Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/294,925

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR VIDEO INTERACTION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 02, 2024
Examiner
PIERCE, DAMON JOSEPH
Art Unit
3715
Tech Center
3700 — Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing
Assignee
BEIJING ZITIAO NETWORK TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
75%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 11m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 75% — above average
75%
Career Allow Rate
646 granted / 860 resolved
+5.1% vs TC avg
Strong +29% interview lift
Without
With
+29.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
35 currently pending
Career history
895
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
11.7%
-28.3% vs TC avg
§103
42.8%
+2.8% vs TC avg
§102
17.6%
-22.4% vs TC avg
§112
21.2%
-18.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 860 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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. 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, 2, and 16-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN Pub. 109474856 to Z intermediate Global Corp, English Translation via Google Patents, https://patents.google.com/patent/CN109474856A/en?oq=CN109474856 (herein referred to as Z Intermediate) in view of US Pat. 6994626 to D’Achard Van Enschut (herein referred to as Enschut). Claims 1, 30, and 33. Z Intermediate discloses an electronic device, comprising: at least one processor and a memory; the memory storing computer executable instructions; and the at least one processor executing the computer executable instructions stored in the memory, causing the at least one processor to perform a video interaction method comprising: displaying, on a video call interface, a game interface of a target game (“game content in call image”) and camera-acquired pictures of a plurality of video call objects (Figs. 11-18, and “video camera”, and “During maintaining video calling connection, the first electronic equipment 110 can be shown over the display by user image 501 and other side's image 502 constitute video calling picture 510.”), the game interface being a shared layer (Figs. 11-18, and “game content is provided on video calling picture”; and “Real-Time Sharing game”); and jointly controlling a process of the target game based on game instructions of the plurality of video call objects (“controlling game element by the Object identifying result of call image under video calling environment”; “control game element step, Object identifying result is used Make exercise data related with above-mentioned game content to control game element”). Z Intermediate fails to explicitly disclose the game interface being a shared layer rendered below and/or above the camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects (emphasis added). Enschut teaches a game interface being a shared layer rendered below and/or above the camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects (Fig. 2, elements 66, 72, and 74, and col. 3, 23-37). The gaming system of Z Intermediate would have motivation to use the teachings of Enschut in order to arrange game images in a manner that makes it easy for game players to recognize the different images presented during game play. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the gaming system of Z Intermediate with the teachings of Enschut in order to provide distinct areas between the video game play and game player images in doing so would make it easier for the game players to recognize and follow the different images presented during game play. Claim 2. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein the displaying of the game interface on the video call interface comprises: rendering the game interface in subject to a size of the video call interface (see Enschut Fig. 2, game play area is presented in designated section of screen). Claims 16 and 31. Z Intermediate discloses wherein the displaying of the camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects comprises: determining a plurality of video areas on the video call interface; and displaying the camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects on the plurality of video areas (Figs. 11-18, and “video calling picture”). Claims 17 and 32. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein a content presented on the game interface comprises a game scene picture and/or a controllable virtual object (see Enschut Fig. 2, elements 66 and 68, and col. 3, 23-37), jointly controlling the process of the target game based on the game instructions of the plurality of video call objects comprises: in response to game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling a displaying of the game scene picture; and/or in response to game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling a displaying of the virtual object (see Z Intermediate “control game element by the Object identifying result for image”; and see Enschut Fig. 2, element 68). Claim 18. Z Intermediate discloses wherein the displaying of the camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects comprises: determining a plurality of video areas on the video call interface; and displaying the camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects on the plurality of video areas (Figs. 11-118, and “video calling picture”). Claim 19. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein determining the plurality of video areas on the video call interface comprises: dividing the video call interface into the plurality of video areas arranged according to row and/or column (see Z Intermediate Figs. 11-18; and see Enschut Fig. 2). Claim 20. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein determining the plurality of video areas on the video call interface comprises: determining a plurality of discretely distributed video areas on the video call interface, the plurality of discretely distributed video areas located at an edge of the game interface (see Enschut Fig. 2, elements 72 and 74). Claim 21. Z Intermediate discloses wherein displaying the camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects on the plurality of video areas comprises: extracting a plurality of target images from camera-acquired pictures of the plurality of video call objects, respectively; and displaying the plurality of target images in a same video area (Figs. 11-18, and “video calling picture being made of user image and other side's image, above-mentioned identification object step is including the use of face recognition”). Claim 22. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein a content presented on the game interface comprises a game scene picture and/or a controllable virtual object, jointly controlling the process of the target game based on the game instructions of the plurality of video call objects comprises: in response to game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling a displaying of the game scene picture; and/or in response to game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling a displaying of the virtual object (see claims 17 and 32 above). Claim 23. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein a content presented on the game interface comprises a game scene picture and/or a controllable virtual object, jointly controlling the process of the target game based on the game instructions of the plurality of video call objects comprises: in response to game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling a displaying of the game scene picture; and/or in response to game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling a displaying of the virtual object (see claims 17 and 32 above). Claim 24. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein different video call objects correspond to different virtual objects, in response to the game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling the displaying of the virtual object comprises: for each individual video call object, in response to the game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling a displaying of the corresponding virtual object (see Z Intermediate Figs. 11-18, and “controlling game element by the Object identifying result of call image under video calling environment”; “control game element step, Object identifying result is used Make exercise data related with above-mentioned game content to control game element”). Claim 25. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein in response to the game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling the displaying of the virtual object comprises: in response to the game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, controlling a displacement, a shape, a movement of the virtual object and/or a corresponding game skill (see Z Intermediate Figs. 11-18). Claim 26. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein the recognized results of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures comprises at least one of: expressions of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, face positions of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, body movements of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, or a relative position of different video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures (see Z Intermediate “movement in gesture and facial expression portion is identified”; and “movement identification part 320 identifies face in user image and can The movement (for example, blink movement, movement of opening one's mouth, movement of mobile face etc.) of face by identification is identified”). Claim 27. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein in response to the game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, jointly controlling the displaying of the virtual object comprises: in response to the game instructions triggered by recognized results of the plurality of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, controlling a displacement, a shape, a movement of the virtual object and/or a corresponding game skill (see claim 25 above). Claim 28. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein the recognized results of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures comprises at least one of expressions of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures ,face positions of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, body movements of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, or a relative position of different video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures (see claim 26 above). Claim 29. Z Intermediate in view of Enschut teaches wherein the recognized results of video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures comprises at least one of: expressions of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, face positions of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, body movements of the video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures, or a relative position of different video call objects in the camera-acquired pictures (see claim 26 above). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAMON J PIERCE whose telephone number is (571)270-1997. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm. 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, Kang Hu can be reached at 571-270-1344. 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. /DAMON J PIERCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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Prosecution Timeline

Feb 02, 2024
Application Filed
Dec 18, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 10, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
75%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+29.0%)
2y 11m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 860 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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