DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Action is responsive to the Application filed on 9/23/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in the case.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fan et al. (US 20220198756 A1, hereinafter Fan).
As to independent claim 1, Fan discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computing device (“the present disclosure describes a computer-readable medium having machine-executable instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed by a processing device of a computing system, cause the computing system to, to selecting an object in an extended reality (XR) environment by performing any of the methods described above” paragraph 0027), cause the computing device to:
while an extended-reality user interface is being presented to a user, the extended-reality user interface includes a plurality of virtual objects available for selection (“FIG. 1A shows an example of a user 10 interacting with an XR environment 20 (also referred to as an XR scene). In this example, the XR environment 20 is a virtual environment generated by a computing system 100. For example, the computing system 100 may be a wearable device such as a HMD device as shown in FIG. 1. […] It should be noted that the XR environment 20 is virtual or at least partially virtual. That is, the objects 22 in the XR environment 20 include virtual objects that are not in the actual physical environment of the user 10, and may also include real-world object” Paragraph 0040-0041):
receive first data indicating a gaze-based selection ray based on an eye gaze of the user (“At step 402, first and second origins for casting (or projecting) of first and second virtual rays are determined. For simplicity, the following discussion will refer to virtual rays simply as rays. Step 402 may be performed by executing the ray origin subsystem 302. The first and second origins may be computed from the first and second pose data, respectively. In some existing computing systems 100 (e.g., in wearable devices such as HMD devices), the tracking of the user's view (e.g., indicated by the position, orientation or pose of the user's head) may be performed continuously.” Paragraph 0065-0066), wherein the gaze-based selection ray passes through a first set of two or more candidate objects of the plurality of virtual objects (“In some examples, at 406, a set of intersected objects is identified. For example, step 406 may be performed by executing the opacity subsystem 306. The opacity subsystem 306 receives the two casted rays R.sub.v and R.sub.h, and identifies any objects in the XR environment 20 or physical environment 40 that are intersected by the first and second rays.” Paragraph 0083, Fig. 6, HMD 100);
receive second data indicating a controller-based selection ray based on position and orientation of an input controller used by the user to interact with the extended-reality user interface (“ Further, in some existing computing systems 100 that use a handheld controller 102 or that communicate with a wearable I/O device 106, the position, orientation or pose of the controller 102 or I/O device 106 may be tracked continuously.” Paragraph 0065-0066), wherein the controller-based selection ray passes through a second set of two or more candidate objects of the plurality of virtual objects (“In some examples, at 406, a set of intersected objects is identified. For example, step 406 may be performed by executing the opacity subsystem 306. The opacity subsystem 306 receives the two casted rays R.sub.v and R.sub.h, and identifies any objects in the XR environment 20 or physical environment 40 that are intersected by the first and second rays.” Paragraph 0083, Fig. 6, controller 102);
determine, based on the first data and the second data, an intersection point between the gaze-based selection ray and the controller-based selection ray (“At 410, the intersection of the first and second rays is determined. For example, step 410 may be performed by executing the intersection subsystem 308. The determined intersection may be the computed actual intersection of the first and second rays,” Paragraph 0093);
based on the intersection point, identify a desired candidate object from the first set of two or more candidate objects or the second set of two or more candidate objects (”At 412, based on the determined intersection, a provisionally selected object in the XR environment 20 or physical environment 40 is identified. For example, step 412 may be performed by executing the intersection subsystem 308.” Paragraph 0106); and
cause a selection of the candidate object (“The target object 22a is identified as a provisionally selected object because the target object 22a coincides with the determined intersection of the first and second rays. The target object 22a may be rendered (e.g., using a distinct color, indicated by different shading in FIG. 6) to indicate the target object 22a is provisionally selected.” Paragraph 0118, “wherein the selected object is a virtual object rendered in an extended reality (XR) environment, is a real-world object in the XR environment; or is a real-world object in a physical environment.” Claim 11).
As to dependent to claim 2, Fan further discloses wherein the gaze-based selection ray is a combined selection ray that is based on first gaze of a first eye of the user and second gaze of a second eye of the user (“ the sensor(s) 212 may also include an eye tracking unit (e.g., an optical eye-tracking sensor) that senses rotation of the eyes of the user 10 and generates sensor data representing the direction (e.g., in three DOF) of the eyes. ” Paragraph 0061).
As to dependent to claim 3. Fan further discloses wherein identifying the desired candidate object from the first set of two or more candidate objects or the second set of two or more candidate objects occurs without display of an object selection cursor (FIG. 6 illustrates example of selecting a virtual object without displaying of an object selection cursor).
As to dependent to claim 4. Fan further discloses wherein each object of the plurality of virtual objects is presented with the extended-reality user interface at a respective depth relative to the user (Fig. 6, virtual objects 22 are displayed in XR environment 20 based on their depth order), and the desired candidate object is at a greater depth than at least one candidate object of the first set of two or more candidate objects (“the XR environment 20 includes objects 22, including a target object 22a that is occluded (from the viewpoint of the user 10) by occluding virtual objects 22b” paragraph 0116, Fig. 6, “wherein the selected object is a virtual object rendered in an extended reality (XR) environment, is a real-world object in the XR environment; or is a real-world object in a physical environment.” Claim 11).
As to dependent to claim 5. Fan further discloses wherein the desired candidate object is at a greater depth than at least one candidate object of the second set of two or more candidate objects (“the XR environment 20 includes objects 22, including a target object 22a that is occluded (from the viewpoint of the user 10) by occluding virtual objects 22b” paragraph 0116, Fig. 6, “wherein the selected object is a virtual object rendered in an extended reality (XR) environment, is a real-world object in the XR environment; or is a real-world object in a physical environment.” Claim 11).
As to dependent to claim 6. Fan further discloses wherein the computing device is a head-mounted device configured to present the extended-reality user interface to the user (Fig. 6, a head mounted display (HMD) 100 that is worn on the head of the user present the XR environment 20).
As to dependent to claim 7. Fan further discloses wherein the computing device is an intermediary device (“For example, the computing system 100 may be a wearable device such as a HMD device as shown in FIG. 1. In other examples, the XR environment 20 may be generated by a non-wearable computing system 100 (e.g., a desktop computing system).” paragraph 0040).
Claims 8-20 are substantially the same as claims 1-7 and are therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Powderly et al. US 20180307303 A1 – Paragraph 0153-0159 and FIG. 14 illustrate examples of selecting a virtual object using a combination of user input modes.
Burachas US 20140184494 A1 – Methods to identify a graphical object based on geometric relationships between two or more user body parts and the graphical object.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHELET SHIBEROU whose telephone number is (571)270-7493. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM-5:00 PM Eastern Time.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kieu Vu can be reached at 571-272-4057. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MAHELET SHIBEROU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2171
Prosecution Insights