DETAILED ACTION
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-8, 10-15, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gitter (US 20240272722 A1) in view of MRTK (Sliders – MRTK2, Microsoft Learn, Jun. 23, 2022) and further in view of Kapanen (WO 2020120831 A1).
NOTE: MRTK was cited in the information disclosure statement by applicant on 12/29/2025.
Regarding claim 1:
Gitter discloses:
1. A machine-implemented method [Gitter: ¶ 0036: “FIG. 1 illustrates an electronic device 100 displaying an extended reality (XR) environment (e.g., a computer-generated environment) according to embodiments of the disclosure”], comprising:
generating an extended Reality (XR) user interface [Gitter: ¶ 0036: “extended reality (XR) environment”] of an XR system [Gitter: Fig.1: electronic device 100], the XR user interface including an interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: Fig.5F: slider 512] comprising a slider knob (746) [Gitter: ¶ 0066: “the slider can be displayed as a virtual slider with a virtually manipulable handle or lever”; ¶ 0065: “indicator in the slider”] and a slider track (744) [Gitter: Fig.4B: slider 412; ¶ 0066: “slider 412 is illustrated in FIGS. 4B and 4C as a progress bar”; Examiner: The elongated bar along which the indicator or handle moves is the track under BRI.]
detecting a gesture [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “ a fingertip (or other digit) of hand 508”; ¶ 0064: “a pinch and hold gesture”] of a hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508] of the user in proximity to the interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “when a fingertip (or other digit) of hand 508 is determined to be within a threshold distance of slider 512 (e.g., within 1 cm, 1 inch, etc. from the slider (e.g., from an edge, center of mass or centerline of the slider)), the slider can be directly selected”];
detecting a movement of the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508 (movement arrows)] as the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508] holds the gesture [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “movement of hand 508 (e.g., with the pointing fingertip or other digit being maintained)”; ¶ 0065: “movement of pinched hand 408 (e.g., with the pinch and hold gesture being maintained)”];
in response to detecting the movement of the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508], determining a location of the slider knob (746) [Gitter: ¶ 0065: “cause an indicator in the slider to move or otherwise be modified in correspondence with the movement of the hand (e.g., by a proportional amount)”] along the slider track (744) [Gitter: ¶ 0067: “the value corresponding to the adjusted position of slider 412 when the pinch and hold gesture was released may be stored for the associated setting or parameter”];
and re-displaying the interactive virtual object (762) to the user [Gitter: Fig.5F: slider 512; ¶ 0074: “cause slider to move in correspondence with the movement of the hand (e.g., by a proportional amount) as shown by the arrows in FIG. 5F”]
However, Gitter does not expressly disclose:
the slider knob and the slider track rendered as three-dimensional objects;
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744);
re-displaying using the changed shading.
MRTK discloses:
the slider knob (746) [MRTK: p. 2: “SliderThumb – Contains the movable thumb”] and the slider track (744) [MRTK: p. 2: “TrackVisuals – Containing the track and any other visuals”] rendered as three-dimensional objects [MRTK: p. 1: “Sliders are UI components that allow you to continuously change a value by moving a slider on a track. Currently the Pinch Slider can be moved by directly grabbing the slider, either directly or at a distance. Sliders work on AR and VR, using motion controllers, hands, or Gesture + Voice”; p. 1: “Make sure that the object containing the collider also has a Near Interaction Grabbable component on it, if you want to be able to grab the slider near“; p. 3: “Slider Start Distance Where the slider track starts, as distance from center along slider axis, in local space units”; Examiner: As shown in the various figures (p. 1), the slider knob and track are rendered as three-dimensional objects].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gitter such that the slider is displayed as a virtual slider is displayed as a virtual slider having a movable thumb on a track, each rendered as a three-dimensional object grabbable by the user’s hand, as taught by MRTK. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because Gitter expressly contemplates displaying its slider as “a virtual slider with a virtually manipulable hand or level (¶ 0066) and provide direct selection of the slider when a fingertip is within a threshold distance of the slider (¶ 0074), and MRTK teaches a known implementation of precisely such a control for AR/VR environments, in which the slider can be moved by directly grabbing the slider (p. 1). The modification amounts to the use of a known technique to improve a similar device in the same way, and would have yielded the predictable result of a slider whose knob and track present graspable objects consistent with Gitter’s direct manipulation scheme. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had reasonable expectation of success, as MRTK documents a production slider control operating in the same AR/VR environments in which Gitter’s device operates.
