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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/30/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in this application.
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)(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.
Claims 1, 2, 9, 11, 12, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lu et al. (US 2023/0341267 A1) (hereinafter, “Lu”).
Regarding claim 1, Lu discloses a temperature detection apparatus (Paragraph [0047] “the temperature determination system 100 may include an image capture device 110, a processing device 120, a display device 130, a network 140, and a storage device 150. In some embodiments”), comprising:
a camera, configured to capture an image (visible image in Paragraph [0086] equates to an image) and a thermal image of an object (Paragraph [0086] "the processing device 120 (e.g., the image obtainment module 410) (e.g., the interface circuits of the processor 220) may obtain a visible image and a thermal image from an image capture device (e.g., the image capture device 110)."); and
a processor, coupled to the camera, configured to execute the following operations (Paragraph [0086] "the processing device 120 (e.g., the image obtainment module 410) (e.g., the interface circuits of the processor 220) may obtain a visible image and a thermal image from an image capture device (e.g., the image capture device 110)."):
determining a first contour (first location information in Paragraph [0088] equates to first contour) of the object in the image based on the image (Paragraph [0088] "for each of the at least one subject, the processing device 120 (e.g., the first location determination module 420) (e.g., the processing circuits of the processor 220) may determine first location information associated with a face of the subject in the visible image."; Paragraph [0089] "the processing device 120 may identify the face of the subject and/or determine the first location information by performing a recognition operation on the visible image. The recognition result of the visible image may include a bounding box of the face, a size (e.g., an area, a length, a width) of the bounding box of the face, a location (e.g., a two-dimensional coordinate, a three-dimensional coordinate) of the bounding box of the face"; Paragraph [0091] “the first location information associated with the face may be expressed as [x, y, w, h], wherein x and y refer to a two-dimensional coordinate (e.g., a coordinate of a left upper corner of the bounding box of the face) associated with the face, w refers to a width of the bounding box of the face, and h refers to a length of the bounding box of the face.”);
overlapping the first contour (first location information in Paragraph [0101] equates to first contour) in the image onto the thermal image to generate a second contour (second location information in Paragraph [0101] equates to second contour) in the thermal image (Paragraph [0101] "the second location information associated with the face may include a bounding box of the face"; Paragraph [0103] "the processing device 120 may align the thermal image with the visible image and determine the second location information associated with the face in the aligned thermal image based on the first location information...the processing device 120 may determine one or more first feature points of the visible image and one or more second feature points of the thermal image using the feature determination algorithm. Then the processing device 120 may align the thermal image with the visible image by matching the one or more first feature points with the one or more second feature points."); and
generating a temperature record of the object based on a plurality of temperature values among the second contour in the thermal image (Paragraph [0106] "the processing device 120 may determine gray values (e.g., gray values of a face region, gray values of a forehead region, gray values of a central forehead region) associated with the face in the thermal image based on the second location information associated with the face. Then the processing device 120 may determine the temperature of the subject based on the gray values associated with the face in the thermal image and the distance between the subject and the image capture device.").
Regarding claim 2, which claim 1 is incorporated, Lu discloses wherein the operation of determining the first contour of the object in the image further comprises (Paragraph [0089] "the processing device 120 may identify the face of the subject and/or determine the first location information by performing a recognition operation on the visible image.):
recognizing an object image in the image by using an image recognizing model (Paragraph [0089] "the processing device 120 may identify the face of the subject and/or determine the first location information by performing a recognition operation on the visible image. The recognition result of the visible image may include a bounding box of the face, a size (e.g., an area, a length, a width) of the bounding box of the face, a location (e.g., a two-dimensional coordinate, a three-dimensional coordinate) of the bounding box of the face"; Paragraph [0090] " the processing device 120 may perform the recognition operation using a recognition model. In some embodiments, the recognition model may be determined using a machine learning technique. "); and
generating the first contour (first location information in Paragraph [0091] equates to first contour) on the object image (Paragraph [0091] "the first location information associated with the face of the subject may include the bounding box of the face, the size of the bounding box of the face, the location of the bounding box of the face, etc., in the visible image.").
