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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 05/21/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant is of the opinion that prior art Bank fails to teach: “receiving group entry criteria used for filtering people to include within or exclude from an online group” and prior art Li fails to teach “user-specific entry criteria that filter identified persons according to metadata from contact records or social media platforms”. However, Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Firstly, in response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Bank discloses: creating a group comprising two or more persons from the plurality of persons who match a criteria, wherein persons who are identified in the image but do not meet the established criteria are excluded, based on associated metadata from contact records or social media platforms that establishes the person does not meet the criteria for being in the group (See paragraph 0032-0033 i.e. first-type social distance group); Bank does not explicitly disclose receive within the group creation user-interface entry of group criteria. Li discloses: receiving, within the group creation user-interface, entry of group entry criteria (i.e. geographic position) used for filtering people to include within or exclude from an online group during a group creation process (See paragraph 0040-0041 and 0043-0048 i.e. geographic position received from the user that is used to identifying other user within the geographic scope);
With respect to newly added limitations, the arguments 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.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-3, 6, 8-11, 13-17, 19 and 21-26 have been examined.
Claims 4-5, 7, 12, 18 and 20 have been canceled by the Applicant.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8-11, 13-17, 19 and 21-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention
Claims 1, 10 and 19 recite “the notification comprising login instructions and a hyperlink….; wherein the hyperlink, when accessed…. triggers opening of the group registration portal on the second electronic device to receive user login credentials identified by the login instructions for authenticating the user…” However, these limitations were not disclosed in the specification.
Specification discloses: The user interface 500 may further include an activate button 534. The activate button 534, when invoked (e.g., via tap, click, etc.) causes a processor of the electronic device to create and store the group on the electronic device, initiate the process to upload the group data to an online group repository maintained by a group management server, and then send an electronic communication to at least one other electronic device associated with each group member. The electronic communication can include instructions and/or hyperlinks for accessing a group registration portal. (See paragraph 0060), but specification does not disclose that notification comprises login instructions and to receive user login credentials identified by the login instructions.
Claims 2-3, 6, 8-9, 11, 13-17 and 21-26 are also rejected as each depends on claims 1, 10 and 19 respectively.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8-11, 13-17, 19 and 21-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 10 and 19 recite the limitation "the group registration portal" in line 34. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims.
Claims 2-3, 6, 8-9, 11, 13-17 and 21-26 are also rejected as each depends on claims 1, 10 and 19 respectively.
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.
Claims 1-2, 6, 8-11, 13, 15-17, 21-22 and 25-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bank (US 20140321720) in view of Li (US 20140324993) and in further view of CHOI (US 20090037477) and Mantel (US 10382445).
With respect to claims 1, 10 and 19 Bank discloses:
presenting, by a processor of an electronic device comprising a display, a group creation user-interface on the display (See paragraph 0045);
obtaining an image comprising a plurality of persons (See paragraph 0019-0020);
detecting, within the image, faces of at least two people among the plurality of persons (See paragraph 0020);
interfacing, via a communication system of the electronic device, with online sources to obtain images and/or other metadata of people to identify each of the at least two people (See paragraph 0021);
obtaining metadata for each identified person of the at least two people, wherein the metadata includes contact information (See paragraph 0021-0023);
creating a group comprising two or more persons from the plurality of persons who match a criteria, wherein persons who are identified in the image but do not meet the established criteria are excluded, based on associated metadata from contact records or social media platforms that establishes the person does not meet the criteria for being in the group (See paragraph 0032-0033 i.e. first-type social distance group);
sending, via the communication system, using contact information obtained for each of the two or more persons, a notification to corresponding second electronic device (See paragraph 0041).
Bank does not explicitly disclose: receiving, within the group creation user-interface, entry of group entry criteria used for filtering people to include within or exclude from an online group during a group creation process; detecting faces within the image via face detection algorithm; presenting a bounding box around each detected face to highlight detected face in the image for aiding a user to visualize a location and size of each detected face in the image, where the user deselects a face by providing input to remove the bounding box; extracting, using the face detection algorithm, facial features from the detected faces, wherein the facial features include position of eyes, nose and mouth, and overall shape and texture of each face; comparing the extracted facial features against a database of known faces using feature-based matching techniques; creating a group comprising two or more persons from the plurality of persons who match the group entry a criteria; notification providing information about creation of an online group, the notification comprising login instructions and a hyperlink for accessing the group registration portal that is automatically generated by the processor, the hyperlink generated by the processor for providing access to the group registration portal; wherein the hyperlink, when accessed by/at the second electronic device, triggers opening of the group registration portal on the second electronic device to receive user login credentials identified by the login instructions for authenticating the user identified within the image, thereby enabling user login and access to the online group via the second electronic device.
