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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/19/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 02/19/2025 have been considered but are moot in view of a new ground of rejections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 6, 8-9, 11, 13, 15-16, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Malik et al. (US 2019/0327450 A1 – hereinafter Malik) and Trenciansky et al. (US 2012/0281095 A1 – hereinafter Trenciansky).
Regarding claim 6, Malik discloses a method for enabling access to video streams based on a location, the method comprising: storing, in a memory associated with a first server, a database of a plurality of cameras, the plurality of cameras including a set of public cameras and a set of private cameras ([0085]-[0086] – a set of public cameras such as cameras on streets or associated with a city, e.g. New York traffic cameras, and publicly available, etc. and a set of private cameras such as cameras associated with private institutions and secured within the institutions), the plurality of cameras corresponding to a plurality of locations, each camera of the plurality of cameras bearing on a corresponding location of the plurality of locations (Figs. 9-10; [0088]; [0090] – storing a database, e.g. database 34 in Fig. 9 or database 68 in Fig. 10, a list of cameras with corresponding locations); receiving, from the plurality of cameras, a plurality of video streams ([0085] – receiving video streams from the cameras); receiving, from a mobile display terminal via a second server, a request (Figs. 9-10; [0088] – receiving from a mobile device of the user 36 or 70 a request for a camera); in response to receiving the request, the first server performing: selecting a set of cameras based on the request (Figs. 9-10 – selecting a set of cameras corresponding to the request, e.g. each of the camera bearing on the location in the request to return at step 40 or 74), wherein the set of cameras includes one or more of a private camera and a public camera ([0085]-[0086] – at least one camera in either a set of public cameras such as cameras on streets or associated with a city, e.g. New York traffic cameras, and publicly available, etc. or a set of private cameras such as cameras associated with private institutions and secured within the institutions); initiating a time-based application programming interface (API) based on the request ([0055]-[0064] – initiating an API based on the request for display at user terminal as shown in Figs. 6a-6g, the API is time-based because it is available during the session); and transmitting a link for the API to the mobile display terminal, wherein the mobile display terminal associated with the second server is configured to display, using the API, a set of cameras associated with the request (Figs. 6a-6g; [0058]-[0064] – displaying the set of cameras in a display terminal, which is a mobile display terminal as further described at least in [0088]).
However, Malik does not disclose storing, in the memory associated with the first server, a set of privacy settings and a set of access permissions for each private camera of the set of private cameras, wherein a first access permission makes the private camera always accessible or a second access permission makes the camera conditionally accessible; the request for video streams including a location indicia corresponding to the mobile display terminal; selecting a set of cameras within a vicinity of the mobile display terminal; determining, for a private camera of the set of cameras within a vicinity of the location indicia of the mobile display terminal, the private camera is accessible based on the set of access permissions for the identified private camera, wherein the mobile display terminal is configured to display, using the API, a set of video streams associated with the location in the request based on the set of access permissions.
Trenciansky discloses storing, in a memory associated with a first server (Fig. 6 – storing in memory of a server of an enterprise management system), a set of privacy settings ([0049] – a set of private settings including camera priority levels so that a camera can be locked from access by users with low priority levels by a user of a higher priority level as further described at least in [0062]) and a set of access permissions for each private camera of the set of private cameras, wherein a first access permission makes the private camera always accessible or a second access permission makes the camera conditionally accessible ([0049] – a set of access permission settings including users of a certain group always have access to the camera while others can access the cameras during a time window); the request for video streams including a location indicia corresponding to the mobile display terminal ([0067] – a request to access a video camera including location of the user to determine access priority as further described at least in [0065]); selecting a set of cameras within a vicinity of the mobile display terminal ([0067] – selecting on-site video cameras within the vicinity of the mobile display terminal); determining, for a private camera of the set of cameras within a vicinity of the location indicia of the mobile display terminal, the private camera is accessible based on the set of access permissions for the identified private camera ([0067] – determining for an on-site camera of the set of cameras, the cameras are private cameras within an enterprise or a facility, the private on-site camera is accessible based on the location of the user), wherein the mobile display terminal is configured to display, using the API, a set of video streams associated with the location in the request based on the set of access permissions (Fig. 8; [0067] – the mobile display terminal displays a set of video streams from on-site cameras which are determined based on the user’s location).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Trenciansky to store an private settings and access policy settings for each of the cameras in the method taught by Malik in order to control accesses to cameras, thus enforcing a proper use of the camera according to owners.
Regarding claim 8, Malik also discloses the plurality of cameras comprises a first plurality of cameras associated with a first network and a second plurality of cameras associated with a second network ([0086] – cameras associated with a plurality of networks, each network is associated with an organization).
Regarding claim 9, see the teachings of Malik and Trenciansky as discussed in claim 6 above. Trenciansky also discloses the private camera is conditionally accessible when the mobile display terminal is within a predefined GPS range ([0065] – within a location range relative to the cameras, the location range although not explicitly described using a GPS, is equivalent to a well-defined GPS range), when the request is received within a time range ([0049] – during the established time window or at the given fixed time) and upon receiving, from an owner of the private camera, an indication that the owner of the private camera has allowed access to the private camera ([0049] – upon receiving from an owner of the camera, e.g. the owner of the facility, administrator, etc., an indication that the owner of the private camera has allowed access to the private camera when the user successfully logged in).
Regarding claim 11, see the teachings of Malik and Trenciansky as discussed in claim 6 above. Trenciansky also discloses the display terminal comprises a mobile aggregate display (MAD) (Fig. 8 – the display terminal is a mobile as further described [0042] and aggregating video feeds from different sources as shown in Fig. 8).
Claim 13 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 6 above in view of Malik also disclosing a system for enabling access to video streams based on a location (Fig. 1 – system 100), the system comprising: a first server comprising: a memory storing: a database of a plurality of camera, the plurality of cameras corresponding to a plurality of locations, each camera of the plurality of cameras bearing on a corresponding location of the plurality of locations (Figs. 9-10; [0088]; [0090] – storing a database, e.g. database 34 in Fig. 9 or database 68 in Fig. 10, a list of cameras with corresponding locations); and a processor executing a set of instructions to perform the recited method ([0074]-[0075]); and a display terminal associated with the second server is configured to perform the display, using the API (Figs. 6a-6g; [0058]-[0064]).
Claim 15 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 8 above.
Claim 16 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 9 above.
Claim 18 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 11 above.
Claims 10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Malik and Trenciansky as applied to claims 6, 8-9, 11, 13, 15-16, and 18 above, and further in view of Brake et al. (US 2021/0233371 A1 – hereinafter Brake).
Regarding claim 10, see the teachings of Malik and Trenciansky as discussed in claim 6 above. However, Malik and Trenciansky do not disclose masking a portion of the video stream.
Brake discloses masking a portion of a video stream ([0013]; Fig. 5 – transforming by masking).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Brake into the method taught by Malik and Trenciansky to protect privacy of people in the video stream.
Claim 17 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in claim 10 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1116. The examiner can normally be reached IFT.
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/HUNG Q DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484