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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims describe a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions. However, the specification does not clearly define the nature of the “computer-readable storage medium" to exclude media such as a wireless signal or carrier wave; therefore, the “computer-readable storage medium” can be interpreted to include non-statutory media such as the wireless signal or carrier wave. The Examiner recommends replacing “computer-readable storage medium” with “non-transitory computer-readable storage medium”.
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, 3-6, 11, 13, 14, and 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barlier et al. (US 2021/0264656 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Barlier discloses an image processing method, comprising: in response to a received service execution instruction (Paragraph 0287, user selection of a virtual avatar template representation), identifying a target object in a video stream captured in real time, and determining position information of the target object in the video stream; (Paragraphs 0668-0669, live camera preview of a user that can be determined to be in a field-of-view the camera different from a background for transposing the virtual avatar) displaying a virtual model on the target object in the video stream according to the position information (Figure 26F and paragraph 0669, transposing of the avatar onto the user) and playing a target audio on loop, and controlling the virtual model to display a corresponding animation expression according to the target audio (Paragraph 0294, Barlier does not clearly disclose playing audio data on loop; however, Barlier discloses that recorded audio data can be played during the looping of a display of an animation of the avatar. It would have been obvious that the recorded audio also loops because the animation of the avatar is displayed in a loop that also plays the recorded audio at the same time).
Regarding claim 3, Barlier discloses wherein when a plurality of target objects is identified, the displaying the virtual model on the target object in the video stream according to the position information comprises: determining a to-be-mounted object from the plurality of target objects; (Paragraph 0668, categorizing the subject from background objects) determining a target virtual model matched with the to-be-mounted object from a preset virtual model set according to a first size of the to-be-mounted object in the video stream; (Paragraph 0287, one avatar can be selected from a number of virtual avatar templates and sized based on the user in the camera view, paragraph 0347) wherein the preset virtual model set comprises a plurality of virtual models with different sizes; (Paragraphs 0287 and 0347, virtual avatar templates where the avatar that is displayed is based on the size of the user’s head in the camera view) and displaying the target virtual model correspondingly on the to-be-mounted object in the video stream according to the position information of the to-be-mounted object (Figure 26F and paragraph 0669, transposing of the avatar onto the user).
Regarding claim 4, Barlier discloses positioning the to-be-mounted object in real time to determine whether a position of the to-be-mounted object in the video stream has changed; (Figure 26F and paragraph 0669, avatar transposed on the user’s head) and in response to a change of the position of the to-be-mounted object in the video stream, displaying the target virtual model correspondingly on the to-be-mounted object in the video stream according to changed position information (Figure 26G and paragraph 0669, a movement of the user’s head changes the movement of the avatar).
Regarding claim 5, Barlier discloses in response to the change of the position of the to-be-mounted object in the video stream, acquiring a second size of the to-be-mounted object in the video stream, the second size being different from the first size; (Paragraph 0347, detecting changes in size of the user’s head) and adjusting the target virtual model by scaling according to the second size (Paragraph 0347, changing the size of the avatar based on the changes to the size of the user’s head).
Regarding claim 6, Barlier discloses wherein the adjusting the target virtual model by scaling according to the second size comprises: acquiring a size adjustment operation instruction for the target virtual model; and adjusting the target virtual model by scaling according to the size adjustment operation instruction (Paragraph 0347, the size of the avatar changes based on detected changes in size of the user’s head).
Regarding claim 11, Barlier discloses displaying a service control and a shooting control in an interface of the video stream; (Figure 26F, list of avatars than can be transposed on the user’s head as well as an option of no avatar) wherein the service control is configured to trigger the service execution instruction, and the shooting control is configured to end a flow corresponding to the image processing method (Figure 26F, selected robot avatar can be transposed on the user’s head where none would have no avatar transposed on the user’s head).
Regarding claims 13 and 14, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 1 is applied.
Regarding claim 16, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 3 is applied.
Regarding claim 17, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 4 is applied.
Regarding claim 18, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 5 is applied.
Regarding claim 19, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 6 is applied.
Claim(s) 2 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barlier et al. (US 2021/0264656 A1) in view of Goel et al. (US 2019/0043239 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Barlier discloses all limitations as discussed in claim 1. Barlier does not clearly disclose wherein the target audio comprises a plurality of audio tracks, different audio tracks are configured to control different virtual models, and animation expressions of the virtual models to which different audio tracks correspond are different; the controlling the virtual model to display the corresponding animation expression according to the target audio comprises: controlling the virtual model corresponding to the audio track to display the corresponding animation expression according to currently played audio track data. Goel discloses an audio data storage storing one more audio tracks with associated emotional responses (Paragraphs 0040-0041) that are used to control a visual representation of an avatar (Paragraphs 0046-0047). Goel’s technique of controlling a visual representation of avatars using emotional responses associated with audio tracks would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art to be applicable to the animation of an avatar of Barlier and the results would have been predictable in the animation of avatars using emotional responses associated with audio tracks. Therefore, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 15, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 2 is applied.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barlier et al. (US 2021/0264656 A1) in view of Quek et al. (US 2021/0076107 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Barlier discloses all limitations as discussed in claim 1. Barlier does not clearly disclose synchronously displaying, in an interface of the video stream, subtitle information corresponding to the target audio. Quek discloses playing of a video and audio feed that is displayed with synchronized subtitles (Paragraph 0046). Quek’s technique of playing of a video and audio feed that is displayed with synchronized subtitles would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art to be applicable to the display of an animated avatar with recorded audio data of Barlier and the results would have been predictable in the playing of video of an animated avatar with recorded audio data that is displayed with synchronized subtitles. Therefore, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9 and 20-21 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.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art does not clearly disclose the image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the displaying the virtual model on the target object in the video stream according to the position information comprises: acquiring a background material ball corresponding to the video stream, an object material ball corresponding to the virtual model and a mask map of the virtual model, the mask map comprising facial feature information and local skin color information of the virtual model; fusing the background material ball and the object material ball according to the mask map to obtain a fused virtual model; performing an edge feathering process on the fused virtual model to obtain a feathered virtual model; and displaying the feathered virtual model on the target object in the video stream according to the position information.
Regarding claim 20, similar reasoning as discussed in claim 7 is applied.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Moon et al. (US 2023/0117639 A1) discloses determining background material properties in an image.
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/PHI HOANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2619