DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
The amendment filed 1/06/2026 have been entered and made of record.
The application has pending claim(s) 1 and 4-22.
In response to the amendments filed on 1/06/2026:
The objections to the specification and title have been entered and therefore the Examiner withdraws the objections to the specification and title.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9-10, filed 1/06/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 4-9, and 11-22 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of 35 U.S.C. 112. Further discussions are addressed below.
Claim Objections
Claims 9 and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 9 at line 10: Due to the amendments, “third image camera” should be -- third physical camera --.
Claim 9 at lines 10-11: Due to the amendments, “the plurality of cameras” should be -- the plurality of physical cameras --.
Claim 19 at line 4: Due to the amendments, “the plurality of cameras” should be -- the plurality of physical cameras --.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Due to the amendments, claims 1 and 4-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The Examiner has searched the entire specification and has not found any evidence that the application has support for claiming the specific steps of “replace” / “replacing” a first image … with a second image as recited in the independent claims 1, 20, and 21 respectively [claims 4-19 and 22 are dependent upon claim 1 respectively]. The originally filed disclosure only mentions “switch” / “switching” rather than replace / replacing. The scope of the two phrases are different wherein replacing (substitution) implies removing an existing item and putting a new one in its place whereas switching implies shifting from one option to another, often involving a change in state or preference.
The Applicant is advised to either amend the claims further or show the Examiner clear support of possession in the specification for all the amended claim limitations with respective arguments showing and indicating that possession of such claim language is actually appropriate in terms of Written Description criteria [35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 1st paragraph].
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Due to the amendments, claims 1 and 4-22 are 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.
Re Claim 1 at line 10: Due to the amendments, the claim limitation “the plurality of images” lacks antecedent basis.
Similar discussions are addressed with claim 20 at line 16-17 and claim 21 at lines 17-18 respectively.
Claim 8: Due to the amendments, the claim limitation “the third image” lacks antecedent basis. The Examiner suggests “of claim 4” at line 1 to be -- of claim 7 --.
Claims 4-19 and 22 are dependent upon claim 1 respectively.
Claims 9-10 and 12 are dependent upon claim 8 respectively.
Appropriate correction is required.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Adachi ‘560 discloses a storage unit that stores the object information, the field-of-view information, the virtual viewpoint information, and the virtual viewpoint image, and an input unit that receives a user operation; Okutani ‘633 discloses the rendering processing unit stores the second virtual viewpoint image in the image holding unit; Irie et al ‘674 discloses the storage to store the generated virtual viewpoint videos.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
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/Bernard Krasnic/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2671 March 3, 2026