DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to an application filed 3/24/2025, wherein claims 1-20 are pending and being examined. 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 statement (IDS) was submitted on 3/24/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sands et al. (US 2013/0208103) (hereinafter Sands) in view of Niinuma et al. (US 2015/0110364) (hereinafter Niinuma).
In regard to claim 1, this claim is drawn to a method corresponding to the system of claim 11, wherein claim 1 contains the same limitations as claim 11 and is therefore rejected upon the same basis. See the rejection of claim 11 below.
In regard to claim 11, Sands discloses a system operating a fast operating system login method [¶0036; electronic display 100… biometric authentication system. ¶0007-¶0009; accept the display's authentication of a user as sufficient to log in the user], comprising:
a computer system [¶0054; display may be part of, for example, a standalone tablet computer], wherein the computer system is externally connected with or includes a camera system [Fig.1A; display (100) including camera (120)], and the camera system includes a camera [¶0039; Camera 120 may be a webcam, or any other type of image capture device] and a light source [¶0039; housing 110 may house an LED, strobe light, or any other illumination source. The source may be configured to emit visible light, infrared radiation, or a combination thereof.];
wherein the computer system operates an operating system that performs the fast operating system login method [¶0057-¶0058; login module and video content module may both be implemented on processor 101 of display 100], and the fast operating system login method includes:
entering a login procedure of the operating system after the computer system is activated [¶0007; if a user's session is, locked or logged off in response to an absence, information received for an authentication may be used to log in the user. ¶0061; place the electronic display into a blanked or screen saver mode, after which the user must re-authenticate his or her identity to access content on the electronic display. ¶0075];
driving the light source of the camera system to illuminate on a user [¶0046-¶0047; visible light or infrared radiation reflected from a user's eye may come in part from an illumination source 132… illumination source 132 may comprise an LED configured to generate visible light at one or more frequencies. Illumination source 132 may comprise any other source of visible light, infrared radiation, or any other form of light.], and driving the camera of the camera system to photograph the user for obtaining frames [¶0015-¶0016; camera may be configured to capture facial image information from a user];
photographing the user … so as to obtain a biometric image of the user [¶0036; collect biometric information (e.g., information on facial image, iris image, retina image, voice, fingerprint, or geometry information) from a user, which may be used to authenticate the user's identity and to grant access to content presentable on electronic display 100. ¶0046; camera may be configured to capture visible light, including intensity, color, or a combination thereof of light reflected off of the user's eye. ¶0072; Presence of the supervisor may be detected, for example, by a camera in a housing of the display and by a face recognition program running on the display]; and
performing a biometric image identification procedure on the biometric image for logging in the operating system [¶0009; biometric or alphanumeric information collected by the display may be used to log a user into an authenticated session… accept the display's authentication of a user as sufficient to log in the user. ¶0053-¶0054; processors configured to process the collected biometric information and to match the collected information against a database of users' biometric information. ¶0036].
Sands does not explicitly disclose camera system to photograph the user for obtaining continuous frames; determining a scene according to brightness distribution of a first dark frame of the continuous frames; obtaining an exposure setting corresponding to the scene; photographing the user according to the exposure setting. However Niinuma discloses,
driving the camera of the camera system to photograph the user for obtaining continuous frames [Fig.2; continuously capture image frames of a user. ¶0021-¶0022; imaging unit… continuously imaged];
determining a scene according to brightness distribution of a first dark frame of the continuous frames [¶0027-¶0029; determination unit 8 receives the first image or the second image from the obtaining unit 5, for example, and determines an image quality of the first image or the second image (for example, luminance value)… When a luminance value as an example of the image quality is less than the first threshold value, the switching unit 10 may determine that the first region or the second region is too dark];
obtaining an exposure setting corresponding to the scene [¶0033-¶0034; defining an exposure value which images the second image based on the exposure value and the luminance value of the first image with reference];
photographing the user according to the exposure setting [¶0032-¶0034; imaging conditions of the imaging unit 3 so as to obtain an image quality suitable for the continuous authentication… imaging unit 3 controls the exposure value to be ½n seconds (n is an integer)… when a luminance value of the first region or the second region of the first image which is captured using n=7 is dark (case in which condition of first threshold value is not satisfied), capturing of the second image may be performed using n of 6], so as to obtain a biometric image of the user [¶0035; biometric authentication,. ¶0004; user is recognized based on correlation between the registered characteristic point group and a characteristic point group which is extracted when performing authentication].
