DETAILED ACTION
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 . It is responsive to the submission dated 02/12/2025. Claims 1-24 are presented for examination. Claims 1 and 23-24 are independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 02/12/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and are being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claims 1-20 and 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daichi (JP 2021111102 A) in view of Fukasawa et al. (WO 2023176210 A1).
Considering claims 1 and 2, Daichi discloses a device comprising at least one processing unit (e.g., Daichi discloses a live communication system 100 including a distribution device 104, a viewing device 108, and a server 102; see abstract and para. 13, wherein Each of the components of the distribution device 104 and the server 102 may include: a computing unit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and various coprocessors; see para. 20) to perform:
generation step of generating a plurality of derived part images in which a character is drawn [at mutually different angles or postures] on a basis of an input image including the character, and a plurality of derived part images of a part of the character in the derived image is generated on a basis of the part (e.g., Daichi discloses a video generation device includes an image acquiring unit configured to acquire a face image as a still image, a derived image generating unit configured to automatically generate a plurality of derived images as images in which a specific partial region included in the face image is changed, and an image display unit configured to display the face image as a moving image based on the plurality of derived images. See para. 9. The derived image generation unit 222 generates a plurality of derived images 240 from the character still image 224 in the open eye state. By superimposing the derived image 240 on the character still image 224, images of the character 114 corresponding to various degrees of eye opening are prepared. A set of one character still image 224 and a plurality of derived images 240 form a character video image 242. Similarly, the derived image generation unit 222 generates a plurality of derived images for the right eye (right eye region 230 R). The same applies to the mouth (described later). Three types of image groups of a plurality of derived images 240 relating to a right eye, a plurality of derived images 240 relating to a left eye, and a plurality of derived images 240 relating to a mouth are formed from one character still image 224. By combining multiple derived images 240 and one character still image 224 included in these three types of image groups, the degree of opening of the right eye, the degree of opening of the left eye, and the degree of opening of the mouth of the character 114 can be variously expressed. See paras. 56-57); and
a registration step of registering the derived part image as a distribution image for causing the character to move and managing the plurality of derived part images in association with a parameter used for generating the plurality of derived part images (e.g., Daichi discloses The derived image generation unit 222 collectively registers the derived image group and the character still image formed for each of the right eye, left eye, and mouth as a character moving image; and image transmission unit 214 of server 102 transmits the generated character video image to both distribution apparatus 104 and viewing apparatus 108 (S20). After transmitting the character video, the live communication service by character 114 is enabled. When the distributor 110 opens and closes the right eye, the motion detector 130 detects the degree of opening of the right eye of the distributor 110. The characteristic data indicating the degree of opening of the right eye of the distributor 110 is transmitted from the distribution apparatus 104 to the server 102 as operation information. This operation information is also transmitted from the server 102 to the viewing device 108. See paras. 63-64, wherein the degree of eye opening state and the mouth opening state, in combination, corresponds to the parameter used for generating the plurality of derived part images).
The Daichi reference differs from the features of claims 1 and 2 in that it fails to teach to specifically teach that the character image is drawn at mutually different angles or postures, which is disclosed by Fukasawa (see abstract).
Particularly, Kukusawa discloses the information processing device 100 receives sensor data from the sensor devices 10A to 10F, and generates inertial skeleton data 20 of the user and mutually corrects the information in the optical skeleton data22 based on two different types of acquired posture information, and uses the corrected skeleton data 24. generate. See paras. 17-18. Furthermore, the information processing device 100 has one or more cameras, such as an RGB camera or a ToF (ranging sensor), inside or outside, and acquires image information capturing the posture of the user 14 by imaging. The information processing device 100 generates optical skeleton data 22 of the user 14 from the obtained image information…. Here, the skeleton data is an example of posture information indicating the movement of the user 14 (that is, the posture at each predetermined time period). In this disclosure, skeleton data at a predetermined point in time may be referred to as a pose. See paras. 29-30.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art, before the effective filling date of the invention was made, to have modified the teachings of Daichi to include generating character image at mutually different angles or postures, in the same conventional manner as taught Fukusawa; so that an image sensor coupled to an information processing apparatus 100 would be able to generate and save a captured image with posture information indicating the movement of the user 14 (that is, the posture at predetermined intervals of time) on the basis of image data from the camera parameters. See para. 30. Combining the teachings of Daichi with Fukusawa would provide the benefit of correcting inertial motion capture errors increase in accordance with time based on the data resulting from the camera, making it possible to continue executing motion capture while maintaining high accuracy for a long period of time. See para. 20 of Fukusawa.
As per claim 3, Fukusawa, as modified by Daichi, discloses at least one processing unit further causes the computer to execute a step of designating the mutually different angles or postures. See paras. 28-29 and the rationale above with respect to the rejections of claims 1-2 for reasons of obviousness.