Regarding claim 9, which claim 1 is incorporated, Li discloses wherein the camera further comprises: an image capture circuit (visible capture unit in Paragraph [0086] equates to image capture circuit), configured to capture the image; and a thermal image capture circuit (thermal capture unit in Paragraph [0086] equates to thermal image capture circuit), configured to capture the thermal image (Paragraph [0086] "the image capture device may include a visible capture unit...and a thermal capture unit (e.g., a thermal camera, a thermal lens) used to capture the thermal image.");
wherein the operation of overlapping the first contour in the image onto the thermal image further comprises (Paragraph [0103] "the processing device 120 may align the thermal image with the visible image and determine the second location information associated with the face in the aligned thermal image based on the first location information”):
determining a position of the first contour in the thermal image based on a positional relationship between the image capture circuit and the thermal image capture circuit (Paragraph [0102] " the processing device 120 may determine the second location information associated with the face in the thermal image based on the first location information and a location relationship between the visible capture unit and the thermal capture unit. In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine a coordinate conversion relationship between a first coordinate of the visible capture unit and a second coordinate of the thermal capture unit based on the location relationship between the visible capture unit and the thermal capture unit. Further, the processing device 120 may determine the second location information based on the first location information and the coordinate conversion relationship."); and
overlapping the first contour onto the position as the second contour (Paragraph [0102] " the processing device 120 may determine the second location information based on the first location information and the coordinate conversion relationship."; Paragraph [0103] “the processing device 120 may align the thermal image with the visible image and determine the second location information associated with the face in the aligned thermal image based on the first location information.”).
Regarding claim 11, Lu discloses a temperature detection method, being adapted for use in an electronic apparatus, wherein the temperature detection method comprises the following steps (Paragraph [0044] “relates to systems and methods for determining a temperature (e.g., a shell temperature, a core temperature) of a subject.”):
capturing an image (visible image in Paragraph [0086] equates to an image) and a thermal image of an object (object (Paragraph [0086] "the processing device 120 (e.g., the image obtainment module 410) (e.g., the interface circuits of the processor 220) may obtain a visible image and a thermal image from an image capture device (e.g., the image capture device 110).");
determining a first contour (first location information in Paragraph [0088] equates to first contour) of the object in the image based on the image (Paragraph [0088] "for each of the at least one subject, the processing device 120 (e.g., the first location determination module 420) (e.g., the processing circuits of the processor 220) may determine first location information associated with a face of the subject in the visible image."; Paragraph [0089] "the processing device 120 may identify the face of the subject and/or determine the first location information by performing a recognition operation on the visible image. The recognition result of the visible image may include a bounding box of the face, a size (e.g., an area, a length, a width) of the bounding box of the face, a location (e.g., a two-dimensional coordinate, a three-dimensional coordinate) of the bounding box of the face"; Paragraph [0091] “the first location information associated with the face may be expressed as [x, y, w, h], wherein x and y refer to a two-dimensional coordinate (e.g., a coordinate of a left upper corner of the bounding box of the face) associated with the face, w refers to a width of the bounding box of the face, and h refers to a length of the bounding box of the face.”);
overlapping the first contour (first location information in Paragraph [0101] equates to first contour) in the image onto the thermal image to generate a second contour (second location information in Paragraph [0101] equates to second contour) in the thermal image (Paragraph [0101] "the second location information associated with the face may include a bounding box of the face"; Paragraph [0103] "the processing device 120 may align the thermal image with the visible image and determine the second location information associated with the face in the aligned thermal image based on the first location information...the processing device 120 may determine one or more first feature points of the visible image and one or more second feature points of the thermal image using the feature determination algorithm. Then the processing device 120 may align the thermal image with the visible image by matching the one or more first feature points with the one or more second feature points."); and
generating a temperature record of the object based on a plurality of temperature values among the second contour in the thermal image (Paragraph [0106] "the processing device 120 may determine gray values (e.g., gray values of a face region, gray values of a forehead region, gray values of a central forehead region) associated with the face in the thermal image based on the second location information associated with the face. Then the processing device 120 may determine the temperature of the subject based on the gray values associated with the face in the thermal image and the distance between the subject and the image capture device.").
