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 § 103
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 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) 1-2, 6-10, 16-17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Benzies (US 20240087272 A1), hereinafter as Benzies, in view of Valdivia et al. (US 20180095617 A1), hereinafter as Valdivia.
Regarding claim 1, Benzies teaches A method for substituting an avatar appearance (Benzies Paragraph [0026] “the present system may enable the player to set, and the metaverse to implement one or more desired contextual outfits or appearances for use within the metaverse.” And Claim 7, “A method for avatar customization within a three-dimensional virtual environment”), the method comprising: identifying a first virtual environment of a plurality of virtual environments (Benzies teaches an environment server connected with environment database to create a 3D virtual environment, paragraph [0040] “The user computing device 130 is used by a user to connect to the environment server 120 to engage with and move an avatar about within a three-dimensional virtual environment generated by the environment server 120” and Figure 3, paragraph [0051-0054] “FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a system 300 for accessing a three-dimensional virtual environment. The system 300 includes an environment server 320 and a user computing device 330……The environment database 323 stores the three-dimensional models used to generate the three-dimensional virtual environment.”, paragraph [0063] “The phrase “transition signal” as used herein means a trigger or signal that is created by, caused by and/or indicates that a player avatar has changed from one three-dimensional virtual environment to another”);
generating a first avatar appearance from a plurality of avatar appearances wherein the first avatar appearance is correlated with the first virtual environment (Benzies paragraph [0062-0068] “The appearance database 336 stores the various appearances for each player avatar (there may be more than one) and the associated transition signal……FIG. 4 is an example user interface 400 for designation of an appearance for an avatar within contexts of a three-dimensional virtual environment. Here, the player avatar 410 can be seen alongside a menu 420 for setting and for selecting an appearance associated with a particular context within the three-dimensional virtual environment”);
detecting a ……, wherein …… is associated with a second avatar appearance from the plurality of avatar appearances (Benzies paragraph [0065] “The appearance database 336 stores the entirety of the associated appearances and the transition signal for those appearances in order to enable the system to operate automatically to change player avatar appearances as the transition signal(s) occur.”);
retrieving the second avatar appearance (Benzies paragraph [0077] “If a transition signal is detected (“yes” at 815), then a search of the appearance database 336 is made for an event or context association at 820. Here, the system searches for a particular avatar appearance associated with the event, location or context transitioned to in order to begin the automatic transition process.”);
and replacing the first avatar appearance with the second avatar appearance (Benzies paragraph [0079] “If there is an appearance found (“yes” at 825), then the process continues with updating the avatar appearance within the three-dimensional virtual environment to correspond to the appearance associated with the particular transition signal at 830. The player avatar is updated and the process then ends at 895.”).
Benzies fails to teach ……first physical command…… the first physical command. Valdivia teaches ……first physical command…… the first physical command (Valdivia teaches using a physical gesture command to change avatar appearance, paragraph [0184] “users may be able to further express themselves by causing their avatars to emote using “avatar emojis,” which may be characterized as particular pre-defined poses, gestures, or other displays associated with an avatar that may correspond to particular emotions or concepts. Conveying emotions using avatar emojis may assist in communication among users and/or may make avatars appear more realistic or natural (e.g., in conversation, in a video). In particular embodiments, a user may cause an avatar (e.g., the user's own avatar) to perform an avatar emoji by submitting a trigger input (e.g., by performing a gesture with the user's hands or feet)”).
Benzies and Valdivia are in the same field of endeavor, namely computer graphics, especially in the field of user interaction in virtual environment. Valdivia teaches using gesture input to change the avatar appearance to improve user interaction. Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Valdivia with the method of Benzies to improve user interaction in virtual environment.
Regarding claim 2, Benzies in view of Valdivia teach The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the first physical command, and further teach comprises: processing sensor data to identify a physical gesture performed by a user (Valdivia paragraph [0163-0164] “a user may be able to move around a virtual space such as a virtual room, just as though it were a physical room. As an example and not by way of limitation, the user may be able to use a controller joystick or some other form of input (e.g., gestures, gaze inputs, buttons, walking motions performed by the user) to move from one place to another within the room……the controller system may include a detection mechanism that determines the motion and/or location of one or more of the controllers. In particular embodiments, the detection mechanism may include a camera or other sensor that detects the location of the one or more controllers. The camera or other sensor may be positioned in a location remote from the controllers and/or may be positioned on the controller. …… the detection mechanism may include a motion-tracking device (e.g., an inertial measuring unit that continuously tracks the controller's position and orientation in six degrees of freedom) within each of the controllers that may detect gestures and other types of motion inputs.”); and identifying at least one mapping to an action or at least one avatar appearance set that includes the identified physical gesture as the physical command (Valdivia paragraph [0184] “In particular embodiments, upon detecting the trigger input, the virtual reality system may determine one or more corresponding avatar emojis, and may select an optimal avatar emoji to display. …… if the user raises his or her hands (in real life) above the head, that may trigger an avatar emoji for excitement (which may not only cause the avatar to raise its hands excitedly but may also translate to appropriate facial expressions of excitement on the avatar). …… if the user drops his or hands on the sides and turns them over, that may trigger an avatar emoji for confusion. ……if the user drops his or her hands and shakes closed fists on either side of the hips, that may trigger an avatar emoji for anger. …… if the user raises both hands to the cheeks, that may trigger an avatar emoji for surprise.”)
