DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suh Seok Rok (KR 2012-0139179A) in view of Drake et al. (US 20140244318 A1) further in view of Van Wynsberghe (US 20180294870 A1).
In regard to claim 16, Suh Seok Rok teaches a small area wildfire monitoring system (Rok, Fig. 1, a forest fire monitoring system 100) comprising: receiving, at the processor from a satellite, location information for a balloon deployed within the area of interest (Rok, Page. 7, Para. 9, the surveillance image acquisition unit 210 may include a Global Positioning System (GPS) module to acquire its own position coordinate value through a GPS function and transmit the position coordinate value to the monitor device 140 together with the surveillance image); determining, using the processor and based on one or more different types of sensor data that is received from one or more different types of sensors on the balloon and the balloon location, one or more wildfire locations (Rok, Page. 3, Para. 15-16, the monitor device 140 analyzes each received surveillance image (S440). That is, the monitor device 140 may distinguish the color indicating a portion having a high temperature for a predetermined time or more for each received surveillance image, and determine that a fire occurs when the divided color is a color indicating a fire; Page 4, Para. 1-3, That is, the monitor device 140 stores location information corresponding to each unique identifier ID, as shown in FIG. 5, so that each unique device received together with each surveillance image from two or more thermal image sensing devices. The location information stored in correspondence with the ID may be alerted along with the occurrence of a fire);
Rok does not teach receiving, at a processor, an electronic map of an area of interest; embedding each of the wildfire locations on the electronic map to produce a fire activity map; and causing to display or displaying the fire activity map including the wildfire locations within the area of interest.
Drake teaches receiving, at a processor, an electronic map of an area of interest (Drake, Fig. 38; Para. 181, FIG. 38 is the updated wildfire risk, indicator screen, which is a view that can be seen both on the mobile application device (education users) and a web interface (for client users). This screen is updated daily to show wildfire status across a given geographic area, and potential wildfire risk values fall into four possible categories (see FIG. 51)); embedding each of the wildfire locations on the electronic map to produce a fire activity map; and causing to display or displaying the fire activity map including the wildfire locations within the area of interest (Drake, Fig. 34, active fires; Para. 170-172, he updated wildfire risk screenshot with a view set to only show active fires. This functionality allows users to browse current fire activity in a particular geographic map zoom and then navigate more deeply to learn about a given fire. In this example, users typically start by seeing an overview of the entire western United States, with fire graphics depicting map locations where an active fire is burning. Zooming in brings an area map into closer view, and touching any of the fire graphics brings up detailed information for the given fire. Additionally, the user can enter a longitude and latitude, zip code, city, or fire name into a search dialogue to bring up information regarding a given fire or fire location).
Rok and Drake are analogous art because they all pertain to monitoring wildfire risk.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to display active fire information on a geographic map (as taught by Drake) in order to allow a user to see a spectrum of fire risk based on geographic location.
Combination of Rok and Drake do not teach using a high-altitude balloon for wildfire monitoring.
However, Van teaches a high-altitude balloon for wildfire monitoring (Van, Fig. 1, Para. 14, A geostationary balloon platform located at high altitude could offer economically and strategically advantageous methods of data collection and transmission compared to orbiting space satellites, telecommunication towers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as drones, and other forms of high-altitude balloons; potential applications include search-and-rescue operations, disaster relief, national defence, border patrol, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gathering and relaying, emergency communication restoration, remote sensing, surveying and mapping, forest-fire and other disaster detection, environmental monitoring, climate and science research, astronomy, meteorology, and education).
Rok, Drake, and Van are analogous art because they all pertain to wildfire data collection.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a high-altitude balloon for data collection (as taught Van) resulting in a predictable result of detecting wildfire in a designated zone.
In regard to claim 17, Combination of Rok, Drake, and Van teach the method of displaying the small area wildfire monitoring system of claim 16, further comprising: determining, using the processor and based on one or more of the different types of sensor data, at least one wildfire characteristic selected from a group comprising a time of ignition of the small area wildfire, size of the small area wildfire, rate of growth of the small area wildfire, smoke thickness, smoke depth, and direction of growth of the small area; and presenting, on the fire activity map, a visual representation of at least one of the wildfire characteristics adjacent to each of the wildfire locations (Drake, Para. 171, Once an active fire has been selected, the user receives detail in the term of a daily fire situation report and map. This situation report gathers information about a given wildfire's spread, expected growth/direction, areas a affected and areas threatened. Additionally, the user can read basic summary data about a given fire, including size, date(s) of activity, percent containment, etc).
