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 .
DETAILED ACTION
2. This is the initial Office Action based on the application filed on June 20, 2025. The Examiner acknowledges the following:
3. Claims 1 – 17 were filed by Applicant.
4. A preliminary amendment to claims was done on the same date as to remove the multiple claim dependency.
5. The specification was amended as to include the cross-reference to related applications.
6. The drawings filed on 06/20/2025are accepted by the Examiner.
7. Current claims 1 – 17 are pending and they are being considered for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
8. The IDS document filed on filed on 06/20/2025 is acknowledged by the Examiner.
Priority
9. Priority data is based on a provisional patent application #63/434454 filed on 12/21/2022, which corresponds to the priority date and the certified copy filed as well.
The ADS document includes the PCT application under a 371 international application PCT/CA2023/051741, filed on 12/21/2023. Applicant also provided a certified copy of the documents on 06/20/2025.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
10. 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 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 – 6 and 9 – 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by “Kong Kyung Ho, KR 101683447 B1 or KR 20150145584 A1, hereinafter Ho”. (Note: Art is from the IDS; the Abstract was provided by Applicant – the translation is provided by the Examiner).
Regarding Claims 1 – 17:
Ho teaches an image enlargement apparatus for a person with poor sight, comprising a display, a camera portion, a camera support portion, a swing arm, a swing support arm, a link and a locking lever. The display displays an image photographed by the camera. The camera photographs a target object. The camera support portion includes at least one rotary portion to change a photographing angle of the camera; it supports the camera and it is coupled to the swing arm. The swing arm is coupled to the camera support portion and the swing arm support and it is able to be rotated about the swing arm support arm as a rotational shaft. The swing arm supporting arm is positioned on a rear surface of the display, it has an upper end coupled to one end of the swing arm and a lower end coupled to the link, is rotated in a longitudinal direction as a rotational axis, and it is vertically moved. The link is coupled to a lower end of the swing arm support arm is coupled to a link coupling portion of the locking lever to be slid. The locking lever includes the link coupling part to be coupled to the link and it is able to lock and release vertical movement of the swing arm support arm according with an operated state of the locking lever.
Regarding Claim 1:
Ho teaches,
A bracket and imaging assembly (Fig 1, 3 and 5, image magnification device 1000. See [0024; 0025; 0076;0086]) comprising:
an attachment arm (Fig 2, supporting arm 500, which can move up and down. See [0036; 0071]) configured to engage a computing device component (Fig 2, Fig 3, the supporting arm 500 is positioned on a rear face of the computer display 100. See [0021; 0071]);
a swing arm (Fig 2, swing arm 400 may swing about the supporting arm 500. See [0034; 0071]) hinged to the attachment arm and pivotable relative thereto (Fig 5, swing arm 400, which may swing about the supporting arm 500 as a rotational axis. As shown in Fig 5, the swing arm 400 may perform a swing motion using the supporting arm, wherein the swingable angle from 0° to 160°. See [0034; 0087]) between an extended condition and a collapsed condition (Fig 5, the swing arm 400 includes an inner frame and an outer frame into which the inner frame is inserted and as the inner frame extends from the outer frame in a sliding manner, the swing arm 400 may extend in the longitudinal direction and it may be collapsed as well. See [0034]);
a slider accommodated by the swing arm, the slider being slidable longitudinally relative to the swing arm between a retracted condition and an extended condition (Fig 5, the swing arm 400 includes an inner frame and an outer frame into which the inner frame is inserted and as the inner frame extends from the outer frame in a sliding manner, the swing arm 400 may extend in the longitudinal direction; therefore, as the inner frame extends from the inner frame in a sliding manner. See [0034]); and
an imaging device on the slider (Fig 2, Fig 3 and Fig 5, camera support 300, supports the camera device 200 and it may be coupled to the swing arm 400. See [0034; 0071; 0078;0088]).
Regarding Claims 2 and 3:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein. As for claims 2 and 3 limitations, Ho teaches in Fig 5, the swing arm 400 includes an inner frame and an outer frame into which the inner frame is inserted and as the inner frame extends from the outer frame in a sliding manner, the swing arm 400 may extend in the longitudinal direction and it may be collapsed as well. See [0034]. When the user does not use the image magnifying device 100 for the low vision factor, the swing arm 400 may be positioned at 0° as it is shown in Fig 5. The supporting arm 500 may move up and down, so that the swing arm 400 and the camera unit 200 located on the rear of the display 100 are not visible (See [0078]).
As for claim 3, Fig 5, the swing arm 400 includes an inner frame and an outer frame into which the inner frame is inserted and as the inner frame extends from the outer frame in a sliding manner, the swing arm 400 may extend in the longitudinal direction and it may be collapsed as well. See [0034; 0036]. As seen in the drawing, the swing arm 400 and the supporting arm 500 matching engage.
