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
1. Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I in the reply filed on 4/16/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 8-11 are withdrawn from further consideration at this time.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 6/18/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 102
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.
3. Claims 1-5 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nishijima (US PGPub 2019/0095867) [hereafter Nish].
4. As to claim 1, Nish discloses a portable information terminal (portable terminal 460 shown in Figures 1-5) carried by a user, the portable information terminal comprising: a surrounding information acquiring apparatus (video input unit and/or sound collecting microphone) configured to acquire surrounding information (video and sound information of a surrounding environment in which a user of the portable terminal is immersed); a behavior analysis processing apparatus (information processing unit) configured to analyze a behavior of a person included in the acquired surrounding information and to determine an interview candidate (counterpart whom the user of the portable terminal is meeting and having a conversation with) who is to have an interview with the user; and an information presenting apparatus (display unit) configured to present collateral information (as shown in Figures 13-15) on the interview candidate to the user (Paragraphs 0043-0047, 0052, 0055, 0060-0063, 0072, 0075-0078, 0091-0094, 0097-0098, 0107-0108, 0123-0126, a portable information terminal carried by a user includes a video input unit that captures video data of a surrounding environment and a microphone that captures audio/sound data of the surrounding environment where the video and sound data are analyzed by an information processing unit to recognize and determine another person/counterpart within the environment of the user who is having a face to face conversation with the user or is trying to talk with the user in which case the information processing unit extracts features of the person from the video/sound information to determine whether or not the features match those of a previously registered/stored person in order to output and convey information regarding the person talking to the user for display upon the display screen of the portable information terminal carried by the user).
5. As to claim 2, Nish discloses the surrounding information is any one or more of a shot video, distance information on a distance measured to an object including the person, and collected voice (Paragraphs 0060, 0063, 0078, 0091-0094, 0097-0098, 0126, video and sound/voice data are collected and analyzed by the portable information terminal).
6. As to claim 3, Nish discloses when a behavior of a person included in the surrounding information is a behavior indicating interest in the user, the behavior analysis processing apparatus determines that the person is the interview candidate (Paragraphs 0078, 0098, 0126, a person who is trying to talk to or is having a face to face conversation with the user of the portable information terminal that satisfies a predetermined situation such that the person meeting with the user is detected from the image captured by the video input unit is confirmed or where the voice information input from the sound collecting microphone is detected to be larger than a predetermined threshold or a case where a predetermined word is determined).
7. As to claim 4, Nish discloses the behavior indicating the interest in the user is one or more of a behavior of shooting a glance, a greeting behavior, an approaching behavior, and a calling behavior (Paragraphs 0078, 0098, 0126, a person who is trying to talk to or is having a face to face conversation with the user of the portable information terminal that satisfies a predetermined situation such that the person meeting with the user is detected from the image captured by the video input unit is confirmed or where the voice information input from the sound collecting microphone is detected to be larger than a predetermined threshold or a case where a predetermined word is determined).
8. As to claim 5, Nish discloses the behavior analysis processing apparatus is further configured not to make a determination about the interview candidate depending on a kind of a person included in the surrounding information (Paragraph 0098, a person whose voice is unable to be determined is discarded as noise and a determination is not made).
9. As to claim 12, Nish discloses the portable information terminal is configured so that some of processings performed by the behavior analysis processing apparatus via a communicator are performed by an external server (external processing device 152) (Paragraphs 0043-0045, 0055, 0060-0063, an embodiment of the information system includes an external processing device performing some of the processing operations).
10. As to claim 13, Nish discloses the portable information terminal is a head mounted display (HMD) (Paragraphs 0045, 0133-0140, the portable information terminal exists as a head mounted display device).
