DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the Application filed on 04/12/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in the case. Claims 1, 8, and 15 are independent claims.
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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 7, 9, 10, 13, and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2:
Line 1 recites “a first audio room logo and second audio room logo” where “a first audio room logo and a second audio room logo” was apparently intended.
Claim 7:
Lines 1-2 recite “the first social media application,” which lacks proper antecedent basis.
Claim 9:
Line 1 recites “a first audio room logo and second audio room logo” where “a first audio room logo and a second audio room logo” was apparently intended.
Claim 13:
Lines 1-2 recite “the invitation notification,” which lacks proper antecedent basis.
Claim 20:
Lines 1-2 recite “the first social media application,” which lacks proper antecedent basis.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Stelzner, M. "How to Start a Clubhouse Room and Moderate Like a Pro." 02/09/2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211102211709/https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-start-a-clubhouse-room-and-moderate-like-a-pro/ (hereinafter “Stelzner”) in view of Lyon et al. (US Patent Application Pub. No. 2014/0282049, hereinafter “Lyon”).
As to independent claims 1 and 15, Stelzner shows a method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms [the “Clubhouse” audio room social media app/service (p. 1)] comprising:
receiving, by a transceiver of a server, a first audio room creation option; generating, by a processor of the server, a first audio room based on the first audio room creation option [“You can start a room on Clubhouse two ways. You can either schedule a room or spontaneously spin up a room. {…} To schedule a room, open the Clubhouse app and tap on the calendar icon at the top of the screen. On the next screen, tap on the calendar icon with a plus sign on it.” (p. 2)];
receiving, by the processor, a room name for the first audio room; assigning, by the processor, the room name to the first audio room [a user can assign a name to a room/room event (p. 3)];
generating, by the processor, a universal resource locator (URL); assigning, by the processor, the URL to the first audio room [“There are several advantages to scheduling a room. You get a link to the event that you can share, your followers will be notified (and it shows up on the notifications menu), and you can add a detailed description of the event.” (p. 2)];
receiving, by the transceiver, at least one of a plurality of audio room logos [there are a plurality of icons and logos that are associated with the room (see the screenshots in pages 4, 6-7, 15-17, and 19-20)]; {…}
receiving, by the transceiver, screen text; associating, by the processor, an action with the screen text [“The last step is to add a description of your event. Clubhouse gives you 200 characters to describe your event so you can get really detailed if you want.” (p. 4)
“{…} tap on + Add a Topic and give the room a topic.” (p. 8)
“When you moderate a room on Clubhouse, one of the first things you want to do is establish the rules of the room. Introduce yourself, the topic of the room, and the rules (p. 10)];
outputting for display, by the processor, at least one audio room logo [see the plurality of icons and logos that may be output in association with the room (see the screenshots in pages 4, 6-7, 15-17, and 19-20];
outputting for display, by the processor, the screen text [e.g. outputting the room description and/or topic (p. 4, 8, & 10)]; and
assigning, by the processor, a first user account as a moderator of the first audio room [“You also have the option to add a co-host to your event. A co-host will be able to cancel, edit, and remove people from the event so be careful about who you assign to this role.” (p. 3)
“In the bottom left, you’ll see your face as the moderator of the room, the face of the next person, and a plus sign and number.” (p. 11)
“To add another moderator, tap on the profile of someone who’s on the stage and choose Make a Moderator.” (p. 12)].
Stelzner does not appear to explicitly recite “background images” and “header images” as apparently intended. In an analogous art, Lyon shows:
receiving, by the transceiver, at least one of a plurality of audio room logos; receiving, by the transceiver, at least one of a plurality background images; receiving, by the transceiver, a header image []; {…} outputting for display, by the processor, at least one audio room logo; outputting for display, by the processor, at least one background image; outputting for display, by the processor, the header image [Lyon shows the techniques of receiving and outputting logos, background images, and headers (fig. 2; ¶¶ 25-27) to any user interface, including audio-focused and/or teleconferencing/audio room user service (¶ 23)];
One of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Stelzner and Lyon before them prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to incorporate Lyon’s image outputting techniques into Stelzner. The rationale for doing so would have been to improve the user experience by allowing a user to personalize a given room according to their personal tastes. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Stelzner and Lyon (hereinafter, the “Stelzner-Lyon” combination) in order to obtain the invention as recited in claims 1 and 15.
As to dependent claim 2, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein a first audio room logo and second audio room logo are outputted for display, by the processor, at rotating timed intervals [The logos (Lyon: fig. 2; ¶¶ 25-27) may be set by a user to be outputted at rotating timed intervals (Lyon: ¶¶ 15, 27, 35, 61, & 67).].
