REISSUE NON-FINAL ACTION
New claims 25-47 were pending in this reissue of U.S. Patent No. 10,127,724 (hereinafter “the '724 patent” issued from application no. 14/759,093 (hereinafter “the '093 application”). Claims 1-24 were previously cancelled. Upon entry of amendment filed 9/10/2025, claims 25 and 46 have been amended.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 9/10/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Independent claims 25 and 46 have been amended to recite all the limitations of cancelled original patent claims 1 and 23. Claims 25 and 46 now recite the previously omitted limitations: “animated character” and “providing a voice command”. Accordingly, the rejection of claims 25-47 under 251 for improper broadening outside the two year statutory period and for improper recapture, is withdrawn. However, the rejection of claims 25-47 under 251 based on Defective Oath/Declaration is maintained as modified and explained below.
Claims 25-47 are rejected as being based upon a defective reissue declaration under 35 U.S.C. 251. See 37 CFR 1.175.
The nature of the defect(s) in the 12/27/2022 declaration is set forth below. The declaration states:
This is a reissue application to obtain claims with additional features. In particular, Applicant seeks to narrow the scope of issued independent claims 1 and 23.
One error upon which this reissue application is based is that Applicant claimed more than it had the right to claim in issued independent claims 1 and 23. Newly-added independent claim 25 mainly includes the features of claims 1 and 17. Newly-added independent claim 46 mainly includes the features of claims 17 and 23. Newly-added independent claims include more features than the corresponding original claims, and the claim scope is materially narrowed.
The reissue oath/declaration filed with this application remains defective because it fails to identify at least one error which is relied upon to support the reissue application. See 37 CFR 1.175 and MPEP § 1414. The declaration states that claims 1 and 23 have been narrowed, but claims 1 and 23 are now cancelled. The declaration also states, new claims 25 and 46 include the features of dependent claim 17. However, claims 25 and 46 have been amended to match the scope of cancelled claims 1 and 23 and they no longer recite the elements of claim 17. Thus, the declaration still fails to identify at least one error which is relied upon. It appears that no error is being corrected since new claims 25 and 46 are substantially commensurate in scope to cancelled patent claims 1 and 23. A corrected reissue declaration is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 25-47 would be allowable upon overcoming the declaration rejection under 251.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: As indicated in the Notice of Allowance in the prosecution of the '093 application (see NOA mailed 7/18/2018 p. 2-3), the prior art of record fails to disclose, teach, or suggest: providing content via the camera preview based on a target recognition, the content includes an animated character that behaves in response to a user's interaction with the user device, the user's interaction includes aiming at a live target in a real scene and providing a voice command.
Conclusion
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/Cameron Saadat/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
Conferees:
/Woo H Choi/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
/ALEXANDER J KOSOWSKI/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3992
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