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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 8-9 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 8 reads “induce a lower level” and should be corrected to “induces a lower level”.
Claim 9 reads “the subject in relative to” and should be corrected to “the subject relative to”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-7, 10, 12, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Aliamiri (US 2020/0201434) (as cited in the applicant’s IDS).
Regarding claim 1, Aliamiri discloses a system for mental arousal level regulation of a subject (paragraph [0060] “As another example, in a wellbeing application, the brightness of the displayed virtual reality environment may be varied based on the calculated affective state of the user 1 to keep the user 1 in a calm or serene state” The examiner is interpreting affective state, and calm or serene state as mental arousal level regulation.), the system comprising:
at least one sensor (paragraph [0056] “The bioresponsive virtual reality system may further include other types of sensors, such as electrocardiogram (ECG or ECK) sensors and/or electromyography (EMG) sensors.”);
an interface configured to provide a virtual object in a virtual reality environment the virtual object and the virtual reality environment being perceptible by the subject (paragraph [0040] “An end user who is receiving training may, for example, be wearing a VR or AR head display 105, such as a VR headset or an AR headset.” Paragraph [0048] “the HMD 10 may present (or display) a three-dimensional image (e.g., a virtual reality environment) to the user 1 by using,” paragraph [0051] ”The HMD 10 may also include headphones 14 for audio output, and heart rate sensors 16 arranged near the headphones”),
a controller in operable signal communication with the at least one sensor and the interface (paragraph [0008] “The processor is configured to: receive signals indicative of a user's arousal and valance levels from the bioresponsive sensors; calibrate a neural network to correlate the user's arousal and valance values to a calculated affective state; calculate the user's affective state based on the signals; and vary the virtual reality environment displayed on the head-mounted display in response to the user's calculated affective state to induce a target affective state.”)
the controller being configured to perform a method of mental arousal level regulation including (paragraph [0008] “The processor is configured to: receive signals indicative of a user's arousal and valance levels from the bioresponsive sensors; calibrate a neural network to correlate the user's arousal and valance values to a calculated affective state; calculate the user's affective state based on the signals; and vary the virtual reality environment displayed on the head-mounted display in response to the user's calculated affective state to induce a target affective state.”):
providing at least one stimulus in the virtual reality environment for a time duration (paragraph [0071] “The DQN 110 (deep-q network) may vary the visual stimulus changes (or updates) based on changes in the user's current calculated affective state 54.” The examiner notes that since the visual stimulus may change or vary then a stimulus is provided in the VR environment for a time duration.);
acquiring bioelectric signals from the subject via the at least one sensor concurrently with the providing of the at least one stimulus (paragraph [0059] “As will be further described below, the processor 30 receives the output of the sensors, calculates (e.g., measures and/or characterizes) the affective status of the user 1 based on the received sensor signals”);
based on the bioelectric signals, determining a mental arousal score for the subject for the time duration, the mental arousal score being a quantifiable measure of a state of mental arousal of the subject; (paragraph [0065] “The CNNs (convolutional neural networks) 52 may receive the sensor inputs 51 and output a differential score based on the received sensor inputs 51 indicative of the user's arousal and valence states as indicated by each sensor input 51.”, paragraph [0066] “ The neural network 53 receives the numeral values from the CNNs 52, which are indicative of the user’s arousal level and/or valence level, and outputs a single numerical value indicative of the user’s affective state (e.g., the user’s calculated affective state) 54.” The examiner notes here that the user’s calculated affective state is numerical value that is calculated therefore being a quantifiable measure of a state of mental arousal of the subject. );
responsive to the mental arousal score, controllably varying the virtual object and the at least one stimulus (paragraph [0071] “The DQN 110 may vary the visual stimulus changes (or updates) based on changes in the user’s current calculated affective state 54. For example, the DQN 110 may increase the brightness of the virtual reality environment 10 in an attempt to keep the user within a target affective state. ... In this way, the DQN 110 may continually vary the visual stimulus to keep the user in the target affective state, and the target affective state may vary over time, necessitating further changes in the visual stimulus.” And [0059] “the processor 30 receives the output of the sensors, calculates (e.g., measures and/or characterizes) the affective status of the user 1 based on the received sensor signals (e.g., determines the calculated affective state of user 1), and modifies the displayed content (e.g., the displayed virtual reality environment, the visual stimulus, and/or the displayed images) to put the user 1 into a target affective state or to maintain the user 1 in the target affective state” The examiner interprets the displayed images as the virtual object and the visual stimulus as the at least one stimulus.).
