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 .
This action is in response to the Request for Continued Examination filed 2 March 2026. Claims 1, 12, 20 have been amended. Claim 3-4, 14-15 have been canceled. Claims 1-2, 5-13, 16-20 are pending and have been considered below.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2 March 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-9, 12-13, 16-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weber et al. (US 2007/0204218 A1) in view of Grinalds et al. (US 2015/0373504 A1) and further in view of Kong et al. (US 2008/0309617 A1).
Claim 1. Weber discloses a method comprising:
identifying contextual location information for a first client device associated with a first user of a social media platform, the contextual location information comprising a current geographic location of the first client device, using a GPS (P 0029) contextual information is attached to a user’s location on a map (P 0040) a user’s location is determined (P 0054);
based at least in part on the contextual location information of the first client device, identifying: … icons, each of which represents performance by an avatar associated with the first user of a respective physical activity [associated with] the current contextual location information, next to each friend's icon in the right-hand column, there is an email icon that allows the user to send an email to that friend, and there is a phone icon that allows the user to make a phone call to that friend (P 0025) each friend may sent instant messages to communicate with other friends in the group (P 0035) labels representing actions performed by the friends, such as parking my car, just arrived, on foot, running, etc., may be displayed on the map (P 0038) each user's location can be annotated with a number of other pieces of information, including but not limited to: the user's name, the user's nickname, an emoticon, a status message (P 0054) While Weber does not disclose that the friend the icons regarding email and phone calls are related to performance of those physical actions, the examiner has combined Kong with Weber for these limitations, however, Weber does disclose displaying icons for performance of a physical action by a user;
receiving user input selecting a particular one of the subset of status indicators, a user updates his or her status (P 0028) including an image of the user, a graphic image chosen by the user, a phrase chosen by the user, a label representing the emotional state of the user, a label representing the status of the user, or a label representing an action performed by the user (P 0030);
accessing map data associated with the geographic location indicated by the current geographic location of the first client device, a map is displayed with emoticons representing users that provide an emotional message including being happy, sad, frustrated, stressed, excited, bored, or other types of faces with labels representing status of the users, such as in transit, on the freeway, off the freeway, or other status messages, may be displayed on the map, actions performed by the friends, such as parking my car, just arrived, on foot, running (P 0038) determining geo-coordinates of a user (P 0055);
in an automated operation based at least in part on the map data and performed using one or more computer processor devices configured therefor, causing generation of a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) for the social media platform …, displaying the user emoticons on a map (P 0038),
on a second client device that is associated with a second user, a public map is shared among a group of users (P 0007) users are able to communicate with each other through a shared map (P 0028),
the map-based GUI comprising an interactive map that includes the current geographic location of the first client device, a user is able to interactively update her location by simply dragging her icon to a new location on the shared map (P 0036);
causing display on the interactive map presented on the second client device of a combined expressive icon visually representing the user at a display location based on the geographic location of the first client device, the combined icon comprising the selected expressive icon and the selected status indicator, emoticons provide an emotional message from each member of the group and may show happy, sad, frustrated, stressed, excited, bored, or other types of faces with labels representing status of the friends, such as in transit, on the freeway, off the freeway, or other status messages, may be displayed on the map (P 0038) the map icon may include at least one of an image of a user, a graphic image chosen by the user and a label representing a status of or action performed by the user (Claim 10) Figures 7A and 7B show the map icons representing users on the respective maps and Paragraph 0038 indicates that both the icons and respective labels may be displayed on the map. That is, Paragraph 0038 does not disclose that a map icon is replaced with a label when a user represented by the icon performs an action, for example, in transit, on the freeway, off the freeway. Furthermore, while Figures 7A and 7B do not show the status messages, Paragraph 0038 clearly discloses that, in the context of the maps in Figures 7A and 7B, the status messages associated with map icons can be displayed. Claim 10 clearly states that a map icon may be at least one of an icon and a label, clearly indicating that a map icon may include one or both of an icon and a label. That is, a map icon may be at a minimum one of (at least one of) an icon and a label, but may also include more than the minimum one (at least one) of an icon and a label since one of an icon and a label is the least that a map icon may consist of.
