DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the amendment filed 2/26/2026.
Claims 1-9 and 11-21 are currently 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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9 and 10 of amendment, filed 2/26/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 DePrez et al. (US 8,813,133), hereinafter DePrez.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 9, and 11-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abate (US 2015/0263997), in view of Yuchen et al. (CN 102981712 A), hereinafter Yuchen, in view of DePrez.
As per claim 1, Abate teaches the following:
a video display method, comprising:
receiving a first trigger operation acting . As Abate teaches in paragraph [0037], and corresponding Fig. 4A, a conversation mode (first display style) of a messaging interface is presented. Abate teaches in paragraph [0045] that a user may activate a mode switch via a manual input (first trigger operation). Abate teaches in paragraph [0039], and corresponding Fig. 4A, that an icon 406 and file name (video description information) for a sent video may be displayed; and
in response to the first trigger operation, switching the first message display region from the first display style to a second display style and playing the first target video in the switched first message display region. As Abate teaches in paragraph [0065], while in “engagement mode” (second display style), a user may select to play a video media item 406’.
While Abate teaches of a user input triggering a mode switch as described above, Abate does not explicitly teach of the input being on a first message display region. In a similar field of endeavor, Yuchen teaches interacting with a messenger interface. Yuchen further teaches in page 1, step 1, and corresponding Fig. 2, that a user’s trigger operation is performed with relation to a desired message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the trigger operation of Abate with the message selection of Yuchen. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because the selection of Yuchen would benefit a user of Abate to select a particular message to interact with, as opposed to simply the last two messages.
Furthermore, Abate does not explicitly teach of switching display styles of a first and second video. In a similar field of endeavor, DePrez teaches of a method of playing videos (see abstract). DePrez further teaches the following:
in response to receiving a third trigger operation acting on a second message display region displayed in the first display style:
switching the first message display region from the second display style to the first display style and stopping playing the first target video; and switching the second message display region from the first display style to the second display style and playing a second target video corresponding to the second message display region in the switched second message display region. As DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 40-50, the user may select a video Vignette to become in focus. DePrez shows in Fig. 3A that an in focus video becomes enlarged compare to non-in-focus vignettes. DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 51-59, that each vignette may have two states, a static image may be shown until the vignette is brought into focus, at which time the vignette is enlarged with a moving image. Therefore, given the teachings of DePrez, a user may begin with focus on a first vignette which is enlarged and played, wherein the user may select a next vignette for focus where the next vignette is enlarged and played back and the initial vignette is returned to a non-in-focus state, i.e., smaller and static image.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the selected video of Abate with the video in focus switching of DePrez. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because it would benefit users in avoiding overwhelming the user with multiple playing videos at a single time, allowing the user to focus only on a desired/selected video.
Regarding claim 2, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 1 as described above. Abate further teaches the following:
switching the first message display region from the first display style to the second display style comprises: expanding a dimension of the first message display region to switch the first message display region from the first display style to the second display style. As Abate teaches in paragraph [0057], and corresponding Fig. 4B, the two most recent messages are displayed in contiguous portions of the available display. Abate states in the abstract that this is accomplished by causing the most recent messages to occupy a larger respective proportion of the display, i.e., the dimensions of the messages are expanded.
Regarding claim 3, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 2 as described above. While Abate teaches in the abstract of modifying the sizes of messages, Abate does not explicitly teach of moving a boundary of a message. Yuchen teaches the following:
wherein expanding the dimension of the first message display region comprises at least one of the following:
moving a target boundary line of the first message display region in a direction of expanding a width of the first message display region until the target boundary line is spaced apart from a corresponding boundary line of the session page by a preset distance, wherein the target boundary line is a left boundary line or a right boundary line; or
moving a lower boundary line of the first message display region downward until a dimension ratio of the first message display region matches a dimension ratio of a video frame of the first target video. As Yuchen teaches on page 7, the size change of a target interaction box may have a set ratio. Therefore, the set ratio may be that of a video frame. Yuchen shows in Figs. 4 and 5 that this ratio change includes moving a lower boundary.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the message resizing of Abate with the ratio changing of Yuchen. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because the changing of ratio of the messages would benefit a user of Abate in allowing view of surrounding messages to the selected message, providing improved context.
Regarding claim 4, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 2 as described above. While Abate teaches in paragraph [0053] of entering and exiting modes, Abate does not explicitly teach of a second trigger operation for switching the message from the second style to the first style and stopping playback. DePrez teaches the following:
after playing the first target video in the switched first message display region, further comprising:
in response to the first target video finishing or receiving a second trigger operation for switching a display style of the first message display region is received, switching the first message display region from the second display style to the first display style and stopping playing the first target video.