Regarding claim 12 (drawn to a method), claim 12 is rejected the same as claim 2 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 2 are equally applicable to the claim 12, and all the other limitations similar to claim 2 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Regarding claim 19 (drawn to a method), claim 19 is rejected the same as claim 9 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 9 are equally applicable to the claim 19, and all the other limitations similar to claim 9 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
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.
Claims 3-5, 8, 13-15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu et al. (US 2023/0341267 A1) (hereinafter, “Lu”) in view of Wang (US 2015/0358559 A1).
Regarding claim 3, which claim 2 is incorporated, Lu discloses wherein the operation of generating the first contour on the object image (Paragraph [0091] "the first location information associated with the face of the subject may include the bounding box of the face, the size of the bounding box of the face, the location of the bounding box of the face, etc., in the visible image.") [further comprises:
overlapping a contour template onto the object image to generate the first contour].
However, Lu fails to teach overlapping a contour template onto the object image to generate the first contour.
Wang teaches overlapping a contour template (contour image T1 in Paragraph [0043] equates to a contour template) onto the object image to generate the first contour (Paragraph [0043] "the identification corresponds to the specified body, such as an image reflecting the morphological character of a body, i.e. a contour image T1 overlapped on the body thermal image in FIG. 8 (a), thereby facilitating the direct matching of the correlation degree, or an image reflecting a specified analysis area of a body").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu’s reference to include overlapping a contour template onto the object image to generate the first contour taught by Wang’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate detection of whether the analysis area is suitable as suggested by Wang (see Wang, Paragraph [0043]).
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements described above by known methods with no change to the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more that predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Wang with Lu to obtain the invention specified in claim 3.
Regarding claim 4, which claim 3 is incorporated, Lu discloses wherein the operation of generating the temperature record of the object further comprises: retrieving a component temperature corresponding to a mark [in the contour template] from the temperature values based on the mark [in the contour template] (Paragraph [0106] "the processing device 120 may determine gray values (e.g., gray values of a face region, gray values of a forehead region, gray values of a central forehead region) associated with the face in the thermal image based on the second location information associated with the face. Then the processing device 120 may determine the temperature of the subject based on the gray values associated with the face in the thermal image and the distance between the subject and the image capture device."); and
generating the temperature record based on the component temperature (Paragraph [0106] "determine the temperature of the subject based on the gray values associated with the face in the thermal image and the distance between the subject and the image capture device.").
However, Lu fails to teach the contour template.
Wang teaches the contour template (contour image T1 in Paragraph [0043] equates to a contour template) (Paragraph [0043] "the identification corresponds to the specified body, such as an image reflecting the morphological character of a body, i.e. a contour image T1 overlapped on the body thermal image in FIG. 8 (a)").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu’s reference to include the contour template taught by Wang’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate detection of whether the analysis area is suitable as suggested by Wang (see Wang, Paragraph [0043]).
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements described above by known methods with no change to the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more that predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Wang with Lu to obtain the invention specified in claim 4.
Regarding claim 5, which claim 1 is incorporated, Lu discloses wherein the operation of determining the first contour of the object in the image (Paragraph [0091] "the first location information associated with the face of the subject may include the bounding box of the face, the size of the bounding box of the face, the location of the bounding box of the face, etc., in the visible image.") [further comprises:
calculating a similarity between the image and a contour template based on the contour template; and
in response to the similarity being lower than a threshold, not determining the first contour of the object in the image].
However, Lu fails to teach calculating a similarity between the image and a contour template based on the contour template; and in response to the similarity being lower than a threshold, not determining the first contour of the object in the image.