and controllably varying a property of the virtual object such that the property tracks the mental arousal score, wherein the property changes correspondingly with the mental arousal score of the subject in real-time (paragraph [0071] “The DQN 110 may vary the visual stimulus changes (or updates) based on changes in the user's current calculated affective state 54…. When the DQN 110 determines that the user's current calculated affective state 54 continues to move away from the target affective state after the changes in the brightness of the virtual reality environment 10, the DQN 110 may then return the brightness to the previous level and/or adjust another aspect of the virtual reality environment 10, such as the color saturation. This process may be continually repeated while the user is using the bioresponsive virtual reality system.” The examiner notes that as the affective state strays from the target state the property changes to bring the user back to the state making the property vary correspondingly with the mental arousal score and further since the process is continually repeated while the user is using the system that this process is happening in real time.)
Regarding claim 2, Aliamiri discloses the system according to claim 1,
wherein the controller comprises a machine learning model configured to predictively determine the mental arousal score (paragraph [0083] “the control neural network 100 uses a deep reinforcement learning model (e.g., a deep reinforcement machine learning model) in which a deep neural network (e.g., the DQN 110) represents and learns the model, policy, and value function..”), and wherein the machine learning model is personalized according to bioelectric signals acquired exclusively from the subject (paragraph [0072] “The control neural network 100 may be trained to better correspond to a user's individual affective state responses to different content and/or visual stimulus.” Paragraph [0077] “After the affective state classification network 50 is calibrated to a particular user”)
Regarding claim 3, Aliamiri discloses the system according to claim 2, and wherein the machine learning model comprises a classification model (paragraph [0062] “The affective state classification network 50 may run on (e.g., the processor 30 may be or may include) a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and/or specialized machine-learning hardware, “) using feature segments originating from the bioelectric signals acquired exclusively from the subject (paragraph [0075] “When the DQN 110 determines that an error exists between the first user's calculated affective state and the annotations of the annotated content, such as when the first user's calculated affective state does not match (or is not within a certain range of values of) the annotations of the annotated content, the DQN 110 will update the baseline model of the affective state classification network 50 to correlate the first user's detected biophysiological responses based on the sensor outputs 51 with the annotations of the annotated content (S205).”).
Regarding claim 5, Aliamiri discloses the system according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the virtual object is configured to be in motion, the motion being characterized by a quantitative property perceptible by the subject, such that the quantitative property changes correspondingly with the mental arousal score of the subject. (paragraph [0071] “When the DQN 110 determines that the user's current calculated affective state 54 continues to move away from the target affective state after the changes in the brightness of the virtual reality environment 10, the DQN 110 may then return the brightness to the previous level and/or adjust another aspect of the virtual reality environment 10, such as the color saturation…..In this way, the DQN 110 may continually vary the visual stimulus to keep the user in the target affective state, and the target affective state may vary over time, necessitating further changes in the visual stimulus.”)
Regarding claim 6, Aliamiri discloses the system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to controllably vary the at least one stimulus provided in the virtual reality environment by switching between providing a first stimulus and providing a second stimulus (paragraph [0060] “The bioresponsive virtual reality system may be applied to video games as well as wellbeing and medical applications as a few examples. For example, in a gaming environment, the number of enemies presented to the user 1 may be varied based on the calculated affective state of the user 1 as determined by the received sensor signals (e.g., the user's biophysiological feedback) to prevent the user 1 from feeling overly distressed (see, e.g., FIG. 5).” The examiner notes that initial number of enemies in the game is the first stimulus and the reduced number of enemies in the game is the second stimulus.)
