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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 19 recites “A computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium…”, when read in light of specification does not exclude signals per se. Thus claim as a whole is directed towards signal per se, which does not fall under one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter. (Note: Examiner suggests amending the claim by adding "non-transitory" in order to make the claim eligible.).
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6, 14-16 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Maciocci et al. (2013/0335303).
Regarding claim 1, Maciocci teaches an interaction method, comprising: presenting at least one interactive control (410, Fig 4C; para [0033] a set of visual elements 410 ), wherein the at least one interactive control is configured with a corresponding control hot area (420, Fig 4C; para [0033] each visual element can be associated with and/or surrounded by a respective active region 420.); obtaining selection information, identifying a target interactive control hot area corresponding to the selection information (Fig 4C; para [0033] Further, it may be easier for the user to move his hand back and forth in order to designate an element to select rather than having to place his hand or finger in a particular location closer to the bottom or top of the display area 310.), and determining a target interactive control corresponding to the target interactive control hot area (para [0036] IG. 4D shows how such a selection is made. As illustrated, the user can move the object such that the tracking point 320 is located, from the user's perspective, within the active region 420-1 in which the visual element labeled "1" is located.); and triggering the target interactive control in response to confirmation information (para [0036] The user can indicate a selection of the corresponding visual element in various ways, such as simply keeping the tracking point 320 within the active region 420-1 for a threshold amount of time, engaging the physical object in a "selection" pose (e.g., a closed first, drawing back the pointer finger, etc.), and the like. Para [0037] Moreover, the HMD 120 may include other input devices, such as a microphone, touchpad, keyboard, etc., which can allow the user to further interact with a GUI and/or applications executed by the HMD 120 and shown in the transparent display area 310. Para [0038] Some visual elements 410 may not evoke additional visual elements at all, but instead evoke applications and/or other functionality.).
Regarding claim 2, Maciocci teaches the interaction method according to claim 1, wherein the presenting at least one interactive control, wherein the interactive control is configured with a corresponding control hot area comprises: presenting a plurality of interactive controls (para [0033] a set of visual elements 410), wherein the plurality of interactive controls respectively correspond to a plurality of control hot areas (para [0033] Each visual element can be associated with and/or surrounded by a respective active region 420), and a position relationship between the plurality of interactive controls corresponds to a position relationship between the plurality of control hot areas (para [0033] Depending on the placement of the visual elements 410 and the desired size and shape of the active regions 420, one or more borders of an active region may extend to an edge of the transparent display area 310.; Fig 4C; Fig 4D).
Regarding claim 6, Maciocci teaches the interaction method according to claim 1, wherein a center of the interactive control does not overlap a center of the control hot area corresponding to the interactive control (Fig 4C).
Regarding claim 14, Maciocci teaches the interaction method according to claim 1, wherein a position of the control hot area does not change (Fig 4D shows the position of active region 420 with respect to visual element 410 (4 as in Fig 4C) does not change while the finger is positioned near that visual element ).
Regarding claim 15, Maciocci teaches the interaction method according to claim 1, wherein a display position of the interactive control does not change (Fig 4C and Fig 4D; shows how the position of visual element 1-5 are same).
Regarding claim 16, Maciocci teaches the interaction method according to claim 14, wherein the interaction method is applied to a head-mounted extended reality device (Fig 1; para [0023] FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration 100 of an HMD 120 configured to track an object for user interface interaction, according to one embodiment. In this embodiment, the HMD 120 worn by a user 110 has a camera and/or other sensor(s) (e.g., sensors capable of sensing light, heat, ultrasound, radio frequency (RF) signals, etc.) providing data with which an object, such as the user's hand 130, may be tracked. In so doing, the HMD 120 is able to manipulate a GUI displayed by the HMD 120, obviating the need for a separate interface (e.g., touch pad, buttons, etc.) to receive user input.), and the method further comprises: displaying extended reality content according to a position and/or a posture of the extended reality device (para [0030] FIGS. 4A-4E are a series of illustrations that show how tracking of the physical object can enable a user to quickly navigate through a GUI of the HMD 120.).
