DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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.
2. Claims 1, 3-9, 11-17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mayfield, U.S. Patent No. 11,412,180 (hereinafter Mayfield) combined with Chandran et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0127120 (hereinafter Chandran) in further view of Afrasiabi, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0286625 (hereinafter Afrasiabi).
Regarding claim 1, Mayfield discloses a method comprising:
receiving, from a camera (from Figure 11, see 1152) of a first client device of a first participant of a plurality of participants (from Figure 4, see 430a, 430b, 430c and 430d) of a video conference, a first participant video stream representing the first participant;
creating a combined video stream (from Figure 4, see 440) comprising a background (from column 16, see background) image, one or more images (from Figure 4, see 442) representing one or more content items presentable by the first participant during the video conference, the first participant video stream (from Figure 4, see 444), and one or more other content items (from column 19, see other content items, such as pages, video clips, etc.); and
providing, for display on the first client device (from Figure 4, see 400) of the first participant, a user interface (UI) (from Figure 4, see 410) comprising a visual item corresponding to the combined video stream while the first participant is presenting at least one of the one or more content items to one or more other participants of the video conference.
Further regarding claim 1, Mayfield does not teach one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items, wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes in the combined video stream is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera. All the same, Chandran discloses one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items (from abstract, see teleprompter transcript associated with a presentation on a display) wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera (from paragraph 0053, see The teleprompter unit 225 may automatically reconfigure the layout of the presentation interface to position the teleprompter script 315 as close as possible to the camera associated with the client device 105 of the presenter so that the eye gaze of the presenter appears to be centered on the camera if possible). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Mayfield with one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items, wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera as taught by Chandran. This modification would have improved the system’s reliability by allowing the presenter to read the text word for word to ensure the presentation is consistent and accurate as suggested by Chandran.
Still on the issue of claim 1, the combination of Mayfield and Chandran does not teach the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed. All the same, Afrasiabi discloses the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed (from paragraph 0049, see Additionally, the speech and text parameters may be pre-set at a desired pace (like a teleprompter) so as to initiate the scrolling function for a field 220 comprising a script for a speech once the user begins a speech or live presentation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify the combination of Mayfield and Chandran wherein the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed as taught by Afrasiabi. This modification would have improved the system’s flexibility by providing different ways of setting the scrolling speed as suggested by Afrasiabi.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Mayfield and Chandran discloses that combining the background image, the one or more images representing the one or more content items, the first participant video stream, and the one or more teleprompter (from abstract of Chandran, see teleprompter transcript) notes is performed by a driver (from Figure 11 of Mayfield, see 1160) associated with the camera (from Figure 11, see 1152) of the first client device (from Figure 11, see 1100).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Mayfield and Chandran discloses:
receiving, via the UI, input of the first participant to identify the one or more content items; and
obtaining, via an application programming interface (API) to a content editing application (from Figure 2 of Chandran, see 205), the one or more content items and the one or more teleprompter notes associated with the at least one of the one or more content items.
Regarding claim 5, Mayfield discloses the content item is one of a document, a spreadsheet, a set of slides, or a multimedia content item (from Figure 4, see 462).
Regarding claim 6, Mayfield discloses receiving, from one or more client devices associated with other participants of the video conference, one or more other participant video streams and adding, to the UI displayed on the first client device of the first participant, one or more visual items (from Figure 4, see Participant Window) corresponding to the one or more other participant video streams.
Regarding claim 7, Mayfield as modified by Chandran discloses wherein a second UI displayed on each of the one or more client devices associated with the other participants of the video conference comprises a visual item corresponding to a second combined video stream comprising the background image, an image representing one of the one or more content items being presented by the first participant and the first participant video stream, wherein the one or more teleprompter notes associated with the at least one of the one or more content items are not visible on the second UI displayed on each of the one or more client devices associated with the other participants of the video conference (from paragraph 0026 of Chandran, see while the presentation content only is shown to the live audience and/or sent to the client devices of the remote participants).
Regarding claim 8, Mayfield as modified by Chandran discloses upon a selection of a control UI element in the UI by the first participant, modifying a visual representation of the at least one content item of the one or more content items; and modifying at least one teleprompter note of the one or more teleprompter notes associated with the at least one content item (from paragraph 0029 of Chandran, see The content creation and editor unit 205 may provide the presenter with another option for creating and/or editing the presentation content and/or the teleprompter script via a web-based application or via a native application installed on the client device 105a of the presenter. The content creation and editor unit 205 may provide a user interface that may be accessed via the browser application 255b of the client device 105a of the presenter that allows the presenter to create and/or edit the content of the presentation online).
Regarding claim 9, Mayfield discloses a system comprising:
a memory device (from Figure 11, see 1120); and
a processing device (from Figure 11, see 1110) coupled to the memory device, the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a camera (from Figure 11, see 1152) of a first client device of a first participant of a plurality of participants (from Figure 4, see 430a, 430b, 430c and 430d) of a video conference, a first participant video stream representing the first participant;
creating a combined video stream (from Figure 4, see 440) comprising a background (from column 16, see background) image, one or more images (from Figure 4, see 442) representing one or more content items presentable by the first participant during the video conference, the first participant video stream (from Figure 4, see 444), and one or more other content items (from column 19, see other content items, such as pages, video clips, etc.); and
providing, for display on the first client device (from Figure 4, see 400) of the first participant, a user interface (UI) (from Figure 4, see 410) comprising a visual item corresponding to the combined video stream while the first participant is presenting at least one of the one or more content items to one or more other participants of the video conference.
