DETAILED ACTION
Status
This Office Action is responsive to claims filed on 07/10/2024. Please note Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority. It is noted, however, Applicant has not filed a certified copy as required by 37 CFR 1.55, and an attempt by the Office to electronically retrieve the foreign application CN202210645771.0 to which priority is claimed has failed on 9/12/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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, 8, 14, 15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (CN 113034656 A, cited on IDS 8/2/2024), in view of LEBLANC (US 20180093183 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Qiao discloses a method for rendering an image performed by a computer device, the method comprising:
determining at least one candidate illumination information storage block associated with a target image ([0080] “the illumination probe can sample the illumination information of a certain appointed point in the 3 D space before the operation; then the collected information is compiled and packaged by the spherical harmonic function. when the game is running, the shader program can quickly reconstruct the illumination effect by the illumination information code. similar to the illumination mapping, the illumination probe can capture the illumination information in the game scene, and storing the illumination information in the scene, and the different illumination is stored with the illumination information of the light irradiated to the surface of the object, and the illumination probe stores the illumination information when the light passes through the vacuum area.” Examiner notes that the stored illumination information collected by a probe teaches an illumination information storage block);
determining a target illumination information storage block from the at least one candidate illumination information storage block ([0093] “the space voxel of the appointed space area closer to the object as the preferred position of placing the illumination probe, capable of collecting the illumination information meeting the requirement of the game scene, and then updating the illumination probe according to the viewpoint position in the game scene, and capturing the illumination information;”); and
performing illumination calculation by loading the target illumination information storage block to render the target image ([0093] “the illumination information is transmitted to the GPU end after generating probe data texture through the CPU end; The process is submitted to the GPU end after calculating the display content by the CPU end; the GPU end responds to the rendering instruction of the central processor, and according to the position information of the object surface sampling point in the game scene, using the resource texture and indirect texture to sample the illumination information of the object in the game scene; and rendering the illumination information of the object, so as to output to the screen.”).
Qiao does not expressly disclose the features related to the weight corresponding to the stored probe information, i.e. Qiao does not expressly disclose a storage block weight corresponding to the at least one candidate illumination information storage block, and determining a target illumination information storage block based on the storage block weight.
However, in the same field of endeavor, LEBLANC discloses determining a storage block weight corresponding to the at least one candidate illumination information storage block ([0076] “Step 540: The processor 10 determines a weight for the selected probe (as it relates to the selected point). The weight could be based in part on relative proximity (distance) to the selected point.”), and determining a target illumination information storage block from the at least one candidate illumination information storage block based on the storage block weight ([0083] “Step 590: The processor 10 now has a final “blended” value for each of the various SH coefficients (SH.sub.00′, SH.sub.11′, . . . , SH.sub.22′), which takes into account the weight of each probe. The intensity of the diffuse global illumination at the selected point is calculated by evaluating the spherical harmonic basis function for the normal at the selected point and adding the results scaled by the corresponding blended SH coefficients to yield a sum; and (ii) normalizing the sum by dividing it by the sum of the weights of the probes used in the calculation (see step 570).”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the method of Qiao with the features of determining a weight corresponding to each of the candidate illumination information storage block and determining the target illumination information storage block based on the weight. Doing so could optimize the output based on “which probes contribute most and which probes can be ignored”. (LEBLANC [0055])
Regarding Claim 7, Qiao-LEBLANC discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the illumination information storage block is a volumetric lightmap block, and the volumetric lightmap block comprises a plurality of light probes (Qiao [0080] “using the illumination probe can simulate the effect of using the illumination map; the illumination probe can sample the illumination information of a certain appointed point in the 3 D space before the operation”); and the method further comprises: determining, from a plurality of loaded volumetric lightmap blocks, a loaded volumetric lightmap block adjacent to each pixel point in the target image, the plurality of loaded volumetric lightmap blocks comprising the loaded illumination information storage block; determining, from the loaded volumetric lightmap block corresponding to each pixel point, a light probe adjacent to each pixel point; determining illumination information of each pixel point by using the light probe adjacent to each pixel point; and performing illumination calculation based on the illumination information of each pixel point to perform rendering to render the target image (Qiao [0074] “in the operation process of the illumination probe, sampling the illumination information at the position point of a certain illumination probe, then sampling the illumination information from the position of the other illumination probe adjacent to the illumination probe, then performing interpolation operation to the illumination information obtained by the sampling; to calculate the illumination information of a certain position between the illumination probes.”).
