DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the Applicants response filed 3/18/2026. Claims 1-9 have been canceled. Claims 10-22 have been newly added and are pending.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 9 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.
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 10-12, 15-17 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bartscherer et al. (U.S. 2021/0149441 A1, hereinafter “Bartscherer”) in view of Voss (U.S. 2022/0207943 A1, hereinafter “Voss”).
As to claims 10 and 22, Bartscherer discloses an information processing apparatus comprising:
at least one imaging sensor (para.[0093]; discloses “vision/imaging module”); and a processor that executes an operating system (OS) (para. [0087]; discloses laptop comprises a processor that runs an OS) , wherein the processor is programmed to:
in a standby state, acquire a first captured image from the at least one imaging sensor, upon detecting that a face is included in the first captured image, perform a wakeup authentication process based on the first captured image and a registered user data (para. [0093]; discloses vision/imaging module processes image sensor data to enable wake on face (causing the device to exit from low-power state when a face is detected in image sensor data) ,upon the wakeup authentication process succeeding, proceed to a wake state, wherein upon a login authentication process of the OS succeeding (para. [0093]; discloses the device move to a wake state using Face ID causes the device to exit from a low-power state when an authenticated users face is detected in the image sensor data),
However, Bartscherer does not explicitly disclose the processor is programmed to further: acquire a second captured image from the at least one imaging sensor, and upon determining that a face in the second captured image is suitable for registering as the registered user data, register a user data or update the registered user data based on the second captured image.
In an analogous art, Voss does disclose the processor is programmed to further:
acquire a second captured image from the at least one imaging sensor, and upon determining that a face in the second captured image is suitable for registering as the registered user data, register a user data or update the registered user data based on the second captured image (para. [0068]; discloses capturing a second image with a device that if meets the likelihood of a match meets an enrollment threshold and enrolling the user using the second image in the access control system).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bartscherer by incorporating a function to enroll a user based on the determination made capturing an image as taught by Voss in order to effectively control to manage access control privileges. (Voss, para. [0048])
As to claim 11, Bartscherer-Voss discloses the information processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further programmed to: upon detecting that a face is not included in the first captured image, remain in the standby state (Bartscherer, para. [0103]; discloses laptop remains in low-power state when not detecting the face of of an authorized user in image user data provided by a user-facing camera).
As to claim 12, Bartscherer-Voss discloses the information processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further programmed to: upon failure to obtain the registered data, proceed to the wake state (Bartscherer, para.[0093]; discloses wake on face that causes the device to exit from a low-power state when a face is detected in image sensor data. This face does not need to be a registered user).
As to claim 15, Bartscherer-Voss discloses the information processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further programmed to:in the wake state, acquire a third captured image from the at least one imaging sensor, upon detecting that a face is included in the third captured image, perform the login authentication process of the OS based on the third captured image (Bartscherer, para. [0093]; discloses vision/imaging module processes image sensor data to enable wake on face (causing the device to exit from low-power state when a face is detected in image sensor data).
As to claim 16, Bartscherer-Voss discloses the information processing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further programmed to: upon detecting that a face is not included in the third captured image, remain in the wake state (Bartscherer, para [0103]; discloses the laptop remains in low-power state due to not detecting a face of an authorized user in image sensor data).
As to claim 17, Bartscherer-Voss discloses the information processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein, to register the user data based on the second captured image, the processor is further programmed to: upon detecting that a face is included in the second captured image, detect an orientation of the face, and upon detecting a front orientation of the face, register the face as the user data (Voss, para. [0059]; discloses send a notification to a device of a user, instructing the user to capture an image with the device; generate a first representation of a face of the user using a first image of the user; generate a second representation of a face of the user using a second image of the user captured with the device; determine a likelihood of a match between the first and second representations; and if the likelihood of a match meets an enrollment threshold, using the second image as an enrollment photo for the access control system.).
Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bartscherer in view of Voss in further view of Jung et al. (U.S. 2015/0378595 A1, hereinafter “Jung”).
As to claim 13, Bartscherer-Voss discloses the information processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further programmed to: upon the wakeup authentication processing failing, remain in the standby state.
In an analogous art, Jung discloses upon the wakeup authentication processing failing, remain in the standby state. (Abstract discloses the lock state of the terminal continues when the fingerprint authentication function fails to authenticate a user, and the lock state is released for enabling other functions of the terminal when the fingerprint authentication function authenticates a user).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bartscherer-Voss by incorporating the function of maintaining the lock state when the authentication fails as taught by Jung in order to maintain the security and privacy of the user.
As to claim 14, Bartscherer-Voss discloses the information processing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further programmed to: upon the login authentication process of the OS failing, remain in the wake state (Bartscherer, para. [0136]; discloses keeping the computing device in an active state until the presence of a face is detected) .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-21 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Abe (U.S. 2010/0253471 A1) discloses device including a biometric information extraction unit for extracting biometric information, which is information unique to a living body, from living body image data obtained by capturing an image of a part of the living body, an authentication request unit for transmitting the biometric information extracted by the biometric information extraction unit and collation order information, which is information relating to an order of collating at least a piece of registered biometric information registered in advance with the biometric information at a time of authentication of the biometric information, to a biometric authentication server for authenticating the biometric information based on the at least a piece of registered biometric information registered in advance.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOE CHACKO whose telephone number is (571)270-3318. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7am-5pm.
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/JOE CHACKO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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