Regarding claim 7, Aliamiri discloses the system according to claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to determine respective mental arousal scores for the first stimulus and the second stimulus based on the bioelectric signals from the subject, and wherein the respective mental arousal scores are indicative of different mental arousal levels with respect to the subject (The system is continuously updating the user’s affective state (mental arousal scores) so mental arousal scores are determined for the first stimulus (initial number of enemies) which is indicative of a mental arousal of distressed, and for the second stimulus (reduced number of enemies) which is indicative of a different mental arousal of calm/less distressed).
Regarding claims 10, Aliamiri discloses the claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to switch from providing the first stimulus to providing the second stimulus after providing the first stimulus for a first duration (paragraph [0071] “The DQN 110 (deep-q network) may vary the visual stimulus changes (or updates) based on changes in the user's current calculated affective state 54.” The examiner notes that since the visual stimulus may change or vary then a stimulus is provided in the VR environment for a first duration.)
Regarding claim 12, Aliamiri teaches the system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine the mental arousal score based on the bioelectric signals acquired exclusively from the subject (paragraph [0065] The CNNs 52 may receive the sensor inputs 51 and output a differential score based on the received sensor inputs 51 indicative of the user's arousal and valence states as indicated by each sensor input 51. And paragraph [0066] The neural network 53 receives the numeral values from the CNNs 52, which are indicative of the user's arousal level and/or valence level, and outputs a single numerical value indicative of the user's affective state (e.g., the user's calculated affective state).)
Regarding claim 18, A method of regulating a mental arousal level of a subject, the method comprising using the system as recited in claim 1 to:
Provide the at least one stimulus in the virtual reality environment for the time duration (paragraph [0059] “the processor 30 receives the output of the sensors, calculates (e.g., measures and/or characterizes) the affective status of the user 1 based on the received sensor signals (e.g., determines the calculated affective state of user 1), and modifies the displayed content (e.g., the displayed virtual reality environment, the visual stimulus, and/or the displayed images)” The examiner notes that if the image is modified that means that it is displayed for a time duration prior to being modified.;
Acquire the bioelectric signals from the subject via the at least one sensor concurrently with the providing of the at least one stimulus (paragraph [0023] “The calculating the user's affective state may include: receiving signals from a plurality of biophysiological sensors”)
based on the bioelectric signals, determine the mental arousal score for the subject for the time duration (paragraph [0059] “the processor 30 receives the output of the sensors, calculates (e.g., measures and/or characterizes) the affective status of the user 1 based on the received sensor signals (e.g., determines the calculated affective state of use” The examiner is interpreting the calculated affective state as the mental arousal score.;
and controllably vary the virtual object and the at least one stimulus, the controllably varying being responsive to the mental arousal score (paragraph [0071] “In this way, the DQN 110 may continually vary the visual stimulus to keep the user in the target affective state, and the target affective state may vary over time, necessitating further changes in the visual stimulus.”)
and the at least one sensor, wherein the virtual object is provided in the virtual reality environment, the virtual object and the virtual reality environment being configured to be perceptible by the subject (paragraph [0004] “For example, the virtual reality system may include one or more lenses arranged between the display device and the user's eyes such that one or more two-dimensional images displayed by the display device appear to the user as a three-dimensional virtual reality environment.”).
