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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 20, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on January 20, 2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims received on January 20, 2026 has been entered.
The amendment of claims 1, 8 and 15 is acknowledged.
The new claims 21 and 22 are acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 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, 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.
Claims 1-3, 7-10 and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rui-lin’736 (CN 109766736), and further in view of Saito’973 (US 2013/0070973), Yang’138 (US 2021/0264138) and Collet’447 (US 2019/0266447).
With respect to claim 8, Rui-lin’736 teaches an apparatus for image processing (Fig.8), comprising processing circuitry configured to:
receive, by a first thread executed on the processing circuitry, one or more first images corresponding to first portions in a section of characters for recognition, and storing the one or more first images in a memory [The received video image is considered being stored in a memory either temporary or permanently (Fig.1, step 110)];
splice, by a second thread executed concurrently on the processing circuitry, the one or more first images into a first intermediate spliced image [a face image synthesis unit for splicing by the video identified in the video image of the face image synthesis, dynamic rendering complete face image of the face image (page 3)];
perform a first intermediate character recognition on the first intermediate spliced image based on through a first optical character recognition model (Fig.1, step 140 and page 6),
Rui-lin’736 does not teach the first intermediate character recognition generating being configured to generate a first intermediate recognition result for display, wherein the first optical character recognition model is a lightweight model configured to perform character recognition during image capture of the section of characters for recognition; and in response to detection of a change in a state of the image capture of the section of characters for recognition, perform a final character recognition on a final spliced image corresponding to the section of characters for recognition based on through a second optical character recognition model that is different from the first optical character recognition model, the final character recognition generating a final recognition result of the section of characters.
Saito’973 teaches displaying the images of the person detected in the received image (Fig.5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Rui-lin’736 according to the teaching of Saito’973 to display the matched face image recognized from the rendered complete face image of the face image (the first intermediate character recognition generating being configured to generate a first intermediate recognition result for display) because this will allow the matched face image to be presented to a user more effectively.
The combination of Rui-lin’736 and Saito’973 does not teach wherein the first optical character recognition model is a lightweight model configured to perform character recognition during image capture of the section of characters for recognition; and in response to detection of a change in a state of the image capture of the section of characters for recognition, perform a final character recognition on a final spliced image corresponding to the section of characters for recognition based on through a second optical character recognition model that is different from the first optical character recognition model, the final character recognition generating a final recognition result of the section of characters.
Yang’138 teaches wherein the first optical character recognition model is a lightweight model configured to perform character recognition during image capture of the section of characters for recognition (Fig.2, item 220, and paragraph 29).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Rui-lin’736 and Saito’973 according to the teaching of Yang’138 to includes the lightweight model and the heavyweight model to perform face recognition because this will allow the face recognition for the received images to be performed more effectively.
The combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973 and Yang’138 does not teach in response to detection of a change in a state of the image capture of the section of characters for recognition, perform a final character recognition on a final spliced image corresponding to the section of characters for recognition based on through a second optical character recognition model that is different from the first optical character recognition model, the final character recognition generating a final recognition result of the section of characters, wherein the change in the state indicates an end of the section characters.
Collet’447 teaches in response to detection of a change in a state of the image capture of the section of characters for recognition, perform a final character recognition on a final spliced image corresponding to the section of characters for recognition based on through a second optical character recognition model that is different from the first optical character recognition model, the final character recognition generating a final recognition result of the section of characters [as shown in Fig.2, the second character recognition is being used when further recognition is needed to perform (detection of a change in a state of the image capture of the section of characters for recognition).],
wherein the change in the state indicates an end of the section characters [as shown in Fig.2, the second character recognition is being used on a selected second region when further recognition is needed to perform (the change in the state indicates an end of the section characters)].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973 and Yang’138 according to the teaching of Collet’447 to perform the second character recognition on a selected second region when further recognition is needed to perform because this will allow the face recognition for the received images to be performed more effectively.
With respect to claim 9, which further limits claim 8, Rui-lin’736 teaches wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: receive the one or more first images via a first thread of execution, the first thread of execution providing the one or more first images captured in real time [The received video image is considered being stored in a memory either temporary or permanently (Fig.1, step 110)]; and
splice, by the second thread, the one or more first images via a second thread of execution, the second thread of execution splicing the one or more first images into the first intermediate spliced image in real time image [a face image synthesis unit for splicing by the video identified in the video image of the face image synthesis, dynamic rendering complete face image of the face image (page 3)].
With respect to claim 10, which further limits claim 8, Rui-lin’736 does not teach wherein the first optical character recognition model requires less computation than the second optical character recognition model.
Yang’138 teaches wherein the first optical character recognition model requires less computation than the second optical character recognition model (paragraph 32).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973 and Collet’447 according to the teaching of Yang’138 to includes the lightweight model and the heavyweight model to perform face recognition because this will allow the face recognition for the received images to be performed more effectively.
