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 1-2 and 4-19 in the reply filed on 6/26/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 3 and 20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 6/26/2026.
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(s) 1-2, 4, 7-10, 13 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0293737 A1 to Yim et al.
Wit respect to claim 1 Yim discloses an imaging control apparatus (abstract) comprising: a processor (paragraph 27 and 65) configured to: generate first image data for provisional recording in a memory from an output of an image sensor configured to perform imaging (paragraph 6, 30 and 32), control first processing from the imaging to the provisional recording (paragraph 37-38), generate second image data for final recording by performing second processing for the first image data read out of the memory (paragraph 33-34), and control the first processing so that an average writing rate of the first image data in the provisional recording can be equal to or higher than a speed based on an imaging rate of the image sensor (paragraph 6 and 50; where the Q factor is adjusted so that the image can be encoded within a single frame period for the image sensor, thus, the writing rate of the first data never gets below the frame rate of the imager).
Yim does not expressly disclose the line buffer is a nonvolatile memory.
However, Official Notice (MPEP § 2144.03) is taken that both the concepts and advantages of using nonvolatile memory as a working memory/buffer of a camera processor are well known and expected in the art. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have used a non-volatile memory as the buffer of Yim for doing so would merely be a combining of prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
With respect to claim 2 Yim further teaches wherein the speed based on the imaging rate is a speed obtained from the imaging rate, a size of the first image data, and a compression ratio for compressing the first image data (paragraph 6 and 63; where the compression rate is adjusted to control image size to not overload the buffer so the processing time remains within one frame period of the imager).
With respect to claim 4 Yim further teaches wherein the second processing includes demosaic processing (paragraph 38).
With respect to claim 7 Yim further teaches wherein the processor is configured to perform the provisional recording by attaching information on the imaging in generating the first image data to the first image data (paragraph 32).
With respect to claim 8 Yim further teaches wherein the processor is configured to provide a first area and a second area for the provisional recording to the nonvolatile memory, wherein one of the first image data and information on the imaging in generating the first image data is recorded in the first area and the other is recorded in the second area, and wherein information indicating the second area is recorded in the first area (paragraph 6 and 32-33; where a line buffer is provided for first data and a frame buffer for second data and where the information indicating what type of second data is attached in the first processing as header information).
With respect to claim 9 Yim further teaches wherein the first processing includes at least one of sensor correction, compression, and encoding (paragraph 37).
With respect to claim 10 Yim further teaches wherein the first processing includes at least two of sensor correction, compression, and encoding (paragraph 37), and wherein the sensor correction is executed before other processing included in the first processing in a case where the sensor correction is included in the first processing, and the encoding is executed after other processing included in the first processing in a case where the encoding is included in the first processing (paragraph 37-39; where encoding is in the still image codec after pre and post processing).
With respect to claim 13 Yim further teaches wherein in the first processing, the provisional recording is performed by storing, in a single provisional recording file, a predetermined number of first image data generated by still image continuous shooting or the first image data generated in a predetermined continuous duration in still image continuous shooting (paragraph 40).
With respect to claim 18 Yim teaches an image pickup apparatus comprising: the imaging control apparatus according to claim 1; and the image sensor (paragraph 30-32).
Claim 19 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 1 above as it is a corresponding method claim to apparatus claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 11-12 and 14-17 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 2019/0132472 A1 to Ogata et al discloses the concept of a buffer memory of a camera being either volatile or non-volatile memory in paragraph 16.
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.
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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.
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/DANIEL M PASIEWICZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2699
September 2, 2026
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