Gitter in view of MRTK does not expressly disclose:
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744);
re-displaying using the changed shading.
Kapanen discloses:
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading [Kapanen: Fig.11: visual change of the slider track 7a (shaded arc segment of the slider track terminating at the control element); (p. 14, lines 24-27): “Visual indicators may comprise any one or any combination of a numerical value (7b), visual change of the slider track (7a) and a separate indicator area (7c). Visual indicators (7a, 7c) may comprise change of color, brightness, shape or size”] associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744) [Kapanen: (p.5, lines 1-3): “the visual change of the curved slider track comprises change of color, brightness, shape or size of the slider track or a part of the slider track on basis of the position of the control element”; Examiner: The shaded track portion of Fig.11 terminates at the control element, so its extent varies directly with the element’s position along the track.];
re-displaying using the changed shading [Kapanen: (p. 15, lines 14-16): “The curved slider track (6), the slider (5) and a visual indicator (7a) of the current position of the slider (5) on the slider track (6) is shown in the display area of the user interface”; (p. 14, lines 22-23): “Figure 11 illustrates various methods for presenting current setting of the parameter value adjusted with the sliding control to the user”].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Gitter in view of MRTK such that a visual change of color or brightness Is applied to the slider track, or a part of the slider track, on the basis of the position of the slider knob, as taught by Kapanen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the purpose Kapanen states, namely “presenting current setting of the parameter value adjusted with the sliding control to the user” (p. 14), which is the same information Gitter’s slider already presents “as a fraction over a range of possible values” (¶ 0066). Kapanen constitute analogous art, as it is directed to gesture-operated sliding control in a user interface that “comprises any one of a touch user interface, and a virtual reality user interface” (p.5), the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, and is reasonably pertinent to the problem of visually communication a slider’s current value. The modification would have been predictably resulted in a shaded portion of the track that changes in proportion to the knob’s location as the knob is moved, the slider being re-displayed with the changed shading, and one or ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success, as the modification requires only conventional rendering of the kind already performed in the combination.
Regarding claim 3:
Gitter in view of MRTK and further in view of Kapanen discloses:
3. The machine-implemented method of claim 1.
Kapanen further discloses:
wherein changing the shading comprises changing an intensity of the shading in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744) [Kapanen: (p.5, lines 1-3): “the visual change of the curved slider track comprises change of color, brightness, shape or size of the slider track or a part of the slider track on basis of the position of the control element”].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select brightness from among Kapanen’s expressly enumerated visual changes of the slider track, since choosing among a small number of disclosed alternatives requires no modification beyond the combination already established and yields the predictable result of a shading intensity that varies with knob’s position for Kapanen’s stated purpose of presenting the current setting of the adjusted parameter value to the user.
Regarding claim 4:
Gitter in view of MRTK and further in view of Kapanen discloses:
4. The machine-implemented method of claim 1.
Kapanen further discloses:
wherein changing the shading comprises changing an area of the shading in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744) [Kapanen: Fig.11: visual change of the slider track 7a (shaded arc segment of the slider track terminating at the control element); (p. 5, lines 1-3): “the visual change of the curved slider track comprises change of color, brightness, shape or size of the slider track or a part of the slider track on basis of the position of the control element”; Examiner: The shaded segment ends at the control element, so its area grows and shrinks as the element moves a change of “size … of a part of the slider track” is an area change.].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select the size change of a part of the track from among Kapanen’s expressly enumerated visual changes, since choosing among a small number of disclosed alternatives requires modification beyond the combination already established and yields the predictable result of a shaded area that expands and contracts with the knob’s position, for Kapanen’s stated purpose of presenting the current setting of the adjusted parameter value to the user.
Regarding claim 5:
Gitter in view of MRTK and further in view of Kapanen discloses:
5. The machine-implemented method of claim 1.
Kapanen further discloses:
wherein changing the shading comprises changing a color of the shading [Kapanen: (p. 5, lines 1-3): “the visual change of the curved slider track comprises change of color, brightness, shape or size of the slider track or a part of the slider track on basis of the position of the control element”] in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744) [Kapanen: Fig.11: visual change of the slider track 7a.].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select the color change of a part of the track from among Kapanen’s expressly enumerated visual changes visual changes of the slider track, since choosing among a small number of disclosed alternatives requires no modification beyond the combination already established and yields the predictable result of a track color that varies with the knob’s position, for Kapanen’s stated purpose of presenting the current setting of the adjusted parameter value to the user.
