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 .
This action is responsive to communication received on 12/31/2025. Claims 1-2, and 4-7 are pending of which claims 1, 2, and 5-7 are amended.
The Examiner recommends filing a written authorization for Internet communication in response to the present action. Doing so permits the USPTO to communicate with Applicant using Internet email to schedule interviews or discuss other aspects of the application. Without a written authorization in place, the USPTO cannot respond to Internet correspondence received from Applicant. The preferred method of providing authorization is by filing form PTO/SB/439, available at: https://www.uspto.gov/patent/forms/forms. See MPEP § 502.03 for other methods of providing written authorization.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claims as amended recite a sleep timer based on no user activity and an application not being run by the operating system. There is no support for such limitations in the specification. The specification does not describe any situation where a sleep timer is based on both no user activity and a application not being run.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu US 2025/0181135, and further in view of Zhang US 2022/0283296.
Regarding claims 1 and 7 , Liu teaches a method and an information processing apparatus comprising: a display with a screen brightness that is adjustable(display brights and/shutoff adjust based on determined state of the system, where the state of the system is based on user presence/activity, ¶19);
[0019] Devices that support the connected standby mode are also quickly able to return to the working system power state (S0) based on a user input such as dragging a finger across a touch pad or isopoint device and/or touching a touch-enabled screen of the device. In some instances, the user input is provided via a peripheral input device, such as pressing a key on a wired or wireless keyboard and/or moving a mouse. In response to such a wake event, pixels are turned on and/or a resolution or a brightness of the display screen is adjusted to present content and enable the user to interact with the device.
a camera(¶32)
a memory which temporarily stores image data of an image captured by the camera(RAM or equivalent for storing camera capture data, ¶86)
[0086] As mentioned above, the example operations of FIGS. 4 and/or 5 may be implemented using executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on one or more non-transitory computer and/or machine readable media such as optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, an HDD, a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a CD, a DVD, a cache, a RAM of any type, a register, and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the terms non-transitory computer readable medium and non-transitory computer readable storage medium are expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.
a first processor which executes:person detection processing by detecting a face area within the image to detect presence of a person, and(facial recognition authentication where authentication is understood to include recognizing the face captured in the camera image, ¶s 28, 39)
face authentication processing based on the face area detected in the person detection processing(facial recognition based authentication, ¶39)
[0028] The housing 114 of the peripheral input device 104 of FIG. 1 supports electronic components of the mouse 104. For example, the peripheral input device 104 can be an optical mouse including a light emitting diode (LED) 124 to emit light that bounces off a surface and is detected by an image sensor 126 (e.g., a complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor) of the mouse 104. The example mouse 104 includes task determining circuitry 128 to analyze images generated by the image sensor 126 and to detect movement of the mouse 104. The task determining circuitry 128 determines coordinates of the mouse 104 based on the image analysis. The task determining circuitry 128 can be implemented by processor circuitry 130 of the mouse 104. The example peripheral input device 104 includes a power source 131 such as a battery to provide power to the processor circuitry 130 and/or other components of the peripheral input device 104.
[0039] In some examples, the user device 102 is in the connected standby or low power state and the subject detection circuitry 140 of the peripheral input device 104 reports that a presence of a subject has been detected within a range of the user presence detection sensor(s) 136 (i.e., the user presence state is the present state). In response to report(s) from the subject detection circuitry 140 indicating the presence of the user relative to the peripheral input device 104, the device control circuitry 152 determines that the user device 102 should exit the connected standby mode (S0 low-power idle state) and move to the working system power state (S0). The device control circuitry 152 transmits instructions that are executed by, for instance, the processor circuitry 110 of the user device 102 to wake the hardware devices of the user device 102 from the connected standby mode. For instance, the display screen 106 is turned on to enable the user to authenticate his or her identity (e.g., via entry of a password and/or facial recognition via a camera) and access the application(s) 112 installed on the user device 102.
