DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on 01/20/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments/Amendments
3. With respect to Claim Rejection 35 U.S.C § 102/103, Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground to rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenge in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-2, 6-9, 14-15, 17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2019/0098402 A1) in view of Bills et al. (US 10,656,275 B1.)
With respect to Claim 1, Zhang et al. disclose
A method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, audio data (Zhang Fig. 1 elements 10 the terminal device, element 11 a microphone array, [0061] Step S201: Monitor, by using a microphone array, a sound generated by a monitoring target, [0062] The microphone array includes at least three microphones, to determine a unique direction);
determining, based on receiving the audio data, a direction of a source of the audio data (Zhang [0063] Step S202: When a sound signal is monitored, obtain a sound direction value according to a sound phase difference obtained by each microphone in the microphone array) and a thermal signature associated with the direction of the source (Zhang Fig. 3 elements S302-S309, [0022] Using the human being as an example, the terminal device 10 performs parameter extraction according to a voice characteristic and an infrared characteristic of the human being, and performs parameter setting for components such as the microphone array 11, the thermal infrared sensing array 12, and the infrared transceiver 13, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating, [0115] The direction module 45 is further configured to generate a direction of the monitoring target according to the thermal sensing value, the sound direction value, and the credibility thereof. That is, an infrared pyroelectric signal and sound sent by the monitoring target are separately collected, and a collection result is analyzed and then weighted, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating a human body);
based on the determining the thermal signature is indicative of the user, causing the audio data to be processed for execution of a voice command (Zhang [0022] Using the human being as an example, the terminal device 10 performs parameter extraction according to a voice characteristic and an infrared characteristic of the human being, and performs parameter setting for components such as the microphone array 11, the thermal infrared sensing array 12, and the infrared transceiver 13, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating, [0115] The direction module 45 is further configured to generate a direction of the monitoring target according to the thermal sensing value, the sound direction value, and the credibility thereof. That is, an infrared pyroelectric signal and sound sent by the monitoring target are separately collected, and a collection result is analyzed and then weighted, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating a human body, [0082] Step S310: Superpose the location information and the longitude and latitude information, to generate longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target, [0083] For example, when the terminal device is located at longitude XX degrees east and latitude XX degrees north, panning is performed by using the relative location between the terminal device and the monitoring target, to generate the longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target, [0084] It may be understood that, in this step, an absolute location of the monitoring target may be generated, and the absolute location may be published to another terminal device to perform search and rescue.)
Zhang fail to explicitly teach
determining that the thermal signature is indicative of a user based on an analysis of the thermal signature indicating a spatial arrangement comprising a plurality of intensity regions within the thermal signature that are characteristic of the user; and
However, Bills et al. teach
determining that the thermal signature is indicative of a user based on an analysis of the thermal signature indicating a spatial arrangement comprising a plurality of intensity regions within the thermal signature that are characteristic of the user (Bills et al. col. 6 lines 58-62 In one example, a voltage resulting from the photons collected at the infrared camera 104 during a single open exposure window 204C may be read from each pixel of the infrared camera 104 to determine the presence of the object 101 within the photon collection zone 210C, col. 17 lines 12-26 The LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 may be a thermal (e.g., infrared) camera having a sensor array configured to detect, at each of its imaging elements, thermal radiation typically associated with humans and various animals. The biological detection preprocessor 1012 may be configured to control the operation of the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014, possibly in response to commands received from the vehicle autonomy processor 1030. Additionally, the biological detection preprocessor 1012 may process the image data received from the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 to help identify whether any particular imaged objects in the scene are human or animal in nature, as well as possibly to specifically distinguish humans from other thermal sources, such as by way of intensity, size, and/or other characteristics); and
Zhang and Bills et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources (Bills et al. col. 17 lines 12-26 The LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 may be a thermal (e.g., infrared) camera having a sensor array configured to detect, at each of its imaging elements, thermal radiation typically associated with humans and various animals. The biological detection preprocessor 1012 may be configured to control the operation of the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014, possibly in response to commands received from the vehicle autonomy processor 1030. Additionally, the biological detection preprocessor 1012 may process the image data received from the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 to help identify whether any particular imaged objects in the scene are human or animal in nature, as well as possibly to specifically distinguish humans from other thermal sources, such as by way of intensity, size, and/or other characteristics.)
