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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/13/2025 is in compliance with the provisions on 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 3, line 3, change “…based an optical center…” to “…based on an optical center….
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites “decomposition circuitry configurable to generate a decomposed signal based on the image data;” in lines 4-5 and “decomposition circuitry configurable to determine frequency bands for each channel of the set of channels to generate a second output” in lines 8-9. It is unclear if the two recitations of the decomposition circuitry are intended to be the same “decomposition circuitry” or if they are intended to be distinct decomposition circuitries.
Claims 9-11 are rejected as being dependent on claim 8.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hong (US 2013/0114895 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Hong teaches a system (Hong, Fig. 1) comprising:
a memory (Hong, Paragraph 0064) configurable to store correlation information that specifies a noise correlation value for each channel, of a set of channels (Hong, Paragraph 0049, Formula for brightness array I(n,x,y) is considered to be store correlation information that specifies a noise correlation value (noise threshold array T(n, k, x, y)). A computer-readable medium is used for storing the software containing the Formula for brightness array I(n,x,y).), of image data (Hong, Paragraph 0018 and 0023, Each color is a channel (red, green and blue).);
filter circuitry configurable to determine a respective local intensity for each channel of the set of channels (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraphs 0018, 0024 and 0028, pixel value at a given location is considered to be a respective local intensity.);
threshold calculation circuitry (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraphs 0018) configurable to:
sum the respective local intensities of a subset of the set of channels based on the correlation information to produce a sum of local intensities (Hong, Paragraph 0049, Each of Gr(h+1, x, y), R(h+1, x, y), B(h+1, x, y) and Gb(h+1, x, y)) are respective local intensities of the G, R and B channels. A value of the brightness array I(n, x, y) is a sum of the respective local intensities.); and
determine a noise threshold based on the sum of local intensities (Hong, Paragraph 0050, The values of brightness array I(n, x, y) is used to determine adaptive noise thresholds T(n, k, x, y)); and
suppression circuitry (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraphs 0018) coupled to the threshold calculation circuitry and configurable to apply a noise suppression function to each channel of the subset of the set of channels of the image data based on the noise threshold (Hong, Paragraphs 0051-0063, The adaptive noise thresholds T(n, k, x, y) are then used to filter (suppress) noise from the color channels (Paragraphs 0051-0063).).
Regarding claim 2, Hong teaches the system of claim 1 (see claim 1 analysis), wherein the correlation information is associated with a color filter (Hong, Paragraph 0023) of an image capture device from which the image data is received (Hong, Paragraph 0049), and each channel of the set of channels of the image data is associated with a respective color of the color filter (Hong, Paragraph 0023).
Regarding claim 8, Hong teaches a system (Hong, Fig. 1) comprising:
a memory (Hong, Paragraph 0064) configurable to store correlation information that specifies a noise correlation value for each channel, of a set of channels (Hong, Paragraph 0049, Formula for brightness array I(n,x,y) is considered to be store correlation information that specifies a noise correlation value (noise threshold array T(n, k, x, y)). A computer-readable medium is used for storing the software containing the Formula for brightness array I(n,x,y).), of image data (Hong, Paragraph 0018 and 0023, Each color is a channel (red, green and blue).);
decomposition circuitry configurable to generate a decomposed signal based on the image data (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraph 0037, “A hierarchical representation of the four color channels is then generated 302. That is, each of the four color channels is decomposed by application of a wavelet transform.”);
filter circuitry configurable to determine a respective local intensity for each channel of the set of channels to generate a first output (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraphs 0018, 0024 and 0028, pixel value at a given location is considered to be a respective local intensity.);
decomposition circuitry configurable to determine frequency bands for each channel of the set of channels to generate a second output (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraph 0037, “A hierarchical representation of the four color channels is then generated 302. That is, each of the four color channels is decomposed by application of a wavelet transform.”, Each color channel is a frequency band.); and
threshold circuitry configurable to receive the first and second outputs (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraphs 0018, Threshold circuity is considered to be the circuitry performing Steps 304-308 which use the first and second outputs.);
sum the respective local intensities of a subset of the set of channels based on the correlation information to produce a sum of local intensities (Hong, Paragraph 0049, Each of Gr(h+1, x, y), R(h+1, x, y), B(h+1, x, y) and Gb(h+1, x, y)) are respective local intensities of the G, R and B channels. A value of the brightness array I(n, x, y) is a sum of the respective local intensities.);
determine a noise threshold based on the sum of local intensities (Hong, Paragraph 0050, The values of brightness array I(n, x, y) is used to determine adaptive noise thresholds T(n, k, x, y); and
apply a noise suppression function to each channel of the subset of the set of channels of the image data based on the noise threshold (Hong, Paragraphs 0051-0063, The adaptive noise thresholds T(n, k, x, y) are then used to filter (suppress) noise from the color channels (Paragraphs 0051-0063).).
