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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group II corresponding to claims 25-38 and 40 in the reply filed on 6/10/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that Group I (corresponding to claims 21-24 and 39) and Group II (corresponding to claims 25-38) overlap in scope. The applicant’s arguments are found to be persuasive and therefore the restriction requirement has been withdrawn.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 21-22 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al. US 2018/0091710.
Re claims 21 and 39, Huang discloses a method and an electronic device (200), comprising: receiving, by an electronic device (200), a first user operation (user activates a photograph application 2061 of device 200), wherein the electronic device comprises M flashes (flash light device 300 includes plural light sources 308), M is a positive integer, and illumination directions of the M flashes and a photographing direction of a camera (202) of the electronic device (200) are on a same side of the electronic device (flashes 308 and camera 202 are on same side of device 200) (figures 1-5; paragraphs 23-27, 35); enabling, by the electronic device (200), a photographing function in response to the first user operation (start photographing operation when shutter button is pressed)(paragraph 35); displaying, by the electronic device (200), a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the camera and a control (electronic device 200 utilizes a preview image to capture an image and perform analysis and parameter adjustment on the preview image and a photograph is taken after the parameter adjustment is done) (paragraph 35); determining, by the electronic device, a light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on image luminance of the preview image; and adjusting, by the electronic device, luminance of the M flashes based on the light compensation intensity of the M flashes (the parameters of the flash sources are adjusted to perform light compensation and after the parameters are adjusted according to the preview image a second image is captured) (paragraphs 35-37).
Re claim 22, Huang further discloses that before the determining the light compensation intensity: receiving, by the electronic device, a seventh user operation; and wherein the determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on the image luminance of the preview image comprises: determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on the image luminance of the preview image in response to the seventh user operation (when a user presses a shutter button this initiates an image capture and also initiates an image analyzing procedure that determines a light compensation intensity)(paragraph 35).
Claims 25-33, 35 and 40-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamazaki et al. US 2015/0163410.
Re claims 25 and 40, Yamazaki discloses a method and an electronic device (101), comprising: receiving, by an electronic device (101), a first user operation (an icon 115A displayed on display 102 is double clicked to start a camera function) (figures 3-4; paragraphs 69-72); enabling a photographing function in response to the first user operation (an icon 115A displayed on display 102 is double clicked to start a camera function) (figures 3-4; paragraphs 69-72), wherein the electronic device comprises a display (102) and a front-facing camera (103) (camera 103 is located on same side as display 102) (figures 1A,1B; paragraphs 10, 56-60); and displaying a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the front-facing camera (103) and a control (112A) (an image of the subject 105 captured by camera 103 is displayed in region 104 of display 102) (figures 1A, 1B, 5, 17; paragraphs 74, 77-78, 87, 98), the preview image comprises a preview region (104) and a light compensation region (106), the preview region (104) displays the preview image obtained by performing light compensation on the light compensation region (106)(subject 105 captured by camera 103 is displayed in region 104 of display 102 and illuminated by illuminating light 107A of region 106 of display 102)(figures 1A,1B, 5, 17; paragraphs 74-78, 98), and a light compensation intensity of the light compensation region (106) is controlled by the electronic device by adjusting a light compensation parameter of the light compensation region (the intensity or color of illumination light 107A may be changed based on the state and illuminance of the subject 105 displayed in region 104 and a new image is captured)(figures 1A,1B, 5, 17; paragraphs 74-78, 89).
Re claim 26, Yamazaki further discloses that the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region comprises at least one of transparency of the light compensation region, pixel luminance of the light compensation region of the display, or luminance of a backlight source of the display (brightness/pixel luminance of region 106 may be changed according to circumstance) (paragraph 89).
Re claim 27, Yamazaki further discloses that the displaying the first interface corresponding to the photographing function comprises: displaying, based on a preset light compensation parameter of the light compensation region, the first interface corresponding to the photographing function (subject 105 captured by camera 103 is displayed in region 104 of display 102 and illuminated by illuminating light 107A of region 106 and the intensity or color of illuminating light 107A may be changed based on the state and illuminance of the subject 105 displayed in region 104 and a new image is captured)(figures 1A,1B, 5, 17; paragraphs 74-78, 89, 98).
Re claim 28, Yamazaki further discloses that the light compensation region comprises a first light compensation subregion (106A) and a second light compensation subregion (106B)(display region 106 emitting light may be split into 2 regions 106A, 106B)(figure 23A; paragraph 121), and the light compensation intensity of the light compensation region is controlled by the electronic device by adjusting a first light compensation parameter of at least one of the first light compensation subregion or the second light compensation subregion (brightness/pixel luminance of region 106 may be changed according to circumstance) (paragraph 89).
