CTFR 18/339,313 CTFR 92547 DETAILED ACTION 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 (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. 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. Response to Amendment The amendment filed on 03/25/26 has been entered. Response to Arguments Applicant’s argument with respect to claims 16, 18-35 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection, as necessitated by amendment. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 16, 19, 20, and 28-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wilson et al. (US 20180067306) in view of Lee et al. (US 20020130961) . Regarding claim 16, Wilson teaches an apparatus (fig. 1, head mounted display 100) comprising, at least one processor (¶32, GPU; ¶9, control unit and ¶7, imaging unit); and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (¶12, implementation of our displays in the form of methods, devices, systems, computer programs, data structures, recording mediums, and the like may be considered part of this disclosure), cause the apparatus at least to, detect a device with a display (¶26, image playback device 200 generates an image displayed by the head mounted display 100 and as an example, the image reproducing device 200 is a device capable of reproducing an image of a stationary game console, a portable game console, a PC, a tablet, a smartphone, a phablet, a video player, a television or the like. Note: receiving image signals from an external image source necessarily entails identifying and recognizing the presence of a device having a display as the image source); detect that a user is wearing a head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces (¶40, the infrared light reaching the cornea 302 of the user 300 is reflected from the cornea 302 of the user 30, and directed to the direction of the convex lens 14 again. This infrared light passes through the convex lens 114, and is reflected from the hot mirror 112. The camera 116 includes a filter that shields visible light, and captures near-infrared light reflected from the hot mirror 112. That is, the camera 116 is a near-infrared camera that captures near-infrared light emitted from the near-infrared light source 103 and reflected from the cornea of the user 300 and ¶41, the image output unit 118 outputs an image captured by the camera 116 to an eyesight detection unit that detects the eyesight direction of the user 300 and ¶43, the convex lens 114, a plurality of reflection regions are formed so that a pattern of infrared light appearing on the cornea 302 of the user 300 forms structured light; note: the cornea constitutes a reflective surface from which incident light is reflected and captured by the camera, and thus reasonably corresponds to the claimed “one or more reflective surfaces”). Wilson does not specifically teach determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display; and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces. However, in a similar field of endeavor, Lee teaches an apparatus comprising, determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display (¶20 and ¶21, image processor 206 detects a possible reflection degree before calculating the focus range, and outputs the glasses reflection information to an illumination controller 207. In a way of avoiding the glasses reflection, the illumination controller 207 controls the lighting condition of the illumination LED based on the glasses reflection information, and changes the reflected positions from the glasses as well.); and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces (¶21, the illumination controller 207 controls the lighting condition of the illumination LED based on the glasses reflection information, and changes the reflected positions from the glasses as well. In this manner, the reflection by the glasses can be prevented and the iris image recognition can be done successfully through an analysis on the iris images obtained from the camera 206.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the apparatus of Wilson with determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display; and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces of Lee, for the purpose of preventing reflection interference on the reflective surface from interfering with successful eye image recognition (¶21). Regarding claim 19, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches wherein the at least one memory and the instructions (¶12, implementation of our displays in the form of methods, devices, systems, computer programs, data structures, recording mediums, and the like may be considered part of this disclosure) stored therein are configured to, with the at least one processor (¶32, GPU; ¶9, control unit and ¶7, imaging unit), further cause the apparatus to, capture one or more images (¶63, the camera 116 may be a monocular camera and may be a stereo camera including two or more imaging units, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 analyzes the parallax image of the cornea 302 of the user 300 which is captured by the camera 116 and ¶62, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 analyzes the interval between the dot patterns appearing in the cornea 302 of the user 300) of the user and the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces, and use image processing (¶54, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit can uniquely specify each dot row by analyzing dot patterns in an image captured by the camera 116; note: identifying structure light features enables their separation from other image content) to remove (¶54, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit can uniquely specify each dot row by analyzing dot patterns in an image captured by the camera 116; note: separating structured light features reasonably corresponds to removing them from the processed image) the light pattern (¶52, dot patterns) and the reflection of the display of the device (display image reflected in the eye, ¶62) from the captured one or more images (¶62, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 can also estimate position coordinates