Weber does not disclose … identifying: a subset of expressive icons, the subset comprising a plurality of different expressive icons, each of which represents performance by an avatar associated with the user of a respective physical action specific to the current contextual location information, as disclosed in the claims. However, in the same field of invention, Grinalds discloses a context menu area is displayed with context icons grouped by relevancy for the user to choose, where the context may switch based on time or location (P 0035, 0039 Fig 6A, 6D) indicating actions, each icon may have associated rules that defines an action, when the driving context icon is used, texting and phone calls are not permitted, when at church the mobile device will allow messages but not ring or buzz, a command tray shows a list of the most likely status to post based on user, location and time of device (P 0037, 0039). Also, in the same field of invention, Kong discloses a status indicator may show a user has selected available on a cell phone or is currently logged in and active with an instant messaging application (P 0015, 0023) and a status may indicate the location of the user’s device such as office or home landline (P 0026). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine … identifying: a subset of expressive icons, the subset comprising a plurality of different expressive icons, each of which represents performance by an avatar associated with the user of a respective physical action specific to the current contextual location information with the teachings of Weber with the motivation to prevent interruption of a user with a mobile device when the user’s context changes (Grinalds: P 0003-0004).
Weber does not disclose a subset of status indicators, each status indicator being configured to provide a visual indication of a current status associated with the first user, and each status indicator having an associated direct action triggerable by selection of a combined expressive icon of which it forms part, wherein the subset of status indicators is selected from a set of status indicators, each status indicator having a respective associated direct action selected from a plurality of different direct actions are such that two or more of the status indicators have different respective direct actions, as disclosed in the claims. However, Grinalds discloses context icons are grouped by relevancy based on time or location (P 0035, 0039 Fig 6A, 6D) indicating actions, each icon may have associated rules that defines an action, when the driving context icon is used, texting and phone calls are not permitted, when at church the mobile device will allow messages but not ring or buzz, a command tray shows a list of the most likely status to post based on user, location and time of device (P 0037, 0039)a tray adjacent to the context icon menu shows a list of the most likely status to post based on user, location and time of device, including group membership and text descriptors (P 0037) wherein the status is based on context, e.g. “at the movies” or “on set” included with each emoji that provides more context about the user (P 0038) wherein the user may select the status message based on, e.g. geofence settings, “I am watching a movie” (P 0039) the context icon/emoji may have the context icon, a name of the user and a piece of text (selectable by the user) that further describes the context or status of the user (P 0040 Fig 7A). A user may select a status, while also, status messages are related to and assigned by context, represented by an emoji. Kong discloses a status indicator may show a user has selected available on a cell phone or is currently logged in and active with an instant messaging application (P 0015, 0023) and a status may indicate the location of the user’s device such as office or home landline (P 0026). Furthermore, Kong discloses a user’s availability may be indicated for at least two devices, i.e. cell phone set to available and user logged on to an instant messenger (P 0015) a contact thumbnail is associated with multiple contact information elements (P 0018 Fig 4) includes a contact image and communication channels for the contact (P 0025). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine a subset of status indicators, each status indicator being configured to provide a visual indication of a current status associated with the first user, and each status indicator having an associated direct action triggerable by selection of a combined expressive icon of which it forms part, wherein the subset of status indicators is selected from a set of status indicators, each status indicator having a respective associated direct action selected from a plurality of different direct actions are such that two or more of the status indicators have different respective direct actions with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to prevent interruption of a user with a mobile device when the user’s context changes (Grinalds: P 0003-0004).
Weber does not disclose causing presentation on the first client device of an icon selection interface that displays the subset of expressive icons for user selection; receiving user input selecting a particular one of the subset of expressive icons, as disclosed in the claims. However, Grinalds discloses a user is able to select a context icon from (P 0035, 0036) a context menu area is displayed with context icons grouped by relevancy for the user to choose, where the context may switch based on time or location (P 0035, 0039 Fig 6A, 6D) indicating actions (P 0037, 0039). Furthermore, Kong discloses a user is able to initiate a communication session (P 0028). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine causing presentation on the first client device of an icon selection interface that displays the subset of expressive icons for user selection; receiving user input selecting a particular one of the subset of expressive icons with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to prevent interruption of a user with a mobile device when the user’s context changes (Grinalds: P 0003-0004).
Weber does not disclose causing presentation on the first client device of a status selection interface that displays the subset of status indicators for user selection, as disclosed in the claims. However, Grinalds discloses a tray adjacent to the context icon menu shows a list of the most likely status to post based on user, location and time of device, including group membership and text descriptors (P 0037) wherein the status is based on context, e.g. “at the movies” or “on set” included with each emoji that provides more context about the user (P 0038) wherein the user may select the status message based on, e.g. geofence settings, “I am watching a movie” (P 0039) the context icon/emoji may have the context icon, a name of the user and a piece of text (selectable by the user) that further describes the context or status of the user (P 0040 Fig 7A). A user may select a status, while also, status messages are related to and assigned by context, represented by an emoji. Kong discloses a user’s communication availability status is displayed for specific modes of communication (P 0015). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine causing presentation on the first client device of a status selection interface that displays the subset of status indicators for user selection with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to prevent interruption of a user with a mobile device when the user’s context changes (Grinalds: P 0003-0004).
