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 .
The terms “an aperture control unit”, “a focus control unit”, “a storage unit”, “an exposure control unit”, “a lighting control unit”, in claims 1-5 are not being interpreted under 112 sixth paragraph because they are a part of the processing unit 31 (Specification, Paragraph 49, fig. 5).
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) 1-3 and 6-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishii et al. (US PGPUB 20190289174) in view of Wietfeld (US PGPUB 20120182419).
[Claim 1]
Ishii teaches an image processing device including a lens (105) configured to capture an image of the object (Paragraph 41), comprising:
an aperture control unit (110) configured to control an aperture of the lens (Paragraph 30, A diaphragm driving source 110 is a driving source for moving the diaphragm 103) , wherein
a focus position of the lens is adjusted and fixed (Paragraph 41, Here, using the TV-AF method, the focus lens 105 is moved, AF evaluation value signals are acquired for respective positions of the focus lens 105, and the focus lens position with the largest AF evaluation value signal is searched for. Then, lastly, a one-shot AF operation is executed in which the focus lens 105 is moved to and stopped at the focus lens position with the largest AF evaluation value signal), the aperture control unit sets the aperture of the lens to a first aperture, and the image capturing device captures the object to obtain a first image, when a distance from the image capturing device to the object is a first distance (Paragraph 58, in aperture control, the depth of field is smaller the shorter the distance to the object is. Accordingly, the focal position needs to be accurate. Thus, for aperture control, parameters that indicate smaller aperture the shorter the distance to the object is are stored. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce strictness in accuracy in focusing); and
the aperture control unit sets the aperture of the lens to a second aperture, and the image capturing device captures the object to obtain a second image, when the distance from the image capturing device to the object is a second distance (Paragraph 58, in aperture control, the depth of field is smaller the shorter the distance to the object is. Accordingly, the focal position needs to be accurate. Thus, for aperture control, parameters that indicate smaller aperture the shorter the distance to the object is are stored. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce strictness in accuracy in focusing).
Ishii fails to teach for obtaining spatial position information of an object based on image information output from an image capturing device. However, Wietfeld teaches recording a first image of the spatial region by means of the first image recording unit and recording a second image of the spatial region by means of the second image recording unit; determining a number of object positions on the basis of the first and second images, wherein each object position represents a spatial distance of an object relative to the image recording units (Paragraph 8).
Therefore taking the combined teachings of Ishii and Wietfeld, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have been motivated to have obtained spatial position information of an object based on image information output from an image capturing device in order to significantly reduce computational complexity when determining disparities and distances of objects.
[Claim 2]
Ishii teaches a focus control unit configured to control the focus position of the lens, wherein the focus control unit adjusts and fixes the focus position of the lens (Paragraph 41, Here, using the TV-AF method, the focus lens 105 is moved, AF evaluation value signals are acquired for respective positions of the focus lens 105, and the focus lens position with the largest AF evaluation value signal is searched for. Then, lastly, a one-shot AF operation is executed in which the focus lens 105 is moved to and stopped at the focus lens position with the largest AF evaluation value signal), when the distance from the image capturing device to the object is the first distance (Paragraph 58, in aperture control, the depth of field is smaller the shorter the distance to the object is. Accordingly, the focal position needs to be accurate. Thus, for aperture control, parameters that indicate smaller aperture the shorter the distance to the object is are stored. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce strictness in accuracy in focusing).
[Claim 3]
Wietfeld teaches a storage unit configured to store an image processing program for obtaining the spatial position information of the object with reference to the first image and the second image (Paragraph 10, According to yet another aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium designed for interfacing with a computer that is connected to a first and a second image recording unit which are arranged at a defined distance from one another, the computer readable storage medium comprising an interface for communicating with the computer and comprising program code configured to execute a method comprising the steps of recording a first image of a spatial region by means of the first image recording unit and recording a second image of the spatial region by means of the second image recording unit; determining a number of object positions using the first and second images, wherein each object position represents a distance between a moveable object located in the spatial region and the image recording units). Same motivation as claim 1.
[Claim 6]
Ishii teaches wherein at least one of the image capturing device and the object is grasped by a movement controllable actuator (Paragraph 38, The image capturing apparatus 100 is fixed to the robot arm 130. When the robot arm 130 is moved, the image capture range of the image capturing apparatus 100 changes. Furthermore, the robot arm 130 can use a robot hand provided at the leading end of the arm to hold an object of which an image is to be captured).
[Claim 7]
Ishii teaches wherein a length of the first distance is longer than a length of the second distance, and a value of the first aperture is smaller than a value of the second aperture (Paragraph 58, in aperture control, the depth of field is smaller the shorter the distance to the object is. Accordingly, the focal position needs to be accurate. Thus, for aperture control, parameters that indicate smaller aperture the shorter the distance to the object is are stored. Since F-number is the aperture value is large when the aperture is small, the aperture value is set smaller as the distance to the subject increases).
[Claim 8]
Wietfeld teaches wherein the second distance is obtained with reference to the first image, and the spatial position information of the object is obtained with reference to the second image. (Paragraph 8 teaches a method for monitoring a spatial region comprising a number of movable objects, the method comprising the steps of providing a first and a second image recording unit, which are arranged at a defined distance from one another; recording a first image of the spatial region by means of the first image recording unit and recording a second image of the spatial region by means of the second image recording unit; determining a number of object positions on the basis of the first and second images, wherein each object position represents a spatial distance of an object relative to the image recording units. The claim does not say only the first image or only the second image). Same motivation as claim 1.