Regarding claim 19, A computing device comprising (figure 4) :
a controller (paragraph [0008] “The processor is configured to: receive signals indicative of a user's arousal and valance levels from the bioresponsive sensors; calibrate a neural network to correlate the user's arousal and valance values to a calculated affective state; calculate the user's affective state based on the signals; and vary the virtual reality environment displayed on the head-mounted display in response to the user's calculated affective state to induce a target affective state.”);
a speaker coupled to the controller (paragraph [0051] “The HMD 10 may also include headphones 14 for audio output” The examiner notes a headphone is a form of speaker.);
an interface coupled to the controller (paragraph [0045] – [0046] “The HMD 10 may include a housing in which a display device (or a plurality of display devices, such as two display devices) and one or more lenses are housed. The housing may be made of, for example, plastic and/or metal and may have a strap attached thereto to be fitted around the head of user 1.
[0046] In some embodiments, the display device may be a smartphone or the like, such that the user 1 may remove the display device from the housing to use the display device independently of the HMD 10 and the bioresponsive virtual reality system and may install the display device into the HMD 10 when he or she wishes to use the bioresponsive virtual reality system.”)
and a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer implementable instructions executable by the controller (paragraph [0044] “The computer program instructions may also be stored in other non-transitory computer readable media such as, “),
the controller being configured to perform a method of mental arousal level regulation including:
providing at least one stimulus as a virtual reality environment via the interface for a time duration (paragraph [0048] “the HMD 10 may present (or display) a three-dimensional image (e.g., a virtual reality environment) to the user 1”),
the virtual reality environment being perceptible to a subject (paragraph [0048] “the HMD 10 may present (or display) a three-dimensional image (e.g., a virtual reality environment) to the user 1”);
acquiring bioelectric signals from a subject via at least one sensor concurrently with the providing of the at least one stimulus (paragraph [0059] “below, the processor 30 receives the output of the sensors,);
based on the bioelectric signals, determining a mental arousal score for the subject for the time duration, the mental arousal score being a quantifiable measure of a state of mental arousal of the subject (paragraph [0059] “the processor….calculates (e.g., measures and/or characterizes) the affective status of the user 1 based on the received sensor signals (e.g., determines the calculated affective state of user” paragraph [0066] “ The neural network 53 receives the numeral values from the CNNs 52, which are indicative of the user’s arousal level and/or valence level, and outputs a single numerical value indicative of the user’s affective state (e.g., the user’s calculated affective state) 54.” The examiner notes here that the user’s calculated affective state is numerical value that is calculated therefore being a quantifiable measure of a state of mental arousal of the subject.);
providing a virtual object in the virtual reality environment (paragraph [0048] “the HMD 10 may present (or display) a three-dimensional image (e.g., a virtual reality environment) to the user 1”)
responsive to the mental arousal score, controllably varying the virtual object and the at least one stimulus (paragraph [0059] “the processor 30 receives the output of the sensors, calculates (e.g., measures and/or characterizes) the affective status of the user 1 based on the received sensor signals (e.g., determines the calculated affective state of user 1), and modifies the displayed content (e.g., the displayed virtual reality environment, the visual stimulus, and/or the displayed images) to put the user 1 into a target affective state or to maintain the user 1 in the target affective state.“)
and controllably varying a property of the virtual object such that the property tracks the mental arousal score, wherein the property changes correspondingly with the mental arousal score of the subject in real-time. (paragraph [0071] “The DQN 110 may vary the visual stimulus changes (or updates) based on changes in the user's current calculated affective state 54….This process may be continually repeated while the user is using the bioresponsive virtual reality system.” The examiner notes here that since the process is continually repeated while the user is using the system that this process is happening in real time.)
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aliamiri.