With respect to Claim 2, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach
wherein receiving the audio data comprises capturing the audio data using an array of microphones, and wherein determining the direction of the source comprises determining, based on spatial processing of the audio data from the array of microphones, the direction of the source (Zhang [0007] In response to detecting a sound signal by the microphone array, the device determines a sound source direction corresponding to detected sound signal according to a sound phase difference obtained by each microphone in the microphone array.)
With respect to Claim 6, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach
wherein causing the audio data to be processed for execution of the voice command comprises one or more of processing the audio data for a keyword and with the voice command, sending the voice command to an additional computing device (Zhang [0026] In the second application scenario, the terminal device 10 first generates location information of the monitoring target 20, that is, information about a relative location between the terminal device 10 and the monitoring target 20, then obtains longitude and latitude information of the terminal device 10 by using the GPS system 40, and publishes longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target 20, that is, an absolute location of the monitoring target 20, after combining the two, [0027] The communications network 50 includes a wireless network and a wired network. The wireless network includes one of or a combination of multiple of a wireless wide area network, a wireless local area network, a wireless metropolitan area network, or a wireless personal network. The wireless network is particularly used for signal transmission between the terminal device 10 and the GPS system 40), or sending the audio data to the additional computing device to determine the voice command.
With respect to Claim 7, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach
wherein determining the thermal signature comprises receiving, from one or more devices, data indicative of one or more infrared signals and analyzing the data indicative of the one or more infrared signals to one or more of determine the thermal signature or determine that the thermal signature is indicative of a user (Zhang [0043] For example, the infrared transceiver performs infrared detection on an area range of the sound source direction, to generate multiple groups of infrared detection results, and determines an outline of the monitoring target according to the groups of infrared detection results. A relative distance between each edge of the outline of the monitoring target and the infrared transceiver is compared. For example, if the monitoring target is a person standing on the level ground, the relative distance may be represented as: a horizontal distance is 5 meters, and a height is 0 meters to 1.7 meters; if the monitoring target is a person lying on a bed, the relative distance may be represented as: a horizontal distance is 2 meters, and a height is 0.4 meter to 0.6 meter.)
With respect to Claim 8, Zhang disclose
A method comprising:
receiving audio data (Zhang [0061] Step S201: Monitor, by using a microphone array, a sound generated by a monitoring target, [0062] The microphone array includes at least three microphones, to determine a unique direction);
based on detection of the triggering word, determining location information associated with a source of the trigger word (Zhang [0063] Step S202: When a sound signal is monitored, obtain a sound direction value according to a sound phase difference obtained by each microphone in the microphone array, [0064] Specifically, this step includes: [0065] Step S2021: Simultaneously perform sound monitoring on each microphone, and obtain a sound intensity value and/or a sound phase value, [0066] Step S2022: Perform a voice or semantic analysis on the sound signal, [0067] Step S2023: Determine whether a result of the analysis includes a preset wake-up keyword, such as Little Q, X Device, or Help) and a thermal signature associated with a source (Zhang Fig. 3 elements S302-S309, [0071] Step S307: Generate a sound source direction according to the thermal sensing value, the sound direction value, and the credibility thereof, [0072] That is, weighting calculation is performed on the collected sound signal and infrared pyroelectric signal by using a VAT time division scanning weighting algorithm, to generate a more accurate direction, [0073] Step S308: Perform infrared detection on a direction of the monitoring target by using the infrared transceiver, [0022] Using the human being as an example, the terminal device 10 performs parameter extraction according to a voice characteristic and an infrared characteristic of the human being, and performs parameter setting for components such as the microphone array 11, the thermal infrared sensing array 12, and the infrared transceiver 13, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating);
based on the determining that the thermal signature is indicative of the-user, causing the voice command to be executed based on a determination that the thermal signature is indicative of a user, causing the voice command to be executed (Zhang [0022] Using the human being as an example, the terminal device 10 performs parameter extraction according to a voice characteristic and an infrared characteristic of the human being, and performs parameter setting for components such as the microphone array 11, the thermal infrared sensing array 12, and the infrared transceiver 13, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating, [0115] The direction module 45 is further configured to generate a direction of the monitoring target according to the thermal sensing value, the sound direction value, and the credibility thereof. That is, an infrared pyroelectric signal and sound sent by the monitoring target are separately collected, and a collection result is analyzed and then weighted, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating a human body, [0082] Step S310: Superpose the location information and the longitude and latitude information, to generate longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target, [0083] For example, when the terminal device is located at longitude XX degrees east and latitude XX degrees north, panning is performed by using the relative location between the terminal device and the monitoring target, to generate the longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target, [0084] It may be understood that, in this step, an absolute location of the monitoring target may be generated, and the absolute location may be published to another terminal device to perform search and rescue.)
