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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yamasaki (US2024/0430581).
Regarding claim 1, Yamasaki discloses a method for use in image acquisition control, the method comprising:
obtaining, by an adaptive acquisition control component of an image capture apparatus, a current neutral-density filter strength value ([0079]: Fig. 6: Transmittance and bright pixel are detected at step S42);
obtaining, by the adaptive acquisition control component, using the current neutral-density filter strength value, a neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value ([0064; 0082]: S43: transmittance for each pixel is set according to brightness);
obtaining, by the adaptive acquisition control component, at least one target adaptive acquisition control parameter in accordance with the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value ([0067; 009-0108]: See adjustment parameters or transmittance parameters set in each pixels, facial, eyes and region in step S2 in order for the electronic ND filter to be adjusted for capturing subsequent image in step S6); and
outputting the at least one target adaptive acquisition control parameter to an image sensor of the image capture apparatus for subsequent image acquisition (Fig. 4, 12, 14: See step S6 to shot image with control parameter: “adjusted electronic ND filter”; [0065; 0102-0103]).
Regarding claim 2, Yamasaki discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value includes obtaining the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value by a tone control component of the adaptive acquisition control component ([0094-0097; 0101-0104]).
Regarding claim 3, Yamasaki discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value includes obtaining the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value by an exposure control component of the adaptive acquisition control component ([0067-0073; 0095-0103]: Yamasaki teaches that new transmittance is set for each pixel 51 after exposure compensate for the face region).
Regarding claim 4, Yamasaki discloses the method of claim 3, wherein obtaining the at least one target adaptive acquisition control parameter includes: obtaining an exposure-control target exposure value in accordance with the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value (In Fig. 4, 12 and 14, all exposure compensation steps are performed after the Full Auto Filter adjustment step S2 is executed. Therefore, the subsequent exposure compensation steps S3-S11 are performed in according with the adjusted electronic ND filter).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamasaki in view of Yang (US2001/0040632).
Regarding claim 5, Yamasaki fails to disclose the method of claim 4, wherein obtaining the at least one target adaptive acquisition control parameter includes obtaining a target exposure duration multiplier.
In an analogous of art, Yang teaches at each of the time indexes: T, 2T, 4T and 8T, the sensor 302 is exposed to a target multiple (four) times, resulting in four images at four different exposure times. As shown in FIG. 4, frame 1 is created after time T, frame 2 is created after time 2T, frame 3 is created after time 4T, and frame 4 is created after time 8T. One of the advantages of having multiple images of the same target is the ability to expand the dynamic range of the image thus captured ([0048]). In light of the teaching from Yang, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to expose a target four times with four different exposure times. The modification thus provides ability to expand the dynamic range of captured image.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-20 are allowed.
Claim 6 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 6, the prior art of prior art of Yamasaki discloses a controller that controls the adjuster to render the light reception rate in a position corresponding to a part of the image on the incident surface different from the light reception rate in another position thereon, wherein the controller compensates exposure of a part corresponding to the skin region detected by the detector to bring luminance in the skin region within a predetermined range. The prior art of Yamasaki (US2023/0326163) discloses an adjuster that adjusts a light reception rate in each position on an incident surface, the light reception rate allowing the image sensor to receive the light, the incident surface being entered by the light corresponding to an image represented by the image data. The prior art of Yang discloses a camera system that capture the same target object at multiple time and exposures. The prior art of Fuji (US2025/0301229) discloses a method for acquiring plural divisional exposures determined based on a change time needed to change a transmittance of an electronic dimmer filter mounted to an imaging apparatus from a first transmittance to a second transmittance capable of realizing a target exposure of the imaging apparatus, and, the target exposure, applying the plural divisional exposures for exposures of plural frames obtained by imaging with the imaging apparatus performed at least within the change time. The prior art of Fujikawa (US2020/0137288) discloses a method for dividing a captured image and as a second control unit that controls the light transmittance of an ND filter to adjust the difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions for each of which the amount of exposure is controlled by controlling the exposure time. The prior art of prior art of Taieb (US2024/0087275) discloses a method for obtaining a product of multiplying the target gain value by the target exposure duration value as a target scene exposition value. However, none of the prior art, alone or in combination provide a motivation to teach or fairly suggest the method of claim 5 further in combination with: “wherein: a current adaptive acquisition mode for the subsequent image acquisition is a neutral-density cinematic mode; and obtaining the target exposure duration multiplier includes obtaining, as the target exposure duration multiplier, a defined neutral-density cinematic mode target exposure duration multiplier”.
Regarding dependent claims 7-16, the claims are allowed as being dependent of the objected claim 6, respectively.
