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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/20/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/06/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
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: “a computing device configured to: - analyze the 3D image to identify multiple center points along the center axis of the curved length of the installed cable and map the multiple center points in a three-dimensional coordinate system, and - create a three-dimensional trace representing the center axis of the curved length of the installed cable based on the identified multiple center points.” in claim 9.
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 Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim limitation “a computing device configured to: - analyze the 3D image to identify multiple center points along the center axis of the curved length of the installed cable and map the multiple center points in a three-dimensional coordinate system, and - create a three-dimensional trace representing the center axis of the curved length of the installed cable based on the identified multiple center points.” in claim 9 invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. However, the written description fails to disclose the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the entire claimed function and to clearly link the structure, material, or acts to the function. Therefore, the claim is indefinite and is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Applicant may:
(a) Amend the claim so that the claim limitation will no longer be interpreted as a limitation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph;
(b) Amend the written description of the specification such that it expressly recites what structure, material, or acts perform the entire claimed function, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(c) Amend the written description of the specification such that it clearly links the structure, material, or acts disclosed therein to the function recited in the claim, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)).
If applicant is of the opinion that the written description of the specification already implicitly or inherently discloses the corresponding structure, material, or acts and clearly links them to the function so that one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize what structure, material, or acts perform the claimed function, applicant should clarify the record by either:
(a) Amending the written description of the specification such that it expressly recites the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function and clearly links or associates the structure, material, or acts to the claimed function, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(b) Stating on the record what the corresponding structure, material, or acts, which are implicitly or inherently set forth in the written description of the specification, perform the claimed function. For more information, see 37 CFR 1.75(d) and MPEP §§ 608.01(o) and 2181.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-5 and 9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al (Liu hereinafter CN 116543036 A “Cable Bending Radius Calculation Method Based on Mask Central Line Algebraic Reconstruction”)
As per claim 1
Liu teaches A method for characterizing a curved length of an installed cable (Figure 2 , Content of invention “performing the algebraic reconstruction to the space sampling point to obtain the cable space characteristic curve “) where the method comprises the following steps: providing a 3D image of the curved length of the installed cable by using a 3D capturing device (Content of invention: “obtaining a cable image mask through a dual-mode semantic segmentation network, and constructing a cable space point cloud Pcableby a depth image” “inputting the cable RGB-D image into the dual-mode semantic segmentation network…wherein fx and fy are the focal lengths of the camera in x and y directions of the imaging plane; (u0, v0) is the coordinate of the camera projection centre in the image coordinate system, namely the offset of the camera…”) analyzing the 3D image to identify multiple center points along the center axis of the curved length of the installed cable (Content of invention: “The specific method for tracking the trace of the center line of the plane feature of the cable is: firstly searching all endpoints on the cable plane characteristic central line, selecting one of the endpoints as the starting point, orderly traversing the non-zero pixels in the neighbourhood, until traversing to the other endpoint, finishing track tracking, when meeting the branch point,”) map the multiple center points in a three-dimensional coordinate system (Figure 6, Content of invention: “The specific method for tracking the trace of the center line of the plane feature of the cable is: firstly searching all endpoints on the cable plane characteristic central line, selecting one of the endpoints as the starting point, orderly traversing the non-zero pixels in the neighbourhood, until traversing to the other endpoint, finishing track tracking, when meeting the branch point, storing the branch point coordinate and the track vector before the branch point, after tracking the first track, the track from the branch point before the branch point continues to traverse the non-zero pixel in the neighbourhood to complete other track tracking, realizing the conversion of the cable plane characteristic central line image point C2D into the ordered characteristic central point coordinate…”The cable point cloud Pcable is generated from the depth map, and each depth pixel coordinate (up, vp) can obtain a corresponding spatial point coordinate P (X, Y, Z)…the mask through image thinning algorithm to obtain the cable plane characteristic central line C2D, and tracking the cable plane characteristic central line track” “The space sampling point is reconstructed by parameter 8-degree polynomial equation set algebraic to obtain cable space characteristic curve Fcable (X (t), Y (t), Z (t)):…obtaining the cable space characteristic curve Fcable represented by the parameter equation set (as shown in FIG. 5), the point coordinate on the characteristic curve is represented as (X (t), Y (t), Z (t)).” ) creating a three-dimensional trace representing the center axis of the curved length of the installed cable based on the identified multiple center points. (Figure 4, Figure 5, Content of invention: “performing rosenfeld thinning algorithm on the mask image to obtain the cable plane characteristic central line of single pixel width (as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4), tracking the cable plane characteristic central line track, index cable space point cloud Pcable according to cable plane characteristic centre line track pixel coordinate C2D_order (u, v), to obtain cable space characteristic centre line track ordered point set C3D_order which can be used for algebraic reconstruction….The specific method for tracking the trace of the center line of the plane feature of the cable is: firstly searching all endpoints on the cable plane characteristic central line, selecting one of the endpoints as the starting point, orderly traversing the non-zero pixels in the neighbourhood, until traversing to the other endpoint, finishing track tracking, when meeting the branch point, storing the branch point coordinate and the track.”)
