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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 08/12/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 10, Applicant argues that,
“…
Applicant submits that the cited references fail to disclose or render obvious the presently claimed combination of features recited in independent claim 1. For example, Applicant submits that the cited references fail to disclose or render obvious “control a first primary camera among the first cameras to generate a first signal before a first exposure of the first primary camera and input the first signal as a signal notifying the second cameras of start of a frame.”
The present amendment expressly recites that the first signal is generated prior to the exposure of the first primary camera, thereby more clearly distinguishing the present claims from Tesdahl and Chen.
…”
In response, Examiner respectfully disagrees and submits that, at least on page 8, Chen clearly states “… sending the synchronous signal to the second camera module by the first camera module. then, the first camera module starts to expose and turn on the first fill light in the first preset time; when the first time period is over, then the second camera module starts to expose and turn on the second fill light in the second preset time, so; the exposure time and the light filling time of the first camera module and the second camera module are staggered, so as to avoid the mutual interference of the two...”
(emphasis added)
Since Chen teaches the first primary camera sends the synchronous signal to the second camera, THEN starts to expose, Chen teaches the synchronous signal must at least be generated before a first exposure of the first primary camera.
Applicant’s arguments on pages 11-13 are moot in view of the discussion of Chen above.
As such, Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive.
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 1-6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tesdahl et al. (US 2023/0319428 A1 – hereinafter Tesdahl) and Chen et al. (CN 111541873 B – hereinafter Chen, references made to machine translated copy attached).
Regarding claim 1, Tesdahl discloses a wearable electronic device (Figs. 1-2; [0019] – a near-eye device 102 shown in Fig. 2 wearable by a user) comprising: one or more processors (Fig. 2; [0022] – controller 208); memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors ([0022] – one or more storage devices coupled to the controller 208 and storing instructions to control the near eye device); a first tracking device comprising first lights corresponding to a first area of a user wearing the wearable electronic device and first cameras corresponding to the first area ([0021]; Fig. 2 – a first tracking device comprising IR light sources 206A and 206B corresponding to iris area of the user and first cameras 202A and 202B corresponding to the iris area); and a second tracking device comprising second lights corresponding to a second area of the user and second cameras corresponding to the second area (Fig. 2; [0020] – a second tracking device comprising IR light sources 204A, 204B, 204C, and 204D corresponding to an eye’s area of the user and eye tracking cameras 200A and 200B corresponding to the eyes), wherein the memory store one or more computer programs including computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wearable electronic device to: control a first primary camera among the first cameras and the second cameras ([0022] – the controller 208 executes instructions stored in the storage devices to control the operation of the near eye device comprising the first cameras and the second cameras).
However, Tesdahl does not disclose the instructions cause the wearable electronic device to: control a first camera in a first camera module to generate a first signal related to exposure of the first camera and input the first signal as a signal notifying a second camera module of start of a frame.
Chen discloses a controller executes instructions (page 14) to control a first camera module to generate a first signal related to exposure of the first camera module and input the first signal as a signal notifying a second camera module of start of a frame (pages 7-9 – controlling a first camera module to send a synchronous signal to a second camera module, the synchronous signal notifies the second camera module a start of a frame captured by the first camera module as shown in Fig. 5 so that the second module knows how to start exposure to capture its frame, the synchronous signal is also before a first exposure of the first camera module because the first camera starts the exposure following the sending of the synchronous signal).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Chen into the first primary camera of the first camera module comprising the first cameras and the second camera module comprising the second cameras of the device taught by Tesdahl to enhance the quality of the captured images by avoiding interference of illumination between the first cameras and the second cameras.
