DETAILED ACTION
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) 26-45 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Naples et al., U.S. Patent Publication Number 2017/0309079 A1.
Regarding claim 26, Naples discloses an apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (paragraph 0194), cause the apparatus at least to: identify one or more objects of a virtual space which a user is likely to interact with (paragraph 0005, identifying an interactable object), wherein the one or more objects have respective positions in the virtual space (paragraph 0138, identified object is outside the user’s FOV but inside of the FOR); determine that the virtual space is larger than a real-world play area in which the user consumes or will consume the virtual space (Figs 12-14A; paragraph 0138, determine whether an object is outside of the user’s FOV using a world map of the user’s environment), wherein a respective position of at least one object of the identified one or more objects is such that at least part of said at least one object is presented outside of the real-world play area (paragraph 0005, identifying an interactable object located outside of the FOV of the user; FIG. 12; paragraph 0099, within the FOR 1200, the portion of the world that a user perceives at a given time is referred to as the FOV 1250 (e.g., the FOV 1250 may encompass the portion of the FOR that the user is currently looking toward); and modify at least part of the virtual space such that the identified one or more objects, including said at least one object, is presented substantially inside of the real-world play area (paragraph 0126, when a user changes his pose (such as by tilting his head), the object can move inside the user’s FOV 1250 as shown in FG. 15B; FIG. 15A and 15B).
Regarding claim 27, Naples discloses wherein the identified one or more objects of the virtual space comprise one or more objects which the user has previously interacted with at least a threshold number of times (paragraph 0102, user may also interact with interactable objects using; certain number of times during a threshold time interval).
Regarding claim 28, Naples discloses wherein the identified one or more objects of the virtual space comprise one or more objects which one or more other users have previously interacted with at least a threshold number of times (paragraph 0069, interact with the wearable system or other users; paragraph 0079, receive input from the user and other users; paragraph 0102, interact with interactable objects using; certain number of times during a threshold time interval).
Regarding claim 29, Naples discloses wherein the identified one or more objects of the virtual space comprise one or more objects having at least one associated property that matches an interaction preference of the user (paragraph 0107, contextual information associated with the corresponding object, the environment, or the user (such as, e.g., the pose of the user, or the user’s preference); paragraph 0131, wearable system can be configured to sort the virtual objects (that are outside of the FOV) based on the contextual information).
Regarding claim 30, Naples discloses further configured to: provide a heat map associated with the virtual space, wherein the heat map comprises a two or three -dimensional representation of the virtual space, which includes a plurality of objects at respective positions in the virtual space, at least some of which is or are updated to indicate the identified one or more objects of the virtual space (paragraph 0108, aura may have a larger and brighter appearance because the object is more urgent and/or closer to the user’s FOV; visual representation may change over time based on a change of the object associated with the visual aura).
Regarding claim 31, Naples discloses wherein the modifying comprises: determining a crop area of the virtual space, associated with a user position with respect to the virtual space, wherein the crop area corresponds to, or fits within, the real-world play area, wherein at least part of the virtual space is modified such that the respective positions of the identified one or more objects, including said at least one object, are substantially within the crop area (paragraph 0097, objects within the user FOR 1200 may be virtual or physical objects; paragraph 0098, objects in the FOV can be part of a world map; paragraph 0099, the portion of the world that a user perceives at a given time is referred to as the FOV 1250 (e.g., the FOV 1250 may encompass the portion of the FOR that the user is currently looking at); FIG. 15A, crop area of virtual space, FOR, associated with user position that fits within real-world area, FOV; FIG. 15B, modified such that the positions of 1502a, at least one object, is substantially within the crop area 1410).
Regarding claim 32, Naples discloses wherein the virtual space is modified by moving at least part of the virtual space with respect to the crop area such that the respective positions of the identified one or more objects, including said at least one object, are substantially within the crop area
(paragraph 0126, object can move inside the user’s FOV 1250 as shown in FIG. 15B).
