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 .
Claim Interpretation
Claim(s) 1-20 do not use “means for” (or “step for”) language, or generic placeholders for "means” coupled with functional language without recitation of sufficient structure for carrying out the claimed functions and therefore do not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1, 10 and 19 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 7 of U.S. Patent No. 12,132,993 B2 in view of Imazu (US 2019/0260947 A1). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.[claim 1]
1. A display method comprising:
displaying an image obtained by a wide-angle lens on a display interface;
obtaining an area selection operation acting on the display interface; and
displaying a detail imaging area on the display interface in response to the area selection operation, the detail imaging area being used to display an imaging range of a zoom lens, the detail imaging area including a plurality of sub-areas, and a quantity of the plurality of sub-areas representing a quantity of images to be captured by the zoom lens.
1. A display method, comprising:
displaying an image obtained by a wide-angle lens on a display interface;
obtaining a first user operation acting on the display interface; and
displaying a detail imaging area in the display interface in response to the first user operation, the detail imaging area being used to display an imaging range of a zoom lens and a quantity of detail images to be captured based on information of the detail imaging area.
The display method of claim 1, wherein:
the display interface further includes an imaging control, the detail imaging area including one or more sub-areas, and the number of the sub-areas being determined by the zoom factor of the zoom lens, the one or more sub-areas being arranged in a preset order, and
the method further includes:
obtaining a second user operation acting on the imaging control; and
marking the sub-areas in the preset order to indicate a current imaging progress in response to the second user operation.
While claim 7 of ‘993 discloses receiving a first user operation, claim 7 does not explicitly disclose that the user operation is an area selection operation.
However, area selection operations to display a detail imaging area are known in the prior art. For example, Imazu discloses a camera system which includes an area selection operation to capture and display a detail image of a desired area of a scene (Figure 4, area selection operation in S3 and capture and display of detail image in S4-S7; see also Figure 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to use an area selection operation as the user operation of ‘993 so that the user may select a particular area of the scene to display in detail. [claim 10]
Regarding claim 10, see the rejection of claim 1 above and note that claim 10 is similarly rejected over claim 7 of ‘933 in view of Imazu. Additionally, Official Notice is taken that it is well known in the art to implement display methods using a control terminal including a display interface, one or more processors and one or more memories storing one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method. The use of such a control terminal allows for images to be processed and displayed using off-the-shelf programmable hardware without the need for custom design.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to use a control terminal as claimed to implement the method of claim 7 of ‘933 so that the method may be implemented using off-the-shelf programmable hardware without the need for custom design. [claim 19]
Regarding claim 19, see the rejection of claim 10 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 10 and 19 contain limitations not taught by the prior art, but cannot be considered allowable due to the above double patenting rejections.
Claims 2-9, 11-18 and 20 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.[claims 1-20]
Regarding claims 1-20, the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest a display method or control terminal having the specific requirements claimed.
While the prior art teaches similar systems/methods, the particular requirements of these claims are not taught or suggested by the prior art.
For example, Baldwin et al. (US 2019/0082101) discloses a display method, the display method being applied to a control terminal (Figures 1 and 2), the control terminal being used to communicate with an imaging device, the imaging device including a wide-angle lens and a zoom lens (Figure 1, 102/104; Figure 2, 202/204; Paragraphs 0042, 0045-0046, 0061, 0093) , the control terminal including a display interface (Figure 2, 216; Paragraph 0045)), comprising: displaying an image obtained by the wide-angle lens in the display interface; obtaining a first user operation acting on the display interface (e.g. Figure 12, 1204; Paragraph 91-0097; receiving a user request to adjust visual indication/second camera); and displaying a first detail imaging area in the display interface in response to the first user operation, the first detail imaging area being used to display an imaging range of the zoom lens (Figure 5, 504; Figure 7, 710; ; Figure 9, 908; Figure 11, 1104, 1106, 1114, 1116; Figure 12, 1216; Figure 13, 130, 1306; Paragraph 0095; displaying new portion of scene captured by second camera in response to change).
However, Baldwin does not teach or reasonably suggest displaying a detail imaging area on the display interface in response to the area selection operation, the detail imaging area being used to display an imaging range of a zoom lens, the detail imaging area including a plurality of sub-areas, and a quantity of the plurality of sub-areas representing a quantity of images to be captured by the zoom lens as claimed.
Additionally, while ‘933 claims a similar system, ‘933 does not claim the particular requirements of the claims 2-9, 11-18 and 20 in combination with the features claimed in claim 7 of ‘933.
However, the above double patenting rejections must be overcome before all claims can be considered allowable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY J HENN whose telephone number is (571)272-7310. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday ~10-6.
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/Timothy J Henn/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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