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 filed Amendments
Applicant’s Amendments/Remarks filed on 08/25/2026 have been received and made of record.
Claim 1-5, and 7 have been cancelled.
New claims 8-26 have been added.
Claim 6 has been amended.
Claims 6, and 8-26 are currently pending.
Outstanding 112 (F) interpretation and the 101 USC rejection have been withdrawn based at least the filed amendments/remarks of 08/25/2026.
Please refer to the action below.
Examiner Notes
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. However, the claimed subject matter, not the specification, is the measure of the invention.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Original claims 1-5 and 7 have been cancelled. And, independent claim 6 has been amended, and new claims 8-26 have been added. Regarding the applicant’s remarks/amendments of the currently amended independent claim 6 pertained to the currently amendments citing “claim 1 is amended to recite "acquiring, from an image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, wherein the image data includes an image of a device including a plurality of markers; as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract connected components from the image data." Support for the amendment may be found in, for example, paragraphs [0086]-[0089] of the filed specification. As agreed to during the Interview, the Action has not shown that the cited references, alone or in combination, disclose, teach or suggest all the features of amended claim 6. For example, Fig. 20 of Ragh is directed to a "a vertical-scanning rolling shutter ..,. implemented from the top 2020 to bottom 2030 of the image." The Action has not shown where Ragh teaches amended claim 6. For this reason, amended claim 6 is believed to be allowable. New Claims 8-26 are new and are fully supported by the application as originally filed. Claims 8-26 are nonobvious and allowable for at least some of the same reasons as claim 6. Therefore, new claims 8-26 are believed to be allowable over the cited references”, have been considered, however, they are not persuasive.
The Examiner additionally respectfully disagrees with the notion that “For example, Fig. 20 of Ragh is directed to a "a vertical-scanning rolling shutter ..,. implemented from the top 2020 to bottom 2030 of the image." The Action has not shown where Ragh teaches amended claim 6. For this reason, amended claim 6 is believed to be allowable”. The disclosure of Ragh as shown below clearly teaches the line image sensor configuration of Ragh to obtain line image data by a line image sensor utilizing as cited “The rolling shutter can be implemented in a vertical or a horizontal sense, and in either direction. So, in other embodiments, the rolling shutter might be such that the bottom line of pixels of the image 2000 is captured first and the top line is captured last” further insinuating said line image data including the vertically inverted line image data in of at least Fig. 20 and the disclosure such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, wherein the image data includes an image of a device including a plurality of markers and each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data to process and analyzed the obtained data and derived representative coordinates of the captured marker images on a basis of the pixels of the extracted connected components, where it would have been obvious to one skill in the art to utilize and/or combine the line image sensor configuration of Ragn in place of the line sensor of Nishikawa to obtain the vertically inverted line image sensor data in such a way where said a plurality of sequence of line data of an image data is obtain/read from the bottom to the top, vertically inverted from a lower line data of the plurality of line data acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, according to further known methods to yield predictable results since known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art as said combination is thus the adaptation of an old idea or invention using newer technology that is either commonly available and understood in the art thereby a variation on already known art (See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F). Please refer to the action below.
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 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.
Claims 6, and 8-26 is/are further rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable and obvious over Nishikawa et al. (US 2020/0342624, previously cited), in view of Raghoebardajal et al. (WO 2019122901, previously cited), hereinafter Ragh.
Regarding claim 6, Nishikawa teaches a computer- implemented method comprising:
acquiring, from an image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data (image device 14 of at least para. 0031-0032 comprising at least a CMOS or CCD image sensor adapted for capturing and acquiring, from an image sensor, said at least plurality of line data of an image data that may be understoodly in the art horizontally inverted or vertically inverted for capturing the detected markers of the input devices 16);
wherein the image data includes an image of a device including a plurality of markers (acquiring in at least Fig. 8 and para. 0028 first and second user front images from said image sensor 14, where a case exists where front acquired image data may be obtained as cited in para. 0028 of a second player for display on the display device 15 by the image sensor 14 imaging the front of the second user which as understood in the art would comprise in that case obviously one of a vertically inverted acquired front image data, said photographed device image data as illustrated further in at least Fig. 5 including a plurality of markers 30);
extract connected componentsconnected bounding boxes for obviously extracting connected components of a series of pixels from the image data); and
deriving representative coordinates of a marker image on a basis of the pixels of the extracted connected components (and deriving by the representative coordinates derivation unit 254 of Fig. 9 and the abstract representative coordinates of a marker image on a basis of the pixels of the extracted connected bounding boxes components).