As per claim 3
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 1’s 102 rejection. See claim 1’s 102 rejection.
Liu teaches comprises using an interpolation equation/algorithm to create the trace representing the center axis of the curved length of the installed cable. (Content of invention “ obtaining a cable image mask through a dual-mode semantic segmentation network, and constructing a cable space point cloud Pcable by a depth image; B, the mask through image thinning algorithm to obtain the cable plane characteristic central line C2D, and tracking the cable plane characteristic central line track C2D_order, indexing the cable space point cloud Pcable according to the track pixel coordinate C2D_order (u, v) to obtain the cable space characteristic central line C3D_order…performing rosenfeld thinning algorithm on the mask image to obtain the cable plane characteristic central line of single pixel width (as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4), tracking the cable plane characteristic central line track”)
As per claim 4
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 1’s 102 rejection. See claim 1’s 102 rejection.
Liu further comprises determining the position of the curved length of the installed cable in the three-dimensional coordinate system. (Content of invention: “The space sampling point is reconstructed by parameter 8-degree polynomial equation set algebraic to obtain cable space characteristic curve Fcable (X (t), Y (t), Z (t)):…wherein ai, bi, ci respectively represent polynomial fitting coefficient; t is the equation set parameter, representing each coordinate point position in the ordered point set, t belongs to [1, m], m is the cable space characteristic sampling point set C3D-sampling hollow point number.”) the minimum bending radius of the curved length of the installed cable (Figure 6, Content of invention: “FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a cable bending radius calculation method based on mask central line algebraic reconstruction” Liu’s goal is to get to a bending radius that is to “is too small to cause stress concentration, affecting the signal transmission quality, more seriously, causing the insulating layer to be damaged” Liu states “the space characteristic central line is constructed on the basis of the mask, and the algebraic reconstruction is performed to obtain the cable space characteristic curve, the cable bending radius is solved, It is more feasible to measure the bending radius of the cable in the narrow space, and the cable bending radius is calculated based on the algebraic method of the image with high precision. Liu also states “he mask characteristic central line is extracted, and the space characteristic centre is constructed, the calculation amount is reduced, the parameter polynomial equation set is used for algebraically reconstructing the cable space characteristic curve to solve the cable space bending radius” To solve the issue of a cable space bending radius is to find the most efficient bending radius i.e. the minimum value. )
As per claim 5
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 1’s 102 rejection. See claim 1’s 102 rejection.
Liu teaches further comprising a step d) of calculating the length of the curved length(Figure 3 and Figure 4 Content of invention: “performing rosenfeld thinning algorithm on the mask image to obtain the cable plane characteristic central line of single pixel width (as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4), tracking the cable plane characteristic central line track, index cable space point cloud Pcable according to cable plane characteristic centre line track pixel coordinate C2D_order (u, v), to obtain cable space characteristic centre line track ordered point set C3D_order which can be used for algebraic reconstruction.” The “central line of single pixel width “ which is shown in figure 3 and 4 is effectively the curved length of the cable.) the minimum bending radius of the curved length of the installed cable (Figure 6 Content of invention: “As shown in FIG. 1, a cable bending radius calculation method based on mask central line algebraic reconstruction, comprising the following steps:…the cable space characteristic curve Fcable is regarded as the particle space motion track, and the particle space motion rule is used for solving the space bending radius Rcable of the cable space characteristic curve...The formula (3) can obtain the bending radius Rcable of each point on the cable characteristic curve is as follows:” Liu’s goal is to get to a bending radius that is to “is too small to cause stress concentration, affecting the signal transmission quality, more seriously, causing the insulating layer to be damaged” Liu states “the space characteristic central line is constructed on the basis of the mask, and the algebraic reconstruction is performed to obtain the cable space characteristic curve, the cable bending radius is solved, It is more feasible to measure the bending radius of the cable in the narrow space, and the cable bending radius is calculated based on the algebraic method of the image with high precision. Liu also states “he mask characteristic central line is extracted, and the space characteristic centre is constructed, the calculation amount is reduced, the parameter polynomial equation set is used for algebraically reconstructing the cable space characteristic curve to solve the cable space bending radius” To solve the issue of a cable space bending radius is to find the most efficient bending radius i.e. the minimum value)
As per claim 9
Claim 9 is the parallel system claim of method claim 1 and will be rejected under the same premise.