Regarding claims 8-9, Aliamiri the system according to claim 6, wherein with respect to the subject, the first stimulus is an arousal-inducing stimulus and wherein the second stimulus is a relaxation-inducing stimulus, wherein the arousal-inducing stimulus induces a higher level of the state of mental arousal of the subject, and wherein the relaxation-inducing stimulus induce a lower level of the state of mental arousal of the subject. (of claim 8) and wherein with respect to the subject, the first stimulus is an relaxation-inducing stimulus and wherein the second stimulus is a arousal-inducing stimulus, wherein the relaxation-inducing stimulus has a lower probability of provoking the state of mental arousal of the subject in relative to the arousal-inducing stimulus. (of claim 9). (paragraph [0071] “As one example, the target affective state may be changed to tense/jittery (see, e.g., FIG. 5) during a suspenseful scene, etc. In this way, the DQN 110 may continually vary the visual stimulus to keep the user in the target affective state, and the target affective state may vary over time, necessitating further changes in the visual stimulus.” paragraph [0060] “As another example, in a wellbeing application, the brightness of the displayed virtual reality environment may be varied based on the calculated affective state of the user 1 to keep the user 1 in a calm or serene state (see, e.g., FIG. 5)”. Paragraph [0061] “Referring to FIG. 5, different emotional (or affective) states are shown on a wheel graph. In modern psychology, emotions may be represented by two core affects—arousal and valence. Arousal may be a user's excitement level, and valence may be a user's positive or negative sense. By considering both arousal and valence, a user's affective state may be determined” The examiner is modifying the system in Aliamiri to have the first stimulus be either arousal-inducing (of claim 8) or relaxation-inducing (of claim 9) and the second stimulus be either relaxation-inducing (of claim 8) or arousal inducing (of claim 9). As Aliamiri discloses in figure 5 there is a range of states that the VR stimulus can help reach for a user.)
It would be prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the VR system in Aliamiri to have a first and second stimulus be either arousal or relaxation inducing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be able to recognize that data would be beneficial in understanding the user when it is gathered over a large range of emotions as this would be useful in tailoring the VR system for multiple purposes such as gaming and wellness.
Claims 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aliamiri in view of Li (CN 109300529) (as cited in the applicant’s IDS).
Regarding claim 11, Alimiri teaches the claim 6, but fails to teach wherein the first duration is at least a predetermined duration of time.
Li teaches a VR system to help with addiction and craving that switch between a first and second stimulus after a first predetermined duration. (page 5, paragraph 1 “the third step, said addictive into the cognitive adjusting scene, duration is 4 minutes, through virtual reality/augmented reality technology watching mountain scene, and provided with corresponding sound and body scan, mindfulness in or SOEBR breathing space guide; The addiction personnel then enters the bio-feedback training, the process time is 3 minutes, through virtual reality/augmented reality technology to present the mountain scene, and a sound, picture to change (as mood anxiety will see snow crossing with the objective physiological index. and mood is quiet, it can see the sunshine and rainbow), and real-time feedback to the said addictive;”)
It would be prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system in Aliamiri to switch between a first and second stimuli after a period of time as taught in Li. Aliamiri provides the stimuli for a duration but fails to disclose the duration to be a predetermined duration, it would have been obvious to use a predetermined duration as taught by Li for the purpose of providing the stimuli long enough to have a desired effect.
Claims 13 - 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aliamiri in view of Aimone (US 2016/0077547).
Regarding claim 13, Aliamiri teaches the system according to claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the controller is configured to determine an arousal regulation index based on the bioelectric signals, the arousal regulation index being indicative of a level of mental arousal induced in the subject.
Aimone teaches wherein the controller is configured to determine an arousal regulation index based on the bioelectric signals, the arousal regulation index being indicative of a level of mental arousal induced in the subject. (paragraph [0082] “For each of these example VR events 430; a score 450 (or grade) is generated based on a comparison of the user state 425 during the VR event to desired user state 435, and the effect in VR environment 415 (or manual input 410) to desired effect 440.” And paragraph [0088] “VR events 430 are associated with biological signals” The examiner is interpreting the score, element 450, as the arousal regulation index.)
It would be prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system taught in Aliamiri to determine an arousal regulation index based on bioelectric signals as taught in Aimone. One of ordinary skill in the art would be able to recognize that this is a known technique in similar devices and the system in the prior art is improved in the same way as the claimed invention to yield the predictable results of providing metrics to indicate a user’s mental state.
