode is located at a same location (abstract, “In a method and digital camera, initial evaluation images of a scene are captured with the camera. A change in scene brightness between two or more of the evaluation images is computed. When the scene brightness change is outside a predetermined brightness range, a metric of scene-to-capture mismatch in the evaluation images is determined. When the brightness change and the metric are both outside predetermined ranges, the camera is shifted to a second capture state prior to the capturing of one or more additional evaluation images;” read in that depending on the brightness, additional images of the same scene are obtained)
Wakabayashi is directed toward, “A method for detecting an edge of a component mounted on a substrate (abstract)” Pillman is directed toward analyzing scene images obtained from a camera (abstract). As can be easily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date, Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward similar methods of endeavor of image processing. Further, Pillman allows for imaging the same scene under different parameters. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would be aware images obtained of a scene using different parameters allows for viewing features that may not be present in other images. As seen in Pillman in the abstract, “When the brightness change and the metric are both outside predetermined ranges, the camera is shifted to a second capture state prior to the capturing of one or more additional evaluation images.” Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Pillman to analyze one scene under different conditions to reveal additional scene information.
Regarding dependent claim 12, the rejection to claim 9 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi in the combination further discloses further comprising: detecting the temporary edges on the both sides of the uncoated portion is obtained based on detection of the temporary edges on the both sides of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.”);
And wherein obtaining pixel coordinate information of the temporary edges is based on detection of the temporary edges (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.”)
Regarding dependent claim 15, the rejection of claim 9 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi further discloses wherein the final edges include a first final edge and a second final edge, wherein detecting the final edges includes:
obtaining pixel coordinate information of a first temporary edge and a second temporary edge ( column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A;” detecting an edge is read as determining coordinate information (i.e. to know where an edge is, there must be some sort of coordinate data));
obtaining a first virtual edge corresponding to a location of the first temporary edge ( column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A;” the virtual data is just read as the first location data of one edge );
obtaining a second virtual edge corresponding to a location of the second temporary edge ( column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A;” the virtual data is just read as the second location data of another edge ); and
determining a first inspection area and a second inspection area based on the first virtual edge and the second virtual edge, respectively (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.;” column 5, line 66, “ From the thus-obtained binarized image, the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”); and
detecting the first final edge and the second final edge from the first inspection area and the second inspection area, respectively (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.;” column 5, line 66, “ From the thus-obtained binarized image, the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”).
Regarding dependent claim 16, the rejection of claim 15 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi further discloses wherein the detecting the first final edge and the second final edge includes:
detecting pixels having a first maximum value in difference of brightness value compared to neighboring pixels within the first inspection area, as the first final edge (column 5, line 67, “the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”); and
detecting pixels having a second maximum value in difference of brightness value compared to neighboring pixels within the second inspection area, as the second final edge (column 5, line 67, “the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”).
Claim(s) 2-3 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wakabayashi and Pillman as applied to claims 1 and 9 respectively above, and further in view of U.S. Patent No. 9,813,635 to Richards (hereinafter Richards).
Regarding dependent claim 2, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi and Pillman in the combination fail to explicitly disclose wherein the instructions are configured to casue the at least one processor to adjusting an exposure value of a camera so that a pixel brightness value of the uncoated portion in the first electrode image equals to a predetermined first threshold value.
However, Richards discloses wherein the instructions are configured to casue the at least one processor to adjusting an exposure value of a camera so that a pixel brightness value of the uncoated portion in the first electrode image equals to a predetermined first threshold value (column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.”).
Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward image processing. Richards is directed toward capturing images at different exposures (abstract). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would easily see Wakabayashi, Pillman and Richards are directed toward similar methods of image obtaining and processing. Further, one of ordinary skill in the art, which is further exemplified in Richards, would be aware different exposure reveals different information. Richards discloses at column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.” Thus, in order to get an accurate understanding of a scene, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Richards in order to ensure all details are captured, and retained for downstream processing.
