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 § 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)(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.
Claims 1-7 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cohen-Solal et al. (US 2002/0140814 A1 – hereinafter Cohen-Solal).
Regarding claim 1, Cohen-Solal discloses a control apparatus ([0023]; Fig. 1 – a computer processor 114) comprising: one or more memories storing instructions ([0024]; [0027] – a peripheral device on computer 114 storing software instructions); and one or more processors executing the instructions (Fig. 1; [0023] – processor 114 executing the instructions) to: set a manual operation state for controlling at least one of pan, tilt, and zoom of an image capturing apparatus based on a manual operation by a user ([0015]; [0017]; [0023] – setting a manual operation state for controlling PTZ motors of a camera system comprising the PTZ motors and camera 102 based on a user manually operating a joystick); set an automatic tracking state for controlling at least one of pan, tilt, and zoom of the image capturing apparatus to track a subject identified from a video image obtained by the image capturing apparatus (Fig. 2; [0016]; [0032] – setting an automatic tracking state at step 204 shown in Fig. 2 for controlling at least one of pan, tilt, and zoom of the camera system as further described at least in [0027]); and in a case where the image capturing apparatus is selected as a predetermined image capturing apparatus to perform at least one of delivery and recording of the video image and the manual operation by the user is not detected for a predetermined period of time in a period in which the manual operation state is set, perform control to switch a state of the image capturing apparatus from the manual operation state to the automatic tracking state ([0032] – in a case where the camera system is selected as a predetermined image capturing apparatus to perform at least delivery of the video image to a display and the manual operation by the user is not detected, i.e. after selecting a desired target, the user releases control of the joystick, for a predetermined period of time in a period in which the manual operation state is set, i.e. for a predetermined period of time during which system determines going from step 202 to step 204 of Fig. 2, performing control to switch to automatic tracking mode).
Regarding claim 2, Cohen-Solal also discloses the control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where selection of the image capturing apparatus as the predetermined image capturing apparatus is cleared in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set, the state of the image capturing apparatus is switched from the automatic tracking state to the manual operation state (Fig. 2; [0033] – in a case it is no longer desired to track the selected target, resulting in a selection of the camera system being cleared in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set, the state of the camera system is switched to an end state 216, which, Examiner interprets, is the manual operation state because one of skilled in the art would have recognized the user can start it over by entering step 202 for a new tracking process).
Regarding claim 3, Cohen-Solal also discloses the control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where the manual operation is detected in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set, the state of the image capturing apparatus is switched from the automatic tracking state to the manual operation state (Fig. 2; [0033] – in a case where a user taking control of the joystick or other input device used to select the desired target in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set, the state of the camera system is switched from the automatic tracking state to the manual operation state at step 208).
Regarding claim 4, Cohen-Solal also discloses the control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case where selection of the image capturing apparatus as the predetermined image capturing apparatus is cleared (Fig. 2; [0033] – in a case it is no longer desired to track the selected target, resulting in a selection of the camera system being cleared in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set) or the manual operation is detected in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set (Fig. 2; [0033] – in a case where a user taking control of the joystick or other input device used to select the desired target in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set), the state of the image capturing apparatus is switched from the automatic tracking state to the manual operation state (Fig. 2; [0033] – in a case it is no longer desired to track the selected target, resulting in a selection of the camera system being cleared in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set, the state of the camera system is switched to an end state 216, which, Examiner interprets, is the manual operation state because one of skilled in the art would have recognized the user can start it over by entering step 202 for a new tracking process, or Fig. 2; [0033] – in a case where a user taking control of the joystick or other input device used to select the desired target in a period in which the automatic tracking state is set, the state of the camera system is switched from the automatic tracking state to the manual operation state at step 208).
Regarding claim 5, Cohen-Solal also discloses the control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to identify an object with a minimum amount of movement per unit time among a plurality of objects included in the video image as the subject to be tracked ([0013]; [0015]; [0029]-[0030] – identifying an object at center of the image as the target object to be tracked).
Regarding claim 6, Cohen-Solal also discloses the control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to identify the subject in a period in which the manual operation state is set ([0013]; [0015]; [0023]-[0024] – identifying the target during the manual state is set by selection by the user).
Regarding claim 7, Cohen-Solal also discloses the control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subject is at least one of a human body, a face, an animal, an aircraft, an automobile, and a train (Fig. 1; [0022]; [0026] – at least a human body or a face).
Claim 9 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 1 above.
Claim 10 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 1 above in view of Cohen-Solal also disclosing a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions ([0024]; [0027] – a peripheral device on computer 114 storing software instructions) for causing a computer (Fig. 1; [0023] – causing processor 114 to execute the instructions) to execute a control method as recited (see discussion of claim 1 above).
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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cohen-Solal as applied to claims 1-7 and 9-10 above, and further in view of Komiyama (US 2022/0377237 A1 – hereinafter Komiyama).
