Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/862,450

METHOD, APPARATUS, DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM FOR PRESENTING A CHAT MESSAGE

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Nov 01, 2024
Priority
Aug 23, 2022 — CN 202211017172.0 +1 more
Examiner
SALL, EL HADJI MALICK
Art Unit
2457
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Co., Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Final)
91%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
8m
Est. Remaining
83%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 91% — above average
91%
Career Allowance Rate
843 granted / 925 resolved
+33.1% vs TC avg
Minimal -8% lift
Without
With
+-8.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
935
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
10.7%
-29.3% vs TC avg
§103
42.8%
+2.8% vs TC avg
§102
19.4%
-20.6% vs TC avg
§112
8.0%
-32.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 925 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 action is in response to an amendment filed on July 1, 2026. Claims 29- 48 are pending. Claims 29-48 represent APPARATUS, DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM FOR PRESENTING A CHAT MESSAGE. 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 29-32, 36 and 40-48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kruk U.S. 20220400093 in view of Clift et al. 20110059774. Kruk teaches the invention substantially including System and Method for Asynchronous Messaging Combine with a Real-Time Communication (see abstract). As to claim 29, Kruk teaches a method for presenting a chat message, comprising: providing a widget associated with a target chat (paragraph 38, Kruk discloses sending the message via chat widget (i.e. “a widget associated with a target”), the widget presenting at least description information about the target chat (paragraph 61, Kruk discloses the user engaged in the communication over a chat widget, and then move the communication from one channel to another (i.e. “description information about the target chat”)); and in response to receiving at least one message in the target chat, presenting a visual representation of the at least one message by the widget, a representation type (“Waiting for reply”) of the visual representation being determined based on a message type (“red text”) of the at least one message (paragraph 39). Kruk teaches substantial features of the claimed invention but fails to explicitly teach wherein in accordance with the at least one message being a visual content message, at least a part of a background of the widget is filled with a picture in the visual content message as the visual representation of the visual content message, wherein the visual content message comprises a picture message or video message. However, Clift teaches wireless communication device for providing a visual representation of a widget. Clift teaches wherein in accordance with the at least one message being a visual content message, at least a part of a background of the widget is filled with a picture in the visual content message as the visual representation of the visual content message, wherein the visual content message comprises a picture message or video message (paragraph 22). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Kruk to include the teaching of “at least a part of a background of the widget is filled with a picture in the visual content message as the visual representation of the visual content message, wherein the visual content message comprises a picture message or video message” of Clift with the motivation being to allow a wireless communication device comprising a display providing a visual representation of a widget (abstract). As to claim 30, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, further comprising: in response to receiving a first predetermined operation for the widget, presenting a chat interface of the target chat, the chat interface being configured to present the received at least one message, wherein the first predetermined operation comprises a selection of the visual representation (paragraphs 27-30). As to claim 31, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 30, further comprising: in response to the chat interface of the target chat being presented, stopping presenting the visual representation of the at least one message in the widget (paragraph 40). As to claim 32, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, wherein the description information of the target chat comprises at least one of the following: a chat identifier of the target chat; a participant identifier of at least one participant of the target chat (paragraph 24); and a state identifier of at least one participant of the target chat indicative of whether the at least one participant is in an online state (paragraph 38); wherein the chat representation, the participant identifier, or the state identifier comprises a text identifier and/or a graphic identifier (paragraph 39). As to claim 36, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, wherein the at least one message comprises a specific type of message, and the specific type of message (paragraph 41) comprises at least one of: a voice message, a red packet message, a location message, a conference message, a file message, an invitation message, a call request message, and a hyperlink message, wherein the visual representation supports an associated interaction operation corresponding to a type of the specific type of message, wherein the presenting the visual representation of the at least one message by the widget comprises: presenting, by the widget, a graphical representation corresponding to the specific type of message as a visual representation of the specific type of message (paragraph 39). As to claim 40, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, further comprising: in response to a second predetermined operation for the widget, switching the widget to present description information of a further chat different from the target chat, wherein the second predetermined operation comprises a first swiping operation or a triggering operation for a first predetermined switching control associated with the widget (paragraph 5). As to claim 41, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, wherein the at least one message comprises a plurality of messages, and wherein