In regard to claim 18, Combination of Rok, Drake, and Van teach the method of displaying the small area wildfire monitoring system of claim 17, further comprising generating an audio and/or visual alert when at least one wildfire characteristic exceeds a predetermined threshold value (Drake, Para. 68 and 182, wildfire risk alerts for mobile device application users (used to aid preparedness efforts for both client/insurer users and their policyholders), strategies for client-to-policyholder wildfire awareness communication (used to provide detailed updates and recommendations for preparedness), and strategies for wildfire response teams (used to drive pre-suppression and active fire actions)).
In regard to claim 19, Combination of Rok, Drake, and Van teach the method of displaying the small area wildfire monitoring system of claim 16, further comprising: receiving and/or determining, based on one or more of the different types of sensor data, at least one type of wildfire growth factor selected from a group comprising topography of land surrounding the wildfire location (Drake, Para. 98, This location-based risk value is determined by computing a multitude of wildfire risk factors known to impact a site's potential for wildfire ignition. The location-based risk model is built using the 40 Scott and Burgan fire behavior fuel models. Landscape fuel models include, but are not limited to: elevation, slope, aspect, fuel model, canopy cover, canopy base height, canopy height, and canopy bulk density. Fuel landscape files are loaded into fire behavior analysis and mapping software), vegetation type and density, moisture content of the ground and/or vegetation, previous wildfire perimeters, atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, weather forecast, roads and highways, proximity to homes, towns, cities, and infrastructure, and population density (Drake, Para. 173, A spectrum of colors indicating severity of threat allows users to see geographic fire risk broken down by various wildfire factors, including fire history, predominant vegetative fuel type, topography, climate, etc. This information would need to be multiplied by site data (site-based risk assessment) to obtain the full picture of a given property's risk); and presenting, on the fire activity map, a visual representation of at least one of the wildfire characteristics adjacent to one or more of the wildfire locations (Drake, Para. 167, updated wildfire risk breakout. Wildfire risk factors typically follow seasonal patterns based on changing climactic conditions and, in a common scenario, are lowest in the winter and highest in the summer. Climactic conditions that can change to affect a given property threat include, but are not limited to, humidity, temperature and wind. A property's threat level increases in accordance with whether it is non-wildfire season, wildfire season, wildfire season with red-flag warnings affecting the area, and wildfire season with active wildfire (a wildfire burning within three miles of the property)).
In regard to claim 20, Combination of Rok, Drake, and Van teach the method of displaying the small area wildfire monitoring system of claim 19, further comprising: calculating, based on one or more of the wildfire locations, at least one wildfire characteristic and/or at least one wildfire growth factor, a wildfire growth pattern for at least one of the small area wildfires that may endanger critical land, infrastructure, and/or human life; and generating an audio and/or visual alert when the wildfire growth pattern exceeds a predetermined wildfire growth pattern criteria (Drake, Para. 167-168, Wildfire risk factors typically follow seasonal patterns based on changing climactic conditions and, in a common scenario, are lowest in the winter and highest in the summer; During wildfire season when a wildfire ignites and is burning within three miles of a given property, the property is at heightened risk; in this case, a multiplier of four (4) is used to indicate increasing threat).
Claim(s) 21 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suh Seok Rok (KR 2012-0139179A) in view of Drake et al. (US 20140244318 A1) and Van Wynsberghe (US 20180294870 A1) and further in view of Anand (US 20220129681 A1).
In regard to claim 21, Combination of Rok, Drake, and Van teach the small area wildfire monitoring system of claim 16, further comprising: presenting, on the fire activity map, a real-time visual representation of one or more of the firefighting attributes (Drake, Para. 171, the user can read basic summary data about a given fire, including size, date(s) of activity, percent containment, etc.).
Combination of Rok, Drake, and Van do not specifically teach receiving and/or determining, based on one or more of the different types of sensor data, one or more firefighting attributes that are responding to the small area wildfire, wherein at least one firefighting attribute is selected from a group comprising hand crew, number of persons within the hand crew, smoke jumping crew, number of persons within the smoke jumping crew, helicopter, fire engine, crew transport vehicle, bulldozer, masticator, tractor plow, water tender, and air tanker; and presenting, on the fire activity map, a real-time visual representation of one or more of the firefighting attributes.
