Singhal, Tara Chand.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardOct 30, 202014997560 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Oct. 30, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 14/997,560 01/17/2016 Tara Chand Singhal 11195.309F 5874 103550 7590 10/30/2020 Tara Chand Singhal P.O. Box 5075 Torrance, CA 90510 EXAMINER GEROLEO, FRANCIS ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2485 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 10/30/2020 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): chand@internetpromise.com singhal@att.net PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ________________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ________________ Ex parte TARA CHAND SINGHAL ________________ Appeal 2019-004259 Application 14/997,560 Technology Center 2400 ________________ Before CAROLYN D. THOMAS, JASON V. MORGAN, and JAMES B. ARPIN, Administrative Patent Judges. MORGAN, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant1 appeals from the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1–17, all of the pending claims. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We reverse. 1 “Appellant” refers to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42. Appellant identifies the named inventor, Tara Chand Singhal, prosecuting the patent application pro se, as the real party-in-interest. Appeal Br. 4, 44. Appeal 2019-004259 Application 14/997,560 2 SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE Appellant’s claimed subject matter relates to a camera system for use in a mobile handheld computing and communication device with a front side with a display screen and a back side has two separate and independent cameras positioned on the back side of the device, wherein the cameras have a physical separation between them of substantially the same separation as between the eyes on a human face and, wherein the camera system creates a 3D-Like image of an object for storage and for viewing on a display screen. Abstract. ILLUSTRATIVE CLAIM (Disputed Limitations Emphasized and Bracketing Added) 1. An apparatus for a camera system for use in a mobile handheld wireless device that is one of a smart phone and a tablet computer, with a front side with a display screen and a back side, comprising: (a) the apparatus is a mobile handheld wireless communication and computing device with a processor, a memory and an operating system and with a depth not exceeding half an inch, the [1] mobile handheld device has a camera system with two separate and independent cameras positioned on a back side of the mobile handheld device, wherein the cameras have a physical separation between them of substantially a same separation that is between eyes on a human face; (b) the cameras, each camera with a body, a lens and a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor, simultaneously capture two separate images of an object or a scene and [2] a camera logic operating in the processor and the memory of the mobile handheld device merges the two separate images to create a single three dimension (3D-[Like]) image for storage and for viewing on the display screen; (c) the camera logic takes data from individual pixels from the left image and the right image and merges the images by Appeal 2019-004259 Application 14/997,560 3 positioning individual pixels of the right image, to the right of the individual pixels of the left image in proximity, creating a pixel pair, wherein the pixel pair is visually perceived by a human as a single pixel with richer visual details then a pixel from ether of the two separate images. THE EXAMINER’S REJECTIONS AND CITED REFERENCES The Examiner rejects claims 1–4, 7–9, and 12–14 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) as indefinite. Final Act. 2. The Examiner also rejects claims 1–17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over the combined teachings of GSMArena team, This summer, in 3D: LG Optimus 3D review, available at https://www.gsmarena.com/ lg_optimus_3d-review-622.php (July 22, 2011; last accessed Oct. 19, 2020) (“GSMArena”) and Kuroki (US 2005/0175257 A1; published Aug. 11, 2005). Final Act. 3–10. ANALYSIS Indefiniteness Claim 1 recites [2] “a camera logic [that] merges the two separate images to create a single three dimension (3D-[Like]) image for storage and for viewing on the display screen.” In rejecting claim 1 as indefinite, the Examiner finds that, even in light of the Specification’s teachings, “the term ‘3d-like image’ is not clearly understood [and] does not provide a clear definition of what is a ‘like’ [sic] and the term’s meaning is subject to different interpretations and scope.” Final Act. 2 (citing Spec., 3:8–11, 3:24– 25); Ans. 12–13. Appellant contends the Examiner errs because “what is termed here as [a] 3D-Like image is . . . a stereoscopic image.” Appeal Br. 12; Reply Br. 7–8. Appeal 2019-004259 Application 14/997,560 4 The test for definiteness under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) is whether “those skilled in the art would understand what is claimed when the claim is read in light of the specification.” Orthokinetics, Inc. v. Safety Travel Chairs, Inc., 806 F.2d 1565, 1576 (Fed. Cir. 1986) (citations omitted). Definiteness problems often arise when words of degree are used in a claim. That some claim language may not be precise, however, does not automatically render a claim invalid. When a word of degree is used the [factfinder] must determine whether the patent’s specification provides some standard for measuring that degree. The [factfinder] must decide, that is, whether one of ordinary skill in the art would understand what is claimed when the claim is read in light of the specification. Seattle Box Co. v. Indust. Crating & Packing, Inc., 731 F.2d 818, 826 (Fed. Cir. 1984) (affirming the trial court’s determination that an expert would know the limitations of the claims because the specification clearly sets forth a standard for measuring the degree used in the claim language). Here, the