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
Foreign priority is not claimed.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/20/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-20 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 4-8, 1, 9-12, 14, 13, 13, 14, 16, 15, 16, 17, 16 and 19 of U.S. Patent No. 11922645 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both are directed to determination of transformation matrix to align the image data between first and second image data obtained. The only difference between the current application and the cited patent is that the features in the current application describes position of first subject obtained by first imaging device at that position and second subject obtained by the second imaging device at that position and aligning the data between first and second tracked positions of subject and the cited patent application describing aligning the first feature and second feature image data obtained at first and second imaging positions. The tracked first and second subject and first and second feature are similar in scope because the first tracked and second tracked subject inherently consist of first and second features. Therefore, claims are rejected.
Current Application
US Patent No. 11922645 B2
Claim 1. A method of generating a combined image from a plurality of image data, comprising:
accessing a first image data acquired at a first imager position of an imager;
accessing a second image data acquired at a second imager position of the imager;
recalling a first subject tracked position relative to the imager at the first imager position; recalling a second subject tracked position relative to the imager at the second imager position;
determining a transformation matrix to align the second image data to the first image data base on the recalled first subject tracked position and the recalled second subject tracked position; and
outputting the transformation matrix.
Claim 1. A method of generating a combined image from a plurality of image data, comprising:
accessing a first image data acquired at a first imager position of an imager;
accessing a second image data acquired at a second imager position of the imager;
determining a feature having stored predetermined dimensions in the first image data; determining the feature in the second image data;
determining an alignment transformation to align pixels or voxels of the feature between the first image data and the second image data without tracking a position of the imager;
wherein the alignment transformation is operable to align the first image data and the second image data based on the determined alignment transformation without tracking a position of the imager; and
outputting the alignment transformation operable to align the first image data and the second image data.
Claim 2
Claim 4
Claim 3
Claim 5
Claim 4
Claim 6
Claim 5
Claim 7
Claim 6
Claim 8
Claim 7
Claim 1
Claim 8
Claim 9
Claim 9
Claim 10
Claim 10
Claim 11
Claim 11
Claim 12
Claim 12
Claim 14
Claim 13
Claim 13
Claim 14
Claim 13
Claim 15
Claim 14
Claim 16
Claim 16
Claim 17
Claim 15
Claim 18
Claim 16
Claim 19
Claim 17
Claim 20
Claim 16 and 19
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. non-statutory double patenting, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US-10489912-B1 (Brailovskiy et al., an electronic device can have two or more pairs of cameras capable of performing three-dimensional imaging. In order to provide accurate disparity information, these cameras should be sufficiently rectified. Automatic rectification can be performed by periodically capturing images with a pair of front-facing cameras, and locating matching facial or other feature points in corresponding images captured by those cameras. Small misalignment errors can be treated as linear translations, such that a set of linear equations can be used to solve for the misalignments. Another process can process a set of homographies for the cameras until a cost function converges. Various other approaches can be used as well, such as to directly solve for yaw, pitch, and roll errors. Once this information is obtained, the misalignment values (or related values) can be stored for use in correcting images subsequently captured by those cameras, Abstract)
US-20170094259-A1 (Kouperman et al., [0066], Techniques related to 3D image capture with
dynamic cameras; process 600 then may include align the frames by determining whether a difference of points on the frames meets a criteria” 630. Two cameras may be selected, one of which may be the master camera. By one example, a search may be performed to find two frames of the two cameras and with the same timestamp that are sufficiently overlapping so that the two frames can be aligned. Thus, process 600 may include “use iterative closest point algorithms to determine alignment” 632. As with the frame sequence registration, for the camera alignment of the paired frames, a frame of the master camera is selected and compared to the frames of the same timestamp. This is repeated until the alignment of two frames meets a criteria (such as an alignment threshold). The alignment threshold may be determined by trial and error as explained for the frame sequence registration threshold described above. When a result of the alignment calculation indicates a confidence alignment threshold is reached, process 600 may include “set a translation matrix for aligned frames that meet the criteria” 634. The translation matrix transforms a 3D object from one view point (a first camera) to another viewpoint (a second camera) assuming both cameras are pointed at the same object with sufficient area of congruence such that the transform matrix indicates the location of the image data of the second camera, and in turn the second camera's position, with respect to the location of the image data of the first camera, and in turn the position of the first camera, abstract, [0066]).
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/Pinalben Patel/Examiner, Art Unit 2673
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