Weber does not disclose responsive to user selection of the combined icon, automatically initiating the direct action associated with the selected status indicator, as disclosed in the claims. Weber discloses next to each friend's icon in the right-hand column, there is an email icon that allows the user to send an email to that friend, and there is a phone icon that allows the user to make a phone call to that friend, which, when selected and pressed, the mobile device automatically retrieves the email address or phone number respectively from the user's address book to initial the email or phone call (P 0025). However, while Weber does not preclude one of the friend icons with an associated phone and/or email icon from being dragged onto the map, Weber does not explicitly disclose this functionality. Grinalds discloses each other user of the system who has a mutual contact with the particular user may see a context icon, such as an emoji, that indicates the context of the user and the group context information for each user may be displayed in an orbit with which a user may select another user and an application may be launched to communicate with the other users (P 0032 Fig 7). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine responsive to user selection of the combined icon, automatically initiating the direct action associated with the selected status indicator with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to prevent interruption of a user with a mobile device when the user’s context changes (Grinalds: P 0003-0004).
Weber does not disclose responsive to user selection of the combined icon via the second client device, automatically initiating the direct action associated with the selected status indicator, as disclosed in the claims. That is, while Weber discloses a label represents and action taken by a user, and also functions like sending instant messages (P 0030), the action is not displayed on the second client device so that the second user may select the action. Grinalds displays an indicator on second client device indicating the availability of a first user for communicating, or an indicator indicating the first user cannot be communicated with (P 0042). But Grinalds does not disclose that the indicator indicates the action is being performed by the first user. Kong discloses a user is logged on and active on an instant messaging application (P 0015). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine responsive to user selection of the combined icon via the second client device, automatically initiating the direct action associated with the selected status indicator with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to enhance the ability to communicate with a user by identifying availability, current activity and available modes of communication.
Claim 2. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 1, and Weber further discloses the avatar of the selected expressive icon further visually represents a distinct facial expression, emoticons provide an emotional message from each member of the group and may show happy, sad, frustrated, stressed, excited, bored, or other types of faces with labels representing status of the friends, such as in transit, on the freeway, off the freeway, or other status messages, may be displayed on the map (P. 0038).
Claim 3-4. Cancelled.
Claim 5. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 1, and Weber discloses a map icon may also include an image of the user, a graphic image chosen by the user, a phrase chosen by the user, a label representing the emotional state of the user, a label representing the status of the user, or a label representing an action performed by the user (P. 0030) different types of icons may be used in place of the emoticons, such as an image of the user, a graphic image chosen by the user, or a phrase chosen by the user (P. 0038) It is clear that the emoticon and the additional information are chosen or determined separately, therefore, one must be chosen or determined first and the following information must be chosen or determined afterwards. Grinalds discloses a tray adjacent to the context icon menu shows a list of the most likely status to post based on user, location and time of device, including group membership and text descriptors (P 0037) wherein the status is based on context, e.g. “at the movies” or “on set” included with each emoji that provides more context about the user (P 0038). The status area 616 in Fig 6B appears to have been displayed after the display of the context icon area 614 in Fig 6A. Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine providing an automated combined icon selection flow in which the icon selection interface and the status selection interface are automatically displayed one after another, facilitating user-selection of the expressive icon and the status indicator in combination via the first client device with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to prevent interruption of a user with a mobile device when the user’s context changes (Grinalds: P 0003-0004).
Claim 6. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 1, and Weber in view of Grinalds further discloses the selected status indicator comprises a text-based indication of the current status of the user, emoticons provide an emotional message from each member of the group and may show happy, sad, frustrated, stressed, excited, bored, or other types of faces with labels representing status of the friends, such as in transit, on the freeway, off the freeway, or other status messages, may be displayed on the map (P. 0038) with the same motivation used in the rejection of Claim 1.
Claim 7. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 1, and the combination of Weber in view of Grinalds further discloses further comprising causing display at different respective display locations in the interactive map of a plurality of combined friend icons associated with respective friends of the second user on the social media platform, each combined friend icon comprising both a respective expressive icon and a respective status indicator, wherein respective direct actions associated with the respective status indicators of the plurality of combined friend actions comprises two or more different direct actions, a group of friends has placed themselves on a map with their choice of emotional icons and the friends are socially linked to each other through a shared map (P. 0038). Grinalds has been combined with Weber for the functionality of the status indicator having a respective associated direct action.