However Anand teaches receiving and/or determining, based on one or more of the different types of sensor data, one or more firefighting attributes that are responding to the small area wildfire, wherein at least one firefighting attribute is selected from a group comprising hand crew, number of persons within the hand crew, smoke jumping crew, number of persons within the smoke jumping crew, helicopter, fire engine, crew transport vehicle, bulldozer, masticator, tractor plow, water tender, and air tanker (Anand, Para. 25, After each artillery shell fires unto a targeted wildfire the system 200 initiates continuous monitoring of the wildfire at step 104. Additional images are analyzed. The fire location is updated with new wildfire location coordinates, which are sent to the system 200. The unit 240 assess weather conditions 110 simultaneously and sends wind speed and humidity information (at the wildfire site) to the processing system 104. The system 200 immediately sends adjusted artillery coordinates and fire-retardant projectile firing rate to the delivery unit 230. The fire-retardant projectile firing rate and trajectory can be adjusted to match the wildfire's progress, for example every ten seconds. The camera(s) continues to monitor the selected target wildfire to continuously detect its course. Wind patterns and humidity levels at the site of the wildfire are also continuously monitored by the unit 240. The location and movement data for the wildfire along with the weather conditions at the wildfire site are continuously fed into the management unit 210, either to control the delivery unit 230, which will continue to fire additional fire-retardant into the wildfire, onto its path, or to stop firing once the wildfire is contained, under control, or emergency services deem it appropriate).
Rok, Drake, Van, and Anand are analogous art because they all pertain to monitoring wildfire risk.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to continuously monitor wildfire’s progress (as taught by Anand) in order to determine either to control the delivery unit 230, which will continue to fire additional fire-retardant into the wildfire, onto its path, or to stop firing once the wildfire is contained, under control, or emergency services deem it appropriate.
In regard to claim 22, Combination of Rok, Drake, Van, and Anand teach the small area wildfire monitoring system of claim 21, further comprising: identifying, based on one or more of the firefighting attributes and/or one or more of the different types of sensor data, one or more wildfire suppression activities that are selected from a group comprising firebreak, vegetation clearing, back burns, and water and/or fire retardant drops (Anand, Para. 28, the management unit 210 send a control signal to delivery unit 230 to begin delivery (firing artillery) of flame retardant projectiles unto the wildfire or in the path of the wildfire. At step 316, the system 200 (the management unit 210) notifies wildfire responders. The process 300 continues to step 318, wherein feedback is provided to the detection unit 220, which is used to update and train the Al model); and presenting, on the fire activity map, a visual representation of one or more of the wildfire suppression activities (Drake, Para. 171, the user can read basic summary data about a given fire, including size, date(s) of activity, percent containment, etc.).
Claim(s) 23-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suh Seok Rok (KR 2012-0139179A) in view of Ton-That et al. (US 20210192932 A1) and Drake et al. (US 20140244318 A1) and further in view of Van Wynsberghe (US 20180294870 A1).
