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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: while the specification refers to, regarding drawing Figure 2, computer-based system 201 and Processing Memory Circuitry (PMC) 202, these reference numbers do not exist in Figure 2. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because it includes reference characters which are not enclosed within parentheses but enclosed with brackets. Reference characters corresponding to elements recited in the detailed description of the drawings and used in conjunction with the recitation of the same element or group of elements in the claims should be enclosed within parentheses so as to avoid confusion with other numbers or characters which may appear in the claims. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1, 13, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1step (a) recites the limitation a) convert the updated geometrical parameters generated in the current iteration to a corresponding contour of a reference shape. This limitation would at least put the reader in doubt because no update or modification is done to the geometrical parameters. While the obtained contour associated with the quadrilateral shape is smoothed, no such operation is done to a contour of a reference shape, wherein the geometrical parameters are obtained from. A similar limitation also occurs in claims 13 and 19. Please clarify.
Since claims 2-12, 14-18, and 20 directly or indirectly depend on claims 1, 13, and 19 respectively, they are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for the same reasons set forth above for claims 1, 13, and 19.
Claim 13 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 13 recites the limitation [not necessarily with rounded corners] and is considered indefinite because it creates uncertainty about the exact boundaries of the invention. Please clarify.
Claims (1 and 13) and 19 recites the limitation "the updated geometrical parameters" in lines 9 and 11 respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims.
Prior Art
The prior art to: Kris, et al. (WO 2005/015500 A1) disclose an image processor that receives a definition of a contour in an image, wherein the contour is typically the edge of a feature of interest in the image. The image processor locates curved segments of the contour, which typically correspond to comers of the feature, and then applies a smoothing function to reduce the noise associated with the curves. Typically, the smoothing function comprises a polynomial, such as a spline, which the image processor fits to each of the comers. The smoothed curve is then transformed from Cartesian coordinates to a natural coordinate system, in which each point along the curve is represented by its distance along the curve from the origin and the slope of a tangent to the curve at the point (See for example, pages 2-3); Yan (US 10,635,776) at col. 2, line 55 – col. 3, line 15 discloses: “ . . . a polygon layout plus a model that specifies the amount of corner rounding are taken as inputs. The desired amount of rounding to the corners in the input polygons is applied and this produces a new polygon layout with corners that are properly rounded as its output. The process can be implemented so that it does not induce any pattern-size dependent bias. It also can be designed so that it does not induce line-end pullbacks. However, this feature can be turned off if line-end pullbacks are deemed appropriate for the specific application. In some versions, different radii for the corner rounding may be applied to different corners. In one embodiment, the radii are defined by two numbers: the inner radius to be applied to concave corners and the outer radius to be applied to convex corners. In another embodiment, the radius is specified by a general model, which calculates the amount of corner rounding from the coordinates of the three consecutive vertices that form the corner. In yet another embodiment, the amount of corner rounding for each corner is pre-computed offline and stored as a lookup table. The lookup table is consulted at run-time to apply corner rounding to input polygons. Some versions allow the user to control how smooth the rounded corners should be, by specifying the desired number of line segments used to represent each rounded corner. This provides a way for the user to make trade-offs between model accuracy and run time.”; and Li, et al. (Computer English Translation of Chinese Patent No. CN 114742853 A) disclose method based on feature fitting of sheet metal rectangular outline three-dimensional measuring method, comprising: S1, canny edge detection is carried out on the sheet metal part images preprocessed by a left camera and a right camera to obtain a primary edge, and contour extraction and identification are carried out to obtain a parallelogram contour; S2, fitting four edges of the parallelogram contour to obtain a fitted quadrilateral contour; S3, integrally matching the quadrilateral contour, and then matching corresponding points of the matched contour to realize three dimensional reconstruction, as shown in figure 1; S4, performing three-dimensional rectangular fitting on the reconstructed contour point cloud to obtain a rectangular central point, a length direction, a width direction and a size; if the rectangular shape is a rounded corner rectangle, additionally performing rounded corner fitting; otherwise, no fitting is performed (See page 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 will be allowable if applicant overcomes the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US Patent No. 10,635,776; WO 2005/015500 A1; and Computer English Translation of Chinese Patent No. CN 114742853 A.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL G MARIAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7394. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:00 EST.
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/DANIEL G MARIAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2675
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