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 .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Iz5ma1RD8
text animation circle and square
US 11044514 B2
US 20170251240 A1
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 21 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) 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.
Claim 8-9, 20 and 21 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.
As per claim 8, “simultaneously displaying a maximum of n second-type bullet comments on bullet tracks in the second bullet comment space, and after a new second-type bullet comment is generated, ceasing to display an earliest displayed second-type bullet comment among displayed second-type bullet comments and displaying a newly generated second-type bullet comment on the bullet track;” It is not clear from “n second-type bullet comment” exactly what is attempted to be claim by n. Is n a typo or attempting to claim a numeric value with n? Is n attempting to be something else? The examiner isn’t certain therefore the examiner will treat n as a typo and will interpret “n second-type bullet comment” as “second-type bullet comment” for the sake of applying art.
Claim 20 recites similar limitations to that of claim 8 and thus will be rejected under similar rationale.
As per claim 9, “simultaneously displaying a maximum of m second-type bullet comments in the second bullet comment space, and after a new second-type bullet comment is generated, ceasing to display an earliest displayed second-type bullet comment among displayed second-type bullet comments and displaying a newly generated second-type bullet comment in the second bullet comment space; and” It is not clear from “m second-type bullet comment” exactly what is attempted to be claim by m. Is m a typo or attempting to claim a numeric value with m? Is m attempting to be something else? The examiner isn’t certain therefore the examiner will treat m as a typo and will interpret “m second-type bullet comment” as “second-type bullet comment” for the sake of applying art.
Claim 21 recites similar limitations to that of claim 9 and thus will be rejected under similar rationale.
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 (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.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 1-8, 12-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng (US-20170251240-A1) in view of Odisho, How to Animate Scrolling Text on a Path in Adobe After Effects CC (Circle, Square, Custom Pen Shape), Feb 6, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Iz5ma1RD8.
Regarding claim 1, Peng teaches an information display method (See abstract, “Disclosed is a bullet screen information processing method, a client and a service platform. In the method, bullet screen information sent by a service platform is received, the bullet screen information is formed on the basis of watching feedback information sent by a first client or a second client, and the watching feedback information is formed when a user watches first multimedia information; and the bullet screen information is dynamically displayed in a first output area in which the first client outputs the first multimedia information according to a predetermined strategy.”), comprising:
determining bullet comment information to be displayed and a bullet comment space in a display space, wherein the display space is configured to display a target image, and the bullet comment space is a predetermined space area in the display space (See ¶41-¶45, “[0041] Regarding how to specifically dynamically display the bullet screen information according to the predetermined strategy in Step 120, the following two optional manners are provided.
[0042] Optional Manner 1:
[0043] Step 120 may include that: the bullet screen information is displayed, and the bullet screen information is controlled to move according to a predetermined trajectory.
[0044] Here, the predetermined trajectory may be located in the first output area in which the first client outputs the first multimedia information.
[0045] There may be one or more predetermined trajectories, specifically, for example, 1, 2, 3 or 5. Typically, multiple predetermined trajectories are arranged parallel to one another. One predetermined trajectory may be used to display multiple pieces of bullet screen information. ” The examiner considers the output area to be a bullet comment space in a display space. The multimedia information is interpreted as a targeted image. ¶51 and Fig. 3 further show a display image of a multimedia information which is interpreted as a target image.); and
displaying the bullet comment information in the bullet comment space (See ¶41-45, ¶51 and Fig. 3 along with text and comments above.); but doesn’t explicitly disclose:
wherein a circular or curved bullet track is arranged in advance in the bullet comment space, and at least part of the bullet comment information bends along the bullet track to form curved bullet comments.
Odisho teaches wherein a circular or curved bullet track is arranged in advance in the bullet comment space, and at least part of the bullet comment information bends along the bullet track to form curved bullet comments (See Fig. 1, 3-7. The examiner notes the figures have text below the figures further explaining the figures, the subject of which is incorporated herein. Also see transcript of time periods between Fig. 1-7. The figures illustrate setting up a path, that is curved and circular from which bullet comments bend along to form curved bullet comments.).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Peng in view of Odisho as curving text provides a guide where to focus the user’s view and minimizes visually ignoring text by allowing it to animation in a different way.
Regarding claim 2, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 1, characterized in that,wherein an axial direction of the bullet track is a vertical direction in the display space, the bullet track bends along a first direction, and the first direction is a display direction of the target image; and/or, the number of bullet tracks is at least two, and there are at least two bullet tracks with different locations in the first direction (Figure 8, a second path that is a retangle. The path provides a bullet track in a vertical direction. The text bends as it goes arounds edges. Fig. 9 and 1 shows the text animated in at least two directions. The square path at least has two paths as well.).
Regarding claim 3, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 1 wherein (See claim 1 above)
the bullet comment information comprises at least one of a first-type bullet comment and a second-type bullet comment, and the bullet comment space comprises at least one of a first bullet comment space and a second bullet comment space (See Odisho Fig. 1: Fig. 1 illustrates two bullet spaces, a two bullet comments a circular and a square);
wherein the first-type bullet comment is displayed in the first bullet comment space, and the second-type bullet comment is displayed in the second bullet comment space (See Odisho Fig. 1: Fig. 1 illustrates two bullet spaces, a two bullet comments a circular and a square).
