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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/21/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: 102. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 and 4-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Delamont (US 20200368616 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Delamont teaches an augmented reality (AR) image receiving device, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive content, and by using session information of each of a color masking image and a video masking image (par. 1067: “in the projection mapping and display of augmented reality virtual game images and video over real-world objects, the game server 88 or Host 89 may use a masking technique in which suitable software may be used to map the corners of the video or virtual images to the surfaces of the real-world object or space in the laser tag arena 98.”) for an object in a region of interest within the received content, to demultiplex the color masking image and the video masking image, respectively (par. 0477: “Further to the prior given examples use cases, the IR Transmitter 64 is operable to transmit data and voice signals captured from the devices microphones 120 in the IR Laser Beam signal and the IR receiver 65 is operable conversely to receive the transmitted data and voice signals which is demultiplexed from the IR Laser Beam using a demultiplexer and played back via the speakers of a user's IR Laser Gun Apparatus 47 or augmented reality (“AR”) display apparatus 1, speakers 66, in which both feature an IR Receiver and demultiplexer.”);
a synchronizer configured to synchronize the video masking image and the color masking image by using timestamps of the demultiplexed color masking image and video masking image (par. 1065: “In the case of a real-world AI Character 94 detailed 3D coordinates (x,y,z) and orientation (p,r,y) stemming from joint movements for every part of the a real-world AI Character body from the ends of their fingers, to their arms, legs, and head etc. may be provided by the devices client module 156 to the game server 88 or host 89 that allows adjustments to be made in real-time in the 3D projection mapping of augmented images over the real-world AI Character 94. Here the game server 88 or host 89 may know in advance of the move and be provided with timestamps for the coordinates, where movements are a result of a rag doll simulation for example, in which in precise time sequence with the movements of the AI Characters 94 body adjustments may be made to the external projectors 96 rotation, orientation, pan and tilt as well as their coordinates, by the game server 88 or host 89 display projection module 122.”);
a decoder configured to decode the synchronized video masking image and color masking image, respectively (par. 0138: “The users augmented reality (“AR”) display apparatus 1 also features an Encoder 15 and Decoder 16 that shall be used for the transmitting and receiving of data, images, audio and video over the network 97.”); and
a processor configured to transform the decoded video masking image and color masking image at the pixel level, respectively, and then extract pixel images in a region where the transformed video masking image and color masking image match, and then bind the extracted pixel images and pixel-level camera images acquired through a camera (par. 0076: “During this process the differing video frames or images maybe supplied in the form of 2D stereoscopic images or video frames by the rendering model 24 where the original generated 3D image is converted into a 2D stereoscopic image using rendering techniques such as rasterisation, ray casting or ray tracing in which the system may use a form of graphics card, graphics processor units (“GPU's”) or specialist hardware processors in the use of these rendering methods. The use of rasterization algorithms or the other described rendering techniques essentially converts the 3D image into a suitable 2D image for display on the users micro display 3, by converting 3D models into 2D planes.”).
Regarding claim 4, Delamont teaches the AR image receiving device of claim 1, wherein the color masking image comprises an image with less data than the data of the video masking image (par. 0077: “The 2D stereoscopic images may be provided as a video form in which two video sources are provided one for the left portion of the display 2L and one for the right portion of the display 2R showing images that have slightly different perspectives of the view of a moving image from which the playback of successive video frames when the images are combined by the user's brain creates a moving image that has 3D form.” NOTE: if the video is a combination of color images, it would naturally comprise a greater amount of data than the data of a color masking image.).
Regarding claim 5, Delmont teaches the AR image receiving device of claim 1, wherein the synchronizer is configured to synchronize the video masking image to the color masking image with less data than the data of the video masking image (par. 2000: “This device unlike other devices is different form of mixed reality device in which part of the device in terms of its handle is physical and tangible in the real-world and the other top part of the device is entirely virtual seen only via the users augmented reality (“AR”) display apparatus 1, micro-display 3 in which the top portion 295 of the device is shown as an augmented virtual holographic, hologram or 3D image formed of two differing two 2D stereoscopic images over the user's real-world view in precise synchronisation with the three dimensional coordinate/vector position (x,y,z) and orientation (p,r,y) and directional vector of the physical bottom portion of the device to form the full device.”).