Re 29, Yamazaki further discloses receiving, by the electronic device, a second user operation; and determining, by the electronic device, a shape of the preview region or the light compensation region on the first interface in response to the second user operation (the size, area, shape, position, color and brightness of the display regions 104, 106 can be changed according to circumstance) (paragraph 89).
Re claim 30, Yamazaki further discloses receiving, by the electronic device, a third user operation; and determining, by the electronic device, a size of the preview region or the light compensation region on the first interface in response to the third user operation (the size, area, shape, position, color and brightness of the display regions 104, 106 can be changed according to circumstance) (paragraph 89).
Re claim 31, Yamazaki further discloses receiving, by the electronic device, a fourth user operation; and determining, by the electronic device, a location of the preview region or the light compensation region on the first interface in response to the fourth user operation (the size, area, shape, position/location, color and brightness of the display regions 104, 106 can be changed according to circumstance) (paragraph 89).
Re claim 32, Yamazaki further discloses receiving, by the electronic device, a fifth user operation; determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region in response to the fifth user operation; and controlling, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the light compensation region based on the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region (the intensity of color of illumination light 107A may be changed based on the state and illuminance of the subject 105 displayed on region 104 and an new image is captured)(paragraphs 78-79).
Re claim 33, Yamazaki further discloses controlling, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the light compensation region based on the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region comprises: controlling, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the light compensation region based on a first light compensation parameter of at least one of a first light compensation subregion (106A) and a second light compensation subregion (106B) (the intensity of color of illumination light 107A in regions 106A, 106Bmay be changed based on the state and illuminance of the subject 105 displayed on region 104 and an new image is captured)(figure 23A; paragraphs 78-79, 121).
Re claim 35, Yamazaki further discloses that the second user operation comprises a gesture of sliding a finger of a user on the display, and wherein the determining, by the electronic device, the shape of the preview region or the light compensation region on the first interface in response to the second user operation comprises: determining, by the electronic device, the shape of the preview region or the light compensation region on the first interface based on a sliding track of the gesture in the second user operation in response to the second user operation (slider 108AA is moved to change the shape of region 106)(figures 8A,8B; paragraphs 89-90).
Re claim 41, Yamazaki discloses a method, comprising: receiving, by an electronic device (101), a first user operation(an icon 115A displayed on display 102 is double clicked to start a camera function) (figures 3-4; paragraphs 69-72), wherein the electronic device comprises M flashes (106A,106B), M is a positive integer, and illumination directions of the M flashes and a photographing direction of a front-facing camera (103) of the electronic device (101) are on a same side of the electronic device (display region 106 may be split into two regions 106A, 106B that provide illumination when images are captured) (figure 23A; paragraphs 74-78, 121); enabling, by the electronic device (101), a photographing function in response to the first user operation (an icon 115A displayed on display 102 is double clicked to start a camera function) (figures 3-4; paragraphs 69-72), wherein the electronic device comprises a display (102) and a front-facing camera (103) (camera 103 is located on same side as display 102) (figures 1A,1B; paragraphs 10, 56-60); displaying, by the electronic device, a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the front-facing camera (103) and a control (112A) (an image of the subject 105 captured by camera 103 is displayed in region 104 of display 102) (figures 1A, 1B, 5, 17; paragraphs 74, 77-78, 87, 98), the preview image comprises a preview region (104) and a light compensation region (106), the preview region (104) displays the preview image obtained by performing light compensation on the light compensation region (106) (subject 105 captured by camera 103 is displayed in region 104 of display 102 and illuminated by illuminating light 107A of region 106 of display 102)(figures 1A,1B, 5, 17; paragraphs 74-78, 98), a first light compensation intensity of the light compensation region (106) is controlled by the electronic device by adjusting a light compensation parameter of the light compensation region (106)(the intensity or color of illumination light 107A may be changed based on the state and illuminance of the subject 105 displayed in region 104 and a new image is captured)(figures 1A,1B, 5, 17; paragraphs 74-78, 89); determining, by the electronic device (101), a second light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on image luminance of the preview image; and adjusting, by the electronic device, luminance of the M flashes based on the second light compensation intensity of the M flashes (intensity of emission regions 106A, 106B may be controlled based on state and illumination of subject 105 and the intensity or color of illumination light 107A may be changed based on the state and illuminance of the subject 105 displayed in region 104 and a new image is captured)(figures 1A,1B, 5, 17, 23A; paragraphs 74-78, 89, 121).
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.
Claim 38 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamazaki et al. US 2015/0163410 in view of Moskovchenko US 11,917,234.
