DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-13 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited in the information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/19/2024 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
The following claims are objected to for informalities, lack of antecedent support, or for redundancies. The Examiner recommends the following changes:
Claim 3, lines 2-3, replace “an image feature value of a person” with “the image feature value of the person”
Claim 4, lines 5-6, replace “an image feature value of a person” with “the image feature value of the person”
Claim 8, lines 2-3, replace “a voice feature value of a person” with “the voice feature value of the person”
Appropriate correction is respectfully requested.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 5 recites “wherein, when detecting the second gesture, the first gesture is detected, based on the image information acquired after the second gesture is detected”. It is unclear what Applicant means by the claim. Examiner submits that the first gesture is detected when first gesture is detected, and the second gesture is detected when the second gesture is detected. It is unclear how the first gesture is detected when the second gesture is detected. In addition, claim 4, that claim 5 depends on, recites detecting the second gesture by processing the image information. It is unclear how the image information, that is used to detect the second gesture, is acquired after the second gesture is detected. Appropriate clarification through claim amendment is respectfully requested. For purposes of examination claim 5 is not given a patentable weight, as Examiner is unclear of subject matter to conduct prior art search.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
(Step 2A, Prong One)
Independent claim 12 recites, “detecting a predetermined first gesture by processing image information.”
Under its broadest reasonable interpretation, if a claim limitation covers performance that can be executed in the human mind, but for the recitation of generic electronic devices or generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Under their broadest reasonable interpretation and based on the description provided in the published Specification, such as paragraphs [0175], for instance, the detecting function is a mental process that can be performed through observation, evaluation and judgement based on acquired image information. That is, a person may perform, through observation, evaluation and judgement, the features enunciated above.
Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
(Step 2A, Prong Two)
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the additional limitation of, “controlling, when an input condition being a condition for allowing control of a device using the first gesture is satisfied, the device according to the first gesture” is a conditional limitation. In accord with MPEP 2111.04 (II) “The broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met.” Accordingly, the controlling step or the additional limitation is not required by the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim.
In view of the foregoing, the additional limitation is not sufficient to demonstrate integration of a judicial exception into a practical application.
(Step 2B)
As discussed above in Step 2A, Prong Two, the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
In view of the foregoing, the additional claimed features do not amount to significantly more and the claim is not patent eligible.
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)(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.
Claims 1-4, 6-8 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SILLS et al. (US 2020/0356766 A1) (“Sills”).
Regarding independent claim 1, Sills teaches:
A control apparatus comprising: at least one memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising: (Sills: [0148] “Refer now to FIG. 2, which shows a simplified block diagram of a computer system 200 for implementing sensory processing system 106. Computer system 200 includes a processor 202, a memory 204, a biometric sensor(s) and camera interface 206, a presentation interface 120, speaker(s) 209, a microphone(s) 210, and a wireless interface 211. Memory 204 can be used to store instructions to be executed by processor 202 as well as input and/or output data associated with execution of the instructions. …”) [The computer system reads on “[a] control apparatus”.]
detecting a predetermined first gesture by processing image information; and (Sills: [0177] “Translation vector T can be determined using any of various techniques. For example, as noted below with reference to FIG. 7, some implementations determine a tracking model (action 720) in addition to a biometric model. Accordingly, position and orientation information for hand 114 as captured during authentication can be readily obtained from the tracking model, which is maintained to reflect the position and orientation of the hand 114. Vector T can be determined from the difference between position information of some convenient point of reference B (e.g., center of palm, thumb tip, normalize widths or other dimensions of the hand, other points and/or dimensions, or combinations thereof) relative to the hand 114 as captured during authentication (shown schematically in FIG. 6 by point B′ of reference frame 120b) and a corresponding point (shown by point B of reference frame 120a) relative to the hand 114 when taught that serves as a reference point.”) (Sills: [0181] “At action 730, a command is determined from recognized gesture(s) indicated by variation in the tracking model over time.”) [The recognized gesture reads on “a predetermined first gesture”.]
