DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-11 are pending in the present application.
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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy of Japan patent application number JP2024-012251 filed on 01/31/2024 has been received and made of record.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/21/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
“a distance distribution information acquisition unit configured to acquire”, “a region division unit configured to divide”, and “an offset unit configured to decrease” in claim 1.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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, 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 and 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PGPubs 2019/0130632 to Sabater et al. in view of U.S. PGPubs 2023/0334761 to Blackmon et al..
Regarding claim 1, Sabater et al. teach an image processing apparatus comprising: at least one processor or circuit configured to function as (Fig 5, par 0097):
a distance distribution information acquisition unit configured to acquire distance distribution information of an object based on an object image formed by an optical system (par 0008, “Light-field data processing comprises notably, but is not limited to, generating refocused images of a scene, generating perspective views of a scene, generating depth maps of a scene, generating extended depth of field (EDOF) images, generating stereoscopic images, and/or any combination of these”, par 0031, “Such detection is based on the knowledge of the depth of the points or pixels in the light field, for example based on the associated depth map. If only part of the foreground object occludes the selected surface, this part is hidden”, par 0072-0077, “4D light-field data can be represented, either when recorded by a plenoptic camera or by a camera array, by a set of sub-aperture images. A sub-aperture image corresponds to a captured image of a scene from a point of view, the point of view being slightly different between two sub-aperture images. These sub-aperture images give information about the parallax and depth of the imaged scene ….The ball in the foreground partially occludes this surface 33, as may be easily detected by using the depth map: the depth of the selected area 33 ds is bigger than the depth of the occluding surface d.sub.occ. However, there are views in the matrix of views 31, in which pixels belonging to surface 33, which are occluded in reference view 311, are visible” …obtain depth map of a scene using light field sensor );
a region division unit configured to divide coordinate information of the object into a first region and a second region (par 0075-0079, “the user selects the surface 32 on reference view 311. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the other views of matrix 31 will be used to determine the values of the pixels belonging to the surface of the ball 32, which are self-occluded in reference view 311. The values of these self-occluded pixels are then projected onto reference view 311, in order to form an upgraded reference view 320 ….the occluding part of the foreground ball is hidden, and the occluded pixels of surface 33 are projected onto reference view 311, using their values in other views of matrix 31 where they are visible, to form an upgraded reference view 330. The projected pixels are denoted as 331 on FIG. 3C. The occluding part of the foreground ball may either be totally erased, or hidden by applying a transparency effect”, par 0081-0084, “At step S404, pixels belonging to the selected surface, which are not visible in the reference view, but visible in at least one other view of the matrix of views 31 are identified. Such pixels may either be self-occluded pixels, i.e. pixels which are occluded by the surface to which they belong itself, or be occluded by a foreground object. At step S405, the identified occluded pixels are projected onto the reference view 311, using their value in the view(s) in which they are visible. The reference view 311 is hence upgraded into a new reference view 320 or 330, in which all occluded parts of the selected surface are visible. In case when some pixels belonging to the surface are occluded by a foreground object, this object may be partially erased or hidden at step S405 as well” ….segment object based on depth information).
But Sabater et al. keep silent for teaching an offset unit configured to decrease a distance in an optical axis direction of the optical system between a first representative coordinate representing a coordinate of the first region and a second representative coordinate representing a coordinate of the second region.
