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
Applicant claims the benefit of US Application No. 15821405, filed October 15, 2015. Claims 1-20 have been afforded the benefit of this filing date.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS dated 11/20/2024 has been considered and placed in the application file. The NPL reference Cite No. 1 on the IDS filed 11/20/2024 were not considered. See 37 CFR 1.98 (a) (2) for the requirements for a foreign patent or publication cited on an IDS. MPEP 609.
1st 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over US Patent Publication 2003 0020755 A1, (Lemelson et al.)
Claim 1
Regarding claim 1, Lemelson et al. teach a method comprising: receiving a video stream from an imaging device, the video stream depicting one or more eyes; ("gimbaled sensor system having a camera or photo sensor for providing images of the head and the eye of the user," par. 20) determining a gaze direction for the one or more eyes depicted in the video stream relative to a display device of a client device, ("determining a gaze direction of the eye of a user relative to the display or the screen," par. 17) wherein the display device displays a user interface screen with scrolling enabled; ("controlling the scrolling or selection of information on the display or the screen," par. 22) detecting a change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes; (" the screen gaze coordinate measurement algorithm 116 is to determine the 2-D screen gaze coordinates B(X.sub.b,Y.sub.b) 146 through a perspective mapping," par. 99) when the change in the gaze direction exceeds a predetermined distance, causing the user interface screen of the display device to scroll in a direction of the change in gaze direction; ("determining whether the screen gaze coordinate is within an activated control region defined by another of the number of concentric circles further includes the steps of determining whether the gaze direction is within an activated control quadrant
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wherein the information on the display or the screen is moved downward and leftward; or upward and leftward; or upward and rightward; or downward and rightward," par. 27) detecting a second change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes; ("If the gaze measurements are not within a control region, then further gaze measurements [AltContent: textbox (Figure 7A shows the concentric ring and quadrant regions for controlling scrolling.)]are obtained from the user," par. 70) and when the second change in the gaze direction is detected, ("If the gaze measurements are not within a control region, then further gaze measurements are obtained from the user 22. If gaze measurements are within a control region, then the human-machine interface system 10 is activated to scroll the information to the corresponding location on the display," par. 70) discontinuing scrolling of the user interface screen in the direction of the change in gaze direction ("If a user 22 gazes in the static control area 224 of the display or screen 12, then the scroll rate is set to zero," par. 108).
It is recognized that the citations and evidence provided above are derived from potentially different embodiments of a single reference. Nevertheless, it 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 to employ combinations and sub-combinations of these complementary embodiments, because Lemelson et al. explicitly motivates doing so at least in paragraph [0131] including “The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, and to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.” and otherwise motivating experimentation and optimization.
The rejection of method claim 1 above applies mutatis mutandis to the corresponding limitations of system claim 9 and non-transitory machine-readable storage medium claim 17 while noting that the rejection above cites to both device and method disclosures. Claims 9 and 17 are mapped below for clarity of the record and to specify any new limitations not included in claim 1.
Claim 2
Regarding claim 2, Lemelson et al. teach the method of claim 1, wherein the second change in the gaze direction comprises a return to an initial gaze direction ("If a user 22 gazes at point P2 228 at the left side region within the medium high scroll control region 220, then the text on the display or screen 12 is scrolled to the right at a medium high rate. At gaze point P3 230 inside the static control area 224, the scroll rate is set to zero and the text does not move," par. 111).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 3
Regarding claim 3, Lemelson et al. teach the method of claim 1[AltContent: textbox (Figure 6A shows the static control areas as well as the rectangular scroll control regions.)]