Nishikawa teaches at least in Figs. 1-15 the claimed invention except for the above lined-out items such as acquiring, from said image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract connected components from the image data.
Ragh teaches at least in further Fig. 20 an image capturing configuration where “image 2000 of Figure 20 is captured during an image capture period 2010. Different portions of the image are captured at different respective times within the image capture period. The example of Figure 20 relates to a vertical-scanning rolling shutter such that the image 2000 is captured on a line-by-line basis (the lines being lines of pixels, for example) such that each line is captured at a different time within the image capture period. For example, the rolling shutter can be implemented from the top 2020 to bottom 2030 of the image using an example temporal relationship such as that represented by a curve 2040 so that the first line of pixels to be captured and output is a top line as drawn, and the last is a bottom line as drawn. So, for any vertical location such as an example location 2050 within the image, a corresponding capture time 2060 can be derived using the relationship defined by the curve 2040. In these examples, therefore, the camera is configured to capture the successive images as multiple lines of pixels, such that respective different lines of pixels of the captured image are captured at respective different capture times within the image capture period. The rolling shutter can be implemented in a vertical or a horizontal sense, and in either direction. So, in other embodiments, the rolling shutter might be such that the bottom line of pixels of the image 2000 is captured first and the top line is captured last. In further examples, there does not necessarily need to be a linear progression such that lines or rows of pixels (or indeed columns of pixels) are captured in a monotonic progression across or up or down the image”; Ragh further teaches at least in Figs. 12-15 and the disclosure a player game system comprising at least a user worn HMD 1210 installed with a plurality light emitting markers 1230 and devices 1240 with their respective cited markers, each device comprises camera sensors, and an external camera 1280 configured to photograph the devices of at least Fig. 12 to generate as understood in the art front facing photographed image data markers of devices 1210/1240 including as illustrated at least in Fig. 20 acquired plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, the system obviously analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract understoodly connected components from the image data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of Ragh to include wherein specifically said acquiring, from said image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract connected components from the image data, as discussed above, as Nishikawa in view of Ragh are in the same field of photographing by an image sensor a photograph image markers emitted by a user handheld game controller from the user worn HMD device to at least ascertain the position and the posture of the devices; furthermore, the HMD device and the line image sensors combination configuration of Ragh further compliments the photographed image markers emitted by the user handheld game controllers 16 and the worn HMD 100 of Nishikawa, in such a way when combined with the combination configuration HMD device and the line image sensors of Ragh, it further enables the systems and methods of Nishikawa to obtain said plurality of vertically inverted line image sensor data, such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, each of the said line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data for at analysis according to a design choice, as Ragh illustrates a case of capturing line image data from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom, and/or horizontally according to design incentives for further depicting more accurately said user front facing images and to more accurately derive said captured markers and thus more accurately determine said user worn devices markers, according to further known methods to yield predictable results since known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art as said combination is thus the adaptation of an old idea or invention using newer technology that is either commonly available and understood in the art thereby a variation on already known art (See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Regarding claim 8 (according to claim 6), Nishikawa is silent regarding wherein: extracting the connected components includes extracting a first connected component prior to a second connected component; and the first connected component is lower than the second connected component.
Ragh further in at least Fig. 20 of the disclosure the plurality of captured vertically inverted line scan image data scanning from the bottom direction to a top direction thereby obviously capable of extracting connected pixel components including said extracting first bottom connected component prior to a up direction second connected component as said first connected component in a vertically inverted mode is lower than the second connected component. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of Ragh to include wherein specifically said extracting the connected components includes extracting a first connected component prior to a second connected component; and the first connected component is lower than the second connected component, as discussed above, as Nishikawa in view of Ragh are in the same field of photographing by an image sensor a photograph image markers emitted by a user handheld game controller from the user worn HMD device to at least ascertain the position and the posture of the devices; furthermore, the HMD device and the line image sensors combination configuration of Ragh further compliments the photographed image markers emitted by the user handheld game controllers 16 and the worn HMD 100 of Nishikawa, in such a way when combined with the combination configuration HMD device and the line image sensors of Ragh, it further enables the systems and methods of Nishikawa to obtain said plurality of vertically inverted line image sensor data, such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, each of the said line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data for at analysis according to a design choice, as Ragh illustrates a case of capturing line image data from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom, and/or horizontally according to design incentives for further depicting more accurately said user front facing images and to more accurately derive said captured markers and thus more accurately determine said user worn devices markers, according to further known methods to yield predictable results since known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art as said combination is thus the adaptation of an old idea or invention using newer technology that is either commonly available and understood in the art thereby a variation on already known art (See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Regarding claim 9 (according to claim 6), Nishikawa further teaches wherein further comprising ending extraction the connected components when a number of the connected components satisfies a predetermined upper limit number (para. 0063).
