DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
The current application is a CON of 16/008,231, now a Patent number 12,041,103 which is a CON of 14/722,382, now a Patent number 10,003,624 which is a CON of 13/409,344 which is a Patent number 9,069,851.
This Non-Final office action is in response to the preliminary amendment filed on 7/15/2024. Claims 1-34 are pending. Claims 35-38 are canceled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 4, 33, and 34 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.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the information resource" in line 4. Claim 33 repeats the same limitation on line 2 and dependent claim 34 does not remedy the deficiency. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-34 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-29 and 35-39 of U.S. Patent No.9,069,851. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims in the current application are broader than the ones in the patent granted. In essence, once the applicant has received a patent for a more specific embodiment, they are not entitled to a patent for the broader invention without maintaining common ownership and ensuring that the term of the latter issued patent will expire at the end of the original term of the earlier issued patent. This is because the more specific “anticipates” the broader.
Claims 1-34 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-7, 10-19, and 21 of U.S. Patent No.10,003,624. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims in the current application are broader than the ones in the patent granted. In essence, once the applicant has received a patent for a more specific embodiment, they are not entitled to a patent for the broader invention without maintaining common ownership and ensuring that the term of the latter issued patent will expire at the end of the original term of the earlier issued patent. This is because the more specific “anticipates” the broader.
Claims 1-34 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-4, 8, 10-13,15-17 and 19 of U.S. Patent No.12,041,103. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims in the current application are broader than the ones in the patent granted. In essence, once the applicant has received a patent for a more specific embodiment, they are not entitled to a patent for the broader invention without maintaining common ownership and ensuring that the term of the latter issued patent will expire at the end of the original term of the earlier issued patent. This is because the more specific “anticipates” the broader.
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 pre-AIA 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 –
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.
Claims 1-6, 12-13, 16-17, 19, 23, and 33 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by Shamma (US 2008/0209075, hereinafter Shamma).
Regarding claim 1, Shamma teaches a method, comprising by a client network node:
on a display, displaying a graphical user interface comprising at least one communication control for managing communications with other network nodes and at least one browser control for navigating to different network resource addresses, [Figures 1, 2A, 2B, 3 and associated description; Figure 2B and associated description in Par.[0045] and others shows a display where users are communicating with one another and navigating to other URI as described in Par.[0046]; Figure 3, 450 for URI and network resource address];
generating human perceptible realtime output from realtime communication data relating to a realtime communication session with at least one other client network node, wherein the human perceptible realtime output comprises graphical realtime output, the generating comprises displaying the graphical realtime output in the graphical user interface, [Applicant specification defines human perceptible realtime output as text or audio/video signals; Figure 2B and associated description in Par.[0045] and others describe media object sharing and consuming from a GUI];
in the generating of at least some of the human perceptible realtime output, managing operation of the client network node based on at least one performance target, [Par.[0061] describes a metric for synchronized display between client nodes and managing it]; and
in the graphical user interface, displaying a graphical representation of a network resource identified in connection with the browser control, [Figure 2B and associated description in Par.[0027], Par.[0046] among others about shared URI media object display].
Regarding claim 2, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the graphical realtime output in a first display area of the graphical user interface and displaying the graphical representation of the network resource in a second display area of the graphical user interface, [Figure 2B, 240b/242b and 202b different display areas for realtime chat and also URI media object (Hawaii video) in a separate display area].
Regarding claim 3, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one communication control relates to at least one of: text chat; audio conferencing, and video conferencing, [Figure 2B, 240b/242b and 202b different display areas for realtime chat and control and for URI media object (Hawaii video) in a separate display area; Par.[0029] “In accordance with some examples, other forms of communications, such as instant messaging, audio and/or video conferencing, may operate in conjunction with the described interface”].
