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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/31/2026 has been entered.
Application Status
This office action is responsive to the amendments filed on 03/31/2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending and presented for examination.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 (Priority Filing Date: 05/02/2023).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/21/2026 is being considered by the examiner. A signed IDS is hereby attached.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/31/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On pages 10-12, the Applicant alleged the following: “Chen does not disclose or suggest "a three-dimensional (3D) effect of displaying a portion of the target object overlapping a letter box positioned at an upper side or a lower side of a whole area of the content...wherein the 3D layer includes the letter box and a portion of the target object which is to be displayed over the letter box," as recited in claim 1. Tokunaga merely discloses a technique of detecting a letterbox or an invalid region to determine a valid image region Tokunaga does not disclose or suggest "a three-dimensional (3D) effect of displaying a portion of the target object overlapping a letter box positioned at an upper side or a lower side of a whole area of the content...wherein the 3D layer includes the letter box and a portion of the target object which is to be displayed over the letter box," as recited in claim 1. Accordingly, Applicant submits that claim 1 is patentable over the combined references.” The examiner is not persuaded. The examiner asserts the combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses the Applicant’s claim language. Specifically, Akins recites ““letterbox” or an overlay on top of a letter box” in paragraph 0094. MPEP § 2106 states Office personnel are to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the supporting disclosure. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027-28 (Fed Cir. 1997). Accordingly, the examiner maintains the rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN, US 20210049397 in view of Tokunaga, US 20070286452 and in further view of Atkins, US 20220164931.
Claim 1:
CHEN discloses an electronic apparatus (See CHEN Abstract) but failed to explicitly disclose a letter box. However, Tokunaga discloses this feature in Paragraph 0005. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified CHEN by the teachings of Tokunaga to enable improved processing of images, more effectively (See Tokunaga Abstract). Additionally, both of the references teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, image processing. This close relation between both of the references highly suggests an expectation of success.
Additionally, CHEN and Tokunaga failed to disclose overlapping a letter box, however Atkins discloses this feature in Paragraph 0091. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified CHEN and Tokunaga by the teachings of Atkins to enable improved techniques for the display management of images, more effectively (See Atkins Abstract & Paragraphs 0001-0010). Additionally, both of the references teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, image processing. This close relation between both of the references highly suggests an expectation of success.
As modified:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses the following:
at least one memory configured to store content (See CHEN Paragraphs 0009; 0046), including a plurality of images (See CHEN Paragraphs 0069-0074 teachings of “three-dimensional medical images”) and instructions (See CHEN Paragraphs 0009; 0046);
and at least one processor operatively connected to the at least one memory (See CHEN Paragraphs 0009; 0046), the at least one processor being configured to execute the instructions to (See CHEN Paragraphs 0009; 0046):
identify a target object (See CHEN Paragraph 0036) based on the plurality of images included (See CHEN Paragraphs 0069-0074 teachings of “three-dimensional medical images”) in the content stored in the at least one memory (See CHEN Paragraphs 0009; 0046),
obtain position information of the target object (See CHEN Paragraphs 0009; 0050),
identify a target section comprising at least one target image from the plurality of images (See CHEN Paragraphs 0069-0074 teachings of “three-dimensional medical images”) based on the position information of the target object (See CHEN Paragraphs 0034-0041), a three-dimensional (3D) effect of displaying (See CHEN Paragraphs 0104-00107) a portion of the target object overlapping (See Atkins Paragraph 0091) a letter box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) positioned at an upper side or a lower side of a whole area of the content (See Tokunaga Figure 9; 10; Paragraphs 0005; 0072-0073),
obtain a basic layer corresponding to a background of the at least one target image and a 3D layer corresponding to the 3D effect of the target object based on the at least one target image (See CHEN Paragraphs 0104-00107),
obtain a composite image comprising the letter box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) by combining the basic layer and the 3D layer (See CHEN Paragraphs 0104-0107),
and provide the composite image (See CHEN Paragraphs 0034-0041), wherein the 3D layer includes the letter box and a portion of the target object which is to be displayed over the letter box (See Atkins Paragraph 0091).
Claim 2:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses identify whether the content comprises the letter box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005), and based on identifying that the content does not comprise the letter box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005), obtain the composite image by adding the letter box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) to at least one of the basic layer or the 3D layer (See CHEN Paragraphs 0104-00107).
