DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 11/4/2025 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. Patent No. 11935193 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Continued Examination
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/25/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
Claim 1-4, 7-10, 11-14, 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moriyama U.S. Patent Application 20130100138 in view of KOKOJIMA U.S. Patent Application 20120019539, and further in view of Peng U.S. Patent Application 20150130826.
Regarding claim 19, Moriyama discloses a system, comprising:
a processor (processor) configured to:
determine one or more sets of lines that connect one side of an outline to its opposite side, wherein a line of the one or more sets of lines connects a prescribed center point of a corresponding center curve of the outline with points on opposite sides of the outline of which the prescribed center point represents a center (paragraph [0035]: the judging unit 13 divides the four outline points corresponding to the two segmentation points thus selected (in this example, the outline points 162, 172, 163, and 173) into two pairs of outline points located on the same side with respect to the straight line connecting the two segmentation points (in this example, the outline point 162 is paired with the outline point 163, whereas the outline point 172 is paired with the outline point 173); see fig. 3, 162 connect to 172, 163 connect to 173, 162→172, 163→173 represent thickness of curve outline),
wherein at least one line comprising the one or more sets of lines is determined based on a metric that provides a measure of quality (paragraph [0002]: The quality of characters or geometric figures is determined depending on the smoothness (quality metric) of the connecting portions of approximating line segments (hereinafter, such a connecting portion is referred to as an edge)... a judgment of whether or not edges requires further approximation is made separately for each edge);
and a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions (paragraph [0076]: a control program composed of appropriate program code written in a machine language or high-level language may be recorded onto a recoding medium).
Moriyama discloses all the features with respect to claim 19 as outlined above. However, Moriyama fails to disclose sets of lines that connect one side of an outline of a closed shape to its opposite side, wherein lines comprising the one or more sets of lines are sufficiently dense to generate a mesh model of the outline of the closed shape, generating a mesh model of the outline of the closed shape by mapping lines comprising the one or more sets of lines to polygons used to define the mesh model, and wherein any gaps between the one or more sets of lines are filled using interpolation.
KOKOJIMA discloses sets of lines that connect one side of an outline of a closed shape to its opposite side, wherein lines comprising the one or more sets of lines are sufficiently dense to generate a mesh model of the outline of the closed shape (paragraph [0044]: As shown in FIG. 6, the polygon generation unit 13 may divide the inside of a boundary "C" into triangular polygon meshes; see fig. 6 character "C" is a closed shape),
generating a mesh model of the outline of the closed shape by mapping lines comprising the one or more sets of lines to polygons used to define the mesh model (paragraph [0033]: The polygon generation unit 13 generates a polygon mesh from the outline data (S403). By filling the polygon mesh, the polygon rendering unit 14 renders a character image (S404); paragraph [0027]: The texture generation unit 15 generates a bitmap image (texture) from the outline data acquired. The texture rendering unit 16 renders (draws) a character image by mapping the texture onto a quad polygon).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption.
Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA discloses all the features with respect to claim 19 as outlined above. However, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA fails to disclose any gaps between the one or more sets of lines are filled using interpolation.
Peng discloses any gaps between the one or more sets of lines are filled using interpolation (paragraph [0003]: At operation 107 the texture coordinates are interpolated at each pixel within the polygon).
Therefore, it would be obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Claim 1 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 19 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 19 applies to the method steps of claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the outline of the closed shape comprises one of a plurality of components comprising an object or a figure (Moriyama’s paragraph [0020]: FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing a portion of a curve to be rendered; KOKOJIMA’s paragraph [0044]: the polygon generation unit 13 generates a polygon mesh from outline data "C").
