Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 19/041,224

IMAGE SPACE ADAPTIVE SAMPLING FOR LIGHT TRANSPORT SIMULATION SYSTEMS AND APPLICATION

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jan 30, 2025
Examiner
BROWN, SHEREE N
Art Unit
2612
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
NVIDIA Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
65%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 8m
Est. Remaining
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 65% — above average
65%
Career Allowance Rate
487 granted / 748 resolved
+3.1% vs TC avg
Strong +27% interview lift
Without
With
+26.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
30 currently pending
Career history
789
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
15.1%
-24.9% vs TC avg
§103
25.4%
-14.6% vs TC avg
§102
33.3%
-6.7% vs TC avg
§112
22.5%
-17.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 748 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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.:19/041,224 filed on 01/30/2025. Claims 1-7 and 21-33 are pending and presented for examination. This action has been made NON-FINAL. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/07/2025 is being considered by the examiner. A signed IDS is hereby attached. 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)(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) 1-7 and 21-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Isik, US Patent No.:11983854. Claim 1: Isik discloses a method (See Isik Abstract; Column 1, Lines 10-40; Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67) comprising: determining, based at least on a plurality of samples (See Isik Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67) indicative of a plurality of light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) illuminating at least a portion of a virtual environment depicted in an image (“virtual scene” See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40), one or more first weights (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67) corresponding to one or more first light sources of the plurality of light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5), and one or more second weights (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67) corresponding to one or more second light sources of the plurality of light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5); storing, in one or more reservoirs corresponding to one or more pixels of the image (See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40; Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67) and based at least on the one or more first weights (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67) being greater than the one or more second weights (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67), one or more statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67) associated with the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5); and rendering, using the one or more statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67), one or more second images depicting one or more second portions of the virtual environment (“virtual scene” See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40). Claim 2: Isik discloses generating, based at least on the one or more statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67), one or more light sampling distributions corresponding to one or more portions of the image (See Isik Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67); and sampling (See Isik Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67), based at least on the one or more light sampling distributions (See Isik Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67), the plurality of light sources illuminating one or more second portions of the virtual environment (“virtual scene” See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40), wherein the rendering of the one or more second images is based at least on the sampling (See Isik Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67). Claim 3: Isik discloses determining one or more first relative contributions of the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) to one or more radiance values of the one or more pixels in the image (See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40; Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67), wherein the one or more first weights are based at least on the one or more first relative contributions (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67); and determining one or more second relative contributions of the one or more second light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) to the one or more radiance values of the one or more pixels in the image (See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40; Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67), wherein the one or more second weights are based at least on the one or more second relative contributions (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67). Claim 4: Isik discloses wherein the one or more statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67) associated with the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) include at least: one or more identifiers corresponding to the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5); the one or more first weights corresponding to the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67); and one or more total weights including one or more sums of the one or more first weights and the one or more second weights (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67). Claim 5: Isik discloses wherein the storing, in the one or more reservoirs, of the one or more statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67)associated with the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) comprises: storing, in the one or more reservoirs and at a first time during a rendering pass, one or more second statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67) associated with the one or more second light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5); and storing, in the one or more reservoirs and at a second time after the first time during the rendering pass, the one or more statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67) associated with the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) instead of the one or more second statistics (“calculations” See Isik Column 29, Lines 40-67) associated with the one or more second light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) based at least on the one or more first weights being greater than the one or more second weights (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67). Claim 6: Isik discloses determining one or more first contributions of the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) to one or more specular radiance values of the one or more pixels in the image (See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40; Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67); and determining one or more second contributions of the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) to one or more diffuse radiance values of the one or more pixels in the image (See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40; Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67), wherein the one or more first weights are based at least on the one or more first contributions and the one or more second contributions (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67). Claim 7: Isik discloses determining, based at least on the plurality of samples (See Isik Column 1, Lines 45-67; Column 2, Lines 1-7; Column 2, Lines 25-67), one or more materials of one or more surfaces in the virtual environment that are illuminated by the one or more first light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5) and the one or more second light sources (See Isik Column 8, Lines 30-40; Column 14, Lines 40-67; Column 15, Lines 1-5), wherein the determining of the one or more first weights and the one or more second weights (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67) are further based at least on the one or more materials of the one or more surfaces (See Isik Column 40, Lines 60-67). Claims 21-27: Claims 21-27 are rejected on the same basis as claims 1-7. Claim 28: Isik discloses wherein the system is comprised in at least one of: a control system for an autonomous or semi-autonomous machine; a perception system for an autonomous or semi-autonomous machine; a system for performing simulation operations; a system for performing digital twin operations; a system for performing light transport simulation; a system for performing collaborative content creation for 3D assets; a system for performing deep learning operations; a system for performing remote operations (See Isik Column 12, Lines 65-67); a system for performing real-time streaming (See Isik Column 4, Lines 25-30); a system for generating or presenting one or more of augmented reality content, virtual reality content, or mixed reality content; a system implemented using an edge device; a system implemented using a robot; a system for performing conversational AI operations; a system implementing one or more multi-modal language models; a system implementing one or more large language models (LLMs); a system implementing one or more vision language models (VLMs); a system for generating synthetic data (See Isik Column 1, Lines 10-40); a system for generating synthetic data using AI; a system incorporating one or more virtual machines (VMs); a system using or deploying one or more inference microservices; a system that incorporates one or more machine learning models deployed in a service or microservice along with an OS-level virtualization package (e.g., a container); a system implemented at least partially in a data center; or a system implemented at least partially using cloud computing resources (See Isik Column 11, Lines 1-20). Claims 29-32: Claims 29-32 are rejected on the same basis as claims 1-4. Clam 33: Claim 33 is rejected on the same basis as claim 28. Pertinent Art The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20230325972 generally relate to systems and methods utilizing a cloud-based framework for processing, analyzing, and visualizing imaging data. 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. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. 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. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SHEREE N BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612 July 28, 2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 30, 2025
Application Filed
Jul 31, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
65%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+26.7%)
3y 3m (~1y 8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 748 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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