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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged that application claims priority to foreign application with application number JP2023-144933 dated 09/07/2023.
Copies of certified papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 have been received. Priority is acknowledged under 35 USC 119(e) and 37 CFR 1.78.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS(s) dated 2/24/2025 and 8/30/2024 has been considered and placed in the application file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 5-6, and 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Shimizu et al (JP4504644B2, hereafter referred to as Shimizu) in view of Cote et al (WO 2012/030617 A1, hereafter referred to as Cote).
Claim 1
Regarding Claim 1, Shimizu teaches A microscope system comprising:
a microscope that forms an optical observation image (Shimizu in ¶10 discloses “a microscope image imaging apparatus that captures an observation image with a microscope and generates a captured image”);
an image capturing device that captures the optical observation image and generates an observation image (Shimizu in ¶10 discloses “a microscope image imaging apparatus that captures an observation image with a microscope and generates a captured image”);
a processor that generates a histogram plotting pixel values of every color component in the observation image (Shimizu in ¶38 discloses preprocessing unit separates the imaging output signal into R, G, and B color signals and outputs R/G/B digital image data to frame memory. ¶47 discloses offset calculation unit reads image data from frame memory and calculates R/G/B luminance data for each pixel. ¶48-49 discloses preparing counters for luminance levels 0-255 for the three R/G/B channels and obtaining luminance histograms by processing all pixels for the three R/G/B channels (“a luminance histogram can be obtained”)),
determines a black balance adjustment value based on the histogram plotting pixel values of every color component (Shimizu in ¶50-52 discloses that offset calculation unit calculates the background luminance level of image data from the calculated luminance histogram of each R/G/B channel, finds the luminance level having maximum frequency, regards that value as the background luminance level, and uses the maximum background luminance level among R/G/B channels. ¶53 discloses calculating an offset value that corrects the background luminance level to luminance “0” black level), and
subtracts the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image (Shimizu in ¶54 discloses setting the calculated offset value in image adjustment unit. ¶58-59 discloses that image adjustment unit subtracts the offset value from the read image data, thereby adjusting the background luminance level of the fluorescent image to zero luminance.); and
an output device that outputs the adjusted observation image (Shimizu in ¶41 discloses “The observation image data adjusted by the image adjustment unit 45 is sent to the display unit 46 and displayed on the display screen of the display unit 46”).
Shimizu does not explicitly teach all of subtracts the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image.
However, Cote teaches subtracts the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image (Cote in ¶250, 354-357, 422 discloses explicit per-color-component black-level processing, teaching black level compensation logic that provides digital gain, offset, and clipping independently for each color component (R, B, Gr, Gb), and RGB-domain processing for R, G, B)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shimizu by incorporating per-color-component black-level/offset processing for the image data that is taught by Cote, since both reference are analogous art in the field of digital image processing for image-sensor captured color images, including black-level/background correction; thus, one of ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to combine the references since Shimizu’s microscope-image histogram-based background luminance correction framework with Cote’s per-color-component black-level compensation for R, B, Gr, Gb/RGB components yields the predictable result of performing background correction on an explicit color-component basis, thereby generating an adjusted observation image in which the black-level offset is subtracted from the color-component pixel values.
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 5
Regarding Claim 5, Shimizu in view of Cote teaches The microscope system according to claim 1,
wherein the processor further performs processing on the adjusted observation image, the processing involving conversion of a Bayer pattern image into a color image (Cote in ¶123-124 discloses that an image sensor may include a Bayer color filter array having R, B, Gr, and Gb components and that raw image data is converted into a full color image by demosaicing. ¶354-357 discloses raw processing logic including gain, offset, and clamping logic, and explains that the GOC logic may set the black level of raw image data and process R, B, Gr, and Gb components), and
the output device outputs the adjusted observation image subjected to the processing by the processor (Cote in ¶397 discloses forwarding the output to demosaicing logic to produce a full color RGB image from raw Bayer input data).
