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 . This Office Action is responsive to the communications filed on 31 March 2026. Claims 1-4 and 6-20 are pending.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 31 March 2026 has been entered.
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
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-4, 7-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wodzinski et al. (Hereinafter, Wodzinski, US 2014/0082090 A1) in view of Haveliwala (US 2007/0300165 A1), and further in view of Bloom et al. (Hereinafter, Bloom, US 2021/0409787 A1).
Per claim 1, Wodzinski discloses a method (e.g., method 200 as shown in Fig. 2; Abstract, “A system and method for scheduling a future collaborative communication session using a collaborative communication application are disclosed. The system and method allow one or more participants of a collaborative communication session to schedule a future communication session directly from a collaborative communication application. A calendar application, such as an enterprise calendar system, may be integrated with the communication application, such that future meetings can easily be scheduled using the communication application.“; paragraph [0001]) comprising:
joining, by a client device using a video conferencing application (paragraph [0024]), a video conference hosted by a video conference provider (e.g., Step 202 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0028], “During step 202, a collaborative communication session between two or more participants is initiated. The session may be an ad hoc or scheduled session in the form of any combination of a chat, audio communication, video communication, and web collaboration.”);
receiving, during the video conference and by the video conferencing application, a selection of a subset of participants in the video conference (e.g., Step 204 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0029], “During step 204, one or more participants determine whether to schedule a follow-up collaborative communication session. If no participant determines to schedule a follow-up session, then method 200 terminates. If, on the other hand, one or more participates decide to schedule a follow-up session, method 200 continues to step 208.” );
receiving, using the video conferencing application, meeting information associated with the In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session... “; paragraph [0025], “As set forth in more detail below, the calendar feature, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, may automatically schedule or set a time for a follow-up meeting based on desired times of a session (e.g., business hours), availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up--e.g., one week, one month, etc. Or, a participant may select a desired time and date for the next session ...”; paragraph [0027], “ …checking participant and system resource availability (step 210) …“; paragraph [0034]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses receiving desired times of a session, availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or desired features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up.);
scheduling, using the video conferencing application, the follow-up video conference with the video conference provider for a time after the conclusion of the video conference (e.g., Step 214 as shown in Fig. 2; Abstract; paragraph [0016], “The disclosure provides a system and method for scheduling a future collaborative communication session or meeting during a current collaborative communication session…”; paragraph [0024], “ …In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session. Further, the collaborative communication application, in accordance with exemplary aspects, allows users to accept, reject, or propose alternative times for future meetings--all within the communication application or within a calendar application via a widget or plug-in…. “; paragraph [0027]; paragraph [0030]; paragraphs [0032-0034]; paragraph [0037]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accepting, rejecting, or proposing an alternative session time using a collaborative communication application.); and
providing, using the video conferencing application, the meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants (e.g., Step 218 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0038], “Once a participant or future participant accepts the invitation to a future communication session, the information (e.g., time, date) are entered onto the participant's electronic calendar (e.g., part of collaborative communication application or an enterprise calendar) during step 218. Alternatively, step 218 may include providing information to the participants about how to join the future session or providing a link to add the future session to the participants' calendars.”; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accessing an electronic calendar associated with the respective participant; and generating a meeting within the electronic calendar based on the meeting information. See paragraph [0034] and Fig. 5).
Wodzinski does not expressly disclose:
providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application, the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member;
receiving a selection of an option in the GUI to create a follow-up video conference;
generating, based on the selection of the option in the GUI and using the video conferencing application, a meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants based on the received meeting information;
associating the video conference with the follow-up video conference; and
providing access to content from the video conference based on the association.
