DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1 – 20 are pending.
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
With regard to the Non-Final Office Action from 30 September 2025, the Applicant has filed a response on 21 November 2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claims 1, 17 and 18 have been considered but are moot due to the new grounds of rejection necessitated by the amendment to the claims. The claims will be addressed by their current presentation in the following section.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over VAN OS et al. (US 2015/0382047 A1: hereafter — Van OS; obtained from the IDS filed on 05 December 2023) in view of KWON et al. (US 2017/0026574 A1: hereafter — Kwon), further in view of Taylor (US 2018/0173963 A1) and further in view of CARSON et al. (US 2014/036585 A1: hereafter — Carson1).
For claim 1, Van OS discloses an electronic device, comprising:
one or more processors (Van OS: [0064] — one or more processors; FIG. 34 — an electronic device);
a memory (Van OS: [0068] — non-transitory computer storage);
a sensor (Van OS: [0059] — a camera as a sensor) and
one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors (Van OS: [0068] — non-transitory computer storage capable of storing the required programme instructions), the one or more programs including instructions for: …
receiving a user input including a selection of the affordance (Van OS: [0210] — providing the affordances for the application, whereby a user may interact with the application (receiving user input, such that the affordance could be a selectable rating scale); [0134] — user can make reference to media content that’s shown on the interface (an indication of the affordance provided by an application to the user in order to be able to make a selection)); and
in response to receiving the user input [[including the selection of the affordance]], outputting the media item [[retrieved in response to identifying the pattern, wherein the media item is output]] based on metadata corresponding to the displayed object (Van OS: [0071], [0083] — output provided in the form of various media items based on the user’s input; [0133]-[0134] — a user can provide a speech request, there’s metadata associated with displayed content (a reference is made here to the “last” photo, which is a displayed object); [0105] — a user query as user speech, may be provided and a response may be determined while considering the metadata associated with displayed content; [0146]-[0147], FIG. 16 — a user can put a query (user input) as to be shown pictures of Team Alpha and the system responds by presenting the pictures (the pictures being the displayed object); [0186] — receiving queries based on the content displayed on the screen).
The reference of Van OS provides teaching for receiving a user input so as to output at least one media item. It differs from the claimed invention in that the claimed invention further provides teaching for the identification of a pattern and retrieving a media item.
This isn’t new to the art as the reference of Kwon is introduced to teach this as:
identifying a pattern corresponding to activity at the electronic device (Kwon: [0010] — controlling a plurality of images based on a user’s gesture (the gesture being a pattern); [0184] — obtaining a user’s gesture);
in response to identifying the pattern, retrieving a media item based on image data obtained from the sensor, wherein the media item corresponds to a respective parameter type (Kwon: [0319] — identifying a gesture pattern from the user at a mobile terminal; [0184] — if a gesture (pattern) corresponding to the ‘up’ is input, an image obtained by photographing (the presence of a camera as an image sensor) the subject as a location higher than a currently output image is output (based on an identified pattern, an image/media item from the camera sensor is retrieved); [0183] — gestures corresponding to images that would be obtained regarding subjects in a visual field which the camera faces (these being images that correspond to a respective parameter type of being images that are obtained by a camera in the camera’s visual field));
in response to receiving the user input [[including the selection of the affordance]], outputting the media item retrieved in response to identifying the pattern, [[wherein the media item is output]] based on metadata corresponding to the displayed object (Kwon: [0319] — identifying a gesture pattern from the user at a mobile terminal (as the received user input); [0184] — if a gesture (pattern) corresponding to the ‘up’ is input, an image obtained by photographing (the presence of a camera as an image sensor) the subject as a location higher than a currently output image is output (based on an identified pattern, an image/media item from the camera sensor is retrieved); [0183] — gestures corresponding to images that would be obtained regarding subjects in a visual field which the camera faces (these being images that correspond to a respective parameter type of being images that are obtained by a camera in the camera’s visual field)).
