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 .
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the amendment filed on November 13th, 2025. Claims 1, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 14 have been amended and applicant added claim 15 that was not previously presented. The amended claims limitations have been fully considered but are not persuasive. Claims 1-15 remain rejected in the application.
Response to Arguments
In response to applicant’s arguments regarding Yamagishi and Sakakima failing to disclose any of the limitations regarding publication information or publication date, argument has been fully considered but is not persuasive. Yamagishi explicitly discloses publication information [Yamagishi: 0154 “it is necessary to store the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier that cannot be specified for individual segments to somewhere other than the MPD and signal the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier to the reception side.”][Yamagishi: 0187 “generates an SLS file including the EFDT storing the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier, and distributes the generated SLS file and the transferred MPD by the broadcast distribution via the broadcast network”](teaches storing the content “distribution mode information” which corresponds to publication information of the content). Claims 1-15 remained rejected in the application.
In response to applicant’s arguments regarding allowing the dependent claims, argument has been fully considered but is not persuasive. Due to the Examiner maintaining the rejection for the independent claims, rejection for the dependent claims are maintained. Claims 1-15 remained rejected in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamagishi et. al (EP 3 509 310 A1), in view of Sakakima (U.S. Patent No. 10,742,951).
Regarding claim 1, Yamagishi discloses an information processing apparatus comprising (interpreted as a device/computer) (Yamagishi: Col. 8, Lines 4-5 “Fig. 35 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a general-purpose computer.”): one or more memories storing instructions to: [Yamagishi: 0218 “the program can be installed in the ROM 1102 or the storage unit 1108 in advance”]; and was published, acquire publication information including a publication date on which the virtual viewpoint image was published (interpreted as get metadata that describes how/where it was published) [Yamagishi: 0154 “it is necessary to store the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier that cannot be specified for individual segments to somewhere other than the MPD and signal the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier to the reception side.”][Yamagishi: 0187 “generates an SLS file including the EFDT storing the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier, and distributes the generated SLS file and the transferred MPD by the broadcast distribution via the broadcast network”](teaches storing the content “distribution mode information” which corresponds to publication information of the content); and generate content associated with at least the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information (interpreted as create content that’s linked to both the video and the publication metadata)[Yamagishi: 0144 “On the distribution side, the DASH server generates the MPD in which the distribution mode information is described for each segment and the ROI identifier is appropriately stored, and transfers the MPD to the broadcast server.”] (clearly teaches generating content based on the distribution information which corresponds to generating content based on publication information) but fails to explicitly disclose and one or more processors executing the instructions to: acquire a published virtual viewpoint image which is a virtual viewpoint image that was generated based on a plurality of captured images obtained by image capturing performed by a plurality of image capturing apparatuses.
However, Sakakima discloses and one or more processors executing the instructions to: acquire a virtual viewpoint image that was generated based on a plurality of captured images obtained by image capturing performed by a plurality of image capturing apparatuses (interpreted as get a viewpoint video/photos made from many cameras) (Sakakima: Col. 1, Lines 7-10 “The present invention relates to a technique of generating a virtual viewpoint image by using images captured with a plurality of cameras.”).
Yamagishi and Sakakima are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of virtual viewpoint video systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi to incorporate Sakakima’s teachings of incorporating viewpoints from multiple cameras. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of enabling end to end delivery of virtual viewpoint images with required publication information.
Regarding claim 6, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content is a file of a still image or a moving image [Yamagishi: 0194 “The file of the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier of each segment is transferred in the EntityMode during the component file session”](teaches the content as segment files which corresponds to the still image), and wherein the publication information is included in a header of the file [Yamagishi: 0196 “Location element and a ROI-id element are provided in the entity header of the segment file”].
Regarding claim 7, Yamagishi discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein the publication information includes at least one of a publication format used for publication of the virtual viewpoint image, a publication destination of the virtual viewpoint image, a publication source from which the virtual viewpoint image is published, and a publication date on which the virtual viewpoint image is published.