Regarding claim 10 (according to claim 6), Nishikawa further teaches wherein extracting the connected components comprises determining a first set of pixels by identifying pixels in the image that neighbor each other in a first plurality of neighboring directions (at least para. 0068-0070 further teaches the surrounded neighboring bounding boxes and set of pixels for at least extracting connected pixel components comprises determining a first set of pixels by identifying pixels in the image that neighbor each other in a first plurality of neighboring directions).
Regarding claim 11 (according to claim 10), Nishikawa further teaches wherein further comprising determining a second set of pixels by identifying pixels in the first set of pixels that neighbor each other in a second plurality of neighboring directions while excluding pixels that neighbor each other in at least one neighboring direction of the first plurality of neighboring directions, wherein deriving the representative coordinates is based at least in part on the second set of pixels (Figs. 14-15 and para. 0071-0072 further illustrates bounding box 80 first set of pixels that neighbor each other boxes 82 including second plurality of neighboring pixels further comprising said determining second set of pixels by identifying pixels in the first set of pixels that neighbor each other in a second plurality of neighboring directions while excluding pixels outside the boxes 82 that neighbor each other in at least one neighboring direction of the first plurality of neighboring directions, wherein deriving of at least para. 0072 further indicates the representative coordinates is based at least in part on the second set of pixels).
Regarding claim 12 (according to claim 11), Nishikawa further illustrates wherein the first plurality of neighboring directions includes an up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction, and at least one diagonal direction (at least Figs. 14-15 further illustrates specified first boxes 80 comprising first plurality of neighboring directions includes an up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction, and at least one diagonal direction).
Regarding claim 13 (according to claim 12), Nishikawa further illustrates wherein: the second plurality of neighboring directions includes the up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction; and pixels in the at least one diagonal direction are excluded from the second set of pixels (at least Figs. 14-15 further illustrates second plurality of neighboring directions includes the up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction; and pixels between the boxes 82 in the at least one diagonal direction are excluded from the second set of pixels of the specified bounding boxes 82).
Regarding claim 14, Nishikawa teaches at least in para. 0051 one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device 100 of Figs. 1-14,
cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
acquiring, from an image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data
wherein the image data includes an image of a device including a plurality of markers (acquiring in at least Fig. 8 and para. 0028 first and second user front images from said image sensor 14, where a case exists where front acquired image data may be obtained as cited in para. 0028 of a second player for display on the display device 15 by the image sensor 14 imaging the front of the second user which as understood in the art would comprise in that case obviously one of a vertically inverted acquired front image data, said photographed device image data as illustrated further in at least Fig. 5 including a plurality of markers 30);
deriving representative coordinates of a marker image on a basis of the pixels of the extracted connected components (and deriving by the representative coordinates derivation unit 254 of Fig. 9 and the abstract representative coordinates of a marker image on a basis of the pixels of the extracted connected bounding boxes components).
Nishikawa teaches at least in Figs. 1-15 the claimed invention except for the above lined-out items such as acquiring, from said image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract connected components from the image data.
