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 .
Priority
Per the Petition Decision of December 1, 2025, the Applicant has perfected the foreign priority claims (Decision, pages 2-3). Accordingly, any claimed subject matter supported by the GB 1713052.7 application is currently afforded an effective filing date of August 15, 2017, and any claimed subject matter supported only by the GB 1805677.0 application is currently afforded an effective filing date of April 5, 2018.
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.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f). The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f). The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitations are:
In claim 13: “tiling logic arranged to…;” and
“rendering logic arranged to…”
In claim 19: “tiling logic arranged to…;” and
“rendering logic arranged to…”
Because these claim limitations are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), they are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. A review of the specification shows that the structure corresponding to the claimed “logic” is any circuitry arranged to perform the functions (see, for example, paragraph 78 of the specification, and components of figure 4, such as the processor 41). For the purposes of examination, the tiling logic and rendering logic will be interpretated accordingly.
If applicant does not intend to have these limitations interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitations to avoid them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitations recite sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
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, 4, 6, 7, 10-13, 16, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bates (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0051342), referred herein as Bates, in view of Van der Auwera et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,699,389), referred herein as Van der Auwera.
Regarding claim 1, Bates teaches a method of rendering geometry of a 3D scene, the method comprising: projecting geometry of the 3D scene into a 2D projection plane (figs 5 and 8; paragraph 20, lines 18-22; paragraphs 63-64);
defining a first set of transformations, and adjusting the first set of transformations to produce a set of adjusted transformations (paragraph 42, lines 1-8; paragraph 46, the last 8 lines; paragraph 54, lines 1-9 and the last 5 lines; paragraph 57, lines 1-8 and the last 6 lines; transformations are determined for each vertex, then the transformations are adjusted when motion, viewpoint, etc. changes, and this is continually iterated);
mapping the geometry from the projection plane into an image space using the set of adjusted transformations (paragraph 20, the last 4 lines; paragraph 42, the last 7 lines; paragraph 57, lines 9-13 and the last 6 lines; paragraphs 65-66; the adjusted transformations are used to map the geometry into an image space),
wherein the first set of transformations are configured for mapping the geometry into the image space so as to counteract warping (paragraph 20, lines 18-22; paragraph 42, lines 1-8; paragraph 46, the last 8 lines; paragraph 54, lines 1-9 and the last 5 lines; paragraph 57, lines 1-8 and the last 6 lines); and
rendering the geometry in the image space to determine image values of an image (paragraph 20, the last 4 lines; paragraph 42, the last 7 lines; paragraph 57, lines 9-13 and the last 6 lines; paragraphs 65-66; the geometry is rendered in image space to determine image values of an image).
It is noted that the term “distortion” has a number of broad reasonable interpretations (some of which may be contemplated in Bates, such as image warping), and Bates discusses concerns surrounding correcting images from an HMD camera (paragraph 31). But Bates does not explicitly disclose correcting distortion, wherein the distortion is introduced by an optical arrangement.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Van der Auwera teaches a method for mapping geometry from a projection plane to an image space using transformations (column 7, lines 46-51; column 8, lines 56-61; column 9, lines 40-53), wherein transformations are used to counteract distortion (column 8, lines 61-63; column 9, lines 4-13; column 11, lines 5-30), wherein the distortion is introduced by an optical arrangement (Van der Auwera, fig 4, lens 420; column 8, lines 61-63).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the optical arrangement distortion correction of Van der Auwera with the image warping correction of Bates because as taught by Van der Auwera, this helps produce higher quality output image data by correcting errors that can be induced by the image capture device (see, for example, Van der Auwera, column 1, lines 39-50; column 26, lines 10-20).
Regarding claim 4, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting provides motion compensation (Bates, paragraph 20, lines 1-4; Van der Auwera, column 21, lines 24-26; column 22, lines 61-67; the motivation to combine is similar to that discussed above in the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 6, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 1, wherein image regions are defined in the projection plane as tiles (Bates, paragraph 26, lines 1-7; paragraph 46, lines 1-8; paragraph 47, lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 7, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 6, wherein the image regions in the projection plane are distorted tiles, and wherein a respective transformation is defined for each image region, and further wherein the respective transformation for each of the image regions maps the image region to an undistorted tile in the image space (Bates, paragraph 46; paragraph 54, lines 1-9 and the last 5 lines; paragraph 57, lines 1-8 and the last 6 lines; see also paragraph 20, lines 1-4 and paragraph 31 for correcting image data from a camera; using transformations to correct distortion of distorted tiles: Van der Auwera, column 8, lines 61-63; column 9, lines 4-13; column 10, lines 30-66; column 21, lines 24-26 and 62-67; column 22, lines 61-67; the motivation to combine is similar to that discussed above in the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 10, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 1, wherein projecting geometry of the 3D scene into said 2D projection plane comprises: sub-dividing pixels in said image space into a plurality of image regions, each image region of said image space comprising a group of pixels (Bates, paragraph 26, lines 1-7; paragraph 46, lines 1-8; paragraph 47, lines 1-3; paragraph 53, lines 1-9; paragraph 58, the last 9 lines).
