DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-5 are currently pending.
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/13/2024 has been considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1 and 5, the claims recite “ a single camera installed near the doorway” and “a single camera provided near the doorway”, respectively. The term “near” in claims 1 and 5 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “near” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Dependent claims 2-4 fail to remedy the indefinites of claim 1 and are therefore also rejected.
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 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamaguchi (““Personal Identification by Learning-Based Integration of Facial Clothes Similarities”).
Regarding claim 1, Yamaguchi teaches:
A method for managing entering and leaving of a management target for a predetermined area having a single doorway, the method comprising:
acquiring a face image and an entire body image of an arbitrary person passing through the doorway using a camera image captured by a single camera installed near the doorway; (Yamaguchi, page 308 section IV, A 12-person identification experiment is performed by shooting the room’s entrance from inside and entering and exiting. See also Figure 1, room has 1 door and input images of face and tops and bottoms (whole body))
detecting entering of the management target into the predetermined area by performing a face authentication process using the face image of the arbitrary person included in the camera image and a registered face image of the management target; (Yamaguchi, page 307, One or more face images per person are registered in advance in the system. The similarity between the detected image and each of the registered N image is calculated)
extracting a feature quantity of the management target, of which entering into the predetermined area is detected by the face authentication process, from the entire body image of the management target included in the entire body image of the arbitrary person included in the camera image; (Yamaguchi, page 308, Since clothing changes day by day, the registration of Tops and Bottoms data is performed each day. Face recognition is performed by standing still in front of the camera only when entering the room for the first time each day. At this time, the system stores Tops and Bottoms data by detecting clothes)
extracting a feature quantity of the arbitrary person using the entire body image of the same arbitrary person included in the camera image after the detection of the entering of the management target into the predetermined area; (Yamaguchi, page 308, Assuming that each registered data set of face, Tops and Bottoms, one data item is registered for each of registered K persons. Let sfk, stk, and sbk be the similarities of the detected person against the k0th registered data for face tops, and bottoms respectively) and
detecting leaving of the management target from the predetermined area by performing re-identification process using the feature quantity of the management target extracted based on the camera image and the feature quantity of the arbitrary person extracted based on the camera image. (Yamaguchi, page 308 section IV, A 12-person identification experiment is performed by shooting the room’s entrance from inside and entering and exiting….See also page 308, Assuming that each registered data set of face, Tops and Bottoms, one data item is registered for each of registered K persons. Let sfk, stk, and sbk be the similarities of the detected person against the k0th registered data for face tops, and bottoms respectively)
Regarding claim 5, Yamaguchi teaches:
A device for managing entering and leaving of a management target for a predetermined area having a single doorway, the device comprising:
one or more processors configured to perform various processes, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: (Yamaguchi, page 308, Raspberry Pi)
acquire a face image and an entire body image of an arbitrary person passing through the doorway by using a camera image captured by a single camera provided near the doorway; (Yamaguchi, page 308 section IV, A 12-person identification experiment is performed by shooting the room’s entrance from inside and entering and exiting. See also Figure 1, room has 1 door and input images of face and tops and bottoms (whole body))
detect entering of the management target into the predetermined area by performing a face authentication process using the face image of the arbitrary person included in the camera image and a registered face image of the management target; (Yamaguchi, page 307, One or more face images per person are registered in advance in the system. The similarity between the detected image and each of the registered N image is calculated)
extract a feature quantity of the management target, of which entering into the predetermined area is detected by the face authentication process, from the entire body image of the management target included in the entire body image of the arbitrary person included in the camera image; (Yamaguchi, page 308, Since clothing changes day by day, the registration of Tops and Bottoms data is performed each day. Face recognition is performed by standing still in front of the camera only when entering the room for the first time each day. At this time, the system stores Tops and Bottoms data by detecting clothes)
extract a feature quantity of the arbitrary person using the entire body image of the arbitrary included in the camera image after the detection of the entering of the management target into the predetermined area; (Yamaguchi, page 308, Assuming that each registered data set of face, Tops and Bottoms, one data item is registered for each of registered K persons. Let sfk, stk, and sbk be the similarities of the detected person against the k0th registered data for face tops, and bottoms respectively) and
detect leaving of the management target from the predetermined area by performing re-identification process using the feature quantity of the management target extracted based on the camera image and the feature quantity of the arbitrary person extracted based on the camera image. (Yamaguchi, page 308 section IV, A 12-person identification experiment is performed by shooting the room’s entrance from inside and entering and exiting…See also page 308, Assuming that each registered data set of face, Tops and Bottoms, one data item is registered for each of registered K persons. Let sfk, stk, and sbk be the similarities of the detected person against the k0th registered data for face tops, and bottoms respectively)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 are not rejected under the prior art and would be in condition for allowance if re-written in independent form and the above rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) were overcome.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Refer to PTO-892, Notice of References Cited for a listing of analogous art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Molly K Wilburn whose telephone number is (571)272-3589. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-4pm.
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/Molly Wilburn/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2666
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