As per claim 4, Daichi discloses the derived image is generated from the image using an image generation model learned to output at least a derived image. See paras. 29 and 48-50.
As per claim 5, Daichi discloses the at least one processing unit causes the computer to execute an acceptance step of accepting the parameter that is an input condition input by a user as a generation condition of the derived image, and in the generation step, the derived image is generated from the image using the image generation model according to the input condition (e.g., Daichi discloses: A large amount of character still images 224 are read into an image recognition model (machine learning model), and the image recognition model specifies a partial area as response data. The user (educator) manually specifies a partial area of the character still image 224 and gives it to the image recognition model as teacher data (correct answer). The image recognition model adjusts internally to minimize the difference between the response data and the teacher data, specifically, the weights of the intermediate nodes contained in the neural network. When the designer creates a new character still image 224, the image recognition model identifies a partial area from the character still image 224 and presents it to the designer. The designer may manually modify the subregions identified by the image recognition model. According to such a control method, the partial area is specified by the image recognition model, and the designer can manually correct the partial area to improve the extraction accuracy of the partial area. As a modification, the designer may specify the partial area directly from the character still image 224 without using the image recognition model. For example, the designer may specify in the character still image 224 in the partial area corresponding to the upper right eyelid 226R and notify the server 102 of this. Since the partial identification function by the image recognition model is not used, the designer's labor is increased, but the designer can precisely set the partial area of the character still image 224 without relying on the image recognition model. See paras. 72-74).
As per claim 6, Daichi discloses a derived image for each expression of the character is generated. See paras. 25, and 68 and 77.
As per claim 7, Daichi discloses a number of derived images in a range in which a face of the character is visible is larger than a number of derived images in a range in which a face of the character is not visible. See paras. 57-59.
As per claim 8, Fukasawa, as modified by Daichi, discloses the parameter includes an instruction related to a range of an angle in which a character in a generated derived image is drawn. See paras. 28-29 of Fukasawa and the rationale above with respect to the rejections of claims 1-2 for reasons of obviousness.
As per claim 9, Daichi discloses at least one of the derived image or the derived part image is generated on a basis of information related to personality of the character acquired by the computer. See para. 19.
As per claim 10, the additional feature of claim 10 could have been easily derived by a person skilled in the art from the features of Fukasawa, considering that in Fukasawa’s embodiment it is provided that the plurality of derived images 240 are generated while lowering and raising the eyelash line of the upper eyelid; and causing the derived image generating unit 222 changes the curved line 250 from the upward convex to the downward convex as the degree of eye opening decreases (the closer to the closed eyes), such that a large number of deliverers providing services through a large number of characters, so as to generate a moving image encompassing both character-specific appearances and human-specific "real connections" (see paras. 83-87 in view of paras. 5-9). Thus, generating a number of derived part images from a derived image in which the character faces forward is larger than a number of derived part images generated from a derived image in which the character faces straight backward would have been considered a normal design act that the skilled person in the art would do without an inventive step when presented with the teachings of Fukasawa. The benefit would be to provide a, an interactive mechanism for efficiently generating a moving image of the character facilitating a good viewing experience for the user.
As per claim 11, Daichi discloses the derived image, the plurality of derived part images, and information indicating positions of the plurality of derived part images in the derived image are registered. See para. 63.
As per claim 12, Daichi discloses the derived image and the part are hierarchically managed in association with each other. See para. 79, wherein by extracting the entire image or modify the image parts from the head down, the Baichi reference obviously manage the image parts in a hierarchically manner in association with each other.
As per claim 13, Daichi discloses the part includes an eye, a mouth, and an eyebrow of the character. See paras. 76-78.
As per claim 14, Fukasawa, as modified by Daichi, discloses the angle is an angle of a face of the character. See paras. 17-18 of Fukasawa.
As per claim 15, Fukasawa, as modified by Daichi, discloses the angle is an angle within an angle range in a case where a face of the character faces left, right, up, and down. See paras. 71-75.
As per claim 16, Fukasawa, as modified by Daichi, discloses a posture of the character in the derived image is different from a posture of the character in the image, and an angle of the character in the derived image is different from an angle of the character in the image. See paras. 76-80.
As per claims 17-18, Daichi discloses feature information of the character in the image is registered, wherein the feature information includes a line of hair and/or a contour of a face of the character. See paras. 63-64.
As per claim 19, Daichi discloses the image is an image including a part or all of an upper body of the character. See para. 79.
As per claim 20, Daichi discloses the device causes the computer to execute a distribution step of distributing the derived image, the plurality of derived part images, and motion information indicating a motion of a distributor. See paras. 13-19 and 39-43.