Benzies and Valdivia are in the same field of endeavor, namely computer graphics, especially in the field of user interaction in virtual environment. Valdivia teaches using gesture input to change the avatar appearance to improve user interaction. Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Valdivia with the method of Benzies to improve user interaction in virtual environment.
Regarding claim 6, Benzies in view of Valdivia teach The method of claim 1, and further teach wherein the plurality of avatar appearances associated are displayed in an auxiliary user interface (Benzies teaches separate menu interface 420, 520, and 720 with avatar appearances in Figure 4, 5 and 7 as the auxiliary user interface, paragraph [0082] “Within that environment a user interface for appearance selection may be generated at 920. Here, the user interface enables players or users to equip certain items or otherwise to alter the appearance of their avatar to their liking. ”).
Regarding claim 7, Benzies in view of Valdivia teach The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a notification to access a second virtual environment (Benzies paragraph [0063] “The phrase “transition signal” as used herein means a trigger or signal that is created by, caused by and/or indicates that a player avatar has changed from one three-dimensional virtual environment to another, to a different context or location within the same three-dimensional virtual environment, or has begun engaging in an activity within the same or another three-dimensional virtual environment.” And paragraph [0076] “Next, a determination is made whether a transition signal is detected or not. The transition signal may be caused by the avatar transitioning from a certain context and/or location to another”), wherein a select group of the plurality of avatar appearances are displayed in an auxiliary user interface (Benzies teaches a separate menu 720 in Figure 7 with multiple avatar appearance as an auxiliary user interface, Figure 7, paragraph [0072] “the player avatar has transitioned from one context or location to another, such as when the avatar entered a club. Automatically, the out cat head 730 has been selected as shown in the menu 720. The appearance 732 of the player avatar has also changed according to the designation “out”. Here, the club may be identified as a location flagged as “out” and the transition signal may be the player walking into or teleporting to the club.”).
Regarding claim 8, Benzies in view of Valdivia teach The method of claim 7, and further teach wherein the select group of the plurality of avatar appearances are based on previous interactions with the second virtual environment (Benzies paragraph [0071] “This transition may take place, prompting a transition signal, by moving the player avatar to a race location or by teleportation through a virtual portal within the three-dimensional virtual environment or simply sitting in a boat (or other vehicle). Here, the previously-selected appearance including a racing helmet for “racing” at 630 has been automatically set by the system because the context in which the player avatar has moved has changed (through whatever transition). The racing appearance 632 appears on the player avatar 610 automatically.”).