Regarding claim 33, Naples discloses wherein the virtual space is modified by: identifying at least one insignificant region within the crop area between the user position and the respective position of said at least one object, and moving the respective position of said at least one object into the identified at least one insignificant region (paragraph 0027, a portion of the aura can be placed on the edge of the user’s FOV; the visual representation of the aura or changes to the visual representation of the aura can thereby provide a useful cue to the user about nearby objects that are currently outside the user’s FOV; paragraph 0100, may move into user’s FOV and for example, the object may move outside the user’s FOV).
Regarding claim 34, Naples discloses wherein the at least one insignificant region comprises at least one of: a region associated with an object which is other than the identified one or more objects; or a region that comprises no objects (paragraph 0027, cue to the user about nearby objects that are currently outside the user’s FOV).
Regarding claim 35, Naples discloses wherein the virtual space is modified by reducing a scale of at least part of the virtual space such that the respective positions of the identified one or more objects, including said at least one object, are within the crop area (FIG. 15B, one object 1502a, previous outside is located within 1410).
Regarding claim 36, Naples discloses wherein the virtual space is modified by reducing a scale of only one dimension of the at least part of the virtual space (paragraph 0098, data structure may index the objects by a single coordinate such as the object’s distance from a fiducial position (e.g., how far to the left or right of the fiducial position, how far from the top or bottom of the fiducial position, or how far depth-wise from the fiducial position); fiducial position may be determined based on the position of a virtual or physical object (such as a target interactable object); this way, the 3D space in the user’s environment may be collapsed into a 2D).
Regarding claim 37, Naples discloses wherein the identified one or more objects of the virtual space comprise one or more objects which the user or one or more other users has or have previously interacted with in the virtual space by at least one of: approaching the one or more objects; touching the one or more objects; moving the one or more objects; looking in a direction towards the one or more objects for at least a threshold time; making a gesture towards the one or more objects; speaking towards the one or more objects; or modifying a parameter associated with the one or more objects (paragraph 0102, user can interact with objects within the FOV using a variety of techniques, such as e.g., by selecting the objects, moving the objects, opening a menu or toolbar associated with an object, or choosing a new set of selectable objects; user may also interact with interactable objects using head, eye, hand, foot, or other body poses, such as, e.g., gazing or pointing with an arm at an object for a period of time).
Regarding claim 38, Naples discloses wherein the one or more objects of the virtual space comprise one or more audio and/or video objects (paragraph 0097, virtual object may include; application for audio; object in an application such as e.g., avatars, virtual object in games, graphics or images; paragraph 0113, shape of the aura (e.g. an oval) may be the two-dimensional projection of the object (e.g. a football) associated with the aura; visual aura can appear as if the football is projected onto the edge of the user’s FOV).
Regarding claim 39, Naples discloses wherein the apparatus is comprised in a user device or the apparatus is a user device (Naples FIG. 2).
Regarding claims 40-44, they are rejected based upon similar rational as above claims 26, 27, 31, 32 and 34 respectively. Naples further discloses a method (paragraph
Regarding claim 45, it is rejected based upon similar rational as above claim 26. Naples further discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform (paragraphs 0195-0196).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Watanabe, U.S. Patent Number 10,994,211 B2
Watanabe discloses (col. 1, line 39, a processor); (col. 1, lines 37-39, non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a program; the program, when executed by a processor causes the processor to): (col. 3, lines 60-64, moving object information is information related to a moving object displayed in the game field; col. 6, lines 4-6, an image displays the game field and the moving object at their respective predetermined positions in the virtual space); (col. 11, lines 11-14, if the moving object is located outside the battle circle, the control unit determines that the first operation is invalid); (col. 11, lines 15-17, the control unit enlarges the battle circle in correspondence with the first operation).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Motilewa Good-Johnson whose telephone number is (571)272-7658. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 6am-2:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jason Chan can be reached at 571-272-3022. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MOTILEWA . GOOD JOHNSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2616
/MOTILEWA GOOD-JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2619
Prosecution Insights