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 § 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 person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ishida et al (US 2022/0014719; hereinafter referred to as Ishida).
Regarding Claims 1, 9 and 10, Ishida teaches a projector (Figure 1; First Projection Device 1) used as a first projector (Figure 1; First Projection Device 1) in a multi-projection system (Figure 1; Projection System 100) in which an overlapping region is set (see Paragraph [0027]; wherein it is disclosed that the projection system 100 displays a horizontally long projection target image by projecting a division image on a first projection range 10 of the screen 6 from the first projection device 1, projecting the division image, from the second projection device 2, on a second projection range 20 of the screen 6 which overlaps a part of the first projection range 10, and joining these two division images), the overlapping region being a region in which a part of a first projection image projected from the first projector (Figure 1; First Projection Device 1) and a part of a second projection image projected from a second projector (Figure 1; Second Projection Device 2) to overlap with each other on a projection surface (see Paragraph [0027]; wherein it is disclosed that the projection system 100 displays a horizontally long projection target image by projecting a division image on a first projection range 10 of the screen 6 from the first projection device 1, projecting the division image, from the second projection device 2, on a second projection range 20 of the screen 6 which overlaps a part of the first projection range 10, and joining these two division images), the projector (Figure 1; First Projection Device 1) comprising:
an optical device (Figure 2; Projection Unit 13); and
one or more processors (Figure 2; Control Unit 14) configured to:
control an operation of the optical device (Figure 2; Projection Unit 13) and control an operation of the second projector (Figure 1; Second Projection Device 2) to project a first image group having a first state in which brightness of the first projection image (Figure 1; First Projection Range 10) is greater than zero and brightness of the second projection image (Figure 1; Second Projection Range 20) is zero on the projection surface (Figure 1; Screen 6) in a corresponding region corresponding to the overlapping region (see Figure 6; Paragraph [0053]; wherein it is disclosed that the projection control unit 43 projects the black image on the screen 6 from the first projection device 1, and controls the second projection device 2 to be in a non-image projection state, wherein the black image 15 is an image having slight brightness due to a characteristic of the optical modulation unit 11b of the first projection device 1),
acquire first imaging data by an imaging device (Figure 1; Imaging Unit 5) imaging the corresponding region with the first image group projected on the projection surface (see Figures 6 and 7; Paragraph [0054]; wherein it is disclosed that the brightness detection unit 44 acquires the captured image obtained by imaging the screen 6 by the imaging unit 5 in a state shown in FIG. 7, acquires an image M1 of the overlapping portion 10A in the captured image, and calculates brightness),
control the operation of the optical device (Figure 2; Projection Unit 13) and control the operation of the second projector (Figure 1; Second Projection Device 2) to project a second image group having a second state in which the brightness of the first projection image (Figure 1; First Projection Range 10) is zero and the brightness of the second projection image (Figure 1; Second Projection Range 20) is greater than zero on the projection surface (Figure 1; Screen 6) in the corresponding region (see Figures 8 and 9; Paragraph [0061]; wherein it is disclosed that the projection control unit 43 projects the black image on the screen 6 from the second projection device 2, and controls the first projection device 1 to be in a non-image projection state, wherein the black image 15 is an image having slight brightness due to a characteristic of the optical modulation unit 11b of the second projection device 2), acquire second imaging data by the imaging device (Figure 1; Imaging Unit 5) imaging the corresponding region with the second image group projected on the projection surface (see Paragraph [0062]; wherein it is disclosed that the brightness detection unit 44 acquires the captured image obtained by imaging the screen 6 by the imaging unit 5 in a state shown in FIG. 9, acquires an image M2 of the overlapping portion 20A in the captured image, and calculates brightness), and
detect a difference in position between the first projection image (Figure 1; First Projection Range 10) and the second projection image (Figure 1; Second Projection Range 20) in a range of the overlapping region by analyzing the first imaging data and the second imaging data (see Paragraphs [0052] and [0060]; wherein it is disclosed that the overlapping portion 20A in the second projection range 20 can be detected based on information on a distance between the first projection device 1 and the second projection device 2, information of an angle formed by a direction of an optical axis of the first projection device 1 and a direction of an optical axis of the second projection device 2, and the like. These pieces of information may be manually input to the control device 4, or may be automatically determined by the control device 4 by sensors and the like provided in the first projection device 1 and the second projection device 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter.
Regarding Claim 2, the prior art of record, whether taken alone or in combination, fails to teach, suggest or render obvious the limitations which require the first projection image has a non-overlapping region as a region not overlapping with the second projection image and a first partial region to overlap with the second projection image, at least a part of the first partial region is a region where blend processing of changing brightness in an arrangement direction in which the first projection image and the second projection image are arranged is performed to equalize brightness in the overlapping region when the first projection image and the second projection image are projected to overlap with each other in the overlapping region to brightness in the non-overlapping region, projecting the first image group on the projection surface includes adjusting the first partial region to contain a first state region having the first state and a first blend region on which the blend processing is performed by changing a blend range on which the blend processing is performed in the first partial region from a first range to a second range smaller than the first range, and acquiring the first imaging data includes imaging the first state region.
These limitations in combination with the limitations of claim 1 would render the claim non-obvious over the prior art of record if rewritten.
Dependent claims 3 and 5-8 would likewise be non-obvious over the prior art of record if the abovementioned amendment were made.
Regarding Claim 4, the prior art of record, whether taken alone or in combination, fails to teach, suggest or render obvious the limitations which require detecting the difference in position between the first projection image and the second projection image in the range of the overlapping region includes: extracting an analysis region expressed in a coordinate system of an imaging device from the second imaging data; generating transformed data obtained by transformation of the analysis region into a region in a coordinate system of a drawing panel of the first projector; performing matching processing on drawing data representing the region corresponding to the analysis region in the first projection image and expressed in the coordinate system of the drawing panel and the transformed data, and detecting one or both of an amount and a direction of the difference in position between the first projection image and the second projection image based on a result of the matching processing.
These limitations in combination with the limitations of claim 1 would render the claim non-obvious over the prior art of record if rewritten.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER A LAMB II whose telephone number is (571)270-0648. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minh-Toan Ton can be reached at (571) 272-2303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER A LAMB II/Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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