Claim 8. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 7, but Weber does not disclose receiving user input selecting a particular one of the plurality of combined friend icons; and responsive to the user input, causing presentation in the map-based GUI of context information for a user associated with the selected combined friend icon, as disclosed in the claims. However, Weber discloses if the user further clicks on a community of friends or a group of friends indicated by emoticons, a venue map of that location is displayed to show the whereabouts of the two friends in the venue map (P 0041) and Grinalds further discloses each user may follow their favorite one or more users and the system then generates and sends push notifications each time the status of a user (who is designated as a favorite by the user) changes. Thus, the system automatically updates the context/status of the users of the system (P 0040). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine receiving user input selecting a particular one of the plurality of combined friend icons; and responsive to the user input, causing presentation in the map-based GUI of context information for a user associated with the selected combined friend icon with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to allow a user to view more information about a friend on the map to determine a more detailed status so as to conserve screen space by only showing the information when desired.
Claim 9. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 7, but Weber does not disclose receiving user input selecting a particular one of the plurality of combined friend icons; and responsive to the user input, initiating an action associated with the status indicator of the selected combined friend icon, as disclosed in the claims. However, Weber discloses if the user further clicks on a community of friends or a group of friends indicated by emoticons, a venue map of that location is displayed to show the whereabouts of the two friends in the venue map (P 0041) and Grinalds further discloses each other user of the system who has a mutual contact with the particular user may see a context icon, such as an emoji, that indicates the context of the user and the group context information for each user may be displayed in an orbit with which a user may select another user and an application may be launched to communicate with the other users (P 0032 Fig 7). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine receiving user input selecting a particular one of the plurality of combined friend icons; and responsive to the user input, initiating an action associated with the status indicator of the selected combined friend icon with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to allow a user more options for interacting with a friend on the map so as to conserve screen space by only showing the information or function when desired.
Claim(s) 12-13 is/are directed to system (comprising: one or more computer processor devices; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processor devices, configure the system to perform operations) claim(s) similar method claim(s) of Claim(s) 1-2 and is/are rejected with the same rationale.
Claims 14-15 Canceled.
Claim(s) 17-18 is/are directed to system (comprising: one or more computer processor devices; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processor devices, configure the system to perform operations) claim(s) similar method claim(s) of Claim(s) 8-9 and is/are rejected with the same rationale.
Claim(s) 20 is/are directed to non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations) claim(s) similar method claim(s) of Claim(s) 1 and is/are rejected with the same rationale.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weber et al. (US 2007/0204218 A1) in view of Grinalds et al. (US 2015/0373504 A1) and Kong et al. (US 2008/0309617 A1) and further in view of Alon (US 2017/0098342 A1).
Claim 10. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 9, but Weber does not disclose wherein the direct action triggerable by selection of the selected combined friend icon comprises launching a chat interface in the map- based GUI, as disclosed in the claims. However, in the same field of invention, Alon discloses presenting a list of icons of friends to a user and providing an option near the friend’s icon for the user to select to start a chat session (P. 0094). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds, Kong and Alon, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine wherein the direct action triggerable by selection of the selected combined friend icon comprises launching a chat interface in the map- based GUI with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to allow a user more options for interacting with a friend on the map so as to conserve screen space by only showing the information or function when desired.
Claim(s) 19 is/are directed to system (comprising: one or more computer processor devices; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processor devices, configure the system to perform operations) claim(s) similar method claim(s) of Claim(s) 10 and is/are rejected with the same rationale.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weber et al. (US 2007/0204218 A1) in view of Grinalds et al. (US 2015/0373504 A1) and Kong et al. (US 2008/0309617 A1) and further in view of Matas et al. (US 2014/0095073 A1).
Claim 11. Weber, Grinalds and Kong disclose the method of claim 9, but Weber does not disclose wherein the direct action triggerable by selection of the selected combined friend icon is a map directions action comprising automated generation and display in the interactive map presented on the second client device of routing information with respect to the display location of the selected combined friend icon, as disclosed in the claims. However, in the same field of invention, Matas discloses displaying an icon of a contact on a map and in response to detecting a selection of the icon displaying an interface (P. 0173) to enter directions to the contact’s location (P. 0180). Therefore, considering the teachings of Weber, Grinalds, Kong and Matas, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine wherein the direct action triggerable by selection of the selected combined friend icon is a map directions action comprising automated generation and display in the interactive map of routing information with respect to the display location of the selected combined friend icon with the teachings of Weber, Grinalds and Kong with the motivation to allow a user more options for interacting with a friend on the map so as to conserve screen space by only showing the information or function when desired when the user desires to find or travel to the selected user.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 12, and 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The applicant argues:
The References Do Not teach Status Indicators with Associated Direct Actions
As amended, independent claims 1, 12, and 20 each recite, in relevant part: "a subset of status indicators, each status indicator being configured to provide a visual indication of a current status associated with the first user, and each status indicator having an associated direct action triggerable by selection of a combined expressive icon of which it forms part, each status indicator having a respective associated direct action selected from a plurality of different direct actions such that two or more of the status indicators have different respective direct actions."