Zhang fail to explicitly teach and
determining that the thermal signature is indicative of a user based on an analysis of the thermal signature indicating a spatial arrangement comprising a plurality of intensity regions within the thermal signature that are characteristic of the user; and
However, Bills et al. teach
determining that the thermal signature is indicative of a user based on an analysis of the thermal signature indicating a spatial arrangement comprising a plurality of intensity regions within the thermal signature that are characteristic of the user (Bills et al. col. 6 lines 58-62 In one example, a voltage resulting from the photons collected at the infrared camera 104 during a single open exposure window 204C may be read from each pixel of the infrared camera 104 to determine the presence of the object 101 within the photon collection zone 210C, col. 17 lines 12-26 The LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 may be a thermal (e.g., infrared) camera having a sensor array configured to detect, at each of its imaging elements, thermal radiation typically associated with humans and various animals. The biological detection preprocessor 1012 may be configured to control the operation of the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014, possibly in response to commands received from the vehicle autonomy processor 1030. Additionally, the biological detection preprocessor 1012 may process the image data received from the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 to help identify whether any particular imaged objects in the scene are human or animal in nature, as well as possibly to specifically distinguish humans from other thermal sources, such as by way of intensity, size, and/or other characteristics); and
Zhang and Bills et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources (Bills et al. col. 17 lines 12-26 The LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 may be a thermal (e.g., infrared) camera having a sensor array configured to detect, at each of its imaging elements, thermal radiation typically associated with humans and various animals. The biological detection preprocessor 1012 may be configured to control the operation of the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014, possibly in response to commands received from the vehicle autonomy processor 1030. Additionally, the biological detection preprocessor 1012 may process the image data received from the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 to help identify whether any particular imaged objects in the scene are human or animal in nature, as well as possibly to specifically distinguish humans from other thermal sources, such as by way of intensity, size, and/or other characteristics.)
With respect to Claim 9, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach
wherein determining the location information comprises determining the location information based on one or more of a global positioning sensor (Zhang [0026] In the second application scenario, the terminal device 10 first generates location information of the monitoring target 20, that is, information about a relative location between the terminal device 10 and the monitoring target 20, then obtains longitude and latitude information of the terminal device 10 by using the GPS system 40, and publishes longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target 20, that is, an absolute location of the monitoring target 20, after combining the two), a mobile device, a cell phone, or a wearable device.
With respect to Claim 14, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach
wherein causing the voice command to be executed comprises one or more of sending an instruction to a voice controlled device to process the audio data, sending data indicative of the voice command to a computing device configured to execute the voice command, or authorizing data indicative of the voice command to be transmitted via a network (Zhang Fig 1 elements 10, 40, 50, [0026] In the second application scenario, the terminal device 10 first generates location information of the monitoring target 20, that is, information about a relative location between the terminal device 10 and the monitoring target 20, then obtains longitude and latitude information of the terminal device 10 by using the GPS system 40, and publishes longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target 20, that is, an absolute location of the monitoring target 20, after combining the two, [0027] The communications network 50 includes a wireless network and a wired network. The wireless network includes one of or a combination of multiple of a wireless wide area network, a wireless local area network, a wireless metropolitan area network, or a wireless personal network. The wireless network is particularly used for signal transmission between the terminal device 10 and the GPS system 40.)
