DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 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.
Applicant’s submission filed on 05/04/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 8, 15, and 20 were amended. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Claim Objections
Claims 18 and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 18 and 19 should depend from claim 11 instead of claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 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) 1-4, 8-18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wick et al. (US 2021/0150804) in view of Jobe et al. (US 2016/0037148).
Regarding claim 1, Wick teaches/suggests: A method, comprising:
determining lens data corresponding to the lens of the at least one camera during the shot (Wick [0045] “The camera settings and camera positions can involve at least the position of the entrance pupil and the field of view of the capturing lens”); and
sending the sensor data and the lens data to a render engine to replicate the shot frame by frame in a virtual environment using the sensor data and the lens data (Wick [0046]-[0048] “transmitting the camera settings and camera positions as data 11 to a virtual camera 12 ... The virtual camera 12 can be, for example, a parameter set for settings of an image synthesis program 18 that can generate a virtual image sequence 14 … a real camera 10 can be used as a controller of a virtual camera 12 for the generation of a virtual image sequence 14 within a virtual scene 16”).
Wick is silent regarding tracking. Jobe, however, teaches/suggests tracking (Jobe [0031] “physically tracking the on-set camera 30 in real-time by using its positional data to reposition the virtual camera to the appropriate corresponding location within the 3D environment”). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the real camera of Wick to be tracked as taught/suggested by Jobe to detect its positions.
Regarding claim 2, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating a background scene for virtual production using the replicated shot (Wick [0051] “the first, real image sequence 22 and the second, virtual image sequence 24 can be combined to form a composite image sequence 26” [0004] “an image sequence having image contents generated as described, said image sequence showing for example virtual, computer-animated living organisms or backgrounds, is intended to be embedded for example into an image sequence filmed in reality”).
Regarding claim 3, Wick and Jobe are silent regarding: The method of claim 1, wherein the tracked spatial coordinates include six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) information. However, the concept and advantages of 6DoF information are well known and expected in the art (Official Notice). It would have been obvious for the camera positions of Wick as modified by Jobe to include 6DoF information to track the translation and rotation of the real camera.
Regarding claim 4, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data and the lens data are output by wireless communication (Wick [0075] “a wireless or wired transmission of the lens/camera data to a rendering computer”).
Regarding claim 8, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the lens data is determined in real time (Wick [0075] “the lens/camera data can be used for rendering in real time during the capturing of the lens/camera data”).
Regarding claim 9, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial coordinates are tracked in real time (Jobe [0031] “physically tracking the on-set camera 30 in real-time by using its positional data to reposition the virtual camera to the appropriate corresponding location within the 3D environment”). The same rationale to combine as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above is incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 10, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the lens data includes a lens distortion profile, a focus distance (Wick [0028] “these pupil locations are functions of the focusing distance and zoom setting that are individually dependent on the lens … there are a number of lens parameters such as distortion”).
Wick and Jobe are silent regarding a nodal point. However, the concept and advantages of a nodal point are well known and expected in the art (Official Notice). It would have been obvious for the camera settings of Wick as modified by Jobe to include the nodal point to generate the virtual image sequence that correspond to the real camera.
Regarding claim 11, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the lens data includes an image plane distance to a nodal point (Wick [0028] “these pupil locations are functions of the focusing distance and zoom setting that are individually dependent on the lens”). The focusing distance meets the limitation “an image plane distance to a nodal point.”
Regarding claim 12, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the lens data includes a focal length of the at least one camera (Wick [0061] “The lens/camera data can include … the focal length of the lens”).
Regarding claim 13, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 12, wherein the focal length included in the lens data accounts for zoom and lens breathing (Wick [0028] “Just the perspective reproduction of a scene depends on the location of the entrance and exit pupils and the change in focal length of the lens. In this case, these pupil locations are functions of the focusing distance and zoom setting that are individually dependent on the lens”). The change in focal length meets the lens breathing.
Regarding claim 14, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the lens data includes lens shading (Wick [0028] “there are a number of lens parameters such as … vignetting”).
