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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of receipt of Information Disclosure Statements (PTO-1449) filed 06/20/2024 and 04/29/2025. An initialed copy is attached to this Office Action.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the preamble recites “a method”. It is recommended that the preamble refers to the method as “a method for eye tracking”, “a method for estimating a user’s direction of gaze” or similar language presented in the specification to provide further context. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-3, 9-12, 15 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alcaide et al. (WO 2019/040665 A1), hereinafter “Alcaide”, in view of Swedish et al. (USPG Pub No. 2016/0320837), hereinafter “Swedish”.
Regarding claim 1, Alcaide discloses a method comprising: inputting to a statistical model a reference image which is associated with a known direction of gaze of a person (Paragraphs 33, 80, 81), and an input image which is associated with an unknown direction of gaze of the person (Paragraphs 33, 80, 81); obtaining from the statistical model at least one estimation of a change in orientation of an eye of the person, an orientation of the person's eye associated with the input image, a direction of gaze associated with the input image, a gaze target associated with the input image, and a ray of gaze associated with the input image (Paragraphs 33, 81, 82 – the data obtained from the model is presented in the alternative, thus the cited paragraphs meet the requirement of “at least one”); and outputting a signal based on the estimation, wherein the statistical model is trained on a plurality of images obtained at known directions of gaze (Paragraphs 80-82). Alcaide discloses the claimed invention, but does not specify and which comprises at least a portion of the person's retina, of portions of retinas. In the same field of endeavor, Swedish discloses and which comprises at least a portion of the person's retina, of portions of retinas (Paragraphs 95-97). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the method of Alcaide with and which comprises at least a portion of the person's retina, of portions of retinas of Swedish for the purpose of capturing retinal retroreflection images in order to accurately determine the eye’s direction of gaze (Paragraphs 10-11).
Regarding claim 3, Alcaide further discloses comprising obtaining from the statistical model an estimation of change in orientation of the eye of the person and calculating, based on the estimation, the unknown direction of gaze associated with the input image; and outputting the signal in accordance with the calculated unknown direction of gaze (Paragraphs 81, 82).
Regarding claim 9, Alcaide discloses a system for estimating a user's direction of gaze (see Fig. 1, Paragraphs 33, 80, 81), the system comprising: a camera configured to obtain a reference image which is associated with a known direction of gaze of the user (see Fig. 1, Paragraphs 33, 80, 81), and obtain an input image which is associated with an unknown direction of gaze of the user (Paragraphs 33, 80, 81); and a processor in communication with the camera (see Fig. 1), wherein the processor is configured to input the reference image and the input image to a statistical model trained on a plurality of images obtained at known directions of gaze, obtain from the statistical model at least one estimation of a change in orientation of an eye of the person, an orientation of the person's eye associated with the input image, a direction of gaze associated with the input image, a gaze target associated with the input image, and a ray of gaze associated with the input image, and output a signal based on the estimation (Paragraphs 33, 80-82 – the data obtained from the model is presented in the alternative, thus the cited paragraphs meet the requirement of “at least one”). Alcaide discloses the claimed invention, but does not specify and which comprises at least a portion of the user's retina, of portions of retinas. In the same field of endeavor, Swedish discloses and which comprises at least a portion of the user's retina, of portions of retinas (Paragraphs 95-97). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the system of Alcaide with and which comprises at least a portion of the user's retina, of portions of retinas of Swedish for the purpose of capturing retinal retroreflection images in order to accurately determine the eye’s direction of gaze (Paragraphs 10-11).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Alcaide discloses wherein the statistical model is trained on pairs of images, wherein in each pair one image serves as an input image and one image serves as a reference image (Paragraphs 80-82). Alcaide and Swedish teach the method and system set forth above for claims 1 and 9, Swedish further discloses of portions of retinas (Paragraphs 95-97). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the method and system of Alcaide with the teachings of Swedish for at least the same reasons as those set forth above with respect to claims 1 and 9.
Regarding claim 11, Alcaide further discloses wherein the output signal controls a device (Paragraph 82).
Regarding claim 12, Alcaide further discloses wherein the device comprises an XR device (Paragraphs 36, 105).