11. As to claim 14, Nish discloses an information processing method in a portable information terminal (portable terminal 460 shown in Figures 1-5), the method comprising: acquiring surrounding information of a user (video and sound information of a surrounding environment in which a user of the portable terminal is immersed); analyzing a behavior of a person included in the acquired surrounding information to determine an interview candidate (counterpart whom the user of the portable terminal is meeting and having a conversation with) who is to have an interview with the user; and presenting, to the user, collateral information (as shown in Figures 13-15) responding to the determined interview candidate (Paragraphs 0043-0047, 0052, 0055, 0060-0063, 0072, 0075-0078, 0091-0094, 0097-0098, 0107-0108, 0123-0126, a portable information terminal carried by a user includes a video input unit that captures video data of a surrounding environment and a microphone that captures audio/sound data of the surrounding environment where the video and sound data are analyzed by an information processing unit to recognize and determine another person/counterpart within the environment of the user who is having a face to face conversation with the user or is trying to talk with the user in which case the information processing unit extracts features of the person from the video/sound information to determine whether or not the features match those of a previously registered/stored person in order to output and convey information regarding the person talking to the user for display upon the display screen of the portable information terminal carried by the user).
16Claim 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.
12. Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Nishijima (US PGPub 2019/0095867) [hereafter Nish] in view of Dascola (US PGPub 2021/0004597) [hereafter Das].
13. As to claim 6, it is noted that Nish fails to particularly disclose a kind of a person about which the determination is not made includes one or more of a person in charge in a service and a security guard.
On the other hand, Das discloses not making a determination about an interview candidate (customer) wherein a kind of a person about which the determination is not made includes one or more of a person in charge (customer service representative 120a) in a service and a security guard (Paragraphs 0022-0023, 0025, 0034, 0039-0042, 0061, 0063, 0066-0067, 0070, 0073-0079, 0082, voice and video data are captured and a determination about whether a person being imaged and monitored is a customer having prestored characteristics and data that can be projected onto a transparent display is not made for customer service representatives located within an employee area 100a which is separated from customer service area 100b).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a kind of a person about which the determination is not made includes one or more of a person in charge in a service and a security guard as taught by Das with the portable information terminal of Nish because both of the cited prior art references are directed towards imaging systems that monitor people within an environment and extract relevant information that leads to identity and collateral information being retrieved and displayed and because each of the claimed limitations is fully disclosed within the cited prior art references and would yield predictable results of enabling the information processing unit to focus on performing the disclosed processing operations on people within the environment who are most likely to engage in a conversation/interview while ignoring those in positions of authority whose identity and collateral information is unnecessary for retrieval and display.
14. As to claim 7, it is noted that Nish fails to particularly disclose the behavior analysis processing apparatus is further configured not to make a determination about the interview candidate depending on a location where the surrounding information is acquired.
On the other hand, Das discloses the behavior analysis processing apparatus (computer server/security component shown in Figure 3) is further configured not to make a determination about the interview candidate depending on a location (employee area 100a having customer service members) where the surrounding information is acquired (Paragraphs 0022-0023, 0025, 0034, 0039-0042, 0061, 0063, 0066-0067, 0070, 0073-0079, 0082, voice and video data are captured and a determination about whether a person being imaged and monitored is a customer having prestored characteristics and data that can be projected onto a transparent display is not made for customer service representatives located within an employee area 100a which is separated from customer service area 100b).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to not to make a determination about the interview candidate depending on a location where the surrounding information is acquired as taught by Das with the portable information terminal of Nish because both of the cited prior art references are directed towards imaging systems that monitor people within an environment and extract relevant information that leads to identity and collateral information being retrieved and displayed and because each of the claimed limitations is fully disclosed within the cited prior art references and would yield predictable results of enabling the information processing unit to focus on performing the disclosed processing operations on people within the environment who are most likely to engage in a conversation/interview while ignoring those in positions of authority whose identity and collateral information is unnecessary for retrieval and display.
Conclusion
15. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL S OSINSKI whose telephone number is (571) 270-3949. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 10:00am - 6:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oneal Mistry can be reached on (313) 446-4912. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-8300.
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MO
/MICHAEL S OSINSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2674
7/15/2026
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