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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HUA (CN 110505389 Published on 2019-11-26 as WO 2021043172 A1 and the examiner uses HUA (US 20220182546 A1 as a translation and it is cited in the IDS filed on 10/10/2025 of the instant application) in view of Venkataraman et al. (US 20160044257 A1; hereafter Venkataraman).
As of Claim 1: HUA teaches an electronic device (¶0021 and FIG. 1, the electronic equipment 20) comprising: a first camera (¶¶0035-0036 and the camera module 40 may include an A camera 42, a B camera 44, a C camera 46, and a D camera 48); a second camera (¶¶0032-0036 and note that a B camera 44. Also, each of a plurality of cameras of the camera module 40 has a different function, and the size of each camera is also different); a display; at least one memory storing one or more instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions (¶¶0145-0146 and FIG. 8, 401) the circuit board 400 can integrate a processor, a storage medium, a camera, or other devices. Moreover, the processor can control the camera of the electronic equipment 20 to take pictures.), wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
run the first camera and the second camera in parallel (¶0039 and note determining a second camera corresponding to the change trend of the focus distance according to a preset correspondence relationship between the change trend of the focus distance and a camera to be determined; activating the second camera in the background; and
switching the second camera to operate in the foreground when the real-time focus distance of the first camera is within a focus distance interval of the second camera, and an image captured by the second camera is set as a preview image. Therefore, they are parallel);
capture a first plurality of images via the first camera and a second plurality of images via the second camera; control the display to display a first preview based on the first plurality of images (¶0055 and note that the camera operating in the foreground of the electronic equipment for capturing preview images is referred to as the first camera, and the first camera may be any one of a plurality of cameras included in the electronic equipment.); obtain first information via the first camera and second information via the second camera; and based on the first information and the second information, control the display (FIG. 8, a display screen 404) to switch from displaying the first preview based on the first plurality of image to displaying a second preview based on the second plurality of image (¶¶0055,0146 and note that he previous first camera is switched to operate in the background, and set the image captured by the second camera as a preview image. That is, use the new first camera to capture the preview image for preview, and the captured preview image is displayed on the screen).
Venkataraman is a similar or analogous system to the claimed invention as evidenced Venkataraman teaches the first and second subsets of active cameras capture image data in parallel that would have prompted a predictable variation of HUA by applying Venkataraman’s known principal of switch from displaying the first preview based on the first plurality of images to displaying a second preview based on the second plurality of images (¶¶0036,0039,0043 and note that new image capture settings for cameras in a first subset of active cameras. The new image capture settings are used to configure the first subset of active cameras to capture an additional set of image data used to synthesize an image that can be displayed to a user (e.g. preview mode), and/or saved (e.g. as part of a video sequence)).
In view of the motivations such as thereby further improving image quality one of ordinary skill in the art would have implemented the claimed variation of the prior art system of HUA.
Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
As of Claim 2: HUA in view of Venkataraman further teaches the first plurality of images and the second plurality of images are captured simultaneously (HUA ¶0039).
As of Claim 3: HUA in view of Venkataraman further teaches the first information comprises data related to a focus of the first camera, and wherein the second information comprises data related to a focus of the second camera (¶HUA 0121 and note that taking the four cameras shown in FIG. 4 as an example, the first camera is the B camera 44 with the largest focal length. At this time, the camera with a focal length smaller than the first camera is not unique, including the A camera 42, C camera 46, and D camera 48. In this case, the electronic equipment determines the A camera 42 with the largest focal length as a second camera. ).
As of Claim 4: HUA in view of Venkataraman further teaches the first information is determined based on an analysis of images captured by the first camera, and wherein the second information is determined based on a second phase difference value between phase difference pixels in the second camera (Venkataraman ¶¶0006,0050 and note that ).
As of Claim 5: HUA in view of Venkataraman further teaches the first information further comprises data related to a light condition of the first camera, and wherein the second information further comprises data related to a light condition of the second camera (Venkataraman ¶¶0023,0024 and note that any of the cameras in the first or second subsets of cameras satisfy a set of predetermined criteria for parameters including (but not limited to) exposure, focus settings, shutter speed, aperture, and/or light sensitivity.).
As of Claim 6: HUA in view of Venkataraman further teaches the first information comprises data related to a light condition of the first camera, and wherein the second information comprises data related to a light condition of the second camera (Venkataraman ¶¶0023,0024, 0038 and note that image data captured by any subset of active cameras can be used to measure scene information to determine new image capture settings. In many embodiments, the scene information is analyzed to further determine various image capture settings including, but not limited to, exposure, focus settings, shutter speed, aperture, and/or light sensitivity.).
As of Claim 7: HUA in view of Venkataraman further teaches the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to: based on the first information indicating that the first camera is in an out of focus state and the second information indicating that the second camera is in a focus state, display, on the display, the second preview based on the second plurality of images (Venkataraman ¶¶0006,0050 and ¶¶0121-0125 and note that different scenes of shooting distances among a plurality of cameras included in the electronic equipment, each camera is divided into a corresponding focus distance interval. Wherein, the focus distance interval divided for each camera does not exceed the actual focus distance that can be achieved. If it is not in the interval, it is out of focus).
As of Claims 8-13: Claims 8-13 are method claims for 1-7 and are addressed above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEKONNEN D DAGNEW whose telephone number is (571)270-5092. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM-5:00PM M-Th.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lin Ye can be reached on 571-272-7372. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MEKONNEN D DAGNEW/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638