Wang teaches calculating a similarity between the image and a contour template based on the contour template (Paragraph [0059] "the contour image is used as the template for matching. The detecting part 8 may perform the following processing to detect if there is the specified body in the thermal imaging data frame...calculating the sum of the ratio of the overlapping area therebetween in the respective total area, thereby acquiring the value of the correlation degree between the extracted thermal imaging data and the template.; Paragraph [0060] "when the correlation degree value reflecting the similar extent with the template exceeds the judging value, the frame is determined to be one frame including the specified body thermal image, that is, the specified body thermal image is detected"); and
in response to the similarity being lower than a threshold, not determining the first contour of the object in the image (Paragraph [0079] "in step A09, if the correlation degree is smaller than the specified judging value, the detecting part 8 determines that the specified body thermal image is not detected, return to the step A03, or jump to step A11 and return to the step A03 if not exited.").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu’s reference to include calculating a similarity between the image and a contour template based on the contour template; and in response to the similarity being lower than a threshold, not determining the first contour of the object in the image taught by Wang’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate detection of whether the analysis area is suitable as suggested by Wang (see Wang, Paragraph [0043]).
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements described above by known methods with no change to the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more that predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Wang with Lu to obtain the invention specified in claim 5.
Regarding claim 8, which claim 1 is incorporated, Lu discloses wherein the operation of generating the temperature record of the object further comprises: selecting a component temperature from the temperature values [in a contour template] based on a component relative position of the object (Paragraph [0106] "the processing device 120 may determine gray values (e.g., gray values of a face region, gray values of a forehead region, gray values of a central forehead region) associated with the face in the thermal image based on the second location information associated with the face. Then the processing device 120 may determine the temperature of the subject based on the gray values associated with the face in the thermal image and the distance between the subject and the image capture device."); and
generating the temperature record based on the component temperature (Paragraph [0106] "determine the temperature of the subject based on the gray values associated with the face in the thermal image and the distance between the subject and the image capture device.").
However, Lu fails to teach a contour template.
Wang teaches a contour template (Paragraph [0043] "the identification corresponds to the specified body, such as an image reflecting the morphological character of a body, i.e. a contour image T1 overlapped on the body thermal image in FIG. 8 (a)").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu’s reference to include a contour template taught by Wang’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate detection of whether the analysis area is suitable as suggested by Wang (see Wang, Paragraph [0043]).
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements described above by known methods with no change to the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more that predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Wang with Lu to obtain the invention specified in claim 8.
Regarding claim 13 (drawn to a method), claim 13 is rejected the same as claim 3 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 3 are equally applicable to the claim 13, and all the other limitations similar to claim 3 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Regarding claim 14 (drawn to a method), claim 14 is rejected the same as claim 4 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 4 are equally applicable to the claim 14, and all the other limitations similar to claim 4 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Regarding claim 15 (drawn to a method), claim 15 is rejected the same as claim 5 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 5 are equally applicable to the claim 15, and all the other limitations similar to claim 5 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Regarding claim 18 (drawn to a method), claim 18 is rejected the same as claim 8 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 8 are equally applicable to the claim 18, and all the other limitations similar to claim 8 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Claims 6-7, and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu et al. (US 2023/0341267 A1) (hereinafter, “Lu”) in view of in view of Wang (US 2015/0358559 A1), and further in view of Dryer et al. (US 2019/0340799 A1).
Regarding claim 6, which claim 1 is incorporated, Lu discloses wherein the operation of determining the first contour of the object in the image (Paragraph [0091] "the first location information associated with the face of the subject may include the bounding box of the face, the size of the bounding box of the face, the location of the bounding box of the face, etc., in the visible image.") further comprises: displaying a user interface (Paragraph [0059] "The user device may provide a user interface via which a user may view information (a temperature) and/or input data (e.g., user information) and/or instructions to the temperature determination system 100."), [wherein the user interface comprises the image and a contour template]; and receiving an operating input corresponding to the user interface (Paragraph [0059] "The user device may provide a user interface via which a user may view information (a temperature) and/or input data (e.g., user information) and/or instructions to the temperature determination system 100."), [adjusting a field of view (FOV) of the camera capturing the image to determine the first contour].