Regarding claim 18, Maciocci teaches the interaction method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining selection information comprises: obtaining the selection information based on a multimodal input manner (para [0028] In the view 300 shown in FIG. 3, this tracking point 320 corresponds to the fingertip of the user's hand 130. The manipulation of the physical object (e.g., user's hand 130), and corresponding movement of the tracking point 320, can enable the user 110 to interact with a GUI and/or other visual elements shown in the transparent display area 310.), wherein the multimodal input manner comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of: a head posture input manner, an eye movement input manner, a gesture input manner (para [0032] In some embodiments, the triggering event could be that the object engages in a certain pose, such as a hand with a pointer finger extended (as shown in FIG. 4B).), a speech input manner, or a real interactor input manner (para [0032] Some embodiments could require both. For example, an HMD 120 could activate a GUI for user interaction after determining that the user's hand is has a pointer finger extended in an engagement pose and has been located within a field of view of transparent display area 310, from the user's perspective, for at least 2 seconds.).
Regarding claim 19, Maciocci teaches a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is suitable to be loaded by a computer, to perform an interaction method (para [0064], para [0065] A set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storage device(s) 1025 described above…. These instructions might take the form of executable code, which is executable by the computer system 1000 and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on the computer system 1000 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities, etc.), then takes the form of executable code.), wherein the interaction method comprises: presenting at least one interactive control (410, Fig 4C; para [0033] a set of visual elements 410 ), wherein the at least one interactive control is configured with a corresponding control hot area (420, Fig 4C; para [0033] each visual element can be associated with and/or surrounded by a respective active region 420.); obtaining selection information, identifying a target interactive control hot area corresponding to the selection information (Fig 4C; para [0033] Further, it may be easier for the user to move his hand back and forth in order to designate an element to select rather than having to place his hand or finger in a particular location closer to the bottom or top of the display area 310.), and determining a target interactive control corresponding to the target interactive control hot area (para [0036] IG. 4D shows how such a selection is made. As illustrated, the user can move the object such that the tracking point 320 is located, from the user's perspective, within the active region 420-1 in which the visual element labeled "1" is located.); and triggering the target interactive control in response to confirmation information (para [0036] The user can indicate a selection of the corresponding visual element in various ways, such as simply keeping the tracking point 320 within the active region 420-1 for a threshold amount of time, engaging the physical object in a "selection" pose (e.g., a closed first, drawing back the pointer finger, etc.), and the like. Para [0037] Moreover, the HMD 120 may include other input devices, such as a microphone, touchpad, keyboard, etc., which can allow the user to further interact with a GUI and/or applications executed by the HMD 120 and shown in the transparent display area 310. Para [0038] Some visual elements 410 may not evoke additional visual elements at all, but instead evoke applications and/or other functionality.).
Regarding claim 20, Maciocci teaches a terminal device, comprising a processor (1010; Fig 10) and a memory (1035; Fig 10), wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor invokes the computer program stored in the memory, to perform an interaction method (para [0067] According to a set of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods are performed by the computer system 1000 in response to processor 1010 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which might be incorporated into the operating system 1040 and/or other code, such as an application program 1045) contained in the working memory 1035. Such instructions may be read into the working memory 1035 from another computer-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s) 1025. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the working memory 1035 might cause the processor(s) 1010 to perform one or more procedures of the methods described herein.), wherein the interaction method comprises: presenting at least one interactive control (410, Fig 4C; para [0033] a set of visual elements 410 ), wherein the at least one interactive control is configured with a corresponding control hot area (420, Fig 4C; para [0033] each visual element can be associated with and/or surrounded by a respective active region 420.); obtaining selection information, identifying a target interactive control hot area corresponding to the selection information (Fig 4C; para [0033] Further, it may be easier for the user to move his hand back and forth in order to designate an element to select rather than having to place his hand or finger in a particular location closer to the bottom or top of the display area 310.), and determining a target interactive control corresponding to the target interactive control hot area (para [0036] IG. 4D shows how such a selection is made. As illustrated, the user can move the object such that the tracking point 320 is located, from the user's perspective, within the active region 420-1 in which the visual element labeled "1" is located.); and triggering the target interactive control in response to confirmation information (para [0036] The user can indicate a selection of the corresponding visual element in various ways, such as simply keeping the tracking point 320 within the active region 420-1 for a threshold amount of time, engaging the physical object in a "selection" pose (e.g., a closed first, drawing back the pointer finger, etc.), and the like. Para [0037] Moreover, the HMD 120 may include other input devices, such as a microphone, touchpad, keyboard, etc., which can allow the user to further interact with a GUI and/or applications executed by the HMD 120 and shown in the transparent display area 310. Para [0038] Some visual elements 410 may not evoke additional visual elements at all, but instead evoke applications and/or other functionality.).
