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.
Response to Amendment
The office action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed 07/09/2026 which has been entered and made of record. Claims 1 and 10 have been amended. No claim has been newly added. Claims 1-10 are pending in the application. The claim interpretation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) has been withdrawn based on the amendments of claims 1 and 10.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 07/09/2026, on page 6, paragraphs 3-4, with respect to the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered, however they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues Katsumata and Yamada, taken individually or in combination, do not teach the setting unit of independent claims.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. First, Katsumata teaches the switch display pull-down in Figure 24 as the setting unit, images are displayed based on the setting of time option specified in the display pull-down, paragraph [0205] “A display switching pull-down 160 is formed on an upper right side of the image display area 90. The display switching pull-down 160 is used in displaying the images in the image display area 90 to be divided according to imaging times or the like. As the pull-down button 161 is clicked, a plurality of time-date display switching menus such as a section of “1 hour” or a section of “2 hours” appear, and a display division is selected therefrom by the user. ”); Second, the claim language indicates a setting unit configured to set a check timing at which the images are checked, the setting of 1 hour or 2 hour are the check timing, and displaying images based on the 1 hour or 2 hour setting is a way to check images.
Conclusions: The rejections set in the previous Office Action are shown to have been proper, and the claims are rejected below. New citations and parenthetical remarks can be considered new grounds of rejection and such new grounds of rejection are necessitated by the Applicant's amendments to the claims. Therefore, the present Office Action is made final.
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.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katsumata et al. (US 20200234076 A1), hereinafter as Katsumata, in view of Yamada et al. (US 20210289081 A1), hereinafter as Yamada.
Regarding claim 1, Katsumata teaches An image processing device (Katsumata paragraph [0088] “FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention, which is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an image candidate determination apparatus 1.”) comprising: one or more processors; and a memory including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the image processing device to function as (Katsumata Figure 1, paragraph [0089-0091] “An overall operation of the image candidate determination apparatus 1 is controlled by a central processing unit (CPU) 2 …… the image candidate determination apparatus 1 also includes a hard disk 5, a hard disk drive 6 that accesses the hard disk 5, a memory 7 that stores data or the like …… may be read from the portable recording medium. In this case, the operation program read from the portable recording medium is installed in the image candidate determination apparatus 1. It goes without saying that the operation program is readable by a computer (CPU 2) of the image candidate determination apparatus 1.”): ……
an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of images (Katsumata teaches the image candidate determination apparatus 1 with the memory card reader/writer as the image acquisition unit, paragraph [0095] “In a case where the memory card 13 in which image data indicating a plurality of images is stored is loaded in the image candidate determination apparatus 1, the image data indicating the plurality of images stored in the memory card 13 is read by the memory card reader/writer 12 (step 21 in FIG. 2).”);
a setting unit configured to set a check timing at which the images are checked (Katsumata teaches an event management interface and display switching control based on image capturing time as a setting unit, Figure 24, paragraph [0200-0205] “FIG. 24 is a diagram showing another example of the image display window 80…… event management area 82, a sub event of “graduation certificate grant” and a sub event of “director's words” are generated below the event “graduation ceremony”……A display switching pull-down 160 is formed on an upper right side of the image display area 90. The display switching pull-down 160 is used in displaying the images in the image display area 90 to be divided according to imaging times or the like. As the pull-down button 161 is clicked, a plurality of time-date display switching menus such as a section of “1 hour” or a section of “2 hours” appear, and a display division is selected therefrom by the user. ”);
and a control unit configured to generate an album (Katsumata teaches the image candidate determination apparatus 1 as the control unit, paragraph [0222] “an album (electronic album) is produced using the image candidate determination apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1.”), wherein
the control unit identifies the person included in the images using …… (Katsumata paragraph [0095] “A face image portion included in the image represented by the read image data is extracted by the CPU 2 (face image portion extraction unit) (step 22 in FIG. 2). Further, on the basis of the extracted face image portion, one or more images including the same person are grouped by the CPU 2 (image grouping unit) (step 23 in FIG. 2).”),