Regarding claim 6, Delmont teaches the AR image receiving device of claim 1, wherein the pixel image comprises a specific object within a region of interest of a produced content (par. 0051: “The light display modules 5R, 5L control via the display circuitry and drivers the display of pixels which form virtual images of the game objects in which using pixel coordinates of the source image the light display modules 5R, 5L activates the illumination of individual pixels on micro display 3 display portions 2R, 2L.”).
Regarding claim 7, Delmont teaches an augmented reality (AR) image receiving method performed by the AR image receiving device of claim 1, the method comprising:
receiving content, and by using session information of each of a color masking image and a video masking image for an object in a region of interest within the received content, demultiplexing the color masking image and the video masking image, respectively (as above in claim 1 rejection);
synchronizing the video masking image and the color masking image by using timestamps of the demultiplexed color masking image and video masking image (as above in claim 1 rejection);
decoding the synchronized video masking image and color masking image, respectively (as above in claim 1 rejection); and
transforming the decoded video masking image and color masking image at the pixel level, respectively, and then extracting pixel images in a region where the transformed video masking image and color masking image match, and then binding the extracted pixel images and pixel-level camera images acquired through a camera (as above in claim 1 rejection).
Regarding claim 8, Delmont teaches a computer readable recording medium storing instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 7 (par. 0109: “The processing unit(s) 11 consists of one or more Central Processing Unit(s) (CPUs), and Graphics Processing Unit(s) (GPUs) where the CPU or CPUs shall be responsible for executing and handling of the pre-programmed code as well as the processing of all program instructions, system events, inputs and outputs provided by the core components and modules of the system as depicted in FIG. 1B and FIG. 2.”).
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.
Claim(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Delamont (US 20200368616 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kumar (US 10685488 B1).
Regarding claim 2, Delamont teaches the AR image receiving device of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the color masking image comprises an image encoded by masking a specific object within a region of interest of a produced content through a Gaussian filter and then removing noise from the masked specific object.
Kumar teaches a color masking image comprising an image encoded by masking a specific object within a region of interest of a produced content through a Gaussian filter and then removing noise from the masked specific object (col. 24, lines 27-32: “Each feature's gradient vector patch is resampled, weighted using a Gaussian mask using blending support on the GPU. The resampled and weighted gradient vectors are collected into a tiled texture block which is subsequently transferred back to the CPU and then used to compute the descriptors.”).
It would have been obvious to one familiar in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the Gaussian filter of Kumar in the AR image receiving device of Delamont, as both are in the same field of endeavor of manipulating three-dimensional models for augmented reality. Doing so would allow for more accurate color blending, something obviously beneficial to Delamont’s invention.
Regarding claim 3, Delamont teaches the AR image receiving device of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the video masking image comprises an image of a red, green, blue, alpha (RGBA) channel of a specific object in a region of interest of a produced content.
Kumar teaches a video masking image comprising an image of a red, green, blue, alpha (RGBA) channel of a specific object in a region of interest of a produced content (col. 23, lines 63-67: “The intensity image, gradients and the DOG values are stored in a RGBA texture and computed in the same pass. Blending operations in graphics hardware are used to find local extremas in the DOG pyramid in parallel at all pixel locations.”).
It would have been obvious to one familiar in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the RGBA channel of Kumar in the AR image receiving device of Delamont, as both are in the same field of endeavor of manipulating three-dimensional models for augmented reality. Doing so would allow for more accurate color storage, something obviously beneficial to Delamont’s invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN A BARHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-4338. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 8:30am-5pm EST.
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/RYAN ALLEN BARHAM/Examiner, Art Unit 2613
/XIAO M WU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2613
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