. As DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 40-50, the user may select a video Vignette to become in focus. DePrez shows in Fig. 3A that an in focus video becomes enlarged compare to non-in-focus vignettes. DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 51-59, that each vignette may have two states, a static image may be shown until the vignette is brought into focus, at which time the vignette is enlarged with a moving image. Therefore, given the teachings of DePrez, a user may begin with focus on a first vignette which is enlarged and played, wherein the user may select a next vignette for focus where the next vignette is enlarged and played back and the initial vignette is returned to a non-in-focus state, i.e., smaller and static image.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the selected video of Abate with the video in focus switching of DePrez. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because it would benefit users in avoiding overwhelming the user with multiple playing videos at a single time, allowing the user to focus only on a desired/selected video.
Regarding claim 5, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 1 as described above. Abate further teaches the following:
before receiving the first trigger operation acting on the first message display region on the session page, further comprising:
displaying a message display region of a target video in the first display style on the session page and displaying video description information of the target video in the message display region, wherein the target video comprises the first target video. As Abate shows in Fig. 4A, in the conversation mode, i.e., before a mode switch, a “message display region” is that of 404, which shows the name of the video and date sent (video description information).
As per claim 9, Abate teaches the following:
a video display apparatus, (see Fig. 2), comprising:
at least one processor. See Fig. 2, 202; and
a memory configured to store at least one program. See Fig. 2, 228;
wherein when executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program causes the at least one processor to:
receive a first trigger operation acting As Abate teaches in paragraph [0037], and corresponding Fig. 4A, a conversation mode (first display style) of a messaging interface is presented. Abate teaches in paragraph [0045] that a user may activate a mode switch via a manual input (first trigger operation). Abate teaches in paragraph [0039], and corresponding Fig. 4A, that an icon 406 and file name (video description information) for a sent video may be displayed; and
in response to the first trigger operation, switch the first message display region from the first display style to a second display style and play the first target video in the switched first message display region. As Abate teaches in paragraph [0065], while in “engagement mode” (second display style), a user may select to play a video media item 406’.
While Abate teaches of a user input triggering a mode switch as described above, Abate does not explicitly teach of the input being on a first message display region. In a similar field of endeavor, Yuchen teaches interacting with a messenger interface. Yuchen further teaches in page 1, step 1, and corresponding Fig. 2, that a user’s trigger operation is performed with relation to a desired message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the trigger operation of Abate with the message selection of Yuchen. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because the selection of Yuchen would benefit a user of Abate to select a particular message to interact with, as opposed to simply the last two messages.
Furthermore, Abate does not explicitly teach of switching display styles of a first and second video. In a similar field of endeavor, DePrez teaches of a method of playing videos (see abstract). DePrez further teaches the following:
in response to receiving a third trigger operation acting on a second message display region displayed in the first display style:
switching the first message display region from the second display style to the first display style and stopping playing the first target video; and switching the second message display region from the first display style to the second display style and playing a second target video corresponding to the second message display region in the switched second message display region. As DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 40-50, the user may select a video Vignette to become in focus. DePrez shows in Fig. 3A that an in focus video becomes enlarged compare to non-in-focus vignettes. DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 51-59, that each vignette may have two states, a static image may be shown until the vignette is brought into focus, at which time the vignette is enlarged with a moving image. Therefore, given the teachings of DePrez, a user may begin with focus on a first vignette which is enlarged and played, wherein the user may select a next vignette for focus where the next vignette is enlarged and played back and the initial vignette is returned to a non-in-focus state, i.e., smaller and static image.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the selected video of Abate with the video in focus switching of DePrez. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because it would benefit users in avoiding overwhelming the user with multiple playing videos at a single time, allowing the user to focus only on a desired/selected video.
As per claim 11, Abate teaches the following:
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, (see Fig. 2), causes the processor to:
receive a first trigger operation acting on a first message display region on a session page, wherein the first message display region is displayed in a first display style, and video description information of a first target video is displayed in the first message display region. As Abate teaches in paragraph [0037], and corresponding Fig. 4A, a conversation mode (first display style) of a messaging interface is presented. Abate teaches in paragraph [0045] that a user may activate a mode switch via a manual input (first trigger operation). Abate teaches in paragraph [0039], and corresponding Fig. 4A, that an icon 406 and file name (video description information) for a sent video may be displayed; and
in response to the first trigger operation, switch the first message display region from the first display style to a second display style and play the first target video in the switched first message display region. As Abate teaches in paragraph [0065], while in “engagement mode” (second display style), a user may select to play a video media item 406’.
While Abate teaches of a user input triggering a mode switch as described above, Abate does not explicitly teach of the input being on a first message display region. In a similar field of endeavor, Yuchen teaches interacting with a messenger interface. Yuchen further teaches in page 1, step 1, and corresponding Fig. 2, that a user’s trigger operation is performed with relation to a desired message.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the trigger operation of Abate with the message selection of Yuchen. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because the selection of Yuchen would benefit a user of Abate to select a particular message to interact with, as opposed to simply the last two messages.