With respect to Claim 15, Zhang discloses
A method comprising:
receiving, by a gateway device, audio data (Zhang Fig. 1 element 10, [0020] The terminal device 10 is configured to perform the locating method provided in this application or run the locating system. A microphone array 11, a thermal infrared sensing array 12, and an infrared transceiver 13 are disposed on the terminal device 10, [0061] Step S201: Monitor, by using a microphone array, a sound generated by a monitoring target, [0062] The microphone array includes at least three microphones, to determine a unique direction);
determining, based on receiving the audio data, location information associated with a source of the audio data (Zhang [0063] Step S202: When a sound signal is monitored, obtain a sound direction value according to a sound phase difference obtained by each microphone in the microphone array, [0064] Specifically, this step includes: [0065] Step S2021: Simultaneously perform sound monitoring on each microphone, and obtain a sound intensity value and/or a sound phase value, [0066] Step S2022: Perform a voice or semantic analysis on the sound signal, [0067] Step S2023: Determine whether a result of the analysis includes a preset wake-up keyword, such as Little Q, X Device, or Help);
causing, based on the location information, one or more devices to capture thermal data associated with the source (Zhang [0033] Step S202: When a sound signal is monitored (e.g., detected by one or more of the microphones in the microphone array), determine a sound source direction according to a sound phase difference obtained by each microphone in the microphone array. In some embodiments, based on the frequency range of the detected sound signal, the terminal device also determines whether the sound is a voice sound or a non-voice sound. In some embodiments, only when the sound signal is a voice sound, will the terminal device proceed to trigger the infrared system to locate the source of the sound);
based on the thermal data being indicative of the person, causing a voice command associated with the audio data to be executed (Zhang [0006] time division polling on both sound signals and infrared signals are utilized, such that in a varied environment, either a sound or a presence of the body heat can trigger the detection of the human presence, and more accurate methods of locating the target, [0115] The direction module 45 is further configured to generate a direction of the monitoring target according to the thermal sensing value, the sound direction value, and the credibility thereof. That is, an infrared pyroelectric signal and sound sent by the monitoring target are separately collected, and a collection result is analyzed and then weighted, to increase accuracy of identifying and locating a human body, [0082] Step S310: Superpose the location information and the longitude and latitude information, to generate longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target, [0083] For example, when the terminal device is located at longitude XX degrees east and latitude XX degrees north, panning is performed by using the relative location between the terminal device and the monitoring target, to generate the longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target, [0084] It may be understood that, in this step, an absolute location of the monitoring target may be generated, and the absolute location may be published to another terminal device to perform search and rescue.)
Zhang et al. fail to explicitly teach
determining that the thermal data is indicative of a person based on an analysis of the thermal data indicating a spatial arrangement comprising a plurality of intensity regions within a thermal signature that are characteristic of the person; and
However, Bills et al. teach and
determining that the thermal data is indicative of a person based on an analysis of the thermal data indicating a spatial arrangement comprising a plurality of intensity regions within a thermal signature that are characteristic of the person (Bills et al. col. 6 lines 58-62 In one example, a voltage resulting from the photons collected at the infrared camera 104 during a single open exposure window 204C may be read from each pixel of the infrared camera 104 to determine the presence of the object 101 within the photon collection zone 210C, col. 17 lines 12-26 The LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 may be a thermal (e.g., infrared) camera having a sensor array configured to detect, at each of its imaging elements, thermal radiation typically associated with humans and various animals. The biological detection preprocessor 1012 may be configured to control the operation of the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014, possibly in response to commands received from the vehicle autonomy processor 1030. Additionally, the biological detection preprocessor 1012 may process the image data received from the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 to help identify whether any particular imaged objects in the scene are human or animal in nature, as well as possibly to specifically distinguish humans from other thermal sources, such as by way of intensity, size, and/or other characteristics); and
Zhang and Bills et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources (Bills et al. col. 17 lines 12-26 The LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 may be a thermal (e.g., infrared) camera having a sensor array configured to detect, at each of its imaging elements, thermal radiation typically associated with humans and various animals. The biological detection preprocessor 1012 may be configured to control the operation of the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014, possibly in response to commands received from the vehicle autonomy processor 1030. Additionally, the biological detection preprocessor 1012 may process the image data received from the LWIR microbolometer camera 1014 to help identify whether any particular imaged objects in the scene are human or animal in nature, as well as possibly to specifically distinguish humans from other thermal sources, such as by way of intensity, size, and/or other characteristics.)
