Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claims 1, 4-7 and 9- 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Scapel et al. (Pub. No.: US 2020/0234481).
Regarding claim 1, Scapel discloses a system for generating an imaginary avatar (Figs. 6A-6D, shark avatar 605 ) of an object (Fig. 6A-6D, user 610), the system comprising: at least one processor (Fig. 1A, processor(s) 120) , comprising processing circuitry, configured to operate the system, including: a detail determining unit comprising circuitry configured to determine at least one object detail from the object identified from an input content (Fig. 6A_6D, user details 610-1 to 610-6); a shape determining unit comprising circuitry configured to determine a shape of the object based on the at least one object detail (e.g. the shape of the user 610); a state determining unit comprising circuitry configured to determine a state of the object based on the input content and the at least one object detail (e.g. the user states 611-1 through 611-12); a position determining unit comprising circuitry configured to determine position of a plurality of physical features of the object based on the shape of the object (e.g. head position, head rotation, or head tilt of the user, see paragraph [0189]); an emotion determining unit comprising circuitry configured to determine an emotion depicted by the object using the state of the object (paragraph [0189], “the changes to the user's physical features and position are indicative of various expressions, emotions”); and a generating unit comprising circuitry configured to generate the imaginary avatar of the object based on the shape of the object, position of the plurality of physical features, and the determined emotion (Figs. 6A-6D, the imaginary avatar shark 612-1 through 612-12 are generated based on the user’s shape, position of the plurality of physical features, and the determined emotion, see paragraph [0189]).
Regarding claim 4, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein for determining the position of the plurality of physical features, position determining unit position determining unit is configured to: derive an area per unit information of the object from the detected shape of the object (e.g. the head of the user includes different areas such as eyes, lips, nose, ears, etcs.); segment the object in an upper part and a lower part based on the area per unit information (e.g. the head of the user is the upper part and the body of the user is the lower part); and determine the position of the plurality of physical features in the upper and lower part of the object (paragraph [0191], “The representations (e.g., user states 611-1 through 611-12) on the left side of FIGS. 6A-6D represent a user as detected by the electronic device when the user is within the field of view of one or more cameras (e.g., camera 602) (e.g., camera module 143, optical sensor 164, depth camera sensor 175) and/or other sensors (e.g., infrared sensors).
Regarding claim 5, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of physical features includes at least two of eyes, ears, hair, lip, mouth, nose, hands and legs (see Fig. 6A, the user 610).
Regarding claim 6, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one object detail includes a class of the object and a confidence score of the object (paragraph [0258], “health and fitness data may be used to provide insights into a user's general wellness, or may be used as positive feedback to individuals using technology to pursue wellness goals”).
Regarding claim 7, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein for determining the shape of the object, the shape determining unit is configured to: determine an animated image of the object; determine edges of the object from the animated image of the object; and determine the shape of the object based on the edges of the object (e.g. the movement of the facial features of the user can be detected when the user is moving in different directions and magnitude, see paragraph [0006]).
Regarding claim 9, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the emotion determination unit is configured to determine the emotion from a group of specified emotions based on the state of the object (see paragraph [0189], “the changes to the user's physical features and position are indicative of various expressions, emotions”).
Regarding claim 10, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein for generating the imaginary avatar of the object, the generating unit is configured to: place the plurality of physical features based on determined position, on the shape of the object; and impose the emotion on the plurality of physical features (paragraph [0189], “the changes to the user's physical features and position are indicative of various expressions, emotions, context, tone, or other non-verbal communication. In some embodiments, the electronic device modifies the displayed image of the virtual avatar to represent these expressions, emotions, context, tone, or other non-verbal communication).
Regarding claim 11, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein for generating the imaginary avatar of the object, the generating unit is configured to: determine background information of the object; and generate the imaginary avatar of the object based on the background information ([0216], “In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6E, image display region 620 shows live camera preview 620-1 from camera 602, showing a representation of subject 632 positioned in the field-of-view of camera 602 and background 636 displayed behind subject 632. In the embodiments discussed herein, subject 632 corresponds to user 610 discussed in FIGS. 6A-6D. As discussed herein, image data captured using camera 602 includes, in some embodiments, depth data that can be used to determine a depth of objects in the field-of-view of camera 602. In some embodiments, device 600 parses objects (e.g., in image data) based on a detected depth of those objects, and uses this determination to apply the visual effects (e.g., virtual avatars) discussed herein”).
Regarding claim 12, Scapel discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the input content is one of an image or a video (See Figs. 6A-6E).
Regarding claim 13, Scapel discloses a method for generating an imaginary avatar (Figs. 6A-6D, shark avatar 605 ) of an object (Fig. 6A-6D, user 610, the method comprising: determining at least one object detail from the object identified from an input content (Fig. 6A_6D, user details 610-1 to 610-6); determining a shape of the object based on the at least one object detail (e.g. the shape of the user 610); determining a state of the object based on the input content and the at least one object detail (e.g. the user states 611-1 through 611-12); determining position of a plurality of physical features of the object based on the shape of the object (e.g. head position, head rotation, or head tilt of the user, see paragraph [0189]); determining an emotion depicted by the object using the state of the object (paragraph [0189], “the changes to the user's physical features and position are indicative of various expressions, emotions”); and generating the imaginary avatar of the object based on the shape of the object, position of the plurality of physical features, and the determined emotion (Figs. 6A-6D, the imaginary avatar shark 612-1 through 612-12 are generated based on the user’s shape, position of the plurality of physical features, and the determined emotion, see paragraph [0189]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claims 2-3, 8 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Scapel et al. (Pub. No.: US 2020/0234481) in view of KO (Pub. No.: US 2022/0301251).
Regarding claim 2, Scapel discloses text input module (Fig. 1A, 134) and audio output (Fig. 1A, 110) but fails to teach the detail determining unit is configured to determine textual information about the object using the at least one object detail; and the generating unit is configured to: convert the textual information into a speech; and generate an audio for the imaginary avatar using the converted speech. KO is cited to teach an AI avatar-based interaction service which includes text-to-speech conversion (paragraph [0074]). It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Scapel with the features of text-to-speech conversion as taught by KO so as to provide a better interaction with avatar.
Regarding claim 3, Scapel as modified by KO discloses the system as claimed in claim 2, comprising: a motion controller comprising circuitry configured to animate the imaginary avatar by controlling motion of the plurality of physical features of the imaginary avatar in sync with the generated audio (KO: paragraph [0076], “the AI avatar interaction unit 223 renders a 3D character to provide the generated response. The AI avatar interaction unit 223 generates a voice and a body motion to render the 3D character. The AI avatar interaction unit 223 may generate a voice of the 3D character from the sentence included in the generated response using a text-to-speech (TTS) method).
Regarding claim 8, Scapel as modified by KO discloses the system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shape determining unit is configured to determine the state of the object using a trained neural network model (KO: e.g. learning model for training the avatar, see paragraph [0057].
Regarding claim 14, it has similar scope of claim 2. Thus, claim 14 is rejected for the same reason as claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 15, it has the similar scope of claim 3. Thus, claim 15 is rejected for the same reason as claim 3 above.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
KIM et al. (Pub. No.: US 2022/0122309 is cited to teach an electronic device includes a camera, a display, and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to acquire an image using the camera, determine a 3D graphic object corresponding to an object included in the acquired image, and apply the determined 3D graphic object to a 3D avatar.
Brown et al. (Pub. No.: US 2011/0064388) is cited to teach an user customized animated video device.
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/XIAO M WU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2613
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