Regarding claim 11, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 1, wherein mapping the geometry from the projection plane into an image space using transformations comprises: applying, for each vertex in an image region, a linear transformation to map the vertex position from the image space to said projection plane (Bates, paragraph 50; paragraph 53, lines 1-9; paragraph 54, lines 1-9 and the last 5 lines; paragraph 57, lines 1-8 and the last 6 lines; translation, rotation, etc., are linear transformations).
Regarding claim 12, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 11, wherein applying, for each vertex in an image region, a linear transformation to map the vertex position from the image space to said projection plane comprises: applying the linear transformation, for each vertex in an image region, to X and Y coordinates in the projection plane and leaving other vertex attributes unmodified (Bates, paragraph 50; paragraph 53, lines 1-9; paragraph 54, lines 1-9 and the last 5 lines; paragraph 57, lines 1-8 and the last 6 lines; only the x, y coordinates are transformed).
Regarding claim 13, the limitations of this claim substantially correspond to the limitations of claim 1, thus they are rejected on similar grounds (except for the graphics processing system and logic, which are disclosed by Bates, fig 3; please note the 112(f) interpretation of the “logic” discussed above).
Regarding claim 16, the limitations of this claim substantially correspond to the limitations of claim 7; thus they are rejected on similar grounds.
Regarding claim 18, the limitations of this claim substantially correspond to the limitations of claims 11 and 12, thus they are rejected on similar grounds (except for the memory arranged to store a plurality of transformation parameters defining the transformations, which is disclosed in Bates, paragraphs 83 and 89).
Regarding claim 19, the limitations of this claim substantially correspond to the limitations of claim 13; thus they are rejected on similar grounds (except for the medium and integrated circuit, which are disclosed by Bates, paragraphs 83, 89, and 98; please note that the “manufacturing” features recite an intended use that is in the preamble, and is not incorporated in, or relevant to, the steps recited in the body of the claim; thus these features are not given patentable weight).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bates, in view of Van der Auwera, and further in view of Shpunt et al. (U.S. Patent No. 8,786,682), referred herein as Shpunt.
Regarding claim 5, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the transformations are adjusted by applying each transformation in the first set of transformations (Bates, paragraph 42, lines 1-8; paragraph 46, the last 8 lines; paragraph 54, lines 1-9 and the last 5 lines; paragraph 57, lines 1-8 and the last 6 lines).
Bates in view of Van der Auwera does not explicitly teach combining the transformations with a global transformation.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Shpunt teaches a method for mapping geometry from a projection plane to an image plane using local transformations (column 10, lines 37-45 and 49-58), wherein the transformations are combined with a global transformation (column 10, line 59 through column 11, line 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the global transformations of Shpunt with the transformations of Bates in view of Van der Auwera because as taught by Shpunt, this improves the broader viewpoint of objects within a scene while maintaining the finer resolution of local transformations, thereby producing a higher quality image (see, for example, Shpunt, column 10, lines 62-65; column 11, lines 3-12).
Claims 8, 9, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bates, in view of Van der Auwera, and further in view of Adams et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0148901), referred herein as Adams.
Regarding claim 8, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teach the method of claim 1, wherein image regions are defined in the projection plane as tiles (Bates, paragraph 26, lines 1-7; paragraph 46, lines 1-8; paragraph 47, lines 1-3), but does not explicitly teach that the image regions are half-tiles.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Adams teaches a method for projecting geometry of 3D image regions using transformations (column 80, lines 1-8), wherein the image regions may be defined as half-tiles (paragraph 74, lines 1-8; a 64 x 64 tile may instead be defined as a 32 x 32, or 64 x 32 tile, both of which are considered half-tiles).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the tiling of Adams with the image processing of Bates in view of Van der Auwera because as taught by Adams, this can retain the quality of the image processing while reducing the data needed to perform the processing (see, for example, Adams, paragraph 75).
Regarding claim 9, Bates in view of Van der Auwera teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising outputting the determined image values of the image (Bates, paragraph 20, the last 4 lines; paragraph 42, the last 7 lines; paragraph 57, lines 9-13 and the last 6 lines; paragraphs 65-66), but does not explicitly teach outputting to a frame buffer.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Adams teaches a method for projecting geometry of 3D image regions using transformations (column 80, lines 1-8), wherein the resulting image values are output to a frame buffer (paragraph 74, lines 1-2 and 8-12).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the frame buffer of Adams with the image projection of Bates in view of Van der Auwera because as known in the art and taught by Adams, frame buffers enable efficient and high-speed access to the processed data, which is critical for such graphics processing systems (see, for example, Adams, paragraph 58; paragraph 62, lines 7-11).
Regarding claim 17, the limitations of this claim substantially correspond to the limitations of claim 9; thus they are rejected on similar grounds.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the foreign priority claims have been fully considered. As noted above, per the Petition Decision of December 1, 2025, the foreign priority claims have been perfected.
