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
This office action is in response to an election filed on 03/30/2026 of a newly filed application in which claims 1-18 of the instant application are pending. Claims 1 and 15-18 are being examined while claims 2-14 are considered withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 03/30/2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of Species V in the reply filed on 03/30/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that Species I, II, III, IV, and V are not independent or distinct because they connect in operation and that claims 2-14 can be examined without a serious burden on the Examiner. This is not found persuasive because Examiner maintains that a burden would be imposed if examination of all species was to proceed in a single application. In addition, although all the species relate to computer systems with shared content item and participant representation display, Species V distinctly discloses the representation of the shared content item not visually occluding the representation of the one or more participants from the respective viewpoint of the user and moving the representation of the one or more participants to different locations as a result of the aforementioned non-occurrence of the visual occlusion. As such, Examiner maintains that the species are non-obvious variants of each other such that prior art relevant to the claims of the elected species would not similarly be relevant to the claims of the non-elected species. Therefore, the requirement is still deemed proper and is made FINAL.
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.
Claims 1, 15, and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chang (US 2022/0374136).
As to claim 17, Chang teaches a computer system that is in communication with a display generation component and one or more input devices, the computer system comprising: one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for (see [0207]-[0215] and FIGs. 6A-6AS):
while a user of the computer system is participating in a communication session with one or more participants, and while displaying a representation of the one or more participants in a three-dimensional environment that is visible via the display generation component from a respective viewpoint of the user, receiving, from a second computer system of one of the one or more participants, an indication to display a shared content item associated with the communication session in the three-dimensional environment (see FIGs. 6A-6J and [0215]-[0236]; also see [0333]);
and in response to receiving the indication to display the representation of the shared content item in the three-dimensional environment and in accordance with one or more criteria being satisfied, displaying the representation of the shared content item at a first location within the three-dimensional environment, wherein the representation of the shared content item, when displayed at the first location within the three-dimensional environment, partially occludes the representation of the one or more participants from the respective viewpoint of the user (see [0237] and FIG. 6K; also see [0212], [0218], [0285], [0287], and [0296]).
As to claims 1 and 18, the aforementioned claims are rejected similarly as claim 17.
As to claim 15, Chang further teaches wherein the one or more criteria include a criterion that is satisfied when the representation of the one or more participants corresponds to one or more non-spatial representations, and in response to receiving the indication to display the representation of the shared content item in the three-dimensional environment, in accordance with a determination that the representation of the one or more participants corresponds to one or more spatial representations, displaying the shared content item at a second location in the three-dimensional environment, different from the first location, wherein the representation of the shared content item, when displayed at the second location within the three-dimensional environment does not visually occlude the representation of the one or more participants from the respective viewpoint of the user (see [0237] and FIG. 6K; also see [0252]-[0254] and FIGs. 6AB-6AG; further see [0212], [0218], [0285], [0287], and [0296]).
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 16 is are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang in view of Chang-II (US 2022/0365740).
As to claim 16, Chang does not teach in response to receiving the indication to display the representation of the shared content item in the three-dimensional environment, in accordance with the determination that the representation of the one or more participants is a spatial representation, moving the representation of the one or more participants from the second location within the three-dimensional environment to a third location within the three-dimensional environment, different from the second location.
However, Chang-II teaches in response to receiving an indication to display a representation of a shared content item in a three-dimensional environment, in accordance with a determination that a representation of one or more participants is a spatial representation, moving the representation of the one or more participants from a second location within the three-dimensional environment to a third location within the three-dimensional environment, different from the second location ([0060]-[0065], [0799], [0805], [0809], and [0818]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Chang’s system with Chang-II’s system to show in response to receiving the indication to display the representation of the shared content item in the three-dimensional environment, in accordance with the determination that the representation of the one or more participants is a spatial representation, moving the representation of the one or more participants from the second location within the three-dimensional environment to a third location within the three-dimensional environment, different from the second location in order to provide electronic devices with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for managing shared-content sessions. Such methods and interfaces optionally complement or replace other methods for managing shared-content sessions. Such methods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated computing devices, such methods and interfaces conserve power and increase the time between battery charges (Chang-II; [0005]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIHAN ZHOU whose telephone number is (571)270-7284. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays-Fridays 8:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Kelley can be reached at 571-272-7331. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHIHAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482
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