Regarding claim 15, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: A system, comprising:
at least one camera to capture images of a background scene and output the captured images, wherein each of the at least one camera has a lens (Wick [0044]-[0045] “generating a first individual image sequence with a real camera 10 … the capturing lens”);
at least one sensor to track, in real time, spatial coordinates of the at least one camera during a video sequence forming a shot having multiple frames and output the tracked spatial coordinates as sensor data so that movement of the at least one camera is retraceable from the sensor data to replicate the shot virtually (Wick [0045] “detecting the camera settings and the camera positions of the first image sequence” [0048] “a real camera 10 can be used as a controller of a virtual camera 12 for the generation of a virtual image sequence 14 within a virtual scene 16” [0066] “use sensors that directly detect a movement of the camera/lens” Jobe [0031] “physically tracking the on-set camera 30 in real-time by using its positional data to reposition the virtual camera to the appropriate corresponding location within the 3D environment”); and
processing circuitry (Wick [0025] “a data processing system”) configured to determine, in real time, lens data corresponding to the lens of the at least one camera during the shot (Wick [0045] “The camera settings and camera positions can involve at least the position of the entrance pupil and the field of view of the capturing lens” [0075] “the lens/camera data can be used for rendering in real time during the capturing of the lens/camera data”), and
send the sensor data and the lens data to a render engine to replicate the shot frame by frame in a virtual environment using the sensor data and the lens data (Wick [0046]-[0048] “transmitting the camera settings and camera positions as data 11 to a virtual camera 12 ... The virtual camera 12 can be, for example, a parameter set for settings of an image synthesis program 18 that can generate a virtual image sequence 14 … a real camera 10 can be used as a controller of a virtual camera 12 for the generation of a virtual image sequence 14 within a virtual scene 16”).
The same rationale to combine as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above is incorporated herein.
Claims 16-18 recite limitation(s) similar in scope to those of claims 2-4, respectively, and are rejected for the same reason(s).
Regarding claim 20, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform a method (Wick [0025] “a computer program”), the method comprising:
receiving tracked spatial coordinates of at least one camera captured during a video sequence forming a shot having multiple frames so that movement of the at least one camera is retraceable to replicate the shot virtually, wherein each of the at least one camera has a lens (Wick [0045] “detecting the camera settings and the camera positions of the first image sequence … the capturing lens” [0048] “a real camera 10 can be used as a controller of a virtual camera 12 for the generation of a virtual image sequence 14 within a virtual scene 16” [0066] “use sensors that directly detect a movement of the camera/lens” Jobe [0031] “physically tracking the on-set camera 30 in real-time by using its positional data to reposition the virtual camera to the appropriate corresponding location within the 3D environment”);
receiving lens data including the lens and one or more characteristics of the lens of the at least one camera during the shot (Wick [0045] “The camera settings and camera positions can involve at least the position of the entrance pupil and the field of view of the capturing lens”); and
sending the tracked spatial coordinates and the lens data to a render engine to replicate the shot frame by frame in a virtual environment using the tracked spatial coordinates and the lens data (Wick [0046]-[0048] “transmitting the camera settings and camera positions as data 11 to a virtual camera 12 ... The virtual camera 12 can be, for example, a parameter set for settings of an image synthesis program 18 that can generate a virtual image sequence 14 … a real camera 10 can be used as a controller of a virtual camera 12 for the generation of a virtual image sequence 14 within a virtual scene 16” Jobe [0031] “physically tracking the on-set camera 30 in real-time by using its positional data to reposition the virtual camera to the appropriate corresponding location within the 3D environment”).
The same rationale to combine as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above is incorporated herein.
Wick and Jobe are silent regarding including six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) information. However, the concept and advantages of 6DoF information are well known and expected in the art (Official Notice). It would have been obvious for the camera positions of Wick as modified by Jobe to include 6DoF information to track the translation and rotation of the real camera.
Claim(s) 5 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wick et al. (US 2021/0150804) in view of Jobe et al. (US 2016/0037148) as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Houskeeper (US 6014163).