Regarding dependent claim 3, the rejection of claim 2 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Richards in the combination further discloses wherein the instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to adjust the exposure value of the camera so that the pixel brightness value of the uncoated portion in the second electrode image equals to a predetermined second threshold value, wherein the predetermined second threshold value is different from the predetermined first threshold value (abstract, “An image can be captured as a captured image at a capture exposure. The exposure of a current iteration of the image can be changed by at least a fraction of an exposure value. A changed exposure image can be captured at the changed exposure value;” column 1, line 64, “FIG. 1 is an example illustration of a user device that can capture different exposure images of a scene to generate an HDR image from the combination of the different exposure images according to a possible embodiment;” column 4, line 58, “Therefore, if there is a very bright area, such as an area with lamps or sun, in the scene, then the histogram of a capture at normal exposure can have a high clipped value at the right end. ”… “ In this case, a capture at low exposure of the same scene can recover signals at the very bright area and have a smaller clipped value at the right end.” Column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.”).
One of ordinary skill in the art, which is further exemplified in Richards, would be aware different exposure reveals different information within the image data. Richards discloses at column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.” Thus, in order to get an accurate understanding of a scene, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Richards in order to alter exposure, effecting brightness, in order to ensure all details are captured, and retained for downstream processing.
Regarding dependent claim 10, the rejection of claim 9 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi and Pillman in the combination fail to explicitly disclose wherein the first electrode image is captured by adjusting an exposure value of a camera so that a pixel brightness value of the uncoated portion in the first electrode image equals to a predetermined first threshold value.
However, Richards discloses wherein the first electrode image is captured by adjusting an exposure value of a camera so that a pixel brightness value of the uncoated portion in the first electrode image equals to a predetermined first threshold value (column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.”).
Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward image processing. Richards is directed toward capturing images at different exposures (abstract). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would easily see Wakabayashi, Pillman and Richards are directed toward similar methods of image obtaining and processing. Further, one of ordinary skill in the art, which is further exemplified in Richards, would be aware different exposure reveals different information. Richards discloses at column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.” Thus, in order to get an accurate understanding of a scene, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Richards in order to ensure all details are captured, and retained for downstream processing.
Regarding dependent claim 11, the rejection of claim 10 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Richards in the combination further discloses wherein the second electrode image is captured by adjusting the exposure value of the camera so that the pixel brightness value of the uncoated portion in the second electrode image equals to a predetermined second threshold value, wherein the predetermined second threshold value is different from the predetermined first threshold value (abstract, “An image can be captured as a captured image at a capture exposure. The exposure of a current iteration of the image can be changed by at least a fraction of an exposure value. A changed exposure image can be captured at the changed exposure value;” column 1, line 64, “FIG. 1 is an example illustration of a user device that can capture different exposure images of a scene to generate an HDR image from the combination of the different exposure images according to a possible embodiment;” column 4, line 58, “Therefore, if there is a very bright area, such as an area with lamps or sun, in the scene, then the histogram of a capture at normal exposure can have a high clipped value at the right end. ”… “ In this case, a capture at low exposure of the same scene can recover signals at the very bright area and have a smaller clipped value at the right end.” Column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.”).
One of ordinary skill in the art, which is further exemplified in Richards, would be aware different exposure reveals different information within the image data. Richards discloses at column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.” Thus, in order to get an accurate understanding of a scene, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Richards in order to alter exposure, effecting brightness, in order to ensure all details are captured, and retained for downstream processing.
Claim(s) 5-6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wakabayashi and Pillman applied to claims 4 and 12 respectively above, and further in view of U.S. Patent No. 11,503,204 to Huang et al. (hereinafter Huang).
Regarding dependent claim 5, the rejection of claim 4 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi and Pillman in the combination fail to explicitly disclose wherein the instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to:
Detect-a first temporary edge located on a first side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using a derivative mask filter and
detect-a second temporary edge located on a second side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using the derivative mask filter.