[Claim 9]
Wietfeld teaches wherein the spatial position information of the object is obtained with reference to the first image and the second image (Paragraph 8, a method for monitoring a spatial region comprising a number of movable objects, the method comprising the steps of providing a first and a second image recording unit, which are arranged at a defined distance from one another; recording a first image of the spatial region by means of the first image recording unit and recording a second image of the spatial region by means of the second image recording unit; determining a number of object positions on the basis of the first and second images, wherein each object position represents a spatial distance of an object relative to the image recording units). Same motivation as claim 1.
[Claim 10]
Ishii teaches wherein the second aperture is determined with reference to the first distance and the second distance, and previously generated aperture information (Paragraph 58, in aperture control, the depth of field is smaller the shorter the distance to the object is. Thus, for aperture control, parameters that indicate smaller aperture the shorter the distance to the object is are stored. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce strictness in accuracy in focusing. Therefore, aperture control is adjusted based on the distance from the subject).
[Claim 11]
Ishii teaches a vision system comprising the image processing device according to claim 1 (see claim 1) and the image capturing device (camera 100, fig. 1).
[Claim 12]
This is a computer-readable claim corresponding to apparatus claim 1 and is therefore analyzed and rejected based upon apparatus claim 1.
Claim(s) 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishii et al. (US PGPUB 20190289174), Wietfeld (US PGPUB 20120182419) in further view of Keith et al. (US Patent # 6,760,545).
[Claim 4]
Ishii in view of Wietfeld fails to teach an exposure control unit configured to control an exposure amount of the image capturing device, wherein the exposure control unit controls the exposure amount of the image capturing device based on the second aperture of the lens, when the focus position of the lens is at the second distance from the image capturing device to the object. However Keith teaches an exposure control system 20 is responsive to photocell 18 and controls variable aperture shutter 14 to provide proper exposure light for capturing images on medium 12. Exposure control system 20 also controls flash unit 22 for the purpose of flash image capture and fill flash assisted image capture (col. 3 lines 18-23). FIG. 2 demonstrates the manner in which exposure control system 20 performs a fill flash function to capture images at less than the nominal minimum focus distance 26 of camera 10. Curve 40 represents aperture size for a scanning aperture shutter from the initiation of image capture at 42 to full closure of the aperture at 44. The left axis of FIG. 2 represents aperture size and includes examples of possible aperture sizes indicated in f-stops. When image capture is initiated at 42 the aperture opening increases along slope 46 until it reaches a maximum value of f-12 at 48. During this time, photocell 18 is receiving an analogous amount of light, and its sensed value is being integrated over time to measure total exposure light (col. 3 lines 46). A camera having a nominal minimum focus distance 26 of six feet may have a first close-up range 60 (FIG. 1) of four to six feet and a second close-up range 62 of less than four feet. Ranges 60 and 62 may be differentiated by the aperture size used for flash illumination as represented in FIG. 2 by f-30 for range 60 and f-40 for range 62 (col. 4 lines 17-23).
Therefore taking the combined teachings of Ishii, Wietfeld and Keith, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have been motivated to have an exposure control unit configured to control an exposure amount of the image capturing device, wherein the exposure control unit controls the exposure amount of the image capturing device based on the second aperture of the lens, when the focus position of the lens is at the second distance from the image capturing device to the object in order to reduce the blurriness of objects by achieving better focus at multiple distances.
[Claim 5]
Ishii in view of Wietfeld fails to teach a lighting control unit configured to control an intensity of an irradiation light output from a lighting device provided in a vicinity of the image capturing device, the lighting control unit control the intensity of the irradiation light output from the lighting device based on the second aperture of the lens, when the focus position of the lens is at the second distance from the image capturing device to the object. However Keith teaches an exposure control system 20 also controls flash unit 22 for the purpose of flash image capture and fill flash assisted image capture (col. 3 lines 18-23). Aperture closure is indicated by the negative slope 52. When the aperture reaches a predetermined size during the shutter closing (f-30 for example), flash unit 22 is illuminated. In one embodiment, flash unit 22 may be quenched after a predetermined period. In another embodiment, flash unit 22 is quenched when sufficient reflected infrared energy is sensed with an infrared photocell. The amount of image light received as a result of flash illumination is generally represented by curve 60a. Although FIG. 2 combines curve 40 of aperture size and curve 60a of flash illumination to show their temporal relation, the values or areas of these curves are not intended to be proportional (col. 3 lines 51-63).
Therefore taking the combined teachings of Ishii, Wietfeld and Keith, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have been motivated to have a lighting control unit configured to control an intensity of an irradiation light output from a lighting device provided in a vicinity of the image capturing device, the lighting control unit control the intensity of the irradiation light output from the lighting device based on the second aperture of the lens, when the focus position of the lens is at the second distance from the image capturing device to the object in order to capture the image in proper lighting and thereby avoiding under exposure.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOGESH K AGGARWAL whose telephone number is (571)272-7360. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sinh Tran can be reached at 5712727564. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YOGESH K AGGARWAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637