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 .
Claims in Consideration
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 11/18/2024, 1/16/2025, & 10/30/2025, was filed before the first office action. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejection Notes
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-8, 10-15, and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Bailiang (US 20150130788 A1, published: 5/14/2015).
Claim 1: Bailiang teaches a method comprising:
displaying, by a mapping application, a cutaway view of a venue, the cutaway view comprising a three-dimensional (3D) representation of the venue showing (1) an external structure of the venue and (2) one or more internal structures of the venue (FIG. 8 depicts yet another example of a 3D map 170. The 3D map 170 is rendered according to a set of rules 49b that specify yet another rendering scheme. In the 3D map 170 The building 106 is rendered with transparent fill along its front-facing surfaces 172 and no stroke along its front-facing edges 174. This leaves the building 106 transparent for its indoor content, which includes the floor plan 132. The floor plan 132 is clearly visible. In the 3D map 170, however, the darker filled areas 138 are set on a lightened background 176, and are clearly outlined [Bailiang, 0032, FIG. 8]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated);
receiving a first zoom input while displaying the cutaway view of the venue (the map application may allow the user to view different geographical portions of the map data stored in the map database 12, to zoom in on or zoom out of a particular geographical location, to rotate, spin or change the two-dimensional or three-dimensional viewing angle of the map being displayed, etc. [Bailiang, 0017]);
responsive to receiving the first zoom input while displaying the cutaway view of the venue: displaying, by the mapping application, an internal view of the venue, the internal view showing an indoor map of the venue and one or more points of interest located in the venue (as the FIGS. 3-16 illustrate, the 3D maps depict a number of different map elements including, by way of example and not limitation, buildings, streets, floor plans, labels, icons, and the like. Other map elements may be depicted in implementations of 3D maps, including bodies of water, bridges, parks, landmarks, landscape, geography, public transit, etc., though these examples are illustrative and not exhaustive [Bailiang, 0041, FIGs. 3-16]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated, each of these figures depicts the same block of buildings including some highlighting cutaways of the interior, the indoor maps, and others highlighting exterior building, and others highlight both).
Claims 8 and 15, having similar elements to claim 1, are likewise rejected.
Claim 3: Bailiang teaches the method of claim 1. Bailiang further teaches wherein the operations further comprise receiving a selection of an option to view the internal view of the venue, and displaying the internal view of the venue in response to the selection of the option to view the interview view of the venue (to determine whether a feature is obscured, the software application determines a viewpoint from which the user has selected to view the scene, calculates the visual relationships between the features from the selected viewpoint, determines which features would be visible and/or obscured from the particular viewpoint, and applies the rules according to the determination of which features are visible and/or obscured [Bailiang, 0014]).
Claims 10 and 17, having similar elements to claim 3, are likewise rejected.
Claim 4: Bailiang teaches the method of claim 1. Bailiang further teaches wherein the cutaway view further includes a two-dimensional (2D) map of a region corresponding to a location of the venue ([Bailiang, FIG. 8]; Examiner's Note: as depicted, a 2D map is included at the base of 3D Steadyman Building map).
Claims 11 and 18, having similar elements to claim 4, are likewise rejected.
Claim 5: Bailiang teaches the method of claim 1. Bailiang further teaches wherein displaying the cutaway view of the venue comprises animating at least one internal structure of the venue (a rule 49b specifies that the building 106 is rendered such that both stroke 152 and fill 154 of the building 106 fade as the stroke 152 and fill 154 move away from the street level of the 3D map 150. Thus, the stroke 152 and fill 154 of the building 106 are readily visible close to the street level 156, but fade away as they move up the image [Bailiang, 0031]; Examiner's Note: wherein the fading, and filling are examples of animation).
Claims 12 and 19, having similar elements to claim 5, are likewise rejected.
Claim 6: Bailiang teaches the method of claim 1. Bailiang further teaches wherein: the venue comprises a structure having external walls and a roof; and the 3D representation of the venue shown in the cutaway view shows the external walls of venue without showing the roof ([Bailiang, FIG. 8]; Examiner's Note: as depicted).
Claims 13 and 20, having similar elements to claim 6, are likewise rejected.
Claim 7: Bailiang teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the one or more internal structures of the venue shown in the cutaway view include at least one of a walkway inside the venue, an internal wall, or a point of interest ([Bailiang, FIG. 8]; Examiner's Note: as depicted, a 2D map is included , including walkways and internal walls, at the base of 3D Steadyman Building map).
Claim 14, having similar elements to claim 7, are likewise rejected.
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(s) 2, 9, and 16, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bailiang (US 20150130788 A1, published: 5/14/2015), in view of Bailiang ([herein known as Bailiang2], US 20140223360 A1, published: 8/7/2014).
Claim 2: Bailiang teaches the method of claim 1. Bailiang does not teach further comprising: prior to displaying the cutaway view of the venue: displaying, by the mapping application, a two-dimensional (2D) map of a region corresponding to a location of the venue, the 2D map including a 2D representation of the venue; receiving a second zoom input while displaying the 2D map of the region; wherein the cutaway view of the venue is displayed responsive to receiving the second zoom input while displaying the 2D map of the region.
However, Bailiang2 teaches further comprising: prior to displaying the cutaway view of the venue: displaying, by the mapping application, a two-dimensional (2D) map of a region corresponding to a location of the venue, the 2D map including a 2D representation of the venue; receiving a second zoom input while displaying the 2D map of the region; wherein the cutaway view of the venue is displayed responsive to receiving the second zoom input while displaying the 2D map of the region ((i) when the selected zoom level has a first value, displaying the one or more indicators inside the representation of the structure at respective locations of the indoor facilities, and (ii) when the selected zoom level has a second value, displaying the one or more indicators over or proximately to the representation of the structure at a location unrelated to the respective locations of the indoor facilities [Bailiang2, 0006, FIGs. 2-3]; Examiner's Note: wherein as illustrated maps are 2D).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the invention was filed, to modify the 3D internal/external structure view navigation invention of Bailiang to include the 2D map feature of Bailiang2.
One would have been motivated to make this modification, when viewing the map at a zoom level in which the internal layout of the structures is not visible, to display the indoor facility information without creating confusion and clutter (Bailiang2, 0005).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SETH A SILVERMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9783. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur, 8AM-4PM MST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Adam Queler can be reached at (571)272-4140. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Seth A Silverman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2172
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