Regarding Claim 8, it recites similar limitations of claim 1. The rationale of claim 1 rejection is applied to reject claim 8.
Regarding Claim 14, it recites similar limitations of claim 7. The rationale of claim 7 rejection is applied to reject claim 14.
Regarding Claim 15, it recites similar limitations of claim 1. The rationale of claim 1 rejection is applied to reject claim 15.
Regarding Claim 20, it recites similar limitations of claim 7. The rationale of claim 7 rejection is applied to reject claim 20.
Claims 2-4, 9-11, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (CN 113034656 A, cited on IDS 8/2/2024) in view of LEBLANC (US 20180093183 A1), further in view of Li (US 20200107035 A1).
Regarding Claim 2, Qiao-LEBLANC discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the determining at least one candidate illumination information storage block comprises: determining, from a plurality of preset illumination information storage blocks, first illumination information storage blocks respectively adjacent to a plurality of pixel points in the target image (Qiao [0074] “in the operation process of the illumination probe, sampling the illumination information at the position point of a certain illumination probe, then sampling the illumination information from the position of the other illumination probe adjacent to the illumination probe, then performing interpolation operation to the illumination information obtained by the sampling; to calculate the illumination information of a certain position between the illumination probes.”); in the same filed of endeavor, Li discloses performing deduplication processing based on the first illumination information storage blocks to obtain an associated illumination information storage block of the target image as the at least one candidate illumination information storage block ([0107] “A comparison can be performed to prune, or otherwise avoid, duplicate candidates in the candidate list, and thus the above process can be referred to as candidate pruning.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the method of Qiao-LEBLANC with the features of performing deduplication to obtain an associated illumination information storage block of the target image. Doing so could avoid the processing of duplicated data and improve the efficiency of the rendering, as taught by Li.
Regarding Claim 3, Qiao-LEBLANC-Li discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the determining, from a plurality of preset illumination information storage blocks, first illumination information storage blocks respectively adjacent to a plurality of pixel points in the target image comprises: obtaining block indexes respectively corresponding to a plurality of index data points, the block indexes being in one-to-one correspondence to the preset illumination information storage blocks (Li [0105] “The motion information and/or candidate can include one or more MV values and other related information, such as one or more reference picture number information (e.g., a reference index)”); selecting, for a pixel point among the plurality of pixel points, a block index corresponding to an index data point adjacent to the pixel point from the block indexes respectively corresponding to the plurality of index data points to obtain a target block index corresponding to the pixel point; and determining a preset illumination information storage block corresponding to the target block index as a first illumination information storage block adjacent to the pixel point (Qiao [0074] “sampling the illumination information at the position point of a certain illumination probe, then sampling the illumination information from the position of the other illumination probe adjacent to the illumination probe, then performing interpolation operation to the illumination information obtained by the sampling”).
Regarding Claim 4, Qiao-LEBLANC-Li discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the performing deduplication processing based on the first illumination information storage blocks to obtain an associated illumination information storage block of the target image as the at least one candidate illumination information storage block comprises: selecting a second illumination information storage block adjacent to a key object in the target image from the plurality of preset illumination information storage blocks (Qiao [0074] “sampling the illumination information at the position point of a certain illumination probe, then sampling the illumination information from the position of the other illumination probe adjacent to the illumination probe, then performing interpolation operation to the illumination information obtained by the sampling” [0075] “for the small object is sufficient, but may cause the adjacent larger model illumination does not match and discontinuous condition, so the CPU end for one-to-one collection, updating, sampling, each related object has the corresponding interpolation after SH coefficient, although relatively easy to maintain”); and performing deduplication processing based on the first illumination information storage blocks and the second illumination information storage block to obtain the associated illumination information storage block of the target image (Li [0106] “When the new piece of motion information is different from the existing candidate(s) included in the candidate list in one or more aspects, the new piece of motion information can be added into the candidate list as a new candidate.”).
Regarding Claim 9, it recites similar limitations of claim 2. The rationale of claim 2 rejection is applied to reject claim 9.
Regarding Claim 10, it recites similar limitations of claim 3. The rationale of claim 3 rejection is applied to reject claim 10.
Regarding Claim 11, it recites similar limitations of claim 4. The rationale of claim 4 rejection is applied to reject claim 11.
Regarding Claim 16, it recites similar limitations of claim 2. The rationale of claim 2 rejection is applied to reject claim 16.
Regarding Claim 17, it recites similar limitations of claim 3. The rationale of claim 3 rejection is applied to reject claim 17.