Ragh teaches at least in further Fig. 20 an image capturing configuration where “image 2000 of Figure 20 is captured during an image capture period 2010. Different portions of the image are captured at different respective times within the image capture period. The example of Figure 20 relates to a vertical-scanning rolling shutter such that the image 2000 is captured on a line-by-line basis (the lines being lines of pixels, for example) such that each line is captured at a different time within the image capture period. For example, the rolling shutter can be implemented from the top 2020 to bottom 2030 of the image using an example temporal relationship such as that represented by a curve 2040 so that the first line of pixels to be captured and output is a top line as drawn, and the last is a bottom line as drawn. So, for any vertical location such as an example location 2050 within the image, a corresponding capture time 2060 can be derived using the relationship defined by the curve 2040. In these examples, therefore, the camera is configured to capture the successive images as multiple lines of pixels, such that respective different lines of pixels of the captured image are captured at respective different capture times within the image capture period. The rolling shutter can be implemented in a vertical or a horizontal sense, and in either direction. So, in other embodiments, the rolling shutter might be such that the bottom line of pixels of the image 2000 is captured first and the top line is captured last. In further examples, there does not necessarily need to be a linear progression such that lines or rows of pixels (or indeed columns of pixels) are captured in a monotonic progression across or up or down the image”; Ragh further teaches at least in Figs. 12-15 and the disclosure a player game system comprising at least a user worn HMD 1210 installed with a plurality light emitting markers 1230 and devices 1240 with their respective cited markers, each device comprises camera sensors, and an external camera 1280 configured to photograph the devices of at least Fig. 12 to generate as understood in the art front facing photographed image data markers of devices 1210/1240 including as illustrated at least in Fig. 20 acquired plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, the system obviously analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract understoodly connected components from the image data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of Ragh to include wherein specifically said acquiring, from said image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract connected components from the image data, as discussed above, as Nishikawa in view of Ragh are in the same field of photographing by an image sensor a photograph image markers emitted by a user handheld game controller from the user worn HMD device to at least ascertain the position and the posture of the devices; furthermore, the HMD device and the line image sensors combination configuration of Ragh further compliments the photographed image markers emitted by the user handheld game controllers 16 and the worn HMD 100 of Nishikawa, in such a way when combined with the combination configuration HMD device and the line image sensors of Ragh, it further enables the systems and methods of Nishikawa to obtain said plurality of vertically inverted line image sensor data, such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, each of the said line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data for at analysis according to a design choice, as Ragh illustrates a case of capturing line image data from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom, and/or horizontally according to design incentives for further depicting more accurately said user front facing images and to more accurately derive said captured markers and thus more accurately determine said user worn devices markers, according to further known methods to yield predictable results since known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art as said combination is thus the adaptation of an old idea or invention using newer technology that is either commonly available and understood in the art thereby a variation on already known art (See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Regarding claim 15 (according to claim 14), Nishikawa is silent regarding wherein: extracting the connected components includes extracting a first connected component prior to a second connected component; and the first connected component is lower than the second connected component.
Ragh further in at least Fig. 20 of the disclosure the plurality of captured vertically inverted line scan image data scanning from the bottom direction to a top direction thereby obviously capable of extracting connected pixel components including said extracting first bottom connected component prior to a up direction second connected component as said first connected component in a vertically inverted mode is lower than the second connected component. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of Ragh to include wherein specifically said extracting the connected components includes extracting a first connected component prior to a second connected component; and the first connected component is lower than the second connected component, as discussed above, as Nishikawa in view of Ragh are in the same field of photographing by an image sensor a photograph image markers emitted by a user handheld game controller from the user worn HMD device to at least ascertain the position and the posture of the devices; furthermore, the HMD device and the line image sensors combination configuration of Ragh further compliments the photographed image markers emitted by the user handheld game controllers 16 and the worn HMD 100 of Nishikawa, in such a way when combined with the combination configuration HMD device and the line image sensors of Ragh, it further enables the systems and methods of Nishikawa to obtain said plurality of vertically inverted line image sensor data, such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, each of the said line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data for at analysis according to a design choice, as Ragh illustrates a case of capturing line image data from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom, and/or horizontally according to design incentives for further depicting more accurately said user front facing images and to more accurately derive said captured markers and thus more accurately determine said user worn devices markers, according to further known methods to yield predictable results since known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art as said combination is thus the adaptation of an old idea or invention using newer technology that is either commonly available and understood in the art thereby a variation on already known art (See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Regarding claim 16 (according to claim 14), Nishikawa further teaches wherein further comprising ending extraction the connected components when a number of the connected components satisfies a predetermined upper limit number (para. 0063).
Regarding claim 17 (according to claim 14), Nishikawa further teaches wherein extracting the connected components comprises determining a first set of pixels by identifying pixels in the image that neighbor each other in a first plurality of neighboring directions (at least para. 0068-0070 further teaches the surrounded neighboring bounding boxes and set of pixels for at least extracting connected pixel components comprises determining a first set of pixels by identifying pixels in the image that neighbor each other in a first plurality of neighboring directions).
