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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being disclosed by Yancey et al US 2020/0352686(hereinafter Yancey).
Regarding claim1, Yancey discloses an oral scanner system (see fig. 1a) comprising: an oral scanner structured and/or arranged for performing a scanning procedure of at least a portion of an oral cavity using at least one oral health sensor structured and/or arranged for outputting oral health sensor data acquired during the scanning procedure relating to at least one oral health condition([0057], [0060], [0086], scanning device 102 for scanning teeth and capture images ); a position detector structured and/or arranged for outputting position sensor data relating to a position or location at which the oral scanner currently performs the scanning procedure or has performed the scanning procedure at a given time instant([0060], he 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 the oral health sensor data and the position sensor data, to process the position sensor data to determine at least one discrete position or location from at least two discrete positions or locations of the at least portion of the oral cavity at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure or has performed the scanning procedure at the given time instant, and to assign the oral health sensor data to the determined discrete position or location and/or to process the oral health sensor data to determine oral health data relating to the at least one oral health condition and to assign the oral health data to the determined discrete position or location([0059], [0060], [0073], [0109], [0134], 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. For example, the scanning device 102 may find that the user 902 has a cavity 910 on the upper teeth 906. In addition to finding the cavity 910); and a feedback unit structured and/or arranged to provide feedback about the oral health sensor data and/or the oral health data for the at least two discrete positions or locations during the scanning procedure, preferably as a live or real-time feedback ([0136], after determination of dental condition, the user is notified of the condition as shown in fig. 24).
Regarding claim2, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the position sensor comprises at least one of an accelerometer or gyroscope, preferably wherein the accelerometer or gyroscope is realized as a MEMS sensor ([0060], he 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 claim3, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the oral health sensor is an optical sensor ([0086-0087], fig. 2 camera 206 and 208).
Regarding claim4, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the oral health sensor comprises an M time N array of light sensitive sensor elements, preferably wherein the optical sensor is a camera ([0086-0087], fig. 2 camera 206 and 208).
Regarding claim5, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 4, wherein the feedback provided for the at least two discrete positions or locations is in the form of a single value and/or in the form of a single indicium such as a color for each one of the at least two discrete positions or locations ([0112], fig. 17).
Regarding claim6, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the processor is structured and/or arranged to classify the oral health sensor data or the oral health data with respect to at least two condition classes relating to the at least one oral health condition, and the feedback unit is structured and/or arranged to provide user-perceptible feedback relating to the condition class into which the oral health sensor data or the oral health data is classified for each of the at least two positions or locations([0114]-0116]).
Regarding claim7, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 6, wherein the feedback unit comprises at least one visual feedback element for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations (fig.1a, [0134], fig. 17).
Regarding claim8, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the feedback unit comprises a display unit(fig. 1a display circuit 134,)
Regarding claim9, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 8, 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 (fig. 1a mobile device 122).
Regarding claim10, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the processor is at least partially located at or within the separate device (see fig. 1a processor 106 located in the scanning device while processor 126 included in the mobile device 122).
Regarding claim11, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 10, wherein the oral scanner comprises a scanner communicator and the separate device comprises a separate device communicator and the scanner communicator and the separate device communicator are structured and/or arranged for a wireless communication([0061], he communications circuit 112 can communicate with the mobile device 122 in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, Bluetooth, a WiFi network, a wired local area network (LAN), Zigbee, or any other suitable way for devices to exchange information).
Regarding claim12, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 11, wherein the feedback unit is structured and arranged to visualize a depiction of the at least portion of the oral cavity, preferably comprising at least a visualization of the dentition, and wherein the feedback about the least one oral health condition for the at least two discrete positions or locations is additionally visualized, preferably wherein the feedback about the least one oral health condition for the at least two discrete positions or locations is visually overlaid onto the depiction of the dentition or the depiction of the dentition is visually amended to reflect the feedback([0136], after determination of dental condition, the user is notified of the condition as shown in fig. 24).
Regarding claim13, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 12, wherein the processor is structured and/or arranged to compute a scanning procedure progress of the scanning procedure for the at least two discrete positions or locations of the at least portion of the oral cavity and the feedback unit is structured and/or arranged to provide feedback about the scanning procedure progress for the at least two discrete positions or locations during the scanning procedure, preferably as a live or real-time feedback and further preferably in the form of a single value such as a percentage value for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations(fig. 12-19, [0271], progress bar to indicate the user the progress of the scan validation process).
Regarding claim14, Yancey discloses the oral scanner system in accordance with claim 13, further comprising an oral care device having a device communicator and wherein the processor is structured and/or arranged to determine at the end of the scanning procedure control data based on the oral health sensor data acquired during the scanning procedure, and preferably to send the control data to the oral care device, and wherein the oral care device is structured and/or arranged to select at least one from at least two operational settings of the oral care device in dependance on the control data([0079], the images recorded by the scanning device 102 can be processed and modified by the scanning device 102, the mobile device 122, the cloud server 142, and/or the aligner fabrication center 162).
Regarding claim15, Yancey discloses an oral scanner system comprising: an oral scanner comprising an oral health sensor having a camera structured and/or arranged for acquiring and outputting image data from at least a portion of a dentition of a subject during an optical scanning procedure ([0057], [0060], [0086], scanning device 102 for scanning teeth and capture images )and a position detector structured and/or arranged for acquiring and outputting position sensor data during the optical scanning procedure, wherein the position sensor comprises at least one from a list comprising an accelerometer and a gyroscope(([0060], he 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 the image data and the position sensor data, to process the position sensor data to determine at least one discrete position or location from at least two discrete positions or locations of the at least portion of the oral cavity at which the oral scanner is currently performing the scanning procedure, and to process the image data to determine oral health data relating to the at least one oral health condition and to assign the oral health data to the determined discrete position or location([0059], [0060], [0073], [0109], [0134], 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. For example, the scanning device 102 may find that the user 902 has a cavity 910 on the upper teeth 906. In addition to finding the cavity 910); and a display unit structured and/or arranged to provide a visualization of the oral health sensor data and/or the oral health data for the at least two discrete positions or locations during the optical scanning procedure, preferably as a live or real-time visualization and further preferably in the form of a single value such as a percentage value for each of the at least two discrete positions or locations([0061], the communications circuit 112 can provide images of the scan to the mobile device 122 in real time for the mobile device 122 to display to the patient during the scan. [0271]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIRUMSEW WENDMAGEGN whose telephone number is (571)270-1118. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-7:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thai Tran can be reached at (571) 272-7382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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GIRUMSEW WENDMAGEGN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2484
/GIRUMSEW WENDMAGEGN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484