However, Sakakima discloses wherein the publication information further includes at least one of a publication format used for publication of the virtual viewpoint image, a publication destination of the virtual viewpoint image, and a publication source from which the virtual viewpoint image is published (interpreted as the publication information includes at least one of: format (e.g. protocol/compression), destination (e.g. device type), source (e.g. apparatus) or date of publication of the virtual viewpoint image)(Sakakima: Col. 5, Lines 10-26 “In addition, the image generation apparatus 122 can transmit a virtual viewpoint image to the end user terminal 126 by using a MPEG-DASH protocol after compressing and coding the virtual viewpoint image by standard technology typified by H.264 and HEVC. In addition, the image generation apparatus 122 can transmit an uncompressed virtual viewpoint image to the end user terminal 126. In particular, the former where compression and coding is performed is designed for a smartphone or a tablet as the end user terminal 126, and the latter is designed for a display capable of displaying an uncompressed image. That is, the image generation apparatus 122 can switch the image format in accordance with the type of the end user terminal 126. In addition, the transmission protocol of the image used by the image generation apparatus 122 is not limited to MPEG-DASH, but may be HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) or other transmission methods, for example.”)(Teaches publication information including publication format (e.g. MPEG-DASH with compression) used for publication of the virtual viewpoint image, publication destination (e.g. smartphone, tablet, display) and publication source (image generation apparatus 122)).
Yamagishi and Sakakima are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of virtual viewpoint video systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi to incorporate Sakakima’s teachings of incorporating public information to include the format, destination and source. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of straight forward blockchain development helping authenticate NFT’s.
Regarding claim 8, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the publication format represents at least one of broadcasting via broadcast radio waves, a social networking service, and public viewing [Yamagishi: 0069 “The broadcast reception unit 110 executes processing of receiving MPD, a segment file of a stream, an SLS file, and the like distributed from a broadcaster 10 (corresponding to the broadcast server in Fig. 6) via a broadcast network 11 such as terrestrial digital broadcast or satellite broadcast.”].
Regarding claim 9, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the publication destination represents at least one of the whole world, a name of a country, a name of a region, and a range of users who are publishing targets (interpreted as the publication destination may represent one of the four categories. Yamagishi’s reference discloses region of interest)[Yamagishi: 0005 “Here, the video with a high possibility of being commonly viewed by many users is a video of the entire imaging range, a video or the like of an area (including one or a plurality of adjacent rectangular areas) of ROI (region of interest) designated by a broadcast station or the like.”](Teaches ROI which is region of interest and it’s obvious to have the publication destination represent a region of interest).
Claim 13 is a method claim corresponding to apparatus claim 1 above without any additional limitations. Thus, claim 13 is rejected for the same reason as claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, Yamagishi and Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content includes the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information [Yamagishi: 0154 “it is necessary to store the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier that cannot be specified for individual segments to somewhere other than the MPD and signal the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier to the reception side.”][Yamagishi: 0187 “generates an SLS file including the EFDT storing the distribution mode information and the ROI identifier, and distributes the generated SLS file and the transferred MPD by the broadcast distribution via the broadcast network”](teaches storing the content “distribution mode information” which corresponds to publication information of the content).
Claims 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamagishi et. al (EP 3 509 310 A1), in view of Sakakima (U.S. Patent No. 10,742,951), in further view of Roberts et. al (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2022/0222364).
Regarding claim 2, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, but fail to explicitly disclose wherein the content is digital content generated using an NFT (Non-Fungible Token).
However, Roberts discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content is digital content generated using an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) [Roberts: 0031 “At block 202 , process 200 can receive a digital item for minting a new NFT . The digital item can be any referenceable computerized object , such as an image , video , 3D model , file , social media post , audio , etc.”][Roberts: 0033 “At block 206 , process 200 can mint the NFT for the digital item received at block 202 , specifying fields for the NFT extras received at block 204. Once the link to the item and NFT extras are established , the minting of the NFT can include adding it to the blockchain”](Roberts: 402-404; Fig. 4 “receive at least one NFT for a hybrid content item” and “create hybrid NFT content item with tags for each NFT and / or each NFT role”) (teaches creating content using an NFT).