Furthermore, Abate does not explicitly teach of switching display styles of a first and second video. In a similar field of endeavor, DePrez teaches of a method of playing videos (see abstract). DePrez further teaches the following:
in response to receiving a third trigger operation acting on a second message display region displayed in the first display style:
switching the first message display region from the second display style to the first display style and stopping playing the first target video; and switching the second message display region from the first display style to the second display style and playing a second target video corresponding to the second message display region in the switched second message display region. As DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 40-50, the user may select a video Vignette to become in focus. DePrez shows in Fig. 3A that an in focus video becomes enlarged compare to non-in-focus vignettes. DePrez teaches in column 8, lines 51-59, that each vignette may have two states, a static image may be shown until the vignette is brought into focus, at which time the vignette is enlarged with a moving image. Therefore, given the teachings of DePrez, a user may begin with focus on a first vignette which is enlarged and played, wherein the user may select a next vignette for focus where the next vignette is enlarged and played back and the initial vignette is returned to a non-in-focus state, i.e., smaller and static image.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the selected video of Abate with the video in focus switching of DePrez. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because it would benefit users in avoiding overwhelming the user with multiple playing videos at a single time, allowing the user to focus only on a desired/selected video.
Regarding claim 12, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 2 as described above. Abate further teaches the following:
before receiving the first trigger operation acting on the first message display region on the session page, further comprising:
displaying a message display region of a target video in the first display style on the session page and displaying video description information of the target video in the message display region, wherein the target video comprises the first target video. As Abate shows in Fig. 4A, in the conversation mode, i.e., before a mode switch, a “message display region” is that of 404, which shows the name of the video and date sent (video description information).
Regarding claim 13, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 3 as described above. Abate further teaches the following:
before receiving the first trigger operation acting on the first message display region on the session page, further comprising:
displaying a message display region of a target video in the first display style on the session page and displaying video description information of the target video in the message display region, wherein the target video comprises the first target video. As Abate shows in Fig. 4A, in the conversation mode, i.e., before a mode switch, a “message display region” is that of 404, which shows the name of the video and date sent (video description information).
Regarding claim 14, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 4 as described above. Abate further teaches the following:
before receiving the first trigger operation acting on the first message display region on the session page, further comprising:
displaying a message display region of a target video in the first display style on the session page and displaying video description information of the target video in the message display region, wherein the target video comprises the first target video. As Abate shows in Fig. 4A, in the conversation mode, i.e., before a mode switch, a “message display region” is that of 404, which shows the name of the video and date sent (video description information).
Regarding claim 15, modified Abate teaches the apparatus of claim 9 as described above. Abate further teaches the following:
the at least one processor is caused to switch the first message display region from the first display style to the second display style in the following manner:
expanding a dimension of the first message display region to switch the first message display region from the first display style to the second display style. As Abate teaches in paragraph [0057], and corresponding Fig. 4B, the two most recent messages are displayed in contiguous portions of the available display. Abate states in the abstract that this is accomplished by causing the most recent messages to occupy a larger respective proportion of the display, i.e., the dimensions of the messages are expanded
Regarding claim 16, modified Abate teaches the apparatus of claim 15 as described above. While Abate teaches in the abstract of modifying the sizes of messages, Abate does not explicitly teach of moving a boundary of a message. Yuchen teaches the following:
the at least one processor is caused to expand the dimension of the first message display region in at least one of the following manners:
moving a target boundary line of the first message display region in a direction of expanding a width of the first message display region until the target boundary line is spaced apart from a corresponding boundary line of the session page by a preset distance, wherein the target boundary line is a left boundary line or a right boundary line; or
moving a lower boundary line of the first message display region downward until a dimension ratio of the first message display region matches a dimension ratio of a video frame of the first target video. As Yuchen teaches on page 7, the size change of a target interaction box may have a set ratio. Therefore, the set ratio may be that of a video frame. Yuchen shows in Figs. 4 and 5 that this ratio change includes moving a lower boundary.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the message resizing of Abate with the ratio changing of Yuchen. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because the changing of ratio of the messages would benefit a user of Abate in allowing view of surrounding messages to the selected message, providing improved context.
