Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/404,649

AGGREGATED BROADCAST OF VOLUMETRIC VIDEOS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jan 04, 2024
Examiner
WANG, YUEHAN
Art Unit
2617
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
International Business Machines Corporation
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allowance Rate
413 granted / 499 resolved
+20.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+12.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
33 currently pending
Career history
538
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.8%
-39.2% vs TC avg
§103
90.4%
+50.4% vs TC avg
§102
3.5%
-36.5% vs TC avg
§112
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 499 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 18/404,649 CTNF 90405 DETAILED ACTION Response to Amendment Applicant’s amendments filed on 03 February 2026 have been entered. Claims 1, 3-6, 10, 12-15 and 19 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are still pending in this application, with claims 1, 10 and 19 being independent. Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114 07-42-04 AIA 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03 February 2026 has been entered. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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 of this title, 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-4, 10-13, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (US 20240144606 A1), referred herein as Luo in view of Bandt-Horn (US 20150205367 A1), referred herein as Bandt and Long et al. (US 9573062 B1), referred herein as Long . Regarding Claim 1, Luo in view of Bandt and Belyaev teaches a computer-implemented method (CIM), the CIM comprising ( Luo Abst: An illustrative volumetric content production system may access first capture data and second capture data): obtaining child video feed data from a plurality of user devices that are utilized to record a first event ( Luo [0024] the dynamic camera system 108-D, which may include a second plurality of image capture devices 110-D having respective dynamic viewpoints with respect to the capture target; [0036] The example of a relatively large capture target (e.g., a playing field associated with a sporting event) with various distinct objects (e.g., human subjects playing on the field and/or other objects on the field)); generating, using the obtained child video feed data, a child volumetric video ( Luo [0035] At operation 206, the volumetric content production system (e.g., system 100) may generate a volumetric representation of an object included in the portion of the capture target. This may be performed based on both the first capture data accessed at operation 202 (the fixed-viewpoint capture data representing a wider view of the entire capture target) and the second capture data accessed at operation 204 (the dynamic-viewpoint capture data representing a narrower and more detailed view of the object within a particular portion of the capture target). The object for which the volumetric representation is generated at operation 206 may be any suitable object included within the portion of the capture target); and causing the child volumetric video to be broadcast with a parent volumetric video of the first event on a display of a first virtual reality (VR) device ( Luo [0031] The first capture data accessed at operation 202 and captured by the fixed camera system may represent an entirety of the capture target; [0038] an extended reality (XR) presentation device 306 used by a user 308; [0041] XR presentation device 306 may represent any device used by user 308 to view volumetric representations of objects generated by system 100 and included within extended reality content 310 sent to XR presentation device 306 over network 304). Luo disclosed the first source video and the second source video, but does not teach the child and parent volumetric video. Bandt discloses a hierarchy visualization user interface design and method. Bandt teaches a child and a parent video ( Bandt [0105] It should also be noted of the illustrated embodiments that the children of example subdirectory "Videos from the Field Trip" 780 has its child nodes linearly ordered, not alphabetically by name, but rather as linear order along parent long axis, as sorted by audio/video track duration. In actual use, one may notice how closely audio/video track duration correlates to audio/video nodes' file size, by switching which collections of metadata are mapped to the volumetric organizational method). It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Luo to incorporate the teachings of Bandt, and applying the videos with various hierarchy properties into the volumetric video comprises a photogrammetric combination of the first source video and the second source video. Doing so would provide a software architecture and ornamental designs that directly build from and relate to the unique capabilities. The prior art does not teach obtaining feed data from a plurality of cellular user devices. Long disclosed methods and systems for generating spherical game videos for virtual reality (VR) streaming and replay. Long teaches obtaining feed data from a plurality of cellular user devices ( Long col9, ln66 - col10, ln10: each of user devices 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 may perform source game play video recording directly through an SDK-based capture client on the user devices, for upload to SLIVER server 197, possibly through game server 196, and for combination with game environment recordings to generate spherical game media); wherein the cellular user devices are cellular phones ( Long FIG.1:120: mobile device; col9, ln32-34: Mobile device 120 may be a laptop computer, a tablet, a smartphone, or wearable devices such as a watch or smart glasses). It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Luo to incorporate the teachings of Long, and applying media sources recorded by each mobile devices into the volumetric video comprises a photogrammetric combination of the first source video and the second source video. Doing so would be able to aid the mass adoption of VR technology by easily generating VR content from existing computer games. Regarding Claim 2, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches the CIM of claim 1, and further teaches wherein a plurality of child volumetric videos are generated and caused to be broadcast with the parent volumetric video of the first event on the display, and comprising: obtaining parent video feed data from a plurality of dedicated volumetric video devices that are utilized to record the first event ( Luo [0031] The first capture data accessed at operation 202 and captured by the fixed camera system may represent an entirety of the capture target. As used herein, an entirety of the capture target may be defined so as to refer to one or more objects or areas that the fixed camera system would volumetrically capture in its fixed arrangement (i.e., with the fixed viewpoints of the first plurality of image capture devices)); generating, using the obtained parent video feed data, the parent volumetric video ( Luo [0031] Whatever portion of the field is captured by the fixed camera system in a manner that would allow for at least some degree of volumetric modeling); causing the child volumetric videos to be incorporated into at least one child collaboration environment ( Luo [0034] The second capture data accessed at operation 204 and captured by the dynamic camera system may represent a portion of the capture target less than the entirety of the capture target; [0035] The object for which the volumetric representation is generated at operation 206 may be any suitable object included within the portion of the capture target. For instance, in the example of the playing field described in relation to operations 202 and 204, the object may be a human subject (e.g., one player on the field) or a grouping of human subjects (e.g., a plurality of players nearby one another on the field); [0025] while second capture data 112-2 may be generated by image capture devices 110-D of dynamic camera system 108-D); and causing the parent volumetric video to be incorporated into a parent collaboration environment ( Luo [0030] These various characteristics of the image capture device may define what the image capture device views and is able to capture at a given point in time. Accordingly, in the case of this first plurality of image capture devices having respective fixed viewpoints with respect to the capture target, the positions, orientations, and focal lengths of each of these image capture devices may be fixed (i.e., unchanging after being set up and calibrated) as data representative of the capture target is captured; [0025] first capture data 112-1 may be generated by image capture devices 110-F of fixed camera system 108-F). Regarding Claim 3, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches the CIM of claim 2, and further teaches comprising: identifying relative locations of the cellular user devices at the first event ( Luo [0057] To illustrate, FIG. 5 shows that active portion 504 is narrowly defined so as to include each of players 506 in their current locations at the moment in time represented); and incorporating the identified relative locations into associated viewing perspectives within the child volumetric videos and the child collaboration environment(s) ( Luo [0013] volumetric content may be generated for various purposes, including for providing extended reality content such as incorporated in a virtual reality experience or an augmented reality experience. Generally, such content is produced on a relatively small scale using a fixed camera system that is calibrated prior to being used to capture data within a relatively small scene; [0017] , a dynamic camera system may include image capture devices that are calibrated in one state (e.g., with initial respective viewpoints) and that are capable of accurately and precisely tracking and reporting changes to their viewpoints (e.g., changes to their orientation as they pan, tilt, and roll; changes to their focal length as they zoom in and out, etc.) such that their calibrations can be dynamically updated to remain valid as the cameras dynamically focus on areas of interest in the scene). Regarding Claim 4, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches the CIM of claim 2, and further teaches comprising: evaluating the child video feed data to determine recording behavior similarities of operators of a first subset of the cellular user devices during the recording of the first event ( Luo [0058] a subset of the set of human subjects (i.e., a subset having less than an entirety of the set of human subjects, such as some but not all of players 506). This type of implementation may result in a similar effect as the implementation illustrated in FIGS. 5-6, but may be slightly more flexible to allow for an active portion to be defined that does not have to include all the players.), wherein causing the child volumetric videos to be broadcast with the parent volumetric video of the first event on the display includes: assigning the parent volumetric video to a majority portion of the display, assigning the child volumetric videos generated using the child video feed data obtained from the first subset of the cellular user devices to first minority portions of the display ( Luo [0051] the image capture devices 110-F of fixed camera system 108-F are arranged in an outer ring around playing field 502 while the image capture devices 110-D of dynamic camera system 108-D are arranged in an inner formation around playing field 502… As a result of conditions in the game at the time illustrated in FIG. 5, all of players 506 happen to be contained within a fairly small portion of playing field 502, leaving the rest of playing field 502 currently devoid of any players 506;), and assigning a remainder of the child volumetric videos to second minority portions of the display ( Luo [0057] FIG. 5 shows that active portion 504 is narrowly defined so as to include each of players 506 in their current locations at the moment in time represented. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 6, this bubble of active portion 504 may be redefined at a later point in time as an active portion 602 of playing field 502. As shown, active portion 602 has a different shape than active portion 504 and is located at a different part of playing field 502, but still includes all of the players 506.), wherein the first minority portions of the display are grouped together on the display, wherein the first minority portions of the display are not grouped together with the second minority portions on the display ( Bandt [0105] This nonuniform sorting of the example hierarchy FIGS. 7A-7F illustrates another important aspect of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, to with these relational mappings of various hierarchy properties and the properties of the hierarchy members may be mixed diversely from node to node in order to form an amalgamation of schematics, heterogeneity of rationale, and multiple organizational principles in a single visualization. Organizational Methods, or sorting techniques, allow the user and embodiments of the software architecture to arrange a particular hierarchy in multiple ways within the same visualization, that the user might tease out different relationships and organizing principles visually, and simultaneously via multiple configured visual cues). Regarding Claims 10-13, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches a computer program product (CPP), the CPP comprising: a set of one or more computer-readable storage media; program instructions, collectively stored in the set of one or more storage media,for causing a processor set to perform the following computer operations ( Luo Abst: An illustrative volumetric content production system may access first capture data and second capture data; [0066] A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readable medium) includes any non-transitory medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer)): The metes and bounds of the rest of the limitations of the claims substantially correspond to the limitations set forth in claims 1-5; thus they are rejected on similar grounds and rationale as their corresponding limitations. Regarding Claims 19 and 20, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches a computer system (CS), the CS comprising: a processor set; a set of one or more computer-readable storage media; program instructions, collectively stored in the set of one or more storage media, for causing the processor set to perform the following computer operations ( Luo Abst: An illustrative volumetric content production system may access first capture data and second capture data; [0066] A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readable medium) includes any non-transitory medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer); FIG. 8): The metes and bounds of the rest of the limitations of the claims substantially correspond to the limitations set forth in claims 1 and 2; thus they are rejected on similar grounds and rationale as their corresponding limitations . