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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remark filed 12/08/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 21-34 under 35 USC § 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Ai et al. Pub. No.: US 2017/0256288 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 12/31/2025 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. Patent No. 12096047 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
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.
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.
Claims 21-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qu et al. Pub. No.: US 2018/0124477 (Hereinafter “Qu”) in view of Ai et al. Pub. No.: US 2017/0256288 (Hereinafter “Ai”)
Regarding Claim 21, Qu discloses an effect display method, comprising:
displaying a live stream of content (see paragraph [0081]: live video stream GUI 304 includes the live video stream display 306,);
receiving an effect trigger operation (see fig. 2B and paragraph [0045]: GUI 214 includes various controls with which the broadcaster can interact to setup or otherwise define call-to-action characteristics and/or trigger settings by which the call-to-action system 100 will provide a call to action to one or more viewers of a live video stream.); and
in response to receiving the effect trigger operation, displaying an effect, wherein the effect is generated based on effect information corresponding to the effect trigger operation and a live stream image corresponding to the live stream of content (see paragraph [0071]: in response to a viewer interacting with a call to action (e.g., providing a touch gesture with respect to a call-to-action element), the call-to-action system 100 can provide a notification to the viewer. Accordingly, the broadcaster can configure various aspects of the notifications provided by the call-to-action system 100 via the control 220f. For example, the notification may inform the viewer that the viewer did not receive the benefit corresponding to the call to action (e.g., he did not tap on the floating birthday present quickly enough) or may inform the viewer that the viewer did receive the benefit associated with the call to action (e.g., “You Won!”). Additionally, the call-to-action system 100 can provide extra information to viewers via notifications including how long it will be before another call to action is triggered (e.g., “Don't leave yet! Another prize will be offered within the next 5 minutes!”), an engagement level that must be reached before another call to action is triggered (e.g., “Just 5 more comments and a prize will be released!), and so forth.).
Qu fails to disclose:
the effect comprises an effect image corresponding to the effect information and the live stream image corresponding to the live stream of content.
In analogous art, Ai teaches:
the effect comprises an effect image corresponding to the effect information (see include, but is not limited to, paragraph [0176]: The video edit request may contain at least information indicative of the prologue, the one or more transition effects and the epilogue that is to be merged to the captured video) and the live stream image corresponding to the live stream of content (see include, but is not limited to, paragraph [0176]: The video edit request may occur any time after the video has been captured. This may include while the video is being live-streamed, within seconds after the video is captured, within hours after the video is captured, within days after the video is captured, within months after the video is captured, or any other time after the video is captured.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Qu with the teaching as taught by Ai in order to merge one or more video clips to the video captured at an image capture device based on the video edit request, thereby delivering an effective approach for efficiently transmitting and editing video captured by an image capture device.
Regarding Claim 22, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 21. Qu further discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 21. Qu further discloses determining time information corresponding to a time at which the effect trigger operation is received (see paragraphs [0074], [0075] and [0105]).
Regarding Claim 23, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 22. Qu further discloses wherein the time information includes: a time when a user watching the live stream of content triggers the effect trigger operation, or a time when a live streamer user of the live stream triggers the effect trigger operation (see paragraphs [0074], [0075] and [0105]).
Regarding Claim 24, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 22. Qu further discloses wherein the method further comprises: acquiring an image frame (see paragraph [0078]) corresponding to the time information in response to an effect trigger instruction triggered by the effect trigger operation (see paragraph [0137]).
Regarding Claim 25, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 24. Qu further discloses wherein the live stream image is obtained based on the image frame (see figs. 3A-3C and paragraphs [0078, 0084, 0087-0090]).
Regarding Claim 26, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 25. Qu further discloses wherein the displaying an effect comprises: displaying the effect on the live stream of content (see figs. 3A-3C and paragraphs [0078, 0084, 0087-0090]).
Regarding Claim 27, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 22. Ai further discloses wherein in response to receiving the effect trigger operation and prior to displaying the effect, sending an effect trigger instruction to a server, the effect trigger instruction indicating the effect information, and the effect trigger instruction also indicating an image frame corresponding to the time information in the stream content of the live stream (see paragraph [0176]).
Regarding Claim 28, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 27. Qu further discloses wherein after sending the effect trigger instruction to the server and prior to displaying the effect, acquiring an effect display instruction from the server, the effect display instruction indicating target effect information, and the target effect information being associated with the effect information and a target object image in the image frame (see fig.4 and paragraphs [0126-0129]).
Regarding Claim 29, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 21. Qu further discloses wherein the live stream of content and the effect are displayed on a client device and the effect is generated on a server and received at the client device from the server (see fig.4 and paragraphs [0126-0129]).
Regarding Claim 30, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 21. Ai further discloses wherein the live stream of content and the effect are displayed on a client device and the effect is generated on the client device (see paragraph [0094]).
Regarding Claim 31, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 21. Ai further discloses wherein in response to the effect trigger operation, determining time information corresponding to the effect trigger operation, determining an image frame corresponding to the time information in the live stream of content, and determining the effect information corresponding to the effect trigger operation (see paragraph [0214]).
Regarding Claim 32, Qu in view of Ai teach the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 21. Qu further discloses wherein the effect trigger operation is a virtual object-gifting operation of a user watching the live stream of content (see fig.2B: element 224).
Regarding Claim 33, Qu in view of Ai teach an effect display device (see fig.6), comprising:
a memory (see fig.6: memory 604) and a processor (see fig.6: processor 602); the memory is configured to store computer instructions; the processor is configured to execute the computer instructions stored in the memory (see paragraph [0150]), so that the effect display device implements the effect display method according to claim 21.
Regarding Claim 34, the claim is directed toward embody the method of claim 21 in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to implement the effect display method according to claim 21.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alazar Tilahun whose telephone number is (571)270-5712. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday, From 9:00 AM-6:00 PM.
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, 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.
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.
/ALAZAR TILAHUN/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2424
/A.T/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424