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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 4, 7-9, 11-14, and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 2022/0114702 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Liu discloses a method comprising: at a device having a display (Paragraph 0049, display), one or more processors, and non-transitory memory; (Paragraph 0062, processor and memory) obtaining a currently rendered image; (Paragraph 0046 and figure 1, element 110, upscaled image of a low resolution image) obtaining an accumulation image based on previously rendered images; (Paragraph 0049 and figure 1, prior high resolution images that can be obtained from a history buffer that stores prior high resolution output images created from a blending of other prior images) generating an output image based on the currently rendered image and the accumulation image, wherein the output image includes a first output pixel at a first output pixel location having a first output pixel value based on a first weighting of the currently rendered image and the accumulation image and the output image includes a second output pixel at a second output pixel location having a second output pixel value based on a second weighting of the currently rendered image and the accumulation image, wherein the second weighting is different than the first weighting; (Paragraphs 0049 and 0055, blending the upscaled image with a prior high resolution image to produce a high resolution output image using different blending weights for different pixel locations) and displaying, on the display, the output image (Paragraph 0049, presentation of the high resolution output image on the display).
Regarding claim 3, Liu discloses wherein the second weighting includes weighting the currently rendered image to one and weighting the accumulation image to zero (Paragraph 0054, the blending weight can be set to a value between 0 and 1).
Regarding claim 4, Liu discloses wherein the first weighting is based on a first scaling factor of the first output pixel location and the second weighting is based on a second scaling factor of the second output pixel location (Paragraph 0055, different blending weights at different pixel locations for blending the upscaled image and prior high resolution image which have their own scaling).
Regarding claim 7, Liu discloses wherein the first output pixel value is a weighted sum of a currently rendered image pixel value of a currently rendered image pixel at the first output pixel location of the currently rendered image and a function of an accumulation image pixel value of an accumulation image pixel at a corresponding pixel location corresponding to the first output pixel location of the accumulation image (Paragraphs 0049 and 0055, blending of the upscaled image and prior high resolution image using blending weights at sampled locations).
Regarding claim 8, Liu discloses wherein a weight of the weighted sum is based on a first scaling factor of the first output pixel location (Paragraph 0055, different blending weights at different pixel locations for blending the upscaled image having its own scaling).
Regarding claim 9, Liu discloses wherein the corresponding pixel location is determined based on the first output pixel location and a reprojection function (Paragraph 0055, samples from the upscaled image and prior image are blended together to produce output pixels at the sampled locations).
Regarding claim 11, Liu discloses wherein the function of the accumulation image is a filtering function or anti-ghosting function (Paragraph 0055, accumulation with prevention of artifacts including ghosting).
Regarding claim 12, Liu discloses storing the output image as an updated accumulation image (Figure 1, elements 116 and 118, storing the high resolution output image in the history buffer).
Regarding claim 13, Liu discloses generating a second output image based on a second currently rendered image and the updated accumulation image (Figure 1, the stored high resolution output image in the history buffer can be used as another prior image for a subsequent upscaled image to be blended with to produce another high resolution output image).
Regarding claims 14 and 20, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 1 is applied.
Regarding claim 16, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 3 is applied.
Regarding claim 17, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 4 is applied.
Regarding claim 18, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 7 is applied.
Regarding claim 19, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 9 is applied.
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(s) 2 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2022/0114702 A1) in view of Greenberg (US 2020/0236331 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Liu discloses all limitations as discussed in claim 1. Liu does not clearly disclose wherein the first output pixel location is in a periphery and the second output pixel location is in a fovea. Greenberg discloses images can have regions for display to an eye’s periphery and fovea at different resolutions (Paragraph 0012). Greenberg’s display of images with regions for an eye’s periphery and fovea would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art to be applicable to the blending of different pixel locations for producing an image with different resolution of Liu and the results would have been predictable in blending different pixel locations to produce an image with different resolutions for display to an eye’s periphery and fovea. Therefore, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 15, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 2 is applied.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, and 10 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.
Regarding claim 5, the prior art does not clearly disclose the method of claim 4, wherein the first scaling factor includes a horizontal scaling factor and a vertical scaling factor and the first weighting is based on an inverse of the horizontal scaling factor multiplied by an inverse of the vertical scaling factor.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art does not clearly disclose the method of claim 4, wherein the first scaling factor includes a horizontal scaling factor and a vertical scaling factor and the first weighting is based on the lesser of an inverse of the horizontal scaling factor and an inverse of the vertical scaling factor.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art does not clearly disclose the method of claim 9, wherein the reprojection function is based on a scaling factor map including the first scaling factor of the first output pixel location.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Avila et al. (US 2022/0374490 A1) discloses reprojection during temporal anti-aliasing where new samples are added to old samples to form new image.
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/PHI HOANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2619