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 .
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 14, the phrase "preferably" renders these claims indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. The term “preferably” indicates the possibility for the following limitations to be included within the invention, but also allows for said limitations to not be present within the invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Regarding claims 1 and 14, the phrase "such as" renders these claims indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. The term “such as” indicates the possibility for the following limitations to be included within the invention, but also allows for the inclusion of other unsaid limitations to be present within the invention instead. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Yancey et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0352686, hereinafter “Yancey”). Regarding claim 1, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system (fig 1a element 100) comprising:
an oral scanner (figure 1a element 102) being structured and/or arranged for performing a scanning procedure of at least a portion of an oral cavity of a subject (paragraph 143 “the scanning device 102 can be used to provide images to determine the oral health of a patient”)
a position detector structured and/or arranged for outputting position sensor data relating to a discrete position or location at which the oral scanner currently performs the scanning procedure (paragraph 60 “scanning circuit 110 can include a wide variety of sensors including, but not limited to, gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, inertial measurement units (“IMU”), depth sensors, and color sensors.”)
a processor structured and/or arranged to receive at least the position sensor data (paragraph 60 “The scanning circuit 110 is communicably coupled to the processor 106 and is configured to conduct a scan of one or more objects”)
to process the position sensor data to determine a scanning discrete position or location within the at least portion of the oral cavity at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure (paragraph 73 “The image recognition circuit 168 is operable to receive the image data from the communications circuit 166 and determine the location of the images for further processing”)
to compute a scanning procedure progress value being in a range between a start progress value and an end progress value for each of at least two discrete positions or locations based at least on the determined scanning position or location at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure (paragraph 112 “Additionally, the image 640 can include a highlighted section 642 that can indicate, in real time, whether the scan of a particular section of the teeth was successful. For example, in some embodiments the highlighted section 642 can be green, indicating a successful scan. In some embodiments, the highlighted section 642 can be red, indicating an unsuccessful scan. In some embodiments, the highlighted section 642 can include a combination of red and green, indicating that some portions of the scan are acceptable, and some portions of the scan are unacceptable”)
a feedback unit structured and/or arranged to provide feedback about the scanning procedure progress for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations during the scanning procedure, preferably as a live or real-time feedback (paragraph 112 “the scanning device 102 may provide the mobile application 600 with data in real time related to the appearance of the teeth being scanned by the patient 302”), preferably by indicating the computed scanning procedure progress values as a single numerical value such as a percentage for each one of the at least two discrete positions or locations
Regarding claim 2, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the position sensor comprises at least one from the list comprising an accelerometer and a gyroscope (paragraph 60 “scanning circuit 110 can include a wide variety of sensors including, but not limited to, gyroscopes, accelerometers”), preferably wherein the accelerometer or gyroscope is realized as a MEMS sensor.
Regarding claim 3, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system, the oral scanner comprising an oral health sensor structured and/or arranged for acquiring and outputting oral health sensor data from at least the portion of the oral cavity during the scanning procedure (paragraph 60 “scanning circuit 110 can include a wide variety of sensors including, but not limited to, gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, inertial measurement units (“IMU”), depth sensors, and color sensors.”).
Regarding claim 4, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the oral health sensor comprises an optical sensor (paragraph 86 “The scanning device 102 includes a body 202, a front portion 204, a first camera 206, a second camera 208”), preferably an M times N array of light sensitive sensor elements.
Regarding claim 5, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the optical sensor is a camera (paragraph 86 “The scanning device 102 includes a body 202, a front portion 204, a first camera 206, a second camera 208”).
Regarding claim 6, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the processor is structured and/or arranged to determine oral health data relating to at least one oral health condition from the oral health sensor data (paragraph 134 during the scan, the scanning device 102 may determine that the upper teeth 906 or the lower teeth 908 include dental conditions that require intervention or additional care”).
