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 .
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.
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Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 21 and 29 of U.S. Patent No. 12,360,241. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 21 and 29 of Patent No. 12,360,241 contains every element of claim 1 of the instant application and thus anticipate the claim(s) of the instant application. Claim 1 of the instant application therefore is/are not patently distinct from the earlier patent claims and as such is/are unpatentable over obvious-type double patenting. A later application claim is not patentably distinct from an earlier claim if the later claim is anticipated by the earlier claim.
Regarding claim 1,
Instant Application
Is Met by U.S. Patent 12,360,241 claims 21 and 29
An acoustic analysis system comprising:
A system for acoustic analysis, comprising:
an acoustic sensor array configured to receive acoustic signals from a scene and output acoustic data based on the acoustic signals;
an illuminator configured to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the scene;
a distance measuring tool configured to emit electromagnetic radiation toward a source of an acoustic signal at or near a target in a scene and use the electromagnetic radiation to both illuminate the target and measure a distance to the target in the scene;
an electromagnetic imaging tool configured to receive electromagnetic radiation from the scene and output electromagnetic image data representative of the electromagnetic radiation; and
an electromagnetic imaging tool configured to receive electromagnetic radiation from the scene including the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the distance measuring tool; and
a processor in communication with the acoustic sensor array, the illuminator, and the electromagnetic imaging tool, the processor being configured to:
a processor configured to: receive, from the distance measuring tool, the distance to the target in the scene; determine a location of the source of the acoustic signal in the scene; and
generate acoustic image data of the scene based on the acoustic data; and generate a display image comprising combined acoustic image data and electromagnetic image data.
generate a display image including an image of the scene based at least in part on the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the distance measuring tool and a representation of the acoustic signal at the location of the source of the acoustic signal.
further comprising a housing supporting an acoustic sensor array, the light emitting device, the distance measuring tool, and the processor, the acoustic sensor array including a plurality of acoustic sensor elements configured to receive acoustic signals from the scene and output acoustic data based on the acoustic signals (claim 29).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cahill et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2016/0277863) discloses a system for acoustic analysis, comprising: an acoustic sensor array comprising a plurality of acoustic sensor elements configured to receive acoustic signals from a scene and output acoustic data based on the acoustic signals (Fig. 4 – data acquisition module 402 – acoustic images 403; paragraph [0035] – the data acquisition module 402 comprises an acoustic image device configured to capture and provide acoustic images, image frames and audio data in real-time); a display (Fig. 3 – output classification data; Figs. 5A-5C; paragraph [0006] – Figs. 5A-5C depict various intermediate and resulting acoustic images generated as scene analysis is carried out by the example process flow of Fig. 4); and a processor in communication with the acoustic sensor array, the processor being configured to: receive acoustic data representative of the scene from the acoustic sensor array (Fig. 3 – acquire sound and image data 304; Fig. 4 – data acquisition module 402 – image sensor 104; paragraph [0020] – data acquisition devices 102 include an image sensor 104 – image sensor 104 may be implemented as any type of sensor capable of capturing light and converting it into a proportional electrical signal including, for example, CMOS, CCD and hybrid CCD/CMOS sensors – some such example sensors include, for instance, color image data (RGB), color and depth image data (RGBD camera), depth sensor, stereo camera (L/R RGB), YUV, infrared signals, and x-rays – to this end, image sensor 104 can be implemented as a number of different sensors depending on a particular application – for example, image sensor 104 may include a first sensor being an infrared detector, and a second sensor being a color-image sensor (e.g., RGB, YUV) – in other examples, image sensor 104 may include a first sensor configured for capturing an image signal (e.g., color image sensor, depth-enabled image sensing (RGDB), stereo camera (L/R RGB), YUV, infrared, and x-ray) and a second sensor configured to capture image data different from the first image sensor; paragraph [0035] – the example method 300 includes an act of acquiring 304 sound and image data of an observed scene to generate spatially and temporally aligned acoustic, image and audio data streams – referring to Fig. 4, the act of acquiring 304 sound and image data via data acquisition devices 102 is represented within the example process flow as data acquisition module 402); determine a location of a detected acoustic signal in the scene, the location including depth information (Fig. 3 – output classification data; Figs. 5A-5C; paragraph [0006] – Figs. 5A-5C depict various intermediate and resulting acoustic images generated as scene analysis is carried out by the example process flow of Fig. 4); generate a display image including a representation of the detected acoustic signal, the representation being indicative of at least one acoustic parameter of the detected acoustic signal and a depth of the detected acoustic signal (Fig. 3 – output classification data; Figs. 5A-5C; paragraph [0006] – Figs. 5A-5C depict various intermediate and resulting acoustic images generated as scene analysis is carried out by the example process flow of Fig. 4); and communicate the display image to a display (Fig. 3 – output classification data; Figs. 5A-5C; paragraph [0006] – Figs. 5A-5C depict various intermediate and resulting acoustic images generated as scene analysis is carried out by the example process flow of Fig. 4).
