DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/08/2025 has been by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 9, 15, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Albaretsu (JP Patent Publication Number 6899816 B2) in view of Qin (JP Patent Publication Number WO2020009218 A1).
Albaretsu, teaches as in independent claim 1, a method of implementing a vision test (Page 2, third paragraph “Visual acuity therapy”) comprising: at an electronic device having a head-mounted display (Page 2, last paragraph “a head mounted display to generate a 3D field of view”), one or more processors (302), and memory (360), executing a visual assessment application, including displaying a user interface (Page 3, paragraph 4 “Gabor Patch” and “The computing system 270 is intended to run one or more applications and / or programs that run a vision therapy game 272 designed to prescribe vision therapy for binocular vision dysfunction via a head-mounted display 210… objects can be formed using one or more techniques that reduce accommodative and/or blurring stimuli. For example, the object can be formed using Gabor patches”) to create a 3D virtual environment (Page 3, paragraph 4 “a 3D gaming environment for visual acuity therapy… a game can be designed in which a user draws an image through a head mounted display, including an object that usually cannot be clearly focused on it. For example, it is possible to draw a game, including an object formed using a Gabor patch”), displaying a sequence of visual stimuli on the user interface (Page 3, paragraph 4 “the Gaussian patch uses a series of Gaussian differential (DOG) stimuli that appear as blurry lines”), wherein the sequence of visual stimuli corresponds to a plurality of stimulus positions distributed in the 3D virtual environment1 (Fig.1) , obtaining a sequence of eye images of two eyes of a user associated with the electronic device (Page 4, paragraph 2 “the right-eye display 222 and the left-eye display 224 are controlled by one or more display controllers 238 to draw images on the right-eye and left-eye displays 222 and 224 to generate a stereoscopic image”), determining a sequence of eye focal positions of the eyes in the sequence of eye images (Page 17, first paragraph “continuous left eye image is drawn on the left eye display of the head mounted display, and a continuous right eye image is drawn on the right eye display of the head mounted display. The (first) focal length between the user's left eye and left eye display is fixed, and the (second) focal length between the user's right eye and right eye display is fixed”), Albaretsu fails to teach and determining a convergence performance indicator for the two eyes of the user based on at least the sequence of eye focal positions. In a related art, Qin teaches electronic device having a head-mounted display and determining a convergence performance indicator2 for the two eyes of the user based on at least the sequence of eye focal positions (Page 11, paragraph 5 “virtual image display position changes in response to a change in the convergence angle difference and a change in the eye point in the head up display device. In FIG. 17A, θHUD indicates the convergence angles of both eyes (left eye 70L, right eye 70R) at the focal position PC0 of the HUD, and θscene should originally coincide with the focal position PC0 of the HUD. The convergence angle at the point PC1 of the road surface (road surface as a superimposition object) 80 is shown”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the vision test, as taught by Albaretsu, with the convergence performance indicator, as taught by Qin, for the purpose of providing a way to reduce the discomfort of the viewer caused by the distance shift (Page 11, last paragraph- Page 12, bridging paragraph).
Albaretsu, fails to teach as in claim 9, wherein the convergence performance indicator includes a convergence angle range. In a related art, Qin teaches wherein the convergence performance indicator includes a convergence angle range (Page 11, last paragraph “this convergence angle difference is set to a predetermined value (threshold value) θth or less (or less)”) .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the vision test, as taught by Albaretsu and Qin, with the convergence performance indicator, as taught by Qin, for the purpose of providing a way to reduce the discomfort of the viewer caused by the distance shift (Page 11, last paragraph- Page 12, bridging paragraph).
