DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This is in response to the applicant response filed on 10/06/2026. In the applicant’s response, claims 1, 4, 6, 8-12, and 15 were amended; claims 3 and 7 were cancelled. Accordingly, claims 1-2, 4-6, and 8-15 are pending and being examined. Claims 1, 6, and 15 are independent form.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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 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.
4. 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.
5. Claim 1-2, 4-6, 8-9 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sim et al (WO2022211377, hereinafter “Sim”). A machine translated English version (i.e., WO2022211377-Eng) of document WO2022211377 was provided by the examiner in the previous office action.
Regarding claim 1, Sim discloses an apparatus for measuring spin data of a rotating object (the method/system for calculating a spin amount of a golf ball by image processing; see figs.1-9 and Abstract), the apparatus comprising:
a rotating object detection unit detecting an image of a rotating object with respect to an image of n frames captured by a camera (from the camera 110, 120, or 600 shown by fig.1, selecting the n-th frame [image] and n+1-th frame [image] as the first ball image and second ball image, respectively; see pg.8, lines 4-12, in the document WO2022211377-Eng);
a coordinate extraction unit extracting location coordinates of a marker in the rotating object image detected by the rotating object detection unit (“The marker matching processing unit 510 finds and specifies a plurality of markers on each ball image”, see pg.8, lines 20-21; wherein each marker is specified by both the “center point coordinate” and the “inclination angle”, see the center point coordinates shown in fig.3(c)/3(d)/fig(a), and the inclination angles shown in fig.4);
a spin data storage unit in which spin data of the rotating object is stored in advance (wherein the center point coordinate and the inclination angle of each marker in the first ball image are determined prior to the acquisition of the second ball image; see marker 710 (in the first ball image) [Wingdings font/0xE0] marker 720 (in the second ball image) of fig.5, see pg.3, lines 34-35: “includes the steps of acquiring a first image and a second image, which are continuous images of a golf ball marked with a plurality of markers being hit and moved, respectively”); and
a spin data derivation unit deriving final spin data based on the spin data of the rotating object stored in the spin data storage unit and the location coordinates of the marker extracted by the coordinate extraction unit (to calculate spin value of the ball, performing marker matching between the first ball image and the second ball image (see the first ball image 610 and the second ball image 622 in fig.6), comparing the coordinates of the corresponding marker pairs in the two images (see fig.7(a) and fig.7(b), wherein cb1 and cb2 are the center coordinates of the markers in the second ball image while ca1 and ca2 are the center coordinates of the markers in the first ball image), determining the spin axis (see fig.8(a), fig.8(b), and fig.8(c)), and calculating the spin amount of the ball (see Q1 and Q2 in fig.9). Also see pg.11, line 40---pg.16, line 17),
wherein the spin data stored in the spin data storage unit is derived, prior to and independently of the image of n frames captured by the camera, using a 3D simulator (wherein the center point coordinate and the inclination angle of each marker in the first ball image are determined prior to the acquisition of the second ball image, therefore the markers specified in the first ball image is independent from the second ball image), and the spin data of the rotating object stored in the spin data storage unit includes a rotation axis angle and a rotation amount angle of the rotating object (see the each marker’ inclination angles shown by fig.4; wherein the inclination angle of each marker is relative to the horizontal axis, that is, 2.900 , 30.460, 44.860, 132.230, and 136.940, respectively), and location coordinates of a marker (using the sensing device SD including cameras 110 and 120 “in a stereo method” to obtain coordinates of a marker/ball; see 110 and 120 of fig.1 and pg.6, lines 16-46).
Regarding claim 2, 9, Sim discloses, further comprising: a mapping unit mapping the spin data of the rotating object stored in the spin data storage unit and the location coordinates of the marker extracted by the coordinate extraction unit, and deriving an angle of a common rotation axis and a difference of a rotation amount, wherein the spin data derivation unit derives the final spin data including a rotation axis and a spin rate based on the angle of the common rotation axis and the difference of the rotation amount derived by the mapping unit (to calculate spin value of the ball, performing marker matching between the first ball image and the second ball image (see the first ball image 610 and the second ball image 622 in fig.6), comparing the coordinates of the corresponding marker pairs in the two images (see fig.7(a) and fig.7(b), wherein cb1 and cb2 are center coordinates of the markers in the second ball image while ca1 and ca2 are center coordinates of the markers in the first ball image), determining the spin axis (see fig.8(a), fig.8(b), and fig.8(c)), and calculating the spin amount (see Q1 and Q2 in fig.9). Also see pg.11, line 40---pg.16, line 17).
