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 has been filed in parent Application No. JP2024-020178, filed on 02/14/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/12/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5, 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takuma et al (JP2022163685A) (herein after referred to as Takuma).
[Claim 1]
Regarding claim 1, Takuma teaches an electronic device comprising: a processor (Fig. 1 Display Control Unit 303, Paragraph 0016); and
a memory storing a program which (Fig. 2 Recording Unit 206, Paragraph 0016), when executed by the processor, causes the electronic device to:
perform acquisition processing (Paragraph 0007) to acquire a tally signal indicating one of a plurality of tally lamps (Fig. 2 Notification Unit 115 and Fig. 10 115B, Paragraph 0027),
each corresponding to one of a plurality of optical systems in a lens unit of an imaging device (Fig. 2 Image Capturing Unit 111, Paragraph 0018); and
perform control processing to control lighting of a tally lamp indicated by the tally signal (Fig. 12A Notification Control Information S1204, Paragraph 0027).
[Claim 3]
Regarding claim 3, Takuma teaches the electronic device according to claim 1; wherein the electronic device is the imaging device (Fig.2 Image Capture Apparatus 110, Paragraph 0018); and
in the control processing, the tally signal is controlled to be transmitted to the lens unit attached to the imaging device (Fig. 2 Image Distribution Apparatus 200, Paragraph 0015).
[Claim 4]
Regarding claim 4, Takuma teaches the electronic device in claim 1, wherein the tally signal indicates the tally lamp (Fig. 2 Notification Unit 115 and Fig. 10 115B, Paragraph 0072),
corresponding to an optical system associated with a predetermined image region among a plurality of image regions (Fig. 6, Paragraph 0036) ,
each captured via one of the plurality of optical systems (Fig. 3 110A-F, Paragraph 0029-30).
[Claim 5]
Regarding claim 5, Takuma teaches the electronic device according to claim 4,
It also teaches wherein a 2D view that displays one of the plurality of image regions is available for viewing the plurality of image regions (Fig. 1 Display Unit 305, Paragraph 0007-8),
and the predetermined image region is an image region displayed in the 2D view (Fig 6. 621, Paragraph 0007-8 ).
[Claim 10]
Regarding claim 10, Takuma teaches an electronic device comprising: a plurality of optical systems, each capturing one of a plurality of image regions (Fig. 2 Image Capture System 100, Paragraph 0014-15);
and a plurality of tally lamps (Fig. 2 Notification Unit 115 in each 110 unit) , each corresponding to one of the plurality of optical systems
[Claims 11-12]
Claim 11 is method claim, rejected for the same reasons as claim 1. (see claim 1 analysis)
Claim 12 is program claim, rejected for the same reasons as claim 1. (see claim 1 analysis)
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 2, 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takuma et al. (JP2022163685A) (herein after referred to as Takuma) in view of Ryosuke et al. (JP2022183656A) (herein after referred to as Ryosuke)
[Claim 2]
Regarding claim 2, Takuma teaches the electronic device in claim 1. However, Takuma does not teach, wherein the electronic device is the lens unit attachable to and detachable from the imaging device,
and in the acquisition processing, the tally signal is received from the imaging device.
Ryosuke teaches wherein the electronic device is the lens unit attachable to and detachable from the imaging device (Ryosuke, Fig. 1A 300, Paragraph 0018, 0039); and
in the acquisition processing (Takuma, Paragraph 0007), the tally signal is received from the imaging device.
These arts are analogous since they are both related to imaging devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Takuma with the teaching of Ryosuke to make the lens unit attachable to and detachable from the imaging device.
The motivation of doing so, it helps the user to replace the lens in case they become unusable or broken, or in case a new model of them become available, the user can conveniently detach the old unit and attach the new one; so essentially render the lens as replaceable/interchangeable while preserving the main camera body.
[Claim 6]
Regarding claim 6, Takuma teaches the electronic device according to claim 4. However, Takuma does not teach wherein the plurality of image regions include an image region for a right eye and an image region for a left eye, and the predetermined image region is the image region for the left eye.
Ryosuke teaches wherein the plurality of image regions include an image region for a right eye and an image region for a left eye (Ryosuke, Fig. 10a right image 1003 and left image 1007, Paragraph 0119),
and the predetermined image region is the image region for the left eye.
The combination of Takuma and Ryosuke can be easily modified to make the left region as disclosed in Ryosuke be the default region (Ryosuke, Fig. 7G, Paragraph 0067).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Takuma with the teaching of Ryosuke.
The motivation of doing so is to enable the construction of 3D VR images out of two 2D image regions, one region for each eye, and to make it possible the other way around, to display a 3D image on a 2D display, by taking (filtering) one image region (the left eye image region) out of the combined 3D image.
[Claim 7]
Regarding claim 7, The combination of Takuma and Ryosuke teaches the electronic device according to claim 1, Ryosuke further teaches wherein in the acquisition processing, the tally signal is acquired in a case where a shooting instruction is provided by a user (Ryosuke, Fig. 2A Mode Changeover Switch 103, Paragraph 0051).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Takuma with the teaching of Ryosuke.
The motivation of doing so is to give the user (the shooter) complete control on which camera (and hence which angel) to trigger the image capturing and attract the subject attention toward It, to align the line of sight of the subject with the camera.
[Claim 8]
Regarding claim 8, Takuma teaches the electronic device according to claim 1. However, Takuma does not teach wherein the tally signal indicates a tally lamp that varies according to a posture of the electronic device.
The combination of Takuma and Ryosuke (Ryosuke, Fig. 3 Orientation Detection Unit 222, Paragraph 0028) teach wherein the tally signal indicates a tally lamp that varies according to a posture of the electronic device.
These arts are analogous since they are both related to imaging devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Takuma with the teaching of Ryosuke.
The motivation of doing so, a tally lamp intended to light up changes according to the posture of the camera. Thus, even when the lens with which the subject needs to align their line of sight varies according to the posture of the camera, it is possible to easily indicate to the subject which lens the subject needs to align their line of sight with during the shooting of VR images and to easily capture VR images where the viewer's line of sight aligns with that of the subject.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takuma et al. (JP2022163685A) (herein after referred to as Takuma) in view of Yorozu (US 2020/0059608 A1)
[Claim 9]
Regarding claim 9, Takuma teaches the electronic device according to claim 1. However, Takuma does not teach wherein further in the control processing, focus adjustment of the plurality of optical systems is controlled using an image region captured via an optical system corresponding to a tally lamp that lights up.
The combination of Takuma and Yorozu, teaches wherein further in the control processing, focus adjustment (Yorozu, Fig. 29 Len Unit, Paragraph 0405) of the plurality of optical systems is controlled using an image region captured via an optical system corresponding to a tally lamp that lights up.
These arts are analogous since they are both related to imaging devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Takuma with the teaching of Yorozu.
The motivation for that, when focus control is applied during the shooting of VR images, a clearer and more crisp images are obtained, additionally it is possible to get more reliably adjust focus to the positions of the eyes in the images by using the image region aligned with the subject's line of sight.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOUHAMMAD AWNI ALJUNDI whose telephone number is (571)270-0160. The examiner can normally be reached 9am - 5pm.
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/MOUHAMMAD AWNI ALJUNDI/Examiner, Art Unit 2639
/TWYLER L HASKINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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