DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. 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.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The Information Disclosure Statement filed 22 January 2025 has been fully considered by Examiner. An annotated copy is included herewith.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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.
6. Claims 1-8, 11, 12, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang (US-11,532,111).
Regarding claim 1: Zhang discloses an information processing apparatus (fig 8 and column 12, lines 4-22 of Zhang) comprising: at least one memory and at least one processor (fig 8(810,812) and column 12, lines 51-55 of Zhang) which function as: an acquisition unit (fig 3(302) and column 6, lines 10-17 of Zhang – acquires video, audio, images, and so on) configured to acquire image data including an image of a person (fig 2; fig 3(304); column 4, lines 33-37; and column 5, lines 39-47 of Zhang), and audio data associated with the image data (fig 3(306) and column 6, lines 19-29 of Zhang); a conversion unit configured to convert the audio data acquired by the acquisition unit to text data (fig 3(318) and column 7, lines 7-12 of Zhang); a selection unit configured to select the image data acquired by the acquisition unit (fig 3 (310) and column 6, lines 48-54 of Zhang); and a generation unit configured to generate a layout image in which are arranged specific text data of voice uttered by the person included in the image data selected by the selection unit, in the text data, and the image data selected by the selection unit (fig 3(322) and column 7, lines 35-44 of Zhang).
Regarding claim 2: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein the acquisition unit is capable of acquiring person identification data for identifying the person (fig 2(212) and column 5, lines 56-60 of Zhang), and wherein the at least one processor further functions as an extraction unit configured to extract the specific text data from within the text data, based on the person identification data acquired by the acquisition unit (fig 2(208) and column 5, lines 39-46 and lines 61-64 of Zhang – text extracted according to identified person and placed in appropriate speech bubble).
Regarding claim 3: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein the extraction unit extracts a face of the person included in the image data selected by the selection unit from within the text data, based on the person identification data acquired by the acquisition unit, and extracts the specific text data of the person (column 7, lines 18-30 of Zhang – identifies the person and the face, and the text that corresponds to the person, to make the comic panel).
Regarding claim 4: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 2 (as rejected above), wherein the generation unit generates, as the layout image, an image in which the specific text data extracted by the extraction unit and the image data selected by the selection unit are arranged (fig 2 and column 7, lines 18-44 of Zhang – generates layout based on detected objects, people, and faces, and the corresponding text).
Regarding claim 5: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein the image data is data of a moving image formed by a plurality of frames (fig 1(106) and column 4, lines 13-24 of Zhang), and wherein the selection unit is capable of selecting one frame of the plurality of frames (column 4, lines 25-42 of Zhang).
Regarding claim 6: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 5 (as rejected above), wherein the audio data is audio data collectively associated with the plurality of frames (column 4, lines 35-45 of Zhang – audio data associated with selected key frames of video, which are used to generate comic layout), and wherein the at least one processor further functions as an extraction unit configured to extract, as the specific text data, text data of voice uttered by the person included in one of the one frame selected by the selection unit, and at least one of frames preceding and following the one frame, from within the text data (fig 2 and column 4, lines 31-42 of Zhang – text data generated from audio data over multiple frames, and applied to a key frame selected for the comic).
Regarding claim 7: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein the image data includes images of a plurality of persons (fig 2(212) and column 5, lines 42-55 of Zhang), and wherein the at least one processor further functions as an extraction unit configured to extract the specific text data of each person (column 7, lines 26-35 of Zhang).
Regarding claim 8: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 7 (as rejected above), wherein the generation unit generates the layout image in which each specific text data is arranged (fig 2 and column 5, lines 20-64 of Zhang – comic book page layout for multiple pages).
Regarding claim 11: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein the image data includes a plurality of persons (fig 2(212) and column 5, lines 42-55 of Zhang), wherein the audio data includes data of real voice of each person, and wherein the conversion unit separates the audio data into data items of real voice of the persons, respectively, and converts each data item to the text data (fig 2 and column 5, lines 39-47 of Zhang).
Regarding claim 12: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 2 (as rejected above), wherein the information processing apparatus is communicably connected to an image capturing apparatus capable of storing the image data, the audio data, and the person identification data (fig 1(104) and column 4, lines 1-20 of Zhang – captures and stores the image data and audio data (video), along with commonly associated data, such as personal identification data), and wherein the acquisition unit acquires the image data, the audio data, and the person identification data from the image capturing apparatus (fig 1(108) and column 4, lines 6-10 of Zhang).
Regarding claim 15: Zhang discloses a method of controlling an information processing apparatus (fig 8 and column 12, lines 4-22 of Zhang), comprising: acquiring image data (fig 3(302) and column 6, lines 10-17 of Zhang – acquires video, audio, images, and so on) including an image of a person (fig 2; fig 3(304); column 4, lines 33-37; and column 5, lines 39-47 of Zhang), and audio data associated with the image data (fig 3(306) and column 6, lines 19-29 of Zhang); converting the audio data acquired by the acquiring to text data (fig 3(318) and column 7, lines 7-12 of Zhang); selecting the image data acquired by the acquiring (fig 3(310) and column 6, lines 48-54 of Zhang); and generating a layout image in which are arranged specific text data of voice uttered by the person included in the image data selected by the selecting, in the text data, and the image data selected by the selecting (fig 3(322) and column 7, lines 35-44 of Zhang).
Regarding claim 16: Zhang discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method (fig 8 (810) and column 12, lines 51-55 of Zhang) of controlling an information processing apparatus (fig 8 and column 12, lines 4-22 of Zhang), wherein the method comprises: acquiring image data (fig 3(302) and column 6, lines 10-17 of Zhang – acquires video, audio, images, and so on) including an image of a person (fig 2; fig 3(304); column 4, lines 33-37; and column 5, lines 39-47 of Zhang), and audio data associated with the image data (fig 3(306) and column 6, lines 19-29 of Zhang); converting the audio data acquired by the acquiring to text data (fig 3(318) and column 7, lines 7-12 of Zhang); selecting the image data acquired by the acquiring (fig 3(310) and column 6, lines 48-54 of Zhang); and generating a layout image in which are arranged specific text data of voice uttered by the person included in the image data selected by the selecting, in the text data, and the image data selected by the selecting (fig 3(322) and column 7, lines 35-44 of Zhang).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
8. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US-11,532,111) in view of Georgiev (US-2015/0067482).
Regarding claim 9: Zhang discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein the generation unit is capable of generating, as the layout image, a first layout image in which an image of the specific text data is arranged in the form of a speech bubble for an image of the person (fig 2 (208) and column 5, lines 39-46 of Zhang).
Zhang does not disclose a second layout image in which the image of the specific text data is arranged in the form of a column vertically or laterally adjacent to the image of the person.
Georgiev discloses a second layout image in which the image of the specific text data is arranged in the form of a column vertically or laterally adjacent to the image of the person (fig 6(614), figs 7-12, and [0060]-[0067] of Georgiev – second layout with text, in a dialog 614, arranged laterally adjacent to the images of the persons).
Zhang and Georgiev are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely panel-style layout for characters/people and speech/text processing. Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include a second layout image in which the image of the specific text data is arranged in the form of a column vertically or laterally adjacent to the image of the person, as taught by Georgiev. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a more user-friendly text editing for finalizing the layout. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Zhang according to the relied-upon teachings of Georgiev to obtain the invention as specified in claim 9.
Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claims 10, 13 and 14 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James A Thompson whose telephone number is (571)272-7441. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-6pm.
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/JAMES A THOMPSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2615
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