controlling, when an input condition being a condition for allowing control of a device using the first gesture is satisfied, the device according to the first gesture. (Sills: [0007] “In one implementation, a method of authorizing commands issued by gestures is described. The method includes capturing a plurality of images of a hand in a three-dimensional (3D) sensory space, processing one or more of the images to extract biometric features of the hand, authenticating the hand based on the extracted biometric features, processing a sequence of the images as a hand gesture, determining a command indicated by the hand gesture, determining whether the authenticated hand is authorized to issue the command, and issuing an authorized command as indicated by the hand gesture.”) (Sills: [0111] “In one implementation, a method of authenticating a user of a sensory machine control system includes capturing sensory information for a human body portion within a field of interest. A tracking model and biometric model are determined from the sensory information. A command is determined from recognizing a gesture indicated by variation in the tracking model over time and the biometric model is compared to known users' biometric information. When the biometric model corresponds to biometric information of a known user, an authorized command is communicated to a system under control. Authorized commands enable users to login to machines and/or systems, to effect transactions, invoke features/functionality, and/or exchange information.”) (Sills: [0184] “At action 760, a determination is made whether the user is authenticated based upon the results of the comparing in action 750. If the user is authenticated, then in an action 780, an authorized command is communicated to a system under control. …”) [The machine reads on “a device”. The authenticated hand of the user is authorized to issue the command reads on “a condition for allowing control … is satisfied”. The user, through authorized commands, invoking features/functionality of the machine reads on “controlling … the device” according to the first gesture”.]
Regarding claim 2, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Sills further teaches:
wherein the input condition includes a condition related to an image feature value of a person who makes the first gesture. (Sills: [0007] “In one implementation, a method of authorizing commands issued by gestures is described. The method includes capturing a plurality of images of a hand in a three-dimensional (3D) sensory space, processing one or more of the images to extract biometric features of the hand, authenticating the hand based on the extracted biometric features, processing a sequence of the images as a hand gesture, determining a command indicated by the hand gesture, determining whether the authenticated hand is authorized to issue the command, and issuing an authorized command as indicated by the hand gesture.”) [The extracted biometric features by processing the image reads on “a condition related to … a person who makes the first gesture”.]
Regarding claim 3, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claims 1-2. Sills further teaches:
wherein the input condition includes a condition related to a relation between an image feature value of a person who makes the first gesture and an image feature value of a predetermined authorized person. (Sills: [0206] “At action 1070, a DB of authorizations is queried for identifiers corresponding to normalized identifiers, returning authorization information corresponding to identifiers.”) [Any one of the authorized persons in the DB of authorizations reads on “a predetermined authorized person”.]
Regarding claim 4, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claims 1-3. Sills further teaches:
detecting a predetermined second gesture by processing the image information, and wherein the input condition includes a condition related to a relation between an image feature value of a person who makes the first gesture and an image feature value of a person who makes the second gesture. (Sills: [0246] “FIG. 13 is a representative method of one implementation of distinguishing control gestures from proximate non-control gestures in a virtually augmented real environment. Flowchart 1300 can be implemented at least partially with a computer or other data processing system, e.g., by one or more processors configured to receive or retrieve information, process the information, store results, and transmit the results. Other implementations may perform the actions in different orders and/or with different, fewer or additional actions than those illustrated in FIG. 13. Multiple actions can be combined in some implementations. For convenience, this flowchart is described with reference to the system that carries out a method. The system is not necessarily part of the method.”) (Sills: [0248] “At action 1310, a set of gestures performed by different users is detected in a virtually augmented real environment and identifying control gestures in the set of gestures that control responsiveness of one of more virtual objects superimposed over the real environment.”) (Sills: [0249] “At action 1320, a dominant user is determined from among the users based at least on one or more biometric features of the users.”) (Sills: [0250] “At action 1330, a response of the virtual objects to gestures performed by the dominant user is triggered without triggering a response to gestures performed by non-dominant users.”) [The control gesture by the dominant user reads on “an image feature value of a person who makes the first gesture”, and the non-control gesture by another user reads on “an image feature value of a person who makes the second gesture”. Being the dominant user reads on “a condition related to a relation between …”.]
