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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in responsive to the Amendment filed on 05/22/2026.
In the Instant amendment, claims 1-5, 7, 11-15, 17 and 20 have been amended; Claims 1, 11 and 20 are independent claims; Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made FINAL.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to newly added limitation recited in claim 1, 11 and 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The Examiner respectfully suggests that the claim be further amended and details in the specification be incorporated to distinguish the claimed invention over prior art of record. Should the Applicant desire an interview to further clarify the claim interpretation/rejections, please contact the Examiner at (571) 270 3230 to schedule an interview.
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 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.
Claims 1-4, 7-14, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al., (“Li,” CN 112347273A), IDS filed on 09/04/2024, published on Feb. 09, 2021–Corresponding US Patent Application US 2023/0070812, is used for mapping, in view of Chen (US 2006/0020880), published on Jan. 26, 2026.
Regarding claim 1, Li discloses a media playing method, comprising:
in the case that a first multimedia is played, receiving a first trigger instruction for a first interactive control on a display interface (pars. 0033-0035; Fig. 1; background music 101; receiving user’s input from audio playing control 103; see also pars. 0040-0046); and
in response to the first trigger instruction, playing a music corresponding to the first interactive control while displaying image content of the first multimedia (pars. 0033-0035; Fig. 1; user can play the audio by operating the audio playing control 103, while non-audio media information 102, such as image, text video or short video are displayed on the screen; see also pars. 0040-0046 and 0065-0067; Figs. 4a-4c).
Li does not explicitly disclose in response to the first multimedia being displayed completely, displaying image content of a next multimedia associated with the music while the music continues playing.
However, Chen discloses a system/method for synchronization of music and images, wherein in response to the first multimedia being displayed completely, displaying image content of a next multimedia associated with the music while the music continues playing (Chen: pars. 0005-0006, 0020 and 0028; Figs. 4-5; determining an image transition point [i.e., first media being displayed completely] and displaying the next still image when the audio stream is played at the transition point).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Chen with the combined system/method of Li. One would have been motivated to enable user to displaying image content of a next media while the audio steam is played at the image transition point (Chen: pars. 0020)
Regarding claim 2, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 1.
Li and Chen further disclose in the case that the image content of the first multimedia is displayed and the music is played, receiving a second trigger instruction for the image content which is currently displayed (Li: pars. 0065-0068; Figs. 4a-4c; receiving user input from audio playing control 401; see also pars. 0033-0035 and 0072-0073; Figs. 1, 5a-5b; Chen: pars. 0020 and 0027-0028; Figs. 3-5); and
in response to the second trigger instruction, playing the first multimedia, wherein playing the first multimedia comprises: displaying the image content and playing audio content of the first multimedia (Li: pars. 0065-0068; Figs. 4a-4c; displaying related information while playing music; see also pars. 0033-0035 and 0072-0073; Figs. 1, 5a-5b; Chen: pars. 0020 and 0027-0028; Figs. 3-5).
The motivation is the same that of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 3, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 1,
Li further discloses wherein the first multimedia comprises: a multimedia related to the music or a multimedia related to an author of the music (Li: pars. 0021, 0033-0035 and 0046; allow a user to directly listen to the audio corresponding to the audio included in the multimedia information when browsing the multimedia information; par. 0072; displaying multimedia published by the same author).
Regarding claim 4, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 1.
Li further discloses in the case that the image content of the first multimedia is displayed and the music is played, receiving a switching instruction for the image content which is currently displayed (Li: pars. 0065-0068; Fig. 4c; receiving user’s input from playing control 401); and
in response to the switching instruction, displaying image content of a second multimedia, the second multimedia being multimedia bound to the music (Li: pars. 0065-0068; Fig. 4c; playing media content and displaying related information 402-406).
Regarding claim 7, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 1.
Li further discloses wherein the first multimedia is a multimedia of a first type, and the media playing method further comprises:
in the case that the image content of the first multimedia is displayed and the music is played, receiving a fifth trigger instruction for a control of a second type (Li: pars. 0065-0068 and 0072-0073; Figs. 4a-4c and 5a-5b; playing a selected target media in response to receiving user’s input); and
in response to the fifth trigger instruction, displaying image content of the second type of a multimedia corresponding to the music (Li: pars. 0065-0068 and 0072-0073; Figs. 4a-4c and 5a-5b; displaying related information of the target media while playing the target media).
Regarding claim 8, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 7.
Li further discloses wherein in response to the first type comprising a custom type, the second type comprises a music short video type (Li: pars. 0033-0035; the non-audio media information 102 may be at least one type of medium, such as an image, a text, a video, and a short video); in response to the first type comprising the music short video type, the second type comprises a custom type, the custom type comprising a type associated with the music or a type associated with an author of the music (Li: pars. 0033-0035 and 0065-0068 and 0072-0073; Figs. 1-5; playing select media content published by an author).