Albaretsu, teaches. as in claim 15, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors (302, “computer-readable and computer-executable instructions or software stored in memory 306 and other programs for controlling system hardware”) of an electronic device having an HMD (Page 2, last paragraph “a head mounted display to generate a 3D field of view”), the one or more programs including instructions for: executing a visual assessment application, including displaying a user interface to create a 3D virtual environment (Page 3, paragraph 4 “Gabor Patch” and “The computing system 270 is intended to run one or more applications and / or programs that run a vision therapy game 272 designed to prescribe vision therapy for binocular vision dysfunction via a head-mounted display 210… objects can be formed using one or more techniques that reduce accommodative and/or blurring stimuli. For example, the object can be formed using Gabor patches”), displaying a sequence of visual stimuli on the user interface (Page 3, paragraph 4 “the Gaussian patch uses a series of Gaussian differential (DOG) stimuli that appear as blurry lines”), wherein the sequence of visual stimuli corresponds to a plurality of stimulus positions distributed in the 3D virtual environment, obtaining a sequence of eye images of two eyes of a user associated with the electronic device (Page 4, paragraph 2 “the right-eye display 222 and the left-eye display 224 are controlled by one or more display controllers 238 to draw images on the right-eye and left-eye displays 222 and 224 to generate a stereoscopic image”), determining a sequence of eye focal positions of the eyes in the sequence of eye images (Page 17, first paragraph “continuous left eye image is drawn on the left eye display of the head mounted display, and a continuous right eye image is drawn on the right eye display of the head mounted display. The (first) focal length between the user's left eye and left eye display is fixed, and the (second) focal length between the user's right eye and right eye display is fixed”), Albaretsu fails to teach and determining a convergence performance indicator for the two eyes of the user based on at least the sequence of eye focal positions. In a related art, Qin teaches electronic device having a head-mounted display and determining a convergence performance indicator for the two eyes of the user based on at least the sequence of eye focal positions (Page 11, paragraph 5 “virtual image display position changes in response to a change in the convergence angle difference and a change in the eye point in the head up display device. In FIG. 17A, θHUD indicates the convergence angles of both eyes (left eye 70L, right eye 70R) at the focal position PC0 of the HUD, and θscene should originally coincide with the focal position PC0 of the HUD. The convergence angle at the point PC1 of the road surface (road surface as a superimposition object) 80 is shown”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the vision test, as taught by Albaretsu, with the convergence performance indicator, as taught by Qin, for the purpose of providing a way to reduce the discomfort of the viewer caused by the distance shift (Page 11, last paragraph- Page 12, bridging paragraph).
Albaretsu, teaches. as in claim 19, an electronic device, comprising: an HMD, one or more processors (302), and memory (360) for storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors (302, “computer-readable and computer-executable instructions or software stored in memory 306 and other programs for controlling system hardware”), the one or more programs including instructions for: executing a visual assessment application, including displaying a user interface (Page 3, paragraph 4 “Gabor Patch” and “The computing system 270 is intended to run one or more applications and/or programs that run a vision therapy game 272 designed to prescribe vision therapy for binocular vision dysfunction via a head-mounted display 210… objects can be formed using one or more techniques that reduce accommodative and /or blurring stimuli. For example, the object can be formed using Gabor patches”) to create a 3D virtual environment (Page 3, paragraph 4 “a 3D gaming environment for visual acuity therapy… a game can be designed in which a user draws an image through a head mounted display, including an object that usually cannot be clearly focused on it. For example, it is possible to draw a game, including an object formed using a Gabor patch”), displaying a sequence of visual stimuli on the user interface (Page 3, paragraph 4 “the Gaussian patch uses a series of Gaussian differential (DOG) stimuli that appear as blurry lines”), wherein the sequence of visual stimuli corresponds to a plurality of stimulus positions distributed in the 3D virtual environment3 (Fig. 1), obtaining a sequence of eye images of two eyes of a user associated with the electronic device (Page 4, paragraph 2 “the right-eye display 222 and the left-eye display 224 are controlled by one or more display controllers 238 to draw images on the right-eye and left-eye displays 222 and 224 to generate a stereoscopic image”), determining a sequence of eye focal positions of the eyes in the sequence of eye images (Page 17, first paragraph “continuous left eye image is drawn on the left eye display of the head mounted display, and a continuous right eye image is drawn on the right eye display of the head mounted display. The (first) focal length between the user's left eye and left eye display is fixed, and the (second) focal length between the user's right eye and right eye display is fixed”), Albaretsu fails to teach and determining a convergence performance indicator for the two eyes of the user based on at least the sequence of eye focal positions. In a related art, Qin teaches electronic device having a head-mounted display and determining a convergence performance indicator for the two eyes of the user based on at least the sequence of eye focal positions (Page 11, paragraph 5 “virtual image display position changes in response to a change in the convergence angle difference and a change in the eye point in the head up display device. In FIG. 17A, θHUD indicates the convergence angles of both eyes (left eye 70L, right eye 70R) at the focal position PC0 of the HUD, and θscene should originally coincide with the focal position PC0 of the HUD. The convergence angle at the point PC1 of the road surface (road surface as a superimposition object) 80 is shown”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the vision test, as taught by Albaretsu, with the convergence performance indicator, as taught by Qin, for the purpose of providing a way to reduce the discomfort of the viewer caused by the distance shift (Page 11, last paragraph- Page 12, bridging paragraph).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8, 10-14, 16-18 and 20 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 prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 2 which includes wherein the convergence performance indicator includes a map of convergence angles of the two eyes measured with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions, determining the convergence performance indicator further comprising: determining a plurality of convergence angles of the two eyes corresponding to the plurality of stimulus positions; and generating the map of convergence angles of the two eyes with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions.
