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
Examiner’s Note
This Office Action is addressing the claims submitted in the preliminary amendment submitted by Applicant on 09/30/2024.
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 2, 5-6, 11-12, 14-16, and 22 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Referring to claims 2, 14, 16, and 22, each of these claims recites the claim limitation of “the media content identifier”, respectively. The only possible antecedent basis for this limitation in the respective claims is “at least one of the media content identifiers”. However, claims 7 and 8 properly claim antecedent basis in the form of the claim limitation “the at least one of the media content identifiers”. Therefore, it is indefinite as to whether the claim limitation of “the media content identifier” is intended to refer to the possible antecedent limitation of “at least one of the media content identifiers” or is intended to be a new limitation.
Claims 5, 11, 14, and 15 each possesses limitations that read “in response to that the…”. Claim 5 cites “in response to that the current position is a first set position of the second preset region”, claim 11 cites “in response to that the target sliding operation slides to a second set position of the third preset region” and “in response to that the progress adjustment identifier is slid and moved to a fourth set position”, claim 14 cites “in response to that the triggering of the target sliding operation ends”, and claim 15 cites “in response to that the triggering of the target sliding operation ends”. These limitations suffer from poor grammar. As a result, each limitation creates an indefinite state as to whether the language that follows “in response to that the” is what something occurs in response to, or if the claim is referring to something else in the claim or an antecedent claim by stating “in response to that”, wherein “that” would be an indefinite unknown, as it is not specifically defined by any of the statements.
Clarification is required.
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.
Claims 1, 3-7, 14-17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by YouTube video “How to Use Instagram Stories – Complete Beginner’s Guide” published by user account “Howfinity”, found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5i02yWZqEU (hereinafter Howfinity).
Referring to claim 1, Howfinity discloses a display controlling method, comprising:
displaying a first control corresponding to a currently displayed first media content in a first preset region of a media content display interface, wherein the first media content comprises at least two of second media contents (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing a first control (i.e., the top area of the interface containing multiple thin horizontal lines going across the top of the display) corresponding to a currently displayed first media content (e.g., a video promoting Marvel Avengers Endgame that is represented by the first segmented horizontal line at the top of the interface) in a first preset region of a media content display interface (video shown on screen of displayed smart phone), wherein the first media content comprises multiple second media contents that are videos and pictures represented by the segmented horizontal lines at the top of the screen);
the first control comprises media content identifiers corresponding to the at least two of second media contents (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing each of the thin horizontal line segments that correspond to further videos and pictures/second media contents);
the first control indicates switching of the displaying of the at least two of second media contents (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing first control displays the thin horizontal lines display each of the second media contents with a brighter white appears to indicate as each segment is switched to and progressed through);
switching at least one of the media content identifiers to a second control in response to a target triggering operation applied in the media content display interface, wherein the second control configured to slide to adjust a display progress of at least a part of the first media content (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing switching a line segment from static display to a second control in response to a target triggering operation applied in the media content display interface (interpreted as when the video corresponding to the line segment is triggered for playing), wherein the second control slides to adjust/progressive show display progress of the part of the first media content that is currently playing).
Referring to claim 3, Howfinity discloses after the switching of a media content identifier/line segment to a second control, in response to a target sliding operation (i.e., the sliding of the brighter white color across the bar to signify the temporal progress of the playing of the video) applied in a second preset region (within the line segment that represents a corresponding video), determining a current position to which the target sliding operation slides (i.e., as time passes the bright white color is sliding across the line segment), and displaying, in the media content display interface, a second media content (i.e., the (second) video corresponding to a particular line segment) corresponding to a target second control displayed at the current position (i.e., the current temporal position of the progress bar of the “sliding” line segment), wherein the second preset region is an associated region of the second control (the sliding is occurring within new appearance of the line segment once it has begun being displayed, i.e., the second control)) (see time code 3:08 through 4:05).
Referring to claim 4, Howfinity discloses the target second control has a different display style from a display style of a further second control in additional to the target second control displayed in the media content display interface (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing the appearance of the line segment that is currently being displayed as a current time in the playback of the video has a different display appearance/style that those other/further spaces within the line segment that have been finished playing or have yet to be played in the sequence).