Regarding claim 6, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Sills further teaches:
wherein the input condition includes a condition that predetermined trigger voice is detected from voice information. (Sills: [0153] “… In some implementations, audio signals can be captured and processed, enabling the user to be identified by voice prints, speech patterns, spoken passwords, and so forth. If both audio and image information is simultaneously available, both types of information can be analyzed and reconciled to produce a more detailed and/or accurate analysis of the user's identity and command input.”)
Regarding claim 7, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claims 1 and 6. Sills further teaches:
wherein the input condition further includes a condition related to a voice feature value of a person who utters the trigger voice. (Sills: [0153] “… In some implementations, audio signals can be captured and processed, enabling the user to be identified by voice prints, speech patterns, spoken passwords, and so forth. If both audio and image information is simultaneously available, both types of information can be analyzed and reconciled to produce a more detailed and/or accurate analysis of the user's identity and command input.”) [The voice print of the user reads on “a voice feature value of a person”.]
Regarding claim 8, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claimss 1 and 6-7. Sills further teaches:
wherein the input condition includes a condition related to a relation between a voice feature value of a person who utters the trigger voice and a voice feature value of a predetermined authorized person. (Sills: [0165] “In an action 550, biometric features are transformed to form normalized biometric features. Biometric features are captured relative to the frame of reference of the hand 114 in the image. Transforming forms biometric features normalized to the reference frame of a model of hand, which enables comparison with features of biometric information of users retrieved from storage (e.g., database(s) of user's biometric information). …”) (Sills: [0167] “In an action 570, a biometric model specific to an individual can be built from one or more biometric profile sets created in action 560. For example, a biometric model for a user's hand can comprise a first profile set of biometric features for a palm view of the individual's hand, a second profile set of features for a backhand view of the individual's hand, and so forth. Accordingly, a biometric model for an individual can comprise one or more such biometric profile sets for the individual. In some implementations, biometric profile sets can include other portions of the user's anatomy, e.g., iris or retinal scans, finger prints, breathing/heartbeat/pulse patterns or profile characteristics, voice prints, speech patterns, ambient body temperatures, and so forth.”) [The user whose biometric information is in the storage reads on “a predetermined authorized person”.]
Regarding claim 11, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Sills further teaches:
the control apparatus according to claim 1; an imaging apparatus that generates the image information; and the device. (Sills: [0139] “Refer first to FIG. 1, which illustrates a system 100 for capturing image data according to one implementation of the technology disclosed. System 100 is preferably coupled to a device 101 that can be an automated teller machine (ATM) for example, having any of a variety of form factors such as the example shown in FIG. 1, security screening apparatus, cash registers and banking machines, or other types of devices for which authorization and/or identification of users is desirable. Device 101 can comprise an embedded (or coupled) system 100 having one or more cameras 102, 104 coupled to sensory processing system 106. In the event that more than one camera 102, 104 captures images of region of interest 112, any of a variety of stereo-imaging techniques can be employed to obtain scene information from the images.”) [The camera reads on “an imaging apparatus”, and the device 101 reads on “the device”.]
Regarding independent claim 12:
The claim recites similar limitations as corresponding claim 1 and is rejected using the same teachings and rationale.
Regarding independent claim 13:
The claim recites similar limitations as corresponding claim 1 and is rejected using the same teachings and rationale.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sills, in view of LEE et al. (US 2015/0279369 A1) (“Lee”).
Regarding claim 9, Sills teaches all the claimed features of claims 1 and 6. Sills does not expressly teach recitations of claim 9.
