Ice 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 .
Detailed Office Action
1. Claims 1-16 are pending. Claims 1, 15, and 16 are independent.
35 U.S.C. 103 Rejection
2. 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.
3. Claims 1, 8, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Horishita et al. (US 2018/0031684 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Horishita et al. (hereinafter referred to as Horishita) discloses a detection device (human sensor unit 600) fixed to a multifunctional peripheral MFP (10) (Fig. 3 and para 0045-0047, Fig. 4 and para 0048-0049, para 0028), the detection device (600) comprising:
a sound wave sensor (ultrasonic sensor 610) that detects a distance to a measurement target (human user) (para 0042; Fig. 12 and para 0079-0085; Fig. 13 and para 0086-0090; Fig. 14 and para 0091-0095); and
a processor (main controller 200 in Fig. 2) configured to:
in response to the measurement target (human user) being detected in a first detection range (A2 in Figs. 12-14) (the human user being detected at t3 to t4 as the human user approaches MFP 10 from t3 to t4 as indicated by the bottom lines of Figs. 12-13) that is part of a detection range (including detection areas A1 and A2 in Fig. 12) in which the distance to the measurement target is detectable by the sound wave sensor (610), change setting (the MFP 10 running the program to change setting of the MFP 10) (“setting” not being defined in the claim) to cause a detection sensitivity (the ultrasonic sensor 610 can detect the human user in front of the MFP 10 as the human approaches the MFP 10 from Fig. 12 (2t) or (3t) to Fig. 12 (4t) indicated by the lines at the bottom of Fig. 12) for a second detection range (detection area A1 in Figs. 12-14) in the detection range of the sound wave sensor (ultrasonic sensor 610) to be a second detection sensitivity lower than a first detection sensitivity set before the setting is changed (as the human user approaches closer and closer to the MFP 10, the detection sensitivity for the detection area A1 farther than the detection area A2 from the sensor 610 becomes lower than the detection sensitivity for the detection area A2), the second detection range (detection area A1) being outward of the first detection range (detection area A2) when viewed from the detection device (see para 0028; see Fig. 12 and para 0079-0085, note para 0082-0085 for Fig. 12 (2t), Fig. 12 (3t), and Fig. 12 (4t); see Fig. 13 and para 0086-0090, note paras 0089-0090 for Fig. 13 (3t) and Fig. 13 (4t)).
Regarding claim 8, the MFP (10) comprises a controller that controls an operation state of the MFP by using the result of the detection by the human detection unit (600) (Figs. 1-2, para 0079-0085, including switching from the sleep mode to the standby mode).
Claims 15 and 16 are rejected as being corresponding to rejected apparatus claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
4. Claims 2-7 and 9-14 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.
Claim 2 would be allowable over Horishita (US 2018/0031684 A1) because Horishita does not disclose that the processor is configured to change the setting to change the detection sensitivity for the second detection range (detection area A1) from the second detection sensitivity to the first detection sensitivity that is higher than the second sensitivity, in response to the measurement target (human user) being detected in the first detection range (detection area A2 and the detected measurement target (human user) moving away from the detection device (human detection unit 600 attached to MFP 10), although Horishita discloses detecting that the human user is moving away from the detection device (600) (see Fig. 14 (t4), the part of Fig. 14 at the right).
Claims 3-4 and 9-11 depend on claim 2, directly or indirectly.
Claim 5 would be allowable over Horishita (US 2018/0031684 A1) because Horishita does not disclose a first threshold and a second threshold as claimed, and that the processor is configured to performed detection of presence of the measurement target (human user) as claimed.
Claim 12 depends on claim 5.
Regarding claim 6, Horishita does not disclose that the processor selectively use a detected measurement target as claimed.
Claims 7 and 13-14 depend on claim 6, directly or indirectly.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Pertinent Prior Art
5. The prior art or art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Fukushima (US 2018/0203651 A1), also cited below, discloses human detection sensor unit 600 including an ultrasonic sensor 611 for detecting a human, and changing the sensitivity of the ultrasonic sensor 611 in a human detection mode (Fig. 12, para 0066, 0068, 0072, 0074, and claim 9). If a human is detected in a first range (detection area A1) (a second detection A2 is closer to the ultrasonic sensor 611 than A1) using an ultrasonic wave that is output at a first frequency from the ultrasonic sensor 611, the image forming apparatus 10 switches the frequency of the ultrasonic wave that is output from the ultrasonic sensor 611 to a second frequency that is lower than the first frequency, and is controlled to detect the human in the second range (detection area A2) that is smaller than A1. When a human is detected in the detection area A2, (authentication) data communication is started using the ultrasonic wave output from the ultrasonic sensor 611. See abstract.
Ogata (US 2023/0057219 A1), abstract, para 0049, 0069, 0075-0077 and Fig. 12, note para 0077
Watanabe (US 2017/0272946 A1)
Fuse et al. (US 2018/0284671 A1), para 0133 the second embodiment employs, as the human body detection sensor, an ultrasonic sensor configured to detect reflection of the ultrasonic waves form the human body (which uses the principle of calculating a distance from a relationship between a time required for reception of the ultrasonic waves after transmission and a sound speed). But in Fuse, “sensitivity” being changed based on a human detection sensor output is “the response sensitivity in starting of power supply”, the response sensitivity in switching of the power supply mode is changed, not a detection sensitivity for a detection range of the human detection sensor.
Nakajima (US 2018/0041655 A1), Figs. 8 and 9, para 0046: “Regarding those detection areas of the first proximity sensor 21, each, has different sensitivity according to a distance from the first proximity sensor 21, namely the output value output when the user enters varies depending on where the detection area places. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 9, the closer the detection area is to the first proximity sensor 21 (image forming apparatus 1), the higher the sensor sensitivity is and larger the change of the output value output in response to an event of entrance of the user in the detection area. Para 0022, proximity sensors 21 and 22 are pyroelectric sensors that detect infrared rays using the pyroelectric effect.
Murata (US 2019/0235603 A1), abstract and Fig. 1, changes a detection range, of a person using the image forming apparatus, without adjusting the sensitivity of the pyroelectric sensor 31 that detects infrared rays.
Fukushima (US 2018/0032013 A1), para 0005-0007
Conclusion
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/CHEUKFAN LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682