Claim 6
Regarding Claim 6, Shimizu in view of Cote teaches The microscope system according to claim 1,
wherein the processor further reduces an amount of information on the observation image (Cote in ¶141 discloses that raw image data may be processed for statistics at lower precision, including down-sampling higher-bit-depth raw pixel data to an 8-bit format for statistics, thereby reducing hardware size and computational complexity), and
the processor generates a histogram plotting pixel values of every color component in the observation image having an amount of information reduced (Cote in ¶343-344 discloses histogram units for statistics collection, including collecting pixel data after 4x4 decimation and collecting raw Bayer RGB data by decimating/skipping pixels. The histogram can collect data close to the black level to assist dynamic black-level compensation).
Claim 8
Regarding Claim 8, Shimizu teaches A method of image processing executed by a computer, the method comprising:
generating a histogram plotting pixel values of every color component in an observation image which is generated by an image capturing device capturing an optical observation image formed by a microscope (Shimizu in ¶38 discloses preprocessing unit separates the imaging output signal into R, G, and B color signals and outputs R/G/B digital image data to frame memory. ¶47 discloses offset calculation unit reads image data from frame memory and calculates R/G/B luminance data for each pixel. ¶48-49 discloses preparing counters for luminance levels 0-255 for the three R/G/B channels and obtaining luminance histograms by processing all pixels for the three R/G/B channels (“a luminance histogram can be obtained”)),
determining a black balance adjustment value based on the histogram plotting pixel values of every color component (Shimizu in ¶50-52 discloses that offset calculation unit calculates the background luminance level of image data from the calculated luminance histogram of each R/G/B channel, finds the luminance level having maximum frequency, regards that value as the background luminance level, and uses the maximum background luminance level among R/G/B channels. ¶53 discloses calculating an offset value that corrects the background luminance level to luminance “0” black level), and
subtracting the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image (Shimizu in ¶54 discloses setting the calculated offset value in image adjustment unit. ¶58-59 discloses that image adjustment unit subtracts the offset value from the read image data, thereby adjusting the background luminance level of the fluorescent image to zero luminance.).
Shimizu does not explicitly teach all of subtracting the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image.
However, Cote teaches subtracting the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image (Cote in ¶250, 354-357, 422 discloses explicit per-color-component black-level processing, teaching black level compensation logic that provides digital gain, offset, and clipping independently for each color component (R, B, Gr, Gb), and RGB-domain processing for R, G, B)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shimizu by incorporating per-color-component black-level/offset processing for the image data that is taught by Cote, since both reference are analogous art in the field of digital image processing for image-sensor captured color images, including black-level/background correction; thus, one of ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to combine the references since Shimizu’s microscope-image histogram-based background luminance correction framework with Cote’s per-color-component black-level compensation for R, B, Gr, Gb/RGB components yields the predictable result of performing background correction on an explicit color-component basis, thereby generating an adjusted observation image in which the black-level offset is subtracted from the color-component pixel values.
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 9
Regarding Claim 9, Shimizu teaches A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to implement:
generating a histogram plotting pixel values of every color component in an observation image which is generated by an image capturing device capturing an optical observation image formed by a microscope (Shimizu in ¶38 discloses preprocessing unit separates the imaging output signal into R, G, and B color signals and outputs R/G/B digital image data to frame memory. ¶47 discloses offset calculation unit reads image data from frame memory and calculates R/G/B luminance data for each pixel. ¶48-49 discloses preparing counters for luminance levels 0-255 for the three R/G/B channels and obtaining luminance histograms by processing all pixels for the three R/G/B channels (“a luminance histogram can be obtained”)),
determining a black balance adjustment value based on the histogram plotting pixel values of every color component (Shimizu in ¶50-52 discloses that offset calculation unit calculates the background luminance level of image data from the calculated luminance histogram of each R/G/B channel, finds the luminance level having maximum frequency, regards that value as the background luminance level, and uses the maximum background luminance level among R/G/B channels. ¶53 discloses calculating an offset value that corrects the background luminance level to luminance “0” black level), and
subtracting the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image (Shimizu in ¶54 discloses setting the calculated offset value in image adjustment unit. ¶58-59 discloses that image adjustment unit subtracts the offset value from the read image data, thereby adjusting the background luminance level of the fluorescent image to zero luminance.); and
Shimizu does not explicitly teach all of subtracting the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image.