With respect to Claim 17, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach
wherein causing the one or more devices to capture thermal data associated with the source comprises sending an instruction to emit, based on location information, an infrared signal, wherein the one or more devices receive, based on the emitted infrared signal, the thermal data and send the thermal data to the gateway device (Zhang [0007] an infrared sensing array including at least three infrared sensors located at different positions in the infrared sensing array, and an infrared transceiver configured to emit an infrared signal and receive a reflected infrared signal, [0043] For example, the infrared transceiver performs infrared detection on an area range of the sound source direction, to generate multiple groups of infrared detection results, and determines an outline of the monitoring target according to the groups of infrared detection results. A relative distance between each edge of the outline of the monitoring target and the infrared transceiver is compared. For example, if the monitoring target is a person standing on the level ground, the relative distance may be represented as: a horizontal distance is 5 meters, and a height is 0 meters to 1.7 meters; if the monitoring target is a person lying on a bed, the relative distance may be represented as: a horizontal distance is 2 meters, and a height is 0.4 meter to 0.6 meter.)
With respect to Claim 20, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach
wherein causing the voice command associated with the audio data to be executed comprises one or more of sending an instruction to a voice controlled device to process the audio data, sending data indicative of the voice command to a computing device configured to execute the voice command, or authorizing data indicative of the voice command to be transmitted via a network (Zhang Fig 1 elements 10, 40, 50, [0026] In the second application scenario, the terminal device 10 first generates location information of the monitoring target 20, that is, information about a relative location between the terminal device 10 and the monitoring target 20, then obtains longitude and latitude information of the terminal device 10 by using the GPS system 40, and publishes longitude and latitude information of the monitoring target 20, that is, an absolute location of the monitoring target 20, after combining the two, [0027] The communications network 50 includes a wireless network and a wired network. The wireless network includes one of or a combination of multiple of a wireless wide area network, a wireless local area network, a wireless metropolitan area network, or a wireless personal network. The wireless network is particularly used for signal transmission between the terminal device 10 and the GPS system 40.)
6. Claims 10, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2019/0098402 A1) in view of Bills et al. (US 10,656,275 B1) and Zingade et al. (US 2022/0237735 A1.)
With respect to Claim 10, Zhang et al. in view of Bills et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 8. Zhang et al. in view of Bills et al. fail to explicitly teach
wherein receiving the audio data comprises capturing the audio data from a plurality of devices located at a premises, wherein determining the location information associated with the source comprises triangulating, based on processing the audio data from the plurality of devices, the location information.
However, Zingade et al. teach
wherein receiving the audio data comprises capturing the audio data from a plurality of devices located at a premises, wherein determining the location information associated with the source comprises triangulating, based on processing the audio data from the plurality of devices, the location information (Zingade et al. Fig. 10 A element 1096 microphone, [0139] microphone(s) 1096, [0084] sounds originating on the left may be associated with the first conference participant 102A and sounds originating on the right may be associated with the first conference participant 102B. Further, such sound direction information may be used to improve the efficiency of the client application 134. For example, when the client application 134 detects sounds originating from the left, the client application 134 may forgo processing those image regions positioned on the right and vice versa. By way of a non-limiting example, sound direction may be determined (e.g., triangulated) using multiple microphones.)