Regarding claim 9, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 1.
Li further discloses receiving a sixth trigger instruction to enter an author home page (Li: pars. 0072-0073; Figs. 5a-5b; when the name of the author is entered, the search result will list multiple multimedia, such as short videos, published by the same author, with each multimedia presenting area being superimposed by, and presented with, the target audio playing control 501 corresponding to the audio in the multimedia); and
in response to the sixth trigger instruction, displaying the author home page corresponding to the music, wherein a pre-set position of the author home page displays multimedia content of the author (Li: pars. 0072-0073; Figs. 5a-5b; the result will list multiple multimedia, such as short videos, published by the same author, with each multimedia presenting area being superimposed by, and presented with, the target audio playing control 501 corresponding to the audio in the multimedia).
Regarding claim 10, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 9.
Li further discloses receiving a seventh trigger instruction to an image control on the author home page (Li: pars. 0072-0073; Figs. 5a-5b; playing a selected media content in response to receiving user’s input by clicking the target audio playing control 501); and
in response to the seventh triggering instruction, displaying an image of the author at the pre-set position (Li: pars. 0072-0073; Figs. 5a-5b; playing a selected media content in response to receiving user’s input by clicking the target audio playing control 501).
Regarding claim 11, claim 11 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 1. Claim 11 is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 12, claim 12 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 2. Claim 12 is similar in scope to claim 2, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 13, claim 13 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 3. Claim 13 is similar in scope to claim 3, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 14, claim 14 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 4. Claim 14 is similar in scope to claim 4, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 17, claim 17 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 7. Claim 17 is similar in scope to claim 7, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 8. Claim 18 is similar in scope to claim 8, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 9. Claim 19 is similar in scope to claim 9, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium corresponding to the method recited in claim 1. Claim 20 is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
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 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.
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Chen as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yang et al. (“Yang,” CN 112965686), IDS filed on 09/04/2024, published on Mar. 01, 2021 – Corresponding US Patent Application US 2023/0099935 is used for mapping.
Regarding claim 5, Li and Chen disclose the media playing method according to claim 1, further comprising:
Li and Chen do not explicitly disclose in the case that the image content of the first multimedia is displayed and the music is played, receiving a third trigger instruction for a player mode control; and in response to the third trigger instruction, switching to a player mode, and displaying a player image corresponding to the music.
However, Yang discloses a device wherein:
in the case that the image content of the first multimedia is displayed and the music is played, receiving a third trigger instruction for a player mode control (Yang: pars. 0056-0060; Fig. 4; the user can operate on the playing mode control to switch a playing mode); and
in response to the third trigger instruction, switching to a player mode, and displaying a player image corresponding to the music (Yang: pars. 0056-0060; Fig. 4; switch playing mode in response to receiving user’s input from playing mode control).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Yang with the system/method of Li and Chen. One would have been motivated to enable user to switch playing mode when playing multimedia content (Yang: pars. 0056-0060).
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 5. Claim 15 is similar in scope to claim 5, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Chen and Yang as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Yang-Yabin et al. (“Yang-Yabin,” US 2022/0057984), published on Feb. 24, 2022.
Regarding claim 6, The combination of Li, Chen and Yang discloses the media playing method according to claim 5.
The combination of Li, Chen and Yang further discloses receiving a fourth trigger instruction for a video mode control; and displaying image content of a multimedia corresponding to the music (Li: pars. 0065-0068; Figs. 4a-4c; displaying related information while playing music; see also pars. 0033-0035 and 0072-0073; Figs. 1, 5a-5b; Yang: pars. 0056-0060; Fig. 4);
The combination of Li, Chen and Yang does not explicitly disclose in response to the fourth trigger instruction, switching to a video mode.
However, Yang-Yabin discloses a music playing method/device, including the steps of:
in response to the fourth trigger instruction, switching to a video mode (Yang-Yabin: pars. 0079-0086; Figs. 4-5, steps 402-406, receiving a video switching operation (step 404) and playing another video (step 406)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Yang Yabin with the combined system/method of Li, Chen and Yang. One would have been motivated to enable user to switch operation to a video mode during playing multimedia content (Yang-Yabin: pars. 0079-0086).
Regarding claim 16, claim 16 is directed to a device corresponding to the method recited in claim 6. Claim 16 is similar in scope to claim 6, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
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 extension fee 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.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINH K PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-3230. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM (EST).
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, William L Bashore can be reached on (571) 272-4088. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LINH K PHAM/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2174
Prosecution Insights