Regarding claim 6:
Gitter in view of MRTK and further in view of Kapanen discloses:
6. The machine-implemented method of claim 1.
Gitter further discloses:
further comprising:
determining a change in an input value associated with the interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: ¶ 0064: “user interface element 402-B is associated with an analog operation, such as a setting or parameter (e.g., volume, brightness, etc.) that can be adjusted over a range of values”] based on the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744) [Gitter: ¶ 0067: “the value corresponding to the adjusted position of slider 412 when the pinch and hold gesture was released may be stored for the associated setting or parameter”].
Kapanen further discloses:
and changing the shading in proportion to the change in the input value associated with the interactive virtual object (762) [Kapanen: (p. 14, lines 22-24): “Figure 11 illustrates various methods for presenting current setting of the parameter value adjusted with the sliding control to the user”; Fig.11a: visual change of the slider track 7a].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine the changed parameter value from the knob’s adjusted position and to change the track’s shading with that value, since Gitter already stores that value corresponding to the slider’s adjusted position and Kapanen’s visual indicators exist to present the current setting of that adjusted parameter value to the user; no modification beyond the combined already established is required, with the predictable result that the shading presents the current value as it changes.
Regarding claim 7:
Gitter in view of MRTK and further in view of Kapanen discloses:
7. The machine-implemented method of claim 1.
Gitter further discloses:
wherein the XR system is a head-wearable apparatus [Gitter: ¶ 0040: “device 200 is a mobile device, such as a mobile phone (e.g., smart phone), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a head-mounted display, an auxiliary device in communication with another device, etc”; ¶ 0036: “electronic device 100 is a hand-held or mobile device, such as a tablet computer, laptop computer, smartphone, or head-mounted display”; Examiner: A head-mounted display is a head-wearable apparatus.].
Regarding claim 8:
Gitter discloses:
8. A machine [Gitter: Fig.2: device 200; ¶ 0040: “FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary architecture for a system or device 220 according to embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, device 200 is a mobile device, such as a mobile phone (e.g., smart phone), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a head-mounted display, an auxiliary device in communication with another device, etc.”] comprising:
at least one processor [Gitter: Fig.2: processor(s) 218A, 218B; ¶ 0043: “Processor(s) 218A, 218B may include one or more general processors, one or more graphics processors, and/or one or more digital signal processors”];
and at least one memory [Gitter: Fig.2: memory 220A, 220B] storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor [Gitter: Fig.2: processor(s) 218A, 218B], cause the machine to perform operations [Gitter: ¶ 0043: “In some embodiments, memory 220A, 220B is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., flash memory, random access memory, or other volatile or non-volatile memory or storage) that stores computer-readable instructions configured to be executed by processor(s) 218A, 218B to perform the techniques, processes, and/or methods described below”] comprising:
generating an extended Reality (XR) user interface [Gitter: ¶ 0036: “extended reality (XR) environment”] of an XR system[Gitter: Fig.1: electronic device 100], the XR user interface including an interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: Fig.5F: slider 512] comprising a slider knob (746) [Gitter: ¶ 0066: “the slider can be displayed as a virtual slider with a virtually manipulable handle or lever”; ¶ 0065: “indicator in the slider”] and a slider track (744) [Gitter: Fig.4B: slider 412; ¶ 0066: “slider 412 is illustrated in FIGS. 4B and 4C as a progress bar”; Examiner: The elongated bar along which the indicator or handle moves is the track under BRI.]
