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 .
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 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.
DETAILED ACTION
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8-12, 15-17, 20 are rejected under 35 USC 102 as being anticipated by US 2009/0138805, Hildreth
1. A standalone digital display device comprising:
a wireless or wired network interface device to receive video data and display settings from an operatively coupled information handling system; (Hildreth Fig 3. Camera coupled to the processor)
a video scaler hardware controller, a scaler memory device, a timing controller (TCON), a display screen panel, and a power supply unit (PSU) to provide power to the video scaler hardware controller, the scaler memory device, the TCON, and the display screen panel; (Hildreth Fig 2-3, ¶52-55, TV and set top box, which contain scalers, memory, power supplies and timing controllers)
a visual sensor on the standalone digital display device to capture images of a user's face; (Hildreth Fig 3 camera)
the video scaler hardware controller to receive the images of the user's face from the visual sensor in a closed loop and to execute computer-readable program code instructions of a facial detection module to detect facial patterns of the user's face detected in front of the standalone digital display device based on the captured images of the user's face; (Hildreth ¶32 perform facial recognition)
the video scaler hardware controller to access the scaler storage device at the standalone digital display device to determine if the detected facial patterns of the user's face match a facial pattern stored on the scaler storage device among a plurality of stored facial patterns for a plurality of facial profiles of a plurality of users; (Hildreth ¶90 match a user using facial recognition)
the video scaler hardware controller to execute computer-readable program code of a profile bridging firmware module to, when a matching facial pattern is found, access a facial profile with user-selected on-screen display (OSD) settings associated with the matching facial pattern to automatically apply the user-selected OSD settings of that facial profile to the received video display data to adjust operation of a display screen panel at the standalone digital display device independently of the operatively coupled information handling system; and (Hildreth ¶98 personalized media settings with the user)
the video scaler hardware controller to automatically transmit the video data with the user-selected OSD settings to a timing controller (TCON) to display image and video content at the display screen panel adjusted according to the user-selected OSD settings applied to the video data. (Hildreth ¶99 media settings are applied to the video)
Claims 10 and 15 are rejected under a similar rationale.
2. The standalone digital display device of claim 1, further comprising:
the video scaler hardware controller to execute computer-readable program code instructions of the facial detection module to detect the facial patterns from captured images of the user's face includes the facial detection module detecting landmarks across the user's face and distances between these landmarks; and (Hildreth ¶112 facial template – computational model, which indicates locations of various parts “landmarks” of the face)
the video scalar hardware controller matching the detected landmarks across the user's face and distances between these landmarks with stored landmarks and distances between these landmarks associated with a stored facial pattern at the scaler memory device. (Hildreth ¶126 matches facial template)
Claim 11 is rejected under a similar rationale.
3. The standalone digital display device of claim 1 further comprising:
the video scaler hardware controller to, when no detected facial patterns of the user's face match any facial pattern stored on the scaler storage device among a plurality of stored facial patterns, store a new detected facial pattern; and (Hildreth ¶103 users not identified added to data of users)
the video scaler hardware controller to presents an OSD graphical user interface (GUI) to the user to receive corresponding new user-selected OSD settings of the standalone digital display device to be associated with the new facial pattern for a new user in a new facial profile and to stores the new facial profile with corresponding new user-selected OSD settings on the scaler storage device. (Hildreth ¶103 users not identified added to data of users, see also ¶111)
Claims 12 and 17 are rejected under a similar rationale
6. The standalone digital display device of claim 1 further comprising:
the video scaler hardware controller to execute the computer-readable program code instructions of the facial detection module to detect a single face among a plurality of faces of users in front of the visual sensor and select the single face of a single user among the plurality of faces of users to identify the facial profile of the single user and automatically apply the user-selected OSD settings associated with the facial profile of the single user to the received video data from the operatively coupled information handling system. (Hildrech ¶142 multiple users and choosing one)
Claim 16 is rejected under a similar rationale.
8. The standalone digital display device of claim 1 further comprising:
the visual sensor to detect an absence of the user in front of the standalone digital display device;
the scaler hardware controller, when absence is detected, to detect a new presence of a second user and receive images of the second user's face to determine the facial patterns of the second user to determine if the second user is a new user or the user previously in front of the standalone digital display; and
the scaler hardware controller to automatically apply the user-selected OSD settings associated with the facial profile of the user to the received video data from the operatively coupled information handling system when the second user is the user returning that was previously in front of the standalone digital display. (Hildreth ¶36-42 disclose a dad user watching content alone and then a mom user watching content alone, which detects that a new user (mom) arrives it applies the mom’s settings to the tv)
Claim 20 is rejected under a similar rationale.
9. The standalone digital display device of claim 8 further comprising:
scaler hardware controller to match the facial patterns of the second user with another facial profile of the plurality of facial profiles or determine the second user is a new user and apply the user-selected OSD settings associated with the facial profile of the second user to the received video data from the operatively coupled information handling system when the second user is not the user previously in front of the standalone digital display. (Hildreth ¶41-42 mom user’s settings are used)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 4, 7, 13, and 17-18 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Hildreth.
4. The standalone digital display device of claim 3 further comprising:
the video scaler hardware controller to determine if a count limit of users has been exceeded with the new facial profile and store the new facial profile with a time and date stamp on the scaler storage device; and
the video scaler hardware controller to delete an oldest facial profile from the plurality of facial profiles stored on the scaler storage device.
Although Hildreth does not disclose a limited number of users, it is understood that there is not unlimited storage space available on a tv device, therefore some limit to the number of users would be necessary. It would have been obvious to use a first-in, first-out (FIFO) method to delete the oldest profile from the system as FIFO is one of the ways of removing an element from a fixed length array, which given a limited storage space would be the technical implementation of the limited number of users. One would have been motivated to delete the oldest profile for the purposes of preventing an overflow of the profiles.
Claims 13 and 18 are rejected under a similar rationale.
7. The standalone digital display device of claim 1 further comprising:
the video scaler hardware controller to execute the computer-readable program code instructions of the facial detection module to detect a centrally-located face among a plurality of faces of users in front of the visual sensor from the captures images of the user's face and select the centrally-located face as the user's face to determine facial patterns and select the facial profile for the user-selected OSD settings to apply to received video data from the operatively coupled information handling system. (Hildrech ¶142 multiple users and choosing one)
Hildreth does not disclose choosing the centrally-located face. However, it would have been obvious to modify the system of Hildreth to use the centrally located face as a choice as one of a finite of identified, predictable solutions (e.g. the people in front of a TV) with a reasonable expectation of success.
Claims 5, 14, 19 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Hildreth in view of 2017/0310785, Martin et al. (hereafter Martin)
5. The standalone digital display device of claim 1 further comprising:
the video scaler hardware controller to determine if any facial profile of the plurality of facial profiles stored on the scaler storage device has exceeded a facial profile age threshold based on a time and date stamp for the facial profile stored on the scaler storage device; and
the video scaler hardware controller to delete any facial profile from the plurality of facial profiles stored on the scaler storage device that exceeds the facial profile age threshold.
Hildreth discloses facial profiles, Martin ¶52 discloses deleting accounts based on age. It would have been obvious to modify the system of Hildreth to include deleting profiles based on age for the purposes of freeing space on the storage device as taught by Martin (¶26)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
2010/0245287, Thorn, which discloses a facial recognition of users.
2007/0140532, Goffin, which discloses using facial profiling for electronic devices.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ming Shui whose telephone number is (303)297-4247. The examiner can normally be reached on 7-5 Pacific Time, M-Th.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Greg Morse can be reached on 571-272-3838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Ming Shui/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2663
Prosecution Insights