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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 July 29, 2026, has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on July 29, 2026, in response to the previous Office Action (06/06/2026) is acknowledged and has been entered.
Claims 1 – 6 and 10 – 22 are currently pending.
Claims 7 – 9 are cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed July 29, 2026, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant submits that Yoshino and Hosoda fail to disclose, teach, or suggest that “the first data includes control data for controlling a viewpoint in a virtual space, and in a case where the image is a still image, even if the image capturing direction of the image capture apparatus is changed, the first data associated with the still image is output to the external device” (see Remarks p.9). Specifically, Applicant submits that individually, or in combination, the references fail to teach or suggest first data that is associated with a captured still image and that includes control data for controlling a viewpoint in a virtual space (Remarks p. 14).
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Yoshino discloses capturing a video or a still image (¶30), outputting first data for controlling a viewpoint in a virtual space (¶34, 47: zoom, pan, focus) from the camera (via detection means 11; see ¶47) to an external device (CG system 3; ¶44, 47). As such, the output date will be associated with a still image, when a still image is used instead of a moving image.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(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 – 4, 6, 10 – 14, 18, and 21 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoshino (JP2011-035637A).
Regarding claim 1, Yoshino discloses an image capture apparatus comprising: one or more memories storing instructions; and one or more processors executing the instructions to: capture an image (¶54); control an image capturing direction of the image capture apparatus (¶54-55); output the captured image (¶56); output first data indicating the image capturing direction of the image capture apparatus to an external device (¶47, 56: camera operation information such as the position and orientation of the camera and the lens operation when the user 4 is operating the camera is detected; This is transmitted to the virtual space image creating means 12. If the captured video is a moving image, the camera operation information is updated and transmitted in real time for each moving image frame); and in a case where the output image is a moving image, update the first data according to a change of the image capturing direction of the image capture apparatus (¶56-58: If the captured video is a moving image, the camera operation information is updated and transmitted in real time for each moving image frame. Since the camera operation information does not change when the user 4 stops the camera operation, the drawing information is not updated and the previous information can be maintained), wherein, the first data includes control data for controlling a viewpoint in a virtual space (¶34, 47), and in a case where the image is a still image (¶30), even if the image capturing direction of the image capture apparatus is changed, the first data associated with the still image is output to the external device (¶47, 56: camera operation information such as the position and orientation of the camera and the lens operation when the user 4 is operating the camera is detected; This is transmitted to the virtual space image creating means 12 and the camera operation information is updated and transmitted in real time for each moving image frame).
Regarding claim 2, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein in the case where the image is the moving image, the first data is updated to be associated with each frame image of the moving image (¶56-58: If the captured video is a moving image, the camera operation information is updated and transmitted in real time for each moving image frame).
Regarding claim 3, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein data relating to at least one of a field of view and an image capturing effect is output (¶56-58: a viewpoint for rendering a virtual space image in the three-dimensional CG program 20 based on the transmitted camera operation information, that is, information on the camera operation such as the camera position, shooting direction, and lens aperture).
Regarding claim 4, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating a position of the image capture apparatus (¶19, 39, 47: changes in position, information relating to changes in the camera's shooting direction (angle).
Regarding claim 6, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 3. Yoshino also teaches wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to update, in the case where the image output is the still image, data different from first data (¶19, 39, 47: changes in position, information relating to changes in the camera's shooting direction (angle), and information relating to camera settings such as screen zoom, focus, and lens aperture.)
Claim 10 and 11 rejected as applied to claim 1 above. The method steps as claimed would have been implied by the apparatus of Yoshino.
Regarding claim 12, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating zoom of the image capture apparatus (¶19, 39, 47: changes in position, information relating to changes in the camera's shooting direction (angle), and information relating to camera settings such as screen zoom, focus, and lens aperture.).
Regarding claim 13, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating focus of the image capture apparatus (¶19, 39, 47: changes in position, information relating to changes in the camera's shooting direction (angle), and information relating to camera settings such as screen zoom, focus, and lens aperture.).
Regarding claim 14, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating iris of the image capture apparatus (¶19, 39, 47: changes in position, information relating to changes in the camera's shooting direction (angle), and information relating to camera settings such as screen zoom, focus, and lens aperture.).