a second processor which executes:
brightness reduction processing that reduces the screen brightness based on the person detection processing(after a first time period of screen is dimmed(ie brightness reduced), ¶43)
system lock instruction processing that transmits an instruction to lock an operating system of the information processing apparatus: and ( after second duration system puts the device into the locked state, ¶43)
standby state instruction processing that transmits an instruction to transition the operating system to a standby state; and (after a third duration the system is placed in a standy/sleep mode, ¶43)
[0043] For instance, based on the reports from the subject detection circuitry 140, the device control circuitry 152 can determine that the presence of the user has not been detected for a first duration of time (e.g., three minutes). In response, in some examples, the device control circuitry 152 generates instructions to cause, for instance, the display screen 106 to dim if the presence of the user has not been detected for a first duration of time (e.g., three minutes). In some examples, the device control circuitry 152 instructs the operating system 111 to move the user device 102 to a locked state such that the user has to provide identifying information to access the applications 112 on the device 102 (e.g., if the user did not already lock the device 102 prior to walking away from the device 102) if the presence of the user has not been detected for a second duration of time (e.g., five minutes). In some examples, based on the reports from the subject detection circuitry 140, the device control circuitry 152 determines that the user presence state has been the absent state for a third duration of time (e.g., ten minutes). In such examples, the device control circuitry 152 instructs the user device 102 to enter the connected standby mode (S0 low-power idle state). When the user device 102 is in the connected standby mode, the device control circuitry 152 can cause the user device 102 to move from the connected standby mode to the working system power state (S0) in response to an indication from the subject detection circuitry 140 that the user presence state has returned to the present state (i.e., a presence of a user has been detected within a range of the user presence detection sensor(s) 136).
a third processor which executes :unlocking processing that unlocks the operating system based on the face authentication processing and person detection processing of the first processor; and(
[0032] In some examples, the processor circuitry 110 can cause the user device 102 (e.g., the operating system 111) to move to a locked state prior to entering the connected standby mode. When the user device 102 is in the locked state, the applications(s) 112 and/or other content on the device 102 can be accessed in response to a user providing a password or other identifying information (e.g., facial recognition based an image of the user's face captured via a camera of the device 102). The password and/or other identifying information can be provided via a login screen presented by the operating system 111 via the display screen 106 to move the device 102 to an unlocked state.
locking processing that locks the operating system and starts the unlocking processing, wherein
in response to the person detection processing switching from detecting to not detecting the presence of the person(user presence stated transititions from present to absence state, the system starts transition to lock state awaiting activity to unlock the system such user providing identifying information, ¶37)
[0072] The device control rule(s) 310 can indicate that when the device is in the working system power state and the user presence state identifying circuitry 302 determines based on the report(s) 308 that the user presence state is the absent state for a first duration of time (e.g., based on the timing of reports received from the subject detection circuitry 140), the device response management circuitry 304 should check if the user locked the device 102 before leaving (e.g., based on a state of the operating system 111). If the device 102 is unlocked and the user presence state is the absent state, then the device control rule(s) 310 indicate that the device response management circuitry 304 should cause the device 102 (e.g., the operating system 111) to move to a locked state. In the locked state, the operating system 111 can cause a login screen to be presented via the display screen 106 of the user device 102 and the user provides identifying information to (re-) access the applications 112 on the user device 102.
the second processor starts to reduce the screen brightness when executing the brightness reduction processing(first period of user absence triggers dimming of screen, ¶43);
before a first time period elapses, the second processor executes the system lock instruction processing(before the third duration(i.e claimed first time period) and after a second period system places system in locked state, ¶43)
[0043] For instance, based on the reports from the subject detection circuitry 140, the device control circuitry 152 can determine that the presence of the user has not been detected for a first duration of time (e.g., three minutes). In response, in some examples, the device control circuitry 152 generates instructions to cause, for instance, the display screen 106 to dim if the presence of the user has not been detected for a first duration of time (e.g., three minutes). In some examples, the device control circuitry 152 instructs the operating system 111 to move the user device 102 to a locked state such that the user has to provide identifying information to access the applications 112 on the device 102 (e.g., if the user did not already lock the device 102 prior to walking away from the device 102) if the presence of the user has not been detected for a second duration of time (e.g., five minutes). In some examples, based on the reports from the subject detection circuitry 140, the device control circuitry 152 determines that the user presence state has been the absent state for a third duration of time (e.g., ten minutes). In such examples, the device control circuitry 152 instructs the user device 102 to enter the connected standby mode (S0 low-power idle state). When the user device 102 is in the connected standby mode, the device control circuitry 152 can cause the user device 102 to move from the connected standby mode to the working system power state (S0) in response to an indication from the subject detection circuitry 140 that the user presence state has returned to the present state (i.e., a presence of a user has been detected within a range of the user presence detection sensor(s) 136).
