DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on/after Mar. 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 14 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 prior art of record does not teach, suggest, or disclose the claim limitation “based on a first boundary being changed to a second boundary, change a shape of a first content displayed on a curved surface of the first boundary using a curved shape, to a planar shape on a plane of the second boundary, or change the shape of the first content displayed on a plane of the first boundary using a planar shape, to a curved shape on a curved surface of the second boundary” in combination with the other recited claim limitations of claims 4 and 14, and further in combination with the other recited claim limitations inherited from claims 1-3 and 11-13, respectively.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 USC 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.
Claims 1, 7-8, and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2015/0049002, 'ISHIKAWA') in view of Hoover et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2019/0130622, 'HOOVER').
Regarding claim 1, ISHIKAWA discloses a wearable device (ISHIKAWA; FIGS. 1-2; ¶ 0060, 0062-64; “… a head-mounted display (hereinafter, referred to as HMD) …”) comprising:
a display (ISHIKAWA; FIG. 2: display unit 10; ¶ 0074-75);
… processor(s) comprising processing circuitry; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by … processor(s) individually or collectively (ISHIKAWA; FIGS. 2-3: CPU 201, memory 202; ¶ 0092-94; FIG. 4: CPU 301, memory 302; ¶ 0101), cause the wearable device to:
determine a usage environment of the wearable device displaying content (ISHIKAWA; ¶ 0063; “An HMD 100 … is mounted on the head of a user U [wearable device] and … displays a virtual image [displaying content] in a field of view V (display field-of-view) of a real space [usage environment] of the user U. The image displayed in the field of view V includes information relating to predetermined targets A1-A4 present in the field of view V. The predetermined targets are … landscape, shops, or goods surrounding the user U.”);
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generate a boundary, based on (ISHIKAWA; ¶ 0064-65; “The HMD 100 stores images (hereinafter, referred to as objects) B1-B4 made corresponding to a virtual world coordinate system surrounding the user U who wears the HMD. The world coordinate system is a coordinate system equivalent to the real space to which the user belongs [usage environment]. In the world coordinate system, the targets A1-A4 are positioned with the position of the user U and a predetermined axis direction being references. … cylindrical coordinates C0 with the vertical axis being a center of axis are employed as the world coordinates … A radius R and a height H of the cylindrical coordinates C0 [boundary] can be arbitrarily set. Although the radius R is set to be shorter than a distance from the user U to the targets A1 to A4 here, the radius R may be longer than the distance. Further, the height H is set to be equal to or larger than a height (vertical length) Hv of the field of view V of the user U, which is provided through the HMD 100.”); and
display, through the display, the content placed based on a shape of the boundary (ISHIKAWA; FIG. 7; ¶ 0109; “… a cylindrical coordinate system (θ, h) and an orthogonal coordinate system (X, Y, Z) have a relationship among X= r*cos(θ), Y= r*sin(θ), and Z=h. As shown in FIG. 1, the objects B1-B4 that should be displayed corresponding to the azimuth or the attitude of the field of view V occupy specific coordinate regions in the cylindrical coordinates C0 and are stored in the memory 302 together with … coordinate positions P (θ, h) in the region.” ¶ 0114-117; “The display control unit 314 … displays (draws) an object in the cylindrical coordinates C0, which corresponds to the azimuth of the display unit 10, in the field of view V based on the output of the detector 20 (i.e., determination result of coordinate determination unit 313). FIGS. 9A-9B are views for describing a method of converting the cylindrical coordinates C0 (world coordinates) into the field of view V (local coordinates). … it is assumed that coordinates of a reference point of the field of view V in the cylindrical coordinates C0 are denoted by (θv, hv) and coordinates of a reference point of an object B located in a region of the field of view V are denoted by (θ0, h0). The reference points of the field of view V and object B may be set to any points. … the reference points are set to upper left corners of the field of view V and the object B each of which has a rectangular shape. αv° is a width angle of the field of view V in the world coordinates and the value is determined depending on the design or specification of the display unit 10. The display control unit 314 converts the cylindrical coordinate system (θ, h) into a local coordinate system (x, y), to thereby determine a display position of object B in the field of view V. As shown in FIG. 9B, assuming that the height and width of the field of view V in the local coordinate system are denoted by Hv and Wv respectively and the coordinates of the reference point