However, Lu fails to teach wherein the user interface comprises the image and a contour template; and adjusting a field of view (FOV) of the camera capturing the image to determine the first contour.
Wang teaches wherein the user interface comprises the image and a contour template (Paragraph [0043] "the identification may be acquired by further extracting the contour of the body thermal image included by the thermal imaging data in the detecting window."; Paragraph [0080] "the identification may be generated directly according to the position and dimension of the detecting window. The generated identification is synthesized with, such as overlapped on, the infrared thermal image acquired by the thermal imaging data frame, and then is displayed").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu’s reference to include wherein the user interface comprises the image and a contour template taught by Wang’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate detection of whether the analysis area is suitable as suggested by Wang (see Wang, Paragraph [0043]).
However, Lu and Wang both fail to teach adjusting a field of view (FOV) of the camera capturing the image to determine the first contour.
Dryer teaches adjusting a field of view (FOV) of the camera capturing the image to determine the first contour (Paragraph [0242] “FIG. 5E shows a view of physical space 5000 when there is sufficient light available (e.g., user 5004 has turned on the lights in response to error message 5024), but device 100 does not detect a surface of a physical object in physical space 5000 that is in the field of view of the camera. Device 100 displays error message 5026 (e.g., with the text “Move device from side to side to detect surface”) in user interface 5006 to indicate the error condition and to prompt user 5004 to move device 100 from side to side (e.g., to facilitate image processing by device 100 to detect a physical surface that is in the field of view of the camera).”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu in view of Wang to include adjusting a field of view (FOV) of the camera capturing the image to determine the first contour taught by Dryer’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have been to reposition the focus points over a point in the live preview that corresponds to a detected surface as suggested by Dryer (see Dryer, Paragraph [0245]).
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements described above by known methods with no change to the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more that predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Dryer with Lu and Wang to obtain the invention specified in claim 6.
Regarding claim 7, which claim 6 is incorporated, Lu discloses wherein the operation of determining the first contour of the object in the image (Paragraph [0091] "the first location information associated with the face of the subject may include the bounding box of the face, the size of the bounding box of the face, the location of the bounding box of the face, etc., in the visible image.") [further comprises: calculating an area of the object placed in the image based on the image; and displaying an indicator in the user interface to guide a user to move the contour template to the area].
However, Lu and Wang both fail to teach calculating an area of the object placed in the image based on the image; and displaying an indicator in the user interface to guide a user to move the contour template to the area.
Dryer discloses calculating an area of the object placed in the image based on the image (Paragraph [0263] “the activation of measurement addition button 5014, device 100 adds a measurement corresponding to the detected region and changes the appearance of indicator 5094 to indicate that the detected region has been confirmed as a measurement region. In addition, device 100 displays label 5098 that indicates an area of the physical rectangular area corresponding to the confirmed region (e.g., “7.5 ft2”).”); and
displaying an indicator in the user interface to guide a user to move the contour template to the area (Paragraph [0265] “device 100 has determined (e.g., based in part on measurement segment 5048) that the region over which reticle 5010 (or more specifically, focus point 5012) is positioned corresponds to a portion of a physical rectangular area in physical space 5000 (e.g., although the detected region does not appear rectangular in the live preview, from the perspective of device 100). Accordingly, device 100 displays indicator 5104 to indicate that the detected region corresponds to a physical rectangular area”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu in view of Wang to include calculating an area of the object placed in the image based on the image; and displaying an indicator in the user interface to guide a user to move the contour template to the area taught by Dryer’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have been to reposition the focus points over a point in the live preview that corresponds to a detected surface and enhance the operability of the device and makes the user-device interface more efficient as suggested by Dryer (see Dryer, Paragraph [0245] and Paragraph [0369]).