In regard to claim 23, Rok teaches a wildfire detection and monitoring system (Rok, Fig. 1, a forest fire monitoring system 100) comprising: a balloon deployed over an area of interest (Rok, Page 4, Para. 3, the thermal image detection device attached to a plurality of balloons floated from the top of the mountain to a certain height, and transmits the surveillance image photographing the surrounding scene at a predetermined angle to the monitoring device by wireless communication); a global positioning system ("GPS") receiver, coupled to the balloon, configured to obtain balloon location information (Rok, Page. 7, Para. 9, the surveillance image acquisition unit 210 may include a Global Positioning System (GPS) module to acquire its own position coordinate value through a GPS function and transmit the position coordinate value to the monitor device 140 together with the surveillance image); one or more sensors, coupled to the balloon, configured to obtain one or more images (Rok, page 3, Para. 4, Thermal image sensing device 120 is attached to a plurality of predetermined position in the downward direction along the line from the balloon mechanism 110, each thermal image sensing device 120 is provided with a thermal image sensor to provide a thermal image sensor Through the wireless communication to transmit the surveillance image photographing the scene within a certain shooting angle through the monitor device (140)); one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the GPS receiver and one or more of the sensors, one or more of the processors operative to perform the following instructions: receiving, from a global positioning system ("GPS") the GPS receiver, balloon location information (Rok, Page. 7, Para. 9, the surveillance image acquisition unit 210 may include a Global Positioning System (GPS) module to acquire its own position coordinate value through a GPS function and transmit the position coordinate value to the monitor device 140 together with the surveillance image); and determining, from one or more of the sensors on a balloon and the balloon location, one or more wildfire locations (Rok, Page. 3, Para. 15-16, the monitor device 140 analyzes each received surveillance image (S440). That is, the monitor device 140 may distinguish the color indicating a portion having a high temperature for a predetermined time or more for each received surveillance image, and determine that a fire occurs when the divided color is a color indicating a fire; Page 4, Para. 1-3, That is, the monitor device 140 stores location information corresponding to each unique identifier ID, as shown in FIG. 5, so that each unique device received together with each surveillance image from two or more thermal image sensing devices. The location information stored in correspondence with the ID may be alerted along with the occurrence of a fire);
Rok does not teach memory for storing an electronic map of the area of interest that includes one or more property boundaries and a landowner of each property within one or more of the property boundaries; receiving, from memory, the electronic map of an area of interest, wherein the electronic map includes at least one map attribute selected from a group comprising, infrastructure, waterways, bodies of water, roadways, contour lines, embedding each of the wildfire locations on the electronic map to produce a fire activity map; and a communication transmitter, coupled to the processor, for transmitting the fire activity map to at least one party of interest responsible for responding to the wildfire.
However, Ton-That teaches memory for storing an electronic map of the area of interest (Ton-That, Fig. 8, wildfire risk map 800) that includes one or more property boundaries and a landowner of each property within one or more of the property boundaries (Ton-That, Para. 51, the wildfire risk map 800 includes property boundaries 802 with building footprints 804, including building footprint 804A, 804B, 804C, and 804D for properties 805A, 805B, 805C, and 805D; Para. 44, image data 602 can be accessed from the aerial imagery data 119 of FIG. 1 and be stored as part of datasets 122 of FIG. 1. Location specific data 604 can be accessed from the property data 121 of FIG. 1 and/or other sources and be stored as part of location specific data 124 of FIG. 1.; Para. 29, In the case of preparing a quote for an insurance policy or other purpose, the result of a wildfire risk scoring computation based on comparing contents of a record to one or more scoring thresholds can be forwarded with the record to another application and/or user identifier associated with the property; therefore it’s obvious that the property data includes information on user/property owner associated with the property); receiving, from memory, the electronic map of an area of interest, wherein the electronic map includes at least one map attribute selected from a group comprising, infrastructure, waterways, bodies of water, roadways, contour lines (Ton-That, Fig. 9, Para. 52, geographic features 900 can include one or more of: an elevation 904, a body of water 906, and a type of ground covering 908. The geographic features 900 may be observed in a combination of image data and map data from the aerial imagery data 119 and/or maps 123 of FIG. 1 for the AI models 126 of FIG. 1 to predict the fire path spread pattern 902. Changes in elevation 904, such as hills and valleys can impact the fire path spread pattern 902 of a wildfire 901); and a communication transmitter, coupled to the processor, for transmitting the fire activity map to at least one party of interest responsible for responding to the wildfire (Ton-That, Fig. 10; Para. 53, The remote user interface 1000 can output a notification 1004 of a fire event and a fire spread path with a fire arrival time 1006 and a recommended course of action 1008. The content provided to the remote user interface 1000 may be determined and transmitted from the data processing server 102 of FIG. 1; Para, 67, the data processing server 102 can monitor for a fire event proximate to the geographic area. At step 1704, the data processing server 102 can predict a fire spread path based on the fire event and the wildfire risk map 800, such as fire path spread pattern 810, 902 with respect to a wildfire 901; At step 1714, the data processing server 102 can output the prediction of the fire arrival time 1006 with the notification 1004 of the fire event and the fire spread path to the user interface).
Rok and Ton-That are analogous art because they both pertain to Wildfire monitoring.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to store map data including property data and geographic data (as taught by Ton-That) in order to provide improved notification of a fire event and a fire spread path with a fire arrival time and a recommended course of action.