of the object B in the local coordinate system (x, y) are denoted by (x0, y0), the conversion expression is (See original document for equation statements.).”), and wherein the boundary comprises a virtual space including a specified area surrounding at least a part of a user or the wearable device based on the user wearing the wearable device or the wearable device (ISHIKAWA; FIG. 1; ¶ 0064; “The HMD 100 stores images … B1-B4 made corresponding to a virtual world coordinate system surrounding the user U who wears the HMD. The world coordinate system is a coordinate system equivalent to the real space to which the user belongs.” ¶ 0104; “FIG. 5A shows cylindrical coordinates C0 having a height H1 equal to the height Hv of the field of view V. FIG. 5B shows cylindrical coordinates C0 having a height H2 three times larger than the height Hv of the field of view V.”), in which the content is displayed on a surface of the boundary (ISHIKAWA; FIG. 1; ¶ 0069; “… the HMD 100 includes a detector for detecting a direction of the eyes of the user U and determines, based on the output of the detector, which region in the cylindrical coordinates C0 [surface of the boundary] the field of view V of the user U corresponds to. If any object (e.g., object B1) is present in the corresponding region of an x-y-coordinate system, which forms the field of view V, the HMD 100 displays (draws) the object B1 [the content is displayed] in the corresponding region.”), and
ISHIKAWA does not explicitly disclose that the content includes a lock attribute [which] is moved on the surface according to the user's posture, which HOOVER discloses (HOOVER; FIG. 17; ¶ 0157-159; “The wearable system can render a reticle in 3D space for a user. The reticle may be rendered in a rig space (which may be represented by a coordinate system with respect to an HMD. …). The reticle may correspond to the user's current position with respect to the user's field of view and may represent … the user's direction of gaze [user's posture]. When the user moves around, the reticle may also move with the user. … the reticle may point at … object(s), and the user may select a target object to which the reticle is pointing. … the position of the reticle within the user's FOV may remain constant as the user's head moves. … the reticle may be positioned in the center of the user's field of view and will stay at the center, even as the user's FOV changes [lock attribute]. … to select a target object with the reticle, the user must move his or her head to adjust the FOV such that the center of the FOV (e.g., the location of the reticle) is on the target object.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the wearable device of ISHIKAWA to include the disclosure that the content includes a lock attribute [which] is moved on the surface according to the user's posture of HOOVER. The motivation for this modification is to provide systems and methods for displaying a virtual reticle. An environment can include real or virtual objects that may be interacted with by a user using a virtual reticle. The position or orientation of the user's head, eyes, shoulders, chest, arms, or other body parts can dictate the position or speed-of-movement of the virtual reticle within the environment, and the user may select or point to an object by directing the virtual reticle toward or focusing the reticle on a target object. The wearable device can recognize that the user's head, eye(s), shoulders, chest, arm(s), or the like are positioned or orientated uncomfortably or otherwise undesirably. Responsive to the recognition of the uncomfortable or undesirable pose, the system can adjust a position or speed-of-movement of the virtual reticle to aid in desirably positioning the virtual reticle, thereby decreasing a likelihood that the user's pose remains uncomfortable or undesirable (HOOVER, ¶ [0005]).
Independent claim 11 exhibits essentially the same scope and limitations as independent claim 1; therefore, the same motivation to combine references will be maintained.
Regarding claim 11, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER discloses a method of displaying content in a wearable device (ISHIKAWA; FIGS. 1-2; ¶ 0063), the method comprising: … ([The remaining limitations are essentially repeated from those recited in independent claim 1. Please see the Office action above for the rationale for the rejection of claim 1.]).
Regarding claim 7, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER discloses the wearable device of claim 1, wherein the specified lock attribute comprises a user lock attribute, and wherein the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to have the user lock attribute, at least one of a control content, a content in operation(HOOVER; FIG. 10; ¶ 0092; “… the user may interact with a totem. The user may have multiple totems. … the user may have designated one totem for a social media application, another totem for playing games [control content, a content in operation], etc. At block 1010, the wearable system may detect a motion of a totem. The movement of the totem may be recognized through the outward facing system or may be detected through sensors (e.g., … eye-tracking cameras, head pose sensors, etc.).”).