of the cornea 302 of the user 300 in a three-dimensional coordinate system using the camera 116 as an origin). Regarding claim 20, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches wherein the at least one memory and the instructions (¶12, implementation of our displays in the form of methods, devices, systems, computer programs, data structures, recording mediums, and the like may be considered part of this disclosure)stored therein are configured to, with the at least one processor (¶32, GPU; ¶9, control unit and ¶7, imaging unit), further cause the apparatus to, capture one or more images of the user and the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces, and use one or more filters to reduce the light pattern from the captured one or more images (¶62, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 analyzes the interval between the dot patterns appearing in the cornea 302 of the user 300, and thus acquires a three-dimensional shape of the cornea 302 of the user 300. Thereby, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 can also estimate position coordinates of the cornea 302 of the user 300 in a three-dimensional coordinate system using the camera 116 as an origin, note: the reference necessarily requires separating the structured light dot-pattern information from other image content during image analysis, which reasonably corresponds to the claimed use of image processing to remove or reduce the projected light pattern from captured images; note: image analysis that separates structured light information from other image content necessarily reduces the influence of the projected light pattern in the processed image) Regarding claim 28, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches the apparatus is at least one of: mobile phone, a camera, a computing device or the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces (¶1, head mounted display and abstract, reflective regions; note: the disclosed head mounted display corresponds to a wearable computing device). Regarding claim 29, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches the projected light pattern comprises visible light (¶33, mirror 112 have a property of transmitting visible light). Regarding claim 30, Wilson teaches a method (fig. 1, head mounted display 100) comprising, detecting a device with a display (¶26, image playback device 200 generates an image displayed by the head mounted display 100 and as an example, the image reproducing device 200 is a device capable of reproducing an image of a stationary game console, a portable game console, a PC, a tablet, a smartphone, a phablet, a video player, a television or the like. Note: receiving image signals from an external image source necessarily entails identifying a device having a display); detecting that a user is wearing a head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces (¶40, the infrared light reaching the cornea 302 of the user 300 is reflected from the cornea 302 of the user 30, and directed to the direction of the convex lens 14 again. This infrared light passes through the convex lens 114, and is reflected from the hot mirror 112. The camera 116 includes a filter that shields visible light, and captures near-infrared light reflected from the hot mirror 112. That is, the camera 116 is a near-infrared camera that captures near-infrared light emitted from the near-infrared light source 103 and reflected from the cornea of the user 300 and ¶41, the image output unit 118 outputs an image captured by the camera 116 to an eyesight detection unit that detects the eyesight direction of the user 300 and ¶43, the convex lens 114, a plurality of reflection regions are formed so that a pattern of infrared light appearing on the cornea 302 of the user 300 forms structured light; note: the cornea constitutes a reflective surface). Wilson does not specifically teach determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display; and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces. However, in a similar field of endeavor, Lee teaches an method comprising, determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display (¶20 and ¶21, image processor 206 detects a possible reflection degree before calculating the focus range, and outputs the glasses reflection information to an illumination controller 207. In a way of avoiding the glasses reflection, the illumination controller 207 controls the lighting condition of the illumination LED based on the glasses reflection information, and changes the reflected positions from the glasses as well.); and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces (¶21, the illumination controller 207 controls the lighting condition of the illumination LED based on the glasses reflection information, and changes the reflected positions from the glasses as well. In this manner, the reflection by the glasses can be prevented and the iris image recognition can be done successfully through an analysis on the iris images obtained from the camera 206.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the method of Wilson with determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display; and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces of Lee, for the purpose of preventing reflection interference on the reflective surface from interfering with successful eye image recognition (¶21). Regarding claim 31, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches the projected light pattern comprises visible light (¶33, mirror 112 have a property of transmitting visible light). Regarding claim 32, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches comprising, capturing one or more images (¶63, the camera 116 may be a monocular camera and may be a stereo camera including two or more imaging units, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 analyzes the parallax image of the cornea 302 of the user 300 which is captured by the camera 116 and ¶62, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 analyzes the interval between the dot patterns appearing in the cornea 302 of the user 300) of the user and the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces (note: the cornea constitutes a reflective surface from which incident light is reflected and captured), and using image processing (¶54, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit can uniquely specify each dot row by analyzing dot patterns in an image captured by the camera 116; note: identifying structured light features enables their separation from other image content; note: identifying structured light features enables their separation from other image content) to remove (¶54, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit can uniquely specify each dot row by analyzing dot patterns in an image captured by the camera 116; note: separating structured light features reasonably corresponds to removing them from the processed image) the projected light pattern (¶52, dot patterns) and the reflection of the display of the device (display image reflected in the eye, ¶62) from the captured one or more images (¶62, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 can also estimate position coordinates of the cornea 302 of the user 300 in a three-dimensional coordinate system using the camera 116 as an origin). Regarding claim 33, Wilson teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the (¶12, implementation of our displays in the form of methods, devices, systems, computer programs, data structures, recording mediums, and the like may be considered part of this disclosure, ¶32, GPU; ¶9, control unit and ¶7, imaging unit) following, detecting a device with a display (¶26, image playback device 200 generates an image displayed by the head mounted display 100 and as an example, the image reproducing device 200 is a device capable of reproducing an image of a stationary game console, a portable game console, a PC, a tablet, a smartphone, a phablet, a video player, a television or the like. Note: receiving image signal from an external image source necessarily entails identifying an recognizing the presence of a device having a display as the image source); detecting that a user is wearing a head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces (¶40, the infrared light reaching the cornea 302 of the user 300 is reflected from the cornea 302 of the user 30, and directed to the direction of the convex lens 14 again. This infrared light passes through the convex lens 114, and is reflected from the hot mirror 112. The camera 116 includes a filter that shields visible light, and captures near-infrared light reflected from the hot mirror 112. That is, the camera 116 is a near-infrared camera that captures near-infrared light emitted from the near-infrared light source 103 and reflected from the cornea of the user 300 and ¶41, the image output unit 118 outputs an image captured by the camera 116 to an eyesight detection unit that detects the eyesight direction of the user 300 and ¶43, the convex lens 114, a plurality of reflection regions are formed so that a pattern of infrared light appearing on the cornea 302 of the user 300 forms structured light; note: the cornea constitutes a reflective surface from which incident light is reflected and captured by the camera, and thus reasonably corresponds to the claimed “one or more reflective surfaces”). Wilson does not specifically teach determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display; and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces. However, in a similar field of endeavor, Lee teaches an non-transitory computer readable medium comprising, determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display (¶20 and ¶21, image processor 206 detects a possible reflection degree before calculating the focus range, and outputs the glasses reflection information to an illumination controller 207. In a way of avoiding the glasses reflection, the illumination controller 207 controls the lighting condition of the illumination LED based on the glasses reflection information, and changes the reflected positions from the glasses as well.); and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces (¶21, the illumination controller 207 controls the lighting condition of the illumination LED based on the glasses reflection information, and changes the reflected positions from the glasses as well. In this manner, the reflection by the glasses can be prevented and the iris image recognition can be done successfully through an analysis on the iris images obtained from the camera 206.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the non-transitory computer readable medium of Wilson with determine a position of the one or more reflective surfaces relative to the display; and control projection of a light pattern based on the position of the one or more reflective surfaces so that the projected light pattern is incident on at least part of the one or more reflective surfaces, wherein the projected light pattern masks a reflection of the display of the device on the one or more reflective surfaces of Lee, for the purpose of preventing reflection interference on the reflective surface from interfering with successful eye image recognition (¶21). Regarding claim 34, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches the projected light pattern comprises visible light (¶33, mirror 112 have a property of transmitting visible light). Regarding claim 35, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above and Wilson further teaches the program instructions (¶12, implementation of our displays in the form of methods, devices, systems, computer programs, data structures, recording mediums, and the like may be considered part of this disclosure) are further configured to cause the apparatus to, capture one or more images (¶63, the camera 116 may be a monocular camera and may be a stereo camera including two or more imaging units, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 analyzes the parallax image of the cornea 302 of the user 300 which is captured by the camera 116 and ¶62, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 analyzes the interval between the dot patterns appearing in the cornea 302 of the user 300) of the user and