DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is a response to an application filed on 02/04/2025, in which claims 1-17 are pending and ready for examination.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 04/14/2025 and 08/21/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in this application and a copy has been placed of record in the file.
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.
Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhang (CN 116911325 A).
Regarding claim 1, Zhang discloses:
An image-capturing control apparatus (see page 4, last paragraph, processing module 3) comprising:
an image acquisition unit that acquires an image captured in a plant (see page 4, last paragraph, scanning module 2 obtains an image through the lens 21 on the code scanning module);
an environment information acquisition unit that acquires environment information in the plant (see page 6, last paragraph, step SS11, obtaining humidity parameter, and page 7, paragraph 3. Also see page 8, paragraph 7-8, step S22, using a temperature sensor to determine fogging conditions);
an image determination unit that determines whether the image captured is clear (see page 5, paragraph 5, processing module 3 determining the fog state of the image); and
an image-capturing instruction unit that instructs an image-capturing apparatus to recapture the image (see page 7, paragraph 5, processing module 3 starts the code scanning device, but does not obtain the scanned logo, instead, the logo code image is processed and recognized. Also see page 8, paragraph 4 and 10, once the defogging is performed by the defogging module 4, the processing module 3 stars the code scanning device and performs the acquisition of the focus parameters of the code scanning device during shooting and subsequent steps. Please note that as mentioned on page 6, steps S22-S4, the foggy state or fog-free state of the scanning device is determined. If it is determined that the device is fog-free, step S4 is executed and the image is capture for analysis and processing, however, if a foggy state is determined, processing module 3 controls the defogging module 4 to de enable and perform defogging before proceeding to step S4) based on at least one of an unclear region in the image or the environment information when it is determined that the image is unclear (see page 6, paragraph 6, a clear image cannot be obtained by the code scanning device).
Regarding claim 2, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image-capturing instruction unit performs, on the image-capturing apparatus, an instruction of re-capturing, at least a part thereof being different in a case where it is determined that a subject region corresponding to a subject is unclear but regions other than the subject region are clear in the image and in a case where it is determined that an entirety of the image is unclear (page 6, steps SS22 trough S4).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when it is determined that the entirety of the image is unclear, the image-capturing instruction unit performs, on the image-capturing apparatus, an instruction of re-capturing, at least a part thereof being different based on whether the environment information is within a normal range (see page 7, paragraph 5, and page 8, paragraph 4 and 10).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when it is determined that the entirety of the image is unclear and the environment information is in an abnormal range, the image-capturing instruction unit instructs the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing after a predetermined standby time has elapsed (page 8, paragraph 4-10, perform the scanning after defogging process is completed).
Regarding claim 5, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when it is determined that the entirety of the image is unclear and the environment information is in a normal range, the image-capturing instruction unit instructs the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing before the standby time elapses or does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing (page 6, steps SS22 trough S4).
Regarding claim 6, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
when it is determined that a subject region corresponding to a subject is unclear but regions other than the subject region are clear in the image, the image determination unit detects presence or absence of halation in the subject region image (see page 7, paragraph 5, processing module 3 starts the code scanning device, but does not obtain the scanned logo, instead, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
when the halation is detected, the image-capturing instruction unit instructs the image-capturing apparatus to recapture the image (see page 8, paragraph 4 and 10, once the defogging is performed by the defogging module 4, the processing module 3 stars the code scanning device and performs the acquisition of the focus parameters of the code scanning device during shooting and subsequent steps).
Regarding claim 7, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when the halation is detected, the image-capturing instruction unit instructs the image-capturing apparatus to change at least one of a position or an orientation of an image-capturing apparatus to recapture the image (see page 6, paragraph 8).
Regarding claim 8, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 1 comprising:
an image-capturing condition determination unit that determines whether an image-capturing condition is suitable when at least a part of information from a subject could not be obtained by using the image (see page 7, paragraph 5, processing module 3 starts the code scanning device, but does not obtain the scanned logo, instead, the logo code image is processed and recognized),
wherein the image-capturing instruction unit instructs the image-capturing apparatus to change the image-capturing condition to recapture the image when it is determined that the image-capturing condition is unsuitable (see page 6, paragraph 8-9).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the image acquisition unit acquires the image in which a meter of an instrument in the plant is captured as a subject (see page 6, paragraph 9, and page 7, paragraph 5, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
the image-capturing instruction unit does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing of the image when information indicated on the meter can be obtained from the image (page 6, paragraph 9-11).
Regarding claim 10, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
the image acquisition unit acquires the image in which a meter of an instrument in the plant is captured as a subject (see page 6, paragraph 9, and page 7, paragraph 5, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
the image-capturing instruction unit does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing of the image when information indicated on the meter can be obtained from the image (page 6, paragraph 9-11).
Regarding claim 11, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein
the image acquisition unit acquires the image in which a meter of an instrument in the plant is captured as a subject (see page 6, paragraph 9, and page 7, paragraph 5, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
the image-capturing instruction unit does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing of the image when information indicated on the meter can be obtained from the image (page 6, paragraph 9-11).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein
the image acquisition unit acquires the image in which a meter of an instrument in the plant is captured as a subject (see page 6, paragraph 9, and page 7, paragraph 5, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
the image-capturing instruction unit does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing of the image when information indicated on the meter can be obtained from the image (page 6, paragraph 9-11).
Regarding claim 13, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
the image acquisition unit acquires the image in which a meter of an instrument in the plant is captured as a subject (see page 6, paragraph 9, and page 7, paragraph 5, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
the image-capturing instruction unit does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing of the image when information indicated on the meter can be obtained from the image (page 6, paragraph 9-11).
Regarding claim 14, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein
the image acquisition unit acquires the image in which a meter of an instrument in the plant is captured as a subject (see page 6, paragraph 9, and page 7, paragraph 5, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
the image-capturing instruction unit does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing of the image when information indicated on the meter can be obtained from the image (page 6, paragraph 9-11).
Regarding claim 15, Zhang discloses: The image-capturing control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein
the image acquisition unit acquires the image in which a meter of an instrument in the plant is captured as a subject (see page 6, paragraph 9, and page 7, paragraph 5, the logo code image is processed and recognized), and
the image-capturing instruction unit does not instruct the image-capturing apparatus to perform re-capturing of the image when information indicated on the meter can be obtained from the image (page 6, paragraph 9-11).
Regarding claims 16 and 17, claims 16 and 17 are drawn to a method and computer-readable medium having limitations similar to the apparatus claimed in claim 1 treated in the above rejections. Therefore, method and CRM claims 16 and 17 correspond to apparatus claim 1 and are rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARYAM A NASRI whose telephone number is (571)270-7158. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00-8:00 M-T.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Ustaris can be reached at 5712727383. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARYAM A NASRI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483
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