Specification discloses that a “3D-Like image is . . . a stereoscopic image.” Spec., 3:8–9. Such stereoscopic images were known in the art at the time of the invention, as was their merger (e.g., through combining left and right images as juxtaposed images or in alternating between left and right images in a checkboard pattern). E.g., Husak et al. (US 10,136,118 B2; issued Nov. 20, 2018), Abstract; Routhier et al. (US 2005/0117637 A1; published June 2, 2005) ¶ 16; Kuroki ¶ 81, Figs. 2A–C. The Specification further discloses that a 3D-Like image is “a stereoscopic image as seen by the two eyes on a human face.” Id. at 3:24–25. This disclosure provides a standard for measuring the claimed term of degree. Datamize, LLC v. Plumtree Software, Inc., 417 F.3d 1342, 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2005); see also Kuroki ¶ 140 (showing that it was known that 65 mm is the approximate distance between human eyes). Thus, an artisan of ordinary Appeal 2019-004259 Application 14/997,560 5 skill would have understood the claimed 3D-Like image to be a stereoscopic image formed by separate images as seen by the two eyes on a human face that have been merged into a single image. See Okajima v. Bourdeau, 261 F.3d 1350, 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (“[T]he absence of specific findings on the level of skill in the art does not give rise to reversible error ‘where the prior art itself reflects an appropriate level and a need for testimony is not shown’”) (quoting Litton Indus. Prods., Inc. v. Solid State Sys. Corp., 755 F.2d 158, 163 (Fed. Cir. 1985). Therefore, recitation [2]—including the “3D-Like” limitation—is definite. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner’s 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) rejection of claim 1, or of claims 2–4, 7–9, and 12–14, which the Examiner similarly rejects. Obviousness In rejecting claim 1 as obvious, the Examiner relies on GSMArena’s disclosure of a phone with a front facing camera and dual cameras on the back to teach that a “mobile handheld device [that] has a camera system with two separate and independent cameras positioned on a back side of the mobile handheld device, wherein the cameras have a physical separation between them.” Final Act. 3 (citing GSMArena 1–2). The Examiner acknowledges that GSMArena “fails to particularly disclose the physical separation between them of substantially a same separation that is between [the] eyes on a human face.” Id. at 4. Thus, the Examiner relies on Kuroki’s disclosure of front-facing cameras, separated approximately 65mm apart, to suggest modifying GSMArena’s dual cameras on the back side to “have a physical separation between them of substantially a same separation that is between eyes on a human face.” Id. at 5 (citing Kuroki ¶ 140). The Appeal 2019-004259 Application 14/997,560 6 Examiner concludes that it would have been obvious to combine GSMArena and Kuroki in the manner of claim 1, including recitation [1], “in order to realize conversation in a natural eye-to-eye matching state with a conversation partner.” Final Act. 5; Ans. 14 (citing Kuroki Abstract, ¶ 21). Appellant contends the Examiner erred because “the two camera lenses on the backside of the LG Optimus 3D are positioned a very small distance away from each other” (Appeal Br. 17) and because the Examiner relies on impermissible hindsight reasoning in concluding that Kuroki suggests separating the cameras on the back of the LG Optimus 3D to be substantially the same as the separation between eyes on a human face (id. at 18; Reply Br. 12–13). We agree with Appellant the Examiner does not show that disputed recitation [1] would have been obvious over the combined teachings of GSMArena and Kuroki, but for reliance on impermissible hindsight. Specifically, the Examiner’s conclusion that Kuroki would have made it obvious to modify GSMArena to increase the distance between the cameras on the back of the LG Optimus 3D “to realize conversation in a natural eye- to-eye matching state with a conversation partner” (Final Act. 5) lacks a rational underpinning. In both Kuroki and GSMArena, conversations where the partners can see one another make use of at least one camera on the front of the phone. That is, GSMArena has a “[f]ront facing camera with video calls” (GSMArena 2) while Kuroki teaches placing left and right cameras on the same side as a screen (i.e., the front of a device) (Kuroki ¶ 140, Fig. 1). Increasing the separation of the dual cameras on the back of the LG Optimus 3D would not have effected “conversation in a natural eye-to- Appeal 2019-004259 Application 14/997,560 7 eye matching state,” as the Examiner posits (Final Act. 5), because neither GSMArena nor Kuroki teaches or suggests turning the camera around to the back side—the side without a screen—when engaged in a video call. Kuroki, in particular, uses two cameras on either side of a screen to “provide the eye-to-eye matching effect comparable to that obtained by positioning one camera at the center of the imaginary screen.” Kuroki ¶ 141. Although Kuroki details experiments conducted with an imaginary screen (id. ¶ 140), the Examiner fails to show that Kuroki teaches or suggests placing two cameras on the side of a device that does not have a screen (i.e., the back side of the device) at a distance of substantially the same separation that is between the eyes on a human face for purposes of enabling conversation in a natural eye-to-eye matching state. Therefore, the Examiner fails to show that recitation [1] would have been obvious in light of the combined teachings and suggestions of GSMArena and Kuroki. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner’s obviousness rejection of claim 1, or of claims 2–17, which contain similar recitations. CONCLUSION Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § References/Basis Affirmed Reversed 1–4, 7–9, 12–14 112(b) Indefiniteness 1–4, 7–9, 12–14 1–17 103 GSMArena, Kuroki 1–17 Overall Outcome 1–17 REVERSED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation