DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
Claims 1-14 have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/04/2024, 10/02/2025; was filed with this application. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner
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 .
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.
This action is a Non-Final Action on the merits in response to the application filed on 09/04/2024.
Claims 1-14 have been amended.
Claims 1-14 remain pending in this application.
Foreign Priority
The Examiner/office acknowledges that the applicant claims foreign priority to the date 03/15/2022. Additionally, the Examiner wants to make the Applicant aware that Applicant’s supplied foreign priority documents are Non-English versions.
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.
Claims 1-14 are directed towards a system, claim 13 is directed towards a method, and claim 14 is directed towards a non-transitory storage medium, both of which are among the statutory categories of invention.
Step 1: This part of the eligibility analysis evaluates whether the claim falls within any statutory category. See MPEP 2106.03. The claim recites at least one step or act, including applying an algorithm to a dataset. Thus, the claim is to a process, which is one of the statutory categories of invention. (Step 1: YES).
Step 2A, Prong One: This part of the eligibility analysis evaluates whether the claim recites a judicial exception. As explained in MPEP 2106.04, subsection II, a claim “recites” a judicial exception when the judicial exception is “set forth” or “described” in the claim.
With respect to claims 1-14, the independent claims (claims 1, 13, and 14) are directed to managing of shoppers’ experience, In independent claim 1, the bolded limitations emphasized below correspond to the abstract ideas of the claimed invention:
Claim 1, An information processing system comprising
at least one processor, the at least one processor carrying out:
a generation process of generating a virtual store space on a basis of design information related to a store;
an acquisition process of acquiring line-of-sight data and feeling data on a user who has entered the store space;
an analysis process of analyzing the design information on the basis of the line-of-sight data and the feeling data and outputting an analysis result.
these steps fall within the managing personal behavior such as social activities and following rules or instructions (See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2), subsection II).
Regarding steps of:
at least one processor, the at least one processor carrying out:
a generation process of generating a virtual store space on a basis of design information related to a store;
an acquisition process of acquiring line-of-sight data and feeling data on a user who has entered the store space;
an analysis process of analyzing the design information on the basis of the line-of-sight data and the feeling data and outputting an analysis result.
The claim does not impose any limits on how the data is output or require any particular components that are used to output the data. (Step 2A, Prong One: YES).
Step 2A, Prong Two: This part of the eligibility analysis evaluates whether the claim as a whole integrates the recited judicial exception into a practical application of the exception or whether the claim is “directed to” the judicial exception. This evaluation is performed by (1) identifying whether there are any additional elements recited in the claim beyond the judicial exception, and (2) evaluating those additional elements individually and in combination to determine whether the claim as a whole integrates the exception into a practical application. See MPEP 2106.04(d). The claim recites the additional elements of processor, device, system, storage medium. The claims recite the steps are performed by the processor, device, system, storage medium.
The limitations of:
at least one processor, the at least one processor carrying out:
a generation process of generating a virtual store space on a basis of design information related to a store;
an acquisition process of acquiring line-of-sight data and feeling data on a user who has entered the store space;
an analysis process of analyzing the design information on the basis of the line-of-sight data and the feeling data and outputting an analysis result.
are mere data gathering and output recited at a high level of generality, and thus are insignificant extra-solution activity. See MPEP 2106.05(g) (“whether the limitation is significant”). In addition, all uses of the recited judicial exceptions require such data gathering and output, and, as such, these limitations do not impose any meaningful limits on the claim. These limitations amount to necessary data gathering and outputting. See MPEP 2106.05.
Further, the limitations are recited as being performed by processor, device, system, storage medium. The processor, device, system, storage medium are recited at a high level of generality. Additionally, the device is used as a tool to perform the generic computer function of receiving data. See MPEP 2106.05(f).
Even when viewed in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the recited judicial exception into a practical application (Step 2A, Prong Two: NO), and the claim is directed to the judicial exception. (Step 2A: YES).
Step 2B: This part of the eligibility analysis evaluates whether the claim as a whole amounts to significantly more than the recited exception i.e., whether any additional element, or combination of additional elements, adds an inventive concept to the claim. See MPEP 2106.05. As explained with respect to Step 2A, Prong Two, the additional elements are the processor, device, system, storage medium. The additional elements were found to be insignificant extra-solution activity in Step 2A, Prong Two, because they were determined to be insignificant limitations as necessary data gathering and outputting.