Regarding claim 2, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chan as discussed in claim 1 above, in which Chen in view of Tesdahl also discloses for inputting the first signal as the signal notifying the second cameras of the start of the frame, the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (Chen: page 14), cause the wearable electronic device (in view of Tesdahl disclosing the wearable electronic device) to: control the first primary camera to generate the first signal at a first exposure time of the first primary camera and input the first signal as the signal notifying the second cameras of the start of the frame (Chen: page 8; Fig. 5 – ‘as shown in FIG. 5, assuming a frame time is T, the first time period is T1, the second time period is T2, then T = T1 + T2. and T1 is located before T2 in the time sequence. when the first camera module sends the synchronous signal to the second camera module, the first camera module at the same time to expose’).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Chen into the device has been discussed in claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 3, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chan as discussed in claim 2 above, in which Chen in view of Tesdahl also discloses, wherein, for inputting the first signal as the signal notifying the second cameras of the start of the frame, the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (Chen: page 14), cause the wearable electronic device (in view of Tesdahl disclosing the wearable electronic device) to: control the first primary camera to adjust a generation time of the first signal such that the first exposure time of the first primary camera and a second exposure time of the second cameras do not overlap each other (Chen: Fig. 5; page 8 – exposure time of first camera is during T1, exposure time of second camera module is during T2, T1 and T2 do not overlap each other).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Chen into the device has been discussed in claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 4, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chan as discussed in claim 3 above, in which Chen in view of Tesdahl also discloses, for adjusting of the generation time of the first signal, the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (Chen: page 14), cause the wearable electronic device (in view of Tesdahl disclosing the wearable electronic device) to: control the first primary camera to adjust the generation time of the first signal such that an interval between the first exposure time and the second exposure time decreases in proportion to a transmission time for which the first primary camera transmits one data frame (Chen: Fig. 5; page 8 – exposure time of first camera is during T1, exposure time of second camera module is during T2, the distance between T1 and T2 is zero, thus an interval between the first exposure time and the second exposure time decreases in proportion to a transmission time for which the first primary camera transmits one data frame).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Chen into the device has been discussed in claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 5, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chan as discussed in claim 4 above, in which Chen in view of Tesdahl also discloses, for adjusting of the generation time of the first signal, the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors(Chen: page 14), cause the wearable electronic device (in view of Tesdahl disclosing the wearable electronic device) to: control the first primary camera to adjust the generation time of the first signal such that the second exposure time is less than or equal to a value obtained by subtracting the first exposure time from the transmission time of one data frame transmitted by the first primary camera (Chen: Fig. 5; page 8 – exposure time of first camera is during T1, exposure time of second camera module is during T2, the transmission time is T1, subtracting the first exposure time from the transmission time is zero).
The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Chen into the device has been discussed in claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 6, Tesdahl also discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first area corresponds to a left eye of the user and a right eye of the user ([0021]; Fig. 2 – the iris-tracking cameras 202A and 202B are corresponding to the eyes’ area of the user), and wherein the first tracking device comprises: the first lights configured to generate images reflected on the left eye and the right eye of the user wearing the wearable electronic device (Fig. 2; [0021] – light source 206A configured to generate an image reflected on the left eye and light source 206B on the right side of the device configured to generate an image reflected on the right eye of the user); the first primary camera configured to track the images reflected on the left eye of the user and the left eye of the user ([0021]; Fig. 2 – camera 202A configured to track images reflected on the iris of the left eye of the user and the left eye of the user); and a first secondary camera configured to track the images reflected on the right eye of the user and the right eye of the user ([0020]; Fig. 2 – camera 202B configured to track images reflected on the iris of the right eye of the user and the right eye of the user).
Regarding claim 10, Chen in view of Tesdahl also discloses the first tracking device and the second tracking device (in view of Tesdahl teaching the first and second track devices) operate with a constant delay within a same cycle (pages 7-9; Fig. 5 – the same cycle is repeated).
Claims 7, 15, 17-20, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tesdahl and Chen as applied to claims 1-6 and 10 above, and further in view of Wu (US 2023/0418370 A1 – hereinafter Wu).
Regarding claim 7, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chen as discussed in claim 1 above. Tesdahl also discloses the second area corresponds to a face of the user, and wherein the second tracking device comprises: the second lights configured to reflect light on the face of the user (Fig. 2; [0020] – light sources 204A, 204B, 204C, 204D to generate an image reflected on the left eye area of the face of the user and a similar arrangement of light sources on the right side of the device configured to generate an image reflected on the right eye are of the face of the user); and the second cameras configured to recognize an eye expression of the user by the second lights ([0020] – recognizing gaze expression of the user).
However, Tesdahl and Chen do not disclose the second cameras configured to recognize a facial expression of the user.
Wu discloses second cameras configured to recognize a facial expression of the user ([0028]-[0029]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Wu into the device taught by Tesdahl and Chen to recognize facial expression of the user, which is useful in reducing user's immersion in virtual environment, e.g. identifying a comfort state of the user (e.g., happy, unhappy, distressed, etc.) based on body data of the user (e.g., facial expressions), and reducing any identified discomfort state.
Regarding claim 15, Tesdahl also discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the second cameras comprise: a secondary camera 2-1, and a secondary camera 2-3 (Fig. 2; [0020] – camera 200A and camera 200B), wherein the secondary camera 2-1 is configured to capture an image of a left side of a face of the user (Fig. 5; [0020] – camera 200A configured to capture an image of a left eye, thus a left side, of a face of the user), wherein and wherein the secondary camera 2-3 is configured to capture an image of a right side of the face of the user (Fig. 5; [0020] - camera 200B configured to capture an image of a right eye, thus a right side, of the face of the user).
However, Tesdahl and Chen do not disclose the second cameras comprise: a secondary camera 2-2, wherein the secondary camera 2-2 is configured to capture an image of a center of the face of the user.