Regarding claim 14, Hill teaches the system according to claim 13, wherein the arousal regulation index is configured to be a quantitative measure of the subject's ability to regulate the subject's own level of mental arousal (paragraph [0087] “The score 450 is a combination of user state score and performance score to provide a combined, for example, numerical score and constructive feedback to the user specific to the content of the VR Application for which he or she is being trained.” And paragraph [0091] “The score 450 can further include, for example, the following three types of scores: 1) ability of operator to learn 2) ability of operator to correctly predict accuracy of their decisions and 3) emotional state leading to impaired thinking.” And paragraph [0090] “The user states 425 and desired user states 435 may compromise a large number of different brain states. Some exemplary brain user states are ability of operator to learn; ability of operator to correctly predict accuracy of their decisions; ability for emotional regulation; concentration; focus; sensory clarity; equanimity; mental workload; sensitivity to relevant external data; insensitivity to irrelevant external data; prior emotional states before performing; and event related potentials in response to stimulus.” The examiner notes that the score is based on the users states which can include emotional regulation and mental work load which are indicative of mental arousal.)
It would be prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system taught in Aliamiri to have an arousal regulation index as taught in Aimone. One of ordinary skill in the art would be able to recognize that this is a known technique in similar devices and the system in the prior art is improved in the same way as the claimed invention to yield the predictable results of providing metrics to indicate a user’s mental state for multiple training purposes such as education, gaming, and wellness/therapy.
Regarding claim 15, Aimone teaches the system according to claim 13, wherein in response to the controller finding the arousal regulation index of the subject to be below a threshold value (the controller is configured to increase the first duration by an additional duration (paragraph [0083] “Where the user 305 reached a certain threshold 460 score 450, this training or VR environment ends, but optionally it may also continue for the user 305 to improve” continuing would be increasing the time/duration by additional time/duration).
It would be prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system taught in Aliamiri to extend the duration of the current VR content as taught in Aimone so that the user can continue to improve their performance or until they are satisfied with their performance ([0083] of Aimone).
Regarding claim 16, Aimone teaches the system according to claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to determine a mental arousal regulation index based on a number of instances when the mental arousal score is above an upper threshold or below a lower threshold (paragraph [0083] “The user 305 optionally repeats the training content from the VR Application 315 until the user 305 passes the threshold score 460 and/or until the user 305 is satisfied with his or her performance. The feedback 470 may be provided to the user 305 on the display 110 or 225 after the presentation of the content and may include a user state score and effects score over the course of the each of the VR events i.e. post viewing of the streamed VR events synchronized with user manual inputs and user states.”).
It would be prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system taught in Aliamiri to calculate a mental arousal regulation index as taught in Aimone. One of ordinary skill in the art would be able to recognize that a single score is not indicative of the user’s response to the VR content and it would be more accurate to obtain multiple points of the user’s response to various stimuli to understand the arousal level of a user.
Regarding claim 17, Aliamiri teaches the system according to claim 1 but fails to teach wherein the controller is further configured to provide an audio feedback responsive to the mental arousal score, and wherein the audio feedback is configured to direct the subject towards changing the mental arousal score towards a preferred range of values.
Aimone teaches a system for training using VR that can provide an audio feedback responsive to the mental arousal score, and wherein the audio feedback is configured to direct the subject towards changing the mental arousal score towards a preferred range of values. (Column 8, line 60 “One or more user effectors may also be provided at the wearable device or other local computing device for providing feedback to the user, for example, to vibrate or provide some audio or visual indication to assist the user in achieving a particular mental state, such as a meditative state.”)
It would be prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system in Aliamiri to provide audio feedback to help the user reach a specific state as taught in Aimone. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to recognize that this is a known technique in similar devices and the prior art contains a comparable device improved in the same way as the claimed invention to yield the predictable results of providing audio cues to help improve the mental state of a user.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aliamiri in view of Hill (US 2019/0198153) further in view of Aimone.
