DETAILED ACTION
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 § 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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Price et al. (US 11200741 B1, hereinafter Price).
Regarding claim 1, Price discloses a method for map creation, executed by a host (Abstract, figs. 27-29, col. 4, lines 23-26, Col. 16, lines 35-48… etc. Host could be any/all of systems and/or components thereof in figs. 1, 23, 25, 28, 30), comprising:
reading a digital environment model corresponding to a real-world scene (step 2905, fig. 29);
determining a movement path (Abstract, 905, 915, fig. 9) of a virtual tracking device (900a, 900b, fig. 9) in the digital environment model (steps 2910, 2915, 2920, fig. 29);
determining a plurality of poses (figs. 15-21) that realize the movement path in the digital environment model (steps 2910, 2915, 2920, fig. 29);
rendering a plurality of viewpoint images based on the plurality of poses (figs. 15-21), wherein the plurality of poses respectively correspond to the plurality of viewpoint images (figs. 15-21), and each of the plurality of viewpoint images corresponds to a viewpoint from which the virtual tracking device captures the digital environment model (pose 1515A-B, 1520A-B, 1525A-B, fig. 15; pose 1615A-CC, fig. 16, pose 1705-1805, figs. 17-18) when presenting the corresponding pose (steps 2910, 2915, 2920, 2925 fig. 29); and
creating a spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene based on the plurality of viewpoint images (step 2925, fig. 29).
Regarding claim 2, Price discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
dividing the digital environment model into a plurality of blocks (rooms in the path 905, 915, e.g., fig. 9-12; individual maps 1300, fig. 13), and planning a sequence through the plurality of blocks (sequence in the path as it traverses the rooms or blocks, figs 9-13), wherein the plurality of blocks comprise a first block, the movement path comprises a first path segment located in the first block (e.g., path A in maps 1300, fig. 13), the plurality of poses comprise a plurality of first poses that realize the first path segment (pose 1515A-B, 1520A-B, 1525A-B, fig. 15; pose 1615A-CC, fig. 16, pose 1705-1805, figs. 17-18), and the plurality of first poses are used to simulate a plurality of specified actions performed sequentially by the virtual tracking device in the first block (Generally, the 6 DOF pose 1420A refers to the movement or position of an object in three-dimensional space. The 6 DOF pose 1420A includes surge (i.e. forward and backward in the x-axis direction), heave (i.e. up and down in the z-axis direction), and sway (i.e. left and right in the y-axis direction). In this regard, 6 DOF pose 1420A refers to the combination of 3 translations and 3 rotations. Any possible movement of a body can be expressed using the 6 DOF pose.
(75) Generally, the 3 DOF pose 1420B refers to tracking rotational motion only, such as pitch (i.e. the transverse axis), yaw (i.e. the normal axis), and roll (i.e. the longitudinal axis). The 3 DOF pose 1420B allows the HMD to track rotational motion but not translational movement of itself and of the HMD camera, Col. 10, lines 52-66).
Regarding claim 3, Price discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of poses comprise an i-th pose, the plurality of viewpoint images comprise an i-th viewpoint image corresponding to the i-th pose, and the i-th viewpoint image corresponds to a viewpoint from which the virtual tracking device captures the digital environment model when presenting the corresponding i-th pose, wherein i is an index value (FIG. 16 shows a pose evolution 1600, which is generated based on HMD camera images 1605 and/or external camera images 1610. The pose evolution 1600 includes a compilation of different poses, one of which is labeled as pose 1615A. The poses are computed over time. For example, pose 1615A is computed at time T0; pose 1615B is computed at time T1; pose 1615C is computed at time T2; and so on throughout a determined time period 1620. The time period 1620 may be the operational time while the HMD is engaged in a particular activity, such as perhaps a gaming activity, a training activity, and so forth. During the time period 1620, the HMD generates the HMD camera images 1605, and those images are used to simultaneously generate the map and the pose evolution of the HMD. As more images are generated, additional content can be added to the map and additional poses can be added to the pose evolution 1600, Col. 12, lines 36-52).
Regarding claim 4, Price discloses the method of claim 1, wherein creating the spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene based on the plurality of viewpoint images comprises:
performing simultaneous localization and mapping (col. 5, line 62) based on the plurality of viewpoint images to create the spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene (Abstract, fig. 29).
Regarding claim 5, Price discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the host and at least one other host are located in the real-world scene, and after the spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene is created (Beneficially, the combined paths of the multiple HMDs can be used to better understand the users' positions over time (e.g., for review during an after action review), Col. 4, lines 54-58), the method further comprises:
sharing the spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene to the at least one other host, wherein the host and the at least one host provide a same reality service (claim 20).
Regarding claim 6, Price discloses the method of claim 1, wherein after the spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene is created, the method further comprises:
sharing the spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene to at least one other host located in the real-world scene (claim 20).
Regarding claim 7, Price discloses a host, comprising:
a storage circuit storing a program code (Storage 3010 may be physical system memory, which may be volatile, non-volatile, or some combination of the two. The term “memory” may also be used herein to refer to non-volatile mass storage such as physical storage media, Col 19, lines 5-19); and
a processor coupled to the storage circuit and configured to access the program code to execute (Storage 3010 is shown as including executable instructions (i.e. code 3015). The executable instructions represent instructions that are executable by the processor(s) 3005 of computer system 3000 to perform the disclosed operations, such as those described in the various methods, Col 19, lines 12-16):
reading a digital environment model corresponding to a real-world scene; determining a movement path of a virtual tracking device in the digital environment model; determining a plurality of poses that realize the movement path in the digital environment model;
rendering a plurality of viewpoint images based on the plurality of poses, wherein the plurality of poses respectively correspond to the plurality of viewpoint images, and each of the plurality of viewpoint images corresponds to a viewpoint from which the virtual tracking device captures the digital environment model when presenting the corresponding pose; and creating a spatial map corresponding to the real-world scene based on the plurality of viewpoint images (regarding this portion of the claim, although wording is different, the material is substantively similar to the independent claim 1 discussed above).
Regarding claims 8-12, although wording is different, the material is substantively similar to the claims 2-6 respectively as discussed above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20250148640;
US 20220058876;
US 10957103;
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/NURUN FLORA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2619
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