the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces (note: the cornea constitutes a reflective surface from which incident light is reflected and captured), and use image processing (¶54, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit can uniquely specify each dot row by analyzing dot patterns in an image captured by the camera 116; note: identifying structured light features enables their separation from other image content) to remove (¶54, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit can uniquely specify each dot row by analyzing dot patterns in an image captured by the camera 116; note: separating structured light features reasonably corresponds to removing them from the processed image) the projected light pattern (¶52, dot patterns) and the reflection of the display of the device (display image reflected in the eye, ¶62) from the captured one or more images (¶62, the cornea coordinate acquisition unit 240 can also estimate position coordinates of the cornea 302 of the user 300 in a three-dimensional coordinate system using the camera 116 as an origin) . 07-22-aia AIA Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wilson et al. (US 20180067306) in view of Lee et al. (US 20020130961) as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Jeromin (US 20210364789) . Regarding claim 18, Wilson in view of Lee teaches the invention as set forth above but does not specifically teach the head mounted item comprises at least one of, glasses, sunglasses, a visor, a helmet, or an augmented reality headset. However, in a similar field of endeavor, Jeromin teaches an apparatus wherein the head mounted item comprises at least one of, glasses, sunglasses, a visor, a helmet, or an augmented reality headset (¶36, augmented reality headset). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the apparatus of Wilson in view of Lee with the head mounted item comprises at least one of, glasses, sunglasses, a visor, a helmet, or an augmented reality headset if Jeromin, for the purpose of viewing an virtual image superimpose on the environmental image (¶37) Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 21-27 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indications of allowable subject matter: the prior art does not disclose the claimed combination of limitations to warrant a rejection under 35 USC 102 or 103. Regarding claim 21, the prior art does not disclose the claimed apparatus specifically including as the distinguishing features in combination with the other limitations the claimed “wherein the at least one memory and the instructions stored therein are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: alternate the projected light pattern between an off state and an on state, capture one or more images of the user and the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces, and in response to a first one or more images being captured with the projected light pattern being in an on state, control a first image processing of the captured first one or more images, and in response to a second one or more images being captured with the projected light pattern being in an off state, control a second image processing of the captured second one or more images, wherein the first image processing and the second image processing are different to one another.” Specifically, with respect to claim 22, is objected to for the same reason as claim 21. Regarding claim 23, the prior art does not disclose the claimed apparatus specifically including as the distinguishing features in combination with the other limitations the claimed “wherein the at least one memory and the instructions stored therein are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: alternate the projected light pattern between an off state and an on state and capture one or more images of the user and the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces and synchronize the capture of the one or more images so that the one or more images are captured with the projected light pattern being in an on state.” Regarding claim 24, the prior art does not disclose the claimed apparatus specifically including as the distinguishing features in combination with the other limitations the claimed “wherein one or more parameters of the light pattern are selected to reduce the visibility of the light pattern for the user wearing the head mounted item.” Specifically, with respect to claim 25, is objected to for the same reason as claim 24. Specifically, with respect to claim 26, is objected to for the same reason as claim 24. Regarding claim 27, the prior art does not disclose the claimed apparatus specifically including as the distinguishing features in combination with the other limitations the claimed “wherein the at least one memory and the instructions stored therein are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: use machine learning to detect that the user is wearing the head mounted item comprising one or more reflective surfaces.” Conclusion 07-40 AIA 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 HENRY DUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-0534. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. 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, Pinping Sun can be reached at (571)270-1284. 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. /HENRY DUONG/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872 05/30/26 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 2 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 3 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 4 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 5 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 6 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 7 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 8 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 9 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 10 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 11 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 12 Art Unit: 2872 Application/Control Number: 18/339,313 Page 13 Art Unit: 2872
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