Yamagishi, Sakakima, and Roberts are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of digital content systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi and Sakakima to incorporate Robert’s teachings of incorporating NFT’s. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of NFT minting thereby enabling authenticated, monetizable, published deliverable content.
Regarding claim 3, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 2, but fail to explicitly disclose wherein the publication information is managed outside a blockchain, and wherein information about a location where the publication information is managed is included in an index on a blockchain.
However, Roberts discloses wherein the publication information is managed outside a blockchain [Roberts: 0020 “Examples of off - chain NFT extras can include : a link to a digital storefront of a the creator of the NFT”] (teaches off-chain which corresponds to outside the blockchain), and wherein information about a location where the publication information is managed is included in an index on a blockchain (interpreted as information about a location of publication in stored on the index of a blockchain) [Roberts: 0019 “An NFT control system can include a schema for NFT extras that can optionally be specified for each NFT . This schema can define NFT extra types and define whether each is stored on - chain ( e.g. , as part of the NFT ) or off - chain ( e.g. , as data linked to from the NFT ) . This schema can include , for each NFT extra , a name , a type , optionally a description , and data ( either as an on - chain data object or as a link to an off - chain data object ) .”](teaches a variety of information or data may be included and stored on or off the chain. The data can be interpreted as a location).
Yamagishi, Sakakima, and Roberts are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of digital content systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi and Sakakima to incorporate Robert’s teachings of incorporating information that can be stored off the chain. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of cheaper and faster updates while still providing verifiable and discoverable on-chain publication information.
Regarding claim 4, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 3, but fail to explicitly disclose wherein the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information are associated with each other by including information for accessing the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information in metadata.
However, Roberts discloses wherein the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information are associated with each other by including information for accessing the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information in metadata (interpreted as the virtual viewpoint image (like an NFT) and publication information are linked via access info in metadata) [Roberts: 0005 “Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a non - fungible token ( NFT ) control system that provides for discovery of NFT extras through linking and expanded NFT data structures . NFT extras can include a variety of information about the NFT such as a history of owners , identifying information for the creator of the NFT , a current offered sale price , past selling prices , contact information for a current owner , links to conversation threads about the NFT , use permissions for the NFT , where the NFT has been used / posted , etc. When a new NFT is created , the NFT control system can specify some NFT extras directly in the NFT ( stored on - chain ) while specifying other NFT extras as links in the NFT to a location where the extra information is stored ( stored off - chain ).”](Teaches associating NFT content with publication information by including links in the NFT structure. This teaches associating the image and information via access info in metadata).
Yamagishi, Sakakima, and Roberts are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of digital content systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi and Sakakima to incorporate Robert’s teachings of linking the virtual viewpoint image and publication information by including access information in metadata. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of straightforward integration of on chain and off chain data, enabling efficient access to publication details.
Regarding claim 5, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, but fail to explicitly disclose wherein the content is assigned a serial number indicating a quantity of the content for distribution.
However, Roberts discloses wherein the content is assigned a serial number indicating a quantity of the content for distribution [Roberts: 0031 “The digital item can be any referenceable computerized object , such as an image , video , 3D model , file , social media post , audio , etc. In some implementations , the item can be a reference to a real - world item , such as an address for property , a serial number , a vehicle identification number ( VIN ) , or another object ID .”](teaches the content can be assigned a serial number and it’s obvious to have that serial number indicate the quantity of the content).
Yamagishi, Sakakima, and Roberts are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of digital content systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi and Sakakima to incorporate Robert’s teachings of assigning serial numbers to the content. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of enabling limited edition tracking, thereby enhancing content value.
Regarding claim 10, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, but fail to explicitly disclose wherein the content is established so that the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information are displayed together.