presenting the visual representation of the at least one message by the widget comprises: presenting, by the widget, a first visual representation of a first message of the plurality of messages; and in response to a third predetermined operation for the widget, switching the widget to present a second visual representation of a second message of the plurality of messages, wherein the third predetermined operation comprises a second swiping operation or a triggering operation for a second predetermined switching control associated with the widget (paragraph 33). As to claim 42, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, wherein the representation type of the visual representation comprises at least one of: a text representation, a graphical representation, and a video representation (paragraph 27). As to claim 43, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, wherein the widget is built in response to a widget creation request received in a chat interface of the target chat or in a system desktop of an operating system (paragraph 24). As to claim 44, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, further comprising: presenting, in a chat aggregation interface, a card type component corresponding to the target chat, wherein the card type component presents a content corresponding to the widget (paragraph 26). As to claim 45, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, wherein a presentation location and/or presentation style of the description information is determined based on the representation type of the visual representation (paragraph 36). As to claim 46, Kruk and Clift teach the method of claim 29, wherein a background fill style of the widget is determined based on a first attribute associated with the target chat and/or a second attribute associated with the visual representation (paragraph 40). 3. Claims 33-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kruk U.S. 20220400093 in view of Clift et al. 20110059774, further in view of Thayne et al. U.S. 20100037168. Kruk teaches the invention substantially including System and Method for Asynchronous Messaging Combine with a Real-Time Communication (see abstract). As to claim 33, Kruk and Clift teach substantial feature for the claimed invention but fails to explicitly teach filling at least a part of a background of the widget with a picture associated with the image content message as the visual representation of the image content message. However, Thayne teaches systems and methods for webpage design. Thayne teaches filling at least a part of a background of the widget with a picture associated with the image content message as the visual representation of the image content message (paragraph 49). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Kruk and Clift to include the teaching of “a widget containing a picture within the webpage” of Thayne with the motivation being to allow a design interface that allows a user to design a webpage through a drag-and-drop (abstract). As to claim 34, Kruk, Clift and Thayne teach the method of claim 33, wherein the image content message comprises a picture message, and presenting the visual representation of the at least one message by the widget comprises: filling at least a part of the background of the widget with a picture in the picture message as the visual representation of the picture message, or wherein the image content message comprises a video message, and presenting the visual representation of the at least one message by the widget comprises: filling at least a part of the background of the widget with a target frame of a video in the video message as the visual representation of the video message (paragraph 12 of Thayne). As to claim 35, Kruk, Clift and Thayne teach the method of claim 34, further comprising: in response to a selection of the visual representation, causing the video in the video message to be played in a chat interface of the target chat (paragraph 49 of Thayne). 4. Claims 37-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kruk U.S. 20220400093 in view of Clift et al. 20110059774, further in view of Gal et al. U.S. 20230082021. Kruk teaches the invention substantially including System and Method for Asynchronous Messaging Combine with a Real-Time Communication (see abstract). As to claim 37, Kruk and Clift teach the claim invention substantially but fail to explicitly teach a voice reply and reply audio by an audio acquisition device. However, Gal teaches spatialized display of chat messages. Gal teaches a voice reply, reply audio by an acquisition device and reply message to be sent (paragraphs 59-60; figure 3H). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the method of Kruk and Clift to include the teaching of “reply message and in figure 3H” of Gal with the motivation being to allow providing for a spatialized display of chat messages within a messaging platform (abstract). As to claim 38, Kruk, Clift and Gal teach the method of claim 37, wherein the quick reply entry comprises an emoji reply entry, the emoji reply entry comprises a set of candidate emojis, and the method further comprises: in response to a selection of a target emoji in the set of candidate emojis, sending the target emoji as the reply message to the target chat (paragraph 60). Claims 47 and 48 did not teach anything different from the rejected above claims, therefore are rejected similarly. Allowable Subject Matter 5. Claim 39 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim,claim but be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion 6. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EL HADJI SALL whose telephone number is (571)272-4010. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-8:30 (flexible). Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached at 5712724001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /EL HADJI M SALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 01, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 01, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jul 01, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 10, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
91%
Grant Probability
83%
With Interview (-8.3%)
2y 7m (~8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 925 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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