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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the application 18/897,323 filed on September 26, 2024.
Claims 1-21 have been examined and are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 02/18/2026 and 03/01/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Regarding claim 21, claim 21 is directed to “[a]computer readable storage medium;” The specification does not explicitly exclude communication/propagate medium from the claimed ‘computer readable storage medium.” At most, in paragraphs [0138], [0150] and [0509], the specification provides some examples regarding different kind of computer readable medium; the specification does not explicitly exclude communication medium from the claimed computer readable storage medium. Under a recent precedential opinion, the scope of the recited “computer readable storage medium” encompasses transitory media such as signals or carrier waves, where, as here the Specification does not limit the computer readable storage medium to non-transitory forms. See Ex parte Mewherter, 107 USPQ2d 1857, 1862 (PTAB 2013) (precedential) (holding recited machine-readable storage medium ineligible under § 35 U.S.C. 101 since it encompassed transitory media). The Examiner respectfully suggests that the claim be amended to either “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” or “a computer-readable storage device,” or the like to make the claim statutory under 35 USC 101; (emphasis added).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-14 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Faulkner et al., (“Faulkner,” US 2022/0091722)
Regarding claim 1, Faulkner discloses a method, comprising: at computer system that is in communication with one or more display generation components and one or more input devices (Figs. 0043, 0063-0064, 0080-0083, Figs. 1-4; display generation component 120, one or more communication interfaces 208; the input devices; for example. an eye tracking device 130, a hand tracking device 140, other input devices 150; also see pars. 0257; Fig. 7A-7C, 8):
while a view of an environment is visible via the one or more display generation components, detecting, via the one or more input devices, a selection input performed by a hand of a user (pars. 0009-0011, 0037-0040; and also see pars. 0257, 0273-0274, Figs. 8-9), wherein:
the hand of the user can have a plurality of orientations including a first orientation with a palm of the hand facing toward a viewpoint of the user (pars. 0143-0144, 0146, 0150; Fig. 7F and 7H;)and a second orientation with the palm of the hand facing away from the viewpoint of the user (pars. 0009, 0025, 0162, 0251, 0273 0315; Figs. 7E, 7J, 7K); and
the selection input is performed while the hand is in the second orientation with the palm of the hand facing away from a viewpoint of the user (pars. 0144-0145, 0151-0152, 0155-0158, 0162, 0273; Figs, 7F, 7G-7H, 7I-7J ); and
in response to detecting the selection input performed by the hand while the hand is in the second orientation with the palm of the hand facing away from the viewpoint of the user (pars. 0144-0145, 0151-0152, 0155-0158, 0162, 0273; Figs, 7F, 7G-7H, 7I-7J):
in accordance with a determination that the selection input was detected after detecting, via the one or more input devices, a change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation with the palm facing toward the viewpoint of the user to the second orientation with the palm facing away from the viewpoint of the user (par. 0273; Figs. 7F-7G) and that the change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation to the second orientation was detected while attention of the user was directed toward a location of the hand (pars. 0257, 0273, Figs. 7F-7G, 8-10; step 9008), displaying, via the one or more display generation components, a control user interface that provides access to a plurality of controls corresponding to different functions of the computer system (pars. 0160, 0257, 0273, Figs. 7A-7G, 8-10).
Regarding claim 2, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 1, including: in accordance with a determination that the selection input was not detected after detecting, via the one or more input devices, a change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation with the palm facing toward the viewpoint of the user , or that the change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation to the second orientation was not detected while the attention of the user was directed toward the location of the hand, forgoing displaying the control user interface that provides access to the plurality of controls corresponding to different functions of the computer system (par. 0143; Fig. 7E; “if movement of the user's hand 7202 is detected, but the movement does not meet the first preset criteria, the computer system also does not display an interactive user interface object with selectable options (e.g., the user interface object 7334, in this example) at or next to the representation 7202′ of the user's hand.” And also see pars. 0146, 0157, 0160, 0251, 0273-0276; Figs. 7D-7J).
Regarding claim 3, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 1, including: prior to detecting the selection input performed by the hand of the user, displaying, via the one or more display generation components, a control (pars. 0143, 0157, 0273; Figs. 7E-7F, 9).