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 3, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of components of the object or the figure is separately and independently processed for mesh generation in serial or in parallel (KOKOJIMA’s paragraph [0033]: The polygon generation unit 13 generates a polygon mesh from the outline data (S403). By filling the polygon mesh, the polygon rendering unit 14 renders a character image (S404)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 4, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of components comprises a closed shape or geometry (see KOKOJIMA’s fig. 6; Moriyama’s paragraph [0097]: A curve rendering device according to the present invention calculates outlines of text fonts and geometric figures).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 7, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more center curves of the outline of the closed shape (Moriyama’s Fig. 3, P4 →P5 →P6 →P7 is the center curves of the outline).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 8, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein at least one line comprising the one or more sets of lines is perpendicular to a corresponding center curve of the outline of the closed shape (Moriyama’s Fig. 3, 162→172 is perpendicular to a center curve of the outline, 163→173 is perpendicular to a center curve of the outline).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 9, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein at least one line comprising the one or more sets of lines is not perpendicular to a corresponding center curve of the outline of the closed shape (Moriyama’s Fig. 3, 162→163 (L15) is not perpendicular to a center curve of the outline, 172→173 (L25) is not perpendicular to a center curve of the outline).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 10, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sets of lines effectively represent thickness of corresponding portions of the outline of the closed shape (Moriyama’s paragraph [0034]: The outline points 162 and 172 are separated from the segmentation point P5 by half the line width along the normal in the two different directions of the normal vectors 151 and 152).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 11, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein adjacent lines in a set of lines do not intersect and have a same order on opposite sides of the outline of the closed shape (see Moriyama’s fig. 3, 162 connect to 172, 163 connect to 173, (162, 172) and (163, 173) have same order and not intersect).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 12, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising generating a texture mapping for the mesh model of the outline of the closed shape and a prescribed texture (KOKOJIMA’s paragraph [0027]: The texture generation unit 15 generates a bitmap image (texture) from the outline data acquired. The texture rendering unit 16 renders (draws) a character image by mapping the texture onto a quad polygon).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 13, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 12, wherein generating the texture mapping comprises mapping pixels of the prescribed texture to polygons comprising the mesh model (Peng’s paragraph [0003]: Texture mapping 101 generally entails imaging a textured signal onto a primitive's geometry, for example giving the appearance of pixel-level detail on more coarsely rendered polygon meshes that are manipulated on a vertex basis).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 14, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the texture mapping comprises a uv coordinates mapping (Peng’s paragraph [0003]: a texture is a digital image comprising an array of texels (texture elements), which may be individually addressed based on location within a two-dimensional ( u,v) coordinate space).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 16, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein gaps between the one or more sets of lines that are filled using interpolation correspond to portions of the outline of the closed shape comprising sudden or sharp turns or angles (Peng’s paragraph [0003]: At operation 107 the texture coordinates are interpolated at each pixel within the polygon; Moriyama’s paragraph [0002]: judging the need for further approximation based on whether or not the angle between two line segments connected to form an edge satisfies an empirically determined condition).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Regarding claim 17, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the outline comprises an outline of a font letter (see KOKOJIMA’s fig. 6; Moriyama’s paragraph [0097]: A curve rendering device according to the present invention calculates outlines of text fonts and geometric figures).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama’s to texture mapping mesh model as taught by KOKOJIMA, to quickly render the character image with the small memory-consumption; and combine Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s to interpolate as taught by Peng, to produce smooth outline efficiently.
Claim 20 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 19 as medium steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 19 applies to the medium steps of claim 20.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moriyama U.S. Patent Application 20130100138 in view of KOKOJIMA U.S. Patent Application 20120019539, in view of Peng U.S. Patent Application 20150130826, and further in view of Kim U.S. Patent Application 20150269436.
Regarding claim 5, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above. However, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng fails to disclose the at least one line comprising the one or more sets of lines that is determined based on the metric that provides the measure of quality comprises an optimal option from a range of possible options that best satisfies the quality metric.
Kim discloses the at least one line comprising the one or more sets of lines that is determined based on the metric that provides the measure of quality comprises an optimal option from a range of possible options that best satisfies the quality metric (paragraph [0036]: Referring again to FIG. 3, at block 320 a set of line segments is selected. Line segments in this set can be selected based on their respective measure of quality… The line segments with the highest measure of quality for each region, for instance, may be initially selected; paragraph [0044]: The selection of line segments can be based on a quality value determined for each line segment, where quality can be based on a variety of factors).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama, KOKOJIMA and Peng’s to select line as taught by Kim, to observe and track features.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moriyama U.S. Patent Application 20130100138 in view of KOKOJIMA U.S. Patent Application 20120019539, in view of Peng U.S. Patent Application 20150130826, and further in view of Halstead U.S. Patent Application 20110254840.