Hence, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the teaching of Van OS which receives a user input so as to output a media item, by incorporating the known teaching of Kwon which retrieves images of a particular parameter type based on a received pattern, to thereby come up with the claimed invention. The combination of both prior art elements would have provided the predictable result of granting a user with the ease of access to the user’s media items by not requiring the user to physically manipulate the user’s device, but instead, as a gesture from a distance. See KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
The combination of Van OS in view of Kwon provides teaching for receiving a user input so as to output at least one media item in reference to a displayed object. It differs from the claimed invention in that the claimed invention provides teaching for the further limitations of this claim as:
displaying a user interface including at least one application, wherein the user interface includes a displayed object (Taylor: [0047] — on the GUI, determining an object of interest (a displayed object));
in response to a determination that the displayed object corresponds to a respective parameter type (Taylor: [0047] — determining that the object of interest is similar to a detected object (indicating a match with a respective parameter type)):
displaying an affordance adjacent to the displayed object (Taylor: [0047] — displaying an alert icon (as the affordance) displayed next to an object of interest);
in response to a determination that the displayed object does not correspond to the respective parameter type, forgoing displaying the affordance adjacent to the displayed object (Taylor: [0047] — displaying an alert icon (as the affordance) displayed next to an object of interest (further indicating that an affordance isn’t provided for a displayed object that does not correspond to the respective parameter type)).
Hence, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to combine the known teaching of Taylor which displays an affordance next to determined display object that corresponds to a respective parameter type, with the teaching of the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon which receives a user input so as to output at least one media item in reference to a displayed object based on the displayed affordance, to thereby come up with the claimed invention. The combination of both prior art elements would have provided the predictable result of making the user interface more interactive with the user, so that the user is easily made aware of display items that the user can interact with. See KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
The combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor provides teaching for outputting a media item in response to a user input, based on metadata. This however differs from the claimed invention in that the claimed invention further provides teaching for the user input including the selection of the affordance.
This isn’t new to the art as the reference of Carson is introduced to teach as:
in response to receiving the user input including the selection of the affordance, outputting the media item retrieved in response to identifying the pattern, wherein the media item is output based on metadata corresponding to the displayed object (Carson: [0115] — a home button implemented as a soft key on a user interface which can be an affordance that a user can click on the touch screen; [0009] — when a user selects an affordance, a portion of aa first dialogue is displayed (indicating the presentation of a media item due to the user’s selection of the affordance)).
Hence, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to combine the known teaching of Carson which displays a media item in response to a user’s selection of an affordance, with the teaching of the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor which teaches of providing an output in response to a user selection, to thereby come up with the claimed invention. The combination of both prior art elements would have provided the predictable result of the ease of use of a user interface presented to a user, in order to make it convenient for a user to obtain media items. See KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
For claim 2, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, wherein the respective parameter type corresponds to at least one of an event, an activity, a geographical feature, a person, a place, a time, and a location (Van OS: [0118] — as a result of user query, media associated with certain provided links can include location-associated information (geographical feature); [0134] — parameters associated with the media content being graduation album (an event/activity), June 21st (a time)).
For claim 3, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, wherein the displayed object is associated with at least one parameter sub-type corresponding to at least one parameter type (Van OS: [0142] — a parameter sub-type being the ‘game’ associated with the event type to which the system determines intent based on the game listed in the interface, according to a displayed object on the screen).
For claim 4, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, wherein the displayed object is associated with at least one descriptor corresponding to the at least one parameter type (Van OS: [0128] — the user can issue speech regarding the term ‘law’ which is a descriptor found in the user’s speech in reference to what’s shown (the parameter) on the interface).
