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.
Use of indicates a limitation is not explicitly disclosed by the reference alone.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-16, 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Henson (US 2015/0363976) in view of Geisner (US 2013/0083062)
Claim 1
Henson discloses an attraction system (Henson, ¶ 40: “amusement ride at a theme park, which in this example is a roller coaster 103. The cart 104 of the roller coaster 103 moves along a path 105 in this real environment, which is in this case the track of the roller coaster 103.”), comprising:
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a portable display device (101) comprising:
a display configured to render a graphical image (Henson, ¶ 46: “The head-mounted display 101 includes a stereoscopic display 201, comprising a left display 202 and a right display 203”); and
a computer graphics generation system communicatively coupled to the portable display device, wherein the computer graphics generation system is configured to:
determine a point of view of a user (Henson, ¶ 115: “The example shown in FIG. 12 illustrates the changes to the orientation of the head-mounted display 101 over a time period 2t, between predicted positions 823 and 824. Between these positions, linear motion is substantially constant, but the orientation of the head-mounted display 101 is still varying. Thus, by making predictions as to the orientation of the head-mounted display 101 in much the same way as is done with its position, albeit at a higher rate, appropriate corrections can be made to the viewpoint in the rendering processor 412 by viewpoint controller 410.”) as the user moves along a path (Henson, ¶ 40: “A proposed environment in which the present invention may be deployed is shown in FIG. 1, in which a head-mounted display 101 is being worn by a passenger 102 on an amusement ride at a theme park, which in this example is a roller coaster 103. The cart 104 of the roller coaster 103 moves along a path 105 in this real environment, which is in this case the track of the roller coaster 103.”);
generate the graphical image based on the image of the real world environment (Henson, ¶ 42: “The textures used in the rendering process are panoramic renderings of scenes along a path within a virtual environment, and are transferred from a static storage location 106 from which they may be retrieved, to the head-mounted display 101. Thus from the point of view of the head-mounted display 101, the textures are pre-rendered. In one embodiment, the textures are fully pre-rendered using animation software in conjunction with a render farm for example. In another embodiment, the textures are rendered in real-time, possibly using a game engine for example, and are therefore also pre-rendered for the head-mounted display 101.”) ;
augment the graphical image based on:
the point of view of the user (Henson, ¶ 6: “A virtual environment may be rendered in real time and supplied to the headset, with the camera position and orientation in the virtual environment being related to the output of sensors in the headset.”); and
transmit the augmented graphical image to be displayed on the display of the portable display device (Henson, ¶ 47: “Wireless access point 205 facilitates the transmission of pre-rendered textures to head-mounted display 101 from a texture server 206.”).
Henson does not explicitly disclose, but Geiser discloses
a camera configured to capture an image of a real world environment (Geisner, ¶ 84: “In one embodiment, the capture device 20 may include one or more image sensors for capturing images and videos. An image sensor may comprise a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor. In some embodiments, capture device 20 may include an IR CMOS image sensor. The capture device 20 may also include a depth sensor (or depth sensing camera) configured to capture video with depth information including a depth image that may include depth values via any suitable technique including, for example, time-of-flight, structured light, stereo image, or the like.”); and
determine a contrast associated with the image of the real world environment (Geisner, ¶ 147-48; “In some embodiments, a plurality of end users riding the same attraction may each experience different augmented reality environments. In one example, a child riding a roller coaster may perceive a day time ride, while an adult riding the roller coaster may perceive a night time ride. In another example, an adult riding a train may perceive a scary ghost train, while a child riding the same train may perceive a less scary train ride. In some embodiments, an end user riding a particular attraction may view one or more virtual objects associated with characters from a previous attraction. In one example, if the end user successfully shot a villain in a previous attraction, then the end user may perceive a ghost of the villain in a subsequent haunted house ride”).
generate the graphical image based on the image of the real world environment (Geisner, ¶ 3, 125: “Mapping relates to the process of generating a map of the real-world environment. Localization relates to the process of locating a particular point of view or pose relative to the map. A fundamental requirement of many AR systems is the ability to localize the pose of a mobile device moving within a real-world environment in order to determine the particular view associated with the mobile device that needs to be augmented over time…. a six degree of freedom (6DOF) pose may be determined including information associated with the position and orientation of a mobile device within the environment. In step 785, one or more images associated with the one or more virtual objects are rendered based on the 6DOF pose determined in step 784. In step 786, the one or more images are displayed such that the one or more virtual objects are perceived to exist within the environment”);
Before the effective filing date of this application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to consider generation based on the real environment as claimed.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have motivation to consider the real world, which in the context of AR would consider real elements in addition to virtual ones. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success because Henson contemplates augmented reality, which when using video see through, would necessitate rending of real elements.
Claim 2
Henson discloses comprising a ride vehicle configured to transport the user along the path (Henson, ¶ 40: “A proposed environment in which the present invention may be deployed is shown in FIG. 1, in which a head-mounted display 101 is being worn by a passenger 102 on an amusement ride at a theme park, which in this example is a roller coaster 103. The cart 104 of the roller coaster 103 moves along a path 105 in this real environment, which is in this case the track of the roller coaster 103.”).
Claim 3
Henson discloses wherein the path is defined by a track and the ride vehicle is configured to couple with the track (Henson, ¶ 40: “A proposed environment in which the present invention may be deployed is shown in FIG. 1, in which a head-mounted display 101 is being worn by a passenger 102 on an amusement ride at a theme park, which in this example is a roller coaster 103. The cart 104 of the roller coaster 103 moves along a path 105 in this real environment, which is in this case the track of the roller coaster 103.”).