Regarding claim 9, Benzies teaches A system for substituting an avatar appearance comprising: one or more processors; and a memory comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform (Benzies Paragraph [0026] “the present system may enable the player to set, and the metaverse to implement one or more desired contextual outfits or appearances for use within the metaverse.” And paragraph [0043] “FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing device 200, which may be or be a part of the environment server 120, the content server 130, the user computing device 140, the mobile computing device 150 or the virtual reality device 160 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the computing device 200 includes a processor 210, memory 220, a communications interface 230, along with storage 240, and an input/output interface 250”): identifying a first virtual environment of a plurality of virtual environments (Benzies teaches an environment server connected with environment database to create a 3D virtual environment, paragraph [0040] “The user computing device 130 is used by a user to connect to the environment server 120 to engage with and move an avatar about within a three-dimensional virtual environment generated by the environment server 120” and Figure 3, paragraph [0051-0054] “FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a system 300 for accessing a three-dimensional virtual environment. The system 300 includes an environment server 320 and a user computing device 330 …… The environment database 323 stores the three-dimensional models used to generate the three-dimensional virtual environment.”, paragraph [0063] “The phrase “transition signal” as used herein means a trigger or signal that is created by, caused by and/or indicates that a player avatar has changed from one three-dimensional virtual environment to another”);
generating a first avatar appearance from a plurality of avatar appearances wherein the first avatar appearance is correlated with the first virtual environment (Benzies paragraph [0062-0068] “The appearance database 336 stores the various appearances for each player avatar (there may be more than one) and the associated transition signal……FIG. 4 is an example user interface 400 for designation of an appearance for an avatar within contexts of a three-dimensional virtual environment. Here, the player avatar 410 can be seen alongside a menu 420 for setting and for selecting an appearance associated with a particular context within the three-dimensional virtual environment”);
detecting a ……, wherein …… is associated with a second avatar appearance from the plurality of avatar appearances (Benzies paragraph [0065] “The appearance database 336 stores the entirety of the associated appearances and the transition signal for those appearances in order to enable the system to operate automatically to change player avatar appearances as the transition signal(s) occur.”), and wherein the plurality of avatar appearances associated are displayed in an auxiliary user interface (Benzies teaches separate menu interface 420, 520, and 720 with avatar appearances in Figure 4, 5 and 7 as the auxiliary user interface, paragraph [0082] “Within that environment a user interface for appearance selection may be generated at 920. Here, the user interface enables players or users to equip certain items or otherwise to alter the appearance of their avatar to their liking. ”); retrieving the second avatar appearance (Benzies paragraph [0077] “If a transition signal is detected (“yes” at 815), then a search of the appearance database 336 is made for an event or context association at 820. Here, the system searches for a particular avatar appearance associated with the event, location or context transitioned to in order to begin the automatic transition process.”); and replacing the first avatar appearance with the second avatar appearance (Benzies paragraph [0079] “If there is an appearance found (“yes” at 825), then the process continues with updating the avatar appearance within the three-dimensional virtual environment to correspond to the appearance associated with the particular transition signal at 830. The player avatar is updated and the process then ends at 895.”).
Benzies fails to teach ……first physical command…… the first physical command. Valdivia teaches ……first physical command…… the first physical command (Valdivia teaches using a physical gesture command to change avatar appearance, paragraph [0184] “users may be able to further express themselves by causing their avatars to emote using “avatar emojis,” which may be characterized as particular pre-defined poses, gestures, or other displays associated with an avatar that may correspond to particular emotions or concepts. Conveying emotions using avatar emojis may assist in communication among users and/or may make avatars appear more realistic or natural (e.g., in conversation, in a video). In particular embodiments, a user may cause an avatar (e.g., the user's own avatar) to perform an avatar emoji by submitting a trigger input (e.g., by performing a gesture with the user's hands or feet)”).
Benzies and Valdivia are in the same field of endeavor, namely computer graphics, especially in the field of user interaction in virtual environment. Valdivia teaches using gesture input to change the avatar appearance to improve user interaction. Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Valdivia with the method of Benzies to improve user interaction in virtual environment.
Regarding claim 10, claim 10 has similar limitations as claim 2, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, it recites similar limitations of claim 9 but in a non-transitory computer-readable medium form. The rationale of claim 9 rejection is applied to reject claim 16. In addition, Benzies teaches A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations for substituting an avatar appearance, comprising: (Benzies paragraph [0043-0045] “FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing device 200, which may be or be a part of the environment server 120, the content server 130, the user computing device 140, the mobile computing device 150 or the virtual reality device 160 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the computing device 200 includes a processor 210, memory 220, a communications interface 230, along with storage 240, and an input/output interface 250…….memory 220 may store software programs and routines for execution by the processor. …… The word “memory”, as used herein, explicitly excludes propagating waveforms and transitory signals. The application can perform the functions described herein.”).
Regarding claim 17, claim 17 has similar limitations as claim 2, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 2.
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 has similar limitations as claim 7, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 7.
Claim(s) 3, 11 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Benzies (US 20240087272 A1), hereinafter as Benzies, in view of Valdivia et al. (US 20180095617 A1), hereinafter as Valdivia, and further in view of Ravasz et al. (US 20200387286 A1), hereinafter as Ravasz.
Regarding claim 3, Benzies in view of Valdivia teach The method of claim 1, but fail to teach wherein at least one supplemental physical command is configured to scroll through the plurality of avatar appearances and the first physical command is used to select the second avatar appearance. Ravasz teaches wherein at least one supplemental physical command is configured to scroll through the plurality of avatar appearances (Ravasz teaches a scrolling gesture to go through menu items, Benzies teaches a menu 720 in Figure 7 with multiple avatar appearance, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Ravasz with the menu items of Benzies, paragraph [0151] “gesture detectors 324, 424 may detect a scrolling movement that includes a translational movement of hand 132 approximately in parallel with a vertical axis or vertical surface of UI menu 912. The scrolling movement may represent a scrolling gesture in which a checkbox included in UI menu 912 that is approximately in parallel with hand 132 “) and the first physical command is used to select the second avatar appearance (Ravasz Paragraph [0041] “one or more of the defined gestures may indicate an interaction by user 110 with a particular user interface element, e.g., selection of UI element 126 of UI menu 124, to trigger a change to the presented user interface, presentation of a sub-menu of the presented user interface, or the like.”).