Regarding claim 8, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER discloses the wearable device of claim 7, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to:
anchor content including the user lock attribute with respect to the user,
move the content including the user lock attribute relative to an environment in response to the user's movement, and
display the moved content on the display while maintaining a viewing angle (HOOVER; ¶ 0118; “The reticle may be temporarily fixed at a position within the FOV. … the reticle may be fixed when the user's head pose is between a minimum head pose threshold and a maximum head pose threshold (e.g., satisfies a minimum head pose threshold and does not satisfy a maximum head pose threshold). As the user's pose changes, the user's FOV may change while the position of the reticle within the FOV remains the same [anchor content including the user lock attribute with respect to the user]. However, as the user's head moves toward an uncomfortable or otherwise undesired pose (e.g., the user's head pose does not satisfy a minimum head pose threshold or satisfies a maximum head pose threshold), the reticle may become unfixed and may be free to move within the user's FOV [move the content including the user lock attribute relative to an environment in response to the user's movement]. … the wearable system may accelerate the movement of the reticle in a direction corresponding to a direction to which the user's head is moving. … this acceleration may reduce the likelihood of neck strain or discomfort because the reticle moves toward the position the user is moving his/her head, thereby reducing, or minimizing the amount of head movement needed to position the reticle with a target object. Although the reticle is accelerated, … the reticle is not accelerated past a threshold position (e.g., a position within the FOV) [display the moved content on the display while maintaining a viewing angle]. … the reticle is not accelerated out of the user's FOV. This advantageously aids in reducing a likelihood of neck strain or discomfort while also retaining the user's ability to interact with the objects in the FOV via the reticle.”).
Regarding claim 10, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER discloses the wearable device of claim 1, further comprising a sensor, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to:
determine the user's posture, based on a signal detected through the sensor (HOOVER; FIG. 4; ¶ 0059; “The wearable system 400 may also determine head pose (e.g., head position or head orientation) using … head pose sensor(s) such as an, (which may comprise an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a magnetometer), etc.”); and
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based on first/second postures as the user's posture being repeated, display the content at a middle position between a first position of the content corresponding to the first posture and a second position of the content corresponding to the second posture (ISHIKAWA; FIGS. 11A-11B; ¶ 0153-154; “… when detecting … an operation of the user U, the control unit 30 may … limit a region in the height direction in the cylindrical coordinates to the region (Hv) in the height direction of the field of view V and aligning all the objects displayed in the field of view V at the same height [middle position] in the field of view V. … the objects B1-B4 are located at positions in the cylindrical coordinates C1 such that all the objects B1-B4 are displayed at the same height in the field of view V as shown in FIG. 11B. With this, it is possible to further enhance the visibility of the image displayed in the field of view” [The Examiner notes that object B3 transitions from the highest edge of cylindrical coordinates C1 in FIG. 11A to a middling height in FIG. 11B. Similarly, object B2 transitions from the lowest edge of cylindrical coordinates C1 in FIG. 11A to a middling height in FIG. 11B. The Examiner asserts that the highest edge corresponds to a first position of the content, and the lowest edge corresponds to a second position of the content, wherein the middling height corresponds to a middle position.]).
Claims 2-3, 9, and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ISHIKAWA in view of HOOVER as applied to claims 1, 8, and 11 above, respectively, and further in view of Jeong et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2022/0317453, 'JEONG').
