DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after 16 March 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This Office action is in response to the application received on 28 February 2025. Claims 1-12 are pending.
Priority
The claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d) is acknowledged. A certified copy of the priority application has been received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDSes received on 28 February 2025 and 18 February 2026 have been considered, excepting the foreign patent documents 1-10 cited on both IDSes. The copies of the patents are incomplete, because the Japanese text is missing from some or all of the pages of each of the documents, and do not satisfy all of the requirements of 37 C.F.R. 1.98(a)(2).
Specification
The title of the invention is objected to because it is not indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The title "Working System for Providing a Virtual Image Corresponding to a Remotely Operated Mobile Body" is offered for consideration by the applicant but is not strictly required.
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.
Claims 1-4, 8-9, and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 9,996,978 B2 (Olson et al.).
Claim 1.
Olson discloses a working system configured to perform a work by a working mobile body remotely operated by a user (Figs 1,2; col 2 ln 44-47 - "The remoted-controlled (RC) vehicle 118 may comprise one or more of a flying vehicle, a terrestrial vehicle, a subsurface water vehicle, a surface water vehicle, and/or other remoted-controlled vehicles"), comprising:
a head-mounted display configured to be worn by the user and provide the user with a virtual space image corresponding to a real space around the working mobile body (col 4 ln 28-32 - "The graphics component may be configured to effectuate presentation of augmented reality images (see, e.g., AR component 110 of one or more physical processor(s) 102) via the display for viewing by a user of display interface 122", col 4 ln 43-45 - "A user-worn display may comprise one or more of a head-mounted display, and/or other user-worn displays. A head-mounted display may comprise one or more of glasses, goggles and/or other devices"); and
one or more processors that execute computer-executable instructions stored in a memory (col 2 ln 39-40 - "the system 100 may comprise one or more of one or more physical processors 102", col 6 ln 39-40 - "The one or more physical processors 102 may be configured by machine-readable instructions 104", col 11 ln 59-61 - "Electronic storage 112, 136, and/or 146 may comprise electronic storage media that electronically stores information"),
wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
generate the virtual space image corresponding to a position and a direction of the working mobile body (col 4 ln 28-32, col 4 ln 32-34 - "The augmented reality images may include at least some of view information generated by the image capturing device 128", col 9 ln 25-30 - "Motion capture system 137 may be configured to determine localization information associated with RC vehicle 118 within the real-world environment. Localization information may include one or more of a position, an orientation, and/or other information associated with RC vehicle 118").
Claim 2.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
generate the virtual space image in which visual attraction of a work target area is enhanced in accordance with a work priority level (col 8 ln 2-5 - "one or more augmented reality graphic represented by the augmented reality information may be configured to be overlaid on one or more real-world objects depicted within the view information", col 11 ln 15-16 - "Third graphic 306 may comprise a virtual object, for example, a target").
Claim 3.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
determine a working condition of the working mobile body (col 3 ln 1-4 - "RC vehicle 118 may include [...] one or more sensors 132", col 3 ln 50-53 - "sensors 132 may be configured to generate output conveying motion information associated with RC vehicle 118"); and
change the virtual space image in accordance with the working condition that has been determined (col 4 ln 63-col 5 ln 3 - "the one or more sensors of input interface 124 may be configured to generate output signals conveying motion information associated with the one or more sensors. The motion information may include one or more of a position, an orientation, a velocity, an acceleration, and/or other information associated with motion of the one or more sensors in a real-world environment", col 5 ln 36-38 - "The feedback interface 126 may be configured to provide one or more of auditory, tactile, and/or other feedback to a user").
Claim 4.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 3, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
generate an acoustic signal (col 4 ln 63-col 5 ln 3); and
change, in accordance with the working condition, the acoustic signal that has been generated, and provide a sound corresponding to the acoustic signal to the user (col 5 ln 36-38, col 5 ln 42-45 - "An audio reproduction device may comprise one or more of headphones, ear buds, a speaker, and/or other audio reproduction devices").
Claim 8.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
award the user a point in accordance with the work performed by the working mobile body remotely operated by the user (col 8 ln 53-56 - "Gameplay may comprise one or more of combat, racing, obstacle courses, dancing, collaborating, chasing, mimicking, and/or other types of gameplay").
Claim 9.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
predict whether or not the working mobile body contacts an obstacle (col 6 ln 55-59 - "video component 106 may be configured to execute one or more of object recognition, computer vision, and/or other techniques for recognizing, identifying, and/or tracking objects within the view information", col 10 ln 38-42 - "safety control signals may be determined and/or implemented in accordance with one or more other safety procedures. Such procedures may include one or more of avoiding impact of RC vehicle 118 with a user and/or other objects"); and
control the working mobile body so as to avoid contact between the working mobile body and the obstacle in a case that the contact between the working mobile body and the obstacle is predicted (col 10 ln 38-42).