However, a conclusion that an additional element is insignificant extra solution activity in Step 2A, Prong Two should be re-evaluated in Step 2B. See MPEP 2106.05, subsection I.A. At Step 2B, the evaluation of the insignificant extra-solution activity consideration takes into account whether or not the extra-solution activity is well understood, routine, and conventional in the field. See MPEP 2106.05(g). As discussed in Step 2A, Prong Two above, the recitations of
at least one processor, the at least one processor carrying out:
a generation process of generating a virtual store space on a basis of design information related to a store;
an acquisition process of acquiring line-of-sight data and feeling data on a user who has entered the store space;
an analysis process of analyzing the design information on the basis of the line-of-sight data and the feeling data and outputting an analysis result.
are recited at a high level of generality. These elements amount to transmitting data and are well understood, routine, conventional activity. See MPEP 2106.05(d), subsection II. 10 As discussed in Step 2A, Prong Two above, the recitation of a processor to perform limitations amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Even when considered in combination, these additional elements represent mere instructions to implement an abstract idea or other exception on a computer and insignificant extra-solution activity, which do not provide an inventive concept. (Step 2B: NO).
Dependent claims 2-12 are not directed to any additional claim elements. Rather, these claims offer further descriptive limitations of elements found in the independent claims. In this case, the claims are rejected for the same reasons at step 2a, prong one; step 2a, prong 2; and step 2b. Thus, the claim is not patent eligible.
Regarding the dependent claims, dependent claims 2, 3, 8, 11 recite the generation of information through a processor; 4, recite analyzing and generation of information through a processor; 7, recite analyzing of information through a processor; 9, recite analyzing of information through a processor; 10, recite analyzing and acquisition of information through a processor; 12 recite the generation of information through a processor for displaying on a VR device. The dependent claims 2-12 recite limitations that are not technological in nature and merely limits the abstract idea to a particular environment. Claims 2-12 recites processor, device, system, storage medium which are considered an insignificant extra-solution activities of collecting and analyzing data; see MPEP 2106.05(g). Claims 2-12 recites processor, device, system, storage medium, which merely recites an instruction to apply the abstract idea using a generic computer component; MPEP 2106.05(f). Additionally, claims 2-12 recite steps that further narrow the abstract idea. No additional elements are disclosed in the dependent claims that were not considered in independent claims 1, 13, and 14. Therefore claims 2-12 do not provide meaningful limitations to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claims amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
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 of this title, 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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent Publication US 20080043013, Gruttadauria, et al. to hereinafter Gruttadauria in view of United States Patent Publication US 20220130126, Delgado, et al.
Referring to Claim 1, Gruttadauria teaches an information processing system comprising;
at least one processor, the at least one processor carrying out (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0031, server system 120 includes one or more CPUs 122, storage 124, and memory 128 connected by a bus 121. CPU 122 is a programmable logic device that executes the instructions, logic and mathematical processing performed in executing user applications (e.g., a virtual reality tool 127)):
a generation process of generating a virtual store space on a basis of design information related to a store (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0007, a shopping environment design system comprises a computing environment; a virtual reality system operatively associated with the computing environment and configured to produce a virtual reality shopping environment according to at least one three-dimensional image of a shopping environment, the three-dimensional image including design elements selected from one or more of store layout, aisle configuration, aisle appearance, shelf layout, product displays and product placement on shelves;
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0033, generate a simulation of a given retail store. For example, database system 111 may include descriptions of a store layout used by a retailer, including both current (i.e., in-use) and alternative (i.e, conceptual) layouts of the store.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0035, that allows a virtual reality shopping simulation to be generated and presented to a user on virtual reality display platform 110. Such a simulation may be configured using simulation data 126 which describes how a store environment should be presented to a participant. Simulation data 126 includes the information needed to present a participant with a particular virtual shopping environment. As shown, virtual reality tool 127 includes a simulation generator 130 and a user interface 132.);
an acquisition process of acquiring line-of-sight data and feeling data on a user who has entered the store space (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0034, The simulation may include aspects of an initial shopping experience such as the participant entering the store and being presented with a view of the store layout, as well as aisle layouts and product placement on the store shelves.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0048, consumer response measurement tool includes biofeedback monitoring to monitor a participant's physiological responses, such as heat rate, breathing, and other factors that may provide subtle information about emotional responses);
Gruttadauria describes what the user sees when they enter the shopping environment, as well as, monitoring the users emotions.
