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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9, 11, 19, 25, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higgins et al. (US 20140035913) in view of Freund et al. (US 9460342).
Regarding claim 1, Higgins discloses An image generating apparatus comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a processor configured to execute the instructions (Higgins, “[0143] The storage unit 3516 includes a machine-readable medium 3522 on which is stored the instructions 3524 embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 3524 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 3504, within the processor 3502 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or both, during execution thereof by the machine 3500. Accordingly, the main memory 3504 and the processor 3502 may be considered as machine-readable media”) to:
compare a body size of a person and a clothing size, and change a scale of at least one of a clothing image and a person image, and generate a virtual fitting image by superimposing the clothing image on the person image (Higgins, “[0037] The system may then superimpose a representation of a clothing item onto the image of the user and show the representation superimposed on the image on the TV screen. [0044] the system may adjust the size of the virtual clothing item to fit the user's body measurements after retrieving the virtual clothing item from the database and before it presents the virtual clothing item to the user. [0050] sharing images of virtual clothing displayed with the user on a social network site. [0061]a recommended real clothing item may be presented to the user as a representation of the recommended real clothing item, adjusted (e.g., scaled) to the clothing item's brand size closest to the user's body measurements, being overlaid (e.g., mapped) on a representation of the user. In some example embodiments, the representation of the item of clothing may be scaled to correspond to the particular user's body measurements”. Therefore, adjusting the size of the virtual clothing item to fit the user's body measurements, indicates the body measurements and the virtual clothing size are compared).
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses a future body size (Freund, col.5, lines 11-14, “System 102 may predict body measurements several months into the future or follow historical cycles and/or trends for the subject user and make recommendations accordingly”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Higgins and Freund, to include all limitations of claim 1. That is, applying the future body measurements of Freund to the body measurements of Higgins. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to extend the try-on service to future time for the users, and system may recommend clothing items accordingly, based on brand styles and sizing (Freund, col.7, lines 15-17).
Regarding claim 25, it is interpreted and rejected under similar rationale as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claim 26, Higgins in view of Freund discloses execute the image generating method according to claim 25.
Higgins further discloses A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute the image generating method (Higgins, claim 20, “A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations”).
Regarding claim 2, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 1.
Higgins further discloses wherein the person image is acquired by imaging the person using an image pickup apparatus (Higgins, “[0037] a camera of a mobile device (e.g., an iPhone or Android phone) may be used to capture an image of the user and to show the captured image of the user on a TV screen”),
wherein the clothing size correspond to the clothing image obtained from a clothing database (Higgins, “[0044] the system may retrieve, from a database, a recommended virtual clothing item or virtual outfit in the user's size and may display it to the user”).
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses wherein the processor is configured to estimate the future body size using a current body size of the person (Freund, col.3, lines 64-67, “system 102 may select the most recent images in order to generate one 3-dimensional composition that more closely matches the subject user's current size and shape”, col.4, lines 47-49, “In block 208, system 102 modifies the one or more initial body measurements based on one or more modifying criteria”, claim 13, “wherein the modified body measurement is a predicted future body measurement”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
Regarding claim 3, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 1.
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses wherein the processor acquires a current body size of the person (Freund, col.3, lines 64-67, “system 102 may select the most recent images in order to generate one 3-dimensional composition that more closely matches the subject user's current size and shape”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
Regarding claim 4, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 3.
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses wherein the processor is configured to acquire three-dimensional distance information on the person (Freund, col.4, lines 29-32, “As indicated herein, in various implementations, system 102 determines body dimensions using a 3-dimensional composition, which may include numerous viewpoints, angles, distances, objects, etc”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
Regarding claim 5, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 4.
