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 Amendment filed on 05/07/2026.
In the instant Amendment, claims 1, 10 and 20 have been amended. Claims 1, 10 and 20 are independent claims. Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made FINAL.
Response to Arguments
The rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, are withdrawn as the claims have been amended.
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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 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 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Clements (US 11,221,680), in view of Wei (CN 107357517) and further in view of Brewer (US 2024/0094882).
Regarding claim 1, Clements discloses a device unlocking method, configured to unlock an electronic device operable by a user (Clements col.12; lines 37-40; The hand gesture display, unlock the doors, and start or stop the car's engine. Devices in an industrial work environment can be operated by the hand gesture display screen, such as, a milling machine, lathe, or press), and comprising:
recognizing a begin hand gesture made by the user (Clements col. 31; lines 29-33; Outside radar sensors, located on the outside of the car, detects when the user's fingers are 0.1 to 3 meters from the driver or passenger window. The detection of the fingers activates a displaying of a control panel to open the doors to the car. See also abstract);
displaying an unlocking image having an indicative object with a first appearance when the user makes the begin hand gesture (Clements col. 31; lines 31-37; The detection of the fingers activates a displaying of a control panel to open the doors to the car. The screen is displayed, projected on the car's driver or passenger window, the window display is connected to the computer. The outside radar sensor connected to the computer and is positioned, to view the user's hand when the hands are near the outside of the window. See also abstract);
unlocking the electronic device when the user makes the end hand gesture (Clements col. 31; lines 38-46; The user is asked on the screen for their pin number. A qwerty keyboard is partially displayed on the door unlock screen control panel. The user is asked for a pin number (personal identification number) to unlock the doors. The user cursor and hand gestures each number of the pin into a pin window, in this case the user's pin is 7314. The user activates a displayed enter command when the pin is in the window, and correct pin unlocks the door. The user opens the car door, the user enters the car).
Clements3KhanKhanKkk teaches3 the display screen shows a user interface above the car dash board, and within distance of driver or passenger. Multiple displays can be displayed in the car, connected to the computer, be cursor and hand gesture interactive, and operate with many users inputting hand gestures at the same time (Clements Col. 34; lines 8-14). However, Clements does not explicitly teach obtaining a state change from the begin hand gesture, to change the indicative object from the first appearance to a second appearance according to the state change, wherein the begin hand gesture is changed to an intermediate hand gesture through the state change; in response to that the second appearance is substantially the same as a preset appearance, determining if the user makes recognizing an end hand gesture made by the user, wherein the end hand gesture is changed from the intermediate hand gesture.
However, in an analogous field, Wei teaches obtaining a state change from the begin hand gesture, to change the indicative object from the first appearance to a second appearance according to the state change, wherein the begin hand gesture is changed to an intermediate hand gesture through the state change (Wei abstract; page 2 ( par. 14 (Last)); page 3 (par. 3) and Fig. 1; The image processing module 3 for obtaining the hand area according to the image information, and identify the change of the gesture according to the hand area, if the initiation gesture matching the gesture with the preset change of password unlocking interface. then starting the password unlocking interface; if there is no match, then the password unlocking interface does not start, the unlocking module 4 is used after the password unlocking interface is started, obtaining the position of the fingertip according to the hand area, and tracking the fingertip movement track of the password unlocking interface, comparing the moving track with the pre-stored unlocking track, if it is matched, unlocking device from locking state to unlocking state, if it does not match, then the state of the unlocking device is maintained without change. The identification unit34 for tracking the hand area and identify the change of the gesture. See also claim 4);
in response to that the second appearance is substantially the same as a preset appearance, wherein the hand gesture is changed from the intermediate hand gesture (Wei abstract; page 2 ( par. 14 (Last)); page 3 (par. 3) and Fig. 1; The image processing module 3 for obtaining the hand area according to the image information, and identify the change of the gesture according to the hand area, if the initiation gesture matching the gesture with the preset change of password unlocking interface. then starting the password unlocking interface; the unlocking module 4 is used after the password unlocking interface is started, obtaining the position of the fingertip according to the hand area, and tracking the fingertip movement track of the password unlocking interface, comparing the moving track with the pre-stored unlocking track. The identification unit34 for tracking the hand area and identify the change of the gesture).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method of in response to, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture of Clements using in response to determining if the user makes an end hand gesture taught in Wei in order to unlocking a device using gesture recognition (Wei abstract).7
Clements3KhanKhanKkk and Wei teach3 the display screen shows a user interface above the car dash board, and within distance of driver or passenger. Multiple displays can be displayed in the car, connected to the computer, be cursor and hand gesture interactive, and operate with many users inputting hand gestures at the same time (Clements Col. 34; lines 8-14) and identify the change of the gesture according to the hand area, if the initiation gesture matching the gesture with the preset change of password unlocking interface (Wei abstract and page 2 par. 14). However, Clements and Wei do not explicitly teach in response to that the second appearance is substantially the same as a preset appearance, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture.