an analysis process of analyzing the design information on the basis of the line-of-sight data (See Delgado) and the feeling data and outputting an analysis result (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0008, a virtual representation of a proposed alternative shopping environment; enabling at least one representative of a retail business to view and interact with the virtual reality shopping environment; providing the representative with feedback from a simulation participant;
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0048, Another example of a consumer response measurement tool includes biofeedback monitoring to monitor a participant's physiological responses, such as heat rate, breathing, and other factors that may provide subtle information about emotional responses.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0049, a camera may record information about the facial response of a participant, which can then be analyzed for subtle cues (eye motion, action of various muscles in the face, etc.) to determine the appearance of the product. Principles of computerized facial analysis are discussed by A. Sarrafzadeh et al., “Facial Expression Analysis for Estimating Learner's Emotional State in Intelligent Tutoring Systems,” Third IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT'03), 2003, p. 336 (see http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/ICALT.2003.1215111).
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0054, the virtual shopping environment can be linked to live data from multiple shoppers to obtain real-time, or nearly real-time, feedback from consumers about proposed changes. For example, a group of consumers may be available during a meeting of the manufacturer and retailer to respond to different modifications made to the shopping environment.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0057, feedback from participants may be quickly obtained and results can be generated pointing to the possible success or weakness of the proposed change in terms of one or more metrics.).
Gruttadauria describes the analyzed data being used, in which the results of the analyzed data is referred to as feedback.
Gruttadauria does not explicitly teach the line-of-sight data.
However, Delgado teaches the line-of-sight data (
Delgado: Sec. 0193, the user device 500 is visually occluded or otherwise displayed in a manner that is distinct from other parts of the 3D representation of the virtual object 640 that have a clear line of sight to the user device 500.
Delgado: Sec. 0193, the blend function has been activated so that the rear portion 670 of the 3D representation of the virtual object 640 that does not have an unblocked line of sight to the user device 500 (due to being blocked by the wall 604) is displayed in a manner that is distinct from the remaining front portion 672 of the 3D representation of the virtual object 640)
Gruttadauria and Delgado are both directed to the analysis of virtual reality experience (See Gruttadauria at 0032-0034; Delgado at 0002, 0096, 0125). Gruttadauria discloses that additional elements, such as virtual shopping can be considered (See Gruttadauria at 0034). It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Gruttadauria, which teaches detecting and repairing virtual information technology problems in view of Delgado, to efficiently apply analysis of virtual reality experience to enhancing the capability to better capture real world data. (See Delgado at 0002, 0105, 0179).
Referring to Claim 2, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein
in the generation process, the at least one processor generates, on the basis of the design information related to a real store which can exist in a real space, the store space that imitates the real store (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0025, A simulation participant may be presented with a representation of a store layout with consumer products on store shelves that correspond with how the store and products appear within a real-world store on which the virtual reality simulation is based.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0036, the immersive virtual environment may closely mimic an actual shopping environment, the participant's behavior may more accurately reflect what would occur in a real-world store. Thus, together, the simulation provided by the virtual reality display platforms may provide a realistic simulation of the layout, design, and the experience of shopping within a real-world retail store. Thus, the quality of data obtained from the simulation may be greatly enhanced.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0037, FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram further illustrating components of the virtual reality system first shown in FIG. 1, according to some aspects of the invention. More specifically, FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary collection of virtual reality display platforms 110, user interaction devices 112 and simulation data stored in database system 111, all of which may be used to generate and present a virtual reality simulation to a simulation participant.).
Referring to Claim 3, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein
in the generation process, the at least one processor generates the store space on the basis of the design information related to a virtual store in which products are placed for sale in a virtual space (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0004, There is also a need for an integrated system of virtual reality tools that can bring manufacturers and retailers together to jointly explore in a data-rich virtual environment the consumer/market impact of proposed designs for product placement, shelf layout, store aisles layout, and overall store layout, as well as other aspects of selling products in retail environments.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0006, a shopping environment design system comprises a computing environment; a virtual reality system operatively associated with the computing environment and configured to produce a virtual reality shopping environment according to at least one three-dimensional image of the virtual reality shopping environment, the three-dimensional image including design elements selected from one or more of store layout, aisle configuration, aisle appearance, shelf layout, product displays and product placement on shelves;
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0025, integrated system of virtual reality tools to generate a virtual shopping simulation that can bring manufacturers and retailers together to jointly explore in a data-rich virtual environment the consumer/market impact of proposed designs for product placement, shelf layout, store aisle layout and general store layout, as well as other aspects of selling products in retail environments.).
