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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: supervised training unit, self-supervised training unit in claim 10.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Objections
Claims (1, 10-11) are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claims (1, 10-11), the acronym of “2D” and “3D” should be defined. Appropriate correction is required.
Examiner Note
The claims have been evaluated under 35 U.S.C. §101 and are directed to patent eligible subject matter. While the claims appear to involve mathematical steps, the claims are integrated into a practical application because they recite steps/elements directed to a specific improvement such as enhancing the performance of the 3D pose estimation model (See ¶ 18). Accordingly, the claims are not directed to an abstract idea and no rejection under §101 is made.
MPEP 2106.05(a) states:
“After the examiner has consulted the specification and determined that the disclosed invention improves technology, the claim must be evaluated to ensure the claim itself reflects the disclosed improvement in technology. Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F.3d 1307, 1316, 120 USPQ2d 1353, 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (patent owner argued that the claimed email filtering system improved technology by shrinking the protection gap and mooting the volume problem, but the court disagreed because the claims themselves did not have any limitations that addressed these issues). That is, the claim must include the components or steps of the invention that provide the improvement described in the specification. However, the claim itself does not need to explicitly recite the improvement described in the specification”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) (1-4, 8, 10-11) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Iqbal et al. (hereinafter Iqbal)(US Publication 2021/0248772 A1)
Re claim 1, Iqbal discloses a method for training a 3D pose estimation model (See fig. 1: 102; ¶ 16, 20 where it teaches training a model for use in estimating 3D pose.), the method comprising: performing supervised training with respect to the 3D pose estimation model which receives 2D pose information and estimates 3D pose information (See fig. 1: 102; fig. 2; 3B; ¶ 16, 20, 23-25, 46-47, 53-56 where it teaches training a model for use in estimating 3D pose based on the 2.5D pose.); estimating 3D pose information by inputting 2D pose information to the 3D pose estimation model for which the supervised training is performed (See fig. 2; 3B; ¶ 16, 20, 23-25, 46-47, 53-56 where it teaches estimating 3D pose based on the 2.5D pose.); generating another 3D pose information regarding the 2D pose information (See fig. 2; 3B; ¶ 56 where it teaches generating 3D poses from two different views.); and performing self-supervised training with respect to the 3D pose estimation model by computing an error between the estimated 3D pose information and the generated another 3D pose information. (See fig. 3B; ¶ 56, 59 where it teaches a multi-view consistency loss LMC is determined based on the 3D poses.)
Re claim 2, Iqbal discloses wherein performing the supervised training comprises performing supervised training with respect to the 3D pose estimation model by using a training dataset which has an input of 2D pose information and has a label of 3D pose information. (See figs. 1-3; ¶ 16, 20, 23-25, 46-47, 53-56)
Re claim 3, Iqbal discloses generating 2D pose information from a 2D video, wherein estimating comprises inputting the generated 2D pose information to the 3D pose estimation model for which the supervised training is performed. (See figs. 1-3; ¶ 16, 20, 23-25, 46-47, 53-56)
Re claim 4, Iqbal discloses wherein generating another 3D pose information comprises generating another 3D pose information from the estimated 3D pose information. (See fig. 3B)
Re claim 8, Iqbal discloses estimating 3D pose information by inputting 2D pose information into the trained 3D pose estimation model. (See fig. 2-3)
Claims (10-11) have been analyzed and rejected w/r to claim 1 above.
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.
Claims (5-7) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iqbal et al (hereinafter Iqbal)(US Publication 2021/0248772 A1) in view of KR10-20220024517 (hereinafter Reference 1) (See Machine english translation)
Re claim 5, the reference of Iqbal fails to teach wherein generating another 3D pose information comprises: transforming the estimated 3D pose information into 2D pose information; and estimating another 3D pose information from the transformed 2D pose information.
However, Reference 1 does. (See Machine english translation) In the same field of endeavors, Reference 1 discloses and fairly suggest wherein generating another 3D pose information comprises: transforming the estimated 3D pose information into 2D pose information; and estimating another 3D pose information from the transformed 2D pose information. (Fitting the three-dimensional model may be performed by projecting the three-dimensional representation onto a two-dimensional image plane to generate a projected representation. The projecting step may be performed by taking into account the effects of perspective projection, and, if multiple views are available, using multiple views of the same object. It can then compare the respective positions of the projected representation to the object in a single two-dimensional image, and based on the comparison, for example, the difference of the object landmark positions in the training image 302 and the reprojected image. By determining the error value can be determined. Then, the parameters of the fused three-dimensional representation are adjusted based on the error value. The projection, comparison, measurement and adjustment may be iteratively repeated until the measured error value is below a predetermined threshold value or a threshold number of iterations is exceeded.)
Therefore, taking the combined teachings of Iqbal & Reference 1 as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to incorporate this feature into the system of Iqbal, in the manner as claimed and as taught by Reference 1, for the benefit adjusting/correcting the parameters of the 3D representation.
Re claim 6, the combination of Iqbal & Reference 1 discloses wherein estimating another 3D pose information comprises estimating 3D pose information which is outputted when the transformed 2D pose information is inputted to the 3D pose estimation model as another 3D pose information. (In Iqbal, see fig. 2-3)
Re claim 7, the combination of Iqbal & Reference 1 discloses wherein transforming comprises transforming the estimated 3D pose information into 2D pose information by projecting the estimated 3D pose information onto a 2D plane. (In Reference 1, see Machine english translation.)
Claim 9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iqbal et al (hereinafter Iqbal)(US Publication 2021/0248772 A1) in view of Guay et al. (hereinafter Guay)(US Publication 2022/0392099 A1)
Re claim 9, the reference of Iqbal fails to teach wherein the 2D video is a sign language video.
However, Guay does. (See ¶ 87) In the same field of endeavors, the reference of Guay discloses and fairly suggests wherein the 2D video is a sign language video.
Therefore, taking the combined teachings of Iqbal & Guay as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to incorporate this feature into the system of Iqbal, in the manner as claimed and as taught by Guay, for the benefit of identify gestures performed by an object. (See ¶ 87)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Akbas et al (US 10,853,970 B1) disclose a system for estimating a three dimensional pose of one or more persons in a scene.
Tremblay et al (US 2019/0355150 A1) disclose detecting and estimating the pose of an object using a neural network model.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEON FLORES whose telephone number is (571)270-1201. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am - 6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, HENOK SHIFERAW can be reached at 571-272-4637. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LEON FLORES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2676 July 29, 2026
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