DETAILED ACTION
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) is invoked.
Claims 17 and 19-24 are considered with invoking 35 U.S.C. 112(f), where the “the processor” is considered as a nuance term in place of “means”.
Claims 25-30 are considered intend to invoke 35 USC 112(f).
The corresponding structure of the claimed processor is found in specification para.90-91, and 94 etc.
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, 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, 3-9, 11-17 and 19-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saharia (US 2023/0,377,226) in view of Hertzmann (US 11,880,913).
Referring to claims 1, 9 and 17, Saharia discloses a processor-implemented method performed by one processor (fig. 1A, image generation system 100), the processor-implemented method comprising:
receiving an input (fig. 1A, text prompt 102) including a text prompt (fig. 1A, text prompt 102);
processing, by an artificial neural network ANN (fig. 1A, text encoder neural network 110; fig. 1B, 220),
the input to determine [a sequence of virtual brush strokes] inputs (fig. 1A, contextual beddings 104) to draw an output image (fig. 1A, output image 106; fig. 1B, final output image 230).
Hertzmann discloses a sequence of virtual brush strokes (fig. 6, set of vector stroke paths 608), and commands (fig. output stylized stoke drawing 610) corresponding to the virtual brush strokes for controlling an image drawing application (fig. 1, system 100) to draw the output image (fig. 1, stylized drawing 114), each virtual brush stroke comprising a brush stroke (fig. 1, stroke texture module 108; fig. 6, ) of a sketch (fig. 1, artist’s drawing 112) provided in a stroke format
generating (fig. 6, generate 608) a list of the sequence of virtual brush strokes (fig. 6, set of vector stroke paths 608) to draw the output image (fig. 6, stylized stroke drawing 610) and the commands (fig. 6, output 610) corresponding to the sequence of virtual brush strokes
for controlling the image drawing application (fig. 1, system 100) to generate the output image, the commands having color, coordinate and width parameters (3:55-67, visual qualities); and
executing the sequence of virtual brush strokes to render (3:28-31, rendering) an image (fig. 3B, input geometric curve 308) of each of the sequence of virtual brush strokes on a stroke-by-stroke basis (fig. 3B, output stroke 332a).
Saharia and Hertzmann are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor in using neural network to generate images. At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, having the teaching of Saharia and Hertzmann before him or her to modify the output image of Saharia to include the vector stroke paths of Hertzmann, thereafter the output images are presented with vector curve paths. The suggestion and/or motivation for doing so would be obtaining the advantage of improved stylized drawings (3:20-26) as suggested by Hertzmann. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Saharia with Hertzmann to obtain the invention as specified in the instant application claims.
As to claims 3, 11 and 19, Saharia discloses the method of claim 1, in which the input includes only the text prompt (fig. 1A, text prompt 102).
As to claims 4, 12 and 20, Saharia discloses the method of claim 1, in which the input includes the image and the text prompt and the ANN performs a visual reasoning task (fig. 1B, process contextual embeddings through GNN 230; para.0028, inference) to determine the output image.
As to claims 5, 13 and 21, Hertzmann discloses the method of claim 4, in which the image comprises a partial drawing of an object (fig. 3B, output stroke 332a) and the ANN generates a list of a sequence of virtual brush strokes (fig. 6, set of vector stroke paths 608) to produce a complete drawing of the object (fig. 6, output stylized stroke drawing 610) (See TSM analysis in claim 1 above).
As to claims 6, 14 and 22, Saharia discloses the method of claim 4, in which the ANN determines a classification (para.0069, classification) based on the output image.
As to claims 7, 15 and 23, Hertzmann discloses the method of claim 1, in which the image comprises multiple objects (fig. 6, surface geometry features 604), and the ANN determines the list of the sequence of virtual brush strokes (fig. 6, set of vector strokes 608) to draw the output image (fig. 6, stylized stroke drawing 610), the output image including a subset of the multiple objects (fig. 3B, stroke 332a) (See TSM analysis in claim 1 above).
As to claims 8, 16 and 24, Saharia discloses the method of claim 1, in which the ANN comprises a language model (para.0065, large language model).
Conclusion
Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new grounds 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 in THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filled 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 of the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to examiner Cheng-Yuan Tseng whose telephone number is (571)272-9772, and fax number is (571)273-9772. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 09:00 to 17:30 Eastern Time. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alicia Harrington can be reached on (571)272-2330. 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. 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.
/CHENG YUAN TSENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2615