Regarding claim 20, Aliamiri teaches the computing device according to claim 19, wherein at least a part of the virtual object is configured to be in a motion responsive to the mental arousal score (paragraph [0071] “For example, when the virtual reality environment is a movie, the target affective state input into the DQN 110 may change to correspond to different scenes of the movie…. In this way, the DQN 110 may continually vary the visual stimulus to keep the user in the target affective state, and the target affective state may vary over time, necessitating further changes in the visual stimulus.”), and wherein the controller is configured to switch between providing an arousal-inducing stimulus and providing a relaxation-inducing stimulus (paragraph [0060] “The bioresponsive virtual reality system may be applied to video games as well as wellbeing and medical applications as a few examples. For example, in a gaming environment, the number of enemies presented to the user 1 may be varied based on the calculated affective state of the user 1 as determined by the received sensor signals (e.g., the user's biophysiological feedback) to prevent the user 1 from feeling overly distressed (see, e.g., FIG. 5). As another example, in a wellbeing application, the brightness of the displayed virtual reality environment may be varied based on the calculated affective state of the user 1 to keep the user 1 in a calm or serene state (see, e.g., FIG. 5).“), but fails to teach wherein the controller is further configured to provide audio feedback via the speaker to guide the subject towards a mental state that results in a reduction in the speed or the frequency of the motion, and wherein the audio feedback is provided concurrently with the relaxation-inducing stimulus.
Hill teaches wherein the controller is further configured to provide audio feedback via the speaker to guide the subject towards a mental state that results in a reduction in the speed or the frequency of the motion, (Figure 4, element 214, shows how VR content can be slowed down in response to biometric changes of the user. The examiner is modifying the system taught in Aliamiri to change the VR stimulus to vary in speed in response to a change of mental arousal score (taught as calculated affective state in Aliamiri” and paragraph [0106] The biometric outputs can be set to modify the VR Content's experience's volume, light, color, tone, depth, aroma, sound, pitch, or texture. In addition, these biometrics may be utilized to control a 360 video player by allowing pre-defined biometric values to stop, start, pan, tilt, zoom, slow, or speed up a monoscopic or stereoscopic video or audio clip.)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system in Aliamiri to change the stimuli speed and content as taught in Hill. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to recognize that this is a known technique in the art and that the prior art is improved in the same way as the claimed invention to yield the predictable results of having a bioresponsive VR system.
However, both Aliamiri and Hill fail to teach wherein the controller is further configured to provide audio feedback via the speaker to guide the subject towards a mental state and wherein the audio feedback is provided concurrently with the relaxation-inducing stimulus.
Aimone teaches wherein the controller is further configured to provide audio feedback via the speaker to guide the subject towards a mental state and wherein the audio feedback is provided concurrently with the relaxation-inducing stimulus (Column 8, line 60 “One or more user effectors may also be provided at the wearable device or other local computing device for providing feedback to the user, for example, to vibrate or provide some audio or visual indication to assist the user in achieving a particular mental state, such as a meditative state.”)
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system in Aliamiri to provide audio feedback with a relaxation-inducing stimulus as taught in Aimone. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to recognize that this is a known technique in the art that would yield the predictable results of verbally guiding a user to a relaxing state.
Response to Arguments
Claim Objections
Examiner acknowledges that the objection to claim 19 was a typo and the objection was meant for claim 18. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 18 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claim 18 has been withdrawn.
35 U.S.C. 112 (b)
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejections of claims 1-3 and 18-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections of claim 1-3, 18-20 has been withdrawn.
35 U.S.C. 102
Applicant's arguments filed regarding claims 1-3, 5-7, 10, 12, and 18-19 rejections have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding the amended claim 1, the examiner has updated the rejection on the same grounds of Aliamiri as the system discloses that as the affective state strays from the target state the property changes (ex: brightness or color of the stimulus) to bring the user back to the state making the property vary correspondingly with the mental arousal score and further since the process is continually repeated while the user is using the system so that this process is happening in real time and the affective state/arousal score is being tracked in real time as well. Additionally, the examiner notes here that the user’s calculated affective state is numerical value that is calculated therefore being a quantifiable measure of a state of mental arousal of the subject. Please see the updated claim 1 rejection.
