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 .
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0354747 to Chi et al. (“Chi”), and further in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0346743 to Torobu (“Torobu”).
Regarding claim 1, Chi teaches an imaging assistance apparatus comprising:
a laser light projection device having a laser light source that generates laser light and a laser head provided with an optical element that projects the laser light as patterned light having a determined pattern (paragraph [0037] teaches a laser source as that emits a laser beam to form an optical pattern; Figure 4A shows an example of a specific structured pattern formed by dots that are projected onto a surface of an object);
an imaging instruction device that instructs an imaging device to image a subject on which focusing control is performed (paragraph [0051] teaches that the optical pattern projected on one target object is for calculating a distance to the target object or depth map, and paragraph [0033] further teaches that the image sensor may capture images containing a target object with high clarity).
Chi does not address how a user would interact with the disclosed apparatus; however, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art how a user would interact with the apparatus given the features of the apparatus. Chi is silent on: a reception device that receives a first operation; a projection instruction device that instructs the laser light projection device during laser light projection to end the projection of the patterned light, on the basis of the first operation; and does not address the imaging instruction is based on the first operation.
In almost every imaging device there will be an operation button where the user may input an operation for imaging and the device will receive the operation. Torobu teaches a shutter button 22 which is an operation unit to be used by a user to instruct execution of focusing and image capturing. The full press operation taught by Torobu in paragraph [0033] teaches the claimed “first operation” and the autofocusing light is off when the full press is pressed. Also, when the full press is received then the imaging instruction is executed. See Figure 6 showing that the auxiliary light used to perform focus operation is off when the focus or AF light assist is done with the focus operation. The process in Figure 6 is initiated by half press instruction from the shutter and is concluded and turned off before the full press imaging instruction. In the case of Torobu the same light unit is used as autofocus assist and for illumination light during capturing. Torobu teaches that the autofocus light switches to illumination light but it is the autofocus light that corresponds to the laser pattern light of Chi. The autofocus light turns off because it is used for distance and focus calculation and it is off by the time of image capturing.
It 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 to modify the teaching of Chi with that of Torobu to end the patterned light when there is an instruction for image capturing so that the device may use the information from the patterned light to aid in image capturing but not capture extraneous or unintended light in the scene when capturing an image of the scene.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMY R HSU whose telephone number is (571)270-3012. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lin Ye can be reached at (571)272-7372. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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AMY R. HSU
Examiner
Art Unit 2664
/AMY R HSU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638
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