DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 of this title, 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 1-2, 8, 11-12, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schpok U.S. Patent Application 20150178986 in view of McIlhany U.S. Patent 9739631.
Regarding claim 1, Schpok discloses an apparatus for mesh representation adjustment, the apparatus comprising:
at least one memory (memory 414); and
at least one processor (processor(s) 412) coupled to the at least one memory (paragraph [0050]: The computing device 410 can have a processor(s) 412 and a memory 414) and configured to:
process a first mesh representation of an environment to partition the environment into regions (paragraph [0043]: the high resolution geometry 135 within the extended boundary, including the region of high resolution geometry 110, is spatially partitioned into a plurality of discrete geospatial volumes 140; paragraph [0032]: The region of high resolution geometry 110 can include a mesh portion 112 associated with a street level resolution);
determine landmarks of the regions based on movement of virtual camera (paragraph [0031]: the high resolution geometry 110 can be associated with an object, such as a tree, building front, fire hydrant, or other object (landmarks) to provide a more realistic view of a streetscape in the three-dimensional model; paragraph [0003]: The three-dimensional model can have any number of level-of-detail (LOD) representations that can be used to increase or decrease the complexity/resolution of the three-dimensional model as the virtual camera moves closer to or farther from the model); and
process the first mesh representation and a dynamic mesh representation to generate a blended mesh representation of the environment wherein the dynamic mesh representation has a different resolution than the first mesh representation including a higher resolution associated with the landmarks in the environment (paragraph [0032]: The region of high resolution geometry 110 can include a mesh portion 112 (first mesh) associated with a street level resolution and a blended mesh portion 114 that provides a blend between the resolution of mesh portion 112 and the surrounding geometry data 105 (dynamic mesh); paragraph [0024]: The geometry data 105 can be a mesh, such as triangle mesh or other mesh. The mesh can include a plurality of polygons (e.g. triangles) that are used to model the geometry of a geographic area).
Schpok discloses all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above. However, Schpok fails to disclose determining landmarks of the regions based on movement of a user through the regions of the environment.
McIlhany discloses determining landmarks of the regions based on movement of a user through the regions of the environment (col. 9 line 47-54: At step 614 a search may be generated for POIs close to the closest intersection(s) determined at step 613. The POI search at step 614 may include all suitable POIs, one or more categories of POIs (e.g. hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.) (landmarks), and/or be based on various user inputted parameters (e.g. coffee shops with free Wi-Fi, etc.) At step 614 the POIs may be searched within a predetermined distance or travel time from the closest intersection; col. 9 line 24-26: The determination may be done in advance of travel, and/or in some embodiments may be calculated in real-time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok’s to determine landmark on route as taught by McIlhany, to provide dynamic user interaction with a route to browse and interrogate POIs along a route and obtain optimized travel information.
Regarding claim 2, Schpok as modified by McIlhany discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dynamic mesh representation is adjustable based on at least one of a user location, lighting conditions of the environment, or a user viewpoint (Schpok’s paragraph [0003]: The three-dimensional model can have any number of level-of-detail (LOD) representations that can be used to increase or decrease the complexity/resolution of the three-dimensional model as the virtual camera moves closer to or farther from the model; paragraph [0019]: a textured three-dimensional model can include geometry (e.g. a mesh, such as a triangle mesh or other mesh); McIlhany’s col. 9 line 47-54: At step 614 a search may be generated for POIs close to the closest intersection(s) determined at step 613. The POI search at step 614 may include all suitable POIs, one or more categories of POIs (e.g. hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.), and/or be based on various user inputted parameters (e.g. coffee shops with free Wi-Fi, etc.) At step 614 the POIs may be searched within a predetermined distance or travel time from the closest intersection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok’s to determine landmark on route as taught by McIlhany, to provide dynamic user interaction with a route to browse and interrogate POIs along a route and obtain optimized travel information.
Regarding claim 8, Schpok as modified by McIlhany discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the landmarks include traversable intersections of the regions of the environment (McIlhany’s col. 9 line 47-54: At step 614 a search may be generated for POIs close to the closest intersection(s) determined at step 613. The POI search at step 614 may include all suitable POIs, one or more categories of POIs (e.g. hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.), and/or be based on various user inputted parameters (e.g. coffee shops with free Wi-Fi, etc.) At step 614 the POIs may be searched within a predetermined distance or travel time from the closest intersection (landmark)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok’s to determine landmark on route as taught by McIlhany, to provide dynamic user interaction with a route to browse and interrogate POIs along a route and obtain optimized travel information.
Claim 11 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 1 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 1 applies to the method steps of claim 11.
Claim 12 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 2 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 2 applies to the method steps of claim 12.
