DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This office action is a response to an application filed on 02/24/2025, in which claims 1-19 are pending and ready for examination.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was filed before the mailing date of the Office Action on the merits. 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 § 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 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.
Claims 1-6, 12-13, and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Becker (US Pat. 11076085 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Becker discloses, in a first embodiment, a control device applied to a moving object equipped with an imaging apparatus and a light source (Becker; Fig. 8, Col. 22, Ln. 6-40. A control system for a moving object including an imaging device and light source is used.),
in which the imaging apparatus images a first imaging target region and a second imaging target region of a subject according to a movement position of the moving object (Becker; Fig. 8, Col. 22, Ln. 6-40. A first imaging device is used to image a first imaging region and a second imaging region of a subject in accordance with movement position of a moving object.), and
a first region that is a part of the first imaging target region overlaps with a second region that is a part of the second imaging target region (Becker; Fig. 8, Col. 22, Ln. 6-40. A first region of a first imaging region overlaps with a second region of a second imaging region.), but the control device comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to perform control of causing the light source to irradiate the first imaging target region with light, and an intensity of the light with which the first region is irradiated is higher than an intensity of the light with which a periphery of the first region is irradiated.
However, Becker, in a second embodiment, teaches the control device comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to perform control of causing the light source to irradiate the first imaging target region with light (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-27. An imaging device, i,e, a camera, see Col. 9, Ln. 13-26, includes a processor used to perform control of light source to illuminate a first imaging region with light.), and
an intensity of the light with which the first region is irradiated is higher than an intensity of the light with which a periphery of the first region is irradiated (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-27. A first region of a first imaging region is illuminated with higher intensity than the intensity of a neighboring non-overlapping region of a second region receiving less or no illumination of narrow exposure window.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the pertinent before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the moving imaging system of Becker in a first embodiment to adapt an imaging approach, by incorporating Becker’s teaching in a second embodiment wherein a illumination system is controlled to illuminate different regions of captured images, for the motivation to perform synchronization of multiple cameras (Becker; Abstract.).
Regarding claim 2, modified Becker teaches composite a first captured image obtained by imaging the first imaging target region and a second captured image obtained by imaging the second imaging target region to generate a composite image (Becker; Fig. 1B. Col. 4, Ln. 3-15. A first captured image by a first imaging region and a second captured image by a second imaging region is combined into a combined image, see Fig. 1B.); and
use, in a case where the composite image is generated, a pixel value of an image region corresponding to the second region in the second captured image as a pixel value of an overlap image region corresponding to the first region and the second region in the composite image (Becker; Fig. 1B. Col. 4, Ln. 3-15. For having a combined image, a pixel value of an image region for a second region in a second captured image is used as a pixel value of an overlap region corresponding to a first region and a second region of a combined image.).
Regarding claim 3, modified Becker teaches the control includes control of making an image of the light source fit in an image region corresponding to the first region in a first captured image obtained by imaging the first imaging target region (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-41. An image associated with a light source corresponds to a first region of a first captured image by a first imaging region.).
Regarding claim 4, modified Becker teaches the imaging apparatus includes an image sensor having a light-receiving surface (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-41. A camera includes an image sensor having light-receiving surface.), and the processor is configured to, in a case where the imaging apparatus images the first imaging target region, adjust an exposure amount of the light-receiving surface based on brightness of a third region other than the first region of the first imaging target region (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-41. A processor is used to adjust exposure window of a sensor in accordance with detected reflected light being detected from area including a non-overlapping region.).
Regarding claim 5, modified Becker teaches the exposure amount is adjusted by changing an irradiation position and/or an intensity of the light (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-41. An exposure is adjusted by changing intensity of illuminated light.).
Regarding claim 6, modified Becker teaches the exposure amount is adjusted by changing exposure to the light-receiving surface (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-41. An exposure amount is adjusted by changing exposure to a sensor having a light-receiving surface.).
Regarding claim 12, modified Becker teaches the light source is disposed on a front side of the moving object in a movement direction with respect to the imaging apparatus (Becker; Fig. 8. Col 22, Ln. 7-40. Two illumination sources associated with two cameras, at least one of which is disposed on a front side of a moving object in a movement direction with respect to the cameras.), and
the first imaging target region and the second imaging target region are regions that are imaged in an order of the first imaging target region and the second imaging target region (Becker; Fig. 8. Col 22, Ln. 7-40. A first imaging region and a second imaging region are regions that are imaged in an order of a first imaging region and a second imaging region.).
Regarding claim 13, modified Becker teaches the light source is disposed on a rear side of the moving object in a movement direction with respect to the imaging apparatus (Becker; Fig. 8. Col 22, Ln. 7-40. Two illumination sources associated with two cameras, at least one of which is disposed on a rear side of a moving object in a movement direction with respect to the cameras.), and
the first imaging target region and the second imaging target region are regions that are imaged in an order of the second imaging target region and the first imaging target region (Becker; Fig. 8. Col 22, Ln. 7-40. A first imaging region and a second imaging region are regions that are imaged in an order of a second imaging region and a first imaging region.).
Regarding claim 15, modified Becker teaches light irradiation is performed along a normal direction of the first region (Becker; Fig. 8. Col 22, Ln. 7-40. An illumination is performed along a normal direction of a first region.).
Regarding claim 16, modified Becker teaches the control is control of causing the light source to be in a state of performing irradiation with the light in a case where the moving object is moved to a position where the imaging apparatus images the first imaging target region (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-27. An illumination source is used to perform illumination for a moving object being moved to a position where an imaging camera is used to image a first imaging region.).
Regarding claim 17, modified Becker teaches the control is control of causing the light source to perform irradiation with the light in a case where the moving object is moved to a position where the imaging apparatus images the first imaging target region (Becker; Col. 17, Ln. 10-27. An illumination source is used to perform illumination for a moving object being moved to a position where an imaging camera is used to image a first imaging region.).
Claim 18 is directed to a control method applied to a moving object equipped with an imaging apparatus and a light source, the control method comprising a sequence of processing steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claim 1, and is non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Claim 19 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer, which is applied to a moving object equipped with an imaging apparatus and a light source, to execute a process comprising a sequence of processing steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claim 1, and is non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-11 and 14 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Nielsen (US Pat. 11348265 B1) teaches an imaging system that computes a point cloud from stitched images.
Roehder (US Pub. 20130211672 A1) teaches a TOF camera for motor vehicles.
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/ALBERT KIR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485
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