DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on/after Mar. 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 USC 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 9, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dietrich, Jr. (U.S. PG-PUB 2024/0226729, 'DIETRICH') in view of Oefverstroem et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2024/0104808, 'OEFVERSTROEM') and Hosseini et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2022/0321944, 'HOSSEINI').
Regarding claim 1, DIETRICH discloses a method for updating a virtual scene picture performed by a computer device, the method comprising:
displaying a virtual scene picture of a cloud game transmitted by a cloud server (DIETRICH; FIG. 1; ¶ 0041-42; “… the proposed solution relates to a hybrid rendering of a virtual environment using cloud and local computing devices for rendering components of the virtual environment. … cloud gaming system 100 facilitates single-player and/or multiplayer … gaming … The cloud gaming system 100 includes a cloud platform 102 having … server computing devices (servers) 104 that are coupled to corresponding subsets of a plurality of client systems 106 via … the Internet.” ¶ 0046; “… the client system 106 receives from a corresponding server 104 information representing a rendered first set of components of a virtual environment … generated from execution of a corresponding player game session, and utilizes the compute, storage, and display resources of the client device 110 to locally render a second set of components of the virtual environment, composite the first set of rendered components and the rendered second set of components to generate a scene of the virtual environment, and display the resulting composited scene for a user. … the processing and display of such scenes is facilitated by a software application executed by the first and/or second gaming client devices at the client system 106 (and represented in FIG. 1 by … (GUI) 114). This software application can include, for example, a cloud-gaming-specific software application.”), wherein the virtual scene picture is generated by the cloud server by rendering first picture data according to a default display effect (DIETRICH; ¶ 0053; “Each of the listed objects within the virtual environment 200 may comprise multiple components. … an object in the virtual environment may include … model component(s), each describing one or more surface geometries and/or coordinate maps (e.g., as a collection of points in a [2-D] or [3-D] space); pose information describing location, position, and/or orientation associated with at least a portion of the object; … material component(s), each describing … aspect(s) of a virtual material (e.g., stone, metal, glass, etc.) comprising at least a portion of the object; … texture component(s), each describing … aspect(s) of … surface(s) of the object; and … lighting component(s), each describing a lighting effect to be rendered in association with the object.”).
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DIETRICH does not explicitly disclose displaying an effect switching region comprising … candidate picture display effect(s), which OEFVERSTROEM discloses (OEFVERSTROEM; ¶ 0033; “FIG. 3 illustrates an example of [GUIs] for designing a video sticker … The sticker generation module 118 may present a first GUI 302 including … control(s) 304 for selecting … special effect(s) (e.g., filters, transitions, motion graphic effects, animations, … etc. [candidate picture display effect(s)]) to apply and/or add to a video content item 112 to generate a video sticker 116 …”).
submitting, based on a user selection operation for a first picture display effect in the … … candidate picture display effect(s), which OEFVERSTROEM also discloses (OEFVERSTROEM; ¶ 0033; “FIG. 3 illustrates … [GUIs] for designing a video sticker …”), the first picture display effect to the cloud server (OEFVERSTROEM; ¶ 0075; “The system/device 1200 may be … practiced in distributed cloud computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices [cloud server] that are linked through a communication network.”), wherein the first picture display effect is different from the default display effect (OEFVERSTROEM; ¶ 0033; “… the sticker generation module 118 may present a first GUI 302 including … control(s) 304 for selecting … special effect(s) (e.g., filters, transitions, motion graphic effects, animations [candidate picture display effect(s)] … etc.) to apply and/or add to [the first picture display effect is different from the default display effect] a video content item 112 to generate a video sticker 116 …”);
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the method for updating a virtual scene picture of DIETRICH to include the displaying an effect switching region comprising … candidate picture display effect(s) of OEFVERSTROEM. The motivation for this modification is to create video stickers from user-generated content. These techniques may include receiving selection of a video content item previously uploaded to a social media platform (SMP) server application corresponding to the SMP client application and presenting a GUI for receiving … derivative attribute(s) [special effects and/or filters] for generating a derivative video sticker from the video content item. In addition, the techniques may include adding the derivative video sticker to a library of stickers provided by the SMP server application to … SMP client applications and presenting the derivative video sticker within a communication interface associated with the SMP server application (OEFVERSTROEM; Abstract).
DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM do not explicitly disclose the following limitations, which HOSSEINI discloses:
receiving second picture data transmitted by the cloud server (HOSSEINI; FIG. 1, ‘external network(s) 109’; ¶ 0015), wherein the second picture data is generated by the cloud server by adjusting the first picture data according to the first picture display effect (HOSSEINI; FIG. 4; ¶ 0050-52; “If a video frame is determined to comprise an ROI, the augmentation server 122 may modify the video frame by adding visual effects to that ROI [adjusting the first picture data according to the first picture display effect], thereby generating a modified video frame [receiving second picture data]. … based on determining that the video frame 414 comprises the ROI 408, the augmentation server 122 may generate the modified video frame 418 by adding the visual effects 419 to the ROI 408. The augmentation server 122 may … replace or cover the image of the empty seat section in the ROI 408 with an image showing a seat section occupied by sports fans. If the seat section in ROI 408 is blocked by foreground objects such as sports players, the augmentation server 122 may detect the foreground objects, extract the foreground objects from the video frame 414, add visual effects 419 to the ROI 408, and then overlay the extracted foreground objects over the visual effects 419. Visual effects added to a video frame (e.g., the visual effects 419 added to the video frame 414) may comprise past images captured during past activities, animated characters, videos provided via online video sessions, or any other video/image content. … if the video frame 414 is associated with a soccer game without a live audience, the visual effects 419 may comprise a past image, of an audience, captured during a past soccer game.”); and
updating the virtual scene picture to have the first picture display effect by rendering the second picture data transmitted by the cloud server (HOSSEINI; FIG. 4; ¶ 0085; “The visual effects 419 may comprise the selected visual template with or without modification. The modified video frame 418 may be generated by adding the visual effects 419 to ROI 408, of the video frame 414, to simulate the audience appearance for the video frame 414. The modified video content 417 may comprise the modified video frame 418 and … additional modified video frame(s). … during the video modification 402, the augmentation server 122 may generate the modified video content 417 by adding a simulated audience to the original video content 413. … a series of different images may be associated with a visual template (and/or with a series of visual templates) so that the added visual effects will simulate movement. … if a series of video frames show an empty seat section while a player is preparing to take a shot, slightly different images of a standing/waving audience may be added to ROIs in successive video frames so that the added visual effects may present movement of an audience.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the method for updating a virtual scene picture of DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM to include the receiving second picture data transmitted by the cloud server, wherein the second picture data is generated by the cloud server by adjusting the first picture data according to the first picture display effect and the updating the virtual scene picture to have the first picture display effect by rendering the second picture data transmitted by the cloud server of HOSSEINI. The motivation for this modification is to add visual … effects to a content item to improve [the] user experience. Addition of the visual … effects may be based on metadata associated with the content item (HOSSEINI; Abstract).
Independent claim 9 recites, after its preamble, the exact same limitations as independent claim 1; therefore, the same motivation(s) to combine references will be maintained.
Regarding claim 9, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI disclose a computer device, comprising a processor and a memory (DIETRICH; FIG. 5; ¶ 0069; “The computing system 500 may include … hardware processor(s) 502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a hardware processor core … a main memory 504, and a graphics processing unit (GPU) 506 …”), the memory having … program(s) stored therein, the … program(s), when executed by the processor (DIETRICH; FIG. 5; ¶ 0072; “The term “computer readable medium” may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the computing system 500 …”), causing the computer device to implement a method for updating a virtual scene picture including: … ([The remaining limitations are repeated verbatim from those recited in claim 1.]).
Independent claim 17 recites, after its preamble, the exact same limitations as independent claim 1; therefore, the same motivation(s) to combine references will be maintained.
Regarding claim 17, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI disclose a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having … program(s) stored therein (DIETRICH; FIG. 5; ¶ 0070-71; “The storage device 516 may include a computer readable medium 522 on which is stored … set(s) of data structures 523 (e.g., database) or instructions 524 (e.g., software) …” ¶ 0072; “The term “computer readable medium” may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the computing system 500 …”), the … program(s), when executed by a processor of a computer device, causing the computer device to implement a method for updating a virtual scene picture including: … ([The remaining limitations are repeated verbatim from those recited in independent claim 1.]).
Claims 2, 10, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DIETRICH in view of OEFVERSTROEM and HOSSEINI as applied to claims 1, 9, and 17 above, respectively, and further in view of Hwang et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2015/0193040, 'HWANG').