Regarding claims 3 and 4 have dependency on claim 2.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 5 which includes wherein the convergence performance indicator includes a convergence error map of the two eyes measured with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions, determining the convergence performance indicator further comprising: determining a plurality of convergence errors of the two eyes corresponding to the plurality of stimulus positions; generating the map of convergence errors of the two eyes with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions.
Regarding claim 6 has dependency on claim 5.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 7 which includes further comprises setting a subset of stimulus position based on the eye focal positions of the two eyes.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 8 which includes wherein the electronic device includes a motion sensor coupled to the HMD, further comprising: obtaining motion data captured by the motion sensor; and for each of the plurality of stimulus positions: determining an orientation of the HMD based on the motion data; and adjusting the convergence performance indicator for the two eyes based on the orientation of the HMD.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 10 which includes wherein the convergence performance indicator includes a convergence deficiency area
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 11 which includes further comprising, for a first stimulus position, identifying a respective set of one or more eye focal positions corresponding to a respect set of one or more gaze points that satisfy a predefined response criterion.
Regarding claims 12 and 13 have dependency on claim 2.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 14 which includes which includes further comprising: executing a media play application for playing media content; adjusting media data associated with the media content based on the convergence performance indicators; and displaying the media content based on the adjusted media data.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 16 which includes wherein the convergence performance indicator includes a map of convergence angles of the two eyes measured with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions, determining the convergence performance indicator further comprising: determining a plurality of convergence angles of the two eyes corresponding to the plurality of stimulus positions; and generating the map of convergence angles of the two eyes with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions.
Regarding claims 17 and 18 have dependency on claim 16.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 20 which includes wherein the convergence performance indicator includes a convergence error map of the two eyes measured with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions, determining the convergence performance indicator further comprising: determining a plurality of convergence errors of the two eyes corresponding to the plurality of stimulus positions; generating the map of convergence errors of the two eyes with respect to the plurality of stimulus positions.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
State (US Patent Publication Number 2004/0238732 A1) teaches an electronic device having a head-mounted display one or more processors, and memory, including displaying a user interface to create a 3D virtual environment.
Ridings (US Patent Number 7,350,921 B2) teaches a method for implementing a vision test comprising: at an electronic device having a head-mounted display, one or more processors, and memory executing a visual assessment application, including displaying a user interface to create a 3D virtual environment.
Fateh (US Patent Number 9,033,509 B2) teaches a method for implementing a vision test comprising: at an electronic device having a head-mounted display, one or more processors, and memory executing a visual assessment application, including displaying a user interface to create a 3D virtual environment.
Samec (US Patent Publication Number 2016/0270656 A1) teaches an electronic device having a head-mounted display one or more processors, and memory, including displaying a user interface to create a 3D virtual environment.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOURNEY F SUMLAR whose telephone number is (571)270-0656. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Mack can be reached at 571-272-2333. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JOURNEY F. SUMLAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2872
18 June 2026
/RICKY L MACK/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872
1 Fig.1 would show the Gaussian Patch that has lines that would have a specific 3D coordinate when mapped in the
3D game engine.
2 Convergence angles function as direct performance indicators which determine how well a vision system is aligning to maintain a clear, focused image.
3 Fig.1 would show the Gaussian Patch that has lines that would have a specific 3D coordinate when mapped in the
3D game engine.
Prosecution Insights