Zhang, Bills et al. and Zingade et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources, using teaching of triangulating the direction of sound as taught by Zingade et al. for the benefit of processing the image regions (Zingade et al. Fig. 10 A element 1096 microphone, [0139] microphone(s) 1096, [0084] sounds originating on the left may be associated with the first conference participant 102A and sounds originating on the right may be associated with the first conference participant 102B. Further, such sound direction information may be used to improve the efficiency of the client application 134. For example, when the client application 134 detects sounds originating from the left, the client application 134 may forgo processing those image regions positioned on the right and vice versa. By way of a non-limiting example, sound direction may be determined (e.g., triangulated) using multiple microphones.)
With respect to Claim 16, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 15. Zhang et al. in view of Bills et al. fail to explicitly teach
wherein receiving the audio data comprises receiving the audio data from a plurality of devices located at a premises, wherein determining the location information associated the source comprises triangulating, based on processing the audio data from the plurality of devices, one or more of a location, a direction, a region, an area, a room, or a portion of the room.
However, Zingade et al. teach
wherein receiving the audio data comprises receiving the audio data from a plurality of devices located at a premises, wherein determining the location information associated the source comprises triangulating, based on processing the audio data from the plurality of devices, one or more of a location, a direction (Zingade et al. Fig. 10 A element 1096 microphone, [0139] microphone(s) 1096, [0084] sounds originating on the left may be associated with the first conference participant 102A and sounds originating on the right may be associated with the first conference participant 102B. Further, such sound direction information may be used to improve the efficiency of the client application 134. For example, when the client application 134 detects sounds originating from the left, the client application 134 may forgo processing those image regions positioned on the right and vice versa. By way of a non-limiting example, sound direction may be determined (e.g., triangulated) using multiple microphones), a region, an area, a room, or a portion of the room.
Zhang, Bills et al. and Zingade et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources, using teaching of triangulating the direction of sound as taught by Zingade et al. for the benefit of processing the image regions (Zingade et al. Fig. 10 A element 1096 microphone, [0139] microphone(s) 1096, [0084] sounds originating on the left may be associated with the first conference participant 102A and sounds originating on the right may be associated with the first conference participant 102B. Further, such sound direction information may be used to improve the efficiency of the client application 134. For example, when the client application 134 detects sounds originating from the left, the client application 134 may forgo processing those image regions positioned on the right and vice versa. By way of a non-limiting example, sound direction may be determined (e.g., triangulated) using multiple microphones.)
7. Claims 21, 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2019/0098402 A1) in view of Bills et al. (US 10,656,275 B1) and Price et al. (US 2021/0396586 A1.)
With respect to Claim 21, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 1 upon which Claim 21 depends. Zhang et al. in view of Bills et al. fail to explicitly teach
wherein the plurality of intensity regions within the thermal signature comprise at least one higher thermal intensity region and at least one lower thermal intensity region.
However, Price et al. teach
wherein the plurality of intensity regions within the thermal signature comprise at least one higher thermal intensity region and at least one lower thermal intensity region (Price et al. Fig. 1 element 114, Fig. 2 elements 202 and 204, [0016] a separate camera system, such as camera system 114. The thermal intensity values of the thermal image encode the amount of thermal energy emitted by the objects in the real-world environment and received by the thermal camera. In this manner, the relative temperatures of the objects in the real-world environment may be estimated based on their corresponding thermal intensity values in the thermal image, Fig. 4, [0028] In some cases, relatively higher thermal intensity values may correspond to regions in the imaged scene that are emitting relatively more thermal energy. In FIG. 4, pixels of thermal image 400 having relatively higher thermal intensity values are represented with relatively lighter shading. Thus, as can be seen, the face of human subject 402 is not emitting thermal energy uniformly. Rather, human faces typically exhibit some degree of temperature variation—e.g., the regions around a human's eyes are often higher temperature than regions corresponding to the human's nose, hair, ears, etc. This is reflected in FIG. 4, as relatively higher -temperature portions of the human's face have relatively higher thermal-intensity values in the thermal image.)
Zhang, Bills et al. and Price et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources, using teaching of the thermal intensity values for each of a plurality of pixels in the thermal image as taught by Price et al. for the benefit of identifying a position of a human face (Price et al. Fig. 2 elements 202 and 204.)