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 5 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo et al. (US 20240144606 A1), referred herein as Luo in view of Bandt-Horn (US 20150205367 A1), referred herein as Bandt, Long et al. (US 9573062 B1), referred herein as Long and Ohashi et al. (US 20050162337 A1), referred herein as Ohashi . Regarding Claim 5, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches the CIM of claim 4, but does not teach the claimed limitations herein. Ohashi disclosed a display device suitable for displaying the PC video signal and the TV video signal on the same screen at the same time. Ohashi teaches wherein the first minority portions of the display include first contours to be distinguishable from the majority portion of the display, wherein the second minority portions of the display include second contours to be distinguishable from the majority portion of the display ( Ohashi [0058] as shown in FIG. 12, the PC video signal constituting a large picture and the TV video signal constituting small pictures are displayed in tiles without mutual superposition). It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Luo to incorporate the teachings of Ohashi, and applying technique of displaying the PC screen (large picture) and TV screens (small pictures) in tiles into the volumetric video comprises a photogrammetric combination of the first source video and the second source video. Doing so would be able to display picture-in-picture, and the user can watch two different broadcast programs at the same time. Regarding Claim 14, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches the CPP of claim 13.The metes and bounds of the claims substantially correspond to the limitations set forth in claim 5; thus they are rejected on similar grounds and rationale as their corresponding limitations . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim (s) 6-9 and 15-18 is/are 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. 13-03-01 AIA The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding Claim 6, Luo in view of Bandt, Long and Ohashi teaches the CIM of claim 5, and further teaches comprising: in response to a determination that a predetermined selection action has been performed, assigning one of the child volumetric videos to the majority portion of the display and assigning the parent volumetric video to one of the minority portions of the display ( Luo [0062] the image 700-A captured from this fixed viewpoint makes it easy to discern where a human subject 704 (e.g., a football player in this example) is located with respect to scene 702; [0063] image 700-B is captured from a more zoomed-in viewpoint associated with a long focal length so as to capture more detail (a higher pixel density) of human subject 704 in a portion 706 of scene 702). However, the prior art does not teach wherein the recording behavior similarities are selected from a group consisting of: an amount of time spent recording a person of interest exceeding a predetermined threshold within a predetermined amount of time, an amount of time spent recording an object of interest exceeding a predetermined threshold within a predetermined amount of time, and a first sports team being recorded relatively more than a second sports team. Therefore, claim 6 in the context of claims 5, 4, 2 and 1 as a whole would be allowable if rewritten in independent form. Regarding Claim 7, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches the CIM of claim 1, but does not teach comprising: causing the child volumetric video to be incorporated into a child collaboration environment; causing the parent volumetric video to be incorporated into a parent collaboration environment that is a different collaboration environment than the child collaboration environment; performing a contextual analysis of the child volumetric video and the parent volumetric video to determine correlations between the child collaboration environment and the parent collaboration environment; and generating, based on the determined correlations, a parent-child collaboration environment that incorporates first aspects of the child collaboration environment and second aspects of the parent collaboration environment. Therefore, claim 7 in the context of claim 1 as a whole would be allowable if rewritten in independent form. Claims 8 and 9 would be allowable by virtue of their dependency. Regarding Claim 15, Luo in view of Bandt, Long and Ohashi teaches the CPP of claim 14. Claim 15 in the context of claims 14, 13 and 11 as a whole would be allowable if rewritten in independent form for the same reason as claim 6 Regarding Claim 16, Luo in view of Bandt and Long teaches the CPP of claim 10. Claim 14 in the context of claim 10 as a whole would be allowable if rewritten in independent form for the same reason as claim 7. Claims 17 and 18 would be allowable by virtue of their dependency . Response to Arguments 07-38-02 AIA Applicant’s arguments, see page 11 , filed on 03 February 2026 , with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 10 and 19 under 103 rejection have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of US 9573062 B1 . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samantha (Yuehan) Wang whose telephone number is (571)270-5011. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 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, King Poon can be reached on (571)272-7440. 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. /Samantha (YUEHAN) WANG/ Primary Examiner Art Unit 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 2 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 3 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 4 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 5 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 6 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 7 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 8 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 9 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 10 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 11 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 12 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 13 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 14 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/404,649 Page 15 Art Unit: 2617
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Show 4 earlier events
Oct 03, 2025
Examiner Interview Summary
Nov 12, 2025
Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jan 08, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Jan 08, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Jan 09, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 03, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Feb 13, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Jun 05, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+12.9%)
2y 5m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 499 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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