Regarding independent claim 17, the prior art of prior art of Yamasaki discloses a controller that controls the adjuster to render the light reception rate in a position corresponding to a part of the image on the incident surface different from the light reception rate in another position thereon, wherein the controller compensates exposure of a part corresponding to the skin region detected by the detector to bring luminance in the skin region within a predetermined range. The prior art of Yamasaki (US2023/0326163) discloses an adjuster that adjusts a light reception rate in each position on an incident surface, the light reception rate allowing the image sensor to receive the light, the incident surface being entered by the light corresponding to an image represented by the image data. The prior art of Yang discloses a camera system that capture the same target object at multiple time and exposures. The prior art of Fuji (US2025/0301229) discloses a method for acquiring plural divisional exposures determined based on a change time needed to change a transmittance of an electronic dimmer filter mounted to an imaging apparatus from a first transmittance to a second transmittance capable of realizing a target exposure of the imaging apparatus, and, the target exposure, applying the plural divisional exposures for exposures of plural frames obtained by imaging with the imaging apparatus performed at least within the change time. The prior art of Fujikawa (US2020/0137288) discloses a method for dividing a captured image and as a second control unit that controls the light transmittance of an ND filter to adjust the difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions for each of which the amount of exposure is controlled by controlling the exposure time. The prior art of prior art of Taieb (US2024/0087275) discloses a method for obtaining a product of multiplying the target gain value by the target exposure duration value as a target scene exposition value. Thus, while many references teach methods and apparatus for changing transmittance, capturing multiple images with multiple exposure time or acquiring plural divisional exposures, none of the references alone or in combination, provide a motivation to teach: “obtaining, by an exposure control component of an image capture apparatus, a current neutral-density filter strength value indicating a transmittance of an operative neutral-density filter of the image capture apparatus; obtaining, by the exposure control component, using the current neutral-density filter strength value, a neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value; obtaining, by the exposure control component, using the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value, an exposure-control target exposure value; obtaining, by the exposure control component, a target exposure duration multiplier; obtaining, by the exposure control component, as a target neutral-density exposure duration value, a result of dividing one by a product of multiplying a current framerate by the target exposure duration multiplier; obtaining, by the exposure control component, a target exposure duration value and a target gain value in accordance with the exposure-control target exposure value and the target neutral-density exposure duration value; and controlling an image sensor of the image capture apparatus to capture an image using the target exposure duration value and the target gain value", in combination with all other limitations of the claim.
Regarding dependent claims 18-19, the claims are allowed as being dependent of claim 17, respectively.
Regarding independent claim 20, the prior art of prior art of Yamasaki discloses a controller that controls the adjuster to render the light reception rate in a position corresponding to a part of the image on the incident surface different from the light reception rate in another position thereon, wherein the controller compensates exposure of a part corresponding to the skin region detected by the detector to bring luminance in the skin region within a predetermined range. The prior art of Yamasaki (US2023/0326163) discloses an adjuster that adjusts a light reception rate in each position on an incident surface, the light reception rate allowing the image sensor to receive the light, the incident surface being entered by the light corresponding to an image represented by the image data. The prior art of Yang discloses a camera system that capture the same target object at multiple time and exposures. The prior art of Fuji (US2025/0301229) discloses a method for acquiring plural divisional exposures determined based on a change time needed to change a transmittance of an electronic dimmer filter mounted to an imaging apparatus from a first transmittance to a second transmittance capable of realizing a target exposure of the imaging apparatus, and, the target exposure, applying the plural divisional exposures for exposures of plural frames obtained by imaging with the imaging apparatus performed at least within the change time. The prior art of Fujikawa (US2020/0137288) discloses a method for dividing a captured image and as a second control unit that controls the light transmittance of an ND filter to adjust the difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions for each of which the amount of exposure is controlled by controlling the exposure time. The prior art of prior art of Taieb (US2024/0087275) discloses a method for obtaining a product of multiplying the target gain value by the target exposure duration value as a target scene exposition value. Thus, while many references teach methods and apparatus for changing transmittance, capturing multiple images with multiple exposure time or acquiring plural divisional exposures, none of the references alone or in combination, provide a motivation to teach: “obtaining, by an exposure control component of an image capture apparatus, a current neutral-density filter strength value indicating a transmittance of an operative neutral-density filter of the image capture apparatus; obtaining, by the exposure control component, using the current neutral-density filter strength value, a neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value; obtaining, by the exposure control component, as a current adaptive acquisition mode, a neutral-density stabilization priority mode; obtaining, by the exposure control component, using the neutral-density adjusted scene luminance value, an exposure-control target exposure value; obtaining, by the exposure control component, a target neutral-density exposure duration value; determining that an exposure duration extension mode is enabled; determining whether the exposure-control target exposure value is greater than a result of multiplying the target neutral-density exposure duration value by a defined maximum gain value; in response to a determination that the exposure-control target exposure value is greater than the result of multiplying the target neutral-density exposure duration value by the defined maximum gain value: obtaining, as a target gain value, the defined maximum gain value; and obtaining, as the target exposure duration value, a minimal value among a result of dividing one by a current framerate value and a result of dividing the exposure-control target exposure value by the defined maximum gain value; in response to a determination that the exposure-control target exposure value is less than or equal to the result of multiplying the target neutral-density exposure duration value by the defined maximum gain value: determining whether the exposure-control target exposure value is greater than, less than, or equal to, a result of multiplying the target neutral-density exposure duration value by a defined minimum gain value; in response to a determination that the exposure-control target exposure value is greater than the result of multiplying the target neutral-density exposure duration value by the defined minimum gain value: obtaining, as the target exposure duration value, the target neutral-density exposure duration value; and obtaining, as the target gain value, a minimal gain value among a defined maximum gain value and a gain value that is a result of dividing the exposure-control target exposure value by the target exposure duration value; in response to a determination that the exposure-control target exposure value is equal to the result of multiplying the target neutral-density exposure duration value by the defined minimum gain value: obtaining, as the target exposure duration value, the target neutral-density exposure duration value; and obtaining, as the target gain value, the defined minimum gain value; and in response to a determination that the exposure-control target exposure value is less than the result of multiplying the target neutral-density exposure duration value by the defined minimum gain value: obtaining, as the target gain value, the defined minimum gain value; and obtaining, as the target exposure duration value, a maximal exposure duration value among a defined minimum exposure duration value and an exposure duration value that is a result of dividing the exposure-control target exposure value by the target gain value", in combination with all other limitations of the claim.
Conclusion
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/HUNG H LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639 03/29/26