detecting a gesture [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “ a fingertip (or other digit) of hand 508”; ¶ 0064: “a pinch and hold gesture”] of a hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508] of the user in proximity to the interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “when a fingertip (or other digit) of hand 508 is determined to be within a threshold distance of slider 512 (e.g., within 1 cm, 1 inch, etc. from the slider (e.g., from an edge, center of mass or centerline of the slider)), the slider can be directly selected”];
detecting a movement of the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508 (movement arrows)] as the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508] as the hand holds the gesture [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “movement of hand 508 (e.g., with the pointing fingertip or other digit being maintained)”; ¶ 0065: “movement of pinched hand 408 (e.g., with the pinch and hold gesture being maintained)”];
in response to detecting the movement of the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508], determining a location of the slider knob (746) [Gitter: ¶ 0065: “cause an indicator in the slider to move or otherwise be modified in correspondence with the movement of the hand (e.g., by a proportional amount)”] along the slider track (744) [Gitter: ¶ 0067: “the value corresponding to the adjusted position of slider 412 when the pinch and hold gesture was released may be stored for the associated setting or parameter”];
and re-displaying the interactive virtual object (762) to the user [Gitter: Fig.5F: slider 512; ¶ 0074: “cause slider to move in correspondence with the movement of the hand (e.g., by a proportional amount) as shown by the arrows in FIG. 5F”]
However, Gitter does not expressly disclose:
the slider knob and the slider track rendered as three-dimensional objects;
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744);
re-displaying using the changed shading.
MRTK discloses:
the slider knob (746) [MRTK: p. 2: “SliderThumb – Contains the movable thumb”] and the slider track (744) [MRTK: p. 2: “TrackVisuals – Containing the track and any other visuals”] rendered as three-dimensional objects [MRTK: p. 1: “Sliders are UI components that allow you to continuously change a value by moving a slider on a track. Currently the Pinch Slider can be moved by directly grabbing the slider, either directly or at a distance. Sliders work on AR and VR, using motion controllers, hands, or Gesture + Voice”; p. 1: “Make sure that the object containing the collider also has a Near Interaction Grabbable component on it, if you want to be able to grab the slider near“; p. 3: “Slider Start Distance Where the slider track starts, as distance from center along slider axis, in local space units”; Examiner: As shown in the various figures (p. 1), the slider knob and track are rendered as three-dimensional objects].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gitter such that the slider is displayed as a virtual slider is displayed as a virtual slider having a movable thumb on a track, each rendered as a three-dimensional object grabbable by the user’s hand, as taught by MRTK. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because Gitter expressly contemplates displaying its slider as “a virtual slider with a virtually manipulable hand or level (¶ 0066) and provide direct selection of the slider when a fingertip is within a threshold distance of the slider (¶ 0074), and MRTK teaches a known implementation of precisely such a control for AR/VR environments, in which the slider can be moved by directly grabbing the slider (p. 1). The modification amounts to the use of a known technique to improve a similar device in the same way, and would have yielded the predictable result of a slider whose knob and track present graspable objects consistent with Gitter’s direct manipulation scheme. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had reasonable expectation of success, as MRTK documents a production slider control operating in the same AR/VR environments in which Gitter’s device operates.
Gitter in view of MRTK does not expressly disclose:
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744);
re-displaying using the changed shading.
Kapanen discloses:
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading [Kapanen: Fig.11: visual change of the slider track 7a (shaded arc segment of the slider track terminating at the control element); (p. 14, lines 24-27): “Visual indicators may comprise any one or any combination of a numerical value (7b), visual change of the slider track (7a) and a separate indicator area (7c). Visual indicators (7a, 7c) may comprise change of color, brightness, shape or size”] associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744) [Kapanen: (p.5, lines 1-3): “the visual change of the curved slider track comprises change of color, brightness, shape or size of the slider track or a part of the slider track on basis of the position of the control element”; Examiner: The shaded track portion of Fig.11 terminates at the control element, so its extent varies directly with the element’s position along the track.];
re-displaying using the changed shading [Kapanen: (p. 15, lines 14-16): “The curved slider track (6), the slider (5) and a visual indicator (7a) of the current position of the slider (5) on the slider track (6) is shown in the display area of the user interface”; (p. 14, lines 22-23): “Figure 11 illustrates various methods for presenting current setting of the parameter value adjusted with the sliding control to the user”].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Gitter in view of MRTK such that a visual change of color or brightness Is applied to the slider track, or a part of the slider track, on the basis of the position of the slider knob, as taught by Kapanen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the purpose Kapanen states, namely “presenting current setting of the parameter value adjusted with the sliding control to the user” (p. 14), which is the same information Gitter’s slider already presents “as a fraction over a range of possible values” (¶ 0066). Kapanen constitute analogous art, as it is directed to gesture-operated sliding control in a user interface that “comprises any one of a touch user interface, and a virtual reality user interface” (p.5), the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, and is reasonably pertinent to the problem of visually communication a slider’s current value. The modification would have been predictably resulted in a shaded portion of the track that changes in proportion to the knob’s location as the knob is moved, the slider being re-displayed with the changed shading, and one or ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success, as the modification requires only conventional rendering of the kind already performed in the combination.