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Regarding claim 2, claim 10, and claim 18, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI discloses the method according to claim 1, the computer device according to claim 9, and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17; however, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI do not explicitly disclose that the updating [of] the virtual scene picture to have the first picture display effect comprises:
displaying an effect intensity adjustment region based on the user selection operation for the first picture display effect in the … candidate picture display effect(s), which HWANG discloses (HWANG; ¶ 0040; “FIG. 2 illustrates an example z-distance 220 and z-direction associated with … apparatus 200 that … interacts with a user based on orientation or angle information. The z-distance may be perpendicular to apparatus 200 and may be determined by how far the tip 210 of the finger is located from apparatus 200. FIG. 2 also illustrates a second distance associated with region 215 of the finger. The tip 210 of the finger may be associated with a measurement (x1, y1, z1) and region 215 may be associated with a measurement (x2, y2, z2).”);
receiving an adjustment operation in the effect intensity adjustment region, which HWANG also discloses (HWANG; FIG. 1; ¶ 0034; “The device 100 may include a proximity detector that detects when an object (e.g., digit, pencil, stylus with capacitive tip) is close to but not touching the i/o interface 110. The proximity detector may identify the location (x, y, z) of an object (e.g., finger) 160 in the [3-D] hover-space 150, where x and y are in a plane parallel to the interface 110 and z is perpendicular to the interface 110. The proximity detector may also identify other attributes of the object 160 including … how close the object is to the i/o interface (e.g., z-distance) …”); and
updating the virtual scene picture to have the first picture display effect in accordance with the first display effect intensity, which HWANG also discloses (HWANG; ¶ 0072; “Method 1600 may also include, at 1656, selectively controlling the operation of a [UI] element. Controlling the operation of the [UI] element may include … … controlling an intensity of a graphical effect associated with the [UI] element or controlling an area impacted by a graphical effect associated with the [UI] element. Consider a video game that includes a water hose. The hose may be aimed [by] using a pointing finger. The direction in which the water is supposed to fly may be controlled by the x-y orientation of the finger while the range to which the water is supposed to fly may be controlled by the angle of the finger. … the intensity of the water may be controlled by the distance of the finger from the interface [updating the virtual scene picture to have the first picture display effect in accordance with the first display effect intensity].”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the method according to claim 1, the computer device according to claim 9, and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 of DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI to include the displaying an effect intensity adjustment region based on the user selection operation for the first picture display effect in the … candidate picture display effect(s), the receiving an adjustment operation in the effect intensity adjustment region, and the updating the virtual scene picture to have the first picture display effect in accordance with the first display effect intensity of HWANG. The motivation for this modification is to utilize the intuitive modality of manipulating one’s own finger to control an extent of an effect through proximity by moving one’s own finger closer/farther from the surface of a touch screen input device.
Claims 3 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DIETRICH in view of OEFVERSTROEM and HOSSEINI as applied to claims 2 and 10 above, respectively, and further in view of Esch Duran (U.S. PG-PUB 2020/0030571, 'ESCH DURAN').
Regarding claim 3 and claim 11, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-HWANG discloses the method according to claim 2 and the computer device according to claim 10; however, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-HWANG does not explicitly disclose the following limitations, which ESCH DURAN discloses:
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the effect intensity adjustment region is an effect intensity adjustment slot, and
the effect intensity adjustment slot … adjusts the display effect intensity of the picture display effect (ESCH DURAN; FIG. 16; ¶ 0053; “… the user can select from four visual effects … Effect buttons 1602, … 1604, … 1606, and … 1608 each have a unique RGB value that is used to construct the translation table. The RGB values are preset for each of the effect buttons, but they each can be adjusted by the user as desired. The user can use a mouse … to drag the slider button 1610 on the sliding scale 1612 [effect intensity adjustment slot] to choose a visual effect intensity from 5% to 85% [adjusts the display effect intensity of the picture display effect] …”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the method according to claim 2 and the computer device according to claim 10 of DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-HWANG to include the disclosures that the effect intensity adjustment region is an effect intensity adjustment slot and that the effect intensity adjustment slot … adjusts the display effect intensity of the picture display effect of ESCH DURAN. The motivation for this modification is to utilize well-known and conventional graphical user interface elements such as a graphical slider [adjustment slot] to arbitrarily vary a value corresponding to the intensity of a graphical effect according to the desire of a user.
Claims 4-6, 12-14, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DIETRICH in view of OEFVERSTROEM and HOSSEINI as applied to claims 1, 9, and 17 above, respectively, and further in view of Lee et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2012/0105703, 'LEE').