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, wherein the second change in the gaze direction is a predetermined change representing a stop command indicating a desire to cease scrolling of the user interface screen ("If a user 22 gazes in the static control area 224 of the display or screen 12, then the scroll rate is set to zero," par. 108).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 4
Regarding claim 4, Lemelson et al. teach the method of claim 1, wherein a visible area of the display device of the client device is logically divided into a plurality of regions, and wherein detecting the change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes comprises determining a plurality of changes in the gaze direction where each of the plurality of changes in the gaze direction corresponds to a different region of the plurality of regions ("the center of the display or screen surface 12 is represented at point A 174. If a user 22 gazes at point P1 226 within the medium low scroll up region 218 and low scroll left region 216, then the text will scroll on the display or screen 12 to the upper left by scrolling up at a medium low rate and to the left at a low rate. If a user 22 gazes at point P2 228 at the left side region within the medium high scroll control region 220, then the text on the display or screen 12 is scrolled to the right at a medium high rate. At gaze point P3 230 inside the static control area 224, the scroll rate is set to zero and the text does not move. At gaze point P4 232 inside the high scroll down region 222, the text will scroll down at a high rate," par. 111).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 6
Regarding claim 6, Lemelson et al. teach the method of claim 4, wherein the second change in the gaze direction represents a predetermined command with respect to a region of the plurality of regions being viewed when the second change in the gaze direction is detected ("If a user 22 gazes at point P2 228 at the left side region within the medium high scroll control region 220, then the text on the display or screen 12 is scrolled to the right at a medium high rate," par. 111).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 7
Regarding claim 7, Lemelson et al. teach the method of claim 6, wherein the second change in the gaze direction represents a selection of a user interface element located in the region of the plurality of regions being viewed when the second change in the gaze direction is detected ("At decision block 60, the determination is made as to whether screen gaze coordinates are within a control region (i.e. on the border or peripheral region or on a menu switch control). The control region may provide the user with the further feature of a smooth scrolling function (i.e. speed of scrolling depends on position at which the gaze of the user is on the activation region) or other type of menu selection function or feature," par. 70).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 8
Regarding claim 8, Lemelson et al. teach the method of claim 7, wherein selection of the user interface element located in the region of the plurality of regions ("The control region may provide the user with the further feature of a smooth scrolling function (i.e. speed of scrolling depends on position at which the gaze of the user is on the activation region) or other type of menu selection function or feature," par. 70) causes an application launch within the user interface screen of the display device ("gazes at an activation region for a pre-determined amount of time to activate menus or make selections or open windows," par. 6).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 9
Regarding claim 9, Lemelson et al. teach a system, comprising: one or more processors; ("a microprocessor," par. 78) an imaging device; ("gimbaled sensor system having a camera or photo sensor for providing images," par. 20) a display device; ("a display or a screen," par. 21) and a memory accessible by the one or more processors, the memory including instructions for execution by the one or more processors that configure the one or more processors to segment a video stream by performing operations including: ("Commands from the computer system 14 via the buffer memory 86 control the range driver 90 to drive the distance range finder 88 (Other range finding devices may also be used) to determine the distance between the user's head 18 and the gimbaled sensor system," par. 79) receiving the video stream from the imaging device, the video stream depicting one or more eyes; ("gimbaled sensor system having a camera or photo sensor for providing images of the head and the eye of the user," par. 20) determining a gaze direction for the one or more eyes depicted in the video stream relative to the display device, ("determining a gaze direction of the eye of a user relative to the display or the screen," par. 17) wherein the display device displays a user interface screen with scrolling enabled; ("controlling the scrolling or selection of information on the display or the screen," par. 22) detecting a change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes; (" the screen gaze coordinate measurement algorithm 116 is to determine the 2-D screen gaze coordinates B(X.sub.b,Y.sub.b) 146 through a perspective mapping," par. 99) when the change in the gaze direction exceeds a predetermined distance, causing the user interface screen of the display device to scroll in a direction of the change in gaze direction; ("determining whether the screen gaze coordinate is within an activated control region defined by another of the number of concentric circles further includes the steps of determining whether the gaze direction is within an activated control quadrant wherein the information on the display or the screen is moved downward and leftward; or upward and leftward; or upward and rightward; or downward and rightward," par. 27) detecting a second change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes; ("If the gaze measurements are not within a control region, then further gaze measurements are obtained from the user," par. 70) and when the second change in the gaze direction is detected, ("If the gaze measurements are not within a control region, then further gaze measurements are obtained from the user 22. If gaze measurements are within a control region, then the human-machine interface system 10 is activated to scroll the information to the corresponding location on the display," par. 70) discontinuing scrolling of the user interface screen in the direction of the change in gaze direction ("If a user 22 gazes in the static control area 224 of the display or screen 12, then the scroll rate is set to zero," par. 108).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 10
Regarding claim 10, Lemelson et al. teach the system of claim 9, wherein the second change in the gaze direction comprises a return to an initial gaze direction ("If a user 22 gazes at point P2 228 at the left side region within the medium high scroll control region 220, then the text on the display or screen 12 is scrolled to the right at a medium high rate. At gaze point P3 230 inside the static control area 224, the scroll rate is set to zero and the text does not move," par. 111).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 11
Regarding claim 11, Lemelson et al. teach the system of claim 9, wherein the second change in the gaze direction is a predetermined change representing a stop command indicating a desire to cease scrolling of the user interface screen ("If a user 22 gazes in the static control area 224 of the display or screen 12, then the scroll rate is set to zero," par. 108).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 12
Regarding claim 12, Lemelson et al. teach the system of claim 9, wherein a visible area of the display device is logically divided into a plurality of regions, and wherein detecting the change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes comprises the one or more processors executing instructions to determine a plurality of changes in the gaze direction where each of the plurality of changes in the gaze direction corresponds to a different region of the plurality of regions ("the center of the display or screen surface 12 is represented at point A 174. If a user 22 gazes at point P1 226 within the medium low scroll up region 218 and low scroll left region 216, then the text will scroll on the display or screen 12 to the upper left by scrolling up at a medium low rate and to the left at a low rate. If a user 22 gazes at point P2 228 at the left side region within the medium high scroll control region 220, then the text on the display or screen 12 is scrolled to the right at a medium high rate. At gaze point P3 230 inside the static control area 224, the scroll rate is set to zero and the text does not move. At gaze point P4 232 inside the high scroll down region 222, the text will scroll down at a high rate," par. 111).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 14
