DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to the communication filed on 07/29/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Priority
This application was filed on 07/29/2024. The assignee of record is WhatsApp, LLC. The listed inventor(s) is/are: Guruprasad, Prasanth.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 08/09/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
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 6, 13 and 20 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 6, 13 and 20 recite the limitation “the other graphical user interface” in line 5, line 5 and line 6 respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The examination of this limitation will apply the broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the specification and taking into account the meaning of the words in their ordinary usage as they would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 4, 8, 11, 15 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20070168447 A1, published 07/19/2007; hereinafter Chen), in view of Boucheron et al. (US 20230246862 A1, published 08/03/2023; hereinafter Boucheron), and in further view of Chen et al. (US 20080270916 A1, published 10/30/2008; hereinafter Chen2).
For Claim 1, Chen teaches a method comprising (Chen, ¶ 0007 “… Embodiments of the present invention provide a computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer program product for scheduling calendaring entries from within the context of an instant messaging interface …”):
receiving, by a messaging application running on a first user device, a user input corresponding to a graphical user interface element (Chen discloses various GUI components associated with the IM chat session scheduling, e.g. the selectable contact entries in FIG. 5A, the option “Schedule Meeting” 506 in FIG. 5A, “Schedule” button 512 in FIG. 5B, or the various GUI components for receiving input of scheduling chat session in FIG. 6) of a graphical user interface (Chen exemplifies GUIs of an instant messaging client in FIGS 5A, 5B, 6) of the messaging application, wherein the graphical user interface element is displayed in association with a messaging thread of the messaging application and the messaging thread includes one or more messages between the first user device and a second user device (Chen discloses receiving a user input via an instant messaging interface in which the selection options are displayed in associated with the messaging threads of the user’s IM contacts (e.g. corresponding to a second user device); FIGS 5A, 5B, 6; ¶ 0054 “… Within scheduling window 600, the user may select a chat meeting time and set appropriate properties for the chat …”; also see ¶ 0050 - ¶ 0052);
generating and storing, by the messaging application, a communication session trigger based on the user input (Chen discloses creating and saving a calendar entry for scheduled chat meeting, FIGS 5A, 5B, 6; ¶ 0060 “… In scenario 1, an option to save the scheduled event in the form of ‘Save and Close’ button 628 may be provided in scheduling window 600, as the user essentially creates an appointment or reminder in the user's calendar for the scheduled chat session. For scenarios 2-4, save and close button 628 in scheduling window 600 may more appropriately be labeled as ‘Save and Send Invitations’, since the instant messaging client's interactions with the contact's calendar is more similar to scheduling a meeting …”);
Chen does not explicitly teach, but Boucheron teaches updating, by the messaging application, the messaging thread to display a visual indicator corresponding to the communication session trigger (Boucheron discloses displaying meeting notifications (e.g. 810a and 810b) corresponding to scheduled meetings; FIG. 5; FIG. 8; ¶ 0082 “… FIG. 5 shows a meeting scheduler 500 for scheduling a meeting from a chat channel …”; ¶ 0112 “… FIG. 8 shows a master chat panel 800 with multiple meeting notifications from different chat channels …”; ¶ 0115 “… The meeting notification 810a may be associated with a first meeting. The first meeting may be associated with a first chat channel, displayed on the meeting notification 810a by a channel indicator 808a. The meeting notification 810b may be associated with a second meeting. The second meeting may be associated with a second chat channel, displayed on the meeting notification 810b by a channel indicator 808b …”);
Boucheron and Chen are analogous art because they are both related to a messaging application integrating scheduling and communication sessions/meetings.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the displaying meeting notifications directly associated with a chat channel techniques of Boucheron with the system of Chen to improve usability by keeping scheduling and execution within the same conversational context.
Chen-Boucheron does not explicitly teach, but Chen2 teaches receiving, by the messaging application, one or more events (Chen2 discloses that the IM client receives the calendar data in its internal calendaring functions (i.e. scheduled events); FIG. 7; ¶ 0056 “… The instant messaging client itself may initiate the scheduled chat session if the instant messaging client has internal calendaring functions that may use calendar data obtained from the calendaring system to initiate the chat session at the scheduled time …”);
determining, by the messaging application, that an event of the one or more events satisfies the communication session trigger (Chen2 discloses determining that the received calendar data/event satisfies the scheduled time associated with the calendar entry; FIG. 7; ¶ 0055 “… Turning now to FIG. 7, a flowchart of a process for automatically initiating an instant messaging chat session based on a calendar entry …”; ¶ 0056 “… The instant messaging client itself may initiate the scheduled chat session if the instant messaging client has internal calendaring functions that may use calendar data obtained from the calendaring system to initiate the chat session at the scheduled time …”); and
initiating, by the messaging application and based on the determination, a communication session between the first user device and the second user device via the messaging application (Chen2; FIG. 7; ¶ 0058 “… At the scheduled time in the calendar entry, the instant messaging client creates an instant messaging chat window for the scheduled chat session to the user (step 706). The instant messaging chat window behaves the same as a standard chat window at this point, and the user may begin a conversation with the participants of the chat session …”).