Combination of Rok and Ton-That do not specifically teach embedding each of the wildfire locations on the electronic map to produce a fire activity map.
However, Drake teaches embedding each of the wildfire locations on the electronic map to produce a fire activity map (Drake, Fig. 34, active fires; Para. 170-172, the updated wildfire risk screenshot with a view set to only show active fires. This functionality allows users to browse current fire activity in a particular geographic map zoom and then navigate more deeply to learn about a given fire. In this example, users typically start by seeing an overview of the entire western United States, with fire graphics depicting map locations where an active fire is burning. Zooming in brings an area map into closer view, and touching any of the fire graphics brings up detailed information for the given fire. Additionally, the user can enter a longitude and latitude, zip code, city, or fire name into a search dialogue to bring up information regarding a given fire or fire location);
Rok, Ton-That, and Drake are analogous art because they all pertain to monitoring wildfire risk.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to display active fire information on a geographic map (as taught by Drake) in order to allow a user to see a spectrum of fire risk based on geographic location.
Combination of Rok, Ton-That, and Drake do not teach using a high-altitude balloon for wildfire monitoring.
However, Van teaches a high-altitude balloon for wildfire monitoring (Van, Fig. 1, Para. 14, A geostationary balloon platform located at high altitude could offer economically and strategically advantageous methods of data collection and transmission compared to orbiting space satellites, telecommunication towers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as drones, and other forms of high-altitude balloons; potential applications include search-and-rescue operations, disaster relief, national defence, border patrol, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gathering and relaying, emergency communication restoration, remote sensing, surveying and mapping, forest-fire and other disaster detection, environmental monitoring, climate and science research, astronomy, meteorology, and education).
Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van are analogous art because they all pertain to wildfire data collection.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention use a high-altitude balloon for data collection (as taught Van) resulting in a predictable result of detecting wildfire in a designated zone.
In regard to claim 24, Combination of Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van teach the fire detection system of claim 23, wherein the high-altitude balloon is geostationary (Van, Fig. 1, Para. 14, A geostationary balloon platform located at high altitude could offer economically and strategically advantageous methods of data collection and transmission compared to orbiting space satellites, telecommunication towers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as drones, and other forms of high-altitude balloons; potential applications include search-and-rescue operations, disaster relief, national defence, border patrol, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gathering and relaying, emergency communication restoration, remote sensing, surveying and mapping, forest-fire and other disaster detection, environmental monitoring, climate and science research, astronomy, meteorology, and education).
In regard to claim 25, Combination of Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van teach the fire detection system of claim 23, wherein the high-altitude balloon is deployed for a period that ranges from between about 100 days and 200 days (Van, Para. 15, The platform could provide a relatively easily deployable, long duration, sustainable solution for many high altitude services valuable to both scientific and commercial endeavours. The platform offers more power (kilowatts, and conceivably megawatts, instead of watts or milliwatts), longer flight times (months instead of days or hours), stable position, minimal ground footprint (no long runways) compared to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)).
In regard to claim 26, Combination of Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van teach the fire detection system of claim 23, wherein the high-altitude balloon is deployed at an altitude that ranges from between about 59,000 feet and about 121,000 feet above sea level (Van, Para. 7, The altitude chosen in this embodiment is 25 km).
In regard to claim 29, Combination of Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van teach the fire detection system of claim 23, wherein one or more of the processors is located on the high-altitude balloon, on another high-altitude balloon, and/or earth-based (Rok, Fig. 1, monitoring device 140; Page 8, Para. 1-3, the monitor device 140 according to an embodiment of the present invention, it includes the communication unit 310, surveillance image analysis unit 320, storage unit 330, output unit 340 and alarm unit 350, etc. Surveillance image analysis unit 320 distinguishes the color indicating the portion of the high temperature over the received surveillance image, and if the separated color is a color indicating a fire alarm signal for whether or not a forest fire occurs Is output to the alarm unit 350, therefore it’s obvious that the monitoring device includes a processor that analysis information to output the alarm).
In regard to claim 30, Combination of Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van teach the fire detection system of claim 23, wherein the map includes one or more geofenced boundaries (Ton-That, Fig. 10; Para. 26, Features, such as property boundaries, can be extracted from the location specific data 124 to summarize features of specific properties, and wider-scale AI models 126 can be applied to discover neighborhood or regional patterns associated with a targeted geographic location).