Regarding claim 6, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above. However, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng fails to disclose the outlines comprises a two-dimensional cross-section of a three-dimensional figure and wherein the three-dimensional figure comprises a plurality of two-dimensional cross-sections which are individually parsed to generate corresponding mesh models that are combined to generate a mesh model of the three-dimensional figure.
Halstead discloses the outlines comprises a two-dimensional cross-section of a three-dimensional figure and wherein the three-dimensional figure comprises a plurality of two-dimensional cross-sections which are individually parsed to generate corresponding mesh models that are combined to generate a mesh model of the three-dimensional figure (paragraph [0081]: The cross section processing module 31 determines a series of cross sectional regions of the detailed 3D shape graph 23; paragraph [0081]: step 116 creates cross-sections (X-Z plane maps) from 3D shape file… The cross section processing module 31 determines a series of cross sectional regions of the detailed 3D shape graph 23; paragraph [0082]: step 116 combines the template 17 generated cylinder mesh and the series of cross sectional regions).
Therefore, it would be obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama, KOKOJIMA and Peng’s to generate cross-section as taught by Halstead, to generate high quality 3D models with different mesh and image sizes easily.
Claim 15 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moriyama U.S. Patent Application 20130100138 in view of KOKOJIMA U.S. Patent Application 20120019539, in view of Peng U.S. Patent Application 20150130826, and further in view of Eugene U.S. Patent 8818773.
Regarding claim 15, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng discloses all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above. However, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA and Peng fails to disclose exhibiting monotonic behavior.
Eugene discloses exhibiting monotonic behavior (col. 5 line 1-6: FIG. 1… Each individual stitch in the design is rendered as a rectangle primitive 120 textured with an appropriate image 121 of a stitch. The rendering technique employs texture mapping at the individual stitch level; stitches do not intersect and are in same order (monotonic behavior); Eugene’s same order stitches can be combined with Moriyama and KOKOJIMA’s device, such that lines do not intersect and exhibit monotonic behavior).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama, KOKOJIMA and Peng’s to have same order lines as taught by Eugene, to render realistic image without latency.
Regarding claim 18, Moriyama as modified by KOKOJIMA, Peng and Eugene discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the outline comprises a font letter and the mesh model of the outline is used to render a stitched or embroidered font letter (Eugene’s col. 6 line 48-52: FIG. 7A shows a collection of stitch images arranged in rows by stitch length and columns by source lighting angle. Indexing the images in this manner allows simple selection of appropriate stitch textures for use in texture mapping an embroidery design; Moriyama’s paragraph [0097]: A curve rendering device according to the present invention calculates outlines of text fonts and geometric figures; KOKOJIMA’s paragraph [0033]: The polygon generation unit 13 generates a polygon mesh from the outline data (S403)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Moriyama, KOKOJIMA and Peng’s to have same order lines as taught by Eugene, to render realistic image without latency.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/25/2026, page 6 - 7, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 19 and 20 under 103, have been fully considered and are moot upon a new ground(s) of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moriyama U.S. Patent Application 20130100138 in view of KOKOJIMA U.S. Patent Application 20120019539, and further in view of Peng U.S. Patent Application 20150130826, as outlined above.
Applicant argues on page 7 about the claim 1, 19 and 20 with newly proposed features.
In reply, this argument is explained in detail as discussion for claim 19 rejection (Moriyama, KOKOJIMA and Peng combined) above. The applicant can incorporate claim 5 to further specify quality metric.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Yi Yang whose telephone number is (571)272-9589. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00 AM-6:00 PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Hajnik can be reached on 571-272-7642. 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).
/YI YANG/
Examiner, Art Unit 2616
Prosecution Insights