Chen2 and Chen-Boucheron are analogous art because they are both related to a messaging application integrating scheduling and communication sessions/meetings.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the automatically initiating an IM chat session based on a calendar entry techniques of Chen2 with the system of Chen-Boucheron to enhance functionality and usability of the messaging applications (Chen2, ¶ 0004).
For Claim 4, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the communication session trigger is based on any one or more of time or location (Chen discloses the created calendar which is based on time, FIGS 5A, 5B, 6; ¶ 0052 “… the user in this example, keith_r_walker, may invoke the scheduling wizard to create a calendar entry for chat meeting with the user's current instant messaging contact, pastrami_17, who in this example has been given a friendly name of John Pavesi in the user's contact list, by selecting a scheduling option in the chat window, such as schedule button 512 …”).
For Claim 8, the claim is substantially similar to claim 1 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above. Additionally, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches a device comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to (Chen, ¶ 0070 “… A data processing system is suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus …”).
For Claim 11, the claim is substantially similar to claim 4 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 15, the claim is substantially similar to claim 1 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above. Additionally, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first user device, causes the processor to perform operations (Chen, ¶ 0068 “… the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system …”).
For Claim 18, the claim is substantially similar to claim 4 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 2, 9 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20070168447 A1, published 07/19/2007; hereinafter Chen), in view of Boucheron et al. (US 20230246862 A1, published 08/03/2023; hereinafter Boucheron), in view of Chen et al. (US 20080270916 A1, published 10/30/2008; hereinafter Chen2), and in further view of Dalonzo et al. (US 20210385175 A1, published 12/09/2021; hereinafter Dalonzo).
For Claim 2, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches the method of claim 1. Chen-Coucheron-Chen2 does not explicitly teach, but Dalonzo teaches wherein the graphical user interface element for receiving the user input is presented in response to a long press of another graphical user interface element of the graphical user interface (Dalonzo discloses presenting a GUI element (e.g. 1220b in FIG. 12B) in an messaging application by a long press of another GUI element (e.g. 1204b in FIG. 12A); FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B; ¶ 0486 “… As shown in FIG. 12A, in some embodiments, the user selects (e.g., with contact 1203) the representation 1204b of one of the messages sent by the other user in the conversation. In some embodiments, the selection is a tap; in some embodiments, the selection is a long press ( e.g., tap for longer than a time threshold, such as 0.5 seconds, 1 second, 2 seconds) …”; ¶ 0487 “… As shown in FIG. 12B, in some embodiments, in response to the user's selection in FIG. 12A, the electronic device 500 displays the representation 1204b of the message selected by the user on a blurred background. The electronic device 500 optionally displays a plurality of options 1220a-c that, when selected, cause the electronic device 500 to perform an action with the message associated with representation 1204b and a plurality of options 1222 that, when selected, cause the electronic device 500 to add a selected tag to the message associated with representation 1204b …”).
Dalonzo and Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 are analogous art because they are both related to messaging application operations.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the long press to invoke a GUI element techniques of Dalonzo with the system of Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 to provide more operations on a messaging application GUI so as to improve the usability of the messaging application.
For Claim 9, the claim is substantially similar to claim 2 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 16, the claim is substantially similar to claim 2 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 3, 10 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20070168447 A1, published 07/19/2007; hereinafter Chen), in view of Boucheron et al. (US 20230246862 A1, published 08/03/2023; hereinafter Boucheron), in view of Chen et al. (US 20080270916 A1, published 10/30/2008; hereinafter Chen2), and in further view of Mascia (US 11533288 B1, published 12/20/2022; hereinafter Mascia).
