DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The double patenting rejections are withdrawn in view of the terminal disclaimer. The objections are withdrawn in view of the amendment. Applicant’s arguments regarding the 102 rejections have been considered but are moot in view of the new rejections below, which were necessitated by amendment.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 8, 12, 16 and 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.
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.
Claims 1, 4-7, 9, 11, 13-15, 17, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jansson et al., US 2023/0199295 in view of Iwamoto, 2019/0200032.
1 and 11. Jansson teaches a method for motion prediction, comprising:
receiving spatial information output by a radio-wave sensor [sensor unit 110 may be radar, Fig. 1A, para. 12, 44], wherein the spatial information comprises position [ball position, paras. 26, 27, 32] and velocity of at least one point [ball speed, Fig. 3, paras. 36, 44];
receiving an image captured by a camera [camera 130, Figs. 1A, 1B, 3, paras. 22, 24];
tracking at least one object based on the spatial information and the image to obtain a consolidated tracking result [initial spatial data is determined, i.e. a tracking result is obtained based on spatial object tracking, Figs. 1A, 1B, 3, paras. 22, 26, 34, 36, 44, 50];
predicting a motion trajectory of the at least one object based on the consolidated tracking result to obtain a prediction result [predict future trajectory of ball based on initial data, step 310, Fig. 3, paras. 22, 30, 31, 34, 44, 45, 49]; and
Janssen is silent on controlling camera settings based on prediction results. Iwamoto teaches an imaging system including controlling the camera according to the prediction result, wherein the step of controlling the camera according to the prediction result comprises: setting image parameters based on the prediction result [image settings are determined based on predicted motion of target; Figs. 4A, 4B 7A-7C, 8, paras. 4, 7, 8, 72, 76, 80, 82, 83; note the recited “image parameters” describe the motion of the object]; and
capturing a final image based on the set image parameters, wherein the image parameters include at least one of depth distance and acceleration of the at least one object [image is taken using settings (e.g. shutter speed) that are based on predicted image parameters (e.g. object motion parameters including acceleration), Figs. 4A, 4B 7A-7C, 8, paras. 4, 7, 8, 37, 72, 76, 80, 82, 83].
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Iwamoto’s teaching, determining proper zoom and focus settings based on predicted future position of the object. This prevents the focus setting from lagging behind the position of the object by allowing the focus to be set (e.g. optics adjusted) before the object reaches the imaging position. By detecting current position and acceleration, future position can be accurately predicted.
4 and 13. Jansson teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of tracking the at least one object based on the spatial information and the image to obtain the consolidated tracking result comprises:
processing the image to obtain at least one property of the at least one object in the image;
fusing the spatial information with the at least one property of the at least one object in the image to obtain the consolidated tracking result [tracking can be based on combination (fusion) of position and speed of ball (spatial information as cited in claim 1) and launch angle (property of object), Figs. 1A, 3, paras. 36, 39, 44].
5 and 14. Jansson teaches the method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one property of the at least one object in the image is obtained by processing the image using at least one of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) content detection [machine learning, paras. 51, 53] and computer vision (CV).
6 and 17. Jansson teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the camera parameters comprise at least one of a shutter timing, a shutter speed and a focal length of the camera based on the prediction result; wherein the image parameters are dedicated for image processing [e.g. focal length is controlled according to predicted trajectory, paras. 11, 24, 25, 45; note “dedicated for image processing” is vague and broad enough to cover any imaging parameter].
7 and 15. Jansson teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of tracking the at least one object based on the spatial information and the image to obtain the consolidated tracking result comprises:
generating a first tracking result based on the spatial information [initial prediction, Fig. 3, paras. 44, 45];
generating a second tracking result based on the image [receive further data from camera to generate refined trajectory, i.e. second tracking result, Fig. 3, paras. 48-50]; and
unifying the first tracking result and the second tracking result to obtain the consolidated tracking result [using both initial prediction (first result) and refined camera measurements (second result) to generate accurate model of ball path (consolidated result), Fig. 3, paras. 48-50].
9 and 18. Jansson teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: executing an artificial intelligent (AI) and machine learning (ML) content detection on the image from the camera to detect the at least one object in the image [machine learning, paras. 51, 53].
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jansson and Iwamoto as cited above in view of Lianides et al., US 2022/0105389.
2 (from 1). The above references are silent on a confidence indicator. Lianides teaches an imaging and analyzing motion wherein the spatial information further comprises a frame-level confidence indicator [frames are analyzed to generate confidence data, paras. 5, 32, 38].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to combine the references in order to determine whether the prediction is adequate for further use, such as displaying a predicated path on a broadcast. If the confidence level of the prediction is low, the system can disregard that result and instead wait for motion capture to determine the actual path of an object.
Claims 10 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jansson and Iwamoto as cited above in view of Kulik et al., US 2020/0137308.
10 and 19 (from 1 and 11). The above references are silent on EIS. Kulik teaches an imaging method further comprising: executing Electric Image Stabilization (EIS) cropping which reduces an image size to maintain visual stability based on the spatial information and the image captured by the camera [paras. 34, 61, 75, 92].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to combine the references, stabilizing the motion capture images so that vibration of the camera or sensor does not cause errors in trajectory prediction. The camera/sensor may be used near players/spectators and so may be subject to vibration that can be corrected using EIS/cropping.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/TIMOTHY R NEWLIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2424
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