With respect to Claim 23, Zhang, Bills and Price et al. teach
wherein the analysis of the thermal signature further indicates that the spatial arrangement, comprising higher and lower thermal intensity regions within the thermal signature, matches a reference spatial arrangement comprising one or more of an arm, head, leg, foot, body, or other body part pattern that is characteristic of human presence (Price et al. [0028] In some cases, relatively higher thermal intensity values may correspond to regions in the imaged scene that are emitting relatively more thermal energy. In FIG. 4, pixels of thermal image 400 having relatively higher thermal intensity values are represented with relatively lighter shading. Thus, as can be seen, the face of human subject 402 is not emitting thermal energy uniformly. Rather, human faces typically exhibit some degree of temperature variation—e.g., the regions around a human's eyes are often higher temperature than regions corresponding to the human's nose, hair, ears, etc. This is reflected in FIG. 4, as relatively higher -temperature portions of the human's face have relatively higher thermal-intensity values in the thermal image.)
8. Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2019/0098402 A1) in view of Bills et al. (US 10,656,275 B1), Price et al. (US 2021/0396586 A) and Kamiizumi (US 2023/0137225 A1.)
With respect to Claim 22, Zhang in view of Bills and Price et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 21 upon which Claim 22 depends. Zhang in view of Bills and Price et al. fail to teach
wherein: the at least one higher thermal intensity region is associated with at least one of: a face, one or more arms, or one or more hands, or another exposed upper body area; and
the at least one lower thermal intensity region is associated with at least one of: a shirt, pants, or other leg and torso areas.
However, Kamiizumi teaches
wherein: the at least one higher thermal intensity region is associated with at least one of: a face, one or more arms, or one or more hands, or another exposed upper body area (Kamiizumi [0040] Person 30 shown in FIG. 2A wears jacket 30a and pants 30b. The surface temperatures of jacket 30a and pants 30b are close to an ambient temperature. Hence, for example, when the ambient temperature is a room temperature of about 25° C., on the surface temperatures of person 30 detected by heat source detector 20, the surface temperatures of parts of jacket 30a and pants 30b are lower than those of the other parts (the face, the neck and the arms) where skin is exposed. Therefore, as compared with the surface temperatures of the parts where the skin is exposed, the surface temperatures of jacket 30a and pants 30b are displayed to have low relative densities (colors close to the colors of the surrounding pixels). In the temperature environment described above, since the ambient temperature is lower than the temperatures of the surfaces of the clothes, when an object which has a temperature less than or equal to the ambient temperature does not exist inside the viewing angle ϕ, the region other than the person of thermal image 40 has the lowest density. For example, when the room temperature is about 25° C., the average skin temperature of the face is about 33° C., the temperature of jacket 30a is about 27° C., the temperature of the arms (exposed parts) is about 30° C., and the temperature of pants 30b is about 28° C., a temperature distribution as shown in thermal image 40 is provided. See paragraphs [0038-0039]); and
the at least one lower thermal intensity region is associated with at least one of: a shirt, pants (See paragraph [0038-0040]), or other leg and torso areas.
Zhang, Bills et al., Price et al. and Kamiizumi are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources, using teaching of the thermal intensity values for each of a plurality of pixels in the thermal image as taught by Price et al. for the benefit of identifying a position of a human face, using teaching of the thermal image as taught by Kamiizumi for the benefit of detecting the presence of the person (Kamiizumi Fig. 2B and [0038-0040].)
9. Claims 24-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2019/0098402 A1) in view of Bills et al. (US 10,656,275 B1) and Barton et al. (US 2022/0122431 A1.)
With respect to Claim 24, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 1 upon which Claim 1 depends. Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach determining that the thermal signature is indicative of the user is further based on inputting the thermal signature associated with the source (See Claim 1 rejection). Zhang in view of Bills et al. fail teach using machine learning model to categorize the thermal signature as human or non-human.
However, Barton et al. teach
wherein determining that the thermal signature is indicative of the user is further based on inputting the thermal signature associated with the source into a machine learning model, wherein the machine learning model is configured to categorize the thermal signature as human or non-human (Barton et al. [0087, 0123 and 0123] disclose using machine learning model to classify features of detected objects into person and non-person classes.)