However, Cote teaches subtracting the black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image to generate an adjusted observation image (Cote in ¶250, 354-357, 422 discloses explicit per-color-component black-level processing, teaching black level compensation logic that provides digital gain, offset, and clipping independently for each color component (R, B, Gr, Gb), and RGB-domain processing for R, G, B)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shimizu by incorporating per-color-component black-level/offset processing for the image data that is taught by Cote, since both reference are analogous art in the field of digital image processing for image-sensor captured color images, including black-level/background correction; thus, one of ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to combine the references since Shimizu’s microscope-image histogram-based background luminance correction framework with Cote’s per-color-component black-level compensation for R, B, Gr, Gb/RGB components yields the predictable result of performing background correction on an explicit color-component basis, thereby generating an adjusted observation image in which the black-level offset is subtracted from the color-component pixel values.
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Shimizu et al (JP4504644B2, hereafter referred to as Shimizu) in view of Cote et al (WO 2012/030617 A1, hereafter referred to as Cote), further in view of Lin et al (CN103795992A, hereafter referred to as Lin).
Claim 2
Regarding Claim 2, Shimizu in view of Cote teaches The microscope system according to claim 1.
Shimizu in view of Cote does not explicitly teach all of wherein the processor determines, as a potential black balance adjustment value, a pixel value of every color component at which a cumulative pixel count from the darkest part of the histogram plotting pixel values of every color component reaches a threshold.
However, Lin teaches wherein the processor determines, as a potential black balance adjustment value, a pixel value of every color component at which a cumulative pixel count from the darkest part of the histogram plotting pixel values of every color component reaches a threshold (Lin in ¶17-20 discloses loading a Raw image in BGb/GrR format, extracting B, Gb, Gr, and R channels, scanning all pixel values in those channels, grouping the values, recording the number of pixels in each group, and obtaining cumulative proportions for each group in each channel ¶27-35 discloses cumulative ratio calculation from the low end, including examples where cumulative ratios correspond to color-scale values from 0 upward, and obtaining reference black using cumulative ratios less than or equal to a preset minimum value).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shimizu in view of Cote by determining the black/reference-black value using cumulative pixel counts or cumulative proportions from the dark side of each color-component histogram that is taught by Lin, since both reference are analogous art in the field of digital color image processing and black-level/background correction using per-channel image statistics; thus, one of ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to combine the references since Shimizu in view of Cote’s per-channel histogram-based microscope background correction with Lin’s cumulative-ratio reference-black determination for individual color channels yields the predictable result of selecting a potential black balance adjustment value from a defined dark-end cumulative threshold for each color component.
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 3
Regarding Claim 3, Shimizu in view of Cote, further in view of Lin teaches The microscope system according to claim 2,
wherein the processor determines a maximum of the potential black balance adjustment value determined for every color component as the black balance adjustment value (Shimizu in ¶50 discloses calculating the background luminance level of each R/G/B channel from the respective luminance histogram. ¶51-52 discloses the maximum-frequency luminance value in each histogram is regarded as the background luminance level. ¶52 discloses that, after calculating background luminance levels K1, K2, and K3 for the R/G/B channels, the maximum background luminance level among the channel background level is used as the background luminance level of the image data).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Shimizu et al (JP4504644B2, hereafter referred to as Shimizu) in view of Cote et al (WO 2012/030617 A1, hereafter referred to as Cote), further in view of Lin et al (CN103795992A, hereafter referred to as Lin), further in view of Gu et al (CN104333717A, hereafter referred to as Gu).
Claim 4
Regarding Claim 4, Shimizu in view of Cote, further in view of Lin teaches The microscope system according to claim 3.