Regarding claim 4, 8, Sim discloses, wherein: the spin data of the rotating object is stored in the spin data storage unit for each type of rotating object distinguished according to the number of markers or a shape of the marker (wherein each marker’s center coordinates, and orientation angles are recorded, see fig.3(b), fig,3(c), and fig.4).
Regarding claims 6, 15, each of which is an inherent variation of claim 1, thus it is interpreted and rejected for the reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 5, Sim discloses the apparatus of claim 2, wherein: the mapping unit extracts a rotation axis angle list and a rotation amount angle list mapped to each location coordinate of the rotating object marker from the spin data storage unit based on the location coordinate list of the marker extracted by the coordinate extraction unit (wherein the spin plane PL1 is determined by the center point of the ball and the center coordinates of the marker ca1 and marker cb1 which are pre-defined on the surface of the ball, as shown by fig.8(a); wherein the spin plane PL2 is determined by the center point of the ball and the center coordinates of the marker ca2 and marker cb2 which are pre-defined on the surface of the ball, as shown by fig.8(b). It should be noticed that each of the spin plane PL1 and spin plane PL2 indicates a range of a rotation axis angle and a range of a rotation amount (i.e., angle value);), and extracts the common rotation axis, and derives the angle of the common rotation axis based on the extracted rotation axis angle list and rotation amount angle lists (wherein the spin axis is determined by the plane PL1 and the PL2; see fig.8(c)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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 of this title, 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.
7. Claim 10-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sim.
Regarding claims 10-14, each of them has no inventive concept and is an obvious variation of the method in Sim. Specifically, Sim discloses a method for calculating spin amount of a golf ball; wherein the spin plane PL1 is determined by the center point of the ball and the center coordinates of the marker ca1 and marker cb1 which are pre-defined on the surface of the ball, as shown by fig.8(a); wherein the spin plane PL2 is determined by the center point of the ball and the center coordinates of the marker ca2 and marker cb2 which are pre-defined on the surface of the ball, as shown by fig.8(b); wherein each of the spin plane PL1 and spin plane PL2 indicates a range of a rotation axis angle and a range of a rotation amount (i.e., angle value); wherein the spin axis SA is determined by the spin plane PL1 and the spin PL2, see fig.8(c); wherein the final spin amount is determined on the basis of the spin axis SA and the matched marker’s coordinates on the reference plane (PO) as shown by fig.9. See fig.8(a)-(c), fig.9, and pg.15, line 10—pg.16, line 17. Therefore, claims 10-14 are rejected as obvious over Sim.
Response to Arguments
8. Applicant’s arguments, filed on 10/06/2026, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 11 of applicant’s response, applicant argues:
Sim discloses no such pre-built database. The marker center coordinates and orientation angles that the Office Action cites as corresponding to the claimed "spin data storage unit in which spin data...is stored in advance" (see page 7 of the Office Action, citing the first ball image 610 of Fig. 5) are values extracted in real time from an actually- captured image for the purpose of marker matching, not data generated in advance, independently of any captured image, by a simulator. Likewise, the sensing device (SD) cameras 110 and 120 that the Office Action cites as corresponding to the claimed "3D simulator" (see page 9, regarding claim 3) are hardware used to acquire the real three- dimensional coordinates of the actual ball; they do not simulate anything and generate no database. For at least these reasons, Sim does not disclose the spin data storage unit and 3D simulator now recited in independent claims 1, 6, and 15, and the rejection of these claims should be withdrawn.
The examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s arguments for at least the following reasons. As explained in the rejections of the claims, wherein the center point coordinate and the inclination angle of each marker in the first ball image are determined and stored prior to the acquisition of the second ball image, therefore the markers specified in the first ball image are independent from the second ball image. Second, the sensing device (SD) in Sim, see pg.6, lines 22-45, is a stereo [3D] device for taking a photograph of a golf ball that moves as the user P hits the golf ball with a golf club and analyzes the photographed image to obtain three-dimensional coordinate information of a golf ball moving in space and for calculating information on motion characteristics such as an initial speed, direction angle, and height angle of a golf ball based on the three-dimensional coordinate information. All the calculations including the coordinates and the spin angles are based on 3D data obtained by the 3D sensing device. As such, the SD in Sim is not only a hardware but also obtains 3D data to determine “the three-dimensional coordinate information”, “the initial speed”, and “the spin”. Meanwhile, the examiner has noticed the term “3D simulator”, however does not find any difference in 3D data acquisition between using a 3D sensing device” and using “a 3D simulator”. The argument therefore is not persuasive.
Conclusion
9. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RUIPING LI whose telephone number is (571)270-3376. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am--5:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, HENOK SHIFERAW can be reached on (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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/RUIPING LI/Primary Examiner, Ph.D., Art Unit 2676
