DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claims 1-11, 28-29 are pending. Claims 12-27 are withdrawn
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claims 29 recites a “computer-readable storage medium” which can encompass non-statutory transitory forms of signal transmission. Applicant’s specification fails to exclude signals as a form of medium. As a result, the “computer-readable storage medium" can be interpreted as a signal, which is non-statutory subject matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 11, 28-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Smith et al. (US 2014/0098183 A1, “Smith”).
As to claims 1, 28, 29, Smith discloses a method for interaction in a virtual environment (virtual environment 900, Fig. 9), comprising:
presenting a first conference layout for a virtual conference in the virtual environment (left side of Fig. 9, three participants 905, 906, 907 are arranged around a round first virtual table 910, para. 0089);
detecting a change in participants and/or conference modes of the virtual conference (additional endpoints have been added to the virtual environment, para. 0090); and
adjusting the first conference layout to a second conference layout based at least in part on the change (right side of Fig. 9, virtual table 910 has been expanded to a round second virtual table 940, para. 0090).
As to claim 2, Smith discloses: wherein the change comprises a change in a number of the participants (e.g. five additional participants, para. 0090).
As to claim 11, Smith discloses: rendering a desktop area for the virtual conference based on the second conference layout (a larger virtual table 940 is rendered based on the increased number of participants in the second conference layout, Fig. 9, para. 0090).
Claim(s) 1-2, 11, 28-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chou et al. (US 2012/0281059 A1, “Chou”).
As to claims 1, 28, 29, Chou discloses a method for interaction in a virtual environment (Fig. 5), comprising:
presenting a first conference layout for a virtual conference in the virtual environment (virtual participants appear seated around a table 550, para. 0031);
detecting a change in participants and/or conference modes of the virtual conference (table may grow and shrink based upon one or more criteria, e.g. the number of participants, para. 0041); and
adjusting the first conference layout to a second conference layout based at least in part on the change (para. 0041).
As to claim 2, Chou discloses: wherein the change comprises a change in a number of the participants (para. 0041).
As to claim 11, Chou discloses: rendering a desktop area for the virtual conference based on the second conference layout (a larger table is generated based on the increase or decrease in number of participants in the second layout, para. 0041).
Claim(s) 1, 3, 10-11, 28-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Faulkner (US 2023/0385767 A1)
As to claims 1, 28, 29, Faulkner discloses: a method for interaction in a virtual environment (Abstract), comprising:
presenting a first conference layout for a virtual conference in the virtual environment (meeting starts with a first agenda item 131A, causing a user interface arrangement to be displayed based on a Presentation environment template, which displays representations of a presenter 251A at a podium and audience members 251C, 251D, 251F, 251H in the regions designated for audience members; Figs. 2A, 2B, para. 0056-0058);
detecting a change in participants and/or conference modes of the virtual conference (meeting transitions to a second agenda item 131B based on keywords, e.g. Group Discussion; Figs. 2A, 2C, para. 0059); and
adjusting the first conference layout to a second conference layout based at least in part on the change (transition to the second agenda item causing a user interface arrangement to be displayed based on a Group Discussion environment template, which displays representations of each user as a 3D or 2D rendering and allowing users to move throughout the virtual room; Fig. 2C, para. 0060-0062).
As to claim 2, Faulkner discloses: wherein the change comprises a change in a number of the participants (templates can be selected based on a number of attendees, which includes selecting a virtual room sized for a number of people and selecting more tables and chairs, para. 0094-0095; selecting a collaboration environment suitable for the number of participants, e.g. an auditorium vs. a small office room, para. 0106).
As to claim 3, Faulkner discloses: wherein adjusting to the second conference layout comprises: in response to the conference mode of the virtual conference being a discussion mode, adjusting conference layout to the second conference layout based on a reference position for content sharing in the discussion mode and a number of the participants in the virtual conference (a selected environment may include a large screen display for shared content, para. 0030; audience members may be oriented toward the displayed shared content, para. 0058; location and orientation of user representations may be based on the location of shared content within the virtual environment, para. 0077-0078; each avatar may be distributed evenly and looking at shared content, para. 0086; the existence of shared content, the data type of the shared content, a number of participants, and/or titles of participants, can all be utilized to identify and select an environment template, para. 0092).
As to claim 10, Faulkner discloses: wherein the change comprises a change in conference mode (system dynamically changes an operating mode of a computer to provide different virtual interface arrangements based on contextual data, such as a meeting agenda including agenda items, para. 0005-0006, 0029-0030), and wherein adjusting to the second conference layout comprises: determining the second conference layout based on the changed conference mode (e.g. presenter mode, panel mode, group discussion mode, social gathering mode, question and answer mode, etc., para. 0005-0006, 0032-0036) and a number of participants in the virtual conference (templates can be selected based on a number of attendees, which includes selecting a virtual room sized for a number of people and selecting more tables and chairs, para. 0094-0095; selecting a collaboration environment suitable for the number of participants, e.g. an auditorium vs. a small office room, para. 0106).
As to claim 11, Faulkner discloses: rendering a desktop area for the virtual conference based on the second conference layout (a template environment can include a virtual table 211B, para. 0038).
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.
Claim(s) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith or Chou in view of Gorzynski et al. (US 2011/0025819 A1, “Gorzynski”).
Smith or Chou differs from claim 7 in that it does not disclose: in response to the conference mode of the virtual conference being a face-to-face mode and a number of participating positions in the first conference layout mismatching a number of participating parties, increasing or decreasing at least one participating position.
Gorzynski teaches empty chairs being removed from the video stream (Figs. 4A, 4B; para. 0059). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith or Chou with the above teaching of Gorzynski in order to remove unnecessary content.
As to claim 8, Smith or Chou in view of Gorzynski teaches: wherein increasing or decreasing at least one participating position comprises: increasing or decreasing participating positions in pair (Gorzynski: two chairs are removed from the video stream, Figs. 4A, 4B).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith or Chou in view of Pollefeys (US 11,082,661 B1).
Smith or Chou differs from claim 9 in that it does not disclose: in response to the conference mode of the virtual conference being a speech mode, the speech mode comprising a speaker position and at least one set of audience positions organized in groups, according to the number of participants in the virtual conference,
increasing or decreasing at least one audience position in at least one group of audience positions; or
increasing or decreasing the audience positions in groups.
Pollefeys teaches a “lecture” or “presentation” video call in which a “presenter” video stream is displayed differently from the plurality of participant video streams, providing the impression that the presenter is giving a presentation to an audience seated in an auditorium, the plurality of participant video streams being arranged into a plurality of separate groups, such as rows (col. 12, line 25 – col. 13, line 21). When a participant leaves, the arrangement of participant streams may change to fill empty spaces (col. 16, lines 8-25). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith or Chou with the above teaching of Pollefeys as an alternative to leaving an empty space when a participant leaves the conference (Pollefeys: col. 15, line 64 – col. 16, line 10).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tang et al. (US 2023/0086906 A1) teach different spatial arrangement layouts to reflect different meeting styles (para. 0035).
Cho et al. (US 2024/0106875 A1) teach changing a layout by presenting a second room with appropriate seating capacity based on an updated number of participants (para. 0086).
Avni et al. (US 2014/0354764 A1) teach presenting a conference layout that reflects a current mode of interaction, e.g. discussion mode (para. 0102).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Stella L Woo whose telephone number is (571)272-7512. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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, Ahmad Matar can be reached at 571-272-7488. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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STELLA L. WOO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2693
/Stella L. Woo/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693