In regard to claim 31, Combination of Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van teach the fire detection system of claim 23, further comprising a display interface for visually displaying the map of the area of interest, each of the wildfire locations, one or more of the property boundaries, a landowner of the wildfire location, and/or the party of interest for responding to the wildfire (Drake, Fig. 34, active fires; Para. 170-172, the updated wildfire risk screenshot with a view set to only show active fires. This functionality allows users to browse current fire activity in a particular geographic map zoom and then navigate more deeply to learn about a given fire. In this example, users typically start by seeing an overview of the entire western United States, with fire graphics depicting map locations where an active fire is burning. Zooming in brings an area map into closer view, and touching any of the fire graphics brings up detailed information for the given fire. Additionally, the user can enter a longitude and latitude, zip code, city, or fire name into a search dialogue to bring up information regarding a given fire or fire location);.
Claim(s) 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suh Seok Rok (KR 2012-0139179A) in view of Ton-That et al. (US 20210192932 A1) and Drake et al. (US 20140244318 A1) and further in view of Van Wynsberghe (US 20180294870 A1) and Dhawan et al. (US 11295131 B1).
In regard to claim 28, Combination of Rok, Ton-That, Drake, and Van do not specifically teach the fire detection system of claim 23, wherein one or more of the sensors is selected from a group comprising an Infrared and Near Infrared MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor, AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) sensor, VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensor, Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI), CO2 sensor, RADAR, LIDAR, Synthetic Aperture Radar, and high definition camera.
However, the concept of using a high definition camera for wildfire monitoring is well known in the art as also taught by Dhawan. Dhawan teaches the plurality of sensors as described herein comprises a temperature sensor 302, a smoke sensor 304, a high-definition camera 306, a smell sensor 308, an audio sensor 310, a heat sensor 312, atmospheric pressure sensor 314, Infra-Red (IR) sensor 316, a lightning detector 318, a wind speed sensor 320, a solar radiation sensor 322, a wind direction sensor 324, and a humidity sensor 326. The plurality of sensors are configured to periodically generate sensor data that may form part of fire-related information (Dhawan, Col. 23, line 65-Col. 24, line 10).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention use a high definition camera (as taught by Dhawan) in order to improve the scope and accuracy of the captured visualization by rendering timely situational awareness and facilitating real-time decision making that includes the start of fire, size of the fire, rate of spread, intensity of the fire, presence of fire whirls, ember production and spotting, soil heating, temperature, heat output for surface, fuel moisture, topography, ignition method, air temperature, wind, relative humidity and more.
Claim(s) 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suh Seok Rok (KR 2012-0139179A) in view of Drake et al. (US 20140244318 A1) and Van Wynsberghe (US 20180294870 A1) and further in view of Bausch et al. (US 20220072350 A1).
In regard to claim 32, Combination of Rok, Drake, and Van do not specifically teach the small area wildfire monitoring system of claim 16, wherein determining one or more of the wildfire locations includes: identifying, using one or more of the different types of sensor data, one or more fire pixels that correspond to a small area wildfire; and computing, using one or more of the fire pixels, fire location coordinates that define a boundary of one or more of the small area wildfires.
However, the concept of using fire pixel information to determine fire location coordinates is well known in the art as also taught by Bausch. Bausch teaches Hotspots may be determined from polygons and fire pixels. Such hotspots may represent enclosing areas around fire pixels. The ArcGIS Minimum Bounding Geometry (ArcGIS MBG) function may be used to aid in determining the hotspots. The ArcGIS MBG may create a boundary comprising the outermost fire pixels. Additionally, a buffer distance of 1,000 meters may be added to each hotspot to expand the boundary. The process of creating such a hotspot boundary is illustrated in FIG. 6. Image 602 comprises the fire pixels 604, which may be processed using the ArcGIS MBG function to obtain a boundary 606 enclosing the fire pixels 604. Fires may change over time. Thus, candidate hotspots and/or hotspot boundaries may be tracked over time. For example, fires may be tracked over the course of hours, days, weeks, etc. As fires progress over time, hotspot boundaries may expand (Bausch, Fig. 6; Para. 45-46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention use fire pixels in determining hotspot boundary (as taught by Bausch) resulting in predictable result of determining location and progress of wildfire over time.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 27 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/SHARMIN AKHTER/
Examiner, Art Unit 2689