Lee teaches:
wherein, when detecting the trigger voice from the voice information, the first gesture is detected by processing the image information acquired after the trigger voice is detected. (Lee: FIG. 3) (Lee: [0082] “In response to a user inputting speech through the microphone 110 (S320), the voice signal is analyzed and whether the analyzed voice signal is that of a registered user is determined (S330). When the analyzed voice signal is a registered user's voice signal, whether a predetermined voice command is included in the voice signal is determined and the display apparatus 100 enables the camera 120 (S340). To conserve power, when the display apparatus 100 is turned off, the camera 120 may be set to a disable state.”) (Lee: [0083] “The user is photographed in (S350), and the display apparatus 100 analyzes the captured image (S360) and determines whether a predetermined user motion is input (S370). If it is determined that a user motion is input, the display apparatus 100 performs a control operation matched with at least one of the user voice signal and the user motion (S380). For example, the display apparatus 100 may be automatically turned on and a user login operation may be performed. In addition, as described above, the display apparatus 100 may perform various control operations.”) [The voice signal reads on “the voice information”, and the voice signal from the determined registered user reads on “the trigger voice”. The recognized user motion reads on “the first gesture”. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the user motion is captured after the determination of the voice signal from the determined registered user.]
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Sills and Lee before them, to modify the enabling of the user to be identified by using either audio or image information, to incorporate using both of the audio and image information.
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to do this modification because it would allow for using one of the audio and image information to authenticate the registered user, and enable the pattern recognition of the user to perform the control command using the other one of the audio and image information. (Lee: [0084] “FIG. 3 illustrates an example in which the microphone 110 is first enabled and then the camera 120 is enabled. However, the enabling order may be changed. For example, when the display apparatus 100 is turned off, the camera 120 may be maintained in an enabled state and the microphone 110 may be maintained in a disabled state. In this example, when the user is photographed while the display apparatus 100 is turned off, the controller 130 may analyze the captured image and determine whether a user motion is input from a registered user. If it is determined that the user motion is input from the registered user, the controller 130 may enable the microphone 110.”)
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sills, in view of Lee, further in view of OKUNAMI (US 2017/0099426 A1) (“Okunami”).
Regarding claim 10, Sills and Lee teach all the claimed features of claims 1, 6 and 9. Sills and Lee do not expressly teach recitations of claim 10.
Okunami teaches:
wherein, when detecting the trigger voice from the voice information, an origin area of the trigger voice is estimated, based on the voice information, and the first gesture of a person in the estimated origin area is detected, by processing the image information acquired after the trigger voice is detected. (Okunami: [0038] “Flow diagrams setting forth methods of indicating an active field of view of a camera 500 are provided in FIGS. 6-7. The camera 500 works in conjunction with at least one microphone that receives audio signals from participants in the video conference, as set forth in Steps 600, 700. The camera utilizes Sound Source Localization (SSL) software and associated processors to determine (through a geometric calculation) the angular direction of the sound captured by the microphone(s) within the 360 degree view of the camera 500, as illustrated in Steps 602, 702. The SSL software then sends a “pointer” associated with a 0-359 vector value to a controller (not shown) that directs the camera 500 to focus on the “active speaker” within the panoramic view, as set forth in Steps 604, 704. In this way, the camera 500 captures an image associated with the angular direction of the audio signal, 604, 704.”) [Determining the angular direction of the sound reads on “an origin area of the trigger voice is estimated”. The camera capturing the image in the angular direction after the determining of the angular direction reads on “ … after the trigger voice is detected”.]
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Sills and Lee before them, to modify the enabling of the image capturing by camera upon user verification using the audio information, to incorporate using the audio information to guide camera view direction.
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to do this modification because it would allow for directing the camera to the active user. (Okunami: [0038] “Flow diagrams setting forth methods of indicating an active field of view of a camera 500 are provided in FIGS. 6-7. The camera 500 works in conjunction with at least one microphone that receives audio signals from participants in the video conference, as set forth in Steps 600, 700. The camera utilizes Sound Source Localization (SSL) software and associated processors to determine (through a geometric calculation) the angular direction of the sound captured by the microphone(s) within the 360 degree view of the camera 500, as illustrated in Steps 602, 702. The SSL software then sends a “pointer” associated with a 0-359 vector value to a controller (not shown) that directs the camera 500 to focus on the “active speaker” within the panoramic view, as set forth in Steps 604, 704. In this way, the camera 500 captures an image associated with the angular direction of the audio signal, 604, 704.”)
It is noted that any citations to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL W CHOI whose telephone number is (571)270-5069. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth Lo can be reached at (571) 272-9774. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL W CHOI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116
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