Claim 3:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses obtain a 3D image corresponding to the target object, and obtain the 3D layer comprising the 3D image (See CHEN Paragraphs 0104-00107).
Claim 4:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses determine a position (See CHEN Paragraphs 0073-0074 teachings of “a candidate appearing location of the target organ”) of the letter box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) based on a position of content information of the content (See CHEN Paragraphs 0069-0074 teachings of “three-dimensional medical images” ), and wherein the content information (See CHEN Paragraphs 0069-0074 teachings of “three-dimensional medical images”) comprises at least one of a graphic user interface (UI) or a text UI representing the content (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0556).
Claim 5:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses wherein the target object changes position in the plurality of images (See CHEN Paragraphs 0069-0074 teachings of “three-dimensional medical images”), and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to (See CHEN Paragraphs 0009; 0046): identify the target object from a plurality of objects (See CHEN Paragraph 0036) identified in the content by analyzing features of the plurality of objects (See CHEN Paragraphs 0144).
Claim 6:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses based on the position information (See CHEN Paragraphs 0073-0074 teachings of “a candidate appearing location of the target organ”), identify a predetermined event (“MRI” See CHEN Paragraphs 0036-0040), and based on a time-point (“time-series” See Tokunaga Paragraph 0558) at which the predetermined event (“MRI” See CHEN Paragraphs 0036-0040), is identified, identify the target section (See CHEN Paragraphs 0034-0041).
Claim 7:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses identify a letter box area (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) and a content area from the whole area of the content (See CHEN Paragraphs 0069-0074 teachings of “three-dimensional medical images”), identify a first event (“MRI” See CHEN Paragraphs 0036-0040), in which the target object moves from the letter box area to the content area (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) or a second event (“MRI” See CHEN Paragraphs 0036-0040), in which the target object moves from the content area to the letter box area (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005), and identify the first event or the second event as the predetermined event (“MRI” See CHEN Paragraphs 0036-0040).
Claim 8:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses obtain first position information (See CHEN Paragraphs 0073-0074 teachings of “a candidate appearing location of the target organ”) of the target object at a first time-point and second position information (See CHEN Paragraphs 0073-0074 teachings of “a candidate appearing location of the target organ”) of the target object at a second time-point (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0558), and identify the predetermined event based on the first position information and the second position information (See CHEN Paragraphs 0073-0074).
Claim 9:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses wherein the first position information comprises at least one of a first minimum coordinate value (See Tokunaga Paragraphs 0294; 0302; 0326; 0358, 0425; 0459) a first maximum coordinate value (See Tokunaga Paragraphs 0298; 0306; 0342; 0374, 0441; 0459-0460), or a first average coordinate value of the target object at the first time-point (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0558), wherein the second position information comprises at least one of a second minimum coordinate value (See Tokunaga Paragraphs 0294; 0302; 0326; 0358, 0425; 0459), a second maximum coordinate value (See Tokunaga Paragraphs 0298; 0306; 0342; 0374, 0441; 0459-0460), or a second average coordinate value (See CHEN Paragraph 0009; 0067-0073) of the target object at the second time-point (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0558), and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to: obtain movement information of the target object based on the first position information (See CHEN Paragraph 0009; 0067-0073) and the second position information (See CHEN Paragraph 0009; 0067-0073), and identify the predetermined event based on the movement information (“MRI” See CHEN Paragraphs 0036-0040).
Claim 10:
The combination of CHEN, Tokunaga and Akins discloses identify a bounding box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) of the target object, obtain the first position information based on a first plurality of coordinate values (See CHEN Paragraph 0009; 0067-0073) representing the bounding box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) at the first time-point (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0558), and obtain the second position information based on a second plurality of coordinate values (See CHEN Paragraph 0009; 0067-0073) representing the bounding box (See Tokunaga Paragraph 0005) at the second time-point (“time-series” See Tokunaga Paragraph 0558).
Claims 11-20:
Claims 11-20 are rejected on the same basis as claims 1-10.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20200312013 discloses accessing a three-dimensional (3D) image comprising a 3D mesh comprising a plurality of vertices and each vertex of the plurality of vertices having respective 3D coordinates within a space of the 3D mesh.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEREE N BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-4229. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SAID BROOME can be reached at (571) 272-2931. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHEREE N BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612 April 23, 2026
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