Regarding claim 18 (according to claim 17), Nishikawa further teaches wherein: the operations further comprise determining a second set of pixels by identifying pixels in the first set of pixels that neighbor each other in a second plurality of neighboring directions while excluding pixels that neighbor each other in at least one neighboring direction of the first plurality of neighboring directions, wherein deriving the representative coordinates is based at least in part on the second set of pixels (Figs. 14-15 and para. 0071-0072 further illustrates bounding box 80 first set of pixels that neighbor each other boxes 82 including second plurality of neighboring pixels further comprising said determining second set of pixels by identifying pixels in the first set of pixels that neighbor each other in a second plurality of neighboring directions while excluding pixels outside the boxes 82 that neighbor each other in at least one neighboring direction of the first plurality of neighboring directions, wherein deriving of at least para. 0072 further indicates the representative coordinates is based at least in part on the second set of pixels).
Regarding claim 19 (according to claim 17), Nishikawa further illustrates wherein the first plurality of neighboring directions includes an up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction, and at least one diagonal direction (at least Figs. 14-15 further illustrates specified first boxes 80 comprising first plurality of neighboring directions includes an up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction, and at least one diagonal direction).
Regarding claim 20 (according to claim 19), Nishikawa further illustrates wherein: the second plurality of neighboring directions includes the up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction; and pixels in the at least one diagonal direction are excluded from the second set of pixels (at least Figs. 14-15 further illustrates second plurality of neighboring directions includes the up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction; and pixels between the boxes 82 in the at least one diagonal direction are excluded from the second set of pixels of the specified bounding boxes 82).
Regarding claim 21, Nishikawa teaches at least in Fig. 1 a system comprising:
a memory of at least para. 0051 comprising computer-executable instructions; and a processor of at least para. 0051 configured to access the memory and execute the computer- executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
acquiring, from an image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data
wherein the image data includes an image of a device including a plurality of markers (acquiring in at least Fig. 8 and para. 0028 first and second user front images from said image sensor 14, where a case exists where front acquired image data may be obtained as cited in para. 0028 of a second player for display on the display device 15 by the image sensor 14 imaging the front of the second user which as understood in the art would comprise in that case obviously one of a vertically inverted acquired front image data, said photographed device image data as illustrated further in at least Fig. 5 including a plurality of markers 30);
deriving representative coordinates of a marker image on a basis of the pixels of the extracted connected components (and deriving by the representative coordinates derivation unit 254 of Fig. 9 and the abstract representative coordinates of a marker image on a basis of the pixels of the extracted connected bounding boxes components).
Nishikawa teaches at least in Figs. 1-15 the claimed invention except for the above lined-out items such as acquiring, from said image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract connected components from the image data.
Ragh teaches at least in further Fig. 20 an image capturing configuration where “image 2000 of Figure 20 is captured during an image capture period 2010. Different portions of the image are captured at different respective times within the image capture period. The example of Figure 20 relates to a vertical-scanning rolling shutter such that the image 2000 is captured on a line-by-line basis (the lines being lines of pixels, for example) such that each line is captured at a different time within the image capture period. For example, the rolling shutter can be implemented from the top 2020 to bottom 2030 of the image using an example temporal relationship such as that represented by a curve 2040 so that the first line of pixels to be captured and output is a top line as drawn, and the last is a bottom line as drawn. So, for any vertical location such as an example location 2050 within the image, a corresponding capture time 2060 can be derived using the relationship defined by the curve 2040. In these examples, therefore, the camera is configured to capture the successive images as multiple lines of pixels, such that respective different lines of pixels of the captured image are captured at respective different capture times within the image capture period. The rolling shutter can be implemented in a vertical or a horizontal sense, and in either direction. So, in other embodiments, the rolling shutter might be such that the bottom line of pixels of the image 2000 is captured first and the top line is captured last. In further examples, there does not necessarily need to be a linear progression such that lines or rows of pixels (or indeed columns of pixels) are captured in a monotonic progression across or up or down the image”; Ragh further teaches at least in Figs. 12-15 and the disclosure a player game system comprising at least a user worn HMD 1210 installed with a plurality light emitting markers 1230 and devices 1240 with their respective cited markers, each device comprises camera sensors, and an external camera 1280 configured to photograph the devices of at least Fig. 12 to generate as understood in the art front facing photographed image data markers of devices 1210/1240 including as illustrated at least in Fig. 20 acquired plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, the system obviously analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract understoodly connected components from the image data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of Ragh to include wherein specifically said acquiring, from said image sensor, a plurality of line data of an image data that is vertically inverted such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, as each line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data, analyzing each line data of the plurality of line data to extract connected components from the image data, as discussed above, as Nishikawa in view of Ragh are in the same field of photographing by an image sensor a photograph image markers emitted by a user handheld game controller from the user worn HMD device to at least ascertain the position and the posture of the devices; furthermore, the HMD device and the line image sensors combination configuration of Ragh further compliments the photographed image markers emitted by the user handheld game controllers 16 and the worn HMD 100 of Nishikawa, in such a way when combined with the combination configuration HMD device and the line image sensors of Ragh, it further enables the systems and methods of Nishikawa to obtain said plurality of vertically inverted line image sensor data, such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, each of the said line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data for at analysis according to a design choice, as Ragh illustrates a case of capturing line image data from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom, and/or horizontally according to design incentives for further depicting more accurately said user front facing images and to more accurately derive said captured markers and thus more accurately determine said user worn devices markers, according to further known methods to yield predictable results since known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art as said combination is thus the adaptation of an old idea or invention using newer technology that is either commonly available and understood in the art thereby a variation on already known art (See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Regarding claim 22 (according to claim 21), Nishikawa is silent regarding wherein: extracting the connected components includes extracting a first connected component prior to a second connected component; and the first connected component is lower than the second connected component.
