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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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) 1-6, 8-11 and 13-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Weitz et al. (WO 2020/0141537 A1, hereinafter “Weitz”).
As to claim 1, Weitz (Fig. 3A) discloses a method for maintaining a reference database of images of a person's retina, the method comprising:
obtaining a plurality of reference images of the person's retina while the person is assumed to be looking at a known gaze target (302; Para. 0106, 0107, 0118), each of the reference images capturing a different portion of the retina (Para. 0011-0014, 0110);
calculating a gaze target associated with a certain reference image from the plurality of reference images (Para. 0143, 0147);
if the calculated gaze target is determined to be the known gaze target (para. 0150), then generating a command to store image data related to the certain reference image in a reference database used as a reference for tracking gaze of the person (304; Para. 0107); and
if the calculated gaze target is not determined to be the known gaze target, then generating a command not to store the image data related to the certain reference image in the reference database or to remove the image data related to the certain reference image from the reference database (Para. 0156, removing the areas of uneven brightness will happen for both cases including when the calculated gaze target is not determined to be the known gaze target).
As to claim 2, Weitz discloses the method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the reference images comprise partially overlapping different portions of the retina (Para. 0107, 0137-0138).
As to claim 3, Weitz (Fig. 2) discloses the method of claim 1 comprising determining that the calculated gaze target is the known gaze target when the calculated gaze target conforms with the known gaze target with a predetermined similarity (204; Para. 0089, 0160).
As to claim 4, Weitz (Fig. 2) discloses the method of claim 1 comprising
calculating an actual direction of gaze associated with the certain reference image by comparing the certain reference image to at least one of the plurality of reference images (step 206; Para. 0085);
calculating an expected direction of gaze associated with the certain reference image based on the known gaze target (Para. 0115);
preforming a comparison between the actual direction of gaze and the expected direction of gaze (Para. 0116); and
determining whether the calculated gaze target is the known gaze target, based on the comparison (Para. 0117).
As to claim 5, Weitz (Fig. 2A) discloses the method of claim 4 wherein comparing the certain reference image (22) to at least one of the plurality of reference images (24) comprises:
finding a spatial transformation between the at least one of the plurality of reference images and the certain reference image (Para. 0070); and
calculating the actual direction of gaze associated with the certain reference image, based on the transformation (Para. 0070).
As to claim 6, Weitz discloses the method of claim 1 wherein if no image from the plurality of reference images that at least partially overlaps with the certain reference image, is found, then the calculated gaze target is not determined to be the known gaze target (Para. 0184, 0187, it has to match in order to determine gaze direction).
As to claim 8, Weitz discloses the method of claim 1 comprising storing in the reference database image data related to the plurality of reference images in association with the known gaze target (Para. 0107).
As to claim 9, Weitz discloses the method of claim 1 comprising using the reference database as a reference for tracking gaze of the person by comparing information from the reference database with image data of the person's retina while the person is looking at an unknown gaze target, to calculate the unknown gaze target (Para. o011-0012, 0107).
As to claim 10, Weitz discloses the method of claim 9 comprising using a signal generated based on the calculated unknown gaze target to control a device (Fig. 2A step 28; Para. 0084).
As to claim 11, Weitz discloses the method of claim 10 wherein the device comprises an XR device (Para. 0002, 0093).
As to claim 13, Weitz discloses the method of claim 1 comprising:
detecting an under-imaged portion of the person's retina (Para. 0107, a portion of retina);
based on the under-imaged portion, providing instructions relating to movement of the person's head (Para. 0107-0110); and
obtaining images of the person's retina while the person is looking at the known gaze target while moving the person's head according to the instructions (Para. 0107-0110).
As to claim 14, Weitz discloses the method of claim 1 comprising displaying the known gaze target on a display of a user interface (UI) device (Para. 0066).
As to claim 15, Weitz (Fig. 1A) discloses a gaze tracking system (100) comprising:
a camera (103) to capture images of a person's retina while the person is assumed to be looking at a known gaze target (Para. 0068);
a reference database to store image data related to the images of the person's retina in association with the known gaze target (Para. 0066); and
a processor (102) to:
calculate a gaze target associated with a certain image from the images of the person's retina (Para. 0079, 0106);
if the calculated gaze target is determined to be the known gaze target, then store image data related to the certain image in the reference database (Para. 0107, 0140); and
if the calculated gaze target is not determined to be the known gaze target, then not to store image data related to the certain image in the reference database (Para. 0156).
As to claim 16, Weitz discloses the system of claim 15 wherein the processor is to compare information from the reference database, with image information of the person's retina while the person is looking at an unknown gaze target, to calculate a location of the unknown gaze target (Para. o011-0012, 0107).
As to claim 17, Weitz discloses the system of claim 15 comprising a user interface (UI) device configured to display the known gaze target (Para. 0066).
As to claim 18, Weitz discloses the system of claim 17 wherein the known gaze target is a moving target (Para. 0118).
As to claim 19, Weitz discloses the system of claim 15 comprising an XR device operative based on the reference database (Para. 0002, 0093).
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) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weitz as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Trail et al. (US 10,928,635 B1, hereinafter “trail”).
As to claim 7, Weitz discloses the method of claim 1 comprising:
creating a panorama image of the person's retina from the plurality of reference images (Para. 0131-0135);
calculating a location of fovea for the certain reference image (Para. 0132-0135).
Weitz does not disclose if the calculated location of fovea is an outlier in relation to other calculated locations of fovea, then a gaze target associated with the certain reference image is not determined to be the known gaze target.
However, Trail teaches if the calculated location of fovea is an outlier in relation to other calculated locations of fovea, then a gaze target associated with the certain reference image is not determined to be the known gaze target (Col. 6 lines 45-65, target FOV is a region that is likely to include foveal FOV of the user, and the peripheral region is generally viewed by a lower acuity part of the eye. Therefore, if fovea is outside the target FOV then it wouldn’t be determined as gaze target location).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Trail to calculate the target FOV and the peripheral view in the device disclosed by Weitz. The motivation would have been to reduce risk of any additional spatial distortion (Trail; Col. 3 lines 4-6).
Claim(s) 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weitz as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bortel et al. (US 2021/0373655 A1, hereinafter “Bortel”).
As to claim 12, Weitz does not disclose the method of claim 1 comprising:
detecting an under-imaged portion of the person's retina;
changing a location of the known gaze target in accordance with the under-imaged portion; and
obtaining images of the person's retina while the person is looking at the known gaze target after changing the location.
However, Bortel (Fig. 3) teaches detecting an under-imaged portion of the person's retina (Para 0035, the images may be presented with offsets to create retinal disparity);
changing a location of the known gaze target in accordance with the under-imaged portion (Para. 0035); and
obtaining images of the person's retina while the person is looking at the known gaze target after changing the location (Para. 0035).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Bortel to detect anomalous retinal correspondence in the device disclosed by Weitz. The motivation would have been to compensate for vergence disorders (Bortel; Para. 0011).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant‘s disclosure.
Yahav (US 2012/0147328 A1) discloses detecting a user’s gaze direction (Fig. 2C).
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BIPIN GYAWALI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2625
/BIPIN GYAWALI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2625
Prosecution Insights