generates person information related to the identified person (Katsumata teaches the number of images including the same person as the person information related to the identified person, paragraph [0118] “A subject list area 110 is formed on a left side of the image display area 90. In the subject list area 110, names that are registered in advance in the image candidate determination apparatus 1 by the user as described above are displayed as a list. Further, the number of images in which a person with a name is shown is also displayed in correspondence with the name.”),
compares the person information of the person with set information at the check timing (Katsumata teaches a minimum number input by the user as the set information, and checking person information with the set information by the image grouping, Katsumata further teaches grouping image based on event management interface with timing, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of various embodiments of Katsumata, paragraph [0170] “Referring to FIG. 19, the sheet number input window 140 is a window in which a minimum number and a maximum number of images to be disclosed in images including the same person are input (the minimum number and the maximum number of the images to be disclosed are limit values of an extraction number of images).”, paragraph [0181] “In the process of step 67 shown in FIG. 7, it is confirmed whether or not there are images that are public images, in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (step 67 of FIG. 7). ),
and outputs notification information indicating that the person information does not satisfy the set information, when the person information does not satisfy the set information (Katsumata paragraph [0036] “The image candidate determination apparatus may further comprise a person detection device that detects such a person that the number of the same person included in one or more images grouped by the image grouping device is equal to or smaller than a threshold, and an imaging instruction device that performs an imaging instruction of the person detected by the person detection device.”, paragraph [0181] “In the process of step 67 shown in FIG. 7, it is confirmed whether or not there are images that are public images, in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (step 67 of FIG. 7). In a case where there are images in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (YES in step 67 of FIG. 7), an imaging instruction window 150 shown in FIG. 20 is displayed on the display screen of the display device 3 (step 68 of FIG. 7). That is, such a person that the number of the same person included in one or more grouped images is equal to or smaller than a threshold is detected by the CPU 2 (person detection unit), and an imaging instruction for the person is performed by the CPU 2 (imaging instruction unit).”).
Katsumata is not relied on for the below claim language an identification information acquisition unit configured to acquire identification information for identifying a person; …… the identification information ……
Yamada teaches an identification information acquisition unit configured to acquire identification information for identifying a person; …… the identification information …… (Yamada teaches the model image analysis unit as the identification information acquisition unit, the extracted face image are mapped to person identifier, further teaches using the identification information in a similar image selection unit, paragraph [0060-0061] “the model image analysis unit 204 derives the similarity between the extracted face image and the representative face image stored for each personal identifier (ID) in a face dictionary database……the model image analysis unit 204 derives feature amounts for each piece of the model image data. The color information is an example of an image feature amount. Examples of methods for using the color information as an image feature amount include the histogram.”, paragraph [0071] “In step S607, the similar image selection unit 207 selects the candidate image data to be arranged as similar images in the page of the spread number selected in step S606, based on the model image analysis result obtained by the model image analysis unit 204 and the candidate image analysis result obtained by the candidate image analysis unit 206.”).
Katsumata and Yamada are in the same field of endeavor, namely generating digital image album. Yamada teaches using model image analysis unit to generate image feature, and further uses the feature with the candidate image analysis unit in similar image selection unit to improve the desired album product (Yamada paragraph [0102] “The above-described processing enables the user to easily output a desired print product.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Yamada with the device of Katsumata to improve the desired album product.
Regarding claim 2, Katsumata in view of Yamada teaches The image processing device according to claim 1, and further teach wherein the control unit generates a partial album constituting a part of the album and including the image at the check timing (Katsumata paragraph [0233] “Referring to FIG. 38, a plurality of image folder icons 371 to 380 are formed in the image selection window 370. The image folder icon 371 represents an image folder in which images captured at the time of a “Cherry-blossom viewing” event are stored. Similarly, the image folder icons 372, 373, and 374 represent image folders in which images captured at respective events of “sports day”, “festival of the Weaver”, and “Christmas party” are stored.”).