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (Liu hereinafter CN 116543036 A “Cable Bending Radius Calculation Method Based on Mask Central Line Algebraic Reconstruction”) in view of Beaty et al (Beaty hereinafter US 6915007 B2)
As per claim 2
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 1’s 102 rejection. See claim 1’s 102 rejection.
Beaty teaches wherein step b) of analyzing the 3D image of the curved length of the installed cable includes using a pre-specified diameter range as constraints for identifying the multiple center points along the center axis of the installed cable. (Paragraph (18) “The invention further provides a method for three dimensional inspection of a lead on a part, the method comprising the steps of using a camera to receive an image of the lead, transmitting the image of the lead “ Paragraph (19) “The lead may be a curved surface lead, a ball, a ball grid array, a formed wire” Paragraph (23) “The invention further provides the step of determining a lead center location and a lead diameter in pixels and storing the lead center location and lead diameter in memory.” Paragraph (28) “The invention further provides the step of converting the world values to part values using the rotation, the X placement value and the Y placement value to define part coordinates for the ideal part where the part values represent physical dimensions of the lead including lead diameter, lead center location in X part and Y part coordinates and lead height in Z world coordinates.” Paragraph (29) “The invention further provides the step of comparing ideal values defined in the part file to calculate deviation values that represent a deviation of the center of the lead from its ideal location. The deviation values may include lead diameter in several orientations with respect to the X placement value and Y placement value, lead center in the X direction, Y direction and radial direction, lead pitch in the X direction and Y direction and missing and deformed leads, further comprising the step of calculating the Z dimension of the lead with respect to the seating plane based on the Z world data.” Figure 7A’s discussion in paragraph (33)shows Beaty defining a region of interest based on expected position before performing the Grayscale blob process that finds the objects “location and dimension” This shows Beaty already uses pre specified information as a constraint on image searching.
In a combined teaching, Liu teaches analyzing image data to identify multiple points forming the centerline of a cable. Beaty teaches a 3D image inspection of curved and elongated features including a formed wire. That wire center location and diameter are determined, and the measured diameter is evaluated relative to predefined ideal dimensional values and predefined tolerances. In combination, Liu and Beaty teach identifying the centerline of an elongated feature while constraining the identification according to a predetermined acceptable diameter range.
Accordingly, at the time this invention was effectively filed, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify Liu’s methodology to use a pre specified cable diameter range as a constraint as suggested by Beaty’s use of predefined ideal dimension and predetermined diameter tolerances when evaluating the center location and diameter of an imaged feature. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that applying known dimensional tolerances during Liu’s centerline identification would restrict identification to cable geometry which would be consistent with the expected cable diameter, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of the cable centerline. This reduces erroneous center point identification by leaving out inconsistencies from the images geometry with the cables known diameter range. This enables a accurate cable centerline and subsequent 3D trace.
Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (Liu hereinafter CN 116543036 A “Cable Bending Radius Calculation Method Based on Mask Central Line Algebraic Reconstruction”) in view of Zhang et al (Zhang hereinafter CN 113935958 A “Cable Bending Radius Detecting Method And Device”)
As per claim 6
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 1’s 102 rejection. See claim 1’s 102 rejection.