Regarding claim 4, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one browsing control relates to at least one of: navigating to a specified uniform resource identifier (URI) address of an information resource; traversing a navigation stack of URI addresses; and reloading a graphic representation of the information resource in the graphical user interface, [claim limitation “the information source” lacks antecedence basis; Figure 2B, 202b Par.[0027] “A user desiring to share media content may communicate a reference such as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) associated with the media object to one or more user devices”; see also Par.[0046]; Figure 3, 450; see Par.[0047]].
Regarding claim 5, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the graphical user interface in a window that is controlled by a single client application executing on the client network node, [Par.[0026] describes the application and Figure 2B 200b shows a screenshot of the application].
Regarding claim 6, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface, the at least one communication control, and the at least one browsing control are specified in executable code of a client application, [Par.[0026] and Figure 2A/2B].
Regarding claim 12, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises generating sound from a realtime audio data stream received from the other client network node, [Par.[0029]-[0030] describe audio conferencing or receiving audio/sound in other forms].
Regarding claim 13, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the at least some of the human perceptible content comprises applying to the realtime communication data a process that varies depending on the at least one performance target, [Par.[0061] describes a metric for synchronized display between client nodes and managing it].
Regarding claim 16, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising by the client network node, producing the realtime communication data from at least one realtime data stream received in connection with the realtime communication session, and modifying the producing based on a determination that the producing varies from the at least one performance target, [Par.[0061] if drift in synchronization is detected, devices may pause or skip, meaning modify producing content for display; claim limitation ‘client …producing data from …data stream” is interpreted as processing the data stream for display or presentation].
Regarding claim 17, Shamma teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the determination is based on at least one of: production rate of the realtime communication data; utilization of at least one processor of the client network node; and bandwidth utilization of at least one networking resource of the client network node, [Par.[0061] and elsewhere supports the idea that production rate in one device may result in content that is out of sync on other devices; claim limitation ‘production rate” is interpreted as processing the data stream for display or presentation as in parent claim 16].
Regarding claim 19, Shamma teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the modifying comprises one or more of: omitting processing of or more portions of the at least one realtime data stream, [Par.[0061] describes devices may skip, meaning skipping processing content for display; omitting performance of one or more specified realtime data processing operations on the at least one realtime data stream; and performing on the at least one realtime data stream a replacement set of one or more realtime data processing operations different from a default set of one or more realtime data processing operations designated for processing the at least one realtime data stream.
Regarding claim 23, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises throttling one or more data streams received in connection with the realtime communication session based on the at least one performance target, [Par.[0061] skip or pause results in throttling of the data stream].
Regarding claim 33, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising on the client network node: capturing an image of the graphical representation of the information resource displayed in the graphical user interface, [Par.[0034] user devices loading data corresponding to the media object]; and transmitting the captured image to the other client network node, [Par.[0046] a first user may share media with a second user].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained through the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 7-11, 14, 15, and 18 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Shamma in view of Anderson et al. (US 2012/0182384, hereinafter Anderson).
Regarding claim 7, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, and does not explicitly teach wherein the generating comprising determining presence data indicating availabilities of communicants operating the client network nodes to communicate, and displaying graphical indications of the presence data;
Anderson, in an analogous art teaches wherein the generating comprising determining presence data indicating availabilities of communicants operating the client network nodes to communicate, and displaying graphical indications of the presence data, [Figure 5, 510, Par.[0181], participant panel showing a list of current conference participants, along with type and status icons].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shamma to show presence information of clients. The motivation/suggestion would have been to alert the facilitator to the status of participants when present, hand raised, text message pending, speaking, or other such status, [Anderson: Par.[0188]].
Regarding claim 8, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, and does not explicitly teach wherein the graphical realtime output comprises visual cues indicating current communication states of communicants in the realtime communication session;
Anderson, in an analogous art teaches wherein the graphical realtime output comprises visual cues indicating current communication states of communicants in the realtime communication session, [Figure 5, 510, Par.[0181], participant panel showing a list of current conference participants, and their status].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shamma to show presence information of clients. The motivation/suggestion would have been to alert the facilitator to the status of participants when present, hand raised, text message pending, speaking, or other such status, [Anderson: Par.[0188]].
