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 of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Examiner Note
The claims have been evaluated under 35 U.S.C. §101 and are directed to patent eligible subject matter. While the claims appear to involve mental steps, the claims are integrated into a practical application because they recite steps/elements directed to a specific improvement such as achieving both high-resolution and reduced system load (See ¶ 32 of the publication). Accordingly, the claims are not directed to an abstract idea and no rejection under §101 is made.
MPEP 2106.05(a) states:
“After the examiner has consulted the specification and determined that the disclosed invention improves technology, the claim must be evaluated to ensure the claim itself reflects the disclosed improvement in technology. Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F.3d 1307, 1316, 120 USPQ2d 1353, 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (patent owner argued that the claimed email filtering system improved technology by shrinking the protection gap and mooting the volume problem, but the court disagreed because the claims themselves did not have any limitations that addressed these issues). That is, the claim must include the components or steps of the invention that provide the improvement described in the specification. However, the claim itself does not need to explicitly recite the improvement described in the specification”.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: image acquisition unit, image generation unit, control unit, gaze detection unit, subject distance measurement unit, first capturing unit, second capturing unit, wide-angle image capturing unit, magnified image capturing unit, display unit in claims (1, 5-9, 11, 13-14).
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because claim 16 fails to fall within a statutory category of invention. Claim 16 is directed to a program. 1) a program is not a process because it is not a serial steps, 2) a program has no physical structure, thus it does not fit within the definition of a machine, 3) a program is not a matter and therefore is not a composition of matter, and 4) a program does not fit the definition of manufacture.
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) (1-6, 13-16) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kawaguchi. (US Patent 11,250,540 B2)
Re claim 1, Kawaguchi discloses an information processing device comprising: an image acquisition unit that acquires a first image captured at a first angle of view and a second image captured at a second angle of view narrower than the first angle of view within the first angle of view (See fig. 11-12; col. 11, lines 1-67; col. 13, lines 1-24 where it teaches acquiring a whole image with a low resolution and a partial image with a high resolution.); and an image generation unit that generates a display image by synthesizing an image of a high-resolution region based on the second image and an image of a peripheral region around the high-resolution region based on the first image. (See fig. 12; col. 13, lines 1-24 where it teaches generating an image based on both the whole and partial image, and displaying the image.)
Re claim 2, Kawaguchi discloses wherein the image of the high-resolution region is an image directly used as the second image, and the image of the peripheral region is an image obtained by upscaling the first image. (See fig. 11-12; col. 11, line 1 – col. 13, line 24)
Re claim 3, Kawaguchi discloses wherein the first image and the second image each have a first resolution, and the image of the peripheral region is an image with a second resolution, obtained by upscaling the first image according to a ratio between the first angle of view and the second angle of view. (See fig. 11-12; col. 11, line 1 – col. 13, line 24)
Re claim 4, Kawaguchi discloses wherein the first resolution is 1K resolution, and the second resolution is 4K resolution. (See col. 12, lines 7-25)
Re claim 5, Kawaguchi discloses a control unit that, based on gaze information of a user, controls movement of an imaging direction of an image capturing unit for obtaining the second image and controls movement of a position of the high-resolution region. (See col. 14, lines 28-30; col. 35-40)
Re claim 6, Kawaguchi discloses comprising a gaze detection unit that detects the gaze information of the user. (See col. 14, lines 28-30; col. 35-40)
Re claim 13, Kawaguchi discloses a wide-angle image capturing unit for obtaining the first image; and a magnified image capturing unit for obtaining the second image. (See fig. 11-12)
Re claim 14, Kawaguchi discloses a display unit that displays the display image. (See fig. 12)
Claims (15-16) have been analyzed and rejected w/r to claim 1 above. Furthermore, claim 13 teaches a medium.
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) (7-8) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawaguchi (US Patent 11,250,540 B2) in view of Ichiyama Yoshikasu (hereinafter Ichiyama)(JP2000-201286 A – See Machine English translation)
Re claim 7, the reference of Kawaguchi fails to teach a control unit that controls switching of an image capturing unit for obtaining the second image based on information on a distance to a subject related to the second image.
However, Ichiyama does. (See fig. 8; 33-34) In the same field of endeavors, the reference of Ichiyama discloses and fairly suggests a control unit that controls switching of an image capturing unit for obtaining the second image based on information on a distance to a subject related to the second image. (the reference of Ichiyama teaches an imaging optical system is selected in conjunction with the ultrasonic distance measurement and focused.)
Therefore, taking the combined teachings of Kawaguchi & Ichiyama as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to incorporate this feature into the system of Kawaguchi, in the manner as claimed and as taught by Ichiyama, for the benefit of performing switching based on distance measured.
Re claim 8, the combination of Kawaguchi & Ichiyama discloses a subject distance measurement unit for obtaining the information on the distance to the subject related to the second image. (In Ichiyama, see fig. 8; 33-34)
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, 15-16) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (hereinafter Park)(US Publication 2002/0063711 A1)
Re claim 1, Park discloses an information processing device comprising: an image acquisition unit that acquires a first image captured at a first angle of view and a second image captured at a second angle of view narrower than the first angle of view within the first angle of view (See claim 1); and an image generation unit that generates a display image by synthesizing an image of a high-resolution region based on the second image and an image of a peripheral region around the high-resolution region based on the first image. (See claim 1)
Claims (15-16) have been analyzed and rejected w/r to claim 1 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims (9-12) 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. (The prior art of record fails to teach the limitations in claims 9 & 11.)
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEON FLORES whose telephone number is (571)270-1201. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am - 6pm.
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/LEON FLORES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2676 August 20, 2026
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