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
Claims 12-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species requirement, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 09/17/25.
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 1-4 and 20-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Horita (US2013/0038700) in view of Elberbaum (US2002/0152557).
Regarding claim 1, Horita discloses an imaging system comprising:
a processor (Fig. 1: 200A; [0062]);
a first imaging apparatus including a first optical system (Fig. 1: See camera 31 with fixed focal length 9a); and
a second imaging apparatus including a second optical system (Fig. 1: See camera 32 with variable focal length 9b), wherein a focal length of the first optical system is longer than a focal length of the second optical system (In Fig. 3 and 10-13, the focal length of camera 31 are longer than camera 32 because image’s width ws1-ws2 of camera 31/image sensor 5a are narrower/smaller than image’s width wm1-wm2 of camera 32/image sensor 5b; [0009-0010]), and
the processor performs registration between a first captured image obtained by imaging with the first imaging apparatus and a second captured image obtained by imaging with the second imaging apparatus (Fig. 2: the image obtaining unit 12, focal length obtaining unit 13, camera parameter obtaining unit 14 obtain/ register various pieces of information, values of focal length and distances to store in a storage unit 47a [0006; 0010; 0020; 0113; 0116-0121]) acquires information that is related to a registration result ([0006; 0010; 0020; 0113; 0116-0121]: various pieces of information are obtained/ stored and displayed by display 43), and
outputs the second captured image, and the information to a display ([0066; 0113]: display 43 display image g2 of camera 32 and all other information or various pieces of information).
However, Horita fails to disclose: “outputs the first captured image".
In an analogous of art, Elberbaum teaches an apparatus which combines video signals generated by both TV cameras. At least one of the TV cameras has a switchover unit which switches the modes of the image pick up device from one mode to another and back. The processor activates the switching from one to another mode by comparing video signals generated by the first and second TV cameras with a reference signal (Abstract). The apparatus also display an image signal of a first camera with narrow angle lens and a second camera with a wide angle lens. (See image 82, 84, 86, 88 in Fig. 1-2). In light of the teaching from Elberbaum, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to additionally display narrow and wide angle field of view image signals together. The modifications thus activate the switching from one to another mode by comparing video signals generated by the first and second TV cameras with a reference signal (Elberbaum: Abstract).
Regarding claim 2, Horita discloses the imaging system according to The imaging system according to wherein the information is angle-of-view related information that is acquired based on the registration result and used for imaging with the imaging system (Horita: [0064; 0081; 0083; 0127-0128]: See angle view related information such that focal length and/or distance information base on triangulation; [0420-0422]: imaging angle view of the zoom camera 32 is varied).
Regarding claim 3, , Horita in view of Elberbaum discloses the imaging system according to claim 2, wherein the angle-of-view related information includes a first angle of view that is an angle of view of the first imaging apparatus, a second angle of view that is an angle of view of the second imaging apparatus (Horita: Fig. 2: See Image Obtainning unit 12 that obtain images g1 and g2 with different angle of view of width ws1-ws2 and wm1-wm2 as shown in Fig 10-13), and difference information indicating a difference between the first angle of view and the second angle of view (Horita: Fig. 2: See focal length obtain unit 13).
Regarding claim 4, Horita in view of Elberbaum discloses the imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the processor superimposes and displays a mark in a region corresponding to the first captured image in the second captured image (Elberbaum: See the boundary line corresponding to the narrow image 84, 88 in wide angle image 82/86 in Fig. 1-2).
Regarding claim 20, Horita discloses the imaging system according to claim 1, wherein optical information related to the first optical system is known, and optical information related to the second optical system is unknown ([0063]: camera 31 includes fixed focal length while camera 32 variable focal-length).
Regarding claim 21, Horita in view of Elberbaum discloses the claimed invention except for “wherein the focal length of the first optical system is at least twice the focal length of the second optical system”. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have the value for focal length of camera 31 is at least twice the value for the focal length of camera 32, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Regarding claim 22, the claim contains the same limitation as claimed in claim 1. Therefore, claim 22 is analyzed and rejected as claim 1.
Regarding claim 23, the claim is a method of the apparatus claim 1. Therefore, claim 23 is analyzed and rejected as claim 1.
Regarding claim 24, the claim contains the same limitation as claimed in claim 1. Therefore, claim 24 is analyzed and rejected as claim 1. However, claim 24 further requires: “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” ([0064; 0103-0105]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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 5, the prior art of Horita a camera system that obtain various pieces of imaging information, images of different focal length, values of focal length, camera setting parameters. The prior art of Elberbaum camera system that switch between different viewing angle or composite angle for image caparison. The prior art of Ono (US2017/0289461) discloses an image compositing unit that generates a first generated image by performing registration on a plurality of first captured images captured in different states of an optical axis L of the first optical system and performing registration on a plurality of second captured images captured in different states of the optical axis L of the second optical system. The prior art of Iijima (US6445814) discloses that a plurality of depth information are extracted from image sensing related information sensed by a camera at the plurality of coordinate positions, and the plurality of extracted depth information are converted and unified into depth information and output to a display. The prior art of Inoue (US2014/0002688) discloses an image pickup apparatus that includes a plurality of imaging optical systems having different focal lengths and each configured to form an optical image of an object, and a plurality of image sensors having image pickup areas each corresponding to one of the plurality of imaging optical systems. The prior art of Border (US20080030592) discloses A method for simultaneously capturing a first low resolution digital image of a scene and a second higher resolution digital image of a portion of substantially the same scene. The prior art of Grage (US5005083) discloses that a scene is recorded simultaneously by two optical channels having different fields of view and different magnifications, whereby a picture detail from the narrow field of view is mixed into the image of the overall scene and the mixed image is portrayed on a single image portrayal device. Thus, while many references teach camera systems to capture compose images with different focal length in order to display the composed images and various pieces of imaging information, none of the references alone or in combination, provide a motivation to teach the imaging system according to claim 1 further in combination with:
“wherein the processor acquires angle-of-view related information that is related to the angle of view based on the registration result, and acquires the angle-of-view related information based on an end part registration result obtained by performing registration between a first end part of an angle of view of the first imaging apparatus or a center of the angle of view of the first imaging apparatus and a second end part on an end part side of the angle of view of the first imaging apparatus among both end parts of an angle of view of the second imaging apparatus”.
Regarding dependent claims 6-11, 15-19, the claims are objected as being depending upon the objected claim 5, respectively.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG H LAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7367. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM.
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/HUNG H LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639 01/10/26