Haveliwala discloses:
providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application (e.g., attendee pane 602 as shown in Fig. 6; Abstract, “ The present breakout room technique provides breakout rooms, or smaller sub-sets of a larger meeting, with full collaboration capabilities in live web-based conferencing applications. It provides for the capability to easily create sub-meetings or breakout rooms and the ability to assign individuals to breakout rooms… “; paragraph [0006], “The present breakout room technique also provides a UI that allows meeting room management and control from an attendee pane…”; paragraph [0064], “In one embodiment of the present breakout room technique, a breakout menu item is available on an attendee pane, shown in FIG. 6, as an instructor privilege. From the attendee pane 602, an instructor uses the breakout menu 604 for configuring, starting, managing and ending breakout rooms. A setup breakout rooms dialog appears when no breakout room configuration exists and the instructor activates the breakout menu 604.”);
receiving a selection of an option in the GUI to create a follow-up video conference (e.g., Step 502 as shown in Fig. 5; paragraph [0063], “FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting the process of setting up breakout rooms in one exemplary embodiment of the present breakout room technique. In response to an activation of the breakout room initiation command, the breakout room setup dialog appears (process actions 502, 504)…” ); and
generating, based on the selection of the option in the GUI and using the video conferencing application, a meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants based on the received meeting information(e.g., step 908 as shown in Fig. 9; paragraph [0046]; paragraph [0076], “ …The attendees are given a notification that they are transitioning to the breakout room (process action 908), and then they will join the breakout room in a scoped view (910) ... “);
associating the video conference with the follow-up video conference (paragraph [0028], “The present full collaboration breakout room technique provides breakout rooms with full collaboration capabilities in live web-based conferencing applications. That is, a main conference is truly sub-scoped into sub-conferences with data, audio and video sub-conferenced for each individual breakout room.”; paragraph [0040]); and
providing access to content from the video conference based on the association(paragraph [0077]; paragraph [0097]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the virtual conferencing system of Haveliwala with the Wodizinski’s communication session scheduling device for spontaneous creation of such sub-meetings as suggested by Haveliwala (paragraph [0003]).
Bloom discloses the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member (e.g., method 800 as shown in Fig. 8; Abstract, “Techniques are described herein for providing an interactive interface for live streaming events. A user may view a broadcasted live streaming event via the interactive interface. A sub-group of participants of the live streaming event may be identified from a larger group of participants based at least in part on respective locations of respective computing devices of the sub-group participants. A graphical representation can be generated for the group using images of each of the sub-group participants…. “; paragraph [0017]; paragraph [0032], “In some embodiments, interactive interface 100 may include chat window 106 which may present chat input provided by any suitable combination of participants of the live streaming event. As depicted, each chat input may be labeled with an identifier of the participant that provided the chat input. The identifier may include any suitable combination of a name, a viewing location (e.g., a viewing location corresponding to a city, county, state, country, region, or the like), an image, an icon, and the like.”; paragraph [0044]; paragraph [0066]paragraphs [0099-0105]; Examiner’s Note: Bloom discloses graphical indication 416 as shown in Fig. 4 overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the interactive interfaces of Bloom with the Wodizinski and Haveliwala ’s communication session scheduling device for enriching the experience for users of a video stream as suggested by Bloom(paragraph [0023]).
Per claim 2, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the method of claim 1, wherein providing the meeting invitation comprises, for at least one participant of the subset of participants:
accessing an electronic calendar associated with the respective participant(Wodzinski, paragraph [024], “… In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session ... “); and
generating a meeting within the electronic calendar based on the meeting information (Wodzinski, e.g., Step 218 as shown in Fig. 2;paragraph [0038], “Once a participant or future participant accepts the invitation to a future communication session, the information (e.g., time, date) are entered onto the participant's electronic calendar (e.g., part of collaborative communication application or an enterprise calendar) during step 218. Alternatively, step 218 may include providing information to the participants about how to join the future session or providing a link to add the future session to the participants' calendars. “ ).
Per claim 3, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the method of claim 1, wherein a first participant is attending the video conference by a telephony device(Wodzinski, paragraph [0018]), and where providing the meeting invitation comprises generating and transmitting a text message to the first participant, the text message including at least a portion of the meeting information (Wodzinski, paragraph [0037], “ … For participants of the future session, which are not participants of the session of method 200, those future session participants may receive an invitation--e.g., via email, chat, text, or similar communication. “).
Per claim 4, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the method of claim 3, wherein the text message includes a link to a meeting invitation (Wodzinski, paragraph [0038]).
Per claim 7, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising, during the meeting and by the video conference application:
providing one or more proposed meeting times to the subset of participants (Wodzinski, paragraph [0033]); and
receiving respective selections of the one or more proposed meeting times from at least one participant of the subset of participants (Wodzinski, paragraph [0034]).
Per claim 8, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising, during the meeting and by the video conference application, creating a chat channel for the subset of participants, and providing a notification in the chat channel about the follow-up video conference(Wodzinski, e.g., Fig. 7 illustrates during the meeting and by the video conference application, creating a chat channel for the subset of participants, and providing a notification in the chat channel about the follow-up video conference.; paragraph [0039]).