As to dependent claims 3 and 16, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
receiving, by the transceiver, microphone control instructions from the first user account, wherein the microphone control instructions determine that a second user account can use a microphone associated with the first audio room [“Whenever someone you follow comes into the room, you’ll see a little notification across the top of the screen. They’ll automatically be in the audience and muted. They only get the opportunity to speak when they raise their hand or they’re brought up on the stage.” (Stelzner: p. 10)
“Keep in mind that speakers aren’t automatically muted when they join the stage. They often don’t realize that they’re supposed to mute themselves so Clubhouse lets you do it for them. Just tap on their profile and tap on the microphone icon to mute them. That person will then get notified that you’ve muted them.” (Stelzner: p. 16)].
As to dependent claims 4 and 17, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
receiving by the transceiver, an invitation request from the first user account that enables a second user account to join the first audio room; sending, by the transceiver, an invitation notification to the second user account; and enabling, by the processor, the second user account to access the first audio room [“{…} a closed room is just for those people you invite into the room.” (Stelzner: p. 8)
“Whether you’re starting a closed, social, or open room, it’s easy to ping people into the room. Simply hit the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and search for the people you want to invite. {…} Whenever someone you follow comes into the room, you’ll see a little notification across the top of the screen.” (Stelzner: p. 10)].
As to dependent claims 5 and 18, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein the second user account is subscribed to the first user account [“There are several advantages to scheduling a room. You get a link to the event that you can share, your followers will be notified (and it shows up on the notifications menu), and you can add a detailed description of the event.” (Stelzner: p. 2)
“{…} choose from three types of rooms: open, social, or closed. An open room is open to everyone on the platform, a social room is only for people you follow, and a closed room is just for those people you invite into the room.” (Stelzner: p. 8)
“Whenever someone you follow comes into the room, you’ll see a little notification across the top of the screen. They’ll automatically be in the audience and muted.” (Stelzner: p. 10)].
As to dependent claims 6 and 19, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein the second user account obtains the invitation notification after donating at least a required amount to the first user account [This limitation does not carry considerable patentable weight as currently drafted because it appears to solely describe an ideal intended result (compare, for example, a) the current language, which vaguely describes a human action, outside of the system at hand, that happens to occur before the invitation notification, to b) a scenario where a minimum donation amount is objectively and actively determined to have occurred within the confines of the same computer environment, and in response to this determination, the invitation notification is sent/obtained). Moreover, Lyon shows purchasing/donating prerequisites before sending subsequent notifications/GUI elements (Lyon: ¶¶ 02 & 29).].
As to dependent claims 7 and 20, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein the first audio room is accessible to all user accounts of the first social media application [“{…} choose from three types of rooms: open, social, or closed. An open room is open to everyone on the platform, a social room is only for people you follow, and a closed room is just for those people you invite into the room.” (Stelzner: p. 8)].
As to independent claim 8, Stelzner shows a method for improved social media audio rooms [the “Clubhouse” audio room social media app/service (p. 1)] comprising:
selecting, on a first social media application installed on a first user device, a first audio room creation option from a first user account; sending, by a transceiver of the first user device, the first audio room creation option to a first social media server [“You can start a room on Clubhouse two ways. You can either schedule a room or spontaneously spin up a room. {…} To schedule a room, open the Clubhouse app and tap on the calendar icon at the top of the screen. On the next screen, tap on the calendar icon with a plus sign on it.” (p. 2)];
sending, by the transceiver, a room name for the first audio room to the first social media provider server [a user can assign a name to a room/room event (p. 3)];
receiving, by the transceiver, a universal resource locator (URL) to the first audio room from the first social media server [“There are several advantages to scheduling a room. You get a link to the event that you can share, your followers will be notified (and it shows up on the notifications menu), and you can add a detailed description of the event.” (p. 2)];
sending, by the transceiver, at least one audio room logo to the first social media server [there are a plurality of icons and logos that are associated with the room (see the screenshots in pages 4, 6-7, 15-17, and 19-20)];
{…} sending, by the transceiver, screen text to the first social media server; sending, by the transceiver, an instruction for an action to be associated with the screen text to the first social media server [“The last step is to add a description of your event. Clubhouse gives you 200 characters to describe your event so you can get really detailed if you want.” (p. 4)
“{…} tap on + Add a Topic and give the room a topic.” (p. 8)
“When you moderate a room on Clubhouse, one of the first things you want to do is establish the rules of the room. Introduce yourself, the topic of the room, and the rules (p. 10)];
selecting, on the first social media application, a first audio room accessibility option; and sending, by the transceiver, the first audio room accessibility option to the first social media server [“You also have the option to add a co-host to your event. A co-host will be able to cancel, edit, and remove people from the event so be careful about who you assign to this role.” (p. 3)
“{…} choose from three types of rooms: open, social, or closed. An open room is open to everyone on the platform, a social room is only for people you follow, and a closed room is just for those people you invite into the room.” (Stelzner: p. 8)
“In the bottom left, you’ll see your face as the moderator of the room, the face of the next person, and a plus sign and number.” (p. 11)
“To add another moderator, tap on the profile of someone who’s on the stage and choose Make a Moderator.” (p. 12)].