Regarding claim 14, Lemelson et al. teach the system of claim 12, wherein the second change in the gaze direction represents a predetermined command with respect to a region of the plurality of regions being viewed when the second change in the gaze direction is detected ("If a user 22 gazes at point P2 228 at the left side region within the medium high scroll control region 220, then the text on the display or screen 12 is scrolled to the right at a medium high rate," par. 111).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 15
Regarding claim 15, Lemelson et al. teach the system of claim 14, wherein the second change in the gaze direction represents a selection of a user interface element located in the region of the plurality of regions being viewed when the second change in the gaze direction is detected ("At decision block 60, the determination is made as to whether screen gaze coordinates are within a control region (i.e. on the border or peripheral region or on a menu switch control). The control region may provide the user with the further feature of a smooth scrolling function (i.e. speed of scrolling depends on position at which the gaze of the user is on the activation region) or other type of menu selection function or feature," par. 70).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 16
Regarding claim 16, Lemelson et al. teach the system of claim 15, wherein selection of the user interface element located in the region of the plurality of regions ("The control region may provide the user with the further feature of a smooth scrolling function (i.e. speed of scrolling depends on position at which the gaze of the user is on the activation region) or other type of menu selection function or feature," par. 70) causes an application launch within the user interface screen of the display device ("gazes at an activation region for a pre-determined amount of time to activate menus or make selections or open windows," par. 6).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 17
Regarding claim 17, Lemelson et al. teach a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing processor executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a machine, ("Commands from the computer system 14 via the buffer memory 86 control the range driver 90 to drive the distance range finder 88 (Other range finding devices may also be used) to determine the distance between the user's head 18 and the gimbaled sensor system," par. 79) cause the machine to segment a video stream by performing operations comprising: ("the glint 119 and cornea 117 perspective centers D 120 and C 118 respectively are obtained by segmenting and clustering the magnified eye image," par. 100) receiving a video stream from an imaging device, the video stream depicting one or more eyes; ("gimbaled sensor system having a camera or photo sensor for providing images of the head and the eye of the user," par. 20) determining a gaze direction for the one or more eyes depicted in the video stream relative to a display device of a client device, ("determining a gaze direction of the eye of a user relative to the display or the screen," par. 17) wherein the display device displays a user interface screen with scrolling enabled; ("controlling the scrolling or selection of information on the display or the screen," par. 22) detecting a change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes; (" the screen gaze coordinate measurement algorithm 116 is to determine the 2-D screen gaze coordinates B(X.sub.b,Y.sub.b) 146 through a perspective mapping," par. 99) when the change in the gaze direction exceeds a predetermined distance, causing the user interface screen of the display device to scroll in a direction of the change in gaze direction; ("determining whether the screen gaze coordinate is within an activated control region defined by another of the number of concentric circles further includes the steps of determining whether the gaze direction is within an activated control quadrant wherein the information on the display or the screen is moved downward and leftward; or upward and leftward; or upward and rightward; or downward and rightward," par. 27) detecting a second change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes; ("If the gaze measurements are not within a control region, then further gaze measurements are obtained from the user," par. 70) and when the second change in the gaze direction is detected, ("If the gaze measurements are not within a control region, then further gaze measurements are obtained from the user 22. If gaze measurements are within a control region, then the human-machine interface system 10 is activated to scroll the information to the corresponding location on the display," par. 70) discontinuing scrolling of the user interface screen in the direction of the change in gaze direction ("If a user 22 gazes in the static control area 224 of the display or screen 12, then the scroll rate is set to zero," par. 108).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 18
Regarding claim 18, Lemelson et al. teach the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein a visible area of the display device of the client device is logically divided into a plurality of regions, and wherein the instructions, when executed to detect the change in the gaze direction of the one or more eyes, perform operations including determining a plurality of changes in the gaze direction where each of the plurality of changes in the gaze direction corresponds to a different region of the plurality of regions ("the center of the display or screen surface 12 is represented at point A 174. If a user 22 gazes at point P1 226 within the medium low scroll up region 218 and low scroll left region 216, then the text will scroll on the display or screen 12 to the upper left by scrolling up at a medium low rate and to the left at a low rate. If a user 22 gazes at point P2 228 at the left side region within the medium high scroll control region 220, then the text on the display or screen 12 is scrolled to the right at a medium high rate. At gaze point P3 230 inside the static control area 224, the scroll rate is set to zero and the text does not move. At gaze point P4 232 inside the high scroll down region 222, the text will scroll down at a high rate," par. 111).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
Claim 20
Regarding claim 20, Lemelson et al. teach the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the second change in the gaze direction represents a selection of a user interface element located in the region of the plurality of regions being viewed when the second change in the gaze direction is detected or a predetermined command with respect to a region of the plurality of regions being viewed when the second change in the gaze direction is detected, ("At decision block 60, the determination is made as to whether screen gaze coordinates are within a control region (i.e. on the border or peripheral region or on a menu switch control). The control region may provide the user with the further feature of a smooth scrolling function (i.e. speed of scrolling depends on position at which the gaze of the user is on the activation region) or other type of menu selection function or feature," par. 70) wherein selection of the user interface element located in the region of the plurality of regions ("The control region may provide the user with the further feature of a smooth scrolling function (i.e. speed of scrolling depends on position at which the gaze of the user is on the activation region) or other type of menu selection function or feature," par. 70) causes an application launch within the user interface screen of the display device ("gazes at an activation region for a pre-determined amount of time to activate menus or make selections or open windows," par. 6).