With respect to claim 14, which further limits claim 8, the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138 and Collet’447 does not teach wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: in response to a status the change for acquiring images, detecting in the state indicating an end of the section of characters, perform the final character recognition; and perform the final character recognition in response to the detection of the end of the section.
Since Rui-lin’736 has suggested that a face image synthesis unit for splicing by the video identified in the video image of the face image synthesis, dynamic rendering complete face image of the face image (page 3), therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize to provide a status indicating the required face images in the face image synthesis unit such that the image synthesis unit is able to start to render a complete face image and then to process a final recognizing operation to recognize it (wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: in response to a status the change for acquiring images, detecting in the state indicating an end of the section of characters, perform the final character recognition; and perform the final character recognition in response to the detection of the end of the section) because this will allow the desired characters to be identified more effectively.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138 and Collet’447 to provide a status indicating the required face images in the face image synthesis unit such that the image synthesis unit is able to start to render a complete face image and then to process a final recognizing operation to recognize it (wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: in response to a status the change for acquiring images, detecting in the state indicating an end of the section of characters, perform the final character recognition; and perform the final character recognition in response to the detection of the end of the section) because this will allow the desired characters to be identified more effectively.
With respect to claims 1-3 and 7, they are method claim that claim how an apparatus of claims 8-10 and 14 to perform OCR operation on an image. Claims 1-3 and 7 are obvious in view of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138 and Collet’447 because the claimed combination operates at the same manner as described in the rejected claims 8-10 and 14. In addition, the reference has disclosed an apparatus to perform OCR operation on an image, the process (method) to perform OCR operation on an image is inherent disclosed to be performed by a processor in the apparatus when the apparatus performs the operation to perform OCR operation on an image.
With respect to claims 15- 17, they are claims regarding to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing thereon a computer program. Claims 15-17 claim how the apparatus of claims 8-10 to execute to perform OCR operation on an image. Claims 15 and 17 are obvious in view of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973 and Yang’138 because the claimed combination operates at the same manner as described in the rejected claims 8-10. In addition, the reference discloses a process, the process would be implemented by a processor that requires a non-transitory computer readable medium, e.g., a RAM, to function, thus, the medium is inherently present
Claims 4-6, 11-13 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rui-lin’736 (CN 109766736), Saito’973 (US 2013/0070973), Collet’447 (US 2019/0266447) and Yang’138 (US 2021/0264138), and further in view of Manohar’554 (US 9,191,554).
With respect to claim 11, which further limits claim 8, the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138 and Collet’447 does not teach wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: in response to a number of frames of the one or more first images being equal to or greater than a threshold, perform the first intermediate character recognition.
Manohar’554 teaches wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: in response to a number of frames of the one or more first images being equal to or greater than a threshold, perform the first intermediate character recognition [when number of the frame more than a threshold, the frames are being combined to generated a high-resolution image and then to perform the OCR operation (col.13, lines 34-47)].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138 and Collet’447 according to the teaching of Manohar’554 to generate a high-resolution image from a number of frames which is over a threshold to perform the OCR operation because this allow the contents in the frames to be recognized more effectively.
With respect to claim 12, which further limits claim 11, the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138, Collet’447 and Manohar’554 does not teach wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: receive one or more second images corresponding to second portions in the section of characters for recognition; splice the one or more second images with the first intermediate spliced image into a second intermediate spliced image; and perform a second intermediate character recognition on the second intermediate spliced image based on through the first optical character recognition model, the second intermediate character recognition generating being configured to generate a second intermediate recognition result for display.
Since Rui-lin’736 has suggested a face image synthesis unit for splicing by the video identified in the video image of the face image synthesis, dynamic rendering complete face image of the face image (page 3), Saito’973 teaches displaying the images of the person detected in the received image (Fig.5), and Yang’138 teaches the lightweight model and the heavyweight model to perform face recognition (Fig.2), therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize to splice the one or more newly received second images with an previous intermediate spliced image (the first intermediate spliced image) to generate a new intermediate spliced image (second intermediate spliced image) and then to enable a desired character recognition model (the first optical character recognition model) to perform character recognition process on the said new intermediate spliced image (second intermediate spliced image) and to display recognition result when it is required (wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: receive one or more second images corresponding to second portions in the section of characters for recognition; splice the one or more second images with the first intermediate spliced image into a second intermediate spliced image; and perform a second intermediate character recognition on the second intermediate spliced image based on through the first optical character recognition model, the second intermediate character recognition generating being configured to generate a second intermediate recognition result for display) because this will allow the characters on an image to be identified more effectively.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138, Collet’447 and Manohar’554 to splice the one or more newly received second images with an previous intermediate spliced image (the first intermediate spliced image) to generate a new intermediate spliced image (second intermediate spliced image) and then to enable a desired character recognition model (the first optical character recognition model) to perform character recognition process on the said new intermediate spliced image (second intermediate spliced image) and to display recognition result when it is required (wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: receive one or more second images corresponding to second portions in the section of characters for recognition; splice the one or more second images with the first intermediate spliced image into a second intermediate spliced image; and perform a second intermediate character recognition on the second intermediate spliced image based on through the first optical character recognition model, the second intermediate character recognition generating being configured to generate a second intermediate recognition result for display) because this will allow the characters on an image to be identified more effectively.
