DETAILED ACTION
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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 12/11/2025 and 04/17/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 5 and 7-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cao et al. (US 2025/0046049 A1, hereinafter “Cao”).
Regarding claim 1, Cao discloses an imaging apparatus (Figs. 1-12) comprising:
a processor (1202 in Fig. 12); and
a memory (1204) storing a program (Fig. 12 and par. [0163]-[0164]) which, when executed by the processor, causes the imaging apparatus to:
perform drawing processing of drawing a display object (marker 4) (Fig. 4-1 to Fig. 4-3);
perform superimposition processing of superimposing the drawn display object on a captured image (Fig. 4-1 to Fig. 4-3, and par. [0070]); and
perform control processing of controlling to display, on a display, a captured image on which the display object is superimposed, wherein in the drawing processing, in a case where a predetermined condition is not satisfied, the display object is drawn at a predetermined size (see Fig. 4-1. Note that when a far object 3 is not under focus tracking which is considered as “not satisfied” condition, and a predetermined size of marker 4 is superimposed at the closer object 1), and in a case where the predetermined condition is satisfied, the display object is drawn at a size smaller than the predetermined size (see Fig. 4-3 and par. [0084] in which the far object 3 is now under focus tracking and, therefore, a smaller size of the marker 4 is superimposed on the far object 3).
Regarding claim 2, as also disclosed by Cao in Fig. 5-3, in the superimposition processing, in a case where the predetermined condition is satisfied, the drawn display object is enlarged to the predetermined size and is superimposed on the captured image (note the marker 4 that is enlarged and superimposed on the image at the lower left corner of the display).
Regarding claim 5, it is also seen in Cao that the predetermined condition includes a condition that an electric view finder (EVF) is used (see Fig. 4-1 to Fig. 4-3, wherein the electronic viewfinder, e.g., the live-view display, is used to display the captured image and the marker 4 as illustrated).
Regarding claim 7, Cao also discloses that the predetermined condition includes a condition that focusing, shooting, or recording is being performed (see Fig. 4-1 to Fig. 4-3 and par. [0070], [0084]).
Regarding claim 8, Cao further discloses that the predetermined condition includes a condition that an AF operation for keeping focusing on a moving object is set (see par. [0055], [0070] & [0084]. It should be noted that the object is a moving object and tracked by AF operation. The further the object moves away from the camera, the smaller the focus marker 4 becomes).
Regarding claim 9, as also disclosed by Cao, the predetermined condition includes a condition that an object is in a tracking state of being detected and tracked (see Fig. 4-1 to Fig. 4-3 and par. [0055], [0070] & [0084]).
Regarding claim 10, Cao discloses that the program, when executed by the processor, further causes an electronic device to perform detection processing of detecting acceleration of the imaging apparatus, and the predetermined condition includes a condition that the acceleration is equal to or greater than a threshold value (see par. [0169] and [0065], wherein the accelerometer is used to detect acceleration/deceleration/orientation of the camera, and the processor performs electronic image stabilization (EIS) when the acceleration/deceleration exceeds a threshold that is considered as handshake or vibration, etc. The predetermined condition includes all of these actions).
Regarding claim 11, Cao further discloses that the predetermined condition includes a condition that the display object includes only a straight Line in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction (see Fig. 4-1 to Fig. 4-3 for the marker 4 which includes only straight lines in both horizontal and vertical directions).
Regarding claim 12, it is further seen in Cao that the predetermined condition includes a plurality of conditions (for examples, a first condition is whether the far object 3 is under focus tracking, a second condition is whether the user selects the far object 3 for focus tracking), and in the drawing processing, in a case where at least one of the plurality of conditions is not satisfied, the display object is drawn at the predetermined size (Fig. 4-1 when the far object 3 is not under focus tracking or not selected for focus tracking, and based on default setting, the closer object 1 is tracked and focused as a first priority with a predetermined large marker size as disclosed in par. [0070]), and in a case where all of the plurality of conditions are satisfied, the display object is drawn at a size smaller than the predetermined size (see Fig. 4-3 and par. [0070] and [0084] in which the far object 3 is selected for focus tracking and under focus tracking mode. As a result, a smaller focus marker 4 is displayed).
Regarding claims 13 and 14, the subject matter of these claims are also met by Cao as discussed in claim 1. Cao further discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a program for performing the control method when executed by a computer (par. [0163]-[0164]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao in view of Nonaka Osamu (JP 2012195137 A, hereinafter “Nonanka”).
Regarding claim 3, Cao does not teach that any one of a plurality of display modes including a first mode and a second mode in which a display frame rate is higher than a display frame rate in the first mode is settable, and the predetermined condition includes a condition that the second mode is set. However, this feature is taught by Nonaka in paragraph [0011] and [0079] in which a size of an icon superimposed on a displayed image can be changed according to at least a frame rate of the apparatus which has different display modes. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the imaging apparatus in Cao to include the teaching Nonaka for changing among a plurality of display modes with different sizes of the focus marker in accordance to different rates of the display, thereby improving processing efficiency at a high frame rate.
Regarding claim 4, please refer to the discussion in claim 3 for similar limitations.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cao in view of Lee (US 2009/0315922 A1).
Regarding claim 6, although Cao is silent as to the predetermined condition includes a condition that a display whose resolution is equal to or higher than a threshold value is used, this lack of teaching is compensated by Lee who teaches that a smaller icon is displayed when the resolution of a display reaches a high resolution (considered as a predetermined condition) from a lower resolution (see Lee, par. [0013]).
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Cao and Lee to arrive at the claimed limitations for proportional display of elements on the display unit while maintaining quality visualization of the displayed image.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NHAN T TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7371. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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/NHAN T TRAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638
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