Wu discloses second cameras comprise: a secondary camera 2-2, wherein the secondary camera 2-2 is configured to capture an image of a center of the face of the user ([0028]-[0029] – tracking camera C7 capture an image of a mouth area, thus a center, of the face of the user).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Wu into the device taught by Tesdahl and Chen to recognize facial expression of the user, which is useful in reducing user's immersion in virtual environment, e.g. identifying a comfort state of the user (e.g., happy, unhappy, distressed, etc.) based on body data of the user (e.g., facial expressions), and reducing any identified discomfort state.
Regarding claim 17, Tesdahl discloses a wearable electronic device (Figs. 1-2; [0019] – a near-eye device 102 shown in Fig. 2 wearable by a user), comprising: one or more processors (Fig. 2; [0022] – controller 208); memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processor ([0022] – one or more storage devices coupled to the controller 208 and storing instructions to control the near eye device); a first tracking device comprising first infrared (IR) lights configured to generate images reflected on a left eye and a right eye of a user wearing the wearable electronic device, a first primary camera configured to track the reflected images and the left eye, and a first secondary camera configured to track the reflected images and the right eye ([0021]; Fig. 2 – a first tracking device comprising IR light sources 206A and 206B corresponding to iris area of the user and first cameras 202A and 202B corresponding to the iris area); and a second tracking device comprising second IR lights configured to reflect light on a face of the user and second secondary camera configured to track eyes of the user by the second IR lights (Fig. 2; [0020] – a second tracking device comprising IR light sources 204A, 204B, 204C, and 204D corresponding to an eye’s area of the user and eye tracking cameras 200A and 200B corresponding to the eyes), wherein, the memory store one or more computer programs including computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wearable electronic device to: control the first primary camera and the second secondary cameras ([0022] – the controller 208 executes instructions stored in the storage devices to control the operation of the near eye device comprising the first cameras and the second cameras).
However, Tesdahl does not disclose the second secondary camera configured to recognize a facial expression of the user; and the memory store one or more computer programs including computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wearable electronic device to: control the first primary camera to generate a first signal before a first exposure of the first primary camera at a first exposure time of the first primary camera, and input the first signal as a signal notifying the second secondary cameras of start of a frame.
Chen discloses a controller executes instructions (page 14) to control a first camera module to generate a first signal before a first exposure of the first camera module and input the first signal as a signal notifying a second camera module of start of a frame (pages 7-9 – controlling a first camera module to send a synchronous signal to a second camera module, the synchronous signal notifies the second camera module a start of a frame captured by the first camera module as shown in Fig. 5 so that the second module knows how to start exposure to capture its frame, the synchronous signal is also related to exposure of the first camera module because the first camera starts the first exposure following the sending of the synchronous signal).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Chen into the first primary camera the second secondary camera of the device taught by Tesdahl to enhance the quality of the captured images by avoiding interference of illumination between the first cameras and the second cameras.
Tesdahl and Chen do not disclose the second secondary camera configured to recognize a facial expression of the user.
Wu discloses a second tracking device comprising a second secondary camera configured to recognize a facial expression of the user ([0028]-[0029]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Wu into the second tracking device taught by Tesdahl and Chen to recognize facial expression of the user, which is useful in reducing user's immersion in virtual environment, e.g. identifying a comfort state of the user (e.g., happy, unhappy, distressed, etc.) based on body data of the user (e.g., facial expressions), and reducing any identified discomfort state.
Claim 18 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 3 above.
Claim 19 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 15 above.
Regarding claim 20, Chen in view of Tesdahl also discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 17, further comprising at least one of: an optical driver 1-1 configured to control left-eye lights among the first IR lights according to a second signal related to exposure of the first secondary camera; an optical driver 1-2 configured to control right-eye lights among the first IR lights according to the second signal; or a second optical driver configured to control the second IR lights according to a third signal related to exposure of the second secondary cameras (pages 7-9 – at least an optical driver to control a light source according to a signal related to an exposure of the first camera as shown in Fig. 5 in view of Tesdahl teaching controlling left-eye lights among the first IR lights and the camera is at least a first secondary camera). The motivation for incorporating the teachings of Chen into the device has been discussed in claim 17 above.
Claim 22 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 10 above.
Claims 8-9 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tesdahl and Chen as applied to claims 1-6 and 10 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0373808 A1 – hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claim 8, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chen as discussed in claim 1 above. Tesdahl and Chen do not explicitly disclose the first cameras are synchronized with each other.
Zhang discloses synchronizing tracking cameras ([0052]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Zhang to synchronize the first cameras in the device of Tesdahl and Chen to ensure data consistency, i.e. capturing and processing data of same kind together under a same condition, to enhance tracking precision.
Regarding claim 9, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chen as discussed in claim 1 above. Tesdahl and Chen do not explicitly disclose the second cameras are synchronized with each other.