Referring to claim 5, Howfinity discloses after determining a current position to which the target sliding operation slides, the method further comprises in response to that the current position is a first set position of the second preset region, updating a target second control displayed at the current position (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing after determining a current position to which the target sliding operation slides (i.e., the sliding current position in the sequence of line segments is changed, either by natural time progression or by a skip or rewind function execution), when the current position is at a first set position (e.g., the beginning of a new line segment/video), updating the target second control/ the current temporal position of the progress bar of the “sliding” line segment to be at the new current position of the proper line segment).
Referring to claim 6, Howfinity updating a target second control displayed at the current position comprises controlling the second controls displayed in the second preset region to move in a same direction (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing when updating the current temporal position of the progress bar of the “sliding” line segment at a current position the appearance of the progressing of the change in the appearance to the brighter white appearance within the second preset region/the time segment itself moves in a same direction (e.g., left to right)).
Referring to claim 7, Howfinity the second media content is a video content (as seen in the rejection of claim 1), and switching at least one of the media content identifiers to a second control comprises switching at least one of the media content identifiers displayed in a first style to a second control displayed in a second style, wherein the at least one of the media content identifiers comprises a media content identifier corresponding to a currently played second media content (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing switching the media content identifier to a second control comprises switching a line segment displayed in a first style to a second style, wherein each line segment identifies a specific video and one of the line segments corresponds to a currently playing second media content/video whenever it has begun to play).
Referring to claim 14, Howfinity restoring the second control to the media content identifier in response to that the triggering of the target sliding operation ends (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing causing to return/restore second control to a media content identifier/line segment when the triggering of a video corresponding to a line segment is triggered for playing occurs/ends, the next video begins and the second control is displayed/restored for the now playing video).
Referring to claim 15, Howfinity in response to that the triggering of the target sliding operation ends, displaying at least a part of the first media content at a start point as a display progress corresponding to the target sliding operation (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing when the triggering of a video corresponding to a line segment is triggered for playing occurs/ends, a start point of a first media content will be displayed as display progress continues to slide forward in time into the video that represents the first media content (i.e., the video before the video interpreted as a first media content concludes and the first media content video begins)).
Referring to claim 16, Howfinity in response to a revocation operation on the target sliding operation, restoring the second control to the media content identifier and continuing to display at least a part of the first media content at a display start point of the latest display progress of at least a part of the first media content before receiving the target sliding operation (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing the ability to “go back”/revocation operation, causing the target sliding operation/ i.e., the sliding of the brighter white color across the bar to signify the temporal progress of the playing of the video to return/restore second control and display/playback to the first media content identifier that was originally being played before the target sliding operation began playback of the second media content).
Referring to claim 17, Howfinity the target triggering operation is applied in the first preset region (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing the target triggering operation is applied in the display area visible on the smart phone screen).
Referring to claim 19, Howfinity an electronic device, comprising at least one processor and a memory, which is in communication connection with the at least one processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program executed by the at least one processor, and the computer program, executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing a smart phone device using the Instagram app/software) to perform the method as seen in the rejection of claim 1.
Referring to claim 20, Howfinity a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and the computer instructions (see time code 3:08 through 4:05 for disclosing a smart phone device using the Instagram app/software) are used for implementing, when executed by a processor, the method as seen in the rejection of claim 1.
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.
Claims 2 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Howfinity in view of Forstall et al (hereinafter Forstall) US 20140123005.
Referring to claim 2, Howfinity discloses the second media content comprises a picture or video content, switching at least one of the media content identifiers to a second control, wherein the media content identifier is a graphical identifier (i.e., each second media content is represented by a graphically visible horizontal white line) as seen in the rejection of claim 1.
Howfinity is unclear as to a media content identifier to be displayed as a thumbnail of the corresponding second media content.
Forstall discloses a media content identifier to be displayed as a thumbnail of the corresponding second media content (see Paragraph 0162).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the known technique of displaying media content identifiers as thumbnails of Forstall with the known system of Howfinity in order to achieve the predictable results of providing a preview of the still frame of Forstall, thereby giving the viewer the advantage of being able to view a visible sample of what the content contains through said still frame.