Per claim 9, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising, during the meeting and by the video conference application:
receive a selection of a second subset of participants in the video conference(Wodzinski, e.g., Step 204 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0029], “During step 204, one or more participants determine whether to schedule a follow-up collaborative communication session. If no participant determines to schedule a follow-up session, then method 200 terminates. If, on the other hand, one or more participates decide to schedule a follow-up session, method 200 continues to step 208.” );
receive second meeting information associated with a second follow-up video conference (Wodzinski, e.g., Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0024], “.. In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session... “; paragraph [0025], “As set forth in more detail below, the calendar feature, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, may automatically schedule or set a time for a follow-up meeting based on desired times of a session (e.g., business hours), availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up--e.g., one week, one month, etc. Or, a participant may select a desired time and date for the next session ...”; paragraph [0027], “ …checking participant and system resource availability (step 210) …“; paragraph [0034]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses receiving desired times of a session, availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or desired features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up.);
generate a second meeting invitation to each participant of the second subset of participants based on the received second meeting information(Wodzinski, e.g., Step 212 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0025], “ … Once participants and a potential time for the future session are identified, the application or the scheduling participant sends each invited participant an invitation to the next session, which may be accepted, rejected, tentatively rejected, tentatively accepted, and/or which allows a participant to propose an alternative time and/or date. If the participant receiving the invitation is running the collaborative communication application as described herein, the invitation may be accepted, rejected, or a new time proposed within the application running on the participant's device. The default participant list may be the list of participants on the current collaboration session. Participants can be deleted and/or added to the list. “; paragraph [0027], “ …inviting participants to a future session (step 212)… “);
schedule, using the video conferencing application, the follow-up video conference with the video conference provider for a time after the conclusion of the video conference (e.g., Step 214 as shown in Fig. 2; Abstract; paragraph [0016], “The disclosure provides a system and method for scheduling a future collaborative communication session or meeting during a current collaborative communication session…”; paragraph [0024], “ …In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session. Further, the collaborative communication application, in accordance with exemplary aspects, allows users to accept, reject, or propose alternative times for future meetings--all within the communication application or within a calendar application via a widget or plug-in…. “; paragraph [0027]; paragraph [0030]; paragraphs [0032-0034]; paragraph [0037]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accepting, rejecting, or proposing an alternative session time using a collaborative communication application.); and
provide the second meeting invitation to each participant of the second subset of participants(e.g., Step 218 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0038], “Once a participant or future participant accepts the invitation to a future communication session, the information (e.g., time, date) are entered onto the participant's electronic calendar (e.g., part of collaborative communication application or an enterprise calendar) during step 218. Alternatively, step 218 may include providing information to the participants about how to join the future session or providing a link to add the future session to the participants' calendars.”; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accessing an electronic calendar associated with the respective participant; and generating a meeting within the electronic calendar based on the meeting information. See paragraph [0034] and Fig. 5).
Per claim 10, Wodzinski discloses a client device comprising:
a communications interface (e.g., cloud 118 as shown in Fig. 1; paragraph [0022]);
a non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., computers 112-118 including a collaborative communication application as shown in Fig. 1 ); and
one or more processors communicatively (e.g., computers 112-118 as shown in Fig. 1) coupled to the communications interface and the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the one or more processors configured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to:
join, using a video conferencing application, a video conference hosted by a video conference provider (e.g., Step 202 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0028], “During step 202, a collaborative communication session between two or more participants is initiated. The session may be an ad hoc or scheduled session in the form of any combination of a chat, audio communication, video communication, and web collaboration.”);
receive, using the video conferencing application and during the video conference, a selection of a subset of participants in the video conference (e.g., Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0024], “.. In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session... “; paragraph [0025], “As set forth in more detail below, the calendar feature, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, may automatically schedule or set a time for a follow-up meeting based on desired times of a session (e.g., business hours), availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up--e.g., one week, one month, etc. Or, a participant may select a desired time and date for the next session ...”; paragraph [0027], “ …checking participant and system resource availability (step 210) …“; paragraph [0034]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses receiving desired times of a session, availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or desired features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up.);