PNG
media_image1.png
462
322
media_image1.png
Greyscale
In related endeavor, Blackmon et al. teach an offset unit configured to decrease a distance in an optical axis direction of the optical system between a first representative coordinate representing a coordinate of the first region and a second representative coordinate representing a coordinate of the second region (Figs 4a-4b, par 0058-0060, “FIG. 4b is a graph illustrating the values of the blending factor α(x) to be used in a section of the blending region 402. To the left of the blending region in the example shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, i.e. outside of the foveal region 104, the blending factor α(x) has a value of 1, as denoted at 404, such that I.sub.r(x)=I.sub.Rast(x). Alternatively, the blending factor α(x) may be undefined in this region, and the rendered image values are simply taken to be the image values determined by the rasterisation logic 222. To the right of the blending region in the example shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, i.e. outside of the blending region 402 and within the foveal region 104, the blending factor α(x) has a value of 0, as denoted at 406, such that I.sub.r(x)=I.sub.RT(x). Alternatively, the blending factor α(x) may be undefined in this region, and the rendered image values are simply taken to be the image values determined by the ray tracing logic 220. Within the blending region, the blending factor α(x) is in the range 0≤α(x)≤1. The blending factor α(x) is preferably continuous with the values at 404 and 406 and preferably varies smoothly over the blending region to thereby reduce the appearance of artefacts occurring in the blending region in the rendered image. There are many examples of blending factors which would meet these criteria. For example, the blending factor may vary linearly across the blending region as represented by the dashed line 408. This is a simple example and can be implemented with very little processing complexity. As another example, the first derivatives of the blending factor α(x) may be controlled to be continuous at the edges of the blending region, to further reduce perceptible artefacts at the boundaries of the blending region”….rendering blending region between first region and second region to smooth the transition zoon between first region and second region).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modified Sabater et al. to include an offset unit configured to decrease a distance in an optical axis direction of the optical system between a first representative coordinate representing a coordinate of the first region and a second representative coordinate representing a coordinate of the second region as taught by Blackmon et al. to determine a transition zone between first region and second region and applying a rendering effect to preferably varies smoothly over the blending region to thereby reduce the appearance of artefacts occurring in the blending region in the rendered image.
PNG
media_image2.png
290
444
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 2, Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. teach all the limitation of claim 1, and further teach wherein the offset unit adds a predetermined offset value to the coordinate information of the first region (Sabater et al.: Figs 3B-3C, par 0032, par 0075-0079, Blackmon et al.: Figs 4a-4b, par 0058-0060, determine a transition zone between first region and second region and applying a rendering effect).
Regarding claim 10, Sabater et al. teach a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program including instructions for executing following processes (par 0051-0053). The remaining limitations of the claim are similar in scope to claim 1 and rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 11, the meth claim 11 is similar in scope to claim 1 and is rejected under the same rational.
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PGPubs 2019/0130632 to Sabater et al. in view of U.S. PGPubs 2023/0334761 to Blackmon et al., further in view of U.S. PGPubs 2019/0279371 to Usikov et al..
Regarding claim 3, Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. teach all the limitation of claim 1, and Sabater et al. further teach wherein the region division unit divides the coordinate information of the object into the first region and the second region so that an occluding region that occludes an occluded region (Fig 3, par 0075-0079, “The ball in the foreground partially occludes this surface 33, as may be easily detected by using the depth map: the depth of the selected area 33 ds is bigger than the depth of the occluding surface d.sub.occ. However, there are views in the matrix of views 31, in which pixels belonging to surface 33, which are occluded in reference view 311, are visible”), but keep silent for teaching wherein the region division unit divides the coordinate information of the object into the first region and the second region so that an occluding region that occludes an occluded region in which the coordinate information of the object cannot be acquired by the distance distribution information acquisition unit is included in the first region.
In related endeavor, Usikov et al. teach wherein the region division unit divides the coordinate information of the object into the first region and the second region so that an occluding region that occludes an occluded region in which the coordinate information of the object cannot be acquired by the distance distribution information acquisition unit is included in the first region (Fig 1B, par 0023-0028, “The region 122b may refer to an area in the third depth representation 116b (i.e. which corresponds to background 116a) of the depth image 112a, which may also contain zero-depth values. The region 122b may have boundaries with non-zero depth regions, where a difference between the non-zero depth regions nearby the region 122b may be greater than a threshold depth value. Alternatively stated, the region 122b may indicate a large drop in the depth of the scene 114 as compared to nearby non-zero depth regions that share boundary with the region 122b. The region 122c may refer to a shadowy area in the third depth representation 116b of the depth image 112a, which may also contain zero-depth values. The zero-depth values in the region 122c may be as a result of an IR shadow in the region 122c casted by a foreground object, such as the first foreground object 118a, on the background 116a”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modified Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. to include wherein the region division unit divides the coordinate information of the object into the first region and the second region so that an occluding region that occludes an occluded region in which the coordinate information of the object cannot be acquired by the distance distribution information acquisition unit is included in the first region as taught by Usikov et al. to smoothen first object boundary using a moving-template filter on the color image because dangling-pixels artifact present to reduce the amount of boundary fluctuation and stabilize the object boundary for precise object segmentation and enhanced background substitution.
