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)(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 1-5, 11-16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Keustermans et al. (US 20190147666 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Keustermans et al. discloses a computer-implemented method for automatic generation of a crown shape for a dentition of a crown (virtual teeth setup for designed crowns of the teeth to be restored by prosthetic means, para. 0003), the method comprising:
determining an optimized crown shape for a tooth position in the dentition using a digital crown shape model, the digital crown shape model being associated with optimization information, the optimization information including one or more optimization parameters (estimates the optimal shape and pose (position and orientation) of one or more prosthetic crown restorations or other dental restorations given sufficient anatomical information of an at least partially edentulous patient and a minimal amount of user interaction, para. 0149; energy function is applied and optimized, which comprises a first measure indicative of a fit between the patient's anatomy, digitized surface mesh of said intra-oral region of the patient, and the virtual teeth setup, and a second measure indicating a probability of the virtual teeth setup given the statistical model, para. 0151), wherein optimization comprises:
generating a trial crown shape using the digital crown shape model (virtual teeth setup is a so-called ‘mean virtual teeth setup’, which is based on the computed mean shape, position and/or orientation for the teeth in a multitude of virtual teeth setups obtained by digitizing a multitude of intra-oral surfaces and separating the surface meshes of the individual teeth from said digitized surfaces, while maintaining their respective shape, position and orientation within the dental arch, para. 0015 and see figure 13);
computing a loss value for the trial crown shape based on 3D spatial constraints associated with the dentition and an initial pose of the crown (fitting of one or more corresponding crowns from a library to one or more teeth of an adapted virtual teeth setup. The fitting of such library teeth to a tooth of the adapted virtual teeth setup, which corresponds to a tooth to be included in a dental restoration has the advantage that it allows to regain certain anatomic tooth details that may have been lost in the optimization procedure when they have not been captured by the statistical models describing the shape of individual teeth, para. 0036); and
iteratively minimizing the loss value by modifying the one or more optimization parameters until one or more optimization conditions are met (applying and optimizing an energy function, representing a quality measure for said virtual teeth setup, to adapt said virtual teeth setup to the intra-oral anatomical situation of the patient, energy function comprising a first measure indicative of a fit between said patient's anatomy and said adapted virtual teeth setup, and a second measure indicating a probability of said adapted virtual teeth setup given said statistical model. Typically, optimizing said energy function is an iterative process, wherein said energy function is repeatedly applied on intermediate virtual teeth setups in order to obtain an adapted virtual teeth setup resulting from said optimized energy function, para. 0023);
displaying the optimized crown shape at the tooth position within the dentition and a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with the displayed optimized crown shape, the GUI being configured to receive user input for modifying at least part of the optimization information (involves displaying the teeth of the adapted virtual teeth setup on a surface representation of the patient's intraoral situation allowing a practitioner to visually inspect the estimates as proposed by the method, paras. 0016, 0026);
in response to user input for modifying the at least part of the optimization information, determining a re-optimized crown shape using the digital crown shape model based on the modified at least part of the optimization information (receipt of user input virtually modifying one of the shape, position and orientation of an indicated tooth as estimated for a said tooth using the adapted teeth setup resulting from the optimized energy function of the initial estimation, para. 0057); and
displaying the optimized crown shape at the tooth position within the dentition (displaying the teeth of the adapted virtual teeth setup on a surface representation of the patient's intraoral situation allowing a practitioner to visually inspect the estimates, paras. 0016, 0025).
Regarding claim 2, Keustermans et al. discloses the method according to claim 1 wherein the optimization information presented by the GUI includes at least one of:
a crown pose, one or more landmarks, an emergence line, an FDI number, one or more dental corridors, one or more crown shape parameters (virtual modification of at least one element of a shape, position and orientation of one or more teeth in a said digitized intraoral surface of a patient, paras. 0003, 0014, 0057).
Regarding claim 3, Keustermans et al. discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the digital crown shape model is defined as a linear combination of different basic crown shapes of a tooth wherein the crown shape parameters represent coefficients associated with each basic crown shape defining at least part of the one or more optimization parameters (computed mean shape, position and/or orientation for the teeth in a multitude of virtual teeth setups obtained by digitizing a multitude of intra-oral surfaces and separating the surface meshes of the individual teeth from said digitized surfaces, while maintaining their respective shape, position and orientation within the dental arch, para. 0015).
Regarding claim 4, Keustermans et al. discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the digital crown shape model comprises at least one trained deep neural network, preferably a DeepSDF-based model, that is trained to generate different crown shapes as a function of one or more optimization parameters provided to an input of the at least one trained deep neural network, wherein the optimization parameters control at least a shape of the crown shape.
Regarding claim 5, Keustermans et al. discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein re-optimization of the digital crown shape model after user modification of the optimization information comprises:
receiving one or more modified values corresponding modified optimization information from the GUI (generation of such virtual modification comprises in an initial step the receipt of user input virtually modifying one of the shape, position and orientation of an indicated tooth as estimated for a said tooth using the adapted teeth setup resulting from the optimized energy function of the initial estimation, para. 0057);
computing a loss value based on the modified optimization information and using the digital crown shape model (optimizing a second energy function, representing a quality measure for the adapted virtual teeth setup, para. 0057); and,
minimizing iteratively the loss value by updating the crown shape parameters and/or crown pose parameters until the loss value satisfies one or more optimization conditions (inputted modification of at least one of a shape, position and orientation for a tooth requiring
Regarding claim 11, Keustermans et al. discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein a preview of the digital crown shape is generated after user modification of optimization information, wherein the generation of the preview of the digital crown shape includes:
applying one or more transformations to the crown shape to generate the preview, wherein the one or more transformations adjusts the crown shape to approximate alignment with the modified optimization information without altering the crown shape parameters (optimisation process may be continued until the change between subsequent iterations falls below a given threshold, preferably a user set threshold. Alternatively, the optimisation process may be continued until a maximum number of iterations is reached, preferably this number is set by the user, para. 0023);
displaying the crown shape preview in the GUI to provide visual feedback of the modifications (displaying the teeth of the adapted virtual teeth setup on a surface representation of the patient's intraoral situation allowing a practitioner to visually inspect the estimates, para. 0026).
Claim 12, a system claim, is rejected for the same reason as claim 1 and see para. 0259.
Claim 13, a system claim, is rejected for the same reason as claim 2.
Claim 14, a system claim, is rejected for the same reason as claim 3.
Claim 15, a system claim, is rejected for the same reason as claim 4.
Claim 16, a system claim, is rejected for the same reason as claim 5.
Claim 20, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium claim, is rejected for the same reason as claim 1 and see para. 0259.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jordan (US 11,648,096 B2) discloses a method for the computer-aided editing of a digital 3D model of a dental object using digital tools, wherein at least one digital tool is selected and an effect of the tool is computed for the whole 3D model. In the process, different regions of the 3D model are identified, wherein at least one region corresponds at least in part to an occlusal or incisal or labial or buccal or distal or mesial or lingual or palatal surface of the dental object and wherein the tool affects the different regions differently.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS J LETT whose telephone number is (571)272-7464. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tammy Goddard can be reached at (571) 272-7773. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THOMAS J LETT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2611
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