However, Huang discloses wherein the instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to:
Detect-a first temporary edge located on a first side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using a derivative mask filter (column 1, line 67, “A gradient vector is determined for each of the plurality of pixels. The gradient vector for a given pixel includes differences in image intensity between the given pixel and one or more neighboring pixels of the given pixel. The method includes identifying a plurality of edge pixels, wherein the gradient vector for each of the plurality of edge pixels exceeds a first threshold value.;” column 12, line 36, “ In other words, at step 508, the edge detection and classification module 104 may determine whether the pixel is classified as an edge pixel in the nth image. In response to determining that the magnitude of the gradient vector of the pixel exceeds the first threshold value, the pixel is identified as an edge pixel;” the derivative mask is read as the magnitude of the gradient) and
detect-a second temporary edge located on a second side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using the derivative mask filter (column 1, line 6, “A gradient vector is determined for each of the plurality of pixels. The gradient vector for a given pixel includes differences in image intensity between the given pixel and one or more neighboring pixels of the given pixel. The method includes identifying a plurality of edge pixels, wherein the gradient vector for each of the plurality of edge pixels exceeds a first threshold value.;” column 12, line 36, “ In other words, at step 508, the edge detection and classification module 104 may determine whether the pixel is classified as an edge pixel in the nth image. In response to determining that the magnitude of the gradient vector of the pixel exceeds the first threshold value, the pixel is identified as an edge pixel;” the derivative mask is read as the magnitude of the gradient).
Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward image processing. Huang is directed toward “A method includes capturing an image using a content capture device with an initial image setting. The image includes a plurality of pixel groups, and a pixel group can have one or more pixels. A plurality of edge pixel groups is identified and then classified into two subsets. A first subset of saturated edge pixel groups includes edge pixel groups that have at least one neighboring pixel group with an image intensity exceeding a saturated intensity value. A second subset of non-saturated edge pixel groups includes edge pixel groups that have no neighboring pixel groups with an image intensity exceeding a saturated intensity value (abstract).” As can be easily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, Wakabayashi, Pillman and Huang are directed toward similar methods of endeavor of image analysis. Further, derivative mask filters are widely used in image processing by those of ordinary skill in the art before they are based on quantitative changes in pixel brightness. Brightness is an easily quantified measure of images, and quantification can occur quickly. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Huang in order to ensure the method used is efficient and accurate, while also being able to be processed on the raw image data (i.e. the brightness).
Regarding dependent claim 6, the rejection of claim 5 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi, Pillman and Huang in the combination fails to explicitly disclose wherein the derivative mask filter is a Sobel filter.
However, Huang discloses at column 1, line 67, “A gradient vector is determined for each of the plurality of pixels. The gradient vector for a given pixel includes differences in image intensity between the given pixel and one or more neighboring pixels of the given pixel. The method includes identifying a plurality of edge pixels, wherein the gradient vector for each of the plurality of edge pixels exceeds a first threshold value.;” Thus, Huang does disclose the use of a derivative mask filter. Further, a Sobel filter is read in this case as a well known alternative of mask filtering. Sobel filters are known to be simple, fast and accurate at edge detection in images.
It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Wakabayashi, Pillman and Huang in order to perform the edge segmentation using well known methods such as Sobel filtering that are fast and accurate.
Regarding dependent claim 13, the rejection of claim 12 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi and Pillman in the combination fail to explicitly disclose wherein detecting the temporary edges includes:
detecting a first temporary edge located on a first side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using a derivative mask filter
detecting a second temporary edge located on a second side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using the derivative mask filter.
However, Huang discloses wherein detecting the temporary edges includes:
Detecting a first temporary edge located on a first side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using a derivative mask filter (column 1, line 67, “A gradient vector is determined for each of the plurality of pixels. The gradient vector for a given pixel includes differences in image intensity between the given pixel and one or more neighboring pixels of the given pixel. The method includes identifying a plurality of edge pixels, wherein the gradient vector for each of the plurality of edge pixels exceeds a first threshold value.;” column 12, line 36, “ In other words, at step 508, the edge detection and classification module 104 may determine whether the pixel is classified as an edge pixel in the nth image. In response to determining that the magnitude of the gradient vector of the pixel exceeds the first threshold value, the pixel is identified as an edge pixel;” the derivative mask is read as the magnitude of the gradient); and
Detecting a second temporary edge located on a second side of the uncoated portion on the first electrode image using the derivative mask filter (column 1, line 67, “A gradient vector is determined for each of the plurality of pixels. The gradient vector for a given pixel includes differences in image intensity between the given pixel and one or more neighboring pixels of the given pixel. The method includes identifying a plurality of edge pixels, wherein the gradient vector for each of the plurality of edge pixels exceeds a first threshold value.;” column 12, line 36, “ In other words, at step 508, the edge detection and classification module 104 may determine whether the pixel is classified as an edge pixel in the nth image. In response to determining that the magnitude of the gradient vector of the pixel exceeds the first threshold value, the pixel is identified as an edge pixel;” the derivative mask is read as the magnitude of the gradient).
Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward image processing. Huang is directed toward “A method includes capturing an image using a content capture device with an initial image setting. The image includes a plurality of pixel groups, and a pixel group can have one or more pixels. A plurality of edge pixel groups is identified and then classified into two subsets. A first subset of saturated edge pixel groups includes edge pixel groups that have at least one neighboring pixel group with an image intensity exceeding a saturated intensity value. A second subset of non-saturated edge pixel groups includes edge pixel groups that have no neighboring pixel groups with an image intensity exceeding a saturated intensity value (abstract).” As can be easily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, Wakabayashi, Pillman and Huang are directed toward similar methods of endeavor of image analysis. Further, derivative mask filters are widely used in image processing by those of ordinary skill in the art before they are based on quantitative changes in pixel brightness. Brightness is an easily quantified measure of images, and quantification can occur quickly. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Huang in order to ensure the method used is efficient and accurate, while also being able to be processed on the raw image data (i.e. the brightness).
Regarding dependent claim 14, the rejection of claim 13 is incorporated herein. Additionally, Wakabayashi, Pillman and Huang in the combination fails to explicitly disclose wherein the derivative mask filter is a Sobel filter.
However, Huang discloses at column 1, line 67, “A gradient vector is determined for each of the plurality of pixels. The gradient vector for a given pixel includes differences in image intensity between the given pixel and one or more neighboring pixels of the given pixel. The method includes identifying a plurality of edge pixels, wherein the gradient vector for each of the plurality of edge pixels exceeds a first threshold value.;” Thus, Huang does disclose the use of a derivative mask filter. Further, a Sobel filter is read in this case as a well-known alternative of mask filtering. Sobel filters are known to be simple, fast and accurate at edge detection in images.
It would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Wakabayashi, Pillman and Huang in order to perform the edge segmentation using well known methods such as Sobel filtering that are fast and accurate.
Claim(s) 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wakabayashi, and further in view of Pillman and Richards.
Regarding independent claim 17, the rejection of claim 1 applies directly. Additionally, Wakabayashi discloses A system for detecting edges of an uncoated portion within battery electrodes (column 1, line 9, “The present invention relates to a component edge detecting method, a component edge detecting program and a component inspection apparatus, and, in particular, to a component edge detecting method applicable to an appearance inspection for an electronic component mounted on a printed circuit substrate, a component edge detecting program for causing a computer to execute the method, and a component inspection apparatus carrying out this method.” Column 3, line 56, “According to the present invention, for the purpose of achieving the above-mentioned object, a first edge detecting step detecting an edge of a component from image data of the component based on a predetermined first characteristic; and a second edge detecting step detecting an edge of the component from the image data of the component based on a predetermined second characteristic are carried out.”), the system comprising:
a camera (column 7, line 11, “a camera 11 photographing (or taking a photo of) the thus-lit printed circuit substrate 17.”) configured to generate a first electrode image (column 7, line 11, “a camera 11 photographing (or taking a photo of) the thus-lit printed circuit substrate 17.”); and
an edge detection apparatus configured to obtain the first electrode image and the second electrode image from the camera, to detect pixel information of temporary edges on both sides of the uncoated portion in the electrode from the first electrode image (claim 11, “each of said first and second edge detecting parts defines an edge detection target image area by a search window from the image of the component, and applies image data included in the thus-defined edge detection target image area for the edge detection;” column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.”), and detect final edges on both sides of the uncoated portion from the second electrode image based on the pixel information (column 9, line 18, “That is, when the edge 1 has been detected in Step S34 (OK), the size of the edge 2 search window to set is adjusted in response to the edge 1 detected position (Step S35). In other words, as shown in FIG. 8B, the inner side end (bottom end in the figure) of the search window is shifted to the outer direction, and as a result, the vertical length of the edge 2 search window can be reduced as shown in FIG. 8B from that of the edge 1 search window shown in FIG. 8A.;” column 5, line 66, “ From the thus-obtained binarized image, the edge 1, i.e., a boundary or the stepwise data shifting part between the inside and the outside of the component body at which the first threshold value is crossed is detected as the edge 1 (Step S15). Then, the thus-obtained edge 1 is output as the final edge for the product inspection (Step S16).”).
