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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim 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. Claim 7 recites “generate a video mask associated with regions of the video feed that are not associated with the set of one or more regions.” It is unclear how one determines what regions are “not associated with the set of one or more regions.” The regions in the video capture are associated by virtue of being in the same image. At best the specification in paragraph 41 discloses that “regions of the video feed that are not associated with the set of one or more regions of the video feed that depict light modulated at the beacon frequency (e.g., that emanated from the at least one beacon) and “the video mask blacks out, or otherwise obscures, the regions of the video feed that are not associated with the set of multiple regions of the video feed that depict phase-synchronized light modulated at the beacon frequency (e.g., that emanated from a plurality of phase- synchronized beacons).” If the description in paragraph 41 is what applicant intends, applicant should likely remove the word “associated” and explicitly indicate that regions not depicting the light modulated at the beacon frequency are masked. For purposes of examination, the examiner ignores the generating a mask and applying the mask as it appears to be inoperable.
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.
(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 11, 14-15, 17-20 are rejected under 35 USC 102 as anticipated by US 2024/0233368, Pal et al. (hereafter Pal)
11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a system of an aircraft, cause the system to:
determine light flickering frequency information associated with a plurality of regions of a video feed captured by a camera; (Pal ¶71-79, light source identification, blinking lights, frequency)
determine, using a filtering technique associated with a particular frequency, and based on the light flickering frequency information, a set of one or more regions, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that are associated with the particular frequency; and (Pal ¶71-79 regions of interest for each light source)
provide a filtered video feed that includes video content of the video feed that is only associated with the set of one or more regions of the video feed. (The analyzed video information is provided to the controller system, which is part of the flight system of the aircraft, Fig 12 video feed)
14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the system to determine the light flickering frequency information, cause the system to:
determine, for each region, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, temporal intensity variation data. (Pal ¶73 regions of interest and blinking frequency)
15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the system to determine the set of one or more regions, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that are associated with the particular frequency, cause the system to:
process the light flickering frequency information using the filtering technique to identify at least one region, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that has a temporal intensity variation that matches the particular frequency. (Pal ¶73-75 determines a frequency and region)
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the system to provide the filtered video feed, cause the system to:
transmit the filtered video feed to cause the aircraft to automatically perform one or more positioning operations in association with at least one beacon that is modulated at the particular frequency and that is depicted by the set of one or more regions. (Pal ¶88 auto-taxing)
18. A method performed by a system of an aircraft, comprising:
determining light flickering frequency information associated with a plurality of regions of a video feed captured by a camera; (Pal ¶71-79, light source identification, blinking lights, frequency)
determining based on the light flickering frequency information, a set of one or more regions, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that are associated with a beacon frequency; and (Pal ¶71-79 regions of interest for each light source)
providing video content of the video feed that is associated with the set of one or more regions of the video feed. (The analyzed video information is provided to the controller system, which is part of the flight system of the aircraft, Fig 12 video feed)
19. The method of claim 18, wherein providing video content of the video feed enables the aircraft to automatically perform one or more positioning operations. (Pal ¶88 auto-taxing)
20. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the set of one or more regions, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that are associated with the beacon frequency comprises:
processing the light flickering frequency information using a filtering technique to identify at least one region, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that has a temporal intensity variation that matches the beacon frequency; and (Pal ¶73-75 regions of interest to find blinking frequency)
determining the set of one or more regions as including the at least one region. (Pal ¶73-75 regions of interest)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-10, 12-13 as best understood are rejected under 35 USC 103 as unpatentable over US 2024/0233368, Pal et al. (hereafter Pal) in view of Improved Multiple Target Tracking via Global Motion Compensation and Optoelectronic Correlation, Mohammad S. Alam, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 54, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2007, (hereafter Alam)
1. A beacon detection system of an aircraft, comprising:
a camera with a field of view that is associated with an attitude of the aircraft; (Pal Fig 2, 210, camera, ¶38)
a motion detection device associated with the camera; and (Pal ¶30 sensors that include speed/acceleration data)
one or more processors configured to:
process, a video feed captured by the camera; (Pal Fig 2, processors and software modules 212-226 that process the video feed, ¶39)
determine light flickering frequency information associated with a plurality of regions of the video feed; (Pal ¶71-79, light source identification, blinking lights, frequency)
determine, using a filtering technique associated with a beacon frequency, and (Pal ¶71-79 frequencies are determined, type of light, etc.; see also ¶37 filtering by color, etc. )
based on the light flickering frequency information, a set of one or more regions, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that are associated with the beacon frequency; and (Pal ¶71-79 regions of interest for each light source)
provide, to a flight management system of the aircraft, a filtered video feed that includes video content of the video feed that is only associated with the set of one or more regions of the video feed. (The analyzed video information is provided to the controller system, which is part of the flight system of the aircraft, Fig 12 video feed)
Pal does not disclose using a motion compensation technique. However, Alam, introduction, paragraph 1, teaches that using motion compensation is necessary when the camera is on a moving platform, in Pal an airplane, in order to improve accuracy of detection and tracking. Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify the system of Pal to include a motion compensation technique for the purposes of improving accuracy of detecting and tracking as taught by Alam.
2. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to provide the filtered video feed, are configured to:
transmit the filtered video feed to the flight management system to cause the aircraft to automatically perform one or more positioning operations in association with at least one beacon that is modulated at the beacon frequency and that is depicted by the filtered video feed. (Pal ¶88 auto taxing assistance)
3. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to process the video feed, are configured to:
identify a sequence of video frames of the video feed; (Pal ¶73 set of successive images)
identify motion data, of motion information captured by the motion detection device, that is associated with the sequence of video frames; and (Alam page 1, motion data)
process, using a motion compensation technique, and based on the motion data, the sequence of video frames to stabilize the sequence of video frames. (As the camera is not stable, the motion compensation technique stabilizes the video)
4. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to determine the light flickering frequency information, are configured to:
determine, for each region, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, temporal intensity variation data associated with a sequence of video frames of the video feed; and
generate the light flickering frequency information to indicate the temporal intensity variation data for each region of the plurality of regions of the video feed. (Pal ¶73 regions of interest and blinking frequency)
5. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein the filtering technique includes utilization of a band-pass filter with the beacon frequency set as a center frequency of the band-pass filter.
Pal and Alam do not disclose utilization of a band-pass filter with the beacon frequency set as a center frequency of the band-pass filter. However, band pass filters are well known device that only allows a range of frequencies to pass and block all others. It would have been obvious to utilize a band pass filter with the beacon frequency as the center frequency to allow only signals from the beacon to pass for the purposes of highlighting the beacon in a video.
6. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to determine the set of one or more regions, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that are associated with the beacon frequency, are configured to: process the light flickering frequency information using the filtering technique to identify at least one region, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that has a temporal intensity variation that matches the beacon frequency; and (Pal ¶73-75 determines a frequency)
determine the set of one or more regions as including the at least one region. (Pal ¶73-75 determines the region)
7. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to provide the filtered video feed, are configured to:
generate a video mask associated with regions of the video feed that are not associated with the set of one or more regions; apply the video mask to the video feed to generate the filtered video feed; and (See the 112b interpretation)
transmit the filtered video feed to the flight management system via a communication connection between the beacon detection system and the flight management system. (Pal Fig 12, transmits the video feed)
8. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein each region, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, is associated with a pixel cluster of the video feed. (A video is made of a number of pixels. Therefore, a region in the video is a cluster of pixels)
9. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein a capture rate of the camera is greater than or equal to twice the beacon frequency.
Although Pal and Alum do not disclose that the capture rate of the camera is greater than or equal to twice the beacon frequency, according to the well-known Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem, a sample rate must be at least 2x the frequency component to be identified. Therefore, it would have been obvious to have a capture rate of the camera being at least twice the beacon frequency in order to properly sample the frequency according to well-known principles.
10. The beacon detection system of claim 1, wherein the motion detection device includes at least one of:
an accelerometer; a gyroscope; an inertial measurement unit; or an optical flow sensor. (Pal ¶30 inertial units)
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the system to determine the light flickering frequency information, cause the system to: process the video feed using a motion compensation technique; and (Pal Fig 2, processors and software modules 212-226 that process the video feed, ¶39)
determine the light flickering frequency information after processing the video feed. (Pal ¶73 regions of interest and blinking frequency after processing the feed)
Pal does not disclose using a motion compensation technique. However, Alam, introduction, paragraph 1, teaches that using motion compensation is necessary when the camera is on a moving platform, in Pal an airplane, in order to improve accuracy of detection and tracking. Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify the system of Pal to include a motion compensation technique for the purposes of improving accuracy of detecting and tracking as taught by Alam.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the system to process the video feed, cause the system to:
process, using the motion compensation technique, and based on motion information captured by a motion detection device that is associated with the camera, a sequence of video frames of the video feed to stabilize the sequence of video frames. (Alam page 1, motion data; as the camera is not stable, the motion compensation technique stabilizes the video)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 16 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. In particular, the examiner can think of no particular reason why one of ordinary skill in the art would one modify the system of Pal to “process the light flickering frequency information using the filtering technique to identify multiple regions, of the plurality of regions of the video feed, that have temporal intensity variations that match the particular frequency and that are phase-synchronized with each other.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
2025/0342769, Hunter, disclosing a method of controlling an aerial vehicle using light sources.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ming Shui whose telephone number is (303)297-4247. The examiner can normally be reached on 7-5 Pacific Time, M-Th.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Greg Morse can be reached on 571-272-3838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Ming Shui/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2663
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