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
1. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/24/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-20 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.
Claims 1, 8 and 15 recites the limitation "wherein a size of the downscaled images is iteratively increased". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim(s). The claim(s) before this limitation only talks about one single downscaled image, and claim(s) nowhere cites multiple downscaled images, and makes the claim(s) 1, 8 and 15 indefinite. Therefore claims 1, 8 and 15 are rejected 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. All other claims depending on claims 1, 8 and 15 are rejected at least for being dependent on claims 1, 18 and 15.
For examining purposes, a single downloaded image is considered rather than multiple downscaled images.
With respect to prior art analysis of claims 1, 8 and 15, the closest prior art(s) of record (e.g. Sun et al., 2021, “A Coaxial Alignment Method for Large Flange Parts Assembly Using Multiple Local Images” (pp. 16716-16727)) teaches analyzing flange joint using flange edges in binary images using circle extraction (see figures 6 and 10); but does not teach “applying a transformation to extract a first ellipse and a second ellipse corresponding to the at least two detected edges identified in the binary image, wherein a size of the downscaled image is iteratively increased, edges detected at each iteration, and ellipses extracted based on the detected edges until ellipses are extracted from an original size image; estimating a position and an orientation of the first ellipse and the second ellipse extracted from the original size image; and quantifying an alignment of the flanges based on a position and an orientation of the first ellipse and the second ellipse”.
Conclusion
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Penaluna et al., 2019, “Imaging of flange bore internal defects using phased array ultrasonic testing” (pp. 528-535), discloses flange bore inspection.
Ohtani et al, U.S. Patent No. 11,933,742, discloses binarized image data for flange portion inspection (col. 20, lines 1-6).
Xu et al., Chinese Patent Application No. CN 201521132593 U, discloses flange joint inspection.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Manav Seth whose telephone number is (571) 272-7456. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Sumati Lefkowitz, can be reached on (571) 272-3638. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Manav Seth/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2672
August 7, 2026
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