Lemelson et al. is cited as per claim 1.
2nd Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 5, 13, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over US Patent Publication 2003 0020755 A1, (Lemelson et al.) in view of US Patent Publication 2015 0091793 A1, (Lee et al.).
Claim 5
Regarding claim 5, Lemelson et al. teach the method of claim 4, wherein the second change in the gaze direction ("the screen gaze coordinate measurement algorithm 116 is to determine the 2-D screen gaze coordinates B(X.sub.b,Y.sub.b) 146 through a perspective mapping," par. 99).
Lemelson et al. do not explicitly teach all of an obstruction of the one or more eyes exceeding a predetermined time threshold.
However, Lee et al. teach an obstruction of the one or more eyes exceeding a predetermined time threshold ("when the user keeps their eyes closed for a previously set period of time, the device 2000 may fix the position of the cursor on the screen in order to correct the position of the cursor," par. 64).
Therefore, taking the teachings of Lemelson et al. and Lee et al. as a whole, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention of the instant application to modify the automatic scrolling methods as taught by Lemelson et al. to use an eye obstruction detection technique as taught by Lee et al. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been that, “The error correcting unit 2050 may correct a position of a cursor by fixing the position of the cursor on a screen and matching the current position of the gaze of the user with the fixed cursor. For example, when the user keeps their eyes closed for a previously set period of time, the device 2000 may fix the position of the cursor on the screen in order to correct the position of the cursor” as noted by the Lee et al. disclosure in paragraph [0064], which also motivates combination because the combination would predictably have a higher efficiency as there is a reasonable expectation that the eye tracking and automatic scrolling will function more accurately without unintended interruptions or erratic cursor jumps when the user's eyes are momentarily obstructed or closed; and/or because doing so merely combines prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Claim 13
Regarding claim 13, Lemelson et al. teach the system of claim 12, wherein the second change in the gaze direction ("the screen gaze coordinate measurement algorithm 116 is to determine the 2-D screen gaze coordinates B(X.sub.b,Y.sub.b) 146 through a perspective mapping," par. 99).
Lemelson et al. do not explicitly teach all of an obstruction of the one or more eyes exceeding a predetermined time threshold.
However, Lee et al. teach an obstruction of the one or more eyes exceeding a predetermined time threshold ("when the user keeps their eyes closed for a previously set period of time, the device 2000 may fix the position of the cursor on the screen in order to correct the position of the cursor," par. 64).
Lemelson et al. and Lee et al. are combined as per claim 5.
Claim 19
Regarding claim 19, Lemelson et al. teach the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the second change in the gaze direction ("the screen gaze coordinate measurement algorithm 116 is to determine the 2-D screen gaze coordinates B(X.sub.b,Y.sub.b) 146 through a perspective mapping," par. 99).
Lemelson et al. do not explicitly teach all of an obstruction of the one or more eyes exceeding a predetermined time threshold.
However, Lee et al. teach an obstruction of the one or more eyes exceeding a predetermined time threshold ("when the user keeps their eyes closed for a previously set period of time, the device 2000 may fix the position of the cursor on the screen in order to correct the position of the cursor," par. 64).
Lemelson et al. and Lee et al. are combined as per claim 5.
Reference Cited
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
US Patent Publication 2015 0128075 A1 to Kempinski discloses a method of scrolling content on an electronic display upon detection that a gaze of a user is pointed to a pre-defined area of the display.
Conclusion
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/Karsten F. Lantz/Examiner, Art Unit 2664
Date: 6/5/2026
/JENNIFER MEHMOOD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2664
Prosecution Insights