Referring to Claim 4, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein:
in the analysis means process, the at least one processor determines, on the basis of the analysis result, whether to provide, to the user, a product-related virtual experience in the store space (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0034, The simulation may include aspects of an initial shopping experience such as the participant entering the store and being presented with a view of the store layout, as well as aisle layouts and product placement on the store shelves. The simulation may also allow the participant to interact with virtual products on the store shelves and to simulate actions such as navigating through the virtual store, placing or removing products from the shelves or aisle displays, removing a product from its packaging, and using the product, all within the virtual shopping environment provided by the virtual reality simulation. Thus, product developers, marketers and researchers can evaluate a broad variety of aspects of the consumer decision making process,
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0041, Sound and smell virtual tools can be configured to change the sounds and smells depending on which section of the virtual retail store is being viewed. In addition, the simulation may include multi-sensory aspects such as the sounds or smells associated with the participant manipulating a particular product.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0044, a virtual reality simulation may be augmented using multi-sensory data 237. In some aspects, in addition to visual features of a virtual reality simulation, a multi-sensory simulation may be generated, including simulations of sights, sounds, tactile responses, or even tastes. For example, a package of cleaning wipes may be virtually represented to appear sitting on a store shelf such that a simulation participant interacting with a virtual shopping environment can remove the virtual package from the shelf and place it in a different location, as if it were a physical package. In addition, the participant may also be exposed to a scent characteristic of the product based on the location of the store in which the participant is located. For example, when the participant enters a baby section of the store, the scent of baby powder may be experienced. Thus, as these examples illustrate, a variety of aspects may be simulated such as the appearance of the product on a store shelf, along with the sounds, smells, and actions resulting from a participant's interaction with the simulated retail environment.);
and
in a case where it has been determined that the virtual experience is to be provided, in the generation process, the at least one processor generates a virtual experience space for providing, to the user, the virtual experience (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0038, virtual reality display platforms 110 include, but is not limited to, a virtual reality cube or CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) 221, a PC workstation 223 and LCD or CRT monitor, a head-mounted display 225 worn by a viewer or simulation participant, a PDA or laptop computer 227 or virtual reality sphere 229. As is known in the art, a CAVE provides an immersive virtual environment where projectors are directed to three, four, five or six of the walls of a cube. The images may be in stereo requiring stereo shutter glasses to be worn. Presenting a simulation participant with a simulation using virtual reality cube 221 may provide the participant with a fully immersive visualization where the screens of the CAVE/CUBE 221 present an interactive virtual shopping environment
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0039, head mounted display 225, typically a set of goggles having display screens, is used within a virtual reality sphere 229. The virtual reality sphere provides a large sphere that allows an individual to enter and move in any direction. The movement of the sphere may be monitored and used to create a virtual shopping experience that responds to the actions of the participant. For example, the user may wear a headset to view a display representation of a retail store. As the participant interacts within the virtual reality sphere, the visual experience provided by the headset corresponds to the participant's movement.).
Referring to Claim 5, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein
the design information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a position of an object placed in the store space, movement of the object, a state of the object, and a price associated with the object (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0025, the role of physical motion and the significance of physical location, size, and shape of objects (e.g., retail products, aisle layout, store layout, lighting, navigational tools, and the like) may be better simulated.).
Referring to Claim 6, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the design information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a structure of the store space, a size of the store space, and an environment of the store space (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0007, the three-dimensional image including design elements selected from one or more of store layout, aisle configuration, aisle appearance, shelf layout, product displays and product placement on shelves; where the shopping environment includes a theme area and an activity-based product grouping; a design element modifying tool configured to modify the design elements, whereby the virtual reality shopping environment is changed; and a consumer response measurement tool configured to measure responses of a user interacting with the virtual reality shopping environment
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0027, based on Computer Assisted Design (CAD) drawings, photographs, scans and videos (e.g. digital images) or other forms of creating a three-dimensional image. For example, in one aspect of the present invention, one set of three-dimensional images can show the current layout of a retail store including the configuration of store aisles and the location of check-out registers and customer service counters. The configuration of store aisles can include, for example, the number of store aisles, their orientation relative to each other, the width of the aisles, the length of the aisles, the height of the aisles and product placement space within the aisles. An example of virtual reality software that may be used to create and to modify store environments is CONCEPT 7, available from Red Dot Square Solutions, Ltd. (having a place of business located in London, England). Such software may be used to create current and modified sets of images of store environments and may also be used to simulate motion through the virtual store environments.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0058, representatives of a retailer are shown a virtual reality representation of their store or business and one or more additional representations corresponding to one or more proposed alternatives for their store or business (i.e., differing product design, modified packaging, shelf space, shelf layout, aisle markings, lighting, and the like.). ).
