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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/10/2025 has been entered.
Status of Claims
The supplemental amendment filed on 11/10/2025 after filing of the amendment on 11/3/2025 has been entered. In the supplemental amendment, Applicant amended claims 25-26, Currently claims 1, 3-13, 16-17 and 21-26 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite because it depends on cancelled claim 14.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3, 5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liang et al. (US 2022/0197033).
Regarding claim 1, Liang teaches a head mounted display (HMD) device (Fig. 1B: head mounted display device 100) comprising
at least first and second imaging sensors (Fig. 1B: camera 151, camera 161 as first imaging sensors and camera 152, camera 162 as second imaging sensors),
wherein the at least first imaging sensor is configured with a first focal value ([0051]: “a larger field-of-view camera corresponds to a larger photographing range and a shorter focal length”) defining a first field of view ([0057]: “The at least one large field-of-view camera (for example, having a field of view from 100 degrees to 200 degrees and resolution from VGA to 720p) is, for example, a camera 151 and a camera 161”; [0058]: “the image captured by the large field-of-view camera has the relatively large field of view, so that a wider angle of view can be provided for the user, thereby meeting a requirement that a field of view of the human eye of the user is relatively wide”) for capturing first image data in realtime ([0058]: “the image captured by the large field-of-view camera is composited with the image captured by the small field-of-view camera, and then a composite image is applied to a scenario such as AR/VR/MR, thereby helping improve an immersion feeling, a reality feeling, and visual experience of the user”; Examiner’s Note application to a scenario such as AR/VR/MR implies realtime capturing images of large and small field of view),
wherein the at least second imaging sensor is configured with a second focal value ([0051]: “a smaller field-of-view camera corresponds to a smaller photographing range and a longer focal length”) defining a second field of view ([0057]: “The at least one small field-of-view camera (for example, having a field of view from 20 degrees to 60 degrees and resolution from 720p to 2Kp is for example, a camera 152 and a camera 162”; [0058]: “The image captured by the small field-of-view camera has the relatively high resolution, so that an image within a line-of-sight focus range of the user can be provided for the user”), for capturing second image data in realtime ([0058]: “the image captured by the large field-of-view camera is composited with the image captured by the small field-of-view camera, and then a composite image is applied to a scenario such as AR/VR/MR, thereby helping improve an immersion feeling, a reality feeling, and visual experience of the user”; Examiner’s Note application to a scenario such as AR/VR/MR implies realtime capturing images of large and small field of view), and
wherein the first and second focal values are different ([0051]: “a larger field-of-view camera corresponds to a larger photographing range and a shorter focal length, and a smaller field-of-view camera corresponds to a smaller photographing range and a longer focal length”) and wherein the second field of view is contained within the first field of view (Fig. 7; [0122]: “For example, in the foregoing image composition process, an image of the target region in the preprocessed first image may be removed, and then the image of the target region in the second image obtained after the angle-of-view alignment may be filled […] so that a final composite image (namely, the fourth image) is more natural and real”);
display means ([0006]: “Two modules are disposed in the head mounted display device, each module includes a camera module, a display screen corresponding to the camera module”; Fig. 4: left display 210, right display 220);
data processing means (Fig. 4: processor 501) operably connected to the display means and to the first and second imaging sensors, configured to output a user interface (Fig. 7: exemplary user interface display fifth image including real scene image and virtual object) on the display means and to output the simultaneously captured first image data and second image data in the user interface (Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 3, Liang further teaches the HMD according to claim 1, wherein the first field of view is substantially 65 degrees or more ([0057]: “The at least one large field-of-view camera (for example, having a field of view from 100 degrees to 200 degrees and resolution from VGA to 720p) is, for example, a camera 151 and a camera 161”) and/or wherein the second field of view is substantially 40 degrees or less ([0057]: “The at least one small field-of-view camera (for example, having a field of view from 20 degrees to 60 degrees and resolution from 720p to 2Kp) is for example, a camera 152 and a camera 162”).
Regarding claim 5, Liang further teaches the HMD according to claim 1, wherein, when the data processing means is further configured to output the captured first and second image data in the user interface and to composite the captured first image data with the simultaneously captured second image data (Figs. 6-7; [0058]; [0079]; [0119]-[0120]; [0122]).
Regarding claim 10, Liang further teaches the HMD according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least first and second imaging sensors is configured to capture visible light in the wavelength range 400 to 700 nm ([0085]: “The light sensing element may be a charge coupled device (charge coupled device, CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor, CMOS) phototransistor”; Examiner’s Note: CCD is inherently for capturing visible image in the wavelength range 400 to 700 nm).
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.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang et al. (US 2022/0197033) in view of Ohba (US 2017/0324899).
Regarding claim 6, Liang does not further teach the HMD according to claim 5, wherein the data processing means is further configured to adjust a ratio of the captured first image data to the captured second image data in the user interface.
Ohba, however, teaches in a related data processing technique to adjust a ratio of the captured first image data to the captured second image data in the user interface (Fig. 1: second camera 142 for acquiring a wide field of view and first cameras 140 for acquiring narrow field of view; [0054]: “the images of the first camera 140 and the image of the second camera 142 are suitably reduced or magnified such that figures of the same image pickup object are represented in the same size”; Examiner’s Note: according to the prior art, a ratio of the captured first image data to the captured second image data is adjusted until figures of the same image pickup object being represented in the same size).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art to combine Ohba’s technique with the technique of Liang to make it possible for compositing the captured first image data with the captured second image data as taught by Liang regardless of the relative sizes of the first and second image sensors.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-13, 16-17, 22 and 24-26 are allowed.
Claim 11 is allowed primarily because the prior art does not sufficiently teach or suggest the claimed invention as a whole with regard to the limitations concerning distributing the simultaneously captured image data to at least one remote terminal across a network. In the exemplary closest prior art, Liang does not teach the differentiating limitations. It is rendered not obvious to modify the technique of Liang to achieve the differentiating limitations.
Claims 12-13 and 22 are allowed because they depend on claim 11.
Claim 16 is allowed for substantially the same rationale as applied to claim 11.
Claims 17 and 24-26 are allowed because they depend on claim 16.
Claims 4, 7-9 and 21 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 11 and 16 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XUEMEI ZHENG whose telephone number is (571)272-1434. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9:30 pm-6:00 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, Benjamin Lee can be reached at 571-272-2963. 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.
/XUEMEI ZHENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2629