DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status.
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. Claims 1-17 filed on 02/07/2024 are pending and being examined. Claims 1, and 10 are independent form.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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 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.
5. 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 of this title, 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.
6. Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hollinger et al (US 2017/0307341, hereinafter “Hollinger”) in view of Chen et al (US 2014/0267833, hereinafter “Chen”).
Regarding claim 1, Hollinger discloses the system and the method “for scoring darts that includes multiple cameras placed substantially parallel to the surface of a dartboard. With a field of view extending across the board, the cameras can be configured to capture images of darts projecting outwardly from the board as they are thrown, and the system can use this image data to calculate the location of each dart, and the corresponding score.” See Abstract, fig.10, and para.110—para.111; wherein the cameras are disposed around the dart target plane, see cameras 102A and 102B in fig.1. Hollinger does not disclose generating refocused images for multiple preset focal planes based on plenoptic videos of the dart target plate and generating based on the refocused images an extracted image for an object dart pin located in one focal plane of the multiple preset focal planes as recited in the claim, and Hollinger discloses calculating one or more rows of pixels representing the center of a dart on the board and converting pixel coordinates from each camera into planar locations (e.g. x, y coordinate pairs) to aid in locating the dart tip. However, to resolve blurry issues happen for objects which are not in the same focus in an image, using plenoptic (or light-field) cameras to capture refocused images from the same scene with distinct focus positions and generate a merging image is a well-known technology so called focus stacking. As evidence, Chen teaches “merging or fusing a plurality of color images each with a distinct focus position to form a focus-stacked image that portrays all objects of interest as in focus”, see para.22, lines 1-5, see fig.7 and paras.75--76; wherein each object, i.e., the front blue marker pen and the back blue and orange pens in the scene, is clearly determined by the merging image 740. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Chen into the teachings of Hollinger and utilize a plenoptic camera to capture refocused images from the same scene with distinct focus positions and then generate a merging image based on the refocused images. Suggestion or motivation for doing so would have been to “make all objects in the scene perceived in details or a non-blurry fashion” as taught by Chen, see., Par.2, lines 1-8. The combination of Hollinger and Chen thus suggests or teaches all the limitations recited in claim 1, and the claim is unpatentable over Hollinger in view of Chen.
Regarding claim 2, 11, the combination of Hollinger and Chen discloses, wherein the camera disposed around the dart target plate comprises: a single light field camera comprising a lens array (see Chen, “a plenoptic camera” in para.4, lines 15-19).
Regarding claim 3, 12, the combination of Hollinger and Chen discloses, wherein the cameras disposed around the dart target plate comprise: a plurality of cameras disposed around the dart target plate at preset intervals (Hollinge, see cameras 102A and 102B in fig.1; Chen, see “a camera configured to capture a plurality of color images for one scene each with a distinct focus distance”, para.8).
Regarding claim 4, 13, the combination of Hollinger and Chen discloses, wherein the plurality of cameras comprise: at least one of a pinhole camera and a light field camera comprising a lens array (Chen, see “a camera configured to capture a plurality of color images for one scene each with a distinct focus distance”, para.8).
Regarding claim 5, 14, the combination of Hollinger and Chen discloses, wherein the generating of the extracted image for the object dart pin located in a focal plane of the multiple preset focal planes based on the refocused images comprises: determining, among the refocused images of the multiple preset focal planes, one refocused image of a focal plane that covers the object dart pin, as a reference refocused image; and merging the reference refocused image with at least one other refocused image among the refocused images for the multiple preset focal planes to generate the extracted image for the object dart pin (Chen, see para.22, lines 1-5, see fig.7 and paras.75—76: “merging or fusing a plurality of color images each with a distinct focus position to form a focus-stacked image that portrays all objects of interest as in focus”; wherein each object, i.e., the front blue marker pen and the back blue and orange pens in the scene, is clearly determined by the merging image 740).
Regarding claim 6, 15, the combination of Hollinger and Chen discloses, wherein the merging of the reference refocused image with at least one other refocused image among the refocused images for the multiple preset focal planes to generate the extracted image for the object dart pin comprises: determining a weighted sum by applying different weights to the reference refocused image and the at least one other refocused image (Chen, see “the tag-based weight adjustment method” in para.76, lines 13-22: “When merging several candidate images (e.g., the images 720 and 730) of different focus positions, [...] This tag-based weight adjustment method may increase a possibility to generate a correct and clearer focus-stacked image using the manual tags.”).
Regarding claim 7, 16, the combination of Hollinger and Chen discloses, wherein the extracted image for the object dart pin is an image cleared of a dart pin present on a focal plane different from the focal plane of the object dart pin, among a plurality of dart pins attached to the dart target plate ().
Regarding claim 8, 17, the combination of Hollinger and Chen discloses, wherein the determining of the attachment location of the object dart pin based on the extracted image comprises: obtaining location information of the object dart pin on the extracted image; and determining the attachment location of the object dart pin based on the location information and distance information of a focal plane corresponding to the object dart pin (Chen, see para.22, lines 1-5, see fig.7 and paras.75—76: “merging or fusing a plurality of color images each with a distinct focus position to form a focus-stacked image that portrays all objects of interest as in focus”. In other words, wherever of the dart board the dart of Hollinger is thrown to, its location will be clearly displayed by the merging image.).
Regarding claims 9, 10, each of them is an inherent variation of claim 1, thus it is interpreted and rejected for the reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lou et al, “All-in-focus Imaging from Event Focal Stack”, published in 2022.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RUIPING LI whose telephone number is (571)270-3376. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am--5:30pm.
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/RUIPING LI/Primary Examiner, Ph.D., Art Unit 2676