Regarding claim 18, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating an image capturing condition setting (¶19, 39, 47: changes in position, information relating to changes in the camera's shooting direction (angle), and information relating to camera settings such as screen zoom, focus, and lens aperture.).
Regarding claim 21, Yoshino discloses the limitations of claim 1. Yoshino also teaches wherein in a case where the captured image is a still image, even if the image capturing direction of the image capture apparatus is changed, a portion of the first data other than the control data is updated and output to the external device (¶19, 39, 47, 56: changes in position, information relating to changes in the camera's shooting direction (angle), and information relating to camera settings such as screen zoom, focus, and lens aperture…camera operation information such as the position and orientation of the camera and the lens operation when the user 4 is operating the camera is detected; This is transmitted to the virtual space image creating means 12 and the camera operation information is updated and transmitted in real time for each moving image frame).
Claim(s) 5, 15 – 17, and 20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshino in view of Examiner’s Official Notice (MPEP § 2144.03).
Regarding claim 5, Yoshino discloses all the aforementioned limitations of claim 1. Yoshino fails to explicitly disclose wherein the control unit generates the first data including information of time relating to output of the still image. However, the Examiner respectfully takes Official Notice that both the concepts and advantages of embedding time data in still images are well known and expected in the art. Thus, before the effective filing date, the Examiner respectfully submits it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have included the teachings of time data included in metadata of a still image into the disclosure of Yoshino to arrive at Applicant's claimed invention. An example can be found in Suito (US 20080166021) which teaches the shot time D is encoded and recorded by JPEG scheme along with the data of the still image by embedding the shot time D as a part of shooting information in the file format of EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) (¶88, 120).
Regarding claim 15, Yoshino discloses all the aforementioned limitations of claim 1. Yoshino fails to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating iris of the image capture apparatus. However, the Examiner respectfully takes Official Notice that both the concepts and advantages of performing and outputting white balance data are well known and expected in the art. Thus, before the effective filing date, the Examiner respectfully submits it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have included the teachings of outputting white balance data into the disclosure of Yoshino to arrive at Applicant's claimed invention.
Regarding claim 16, Yoshino discloses all the aforementioned limitations of claim 1. Yoshino fails to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating gain. However, the Examiner respectfully takes Official Notice that both the concepts and advantages of performing and outputting white balance data are well known and expected in the art. Thus, before the effective filing date, the Examiner respectfully submits it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have included the teachings of outputting gain data into the disclosure of Yoshino to arrive at Applicant's claimed invention.
Regarding claim 17, Yoshino discloses all the aforementioned limitations of claim 1. Yoshino fails to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to output data indicating distortion correction parameter of the image capture apparatus. However, the Examiner respectfully takes Official Notice that both the concepts and advantages of performing and outputting distortion correction parameter data are well known and expected in the art. Thus, before the effective filing date, the Examiner respectfully submits it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have included the teachings of outputting distortion correction parameter data into the disclosure of Yoshino to arrive at Applicant's claimed invention.
Regarding claim 20, Yoshino discloses all the aforementioned limitations of claim 1. Yoshino fails to explicitly disclose wherein whether the output image is the moving image or the still image is selected by the user. However, the Examiner respectfully takes Official Notice that both the concepts and advantages of user selecting whether to capture still or video data are well known and expected in the art. Thus, before the effective filing date, the Examiner respectfully submits it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have included the teachings of user selecting whether to capture sill or video data into the disclosure of Yoshino to arrive at Applicant's claimed invention.
Claim(s) 19 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshino in view of Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art (AAPA).
Regarding claim 19, Yoshino discloses all the aforementioned limitations of claim 1. The combination fails to explicitly disclose wherein the image capturing direction of the image capture apparatus is changed so that an imaging angle of view of the image capture apparatus is a registered imaging angle in the case where the image is the still image. However, AAPA discloses the use of registered/preset imaging angles for imaging (¶2-4 of PGPUB). Thus, before the effective filing date, the Examiner respectfully submits it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have included the teachings of preset angles for still imaging into the disclosure of Yoshino to arrive at Applicant's claimed invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 22 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
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/ANTOINETTE T SPINKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
