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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-4, 7-12 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akutsu (US 2005/0046804 A1), in view of Kubota (US 2013/0169889 A1).
Regarding claim 1, 9 and 15, Akutsu teaches a distance sensor (13a, 13b, 13d, 13c, figure 1A; paragraph 0021-0022);
An image projector (10, figure 1A), and
At least one processor (39, figure 3) configured to:
Control the image projector to project an image (VC, figure 5B, paragraph 0065) onto a projection surface, to provide a projection image on the projection surface (paragraph 0060-0069);
Acquire distortion information in a vertical direction (paragraph 0071; see also paragraph 0066-0069) corresponding to the projection image based on distance information to the projection surface acquired by the distance sensor (paragraphs 0069 and 0071),
Acquire keystone correction information in the vertical direction based on the distortion information in the vertical direction (paragraph 0071),
Based on receiving a first user instruction for a keystone correction (M01, figure 4; AFK is autofocus and auto keystone correction; paragraph 0038), perform a keystone correction (M02, figure 4; paragraph 0060, 0064 and 0071for the image to provide a keystone corrected image based on keystone correction information in a horizontal direction (paragraph 0071 corresponding to the first user instruction and the acquired keystone correction information in the vertical direction (paragraph 0071), and
Control the image projector to project the keystone corrected image (paragraph 0072-0073).
Akutsu does not specify that the electronic apparatus comprises an acceleration sensor and that the distortion information in the vertical direction depends on a slope information of the electronic apparatus acquired by the acceleration sensor.
Kubota teaches that the electronic apparatus comprises an acceleration sensor (paragraph 0046) and that the distortion information in the vertical direction depends on a slope information of the electronic apparatus acquired by the acceleration sensor (paragraph 0032).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Akutsu to use the acceleration sensor of Kubota in order to improve the accuracy of the vertical keystone correction.
Regarding claim 2 and 10, Akutsu teaches performing both vertical and horizontal keystone correction (paragraph 0071) and wherein the image projector projects the second keystone corrected image (II image range after correction. Figure 6)
Akutsu in view of Kubota does not specify that the vertical keystone correction is done prior to the horizontal keystone correction.
Akutsu in view of Kubota therefore discloses the claimed invention except for specifying that the vertical keystone correction is done prior to the horizontal keystone correction. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to make the vertical keystone correction step prior to the horizontal keystone correction step, since it has been held that rearranging parts (in this case the steps) of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse 86 USPQ 70.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Akutsu in view of Kubota to do the vertical correction before the horizontal correction in order to improve the accuracy of the keystone correction.
Regarding claim 3 and 11, Akutsu teaches the keystone correction information in the horizontal direction corresponding to the first user instruction comprises rotation information in one of a left direction or a right direction (paragraph 0064), and
The at least one processor is configured to acquire the second keystone corrected image by performing a rotational correction for the first keystone corrected image (upon modification of claim 2 and 10 above to reverse the horizontal and vertical keystone correction operation, the horizontal information would be applied to the first keystone corrected image) in any one of the left direction or the right direction with the vertical direction as an axis by a predetermined angle based on the keystone correction information in the horizontal direction (paragraph 0071).
Regarding claim 4 and 12, Akutsu teaches based on receiving a second user instruction for the keystone correction while the keystone corrected image is being projected, perform a subsequent keystone correction for the keystone corrected image based on the keystone correction information in the horizontal direction corresponding to the second user instruction to provide a subsequent keystone correction (M05, the ‘No’ process, if the button is not hit again, which failing to press the button is the human instruction, the keystone processor will be subsequently performed), and control the image projector to project the subsequent keystone corrected image (S11, figure 5).
Regarding claim 7, Akutsu teaches a communication interface (19, figure 1B; paragraph 0055) wherein the at least one processor is configured to: based on receiving a signal corresponding to the first user instruction selecting one of a left direction button (15m, figure 2) or a right direction button (15n, figure 2) among buttons in four directions provided on an external apparatus (15, figure 2) through the communication interface, acquire the keystone correction information in the horizontal direction corresponding to the first user instruction (paragraph 0042).
Regarding claim 8, Akutsu teaches identifying a correction amount of the keystone correction in the horizontal direction based on a type of a user input corresponding to the first user instruction, and perform the keystone correction in the horizontal direction based on the identified correction amount (paragraph 0042).
Claim(s) 5 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akutsu (US 2005/0046804 A1), in view of Kubota (US 2013/0169889 A1), as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Hamano et al. (US 2008/0117387 A1).
Regarding claim 5 and 13, Akutsu in view of Kubota teaches acquire distortion information in a vertical direction for a basic projection image based on slope information of the electronic apparatus and the distance information to the projection surface, and acquire keystone correction information in the vertical direction based on the distortion information in the vertical direction for the basic projection image (see rejection of claims 1 and 9 above, basic image just being the image information that the projector would otherwise project without AFK process).
Akutsu in view of Kubota does not teach predicting a basic projection image of on the projection surface based on information of the electronic apparatus.
Hamano teaches predicting a basic projection image (via 16 and 13, figure 1) of on the projection surface based on information of the electronic apparatus (paragraph 0046-0051).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Akutsu in view of Kubota to use the image correction based on electronic apparatus information as taught in Hamano in order to improve image quality (paragraph 0008 and 0010).
Claim(s) 6 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akutsu (US 2005/0046804 A1), in view of Kubota (US 2013/0169889 A1), as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Fujisaki et al. (US 2011/0069235 A1).
Regarding claim 6 and 14, Akutsu teaches a user interface comprising buttons in four direction of up, down left, and right (15k, 15m, 15n and 15l, figure 2; paragraph 0042), wherein the buttons are further designed for manual adjustment of the keystone correction (paragraph 0042).
Akutsu in view of Kubota does not teach that the user interface is projected onto the projection surface.
Fujisaki teaches a user interface projected onto the projection surface for the keystone correction operation (72, figure 2 and figures 4-5).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Akutsu in view of Kubota to use the OSD of Fujisaki in order to improve user convenience.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN D HOWARD whose telephone number is (571)270-5358. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5:00.
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/RYAN D HOWARD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882 1/17/2026