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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 9/12/2025, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered but are moot in view new ground(s) of rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5, 7, 8, 10-12, 14, 15 and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carpentier et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2017/0124776) in view of TheTozotube (“Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Testing Split screen Multiplayer”, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj5EgWxOVnw) in view of Keselman et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2019/0392644) in view of Oliveira et al. (“Interactive Makeup Tutorial Using Face Tracking and Augmented Reality on Mobile Devices”, URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7300751).
Regarding claim 8, Carpentier teaches a device, comprising:
At least one processor (the required processor for enabling the tablet, smart phone or computerized glasses of Carpentier (Carpentier: 0025));
And a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to perform operations comprising (the required memory and instructions for enabling the tablet, smart phone or computerized glasses of Carpentier (Carpentier: 0025)):
Receiving, by an application running on the device, first user input selecting an augmented reality content item for display (user selects which issue is to be currently addressed, or approaches a portion of the vehicle 10 (Carpentier: 0021)), the item corresponding to a tutorial with augmented reality content (refer to the tutorial/manual 34 of FIG.3 (Carpentier: 0024-0025)),
Causing, in response to receiving the user input, a camera of the device to activate to capture an image feed (When the user selects the service point on the machine 10, the display 24 will go to split screen mode (as shown in FIG. 3), and the service manual 34 and/or operator manual pages (“tutorial”) relevant to the selected service point will be displayed on the right half of the screen, and AR content displayed on the left half that corresponds to images captured by the camera pointed by the user (Carpentier: 0025-0027));
Displaying within a split screen interface tutorial content in conjunction with the image feed; and modifying the image feed with augmented reality content that corresponds to the tutorial content (the service manual 34 and/or operator manual pages (“tutorial”) relevant to the selected service point will be displayed on the right half after entering split the screen mode (Carpentier: 0024-0025, FIG.3). The designator 32 shown in the left display corresponds to the AR content that modifies the image feed (Carpentier: 0024-0025)).
However, Carpentier does not expressly teach receiving second user input to indicate completion of the tutorial; causing, in response to receiving the second user input, display of a full screen interface of the image feed as modified with the augmented reality content, wherein display of the full screen interface replaces display of the split screen interface. TheTozotube teaches the concept of entering a split screen mode and then exiting the split screen mode (refer to the “Quit” button at 0:20) to return to the previous/main screen (full screen) in response to a user input (TheTozotube: 0:16-0:20).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Carpentier such that the user is given the option to either enter or exit the split screen mode once the user is done with the application (suggested by TheTozotube). The combination of teachings is beneficia, because enables the user to navigate (enter/exit) the AR software as desired.
Further, the combined teachings above do not expressly teach but Keselman teaches
Displaying, within a split screen interface comprising a first portion and a second portion (the diagnosis guide app 130 is divided in split-screen fashion into a user dialog section 610 on the right and an AR display 620 on the left. (Keselman: 0041, FIG.6)), tutorial content in conjunction with the image feed, the first portion of the split screen interface including the tutorial content (the user dialog section 610 (“first portion”) includes a combination of diagnosis steps (actions) and a decision point (question). Dialog section also includes video window 616 that includes pictures, illustrations, animated illustrations (GIFs), videos, or other media (Keselman: 0042)), and the second portion of the split screen interface including the image feed (the AR display 620 (“second portion”) includes a virtual feature display 622, which is an arrow illustrating a direction of motion or a direction of viewing, and a virtual feature display 624, which is an outline indicating a location of a part on the robot. The virtual feature displays 622 and 624 are overlaid on images 626 of the real-world scene (the robot and surroundings) as viewed by the camera of the mobile device 120 (Keselman: 0043));
Modifying the image feed, as displayed within the second portion of the split screen interface, with augmented reality content that corresponds to the tutorial content as displayed within the first portion of the split screen interface (some diagnosis steps (actions) and decision points (questions) have associated AR data. The AR display 620 is designed to provide interactive visualization assistance which is helpful to the user in completing the diagnosis step (Keselman: 0043)),
And wherein display of the application for the augmented reality content is synchronized with the application for the tutorial content (each action node (or diagnosis step) is contained in an HTML or XML document in the diagnosis steps library 230, where the document may contain multimedia (audio &/or video), and may also have linked AR data (Keselman: 0031). Further, the guide generator module 270 traverses through the diagnosis tree, loading the appropriate diagnosis steps (from the diagnosis steps library 230) and AR data (from the AR data library 240) to create a complete diagnosis guide based on the diagnosis tree (Keselman: 0054)).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the combined teachings above such as to utilize the AR diagnosis steps teaching of Keselman, because this enables improved clarity in providing a visual guidance to the user.
And further, the combined teachings above do not expressly teach but Oliveira teaches wherein each of the augmented reality content and the tutorial content corresponds with application of makeup (step by step AR tutorial (Oliveira: C.Tutorial Content Generation).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the combined teachings above such as to apply it to an AR makeup tutorial as taught by Oliveira, because this enables the use of the combined teachings to an added variety of applications.
Regarding claim 9, the combined teachings teach the device of claim 8, wherein the tutorial content is displayed in a first portion of the split screen interface (updating indicator 32 content on the left side of the screen (Carpentier: FIG.3, 0026)) and the modified image feed is displayed in a second portion of the split screen interface (operator manual pages displayed on the right side of the screen (Carpentier: 0025, FIG.3)).