receive, using the video conferencing application, meeting information associated with a follow-up video conference (e.g., Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0024], “.. In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session... “; paragraph [0025], “As set forth in more detail below, the calendar feature, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, may automatically schedule or set a time for a follow-up meeting based on desired times of a session (e.g., business hours), availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up--e.g., one week, one month, etc. Or, a participant may select a desired time and date for the next session ...”; paragraph [0027], “ …checking participant and system resource availability (step 210) …“; paragraph [0034]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses receiving desired times of a session, availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or desired features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up.);
schedule, using the video conferencing application, the follow-up video conference with the video conference provider scheduling, using the video conferencing application, the follow-up video conference with the video conference provider for a time after the conclusion of the video conference (e.g., Step 214 as shown in Fig. 2; Abstract; paragraph [0016], “The disclosure provides a system and method for scheduling a future collaborative communication session or meeting during a current collaborative communication session…”; paragraph [0024], “ …In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session. Further, the collaborative communication application, in accordance with exemplary aspects, allows users to accept, reject, or propose alternative times for future meetings--all within the communication application or within a calendar application via a widget or plug-in…. “; paragraph [0027]; paragraph [0030]; paragraphs [0032-0034]; paragraph [0037]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accepting, rejecting, or proposing an alternative session time using a collaborative communication application.); and
provide, using the video conferencing application, the meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants (e.g., Step 218 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0038], “Once a participant or future participant accepts the invitation to a future communication session, the information (e.g., time, date) are entered onto the participant's electronic calendar (e.g., part of collaborative communication application or an enterprise calendar) during step 218. Alternatively, step 218 may include providing information to the participants about how to join the future session or providing a link to add the future session to the participants' calendars.”; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accessing an electronic calendar associated with the respective participant; and generating a meeting within the electronic calendar based on the meeting information. See paragraph [0034] and Fig. 5).
Wodzinski does not expressly disclose:
providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application, the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member;
receiving a selection of an option in the GUI to create a follow-up video conference;
generating, based on the selection of the option in the GUI and using the video conferencing application, a meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants based on the received meeting information;
associating the video conference with the follow-up video conference; and
providing access to content from the video conference based on the association.
Haveliwala discloses:
providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application (e.g., attendee pane 602 as shown in Fig. 6; Abstract, “ The present breakout room technique provides breakout rooms, or smaller sub-sets of a larger meeting, with full collaboration capabilities in live web-based conferencing applications. It provides for the capability to easily create sub-meetings or breakout rooms and the ability to assign individuals to breakout rooms… “; paragraph [0006], “The present breakout room technique also provides a UI that allows meeting room management and control from an attendee pane…”; paragraph [0064], “In one embodiment of the present breakout room technique, a breakout menu item is available on an attendee pane, shown in FIG. 6, as an instructor privilege. From the attendee pane 602, an instructor uses the breakout menu 604 for configuring, starting, managing and ending breakout rooms. A setup breakout rooms dialog appears when no breakout room configuration exists and the instructor activates the breakout menu 604.”);
receiving a selection of an option in the GUI to create a follow-up video conference (e.g., Step 502 as shown in Fig. 5; paragraph [0063], “FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting the process of setting up breakout rooms in one exemplary embodiment of the present breakout room technique. In response to an activation of the breakout room initiation command, the breakout room setup dialog appears (process actions 502, 504)…” ); and
generating, based on the selection of the option in the GUI and using the video conferencing application, a meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants based on the received meeting information(e.g., step 908 as shown in Fig. 9; paragraph [0046]; paragraph [0076], “ …The attendees are given a notification that they are transitioning to the breakout room (process action 908), and then they will join the breakout room in a scoped view (910) ... “);
associating the video conference with the follow-up video conference (paragraph [0028], “The present full collaboration breakout room technique provides breakout rooms with full collaboration capabilities in live web-based conferencing applications. That is, a main conference is truly sub-scoped into sub-conferences with data, audio and video sub-conferenced for each individual breakout room.”; paragraph [0040]); and
providing access to content from the video conference based on the association(paragraph [0077]; paragraph [0097]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the virtual conferencing system of Haveliwala with the Wodizinski’s communication session scheduling device for spontaneous creation of such sub-meetings as suggested by Haveliwala (paragraph [0003]).