Li discloses: receiving, within the group creation user-interface, entry of group entry criteria (i.e. geographic position) used for filtering people to include within or exclude from an online group during a group creation process (See paragraph 0040-0041 and 0043); creating a group comprising two or more persons from the plurality of persons who match the group entry a criteria; notification providing information about creation of an online group, the notification triggering opening of a group registration portal on the second electronic device; the notification comprising login instructions and data; receive user login credentials identified by the login instructions for authenticating the user identified within the image, thereby enabling user login and access to the online group via the second electronic device. (See paragraphs 0050-0055 and 0074-0086). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the Bank reference with the Li reference in order to establish chat group and improve user experiences. (See Li paragraph 0006).
Bank in view of Li does not explicitly disclose: detecting faces within the image via face detection algorithm; presenting a bounding box around each detected face to highlight detected face in the image for aiding a user to visualize a location and size of each detected face in the image, where the user deselects a face by providing input to remove the bounding box; extracting, using the face detection algorithm, facial features from the detected faces, wherein the facial features include position of eyes, nose and mouth, and overall shape and texture of each face; comparing the extracted facial features against a database of known faces using feature-based matching techniques.
CHOI discloses: detecting faces within the image via face detection algorithm; presenting a bounding box around each detected face to highlight detected face in the image for aiding a user to visualize a location and size of each detected face in the image, where the user deselects a face by providing input to remove the bounding box; extracting, using the face detection algorithm, facial features from the detected faces, wherein the facial features include position of eyes, nose and mouth, and overall shape and texture of each face; comparing the extracted facial features against a database of known faces using feature-based matching techniques (See paragraphs 0113-0117, 0137-0138, 0177-0181). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in art at the time invention was filed to modify the combination of Bank and Li references with CHOI reference to manage contact information by using facial images recognized on a still image. (CHOI paragraph 0003).
Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI does not explicitly disclose: the notification comprising a hyperlink for accessing the group registration portal that is automatically generated by the processor, the hyperlink generated by the processor for providing access to the group registration portal; wherein the hyperlink, when accessed by/at the second electronic device, triggers opening of the group registration portal on the second electronic device to receive user information.
Mantel discloses: the notification comprising a hyperlink for accessing the group registration portal that is automatically generated by the processor, the hyperlink generated by the processor for providing access to the group registration portal; wherein the hyperlink, when accessed by/at the second electronic device, triggers opening of the group registration portal on the second electronic device to receive user information (See Abstract). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in art at the time invention was filed to modify the combination of Bank, Li and CHOI references with Mantel reference in order to provide secure and convenient messaging between involved parties.
Additionally, with respect to “notification providing information about creation of an online group, the notification triggering opening of a group registration portal on the second electronic device and enabling user login and access to the online group via the second electronic device” This recites the intended result of positively recited steps of sending. It has been held “clause in a claim is not given weight when it simply expresses the intended result of a process step positively recited.’" Id. (quoting Minton v. Nat’l Ass’n of Securities Dealers, Inc., 336 F.3d 1373, 1381, 67 USPQ2d 1614, 1620 (Fed. Cir. 2003)), MPEP 21114.04 I.
Further, with respect to “wherein the hyperlink, when accessed by/at the second electronic device, triggers opening of the group registration portal on the second electronic device to receive user login credentials identified by the login instructions for authenticating the user identified within the image” these limitations are outside the scope of the claim and do not carry any patentable weight.
With respect to claims 2 and 11, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Bank further discloses: wherein further the at least one processor: computes a confidence score for each detected face among the plurality of persons; and creates the group to include each person corresponding to a detected face having a confidence score exceeding a predetermined threshold (See paragraph 0040).
With respect to claims 6 and 13, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Bank further discloses: automatically adds persons from the plurality of persons to the group based on corresponding metadata for an added person satisfying the group entry criteria. (See paragraph 0032).
With respect to claims 8 and 15, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Bank further discloses: match a face from the image to a face associated with a stored contact (See paragraph 0021-0023).
