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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/6/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 12/6/2025, with respect to claims 1-15 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) 7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woo et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2020/0258481) in view of Cannon et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2011/0113382).
Regarding claim 7, Woo teaches an electronic device, comprising:
Communication circuitry; an image sensor; a display; at least one processor comprising processing circuitry; and memory comprising one or more storage media storing instructions to, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
Obtain, via the image sensor (camera module 180 may capture a still image or moving images (Woo: 0056)), first multimedia content (TV 410 displaying multimedia content as shown in FIG.4A (Woo: 0090));
Based on obtaining the first multimedia content, transmit, via the communication circuitry, to an external electronic device providing a service associated with a virtual environment (an eternal device performing at least part of the function or the service via server 108 (Woo: 0061)), a first signal for requesting second multimedia content associated with the first multimedia content, the second multimedia content obtained in the virtual environment (the system of Woo providing/sending virtual object B 420 (“second multimedia”) (Woo: 0090));
Receive, via the communication circuitry, a second signal transmitted from the external electronic device in response to the first signal (receiving the virtual object B 420 (“second multimedia”) to be displayed (Woo: 0090));
And based on the second signal, display, via the display, the second multimedia content (the resulting display of the virtual object 420 near the first multimedia content shown on the TV 410 as shown in FIG.A of Woo).
However, Woo does not expressly teach but Cannon teaches the provided virtual environment being a metaverse (“A metaverse service may provide media content for enhancing immersion in the virtual world, based on an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality environment (VR), a mixed environment (MR), and/or an extended reality (XR).” (Cannon: 0144)).
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 Woo such as to provide a metaverse service as taught by Cannon, because this enables enhancing immersion in the virtual world (Cannon: 0144).
Regarding claim 9, the combined teachings above teach the electronic device of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
In response to an input to execute a first application program different from a second application for displaying the virtual environment,
Display, via the display, a screen provided by the first application program;
And display, via the display, a visual object matched to a group of the first multimedia content and the second multimedia content
Claim(s) 7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woo in view of Cannon as applied to the claim(s) above, and further in view of Merdassa (PGPUB Document No. US 2024/0022599).
Regarding claim 21, the combined teachings above does not expressly teach but Merdassa teaches the electronic device of claim 7,
Wherein the first multimedia content represents one or more users (first user interacting with a plurality of other users in a metaverse (Merdassa: 0019)),
And wherein the second multimedia content includes one or more avatars corresponding to the one or more users (first avatar interacting with respective avatars of other users (Merdassa: 0019)).
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, because this enables an enhanced immersion in the virtual world by interacting with a plurality of other users, wherein the use of avatars allows a level of privacy and security.
Claim(s) 10-12 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2021/0183135) in view of Woo in view of Gordon et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2022/0114798).
Regarding claim 10, Lin teaches a method performed by an electronic device with communication circuitry, one or more sensors, and a display, comprising:
Identifying, via the one or more sensors (GPS sensors that output data indicative of a location of HMD 112 (Lin: 0050)), whether the electronic device is positioned at a place corresponding to a region of interest (RO) of a user of the electronic device in a physical environment, the ROI being defined in a virtual environment (determining whether the user device has come within a threshold distance defined around a physical object (Lin: 0034, 0008));
Based on the electronic device being identified as positioned at the place in the physical environment via the one or more sensors (determining that the user device is within the threshold distance (Lin: 0034, 0008)), transmitting a first signal indicating that the electronic device is positioned at the place in the physical environment (the required process of notifying the systems of the user’s position based on the determination above);
Receiving, via the communication circuitry, a second signal in response to the first signal;
And based on the second signal, displaying, via the display, information with respect to the ROI (overlay image associated with the physical object (Lin: 0035, 0008)).
However, Lin does not expressly teach
transmitting, via the communication circuitry, to an external electronic device providing a service associated with the virtual environment
Receiving, via the communication circuitry, a second signal transmitted from the external electronic device
display, information regarding past activity history that was performed in the virtual environment with respect to the ROI
(1)(2) Woo teaches the concept of an eternal device performing at least part of the function or the service via server 108 (Woo: 0061).
Combining the teachings of Woo to Lin results in teaching,
Transmitting, via the communication circuitry, to an external electronic device providing a service associated with the virtual environment (the server performing service external to the user device as suggested by Woo (Woo: 0061))
And receiving, via the communication circuitry, a second signal transmitted from the external electronic device (overlay information being stored and transmitted by the server as part of performing services external to the user device as suggested by Woo (Woo: 0061))
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 Lin such as to utilize the server teaching of Woo, because this enables effectively offloading processes for improved efficiency.
(3) Gordon teaches displaying information regarding past activity history that was performed in the virtual environment with respect to the ROI (Gordon teaches the concept of displaying an exemplary user history menu 425 of previously collected or purchased items of the user (Gordon: 0067))
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 further display information such as those suggested by Gordan, because this enables a wider application of the AR system of the combined teachings above, and an added variety of information to be viewable by the user.
Regarding claim 11, the combined teachings above teach the method of claim 10, wherein the place corresponding to the ROI in the physical environment is linked to a virtual store in the virtual environment (virtual store as depicted in FIG.4A-C (Gordon: 0063-0065)).
Regarding claim 12, the combined teachings above teach the method of claim 10, wherein the information regarding the past activity history includes information with respect to one or more items provided in the ROI (“Menu 425 may appear briefly to confirm selection or purchase by showing an image of the object 310 (along with icon(s) representative of any other virtual object(s) that have been selected/purchased by the user 305).” (Gordon: 0067, FIG.4F)).
Regarding claim 14, the combined teachings above teach the method of claim 10, wherein the information regarding the past activity history includes content for guiding that the place is associated with the ROI (the purchase history displayed in FIG.4F of Gordon is associated with the item that is selected as a potential purchase as they are both related the user act of purchasing).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Woo in view of Gordon as applied to the claim(s) above, and further in view of Cramer et al. (PGPUB Document No. US 2011/0225069).
Regarding claim 13, the combined teachings above do not expressly teach but Cramer teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the information with respect to the one or more items includes a coupon for the one or more items (displaying coupon information when a user makes a purchase (Cramer: 0083)).
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 further provide coupon information as suggested by Cramer, because this enables the display an added variety of information that is useful to the user.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woo as applied to the claims above, and further in view of Lin.
Regarding claim 8, Woo teaches the electronic device of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
Transmit, via the communication circuitry to the external electronic device, the first signal including metadata corresponding to the first multimedia content (sending data to an eternal device performing at least part of the function or the service via server 108 (Woo: 0061)).
However, Woo does not expressly teach but Lin teaches,
Wherein the metadata includes data identifying a position where the first multimedia content is obtained (determining whether the user device has come within a threshold distance defined around a physical object (Lin: 0034, 0008)); or one or more users included in the first multimedia content.
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 Woo such as to display AR information in the manner taught by Lin, because this enables an added variety of ways to present information to the user.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-6 are allowed. Claim 15 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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 at (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