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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujioka (JP H06 109719A) (cited by Applicant) in view of Shelton et al. (2018/0003689).
Regarding claim 1, Fujioka teaches a quality management apparatus for cooked rice coated with a coating agent and conveyed, the quality management apparatus comprising: a multispectral sensor whose wavelength range includes at least a near-infrared region; and a hardware processor, wherein the multispectral sensor captures a multispectral signal of the cooked rice conveyed, wherein the hardware processor acquires and analyzes light absorption information of a plurality of wavelengths related to moisture absorption of the cooked rice from the captured multispectral signal of the cooked rice to calculate information indicating an amount of a moisture content of the cooked rice conveyed.
Fujioka lacks explicit teaching of the multispectral sensor is an imaging camera and the resultant signal is a two-dimensional moisture distribution.
Shelton teaches multispectral thermal imaging and detection of materials with two-dimensional distributions. (Shelton, abstract and throughout)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to use the imaging detector of Shelton in the rice quality control moisture detection system of Fujioka in order to analyze a greater volume of material.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the hardware processor creates a two-dimensional distribution image as the information indicating the two-dimensional distribution of the moisture content of the cooked rice, and causes a display part to show the two-dimensional distribution image and/or a statistical value of the moisture content in a predetermined region of the two-dimensional distribution image (Shelton, [0115]-[0117])
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the hardware processor acquires the light absorption information on the moisture absorption of the cooked rice of the plurality of wavelengths and performs regression analysis. (Fujioka, abstract)
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches a display part which shows a two-dimensional distribution image and/or a statistical value of the moisture content in a predetermined region of the two-dimensional distribution image as the information indicating the calculated two-dimensional distribution. (Fig. 2, display 108, Fig. 7)
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the coating agent is at least one or more of oil, sugar, protein, and egg. (Fujioka, abstract, final line, detection of amylose, which is a polysaccharide, and therefore includes the claimed material sugar)
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the two-dimensional distribution image is a heat map colored with a plurality of tone values or a plurality of colors. (Shelton, [0115])
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the hardware processor further causes the display part to show a transition of the statistical value. (Shelton, [0115]-[0117])
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the statistical value is at least one of an average value, a median value, and a standard deviation. (Shelton, [0066], the claimed mathematical elements are basic functions within spectral analysis)
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches an operation part with which a user can specify the predetermined region of the two-dimensional distribution image. (Shelton, [0082])
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the hardware processor further causes the display part to show a two-dimensional distribution image of a moisture content of cooked rice in past or a two-dimensional distribution image of a moisture content of ideal cooked rice. (Shelton, 0079])
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches the multispectral camera imager includes a hyperspectral camera. (Fujioka, abstract; Shelton, [0032])
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton teaches a quality management method for managing quality of cooked rice coated with a coating agent and conveyed, the method comprising: capturing a multispectral image of the conveyed cooked rice using a multispectral camera imager whose wavelength range including at least a near-infrared region; and acquiring and analyzing light absorption information of a plurality of wavelengths related to moisture absorption of the cooked rice from the captured multispectral image of the cooked rice to calculate information indicating a two-dimensional distribution of a moisture content of the cooked rice conveyed; and performing feedback control on the moisture content of the cooked rice based on the calculated information. (Fujioka, abstract; Shelton, abstract and throughout)
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Fujioka and Shelton further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for a computer of a quality management apparatus that manages a quality of cooked rice coated with a coating agent and conveyed, wherein the program causes the computer to: acquire and analyze light absorption information of a plurality of wavelengths related to moisture absorption of the cooked rice from a multispectral image of the cooked rice captured by a multispectral camera imager whose imaging wavelength range includes a near-infrared region to calculate information indicating a two-dimensional distribution of a moisture content of the cooked rice conveyed. (Fujioka, abstract; Shelton, abstract and throughout)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWIN C GUNBERG whose telephone number is (571)270-3107. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30AM-5:00PM.
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/EDWIN C GUNBERG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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