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 .
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.
1. Claim(s) 1-2 and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ebisawa (US 20070279590 A1) in view of Yamamoto (DE 112018006367 T).
Regarding claims 1 and 4:
Ebisawa (US 20070279590 A1) discloses a gaze detection device (Fig. 1-2) comprising:
a light source (121) configured to emit detection light to irradiate (illuminate) at least one eyeball of a subject with the detection light ([0210-0212], [0225-0226]);
an imaging unit (camera) configured to capture an image of the eyeball irradiated with the detection light ([0225-0226]);
a position detection unit (11) configured to detect, from the captured image ([0121-0122], [0220], abstract), a position of a pupil center (P, Fig. 1) indicating a center of a pupil of the eyeball irradiated with the detection light and a position of a corneal reflection center indicating a center of corneal reflection (see [0220, 0033, 0040, 0043-0045 ], Figs. 1, 4, 15) ;
a corneal curvature radius derivation unit (15 corresponding to processing device 21) configured to derive based on curvature radiation, the corneal curvature radius corresponding to the detected position of the corneal reflection center (see [0117-0118], [0220], Figs. 1, 4),
a gaze processing unit (21, Fig. 2, 4) configured to calculate a gaze of the subject by using the detected position of the corneal reflection center and the derived corneal curvature radius, wherein the gaze processing unit is configured to: calculate a straight line connecting the light source to the corneal reflection center, calculate, as a corneal curvature center (see Fig. 4,[0052], [0255-0260]),
a position (distance from O-P, see Fig. 4) separated from the corneal reflection center by a distance corresponding to the corneal curvature radius derived by the corneal curvature radius derivation unit in a direction opposite to the light source on the calculated straight line (i.e. line of sight) [0122-0124], and calculate, as the gaze, a gaze vector connecting the corneal curvature center to the pupil center ([0050-0055]).
Note that Ebisawa does not specifically disclose based on a curvature radius table indicating a relationship between a position on a cornea and a corneal curvature radius.
However, Yamamoto (DE 112018006367 T) a table generation unit configured to generate the curvature radius table using the calculated corneal curvature radius (see Page 12-13, Yamamoto discloses table 1 is showing results of measurements of the corneal curvature radius for estimating the corneal-pupil distance. Table 1 Estimation of the cornea of curvature Method for estimating the cornea-pupil distance Processing time [ms] 1 Not done Closed solution 0.20 2 Carried out Closed solution 2, 53 3 Carried out Full search procedure 23, 62 .First, the comparison of a case in which an estimate of the corneal curvature radius and an estimate of the corneal-pupil distance are performed using the full search method according to the embodiment, and a case in which an estimate of the corneal curvature radius and an estimate of the corneal-pupil distance are performed).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ebisawa with the teaching of Yamamoto, thereby sight estimation accuracy, can be significantly improved.
Regarding claim 2:
Ebisawa (US 20070279590 A1) discloses wherein: two of the light sources are disposed at different positions ([0123]), and the position detection unit detects positions of respective corneal reflection centers from two of the corneal reflections of the eyeball of the subject by the two light sources ([0122-0124]), the gaze detection device further comprising: calculate the corneal curvature radius based on a distance between the two corneal reflection centers detected by the position detection unit and a distance between the imaging unit and the subject (object) (0122-0124,0050-0055, Fig.4).
Note that Ebisawa does not specifically disclose a table generation unit configured to generate the curvature radius table using the calculated corneal curvature radius.
However, Yamamoto (DE 112018006367 T) a table generation unit configured to generate the curvature radius table using the calculated corneal curvature radius (see Page 12-13, Yamamoto discloses table 1 is showing results of measurements of the corneal curvature radius for estimating the corneal-pupil distance).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ebisawa with the teaching of Yamamoto, thereby sight estimation accuracy, can be significantly improved.
Regarding claim 5:
Note that the limitations are already discussed in Claim 1 above except the limitation “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium… execute”.
However, these limitations are disclosed in Ebisawa’s reference see ([0117-0120]).
Allowable Subject Matter
2. Claim 3 is 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.
Regarding claim 3:
The closest art of record singly or in combination fails to teach or suggest the limitations “the curvature radius table, information obtained by associating the calculated corneal curvature radius with portions of the grid, the portions corresponding to the positions of the two corneal reflection centers, and set, in the grid, a plurality of concentric circles having different diameters, each of the concentric circles having the pupil center as a center thereof, and interpolate the curvature radius table such that the corneal curvature radii of the portions present in the same region have the same value for a plurality of the regions partitioned by the plurality of concentric circles” (see Applicant’s disclosure [0060-0064], Fig. 3]).
Pertinent art
3. Pertinent art of record US 20160262614 A1 discloses display device.
Inquiry
4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communication from the examiner should be directed to Shaheda Abdin whose telephone number is (571) 270-1673.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, LunYi Lao could be reached at (571) 272-7671. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAHEDA A ABDIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627