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) 3, 4, 5, 7 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maciocci et al. (2013/0335303).
Regarding claim 3, Maciocci teaches the interaction method as explained for claim 2 above.
Embodiment of Maciocci (as in Fig 4C and 4D), fails to teach, wherein adjacent control hot areas are seamlessly connected; as claimed.
However, another embodiment of Maciocci teaches the interaction method, wherein adjacent control hot areas are seamlessly connected (420-a and 420-b; Fig 5B; para [0038] the additional visual elements "1a" and "1b" have corresponding active regions 420-a and 420-b ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have combined different embodiments of Maciocci, in order to yield predictable results and providing varying types of interface for controlling the visual elements.
Regarding claim 4, Maciocci teaches the interaction method as explained for claim 2 above.
Embodiment of Maciocci (as in Fig 4C and 4D), fails to teach, wherein the at least one interactive control has an overlapping area with a control hot area which does not correspond to the at least one interactive control; or the at least one interactive control has no overlapping area with a control hot area which corresponds to the at least one interactive control; as claimed.
However, another embodiment of Maciocci teaches the interaction method, wherein the at least one interactive control has no overlapping area with a control hot area which corresponds to the at least one interactive control (para [0046] In some embodiments, an active region may be defined around the button so as to extend in a region beyond the button and/or to extend substantially to an edge of the display of the HMD 120 from the button, similar to certain of the embodiments described above).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have combined different embodiments of Maciocci, in order to yield predictable results and providing varying types of interface for controlling the visual elements.
Maciocci further teaches the interaction method, wherein active regions may take on various shapes and sizes (para [0034]) and the way active areas are shown can vary, depending on the embodiment, which may be determined by one or more user settings (para [0035]).
It would have been a matter of design choice and obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have provided the at least one interactive control has an overlapping area with a control hot area which does not correspond to the at least one interactive control; in order to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 5, Maciocci teaches the interaction method as explained for claim 1 above. Maciocci also further teaches, the active region may be defined to be twice as large as the icon or display element (or 3, 5, or 10 times as large, or any other size) (para [0053]).
Maciocci fails to teach, wherein an area of the control hot area is more than four times larger than an area of the interactive control corresponding to the control hot area; as claimed.
It would have been a matter of design choice and obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have provided wherein an area of the control hot area is more than four times larger than an area of the interactive control corresponding to the control hot area; in order to yield predictable results.
(see MPEP: IV. CHANGES IN SIZE, SHAPE, OR SEQUENCE OF ADDING INGREDIENTS
A. Changes in Size/Proportion
In re Rose, 220 F.2d 459, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955) (Claims directed to a lumber package "of appreciable size and weight requiring handling by a lift truck" were held unpatentable over prior art lumber packages which could be lifted by hand because limitations relating to the size of the package were not sufficient to patentably distinguish over the prior art.); In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 189 USPQ 143 (CCPA 1976) ("mere scaling up of a prior art process capable of being scaled up, if such were the case, would not establish patentability in a claim to an old process so scaled." 531 F.2d at 1053, 189 USPQ at 148.).[AltContent: rect]
In Gardner v. TEC Syst., Inc., 725 F.2d 1338, 220 USPQ 777 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225 USPQ 232 (1984), the Federal Circuit held that, where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device.).
Regarding claim 7, Maciocci teaches the interaction method as explained for claim 1 above.
Embodiment of Maciocci (as in Fig 4C and 4D), fails to teach, further comprising: displaying interaction feedback information corresponding to the target interactive control, wherein a position of the interaction feedback information relative to the target interactive control is determined according to a position of the selection information relative to the target interactive control hot area; as claimed.