Zhang teaches analyzing the 3D image to identify surface markings on the curved length of the installed cable (Figure 2, Figure 14 Content of invention: “It should be noted that the virtual cable space is consistent with the real cable space, comprising a cable, a buckle, a cabin plate, a device and so on. and is consistent with the real cable space, the buckle model” “Exemplary, as shown in FIG. 14, can be the real cable space is to be detected in the spacecraft cabin, can establish three-dimensional model corresponding to the spacecraft cabin, as a virtual cable space, the thre3) e-dimensional model comprises a cable, a buckle, a cabin plate, device and other objects corresponding to the model, the buckle model” “after obtaining the real cable area image, extracting the cable backbone of the real cable image, obtaining the cable backbone curve corresponding to the bending part of the real cable. For example: can adopt threshold method to extract the cable itself for the real cable image to obtain the cable itself, at the same time, detecting the buckle, “The buckle is effectively the “surface markings” and it is identified in the 3D virtual image) and associating the surface markings with coordinates in the three-dimensional coordinate system. (Contents of invention: “Because of the actual mounting, the position precision of the buckle is high, and the position of the buckle defines the position of the cable bending section starting point and the end point, so the cable bending plane of the real cable is substantially overlapped with the cable bending plane of the virtual cable “ “Because the virtual cable space is a reconstruction of the 3 D model, so it can directly determine the coordinate information of the characteristic point in the world coordinate system from the virtual cable space” “Exemplary, two ends of the cable bending section are fixed by a buckle, and the buckle mounting precision is high, the buckle position in the actual environment is substantially the same as the buckle position in the virtual environment, so the cable bending plane in the actual environment is approximately the same as the cable bending plane in the virtual environment. analyzing the cable bending section in the virtual environment, it can obtain the parameter expression of the cable bending plane in the world coordinate system.” “wherein the virtual cable space is a three-dimensional model of the real cable space, the real cable space and the virtual cable space is established with a uniform world coordinate system;” )
Accordingly, a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time this invention was effectively filed would have found it obvious to incorporate Zhang’s concept of having markings on the cable and associating those markings with coordinates in 3D space into Liu’s methodology. A person of ordinary skill in the art knows that both Zhang and Liu revolve in the same field of endeavor, that being obtaining cable characteristics (including cable radius) in 3D space in order to monitor, track and limit cable deformation caused by bending. A person of ordinary skill in the art recognizes that by incorporating the surface markings and their corresponding 3D coordinates into Liu’s methodology the modification predictably leads to more efficient tracking of exact physical changes such as bending with a higher precision. A person of ordinary skill in the art understands that these markings give precise measurements and a fixed anchor point to calculate angles/measurements (such as Liu’s arc distances) and physical displacement. The modification also allows for exact spatial mapping where knowing the distances between markers allows for locating where the cable stretches or compresses enabling better deformation and stress analysis.
As per claim 7
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 1’s 102 rejection. See claim 1’s 102 rejection.
Zhang teaches providing a representation of a cable infrastructure wherein the cable infrastructure comprises at least one installed cable comprising the curved length of the installed cable (Content of invention: “the real cable space is laid with a plurality of real cable “ “obtain the real cable area image, namely the cable bending area local image. directly detecting the complete image comprising a plurality of cables,” where the representation of the cable infrastructure comprises position information in a three-dimensional coordinate system (Content of Invention: “wherein the virtual cable space is a three-dimensional model of the real cable space “ “obtain the real cable area image, namely the cable bending area local image. directly detecting the complete image comprising a plurality of cables …invention claims an attention mechanism based on virtual space registration and cable virtual model,” “wherein the virtual cable space is a three-dimensional model of the real cable space, the real cable space and the virtual cable space is established with a uniform world coordinate system;” ) associating the trace representing the center axis of the curved length of cable with the corresponding curved length of the installed cable in the representation of the cable infrastructure (Content of invention: “after obtaining the real cable area image, extracting the cable backbone of the real cable image, obtaining the cable backbone curve corresponding to the bending part of the real cable….then through the image thinning method (starting from the strip-shaped area side boundary, gradually deleting boundary point, until the area width is a single pixel), only keeping the central line of the strip-shaped cable area, namely the backbone curve of the cable.” “the coordinate information of the pixel point on the cable backbone curve in the world coordinate system can be obtained by reverse projection, “the three-dimensional coordinate of the cable backbone space point” The thinning process makes a trace or backbone of single pixel width which is the center axis of the curved length of cable. This then corresponds to a “the three-dimensional coordinate of the cable backbone space point” which is in the virtual space 3D image. Zhang describes his process as working on a “plurality of cables” which will be seen as the claimed “cable Infrastructure” ) creating an updated representation of the cable infrastructure comprising the curved length of the installed cable. (Content of invention: “the three-dimensional coordinate of the cable backbone space point set is converted into a two-dimensional coordinate point set under a new coordinate system on the cable bending plane, “ )
As per claim 8
Liu and Zhang teach all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 7’s 103 rejection. See claim 7’s 103 rejection.