However, in an analogous field, Brewer teaches in response to that the second appearance is substantially the same as a preset appearance, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture (Brewer par. 0255; If the computer system detects that the first air gesture provided by the hand of the user stops progressing toward satisfying the first set of interaction criteria, the computer system would stop changing the appearance of the visual indication from the first visual appearance to the second visual appearance. For example, the computer ceases animating the change in appearance of the visual indication in the first object (e.g., but maintains display of the visual indication in the first object, such as maintaining display of the visual indication 713 in the virtual object 709). See also par. 0027 and 0052).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method of in response to, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture of Clements and Wei using in response to determining if the user makes an end hand gesture taught in Brewer in order to gradually changes the appearance of the visual indication from the first visual appearance to the second visual appearance as the first air gesture progresses toward satisfying the first set of interaction criteria (Brewer par. 0255).7
Regarding claim 2, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 1,
Clements further discloses wherein the indicative object comprises at least one of a visual pattern and a numeric display field, and the device unlocking method further comprises: determining if the second appearance is substantially the same as the preset appearance, wherein the preset appearance comprises at least one of the visual pattern with a preset condition and the numeric display field with a preset password (Clements col. 31; lines 38-46 and col. 38; lines 51-59; The user is asked on the screen for their pin number. A qwerty keyboard is partially displayed on the door unlock screen control panel. The user is asked for a pin number (personal identification number) to unlock the doors. The user cursor and hand gestures each number of the pin into a pin window, in this case the user's pin is 7314. The user activates a displayed enter command when the pin is in the window, and correct pin unlocks the door. The user opens the car door, the user enters the car. The interpretation of the hand gesture is done by collecting information of the hand's movement detected by the radar sensor, that is analyzed by radar software in the computer. The collected information is matched to predetermined information associated to hand gestures, to find a match between the information and a library of information associated to different finger gestures).
Regarding claim 3, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 1,
Brewer further discloses further comprising: calculating current hand pose data of the user according to sense data related to at least one hand of the user (Brewer par. 0145; An air gesture is a gesture that is detected without the user touching (or independently of) an input element that is part of a device (e.g., computer system 101, one or more input device 125, and/or hand tracking device 140) and is based on detected motion of a portion (e.g., the head, one or more arms, one or more hands, one or more fingers, and/or one or more legs) of the user's body through the air including motion of the user's body relative to an absolute reference (e.g., an angle of the user's arm relative to the ground or a distance of the user's hand relative to the ground), relative to another portion of the user's body (e.g., movement of a hand of the user relative to a shoulder of the user, movement of one hand of the user relative to another hand of the user, and/or movement of a finger of the user relative to another finger or portion of a hand of the user), and/or absolute motion of a portion of the user's body (e.g., a tap gesture that includes movement of a hand in a predetermined pose by a predetermined amount and/or speed, or a shake gesture that includes a predetermined speed or amount of rotation of a portion of the user's body).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method of in response to, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture of Clements and Wei using in response to determining if the user makes an end hand gesture taught in Brewer in order to gradually changes the appearance of the visual indication from the first visual appearance to the second visual appearance as the first air gesture progresses toward satisfying the first set of interaction criteria (Brewer par. 0255).77
Regarding claim 4, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 3,
Clements further discloses wherein obtaining the state change from the begin hand gesture comprises: determining a rotation angle according to the current hand pose data and begin hand pose data, wherein the begin hand pose data is calculated when the user makes the begin hand gesture (Clements col. 21; lines 19-28; The hand tracker and or hand gesture radar is positioned to detect a user's gesture at the display. At within 2 meters of the user's gesture, the hand tracker can detect the user's gesture at the display. At 45 degrees within the user's gesture at the display, the hand tracker detects the user's gesture. Multiple hand trackers can be used to increase the detected gesture angle to 130 degrees. The hand trackers, can be positioned at different areas around the display, to detect the user's gesture angle, or multiple user's gesture angles at the display).