Claim 11.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
acquire image data configured to be used in generating the virtual space image through a network communication (col 11 ln 32-40 - "network(s) 114 may be configured to facilitate communication of one or more of: radio signals between two or more of input interface 124, one or more physical processors 102, or RC vehicle 118; view information between two or more of RC vehicle 118, display interface 122, or one or more physical processors 102; augmented reality information between one or more physical processors 102 and display interface 122; and/or other communications"); and
generate the virtual space image using the image data that has been acquired (col 11 ln 41-47 - "The external resources 120 may include sources of information, hosts, and/or providers of virtual spaces outside of system 100, external entities participating with system 100, external entities for player-to-player communications, and/or other resources. In some implementations, some or all of the functionality attributed herein to external resources 120 may be provided by resources included in system 100").
Claim 12.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 4, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
acquire acoustic data configured to be used in generating the acoustic signal through a network communication (col 11 ln 32-40); and
generate the acoustic signal using the acoustic data that has been acquired (col 11 ln 41-47).
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.
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Olson in view of US 2025/0068160 A1 (Mariani et al.).
Claim 5.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1.
Mariani teaches the limitations not expressly further disclosed by Olson, namely:
wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
generate a first virtual space image and a second virtual space image, the first virtual space image being the virtual space image corresponding to a case where a viewpoint is placed on the working mobile body, the second virtual space image being the virtual space image corresponding to a case where a viewpoint is placed outside the working mobile body (para [0088] - "The virtual environment generator 614 may use the sensor data, the vehicle state data, and/or the calibration data to generate a virtual environment that may represent the environment [...] in the field(s) of view of the sensor(s) 610 of the vehicle 602 [...] as well as represent at least a portion of the vehicle 602 [...] and/or controls of the vehicle 602", para [0089] - "The virtual environment may be generated from any number of vantage points of a remote operator. For instance, in some examples, the virtual environment may be generated from a vantage point within a driver's seat of the virtual vehicle [...] and from a position outside of the virtual vehicle [...] such as on top of the virtual vehicle, to the side of the virtual vehicle, behind the virtual vehicle, above the virtual vehicle, etc."); and
in a case of generating the second virtual space image, set a virtual object corresponding to the working mobile body, for the working mobile body in the second virtual space image (para [0090] - "the remote operator may be able to generate a custom version of the virtual vehicle within the virtual environment").
As of the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Olson and Mariani because both relate to systems for remotely operating a mobile robot or vehicle using a VR interface. The combination would yield predictable results according to the teachings of Mariani by providing the VR user with a greater variety of information relating to the mobile robot.
Claim 6.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1.
Mariani teaches the limitations not expressly further disclosed by Olson, namely:
wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
change the virtual space image in accordance with at least one of a total time obtained by adding up periods of time when the user operates the working mobile body, a total distance obtained by adding up distances that the user moves the working mobile body, a working characteristic of the user, or an operation characteristic of the user (para [0130] - "the virtual environment may be generated using the vehicle state data and/or the calibration data [...] In such examples, the vehicle state data may be used [...] to update visual indicators of the vehicle state in the virtual environment (e.g., to update [...] an odometer").
See claim 5 for a statement of an obviousness rationale.
Claim 7.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 1, and further discloses wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
generate an acoustic signal (col 4 ln 63-col 5 ln 3).
Mariani teaches the limitations not expressly further disclosed by Olson, namely:
change the acoustic signal that has been generated, in accordance with at least one of a total time obtained by adding up periods of time when the user operates the working mobile body, a total distance obtained by adding up distances that the user moves the working mobile body, a working characteristic of the user, or an operation characteristic of the user (para [0049] - "audio associated with the virtual environment may be output using one or more speakers", para [0133] - "Any other examples for updating the virtual environment to reflect the vehicle 602 and/or other aspects of the real-world environment are contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure. By updating at least a portion of the virtual vehicle and/or other features of the virtual environment using the calibration data, the remote operator may have a more immersive, true-to-life, and realistic virtual environment to control the virtual vehicle within, thereby contributing to the ability of the remote operator to control the vehicle 602 in the real-world environment more safely and effectively").
See claim 5 for a statement of an obviousness rationale.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Olson in view of US 2024/0199204 A1 (Pearson et al.).
Claim 10.
Olson discloses the working system according to claim 9.
Pearson teaches the limitations not expressly further disclosed by Olson, namely:
wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the working system to:
deploy an airbag provided in the working mobile body in a case that the contact between the working mobile body and the obstacle is unavoidable (para [0136] - "The emergency protection system 124 comprises a deployable energy absorption system 126. In some embodiments, the deployable energy absorption system 126 comprises an airbag. The deployable energy absorption system 126 is configured to deploy in the case where the manned VTOL aerial vehicle 100 is in a collision", para [0359] - "a VTOL aerial vehicle may be piloted remotely").
As of the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Olson and Pearson because both relate to systems for remotely operating a mobile robot or vehicle. The combination would yield predictable results according to the teachings of Pearson by providing a measure of collision safety for the remotely operated robot or vehicle.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record on Form 892 (Notice of References Cited) generally relates to systems for remotely controlling a mobile robot or vehicle or to systems for providing a user with a VR interface.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Todd Melton whose telephone number is (571)270-3871. The examiner can normally be reached weekdays, 9:30am - 6:00pm (Eastern time). 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, Navid Mehdizadeh can be reached at 571-272-7691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TODD MELTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669
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