With respect to claims 9 and 16, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Bank further discloses: wherein to obtain metadata for each identified person of the at least two people, the at least one processor: for each of the at least two people, obtains at least one of a telephone number and an email address from the stored or online contact (See paragraph 0021-0023).
With respect to claim 17, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Bank further discloses: obtaining the image from one of an image capture device or a storage location on the electronic device that contains previously acquired image (See paragraph 0019).
With respect to claims 21 and 25-26, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Li further discloses: transmit, via the communication system to an application computer system on the network, a request for group creation, the application computer system completing the group creation and maintaining access to the created group on the application computer system; and receive a response from the application computer system indicating completion of group creation, wherein at least some of the group creation and management functions are implemented on a network-accessible application server (See paragraph 0047-0058). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the Bank reference with the Li reference in order to establish chat group and improve user experiences. (See Li paragraph 0006).
With respect to claims 22, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Li further discloses: create and store the group on the electronic device; initiate upload of the group data, via the communication system, to an online group repository maintained by a group management server; and send an electronic communication to at least one other electronic device associated with each group member to inform the member of the creation of the group and trigger the at least one other electronic device to present a group login portal enabling the member to enter and access the group using provided group login credentials.(See paragraph 0061-0064 and 0065-0071). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was filed to modify the Bank reference with the Li reference in order to establish chat group and improve user experiences. (See Li paragraph 0006).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bank (US 20140321720) in view of Li (US 20140324993) in further view of CHOI (US 20090037477), Mantel (US 10382445) and ZHANG (US 20210320995).
With respect to claim 3, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel does not explicitly disclose: electronic device further comprising an image capture device, and wherein the group creation user-interface presents a selectable button for activating the image capture device, wherein to obtain the image, the at least one processor detects selection of the selectable button within the group creation user interface and obtains the image from the image capture device. ZHANG discloses: electronic device further comprising an image capture device, and wherein the group creation user-interface presents a selectable button for activating the image capture device, wherein to obtain the image, the at least one processor detects selection of the selectable button within the group creation user interface and obtains the image from the image capture device (See paragraph 0095 and 0109). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was made to modify the combination of the Bank, Li, CHOI and Mantel references with the ZHANG reference in order to quickly add user to group chat (See ZHANG paragraph 0012).
With respect to claim 23, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Choi further discloses: CHOI discloses: in response to detecting a double-tapping of a face already selected to be placed within the group, remove the person corresponding to the face from the group (See paragraph 0137-0138). Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel does not explicitly disclose: receive, within the group creation user-interface, entry of a selection of individual faces from the group image by tapping, double-tapping, and/or clicking of a face within the group image; adding the person associated with the selected face to the group; and in response to detecting a double-tapping of a face already selected to be placed within the group, remove the person corresponding to the face from the group. ZHANG discloses: receive, within the group creation user-interface, entry of a selection of individual faces from the group image by tapping, double-tapping, and/or clicking of a face within the group image; adding the person associated with the selected face to the group (See Fig 11-13 and paragraphs 0135-0140). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was made to modify the combination of the Bank, Li, CHOI and Mantel references with ZHANG reference in order to quickly add user to group chat (See ZHANG paragraph 0012).
Claims 14 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bank (US 20140321720) in view of Li (US 20140324993) in further view of CHOI (US 20090037477), Mantel (US 10382445) and Koren (US 20160224871).
With respect to claim 14, Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel discloses all the limitations. Bank in view of Li and in further view of CHOI and Mantel does not explicitly disclose: determining a group role for each identified person who matches the group entry criteria, in part based on the metadata obtained for the identified person; assigning a corresponding group role to each of the two or more people in the group; and adding the group role to the metadata for the two or more people. Koren disclose: determining a group role for each identified person who matches the group entry criteria, in part based on the metadata obtained for the identified person; assigning a corresponding group role to each of the two or more people in the group; and adding the group role to the metadata for the two or more people. (See paragraphs 0012-0015 and 0028-0036). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was made to modify the combination of the Bank, Li, CHOI and Mantel references with the Koren reference in order to provide the ability to cross reference a variety of data to generate social relationship (See Koren paragraph 0012).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZESHAN QAYYUM whose telephone number is (571)270-3323. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00AM-6:00PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John W Hayes can be reached at (571) 272-6708. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZESHAN QAYYUM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3697
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