Johnson et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0289772) discloses an image capturing system comprising: a distance measuring tool configured to provide distance information representative of a distance to a target (paragraph [0014] - the steps also include determining the distance from at least one of the camera modules to the target, correcting a parallax error using the determined distance, registering the first and second images corrected for parallax, and displaying the registered images on a display); a processor in communication with the distance measuring tool, the processor being configured to: receive distance information from the distance measuring tool representative of a distance to a target (paragraph [0014] - the steps also include determining the distance from at least one of the camera modules to the target, correcting a parallax error using the determined distance, registering the first and second images corrected for parallax, and displaying the registered images on a display); and generate a display image comprising combined image data (Fig. 3; paragraph [0015] - certain embodiments of the invention provide an infrared camera with a laser pointer to help identify locations of points-of-interest, such as hot spots and/or to aid the focusing of the infrared camera - many of these embodiments also include a visible light camera that is mounted together with the infrared camera and the laser pointer - many of these embodiments also include a display that can selectively display the infrared image from the infrared camera, the visible-light image from the visible-light camera, and/or an alpha-blended version of both images - the infrared and visible light cameras may have separate fields of view that create parallax error - the camera can correct the parallax error and register the images on the display from the separate fields of view - the laser pointer can be used to aid in the registration process - in many of these embodiments, the infrared camera is calibrated to identify the location of the laser spot in the infrared image using parallax calibration data as a function of the infrared camera focus distance - once the camera calculates the location of the laser spot, the camera can generate a computer-generated laser spot reference in the displayed image - this spot may be moved into alignment with the actual laser spot visible in the displayed image in order to focus the infrared camera - this spot may also be used to annotate an image to show the location of the laser when the actual laser spot is not visible in the displayed image).
Melese et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0252587) discloses an image capturing system comprising: wherein the processor is configured to adjust the adjustable direction of the electromagnetic radiation according to the desired location (paragraph [0033] – a simple example of a vibrating surface 10 is shown in Fig. 1, wherein light source 20 emits electromagnetic radiation 30, which reflects from the surface 10 and at least in part is detected at a light sensor 40 – the light source 20 may in general refer to any suitable source of electromagnetic radiation, and the radiation 30 may be of any of a number of ranges of wavelengths, e.g., visible light, infrared (IR), ultraviolet, etc. – thus, when the term “light” or “optical” is used herein, it will be understood that any desired frequency or range of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation may be used, and the light source may be naturally occurring (e.g. the sun) or artificial (e.g., a laser or a lamp); paragraph [0044] – the light source may as indicated be collimated, and/or it may be coherent (such as laser radiation), or it may be neither – for interior applications, an active collimated illuminator can be used, which has the advantage that it provides control over the light angles).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HEATHER R JONES whose telephone number is (571)272-7368. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri.: 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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/HEATHER R JONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2481
June 12, 2026
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