Claim 22 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Howfinity in view of Liu US 20090278987.
Referring to claim 8, Howfinity discloses switching at least one of the media content identifiers to a second control comprises changing a display appearance of the at least one of the media content identifiers.
Howfinity is unclear as to increasing a size of a visual indicator.
Liu discloses increasing of the size of a visual indicator (see Fig. 3 and Paragraph 0032 for disclosing the graphic for a video channel is enlarged).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the known technique of Liu with the known system of Howfinity to predictably improve the system by using a common UI tactic, such as enlarging or magnifying an element, such as the line segments of Howfinity, in order to accentuate the element in a manner that would attract more visual attention to the enlarged element or to indicate what is currently selected.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Howfinity.
Referring to claim 9, Howfinity discloses the switching at least one of the media content identifiers displayed in a first style to a second control displayed in a second style as seen in the rejection of claim 7.
Howfinity is unclear as to in response to a target sliding operation applied in a third preset region, controlling a progress adjustment identifier corresponding to at least a part of the first media content to move in a sliding direction of the target sliding operation, wherein the third preset region is an associated region of the second control.
Official Notice is taken that in response to a target sliding operation applied in a third preset region, controlling a progress adjustment identifier corresponding to at least a part of the first media content to move in a sliding direction of the target sliding operation, wherein the third preset region is an associated region of the second control is well known in the art. Therefore, it would have been obvious a to person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Howfinity to include a scrubbable or seek-able progress bar in another area on the user interface that allows for slide/scroll/drag manipulation in order to control the current playback position of a marker (i.e., progress adjustment identifier) within the progress bar in either or forward or backward in time direction, thereby giving users more granular control over not just which video they are watching, but also control over the specific time within the videos they choose to watch.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Howfinity in view of Paul US 10817142.
Referring to claim 13, Howfinity discloses the limitations as seen in the rejection of claim 7.
Howfinity is unclear as to after the combining the media content identifiers into one second control, the method further comprises in response to a target sliding operation applied in a third preset region, controlling a progress adjustment identifier corresponding to the first media content to move in a sliding direction of the target sliding operation in the second control, wherein the third preset region is an associated region of the second control.
Paul discloses combining the media content identifiers into one second control (see Figs. 4A-5B, Col. 1, Lines 19-23, and Col. 5, Line 9 – Col. 7, Line 30 for disclosing the “posts” which are equivalent to the videos represented by each of the media content identifiers in Howfinity are combined into a story with only one “second control” progress bar).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the progress bar of Paul with the system of Howfinity in order to provide a stories framework that provide viewers with insight into which stories are in queue to be displayed next (see Paul, Col. 1, Lines 52-58).
Howfinity in view of Paul is unclear as to in response to a target sliding operation applied in a third preset region, controlling a progress adjustment identifier corresponding to the first media content to move in a sliding direction of the target sliding operation in the second control, wherein the third preset region is an associated region of the second control.
Official Notice is taken that in response to a target sliding operation applied in a third preset region, controlling a progress adjustment identifier corresponding to the first media content to move in a sliding direction of the target sliding operation in the second control, wherein the third preset region is an associated region of the second control is well known in the art. Therefore, it would have been obvious a to person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Howfinity in view of Paul to include a scrubbable or seek-able progress bar in another area on the user interface that allows for slide/scroll/drag manipulation in order to control the current playback position of a marker (i.e., progress adjustment identifier) within the progress bar in either or forward or backward in time direction, thereby giving users more granular control over not just which video they are watching, but also control over the specific time within the videos they choose to watch.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Paul US 10623831 for disclosing further applications of a progress bar in a social media story-based environment;
Jaeger et al US 10198245 for disclosing use of user interface to control segmented playback of media including playback controls comprising a progress bar; and
Cueto US 20150177933 for disclosing thumbnail images of digital content allowing the user to preview and scroll through the content while continuing to display the current media in the main viewer of a device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS T CORBO whose telephone number is (571)270-5675. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 11am-7pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Bruckart can be reached at 571-272-3982. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NICHOLAS T CORBO/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424
03/27/2026
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