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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is a non-Final office action in merits. Claims 1-19, 12-21, after amendment, have been elected and considered below.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202210204603.8, filed on 03/03/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/6/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Restriction Election
In light of applicant’s amendment, original species restriction is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim 13 does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 13 recites a computer readable medium comprising a computer program …”. Specification indicates such computer readable medium including computer readable signal medium (par 0107), e.g. transitory medium, which is not statutory.
It is suggested a non-transitory computer readable medium being amended to overcome 35 USC § 101 rejection.
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2024/0259679 A1, Shao et al. (hereinafter Shao).
As to claim 1, Shao discloses a zoom effect generating method, comprising:
acquiring a zoom target and a zoom parameter set by a user in an interface of an effect tool (Figs 5, 7, selecting a shooting mode (photo or video) and zoom ratio range corresponding to the shooting mode with a target camera and a to-be-shot scene (e.g. target) and current zoom ratio; Fig 39, identify a non-portrait target; pars 0085, 0161, 0207, acquiring a target scene);
wherein the zoom parameter comprises a range of zoom ratio, a zoom duration, and a zoom mode (Figs 5, 7, a range of zoom ratio, zoom mode for a photo shoot or a video shoot; pars 0589, 0611, zoom time (e.g. duration));
performing a target detection on a video to be processed (Fig 39; pars 0161, 0424, 0849); and
in response to the zoom target being detected, performing a zoom processing on the video to be processed according to the zoom parameter to obtain a zoom effect video (pars 0574-0575, 0577, 0581, 0588).
As to claim 12, it is a device claim encompassed claim 1. Rejection of claim 1 is therefore incorporated herein.
As to claim 13, it recites a CRM storing program executed to perform functions and features of claim 1. Rejection of claim 1 is therefore incorporated herein.
Claims 2-3, 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shao in view of US 2022/0272200 A1, Chen et al. (hereinafter Chen).
As to claim 2, Shao discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the performing a target detection on the video to be processed comprises: during a playback of the video to be processed (pars 0165, 0171, 0185, video playback operation).
Shao does not expressly disclose detecting the zoom target in a current video frame being played; and in response to the zoom target being detected in the current video frame and the zoom target being not detected in a previous video frame, starting timing from the current video frame to obtain a timing time corresponding to the current video frame; in response to the zoom target being detected in the current video frame and the zoom target being detected in the previous video frame, adding a set duration on a timing time corresponding to the previous video frame to obtain the timing time corresponding to the current video frame.
Chen, in the same or similar field of endeavor, further teaches, during a playback of the video to be processed (pars 0008, 0025, 0027, playing the target video recording in response to a playback operation input by the user), detecting the zoom target in a current video frame being played (Figs 1, 9; pars 0004, 0006, 0010, 0020, 0076, 0144, 0153, the target being detected by a first speaker (from a first viewing angle)’s notification in an audio frame (aligned with the video frame), e.g. no target being detected in previous frames); and
in response to the zoom target being detected in the current video frame and the zoom target being not detected in a previous video frame, starting timing from the current video frame to obtain a timing time corresponding to the current video frame (Figs 11-12; pars 0248, 0342, the timing is aligned with and identified by the first speaker from the first viewing angle starts speaking);
in response to the zoom target being detected in the current video frame and the zoom target being detected in the previous video frame, adding a set duration on a timing time corresponding to the previous video frame to obtain the timing time corresponding to the current video frame (pars 0022, 0026, 0028-0030, 0065, the speaker starts to speak being used as a reference timing with a preset time period for roll back and obtaining the timing for the second speaker starts speaking).
Therefore, consider Shao and Chen’s teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art before the filing date of invention to incorporate Chen’s teachings in Shao’s method to detect zoom target utilizing audio channels in the video as the detection marker.
As to claim 3, Shao as modified discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein performing a zoom processing on the video to be processed according to the zoom parameter comprises: determining a zoom ratio according to the timing time and the zoom parameter (Shao: Figs 5-7, 20-21; pars 0007, 0011; Chen: Figs 1, 9; pars 0004, 0006, 0010, 0020, 0076); and performing a zoom processing on the current video frame based on the zoom ratio (Shao: Figs 5-7, 20-21; Chen: Figs 1, 9; pars 0004, 0006, 0010, 0020, 0076).
11. (Canceled)
As to claims 14-15, they are rejected with the same reason as set forth in claims 2-3, respectively.
Claims 4, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shao in view of Chen and further in view of CN 111464752A, Fu (hereinafter Fu) (see google translation for citation).
As to claim 4, Shao as modified discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the zoom mode comprises a number of cycles and a zoom trend in each cycle (Shao: Figs 6-7; pars 0040, 0049, 0052, 0279, 0315-0317, the current zoom ratio falls indicating a trend of zoom trend, number of shot (cycle)), the range of zoom ratio comprises an initial zoom ratio and a target zoom ratio in one cycle (Zhao: Figs 6-7; pars 0032, 0036, 0040, note a ratio range covers the zoom ratio during an entire cycle, the target zoom ratio can be selected as needed); and the zoom duration is a duration of one cycle (note this is a commonly understood definition in the field, not providing an inventive distinction).
Nevertheless, Fu, in the same or similar field of endeavor, further teaches a zoom control method of an electronic device in which zoom parameters include a zoom trend and zoom factor (e.g. scale) and the zoom factor varies according to the zoom trend (e.g. starting from initial zoom factor and progressing based on the trend) (claims 1-4; page 2, summary; page 3, par 1; page 4, pars 1-5).
Therefore, consider Shao as modified and Fu’s teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art before the filing date of invention to incorporate Fu’s zoom control method in Shao as modified’s method to provide parameter settings for more automatic zoom operations.
As to claim 16, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10, 17-21 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.
Reasons for Allowance
Prior art of record (Shao, Chen, and Fu) neither discloses alone nor teaches in combination functions and features recited in claims 5, 7, and 9, respectively. Claim 6 depends from claim 5. Claim 8 depends from claim 7. Claim 10 depends from claim 9. Claims 17-21 recite similar limitations as claims 5-10.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner has cited particular column, line number, paragraphs and/or figure(s) in the reference(s) as applied to the claims for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the reference(s) in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUN SHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7927. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8:30-5:50 PT.
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/QUN SHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2662
Prosecution Insights