the third processor locks the operating system in a state of reduced screen brightness and starts the unlocking processing,(system is after second duration system is locked and screen dimming trigger after first duration is maintained, ¶43)
and after the first time period has elapsed, the second processor executes the standby state instruction processing,(after third duration(claimed first time period) device is placed in standby/sleep mode, ¶43) and
the first processor can use the image data of the image captured by the imaging unit exclusively between the person detection processing and the face authentication processing(image sensor captures image for processing by facial recognition based authentication, ¶s28,32)
[0028] The housing 114 of the peripheral input device 104 of FIG. 1 supports electronic components of the mouse 104. For example, the peripheral input device 104 can be an optical mouse including a light emitting diode (LED) 124 to emit light that bounces off a surface and is detected by an image sensor 126 (e.g., a complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor) of the mouse 104. The example mouse 104 includes task determining circuitry 128 to analyze images generated by the image sensor 126 and to detect movement of the mouse 104. The task determining circuitry 128 determines coordinates of the mouse 104 based on the image analysis. The task determining circuitry 128 can be implemented by processor circuitry 130 of the mouse 104. The example peripheral input device 104 includes a power source 131 such as a battery to provide power to the processor circuitry 130 and/or other components of the peripheral input device 104
[0032] In some examples, the processor circuitry 110 can cause the user device 102 (e.g., the operating system 111) to move to a locked state prior to entering the connected standby mode. When the user device 102 is in the locked state, the applications(s) 112 and/or other content on the device 102 can be accessed in response to a user providing a password or other identifying information (e.g., facial recognition based an image of the user's face captured via a camera of the device 102). The password and/or other identifying information can be provided via a login screen presented by the operating system 111 via the display screen 106 to move the device 102 to an unlocked state.
Liu teaches placing the system in standby mode(low power mode) but does not teach ignoring face detection during standby mode. Thus Liu does not teach during the unlocking processing in the state of reduced screen brightness:
the first processor generates a detection result based on the person detection processing;
the second processor ignores the detection result and continues the state reduced screen brightness;
the second processor continues the state of reduced screen brightness regardless of the person detection processing during the unlocking processing;
Zhang in the same field of endeavor teaches methods and systems for facial recognition and authentication for devices access. Zhang teaches during the unlocking processing in the state of reduced screen brightness(in low power state where screen is dimmed, ¶136)
[0136] At block 906, if the device determines that a user is present (e.g., the head is detected), the process may proceed to block 910 to determine a user's head orientation. For example, a user may be holding the device but engaged in conversation with another person such that the user's face is not facing the device. In this instance, the process may proceed to block 912 and dim the display backlight in order to save power and/or battery life. In some configurations, the device may proceed to block 912 after a time period of inattention has elapsed (e.g., the user's head orientation has been away for 2 minutes
the first processor generates a detection result based on the person detection processing;
the second processor ignores the detection result and continues the state reduced screen brightness(in sleep mode facial recognition is disabled until explicit user manual user input is provided , ¶32)
the second processor continues the state of reduced screen brightness regardless of the person detection processing during the unlocking processing(in sleep mode facial recognition is disabled and thus detection data is not processed, i.e ignored ¶32)
[0032] Some existing facial recognition systems utilize an infrared (IR) light source to illuminate a user's face and an infrared (IR) camera to perform image capture. In some cases, the captured image can then be processed and compared with a stored registered face in order to perform user authentication. While existing facial recognition systems are generally reliable, the power consumption of such systems can be high. To overcome this issue, the facial recognition systems on wireless devices are often only triggered upon detection of some type of user activity or predetermined condition, e.g., tapping on screen, device movement, incoming notification, etc. In the absence of these triggers, the facial recognition systems are disabled when the device is locked to conserve battery life. Consequently, the existing systems have an inherent latency in performing facial recognition in order to authenticate a user and “unlock” a device.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention to modify Liu with disabling of facial detection in sleep/standby mode as taught by Zhang. The reason for this modification would be to implement power savings to facilitate the standby/low power modes of Liu.
Regarding claim 4, Liu teaches wherein when input by a user is detected before the first time period elapses after the screen brightness is reduced, the second processor stops the brightness reduction processing and restores the screen brightness to that before being reduced(user input indicates the user is actively using the device waskes the device to working system power and non dimmed state, ¶19).
[0019] Devices that support the connected standby mode are also quickly able to return to the working system power state (S0) based on a user input such as dragging a finger across a touch pad or isopoint device and/or touching a touch-enabled screen of the device. In some instances, the user input is provided via a peripheral input device, such as pressing a key on a wired or wireless keyboard and/or moving a mouse. In response to such a wake event, pixels are turned on and/or a resolution or a brightness of the display screen is adjusted to present content and enable the user to interact with the device.