Regarding claim 9, Hong teaches the system of claim 8 (see claim 8 analysis), wherein the threshold circuitry includes:
threshold calculation circuitry configurable to receive the first output (Hong, Paragraphs 0049-0050, Threshold calculations are performed using the brightness array I(n, x, y).); and
suppression circuitry configurable to receive the second output (Hong Paragraphs 0038-0045 and 0053-0063, Filters generated from the decomposition are used in noise suppression.).
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 3-4, 6 and 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong (US 2013/0114895 A1) in view of Kakumitsu (US 2005/0206966 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Hong teaches the system of claim 2 (see claim 2 analysis), However, Hong does not teach further comprising: lens shading correction compensation circuity coupled to the threshold calculation circuitry and configurable to compute a gain value based an optical center of the image capture device, the threshold calculation circuitry configurable to receive the gain value.
In reference to Kakumitsu, Kakumitsu teaches lens shading correction compensation circuity coupled to a noise reduction filter circuit and configurable to compute a gain value based an optical center of the image capture device (Kakumitsu, Fig. 3 , shading correcting circuit 12 and noise reduction filter circuit 14, Paragraph 0049-0051 and 0059), the noise reduction filter circuit configurable to receive the gain value (Kakumitsu, Fig. 3, Paragraph 0054).
These arts are analogous since they are both related to imaging devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Hong with the method of lens shading correction as seen in Kakumitsu to carry out uniform contour correction over the entire image region while carrying out shading correction (Kakumitsu, Paragraph 0011). Further, by providing the shading correcting and noise reduction filtering in the Video FE 108 of Hong, the limitation “lens shading correction compensation circuity coupled to the threshold calculation circuitry” is considered to be met.
Claims 10 are rejected for the same reasons as claim 3.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Hong and Kakumitsu teaches the system of claim 3 (see claim 3 analysis), wherein the threshold calculation circuitry (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108) includes:
local image intensity estimation circuitry (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraph 0049, Circuitry performing the calculation of the brightness array is considered to be the local image intensity estimation circuitry.); and
noise calculation circuitry coupled to the local image intensity estimation circuitry, the noise calculation circuitry having an output (Hong, Fig. 1, Video FE 108, Paragraphs 0056-0063, Circuitry for applying the filters is considered to be noise calculation circuitry having an output.).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Hong and Kakumitsu teaches the system of claim 4 (see claim 4 analysis), wherein the threshold calculation circuitry is configurable to receive an inverse of the gain value and apply the inverse of the gain value to the sum of local intensities prior to determining the noise threshold (Kakumitsu, Paragraph 0049-0051 and 0059).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Hong and Kakumitsu teaches the system of claim 10 (see claim 10 analysis), wherein the threshold circuitry is configurable to receive the gain value and an inverse of the gain value (Kakumitsu, Paragraph 0049-0051 and 0059).
Claims 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong (US 2013/0114895 A1) in view of Dabral et al. (US 2017/0223267 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Hong teaches the system of claim 1 (see claim 1 analysis). However, Hong does not teach further comprising front-end processing circuitry configurable to generate the image data from a set of images.
In reference to Dabral et al. (hereafter referred as Dabral), Dabral teaches comprising front-end processing circuitry configurable to generate the image data from a set of images (Dabral, Fig. 1, WDR merge block 140, Paragraph 0018, 0020 and 0023).
These arts are analogous since they are both related to imaging devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Hong with the method of merging pixel data as seen in Dabral so that the obtained picture covers a high dynamic range (Dabral, Paragraph 0004).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
With regard to claim 5, prior art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious:
“The system of claim 4, wherein the threshold calculation circuitry includes a multiplier having a first input coupled to the output of the noise calculation circuitry, the multiplier having a second input to receive the gain value.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WESLEY JASON CHIU whose telephone number is (571)270-1312. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 8am-4pm.
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/WESLEY J CHIU/ Examiner, Art Unit 2639
/TWYLER L HASKINS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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