Regarding claim 4, Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. teach all the limitation of claim 1, and further teach wherein the offset unit adds a different offset value for each of the sub-regions (Sabater et al.: par 0032, “hiding the at least one foreground object is performed by applying a transparency effect to the object. Hence, the occluding foreground object (or part of it) may either be totally or partially hidden (e.g. with transparent blending). This may help the user get an overall view of the scene”, Blackmon et al.: Fig 4B, “FIG. 4b is a graph illustrating the values of the blending factor α(x) to be used in a section of the blending region 402. To the left of the blending region in the example shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, i.e. outside of the foveal region 104, the blending factor α(x) has a value of 1, as denoted at 404, such that I.sub.r(x)=I.sub.Rast(x). Alternatively, the blending factor α(x) may be undefined in this region, and the rendered image values are simply taken to be the image values determined by the rasterisation logic 222. To the right of the blending region in the example shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, i.e. outside of the blending region 402 and within the foveal region 104, the blending factor α(x) has a value of 0, as denoted at 406, such that I.sub.r(x)=I.sub.RT(x)”), but keep silent for teaching wherein the region division unit divides the coordinate information of the object into the second region and the first region including a plurality of sub regions that are not connected to each other.
In related endeavor, Usikov et al. teach wherein the region division unit divides the coordinate information of the object into the second region and the first region including a plurality of sub regions that are not connected to each other, and wherein the offset unit adds a different offset value for each of the sub-regions (Fig 3C, par 0046, “he image processor 202 may be configured to remove dangling-pixels artifact present on the first object boundary 304B of the first object mask 304A. After removal of the dot-like artifacts or certain zero-depth artifacts around the first object mask 304A, the dangling-pixels artifact present on the first object boundary 304B of the first object mask 304A, may be removed. The removal of dangling-pixels artifact may be further understood from FIG. 3C. Now referring to FIG. 3C, a dangling-pixels artifact 326 is shown in an example. The dangling-pixels artifact 326 may be manifested by significant fluctuations at the first object boundary 304B adjacent to the IR shadow areas in the depth image 112a. In those IR shadow areas, such as the region 124 (FIGS. 1B, and 3A), at the first object boundary 304B, the object boundary fluctuation may occur from frame-to-frame and from pixel-to-pixel manner. The dangling-pixels artifact 326 are caused due to the chaotic depth, as shown in region 124 (FIGS. 1B, and 3A), in the depth image 112a. The image processor 202 may be configured to tag a pixel as a dangling-pixel at the first object boundary 304B when the pixel in a “3×3” pixels vicinity has at least one depth-undefined pixel (for example, a pixel that contain a zero-depth value)”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modified Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. to include wherein the region division unit divides the coordinate information of the object into the second region and the first region including a plurality of sub regions that are not connected to each other as taught by Usikov et al. to smoothen first object boundary using a moving-template filter on the color image because dangling-pixels artifact present to reduce the amount of boundary fluctuation and stabilize the object boundary for precise object segmentation and enhanced background substitution.
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PGPubs 2019/0130632 to Sabater et al. in view of U.S. PGPubs 2023/0334761 to Blackmon et al., further in view of China PGPubs CN116824093 to Yu et al..
Regarding claim 5, Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. teach all the limitation of claim 1, but keep silent for teaching wherein the coordinate information of the object is three-dimensional coordinate of each point constituting a point cloud.
