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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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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Claim 2 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 and 7 of U.S. Patent No 12,200,393. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because application claim 2 is encompassed by patented claims 1 and 7.
See also application and patented claims table.
Application Claims (18/966,628)
2. An image processing device comprising at least one processor or circuit configured to function as:
an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image including a subject;
a distance information acquisition unit configured to acquire distance information indicating a distance to the subject; and
a layer information generation unit configured to generate layer information on a layer for each distance based on the distance information and
change a reference for generating the layer information in accordance with the image.
Patented Claims (US12,200,393)
1. An image processing device comprising at least one processor or circuit configured to function as:
an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image including a subject through a lens unit;
a distance information acquisition unit configured to acquire distance information indicating a distance to the subject;
a layer information generation unit configured to generate layer information on a layer for each distance based on the distance information; and a setting unit configured to set a reference for generating the layer information and switch display of a setting value capable of being set in accordance with the lens information of the lens unit
7. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the layer information generation unit
changes the reference for generating the layer information in accordance with the image.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding independent claim 1, the prior art of Nishide (US12342082) discloses an endoscope system for acquiring an insertion distance and a rotation angle of the endoscope inserted into a body of the subject at a time point when the endoscopic images are captured, and outputting the composite image in association with the acquired insertion distance and rotation angle of the endoscope. The prior art of Cleary (US2014/0207611) discloses a system and method for associating at least one of the one or more items with the virtual hold tag in the shopping application, and generating a collage of items associated with the virtual hold tag, the collage of items being a single visual representation of each item associated with the virtual hold tag. The prior art of Akimoto (US9345394) discloses an image pickup unit that acquires an optical image in the subject; a luminal organ extracting section that extracts image information of a three-dimensional shape of a specific luminal organ in the subject; a position correspondence control section that sets correspondence between two coordinate systems; a feature information acquisition section that acquires feature information in the image information of the extracted three-dimensional shape of the specific luminal organ. The prior art of Osada (US9984485) discloses an acceptor that is configured to accept from the subject a selection of an image of clothing to be tried on from among the clothing images displayed on the first display. A generator is configured to generate a composite image of a subject image of the subject and the selected clothing image. The second controller is configured to display the composite image on a second display.
Thus, while many references teach imaging method and apparatus for associating or extracting image information of a specific subject, none of the references alone or in combination, provide a motivation to teach: “an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image including a subject; a distance information acquisition unit configured to acquire distance information indicating a distance to the subject; a layer information generation unit configured to generate layer information for each distance based on the distance information; a setting unit configured to set a synthesized image insertion region for inserting a synthesized image and insertion layer information, which is layer information for inserting the synthesized image, for the image; and a display control unit configured to display an overlapping region where the synthesized image and the image of the subject overlap each other in a predetermined color or pattern corresponding to the layer information of the subject when the synthesized image is displayed in the synthesized image insertion region”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG H LAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7367. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM.
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/HUNG H LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639 02/20/26