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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I – Claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 6/9/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/9/2026.
Specification
The amendment filed 6/9/2026 is objected to under 35 U.S.C. 132(a) because it introduces new matter into the disclosure. 35 U.S.C. 132(a) states that no amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention. The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure is as follows: The last sentence of paragraph 81 which states “As used herein, the term “image capture apparatus” includes any unit, or a combination of units, capable of performing any method, or any portion or portions thereof, disclosed herein”.
Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication 2023/0179863 A1 to Condorovici et al.
With respect to claim 1 Condorovici discloses a method for use in adaptive acquisition control (Fig. 2), the method comprising: obtaining, by an adaptive acquisition control component of an image capture apparatus, target adaptive acquisition control data (paragraph 67-68; where control data such as exposure times and gains for image capture are obtained through the method), wherein obtaining the target adaptive acquisition control data includes: obtaining a current angular speed value corresponding to capturing a current input image (paragraph 36 and 43); and obtaining an angular speed transition value in accordance with the current angular speed value (paragraph 38 and 44; where the angular speed transition values are the quaternions); and outputting the target adaptive acquisition control data to an image sensor of the image capture apparatus for subsequent image acquisition (paragraph 67-68 and paragraph 3 and Fig. 1 which shows the exposure and gain parameters are image sensor parameters and sent to the image sensor).
With respect to claim 3 Condorovici discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the target adaptive acquisition control data includes: obtaining a target exposure value (paragraph 47); and obtaining at least one of a target exposure duration value or a target gain value using the angular speed transition value (paragraph 39), the target exposure value, and at least one of a minimum gain value, a maximum gain value, a minimum exposure duration value, or a maximum exposure duration value (paragraph 67-68).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 4-9 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.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0348933 A1 and U.S. Patent 9,571,741 disclose methods for adjusting gains and exposures times using angular velocity.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0087275 A1 to Taieb et al teaches an adaptive acquisition control method with a common assignee and inventors but lacks discussion of an angular speed transition value.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL M PASIEWICZ whose telephone number is (571)272-5516. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 AM - 5:30 PM EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, George Eng can be reached at (571)272-7495. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DANIEL M PASIEWICZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2699
August 14, 2026
Prosecution Insights