In related endeavor, Yu et al. teach wherein the coordinate information of the object is three-dimensional coordinate of each point constituting a point cloud (par 0002, “By laser scanning and irradiating or scanning and shooting the object, the laser reflected light intensity or image color at different points on the surface of the object is obtained, and then the laser is reflected The light intensity or image color is associated with the three-dimensional coordinates of the corresponding position points to generate corresponding point cloud data, thereby constructing a three-dimensional model of the object surface”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modified Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. to include wherein the coordinate information of the object is three-dimensional coordinate of each point constituting a point cloud as taught by Yu et al. to realize three-dimensional construction of the target object surface thereby improving the construction accuracy and construction efficiency of a three-dimensional model.
Regarding claim 6, Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. teach all the limitation of claim 1, and Sabater et al. further teach wherein the coordinate information of the object corresponds to the distance distribution information acquired by the distance distribution information acquisition unit (par 008-009, “Light-field data processing comprises notably, but is not limited to, generating refocused images of a scene, generating perspective views of a scene, generating depth maps of a scene, generating extended depth of field (EDOF) images, generating stereoscopic images, and/or any combination of these “, par 0014, par 0066, “ FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating examples of a plenoptic camera and a multi-array camera. Light-field cameras are capable of recording 4D light-field data. For instance, 4D light-field cameras may be: a plenoptic camera 200 comprising a main lens 105, a microlens array 110 and an image sensor 115 (FIG. 1A); or a multi-array camera 150 comprising a lens array 155 and a single image sensor 160 (FIG. 1B)”), but keep silent for teaching wherein the at least one processor or circuit is further configured to function as a point cloud generation unit configured to convert the distance distribution information into a point cloud.
In related endeavor, Yu et al. teach wherein the coordinate information of the object corresponds to the distance distribution information acquired by the distance distribution information acquisition unit (par 0002, “Point cloud scanning mainly includes two methods: laser detection point cloud scanning and image shooting point cloud scanning. By laser scanning and irradiating or scanning and shooting the object, the laser reflected light intensity or image color at different points on the surface of the object is obtained, and then the laser is reflected The light intensity or image color is associated with the three-dimensional coordinates of the corresponding position points to generate corresponding point cloud data, thereby constructing a three-dimensional model of the object surface”), and wherein the at least one processor or circuit is further configured to function as a point cloud generation unit configured to convert the distance distribution information into a point cloud (par 0010, “Use laser point cloud scanning equipment to conduct an all-round scan of the target object surface to obtain the point three-dimensional coordinates and laser reflection intensity data of several position points on the target object surface; obtain the point three-dimensional coordinates and laser reflection intensity data of all position points The intensity data is converted and processed to obtain point cloud distribution data corresponding to all position points “, par 0039, “Use laser point cloud scanning equipment to conduct an all-round scan of the target object surface to obtain the point three-dimensional coordinates and laser reflection intensity data of several position points on the target object surface; obtain the point three-dimensional coordinates and laser reflection intensity data of all position points The intensity data is converted and processed to obtain point cloud distribution data corresponding to all position points”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modified Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. to include wherein the coordinate information of the object corresponds to the distance distribution information acquired by the distance distribution information acquisition unit as taught by Yu et al. to realize three-dimensional construction of the target object surface thereby improving the construction accuracy and construction efficiency of a three-dimensional model.
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PGPubs 2019/0130632 to Sabater et al. in view of U.S. PGPubs 2023/0334761 to Blackmon et al., further in view of U.S. PGPubs 2025/0119522 to Park et al..
Regarding claim 8, Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. teach all the limitation of claim 1, but keep silent for teaching wherein the first representative coordinate is a statistical amount of a coordinate of a first neighboring region located near a boundary with the second region within the first region, and wherein the second representative coordinate is a statistical amount of a coordinate of a second neighboring region located near a boundary with the first region within the second region.