With respect to claim 13, which further limits claim 12, the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138, Collet’447 and Manohar’554 does not teach wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: after a predetermined time from the first intermediate character recognition, perform the intermediate character recognition.
Since Rui-lin’736 has suggested receive, by a first thread executed on the processing circuitry, one or more first images corresponding to first portions in a section of characters for recognition, and storing the one or more first images in a memory [The received video image is considered being stored in a memory either temporary or permanently (Fig.1, step 110)]; splice, by a second thread executed concurrently on the processing circuitry, the one or more first images into a first intermediate spliced image [a face image synthesis unit for splicing by the video identified in the video image of the face image synthesis, dynamic rendering complete face image of the face image (page 3)]; perform a first intermediate character recognition on the first intermediate spliced image based on through a first optical character recognition model (Fig.1, step 140 and page 6), therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize to continue to obtain the images after a period time and then to perform with desired image processing on them to generate a single image by merging them and to perform the OCR operation on the said single image (wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: after a predetermined time from the first intermediate character recognition, perform the intermediate character recognition) because this will allow the character in the upcoming images to be recognized more effectively
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138, Collet’447 and Manohar’554 to continue to obtain the images after a period time and then to perform with desired image processing on them to generate a single image by merging them and to perform the OCR operation on the said single image (wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: after a predetermined time from the first intermediate character recognition, perform the intermediate character recognition) because this will allow the character in the upcoming images to be recognized more effectively.
With respect to claims 4-6, they are method claim that claim how an apparatus of claims 11-13 to perform OCR operation on an image. Claims 4-6 are obvious in view of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138, Collet’447 and Manohar’554 because the claimed combination operates at the same manner as described in the rejected claims 11-13. In addition, the reference has disclosed an apparatus to perform OCR operation on an image, the process (method) to perform OCR operation on an image is inherent disclosed to be performed by a processor in the apparatus when the apparatus performs the operation to perform OCR operation on an image.
With respect to claims 18-20, they are claims regarding to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing thereon a computer program. Claims 18-20 claim how the apparatus of claims 11-13 to execute to perform OCR operation on an image. Claims 18-20 are obvious in view of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138, Collet’447 and Manohar’554 because the claimed combination operates at the same manner as described in the rejected claims 11-13. In addition, the reference discloses a process, the process would be implemented by a processor that requires a non-transitory computer readable medium, e.g., a RAM, to function, thus, the medium is inherently present.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rui-lin’736 (CN 109766736), Saito’973 (US 2013/0070973), Yang’138 (US 2021/0264138), Collet’447 (US 2019/0266447) and further in view of CHARLES’999 (WO 2019054999).
With respect to claims 22, which further limits claim 1, the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138 and Collet’447 does not teach wherein the first optical character recognition model is the lightweight model configured to perform the character recognition through a single-core processor.
CHARLES’999 teaches wherein the first optical character recognition model is the lightweight model configured to perform the character recognition through a single-core processor [the text processor (Fig.1, item 114) includes a lightweight OCR engine that is executed on the user device (Fig.1, item 110) to increase the speed at which text is identified in images].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Rui-lin’736, Saito’973, Yang’138 and Collet’447 according to the teaching of CHARLES’999 to include a lightweight OCR engine in a processor that is executed on a device (Fig.1, to increase the speed at which text is identified in images because this will allow the character recognition to perform more effectively.
Claim objection
Claim 21 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim 1 because the prior art of record does not teach “wherein the change in the state that indicates the end of the section of characters is determined when one of conditions (i)-(iii) is satisfied: the condition (i): a pose of an image recognition apparatus relative to a target object is adjusted from a contact state to a non-contact state, the image recognition apparatus acquiring the one or more first images from the target object; the condition (ii): a state of the image recognition apparatus is adjusted from a state of turn-on to a state of turn-off; and the condition (iii): the pose of the image recognition apparatus relative to the target object is adjusted from the contact state to the non-contact state and a duration of the image recognition apparatus in the non-contact state is greater than a preset duration.” Claim 21 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUO LONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3759. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9am - 5pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tieu, Benny can be reached on (571) 272-7490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HUO LONG CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682