Bloom discloses the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member (e.g., method 800 as shown in Fig. 8; Abstract, “Techniques are described herein for providing an interactive interface for live streaming events. A user may view a broadcasted live streaming event via the interactive interface. A sub-group of participants of the live streaming event may be identified from a larger group of participants based at least in part on respective locations of respective computing devices of the sub-group participants. A graphical representation can be generated for the group using images of each of the sub-group participants…. “; paragraph [0017]; paragraph [0032], “In some embodiments, interactive interface 100 may include chat window 106 which may present chat input provided by any suitable combination of participants of the live streaming event. As depicted, each chat input may be labeled with an identifier of the participant that provided the chat input. The identifier may include any suitable combination of a name, a viewing location (e.g., a viewing location corresponding to a city, county, state, country, region, or the like), an image, an icon, and the like.”; paragraph [0044]; paragraph [0066]paragraphs [0099-0105]; Examiner’s Note: Bloom discloses graphical indication 416 as shown in Fig. 4 overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the interactive interfaces of Bloom with the Wodizinski and Haveliwala ’s communication session scheduling device for enriching the experience for users of a video stream as suggested by Bloom(paragraph [0023]).
Per claim 11, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the client device of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non- transitory computer-readable medium to, for at least one participant of the subset of participants:
access an electronic calendar associated with the respective participant(Wodzinski, paragraph [024], “… In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session ... “); and
generate a meeting within the electronic calendar based on the meeting information (Wodzinski, e.g., Step 218 as shown in Fig. 2;paragraph [0038], “Once a participant or future participant accepts the invitation to a future communication session, the information (e.g., time, date) are entered onto the participant's electronic calendar (e.g., part of collaborative communication application or an enterprise calendar) during step 218. Alternatively, step 218 may include providing information to the participants about how to join the future session or providing a link to add the future session to the participants' calendars. “ ).
Per claim 12, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the client device of claim 10, wherein a first participant is attending the video conference by a telephony device(Wodzinski, paragraph [0018]), and wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non- transitory computer-readable medium to generate and transmit a text message to the first participant, the text message including at least a portion of the meeting information(Wodzinski, paragraph [0037], “ … For participants of the future session, which are not participants of the session of method 200, those future session participants may receive an invitation--e.g., via email, chat, text, or similar communication. “).
Per claim 13, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the client device of claim 12, wherein the text message includes a link to a meeting invitation(Wodzinski, paragraph [0038]).
Per claim 14, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the client device of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non- transitory computer-readable medium to, after providing the meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants:
add a first participant to the subset(Wodzinski, paragraph [0025], “ ….Participants can be deleted and/or added to the list. “; paragraph [0034], “ In accordance with the illustrated embodiment, participants can be added or removed from the invitation to the session, and the availability of participants and communication resources can be viewed in the application (calendar or collaborative communication application). FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary screen, when a participant selects the "confirm conference resource availability" tab. “); and
provide the meeting invitation to the first participant (Wodzinski, paragraph [0025], “ …Once participants and a potential time for the future session are identified, the application or the scheduling participant sends each invited participant an invitation to the next session, which may be accepted, rejected, tentatively rejected, tentatively accepted, and/or which allows a participant to propose an alternative time and/or date ... “).
Per claim 15, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the client device of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute further processor-executable instructions stored in the non- transitory computer-readable medium to:
request availability of one or more participants in the subset of participants (Wodzinski, e.g.. Step 208 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0027] );
receive the availability of the one or more participants(Wodzinski, e.g.. Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0025]; paragraph [0027] ); and
present the availability of the one or more participants in a graphical user interface (Wodzinski, e.g., step 218 as shown in Fig. 2;paragraph [0038] ).
