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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4-9, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tanifuji et al. (US Pub. 20220101651 A1).
Tanifuji discloses the following limitations:
1. An authentication terminal comprising: at least one memory storing instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to;
acquire a body image generated by capturing an image of a body of a target person when the target person is in a position located away from an imaging device by a first distance (para. 47- an image of a person walking toward an imaging unit is taken) and acquire a code image generated by capturing an image of a code recording medium carried by the target person when the target person is in a position located away from the imaging device by a second distance which is shorter than the first distance (para. 37- Therefore, the user operates by holding the information code over the imaging unit while looking at the imaging unit. In such a case, before the information code is imaged, the face of the user who is holding the information code can be recognizable by the imaging unit without the user being aware of it. Further, it is not necessary for the user to perform a stationary operation with respect to the imaging unit in order to image the user's face. Therefore, before reading the information code, it is possible to start a process for photographing the user's face and extracting its facial feature points. Therefore, the time from holding the information code over the imaging unit to obtaining the matching result by the matching unit is shortened.), the code recording medium including a code symbol that can be visually recognized and in which embedded information including biometric information for registration of the target person is recorded (para. 66- In the information code (hereinafter, also referred to as the authentication code C, if necessary), various information including facial feature points extracted from the user's facial image and personal information are recorded in advance.); start, in accordance with the acquisition of the body image of the target person, processing for generating biometric information for authentication of the target person from the body image (para. 83-85); acquire the embedded information from the code image in accordance with the acquisition of the code image; execute biometric authentication by collating the biometric information for authentication with the biometric information for registration included in the embedded information (para. 88- When the information about facial feature points and personal information are successfully read by this imaging (Yes in S113), the matching process shown in step S117 is performed. In this process, based on the facial feature points extracted from the facial image data and the facial feature points read from the authentication code C, it is collated whether or not both feature points match for all the items indicating each facial feature points.); and control a gate to prevent the target person from passing through the gate when the biometric authentication has failed. (para. 92- the authentication has failed (S127). In this case, the authentication success information is not transmitted from the authentication device 20. Therefore, the electric lock is not unlocked by the locking/unlocking control unit 40.)
4. The authentication terminal according to claim 1, wherein a second angle of view in a case where an image of the code recording medium is captured is wider than a first angle of view in a case where an image of the body of the target person is captured. (Fig. 1B, para. 39- he imaging unit is placed at a position within the field of view of the user viewing the display unit. As a result, the user can visually recognize that the display unit is in a predetermined display state when he/she tries to hold the information code over the imaging unit. Therefore, the imaging unit existing in the user's field of view enables the user's face to be imaged in a more recognizable state. Therefore, the authentication accuracy can be improved. )
5. The authentication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the body is a face, and at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to generate the biometric information for authentication of the target person from the body image when the size or the length of a face region of the target person included in the body image is equal to or larger than a predetermined number of pixels, or when a length of the line connecting feature points of a predetermined face organ included in the face region of the target person is equal to or larger than a predetermined number of pixels. (para. 47, 108)
6. The authentication terminal according to claim 1, wherein at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to determine whether or not the target person is approaching the imaging device in response to the start of the processing for generating the biometric information for authentication of the target person. (para. 109)
7. The authentication terminal according to claim 6, wherein at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to execute the biometric authentication when it is determined that the target person is approaching the imaging device. (para. 109-110)
9. The authentication system according to claim 8, further comprising a code generation terminal comprising: at least one memory storing instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to; acquire the biometric information for registration of the target person from the body image for registration that has been generated by capturing the image of the body of the target person; and convert the embedded information including the biometric information for registration of the target person into a code symbol that can be visually recognized. (para. 95)
Regarding claim 8, it is rejected as applied to claim 1 because a corresponding system would have been necessitated to carry forth the method as recited in claim 1. The applied prior art also discloses the corresponding architecture. (Figs. 3-4))
Regarding claim 11, it merely recites a computer program that when executed, performs the functional steps of the method recited in claim 1, and thus, rejected for the same rationale. (para. 72)
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanifuji and further in view of Yamatani Yorihiro (JP 2004234340 A).
Regarding claims 2-3, Tanifuji discloses in the authentication terminal according to claim 1, comprising: a first camera that captures an image of the body of the target person (para. 76) but does not specifically disclose a second camera that captures an image of the code recording medium carried by the target person wherein to start the second camera in accordance with the body image being acquired from the first camera or in accordance with processing for generating the biometric information for authentication being started or completed. However, in the related art of biometric authentication, Yamatani teaches a second camera that captures an image of the code recording medium carried by the target person (para. 106- authentication reading device 71 which reads image data stored in a storage medium/barcode, para. 15) wherein to start the second camera in accordance with the body image being acquired from the first camera or in accordance with processing for generating the biometric information for authentication being started or completed. (para. 89-90- subject is imaged by 63a first and then the storage medium is read.). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to use this teaching of Yamatani Yorihiro with the disclosure of Tanifuji as a known way to partition the imaging functions to separate devices when a terminal is so equipped to streamline the imaging processing.
Conclusion
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WILLIAM A. CORUM JR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2433
william.corum2@uspto.gov
/WILLIAM A CORUM JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2433