Regarding claim 4, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 1, including: prior to detecting the selection input, detecting, via the one or more input devices, a first gesture; and in response to detecting the first gesture: in accordance with a determination that the hand of the user was in the first orientation when the first gesture was detected, displaying, via the one or more display generation components, a system user interface (pars. 0007-0010, 0080, 0106-0111, 0121; Figs. 4, 7A-7F).
Regarding claim 5, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 1, including, prior to detecting the selection input performed by the hand while the hand is in the second orientation: while attention of the user is directed toward the location of the hand, detecting, via the one or more input devices, the change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation with the palm facing toward the viewpoint of the user to the second orientation with the palm facing away from the viewpoint of the user (pars. 0146, 0162, 0251; Figs. 7F-7H); and in response to detecting the change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation to the second orientation, displaying, via the one or more display generation components, a status user interface that includes one or more status elements, wherein a respective status element indicates a status of a respective function of the computer system (pars. 0157-0158, 0264; Figs. 7F-7H).
Regarding claim 6, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 5, including: while displaying the status user interface that includes the one or more status elements detecting, via the one or more input devices, movement of the hand (par. 0162, 0349); and in response to detecting the movement of the hand, moving the status user interface that includes the one or more status elements, in accordance with the movement of the hand (pars. 0162; enlarge element indicates status of selected element/object; and also see pars. 0162 and 0349).
Regarding claim 7, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 5, including: while displaying the status user interface the second orientation, detecting, via the one or more input devices, that the attention of the user is not directed toward the location of the hand; and in response to detecting that the attention of the user is not directed toward the location of the hand, ceasing to display the status user interface (pars. 0230, 0325, 0328, 0349; Fig. 7AC and 7AD).
Regarding claim 8, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 7, including: after ceasing to display the status user interface, and while the hand is maintained in the second orientation with the palm of the hand facing away from the viewpoint of the user (pars. 0161, 0163), detecting, via the one or more input devices, that the attention of the user is directed toward the location of the hand (par. 0238, 0242, 0374; Figs. 7AC and 7AD); and in response to detecting that the attention of the user is directed toward the location of the hand, forgoing displaying the status user interface (pars. 0238, 0242, 0262 and 0290).
Regarding claim 9, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 7, including:
after ceasing to display the status user interface, detecting, via the one or more input devices, that the attention of the user is directed toward the location of the hand (pars. 0139, 0146, 0147, 0153-0155); and
in response to detecting that the attention of the user is directed toward the location of the hand: in accordance with a determination that the attention of the user was directed toward the location of the hand within a threshold amount of time after the attention of the user ceased to be directed toward the location of the hand, displaying, via the one or more display generation components, the status user interface (pars. 0139, 0143, 0147, 0150, 0154-0017, 0160-0161; Fig. 7E, 7H); and in accordance with a determination that the attention of the user was not directed toward the location of the hand within the threshold amount of time within the threshold amount of time since the attention of the user ceased to be directed toward the location of the hand, forgoing displaying the status user interface (pars. 0008, 0139, 0143, 0147, 0150, 0154-0017, 0160-0162; Fig. 7E-7H).
Regarding claim 10, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 5, including: prior to detecting the change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation to the second orientation, displaying, via the one or more display generation components, a control, wherein the change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation to the second orientation is detected while the control is displayed (pars. 0147-0149; Figs. 7E-7G); and in response to detecting the change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation to the second orientation, replacing display of the control with display of the status user interface (pars. 0125-0126, 0155-0157; Figs. 7E-7J ).
Regarding claim 11, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 10, wherein: displaying the control includes displaying the control with a first relationship to the hand; and displaying the status user interface includes displaying the status user interface with a second relationship, different from the first relationship, to the hand (pars. 0136, 0144-0146-0147; Figs. 7E-7H).
Regarding claim 12, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 11, wherein displaying the status user interface with the second relationship to the hand includes transitioning from displaying the status user interface with the first relationship to the hand, to displaying the status user interface with the second relationship to the hand ( pars. 0138-0139, 0143-0146-0149; Figs. 7E-7H).
