Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 19/007,223

DETECTING AND LABELING SYMBOLS IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE USING ENCODINGS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Dec 31, 2024
Examiner
SAFAIPOUR, BOBBAK
Art Unit
2665
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Trimble Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
12m
Est. Remaining
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allowance Rate
953 granted / 1108 resolved
+24.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +11% lift
Without
With
+10.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
1128
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.2%
-32.8% vs TC avg
§103
48.1%
+8.1% vs TC avg
§102
25.5%
-14.5% vs TC avg
§112
5.5%
-34.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1108 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement submitted on 02/25/2026 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file. 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 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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Powles (US 2022/0391627 A1). Regarding claims 1, 9 and 15, Powles discloses a method comprising: [claims 9 and 11 disclose A system comprising: a processing device; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by the processing device to cause the processing device to perform operations comprising: (see paragraphs 197 and 478 of Powles)] receiving image data representing a two-dimensional image; (figure 3, 302) extracting, using a trained detection service, a plurality of symbols from the image data, (figure 3, 304) wherein each symbol of the plurality of symbols is extracted for a distinct symbol included in the two-dimensional image; (paragraphs 6, 64, 241 and 246; YOLO and R-CNN) encoding the plurality of symbols to generate a plurality of representation vectors, (paragraph 349) wherein each representation vector of the plurality of representation vectors is an encoding of a different symbol of the plurality of symbols; (paragraph 349) generating a labeled two-dimensional image, wherein generating the labeled two-dimensional image comprises, for each symbol of the plurality of symbols: (figure 10A, paragraph 457) performing a comparison between a corresponding representation vector of the plurality of representation vectors and one or more representation vectors corresponding to one or more symbols included in a library of known symbols; and (figure 3, 310; paragraph 377) in accordance with ascertaining that the corresponding representation vector exceeds a threshold similarity with a particular representation vector of the one or more representation vectors, applying a first label to the symbol, wherein the first label is a label of a symbol stored in the library and that is represented by the particular representation vector; or (figure 3: the “YES” branch of “object recognized by one-shot learning module”) in accordance with ascertaining that the corresponding representation vector does not exceed the threshold similarity with any representation vectors of the one or more representation vectors, applying a second label to the symbol of the plurality of symbols, wherein the second label is provided by an entity associated with the two-dimensional image; and (figure 3: the “NO” branch of “object recognized by one-shot learning module”) providing the labeled two-dimensional image for facilitating a real-world operation involving the two-dimensional image. (figure 10A; paragraph 457) Regarding claims 2, 10 and 16, Powles discloses the claimed invention wherein encoding the plurality of symbols to generate the plurality of representation vectors comprises, for each symbol of the plurality of symbols: generating, using one or more supervised layers of a hybrid machine-learning model, features based on image data corresponding to the symbol; and generating, by using an unsupervised layer of the hybrid machine-learning model, the corresponding representation vector for the symbol by transforming the features into a predetermined number of numerical representations corresponding to the features. (paragraphs 65, 69, 108, 111, 262) Regarding claims 3, 11 and 17, Powles discloses the claimed invention wherein applying the second label to the symbol comprises adjusting the library of known symbols to include an association between the second label and the corresponding representation vector of the symbol. (section 6.8) Regarding claims 4, 12 and 18, Powles discloses the claimed invention wherein the library of known symbols comprises a partitioned, cloud-based library, wherein each partition of a plurality of partitions included in the cloud-based library corresponds to a different tenant of a plurality of tenants, wherein applying the second label to the symbol comprises adjusting data within a particular partition of the plurality of partitions, and wherein the particular partition corresponds to a user associated with the two- dimensional image. (cloud storage in section 6.9) Regarding claims 5, 13 and 19, Powles discloses the claimed invention wherein providing the labeled two-dimensional image comprises generating and outputting a graphical user interface that comprises a list of labeled symbols and a count of each labeled symbol included in the list of labeled symbols, and wherein the graphical user interface comprises one or more interactive elements that, when selected for a corresponding symbol of the list of labeled symbols, highlights each instance of the corresponding symbol in the labeled two-dimensional image. (section 6.8) Regarding claims 6, 14 and 20, Powles discloses the claimed invention wherein extracting the plurality of symbols from the image data comprises generating a plurality of bounding boxes, wherein each bounding box of the plurality of bounding boxes corresponds with a different symbol of the plurality of symbols, and wherein each bounding box of the plurality of bounding boxes indicates a location of the different symbol within the two-dimensional image. (paragraphs 240, 255-256 and 275) Regarding claim 7, Powles discloses the claimed invention wherein encoding the plurality of symbols to generate the plurality of representation vectors comprises, for each symbol of the plurality of symbols, using a corresponding bounding box of the plurality of bounding boxes, and location indicated thereby, to encode the symbol into the corresponding representation vector. (paragraphs 240, 255-256 and 275) Regarding claim 8, Powles discloses the claimed invention wherein extracting the plurality of symbols from the image data comprises: dividing the two-dimensional image into a plurality of sub-images that have a smaller resolution than the two-dimensional image; and applying the trained detection service to each sub-image of the plurality of sub-images to extract the plurality of symbols. (paragraphs 240, 255-257, 328, 343 and 384) Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BOBBAK SAFAIPOUR whose telephone number is (571)270-1092. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephen Koziol can be reached at (408) 918-7630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /BOBBAK SAFAIPOUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2665
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 31, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 30, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+10.8%)
2y 7m (~12m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1108 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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