Applicant's arguments with respect to the 112(f) interpretation (Remarks at 5)
have been fully considered, but are not persuasive.
On page 6 of the Applicant’s Remarks, Applicant again asserts that the Office Action has failed to show how any interpretation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) differs from interpretation not under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) for the purposes of determining patentability, and asserts that the 112(f) interpretation is superfluous. The Examiner respectfully disagrees with this argument.
It is again respectfully submitted that the Office Action does indeed clearly explain which limitations are interpreted under 112(f), why they are interpreted as such, and how they are being interpreted for the purposes of examination based on the corresponding structure disclosed in Applicant's specification. Regardless of whether Applicant views the 112(f) interpretation as superfluous, the 112(f) interpretation is applicable nonetheless.
It is noted that arguments generally disagreeing with the 112(f) interpretation are insufficient to overcome the 112(f) interpretation. As discussed in the 112(f) section above, if Applicant does not want the limitations interpreted in this manner, Applicant may persuasively argue how the limitations claiming “tiling logic arranged to…” and “rendering logic arranged to…” positively recite the structure performing the functions, or Applicant may provide amendments to the claims that positively recite the structure. At the current time, however, no such arguments or amendments have been provided in Applicant’s responses; thus, the 112(f) interpretation remains.
Applicant's arguments with respect to the prior art rejections have been fully considered, but are not persuasive.
On page 7 of the Applicant’s Remarks, the Applicant argues that 1) the transformations of the invention relate to distortion caused by a projection of a 3D scene onto a plane, not to movements of the viewer’s head, as disclosed in Bates, and 2) Bates discloses adjusting a transform, but does not describe adjusting a set of transformations. The Examiner respectfully disagrees with these arguments.
Regarding the first argument, it is respectfully submitted that, absent clarifying amendments to this effect, what the transformations are related to is immaterial to whether Bates discloses adjusting a set of transformations and using them to render geometry in image space (among other limitations). Regardless of what the transformations are related to, the transformations and their adjustments to counteract warping are still disclosed by Bates. Thus this does not currently present a patentable distinction in the claims. Additionally, as cited in the 103 rejections, Bates contemplates the same concern articulated by the Applicant – for example, in paragraph 20, lines 18-22, inter alia, which states that the time warping may be referred to as image warping of “an image that includes a 3D scene that has been projected to a plane.”
Regarding the second argument, as shown in the provided citations, inter alia, Bates explicitly discloses adjusting transformations of each of a plurality of vertices, and further discloses that these (plural) transformations are used to map the geometry from the projection plane into an image space. Additionally, the transformation adjustments are performed iteratively, each time image warping is introduced. This clearly teaches the broad term “a first set of transformations” in part because a transformation is being performed for each vertex, and that set of transformations is adjusted, as required by the claims. To the extent that Applicant’s invention may comprise a distinguishing “set of transformations,” any such differences are not currently reflected in the claims.
On page 8 of the Applicant’s Remarks, the Applicant argues that 1) Bates does not disclose countering distortion caused by an optical arrangement, 2) Van der Auwera only discloses rectifying a distortion that the lens produces, which would not be combined with Bate’s time-warping transformation, 3) the time-warping transformations in Bates would not be replaced with the features of Van der Auwera because this would change Bate’s depth adjustment, and 4) as previously discussed, Bates does not teach a set of transformations. The Examiner respectfully disagrees with these arguments.
Regarding the first argument, as discussed in the 103 rejections, Bates is not relied upon to teach countering distortion caused by an optical arrangement, as this is disclosed by Van der Auwera.
Regarding the second and third arguments, it is first noted that the test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the primary reference; rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art (See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981).) Nevertheless, it is respectfully submitted that the 103 rejection does not propose replacing the time warping corrections of Bates with the optical corrections of Van der Auwera. Instead, the 103 rejection discusses that it would be obvious to “combine the optical arrangement distortion correction of Van der Auwera with the image warping correction of Bates.” (Emphasis added.) These two concepts do not conflict in any way. As discussed in the rejection, Bates discloses image warping correction, and contemplates that the warping may be introduced by movement of a camera of an HMD. Van der Auwera discloses the extremely well-known concept of distortion being introduced by the optical element of the camera. Both of these distortion sources are well-known in the art, and are commonly known to require correction to address the distortion. Thus Van der Auwera’s optical arrangement distortion correction (to address any optical distortion of Bates’ camera, for example) would not change any functioning of Bates, would clearly improve the image quality of Bates, and would be obvious to one skilled in the art.
Regarding the fourth argument, it is respectfully submitted that Bates indeed teaches the broad term “set of transformations,” as discussed above.
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 DAVID T WELCH whose telephone number is (571)270-5364. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 8:30-5:30 EST, and alternate Fridays, 9:00-2:30 EST.
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DAVID T. WELCH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2613
/DAVID T WELCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2613