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
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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al., US PGPUB 20140016100 hereinafter referenced as Kim in view of Kashiwagi et al., US PGPUB 20230276033 hereinafter referenced as Kashiwagi.
As to claim 1, Kim discloses a display control method comprising: acquiring information indicating first illuminance that is illuminance of an environment in which a first projector belonging to a first management group that is a management group serving as a unit for managing a plurality of projectors is disposed ([0082] the management device 100 performs the correction based on a variety of information related to each projection device 200, such as the model and resolution of the projection device 200, the brightness of the image projected by the projection device 200, the distance to the projections surface, the angle between the projection device 200 and the projection surface, the material, color, reflectivity of the projection surface); and
determining, based on the information indicating the first illuminance, control information for controlling brightness of an image projected by a second projector belonging to the first management group ([0087] For example, if a specific projection surface reduces the brightness or chroma of the projected image compared to other projection surfaces, the reduced brightness or chrome is increased in the image correction process).
Kim does not specifically disclose acquiring information indicating first illuminance that is illuminance of an environment.
However, in the same endeavor, Kashiwagi discloses acquiring information indicating first illuminance that is illuminance of an environment ([0031] The projector 1 decides an illuminance F represented by the illuminance signal C1 outputted from the sensor 11, as the illuminance in the room A1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the disclosure of Kim to further include Kashiwagi’s sensor to control the brightness of the image with intention of displaying a clear image.
As to claim 9, Kim discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute: acquiring information indicating first illuminance that is illuminance of an environment in which a first projector belonging to a management group serving as a unit for managing a plurality of projectors is disposed ([0082] the management device 100 performs the correction based on a variety of information related to each projection device 200, such as the model and resolution of the projection device 200, the brightness of the image projected by the projection device 200, the distance to the projections surface, the angle between the projection device 200 and the projection surface, the material, color, reflectivity of the projection surface); and
determining, based on the information indicating the first illuminance, a control condition for controlling brightness of an image projected by a second projector belonging to the management group ([0087] For example, if a specific projection surface reduces the brightness or chroma of the projected image compared to other projection surfaces, the reduced brightness or chrome is increased in the image correction process).
As to claim 10, Kim discloses a display control system comprising: an illuminance sensor configured to detect illuminance of an environment in which a first projector is disposed ([0082] the management device 100 performs the correction based on a variety of information related to each projection device 200, such as the model and resolution of the projection device 200, the brightness of the image projected by the projection device 200, the distance to the projections surface, the angle between the projection device 200 and the projection surface, the material, color, reflectivity of the projection surface);
a second projector (one of the projectors 200, fig. 2); and
a control device configured to determine, based on the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor, a control condition for controlling brightness of an image projected by the second projector ([0087] For example, if a specific projection surface reduces the brightness or chroma of the projected image compared to other projection surfaces, the reduced brightness or chrome is increased in the image correction process).
Kim does not specifically disclose acquiring information indicating first illuminance that is illuminance of an environment.
However, in the same endeavor, Kashiwagi discloses acquiring information indicating first illuminance that is illuminance of an environment ([0031] The projector 1 decides an illuminance F represented by the illuminance signal C1 outputted from the sensor 11, as the illuminance in the room A1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the disclosure of Kim to further include Kashiwagi’s sensor to control the brightness of the image with intention of displaying a clear image.
As to claim 2, the combination of Kim and Kashiwagi discloses the display control method according to claim 1. The combination further discloses the determining the control information includes determining the control information based on setting information concerning luminance of an image set in the second projector and information indicating the first illuminance (Kashiwagi, [0025] The projector 1 sets two thresholds Da based on the reference value D of illuminance).
As to claim 3, the combination of Kim and Kashiwagi discloses the display control method according to claim 2. The combination further discloses the setting information indicates any one of a plurality of luminance modes in which ranges of luminance applicable when the image is projected are different from one another (Kashiwagi, [0029] FIG. 2 also shows a first range R1, a second range R2, a third range R3, and a maximum luminance E).
As to claim 4, the combination of Kim and Kashiwagi discloses the display control method according to claim 3. The combination further discloses the determining the control information includes determining the control information based on the first illuminance and a correspondence relationship between a first luminance range that is a range of luminance by a luminance mode indicated by the setting information set in the first projector and a second luminance range that is a range of luminance by a luminance mode indicated by the setting information set in the second projector (Kashiwagi, [0030] When the illuminance in the room A1 is included in the first range R1, the luminance of the light source 121 is set to be 60% of the maximum luminance E. When the illuminance in the room A1 is included in the second range R2, the luminance of the light source 121 is set to be 80% of the maximum luminance E. When the illuminance in the room A1 is included in the third range R3, the luminance of the light source 121 is set to be 100% of the maximum luminance E).
As to claim 5, the combination of Kim and Kashiwagi discloses the display control method according to claim 1. The combination further discloses acquiring information indicating third illuminance that is illuminance of an environment in which a third projector belonging to the first management group is disposed, wherein the determining the control information includes determining the control information based on a result of statistical processing for the information indicating the first illuminance and the information indicating the third illuminance (Kashiwagi, [0031] The projector 1 decides an illuminance F represented by the illuminance signal C1 outputted from the sensor 11, as the illuminance in the room A1. However, the illuminance F represented by the illuminance signal C1 changes, for example, according to the positional relationship between the sensor 11 and the illumination device A3).
As to claim 6, the combination of Kim and Kashiwagi discloses the display control method according to claim 1. The combination further discloses acquiring first selection information for selecting at least one of a plurality of projectors belonging to the first management group, wherein the first projector is a projector indicated by the first selection information (Kim, [0063] for example, the plurality of projection surfaces may be configured in such a manner that a screen and a wall are mixed or different types of screens are mixed. Thus, the present invention is also applicable to a conventional theater comprising a single screen and a plurality of walls and can implement a multi-projection service even though a plurality of screens are not provided).
As to claim 7, the combination of Kim and Kashiwagi discloses the display control method according to claim 1. The combination further discloses acquiring second selection information for selecting whether to determine the control information, wherein the determining the control information includes determining the control information when the second selection information indicates that the control information is determined (Kim, [0022] The management device may correct the image based on information on a structure installed on the projection surface of each projection device).
As to claim 8, the combination of Kim and Kashiwagi discloses the display control method according to claim 1. The combination further discloses when, for all projectors belonging to a second management group different from the first management group, information indicating illuminance of an environment in which the projectors are disposed is not acquired, determining, based on the information indicating the first illuminance, control information for controlling brightness of an image projected by a fourth projector belonging to the second management group (Kim, [0075] For example, the specifically designed data are corrected based on information on the projections surfaces (such as the size, shape, color, material, reflectivity, etc.) or information on the projection devices (such as the resolution, brightness, distance to the projections surface, etc.) in the image data correction process later).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Imai et al., US PGPUB 20110242494 discloses a multi-projection system includes a first projector projecting a first image, a second projector projecting a second image , and an optical light blocking apparatus blocking part of an image light corresponding to the first image and part of an image light corresponding to the second image to adjust the brightness of a superimposed region. The installation positions of the first projector and the second projector are set in such a way that a tinge which appears in the first image and a tinge which appears in the second image are the same type of color in the superimposed region as a result of part of the image light being blocked by the optical light blocking apparatus.
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/SAHLU OKEBATO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2625 9/18/2026
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