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Regarding claim 4, claim 12, and claim 19, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI discloses the method according to claim 1, the computer device according to claim 9, and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17; however, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI do not explicitly disclose that the displaying an effect switching region comprises:
displaying the … candidate picture display effect(s) and a display effect identifier respectively corresponding to the … candidate picture display effect(s), the display effect identifier … previews an effect of applying the candidate picture display effect, which LEE discloses (LEE; FIGS. 22A-22C; ¶ 0217; “An operation of the mobile terminal 100 for editing a preview image of the AR mode by providing icons [display effect identifiers] representing … graphic effect(s) for the preview image, selecting one of the icons, and applying the graphic effect corresponding to the selected icon to the preview image [displaying the … candidate picture display effect(s)] … Display screens of the display unit 151 showing an operation for editing a preview image of the AR mode by applying a graphic effect to a preview image [previews an effect of applying the candidate picture display effect] … A UI can provide an edit function for applying a graphic effect corresponding to an icon to the preview image 300.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the method according to claim 1, the computer device according to claim 9, and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 of DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI to include the displaying the … candidate picture display effect(s) and a display effect identifier respectively corresponding to the … candidate picture display effect(s), the display effect identifier … previews an effect of applying the candidate picture display effect of LEE. The motivation for this modification is to implement a method for controlling a mobile terminal that includes displaying a preview image … in an augmented reality (AR) mode, displaying AR data corresponding to … object(s) in the preview image, and providing a [UI] for editing at least a portion of the preview image including the AR data in the AR mode to generate an edited preview image (LEE; Abstract).
Regarding claim 5, claim 13, and claim 20, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-LEE disclose the method according to claim 4, the computer device according to claim 12, and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein after the displaying the … candidate picture display effect(s) and a display effect identifier respectively corresponding to the … candidate picture display effect(s), the method further comprises:
receiving a user selection operation for a display effect identifier corresponding to a second picture display effect in the … candidate picture display effect(s); and
displaying, based on the user selection operation, a preview effect of applying the second picture display effect (LEE; ¶ 0218; “As shown in FIG. 22A, the UI 480 includes icons 481 and 482 which correspond to … graphic effect(s) [candidate picture display effect(s)]. A specific icon of icons 481 and 482 [display effect identifier], such as the icon 481, is selected [receiving a user selection operation for a display effect identifier] and a zone within the preview image 300 is designated for applying the graphic effect corresponding to the selected icon 481 as shown in FIG. 22B. The controller 180 then applies the graphic effect to the designated zone [displaying … a preview effect] as shown in FIG. 22C.”).
Regarding claim 6 and claim 14, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-LEE discloses the method according to claim 5 and the computer device according to claim 13, wherein the displaying, based on the user selection operation, a preview effect of applying the second picture display effect comprises:
displaying the preview effect of applying the second picture display effect to a currently displayed virtual scene picture (LEE; ¶ 0217; “An operation … for editing a preview image of the AR mode by providing icons representing … graphic effect(s) for the preview image, selecting one of the icons, and applying the graphic effect corresponding to the selected icon to the preview image … Display screens of the display unit 151 showing an operation for editing a preview image of the AR mode by applying a graphic effect to a preview image …” ¶ 0218; “The controller 180 then applies the graphic effect to the designated zone as shown in FIG. 22C.” [The Examiner notes that the fire/destruction effect of element 481 in FIG. 22A is applied to a particular area of FIG. 22B and is then displayed FIG. 22C as a building set dangerously leaning while the urban scene appears to go up in flames.]).
Claims 7 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DIETRICH in view of OEFVERSTROEM and HOSSEINI as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, respectively, and further in view of Dixon et al. (U.S. Patent 11,599,599; 'DIXON').
Regarding claim 7 and claim 15, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI disclose the method according to claim 1 and the computer device according to claim 9; however, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI do not explicitly disclose that the … candidate picture display effect(s) each corresponds to one picture adjustment strategy, the picture adjustment strategy … adjusts the first picture data by using the picture display effect and obtaining the second picture data by the cloud server (DIXON; FIG. 1; Col. 1, Lines 25-40; “… emulating a semi-transparent effect with respect to a display element rendered via a … (GUI). The semi-transparent effect may be generated based on a sampling of pixel values of another display element that is non-overlapping with the display element. For instance, pixel values of a portion of the other display element that is adjacent to an edge of the display element may be determined. Using the determined pixel values, a visualization scheme is generated that emulates a visual effect (e.g., a color gradient that emulates a blur effect). The determined visualization scheme is then applied to the display element. This causes the display element to appear semi-transparent such that the colors of the other display element appear to be behind the display element, thereby creating an effect that the display element is overlaid on top of the other display element.” Col. 5, Lines 56-67 ~ Col 6, Lines 1-3; “… page 114 may comprise a transparency effect generation script 116 loaded therefor. Transparency effect generation script 116, when executed by script engine 120 of browser 104, causes a display element (e.g., a display element rendered via an HTML-based div tag) displayed via page 114 to appear as if it is semi-transparent. … transparency effect generation script 116 may be configured to determine a visualization scheme [picture adjustment strategy] for a particular display element. The visualization scheme may emulate a visual effect. The visualization scheme may be based on pixel values used for another display element displayed via page 114 (e.g., a graphic rendered via an HTML-based canvas tag, an image rendered via an HTML-based image tag, video content rendered via an HTML-based video tag).”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the method according to claim 1 and the computer device according to claim 9 of DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI to include the disclosure that the … candidate picture display effect(s) each corresponds to one picture adjustment strategy and adjusting the first picture data by using the picture display effect and obtaining the second picture data by the cloud server of DIXON. The motivation for this modification is to implement methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage mediums … to emulate a semi-transparent effect with respect to a display element rendered via a GUI. The semi-transparent effect may be generated based on a sampling of pixel values of another display element that is non-overlapping with the display element. For instance, pixel values of a portion of the other display element that is adjacent to an edge of the display element may be determined. Using the determined pixel values, a visualization scheme [picture adjustment strategy] is generated that emulates a visual effect (e.g., a blur effect). The determined visualization scheme is then applied to the display element. This causes the display element to appear semi-transparent such that the colors of the other display element appear to be behind the display element, thereby creating an effect that the display element is overlaid on top of the other display element (DIXON; Abstract).