Regarding claim 5, Wick further discloses in [0051]: “the first, real image sequence 22 and the second, virtual image sequence 24 can be combined to form a composite image sequence 26.” Wick and Jobe are silent regarding: The method of claim 1, further comprising:
synchronizing the lens data to respective frames of the shot.
Houskeeper, however, teaches/suggests:
synchronizing the lens data to respective frames of the shot (Houskeeper col. 6 ll. 42-48 “the video delay 34 synchronizes the camera field of view data with the virtual image data and thus, properly sets the data streams for compositing the data of the two images”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the camera settings of Wick as modified by Jobe to be synchronized as taught/suggested by Houskeeper for the compositing.
Claim 19 recites limitation(s) similar in scope to those of claim 5, and is rejected for the same reason(s).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wick et al. (US 2021/0150804) in view of Jobe et al. (US 2016/0037148) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yu (US 2019/0122121).
Regarding claim 6, Wick as modified by Jobe teaches/suggests: The method of claim 1, wherein the instructing is generated by the render engine (Wick [0047] “The virtual camera 12 can be, for example, a parameter set for settings of an image synthesis program 18 that can generate a virtual image sequence 14”). The instructing is an inherent feature of the image synthesis program (the render engine). Wick as modified by Jobe does not teach/suggest a plugin for the render engine. Yu, however, teaches/suggests a plugin for the render engine (Yu [0048] “a plug-in support for the game development engine with instant rendering capabilities”). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the image synthesis program (the render engine) of Wick as modified by Jobe to include the plugin of Yu for instant rendering capabilities.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wick et al. (US 2021/0150804) in view of Jobe et al. (US 2016/0037148) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sarratori et al. (US 2016/0328421).
Regarding claim 7, Wick as modified by Jobe does not teach/suggest: The method of claim 1, further comprising:
rendering, by the render engine, the shot using an asset having a resolution of greater than or equal to 8K.
Sarratori, however, teaches/suggests an asset having a resolution of greater than or equal to 8K (Sarratori [0042] “a visual asset may have a vectorized representation [119] that is designed for use on large, high resolution displays such as 4k or 8k televisions”). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the image synthesis (the rendering) of Wick as modified by Jobe to include the visual asset of Sarratori for high resolution displays. As such, Wick as modified by Jobe and Sarratori teaches/suggests:
rendering, by the render engine, the shot using an asset having a resolution of greater than or equal to 8K (Wick [0047] “The virtual camera 12 can be, for example, a parameter set for settings of an image synthesis program 18 that can generate a virtual image sequence 14” Sarratori [0042] “a visual asset may have a vectorized representation 120 that is designed for use on large, high resolution displays such as 4k or 8k televisions”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 05/04/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues “[r]eplicating the shot virtually, as required by the amended claim and described in the Specification at paragraphs [0025]-[0026], means using the sensor data to drive the render engine through the exact spatial trajectory the real camera followed during the shot, frame by frame, so that the virtual environment is traversed from the same positions and orientations as the physical camera, producing a synthetic back plate that matches what the real camera captured ... The function of driving a render engine through a camera's exact spatial trajectory to produce a virtual replication of the shot is absent from Wick's framework.” See Remarks, p. 9.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Applicant discloses “the recorded data is fed into a render engine containing the asset (i.e., the background asset for the plates) by use of a tool or script. Individual frames are then rendered at the desired image quality” (para. 0021) and “the render engine retraces the movement of the main capture camera, and mimics the lens and its characteristics, frame by frame, to replicate the shot virtually ... Depending on the quality of the asset, this also means no noise or close to no noise in the digital image. This depends on the resolution quality and capture method of the asset ... the system 200 renders frames sourced from a beyond-8K-resolution light detection and ranging (LIDAR) scanned asset” (paras. 0026 and 0027). In other words, the asset is captured by a camera different from the main camera. The movement and lens profile of the main camera are replicated in the rendered asset.
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Regardless, as shown in Fig. 2A of Wick (reproduced above), the first image sequence is replicated in the combined image sequence.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANH-TUAN V NGUYEN whose telephone number is 571-270-7513. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9AM-5PM ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JASON CHAN can be reached on 571-272-3022. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH-TUAN V NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2619
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