Regarding Claim 4:
The limitations of claim 1 is incorporated herein. As for claim 4 limitations, Ho teaches as seen in Figs 6a – 6c, wherein the swing arm 400 and the supporting arm 500 that the camera faces the ground (or the physical desktop) and the controller 700 may recognize that the camera is facing the desktop/ground based on measurement values of the camera angle sensors 311 and 321 and swing the angle sensor 510 (See [0055]).
Regarding Claims 5 and 6:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein. As for claims 5 and 6 limitations, Ho teaches in Fig 2, the supporting arm 500 attached to the swing arm 400 and they are couple/attached to the display 100 of a computing device (See [0071; 0072]).
Regarding Claims 9 and 10:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein. As for claim 9 limitations, Ho teaches that camera 200 includes a close-up lens 220 (See [0028 – 0030]). Fig 7a shows the camera 200 and the close-up lens (See [0100]). As for claim 10 and as taught in Ho, the camera support unit 300 may support the camera unit 200 and may be coupled to the swing arm 400. The camera support unit 300 may include one or more rotary joints 310 and 320 for changing the photographing angle of the camera unit 200 and camera angle sensors 311 and 321 for measuring the angle of the camera unit 200. Therefore, at least one camera is attached and nothing in Ho precludes it from being removably attached to the slider (See [0031]).
Regarding Claim 11:
The rejection of claims 1 and 9 is incorporated herein. As for claim 11 limitations, Ho teaches in Fig 1, As seen in Fig 1, the external image input terminal 640 may include an arbitrary image input terminal capable of receiving an image signal such as a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), d-subminiature (d-sub), RGB, digital video/visual interactive (DVI), a display port (DP), and the like. In addition, an external image may be received from an external storage medium, including a universal serial bus (USB) port capable of communicating with the external storage medium (See [0050; 0051]). Fig 3 shows one camera connected to a computing device (See [0078]).
Regarding Claims 12 and 13:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein. As for claims 12 and 13 limitations, Ho teaches that the swing arm support arm 500 may be located on the rear surface of the display 100, may support the swing arm 400, and may allow the swing arm 400 to rotate. The swing arm support arm 500 may include a swing arm angle sensor 510 for measuring the angle of the swing arm 400. The swing arm angle sensor 510 may measure the current angle of the swing arm so that the controller 700 may know the state of the swing arm. The control unit 700 may determine the operation mode of the image magnification device 1000 for low vision persons based on the measured value (See [0035]). Additionally, as it is shown in fig. 5, the swing arm 400 may swing about the swing arm support arm 500 as a rotation axis. When the time when the swing arm 400 is located on the rear surface of the display is 0°, the swing arm 400 may rotate up to 160° in the diagonal direction of the display 100. In addition, the swing arm 400 is rotatable about the swing arm support arm 500 as an axis, so that the user can see various objects in an enlarged manner. The rotation angle of the swing arm 400 may be measured by the swing arm angle sensor 510 (See [0087]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
11. 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 of this title, 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 7, 8 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “Kong Kyung Ho, KR 101683447 B1 or KR 20150145584 A1, hereinafter Ho”, in view of “Xian-jie Xu al., CN-2136562741, hereinafter Xu”. (Note: both arts are from the IDS document – both translations were provided by the Examiner).
Regarding Claims 7 and 8:
The rejection of claims 1 – 5 is incorporated herein. Ho teaches the aforementioned claims; however, it does not teach claim 7 limitations, which in the same field of endeavor is taught by Xu. Xu teaches camera bracket for recording screen, comprising a connecting rail, a horizontal sliding rod, a vertical sliding rod, and a clamping assembly; wherein the connecting rail is used for detachably connected on the top frame of the screen, and extending along the width direction of the screen; the connecting rail is slidingly connected with a sliding seat along the extending direction; the horizontal sliding rod is slidingly connected to the sliding seat in the direction vertical to the panel of the screen; the vertical sliding rod is slidingly connected to one end of the water smooth rod along the vertical direction, and located in front of the front of the screen; the clamping assembly is set at the bottom end of the vertical sliding rod for clamping the camera. The camera bracket for recording screen of the utility model can accurately adjust the space position of the camera relative to the screen and improve the recording quality of the screen picture.
As for claims 7 and 8 limitations, Xu in Fig 2, a bracket and imaging assembly, wherein the attachment arm (or connecting rail 10) includes a slot/channel 14 used to accommodate an upper edge of the display component 60 of Fig 1, wherein the channel engages the upper edge of the display component (See page 3, 3rd paragraph for the images components and page 3, 4th paragraph to page 4, 4th paragraph of the translation). Fig 4, shows the connecting rail 10, the clamping groove 14 extending along on the axial direction of the connecting rail 10, which is disposed at the bottom of the connecting rail 10. Fig 4 (See page 5, 1rst paragraph to page 6, first and 2nd paragraphs) also shows a plurality of fasteners 15 that are screwed on a groove wall of one side of the clamping groove 14 at certain intervals along the axial direction, wherein one end of the fasteners 15 Passes through the groove/slot 14, and the penetrating end is matched with the groove wall at the other side of the clamping groove 14 to clamp the top of the frame 61 (See page 6 of the translation, top paragraph).