Claims 8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DIETRICH in view of OEFVERSTROEM, HOSSEINI, and DIXON as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, respectively, and further in view of Amer et al. (U.S. PG-PUB 2021/0281912, 'AMER').
Regarding claim 8 and claim 16, DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-DIXON discloses the method according to claim 7 and the computer device according to claim 15, wherein the second picture data is obtained by:
performing image processing on a video image frame sequence by using the picture adjustment strategy corresponding to the first picture display effect to obtain a processed video image frame sequence (HOSSEINI; FIG. 4; ¶ 0078; “… the augmentation server 122 [cloud server] may select a best visual template (e.g., a past image) that has information closest to that of the video frame 414. Because there still may be differences between [the] selected best visual template and the information of the video frame 414, the selected best visual template may represent audience reaction to a different scene as the video frame 414. To compensate for at least part of the difference, the selected best visual template may be modified before being added to ROI 408. … the metadata 403 may indicate that it is raining at the scene represented by the video frame 414. The video frame 414 may comprise rain drops [picture adjustment strategy corresponding to the first picture display effect]. However, the selected visual template may be associated with a sunny day and may not show rain drops. If the selected visual template is added to the ROI 408 without modification, the visual effects provided by the selected visual template may be inconsistent with other regions of the video frame 414. To improve the quality of the augmented content item 481, the augmentation server 122 may modify the selected visual template by using a filter add haze [like] rain drops, by adding animated rain drops [performing image processing on a video image frame sequence], and/or in other ways to make modified selected visual template more consistent with other regions of the video frame 414.”).
DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-DIXON do not explicitly disclose encoding the processed video image frame sequence based on a sequence order corresponding to the video image frame sequence by the cloud server, which AMER discloses (AMER; FIG. 1; ¶ 0013; “… the server 102 … renders a sequence of video frames, process this sequence to generate a stream of rendered video frames, concurrently encode the stream to generate an encoded stream 110 that is transmitted to the client device 104 via the … network(s) 106. As the encoded stream 110 is received, the client device 104 decodes the encoded stream 110 to recover the unencoded stream of rendered video frames and then provides a representation of the resulting stream 112 of rendered video frames for display at display device 108. … in a cloud-based gaming context, the server 102 executes … a video game application that renders a stream of video frames based on gameplay controlled by user input received in parallel from the client device 104. This stream is encoded at the server 102, and the encoded video game video stream is transmitted to the client device 104 for decoding and display at the client device 104 and display device 108.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the method according to claim 7 and the computer device according to claim 15 of DIETRICH-OEFVERSTROEM-HOSSEINI-DIXON to include the encoding the processed video image frame sequence based on a sequence order corresponding to the video image frame sequence by the cloud server of AMER. The motivation for this modification is to implement a typical cloud-based gaming system in which a data stream representing rendered video content is transmitted from a server to a client device, the server renders a sequence of video frames, applies corresponding graphics effects to the video frames during the rendering or as part of rendered-image post-processing, and then encodes the resulting video stream for transmission to the client device as a compressed bitstream. The client device, in turn, is left with simply decoding the compressed bitstream and displaying the resulting decoded video frame stream (AMER; ¶ [0002]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN M COFINO whose telephone number is (303) 297-4268. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10A-4P MT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kent Chang can be reached at 571-272-7667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN M COFINO/ Examiner, Art Unit 2614
/KENT W CHANG/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2614
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