Regarding claim 3, Katsumata in view of Yamada teaches The image processing device according to claim 2, and further teach wherein the person information is information related to the person in the image included in the partial album (Katsumata teaches a partial album of 6 images for user “Taro SATO”, paragraph [0136] “Table 4 shows a first evaluation image obtained from “Taro SATO” for six images of image file names “0022.jpg”, “0019.jpg”, “0021.jpg”, “0013.jpg”, “0020.jpg”, and “0018.jpg”. Here, it is assumed that “Taro SATO” is shown in the six images.”).
Regarding claim 4, Katsumata in view of Yamada teaches The image processing device according to claim 2, and further teach wherein the control unit generates a first candidate and a second candidate as the partial album, and outputs the first candidate and the second candidate (Katsumata teaches displaying two face image groups as the first candidate and the second candidate, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of displaying various face image groups with displaying image folders as partial album in Figure 38, paragraph [0145-0146] “Referring to FIG. 12, a face image group G1 includes a face image portion included in the image with the image file name “0021.jpg”, a face image portion included in the image with the image file name “0019.jpg”, a face image portion included in the image with the image file name “0020.jpg”, and a face image portion included in the image with the image file name “0018.jpg”. The face image group G1 also includes a face image portion included in the image with the image file name “0022.jpg” and a face image portion included in the image with the image file name “0013.jpg”, which are not shown in FIG. 12. The face image group G1 includes the face image portions of “Taro SATO”. Further, a face image group G2 includes a face image portion included in an image with an image file name “0027.jpg”, a face image portion included in the image with the image file name “0014.jpg”, and a face image portion included in an image with an image file name “0028.jpg”. The face image portions included in the face image group G2 also represent the same person.”).
Regarding claim 5, Katsumata in view of Yamada teaches The image processing device according to claim 1, and further teach wherein the identification information includes a person image related to the person, and the identification information acquisition unit generates model information using the person image (Yamada teaches the model image analysis unit based on model image data as the identification information acquisition unit, paragraph [0059-0061] “In step S60302, the model image analysis unit 204 performs the object detection and the classification of the detected objects on each piece of the model image data. According to the present exemplary embodiment, the model image analysis unit 204 detects a face as an object…… In step S60304, the model image analysis unit 204 derives feature amounts for each piece of the model image data. The color information is an example of an image feature amount…… the feature amount may be derived by using a deep neural network.”).
Katsumata and Yamada are in the same field of endeavor, namely generating digital image album. Yamada teaches using model image analysis unit to generate image feature, and further uses the feature with the candidate image analysis unit in similar image selection unit to improve the desired album product (Yamada paragraph [0102] “The above-described processing enables the user to easily output a desired print product.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Yamada with the device of Katsumata to improve the desired album product.
Regarding claim 6, Katsumata in view of Yamada teaches The image processing device according to claim 1, and further teach wherein the identification information acquisition unit generates the identification information using the image acquired by the image acquisition unit (Yamada teaches a model album data acquisition unit to load model image data, and the model image analysis unit as the identification information acquisition unit. Katsumata teaches an image candidate determination apparatus to load images from memory, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Yamada with the device of Katsumata, Figure 6A, paragraph [0056-0057] “The model album data acquisition unit 203 loads the model image data from the HDD 104 according to the image file path recorded in the model album data and loads the model image data in the RAM 103. In step S603, the model image analysis unit 204 analyzes each piece of the model image data loaded in the RAM 103 in step S602”).
Katsumata and Yamada are in the same field of endeavor, namely generating digital image album. Yamada teaches using model image analysis unit to generate image feature, and further uses the feature with the candidate image analysis unit in similar image selection unit to improve the desired album product (Yamada paragraph [0102] “The above-described processing enables the user to easily output a desired print product.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Yamada with the device of Katsumata to improve the desired album product.