Aliamiri teaches every limitation of the amended claim 1 and the similar limitations in amended claim 19. Therefore, claims 1-3, 5-7, 10, 12, 18-19 are not in condition for allowance.
35 U.S.C. 103
Applicant's arguments filed regarding claims 8-9 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding the amended claims 8 and 9, in response to applicant’s argument that Aliamiri does not provide any teaching or suggestion of a virtual object with a property that tracks the mental arousal score in real time or any motivation to include such an object, the examiner notes that Aliamiri does teach the limitation as discussed in the paragraphs above and the rejection to claims 1 and dependent claims 8 and 9. Aliamiri teaches a range of emotional affects the stimulus can provide to a user including tense/jittery and placid/calm therefore the stimulus provided can induce a higher level of arousal (tense/jittery) and a higher level of relaxation (placid/calm).
The examiner notes that the target affective state in Aliamiri is represented as a numerical value (paragraphs [0065] and [0070]) as taught by the applicant as a mental arousal score. Further, the examiner notes that in the applicant’s invention that if the mental arousal score of a user does not change throughout a session, then the stimulus will not change in response, which would be similar to the prior art in Aliamiri. Additionally, the system taught by Aliamiri is bioresponsive and will adapt as the user’s target affective state may change over time (paragraph [0071] “the DQN 110 may continually vary the visual stimulus to keep the user in the target affective state, and the target affective state may vary over time, necessitating further changes in the visual stimulus.”) therefore the system taught by Aliamiri will “track” the user’s affective state and respond to the changes of that state.
Aliamiri teaches the amended limitations of claims 8-9. Therefore, claims 8-9 are not in condition for allowance.
Applicant's arguments filed regarding claim 11 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that Aliamiri does not provide any teaching or suggestion of a virtual object with a property that tacks the mental arousal score in real time or any motivation to include such an object and Li does not cure this deficiency, the examiner notes that Aliamiri does teach the limitation as discussed in the paragraphs above and the rejection to claim 1 above so therefore Li is not needed to teach the limitation. Li teaches the limitation of claim 11 as noted in the rejection for claim 11 above.
Therefore, claim 11 is not in condition for allowance.
Applicant's arguments filed regarding claims 13-17 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that Aliamiri does not provide any teaching or suggestion of a virtual object with a property that tracks the mental arousal score in real time or any motivation as recited in claim 1 and Aimone does not cure this deficiency, the examiner notes that Aliamiri does teach the limitation as discussed in the paragraphs above and the rejection to claim 1 above so therefore Aimone is not needed to teach the limitation. Aimone teaches the limitations of claims 13-17 in the rejections above. In this case, the examiner notes that the motivation to combine Aliamiri in view of Aimone that this is a known technique in similar devices and the system in the prior art is improved in the same way as the claimed invention to yield the predictable results of providing metrics to indicate a user’s mental state for multiple training purposes such as education, gaming, and wellness/therapy.
Therefore, claims 13-17 are not in condition for allowance.
Applicant's arguments filed regarding claim 20 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that Aliamiri and Aimone do not provide any teaching or suggestion of a virtual object with a property that tracks the mental arousal score in real time or any motivation as recited in claim 1 and Hill does not cure this deficiency, the examiner notes that Aliamiri does teach the limitation as discussed in the paragraphs above and the rejection to claim 1 above so therefore Hill is not needed to teach the limitation. Hill teaches the limitations of claim 20 in the rejection above.
Therefore, claim 20 is not in condition for allowance.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/A.L.D./Examiner, Art Unit 3791
/JACQUELINE CHENG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3791
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