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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-14, 18, and 20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 encompasses all the limitations of the pending claims.
With respect to claim 1, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses:
Pending claim 1
Patented claim 1
A method for aligning a collection of a plurality of collections of features to spatial information, the method comprising
A method of computing a pose between a first component and a map, wherein a pose of the first component is represented by a plurality of collections of features posed with respect to a coordinate frame of the first component, the method comprising
using at least one processor to perform: computing a first rough alignment relative to the spatial information for a first collection of the plurality of collections of features
computing a first rough localization for a first collection of features of the plurality of collections of features
computing, based on the first rough alignment, a first refined alignment for the first collection of features; computing, based on the first rough alignment, a first refined alignment for the first collection of features
computing, as a first candidate localization of the plurality of candidate localizations, a first refined localization based on the first rough localization
and determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to compute a second rough alignment for a second collection of the plurality of collections of features
evaluating one or more criteria; determining, based on the evaluation of the one or more criteria, whether to perform a second rough localization for a second collection of features of the plurality of collection of features
when it is determined to not compute the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: computing, based on the first rough alignment, a second refined alignment for the second collection of features based on the first rough alignment
when it is determined to not perform the second rough localization for the second collection of features, compute a second refined localization as a second candidate localization of the plurality of candidate localizations based on the first rough localization
and when it is determined to perform the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: computing the second rough alignment relative to the spatial information for the second collection of features; and computing, based on the second rough alignment, the second refined alignment for the second collection of features
and when it is determined to perform the second rough localization for the second collection of features, compute the second rough localization for the second collection of features and compute the second refined localization as the second candidate localization based on the second rough localization
Performing alignment is analogous to performing localization in this context.
With respect to claim 2, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein computing the second rough alignment relative to the spatial information for the second collection of features comprises computing the second rough alignment with a subset of the second collection of features (Patented claim 11, wherein computing the first rough localization comprises selecting a sub-region of a persistent map based on location metadata associated with the first portion of the plurality of collections of features). A subset of the second collection of features is analogous to a sub-region associated with the first portion of the plurality of collections of features.
With respect to claim 3, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating the one or more criteria by computing a confidence metric for the first collection of features (Patented claim 2).
With respect to claim 4, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the confidence metric is computed based on the first collection of features and a set of features in the spatial information corresponding to the first collection of features (Patented claim 3).
With respect to claim 5, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the confidence metric is computed at least in part by determining a number of features in the first collection of features that are coincident with features of the set of features (Patented claim 4).
With respect to claim 6, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating the one or more criteria by computing a measure of parallax determined between the first collection of features and the second collection of features (Patented claim 5).
With respect to claim 7, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating the one or more criteria based on motion of a portable device (Patented claim 6).
With respect to claim 8, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating the one or more criteria by computing a measure of consensus among sets of features in the spatial information (Patented claim 7).
With respect to claim 9, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 8, wherein determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to compute the second rough alignment for the second collection of features comprises determining whether the measure of consensus among the sets of features is below a threshold (Patented claim 8).
With respect to claim 10, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein computing the second refined alignment comprises computing a transformation between a local coordinate frame of a device and a coordinate frame of a persisted map in the spatial information (Patented claim 9).
With respect to claim 11, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of collections of features each comprise a posed feature rig, wherein the posed feature rig comprises a plurality of feature descriptors and a pose associated with each of the plurality of features descriptors (Patented claim 10).
With respect to claim 12, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein computing the first rough alignment for the first collection of features comprises selecting a first subset of spatial information from the spatial information based on location metadata associated with the first collection of features (Patented claim 11).
With respect to claim 13, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses:
Pending claim 13
Patented claim 12
At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a method for aligning a collection of a plurality of collections of features to spatial information, the method comprising
At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a method of computing a pose between a first component and a map, wherein a pose of the first component is represented by a plurality of collections of features posed with respect to a coordinate frame of the first component, the method comprising
computing a first rough alignment relative to the spatial information for a first collection of the plurality of collections of features
computing a first rough localization for a first collection of features of the plurality of collections of features
computing, based on the first rough alignment, a first refined alignment for the first collection of features
computing, as a first candidate localization of the plurality of candidate localizations, a first refined localization based on the first rough localization
determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to compute a second rough alignment for a second collection of the plurality of collections of features
evaluating one or more criteria; determining, based on the evaluated one or more criteria, whether to perform a second rough localization for a second collection of features of the plurality of collections of features
and when it is determined to not compute the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: computing, based on the first rough alignment, a second refined alignment for the second collection of features based on the first rough alignment
when it is determined to not perform the second rough localization for the second collection of features, compute a second refined localization as a second candidate localization of the plurality of candidate localizations based on the first rough localization
and when it is determined to perform the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: computing the second rough alignment relative to the spatial information for the second collection of features; and computing, based on the second rough alignment, the second refined alignment for the second collection of features
and when it is determined to perform the second rough localization for the second collection of features, compute the second rough localization for the second collection of features and compute the second refined localization as the second candidate localization based on the second rough localization
Performing alignment is analogous to performing localization in this context.
