Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
DETAIL ACTION
Priority
This application claims priority to U.S provisional Patent Application No. 61248263, filed on 10/2/2009 and is hereby incorporated by references.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 1/6/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 2-21 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Jackson (US 20070262857 A1) in view of Baer (US 20050111696 A1) and Brodsky (US 20070024707 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Jackson discloses a system [e.g. FIG. 1-2 and 6-7; alarm system] at a property [e.g. a house or a building] and that comprises one or more computers [e.g. computers] and one or more storage devices [e.g. storage means] on which are stored instructions [e.g. software instructions] that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising: detecting, using one or more first images captured by a camera at the property [e.g. FIG. 1-2; images captured by camera 2], a potential alert event [alarm condition]; in response to detecting the potential alert event [e.g. capturing image in response to a detection event], transmitting, to a different system [e.g. FIG. 1-2 and 5-6; transmitting images to a remote server] that is not located at the property, at least one of the one or more first images; buffering, in a buffer [e.g. means for storing image] , two or more second images [e.g. storing images captured from the camera locally], determining, using the two or more second images [e.g. [0016 and 0082-0087]; transmits alarm events and associated video or static images to a remote central server; transmitting real-time images], whether the potential alert event is an actual alert event [e.g. FIG. 5-7; detecting a valid or invalid alarm]; and in response to determining whether the potential alert event is an actual alert event [e.g. transmitting real-time images for image-based monitoring before, during, and/or after a response to an alarm], selectively transmitting the two or more second images to the different system [e.g. [0016 and 0082-0087]; transmits alarm events and associated video or static images to a remote central server] or discarding the two or more second images from the buffer.
Although Jackson discloses transmitting real-time images for image-based monitoring before, during, and/or after a response to an alarm, it is noted that Jackson differs to the present invention in that Jackson fails to explicitly disclose the detail of the two image sets.
However, Baer teaches the well-known concept of a surveillance system capturing a first quantity of the at least one of the one or more first images [e.g. FIG. 5-6; capturing current image a long exposure time; a first quantity is 1] being less than a second quantity of the two or more second images [e.g. after the event is detected, capturing one or more event or high quality images; the second quantity could be 2]; using the two or more second images to determine whether the potential alert event is an actual alert event [detecting event; the appearance of an intruder].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the system disclosed by Jackson to exploit the well-known concept of capturing images for a surveillance system technique taught by Baer as above, in order to provide sufficient artificial illumination to capture one or more additional high quality images of the event [See Baer; [0024]].
Moreover, Brodsky teaches the well-known concept of determining, by the monitoring system, to discarding the two or more second images from the buffer [e.g. FIG.2; paragraph 0021; e.g. identify images that are potentially relevant to the video application 270. More specifically, the image detector 260 applies one or more filters that are configured to eliminate images that are determined to be irrelevant to application 270 from further consideration].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the system disclosed by Jackson to exploit the well-known concept of capturing images for a surveillance system technique taught by Baer and the well-known concept of image processing technique taught by Brodsky as above, in order to provide sufficient artificial illumination to capture one or more additional high quality images of the event [See Baer; [0024]] and a video monitoring system that reduces the amount of video processing or video analysis required to perform a given task. [See Brodsky; [0011]].
Regarding claim 3, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose the one or more first images comprise two or more first images [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-6; capturing and transmitting real-time images for image-based monitoring before, during, and/or after a response to an alarm; Baer: FIG. 5-6; Brodsky: FIG. 2-3], the operations comprising: in response to detecting the potential alert event, selecting, from the two or more first images, an image that satisfies a relevancy criterion for the potential alert event, wherein transmitting the at least one of the one or more first images comprises transmitting, to the different system, the image that satisfies the relevancy criterion for the potential alert event [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2; capable of detecting a threshold alarm event; Baer: FIG. 5-6].
Regarding claim 4, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose the one or more first images comprise two or more first images; and transmitting the at least one of the one or more first images comprises transmitting, to the different system, a first image from the two or more first images [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-6; capturing and transmitting real-time images for image-based monitoring before, during, and/or after a response to an alarm; Baer: FIG. 5-6; Brodsky: FIG. 2-3].
Regarding claim 5, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose transmitting the two or more second images to the different system in response to determining that the potential alert event is an actual alert event [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-7].
Regarding claim 6, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose in response to determining that the potential alert event is an actual alert event: determining to skip analyzing the two or more second images as part of an event of interest process; and transmitting the two or more second images to the different system [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-7; Brodsky: FIG.2; paragraph 0021; e.g. identify images that are potentially relevant to the video application 270. More specifically, the image detector 260 applies one or more filters that are configured to eliminate images that are determined to be irrelevant to application 270 from further consideration].
Regarding claim 7, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose selectively transmitting the two or more second images to the different system or discarding the two or more second images from the buffer comprises: discarding, from the buffer, the two or more second images in response to determining that the potential alert event is not an actual alert event [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-7; Brodsky: FIG.2; paragraph 0021; e.g. identify images that are potentially relevant to the video application 270. More specifically, the image detector 260 applies one or more filters that are configured to eliminate images that are determined to be irrelevant to application 270 from further consideration].
Regarding claim 8, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose discarding the two or more second images comprises deleting, from the buffer, the two or more second images [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-7; [0016]; Brodsky: FIG.2; paragraph 0021; e.g. identify images that are potentially relevant to the video application 270. More specifically, the image detector 260 applies one or more filters that are configured to eliminate images that are determined to be irrelevant to application 270 from further consideration].
Regarding claim 9, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose discarding the two or more second images comprises discarding, from image analysis for the potential alert event, the two or more second images [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-7; Brodsky: FIG.2].
Regarding claim 10, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose in response to determining that the potential alert event is not an actual alert event [e.g. Jackson FIG. 2-4 and 5-7; determining invalid alarm; [0015-0016]], analyzing the two or more second images as part of an event of interest process before discarding the two or more second images from the buffer [e.g. ; Brodsky: FIG.2].
Regarding claim 11, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose selectively transmitting, to the different system not located at the property, at least one of the one or more first images or the two or more second images uses a wireless network [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-6; wireless connectivity; Baer: FIG. 2-4; wireless connection].
Regarding claim 12, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose detecting the potential alert event comprises detecting a potential camera tamper event for the camera [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-6; motion sensor detection camera].
Regarding claim 13, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose the system comprises the camera [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2 and 5-6; camera; Baer: FIG. 1-3; Brodsky: FIG. 2-3].
Regarding claim 14, Jackson, Baer and Brodsky further disclose the camera is located in a building at the property [e.g. Jackson: FIG. 1-2; [0018]; Cameras 2 can be affixed to or at least partially within structural features of a building].
Regarding claim 15-20, this is a non-transitory computer storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations that includes same limitation as in claim 2-7 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 21, this is a method that includes same limitation as in claim 2 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Naidoo et al (US 20040086089 A1).
Babich et al (US 20080284580 A1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHUBING REN whose telephone number is (571)272-2788. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/ZHUBING REN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483