Further regarding claim 9, Mayfield does not teach one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items, wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes in the combined video stream is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera. All the same, Chandran discloses one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items (from abstract, see teleprompter transcript associated with a presentation on a display) wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera (from paragraph 0053, see The teleprompter unit 225 may automatically reconfigure the layout of the presentation interface to position the teleprompter script 315 as close as possible to the camera associated with the client device 105 of the presenter so that the eye gaze of the presenter appears to be centered on the camera if possible). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Mayfield with one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items, wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera as taught by Chandran. This modification would have improved the system’s reliability by allowing the presenter to read the text word for word to ensure the presentation is consistent and accurate as suggested by Chandran.
Still on the issue of claim 9, the combination of Mayfield and Chandran does not teach the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed. All the same, Afrasiabi discloses the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed (from paragraph 0049, see Additionally, the speech and text parameters may be pre-set at a desired pace (like a teleprompter) so as to initiate the scrolling function for a field 220 comprising a script for a speech once the user begins a speech or live presentation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify the combination of Mayfield and Chandran wherein the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed as taught by Afrasiabi. This modification would have improved the system’s flexibility by providing different ways of setting the scrolling speed as suggested by Afrasiabi.
Claim 11 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 3.
Claim 12 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 4.
Claim 13 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 5.
Claim 14 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 6.
Claim 16 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 8.
Regarding claim 17, Mayfield discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (from column 1, see non-transitory computer-readable medium) comprising instructions for a server that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a camera (from Figure 11, see 1152) of a first client device of a first participant of a plurality of participants (from Figure 4, see 430a, 430b, 430c and 430d) of a video conference, a first participant video stream representing the first participant;
creating a combined video stream (from Figure 4, see 440) comprising a background (from column 16, see background) image, one or more images (from Figure 4, see 442) representing one or more content items presentable by the first participant during the video conference, the first participant video stream (from Figure 4, see 444), and one or more other content items (from column 19, see other content items, such as pages, video clips, etc.); and
providing, for display on the first client device (from Figure 4, see 400) of the first participant, a user interface (UI) (from Figure 4, see 410) comprising a visual item corresponding to the combined video stream while the first participant is presenting at least one of the one or more content items to one or more other participants of the video conference.
Further regarding claim 17, Mayfield does not teach one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items, wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes in the combined video stream is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera. All the same, Chandran discloses one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items (from abstract, see teleprompter transcript associated with a presentation on a display) wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera (from paragraph 0053, see The teleprompter unit 225 may automatically reconfigure the layout of the presentation interface to position the teleprompter script 315 as close as possible to the camera associated with the client device 105 of the presenter so that the eye gaze of the presenter appears to be centered on the camera if possible). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Mayfield with one or more teleprompter notes associated with at least one of the one or more content items, wherein a location of the one or more teleprompter notes is configured to enable the first participant to read the one or more teleprompter notes while appearing to look at the camera as taught by Chandran. This modification would have improved the system’s reliability by allowing the presenter to read the text word for word to ensure the presentation is consistent and accurate as suggested by Chandran.
Still on the issue of claim 17, the combination of Mayfield and Chandran does not teach the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed. All the same, Afrasiabi discloses the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed (from paragraph 0049, see Additionally, the speech and text parameters may be pre-set at a desired pace (like a teleprompter) so as to initiate the scrolling function for a field 220 comprising a script for a speech once the user begins a speech or live presentation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify the combination of Mayfield and Chandran wherein the one or more teleprompter notes being set to automatically scroll at a user-selectable scrolling speed as taught by Afrasiabi. This modification would have improved the system’s flexibility by providing different ways of setting the scrolling speed as suggested by Afrasiabi.
Claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 3.
Claim 20 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 4.
3. Claims 2, 10 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mayfield combined with Chandran and Afrasiabi in further view of VanBlon et al, U.S. Patent No. 9,875,224 (hereinafter VanBlon).
Regarding claim 2, although Mayfield discloses the one or more images representing the one or more content items are overlaid over the background image in the combined video stream, the first participant video stream is overlaid over at least a part of the background image (from Figure 4, see 440), the combination of references does not teach that the teleprompter notes are overlaid over at least a part of a content item of the one or more content items in the combined video stream. All the same, VanBlon discloses the notes are overlaid over at least a part of a content item of the one or more content items (from Figure 3B, see Note). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify the combination of references wherein the notes are overlaid over at least a part of a content item of the one or more content items as taught by VanBlon. This modification would have improved the system’s convenience by allowing the presenter to mark different content elements of the slide as suggested by VanBlon.
Claim 10 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 2.
Claim 18 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 2.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are deemed to be moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLISA ANWAH whose telephone number is 571-272-7533. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 8.30 AM to 6 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn Edwards can be reached on 571-270-7136. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications and 571-273-8300 for After Final communications.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2600.
Olisa Anwah
Patent Examiner
January 14, 2026
/OLISA ANWAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692