Sands discloses a system for authenticating a user session on a computer device. The device may be locked, and upon activating the device in an attempt to unlock the device, one or more authorization procedures are performed. The authorization procedures may include collecting biometric image data of a user using cameras and light sources of the device. If the authorization is successful, the user can be logged into the device and/or permitted to view certain device content. Although Sands discloses that different types of cameras and light sources can be used to adapt imaging conditions, as Sands does not explicitly disclose continuous imaging or adjusting an exposure setting, Niinuma is relied upon
Niinuma discloses a system for authorizing a user to access a system based on captured biometric data, similar to Sands. Images are continuously captured by an imaging device, wherein luminance (brightness) of regions are evaluated to determine characteristics of the capture environment. The exposure of the imaging device is controlled based on the detected luminance.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system disclosed by Sands with the imaging condition adjustment disclosed by Niinuma in order to ensure captured images have appropriate brightness for biometric detection [Niinuma ¶0016, ¶0029, ¶0033-¶0034].
Claim(s) 3 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sands (US 2013/0208103) in view of Niinuma (US 2015/0110364) in view of Beaudet et al. (US 2024/0267602) (hereinafter Beaudet).
In regard to claim 3, Sands in view of Niinuma discloses the fast operating system login method according to claim 1. Sands in view of Niinuma further discloses,
wherein the first dark frame of the continuous frames is acquired, and the scene is determined according to the brightness distribution of the first dark frame [Niinuma ¶0027-¶0029].
See claim 11 for motivation to combine. Although Sands discloses in ¶0039 and ¶0045-¶0046 using infrared light sources, in order to explicitly disclose wherein, after a camera system is activated, an IR light source is driven to be turned on or off , and an IR camera is used for photographing, so as to acquire the continuous frames that include continuous dark frames and bright frames, Beaudet discloses,
wherein, after a camera system is activated [¶0085-¶0086; sensor 14 composed of at least four photosites is for example obtained using an RGB-NIR camera], an IR light source is driven to be turned on or off [¶0014-¶0016; at least one artificial light source is driven… an artificial infrared light source emitting a light signal in the infrared and/or an artificial visible light source emitting a light signal in the visible], and an IR camera is used for photographing [¶0085-¶0086; sensor 14 composed of at least four photosites is for example obtained using an RGB-NIR camera] , so as to acquire the continuous frames [¶0111; carries out an iterative scan of configurations with image acquisition] that include continuous dark frames and bright frames [¶0114-¶0115; allows a face to be detected under weak illuminance or in complete darkness. ¶0135; saturation of the signal to be taken into account and compensated for. ¶0143; image that is more stable in terms of brightness to be obtained. ¶0173; colour image Ivis and an infrared image IIR are obtained by the acquiring system 1 using optimized configuration parameters].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system disclosed by Sands in view of Niinuma with the driving of an infrared light sources for infrared imaging as disclosed by Beaudet in order to allow for two (infrared and visible) images that are usable, for biometric recognition or visual-code reading, to be obtained under all luminous conditions [Beaudet ¶0005-¶0009, ¶0017, ¶0112].
In regard to claim 4, Sands in view of Niinuma in view of Beaudet discloses the fast operating system login method according to claim 3. Sands in view of Niinuma in view of Beaudet further discloses,
wherein, after the IR light source is activated, the IR light source is driven to be turned off at a first time [Beaudet ¶0014-¶0016. Sands ¶0039, ¶0046], and the first dark frame is firstly acquired when the IR camera is used for photographing [Beaudet ¶0114-¶0115].
See claim 3 for motivation to combine.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5-10, and 12-20 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hicks et al. (US 2018/0131880) – Discloses a system for illuminating a user’s face and capturing images [¶0026-¶0027], wherein infra-red illumination may be used for biometric detection related to face recognition or iris illuminators and IR imaging systems including face login [¶0025].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REBECCA A VOLENTINE whose telephone number is (571)270-7261. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am - 5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joe Ustaris can be reached at (571)272-7383. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/REBECCA A VOLENTINE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483 May 12, 2026
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