Regarding claim 2 and claim 12, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER disclose the wearable device of claim 1 and the method of claim 11; wherein the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to:
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based on the usage environment being an … (AR) environment (HOOVER; ¶ 0032; “A wearable system (also referred to herein as an augmented reality (AR) system) can be configured to present … (2D) or … (3D) virtual images to a user. … The wearable system can include a wearable device that can present a VR, AR, or MR environment, alone or in combination, for user interaction. The wearable device can be a head-mounted device (HMD) which is used interchangeably as an AR device (ARD).”) and a plane being detected in an actual environment (HOOVER; ¶ 0097; “At block 1110, the wearable system may identify a particular UI. The type of UI may be predetermined by the user. The wearable system may identify that a particular UI needs to be populated based on a user input … At block 1120, the wearable system may generate data for the virtual UI. … data associated with the confines, general structure, shape of the UI etc., may be generated. … the wearable system may determine map coordinates of the user's physical location so that the wearable system can display the UI in relation to the user's physical location. … if the UI is body centric, the wearable system may determine the coordinates of the user's physical stance, head pose, or eye pose such that … a planar UI can be displayed on a wall …”), generate a cuboidal boundary (JEONG; FIG. 8; ¶ 0141; “… The processor 350 may set a cuboid focus space 811 … as in the illustration indicated by reference numeral 810 …”); however, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER do not explicitly disclose the following limitations, which are disclosed by JEONG:
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based on the usage environment being a … (VR) environment and the number of the contents being equal to or less than a specified first number, generate a cylindrical boundary (JEONG; FIG. 5; ¶ 0125; “… the focus spaces 511, 521, and 531 are set to have a cylindrical shape …”); and
based on the usage environment being a … (VR) environment and the number of the contents exceeding the specified first number, generate a capsular boundary (JEONG; FIG. 8; ¶ 0141; “… The processor 350 may set … a spherical focus space 821 as in the illustration indicated by reference numeral 820 … The shape of a focus space is not limited to a cylinder, a cuboid, or a sphere, and may include various [3-D] shapes.” [The Examiner asserts that the ‘spherical focus space 821’ is analogous to at least a capsule that has been collapsed along its longer axis.]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the wearable device of claim 1 and the method of claim 11 of ISHIKAWA-HOOVER to include the generating a cuboidal boundary, the generating a cylindrical boundary, and the generating a capsular boundary of JEONG. The motivation for this modification is a method for providing an AR image and an HMD device which are advantageous in that the inside (e.g., a thing existing inside a configured space) of a configured space (e.g., a space including an object that the user wants to concentrate on) is seen clearly, and the outside (e.g., a thing existing outside the configured space) of the configured space is not seen clearly, thereby enabling the user who wears the HMD device to concentrate on the object existing in the configured space (JEONG; ¶ [0012]).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 13, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER-JEONG disclose the wearable device of claim 2 and the method of claim 12, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to, based on the number of the contents exceeding the specified first number in the AR environment or the number of the contents being changed in the VR environment, change the generated boundary, based on the number of the contents (JEONG; ¶ 0162; “… the processor 350 may change (or update) displaying of a virtual image, based on a movement of the HMD device 200 while the focus function is being executed. … the processor 350 may detect a movement … of the HMD device 200 via the sensor 230 … while the focus function is being executed. The processor 350 may newly obtain (or update) information relating to the surrounding environment according to the movement of the HMD device 200. The processor 350 may change (or maintain) the set focus space according to the movement of the HMD device 200. The processor 350 may change (or update) displaying of a virtual image by performing operations 405 and 407, based on the newly obtained (or updated) information relating to the surrounding environment and/or the changed (or maintained) focus space.” FIG. 4; ¶ 0143-145; “… in operation 405, the processor 350 may determine, based on the information relating to the surrounding environment and the focus space, … first object(s) positioned inside the focus space …, and … second object(s) positioned outside the focus space …” FIG. 7; ¶ 0138; “The processor 350 may, when a movement of the HMD device 200 is detected, re-set the focus space, based on the distance between the HMD device 200 and the designated object 712 and/or the selected object 713. … the processor 350 may reduce the focus space when the distance between the HMD device 200 and the designated object 712 and/or the selected object 713 becomes short or may enlarge the focus space when the distance between the HMD device 200 and the designated object 712 and/or the selected object 713 becomes long.”).
Regarding claim 9, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER discloses the wearable device of claim 8; however, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER do not explicitly disclose that the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to, based on there being multiple contents including the user lock attribute,
group the multiple contents into one group, and
move the group relative to the environment according to the user's movement, both of which JEONG discloses (JEONG; ¶ 0138; “The processor 350 may, when a movement of the HMD device 200 is detected, re-set the focus space, based on the distance between the HMD device 200 and the designated object 712 and/or the selected object 713 [group the multiple contents into one group]. … the processor 350 may reduce the focus space when the distance between the HMD device 200 and the designated object 712 and/or the selected object 713 becomes short or may enlarge the focus space when the distance between the HMD device 200 and the designated object 712 and/or the selected object 713 becomes long [move the group relative to the environment according to the user's movement].”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the wearable device of claim 8 of ISHIKAWA-HOOVER to include the grouping the multiple contents into one group and the moving the group relative to the environment according to the user's movement of JEONG. The motivation for this modification is to maintain continuity amongst an assemblage of objects that are relevant to a user’s perception of his/her environmental surroundings. By grouping the assemblage of objects into a single grouping, the group may be moved according to the user’s detected gaze to maintain constant awareness of said group of objects.
