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 .
The preliminary amendment filed on November 21, 2024 has been entered. Claims 1-16 are pending in this application.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 7 dependency is not clear. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gaspard et al. [US 20060007452 A1, hereafter Gaspard].
As per Claims 1, 9, 11 and 12, Gaspard teaches a method for evaluating at least one marker on a physical object for metrological detection of the object (Para 12, wherein a coded target used in photogrammetry), comprising the following steps:
providing at least one rendering of the marker, wherein the at least one rendering results in each case from a sensor detection (See fig. 2 and 3, Para 21),
determining a reference marking of the marker on the basis of the provided rendering of the marker, wherein the reference marking has at least two partial areas with different display properties (Para 68),
wherein the determining of the reference marking comprises the following steps to evaluate the marker for the metrological detection of the object:
transforming into one or more color spaces in the provided rendering of the marker to render the at least two partial areas of different display property with substantially the same display property (Para 68, wherein two types of targets are obtained starting from the color of this sector and therefore one coding bit more than with a target with n sectors and a single coding ring.),
recognizing the reference marking on the basis of the partial areas displayed with essentially the same display property (wherein detect the presence of the central area 12 of a target in the image),
providing a display of the at least two partial areas with the different display property (a white disk surrounded by a black disk or vice versa), and
recognizing at least one reference point of the reference marking on the basis of the provided display with the different display property (Para 75-80).
As per Claim 2, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 1, characterized in that the recognizing of the reference marking is performed using a circle or ellipse detector, and in that the recognizing of the reference point of the reference marking is performed, for example, using a gradient detector, edge detector, or histogram approach (See fig. 5 and 6, Para 75).
As per Claim 3, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 1, characterized in that the determining of the reference marking comprises the following steps: recognizing shapes, in particular circles or ellipses, in the provided rendering of the marker using a shape and in particular circle or ellipse recognition algorithm, checking the recognized shapes for plausibility using the different display properties, recognizing one or more intersection points of the partial areas on the basis of the tested shapes in order to determine the reference point as a result in each case, wherein the determined results are combined with one another (Para 80-85).
As per Claim 4, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 1, characterized in that the marker is designed as a ring-coded marker, wherein the reference marking is surrounded by ring segments or concentric rings that form a ring code (See fig. 2 and 3).
As per Claim 5, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 4, characterized in that a non-symmetrical marking element is provided at the marker to indicate a starting position for decoding the ring code (Para 66).
As per Claim 6, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 1, characterized in that the partial areas are designed as quarter circles, adjacent partial areas differing with respect to their display property (See fig. 2-3).
As per Claim 7, Gaspard teaches the method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display property is a color, wherein the reference marking has a concentric edge which is designed with a different color than the partial areas (Para 12).
As per Claim 8, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 1, characterized in that the marker is designed as a ring-coded marker, wherein the color space of the provided rendering of the marker is transformed according to a first transformation such that a continuous ring of the ring-coded marker is obtained and is transformed according to a second transformation such that a decodable rendering of the ring-coded marker is obtained (Para 12).
As per Claim 10, Gaspard teaches the marker according to claim 9, characterized in that the marker is used as at least one evaluated marker (Para 46).
As per Claim 13, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 1, characterized in that reference point is a center of the reference marking (Para 65).
As per Claim 14, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 3 further comprising checking the recognized shapes for plausibility using different colors (Para 65).
As per Claim 15, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 3 further comprising recognizing the one or more intersection points of the partial areas on the basis of the tested shapes in order to determine the reference point and a center point (Para 77-80).
As per Claim 16, Gaspard teaches the method according to claim 6, wherein the adjacent partial areas differ with respect to their color (claim 12).
Conclusion
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/MESFIN T ASFAW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882