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 § 102
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0267627 A1 to Katz et al.
With respect to claim 1 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, an apparatus for generating one or more frames (abstract and paragraph 51), comprising: at least one memory (paragraph 75); and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory (paragraph 75) and configured to: obtain, from an image sensor, a first plurality of frames associated with a scene at a first frame rate, wherein the first plurality of frames are associated with a first region of the image sensor and have a first resolution (paragraph 51, 72 and 78); obtain, from the image sensor, a second plurality of frames associated with the scene at a second frame rate different from the first frame rate, wherein the second plurality of frames are associated with a second region of the image sensor and have a second resolution that is different from the first resolution (paragraph 51, 72 and 78); and combine a first frame of the first plurality of frames and a second frame of the second plurality of frames to generate a combined frame (paragraph 81).
With respect to claim 2 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second region is larger than the first region (Fig. 2 and 3B-D).
With respect to claim 3 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: detect a frame rate change event associated with the scene; and increase the second frame rate based on the frame rate change event (paragraph 70-71 and 77; where the ROI is moveable or created based on object detection and other factors, thus, a determination the ROI need to be moved or created is a change event associated with the scene).
With respect to claim 4 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 3, wherein at least one processor is configured to: detect a change in a characteristic associated with the scene (paragraph 77); detect motion applied to the image sensor based on motion data detected by a motion sensor (paragraph 76 and 78); detect a change in a focal area of the scene based on motion data detected by an eye tracking sensor (paragraph 76); or detect motion of an object within a peripheral edge of a frame from one of the second plurality of frames (paragraph 77).
With respect to claim 5 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 4, wherein the characteristic includes a lighting characteristic (paragraph 74 and 95).
With respect to claim 6 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determine an end of the frame rate change event; and decrease the second frame rate based on the end of the frame rate change event (paragraph 70; where the first region is movable, thus, a determination of an end of frame rate change even would be were the object is no longer in a region of the image sensor which is then returned to the lower resolution and/or frame rate).
With respect to claim 7 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: adjust readout portions of the image sensor based on whether a current time corresponds to one of the first frame rate and the second frame rate (paragraph 70 and 72; where frame rates are set accordingly based on the movement of the ROI).
With respect to claim 8 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: warp the second frame from the second plurality of frames to correspond to the first frame (paragraph 113; where second regions can be up-sampled or have super resolution performed on them), wherein the second frame is obtained before the first frame (paragraph 80; where high and low resolution portions can be read out sequentially with the lower resolution images as the “first video stream”); combine the warped second frame with the first frame (paragraph 113); and blend a boundary region between warped second frame and the first frame (paragraph 113; where the new image data includes the higher resolution portions and the new portions from up sampling, so at least their locations are a “blending”).
With respect to claim 9 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: downsample each frame of the second plurality of frames in the image sensor; or downsample each frame of the second plurality of frames in an image signal processor (paragraph 51; where the lower resolution areas are binned in modes as seen in Fig. 1A-E).
With respect to claim 10 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: display the combined frame; or display the combined frame augmented with virtual content based on image data from a processor (paragraph 96).
With respect to claim 11 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the first region based on an eye gaze information from a gaze detection sensor (paragraph 76).
With respect to claim 12 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: obtain, from the image sensor, a third plurality of frames associated with the scene at the first frame rate based on gaze information from a gaze detection sensor, wherein the third plurality of frames are associated with a third region of the image sensor and have the first resolution; and obtain, from the image sensor, a fourth plurality of frames associated with the scene at the second frame rate, wherein the fourth plurality of frames are associated with the second region of the image sensor and have the second resolution (paragraph 76; where the ROI can be moved based on gaze which would create the claimed thirds and fourth regions as it moves).
With respect to claim 13 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: obtain, from the image sensor, a third plurality of frames associated with the scene, wherein the third plurality of frames are associated with a third region of the image sensor and have a third resolution that is different from the first resolution, wherein the third region is larger than the first region and smaller than the second region (paragraph 53; where the size of the ROI is variable along with the pixel counts of that area).
With respect to claim 14 Katz discloses, in Fig. 1A-5B, the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain the third plurality of frames at a third frame rate that is less than or equal to the first frame rate (paragraph 71-72).
Claims 15-20 are rejected for similar reasons as the apparatus claims above. Specifically, claim 15 is a corresponding method claim to apparatus claim 1, claim 16 to apparatus claim 2, claim 17 to apparatus claims 3, 6 and 4, claim 18 to apparatus claim 7, claim 19 to apparatus claim 8 and claim 20 to apparatus claim 9.
Conclusion
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/DANIEL M PASIEWICZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2699
December 10, 2025
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