Regarding claim 10:
The limitations of claim 10 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 11:
The limitations of claim 11 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 4 above.
Regarding claim 12:
The limitations of claim 12 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 5 above.
Regarding claim 13:
The limitations of claim 13 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 6 above.
Regarding claim 14:
The limitations of claim 14 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 7 above.
Regarding claim 15:
Gitter discloses:
15. A machine-storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations [Gitter: ¶ 0043: “In some embodiments, memory 220A, 220B is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., flash memory, random access memory, or other volatile or non-volatile memory or storage) that stores computer-readable instructions configured to be executed by processor(s) 218A, 218B to perform the techniques, processes, and/or methods described below”] comprising:
generating an extended Reality (XR) user interface [Gitter: ¶ 0036: “extended reality (XR) environment”] of an XR system [Gitter: Fig.1: electronic device 100], the XR user interface including an interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: Fig.5F: slider 512] comprising a slider knob (746) [Gitter: ¶ 0066: “the slider can be displayed as a virtual slider with a virtually manipulable handle or lever”; ¶ 0065: “indicator in the slider”] and a slider track (744) [Gitter: Fig.4B: slider 412; ¶ 0066: “slider 412 is illustrated in FIGS. 4B and 4C as a progress bar”; Examiner: The elongated bar along which the indicator or handle moves is the track under BRI.]
detecting a gesture [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “ a fingertip (or other digit) of hand 508”; ¶ 0064: “a pinch and hold gesture”] of a hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508] of the user in proximity to the interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “when a fingertip (or other digit) of hand 508 is determined to be within a threshold distance of slider 512 (e.g., within 1 cm, 1 inch, etc. from the slider (e.g., from an edge, center of mass or centerline of the slider)), the slider can be directly selected”];
detecting a movement (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508 (movement arrows)] of the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508] as the hand holds the gesture [Gitter: ¶ 0074: “movement of hand 508 (e.g., with the pointing fingertip or other digit being maintained)”; ¶ 0065: “movement of pinched hand 408 (e.g., with the pinch and hold gesture being maintained)”];
in response to detecting the movement of the hand (742) [Gitter: Fig.5F: hand 508], determining a location of the slider knob (746) [Gitter: ¶ 0065: “cause an indicator in the slider to move or otherwise be modified in correspondence with the movement of the hand (e.g., by a proportional amount)”] along the slider track (744) [Gitter: ¶ 0067: “the value corresponding to the adjusted position of slider 412 when the pinch and hold gesture was released may be stored for the associated setting or parameter”];
and re-displaying the interactive virtual object (762) [Gitter: Fig.5F: slider 512] to the user [Gitter: Fig.5F: slider 512; ¶ 0074: “cause slider to move in correspondence with the movement of the hand (e.g., by a proportional amount) as shown by the arrows in FIG. 5F”]
However, Gitter does not expressly disclose:
the slider knob and the slider track rendered as three-dimensional objects;
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744);
re-displaying using the changed shading.
MRTK discloses:
the slider knob (746) [MRTK: p. 2: “SliderThumb – Contains the movable thumb”] and the slider track (744) [MRTK: p. 2: “TrackVisuals – Containing the track and any other visuals”] rendered as three-dimensional objects [MRTK: p. 1: “Sliders are UI components that allow you to continuously change a value by moving a slider on a track. Currently the Pinch Slider can be moved by directly grabbing the slider, either directly or at a distance. Sliders work on AR and VR, using motion controllers, hands, or Gesture + Voice”; p. 1: “Make sure that the object containing the collider also has a Near Interaction Grabbable component on it, if you want to be able to grab the slider near“; p. 3: “Slider Start Distance Where the slider track starts, as distance from center along slider axis, in local space units”; Examiner: As shown in the various figures (p. 1), the slider knob and track are rendered as three-dimensional objects].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gitter such that the slider is displayed as a virtual slider is displayed as a virtual slider having a movable thumb on a track, each rendered as a three-dimensional object grabbable by the user’s hand, as taught by MRTK. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because Gitter expressly contemplates displaying its slider as “a virtual slider with a virtually manipulable hand or level (¶ 0066) and provide direct selection of the slider when a fingertip is within a threshold distance of the slider (¶ 0074), and MRTK teaches a known implementation of precisely such a control for AR/VR environments, in which the slider can be moved by directly grabbing the slider (p. 1). The modification amounts to the use of a known technique to improve a similar device in the same way, and would have yielded the predictable result of a slider whose knob and track present graspable objects consistent with Gitter’s direct manipulation scheme. One of ordinary skill in the art would have had reasonable expectation of success, as MRTK documents a production slider control operating in the same AR/VR environments in which Gitter’s device operates.