Claim 18 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 8 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 8 applies to the method steps of claim 18.
Claim 20 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 1 as medium steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 1 applies to the medium steps of claim 20.
Claim 3 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schpok U.S. Patent Application 20150178986 in view of McIlhany U.S. Patent 9739631, and further in view of Li U.S. Patent Application 20240340256.
Regarding claim 3, Schpok as modified by McIlhany discloses blended mesh representation (Schpok's paragraph [0032]: The region of high resolution geometry 110 can include a mesh portion 112 associated with a street level resolution and a blended mesh portion 114 that provides a blend between the resolution of mesh portion 112 and the surrounding geometry data 105). However, Schpok as modified by McIlhany fails to disclose a resolution of the representation is based on resolution parameter of an application of a first device configured to receive the representation, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to: transmit the representation.
Li discloses a resolution of the representation is based on resolution parameter of an application of a first device configured to receive the representation, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to: transmit the representation (paragraph [0105]: the network device may send, to the terminal device (first device) based on the resolution, the screen size, and the operating system identifier corresponding to the hardware information, a multimedia message (representation) that matches the resolution, the screen size, and the operating system identifier of the terminal device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok and McIlhany’s to send multimedia file based on receiving device resolution as taught by Li, to meet requirements of different types of terminal devices for receiving multimedia messages.
Claim 13 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 3 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 3 applies to the method steps of claim 13.
Claim 4-5 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schpok U.S. Patent Application 20150178986 in view of McIlhany U.S. Patent 9739631, in view of Li U.S. Patent Application 20240340256, and further in view of Raleigh U.S. Patent Application 20160344604.
Regarding claim 4, Schpok as modified by McIlhany and Li discloses transmitting the blended mesh representation (Li’s paragraph [0105]: the network device may send, to the terminal device (first device) based on the resolution, the screen size, and the operating system identifier corresponding to the hardware information, a multimedia message (representation) that matches the resolution, the screen size, and the operating system identifier of the terminal device; Schpok's paragraph [0032]: The region of high resolution geometry 110 can include a mesh portion 112 associated with a street level resolution and a blended mesh portion 114 that provides a blend between the resolution of mesh portion 112 and the surrounding geometry data 105). However, Schpok as modified by McIlhany and Li fails to disclose an update frequency policy set by the application.
Raleigh discloses an update frequency policy set by the application (paragraph [0330]: the control policy can set up a priority to communicate cached elements, set minimum update frequencies, provide control policy overrides (typically for payment), or the like to fine-tune differential network access control policies).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok, McIlhany and Li’s to set up update frequency as taught by Raleigh, to balance capacity and improve network service experience.
Regarding claim 5, Schpok as modified by McIlhany, Li and Raleigh discloses the apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first device is a client device, and the apparatus is a server (Schpok's paragraph [0050]: The computing device 410 can also include a network interface used to communicate with one or more remote computing devices (e.g. client devices) 430 over a network 440… the computing device 410 can be a server).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok, McIlhany and Li’s to set up update frequency as taught by Raleigh, to balance capacity and improve network service experience.
Claim 14 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 4 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 4 applies to the method steps of claim 14.
Claim 15 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 5 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 5 applies to the method steps of claim 15.
Claim 6-7 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schpok U.S. Patent Application 20150178986 in view of McIlhany U.S. Patent 9739631, in view of Li U.S. Patent Application 20240340256, and further in view of Petrovic U.S. Patent Application 20230253094.
Regarding claim 6, Schpok as modified by McIlhany and Li discloses adjusting a resolution of the blended mesh representation along the trajectory of the user; and storing, based on the trajectory, a portion of the blended mesh representation in the at least one memory of the apparatus to be transmitted to a first device (McIlhany’s col. 9 line 47-54: At step 614 a search may be generated for POIs close to the closest intersection(s) determined at step 613. The POI search at step 614 may include all suitable POIs, one or more categories of POIs (e.g. hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.), and/or be based on various user inputted parameters (e.g. coffee shops with free Wi-Fi, etc.) At step 614 the POIs may be searched within a predetermined distance or travel time from the closest intersection; Schpok’s paragraph [0031]: the high resolution geometry 110 can be associated with an object, such as a tree, building front, fire hydrant, or other object to provide a more realistic view of a streetscape in the three-dimensional model; paragraph [0003]: The three-dimensional model can have any number of level-of-detail (LOD) representations that can be used to increase or decrease the complexity/resolution of the three-dimensional model as the virtual camera moves closer to or farther from the model; Li’s paragraph [0105]: the network device may send, to the terminal device based on the resolution, the screen size, and the operating system identifier corresponding to the hardware information, a multimedia message that matches the resolution, the screen size, and the operating system identifier of the terminal device; paragraph [0086]: the network device may store the at least two multimedia message bodies in one media server). However, Schpok as modified by McIlhany and Li fails to disclose generating a predicted trajectory of the user based on additional movement of the user within the environment.
