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 . The Amendment filed 29 April, 2026 (hereinafter “the Amendment’) has been entered and considered. Claims 1, 10-11, and 13-16 have been amended. Claims 17-20 have been newly added. Claims 1-20, all the claims pending in the application, are rejected. All modifications to the rejection set forth in the present action were necessitated by Applicants’ claim amendments.
Remarks
1. §112(f)
The §112(f) claim interpretation for claims 10-11 and 13 have been withdrawn.
§112(b)
The §112(b) claim rejections for claims 10-11 and 13 have been withrawn.
Response to Remarks
On pages 9-10 of the Amendment, the Applicant discusses how a user may define a “predetermined movement” and the “subject part necessary” for capturing the “predetermined movement”, however, this is not commensurate or present with the current claims set forth by the Applicant. Further, on pages 10-11 the Applicant contends that Yoo does not describe or suggest at least one of;
determine whether a subject has made a predetermined movement based on images from at least one of a plurality of image capturing units by determining whether at least one of the plurality of image capturing units is capturing subject part necessary for detecting a predetermined movement of the subject, and by determining the predetermined movement from an image captured by the image capturing unit which is capturing the subject part.
wherein the predetermined movement or the subject part necessary for detecting the predetermined movement is registered prior to receiving images from said at least one of a plurality of image capturing units.
Considering the first (1) feature, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. Yoo does indeed disclose that a determination is being made on whether a subject in an image has made a predetermined movement, where that movement is based on a determination that the particular body part of the subject is visible which occurs automatically because the program would not be able to determine any predetermined movement for a particular body part if the part of the subjects body is not visible to the imaging device. See Yoo, P[0088]: “movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data, and the main camera may be selected based on the recognized movement of the object.”, and P[0151]: “a camera located in a gesture direction based on a front camera which the user faces may be switched to the main camera. For example, when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”, where the hands/arms are specific parts of the subjects captured necessary for detecting a predetermined movement/motion, and without the detection of these particular parts, no processing will be performed.
Considering the second (2) feature, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. This feature amounts to pre-registering or pre-training a model to detect a particular movement in association with a users body part which must be done for a particular movement to be detected by the program, for example, see Yoo, P[0151]: “when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”, must therefore be a pre-registered movement associated with a particular body part of the subject for the processing system to be able to detect the particular movement of the user or person. Without this feature, the program is inoperable and would not provide anything since there are no movements to detect. See Yoo, P[0088]: “According to various embodiments of the disclosure, movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data, and the main camera may be selected based on the recognized movement of the object.”
Therefore, Yoo does indeed disclose the newly amended features of claims 1 and 14-16, and the
rejections under 35 U.S.C. §102 have been updated.
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.
(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.
2. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20210076080 A1: Eunkyung Yoo et al., (herein after “Yoo”).
Regarding claim 1, An information processing apparatus comprising at least one processor, and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to (Yoo, Fig. 2, and §Abstract: “a processor electrically connected to the communication circuit”):
determine whether a subject has made a predetermined movement based on images from at least one of a plurality of image capturing units by determining whether at least one of the plurality of image capturing units is capturing subject part necessary for detecting a predetermined movement of the subject, and by determining the predetermined movement from an image captured by the image capturing unit which is capturing the subject part, (Yoo, P[0088]: “movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data, and the main camera may be selected based on the recognized movement of the object.”, and P[0151]: “a camera located in a gesture direction based on a front camera which the user faces may be switched to the main camera. For example, when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”, where the hands/arms are specific parts of the subjects captured necessary for detecting a predetermined movement/motion.) and
select an image from a predetermined image capturing unit that has been associated with the predetermined movement from among images from the plurality of the image capturing units and output the image to a display unit or a recording unit, in a case in which it has been determined that the predetermined movement has been performed units (Yoo, P[0086]: “image data captured by each camera may be analyzed and a camera having analyzed image data that satisfies a preset condition may be selected as the main camera.”, and P[0084]: “A server … the processor may be configured to receive image data of a first camera selected as a main camera among image data captured by a plurality of cameras through the communication circuit, transmit the received image data of the first camera to a real-time broadcasting server through the communication circuit, and when a second camera of the plurality of cameras satisfies a selection condition of a predetermined main camera, transmit image data of the second camera to the real-time broadcasting server through the communication circuit.”.