Zhang discloses synchronizing tracking cameras ([0052]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Zhang to synchronize the second cameras in the device of Tesdahl and Chen to ensure data consistency, i.e. capturing and processing data of same kind together under a same condition, to enhance tracking precision.
Claim 21 is rejected for the same reasons as discussed in claim 8-9 above.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tesdahl and Chen as applied to claims 1-6 and 10 above, and further in view of He et al. (US 2022/0172511 A1 – hereinafter He).
Regarding claim 11, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chen as discussed in claim 1 above. Tesdahl and Chen do not explicitly disclose the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wearable electronic device to: input a signal notifying start of a frame output from the first primary camera as a signal notifying a first secondary camera among the first cameras of the start of the frame.
He discloses instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause an electronic device ([0040]-[0041]) to: input a signal notifying start of a frame output from the first primary camera as a signal notifying a first secondary camera among the first cameras of the start of the frame ([0005]; [0028] – a first primary camera outputs a synchronization signal to a second camera to synchronize the second camera with the first primary camera at the start of each frame).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of He into the device taught by Tesdahl and Chen to improve accuracy of recognition (He: abstract).
Claims 12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tesdahl and Chen as applied to claims 1-6 and 10 above, and further in view of Moore et al. (US 2024/0411218 A1 – hereinafter Moore).
Regarding claim 12, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chen as discussed in claim 1 above. Tesdahl and Chen do not explicitly disclose the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wearable electronic device to: input a second signal related to exposure of a first secondary camera among the first cameras as a first trigger signal corresponding to an optical driver 1-1 for left-eye lights among the first lights and an optical driver 1-2 for right-eye lights among the first lights.
Moore discloses one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause a wearable electronic device ([0080]) to: input a signal related to exposure of a camera as a trigger signal corresponding to an optical driver for lights ([0042] – a signal to control an optical driver of a light source to match the camera exposure time).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Moore to match exposure time of the first secondary camera among the first cameras as a first trigger signal corresponding to an optical driver 1-1 for left-eye lights among the first lights and an optical driver 1-2 for right-eye lights among the first lights taught by Tesdahl and Chen to reduce power consumption by the first light.
Regarding claim 14, see the teachings of Tesdahl and Chen as discussed in claim 1 above. Tesdahl and Chen do not explicitly disclose the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wearable electronic device to: input a third signal related to exposure of the second cameras as a second trigger signal corresponding to a second optical driver for the second lights.
Moore discloses one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause a wearable electronic device ([0080]) to: input a signal related to exposure of a camera as a trigger signal corresponding to an optical driver for lights ([0042] – a signal to control an optical driver of a light source to match the camera exposure time).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Moore to match exposure time of the secondary cameras as a second trigger signal corresponding to an optical driver for the second lights in the device taught by Tesdahl and Chen to reduce power consumption by the second lights.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tesdahl, Chen, and Moore as applied to claims 1-6, 10, 12, and 14 above, and further in view of Shi (CN 105893313 A – hereinafter Shi, references made to machine translated copy attached).
Regarding claim 13, see the teachings of Tesdahl, Chen, and Moore as discussed in claim 12 above. However, Tesdahl, Chen, and Moore do not disclose the optical driver 1- 1 and the optical driver 1-2 operate in a master and slave form and communicate with the one or more processors through inter-integrated circuit (I2C) communication.
Shi discloses optical drivers of light sources operate in a master and slave form and communicate with one or more processors through inter-integrated circuit (I2C) communication (page 4).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Winer into the optical driver 1- 1 and the optical driver 1-2 in the device taught by Tesdahl, Chen, and Moore because the implementation using I2C communication were known to have been advantageous due to ease of implementation and reduced board complexity.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tesdahl, Chen, and Wu as applied to claims 1-7, 10, 15, 17-20, and 22 above, and further in view of Moore.
Regarding claim 16, see the teachings of Tesdahl, Chen, and Wu as discussed in claim 15 above. Tesdahl, Chen, and Wu do not explicitly disclose the one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wearable electronic device to: input third signals related to respective exposures of the secondary camera 2-1 and the secondary camera 2-2 among the second cameras as a second trigger signal corresponding to a second optical driver for the second lights.
Moore discloses one or more computer programs further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause a wearable electronic device ([0080]) to: input signal related to exposure of a camera as a trigger signal corresponding to an optical driver for lights ([0042] – a signal to control an optical driver of a light source to match the camera exposure time).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Moore to match exposure time of the secondary cameras as a second trigger signal corresponding to an optical driver for the second lights in the device taught by Tesdahl and Chen to reduce power consumption by the second lights.
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 HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1116. The examiner can normally be reached IFT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thai Q Tran can be reached at 571-272-7382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HUNG Q DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484