However, another embodiment of Maciocci teaches the interaction method, further comprising: displaying interaction feedback information corresponding to the target interactive control (Fig 5A, Fig 5B; para [0038] Here, however, after the user selects the first visual element "1" (e.g., by positioning his or her hand into the first active region 420-1 for a certain period of time), visual element "1" is replaced with additional visual elements "1a" and "1b," as shown in FIG. 5B.), wherein a position of the interaction feedback information relative to the target interactive control is determined according to a position of the selection information relative to the target interactive control hot area (para [0040] As an example of a GUI in which a visual element 410 may be replaced with multiple visual elements, a top-level menu can include a number of visual elements 410, as shown in FIG. 5A, representing different functions of the HMD, such as multimedia, Internet search, navigation, web browser, and the like, where each visual element 410 is positioned within a column-shaped active region 420).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have combined different embodiments of Maciocci, in order to yield predictable results and providing varying types of interface for controlling the visual elements.
Regarding claim 12, Maciocci teaches the interaction method as explained for claim 1 above.
Embodiment of Maciocci (as in Fig 4C and 4D), fails to teach, wherein a size and/or a position of a control hot area corresponding to each interactive control is determined according to a control quantity of the interactive controls; as claimed.
However, another embodiment of Maciocci teaches the interaction method, further comprising: wherein a size and/or a position of a control hot area corresponding to each interactive control is determined according to a control quantity of the interactive controls (Fig 6A; Fig 6B; para [0042] FIGS. 6A-7B illustrate how active regions 420 can vary depending on the layout of the visual elements 410. FIGS. 6A and 6B, for example, illustrate how active regions 420 can be located in upper, lower, left, and right quadrants of the transparent display area 310. Selection of a visual element may be similar to embodiments described previously. Other embodiments may have more visual elements 410 or fewer visual elements 410, which may be positioned differently (e.g., in a grid, circle, or other fashion).).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have combined different embodiments of Maciocci, in order to yield predictable results and providing varying types of interface for controlling the visual elements, which may make visual element selection easier (Maciocci: para [0042]).
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maciocci et al. (2013/0335303) in view of Lia et al. (2023/0316594).
Regarding claim 17, Maciocci teaches the interaction method according to claim 16, wherein the triggering the target interactive control in response to confirmation information comprises: when the target interactive control corresponds to invoking application and/or other functionality (para [0038]).
Maciocci fails to teach, when the target interactive control corresponds to an image acquisition instruction or a video acquisition instruction, triggering the image acquisition instruction or the video acquisition instruction in response to the confirmation information, to acquire at least one part of the extended reality content; as claimed.
Lai teaches an interaction method comprising: when the target interactive control corresponds to an image acquisition instruction or a video acquisition instruction, triggering the image acquisition instruction or the video acquisition instruction in response to the confirmation information, to acquire at least one part of the extended reality content (para [0057] Client system 205 may trigger generation and rendering of virtual content based on a current field of view of user 220, as may be determined by real-time gaze 255 tracking of the user, or other conditions. More specifically, image capture devices of the sensors 215 capture image data representative of objects in the real world, physical environment that are within a field of view of image capture devices. During operation, the client system 200 performs object recognition within image data captured by the image capture devices of extended reality system 205 to identify objects in the physical environment such as the user 220, the user's hand 230, and/or physical objects 235. Further, the client system 200 tracks the position, orientation, and configuration of the objects in the physical environment over a sliding window of time. Field of view typically corresponds with the viewing perspective of the extended reality system 205. In some examples, the extended reality application presents extended reality content 225 comprising mixed reality and/or augmented reality. Para [0058]; para [0113]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have modified the method of Maciocci with the teachings of Lai, because, this will enable or enhance a user's extended reality experience in one or more of these contexts and environments and/or in other contexts and environments (Lai: para [0083]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claim 8, prior art of record fails to teach the following claim limitations of “wherein the position of the interaction feedback information relative to the target interactive control is determined according to a ratio relationship of a distance between the selection information and a center of the target interactive control hot area.”; in combination with all other claim limitations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. West et al. (2019/0018498) teaches A method for improving a display of a user interface element in a mixed reality environment is disclosed. A request to display the user interface element is received. The request includes display instructions, angle threshold data, distance threshold data, and velocity threshold data. Display operations are continuously performed while sensor data is continuously received from a mixed reality user interface device. The display operations include displaying the user interface element according to the display instructions, and, based on the sensor data indicating a distance between the user interface element and the mixed reality user interface device in the mixed reality environment has exceeded a distance threshold or based on the sensor data indicating an angle of view of the mixed reality user interface device has exceeded an angle threshold with respect to the user interface element in the mixed reality environment, hiding the user interface element.
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/PREMAL R PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2624
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