PTAB

IPR2018-01802

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. v. FotoNation Limited

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1. Case Identification

  • Patent #: 8,331,715
  • Filed: September 27, 2018
  • Petitioner(s): Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
  • Patent Owner(s): FotoNation Limited
  • Challenged Claims: 1-4, 6

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: Digital Image Processing with Enhanced Auto Focus
  • Brief Description: The ’715 patent relates to digital image processing, specifically to methods for enhancing the auto focus of a digital acquisition device by using information gained from detecting and tracking faces or other regions of interest within an image or stream of images.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Ground 1: Anticipation by Hashimoto - Claims 1 and 6 are unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. §102(b).

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Hashimoto (Patent 6,072,526).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Hashimoto discloses every limitation of claims 1 and 6. Hashimoto describes a video camera that enhances auto focus by detecting and tracking a skin-colored portion corresponding to a person's face (the "region of interest"). The camera identifies this region within a digital image, determines a degree of focus by calculating an auto focus (AF) evaluation value, and adjusts the lens to maximize this value. Hashimoto further teaches tracking this region across successive images in a video stream, detecting movement of the region, and automatically adjusting the lens focus position based on the detected movement. For claim 6, Petitioner asserted Hashimoto estimates auto focus distance by determining the size of the AF area, as the size influences the AF evaluation value, which correlates to focus distance.

Ground 2: Anticipation by Yamashita - Claim 1 is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. §102(e).

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Yamashita (Patent 7,423,686).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner asserted that Yamashita, as an alternative to Hashimoto, also anticipates all limitations of claim 1. Yamashita discloses an auto-focus method for a camera system that estimates and tracks the motion of a region of interest (ROI) to continuously focus on an object. The system identifies a group of pixels as the ROI, determines its position and distance across successive frames ("determining a degree of focus"), estimates the ROI's future location and distance based on past and present data ("determining an adjusted value of degree of focus"), tracks the ROI's motion, detects changes in focus position, and automatically adjusts the camera's lens system to maintain focus.

Ground 3: Obviousness over Hashimoto in view of Chen - Claims 2-4 are obvious over Hashimoto in view of Chen under 35 U.S.C. §103(a).

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Hashimoto (Patent 6,072,526) and Chen (Patent 7,508,961).

  • Core Argument for this Ground:

    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Hashimoto teaches the base system of claim 1, including identifying one or more candidate regions of interest (skin-colored portions). Chen, which is in the same field of face detection, explicitly teaches the limitations of dependent claims 2-4. Specifically, Chen discloses computing a weighted average of the locations and scales of all detected face candidates to consolidate them into a single result. Claim 3 is met because Chen's weighting is based on classifier scores, which correspond to an estimated importance based on the location and scale (size) of the candidate region. Claim 4 is met because these classifier scores represent a "relative value of detection assurance" for each candidate region.
    • Motivation to Combine: A Person of Ordinary Skill in the Art (POSITA) would combine Chen’s weighted averaging technique with Hashimoto's face-detection auto-focus system to improve performance. Hashimoto discloses scenarios with multiple faces, and Chen's method provides a well-known solution for improving the speed and accuracy of face detection in such scenarios by consolidating multiple detections.
    • Expectation of Success: A POSITA would have had a reasonable expectation of success because the combination involves applying a known, predictable technique (weighted averaging) to a known problem (handling multiple detected regions of interest) within the same technical field.

  • Additional Grounds: Petitioner asserted additional obviousness challenges, including claims 2-4 as obvious over Hashimoto in view of Nakamura (Japanese Patent Publication 2002-296489); claim 6 as obvious over Hashimoto in view of Ide (Patent 6,785,469); claims 2-4 as obvious over Yamashita in view of Chen; claims 2-4 as obvious over Yamashita in view of Nakamura; and claim 6 as obvious over Yamashita in view of Ide. These grounds relied on similar rationales of combining known techniques for improving face detection and auto-focusing systems.

4. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requests institution of an inter partes review (IPR) and cancellation of claims 1-4 and 6 of the ’715 patent as unpatentable.