Regarding claim 9, Shamma and Anderson teach the method of claim 8, and Anderson teaches wherein the visual cues comprise visual indications of which of the communicants in the realtime communication session currently are talking, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Anderson for the same reasons as above; Figure 5, 510, Par.[0188], participant panel showing a list of current conference participants, and their status such as: present, hand raised, text message pending, speaking, or other statuses described below].
Regarding claim 10, Shamma and Anderson teach the method of claim 8, and Anderson teaches wherein the visual cues comprise visual indications of which of the communicants in the realtime communication session currently are typing chat messages, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Anderson for the same reasons as above; Par.[0203] describes text stream active using color and see Figure 8 for message pending].
Regarding claim 11, Shamma and Anderson teach the method of claim 8, and Anderson teaches wherein the visual cues comprise visual indications of which of the communicants in the realtime communication session currently are sharing an application running on a respective one of the network nodes, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Anderson for the same reasons as above; see Par.[0338] launch and share a presentation that is a client application with other participants].
Regarding claim 14, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, and does not explicitly teach wherein the managing comprises managing the load on resources of the client network node based on a determination that a performance metric varies from the performance target;
Anderson in an analogous art, teaches wherein the managing comprises managing the load on resources of the client network node based on a determination that a performance metric varies from the performance target, [Par.[0034] ‘reduces each participant's CPU and Internet bandwidth load to a single incoming or outgoing video stream no matter how many participants are in the conference’].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shamma to manage load in view of performance targets. The motivation/suggestion would have been to manage multi-person video conference independent of the number of participants and avoiding overload, [Anderson: Par.[0061]].
Regarding claim 15, Shamma and Anderson teach the method of claim 14, and Shamma teaches wherein the managing comprises dynamically configuring one or more data stream processing components based on the performance target, [see Par.[0061] where pause or skip is used to dynamically configuring datastream processing].
Regarding claim 18, Shamma teaches the method of claim 16, and does not explicitly teach wherein the at least one performance target comprises a target latency for producing the realtime communication data, [in Shamma the performance target is synchronization which implies latency];
Anderson teaches wherein the at least one performance target comprises a target latency for producing the realtime communication data, [Par.[0067] describes taking into account time delays with streaming to multiple participants].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shamma to manage latencies as performance targets. The motivation/suggestion would have been to manage multi-person video conference independent of the number of participants and avoiding synchronization problems and echoes, [Anderson: Par.[0034], [0061]].
Claims 20-22 and 34 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Shamma in view of Oike (US 2010/0165072 A1, hereinafter Oike).
Regarding claim 20, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, teaches deviation of a performance metric from the at least one performance target, [detects drift in synchronization for example, Par.[0061] as cited above]; and does not explicitly teach wherein the managing comprises managing allocation of network resources between time-critical ones of the data streams and non-time- critical ones of the data streams based on deviation of a performance metric from the at least one performance target;
Oike, in an analogous art teaches wherein the managing comprises managing allocation of network resources between time-critical ones of the data streams and non-time- critical ones of the data streams based on deviation of a performance metric from the at least one performance target, [Par.[0091] describes different types of time sensitive information and a priority assigned to each; Figure 6A-C and Par.[0049] describes using priority controlling bandwidth allocation to streams].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shamma to control resource allocation, notice that when skip and pause are used, the resources are in a way controlled. The motivation/suggestion would have been to effectively control bandwidth allocation to mitigate congestion state of the network, [Oike: Par.[0011].
Regarding claim 21, Shamma and Oike teach the method of claim 20, Oike teaches wherein the managing comprises managing allocation of available bandwidth between the time-critical data streams and the non- time-critical data streams, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Oike for the same reasons above; Par.[0128] bandwidth control based on delay time of the packet and set using priority and time sensitivity].
