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 17 is cancelled.
Claims 1, 9, 18, 20, and 21 are amended.
Claims 1-16 and 18-21 are pending.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 and 10-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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 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, 9, and 18-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan et al. (CN #114040184) in view of Shen et al. (CN #113891061).
Regarding Claim 1, Yan discloses a video communication method applied to an acquisition terminal (title, abstract, figs. 1-11), comprising:
obtaining human eye positioning coordinate data of a viewer acquired at a display terminal, wherein the human eye positioning coordinate data (Yan ¶n0006 discloses acquire eye position coordinates) comprises a horizontal coordinate of a left eye and a horizontal coordinate of a right eye of the viewer in a display space of the display terminal (Yan ¶n0148 discloses as shown in fig. 8, based on the eye position coordinates at the current acquisition time, the eye is connected to the origin of the coordinate system XYZ by a first straight line. The angle between this first straight line and the Z-axis is projected as ∠α in the horizontal direction. Based on the predicted eye position coordinates, the eye is connected to the origin of the coordinate system XYZ by a second straight line. The angle between this second straight line and the Z-axis is projected as ∠β in the horizontal direction. The eye movement trajectory is between the angles ∠α and ∠β);
acquiring a current frame scene image of a scene located at the acquisition terminal (Yan figs. 2-7: image acquisition).
Yan may not explicitly disclose rendering a left-eye viewpoint map at a viewpoint corresponding to the horizontal coordinate of the left eye and a right-eye viewpoint map at a viewpoint corresponding to the horizontal coordinate of the right eye in the display space according to the current frame scene image and the human eye positioning coordinate data; and transmitting rendered left-eye viewpoint map and right-eye viewpoint map to the display terminal, so as to perform a three-dimensional display at the display terminal according to the rendered left-eye viewpoint map and right-eye viewpoint map.
However, Shen (title, abstract, figs. 1-5) teaches rendering a left-eye viewpoint map at a viewpoint (Shen ¶n0007 discloses based on the depth map, the specific 3D coordinates of the viewer's left and right eyes are subjected to viewpoint interlacing processing to form an interlaced multi-viewpoint image. ¶n0044-¶n0050 discloses the depth map is formed by connecting the depth information. Preferably, a naked-eye 3D display method, based on the depth map, performs viewpoint interlacing processing on the specific 3D coordinates of the viewer's left and right eyes to form an interlaced multi-viewpoint image) corresponding to the horizontal coordinate of the left eye and a right-eye viewpoint map at a viewpoint corresponding to the horizontal coordinate of the right eye in the display space according to the current frame scene image and the human eye positioning coordinate data (Shen ¶n0056 discloses the beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: This naked-eye 3D display method and display device, by obtaining the horizontal distance between the center of the eye and the two boundaries of the optimal viewing area. ¶n0133 discloses by obtaining the horizontal distances between the center of the eye and the two boundaries of the optimal viewing area, the offset of the eye center relative to the interface and the width of the viewing area at the eye center are determined. Based on the offset of the eye center relative to the interface and the width of the viewing area at the eye center, the content of the image on the display screen is translated. The offset of the image content can be correctly adjusted according to the position of the viewer when moving left and right, so that the viewer can see the 3D effect image and avoid crosstalk problems); and
transmitting rendered left-eye viewpoint map and right-eye viewpoint map to the display terminal, so as to perform a three-dimensional display at the display terminal according to the rendered left-eye viewpoint map and right-eye viewpoint map (Shen ¶n0056 discloses based on the mapping parameters of the imaging coordinates and the base fixed point coordinates, the display content of the mobile terminal can be adjusted in the current mapping coordinate system with the camera position as the mapping starting point, thereby achieving a naked-eye 3D display effect. Furthermore, by translating the mapping content on the display screen according to the offset of the eye center relative to the interface and the viewing area width at the eye center, the offset of the mapping content can be correctly adjusted according to the viewer's position when moving left and right, thus enabling the viewer to... To avoid crosstalk issues when viewers see 3D images, a suitable brightening and reflective layer is selected by detecting the viewing distance between the eyes and the image display layer. The display resolution of the multi-viewpoint naked-eye 3D display is defined by composite pixels. Both transmission and display are based on the display resolution defined by composite pixels, reducing the amount of computation for transmission and rendering while ensuring high-definition display effects, thus achieving high-quality naked-eye 3D display).
Yan and Shen are analogous art as they pertain to video communication. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify video communication device (as taught by Yan) to perform viewpoint interlacing processing on the specific 3D coordinates of the viewer's left and right eyes based on the depth map (as taught by Shen, ¶n0045) to overcome prior art deficiencies (Shen, ¶n0003).
Claims 9, and 18-21 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claim 1.
Claim 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan et al. (CN #114040184 A) in view of Shen et al. (CN #113891061 A) further in view Parra Pozo (US PGPUB #2022/0413433).
Regarding Claim 2, Yan in view of Shen discloses the method according to claim 1, but may not explicitly disclose wherein said acquiring a current frame scene image of a scene located at the acquisition terminal comprises: acquiring current frame color images of the scene and current frame depth images of the scene at multiple different viewing angles of the acquisition terminal.
However, Parra Pozo (title, abstract, figs. 1-15) teaches wherein said acquiring a current frame scene image of a scene located at the acquisition terminal comprises: acquiring current frame color images of the scene and current frame depth images of the scene at multiple different viewing angles of the acquisition terminal (Parra Pozo ¶0030 discloses the pipeline stage for capturing audio, color images, and depth images can be performed on the sender-side using a capture devices such as microphones for audio, RGB (or black-and-white) cameras for color images, and depth sensors for depth images).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Yan in view of Shen with Parra Pozo so as to provide the most accurate rendering of the participant. Depth information is necessary to ensuring an applicant is perceived in a comparable manner to a face-to-face encounter
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 9, and 18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOGESHKUMAR G PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3957. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 AM-4 PM PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached at (571) 272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YOGESHKUMAR PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
Prosecution Insights