Re claim 38, Yamazaki discloses all of the limitations of claim 25 above including a light compensation region (106) on a display (102). However, although the Yamazaki reference discloses all of the limitations of claim 25 above, it fails to specifically disclose that a shape of the light compensation region is a circle.
Moskovchenko discloses that it is well known in the imaging art for an imaging device having a front facing image sensor to use a digital display including circular illumination regions 472, 474, 476 as an illumination source for the image sensor (figure 4H; col. 3, lines 11-15, col. 15, line 56-col. 16, line 12). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one skilled in the art before the effective filing date to have been motivated to include the teaching of providing a circular illumination display region as disclosed by the Moskovchenko reference in the imaging method disclosed by the Yamazaki reference. Doing so would provide a means for using different shaped illumination sources in order to provide additional illumination to an area of a front facing camera using a display device located on the same surface as the front facing camera.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 23-24, 34 and 36-37 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Re claim 23, the prior art fails to teach or suggest a method having the specific configurations disclosed in claim 23, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by an electronic device, a first user operation, wherein the electronic device comprises M flashes, M is a positive integer, and illumination directions of the M flashes and a photographing direction of a camera of the electronic device are on a same side of the electronic device; enabling, by the electronic device, a photographing function in response to the first user operation; displaying, by the electronic device, a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the camera and a control; determining, by the electronic device, a light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on image luminance of the preview image; and adjusting, by the electronic device, luminance of the M flashes based on the light compensation intensity of the M flashes, further comprising: before the determining the light compensation intensity: receiving, by the electronic device, a seventh user operation; and wherein the determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on the image luminance of the preview image comprises: determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on the image luminance of the preview image in response to the seventh user operation, further comprising: before the receiving, by the electronic device, the seventh user operation: displaying, by the electronic device, a third selection control and a fourth selection control on the first interface, wherein the third selection control corresponds to a first light compensation intensity, and the fourth selection control corresponds to a second light compensation intensity, wherein the receiving, by the electronic device, the seventh user operation comprises: receiving, by the electronic device, the seventh user operation performed on the third selection control, and wherein the determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on the image luminance of the preview image in response to the seventh user operation comprises: determining, by the electronic device based on the image luminance of the preview image, the first light compensation intensity corresponding to the third selection control as the light compensation intensity of the M flashes in response to the seventh user operation. The prior art fails to specifically disclose a method of receiving user operations of an electronic device in order to adjust light compensation intensity based on luminance of a preview image in the exact configuration disclosed in the claims and specification.
Re claim 24, the prior art fails to teach or suggest a method having the specific configurations disclosed in claim 24, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by an electronic device, a first user operation, wherein the electronic device comprises M flashes, M is a positive integer, and illumination directions of the M flashes and a photographing direction of a camera of the electronic device are on a same side of the electronic device; enabling, by the electronic device, a photographing function in response to the first user operation; displaying, by the electronic device, a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the camera and a control; determining, by the electronic device, a light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on image luminance of the preview image; and adjusting, by the electronic device, luminance of the M flashes based on the light compensation intensity of the M flashes, wherein the first interface comprises M regions, the M regions are determined based on locations of the M flashes on the electronic device, the M flashes one-to-one correspond to the M regions, and the determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the M flashes based on the image luminance of the preview image comprises: determining, by the electronic device, a third light compensation intensity based on ambient light luminance; determining, by the electronic device, a fourth light compensation intensity based on the image luminance of the preview image in a first region of the M regions, wherein the first region corresponds to a first flash in the M flashes; and determining, by the electronic device based on the third light compensation intensity and the fourth light compensation intensity, a first light compensation intensity corresponding to the first flash, wherein the electronic device stores a correspondence between the fourth light compensation intensity and the image luminance. The prior art fails to specifically disclose a method of receiving user operations of an electronic device in order to adjust light compensation intensity based on luminance of a preview image in the exact configuration disclosed in the claims and specification.
Re claim 34, the prior art fails to teach or suggest a method having the specific configurations disclosed in claim 34, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by an electronic device, a first user operation; enabling a photographing function in response to the first user operation, wherein the electronic device comprises a display and a front-facing camera; and displaying a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the front-facing camera and a control, the preview image comprises a preview region and a light compensation region, the preview region displays the preview image obtained by performing light compensation on the light compensation region, and a light compensation intensity of the light compensation region is controlled by the electronic device by adjusting a light compensation parameter of the light compensation region, further comprising: receiving, by the electronic device, a second user operation; and determining, by the electronic device, a shape of the preview region or the light compensation region on the first interface in response to the second user operation, before the receiving, by the electronic device, the second user operation: displaying, by the electronic device, a first control on the first interface, wherein the first control determines the shape of the preview region, and the preview region has at least two shapes; receiving, by the electronic device, a sixth user operation performed on the first control; and displaying, by the electronic device, an icon of the shape of the preview region in response to the sixth user operation, wherein the receiving, by the electronic device, the second user operation comprises: receiving, by the electronic device, the second user operation performed on the icon. The prior art fails to specifically disclose a method of receiving user operations of an electronic device in order to adjust light compensation intensity based on luminance of a preview image in the exact configuration disclosed in the claims and specification.