Claim 4
Henson discloses wherein the computer graphics generation system is configured to augment the graphical image in response to the ride vehicle traveling to a predetermined location during a ride cycle (Henson, ¶ 40: “The textures for particular locations on the path 105 are retrieved in response to requests from head-mounted display 101.”).
Claim 5
Henson discloses wherein the computer graphics generation system is configured to generate and augment the graphical image in response to the ride vehicle traveling a predetermined distance during a ride cycle (estimated distance interval Z corresponding to predetermined distance; Henson, ¶ 91: “By rounding the prediction of the position of the head-mounted display 101 to the closest texture point in terms of position on the path, rather than elapsed time along the path, differences in velocity can be taken into account. This is particularly advantageous in deployments of the present invention such as the environment shown in FIG. 1, in which the velocity of the cart 104 on the rollercoaster 103 will vary slightly from run to run.”).
Claim 6
Henson discloses wherein the computer graphics generation system is configured to generate and augment the graphical image in response to the ride vehicle operating a predetermined period of time during a ride cycle (Henson, ¶ 115: “All of steps 1301 to 1306 are arranged to occur during the render refresh interval, which in the present embodiment is about 8.3 milliseconds—a rate of 600 hertz.”).
Claim 7
Henson discloses wherein the computer graphics generation system is configured to generate and augment the graphical image based on an orientation of the portable display device relative to the path and/or the ride vehicle (Henson, ¶ 115: “The example shown in FIG. 12 illustrates the changes to the orientation of the head-mounted display 101 over a time period 2t, between predicted positions 823 and 824. Between these positions, linear motion is substantially constant, but the orientation of the head-mounted display 101 is still varying. Thus, by making predictions as to the orientation of the head-mounted display 101 in much the same way as is done with its position, albeit at a higher rate, appropriate corrections can be made to the viewpoint in the rendering processor 412 by viewpoint controller 410.”)
Claim 9
Henson discloses wherein the portable display device comprises electronic goggles configured to be worn by the user (Applicant’s specification defines googles as inclusive of HMD with displays; Henson, ¶ 40: “in FIG. 1, in which a head-mounted display 101 is being worn by a passenger 102 on an amusement ride at a theme park”)
Claim 10
The same teachings in rationales in claim 1 are appliable to claim 10. Claim 10 differs from claim 1 in using brightness rather than contrast.
Geisner additionally discloses this limitation (Geisner, ¶ 142: “In one example, an HMD worn by a child may detect that the child is in a scared state. In response, the HMD may slow down each of the one or more virtual objects and/or increase the transparency of each of the one or more virtual objects. In another example, if the HMD determines that the end user is an adult and is bored, then the one or more virtual objects may be sped up and/or changed into scarier objects. In some embodiments, a lighting or sound property associated with the one or more virtual objects may be adjusted.”)
Before the effective filing date of this application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to consider generation based on the real environment as claimed.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have motivation to consider the real world, which in the context of AR would consider real elements in addition to virtual ones. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success because Henson contemplates augmented reality, which when using video see through, would necessitate rending of real elements.
Claim 11
The same teachings and rationales in claim 2 are appliable to claim 11.
Claim 12
The same teachings and rationales in claim 3 are appliable to claim 12.
Claim 13
The same teachings and rationales in claim 4 are appliable to claim 13.
Claim 14
The same teachings and rationales in claim 5 are appliable to claim 14.
Claim 15
The same teachings and rationales in claim 6 are appliable to claim 15.
Claim 16
The same teachings and rationales in claim 7 are appliable to claim 16.
Claim 18
The same teachings and rationales in claim 9 are appliable to claim 18.
Claim 19
The same teachings in rationales in claims 1 and 10 are appliable to claim 19. Claim 1 discloses contrast (see analysis above) while claim 10 discloses brightness (see analysis above).
Before the effective filing date of this application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to consider generation based on the real environment as claimed.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have motivation to consider the real world, which in the context of AR would consider real elements in addition to virtual ones. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success because Henson contemplates augmented reality, which when using video see through, would necessitate rending of real elements.
Claim 20
The same teachings and rationales in claim 9 are appliable to claim 20.
Claim(s) 8, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Henson (US 2015/0363976) in view of Geisner (US 2013/0083062) and Herman (US 2015/0269780)
Claim 8
Henson does not explicitly disclose, but Herman discloses wherein the computer graphics generation system is configured to augment the graphical image based on a position of the user relative to the path and/or the ride vehicle (Herman, ¶ 32: “The headset 104 may also include a motion-sensing unit that includes sensors, such as, for example, gyroscopes, accelerometers, or the like, to detect and track movement of the rider's head in physical space 101. The headset 104 may track translational movement in one, two, or three dimensions. The headset 104 may also track rotation about one, two, or three axes. By tracking translational and rotational motion, the position of the rider's head may be determined. For the purposes of this disclosure, position information may include location (e.g., linear position, such as the coordinates of an object along the x, y, and z axes of a rectilinear reference frame) and/or orientation (e.g., angular position, attitude, or the heading, elevation, and bank of an object relative to a fixed reference frame).”).
Before the effective filing date of this application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to consider relative position.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have motivation to determine appropriate image registration. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success because both references consider relative position of images to the real environment.
Claim 17
The same teachings and rationales in claim 8 are appliable to claim 17.
Additional Prior Art
Additional prior art relevant to Applicant’s disclosure but not relied upon:
Fujimaki (cited 892) also considers compensation for head motion in an augmented reality environment.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN M GRAY whose telephone number is (571)272-4582. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday, 9:00am-5:30pm (EST).
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/RYAN M GRAY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2611
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