Per claim 16, Wodzinski discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium (Wodzinski, e.g., computers 112-118 as shown in Fig. 1)to cause one or more processors to:
join, using a video conferencing application, a video conference hosted by a video conference provider (Wodzinski, e.g., Step 202 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0028], “During step 202, a collaborative communication session between two or more participants is initiated. The session may be an ad hoc or scheduled session in the form of any combination of a chat, audio communication, video communication, and web collaboration.”);
receive, using the video conferencing application and during the video conference, a selection of a subset of participants in the video conference (Wodzinski, e.g., Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0024], “.. In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session... “; paragraph [0025], “As set forth in more detail below, the calendar feature, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, may automatically schedule or set a time for a follow-up meeting based on desired times of a session (e.g., business hours), availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up--e.g., one week, one month, etc. Or, a participant may select a desired time and date for the next session ...”; paragraph [0027], “ …checking participant and system resource availability (step 210) …“; paragraph [0034]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses receiving desired times of a session, availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or desired features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up.);
receive, using the video conferencing application, meeting information associated with a follow-up video conference (e.g., Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0024], “.. In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session... “; paragraph [0025], “As set forth in more detail below, the calendar feature, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, may automatically schedule or set a time for a follow-up meeting based on desired times of a session (e.g., business hours), availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up--e.g., one week, one month, etc. Or, a participant may select a desired time and date for the next session ...”; paragraph [0027], “ …checking participant and system resource availability (step 210) …“; paragraph [0034]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses receiving desired times of a session, availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or desired features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up.);
generate, based on the selection of the option in the GUI and using the video conferencing application, a meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants based on the received meeting information (e.g., Step 212 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0025], “ … Once participants and a potential time for the future session are identified, the application or the scheduling participant sends each invited participant an invitation to the next session, which may be accepted, rejected, tentatively rejected, tentatively accepted, and/or which allows a participant to propose an alternative time and/or date. If the participant receiving the invitation is running the collaborative communication application as described herein, the invitation may be accepted, rejected, or a new time proposed within the application running on the participant's device. The default participant list may be the list of participants on the current collaboration session. Participants can be deleted and/or added to the list. “; paragraph [0027], “ …inviting participants to a future session (step 212)… “);
schedule, using the video conferencing application, the follow-up video conference with the video conference provider (e.g., Step 214 as shown in Fig. 2; Abstract; paragraph [0016], “The disclosure provides a system and method for scheduling a future collaborative communication session or meeting during a current collaborative communication session…”; paragraph [0037]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accepting, rejecting, or proposing an alternative session time using a collaborative communication application.); and
provide, using the video conferencing application, the meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants (e.g., Step 218 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0038], “Once a participant or future participant accepts the invitation to a future communication session, the information (e.g., time, date) are entered onto the participant's electronic calendar (e.g., part of collaborative communication application or an enterprise calendar) during step 218. Alternatively, step 218 may include providing information to the participants about how to join the future session or providing a link to add the future session to the participants' calendars.”; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accessing an electronic calendar associated with the respective participant; and generating a meeting within the electronic calendar based on the meeting information. See paragraph [0034] and Fig. 5).
Wodzinski does not expressly disclose:
providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application, the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member;
receiving a selection of an option in the GUI to create a follow-up video conference;
generating, based on the selection of the option in the GUI and using the video conferencing application, a meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants based on the received meeting information;
associating the video conference with the follow-up video conference; and
providing access to content from the video conference based on the association.
Haveliwala discloses:
providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application (e.g., attendee pane 602 as shown in Fig. 6; Abstract, “ The present breakout room technique provides breakout rooms, or smaller sub-sets of a larger meeting, with full collaboration capabilities in live web-based conferencing applications. It provides for the capability to easily create sub-meetings or breakout rooms and the ability to assign individuals to breakout rooms… “; paragraph [0006], “The present breakout room technique also provides a UI that allows meeting room management and control from an attendee pane…”; paragraph [0064], “In one embodiment of the present breakout room technique, a breakout menu item is available on an attendee pane, shown in FIG. 6, as an instructor privilege. From the attendee pane 602, an instructor uses the breakout menu 604 for configuring, starting, managing and ending breakout rooms. A setup breakout rooms dialog appears when no breakout room configuration exists and the instructor activates the breakout menu 604.”);
receiving a selection of an option in the GUI to create a follow-up video conference (e.g., Step 502 as shown in Fig. 5; paragraph [0063], “FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting the process of setting up breakout rooms in one exemplary embodiment of the present breakout room technique. In response to an activation of the breakout room initiation command, the breakout room setup dialog appears (process actions 502, 504)…” ); and
generating, based on the selection of the option in the GUI and using the video conferencing application, a meeting invitation to each participant of the subset of participants based on the received meeting information(e.g., step 908 as shown in Fig. 9; paragraph [0046]; paragraph [0076], “ …The attendees are given a notification that they are transitioning to the breakout room (process action 908), and then they will join the breakout room in a scoped view (910) ... “);
associating the video conference with the follow-up video conference (paragraph [0028], “The present full collaboration breakout room technique provides breakout rooms with full collaboration capabilities in live web-based conferencing applications. That is, a main conference is truly sub-scoped into sub-conferences with data, audio and video sub-conferenced for each individual breakout room.”; paragraph [0040]); and
providing access to content from the video conference based on the association(paragraph [0077]; paragraph [0097]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the virtual conferencing system of Haveliwala with the Wodizinski’s communication session scheduling device for spontaneous creation of such sub-meetings as suggested by Haveliwala (paragraph [0003]).
