CTNF 18/126,403 CTNF 68930 DETAILED ACTION This action is in response to the application filed on 3/25/2023. Claims 1-21 are pending. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 101 07-04-01 AIA 07-04 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows: Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. Claims 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims are not clearly limited to the non-transitory medium. The specification also does not clearly define the claimed "machine-readable medium" as being limited to a non-transitory medium. Claim Mapping Notation In this office action, following notations are being used to refer to the paragraph numbers or column number and lines of portions of the cited reference. In this office action, following notations are being used to refer to the paragraph numbers or column number and lines of portions of the cited reference. [0005] (Paragraph number [0005]) C5 (Column 5) Pa5 (Page 5) S5 (Section 5) Furthermore, unless necessary to distinguish from other references in this action, “et al.” will be omitted when referring to the reference. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15 AIA Claim s 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a1) and (a2 ) as being anticipated by Spitzer et al. (US 20180137602 A1) . 1. A graphics processor comprising: graphics processing circuitry to render images of a graphics scene to be displayed in a head mounted display (HMD) comprising a first display and a second display; and “[0024] FIGS. 1-16 illustrate example systems and techniques for efficient and flexible distribution of image and pixel processing processes in an HMD-based VR/AR system or other display system…” an interface to couple the graphics processing circuitry to the HMD, wherein to render the images, the graphics processing circuitry is to perform operations comprising: “[0024]…The foveated graphics pipeline then processes and transmits the different regions of the display image via distinct processing/transmission paths between one or more graphics processing units (GPUs) of the rendering device and a display controller of a display device comprising the pixel array used to display the display image.” rendering a peripheral image having a first resolution based on a first viewpoint of the graphics scene, rendering first and second foveal regions of the graphics scene at a second resolution higher than the first resolution, “[0024]…A foveal rendering process is employed by a rendering device to foveally render the display image based on the identified regions, with the foveal region being rendered at the highest resolution, and the one or more peripheral regions being rendered at lower resolutions…” wherein the first foveal region is based on a second viewpoint of the graphics scene corresponding to the first display, and the second foveal region is based on a third viewpoint of the graphics scene corresponding to the second display, and “[0064]…The process of method 700 is repeated for each image of the sequence of images, and two parallel instances of method 700 are performed in HMD-based display systems or other dual-display based systems, thereby presenting stereoscopic imagery representative of an AR or VR scene to a user.” blending the first foveal region with the peripheral image to render a first final image to be displayed on the first display, and blending the second foveal region with the peripheral image to render a second final image to be displayed on the second display. “[0050]…The display controller 610 then performs a blending process 650 to blend the decompressed foveal region and upscaled peripheral region to generate a modified image representative of the image as rendered by the GPU 606…” 2. The graphics processor of claim 1 wherein the graphics processing circuitry is to perform additional operations comprising: causing the peripheral image to be stored in first and second framebuffers corresponding to first and second displays, and reading the peripheral image to perform the blending of the first and second foveal regions with the peripheral image, and causing the first and second final images to be stored in the first and second framebuffers, respectively. “[0049]…One of the two data paths is a foveal data path 620 implemented as a foveal rendering process 624 executed at the GPU 606, a foveal compression process 626 performed at the compression component 608, physical interfaces 628, 630 at opposing ends of a PHY 632, and a foveal decompression process 634 performed at the display controller 610 of the display device 604 (and in some embodiments may further include an upscaling process). The other data path is a peripheral data path 622 implemented as a peripheral rendering process 636 executed at the GPU 606…” 3. The graphics processor of claim 2 wherein blending the first foveal region with the peripheral image comprises performing a weighted combination of image data from the peripheral image with image data from the first foveal region within a transition zone and blending the second foveal region with the peripheral image comprises performing a weighted combination of image data from the peripheral image with image data from the second foveal region within the transition zone. “[0050]…The display controller 610 then performs a blending process 650 to blend the decompressed foveal region and upscaled peripheral region to generate a modified image representative of the image as rendered by the GPU 606…” “[0040]… The foveal region, being centered in the anticipated gaze direction, is rendered at a higher resolution, while the one or more peripheral regions are rendered at lower resolutions, with the resolution of each peripheral region generally decreasing with distance from the foveal region in instances with more than one peripheral region.” 