Regarding claim 5, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 3,
Brewer further discloses wherein obtaining the state change from the begin hand gesture comprises: determining a displacement according to the current hand pose data and begin hand pose data, wherein the begin hand pose data is calculated when the user makes the begin hand gesture (Brewer par. 0145; An air gesture is a gesture that is detected without the user touching (or independently of) an input element that is part of a device (e.g., computer system 101, one or more input device 125, and/or hand tracking device 140) and is based on detected motion of a portion (e.g., the head, one or more arms, one or more hands, one or more fingers, and/or one or more legs) of the user's body through the air including motion of the user's body relative to an absolute reference (e.g., an angle of the user's arm relative to the ground or a distance of the user's hand relative to the ground), relative to another portion of the user's body (e.g., movement of a hand of the user relative to a shoulder of the user, movement of one hand of the user relative to another hand of the user, and/or movement of a finger of the user relative to another finger or portion of a hand of the user), and/or absolute motion of a portion of the user's body (e.g., a tap gesture that includes movement of a hand in a predetermined pose by a predetermined amount and/or speed, or a shake gesture that includes a predetermined speed or amount of rotation of a portion of the user's body).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method of in response to, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture of Clements and Wei using in response to determining if the user makes an end hand gesture taught in Brewer in order to gradually changes the appearance of the visual indication from the first visual appearance to the second visual appearance as the first air gesture progresses toward satisfying the first set of interaction criteria (Brewer par. 0255).7
Regarding claim 6, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 3,
Brewer further discloses wherein obtaining the state change from the begin hand gesture comprises: determining a gesture change according to the current hand pose data and begin hand pose data, wherein the begin hand pose data is calculated when the user makes the begin hand gesture (Brewer par. 0145; An air gesture is a gesture that is detected without the user touching (or independently of) an input element that is part of a device (e.g., computer system 101, one or more input device 125, and/or hand tracking device 140) and is based on detected motion of a portion (e.g., the head, one or more arms, one or more hands, one or more fingers, and/or one or more legs) of the user's body through the air including motion of the user's body relative to an absolute reference (e.g., an angle of the user's arm relative to the ground or a distance of the user's hand relative to the ground), relative to another portion of the user's body (e.g., movement of a hand of the user relative to a shoulder of the user, movement of one hand of the user relative to another hand of the user, and/or movement of a finger of the user relative to another finger or portion of a hand of the user), and/or absolute motion of a portion of the user's body (e.g., a tap gesture that includes movement of a hand in a predetermined pose by a predetermined amount and/or speed, or a shake gesture that includes a predetermined speed or amount of rotation of a portion of the user's body).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method of in response to, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture of Clements and Wei using in response to determining if the user makes an end hand gesture taught in Brewer in order to gradually changes the appearance of the visual indication from the first visual appearance to the second visual appearance as the first air gesture progresses toward satisfying the first set of interaction criteria (Brewer par. 0255).7
Regarding claim 7, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 3,
Clements further discloses further comprising: by a camera of the device unlocking system, generating image data of the at least one hand of the user as the sense data (Clements Col. 2; lines 14-20; Midair holographic input buttons, can be touched in mid-air, and used as input buttons for a device. The buttons can be made by devices, that project on to mid-air water droplets, optical illusion devices, and lasers beam projecting plasma in mid-air. A camera detects when the user touches the button, with their finger).
Regarding claim 8, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 3,
Clements further discloses further comprising: by a motion sensor of the device unlocking system, generating motion data of the at least one hand of the user as the sense data (Clements Col. 2; lines 5-12; Infrared hand sensors are used to operate devices in bathrooms, without touching a surface, such as, water faucets of sinks, toilet flushers, and hand dryers. In Hospitals motion sensing is used to open doors, without a user needing to touch a surface. The sensors have limited input commands, such as, on or off, which restricts the number of different inputs that can be used).
Regarding claim 9, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking method of claim 1,
Brewer further discloses wherein unlocking the electronic device comprises: stopping displaying the unlocking image (Brewer par. 0255; If the computer system detects that the first air gesture provided by the hand of the user stops progressing toward satisfying the first set of interaction criteria, the computer system would stop changing the appearance of the visual indication from the first visual appearance to the second visual appearance. For example, the computer ceases animating the change in appearance of the visual indication in the first object (e.g., but maintains display of the visual indication in the first object, such as maintaining display of the visual indication 713 in the virtual object 709). See also par. 0027 and 0052).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method of in response to, determining if the user makes an end hand gesture of Clements and Wei using in response to determining if the user makes an end hand gesture taught in Brewer in order to gradually changes the appearance of the visual indication from the first visual appearance to the second visual appearance as the first air gesture progresses toward satisfying the first set of interaction criteria (Brewer par. 0255).7
Regarding claims 10-18; claims 10-18 are directed to a device associated with the method claimed in claims 1-9 respectively. Claims 10-18 are similar in scope to claims 1-9 and respectively, and are therefore rejected under similar rationale respectively.
Regarding claim 19, Clements, Wei and Brewer disclose the device unlocking system of claim 11,
Clements further discloses wherein a first range limit and a second range limit are determined according to the state change, and the preset password is selected from a numeric value range defined according to the first range limit and the second range limit (Clements Col. 5; lines 45-49; If gloves are worn on the hands, the cameras still detected the user's fingers. A distance limit can be set on how far, the cameras detect users' hands, so that users' hands outside, of a group of users operating one display, aren't allowed to input into the display).
Regarding claim 20; claim 20 is directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium associated with the method claimed in claim 1. Claim 20 is similar in scope to claim 1, and are therefore rejected under similar rationale respectively.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANCHIT K SARKER whose telephone number is (571)270-7907. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30 AM-5:30 PM.
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/SANCHIT K SARKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2495
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