Regarding claim 7, Katsumata in view of Yamada teaches The image processing device according to claim 1, and further teach wherein the control unit generates and outputs print data for printing the generated album (Katsumata paragraph [0102] “Under each of the plurality of images displayed in the image display area 90, a public status and an image file name are displayed……an album is created using only “public” images, or only the “public” images are printed.”).
Regarding claim 8, Katsumata in view of Yamada teaches The image processing device according to claim 1, and further teach wherein the person information is the number of images including the person among the plurality of images, the set information is a threshold for the number of images, and the notification information indicates that the number of images does not exceed the threshold (Katsumata paragraph [0036] “The image candidate determination apparatus may further comprise a person detection device that detects such a person that the number of the same person included in one or more images grouped by the image grouping device is equal to or smaller than a threshold, and an imaging instruction device that performs an imaging instruction of the person detected by the person detection device.”).
Regarding claim 9, Katsumata teaches An image processing method (Katsumata paragraph [0009] “According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an image candidate determination method suitable for the image candidate determination apparatus.”) comprising:
…… and a check timing at which the image is checked (Katsumata teaches an event management interface and display switching control based on image capturing time, Figure 24, paragraph [0200-0205] “FIG. 24 is a diagram showing another example of the image display window 80…… event management area 82, a sub event of “graduation certificate grant” and a sub event of “director's words” are generated below the event “graduation ceremony”……A display switching pull-down 160 is formed on an upper right side of the image display area 90. The display switching pull-down 160 is used in displaying the images in the image display area 90 to be divided according to imaging times or the like. As the pull-down button 161 is clicked, a plurality of time-date display switching menus such as a section of “1 hour” or a section of “2 hours” appear, and a display division is selected therefrom by the user. ”);
acquiring a plurality of the images (Katsumata paragraph [0095] “In a case where the memory card 13 in which image data indicating a plurality of images is stored is loaded in the image candidate determination apparatus 1, the image data indicating the plurality of images stored in the memory card 13 is read by the memory card reader/writer 12 (step 21 in FIG. 2).”);
identifying the person included in the images using …… (Katsumata paragraph [0095] “A face image portion included in the image represented by the read image data is extracted by the CPU 2 (face image portion extraction unit) (step 22 in FIG. 2). Further, on the basis of the extracted face image portion, one or more images including the same person are grouped by the CPU 2 (image grouping unit) (step 23 in FIG. 2).”);
storing person information related to the identified person (Katsumata teaches the number of images including the same person as the person information related to the identified person, further teaches keeping a record and displaying the number, paragraph [0118] “A subject list area 110 is formed on a left side of the image display area 90. In the subject list area 110, names that are registered in advance in the image candidate determination apparatus 1 by the user as described above are displayed as a list. Further, the number of images in which a person with a name is shown is also displayed in correspondence with the name.”);
comparing the stored person information with set information at the check timing (Katsumata teaches a minimum number input by the user as the set information, and checking person information with the set information by the image grouping, Katsumata further teaches grouping image based on event management interface, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of various embodiments of Katsumata, paragraph [0170] “Referring to FIG. 19, the sheet number input window 140 is a window in which a minimum number and a maximum number of images to be disclosed in images including the same person are input (the minimum number and the maximum number of the images to be disclosed are limit values of an extraction number of images).”, paragraph [0181] “In the process of step 67 shown in FIG. 7, it is confirmed whether or not there are images that are public images, in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (step 67 of FIG. 7). );
and outputting notification information indicating that the person information does not satisfy the set information, when the person information does not satisfy the set information (Katsumata paragraph [0036] “The image candidate determination apparatus may further comprise a person detection device that detects such a person that the number of the same person included in one or more images grouped by the image grouping device is equal to or smaller than a threshold, and an imaging instruction device that performs an imaging instruction of the person detected by the person detection device.”, paragraph [0181] “In the process of step 67 shown in FIG. 7, it is confirmed whether or not there are images that are public images, in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (step 67 of FIG. 7). In a case where there are images in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (YES in step 67 of FIG. 7), an imaging instruction window 150 shown in FIG. 20 is displayed on the display screen of the display device 3 (step 68 of FIG. 7). That is, such a person that the number of the same person included in one or more grouped images is equal to or smaller than a threshold is detected by the CPU 2 (person detection unit), and an imaging instruction for the person is performed by the CPU 2 (imaging instruction unit).”).