Ragh further in at least Fig. 20 of the disclosure the plurality of captured vertically inverted line scan image data scanning from the bottom direction to a top direction thereby obviously capable of extracting connected pixel components including said extracting first bottom connected component prior to a up direction second connected component as said first connected component in a vertically inverted mode is lower than the second connected component. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of Ragh to include wherein specifically said extracting the connected components includes extracting a first connected component prior to a second connected component; and the first connected component is lower than the second connected component, as discussed above, as Nishikawa in view of Ragh are in the same field of photographing by an image sensor a photograph image markers emitted by a user handheld game controller from the user worn HMD device to at least ascertain the position and the posture of the devices; furthermore, the HMD device and the line image sensors combination configuration of Ragh further compliments the photographed image markers emitted by the user handheld game controllers 16 and the worn HMD 100 of Nishikawa, in such a way when combined with the combination configuration HMD device and the line image sensors of Ragh, it further enables the systems and methods of Nishikawa to obtain said plurality of vertically inverted line image sensor data, such that a lower line data of the plurality of line data is acquired before an upper line data of the plurality of line data, each of the said line data is received in sequence from the lower line data to the upper line data for at analysis according to a design choice, as Ragh illustrates a case of capturing line image data from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom, and/or horizontally according to design incentives for further depicting more accurately said user front facing images and to more accurately derive said captured markers and thus more accurately determine said user worn devices markers, according to further known methods to yield predictable results since known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art as said combination is thus the adaptation of an old idea or invention using newer technology that is either commonly available and understood in the art thereby a variation on already known art (See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F).
Regarding claim 23 (according to claim 21), Nishikawa further teaches wherein further comprising ending extraction the connected components when a number of the connected components satisfies a predetermined upper limit number (para. 0063).
Regarding claim 24 (according to claim 21), Nishikawa further teaches wherein extracting the connected components comprises determining a first set of pixels by identifying pixels in the image that neighbor each other in a first plurality of neighboring directions (at least para. 0068-0070 further teaches the surrounded neighboring bounding boxes and set of pixels for at least extracting connected pixel components comprises determining a first set of pixels by identifying pixels in the image that neighbor each other in a first plurality of neighboring directions).
Regarding claim 25 (according to claim 24), Nishikawa further teaches wherein: the operations further comprise determining a second set of pixels by identifying pixels in the first set of pixels that neighbor each other in a second plurality of neighboring directions while excluding pixels that neighbor each other in at least one neighboring direction of the first plurality of neighboring directions, wherein deriving the representative coordinates is based at least in part on the second set of pixels (Figs. 14-15 and para. 0071-0072 further illustrates bounding box 80 first set of pixels that neighbor each other boxes 82 including second plurality of neighboring pixels further comprising said determining second set of pixels by identifying pixels in the first set of pixels that neighbor each other in a second plurality of neighboring directions while excluding pixels outside the boxes 82 that neighbor each other in at least one neighboring direction of the first plurality of neighboring directions, wherein deriving of at least para. 0072 further indicates the representative coordinates is based at least in part on the second set of pixels).
Regarding claim 26 (according to claim 25), Nishikawa further illustrates wherein the first plurality of neighboring directions includes an up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction, and at least one diagonal direction (at least Figs. 14-15 further illustrates specified first boxes 80 comprising first plurality of neighboring directions includes an up direction, down direction, left direction, right direction, and at least one diagonal direction).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/MARCELLUS J AUGUSTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682 09/25/2026