wherein the predetermined movement or the subject part necessary for detecting the predetermined movement is registered prior to receiving images from said at least one of a plurality of image capturing units, where this feature amounts to pre-registering or pre-training a model to detect a particular movement in association with a user’s body part which must be done for a particular movement to be detected by the program, for example, see Yoo, P[0151]: “when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”, must therefore be a pre-registered movement associated with a particular body part of the subject for the processing system to be able to detect the particular movement of the user or person. Without this feature, the program is inoperable and would not provide anything since there are no movements to detect. See Yoo, P[0088]: “According to various embodiments of the disclosure, movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data, and the main camera may be selected based on the recognized movement of the object.”
Regarding claim 2, wherein the predetermined movement includes a movement related to the orientation of a predetermined subject (Yoo, P[0087]: “a direction of a face may be recognized in the analyzed image data”).
Regarding claim 3, wherein the predetermined movement includes a movement related to the orientation of the face or the orientation of the gaze of a predetermined subject (Yoo, P[0087]: “a direction of a face may be recognized in the analyzed image data”).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the predetermined movement includes a movement related to a hand gesture of a predetermined subject (Yoo, Fig. 13A, P[0151]: “For example, when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”), and P[0092]: “a user gesture may be determined by each camera, and the main camera may be selected based on the determined user gesture.”).
Regarding claim 5, wherein the predetermined movement includes a movement related to a facial expression of a predetermined subject (Yoo, P[0075]: “The face recognizer 313a may perform a function of recognizing a face in image data captured by the camera”, and P[0116]: “to track a user face direction (user's eyes)”, where the direction of the users eyes are related to facial expression.).
See attached Wikipedia Article, showing a definition of “facial expression” where the eyes are related to a facial expression and the direction of the gaze may indicate various emotions/feelings. This is not proposed as a modification of Yoo, but rather as showing that Yoo describes this feature as properly construed.
Regarding claim 6, wherein the predetermined movement (Yoo, P[0088]: “movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data”) includes a motion or pose of a predetermined subject (Yoo, P[0134]: “the cloud server may analyze motion of the user or an object on the basis of image data captured by each camera”).
Regarding claim 7, wherein the predetermined movement includes sign language, and the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to output an image from the predetermined image capturing unit that has been designated by the content of the sign language to a display unit or a recording unit (Yoo, Fig. 13B-13C and P[0152]: “when the user points at the front camera which the user faces with his/her finger, the corresponding camera may be switched to the main camera. Referring to FIG. 13C, according to various embodiments, when the user takes a pinch-in gesture or a pinch-out gesture with his/her finger toward a front camera which the user faces, the corresponding camera may perform a zoom-in function or a zoom-out function.”).
Regarding claim 8, wherein the predetermined movement includes a motion of a predetermined subject (Yoo, P[0134]: “the cloud server may analyze motion of the user or an object on the basis of image data captured by each camera”).
Regarding claim 9, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to select an image from the image capturing unit that is present in the direction (Yoo, P[0151]: “a camera located in a gesture direction based on a front camera which the user faces may be switched to the main camera. For example, when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left, a camera on the left may be switched to the main camera.”) of the predetermined movement and to output the image to a display unit or a recording unit (Yoo, Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 10, wherein the at least one processor determines the predetermined movement made by at least one subject (Yoo, P[0088]: “movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data”).
Regarding claim 11, wherein the at least one processor performs a determination based on an image from one image capturing unit or images from a plurality of image capturing units (Yoo, P[0153]: “Real-time event data which is transmitted by each camera and received through a data receiver of the cloud server may be transferred to a condition determiner of the cloud server. The condition determiner may compare a type of the received event data with an interaction item defined in a template selected by the user.”).
Regarding claim 12, wherein the at least one processor executes instructions that cause the at least one processor to register the predetermined image capturing unit that has been associated with the predetermined movement (Yoo, P[0079]: “The device register 434 may register at least one camera to be connected for real-time broadcasting with respect to each user account for the real-time broadcasting, and the device storage unit 435 may store information on the registered device in the memory.”, therefore the camera which captures the movement is registered.).
Regarding claim 13, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to display for a predetermined time an image from the predetermined image capturing unit that has been associated with the predetermined movement among images from a plurality of image capturing units, in a case in which it has been determined that a predetermined movement has been performed (Yoo, Fig. 15 shows multiple interactions from detected movements being broadcasted live for predetermined amounts of time.).
Regarding claim 14, An image capturing apparatus comprising:
an image capturing unit (Yoo, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2), and
at least one processor (Yoo, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2); and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to (Yoo, P[0067]: “processor 201, a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) 202, a memory 203”):
determine whether a subject has made a predetermined movement based on images received from at least one of a plurality of image capturing units by determining whether at least one of the plurality of image capturing units is capturing subject part necessary for detecting a predetermined movement of the subject, and by determining the predetermined movement from an image captured by the image capturing unit which is capturing the subject part (Yoo, P[0088]: “movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data, and the main camera may be selected based on the recognized movement of the object.”, and P[0151]: “a camera located in a gesture direction based on a front camera which the user faces may be switched to the main camera. For example, when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”, where the hands/arms are specific parts of the subjects captured necessary for detecting a predetermined movement/motion.), wherein the predetermined movement or the subject part necessary for detecting the predetermined movement is registered prior to receiving images from said at least one of a plurality of image capturing units, where this feature amounts to pre-registering or pre-training a model to detect a particular movement in association with a user’s body part which must be done for a particular movement to be detected by the program, for example, see Yoo, P[0151]: “when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”, must therefore be a pre-registered movement associated with a particular body part of the subject for the processing system to be able to detect the particular movement of the user or person. Without this feature, the program is inoperable and would not provide anything since there are no movements to detect. See Yoo, P[0088]: “According to various embodiments of the disclosure, movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data, and the main camera may be selected based on the recognized movement of the object.”, and
output a determination result to an external apparatus in a case in which it has been determined that the predetermined movement has been performed (Yoo, Fig. 1, Smart Phone (output)), and
perform a predetermined operation based on a signal received from the external apparatus in response to the output of the determination result to the external apparatus (Yoo, Fig. 1, Smart Phone and P[0059]: “According to various embodiments, the electronic device 123 may perform at least some of the functions of the cloud server 110. For example, the electronic device 123 may select the main camera from the plurality of cameras 121 and 122 according to a preset condition.”).
Claims 15 and 16 recite features nearly identical to those recited in claim 1. Claims 15 and 16 are rejected for reasons analogous to those discussed above in conjunction with claim 1.
Regarding claim 17, wherein the predetermined movement and the subject part necessary for detecting the predetermined movement are both registered prior to receiving images from said at least one of a plurality of image capturing units, where this feature amounts to pre-registering or pre-training a model to detect a particular movement in association with a user’s body part which must be done for a particular movement to be detected by the program, for example, see Yoo, P[0151]: “when the user waves his/her hand (or arm) to the left”, must therefore be a pre-registered movement associated with a particular body part of the subject for the processing system to be able to detect the particular movement of the user or person. Without this feature, the program is inoperable and would not provide anything since there are no movements to detect. See Yoo, P[0088]: “According to various embodiments of the disclosure, movement of an object may be recognized in the analyzed image data, and the main camera may be selected based on the recognized movement of the object.”
Claims 18-20 recite features nearly identical to those recited in claim 17. Claims 18-20 are rejected for reasons analogous to those discussed above in conjunction with claim 17.
Conclusion
3. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20160026253 A1 by Gary Bradski et al., is directed toward image processing of gestures for augmented reality, see P[1295]: “It should be appreciated that the various gestures are predetermined by the system. The gestures may either be pre-programmed based on the application, or may be customized to suit the preferred gestures of the user. For example, the system may be programmed to recognize the swift hand motion at the trunk of the tree as a “cutting” swipe that indicates to the system that the application should be closed.”
US 20200050288 A1 by Michael Williams et al., is directed toward image processing of gestures input by a user, see P[0048]: “The user input may be a particular gesture, such as rotating the control unit 110 in a particular manner;”
“Gesture spotting for low-resolution sports video annotation” by Myung-Cheol Roh et al., is directed toward automatic human gesture recognition for analyzing sports video, See Fig. 1, and examples of training.
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/TY MITCHELL BEATTY/Examiner, Art Unit 2663
/GREGORY A MORSE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2698
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