Claims 5, 12, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (CN 113034656 A, cited on IDS 8/2/2024) in view of LEBLANC (US 20180093183 A1), further in view of Ouyang (US 20230360311 A1).
Regarding Claim 5, Qiao-LEBLANC discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one candidate illumination information storage block comprises a first candidate illumination information storage block adjacent to at least one pixel point in the target image (Qiao [0074] “in the operation process of the illumination probe, sampling the illumination information at the position point of a certain illumination probe, then sampling the illumination information from the position of the other illumination probe adjacent to the illumination probe, then performing interpolation operation to the illumination information obtained by the sampling; to calculate the illumination information of a certain position between the illumination probes.”); in the same filed of endeavor, Ouyang discloses the determining a storage block weight corresponding to the at least one candidate illumination information storage block comprises: determining a pixel block weight of the first candidate illumination information storage block at each corresponding adjacent pixel point; and collecting statistics of each pixel block weight to obtain a storage block weight of the first candidate illumination information storage block ([0133] “maintain a temporal reservoir buffer (TRB) comprising a plurality of TRB elements, wherein each of the plurality of TRB elements is assigned to a respective image point (IP) of a plurality of IPs of an image of a scene” [0137] “In clause 18, the system of clause 17, wherein the one or more processing devices are further to: store, in the SRB element for the first IP, a combined weight that is based on (i) a third weight associated with the third sample point and (ii) each of the weights associated with the one or more sample points identified for the corresponding one or more neighboring IPs; and compute the illumination of the first IP based on the combined weight stored in the SRB element for the first IP.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the method of Qiao-LEBLANC with the features of determining pixel block weights of the illumination information storage block at pixel points and obtaining the weight of the illumination information storage block based on the statistics of pixel block weights. Doing so could lead to “improvement in the image quality”, as taught by Ouyang.
Regarding Claim 12, it recites similar limitations of claim 5. The rationale of claim 5 rejection is applied to reject claim 12.
Regarding Claim 18, it recites similar limitations of claim 5. The rationale of claim 5 rejection is applied to reject claim 18.
Claims 6, 13, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qiao (CN 113034656 A, cited on IDS 8/2/2024) in view of LEBLANC (US 20180093183 A1), further in view of Raif (US 20210192789 A1).
Regarding Claim 6, Qiao-LEBLANC discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one candidate illumination information storage block comprises a second candidate illumination information storage block (Qiao [0074] “in the operation process of the illumination probe, sampling the illumination information at the position point of a certain illumination probe, then sampling the illumination information from the position of the other illumination probe adjacent to the illumination probe, then performing interpolation operation to the illumination information obtained by the sampling; to calculate the illumination information of a certain position between the illumination probes.”), a block area of the second candidate illumination information storage block is adjacent to a key object area, and the key object area is an area in which a key object in the target image is located (Qiao [0075] “for the small object is sufficient, but may cause the adjacent larger model illumination does not match and discontinuous condition, so the CPU end for one-to-one collection, updating, sampling, each related object has the corresponding interpolation after SH coefficient, although relatively easy to maintain”); in the same filed of endeavor, Raif discloses the determining a storage block weight corresponding to the at least one candidate illumination information storage block comprises: obtaining a shadow factor of the second candidate illumination information storage block, the shadow factor being determined based on a proportion of a shadow area in the block area of the second candidate illumination information storage block; and determining a storage block weight of the second candidate illumination information storage block based on the shadow factor ([0016] “In some embodiments, a shadow detection techniques, such as one that uses 3D points plus a-priori solar position information to predict and confirm shadow locations can affect the “illumination weight” for a 3D point. For example, if according to the shadow detection technique, the 3D point is determined to be in shadow, the illumination weight can be set to a low value, for example, “0”, while a 3D point that is determined to be in direct sun, can be set to a high value, for example “1”.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the method of Qiao-LEBLANC with the features of obtaining a shadow factor based on a shadow area and determining a weight of illumination information storage block based on the shadow factor. Doing so could improve the quality of rendered image, as taught by Raif.
Regarding Claim 13, it recites similar limitations of claim 6. The rationale of claim 6 rejection is applied to reject claim 13.
Regarding Claim 19, it recites similar limitations of claim 6. The rationale of claim 6 rejection is applied to reject claim 19.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHONG WU whose telephone number is (571)270-5207. The examiner can normally be reached MON-FRI: 9AM-5PM EST.
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/CHONG WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2613