Regarding claim 15, Alcaide further discloses comprising a light source (Paragraphs 33, 34).
Regarding claim 18, Alcaide further discloses wherein the light source comprises at least one infra-red LED (Paragraph 34).
Claims 4, 5, 8, 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alcaide (WO 2019/040665 A1) in view of Swedish (USPG Pub No. 2016/0320837) as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Smith et al. (USPG Pub No. 2019/0387168), hereinafter “Smith”.
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Alcaide and Swedish disclose the claimed invention, but do not specify wherein the statistical model comprises a regression model. In the same field of endeavor, Smith discloses wherein the statistical model comprises a regression model (Paragraphs 92, 93). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the method and system of Alcaide and Swedish with wherein the statistical model comprises a regression model of Smith for the purpose of providing an analysis technique to produce the desired data (Paragraphs 92, 93).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Alcaide and Swedish disclose the claimed invention, but do not specify wherein the statistical model comprises a neural network. In the same field of endeavor, Smith discloses wherein the statistical model comprises a neural network (Paragraphs 92, 93). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the method and system of Alcaide and Swedish with wherein the statistical model comprises a neural network of Smith for the purpose of providing an analysis technique to produce the desired data (Paragraphs 92, 93).
Regarding claim 8, Alcaide and Swedish teach the method set forth above for claim 1, Swedish further discloses for use in matching an input image with a reference image to identify a user (Paragraphs 94, 150). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the method of Alcaide with the teachings of Swedish for at least the same reasons as those set forth above with respect to claim 1.
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alcaide (WO 2019/040665 A1) in view of Swedish (USPG Pub No. 2016/0320837) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lujan et al. (USPG Pub No. 2015/0015846), hereinafter “Lujan”.
Regarding claim 6, Alcaide and Swedish disclose the claimed invention, but do not specify comprising a step of processing the reference image and the input image to normalize the images, prior to the step of inputting to the statistical model. In the same field of endeavor, Lujan discloses comprising a step of processing the reference image and the input image to normalize the images, prior to the step of inputting to the statistical model (Paragraph 97). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the method of Alcaide and Swedish with comprising a step of processing the reference image and the input image to normalize the images, prior to the step of inputting to the statistical model of Lujan for the purpose of adjusting the intensity as desired so that the intensity of each image is the same (Paragraph 97).
Regarding claim 7, Alcaide, Swedish and Lujan teach the method set forth above for claim 6, Lujan further discloses wherein the step of processing comprises normalizing intensity of the images (Paragraph 97). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to provide the method of Alcaide and Swedish with the teachings of Lujan for at least the same reasons as those set forth above with respect to claim 6.
Claims 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alcaide (WO 2019/040665 A1) in view of Swedish (USPG Pub No. 2016/0320837) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Meitav et al. (USPG Pub No. 2021/0294106), hereinafter “Meitav”.
Regarding claim 16, Alcaide and Swedish disclose the claimed invention, but do not specify comprising a beam splitter configured to direct light from the light source to the user's eye. In the same field of endeavor, Meitav discloses comprising a beam splitter configured to direct light from the light source to the user's eye (Paragraph 182). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the system of Alcaide and Swedish with comprising a beam splitter configured to direct light from the light source to the user's eye of Meitav for the purpose of providing an optical device including augmented reality or virtual reality and visualization systems (Paragraphs 2, 3).
Regarding claim 17, Alcaide and Swedish disclose the claimed invention, but do not specify wherein the light source is a polarized light source, the system further comprising a polarizer configured to block light originating from the light source and reflected through specular reflection. In the same field of endeavor, Meitav discloses wherein the light source is a polarized light source, the system further comprising a polarizer configured to block light originating from the light source and reflected through specular reflection (Paragraphs 178, 186). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the system of Alcaide and Swedish with wherein the light source is a polarized light source, the system further comprising a polarizer configured to block light originating from the light source and reflected through specular reflection of Meitav for the purpose of removing some or most of the unwanted light (Paragraph 186).
Prior Art Citations
Kaehler (USPG Pub No. 2018/0137678) is being cited herein to show a method and system for estimating a user’s direction of gaze relevant to the claimed invention.
Conclusion
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/MAHIDERE S SAHLE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872 5/30/2026
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