For claim 5, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, wherein outputting the media item retrieved in response to identifying the pattern (Kwon: [0319] — identifying a gesture pattern from the user at a mobile terminal; [0184] — if a gesture (pattern) corresponding to the ‘up’ is input, an image obtained by photographing (the presence of a camera as an image sensor) the subject as a location higher than a currently output image is output (based on an identified pattern, an image/media item from the camera sensor is retrieved); [0183] — gestures corresponding to images that would be obtained regarding subjects in a visual field which the camera faces (these being images that correspond to a respective parameter type of being images that are obtained by a camera in the camera’s visual field)) further comprises:
obtaining at least one media item associated with a user profile (Van OS: [0137] — media content associated with user profile information; [0197] — displaying content associated with a user profile (the information contained in the user profile is indicative of metadata stored regarding the user profile)).
For claim 6, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
in accordance with a determination that a predetermined criteria is satisfied, retrieving at least one media item from a remote source (Van OS: [0206] — being able to access media content stored in a remote storage device (in so far as the application is able to establish the connection with the remote source) an example being identifying source information such as “from Jake’s phone” which is a remote source, the predetermined criterion being the identifying of a playable content on a device used to formulate suggestions (also the identified playable content on the user device can be pictures/videos, related to user experiences); [0146]-[0147], FIG. 16 — a user can put a query (user input) as to be shown pictures of Team Alpha (media items related to the user experience)).
For claim 8, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
obtaining the metadata from a data source, wherein the data source is generated based on at least one pattern recognition process (Van OS: [0190] — using metadata and facial recognition (an example if pattern recognition) to identify further media items associated with an identified actor or actress).
For claim 9, claim 8 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
determining at least one pattern associated with a user (Van OS: [0189] — a user may issue a query as ‘Who is the actress that plays Blanche?’ and the system performs a facial recognition (pattern recognition) to identify the actresses on the screen (thereby determining a pattern associated with the user based on the user’s query)); and
in accordance with a determination that the at least one pattern associated with the user satisfies one or more predetermined criteria, updating the data source (Van OS: [0190] — in association with the user’s query to identify an actress through a facial (pattern) recognition, after the pattern that satisfies the identification of the actress has been satisfied (the predetermined criterion) to then be produce more media items in which the actress appears (an updating of the data source with more media items)).
For claim 11, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
generating a data source based at least on user data obtained from a secondary device (Van OS: [0073] — obtaining contextual information (this being akin to generating a data source) to include information obtained from other connected devices (as secondary device)).
For claim 12, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
generating a data source based at least on user motion data (Van OS: [0065] — obtaining information from a motion sensor; [0073] — contextual information including motion patterns).
For claim 13, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
generating a data source based at least on user biometric data (Van OS: [0065] — obtaining information from a biometric sensor peripheral).
For claim 14, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
generating a data source based at least on facial recognition data (Van OS: [0189] — obtaining data source information based on performing facial recognition).
For claim 15, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
generating a data source based at least on user contact data (Van OS: [0067] — the device can detect contact and movement using touch sensitivity technologies).
For claim 16, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson discloses the device, the one or more programs including instructions for:
determining displayed content corresponding to the application (Van OS: [0128] — determining the content displayed on the interface, such as determining the presence of a courtroom drama when a user utters ‘law’); and
determining whether one or more parameters are associated with displayed content corresponding to the application (Van OS: [0128] — determining the content displayed on the interface, to thereby be able to identify the courtroom drama that’s present on the display as a determined parameter, when a user utters ‘law’).
As for claim 17, computer program product claim 17 and device claim 1 are related as computer program product storing executable instructions required for the operation of the device as programmable steps on a computer. Van OS in [0068] provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium suitable to read upon the limitations of this claim. Accordingly, claim 17 is similarly rejected under the same rationale as applied above with respect to system claim 1.
As for claim 18, method claim 18 and system claim 1 are related as method detailing procedures for using the claimed system, with each claimed element’s function corresponding to the claimed system parts. Accordingly, claim 18 is similarly rejected under the same rationale as applied above with respect to system claim 1.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van OS (US 2015/0382047 A1) in view of Kwon (US 2017/0026574 A1) further in view of Taylor (US 2018/0173963 A1) and further in view of Carson (US 2014/036585 A1) as applied to claim 9, and further in view of Lin et al (WO 2016/106494 A1: hereafter — Lin).