Regarding claim 17, modified Abate teaches the apparatus of claim 15 as described above. While Abate teaches in paragraph [0053] of entering and exiting modes, Abate does not explicitly teach of a second trigger operation for switching the message from the second style to the first style and stopping playback. Migos teaches the following:
after playing the first target video in the switched first message display region, the at least one processor is further caused to:
in response to the first target video finishing playing or receiving the first target video finishes playing or when a second trigger operation for switching a display style of the first message display region, switch the first message display region from the second display style to the first display style and stopping playing the first target video. As Migos teaches in paragraph [0053] and [0054], while a video is playing in a full-screen mode, a user may select a Done control 475, which returns the view to a feed view and ends playback of the video; or
in response to receiving a third trigger operation acting on a second message display region displayed in the first display style, switch the first message display region from the second display style to the first display style and stopping playing the first target video; and
switch the second message display region from the first display style to the second display style and playing a second target video corresponding to the second message display region in the switched second message display region.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the video playing of Abate with the display style change in response to a selection of Migos. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because it would benefit a user in reverting to a view of a conversation a when a user no longer wishes to view a current video.
Regarding claim 18, modified Abate teaches the apparatus of claim 9 as described above. Abate further teaches the following:
before receiving the first trigger operation acting on the first message display region on the session page, the at least one processor is further caused to:
display a message display region of a target video in the first display style on the session page and displaying video description information of the target video in the message display region, wherein the target video comprises the first target video. As Abate shows in Fig. 4A, in the conversation mode, i.e., before a mode switch, a “message display region” is that of 404, which shows the name of the video and date sent (video description information).
Claim(s) 6 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abate in view of Yuchen in view of Deprez as applied to claims 1, 5, 9, and 18 above, and further in view of Warner et al. (US 2010/0281371), hereinafter Warner.
Regarding claim 6, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 5 as described above. However, Abate does not explicitly teach of determining a width of a message according to a video duration. In a similar field of endeavor, Warner teaches of a method of displaying videos (see abstract). Warner further teaches the following:
displaying the message display region of the target video in the first display style on the session page comprises:
determining a width value of the message display region of the target video according to a video duration of the target video. As Warner shows in Fig. 1, and corresponding paragraph [0042], picture representations of videos have sizes dependent upon the duration of video clip they represent.
Upon the modification of Abate in view of Warner, one of ordinary skill would have arrived at:
creating the message display region according to the width value and a preset height value, where the video iconic messages of Abate would have a size based upon video duration of Warner.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the message sizes of Abate with the sizing based upon video duration of Warner. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because the sizing of Warner would benefit a user of Abate in allowing the user to quickly ascertain a relative duration of a video at a glance.
Regarding claim 19, modified Abate teaches the apparatus of claim 18 as described above. The remaining limitations of claim 19 are substantially similar to those of claim 6 and are rejected using the same reasoning.
Claim(s) 7, 8, 20, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abate in view of Yuchen in view of DePrez as applied to claims 1, 5, 9, and 18 above, and further in view of Rathod (US 2018/0351895).
Regarding claim 7, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 5 as described above. However, Abate does not explicitly teach of determining whether a video was captured through an application to which the session belongs. In a similar field of endeavor, Rathod teaches of a method of sharing videos through messages (see abstract). Rathod further teaches the following:
before displaying the message display region of the target video in the first display style on the session page, further comprising: determining that the target video is a video captured by calling a camera through an application software to which the session page belongs. As Rathod teaches in paragraph [0107], and corresponding Fig. 3, a user may capture videos 314 in response to messages. As Rathod teaches in paragraph [0112], and corresponding Fig. 4, upon a user utilizing the in application camera to capture an image/video, the image is shown within the message 437.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the video sharing of Abate with the in application video record and share of Rathod. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because as Rathod teaches in paragraph [0004], such in application recording would benefit users in allowing a messaging type game to be played, where only videos recorded within the game may be used.
Regarding claim 8, modified Abate teaches the method of claim 7 as described above. However, as described above, Abate does not explicitly teach of determining whether a video was captured through an application to which the session belongs. Abate in view Rathod suggests teaches the following:
in a case where the target video is not the video captured by calling the camera through the application software to which the session page belongs, displaying the message display region of the target video in the second display style on the session page to play the target video in the message display region. As Rathod discusses in paragraphs [0107] and [0112], only videos taken within the game application may be utilized. Therefore, this suggests that non-captured videos would be blocked from use or otherwise hindered.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the engagement mode of Abate to only allow engagement with user captured videos of Rathod. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because as Rathod teaches in paragraph [0004], such in application recording would benefit users in allowing a messaging type game to be played, where only videos recorded within the game may be used. Thus the modification would further benefit players of the game in preventing user engagement with non-user recorded videos, e.g., videos that may be considered “cheating”.
Regarding claims 20 and 21, modified Abate teaches the apparatus of claim 18 as described above. The remaining limitations of claims 20 and 21 are substantially similar to those of claims 7 and 8 respectively, and are rejected using the same reasoning.
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 GREGORY A DISTEFANO whose telephone number is (571)270-1644. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 9 am - 5 pm.
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/GREGORY A. DISTEFANO/
Examiner
Art Unit 2174
/WILLIAM L BASHORE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2174
Prosecution Insights