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
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.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Afshar (Afshar S, Nicholson AP, Van Schaik A, Cohen G. Event-based object detection and tracking for space situational awareness. IEEE Sensors Journal. 2020 Jul 16;20(24):15117-32.).
As to claim 11, Afshar discloses the claimed subject matter, including an event camera deployed to monitor a field of view (Fig. 1); and a processing system associated with said event camera and including at least one processor, said processing system configured to: (i) monitor events from said event camera to detect a looming object (section A 'Event-Based Space Situational Awareness'); (ii) track the looming object and process events associated with the looming object to determine motion parameters indicative of a remaining time to passing and a passing distance from said event camera (section F 'Event-Based Tracking'); (iii) process events associated with the looming object to derive a selective image of only a region of the field of view corresponding to the looming object (Fig. 4 (c)); and (iv) apply an image classifier to the selective image in order to determine a type of threat (section E 'Feature Detection').
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 are allowable over prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Frank (US 20180266886 A1) discloses an airborne inspection systems and methods.
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Any response to this action should be mailed to:
Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Or faxed to:
(571) 273-8300
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the Customer Service Office whose telephone number is 571-272-1000.
/SHERRIE HSIA/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2422
SH
July 11, 2026
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