However, Roberts discloses wherein the content is established so that the virtual viewpoint image and the publication information are displayed together (interpreted as the content is set up such that the virtual viewpoint image and publication information are shown simultaneously) [Roberts: 0011 “FIG . 3A is an example of a social media post including multiple NFTs and associated tags.”](teaches that the post with NFTs (corresponding to the virtual viewpoint image) is posted with its associated tags which can contain publication information).
Yamagishi, Sakakima, and Roberts are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of digital content systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi and Sakakima to incorporate Robert’s teachings of posting NFT’s with it’s associate tags, simultaneously. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of improving the user experience allowing the user to see both at the same time.
Regarding claim 11, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose a management apparatus (interpreted as device)[Yamagishi: 0011 “device”] comprising: one or more memories storing instructions [Yamagishi: 0213 “random access memory (RAM) 1103”]; and one or more processors executing the instructions [Yamagishi: 0213 “In a computer 1100, a central processing unit (CPU) 1101”] to: manage publication information including a publication date on which a virtual viewpoint image was published, the publication information being associated with the virtual viewpoint image (interpreted as manage information indicating publication state associated with the image) [Roberts: 0178 “By the way, in a case of signaling the distribution mode information and ROI identifier of each segment using the USD as described above, when whether or not the segment is for the broadcast distribution simultaneous use is changed according to the segment granularity (in units of segments), the UDS needs to be updated at every change”](teaches as the segment (corresponds to image) changes, the distribution mode information (corresponds to publication information) changes according to the segment change); and update the managed publication information, based on the specific acquired information [Yamagishi: 0178 “the UDS needs to be updated at every change”] but fail to explicitly disclose acquire specific information about the virtual viewpoint image after publication.
However, Roberts discloses acquire specific information about the virtual viewpoint image after publication [Roberts: 0035 “At block 208 , process 200 can obtain updated or additional NFT extras data.”] (teaches ‘obtain updated NFT data’, updated means after its publication).
Yamagishi, Sakakima, and Roberts are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of digital content systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi and Sakakima to incorporate Robert’s teachings of obtaining information about an NFT after it’s publication. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of understanding how the content is performing after it’s published.
Regarding claim 12, Yamagishi in view of Sakakima disclose the management apparatus according to claim 11, but fail to explicitly disclose wherein the virtual viewpoint image was published via a social networking service, and wherein, the specific information, is information relating to a user response after publication of the virtual viewpoint image and being acquired from an apparatus managing the social networking service.
However, Roberts discloses wherein the virtual viewpoint image was published via a social networking service [Roberts: 0025 “Off - chain NFT extra 160 is for providing a link to a discussion of the NFT on a third - party platform called Chirp , allowing other users who see the NFT easily join the conversation.”][Roberts: 0004 “Content items , such as documents , social media posts , audio or video files , etc. , can be “ tagged ” in a number of ways .”](teaches publishing to a social network called chirp as well as teaches content to be posted on social media), and wherein, the specific information, is information relating to a user response after publication of the virtual viewpoint image and being acquired from an apparatus managing the social networking service (interpreted as the acquired post-publication info is user responses from the managing device)[Roberts: 0035 “At block 208 , process 200 can obtain updated or additional NFT extras data.”] [Roberts: 0025 “Off - chain NFT extra 160 is for providing a link to a discussion of the NFT on a third - party platform called Chirp , allowing other users who see the NFT easily join the conversation.”](teaches obtaining updated data as well as user’s providing responses and it’s obvious to collect the user response as data).
Yamagishi, Sakakima, and Roberts are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of digital content systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Yamagishi and Sakakima to incorporate Robert’s teachings of obtaining data that could be user responses. The motivation for such a combination would provide the benefit of enhanced user interaction.
Claim 14 is a method claim corresponding to apparatus claim 11 above without any additional limitations. Thus, claim 14 is rejected for the same reason as claim 11.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED TAHA whose telephone number is (571)272-6805. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 am - 5 pm, Mon - Fri. 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, XIAO WU can be reached at (571)272-7761. 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.
/AHMED TAHA/Examiner, Art Unit 2613
/XIAO M WU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2613