With respect to claim 14, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein computing the second rough alignment relative to the spatial information for the second collection of features comprises computing the second rough alignment with a subset of the second collection of features (Patented claim 11, wherein computing the first rough localization comprises selecting a sub-region of a persistent map based on location metadata associated with the first portion of the plurality of collections of features). A subset of the second collection of features is analogous to a sub-region associated with the first portion of the plurality of collections of features.
With respect to claim 15, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises: evaluating the one or more criteria by computing a confidence metric for the first collection of features (Patented claim 13, evaluating the one or more criteria includes computing a confidence metric for the first candidate localization, wherein: the confidence metric for the first candidate localization is computed based on the first collection of features).
With respect to claim 16, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises evaluating the one or more criteria by computing a measure of parallax determined between the first collection of features and the second collection of features (Patented claim 14).
With respect to claim 17, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein computing the second refined alignment comprises computing a transformation between a local coordinate frame of a device and a coordinate frame of a persisted map in the spatial information (Patented claim 18).
With respect to claim 18, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein computing the first rough alignment for the first collection of features comprises selecting a first subset of spatial information from the spatial information based on location metadata associated with the first collection of features (Patented claim 20).
With respect to claim 19, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses:
Pending claim 19
Patented claim 1
A system for aligning a collection of a plurality of collections of features to spatial information, the system comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to
A method of computing a pose between a first component and a map, wherein a pose of the first component is represented by a plurality of collections of features posed with respect to a coordinate frame of the first component, the method comprising (it is deemed inherent the method is executed on a system with a processor and computer-readable storage medium)
compute a first rough alignment relative to the spatial information for a first collection of the plurality of collections of features
computing a first rough localization for a first collection of features of the plurality of collections of features
compute, based on the first rough alignment, a first refined alignment for the first collection of features
computing, as a first candidate localization of the plurality of candidate localizations, a first refined localization based on the first rough localization
and determine, based on one or more criteria, whether to compute a second rough alignment for a second collection of the plurality of collections of features
evaluating one or more criteria; determining, based on the evaluation of the one or more criteria, whether to perform a second rough localization for a second collection of features of the plurality of collection of features
when it is determined to not compute the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: compute, based on the first rough alignment, a second refined alignment for the second collection of features based on the first rough alignment
when it is determined to not perform the second rough localization for the second collection of features, compute a second refined localization as a second candidate localization of the plurality of candidate localizations based on the first rough localization
and when it is determined to perform the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: compute the second rough alignment relative to the spatial information for the second collection of features; and compute, based on the second rough alignment, the second refined alignment for the second collection of features
and when it is determined to perform the second rough localization for the second collection of features, compute the second rough localization for the second collection of features and compute the second refined localization as the second candidate localization based on the second rough localization
Performing alignment is analogous to performing localization in this context.
With respect to claim 20, U.S. Patent No. 12,315,097 discloses the system of claim 19, wherein computing the second rough alignment relative to the spatial information for the second collection of features comprises computing the second rough alignment with a subset of the second collection of features (Patented claim 11, wherein computing the first rough localization comprises selecting a sub-region of a persistent map based on location metadata associated with the first portion of the plurality of collections of features). A subset of the second collection of features is analogous to a sub-region associated with the first portion of the plurality of collections of features.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Holz et al. (U.S. PGPUB 20180307941) is made of record as describing related methods of computing a plurality of candidate localizations, determining a localization based on the plurality of candidate localizations, computing a first rough localization, computing, as a candidate localization of the plurality of candidate localizations, a first refined localization, and determining, based on a criteria, whether to compute a second refined localization or second rough localization. However, none of the cited art teaches or suggests the method of evaluating one or more criteria to forgo further alignment, i.e., determining, based on one or more criteria, whether to compute a second rough alignment for a second collection of the plurality of collections of features;
when it is determined to not compute the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: computing, based on the first rough alignment, a second refined alignment for the second collection of features based on the first rough alignment; and
when it is determined to perform the second rough alignment for the second collection of features: computing the second rough alignment relative to the spatial information for the second collection of features; and computing, based on the second rough alignment, the second refined alignment for the second collection of features.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. PGPUB 20210173094 to Chen et al. for a method of performing 3D point cloud map alignment
U.S. PGPUB 20190266748 to Ahmad et al. for a method of localizing a vehicle based on aligned 3D point cloud map segments.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW GUS YANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5514. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 AM - 5:30 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kent Chang can be reached at (571)272-7667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ANDREW G YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2614
9/1/26
Prosecution Insights