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ISHIKAWA in view of HOOVER as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, respectively, and further in view of Oh (U.S. PG-PUB 2006/0132482, 'OH').
Regarding claim 5 and claim 15, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER discloses the wearable device of claim 1 and the method of claim 11; however, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER do not explicitly disclose that the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to, based on the generated boundary being a cuboidal boundary, change a size of the content and display the content in an area of one surface of the cuboidal boundary, which OH discloses (OH; FIGS. 6-7; ¶ 0074; “… a "perspective rectangle tool" ("PRT"), enables a user to draw "exact" rectangular features on a source image (in perspective) using a constrained [UI]. … FIG. 6 illustrates an acquisition position 600, a source image on the image plane 610, and a projection of a rectangular feature onto a world plane 620 [change a size of the content and display the content in an area of one surface of the cuboidal boundary]. The source image on the image plane 610 is what we may see as a part of a panorama on a computer display from the acquisition position 600. FIG. 7 shows a close-up of the image plane and the world plane. Shown on the image plane is a rectangular feature (a building facade) with perspective 700 in x-y coordinates and shown on a world plane is a rectified building facade 710 [surface of the cuboidal boundary] in x' and y' coordinates. Points 1-2-3-4 on the image plane 700 correspond to points 1'-2'-3'-4' on the world plane 710.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the wearable device of claim 1 and the method of claim 11 of ISHIKAWA-HOOVER to include the disclosure that, based on the generated boundary being a cuboidal boundary, change a size of the content and display the content in an area of one surface of the cuboidal boundary of OH. The motivation for this modification is to advantageously exploit a user’s surroundings to project an image onto a planar surface, which typically occurs on a facet of a cuboid, such as a wall of an interior room or a building’s exterior wall. Once such a planar facet is identified, the content can be stretched/shrunk to conform to the size of the facet.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ISHIKAWA in view of HOOVER as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2025/0166536, 'WANG').
Regarding claim 6, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER discloses the wearable device of claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the … processor(s) individually or collectively, cause the wearable device to:
based on the usage environment being a VR environment, determine an attribute of second content included in the content as (HOOVER; FIG. 9; ¶ 0106; “The objects [second content] in the user's FOR can be part of a world map [environment-related attribute] … Data associated with objects [attribute of second content] (e.g. location, semantic information, properties, etc.) can be stored in a variety of data structures such as, e.g., arrays, lists, trees, hashes, graphs, and so on. The index of each stored object, wherein applicable, may be determined … by the location of the object [environment-related attribute]. … the data structure may index the objects by a single coordinate such as the object's distance from a fiducial position … The fiducial position may be determined based on the user's position (such as the position of the user's head or eyes). The fiducial position may also be determined based on the position of a virtual or physical object (such as a target object) in the user's environment. That way, the 3D space in the user's environment may be collapsed into a 2D [UI] where the virtual objects are arranged in accordance with the object's distance from the fiducial position.”); however, ISHIKAWA-HOOVER do not explicitly disclose:
displaying the content to avoid the second content including the environment-related attribute , which WANG et al. discloses (WANG; ¶ 0088; “… AR content exceeds environmental brightness, so it remains visible during adaptation. The night mode … analyzes the real-world scene 718 to avoid overlaying content onto environmental objects, which would increase total brightness.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the wearable device of claim 1 of ISHIKAWA-HOOVER to include the displaying the content to avoid the second content including the environment-related attribute of WANG. The motivation for this modification is to provide a night mode feature for XR systems which are used to optimize performance in low light conditions. In a night mode, rendering settings are adjusted such as spatial resolution, temporal resolution, color mode, and brightness based on ambient light levels to align with the user's level of dark adaptation. This provides the advantages of maximizing information visible on the display, conserving power by only displaying what the eyes can perceive, and preserving night vision to see the real-world environment. An estimate of the user's current night vision status can be used to further optimize rendering (WANG; ¶ [0031]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN M COFINO whose telephone number is (303) 297-4268. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10A-4P MT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kent Chang can be reached at 571-272-7667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN M COFINO/Examiner, Art Unit 2614
/KENT W CHANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2614
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