Regarding claim 8, see the teachings of Cohen-Solal as discussed in claim 1 above. However, Cohen-Solal does not disclose in a case where information indicating that a first image capturing apparatus among a plurality of image capturing apparatuses is selected as the predetermined image capturing apparatus is transmitted and the automatic tracking state is set as a state of the first image capturing apparatus, the one or more processors further execute the instructions to perform control to set a state of a second image capturing apparatus different from the first image capturing apparatus among the plurality of image capturing apparatuses to the manual operation state.
Komiyama discloses in a case where information indicating that a first image capturing apparatus among a plurality of image capturing apparatuses is selected as a predetermined image capturing apparatus is transmitted and an automatic tracking state is set as a state of the first image capturing apparatus ([0030]-[0031]; Fig. 1; Fig. 5 – in case information indicating a camera is set as current automatic image-capturing status, i.e. the camera is selected as a predetermined camera and an automatic tracking is set to track a subject), one or more processors further execute instructions (Figs. 3-4; [0025]-[0027] – one or more processors 301 of a camera control apparatus 140 execute instructions stored in a memory such as RAM 303 or HDD 304) to perform control to set a state of a second image capturing apparatus different from the first image capturing apparatus among the plurality of image capturing apparatuses to the manual operation state ([0042]; Fig. 5 – arriving step S507 from step S506).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Komiyama into the control apparatus taught by Cohen-Solal to select a camera for ideal automatic tracking.
References Identified as Relevant but not Cited in Rejections
1) Takizawa (US 2012/0229651 A1 – hereinafter Takizawa) teaches a control apparatus (Fig. 1 – control apparatus 4) configured to: set a manual operation state for controlling at least one of pan, tilt, and zoom of an image capturing apparatus based on a manual operation by a user ([0019]-[0020]; Fig. 1 – setting a manual operation state in which control data for controlling PTZ motors of a camera system 1 is sent to a CPU of the camera system based on a user manually operating a joystick); set an automatic tracking state for controlling at least one of pan, tilt, and zoom of the image capturing apparatus to track a subject identified from a video image obtained by the image capturing apparatus (Fig. 1; [0020] – setting an automatic tracking state via a tracking mode selection switch 47); and in a case where the image capturing apparatus is selected as a predetermined image capturing apparatus to perform at least one of delivery and recording of the video image and the manual operation by the user is not detected for a predetermined period of time in a period in which the manual operation state is set, perform control to switch a state of the image capturing apparatus from the manual operation state to the automatic tracking state ([0032] – in a case where the camera system is selected as a predetermined image capturing apparatus to perform at least delivery of the video image to a display 3 and the manual operation by the user is not detected, e. g. when the user stops the manual mode, after a predetermined period as desired by the user, the user can switch the tracking mode selection switch to automatic tracking mode).
Takizawa can be used as a primary reference in a 35 USC § 103 rejection because Takizawa does not explicitly disclose the control apparatus comprising: one or more memories storing instructions; and one or more processors executing the instructions as recited in claim 1.
Takizawa also does not teach automatically (although the claim does not explicitly require the step is automatically performed) performing control to switch a state of the image capturing apparatus from the manual operation state to the automatic tracking state.
2) Nakai et al. (US 2004/0003411 A1 – hereinafter Nakai) teaches a control apparatus (Fig. 5 – a control apparatus running a program presenting the GUI as shown) comprising: one or more memories storing instructions (Fig. 5; [0043] – at least a memory to store the program executed to present the GUI to control the camera as shown); and one or more processors executing the instructions (Fig. 5; [0043] – at least a processor of a server computer that runs the program) to: set a manual operation state for controlling at least one of pan, tilt, and zoom of an image capturing apparatus based on a manual operation by a user ([0067] – setting a manual control to designate a pan, tilt, zoom etc.); set an automatic tracking state for controlling at least one of pan, tilt, and zoom of the image capturing apparatus to track a subject identified from a video image obtained by the image capturing apparatus ([0067] – setting an automatic tracking state via the GUI shown in Fig. 5); and in a case where the image capturing apparatus is selected as a predetermined image capturing apparatus to perform at least one of delivery and recording of the video image and the manual operation by the user is not detected for a predetermined period of time in a period in which the manual operation state is set, perform control to switch a state of the image capturing apparatus from the manual operation state to the automatic tracking state ([0067]; Fig. 5 – in a case where the camera system is selected as a predetermined image capturing apparatus to perform at least delivery of the video image to a display at one of the terminals shown in Fig. 1 and the manual operation by the user is not detected, e. g. when the user stops the manual mode, after a predetermined period as desired by the user, the user can select the automatic tracking mode via the GUI shown in Fig. 5).
Similar to Takizawa, Nakai does not teach automatically (although the claim does not explicitly require the step is automatically performed) performing control to switch a state of the image capturing apparatus from the manual operation state to the automatic tracking state after a predetermined period of time without receiving the user input to manual control the PTZ of the camera. Instead, switching is performed manually according to the user’s intention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1116. The examiner can normally be reached IFT.
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/HUNG Q DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484