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses wherein the processor is configured to estimate a body part of the person in the person image, and to calculate the current body size based on an estimated body part and acquired distance information (Freund, col.3, lines 44-46, “system 102 may enable a camera device (e.g., smart phone, etc.) of the subject user to automatically upload images to system 102 as the camera device captures photos”, col.3, lines 64-67, “system 102 may select the most recent images in order to generate one 3-dimensional composition that more closely matches the subject user's current size and shape”, col.4, lines 29-32, “As indicated herein, in various implementations, system 102 determines body dimensions using a 3-dimensional composition, which may include numerous viewpoints, angles, distances, objects, etc”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
Regarding claim 6, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 5.
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses wherein the body part includes at least one of a head, shoulder, hand, waist, crotch, and sole of a foot of the person (Freund, col.4, lines 32-34, “System 102 may also determine numerous other body dimensions, such as chest size, waist size, pant length, etc”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
Regarding claim 7, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 5.
Higgins further discloses the processor is configured to generate the virtual fitting image by superimposing the clothing image on the person image based on the body part (Higgins, “[0138] In operation 3430, the action module 2950 displays the 3D representation of the item of clothing as being mapped to an image of the user. The 3D representation of the item of clothing may be mapped to the appropriate area of the body of the user, as depicted in the image of the user. For example, a 3D representation of a pair of trousers may be mapped to the legs of the user in the image of the user”).
Regarding claim 8, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 2.
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses wherein the processor is configured to estimate the future body size based on the current body size, age of the person, and predicted year and month of the person (Freund, col.3, lines 64-67, “system 102 may select the most recent images in order to generate one 3-dimensional composition that more closely matches the subject user's current size and shape”, col.4, lines 47-49, “In block 208, system 102 modifies the one or more initial body measurements based on one or more modifying criteria”, claim 13, “wherein the modified body measurement is a predicted future body measurement”, col.5, line 64 - col.6, line 5, “system 102 may predict one or more body measurements into the future based on historical patterns. As such, system 102 may predict body measurements several months into the future or follow historical cycles and/or trends for the subject user and make recommendations accordingly. Also, geographic data and time of year may be considered together to yield appropriate seasonal attire, especially when combined with the age and gender of the subject user”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
Regarding claim 9, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 1.
On the other hand, Higgins fails to explicitly disclose but Freund discloses wherein the future body size includes at least one of height, sleeve length, inseam, chest circumference, girth, and waist circumference of the person (Freund, col.4, lines 30-34, “system 102 determines body dimensions using a 3-dimensional composition, which may include numerous viewpoints, angles, distances, objects, etc. System 102 may also determine numerous other body dimensions, such as chest size, waist size, pant length, etc.”, claim 13, “wherein the modified body measurement is a predicted future body measurement”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
Regarding claim 11, Higgins in view of Freund discloses A virtual fitting system comprising: the image generating apparatus according to claim 1.
Higgins further discloses an image pickup apparatus configured to image the person and output the person image (Higgins, “[0037] In such example embodiments, a camera of a mobile device (e.g., an iPhone or Android phone) may be used to capture an image of the user and to show the captured image of the user on a TV screen.”).
Regarding claim 19, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The virtual fitting system according to claim 11.
Higgins further discloses a display unit configured to display the virtual fitting image (Higgins, “[0051] making a grabbing-and-dragging motion to select a virtual outfit off the rack, virtually pulling on the virtual clothing item to display the virtual clothing item overlaid on the image of the user. [0070] The system may display a representation of the user within the virtual dressing room (e.g., using a live camera feed or an avatar) on a screen (e.g., of a TV set, computer monitor, or mobile device)”).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higgins et al. (US 20140035913) in view of Freund et al. (US 9460342), and further in view of Meador et al. (US 20230252747).
Regarding claim 10, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 1.