Regarding claim 10, the combined teachings teach the device of claim 8, wherein the tutorial content comprises a video (the right half of the screen comprise of a video assist 36 button that sends a video of required actions (Carpentier: 0024, FIG.3)).
Regarding claim 11, the combined teachings teach the device of claim 10, wherein display of the augmented reality content is synchronized with the video (the tutorial on the right side of the screen (relevant tutorial steps) displayed in response to a user selecting the rotor variator (the rotor variator displayed in AR), and the right side further being capable of providing video corresponding to the displayed tutorial step is construed as said video being synchronized with the AR content (rotor variator)) (Carpentier: 0025)).
Regarding claim 12, the combined teachings teach the device of claim 8, further comprising: generating a media content item to include a portion of the tutorial content and a portion of the modified image feed (the resulting AR information (media content item) displayed to the user comprising an updating indicator 32 content on the left side of the screen (Carpentier: FIG.3, 0026)) and the modified image feed is displayed in a second portion of the split screen interface (operator manual pages displayed on the right side of the screen (Carpentier: 0025, FIG.3)).
Regarding claim 14, the combined teachings teach the device of claim 12, wherein the media content item is presented with contextual information when viewed, the contextual information providing context for the tutorial content (information such as the video assist 36 button provides further context pertaining to the tutorial (Carpentier: 0024, FIG.3)).
Claim(s) 8, 10-12 and 14 are corresponding method claim(s) of claim(s) 1, 3-5 and 7. The limitations of claim(s) 8, 10-12 and 14 are substantially similar to the limitations of claim(s) 1, 3-5 and 7. Therefore, it has been analyzed and rejected substantially similar to claim(s) 8, 10-12 and 14.
Claim(s) 15 and 17-19 are corresponding computer-readable medium claim(s) of claim(s) 1 and 3-5. The limitations of claim(s) 15 and 17-19 are substantially similar to the limitations of claim(s) 1 and 3-5. Therefore, it has been analyzed and rejected substantially similar to claim(s) 15 and 17-19. Note, the Examiner submits that the tablet, smart phone or computerized glasses of Carpentier (Carpentier: 0025) requires the use of some form of computer-readable medium as presently claimed.
Claim(s) 13 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carpentier in view of TheTozotube in view of Keselman as applied to the claim(s) above, and further in view of Salinas (PGPUB Document No. US 2014/0164921) in view of Morydz (PGPUB Document No. US 2019/0220822).
Regarding claim 13, the combined teachings does not expressly teach but Salinas teaches the device of claim 12, further comprising: sending a message of the media content item (the user can receive messages with snapshots of the augmented reality via MMS or WAP Push (Salinas: 0119)).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the combined teachings above such as to provide the option to send snapshots of the AR view, because this enables an effective method of sharing content.
However, the combined teachings does not expressly teach above but Ahuja teaches presenting a preview interface corresponding to a message preview of the media content item (Morydz teaches the concept of including a preview of the attachment when sending a message (Morydz: 0056)).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the combined teachings above such as to include a preview of the attached snapshot of the displayed AR content (taught by Morydz), because this enables the sender to preview/confirm the content being attached prior to sending the message.
Claim 20 is similar in scope to claim 13.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carpentier in view of TheTozotube in view of Keselman in view of Oliveira as applied to the claim(s) above, and further in view of Lamm et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2021/0146265) in view of Nowakowski et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2014/0267901).
Regarding claim 21, the combined teachings above do not expressly teach but Lamm teaches,
Receiving third user input via the full screen interface, the third user input for generating a media content item to include the modified image (recording using the camera (Lamm: 0126) requires an interface such as a button to initiate the recording. Applying the teachings of Lamm to the combined teachings above enables recording the modified image feed of Carpentier (image feed with AR content overlaid as shown in the left display of FIG.3));
Receiving fourth user input via the interface, the fourth user input for submitting the content item for viewing (Lamm teaches the concept of sharing video recordings of the AR content (Lamm: 0126, provisional application para 0075));
Submitting, based on receiving the fourth user input, the media content item for viewing (the resulting action of sharing the recordings according to the teachings of Lamm above).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the combined teachings above such as to provide the user to share the current AR screen as taught by Lamm, because this enables an effective method of sharing one’s content with others.
And further, the combined teachings above do not expressly teach but Nowakowski teaches causing, based on receiving the third user input, display of a preview interface corresponding to a message preview of the media content item (Nowakowski teaches the concept of letting the use preview the video content before sharing it (Nowakowski: 0016));
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the combined teachings above such as to provide a preview before sharing the video recording of the AR content as taught by Nowakowski, because this enables the user to do a final confirmation the content.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carpentier in view of TheTozotube in view of Keselman in view of Oliveira as applied to the claim(s) above, and further in view of
Regarding claim 22, the combined teachings above do not expressly teach but Rogers teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first user input is received within a subscription list interface for viewing subscription-based content provided by publishers, the subscription list interface comprising a list of media content collections made available by the publishers (Rogers teaches the concept of providing a list of subscriptions (Rogers: 0045)).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of an ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings above such as to provide a list of subscriptions as taught by Rogers, because this enables integrating the AR application of the combined teachings above as part of a presentable list to the user.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David H Chu whose telephone number is (571)272-8079. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30 - 1:30pm, 3:30-8:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel F Hajnik can be reached on (571) 272-7642. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID H CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2616
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