Zhang teaches wherein the representation of the cable infrastructure comprises information of the physical environment surrounding the at least one cable comprising the curved length of the installed cable (Figure 2, Content of invention: “can obtain the real cable area image, namely the cable bending area local image. directly detecting the complete image comprising a plurality of cables…the invention claims an attention mechanism based on virtual space registration and cable virtual model, specifically intercepting the image of the cable bending area,” “cable bending radius detection method based on camera reverse projection principle and virtual assembling environment. can be based on the positioning mark image, “wherein the method comprises a step i) calculating the distance from the curved length of the installed cable to physical elements in the physical environment. “virtual assembling environment. can be based on the positioning mark image, calculating pose information of the camera in the world coordinate system, using the locating mark image with the same pose in the virtual cable space for virtual, matching alignment of the real cable space” “ mark image is preset in the real cable space in the preset position of the image, and can according to the coordinate information of the locating mark image, A projection matrix of the camera is determined.” “according to the coordinate information of the characteristic point in the positioning mark image in the mark plane coordinate system, and the preset position corresponding to the positioning mark image, determining the coordinate information of the characteristic point in the world coordinate system;” A person of ordinary skill in the art would find it obvious and straightforward to find the distance between the mark and the cable using this method. Zhang states that states that both the real cable space and the virtual cable space share a unified world coordinate system. The positioning mark gives a known reference point in this world coordinate system. The camera's projection matrix and the back-projection process map the cable's image points into this exact same 3D space. A person of ordinary skill in the art is aware once you have the 3D coordinates for both the mark and the cable in a common space, you can calculate the straight-line distance between them using a standard 3D distance formula.)
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (Liu hereinafter CN 116543036 A “Cable Bending Radius Calculation Method Based on Mask Central Line Algebraic Reconstruction”) in view of Gutierrez et al (Gutierrez hereinafter US 10295777 B1)
As per claim 10
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 1’s 102 rejection. See claim 1’s 102 rejection.
Liu does not teach the curved length of the installed cable is a cable loop or a section of a cable loop.
Guiterrez teaches the curved length of the installed cable is a cable loop or a section of a cable loop. (Figure 3-1, Figure 3-2, Figure 4. Gutierrez teaches cable installation routing where a curved length of a cable is configured as a cable loop. With the loop being formed and supported in accordance with the cables bend radius requirements. Guitierrez establishes a cable loop as a known physical configuration of a curved length of cable)
In a combined teaching, Liu characterizes a curved length of an installed cable by obtaining its 3D spatial points and reconstructing those points to get a cable space characteristic curve. This curve represents the center axis of the cable. Gutierrez teaches that a curved length of cable used during cable installation may be configured in a loop. The combination teaches applying Liu’s 3D characterization of a curved cable length to a curved cable length that is in a loop.
Accordingly at the time this invention was effectively filed, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to apply Liu’s methodology to a cable loop or section of cable loop as taught by Gutierrez. Gutierrez shows that cable loops are a known configuration of curved cables in installation while Liu’s method determines the 3D centerline geometry of a curved cable for evaluating bending characteristics. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that Liu’s methodology of 3D centerline reconstruction is predictably applicable to the curved portion of a cable in a loop. This permits the spatial geometry and bending characteristics of the cable loop to be analyzed. Applying Lu’s methodology to a cable loop as taught by Gutierrez enabled the 3D geometry and bending characteristics of a cable loop to be showcased. This allows facilitation of improper bending detection within a loop to avoid damage and impairment of said cable.
As per claim 11
Liu teaches all claim limitations previously rejected in claim 9’s 102 rejection. See claim 9’s 102 rejection.
Claim 11 is the parallel system claim of method claim 10 and will be rejected under the same premise.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHANE WRENSFORD CODRINGTON whose telephone number is (571)272-8130. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-5pm.
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/SHANE WRENSFORD CODRINGTON/Examiner, Art Unit 2667 /MATTHEW C BELLA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2667
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