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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. Title is generic in nature. Applicant should include elements of the inventive concept.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 8-12, 16-18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishimura et al. (US Pat. No. 8,678,929 B1 hereinafter referred to as Nishimura) in view of Miller, IV (US Pub. No. 2021/0166459 A1 hereinafter referred to as Miller).
As per claims 1, 9, and 17, Nishimura teaches an animation processing method, electronic device, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processor of an electronic device, causing the electronic device to implement an animation processing method performed by an electronic device (abstract and col. 6, line 66 to col. 7, line 3 which teaches a networked game wherein, based on a user input, a state of an object is predicted and animation is provided), the method comprising: determining a target movement parameter matching a target movement instruction for controlling movement of a virtual object (col. 7, lines 34-38 see example soccer game) based on a corresponding relationship between moving instructions and moving parameters (col. 6, lines 55-61 and col. 8, lines 42-60 player input is received to control a local game object which includes movement of a local game object such as depressing the left arrow button has a corresponding movement parameter); driving movement of a logic entity based on the target movement parameter, the logic entity being configured to perform logic operations corresponding to the virtual object (col. 6, lines 55-61 and col. 8, lines 42-60 player input is received to control a local game object which includes movement of a local game object such as depressing the left arrow button has a corresponding movement parameter and col. 6, lines 20-26 animation state of a local object is predicted based on state of the game which would include both player input and remote player input); while driving the movement of the logic entity based on the target movement parameter, predicting a first predicted trajectory of a representation entity based on the target movement parameter, the representation entity being configured to represent the virtual object (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 estimates are made for positions of objects in the game based on player input including interactions with the local object with the representation entity being the displayed character which is then updated based on blending to the logic entity (the logic entity is invisible (paragraph [0044] of applicant’s disclosure))); driving movement of the representation entity based on the target animation (col. 6, line 66 to col. 7, line 3 and col. 10, lines 12-31 animations are determined); and rendering a moving animation of the virtual object in a virtual scene based on the movement of the logic entity and the movement of the representation entity (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 estimates are made for positions of objects in the game based on player input including interactions with the local object with the representation entity being the displayed character which is then updated based on blending to the logic entity (the logic entity is invisible (paragraph [0044] of applicant’s disclosure))). Nishimura does not teach selecting, from a preset animation library, a target animation adapted to the first predicted trajectory. However, Nishimura does teach using key frames to create animation (col. 6, line 66 to col. 7, line 3) and Miller teaches a real-time animation of virtual characters (abstract) wherein a library of poses is used for the purpose of animation (paragraph [0035]). Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have combined the teachings of Nishimura with Miller, since by storing the animations into a library the system of Nishimura can quickly reference the animation during play in order to reduce processing requirements by using prestored animations instead of computing new ones.
As per claims 2, 10, and 18, Nishimura teaches a method, device, and medium wherein the predicting a first predicted trajectory of a representation entity based on the target movement parameter comprises: obtaining a current position deviation between a first current position and a second current position, the first current position being a position where the representation entity is currently located, and the second current position being a position where the logic entity is currently located ((col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 20-33, and col. 8, lines 5-15); predicting a second predicted trajectory of the logic entity in accordance with the target movement parameter and the second current position (col. 10, lines 53-55 process loops to maintain states); and predicting the first predicted trajectory of the representation entity near the second predicted trajectory in accordance with the current position deviation and the first current position (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 estimates are made for positions of objects in the game based on player input and would include updating for the next state col. 10, lines 53-55).
As per claims 3 and 11, Nishimura teaches a method and device wherein the predicting a second predicted trajectory of the logic entity in accordance with the target movement parameter and the second current position comprises: predicting a predicted trajectory segment of the logic entity in accordance with the target movement parameter, a preset prediction duration, and a first current speed, the first current speed being a current moving speed of the logic entity (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 the attribute of movement, such as speed and direction, would comprise the predicted position since this would involve changing a position of an object over a period of time, the time frame the prediction occurs, which would be a speed the object moves and the direction where); and superimposing the second current position and the predicted trajectory segment to obtain the second predicted trajectory of the logic entity (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 the attribute of movement, such as speed and direction, would comprise the predicted position since this would involve changing a position of an object over a period of time, the time frame the prediction occurs, which would be a speed the object moves and the direction where).
As per claims 4 and 12, Nishimura teaches a method and device wherein the predicting a predicted trajectory segment of the logic entity in accordance with the target movement parameter, a preset prediction duration, and a first current speed comprises: performing first sampling on the preset prediction duration to obtain a first sampling time sequence (col. 7, lines 55-66 and col. 9, lines 3-14 determination is performed at “t” time); and performing, for each first sampling time in the first sampling time sequence, the following processing: predicting a first predicted position at the first sampling time in accordance with the target movement parameter and the first current speed (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 the attribute of movement, such as speed and direction, would comprise the predicted position since this would involve changing a position of an object over a period of time, the time frame the prediction occurs, which would be a speed the object moves and the direction where); obtaining a first predicted position sequence corresponding to the first sampling time sequence from the first predicted position at each first sampling time (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 the attribute of movement, such as speed and direction, would comprise the predicted position since this would involve changing a position of an object over a period of time, the time frame the prediction occurs, which would be a speed the object moves and the direction where); and determining a trajectory segment corresponding to the first predicted position sequence as the predicted trajectory segment of the logic entity (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14 the attribute of movement, such as speed and direction, would comprise the predicted position since this would involve changing a position of an object over a period of time, the time frame the prediction occurs, which would be a speed the object moves and the direction where).
As per claims 8, 16, and 20, Nishimura teaches a method, device, and medium wherein before the driving movement of a logic entity based on the target movement parameter, the method further comprises: receiving a position synchronization instruction transmitted by a server device, the position synchronization instruction comprising a second current position (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14); and controlling the logic entity to move to the second current position in response to the position synchronization instruction (col. 6, lines 20-29, col. 7, lines 55-66, and col. 9, lines 3-14).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7, 13-15, 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. Claims 5-7 as a combination are non-obvious over the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Starke et al. (US Pat. No. 12,138,543 B1) teaches a motion prediction for characters which includes a neural network model for predicting poses of characters based on past poses.
Kutcher (US Pub. No. 2022/0203237 A1) teaches a game comprising a ground obstacle which when collide with includes the module using the direction and velocity imparted to the virtual character at a first position, as a result of the player input, in order to determine a second position by predicting a path or trajectory that the virtual character would likely traverse in order to move from the first position to the second position.
Girard (US Pub. No. 2009/0179901 A1) teaches an animation for a virtual character "include a set of future locations of the character, determined from an interpolation of future positions in the goal space specified for the two "Y" beginning blending values that are closest to the actual current blending value being used to render animation frames" paragraph [0058].
Sunazuka et al. (US Pub. No. 2006/0154713 A1) teaches a network game which includes determine current and future positions of a virtual object for rendering.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN L MYHR whose telephone number is (571)270-7847. The examiner can normally be reached 10AM-6PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dmitry Suhol can be reached at (571) 272-4430. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN L MYHR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715 8/25/2026
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