Regarding claim 7, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the processor is structured and/or arranged to either process the oral health sensor data to determine oral health data relating to the at least one oral health condition, and to classify the oral health data with respect to at least two condition classes relating to the at least one oral health condition and to determine one condition class from the at least two condition classes to which the oral health data belongs (paragraph 134 “For example, the scanning device 102 may find that the user 902 has a cavity 910 on the upper teeth 906” with the condition being a cavity and the two condition classes being the presence or absence of a cavity), or to classify the oral health sensor data with respect to the at least two condition classes relating to the at least one oral health condition and to determine one condition class from the at least two condition classes to which the oral health sensor data belongs.
Regarding claim 8, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the feedback unit comprises at least one visual feedback element for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations and wherein the feedback unit is structured and arranged to visually indicate the scanning procedure progress for the at least two discrete positions or locations via the at least two visual feedback elements (figure 16 below has both an image and words notifying the user about scan progress in different pictured locations of the mouth), preferably wherein the feedback unit comprises a display unit realizing the at least two visual feedback elements.
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Regarding claim 9, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the feedback unit is realized as or by a separate device, preferably wherein the separate device is a computer, a notebook, a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone, or a smart watch (figure 16 above see feedback unit realized as a smartphone).
Regarding claim 10, Yancey teaches oral scanner system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the processor is at least partially located at or within the separate device (figure 1a element 122 mobile device includes a processor separate from scanning device).
Regarding claim 11, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the oral scanner comprises a scanner communicator and the separate device comprises a separate device communicator and the processor and the separate device communicators are structured and/or arranged for a wireless communication (paragraph 133 “provide the data to a dental practitioner using the mobile device 122 wirelessly coupled to the scanning device 102”).
Regarding claim 12, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the feedback unit is structured and arranged to visualize a generic depiction of the at least portion of the oral cavity, preferably comprising at least a generic visualization of the dentition, and wherein the scanning procedure progress values for the at least two discrete positions or locations are additionally visualized (paragraph 112 “Additionally, the image 640 can include a highlighted section 642 that can indicate, in real time, whether the scan of a particular section of the teeth was successful. For example, in some embodiments the highlighted section 642 can be green, indicating a successful scan. In some embodiments, the highlighted section 642 can be red, indicating an unsuccessful scan”), preferably where the visualizations of the scanning procedure progress values are overlaid onto the depiction of the dentition or where the depiction of the dentition is amended based on the scanning procedure progress values.
Regarding claim 13, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the processor is structured and/or arranged to stop the scanning procedure if the scanning procedure progress values for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations is above a predetermined threshold value (see figure 19 showing the end of the scan and user feedback message), preferably wherein the threshold value is different for at least two of the at least two different discrete positions or locations.
Regarding claim 14, Yancey teaches an oral scanner system wherein the processor is structured and/or arranged to determine the scanning procedure progress values for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations in dependance on at least one from the list comprising a duration of the scanning procedure at the respective discrete position or location, a quality of motion such as a length, a velocity, an acceleration or a direction derived from the position sensor data at the respective discrete position or location, a number of oral health sensor data acquisitions, preferably image data acquisitions of a camera (paragraph 112 “Additionally, the image 640 can include a highlighted section 642 that can indicate, in real time, whether the scan of a particular section of the teeth was successful. For example, in some embodiments the highlighted section 642 can be green, indicating a successful scan. In some embodiments, the highlighted section 642 can be red, indicating an unsuccessful scan”), of preferably non-overlapping or only partially overlapping content at the respective discrete position or location, a number of sub-positions or sub-locations determined based on the position sensor data at the respective discrete position or location, or a quality assessment of the oral health sensor data, preferably a quality assessment of image data of a camera, at the respective discrete position or location.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAYTON BARKER whose telephone number is (571)272-0912. The examiner can normally be reached between 9:00 and 5:00 PM EST Monday-Friday.
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/DAYTON HYUN JIN BARKER/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3795
/MICHAEL J CAREY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3795
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