In related endeavor, Park et al. teach wherein the first representative coordinate is a statistical amount of a coordinate of a first neighboring region located near a boundary with the second region within the first region, and wherein the second representative coordinate is a statistical amount of a coordinate of a second neighboring region located near a boundary with the first region within the second region (par 0011, “identify the boundary complexity based on a number of neighboring boundaries included within the context region, and reduce a width of at least one from among the occlusion region and the context region based on the number of neighboring boundaries being greater than or equal to a threshold number “, Fig 6, par 0100-0102, “ the processor 120 may refine the depth map by selectively applying a median filter based refinement and a color information comparison based refinement based on a thickness (or size) of the identified object region. ….the processor 120 may use a depth value difference between neighboring pixels to determine the object and the background or the boundary regions of two objects in the depth map. For example, the processor 120 may define a pixel having a depth difference from a center pixel being greater than or equal to a certain value from among four neighboring pixels of top, bottom, left and right as the depth boundary region. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a region 611 including the pixel having the depth difference from the center pixel being greater than or equal to the certain value from among the four neighboring pixels of top, bottom, left and right in a depth map 610 may be identified as the depth boundary region (620).”, Figs 7A-7B, par 0105, “The median filter based refinement may be a method of allocating the median value of depth values of pixels present within the window as an output value. In this process, the pixels of the depth boundary region may be excluded. The median filter based refinement method may stably obtain a depth boundary and is effective in mitigating a depth value inversion phenomenon which occurs in the depth boundary. However, with a thin object, because most of the object is include in the depth boundary region, a problem of the thin object disappearing may occur due to the thin object being output as a background depth value when applying the median filter”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modified Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. to include wherein the first representative coordinate is a statistical amount of a coordinate of a first neighboring region located near a boundary with the second region within the first region, and wherein the second representative coordinate is a statistical amount of a coordinate of a second neighboring region located near a boundary with the first region within the second region as taught by Park et al. to identify a region included with the object of less than or equal to the specified thickness based on difference information between the depth map and the depth map applied with the opening operation to calculate a standard deviation of depth values of pixels excluding a depth boundary region within the window by applying the window to the depth map, and perform a depth map refinement based on the calculated standard deviation being greater than or equal to a threshold value to generates novel view images.
Regarding claim 9, Sabater et al. as modified by Blackmon et al. and Park et al. teach all the limitation of claim 8, and Park et al. further teach wherein the at least one processor or circuit is further configured to function as a filtering application unit configured to apply filtering processing to a region including the first neighboring region and the second neighboring region in the coordinate information (par 0047, “For accurately identifying the foreground and background boundary, a deep learning-based alpha matting technique may be used. However, because the relevant technique operates under a premise that only one foreground object is present in an image, several side effects may be caused due to the object becoming more complex. In addition thereto, with techniques that find a depth boundary region in which the boundary of the foreground and the background is obscure and identify the boundary by applying a median filter to the relevant region, if a region corresponding to the foreground in the filter is small, the region may be allocated to the background due to a characteristic of a median filter and thereby, there may be a problem of a thin foreground object disappearing”, Figs 7A-7B, par 0105, “The median filter based refinement may be a method of allocating the median value of depth values of pixels present within the window as an output value. In this process, the pixels of the depth boundary region may be excluded. The median filter based refinement method may stably obtain a depth boundary and is effective in mitigating a depth value inversion phenomenon which occurs in the depth boundary. However, with a thin object, because most of the object is include in the depth boundary region, a problem of the thin object disappearing may occur due to the thin object being output as a background depth value when applying the median filter”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base, 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: The cited prior art fails to teach the combination of elements recited in claim 7, including "wherein a difference between the distance distribution information of the first region and the distance distribution information obtained by adding the offset value to the distance distribution information of the first region is larger than a difference between the distance distribution information of the first region and the distance distribution information used when calculating a coordinate in a direction orthogonal to an optical axis direction in point cloud generation performed by the point cloud generation unit”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jin Ge whose telephone number is (571)272-5556. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 to 5:00.
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, Jason Chan can be reached at (571)272-3022. 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.
JIN . GE
Examiner
Art Unit 2619
/JIN GE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2619
Prosecution Insights