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements described above by known methods with no change to the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more that predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Dryer with Lu and Wang to obtain the invention specified in claim 7.
Regarding claim 16 (drawn to a method), claim 16 is rejected the same as claim 6 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 6 are equally applicable to the claim 16, and all the other limitations similar to claim 6 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Regarding claim 17 (drawn to a method), claim 17 is rejected the same as claim 7 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 7 are equally applicable to the claim 17, and all the other limitations similar to claim 7 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu et al. (US 2023/0341267 A1) (hereinafter, “Lu”) in view of in view of Wang (US 2015/0358559 A1), and further in view of Mekata et al. (US 6,855,934 B2) (hereinafter, “Mekata”).
Regarding claim 10, which claim 1 is incorporated, Lu fails to teach wherein the processor is further configured to execute the following operations: capturing a highest thermal signal and a lowest thermal signal from a plurality of thermal signals in the thermal image; and normalizing the thermal signals based on the highest thermal signal and the lowest thermal signal to generate the temperature values.
Wang teaches wherein the processor is further configured to execute the following operations: capturing a highest thermal signal and a lowest thermal signal from a plurality of thermal signals in the thermal image (Paragraph [0089] " analysis value may be acquired after calculating the detected thermal imaging data frame or the detected body thermal image according to a specified algorithm, may be a temperature value acquired by calculating the thermal imaging data AD values in the detecting window, or may be a temperature comparing value in different analysis areas, such as temperature difference. The specified algorithm may be to calculate the maximum, minimum, or average temperature value in a specified analysis area.")
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu’s reference to include wherein the processor is further configured to execute the following operations: capturing a highest thermal signal and a lowest thermal signal from a plurality of thermal signals in the thermal image taught by Wang’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have to provide indicate to the user what parts the user needs to pay more attention to as suggested by Wang (see Wang, Paragraph [0089]).
However, Lu and Wang both fail to teach normalizing the thermal signals based on the highest thermal signal and the lowest thermal signal to generate the temperature values.
Mekata teaches normalizing the thermal signals based on the highest thermal signal and the lowest thermal signal to generate the temperature values (Column 4 [lines 21-27] “the dynamic range of the video image signal is adjusted by using the upper limit temperature Tah and the lower limit temperature Tal output from the infrared image adjustment device 590 so that the upper limit temperature Tah matches the white level and the lower limit temperature Tal matches the black level.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art before the effective filing date to modify Lu in view of Wang to include normalizing the thermal signals based on the highest thermal signal and the lowest thermal signal to generate the temperature values taught by Mekata’s reference. The motivation for doing so would have prevent abrupt fluctuations of brightness in an image as suggested by Mekata (see Mekata, Column 4 [lines 61-65]).
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements described above by known methods with no change to the respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more that predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Mekata with Lu and Wang to obtain the invention specified in claim 10.
Regarding claim 20 (drawn to a method), claim 20 is rejected the same as claim 10 and the arguments similar to that presented above for claim 10 are equally applicable to the claim 20, and all the other limitations similar to claim 10 are not repeated herein, but incorporated by reference.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Schmieder et al. (US 2013/0028477 A1) discloses extracting feature from two infrared images, or two visible images, and an optimal correspondence between the images that relates the pixels of the first image to pixels of the second image.
Hua et al. (US 11,663,832 B2) discloses a method of detecting object and labeling objects by generating a fused image based on the RGB image and an adjusted thermal image.
Shirai et al. (US 2023/0384162 A1) discloses a heat trace extraction device that extracts a heat trace region by removing a region of the actual object from the thermal image based on the actual object image and the thermal image.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to UROOJ FATIMA whose telephone number is (571)272-2096. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Henok Shiferaw can be reached at (571) 272-4637. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/UROOJ FATIMA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2676
/Henok Shiferaw/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2676
Prosecution Insights