Regarding claim 4, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 3 (See claim 3), characterized in that, wherein at least one of the following conditions is met:
the first-type bullet comment comprises interactive information; the second-type bullet comment comprises non interactive information (See Peng Fig. 7, ¶83-85, the interactive information is considered to be the agreement information, the non-interactive information is the bullet screen information that is not the agreement information);the first bullet comment space has at least two bullet tracks with different locations in the first direction (See Peng Fig. 7, ¶83-85, or Odisho Fig. 1, 9 and 10: the square animation shows at least two bullet tracks); spacing distances between adjacent bullet comment information on the bullet track are not exactly the same (Odisho Fig. 1, 9 and 10, the bullet information is not the same as they can be closer or further away depending on where the measurement is provided);wherein the first direction is a display direction of a target image in the display space (See Peng Fig. 2-4 and ¶46, the examiner notes if you switch between Fig. 2-3, the direction of the bullet text direction is illustrated. See MPEP 2173.05(h)).
Regarding claim 5, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 3, wherein displaying the bullet comment information in the bullet comment space comprises at least one of the following:
controlling the first-type bullet comment to move along the bullet track in the first bullet comment space (See Peng Fig. 2-4 and ¶46. See MPEP 2173.05(h)).
Regarding claim 6, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 3, wherein displaying the bullet comment information in the bullet comment space comprises at least one of:
in response to a first-type bullet comment sent by a current user, distinguishing the display style of the first-type bullet comment sent by the current user from the display style of other first-type bullet comments (See Peng Fig. 7, ¶83-85, two styles are present and displayed the style without the fire and the style with the fire. See MPEP 2173.05(h)).
Regarding claim 7, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 3, wherein displaying the bullet comment information in the bullet comment space comprises in response to a first-type bullet comment sent by a current user, displaying the first- type bullet comment sent by the current user on the most forward bullet track in the first direction in the first bullet comment space (See Fig. 3 and ¶51. The examiner notes the top bullet comment is considered to be the most forward bullet track. See MPEP 2173.05(h))).
Regarding claim 8, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 3, wherein displaying the bullet comment information in the bullet comment space comprises at least one of the following:
a bullet track in the second bullet comment space being located on a side of a bullet track in the first bullet comment space facing a first direction (See Odisho Fig. 1, 9 and 10, shows a square that shows a side bullet track);
scrolling-displaying the second-type bullet comment on a bullet track in the second bullet comment space (See Peng Fig. 7, ¶83-85, two styles are present and displayed the style without the fire and the style with the fire. Also see Fig. 6 and 9.The second-type bullet comment is considered to be scrolling as it moves the text when compared to Fig. 6 and 9. . See MPEP 2173.05(h)))
Claim 12 recites similar limitations to that of claim 1 but doesn’t explicitly disclose:
terminal device, comprising:
at least one memory and at least one processor;
wherein the at least one memory stores program code that are executed by-
the at least one processor is for calling the program code stored into cause the terminal device perform actions comprising
Peng teaches terminal device, comprising (See Peng ¶33 ):
at least one memory and at least one processor (See Peng ¶336: Processor);
wherein the at least one memory stores program code that are executed by-
the at least one processor is for calling the program code stored into cause the terminal device perform actions comprising (See Peng claim 18):
Thus claim 12 is rejected under similar rationale as detailed above in claim 1.
Claim 13 recites similar limitation to that of claim 1 but doesn’t explicitly disclose:
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium is for storing program code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform actions comprising:
Peng teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium is for storing program code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform actions comprising (¶9 and ¶336):
Thus claim 13 is rejected under similar rationale as detailed above in claim 1.
Claim 14-21 recite similar limitations to that of claim 2-9 and thus are rejected as detailed above.
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng (US-20170251240-A1) in view of Odisho, How to Animate Scrolling Text on a Path in Adobe After Effects CC (Circle, Square, Custom Pen Shape), Feb 6, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Iz5ma1RD8 in further view of Wang (US-20180262795-A1).
Regarding claim 10, Peng in view of Odisho teaches the method of claim 1, but doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the display space is virtual reality space, and the target image is a virtual reality image.
Wang teaches wherein the display space is virtual reality space, and the target image is a virtual reality image (¶18, “FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method for displaying a bullet curtain in a VR video according to an aspect of the disclosure. The method may be applied in a Virtual Reality (VR) scenario and performed by a VR device which can be a VR eye, a VR helmet, or the like. When a user is watching the VR video, the user can change the direction of his/her head to change current display content. For example, when looking up to the sky, the user may see the screen moving up and showing the sky or a ceiling above the user's head. The screen as seen by the user may seem to be surrounding the user, so the VR video may also be referred to as a panoramic video. During playback of the VR video, when the bullet curtain is displayed in a manner of the existing 2D plan display, the bullet curtain can only be displayed at a fixed position, thereby resulting in a bad user experience. With the method, the display position of the bullet curtain may be associated with a current display area, so that the user can see both different display content and different bullet curtains when the user faces different positions at a same time. As shown in FIG. 1, the method for displaying the bullet curtain in the VR video may include the following steps.”).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Peng in view of Odisho in further view of Wang a virtual environment reduces real world distraction, and creates more focus and immersion, thus increasing emotional engagement with the comment bullets.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT J CRADDOCK whose telephone number is (571)270-7502. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:00 AM - 6 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Devona E Faulk can be reached at 571-272-7515. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROBERT J CRADDOCK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2618
Prosecution Insights