For Claim 3, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches the method of claim 1. Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 does not explicitly teach, but Mascia teaches wherein the graphical user interface element includes at least part of one or more messages in the messaging thread identified by the messaging application based on one or more natural language processing processes (Mascia discloses the GUI components corresponding to task information obtained from the contents of the messages in the messaging thread based on the NLP system process; FIGS 1A-1F; col. 7, ll. 47-56 “… As shown in FIG. 1C, and by reference number 134, the NLP system may receive the message data and may process the message content of the message data to extract task information from the message content. For example, the NLP system may process the message content using natural language processing to extract the task information from the message content. As another example, the NLP system may process the message content to identify one or more keywords and may extract the task information based on the one or more keywords …”; col. 10, ll. 40-67 “… As shown in FIG. 1F, and by reference number 164, the NLP system may transmit the task information and/or the supplemental task information (e.g., in association with the task information) to at least one user device associated with the user A (e.g., shown as user A device 1 in FIG. 1F), such as a user device that is executing the cross-platform messaging application … the user device, when executing the cross-platform messaging application, may present the task information and/or the supplemental task information via a user interface 166 of the cross-platform messaging application. As shown in FIG. 1F, the user interface 166 may include a task list that includes information for a plurality of tasks. An entry of the task list may indicate a task type of a task, a task priority for the task, an urgency associated with the task, a requester of the task, message content associated with the task, a status associated with the task, and/or a link (e.g., a link to a software tool to assist with performing the task) … ”; col. 11, ll. 17-44 “… the entry of the task list may include a user input element (e.g., a ‘click’ button) that enables the user device to communicate, via the cross-platform messaging application, using a messaging platform that is associated with the task … the user A may select the user input element to cause the cross-platform messaging application to display, via the user interface 166, a message composition window 168 …”).
Mascia and Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 are analogous art because they are both related to messaging application operations.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the natural language processing techniques of Mascia with the system of Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 to enable communication across messaging platforms (Mascia, col. 4, ll. 25-36).
For Claim 10, the claim is substantially similar to claim 3 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 17, the claim is substantially similar to claim 3 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 5, 12 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20070168447 A1, published 07/19/2007; hereinafter Chen), in view of Boucheron et al. (US 20230246862 A1, published 08/03/2023; hereinafter Boucheron), in view of Chen et al. (US 20080270916 A1, published 10/30/2008; hereinafter Chen2), and in further view of Meushar et al. (US 20140074536 A1, published 03/13/2014; hereinafter Meushar).
For Claim 5, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches the method of claim 1. Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 does not explicitly teach, but Meushar teaches wherein the communication session trigger is automatically generated based on a comparison between any one or more of time zones, schedules, active statuses, or user preferences of the first user device and the second user device (Meushar discloses automatically creating an event/meeting calendar entry (i.e. setting matching time as occupied) for a group of attendees based on comparison of the schedules (i.e. available status), time zones and/or locations of the group of attendees; FIGS 1-4; ¶ 0050 “… When an invitation to a specific event is approved by one or more users, opening a secure ‘private room’ that will be used only by the system's mechanism … The system will import to this secure ‘private room’ the schedule of each approved user (i.e., attendee) while the information on each imported schedule will be the status of each time cube (i.e. free, occupied or pending) …”; ¶ 0051 “… Then at this secured ‘private room’, running and searching all schedules simultaneously (considering time zone differences, if relevant) to find the first or other options of available and common time cubes (or sequence or other combinations of common ‘free’ time cubes) between all attendees and considering all terms given by attendees and the invitation/event data (e.g., the terms can be time and time differences, location, estimated traveling time of each attendee from previous event's location (e.g., in case of different time zone for different attendees, a location that requires travelling time with respect to a current location or location of a previous meeting, etc.) …”; ¶ 0052 “… Setting the matching time cubes as occupied (as indicated by the time cubes within the dotted line 14 in FIG. 4), either automatically or after being approved by all the relevant attendees, including setting the time period of the travelling time in the calendar of User 3 as occupied (as indicated by the time cubes within the dotted line 15 in FIG. 4) …”).
Meushar and Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 are analogous art because they are both related to scheduling events/meetings.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the comparing the automatically deciding event schedules for a group of attendees techniques of Meushar with the system of Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 to facilitate more efficiently connecting between users (Meushar, ¶ 0004).
For Claim 12, the claim is substantially similar to claim 5 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 19, the claim is substantially similar to claim 5 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 6, 13 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20070168447 A1, published 07/19/2007; hereinafter Chen), in view of Boucheron et al. (US 20230246862 A1, published 08/03/2023; hereinafter Boucheron), in view of Chen et al. (US 20080270916 A1, published 10/30/2008; hereinafter Chen2), and in further view of Van Os et al. (US 10284812 B1, published 05/07/2019; hereinafter Van Os).