Katsumata is not relied on for the below claim language acquiring identification information for identifying a person included in an image, …… the identification information……
Yamada teaches acquiring identification information for identifying a person included in an image, …… the identification information…… (Yamada teaches the model image analysis unit as the identification information acquisition unit, the extracted face image are mapped to person identifier, further teaches using the identification information in a similar image selection unit, paragraph [0060-0061] “the model image analysis unit 204 derives the similarity between the extracted face image and the representative face image stored for each personal identifier (ID) in a face dictionary database……the model image analysis unit 204 derives feature amounts for each piece of the model image data. The color information is an example of an image feature amount. Examples of methods for using the color information as an image feature amount include the histogram.”, paragraph [0071] “In step S607, the similar image selection unit 207 selects the candidate image data to be arranged as similar images in the page of the spread number selected in step S606, based on the model image analysis result obtained by the model image analysis unit 204 and the candidate image analysis result obtained by the candidate image analysis unit 206.”).
Katsumata and Yamada are in the same field of endeavor, namely generating digital image album. Yamada teaches using model image analysis unit to generate image feature, and further uses the feature with the candidate image analysis unit in similar image selection unit to improve the desired album product (Yamada paragraph [0102] “The above-described processing enables the user to easily output a desired print product.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Yamada with the device of Katsumata to improve the desired album product.
Regarding claim 10, Katsumata teaches An image processing system (Katsumata paragraph [0039] “FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the image candidate determination apparatus.”) comprising: an image processing device comprising: one or more processors; and a memory including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the image processing device to function as (Katsumata Figure 1, paragraph [0089-0091] “An overall operation of the image candidate determination apparatus 1 is controlled by a central processing unit (CPU) 2 …… the image candidate determination apparatus 1 also includes a hard disk 5, a hard disk drive 6 that accesses the hard disk 5, a memory 7 that stores data or the like …… may be read from the portable recording medium. In this case, the operation program read from the portable recording medium is installed in the image candidate determination apparatus 1. It goes without saying that the operation program is readable by a computer (CPU 2) of the image candidate determination apparatus 1.”): ……
an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of images (Katsumata teaches the image candidate determination apparatus 1 with the memory card reader/writer as the image acquisition unit, paragraph [0095] “In a case where the memory card 13 in which image data indicating a plurality of images is stored is loaded in the image candidate determination apparatus 1, the image data indicating the plurality of images stored in the memory card 13 is read by the memory card reader/writer 12 (step 21 in FIG. 2).”);
a setting unit configured to set a check timing at which the images are checked (Katsumata teaches an event management interface and display switching control based on image capturing time as a setting unit, Figure 24, paragraph [0200-0205] “FIG. 24 is a diagram showing another example of the image display window 80…… event management area 82, a sub event of “graduation certificate grant” and a sub event of “director's words” are generated below the event “graduation ceremony”……A display switching pull-down 160 is formed on an upper right side of the image display area 90. The display switching pull-down 160 is used in displaying the images in the image display area 90 to be divided according to imaging times or the like. As the pull-down button 161 is clicked, a plurality of time-date display switching menus such as a section of “1 hour” or a section of “2 hours” appear, and a display division is selected therefrom by the user. ”);
and a control unit configured to generate an album (Katsumata teaches the image candidate determination apparatus 1 as the control unit, paragraph [0222] “an album (electronic album) is produced using the image candidate determination apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1.”), and
an input and output device operated by a user (Katsumata teaches image instruction window in Figure 20, image display window in Figure 18 and number input window in Figure 19), wherein
the control unit identifies the person included in the images using …… (Katsumata paragraph [0095] “A face image portion included in the image represented by the read image data is extracted by the CPU 2 (face image portion extraction unit) (step 22 in FIG. 2). Further, on the basis of the extracted face image portion, one or more images including the same person are grouped by the CPU 2 (image grouping unit) (step 23 in FIG. 2).”),