Bloom discloses the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member (e.g., method 800 as shown in Fig. 8; Abstract, “Techniques are described herein for providing an interactive interface for live streaming events. A user may view a broadcasted live streaming event via the interactive interface. A sub-group of participants of the live streaming event may be identified from a larger group of participants based at least in part on respective locations of respective computing devices of the sub-group participants. A graphical representation can be generated for the group using images of each of the sub-group participants…. “; paragraph [0017]; paragraph [0032], “In some embodiments, interactive interface 100 may include chat window 106 which may present chat input provided by any suitable combination of participants of the live streaming event. As depicted, each chat input may be labeled with an identifier of the participant that provided the chat input. The identifier may include any suitable combination of a name, a viewing location (e.g., a viewing location corresponding to a city, county, state, country, region, or the like), an image, an icon, and the like.”; paragraph [0044]; paragraph [0066]paragraphs [0099-0105]; Examiner’s Note: Bloom discloses graphical indication 416 as shown in Fig. 4 overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the interactive interfaces of Bloom with the Wodizinski and Haveliwala ’s communication session scheduling device for enriching the experience for users of a video stream as suggested by Bloom(paragraph [0023]).
Per claim 17, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:
receive a selection of a second subset of participants in the video conference(Wodzinski, e.g., Step 204 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0029], “During step 204, one or more participants determine whether to schedule a follow-up collaborative communication session. If no participant determines to schedule a follow-up session, then method 200 terminates. If, on the other hand, one or more participates decide to schedule a follow-up session, method 200 continues to step 208.” );
receive second meeting information associated with a second follow-up video conference (Wodzinski, e.g., Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0024], “.. In accordance with exemplary aspects, participants' calendar information is automatically entered into the calendar feature upon initiation of a session or upon access by a participant of the calendar feature or when a participant selects to schedule a future session... “; paragraph [0025], “As set forth in more detail below, the calendar feature, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, may automatically schedule or set a time for a follow-up meeting based on desired times of a session (e.g., business hours), availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up--e.g., one week, one month, etc. Or, a participant may select a desired time and date for the next session ...”; paragraph [0027], “ …checking participant and system resource availability (step 210) …“; paragraph [0034]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses receiving desired times of a session, availability of participants, availability of the collaborative communication resources or desired features, and predefined or selectable time frames to follow up.);
generate a second meeting invitation to each participant of the second subset of participants based on the received second meeting information(Wodzinski, e.g., Step 212 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0025], “ … Once participants and a potential time for the future session are identified, the application or the scheduling participant sends each invited participant an invitation to the next session, which may be accepted, rejected, tentatively rejected, tentatively accepted, and/or which allows a participant to propose an alternative time and/or date. If the participant receiving the invitation is running the collaborative communication application as described herein, the invitation may be accepted, rejected, or a new time proposed within the application running on the participant's device. The default participant list may be the list of participants on the current collaboration session. Participants can be deleted and/or added to the list. “; paragraph [0027], “ …inviting participants to a future session (step 212)… “);
schedule the second follow-up video conference with the video conference provider(Wodzinski, e.g., Step 214 as shown in Fig. 2; Abstract; paragraph [0016], “The disclosure provides a system and method for scheduling a future collaborative communication session or meeting during a current collaborative communication session…”; paragraph [0037]; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accepting, rejecting, or proposing an alternative session time using a collaborative communication application.); and
provide the second meeting invitation to each participant of the second subset of participants(Wodzinski, e.g., Step 218 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0038], “Once a participant or future participant accepts the invitation to a future communication session, the information (e.g., time, date) are entered onto the participant's electronic calendar (e.g., part of collaborative communication application or an enterprise calendar) during step 218. Alternatively, step 218 may include providing information to the participants about how to join the future session or providing a link to add the future session to the participants' calendars.”; Examiner’s Note: Wodzinski discloses accessing an electronic calendar associated with the respective participant; and generating a meeting within the electronic calendar based on the meeting information. See paragraph [0034] and Fig. 5).