For Claim 6, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches the method of claim 1. Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 does not explicitly teach, but Van Os teaches wherein initiating the communication session comprises: displaying, by the messaging application and on the first user device, another graphical user interface including a graphical user interface element to accept the communication session and a graphical user interface element to dismiss the communication session (Van Os discloses GUI elements answer affordance 620 and “NOT NOW” affordance 622 corresponding to a messaging application; FIGS 6A-6F; col. 39, ll. 57-60 “… FIGS. 6A-6F illustrate exemplary user interfaces for initiating and participating in a live communication session (e.g., from a messaging application)…”; col. 42, ll. 24-67 “… In some embodiments, device 600 receives reminder data indicating a reminder to join the live communication session (e.g., a reminder sent by a participant in the conversation or after a predetermined period of time). As illustrated in FIG. 6D, in response to receiving data indicating a reminder to join the live communication session, device 600 displays full screen notification 616 and outputs audio output 618 … full screen notification 616 includes names of participants that have been invited to join the live communication session (e.g., according to the order in which they were added to the group). Full screen notification 616 also includes answer affordance 620 for joining the live communication session (e.g., to immediately join the live communication session or display a menu with options for joining the live communication session), ‘Not Now’ affordance 622 for dismissing full screen notification 616, and message affordance 624 for returning to messaging user interface 604 or sending a message to the Dream Team group …”); and
in response to another user input corresponding to the other graphical user interface element to accept the communication session, initiating the communication session between the first user device and the second user device via the messaging application (Van Os; FIGS 6A-6F; col. 43, ll. 17-30 “… As illustrated in FIG. 6F, device 600 receives (e.g., detects) user input 650C ( e.g., a tap) corresponding to selection of video join affordance 626B. In some embodiments, device 600 joins the live communication session directly in response to receiving user input 650B (e.g., without requiring additional inputs) …”).
Van Os and Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 are analogous art because they are both related to messaging application operations.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the initiating the communication session by using the GUI elements of the messaging application techniques of Van Os with the system of Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 to provide “electronic devices with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for live communication involving multiple participants” (Van Os, col. 1, ll. 42-51).
For Claim 13, the claim is substantially similar to claim 6 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 20, the claim is substantially similar to claim 6 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20070168447 A1, published 07/19/2007; hereinafter Chen), in view of Boucheron et al. (US 20230246862 A1, published 08/03/2023; hereinafter Boucheron), in view of Chen et al. (US 20080270916 A1, published 10/30/2008; hereinafter Chen2), and in further view of Heikes et al. (US 20040205775 A1, published 10/14/2004; hereinafter Heikes).
For Claim 7, Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 teaches the method of claim 1. Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 does not explicitly teach, but Heikes teaches further comprising: in response to the first user device (Heikes, FIG. 1, ¶ 0054 the first user system 105A) joining the communication session when the second user device (Heikes, FIG. 1, ¶ 0054 the second user system 105B, referring as an IM buddy of the first user system) has not joined the communication session, providing, by the messaging application, an audio signal indicating that the second user device has not joined the communication session (Heikes discloses providing audible alert when an IM buddy is not present (e.g. the buddy logging out) from an IM session; FIGS 1 and 4; ¶ 0054 “… Referring to FIG. 4, the first user system 105A, the second user system 105B, and the host system 110 interact according to exemplary procedure 400 to control the volume of sound in response to events in an instant messaging conversation …”; ¶ 0058 “… The first user system receives a notification of an event occurrence (step 410) … The event may be associated with an event type such as … an event type indicating the receipt of a notification of an online presence state change for a different user on the first user's buddy list (e.g. the buddy logging out from the IM session) …”; ¶ 0061 “… The sound corresponding to the event is then played at the initial volume (step 425) …”).
Heikes and Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 are analogous art because they are both related to messaging applications.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the providing audible alert to indicate an IM buddy’s online presence state change techniques of Heikes with the system of Chen-Boucheron-Chen2 to provide IM users about the online presence information of their IM buddies (Heikes, ¶ 0016).
For Claim 14, the claim is substantially similar to claim 7 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed below, thank you:
i. Triverio et al. (US 20240118793 A1) discloses that displaying the real-time communication user interface object enables a user to generate and/or send a link to a real-time communication session from the messaging application without navigating to the real-time communication application, thereby reducing a number of inputs required by the user to schedule and/or create a real-time communication session. Reducing the number of inputs needed to perform an operation enhances the operability of the device and makes the user-device interface more efficient (e.g., by helping the user to provide proper inputs and reducing user mistakes when operating/interacting with the device) which, additionally, reduces power usage and improves battery life of the device by enabling the user to use the device more quickly and efficiently (Triverio, ¶ 0314).
ii. Qureshi et al. (US 20100100632 A1) discloses that users participating in an instant messaging session can submit through the instant messaging session, a request for a data access key that provides access to a user's data, such as personal calendar data. The keys are then exchanged between the users through the instant messaging session. The key exchange enables the users participating in the instant messaging session to access one another's data (Qureshi, ¶ 0007). When users have access to one another's data, other tasks may also be performed. For example, in addition to viewing one another's calendar data, users may also schedule a meeting to be added to the instant messaging session participants' calendars (Qureshi, ¶ 0008).
Conclusion
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/Z.D./Examiner, Art Unit 2444
/SCOTT B CHRISTENSEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444