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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species 5 in the reply filed on 08/11/26 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the elected species is described differently in the requirement for restriction than specific sections of the specification. The previous restriction requirement is withdrawn and claims 1-20 are being examined.
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 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, 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pylvanainen et al. (US 2014/0240553, hereinafter Pylvanainen) in view of Fisher et al. (US 2016/0050360, hereinafter Fisher).
Re claim 1, Pylvanainen discloses, A method comprising: generating an image using an image sensor of a user device (S405, S410); receiving, at the user device, a selection indicating a depiction of a physical object in a first region in the image, the image comprising a second region that excludes the first region (pars [0038], [0040], and [0048], S450); generating a zoom video sequence by resizing the first region from an initial size to a resized size, decreasing a scaling of the resized first region in each successive frame of the zoom video sequence as the user device moves closer to or away from the physical object, and adjusting a scaling of the second region in the zoom video sequence as the user device moves closes closer to or away from the physical object (pars [0046]-[0047], S440, S445); and storing the zoom video sequence on the user device (S455).
Pylvanainen fails to explicitly disclose limitations which are disclosed by Fisher as follows: a user selection indicating a depiction of a physical object in a first region in the image (pars [0128], [0198]).
One of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to combine a user selection indicating a depiction of a physical object in a first region in the image of Fisher with the method of Pylvanainen in order to allow a user to select any desired portion to maintain during the dolly zoom.
Re claim 2, the combination of Pylvanainen and Fisher discloses the limitations of claim 1 including wherein the first region includes the depiction of the physical object, and the second region includes a remaining area of the image complementing the first region (Pylvanainen pars [0038], [0040], and [0048], Fisher par [0198]).
Re claim 7, the combination of Pylvanainen and Fisher discloses the limitations of claim 1 including wherein the physical object is one of a human face, a segment of a human body, or a shape in the image (Pylvanainen pars [0038], [0040], and [0048], Fisher par [0198]).
Re claim 8, the combination of Pylvanainen and Fisher discloses the limitations of claim 1 including further comprising: stabilizing the depiction of the physical object in the zoom video sequence such that the depiction of the physical object remains in an initial area in the zoom video sequence (Pylvanainen pars [0046]-[0047], S440, S445).
Claims 11, 12, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected for the reasons stated in claims 1, 2, 7, 8, and 1, respectively. The device and storage device as claimed would have been obvious and expected by the method of Pylvanainen and Fisher.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 9, 10, 13-16, and 19 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOEL W FOSSELMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3728. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 - 5:00 M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Twyler Haskins can be reached at (571)272-7406. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JOEL W FOSSELMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
Prosecution Insights