Re claim 36, the prior art fails to teach or suggest a method having the specific configurations disclosed in claim 36, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by an electronic device, a first user operation; enabling a photographing function in response to the first user operation, wherein the electronic device comprises a display and a front-facing camera; and displaying a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the front-facing camera and a control, the preview image comprises a preview region and a light compensation region, the preview region displays the preview image obtained by performing light compensation on the light compensation region, and a light compensation intensity of the light compensation region is controlled by the electronic device by adjusting a light compensation parameter of the light compensation region, further comprising: receiving, by the electronic device, a fifth user operation; determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region in response to the fifth user operation; and controlling, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the light compensation region based on the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region, wherein before the electronic device receives the fifth user operation, wherein the first interface displays a first selection control and a second selection control, wherein the first selection control and the second selection control correspond to different light compensation parameters, wherein the first selection control corresponds to a first light compensation parameter, wherein the receiving, by the electronic device, the fifth user operation comprises: receiving, by the electronic device, the fifth user operation performed on the first selection control, and wherein the determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region in response to the fifth user operation comprises: determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region as the first light compensation parameter in response to the fifth user operation. The prior art fails to specifically disclose a method of receiving user operations of an electronic device in order to adjust light compensation intensity based on luminance of a preview image in the exact configuration disclosed in the claims and specification.
Re claim 37, the prior art fails to teach or suggest a method having the specific configurations disclosed in claim 37, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by an electronic device, a first user operation; enabling a photographing function in response to the first user operation, wherein the electronic device comprises a display and a front-facing camera; and displaying a first interface corresponding to the photographing function, wherein the first interface comprises a preview image captured by the front-facing camera and a control, the preview image comprises a preview region and a light compensation region, the preview region displays the preview image obtained by performing light compensation on the light compensation region, and a light compensation intensity of the light compensation region is controlled by the electronic device by adjusting a light compensation parameter of the light compensation region, further comprising: receiving, by the electronic device, a fifth user operation; determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region in response to the fifth user operation; and controlling, by the electronic device, the light compensation intensity of the light compensation region based on the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region, wherein before the electronic device receives the fifth user operation, wherein the first interface displays a first luminance adjustment bar corresponding to a first light compensation subregion and a second luminance adjustment bar corresponding to a second light compensation subregion, wherein the first luminance adjustment bar comprises a first identifier, wherein a length from a first end of the first luminance adjustment bar to the first identifier indicates a first light compensation intensity of the first light compensation subregion, wherein a total length from the first end of the first luminance adjustment bar to a second end of the first luminance adjustment bar indicates a maximum light compensation intensity, wherein the receiving, by the electronic device, the fifth user operation comprises: receiving, by the electronic device, the fifth user operation performed on the first luminance adjustment bar; and adjusting a location of the first identifier on the first luminance adjustment bar, and wherein the determining, by the electronic device, the light compensation parameter of the light compensation region in response to the fifth user operation comprises: determining, by the electronic device in response to the fifth user operation, a first light compensation parameter of the first light compensation subregion based on an indicated light compensation intensity indicated by the length from the first end to the first identifier. The prior art fails to specifically disclose a method of receiving user operations of an electronic device in order to adjust light compensation intensity based on luminance of a preview image in the exact configuration disclosed in the claims and specification.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sommerlade et al. US 11,587,528 discloses a display including an image sensor wherein light from the display is used to illuminate a subject during image capture.
Baldwin US 9,635,255 discloses an imaging device including an adjustable display to provide additional illumination during image capture.
Zhang et al. US 2016/0037042 discloses an electronic device including a front-facing camera and an adjustable display to provide lighting during image capture.
Contacts
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kelly L. Jerabek whose telephone number is (571) 272-7312. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday (8:00 AM - 5:00 PM).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, George Eng can be reached at (571) 272-7495. The fax phone number for submitting all Official communications is (571) 273-7300. The fax phone number for submitting informal communications such as drafts, proposed amendments, etc., may be faxed directly to the Examiner at (571) 273-7312.
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/KELLY L JERABEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2699