Gruttadauria describe the use of auto cad to create virtual store environment.
Referring to Claim 7, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according claim 1, wherein
in the analysis process, the at least one processor includes, in the analysis result, post-change design information obtained by changing the design information and outputs the analysis result (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0006, a design element modifying tool configured to modify the design elements, whereby the virtual reality shopping environment is changed; and a consumer response measurement tool configured to measure responses of a user interacting with the virtual reality shopping environment
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0054, the virtual shopping environment can be linked to live data from multiple shoppers to obtain real-time, or nearly real-time, feedback from consumers about proposed changes. For example, a group of consumers may be available during a meeting of the manufacturer and retailer to respond to different modifications made to the shopping environment.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0055, store environment that may be tested with shoppers include design elements such as package colors, shape and other aspects of the appearance of product packages; the layout, spacing, product arrangement and available product assortment of shelves; and the dimensions, location and appearance of aisles within the store environment, and the like. The group of test consumers may be tied into the system displaying the virtual store environment so that they may explore areas of interest, or the store in general, and so that they may respond to the changes. For example, multiple test consumers may be in virtual reality pods and asked to shop in the baby section of a virtual store environment for diapers. One group of test consumers may be given access to the set of three-dimensional images representing the current form of the shopping environment, while a second group of test consumers may be given access to the set of three-dimensional images representing a modified (i.e., alternative) form of the shopping environment. ).
Gruttadauria describe results from the analyzed virtual shopping experience information causing changes to the virtual and real world shopping.
Referring to Claim 8, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 7, wherein
in the generation process, the at least one processor changes the store space on the basis of the post-change design information (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0055, store environment that may be tested with shoppers include design elements such as package colors, shape and other aspects of the appearance of product packages; the layout, spacing, product arrangement and available product assortment of shelves; and the dimensions, location and appearance of aisles within the store environment, and the like. The group of test consumers may be tied into the system displaying the virtual store environment so that they may explore areas of interest, or the store in general, and so that they may respond to the changes. For example, multiple test consumers may be in virtual reality pods and asked to shop in the baby section of a virtual store environment for diapers. One group of test consumers may be given access to the set of three-dimensional images representing the current form of the shopping environment, while a second group of test consumers may be given access to the set of three-dimensional images representing a modified (i.e., alternative) form of the shopping environment. ).
Gruttadauria describe results from the analyzed virtual shopping experience information causing changes to the virtual and real world shopping.
Referring to Claim 9, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 8, wherein
in the analysis process, the at least one processor includes, in the analysis result, an analysis result obtained before the change of the store space and an analysis result obtained after the change of the store space and outputs the analysis result (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0055, The test consumers in both groups may then be asked a series of questions, or asked to provide input, in order to make a comparison between the two store environments and to draw conclusions about the impact of the modified environments on shopper/consumer behavior. In another aspect, a given participant may be provided with a virtual experience of both store environments.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0066, At step 425, while the participant interacts with the simulation, a retailer and/or manufacturer (among others) may observe using a consumer response measurement tool. At any time before, during or after the simulation, the shopping environment may be modified using a design element modifying tool (not shown). In some aspects, the participant's interactions may be monitored by the virtual reality display platform and stored for subsequent review.).
Gruttadauria describes the effects from before and after modifications.
Referring to Claim 10, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein:
in the acquisition process, the at least one processor further acquires traffic line data on the user; in the analysis process, the at least one processor analyzes the design information, further on the basis of the traffic line data (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0053, By creating one or more virtual representations of the shopping environment, both the manufacturer and the retailer may learn how changes to the environment impact the traffic pattern of shoppers within the store, shopper exposure to products, visibility of products to shoppers and product selection by shoppers. Creating modified shopping environments using virtual reality tools is substantially more cost efficient than creating new physical environments. The virtual shopping environments may also be used to conduct consumer and market research, and to visualize and communicate the concept.).