Benzies, Valdivia and Ravasz are in the same field of endeavor, namely computer graphics, especially in the field of user interaction in virtual environment. Ravasz teaches using gesture input to scroll through items and choose an item to improve user interaction (Ravasz paragraph [0064] “By leveraging hand-only gestures, hand-and-wrist-only gestures, single-handed gestures, and/or by gestures in which not all of the digits of hand 132 are required for gesture detection, artificial reality system 20 improves accessibility to users 110, to accommodate disabilities, anatomical idiosyncrasies, injuries, temporary illnesses, etc.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Ravasz with the method of Benzies in view of Valdivia to improve user interaction in virtual environment.
Regarding claim 11, claim 11 has similar limitations as claim 3, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 3.
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 has similar limitations as claim 3, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 3.
Claim(s) 4, 12 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Benzies (US 20240087272 A1), hereinafter as Benzies, in view of Valdivia et al. (US 20180095617 A1), hereinafter as Valdivia, and further in view of Whitney et al. (US 20230206574 A1), hereinafter as Whitney.
Regarding claim 4, Benzies in view of Valdivia teach The method of claim 1, but fail to teach further comprising determining that a cooldown timer associated with replacing the first avatar appearance has expired before replacing the first avatar appearance set applied to an avatar with a second avatar appearance set. Whitney teaches further comprising determining that a cooldown timer associated with replacing the first avatar appearance has expired before replacing the first avatar appearance set applied to an avatar with a second avatar appearance set (Whitney teaches a cool down timer for virtual assistants before sending out additional request, Benzies teaches a user input to change the avatar appearance, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the cool down timer with the user input request to change avatar appearance, paragraph [0243-0244] “a cool down rule may dictate that when the virtual assistant is looking at an object it will ignore all other objects until it is done looking at the object, plus some cool down time period, such as one second, three seconds, or five seconds……a “user request” AI task has a cooldown range to limit how often it fires, which may be in the range of 20-40 seconds, for example. Each possible request (and/or category of request) may also have its own cooldown as well. In this example, if the virtual assistant requested the user to snap some blocks together 15 seconds ago, the next request will be something different because “snapping some blocks together” will currently be on cooldown, while other request categories might not be.” And paragraph [0247] “when the virtual assistant's cool down timer is free, the virtual assistant may notice the block, move over to it, and initiate a suggestion to the user for an interaction with the block.”).
Benzies, Valdivia and Whitney are in the same field of endeavor, namely computer graphics, especially in the field of user interaction in virtual environment. Whitney teaches using a cool down timer for virtual assistants based on categories of suggestions or tasks to improve user interaction (Whitney paragraph [0243] “A cool down period may be implemented to potentially reduce concurrent movements of multiple virtual assistants.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Whitney with the method of Benzies in view of Valdivia to improve user interaction in virtual environment.
Regarding claim 12, claim 12 has similar limitations as claim 4, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 4.
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 has similar limitations as claim 4, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 13-15 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 5 and 13, the closest prior art of teaches Whitney teaches a cool down timer with virtual assistants. However, Whitney fails to teach the combined limitations below as a whole, “wherein a cooldown time configuration restricts a replacement of an avatar appearance based on the virtual environment.”. The prior art of Liu et al. (US 20220266139 A1), hereinafter as Liu, teaches a cooldown time with virtual skill (Liu paragraph [0037] “A cooldown time is set to restrict a quantity of times that a user uses a skill within a period of time in an application of a virtual scene, that is, a time interval between a moment at which a virtual object in the virtual scene uses a skill once and a moment at which the virtual object can use the skill a next time. For example, the virtual object uses a skill A (the skill A has a cooldown time of 30 seconds). After the skill A is used, the skill A remains in a cooldown state within the next 30 seconds, and the skill A cannot be used within this period.”). However, Liu fails to teach the combined limitations above as a whole. Furthermore, no prior art of record either alone or in combination teaches the above limitation as a whole. Therefore, claims 5 and 13 are considered to allowable.
Claims 14 and 15 contain allowable subject matter because they depend on claim 13 that contains allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XIAOMING WEI whose telephone number is (571)272-3831. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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/KEE M TUNG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2611
/XIAOMING WEI/Examiner, Art Unit 2611