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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: claim 5 sets forth a configuration that is well beyond that which is disclosed within the Kim reference (discussed in greater depth infra), which is the prior art closest to Applicant’s claimed invention, and there would be no obvious reason to modify Kim to the extent necessary to satisfy each of Applicant’s pertinent limitations.
With respect to claim 5, the provision of a set of group members that “consist of” (thereby limited to) only i) a group master; and ii) a general group member” is well known, but providing such a limited group in which one person (the master) controls the permissions of one other person (the general group member) would interfere with the ability of the cited Kim invention to have a larger plurality of customers collaborating simultaneously, therein making suggestions to each other regarding various products, taking surveys, playing games, etc. Restricting the “group members” to only two individuals will prevent the successful implementation of the aforementioned activities.
In view of the foregoing, the modifications necessary to satisfy each of Applicant’s claim 5 limitations would be likely to render the Kim invention incapable of continuing to operate/behave in the particular manner set forth within the reference itself (given the particularly sensitive nature of such interactive display and communication assemblies), which would be strongly indicative of an application of improper hindsight reasoning.
Claim 5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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 1-6 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.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for multiple limitations in the claims, including: i) claim 1 recites the limitation "the front" and “each group”.
The claim 1 recitation of “offline space” is unclear. Exactly what is the nature of such a space, and particularly what makes it “offline”? Please review/revise/clarify.
The claim 2 recitation of “the text is of a predetermined length or less” is unclear. Exactly what is this length and who/what entity “predetermines” this length? Please review/revise/clarify.
Claims 3-6 are rejected as depending from rejected independent claim 1.
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 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KR 102386273 B1 to Kim (“Kim”)- later published as U.S. 2024/0185361. Note that all citations to Kim herein shall pertain to the United States publication.
Regarding claim 1, Kim anticipates a service system (e.g. signage system operating in conjunction with a user terminal, as shown in fig. 1 and discussed at para. 33) for content sharing (para. 51 and 65) between group members (e.g. customers visiting a business place, as discussed at para. 6) by using a group-only signage device (e.g. signage 300, as shown in fig. 1 and discussed at para. 49), the service system (aforementioned signage system operating in conjunction with a user terminal) comprising: i) a service server (100) configured to provide a content sharing service (e.g. providing social activity support part 120, as shown in fig. 3 and discussed at para. 64, 68 and 77) between the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place); ii) the group-only signage device (300) having a display panel (e.g. screen of signage 300, as shown in figs. 1-2) on the front (figs. 1-2), and installed in (fig. 2 and para. 6) an offline space (e.g. business place, as shown in fig. 2 and discussed at para. 6) used by a plurality of (para. 6) the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) together (para. 6), and configured to output (para. 68) content (e.g. content discussed at para. 68) created by the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) to the display panel (aforementioned screen of signage 300); and iii) member terminals (e.g. user terminal 200, as shown in fig. 1 and discussed at para. 48), as terminals of (note the term “user” terminal) the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place), configured to create (para. 65) the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) and share (para. 65) the created content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) through the group-only signage device (300), iv) wherein the service server (100) comprises: a) a group management part (e.g. on-site participation confirmation part 140, as shown in fig. 3 and discussed at para. 19-20) configured to store and manage (para. 7), for each group (e.g. customers participating in the social activities, as discussed at para. 6), information (e.g. on-site participation, as discussed at para. 7) on the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) belonging to a group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities) and use rights (e.g. indication the customer is an on-site participant or that social activities for the on-site participant are supported, as discussed at para. 7) of the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place); b) an authentication part (e.g. social activity support part 120 itself, as shown in fig. 3 and discussed at para. 21-22) configured to authenticate (per para. 21-22, the social activity support part 120 indicates that an on-site participant is within the community service used by the user terminal 200 of which on-site participation is confirmed) that the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) are members of the group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities); and c) a right management part (on-site participation confirmation result of a user, as shown in fig. 6 and discussed at para. 38) configured to give the use rights (fig. 6) to share (para. 65) the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) through (para. 65) the group-only signage device (300) to the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) authenticated by (para. 21-22) the authentication part (120); and d) a signage device management part (e.g. signage management part 130, as shown in fig. 3 and discussed at para. 66) configured to receive (per para. 66, signage management part 130 controls transmission of social activities/content of a user; note that such social activities/content is received from a user terminal 200 per para. 65) the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) created by the member terminals (200), and perform transmission (para. 66) so that according to the use rights (aforementioned indication the customer is an on-site participant or that social activities for the on-site participant are supported) of the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place), the received content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) is output (i.e. transmitted, per para. 70) to the group-only signage device (300) of the group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities) to which the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) belong (para. 70), e) wherein the authentication part (120) is configured to process an authentication procedure to authenticate (para. 21-22) the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) through at least one authentication method selected from a group of scanning a QR code (fig. 5, and para. 63 and 71) issued to (e.g. displayed upon signage 300, as shown in fig. 300) the group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities), an acceptance signal of a group master, matching to a group member list stored by the group master, inputting authentication information set by the group master, and using the information on the group members stored in the group management part, and f) the right management part (aforementioned on-site participation confirmation result of a user, as shown in fig. 6 and discussed at para. 38) is configured to give (fig. 6) the use rights (aforementioned indication the customer is an on-site participant or that social activities for the on-site participant are supported) to upload (i.e. share, as discussed at para. 51, 53 and 65) the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) to the group-only signage device (300) of the group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities) to only the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) authenticated by (para. 21-22) the authentication part (120), so that other users outside (e.g. users who are not deemed to be on-site) the group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities) are unable to use (per para. 23, only user terminals 200 of on-site participants are supported) the group-only signage device (300), and g) the group-only signage device (300) is configured to output (para. 68) the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) created by the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) to enable the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) within the group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities) to communicate exclusively (fig. 5) via the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) shared on (fig. 5) the group-only signage device (300).
Regarding claim 2, Kim anticipates the service system of claim 1, wherein the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) output (para. 68) from the group-only signage device (300) includes at least one selected from a group of an image (fig. 5 and para. 68), text (fig. 5), and a video (per para. 57, a video phone may be utilized), and the text (fig. 5) is of a predetermined length or less (fig. 5).
Regarding claim 3, Kim anticipates the service system of claim 1, wherein the group-only signage device (300) is configured to output (para. 68) the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) created by the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) in order of creation or in order of popularity (fig. 5; note that “favorite menu item” display shows popularity of various “sets”), or operate a display screen of the group-only signage device divided into an area in which the content is output in order of creation and an area in which the content is output in order of popularity.
Regarding claim 4, Kim anticipates the service system of claim 1, wherein the service server (100) further comprises i) a database part (e.g. data structures discussed at para. 82) configured to store (para. 81-82), for each group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities), the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) created by the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place), ii) wherein the signage device management part (130) is configured to receive the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) created by the member terminals (200), and store (para. 81-82) the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) in the database part (aforementioned data structures) as the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68) of the group (aforementioned customers participating in the social activities) to which the group members (aforementioned customers visiting a business place) belong (para. 70).
Regarding claim 6, Kim anticipates the service system of claim 1, wherein the service server (100) further comprises an editing part (e.g. interface shown in fig. 4) configured to provide an editing tool (fig. 4) to the member terminals (200) for creating the content (aforementioned content discussed at para. 68).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN V LEWIS whose telephone number is (571)270-5052. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30AM-5:00PM.
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/JUSTIN V LEWIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3637