Gitter in view of MRTK does not expressly disclose:
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744);
re-displaying using the changed shading.
Kapanen discloses:
rendering visual feedback by changing a shading [Kapanen: Fig.11: visual change of the slider track 7a (shaded arc segment of the slider track terminating at the control element); (p. 14, lines 24-27): “Visual indicators may comprise any one or any combination of a numerical value (7b), visual change of the slider track (7a) and a separate indicator area (7c). Visual indicators (7a, 7c) may comprise change of color, brightness, shape or size”] associated with the interactive virtual object (762) in proportion to the location of the slider knob (746) along the slider track (744) [Kapanen: (p.5, lines 1-3): “the visual change of the curved slider track comprises change of color, brightness, shape or size of the slider track or a part of the slider track on basis of the position of the control element”; Examiner: The shaded track portion of Fig.11 terminates at the control element, so its extent varies directly with the element’s position along the track.];
re-displaying using the changed shading [Kapanen: (p. 15, lines 14-16): “The curved slider track (6), the slider (5) and a visual indicator (7a) of the current position of the slider (5) on the slider track (6) is shown in the display area of the user interface”; (p. 14, lines 22-23): “Figure 11 illustrates various methods for presenting current setting of the parameter value adjusted with the sliding control to the user”].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Gitter in view of MRTK such that a visual change of color or brightness Is applied to the slider track, or a part of the slider track, on the basis of the position of the slider knob, as taught by Kapanen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the purpose Kapanen states, namely “presenting current setting of the parameter value adjusted with the sliding control to the user” (p. 14), which is the same information Gitter’s slider already presents “as a fraction over a range of possible values” (¶ 0066). Kapanen constitute analogous art, as it is directed to gesture-operated sliding control in a user interface that “comprises any one of a touch user interface, and a virtual reality user interface” (p.5), the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, and is reasonably pertinent to the problem of visually communication a slider’s current value. The modification would have been predictably resulted in a shaded portion of the track that changes in proportion to the knob’s location as the knob is moved, the slider being re-displayed with the changed shading, and one or ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success, as the modification requires only conventional rendering of the kind already performed in the combination.
Regarding claim 17:
The limitations of claim 17 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 18:
The limitations of claim 18 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 4 above.
Regarding claim 19:
The limitations of claim 19 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 5 above.
Regarding claim 20:
The limitations of claim 20 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 6 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 9 and 16 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 2:
The prior art does not teach or suggest either singularly or in combination the at least claimed “wherein the slider knob is defined as a gelatinous spheroid and the slider track is defined as a three-dimensional groove in which the slider knob is partially embedded”, in combination with the other recited claim features.
Regarding claim 9:
The limitation of claim 9 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 16:
The limitation of claim 9 have been addressed in the discussion of claim 2 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
[Huang; David H. et al., US 20250104367 A1] discloses:
“Some examples of the disclosure are directed to systems and methods for displaying three-dimensional models of virtual three-dimensional environments. In some examples, the three-dimensional model includes representations of the virtual object(s) included in the environment, a representation of a viewpoint of a user of the electronic device in the environment, and a representation of a viewpoint of a second user of a different electronic device in the environment. In some examples, in response to receiving an input requesting to display the virtual three-dimensional environment (e.g., at full size), the electronic device displays the virtual three-dimensional environment from the viewpoint of the user of the electronic device indicated in the model,” as recited in the abstract.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Koosha Sharifi-Tafreshi whose telephone number is (571)270-5897. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8AM to 5PM EST.
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/KOOSHA SHARIFI-TAFRESHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2628
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