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
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.
Claim(s) 1-14 and 16-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by NPL Acoustic rendering based on Geometry Reduction and Acoustic Material Classification published 2022 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG) by Colombo et al. published August 24, 2022.
Regarding claim 1, Colombo discloses a computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining a three-dimensional geometrical model of a gameplay environment of a video game level (IIA-C – see the underlying geometric rending of the game environment); generating, based at least on the three-dimensional geometrical model of the gameplay environment of the video game level, an acoustic environment model that corresponds to the gameplay environment (II-III – see generating an acoustic environment); and simulating one or more gameplay sounds in the gameplay environment using the acoustic environmental model (II-III – see the rendered acoustic environment).
Regarding claim 2, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the generating of the acoustic environment model comprises: identifying, in the three-dimensional geometrical model, one or more boundaries of a region of the gameplay environment; and defining, based on the identified boundaries, a set of surfaces that are arranged to enclose a three-dimensional region within the acoustic environment model (III – see the identification and processing of surface via acoustic material tagging).
Regarding claim 3, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the generating of the acoustic environment model comprises assigning, to the three-dimensional region, one or more audio characteristic parameters (III – see the identification and processing of surface via acoustic material tagging).
Regarding claim 4, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the one or more audio characteristic parameters comprise one or more of: a surface texture parameter; a reverberation parameter; a room acoustics parameter; a room size parameter; or an environment type parameter (III – see the use of acoustic parameters during identification and processing of surface via acoustic material tagging).
Regarding claim 5, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 3, comprising generating the one or more audio characteristic parameters based on the three-dimensional geometrical model (III – see the generation of parameters based on the 3D model).
Regarding claim 6, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 5, wherein the audio characteristic parameter is generated based at least on one or more of: analyzing the spatial arrangement of features of the three-dimensional geometrical model, inferring one or more material properties of features of the three-dimensional geometrical model, inferring one or more atmospheric conditions, or predicting one or more ambient sound (III – see inferred acoustic conditions and sounds prediction via measured perceptual distances).
Regarding claim 7, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the identifying of one or more boundaries comprises: applying a boundary prediction function to the three-dimensional geometrical model to predict one or more further boundaries; and defining at least one further surface of the set of surfaces for each predicted further boundary (III – see boundary prediction and modeling).
Regarding claim 8, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein the boundary prediction function is configured to: detect boundary structures present in the three-dimensional geometrical model; and based on the detected boundary structures, predict one or more further boundary structures that are absent from the three-dimensional geometrical model (III – see boundary prediction and modeling).
Regarding claim 9, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein the boundary prediction function is configured to: identify one or more environment transition zones, each environment transition zone corresponding to an interface between in-game areas having different acoustic properties; and predict one or more further boundaries for each identified environment transition zone (III – see the predicted properties in the different environments, e.g. village, church, office).
Regarding claim 10, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the acoustic environment model comprises applying a simplification function to the three-dimensional geometrical model to produce a second three-dimensional geometrical model corresponding to and having a lower level of geometric detail than, the three-dimensional geometrical model (III – see the simplified geometric model).
Regarding claim 11, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 10, wherein the simplification function comprises applying a low-pass spatial filter to the first three-dimensional geometrical model (IIIF – see low-pass filters).
Regarding claim 12, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 10, wherein the simplification function is configured to exclude, from the second three-dimensional geometrical model, features that are present in the first three-dimensional geometrical model and that have a level of geometric detail greater than a predetermined detail threshold (III – see the simplified geometric model).
Regarding claim 13, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 10, wherein the simplification function is configured to include, in the second three-dimensional geometrical model, geometrically simplified approximations of objects that are present in the three-dimensional geometrical model and that have a size that is greater than a predetermined threshold size (III – see the simplified geometric model and the relative size of the modeling elements).
Regarding claim 14, Colombo discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: applying a portal detection function to the three-dimensional geometrical model, the portal detection function being configured to identify one or more acoustically transmissive portions for inclusion in the acoustic environment model; and modifying the acoustic environment model to include the identified acoustically transmissive portions (III – see the simplified geometric model and the open areas/acoustically reflective surfaces).
Regarding claims 16-21, these claims are rejected as noted above regarding claims 1-14, mutatis mutandis.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER J IANNUZZI whose telephone number is (571)272-5793. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM EST.
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/PETER J IANNUZZI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715