Zhang, Bills et al. and Barton et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources, using teaching of the machine learning model as taught by Barton et al. for the benefit of classifying features of detected objects into person and non-person classes (Barton et al. [0087, 0123 and 0123] disclose using machine learning model to classify features of detected objects into person and non-person classes.)
With respect to Claim 25, Zhang in view of Bills et al. and Barton et al. teach
wherein the machine learning model performs automated feature recognition to identify the spatial arrangement comprising the plurality of intensity regions within the thermal signature that are characteristic of the user (Barton et al. [0087, 0123 and 0123] disclose using machine learning model to recognize and classify features of detected objects into person and non-person.)
10. Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2019/0098402 A1) in view of Bills et al. (US 10,656,275 B1) and Zhou et al. (US 2021/0393141 A1.)
With respect to Claim 26, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 8 upon which Claim 26 depends. Zhang in view of Bills et al. fail to teach
wherein determining that the thermal signature is indicative of the user is further based on: the analysis of the thermal signature indicating that one or more temperature metrics match, within a threshold similarity, an expected temperature metric associated with the user, wherein the one or more temperature metrics comprise at least one of a temperature, temperature range, or an average temperature.
However, Zhou et al. teach
wherein determining that the thermal signature is indicative of the user is further based on: the analysis of the thermal signature indicating that one or more temperature metrics match, within a threshold similarity, an expected temperature metric associated with the user, wherein the one or more temperature metrics comprise at least one of a temperature (Zhou et al. Claim 12 and [0058] disclose determining that at least part of a person is in the first thermal radiation image in response to the pixels with temperatures values greater than the threshold corresponding to at least part of a person), temperature range, or an average temperature.
Zhang, Bills et al. and Zhou et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources, using teaching of temperature threshold as taught by Zhou et al. for the benefit of a part of person is in the thermal radiation image (Zhou et al. Claim 12 and [0058] disclose determining that at least part of a person is in the first thermal radiation image in response to the pixels with temperatures values greater than the threshold corresponding to at least part of a person), temperature range, or an average temperature.
11. Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2019/0098402 A1) in view of Bills et al. (US 10,656,275 B1) and George et al. (US 2018/0285650 A1.)
With respect to Claim 27, Zhang in view of Bills et al. teach all the limitation of Claim 15 upon which Claim 27 depends. Zhang in view of Bills et al. fail to teach
wherein determining that the thermal signature is indicative of the user is further based on: the analysis of the thermal data over a period time, wherein the analysis indicates one or more of a change, movement, or movement pattern of a thermal signature over the period of time are characteristic of the person.
However, George et al. teach
wherein determining that the thermal signature is indicative of the user is further based on: the analysis of the thermal data over a period time, wherein the analysis indicates one or more of a change, movement, or movement pattern of a thermal signature over the period of time are characteristic of the person (George et al. [0027] detecting of one or more people entering the area by analyzing a change in thermal intensity values for a few second.)
Zhang, Bills et al. and George et al. are analogous art because they are from a similar field of endeavor in the Signal recognition algorithm and applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the steps of using the thermal signature to detect the human body as taught by Zhang, using teaching of intensity of thermal radiation as taught by Bills et al. for the benefit of distinguishing human from other thermal sources, using teaching of analyzing a change in the thermal intensity values over a short period of time as taught by George et al. for the benefit of detecting the human presence in the area (George et al. [0027] detecting of one or more people entering the area by analyzing a change in thermal intensity values for a few second.)
Conclusion
12. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to application’s disclosure. See PTO-892.
a. Nicholson et al. (US 2018/0342247 A1.) In this reference, Nicholson et al. disclose a method and/or system for activating, based on determining that the thermal data is associated with a human, at least one audio input device associated with the information handling device.
b. Laitinene et al. (US 2022/0303711 A1.) In this reference, Laitinene et al. disclose a method for using infra-red sensor to determine the at least one direction of at least sound source.
c. MacNeish et al. (US 2021/0212576 A1.) In this reference, MacNeish et al. disclose a method for detecting change of the temperature by a thermal image.
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/THUYKHANH LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2655