By modifying Ho with the arm structure of Xu, which improves the connecting structure of the connecting rail 10 suitable range, and improves the clamping stability of the connecting rail 10, avoids the camera 50 shaking, ensure the screen quality.
Regarding Claim 14:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein. As for claim 14. Ho discloses claim 1; however, it fails to teach claim 14 limitations, which, in the same field of endeavor is taught by Xu. Xu teaches a bracket imaging assembly where a connecting arm 10 includes a slot/channel 14 in which a slider 12, slides and wherein the slot/channel 14 includes a stop/knob 131 to limit the longitudinal extension of the slider in relation to the arm as in Figs 2 and 4 (See page 5, top paragraph). In addition, in order to facilitate the camera 50 of the left and right position adjustment, and improve the position adjusting accuracy, Referring to Fig 4, connecting rail 10 is rotatably connected with a first gear 13, one end of the connecting shaft of the first gear 13 extends to the front of the front screen 60, and the extending end is provided with a first knob 131; the slide rail 12 is provided with a first rack 123 extending along the axial direction; the first rack 123 is engaged with the first gear 13. by rotating the first knob 131 drives the first gear 13 to rotate, so as to drive the first rack 123 together with the slide rail 12 on the connecting rail 10 to slide, and drives the sliding seat 11 on the slide rail 12 to linkage through the pulling rope 122, so as to realize the left and right position adjustment of the camera 50 (See page 5, top paragraph).
By modifying Ho with the arm structure of Xu, which improves the connecting structure of the connecting rail 10 suitable range, and improves the clamping stability of the connecting rail 10, avoids the camera 50 shaking, ensure the screen quality.
Claims 15 – 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “Kong Kyung Ho, KR 101683447 B1 or KR 20150145584 A1, hereinafter Ho”, in view of “David Reed et al., US 2015/0037781 A1, hereinafter Breed”. (Note: both arts are from the IDS document – the translation for Ho was provided by the Examiner).
Regarding Claims 15 – 17:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated herein. As for claims 15 – 17 limitations, Ho teaches in Fig 1, a memory 650 may store information related to the operation of the image enlarging device 1000 for low vision persons. The memory 650 may store an arbitrary program for driving the image enlarging device 1000 for low vision persons. Any programs stored in the memory 650 may be executed by the control unit 700 of the image enlarging device 1000 for low vision persons. The memory 650 may include at least one storage medium of a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (e.g., SD or XD memory, etc.), a random-access memory (RAM), a static random-access memory (SRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a programmable read-only memory (prom), a magnetic memory, a magnetic disk, and an optical disk (See [0051; 0052]). As seen in Fig 1, the external image input terminal 640 may include an arbitrary image input terminal capable of receiving an image signal such as a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), d-subminiature (d-sub), RGB, digital video/visual interactive (DVI), a display port (DP), and the like. In addition, an external image may be received from an external storage medium, including a universal serial bus (USB) port capable of communicating with the external storage medium. However, it fails to teach the image stream captured by another imaging device as present in claims 15 – 17, which in the same field of endeavor, is taught by Breeder.
Breeder Figs 1 and 2 teach the computing device 104 monitors the user 101 and the test environment 100, used to identify identity, verify presence, with a first camera 112 that faces the user 101 and a second camera 110 that captures images of the environment as a whole. The standalone monitoring system 20 also includes a first camera 25 that faces and monitors the user 101 and a second camera 26 that monitors the environment. The second cameras 110, 26 may include a wide-angle camera, a rotatable camera, and a panoramic or other camera capable of capturing images of the complete remote session environment, such as 360 degrees around the user. If the table 105 is glass, the second cameras 110, 26 could detect anomalous conditions happening beneath the table. However, if the table is not transparent, the second cameras will image the test environment that is visible, such as a top surface of the table, walls 124, 120, and 132, a ceiling 126, and visible portions of a floor 128. The second cameras can image in all directions around the user so that if a consultant is in the remote session environment, the additional cameras can detect their unauthorized presence (See [0046]).
By modifying Ho with additional cameras connected to a computing device with all the programs as taught by Breed, it would be possible to monitor other areas as to identify the presence and the identity of people in the area.
Conclusion
12. The prior art is made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
1. A. Schmierer et al., US 2023/0303007 A1 – it teaches a camera with an arm assembly attached to a car mirror.
Contact
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARLY S.B. CAMARGO whose telephone number is (571)270-3729. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lin Ye can be reached on 571-272-7372. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARLY S CAMARGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638
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