As per claim 23, Daichi discloses a system (100) comprising a distributor terminal (104), a server device (102), and a viewer terminal (108); see paras. 13-14), wherein
the distributor (e.g., deliverer 104) terminal includes:
an acquisition unit that acquires motion information indicating a motion of a distributor; and a first transmission unit that transmits the motion information to the server device (e.g., Daichi discloses: Fig. 6 is a screen diagram of a deliverer conversation screen 206 displayed on the distribution apparatus 104. The deliverer conversation screen 206 illustrated in Fig. 6 is displayed on the delivery apparatus 104 of the deliverer 110 responsible for the delivery character 114a1 (corresponding to the watch character 114b1). The delivery character display unit 138 causes the delivery character 114a1 to be displayed as an animation. The watch character 114b1 and the delivery character 114 a are the same character, and the movements thereof are the same. The deliverer 110 conversations with a plurality of viewers 112 (viewers who have selected the viewing character 114b1 as the other party in the conversation 112) while confirming, by the delivery apparatus 104, the movement of the delivery character 114a1, which is the property of the deliverer 110 itself. The distributor 110 inputs the first message in voice toward the distribution apparatus 104. The transmission unit 148 transmits the first message to the server 102, and the live control unit 218 of the server 102 distributes the first message to the plurality of viewing devices 108. See para. 37);
the server device includes: a first generation unit that generates a plurality of derived part images in which a character is drawn [at mutually different angles or postures] on a basis of an input image including the character (e.g., Daichi discloses a video generation device includes an image acquiring unit configured to acquire a face image as a still image, a derived image generating unit configured to automatically generate a plurality of derived images as images in which a specific partial region included in the face image is changed, and an image display unit configured to display the face image as a moving image based on the plurality of derived images. See para. 9. The derived image generation unit 222 generates a plurality of derived images 240 from the character still image 224 in the open eye state. By superimposing the derived image 240 on the character still image 224, images of the character 114 corresponding to various degrees of eye opening are prepared. A set of one character still image 224 and a plurality of derived images 240 form a character video image 242. Similarly, the derived image generation unit 222 generates a plurality of derived images for the right eye (right eye region 230 R). The same applies to the mouth (described later). Three types of image groups of a plurality of derived images 240 relating to a right eye, a plurality of derived images 240 relating to a left eye, and a plurality of derived images 240 relating to a mouth are formed from one character still image 224. By combining multiple derived images 240 and one character still image 224 included in these three types of image groups, the degree of opening of the right eye, the degree of opening of the left eye, and the degree of opening of the mouth of the character 114 can be variously expressed. See paras. 56-57); and
a registration step of registering the derived part image as a distribution image for causing the character to move and managing the plurality of derived part images in association with a parameter used for generating the plurality of derived part images (e.g., Daichi discloses The derived image generation unit 222 collectively registers the derived image group and the character still image formed for each of the right eye, left eye, and mouth as a character moving image; and image transmission unit 214 of server 102 transmits the generated character video image to both distribution apparatus 104 and viewing apparatus 108 (S20). After transmitting the character video, the live communication service by character 114 is enabled. When the distributor 110 opens and closes the right eye, the motion detector 130 detects the degree of opening of the right eye of the distributor 110. The characteristic data indicating the degree of opening of the right eye of the distributor 110 is transmitted from the distribution apparatus 104 to the server 102 as operation information. This operation information is also transmitted from the server 102 to the viewing device 108. See paras. 63-64, wherein the degree of eye opening state and the mouth opening state, in combination, corresponds to the parameter used for generating the plurality of derived part images); and
a second transmission unit that transmits motion information received from the distributor terminal and the derived part image generated by the first generation unit to the viewer terminal (e.g., Daichi discloses: The second message output unit 140 causes the second message from the viewer 112 to be displayed in the message region 198 in chronological order. The deliverers 110 speak to the unspecified number of viewers 112 while viewing the second messages displayed one after the other in the message region 198. The camera 208 (imaging unit 118) of the distribution apparatus 104 captures an image of the distributor 110. The motion detection unit 130 detects an expression of the deliverer 110 from the captured image, and the motion information generation unit 144 generates motion information. The delivery character display unit 138 determines the movement of the delivery character 114a1 based on the movement information. See para. 38), and
the viewer terminal includes:
a second generation unit that generates an image of a character corresponding to a motion of the distributor on a basis of a derived part image and motion information received from the server device; and a display control unit that causes a display unit to display an image generated by the second generation unit (e.g., Daichi discloses: The viewing character display unit 180 of the viewing device 108 causes the viewing character 114b1 selected as a pacifier to be displayed as an animation. Viewer 112 enjoys a conversation with viewer character 114b1. The viewer 112 does not see the shape of the deliverer 110. The first message output unit 182 of the viewing apparatus 108 outputs voice (first message) from the deliverer 110 responsible for the viewing character 114b1. The viewer 112 textually enters a message (second message) to the viewing character 114b1. The server 102 shares the first message and the second message between the distribution apparatus 104 and the viewing apparatus 108. The second message output unit 184 causes the message area 198 to display the second message as a text. Since one deliverer 110 simultaneously interacts with a plurality of viewers 112 in parallel, the server 102 broadcasts the second message of each viewer 112 to the distribution apparatus 104 and the plurality of viewers 112. The viewer 112 can view not only his or her second message but also the second message of the other viewers 112 through the message region 198. The second message output unit 184 causes the second messages to be displayed side by side in the reception order. See paras. 35-36).