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund fails to explicitly disclose but Meador discloses wherein the clothing size includes at least one of length, sleeve length, inseam, chest circumference, girth, and waist circumference (Meador, “[0050] The virtual garment data 18 can include any selected type of data, including any combination of two-dimensional polygons representing garment patterns, garment images that provide visual details such as prints, textures, look and feel, refraction to light, and the like, fabric or material property data suitable for simulation such as weight, density, stiffness, and the like of the material in the real garment, and fitting information such as a list of sizes (e.g., small, medium, large, extra-large, and the like) and dimensions for each of the listed sizes, such as circumference at the waist, size of the chest area, and the like”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Meador into the combination of Higgins and Freund, to include all limitations of claim 10. That is, adding the garment data of Meador to the clothing of Freund and Higgins. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to provide a garment rendering system for generating a simulated or virtual garment and an avatar of the user, and then overlaying or simulating use of the simulated garment on the user avatar (Meador, [0009]).
Claim(s) 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higgins et al. (US 20140035913) in view of Freund et al. (US 9460342), and further in view of PARK et al. (US 20220361612).
Regarding claim 12, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The virtual fitting system according to claim 11.
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund fails to explicitly disclose but PARK discloses a current body size input unit into which a current body size of the person is input (PARK, “[0187] The user may input the user's gender and body sizes in the user interface 1100 for 3D human body model generation (S200)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined PARK into the combination of Higgins and Freund, to include all limitations of claim 12. That is, adding the input mechanism of PARK to input the body size and gender of Freund and Higgins. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to provide a garment design creation method and system that can efficiently and conveniently create a garment design using the application program (PARK, [0011]).
Regarding claim 13, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The virtual fitting system according to claim 11.
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund fails to explicitly disclose but PARK discloses a gender input unit configured to acquire gender of the person (PARK, “[0187] The user may input the user's gender and body sizes in the user interface 1100 for 3D human body model generation (S200)”). The motivation of claim 12 applies here.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higgins et al. (US 20140035913) in view of Freund et al. (US 9460342), and further in view of PARK et al. (US 20220361612)and MAITY et al. (US 20250017490).
Regarding claim 18, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The image generating apparatus according to claim 1.
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund fails to explicitly disclose but PARK discloses a body size input unit into which the body size of the person is input, wherein in a case where the body size input unit has an input, the processor is configured to set an input body size as the body size (PARK, “[0187] The user may input the user's gender and body sizes in the user interface 1100 for 3D human body model generation (S200)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined PARK into the combination of Higgins and Freund. That is, adding the input mechanism of PARK to input the body size of Freund and Higgins. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to provide a garment design creation method and system that can efficiently and conveniently create a garment design using the application program (PARK, [0011]).
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund and PAR fails to explicitly disclose but MAITY discloses a future body size of the person (MAITY, “[0046] The method may use at least one of the input image, segmentation mask, the predicted pixel dimension, and the output measurement of the dimension of the body part for future predictions of the segmentation mask, the pixel dimension, and the output measurement of the dimension of the body part”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined MAITY into the combination of Higgins and Freund, PARK, to include all limitations of claim 18. That is, adding the future prediction of the dimension of the body part of MAITY to the body size input of Freund and Higgins, PARK. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to provide an improved solution which can automate measurement of a dimension of the body part, making it more convenient to the user (MAITY, [0004]).
Claim(s) 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higgins et al. (US 20140035913) in view of Freund et al. (US 9460342), and further in view of Yamashita (US 20020133432).
Regarding claim 20, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The virtual fitting system according to claim 11.
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund fails to explicitly disclose but Yamashita discloses a clothing database including data on a plurality of clothing images and clothing sizes corresponding to the plurality of clothing images (Yamashita, “[0039] when the user has a virtual try-on of clothes as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, the control unit 24 of the service provider 2, in step ST8 of FIG. 2, can retrieve some pieces of size information on the specified clothes from the commodity information database 22 based on the size information on sizes of the user. The image superimposing unit 23 then performs processing and image processing on the user image, such as a photograph of the user's face, and the commodity image under control of the control unit 24”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Yamashita into the combination of Higgins and Freund, to include all limitations of claim 20. That is, adding the commodity information database of Yamashita to the system of Freund and Higgins. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to provide a user (or purchaser) with services for enabling the user to have a virtual experience of using a commodity selected by superimposing an image of the user upon an image of the commodity so as to produce a composite image and providing the produced composite image for the user (Yamashita, [0002]).