Wakabayashi fails to explicitly disclose as further recited. However, Pillman discloses a camera (column 4, line 48, “The camera can be a still camera, a video camera, or combine both capabilities.”) configured to generate a first electrode image and a second electrode image (abstract, “In a method and digital camera, initial evaluation images of a scene are captured with the camera. A change in scene brightness between two or more of the evaluation images is computed. When the scene brightness change is outside a predetermined brightness range, a metric of scene-to-capture mismatch in the evaluation images is determined. When the brightness change and the metric are both outside predetermined ranges, the camera is shifted to a second capture state prior to the capturing of one or more additional evaluation images;” read in that depending on the brightness, additional images of the same scene are obtained)), wherein the first electrode image and the second electrode image are captured while the electrode is located at a same location ((abstract, “In a method and digital camera, initial evaluation images of a scene are captured with the camera. A change in scene brightness between two or more of the evaluation images is computed. When the scene brightness change is outside a predetermined brightness range, a metric of scene-to-capture mismatch in the evaluation images is determined. When the brightness change and the metric are both outside predetermined ranges, the camera is shifted to a second capture state prior to the capturing of one or more additional evaluation images;” read in that depending on the brightness, additional images of the same scene are obtained)).
Wakabayashi is directed toward, “A method for detecting an edge of a component mounted on a substrate (abstract)” Pillman is directed toward analyzing scene images obtained from a camera (abstract). As can be easily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date, Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward similar methods of endeavor of image processing. Further, Pillman allows for imaging the same scene under different parameters. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would be aware images obtained of a scene using different parameters allows for viewing features that may not be present in other images. As seen in Pillman in the abstract, “When the brightness change and the metric are both outside predetermined ranges, the camera is shifted to a second capture state prior to the capturing of one or more additional evaluation images.” Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Pillman to analyze one scene under different conditions to reveal additional scene information.
Wakabayashi and Pillman fail to explicitly disclose as further recited. However, Richards discloses wherein the first electrode image and the second electrode image are captured with different brightness values, by adjusting an exposure value of the camera (abstract, “An image can be captured as a captured image at a capture exposure. The exposure of a current iteration of the image can be changed by at least a fraction of an exposure value. A changed exposure image can be captured at the changed exposure value;” column 1, line 64, “FIG. 1 is an example illustration of a user device that can capture different exposure images of a scene to generate an HDR image from the combination of the different exposure images according to a possible embodiment;” column 4, line 58, “Therefore, if there is a very bright area, such as an area with lamps or sun, in the scene, then the histogram of a capture at normal exposure can have a high clipped value at the right end. ”… “ In this case, a capture at low exposure of the same scene can recover signals at the very bright area and have a smaller clipped value at the right end.” Column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.).
Wakabayashi and Pillman are directed toward image processing. Richards is directed toward capturing images at different exposures (abstract). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would easily see Wakabayashi, Pillman and Richards are directed toward similar methods of image obtaining and processing. Further, one of ordinary skill in the art, which is further exemplified in Richards, would be aware different exposure reveals different information. Richards discloses at column 5, line 29, “ In this case, a capture at high exposure of the same scene shown in the image 800 can recover signals in the shadow areas and have a smaller clipped value at the left end shown in the histogram 900.” Thus, in order to get an accurate understanding of a scene, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Richards in order to ensure all details are captured, and retained for downstream processing.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
U.S. Publication No. 2019/0289200 discloses, “Enhanced battery edge detection devices, systems, and techniques are described herein. During an inspection process, an inspection system controls one or more non-visible light sources to illuminate a battery installed in an electronic device (abstract)”
Contact
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/COURTNEY JOAN NELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2661
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