Referring to Claim 11, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein
in the generation process, the at least one processor generates the store space on the basis of the design information and further on the basis of real-world constraint (See Delgado) information related to a product to be sold in the store (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0007, a shopping environment design system comprises a computing environment; a virtual reality system operatively associated with the computing environment and configured to produce a virtual reality shopping environment according to at least one three-dimensional image of a shopping environment, the three-dimensional image including design elements selected from one or more of store layout, aisle configuration, aisle appearance, shelf layout, product displays and product placement on shelves;
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0033, generate a simulation of a given retail store. For example, database system 111 may include descriptions of a store layout used by a retailer, including both current (i.e., in-use) and alternative (i.e, conceptual) layouts of the store.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0035, that allows a virtual reality shopping simulation to be generated and presented to a user on virtual reality display platform 110. Such a simulation may be configured using simulation data 126 which describes how a store environment should be presented to a participant. Simulation data 126 includes the information needed to present a participant with a particular virtual shopping environment. As shown, virtual reality tool 127 includes a simulation generator 130 and a user interface 132.
design information basis on information related to a product to be sold in the store
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0004, There is also a need for an integrated system of virtual reality tools that can bring manufacturers and retailers together to jointly explore in a data-rich virtual environment the consumer/market impact of proposed designs for product placement, shelf layout, store aisles layout, and overall store layout, as well as other aspects of selling products in retail environments.
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0006, a shopping environment design system comprises a computing environment; a virtual reality system operatively associated with the computing environment and configured to produce a virtual reality shopping environment according to at least one three-dimensional image of the virtual reality shopping environment, the three-dimensional image including design elements selected from one or more of store layout, aisle configuration, aisle appearance, shelf layout, product displays and product placement on shelves;
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0025, integrated system of virtual reality tools to generate a virtual shopping simulation that can bring manufacturers and retailers together to jointly explore in a data-rich virtual environment the consumer/market impact of proposed designs for product placement, shelf layout, store aisle layout and general store layout, as well as other aspects of selling products in retail environments.).
Gruttadauria does not explicitly teach real-world constraint.
However, Delgado teaches real-world constraint (
Delgado: Sec. 0100, An inventory component may record where variants are stocked, and tracks quantities for variants that have inventory tracking enabled. It may decouple product variants (a customer facing concept representing the template of a product listing) from inventory items (a merchant facing concept that represents an item whose quantity and location is managed). An inventory level component may keep track of quantities that are available for sale, committed to an order or incoming from an inventory transfer component (e.g., from a vendor).
Delgado: Sec. 0102, If the customer is not satisfied, they may be able to return the product(s) to the merchant. The business process merchants may go through to “un-sell” an item may be implemented by a return component. Returns may consist of a variety of different actions, such as a restock, where the product that was sold actually comes back into the business and is sellable again; a refund, where the money that was collected from the customer is partially or fully returned; an accounting adjustment noting how much money was refunded (e.g., including if there was any restocking fees, or goods that weren't returned and remain in the customer's hands);)
Gruttadauria and Delgado are both directed to the analysis of virtual reality experience (See Gruttadauria at 0032-0034; Delgado at 0002, 0096, 0125). Gruttadauria discloses that additional elements, such as virtual shopping can be considered (See Gruttadauria at 0034). It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Gruttadauria, which teaches detecting and repairing virtual information technology problems in view of Delgado, to efficiently apply analysis of virtual reality experience to enhancing the capability to better capture real world data. (See Delgado at 0002, 0105, 0179).
Referring to Claim 12, Gruttadauria teaches the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein
in the generation process, the at least one processor displays the store space on a virtual reality device (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0026, virtual reality technology can also be incorporated into the system of the present invention. Virtual reality (“VR”) tools can provide enhanced three-dimensional (3-D) capability and can serve as strong analytical and presentation tools. For example, consumers or other participants can interact with virtual reality systems such as VR pods, VR caves, multi-wall display systems, VR headsets, hybrid goggles, head mounted displays (HMDs), and the like.).
Claims 13 and 14 recite limitations that stand rejected via the art citations and rationale applied to claim 1. Regarding a non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to carry out (
Gruttadauria: Sec. 0028, The systems of the present invention can be implemented as a program product for use with a computer system and can be contained on a variety of computer-readable media. Illustrative computer-readable media include, but are not limited to: (i) non-writable storage media on which information is permanently stored (e.g., read-only memory devices within a computer such as CD-ROM or DVD-ROM disks readable by a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive); (ii) writable storage media on which alterable information is stored (e.g., floppy disks within a diskette drive, hard-disk drives, or flash memory devices).):
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Trotman et al., U.S. Pub. 20100070378, (discussing the generating virtual shopping areas).
Avazzadeh et al., W.O. Pub. 2020099915, (discussing the use of virtual reality shopping).
Zhao et al., Virtual Reality Stores: Studies On Shopper Perceptions And Behaviors, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10089221, IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Computer Science and Data Engineering, 2022 (discussing virtual reality shopping and shoppers’ behavior).
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UCHE BYRD
Examiner
Art Unit 3624
18843823