For claim 7, claim 6 is incorporated but the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson fails to disclose the limitation of this claim, for which Lin is now introduced to teach as the device, wherein the predetermined criteria includes that a number of retrieved media items is less than a predetermined threshold (Lin: Page 16 lines 17-23 — checking a condition that the number of images is less than a number threshold, in order to determine that the retrieved images are to be displayed).
The combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson provides teaching for retrieving media item when a condition is met, but differs from the claimed invention in that the claimed invention further provides that the condition includes determining that a number of retrieved media items is less than a predetermined threshold. This is however not new to the art as the reference of Lin is seen to teach above.
Hence, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to combine the known teaching of Lin which displays retrieved media content when the number of the content is less than a threshold number, with the teaching of simply retrieving media item when a condition is met as taught by the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson, to thereby come up with the claimed invention. The combination of both prior art elements would have provided the predictable result that, when the number of media content to go through is limited to a threshold, all similar media content can be obtained for display, rather than having to perform further querying in the event that the number of media content for retrieval is considerably large. See KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van OS (US 2015/0382047 A1) in view of Kwon (US 2017/0026574 A1) further in view of Taylor (US 2018/0173963 A1) and further in view of Carson (US 2014/036585 A1) as applied to claim 9, and further in view of Osotio et al (US 2019/0042627 A1: hereafter — Osotio).
For claim 10, claim 9 is incorporated but the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson fails to disclose the limitations of this claim, for which Osotio is now introduced to teach as the device, wherein updating the data source further comprises:
determining whether one or more media items associated with the at least one pattern were previously generated (Osotio: [0039] — detecting a user’s previous interactions and patterns as related to content items so as to determine the content items that are relevant to the current context (indicating the presence of previously-available media items that would have been generated based on the current pattern));
in accordance with a determination that one or more media items associated with the at least one pattern were previously generated, updating the one or more media items associated with the at least one pattern (Osotio: [0039] — according to an aspect, the information that is relevant to the user in the current context is displayed to the user on the GUI (the information being displayed includes content items determined from pervious interactions, indicating an updating of the media items for display); [0044], FIGs 4A & 4B — steps of generating user experience associated with a user’s patterns (functioning as a loop, thereby providing the updating of an already available user experience) so as to provide personalised content to the user); and
in accordance with a determination that one or more media items associated with the at least one pattern was not previously generated, generating one or more media items associated with the at least one pattern (Osotio: [0044] — monitoring client computing devices associated with a user so be able to access and download files and content (indicating the generating of one or more media items that were not previously generated based on a user’s pattern)).
The combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson provides teaching for obtaining one or more media items, but differs from the claimed invention in that the claimed invention further provides determining if one or more media items associated with a pattern was previously generated and updating the previously generated one or more media items. This is however not new to the art as the reference of Osotio is seen to teach above.
Hence, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to combine the known teaching of Osotio which updates user experience by presenting one or more media items associated with a pattern, with the teaching of the combination of Van OS in view of Kwon further in view of Taylor and further in view of Carson which provides obtaining one or more media items associated with a user experience, to thereby come up with the claimed invention. The combination of both prior art elements would have provided the predictable result of learning from user experiences to continue to provide the user with further similar content that would be favourable to the user. See KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, 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 OLUWADAMILOLA M. OGUNBIYI whose telephone number is (571)272-4708. The Examiner can normally be reached Monday – Thursday (8:00 AM – 5:30 PM Eastern Standard Time).
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, PARAS D. SHAH can be reached at (571) 270-1650. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OLUWADAMILOLA M OGUNBIYI/Examiner, Art Unit 2653
/Paras D Shah/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2653
03/12/2026
1 This reference has a common Assignee with the instant application. This reference was published over a year before the instant application and qualifies as prior art under 35 U.S.C. 103.