The Daichi reference differs from the features of claims 1 and 2 in that it fails to teach to specifically teach that the character image is drawn at mutually different angles or postures, which is disclosed by Fukasawa (see abstract).
Particularly, Kukusawa discloses the information processing device 100 receives sensor data from the sensor devices 10A to 10F, and generates inertial skeleton data 20 of the user and mutually corrects the information in the optical skeleton data22 based on two different types of acquired posture information, and uses the corrected skeleton data 24. generate. See paras. 17-18. Furthermore, the information processing device 100 has one or more cameras, such as an RGB camera or a ToF (ranging sensor), inside or outside, and acquires image information capturing the posture of the user 14 by imaging. The information processing device 100 generates optical skeleton data 22 of the user 14 from the obtained image information…. Here, the skeleton data is an example of posture information indicating the movement of the user 14 (that is, the posture at each predetermined time period). In this disclosure, skeleton data at a predetermined point in time may be referred to as a pose. See paras. 29-30.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art, before the effective filling date of the invention was made, to have modified the teachings of Daichi to include generating character image at mutually different angles or postures, in the same conventional manner as taught Fukusawa; so that an image sensor coupled to an information processing apparatus 100 would be able to generate and save a captured image with posture information indicating the movement of the user 14 (that is, the posture at predetermined intervals of time) on the basis of image data from the camera parameters. See para. 30. Combining the teachings of Daichi with Fukusawa would provide the benefit of correcting inertial motion capture errors increase in accordance with time based on the data resulting from the camera, making it possible to continue executing motion capture while maintaining high accuracy for a long period of time. See para. 20 of Fukusawa.
As per claim 22, Daichi discloses a part of the character is extracted from a derived image in which the character is drawn, and a plurality of derived part images of the part is generated on a basis of the extracted part. See abstract and paras. 45-49. And, Fukasawa discloses generating character image at mutually different angles or postures. See paras. 17-18 and 27-29. Thus, the combination of Daichi and Fukasawa obviously meets the features of claim 22. See the rationale above with respect to the rejections of claims 1-2 for reasons of obviousness.
The invention of claim 24 recites features that correspond in scope with the limitations recited claim 1. As the limitations of claim 1 were found obvious over the combined teachings of Fukasawa and Daichi, it is readily apparent that the applied prior arts perform the underlying elements. As such, the limitations of claim 24 are, therefore, subject to rejections under the same rationale as claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claim 21 is 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, because the prior art of record fail to teach the device according to claim 2, wherein in the registration step, for each of the part, some or all of a plurality of derived part images of the part, information identifying a parent part of the part, a relative position of the part with respect to the parent part, and a reproduction speed of the plurality of derived part images are generated and managed as metadata.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Scapel et al. (US 12482161) discloses a method is performed at an electronic device having one or more cameras and a display apparatus. The method comprises: displaying, via the display apparatus, a virtual avatar having a plurality of avatar features that change appearance in response to detected changes in pose of a face in a field of view of the one or more cameras, the plurality of avatar features including: a first avatar feature; a second avatar feature different from the first avatar feature; and a third avatar feature different from the first and second avatar features; while the face is detected in the field of view of the one or more cameras, the face including a plurality of detected facial features including a first facial feature and a second facial feature different from the first facial feature, detecting movement of one or more facial features of the face; and in response to detecting the movement of the one or more facial features: in accordance with a determination that the detected movement of the one or more facial features includes movement of the first facial feature in a first direction: moving the first avatar feature in the first direction based on the detected movement of the first facial feature in the first direction; and moving the second avatar feature and the third avatar feature in a second direction different from the first direction and based on the detected movement of the first facial feature in the first direction; and in accordance with a determination that the detected movement of the one or more facial features includes movement of the second facial feature: moving the second avatar feature based on at least one of a direction and a magnitude of movement of the second facial feature.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WESNER SAJOUS whose telephone number is (571) 272-7791. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10:00 TO 7:30 (ET).
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/WESNER SAJOUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612
WS
08/08/2026
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