Regarding claim 22, Shamma and Oike teach the method of claim 21, Oike teaches wherein the managing comprises delaying delivery of the non-time-critical data streams in response to a determination that a performance metric varies from the at least one performance target, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Oike for the same reasons above; Par.[0128] for controlling bandwidth to different types of data].
Regarding claim 34, Shamma teaches the method of claim 33, and does not explicitly teach wherein the managing comprises preferentially allocating bandwidth available on a connection with the other network node to transmission of a time-critical data stream over transmission of the captured image data;
Oike, in an analogous art teaches wherein the managing comprises preferentially allocating bandwidth available on a connection with the other network node to transmission of a time-critical data stream over transmission of the captured image data, [Par.[0091] describes different types of time sensitive information and a priority assigned to each; Figure 6A-C and Par.[0049] describes using priority controlling bandwidth allocation to streams].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shamma to control resource allocation, notice that when skip and pause are used, the resources are in a way controlled. The motivation/suggestion would have been to effectively control bandwidth allocation to mitigate congestion state of the network, [Oike: Par.[0011].
Claims 24-32 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Shamma in view of Leacock et al. (US 2009/0254842 A1, hereinafter Leacock).
Regarding claim 24, Shamma teaches the method of claim 1, and does not explicitly teach wherein the realtime communication session is associated with a persistent virtual area location;
Leacock, in an analogous art teaches wherein the realtime communication session is associated with a persistent virtual area location, [Abstract and Par.[0068] among others show client sessions in a virtual area].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to include the concept of interfacing with a spatial virtual communication environment. The motivation/suggestion would have been to mimic the presence of the participants similar to a face to face communication when interacting remotely, [Leacock: Abstract, Par.[0003]].
Regarding claim 25, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 24, and Leacock teaches wherein the displaying comprises displaying in the graphical user interface at least one virtual area navigation control for navigating to different virtual area locations, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Par.[0125]].
Regarding claim 26, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 25, and Leacock teaches wherein the at least one virtual area navigation control relates to at least one of: establishing a presence in a zone of a selected virtual area location; traversing a navigation stack of virtual area locations; and navigating to a respective level in a hierarchical model of a virtual area environment in which each successive level is contained by preceding ones of the levels, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Figure 4, 154, Par.[0126]].
Regarding claim 27, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 24, and Leacock teaches further comprising by the client network node: establishing a presence in a selected one of the virtual area locations identified in connection with the virtual area navigation control, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Figure 4, 154 and Par.[0126]]; and navigating to a uniform resource identifier (URI) address of an information resource identified in connection with the browser control, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Par.[0180]].
Regarding claim 28, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 24, and Leacock teaches wherein the virtual area comprises multiple zones, each of the zones supports establishment of a respective presence for each of one or more of communicants respectively operating the client network nodes, and each of the zones is associated with a respective set of communication properties governing communications between the ones of the communicants who are present in the zone, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Par.[0091, Figure 2, Par.[0095]].
Regarding claim 29, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 24, and Leacock teaches further comprising by the client network node, displaying in the graphical user interface a spatial visualization of the realtime communication session, wherein the spatial visualization comprises a graphical representation of the virtual area and graphical representations of communicants respectively operating the client network nodes, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Figure 6, Par.[0136]-[0137]].
Regarding claim 30, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 29, and Leacock teaches wherein the graphical representation of the virtual area has at least two dimensions for positioning the graphical representations of the communicants, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Figure 2, Par.[0054]].
Regarding claim 31, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 29, and Leacock teaches further comprising by the client network node, depicting visual cues that show current communication states of the communicants, wherein each of the communication states corresponds to activity on a respective communication channel over which a respective one of the communicants is configured to communicate, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Par.[0129]].
Regarding claim 32, Shamma and Leacock teach the method of claim 24, and Leacock teaches further comprising integrating addresses of network resources and virtual area locations in a single data file, [dependent claim is obvious over Shamma in view of Leacock for the same reasons as above; Par.[0180]].
Conclusion
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/PADMA MUNDUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2441