The examiner has combined new prior art reference Kong with Weber to reject the amended claims. According to Applicant’s explanation, a direct action would be an action is a specific communication mode for the user’s given location. For example, while a user may be able to communicate via only email at church, a user may also be able to communicate via email at other locations. New prior art reference Kong discloses specific direct actions based on a given location. For example, a contact may be shown to be available via specific communication modes, for example, a cell phone set to available, or a contact is available and active on an instant messaging application. And, certain communication channels are specific to given locations, for example, a contact’s office landline is only available at the contact’s office, and a contact’s home landline is available at home. Therefore, when a contact is shown to be available at the office or home, only that specific communication channel is available at that specific location, and a user may only directly communicate with the contact via that specific channel.
The applicant argues:
The claims thus require that each status indicator presented for user selection carries a respective associated direct action, that this direct action is triggerable by selection of the combined expressive icon of which the status indicator forms a part, and that at least two of the status indicators in the subset have different respective direct actions. The direct action is a computer- executable action that is automatically initiated when a user on the second client device selects the combined expressive icon displayed on the interactive map. The nature of the direct action is determined by which status indicator the first user selected during the status selection step.
Regarding Weber, the Examiner acknowledges that Weber's actions (email icons, phone icons in a right-hand column at paragraph [0025]) are separate interface elements adjacent to friend icons in a list view, not actions embedded within map icons. Weber's map-displayed labels ("parking my car," "just arrived," "on foot," "running" at paragraph [0038]) describe physical activities the user is performing. They are not status indicators carrying associated direct actions triggerable by selection of a combined icon. Weber does not teach that selection of a map icon triggers a direct action determined by a status indicator component of that icon.
New prior art reference Kong discloses that a contact may be shown to be available to at least two different communication channels, for example, a contact may his or her phone set to available, and also be available and active on an instant messaging application. These status indicators are direct actions associated with a contact’s mode of communication.
Applicant's arguments filed 2 March 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues:
Grinalds' "orbit" display (paragraph [0032], Fig. 7) allows a user to select another user and launch a communication application. However, this orbit interface is not a map-based GUI, and the selectable element in the orbit is not a combined expressive icon generated from a user-selected avatar merged with a user-selected status indicator. The communication application launched from the orbit is not an action determined by a status indicator that the other user selected from a context- filtered subset.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. Weber explicitly discloses a user’s context is attached to a user’s location shown on a map. Furthermore, Paragraph 0035 discloses that a user’s location may be determined based on street maps, and Paragraph 0038 discloses that a user’s location may be determined based on distance from a movie theater.
The applicant argues:
Independent claims 1, 12, and 20 each recite a process in which: (1) a subset of expressive icons is identified based on contextual location information, each icon representing performance by the first user's avatar of a physical activity specific to the contextual location; (2) the user selects an expressive icon from this subset via an icon selection interface; (3) a subset of status indicators is identified, each carrying an associated direct action; (4) the user selects a status indicator from this subset via a status selection interface; and (5) the selected expressive icon and the selected status indicator are combined into a combined expressive icon that is displayed on an interactive map on a second client device.
The resulting combined expressive icon is a unitary visual element on the map. It is the product of two sequential user-selection steps, each operating on a context-filtered subset. It visually represents the first user at a map location and, when selected by the second user, triggers the direct action associated with the status indicator component.
No cited reference teaches or suggests this combined expressive icon.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. Weber clearly discloses a combined expressive icon with an emoji, or an image of a user, and labels indicating an action in which the user is engaged. Grinalds and Kong have been combined to further clarify that the combined icon of Weber may include information including communication status, location, and modes of communication. Kong explicitly discloses a thumbnail for a contact representing multiple channels of communication.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to JOHN M HEFFINGTON at telephone number (571)270-1696.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN M HEFFINGTON whose telephone number is (571)270-1696. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm Eastern.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Cesar B Paula, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-4128. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/J.M.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2145 4/4/2026
/CESAR B PAULA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2145
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