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 § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
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 1-5, 9-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Selan et al. US PreGrant Application Publication 2024/0212090 (hereinafter “Selan”) in view of Gao et al. US PreGrant Application Publication 2014/0218468 (hereinafter “Gao”).
Regarding claim 1, Selan teaches an apparatus for image processing, the apparatus comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to (Selan Fig. 1, paragraph 0019):
obtain, (Selan, Fig. 2 paragraph 0043);
determine, based on the peripheral image frame, statistics for the peripheral image frame, wherein the statistics comprise at least one of a respective pixel value, a respective luma value, or a respective chroma value associated with each pixel of a plurality of pixels of the peripheral image frame (Selan, paragraph 0044);
determine, based on a first starting location within the statistics, a first configuration for the blend image frame (Selan paragraph 0044); and
determine, based on a second starting location within the statistics, a second configuration for the foveated image frame, wherein the first starting location and the second starting location within the statistics each indicate a respective pixel of the plurality of pixels of the peripheral image frame to start reading the statistics (Selan Fig. 2, and paragraph 0045 where the claimed first and second configurations of the foveated image correspond to the Left and Right images of Selan):
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Selan teaches generating a multi-resolution image from, e.g. a host computer (Fig. 1 item 102) while the present claims require that the image is obtained from an image sensor. Gao et al. teaches a similar multi-resolution imaging system where the input image is obtained from a foveated imaging sensor (see Gao Figs. 3 and 5, as described in paragraphs 0043 and 0045). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to combine the foveated image sensor of Gao with the multi-resolution imaging processing system of Selan. Doing so would produce the known and expected uses and benefits of providing a user with additional flexibilities related to the types of input image sources capable of being visualized in head-mounted device (104) of Selan.
Regarding claim 2, Selan teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first configuration comprises a respective blend pixel value, a respective blend luma value, or a respective blend chroma value associated with each pixel of a plurality of pixels of the blend image frame (see Selan paragraph 0045 for obtaining the blended periphery (204) values), and wherein the second configuration comprises a respective foveated pixel value, a respective foveated luma value, or a respective foveated chroma value associated with each pixel of a plurality of pixels of the foveated image frame (see Selan paragraph 0045 for obtaining the foveated subregions (142)).
Regarding claim 3, Selan teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: apply the first configuration to the blend image frame; and apply the second configuration to the foveated image frame (see Selan Fig. 2 and paragraph 0045).
Regarding claim 4, Selan teaches the apparatus of claim 3 wherein the at least one processor is configured to apply the first configuration to the blend image frame and the second configuration to the foveated image frame (see Selan Fig. 2 and paragraph 0045). Selan does not explicitly state using a shared processing pipeline associated with the peripheral image frame, the blend image frame, and the foveated image frame. However, Gao teaches using a processing pipeline (Gao, Fig. 5, paragraph 0045) to process the multi-resolution foveated images. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to combine the foveated image processing pipeline of Gao with the head-mounted display of Selan to achieve the known and expected uses and benefits of more efficiently processing a multi-resolution image to be presented to a user of the head-mounted display.
Regarding claim 5, Gao further teaches the apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the statistics for the peripheral image frame using the shared processing pipeline associated with the peripheral image frame, the blend image frame, and the foveated image frame (Gao, Fig. 5, paragraph 0045).
Regarding claim 9, Selan further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the foveated image frame has a higher resolution than the blend image frame, and wherein the blend image frame has a higher resolution than the peripheral image frame (see Selan Fig. 2 and paragraph 0045).
Regarding claim 10, Gao further teaches apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image sensor is a foveated image sensor (see Gao Figs. 3 and 5, as described in paragraphs 0043 and 0045).
Regarding claim 11, Selan further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is an extended reality (XR) device (see Selan paragraph 0018 and 0031 where the head mounted display for use with a VR gaming system is understood to be an example of an extended reality (XR) device as claimed).
Regarding claim 12, Gao further teaches the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising the image sensor (see Gao Figs. 3 and 5, as described in paragraphs 0043 and 0045).
Claim 13 has been analyzed and is rejected for the reasons indicated in claim 1 above.
Claim 14 has been analyzed and is rejected for the reasons indicated in claim 2 above.
Claim 15 has been analyzed and is rejected for the reasons indicated in claim 3 above.
Claim 16 has been analyzed and is rejected for the reasons indicated in claims 4 and 5 above.
Claim 20 has been analyzed and is rejected for the reasons indicated in claim 9 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 and 17-19 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.
Conclusion
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/Stephen R Koziol/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2665
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