Stelzner does not appear to explicitly recite “background images” and “header images” as apparently intended. In an analogous art, Lyon shows:
sending, by the transceiver, at least one audio room logo to the first social media server; sending, by the transceiver, at least one background image to the first social media server; sending, by the transceiver, a header image to the first social media server [Lyon shows the techniques of sending logos, background images, and headers (fig. 2; ¶¶ 25-27) to any server, including a server associated with an audio-focused and/or social teleconferencing/audio room user service (¶ 23)];
One of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Stelzner and Lyon before them prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to incorporate Lyon’s image sending techniques into Stelzner. The rationale for doing so would have been to improve the user experience by allowing a user to personalize a given room according to their personal tastes. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Stelzner and Lyon (hereinafter, the “Stelzner-Lyon” combination) in order to obtain the invention as recited in claim 8.
As to dependent claim 9, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein a first audio room logo and second audio room logo are outputted for display, by the processor, at rotating timed intervals [The logos (Lyon: fig. 2; ¶¶ 25-27) may be set by a user to be outputted at rotating timed intervals (Lyon: ¶¶ 15, 27, 35, 61, & 67).].
As to dependent claim 10, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein the rotating timed intervals are selected by the first user account [The logos (Lyon: fig. 2; ¶¶ 25-27) may be selected by a user/account to be outputted at rotating timed intervals (Lyon: ¶¶ 15, 27, 35, 61, & 67).].
As to dependent claim 11, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
sending, by the transceiver, an invitation that enables a second user account to join the first audio room to the first social media server [“{…} a closed room is just for those people you invite into the room.” (Stelzner: p. 8)
“Whether you’re starting a closed, social, or open room, it’s easy to ping people into the room. Simply hit the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and search for the people you want to invite. {…} Whenever someone you follow comes into the room, you’ll see a little notification across the top of the screen.” (Stelzner: p. 10)]
As to dependent claim 12, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein the second user account is subscribed to the first user account [“There are several advantages to scheduling a room. You get a link to the event that you can share, your followers will be notified (and it shows up on the notifications menu), and you can add a detailed description of the event.” (Stelzner: p. 2)
“{…} choose from three types of rooms: open, social, or closed. An open room is open to everyone on the platform, a social room is only for people you follow, and a closed room is just for those people you invite into the room.” (Stelzner: p. 8)
“Whenever someone you follow comes into the room, you’ll see a little notification across the top of the screen. They’ll automatically be in the audience and muted.” (Stelzner: p. 10)].
As to dependent claim 13, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein the first user account sends the invitation notification after the second user account donates a required amount to the first user account [This limitation does not carry considerable patentable weight as currently drafted because it appears to solely describe an ideal intended result (compare, for example, a) the current language, which vaguely describes a human action, outside of the system at hand, that happens to occur before the invitation notification, to b) a scenario where a minimum donation amount is objectively and actively determined to have occurred within the confines of the same computer environment, and in response to this determination, the invitation notification is sent/obtained). Moreover, Lyon shows purchasing/donating prerequisites before sending subsequent notifications/GUI elements (Lyon: ¶¶ 02 & 29).].
As to dependent claim 14, Stelzner-Lyon further shows:
wherein the first audio room is accessible to all user accounts of the first social media application [“{…} choose from three types of rooms: open, social, or closed. An open room is open to everyone on the platform, a social room is only for people you follow, and a closed room is just for those people you invite into the room.” (Stelzner: p. 8)].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure. Applicants are required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111(c) to consider these references fully when responding to this action.
Document ID
Relevance
Discord. "Beginner's Guide to Discord." Captured 12/07/2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20211207124556/https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045138571-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Discord
A method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms.
Discord. "Server Boosting." Captured 12/07/2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201207114957/https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028038352-Server-Boosting-
A method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms.
Fedewa, J. "What Is Twitter Spaces, and Is It Different From Clubhouse?" 05/05/2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210917070410/https://www.howtogeek.com/725474/what-is-twitter-spaces-and-is-it-different-from-clubhouse/
A method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms.
Fedewa, J. "How to Start and Use Twitter Spaces." 05/11/2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210927141327/https://www.howtogeek.com/725671/how-to-start-and-use-twitter-spaces/
A method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms.
Warnimont, J. "How to Use Twitter Spaces: Beginner’s Guide for Social Media Marketers." 07/12/2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210812072223/https://revive.social/twitter-spaces/
A method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms.
Griffith, E. "What Is Clubhouse? The Audio-Only Chat App Explained." 10/15/2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211113160226/https://uk.pcmag.com/mobile-apps/131466/what-is-clubhouse-the-invite-only-chat-app-explained
A method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms.
Bump, P. "How to Use Clubhouse: A Step-by-Step Guide." Captured 12/04/2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211204112312/https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-use-clubhouse
A method and a concomitant system for improved social media audio rooms.
It is noted that any citation to specific pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33, 216 U.S.P.Q. 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1009, 158 U.S.P.Q. 275, 277 (C.C.P.A. 1968)).
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/ALVARO R CALDERON IV/
Examiner, Art Unit 2171