Petrovic discloses generating a predicted trajectory of the user based on additional movement of the user within the environment (paragraph [0074]: At step 504, the location data is user to determine whether the user is traveling (i.e., moving towards) an image viewing device (e.g., workstation), also referred to herein as a “target location.” In some embodiments, user location data may be collected at multiple time steps or over a period of time to determine a trajectory (e.g., heading and speed) of the user... Based on the user's trajectory, a future location of the user can be predicted).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok, McIlhany and Li’s to predict trajectory as taught by Petrovic, to quickly retrieve a large number of images and improve performance.
Regarding claim 7, Schpok as modified by McIlhany, Li and Petrovic discloses the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the predicted trajectory is based on a direction of the additional movement and locations of the landmarks (Petrovic’s paragraph [0074]: At step 504, the location data is user to determine whether the user is traveling (i.e., moving towards) an image viewing device (e.g., workstation), also referred to herein as a “target location.” In some embodiments, user location data may be collected at multiple time steps or over a period of time to determine a trajectory (e.g., heading and speed) of the user... Based on the user's trajectory, a future location of the user can be predicted).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok, McIlhany and Li’s to predict trajectory as taught by Petrovic, to quickly retrieve a large number of images and improve performance.
Claim 16 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 6 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 6 applies to the method steps of claim 16.
Claim 17 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 7 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 7 applies to the method steps of claim 17.
Claim 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schpok U.S. Patent Application 20150178986 in view of McIlhany U.S. Patent 9739631, and further in view of Shimazu U.S. Patent Application 20020059207.
Regarding claim 9, Schpok as modified by McIlhany discloses determining the landmarks of the regions (Schpok’s paragraph [0031]: the high resolution geometry 110 can be associated with an object, such as a tree, building front, fire hydrant, or other object to provide a more realistic view of a streetscape in the three-dimensional model). However, Schpok as modified by McIlhany fails to disclose determining the landmarks of the regions based an amount of time the user is positioned at one or more locations within the regions.
Shimazu discloses determining the landmarks of the regions based an amount of time the user is positioned at one or more locations within the regions (paragraph [0046]: determining a landmark at which the user is staying and doing sight-seeing on the basis of outputs from the movement log retention section 21 and stay duration calculation section 24).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok and McIlhany’s to calculate stay duration as taught by Shimazu, to provide an information search/presentation system which can reduce the workload required to maintain and update map information.
Claim 19 recites the functions of the apparatus recited in claim 9 as method steps. Accordingly, the mapping of the prior art to the corresponding functions of the apparatus in claim 9 applies to the method steps of claim 19.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schpok U.S. Patent Application 20150178986 in view of McIlhany U.S. Patent 9739631, in view of Mori U.S. Patent Application 20250252709, and further in view of Singh U.S. Patent Application 20170011538.
Regarding claim 10, Schpok as modified by McIlhany discloses the first mesh representation includes a plurality of polygons (Schpok’s paragraph [0024]: The mesh can include a plurality of polygons (e.g. triangles) that are used to model the geometry of a geographic area). However, Schpok as modified by McIlhany fails to disclose a weighted score associated with a light intensity and an amount of time of user interaction, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to: adjust the representation based on the weighted score.
Mori discloses a weighted score associated with a light intensity, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to: adjust the representation based on the weighted score (paragraph [0070]: The image composition unit 11 adjusts the resolution, size, luminance (light intensity), color, and the like of the output image of each channel according to the magnitude of the weight, generates a new output image for each channel, and combines the generated new output images to generate a composite output image).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok and McIlhany’s to adjust representation based on weight as taught by Mori, to update accurate parameters.
Schpok as modified by McIlhany and Mori discloses all the features with respect to claim 10 as outlined above. However, Schpok as modified by McIlhany and Mori fails to disclose a weighted score associated with an amount of time of user interaction.
Singh discloses a weighted score associated with an amount of time of user interaction (paragraph [0081]: (vii) a weight ranging from 0 to 1, for example, based on the amount of time spent by the user interacting with image (e.g., scaled upwards the more time spent by the user interacting with image)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schpok, McIlhany and Mori’s to weight duration of interaction as taught by Singh, to identify user interest.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Yi Yang whose telephone number is (571)272-9589. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00 AM-6:00 PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Hajnik can be reached on 571-272-7642. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YI YANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2616
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