Regarding claim 21, Higgins in view of Freund and Yamashita discloses The virtual fitting system according to claim 20.
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund fails to explicitly disclose but Yamashita discloses select one of the plurality of clothing images in the clothing database, select one size of a selected clothing image, and adjust the scale of the image using a selected clothing size (“[0039] as shown in FIG. 3, which is input by the user, and can select the one which seems to be closest to the size information on the user from among those pieces of size information retrieved from the commodity information database 22. The image superimposing unit 23 then performs processing and image processing on the user image, such as a photograph of the user's face, and the commodity image under control of the control unit 24… the control unit 24 of the service provider 2 can give the user a chance of having a virtual try-on of clothes of another size, and can also transmit an input screen for enabling the user to change one or more sizes of the clothes, such as to change the length of the sleeves of the clothes, or to shorten the clothes, to the communication terminal equipment 3, thereby giving the user a chance of making a request for a change in one or more sizes of the clothes before purchasing the clothes”). The same motivation of claim 20 applies here.
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Higgins et al. (US 20140035913) in view of Freund et al. (US 9460342), and further in view of Masuko et al. (US 20150206292).
Regarding claim 24, Higgins in view of Freund discloses The virtual fitting system according to claim 19.
On the other hand, Higgins in view of Freund fails to explicitly disclose but Masuko discloses wherein the display unit displays size obtained by subtracting a future body size or a current body size from the clothing size (Masuko, “[0128] Of the plurality of information items about size, the projected image adjusting unit 57 picks out, as information to be notified to the user, a size information item in which the difference between the user's size and the size of the clothing or the like is greater than a predetermined amount. The projected image adjusting unit 57 modifies the projected image accordingly by attaching a mark for notifying the information to the projected image, causing an area of the projected image that is highly relevant to the picked out information item to blink, or the like (Step S454)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Masuko into the combination of Higgins and Freund, to include all limitations of claim 24. That is, adding the notifying the size information of Masuko to the system of Freund and Higgins. The motivation/ suggestion would have been how well clothing or other items to wear that are not on hand coordinates with an item that is on hand can be checked more easily than in the related art (Masuko, [0011]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 14-17, 22-23 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 14, it recites, an age input unit configured to acquire age of the person; a predicted year and month input unit configured to acquire predicted years and months of the person; and a statistical database including a probability distribution of body size for men and women from birth to predetermined age, wherein the processor is configured to estimate the future body size based on a current body size of the person, the age of the person, the predicted years and months of the person, and the probability distribution of the body size of the gender of the person. None of the prior arts on the record or any of the prior arts searched, alone or in combination, renders obvious the combination of elements recited in the claim(s) as a whole.
Regarding claim 22, it recites, trim cuffs so that sleeve length of the clothing size is equal to sleeve length of the person in a case where it is determined that the sleeve length of the clothing size is longer than the sleeve length of the person, and trim hems so that inseam of the clothing size is equal to inseam of the person in a case where it is determined that the inseam of the clothing size is longer than the inseam of the person. None of the prior arts on the record or any of the prior arts searched, alone or in combination, renders obvious the combination of elements recited in the claim(s) as a whole.
Regarding claim 23, it recites, wherein the display unit displays length obtained by subtracting sleeve length of the person from sleeve length of the clothing size in a case where it is determined that the sleeve length of the clothing size is longer than the sleeve length of the person, and wherein the display unit displays length obtained by subtracting inseam of the person from inseam of the clothing size in a case where it is determined that the inseam of the clothing size is longer than the inseam of the person. None of the prior arts on the record or any of the prior arts searched, alone or in combination, renders obvious the combination of elements recited in the claim(s) as a whole.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GRACE Q LI whose telephone number is (571)270-0497. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 am-5:00 pm.
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/GRACE Q LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2618 4/1/2026
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