Per claim 19, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:
provide one or more proposed meeting times to the subset of participants(Wodzinski, paragraph [0033]); and
receive respective selections of the one or more proposed meeting times from at least one participant of the subset of participants(Wodzinski, paragraph [0034]).
Per claim 20, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:
request availability of one or more participants in the subset of participants (Wodzinski, e.g.. Step 208 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0027] );
receive the availability of the one or more participants(Wodzinski, e.g.. Step 210 as shown in Fig. 2; paragraph [0025]; paragraph [0027] ); and
present the availability of the one or more participants in a graphical user interface (Wodzinski, e.g., step 218 as shown in Fig. 2;paragraph [0038] ).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wodzinski et al. (Hereinafter, Wodzinski, US 2014/0082090 A1) in view of Haveliwala (US 2007/0300165 A1), Bloom et al. (Hereinafter, Bloom, US 2021/0409787 A1), and further in view of Benjamin et al. (Hereinafter, Benjamin, US 2011/0167357 A1).
Per claim 6, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the method of claim 1, but do not expressly disclose the method as comprising providing, during the meeting, a notification to each participant of the subset of participants indicating the follow-up video conference.
Benjamin discloses providing, during the meeting, a notification to each participant of the subset of participants indicating the follow-up video conference (paragraphs [0087] and [0089]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the content organization and retrieval of Benjamin with the Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom’s communication session scheduling device for saving the user from having to manually locate necessary information as suggested by Benjamin (paragraph [0009]).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wodzinski et al. (Hereinafter, Wodzinski, US 2014/0082090 A1) in view of Haveliwala (US 2007/0300165 A1), Bloom et al. (Hereinafter, Bloom, US 2021/0409787 A1), and further in view of Pan et al. (Hereinafter, Pan, US 2018/0278891 A1).
Per claim 18, Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, but do not expressly disclose that the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to, during the meeting:
create a first chat channel for the subset of participants,
create a second chat channel for the second subset of participants,
provide a notification in the first chat channel about the follow-up video conference; and
provide a second notification in the second chat channel about the second follow-up video conference.
Pan discloses during the meeting:
create a first chat channel for the subset of participants (e.g., panel 204 as shown in Fig. 3C; paragraph [0099], “At step 500, the method can involve generating a graphical interface for an electronic conference including a group of participants, the graphical interface displaying an active participant (e.g., active participant 202A) in a first display region (e.g., display region 202) and a panel of participants (e.g., panel 204) in a second display region, the panel of participants concurrently displaying respective graphical representations corresponding to a subset of the group of participants in the electronic conference.”; step 500 as shown in Fig. 5A),
create a second chat channel for the second subset of participants(e.g., area 304 as shown in Fig. 3C; paragraphs [0073-0076]; step 502 as shown in Fig. 5A; paragraph [0102] ),
provide a notification in the first chat channel about the follow-up video conference (paragraph [0094]); and
provide a second notification in the second chat channel about the second follow-up video conference (paragraph [0095]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the technologies of Pan with the Wodzinski, Haveliwala, and Bloom’s communication session scheduling device for enabling conference participants to follow participants of interest in a conference and maintaining customized conference state across different devices and conference sessions and improving the user’s ability to view and interact with users over the internet as suggested by Pan(paragraph [0003]).
Response to Arguments
§ 103 - Claims 1-4 and 6-20
Applicant's arguments filed 31March 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On pages 8-9of the Applicant’s Response, applicants argue that Wodzinski in view of Haveliwala does not disclose or make obvious at least "providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application, the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member" as recited in claim 1.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986). In the new rejection, Wodzinski in view of Haveliwala was not relied upon to disclose "providing, by the video conferencing application, a graphical indication of one or more participants being members of the subset of participants within a graphical user interface ("GUI") of the video conferencing application, the graphical indication overlaid on a respective representation of a video stream corresponding to the respective member" as recited in claim 1. Therefore, claim 1 is not allowable.
Independent claims 10 and 16 recite similar features as in claim 1 and are therefore each not allowable for at least the same reasons. Dependent claims 2-4, 7-9, 11-15, and 17-20 are each not allowable for at least the same reasons.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARRIN HOPE whose telephone number is (571)270-5079. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thr - 6:45-4:15, Fri - 6:45-3:15, Alt. Fri Off.
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) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephen S Hong can be reached at (571)272-4124. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
DARRIN HOPE
Examiner
Art Unit 2178
/STEPHEN S HONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2178
Prosecution Insights