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 § 101
2. 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claim invention is not supported by a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. In the state of the art, transitory signals are commonplace as a medium for transmitting computer instructions and thus, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary and given a broadest reasonable interpretation, the scope of a "computer storage medium" covers a signal per se. A transitory signal does not fall within the definition of a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matters. Independent claim 13 when read in light of specification “A machine-readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing” (Specification) does not define a computer storage medium to include the disclosed tangible computer readable medium, while at the same time excluding the intangible media such as signals, carrier waves, propagated signals, etc, and is thus non-statutory for that reason.. The specification or claims must be amended to limit the computer-readable medium to only non-transitory signals, and state the exclusion of transitory signals (See Official Gazette Notice 1351 OG 212, dated February 23, 2010). The Examiner suggests amending the claims to state " A computer program product that is tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer storage medium …" to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §103
3. 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- 7, and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al (Pub. No. US 2014/0098183 A1; hereinafter Smith) in view of Diao (Pub. No. US 2013/0076853 A1; hereinafter Diao)
Consider claims 1, 13, and 14, Smith clearly shows and discloses an electronic device, a computer program product that is tangibly stored on a computer storage medium a method for a video conference. comprising: determining a conference mode for the video conference, the video conference including at least a first participant and a second participant, the conference mode indicating a layout of a virtual conference space for the video conference (a scene geometry is to create relative geometry between participants. The scene is aligned virtually to mimic a real-life scene as if the participants are in the same physical location and engaged in an in-person communication, the scene geometry is to create relative geometry between participants. The scene is aligned virtually to mimic a real-life scene as if the participants are in the same physical location and engaged in an in-person communication) (paragraphs: 0006-0007, figs.: 9, 11, and 12); determining, based on the layout, viewpoint information associated with the second participant, the viewpoint information indicating a virtual viewpoint of the second participant viewing the first participant in the video conference (the scene geometry also includes a virtual camera. The virtual camera is a composition of images from two or more of the plurality of camera pods in order to obtain a camera view that is not captured by any one camera pod alone. This allows to obtain a natural eye gaze and connection between people. Face tracking techniques can be used to improve performance by helping the virtual camera remain aligned with the eye gaze of the viewer; the virtual camera interacts with the face tracking to create a virtual viewpoint that has the user looking where the user's eyes are looking. Thus, If the user is looking at the other participant, then the virtual viewpoint is from the perspective of the user looking at the other participant) (paragraph: 0008); determining a first view of the first participant based on the viewpoint information (the virtual camera interacts with the face tracking to create a virtual viewpoint that has the user looking where the user's eyes are looking. Thus, If the user is looking at the other participant, then the virtual viewpoint is from the perspective of the user looking at the other participant) (paragraphs: 0008-0009); and sending the first view to a conference device associated with the second participant to display a conference image to the second participant, the conference image being generated based on the first view (The virtual environment is displayed to a viewer (who is also one of the participants) in the controlled environment of an endpoint. In particular, each endpoint contains a display device configuration that displays the virtual environment to the viewer using the virtual viewpoint) (paragraphs: 0009 and figs. 12 and 13); however, Smith does not disclose another example for sending the first view to a conference device associated with the second participant to display a conference image to the second participant, the conference image being generated based on the first view.
In the same field of endeavor, Diao clearly specifically discloses another example for sending the first view to a conference device associated with the second participant to display a conference image to the second participant, the conference image being generated based on the first view (determining a first gaze angle of the first participant in the virtual space based on the position of the representation of the first participant's gaze recipient in the virtual space, and generating an image to be transmitted to the second node, wherein the image includes the first participant looking at his gaze recipient in the virtual space, as seen from the position of the second participant in the virtual space) (paragraphs: 0005-0007 and fig. 4B)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate the teaching of Diao into teaching of Smith for the purpose of providing more example for sending the first view to a conference device associated with the second participant to display a conference image to the second participant in a virtual meeting.
Consider claim 2, Smith and Diao clearly the method wherein the virtual conference space comprises a first sub-virtual space and a second sub-virtual space, the layout indicating a distribution of the first sub- virtual space and the second sub-virtual space in the virtual conference space, the first sub-virtual space being determined by virtualizing a first physical conference space where the first participant is located, the second sub-virtual space being determined by virtualizing a second physical conference space where the second participant is located (Smith: paragraphs: 0097-0098 and fig. 11).
Consider claim 3, Smith and Diao clearly show the method, wherein determining the viewpoint information associated with the second participant based on the layout comprises: determining, based on the layout, a first coordinate transformation between the first physical conference space and the virtual conference space and a second coordinate transformation between the second physical conference space and the virtual conference space; transforming, based on the first coordinate transformation and the second coordinate transformation, a first viewpoint position of the second participant in the second physical conference space into a second viewpoint position in the first physical conference space; and determining the viewpoint information based on the second viewpoint position (Smith: paragraphs: 0007-0009 and figs. 11 and 12).
Consider claim 4, Smith and Diao clearly show the method wherein the first viewpoint position is determined by detecting a facial feature point of the second participant (Smith: paragraphs: 0008 for “face tracking”).
Consider claim 5, Smith and Diao clearly show the method, wherein generating the first view of the first participant based on the viewpoint information comprises: acquiring a set of images of the first participant captured by a set of image capture devices, the set of images corresponding to a set of depth maps; determining a target depth map corresponding to the viewpoint information, based on the set of images and the set of depth maps; and determining the first view of the first participant corresponding to the viewpoint information based on the target depth map and the set of images (Smith: paragraphs: 0058 and fig. 10).
Consider claim 6, Smith and Diao clearly show the method, further comprising: determining the set of image capture devices from a plurality of image capture devices for capturing a image of the first participant, based on a distance between the viewpoint position indicated by the viewpoint information and mounting positions of the plurality of image capture devices (Diao: paragraphs: 0007, 0063).
Consider claim 7, Smith and Diao clearly show the method, wherein determining the conference mode for the video conference comprises: determining the conference mode based on at least one of: the number of participants included in the video conference, the number of conference devices associated with the video conference, or configuration information associated with the video conference (Smith: fig. 9).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Amal Zenati whose telephone number is 571- 270- 1947. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 -5:00 M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ahmad Matar can be reached on 571- 272- 7488. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571- 273-8300.
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/AMAL S ZENATI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2656