Shimizu in view of Cote, further in view of Lin does not explicitly teach all of wherein the processor determines an upper limit adjustment value as the black balance adjustment value in a case where the determined black balance adjustment value exceeds the upper limit adjustment value.
However, Gu teaches wherein the processor determines an upper limit adjustment value as the black balance adjustment value in a case where the determined black balance adjustment value exceeds the upper limit adjustment value (Gu in ¶10 discloses setting a dark-level upper limit and output data offset. ¶20-22 discloses calculating DC_Max＝MAX(DC_Avg 0 ,DC_Avg 1 ,...,DC_Avg n , where DC_Max is the maximum average dark level among pixel channels and DC_Lim is the dark-level upper limit. ¶23 discloses dark-level correction based on the comparison relationship between each channel’s average dark level and the dark-level upper limit. ¶53, 60-64 discloses setting DC_Lim, calculating DC_Max, and, when at least one channel dark level is not less than the upper limit, adding the maximum average dark level to the output offset and subtracting the dark-level upper limit. ¶67-74 discloses that when at least one average dark level exceeds DC_Lim, the system first adjusts the data output offset and then corrects the input image data).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shimizu in view of Cote, further in view of Lin by constraining the determined black/dark-level adjustment value to a preset upper-limit adjustment value when the determined value exceeds that limit that is taught by Gu, since both reference are analogous art in the field of digital image-sensor black-level and dark-level correction using channel-based correction values and limits; thus, one of ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to combine the references since Shimizu in view of Cote, further in view of Lin’s per-color-component black-balance determination from channel image statistics with Gu’s upper-limit dark-level correction technique yields the predictable result of preventing an excessive calculated black-level correction from being applied to the image data, thereby maintaining background correction while reducing the risk of overcorrection or loss of image information.
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Shimizu et al (JP4504644B2, hereafter referred to as Shimizu) in view of Cote et al (WO 2012/030617 A1, hereafter referred to as Cote), further in view of Yamaguchi et al (JP2003143437A, hereafter referred to as Yamaguchi).
Claim 7
Regarding Claim 7, Shimizu in view of Cote teaches The microscope system according to claim 1.
Shimizu in view of Cote does not explicitly teach all of wherein the processor further smooths the black balance adjustment value, and the processor generates the adjusted observation image by subtracting the smoothed black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image.
However, Yamaguchi teaches wherein the processor further smooths the black balance adjustment value (Yamaguchi in ¶16 discloses a black-level time averaging processing circuit that averages black-level values in the time direction according to black-level value calculation frequency), and
the processor generates the adjusted observation image by subtracting the smoothed black balance adjustment value from pixel values of every color component in each pixel of the observation image (Yamaguchi in ¶71 discloses that when black-level value calculation frequency is low, the result of further averaging the representative black-level values in the time direction is used as the black-level value. ¶73 discloses that the black-level value/frequency detection circuit calculates the representative black-level value and outputs black-level value calculation frequency to the black-level time averaging processing circuit. ¶74-76 discloses that the time averaging processing circuit performs black-level time averaging according to calculation frequency, including averaging values detected at different times. ¶58-59 discloses subtracting the offset/black-balance value from the image data.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Shimizu in view of Cote by time-averaging or otherwise smoothing the black-level/background adjustment value before applying the offset subtraction that is taught by Yamaguchi, since both reference are analogous art in the field of digital image black-level correction using histogram-derived or statistically derived black-level values; thus, one of ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to combine the references since Shimizu in view of Cote’s offset-based microscope background correction subtracts a calculated background/black-level value from image data with Yamaguchi’s time-averaging processing for black-level values yields the predictable result of stabilizing the applied black-level correction across image frames or calculations, thereby generating an adjusted observation image using a smoothed black balance adjustment value while reducing abrupt or noisy changes in the correction value.
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
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/J.P.C./Examiner, Art Unit 2674
/ONEAL R MISTRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2674
Date: 6/3/2026
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