Regarding claim 5, Liu teaches wherein in response to the person detection processing switching from detecting to not detecting the presence of the person, the second processor executes the brightness reduction processing in response to a second time period elapsing(detect user absence for first time duration i.e 3min and start dimming screen, ¶43)
And executes the brightness reduction processing in response to a second time period elapsing(detect user absence for first time duration,3min( i.e. second time period as claimed) and start dimming screen, ¶43)
and executes the system lock instruction processing before the first time period elapses and after a third time period has elapsed, (put device screen in locked state after second duration(i.e. claimed third time period) but before third duration(i.e. claimed first time period), ¶43)
the second time period is shorter than the first time period and the third time period begins after the screen brightness was reduced(3min shorter than 10min, system diims before placing in standby /low power state, ¶43)
[0043] For instance, based on the reports from the subject detection circuitry 140, the device control circuitry 152 can determine that the presence of the user has not been detected for a first duration of time (e.g., three minutes). In response, in some examples, the device control circuitry 152 generates instructions to cause, for instance, the display screen 106 to dim if the presence of the user has not been detected for a first duration of time (e.g., three minutes). In some examples, the device control circuitry 152 instructs the operating system 111 to move the user device 102 to a locked state such that the user has to provide identifying information to access the applications 112 on the device 102 (e.g., if the user did not already lock the device 102 prior to walking away from the device 102) if the presence of the user has not been detected for a second duration of time (e.g., five minutes). In some examples, based on the reports from the subject detection circuitry 140, the device control circuitry 152 determines that the user presence state has been the absent state for a third duration of time (e.g., ten minutes). In such examples, the device control circuitry 152 instructs the user device 102 to enter the connected standby mode (S0 low-power idle state). When the user device 102 is in the connected standby mode, the device control circuitry 152 can cause the user device 102 to move from the connected standby mode to the working system power state (S0) in response to an indication from the subject detection circuitry 140 that the user presence state has returned to the present state (i.e., a presence of a user has been detected within a range of the user presence detection sensor(s) 136).
Regarding claim 6, Liu teaches wherein when the operating system is unlocked by the unlocking processing, the second processor stops the brightness reduction processing and restores the screen brightness to that before being reduced(upon successful password or facial recognition authentication, display is transitioned, unlocked full power system non dimmed, ¶32).
[0032] In some examples, the processor circuitry 110 can cause the user device 102 (e.g., the operating system 111) to move to a locked state prior to entering the connected standby mode. When the user device 102 is in the locked state, the applications(s) 112 and/or other content on the device 102 can be accessed in response to a user providing a password or other identifying information (e.g., facial recognition based an image of the user's face captured via a camera of the device 102). The password and/or other identifying information can be provided via a login screen presented by the operating system 111 via the display screen 106 to move the device 102 to an unlocked state.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu/Zhang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mani US 2015/0074195.
Regarding claim 2, Liu teaches wherein the first time period is a sleep timer(third duration for placing system in lower power/sleep state ¶s23, 43). Liu/Zhangt do not teach the sleep timer based on both of a specific application not being run by the operating system and no user activity by user input. Mani in the being reasonable pertinent to the problem of power saving/management of devices teaches a system for intelligent data synchronization based on power state. Mani teaches the sleep timer based on both of a specific application not being run by the operating system and no user activity by user input
[0113] At 1030, the user device determines that it is not an active device. The determining may include determining that there is no current user activity on the user device, that there is not at least one application running on the user device, that the user device is in a sleep mode, and that a display of the user device is powered off. Alternatively, determining that the user device is not the active user device may include determining that there is no current user activity on the user device, that the user device is in a sleep mode, and that the user device is not currently charging, as in 920-940 of FIG. 9. In that case, the user device determines whether or not it is the current active device, as at 970 of FIG. 9. Based on determining that the user device is the current active user device, the user device determines that it is not the active device.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention to modify Liu/Zhang with a sleep timer(third duration) that based on both user non-input and application inactivity as taught by Mani. The reason for this modification would be to provide more stringent criteria to verify device inactivity and thus indicate that a device can be placed into a low power state.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-2 and 4-7 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tom Y. Chang whose telephone number is 571-270-5938. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 9am to 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Emmanuel Moise, can be reached on (571)272-3865. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TOM Y CHANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
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