4. The graphics processor of claim 3 wherein the transition zone comprises a zone between an inner radius from a fixation point and an outer radius from the fixation point. “[0050]…The display controller 610 then performs a blending process 650 to blend the decompressed foveal region and upscaled peripheral region to generate a modified image representative of the image as rendered by the GPU 606…” “[0040]… The foveal region, being centered in the anticipated gaze direction, is rendered at a higher resolution, while the one or more peripheral regions are rendered at lower resolutions, with the resolution of each peripheral region generally decreasing with distance from the foveal region in instances with more than one peripheral region.” 5. The graphics processor of claim 4 wherein image data from the first and second foveal regions are weighted more heavily in the first and second final images, respectively, closer to the inner radius, and wherein image data from the peripheral image is weighted more heavily in the first and second images closer to the outer radius. “[0050]…The display controller 610 then performs a blending process 650 to blend the decompressed foveal region and upscaled peripheral region to generate a modified image representative of the image as rendered by the GPU 606…” “[0040]… The foveal region, being centered in the anticipated gaze direction, is rendered at a higher resolution, while the one or more peripheral regions are rendered at lower resolutions, with the resolution of each peripheral region generally decreasing with distance from the foveal region in instances with more than one peripheral region.” 6. The graphics processor of claim 5 wherein the first final image comprises the first foveal region within the inner radius and the peripheral image outside of the outer radius, and wherein the second final image comprises the second foveal region within the inner radius and the peripheral image outside of the outer radius. “[0050]…The display controller 610 then performs a blending process 650 to blend the decompressed foveal region and upscaled peripheral region to generate a modified image representative of the image as rendered by the GPU 606…” “[0040]… The foveal region, being centered in the anticipated gaze direction, is rendered at a higher resolution, while the one or more peripheral regions are rendered at lower resolutions, with the resolution of each peripheral region generally decreasing with distance from the foveal region in instances with more than one peripheral region.” 7. The graphics processor of claim 1 further comprising: viewpoint generation logic to generate the first, second, and third viewpoints based on head tracking and eye tracking data received from the HMD. “[0043] In other embodiments, the rendering device 102 may employ a gaze tracking system that tracks the gaze direction of one or both of the user's eyes, and from this dynamically updates the location that is the target of the user's gaze in the pixel array of the corresponding display panel (this location being referred to herein as the “gaze target location”), and thus updates the location of the foveal region that is based on the gaze target location.” Regarding the claims 8-21, they recite elements that are at least included in the claims 1-7 above but in a different claim form. Therefore, the same rationale for the rejection of the claims 1-7 and 1 applies. Regarding the machine readable medium in the claims, see [0099] . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jarvepaaa et al. (US 20210174768 A1) discloses relevant art related to the subject matter of the present invention . A shortened statutory period for reply to this action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. An extension of time may be obtained under 37 CFR 1.136(a). However, in no event, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAE N NOH whose telephone number is (571)270-0686. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8:30AM-5PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William Vaughn can be reached on (571) 272-3922. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JAE N NOH/ Primary Examiner Art Unit 2481 Application/Control Number: 18/126,403 Page 2 Art Unit: 2481 Application/Control Number: 18/126,403 Page 3 Art Unit: 2481 Application/Control Number: 18/126,403 Page 4 Art Unit: 2481 Application/Control Number: 18/126,403 Page 5 Art Unit: 2481 Application/Control Number: 18/126,403 Page 6 Art Unit: 2481 Application/Control Number: 18/126,403 Page 7 Art Unit: 2481
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