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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group II in the reply filed on 5 March 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the inventions are so closely related in the field of image capture that restriction between the two groupings is not warranted. This is not found persuasive because Group I has separate utility such as identifying objects in an image captured by an image capture apparatus. Group II is silent regarding image capturing much less identifying a subject and a type of subject in a captured image.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 10-13, 15-19, 21-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wilson (US 2018/0004289 A1).
Claim 10, Wilson teaches an image processing apparatus (Fig. 1), comprising:
one or more processors that execute a program stored in a memory (control unit 150 and memory 151; Fig. 3) and there by function as a generating unit configured to generate image data for display on a head-mounted display apparatus (gaze detection device generates video to be displayed on HMD 100; paragraph 0026), wherein the generating unit generates the image data by applying editing processing to visually emphasize a characteristic area according to a type of a virtual environment provided to a user via the display apparatus more than another area (different areas of the video may be emphasized based on gaze; see paragraph 0068 and Fig. 5).
Claim 11, Wilson further teaches wherein the editing processing is any one of:
processing in which the characteristic area is not edited and another area is edited to make it less noticeable;
processing in which the characteristic area is emphasized and another area is not edited;
processing in which the characteristic area is emphasized and another area is edited to make it less noticeable (sharpening video in a predetermined area while blurring areas other than the predetermined area; paragraph 0068); and
processing in which an entire image including the characteristic area is edited to emphasize the characteristic area.
Claim 12, Wilson further teaches wherein the one or more processors further function as a detecting unit configured to detect a position of gaze of a user in an image displayed by the display apparatus (gaze detection unit 213; Fig. 3 and step S3 of Fig. 5), and the generating unit generates the image data by, after the editing processing is applied, applying a further editing processing based on the position of gaze detected by the detecting unit (a detected gaze point is detected and emphasis processing is performed so that video in predetermined E1 is easier to gaze at than video in other areas; see steps S4 and S5 of Fig. 5 and paragraph 0097-0098).
Claim 13, Wilson further teaches wherein the further editing processing is editing processing in which, of a plurality of the characteristic areas, a characteristic area including the position of gaze is visually emphasized more than another characteristic area (emphasis processing is performed so that video in predetermined E1 is easier to gaze at than video in other areas; see steps S4 and S5 of Fig. 5 and paragraph 0097-0098).
Claim 15, Wilson further teaches wherein the further editing processing is editing processing in which a characteristic area existing in a movement direction of the position of gaze is visually emphasized (video is sharpened, i.e., emphasized, in the predicted gaze direction; see steps S6 and S7 of Fig. 5 and paragraph 0099-0100).
Claim 16, Wilson further teaches wherein, for each type of virtual environment, a type of characteristic area that the editing processing can be applied to and a type of characteristic area that the editing processing is applied to by default are associated together (gazed area is sharpened while other areas other than the gazed area is blurred based on type of video; paragraph 0068).
Claim 17, Wilson further teaches wherein the generating unit applies the editing processing on a basis of a type designated by a user from among types of characteristic areas associated with a virtual environment provided to the user (a predetermined area is emphasized based on an area designated, i.e., gazed, by the user in a virtual reality space; see paragraph 0068, 0110) .
Claim 18, Wilson further teaches wherein, when there is no designation by a user, the generating unit applies the editing processing on a basis of a type of characteristic area that the editing processing is applied to by default associated with a virtual environment provided to the user (an area not designated by a user, i.e., not gazed at by a user, is blurred; paragraph 0068).
Claim 19, Wilson further teaches wherein the one or more processors further function as a detecting unit configured to detect a position of gaze of a user in an image displayed by the display apparatus (gaze detection unit 213 determines gaze point of the user; paragraph 0066), and the generating unit applies the editing processing to a characteristic area based on the position of gaze detected by the detecting unit (gaze point area is sharpened; paragraph 0097 and step S5 of Fig. 5).
Claim 21, Wilson further teaches wherein the head-mounted display apparatus is an external apparatus configured to communicate with the image processing apparatus (head mounted display 100 may be external to the gaze detection device 200; paragraph 0024).
Claim 22, Wilson further teaches wherein the image processing apparatus is a part of the head-mounted display apparatus (video generation unit 214 of gaze detection device 200 may be built into head mounted display 100; paragraph 0025).
Claim 23, Wilson further teaches wherein the one or more processors further function as an obtaining unit configured to obtain data of a VR image representing the virtual environment (video data is downloaded; paragraph 0059), and the generating unit generates the image data from the VR image (video generation unit 214 generates video using video data and gaze detection unit 213; paragraph 0059, 0065).
Claim 24, Wilson further teaches wherein the obtaining unit further obtains main subject information and/or line-of-sight information obtained at a time of capturing the VR image (when video data is obtained by video generation unit 214, see paragraph 0065, gaze detection unit 213 calculates gaze point, i.e., line-of-sight information, and transfers the specified gaze point to video generation unit 214; paragraph 0066), and the generating unit determines the characteristic area to apply the editing processing to on a basis of the main subject information or the line-of-sight information (based on the gaze point, an area of the video is sharpened; see paragraph 0068).
Claim 25 is analyzed and rejected as a method claim for performing the functions of the apparatus of claim 10.
Claim 26 is analyzed and rejected as a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program that causes a computer to function as the apparatus of claim 10.
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) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wilson in view of Swaminathan (US 2020/0033943 A1).
Claim 14, Wilson teaches the image processing apparatus according to claim 12, but is silent regarding wherein the further editing processing is editing processing in which attached information on, of a plurality of the characteristic areas, a characteristic area including the position of gaze is superimposed and displayed.
Swaminathan teaches an HMD (device 200 may be a Head Mounted Display; paragraph 0057) to detect a position of a gaze of a user (perform eye gaze tracking; paragraph 0067) wherein editing processing is editing processing in which attached information on, of a plurality of the characteristic areas, a characteristic area including the position of gaze is superimposed and displayed (tag icon is displayed when a user gazes on or near a particular object tag icon; paragraph 0067 and Fig. 8).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have used the teaching of Swaminathan with that of Wilson in order to improve evaluation of a user’s interest in an image on the display and to display information relevant to the user’s interest (see paragraph 0038-0039 of Swaminathan).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 20, the prior art does not teach or suggest in a case when the characteristic area is not included in the image data generated, the generating unit includes an indicator indicating a direction in which a characteristic area exists in the image data. That is, when a characteristic area is absent in the generated image data, the prior art does not teach or suggest an indicator to indicate a direction in which the characteristic area exists in the image data.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 attached.
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/CHIAWEI CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637
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