Regarding claim 13, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the displayed transition progresses gradually through a plurality of intermediate visual states in accordance with a change in orientation of the hand from the first orientation to the second orientation (pars.0108, 0186).
Regarding claim 14, Faulkner discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of controls corresponding to different functions of the computer system includes a first control; and the method includes: while displaying the control user interface that provides access to the plurality of controls corresponding to different functions of the computer system, detecting, via the one or more input devices, a user input; and in response to detecting the user input, performing an operation corresponding to the first control (pars. 0145, 0169, 0275-0276, 0279, 0281; Fig. 7F-7G).
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 is directed to system associated with the system claimed in claim 1; Claim 19 is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 21, claim 21 is directed to computer-readable storage medium storing associated with the system claimed in claim 1; Claim 21 is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
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 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faulkner et al., (“Faulkner,” US 2022/0091722), published on Feb. 11, 2010, in view of Faulkner et al., (“Faulkner’726,” US 2021/0097726), published on April 1, 2021.
Regarding claim 15, Faulkner disclose the method of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose prior to detecting the selection input, and while the computer system is in a setup configuration state, displaying, via the one or more display generation components, a first user interface that includes instructions for performing the selection input
However, Faulkner’726 discloses a method for detecting a gesture and generating component, including: prior to detecting the selection input, and while the computer system is in a setup configuration state (Faulkner’726: pars. 0036, 0037, 0107-0113; Figs. 1 and 7A), displaying, via the one or more display generation components, a first user interface that includes instructions for performing the selection input (Faulkner’726: pars. 0079; Figs. 1, 2, 4; generation component is displayed by hand tracking unit 243 ).
Therefore, Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Faulkner’726 with the method/system of Heath to allow the user to use the device with better safety, reduced cognitive burden, and improved user experience.
Regarding claim 16, Faulkner and Faulkner’726 disclose a method of claim 15
Faulkner’726 further discloses the method, wherein: while the computer system is in the setup configuration state, the control user interface that provides access to the plurality of controls corresponding to different functions of the computer system is enabled (Faulkner’726: pars. 0107-0116, 0130; Fig. 7A-7G; the computer system receives and analyzes a type of finger input then displays the plural controls).
The motivation to combine the teaching of Faulkner’726 with the system/method of Faulkner is the same motivation mentioned in claim 15.
Regarding claim 17, Faulkner and Faulkner’726 disclose a method of claim 15
Faulkner’726 further discloses the method, wherein: while the computer system is in the setup configuration state, a system user interface is disabled (Faulkner’726: pars. 0130; “while hand 7200 is not in the ready state configuration (e.g., in any non-ready state configuration or ceases to remain in the ready state configuration (e.g., due to change in hand posture or failure to provide valid input gesture within a threshold amount of time of entering the ready state configuration), the computer system does not perform input gesture recognition”).
The motivation to combine the teaching of Faulkner’726 with the system/method of Faulkner is the same motivation mentioned in claim 15.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-19 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.
The closest prior art, as recited, both Faulkner and Faulkner is directed to a method and system for detecting a selection input perform by a user hand/finger/palm and generating multiple components.
Klein et al., (“Klein,” US 2023/0137920) is directed to a method and system for displaying the control object while at least one indication remains, and continue displaying the control object during a timer period if one of the indications is lost.
Lelievre et al., (“Lelievre,” US 2022/0342485), is directed to a method/system for enabling at least one user action of a plurality of user actions based on whether a position of a center indicator of the overlay lies inside or outside a neutral zone of the overlay, the position of the center indicator calculated as a center of defected positions of a user's hands.
Chou et al., (“Chou,” US 2020/0097091), is directed to a method/system for determining a plurality of gestures corresponding to a plurality of images, interpreting a predetermined combination of gestures among the plurality of gestures as a command, and displaying a scene in response to the command.
However, none of Faulkner, Faulkner’726, Klein, Lelievre, and Chou teaches or suggests, alone or in combination, the particular combination of steps or elements as recited in the dependent claims, claims 18 and 19.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record on form PTO-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicant is required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111(c) to consider these references fully when responding to this action.
It is noted that any citation to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33,216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1009, 158 USPQ 275,277 (CCPA 1968))
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/LINH K PHAM/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2174
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