stores person information related to the identified person (Katsumata teaches the number of images including the same person as the person information related to the identified person, further teaches keeping a record and displaying the number, paragraph [0118] “A subject list area 110 is formed on a left side of the image display area 90. In the subject list area 110, names that are registered in advance in the image candidate determination apparatus 1 by the user as described above are displayed as a list. Further, the number of images in which a person with a name is shown is also displayed in correspondence with the name.”);
compares the stored person information with set information at the check timing (Katsumata teaches a minimum number input by the user as the set information, and checking person information with the set information by the image grouping, Katsumata further teaches grouping image based on event management interface with timing, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of various embodiments of Katsumata, paragraph [0170] “Referring to FIG. 19, the sheet number input window 140 is a window in which a minimum number and a maximum number of images to be disclosed in images including the same person are input (the minimum number and the maximum number of the images to be disclosed are limit values of an extraction number of images).”, paragraph [0181] “In the process of step 67 shown in FIG. 7, it is confirmed whether or not there are images that are public images, in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (step 67 of FIG. 7). ),
and outputs notification information indicating that the person information does not satisfy the set information to the input and output device, when the person information does not satisfy the set information (Katsumata paragraph [0036] “The image candidate determination apparatus may further comprise a person detection device that detects such a person that the number of the same person included in one or more images grouped by the image grouping device is equal to or smaller than a threshold, and an imaging instruction device that performs an imaging instruction of the person detected by the person detection device.”, paragraph [0181] “In the process of step 67 shown in FIG. 7, it is confirmed whether or not there are images that are public images, in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (step 67 of FIG. 7). In a case where there are images in which the number of images including the same person is smaller than the minimum number (YES in step 67 of FIG. 7), an imaging instruction window 150 shown in FIG. 20 is displayed on the display screen of the display device 3 (step 68 of FIG. 7). That is, such a person that the number of the same person included in one or more grouped images is equal to or smaller than a threshold is detected by the CPU 2 (person detection unit), and an imaging instruction for the person is performed by the CPU 2 (imaging instruction unit).”),
and the input and output device receives the notification information and displays the notification information (Katsumata [0182] “Referring to FIG. 20, an imaging instruction window 150 prompts the user to image a person whose number of captured images is smaller than the minimum number.”).
Katsumata is not relied on for the below claim language an identification information acquisition unit configured to acquire identification information for identifying a person, …… the identification information ……
Yamada teaches an identification information acquisition unit configured to acquire identification information for identifying a person, …… the identification information …… (Yamada teaches the model image analysis unit as the identification information acquisition unit, the extracted face image are mapped to person identifier, further teaches using the identification information in a similar image selection unit, paragraph [0060-0061] “the model image analysis unit 204 derives the similarity between the extracted face image and the representative face image stored for each personal identifier (ID) in a face dictionary database……the model image analysis unit 204 derives feature amounts for each piece of the model image data. The color information is an example of an image feature amount. Examples of methods for using the color information as an image feature amount include the histogram.”, paragraph [0071] “In step S607, the similar image selection unit 207 selects the candidate image data to be arranged as similar images in the page of the spread number selected in step S606, based on the model image analysis result obtained by the model image analysis unit 204 and the candidate image analysis result obtained by the candidate image analysis unit 206.”).
Katsumata and Yamada are in the same field of endeavor, namely generating digital image album. Yamada teaches using model image analysis unit to generate image feature, and further uses the feature with the candidate image analysis unit in similar image selection unit to improve the desired album product (Yamada paragraph [0102] “The above-described processing enables the user to easily output a desired print product.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Yamada with the device of Katsumata to improve the desired album product.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XIAOMING WEI whose telephone number is (571)272-3831. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kee Tung can be reached at (571)272-7794. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XIAOMING WEI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2611
/KEE M TUNG/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2611
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