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 .
Application Status
This office action is responsive to the Application No.:18/990,216 filed on 12/20/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending and presented for examination.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/21/2025 is being considered by the examiner. A signed IDS is hereby attached.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 8, 10, 17, 18 and 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art made of record failed to disclose the following combination of claim limitations with the language of the independent claims:
wherein the animation sequence is generated by: determining initial signed distance field (SDF) values for pixels associated with the at least one object of the digital artwork; determining, using warping fields on the initial SDF values, interpolated SDF values for the pixels for each frame of the multiple frames; and generating the animation sequence across the multiple frames by unwarping the digital artwork COMBINED WITH wherein the interpolated SDF values using the warping fields are determined by using two-level lookup to find sampling coordinates for each interpolated SDF value COMBINED WITH wherein the animation sequence includes adding, using physical laws of mechanics, secondary dynamics to the at least one object by: generating a triangle mesh of a final frame of the animation sequence; estimating, using last two frames of the multiple frames, a velocity of an implicit surface of the at least one object; initializing a physics engine with the triangle mesh and the estimated velocity of the implicit surface; and running the mechanics of the at implicit surface forward until the at least one object reaches a resting position.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 9, 11-16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Villaron, 20130097552.
Claim 1:
Villaron discloses a method (See Villaron Abstract; Figure 6A-63; Paragraphs 0004-0008) comprising:
receiving, by a processing device, inputs (See Villaron Figure 6A-63; Paragraphs 0004-00081) including a motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) and a description (See Villaron Paragraphs 0004-0008; 0057; 0068) of a digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) including at least one object (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070);
determining, by the processing device, a path for the motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034; 0061-0070);
generating, by the processing device, an animation sequence (See Villaron Paragraphs 0020-0022; 0070-0076) of the at least one object across multiple frames along the path (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034; 0061-0070);
and outputting (See Villaron Paragraph 0087), by the processing device via a user interface (See Villaron Figures 6A-E; Paragraphs 0051; 0062-0063), a digital animation of the digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) using the animation sequence (See Villaron Paragraphs 0020-0022; 0070-0076) to animate the at least one object (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070).
Claim 2:
Villaron discloses wherein: the inputs (See Villaron Figure 6A-63; Paragraphs 0004-00082) include a first digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) and a second digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 665a; Paragraph 0070); and the motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) includes an interpolation (See Villaron Paragraphs 0044-0045; 0049; 0053; 0069; 0079; 0083) from the first digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) to the second digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 665a; Paragraph 0070).
Claim 3:
Villaron discloses wherein the path (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034; 0061-0070) for the interpolation (See Villaron Paragraphs 0044-0045; 0049; 0053; 0069; 0079; 0083) is defined by a user input (See Villaron Figure 6A-63; Paragraphs 0004-00083) via the user interface (See Villaron Figure 6A-6E; Paragraphs 0051; 0062-0063).
Claim 4:
Villaron discloses wherein the path (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034; 0061-0070) includes a correspondence between at least one first point on the first digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) and at least one second point on the second digital artwork, respectively, to guide the interpolation (See Villaron Paragraphs 0044-0045; 0049; 0053; 0069; 0079; 0083).
Claim 5:
Villaron discloses wherein the motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) includes an introductory motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) or an outgoing motion effect selected from a list of multiple preset motion effects (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034).
Claim 6:
Villaron discloses wherein the user interface (See Villaron Figure 6A-6E; Paragraphs 0051; 0062-0063) includes one or more user-adjustable controls for the animation sequence including at least one of a playback speed, a starting digital artwork, an ending digital artwork, corner smoothing, a fill color, a fill pattern, an outline color, an outline thickness, or a blending speed (See Villaron Paragraph 00724).
Claim 9:
Villaron discloses wherein the animation sequence (See Villaron Paragraphs 0020-0022; 0070-0076) includes adding, using physical laws of mechanics, secondary dynamics to the at least one object (See Villaron Figure 6A-E; Paragraph 0070).
Claim 11:
Claim 11 is rejected on the same basis as claim 1.
Claim 12:
Villaron discloses wherein the preset motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) includes an introductory motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) to animate an appearance of the at least one object or an outgoing motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) to animate a disappearance of the at least one object (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-00325).
Claim 13:
Villaron discloses wherein: the inputs include a first digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) and a second digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 665a; Paragraph 0070); and the preset motion effect (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) includes an interpolation (See Villaron Paragraphs 0044-0045; 0049; 0053; 0069; 0079; 0083) from the first digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) to the second digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 665a; Paragraph 0070), a path (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034) for the interpolation (See Villaron Paragraphs 0044-0045; 0049; 0053; 0069; 0079; 0083) being defined by a user input (See Villaron Figure 6A-63; Paragraphs 0004-00086) via the user interface (See Villaron Figure 6A-6E; Paragraphs 0051; 0062-0063).
Claim 14:
Claim 14 is rejected on the same basis as claim 4.
Claim 15:
Villaron discloses wherein the path (See Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0034; 0061-0070) includes a user sketched line (See Villaron Paragraph 0040) along which the interpolation (See Villaron Paragraphs 0044-0045; 0049; 0053; 0069; 0079; 0083) travels from the first digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 620b; Paragraph 0070) to the second digital artwork (See Villaron Figure 6C, Item 665a; Paragraph 0070).
Claim 16:
Claim 16 is rejected on the same basis as claim 6.
Claim 20:
Claim 20 is rejected on the same basis as claim 1.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Patent No.: 12639874 relates generally to systems, methods, graphical user interfaces for motion editing and motion creation applications, including animation generation on electronic devices.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEREE N BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-4229. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SAID BROOME can be reached at (571) 272-2931. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHEREE N BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612 July 30, 2026
1 Villaron Paragraphs 0004-0008 recites “receive user input from a computer.”
2 Villaron Paragraphs 0004-0008 recites “receive user input from a computer.”
3 Villaron Paragraphs 0004-0008 recites “receive user input from a computer.”
4 Villaron Paragraph 0072 discloses a fill pattern.
5 Villaron Paragraphs 0030-0032 recites “wiping-out, in which is the same as the Applicant’s teachings of “animate a disappearance.”
6 Villaron Paragraphs 0004-0008 recites “receive user input from a computer.”
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