DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the filing of 9/26/24. Claims 1-24 are pending and have been considered below.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 8, 12-13, 16, 20-21, 24 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.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance. The prior art of record fails to disclose increasing the size of the virtual object and updating the other avatars so they’d be separated by a minimum distance, in combination with other limitations recited within the claimed context. The claims present a combination of limitations that differ from the cited art, and there is no reasonable combination of references that would teach it.
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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 9-11, 14, 17-19, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fradet (20230063303) in view of Delgado (20220130126.)
Claim 1, 9, 17: Fradet discloses a method comprising: at a first electronic device in communication with a display, one or more input devices (Fig. 6A-6B, touchscreen displays; par. 104-105), a second electronic device and a third electronic device (Fig. 4A, in communication with two or more devices; par. 99-100):
while in a communication session with the second electronic device and the third electronic device, displaying, via the display, a three-dimensional environment including a three-dimensional representation corresponding to a user of the second electronic device and a three-dimensional representation corresponding to a user of the third electronic device (Fig. 5; par. 119, virtual clones of the remote users are displayed in the room. Furthermore, if in a VR environment some users wear a VR headset, the users may be represented by an avatar or another element in the VR scene), wherein the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device are separated by a first distance (Fig. 5, e.g. distance between UB and UA);
while displaying the three-dimensional environment including the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a first input corresponding to a request to display shared content in the three-dimensional environment (par. 117, If the same content shall be shared with several users, this can be done simultaneously in a single gesture.)
However, Fradet does not explicitly disclose:
in response to receiving the first input:
in accordance with a determination that the shared content is a first type of content: displaying, via the display, a first object corresponding to the shared content in the three-dimensional environment; and updating display of the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device, such that the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device are separated by a second distance, different from the first distance; and
in accordance with a determination that the shared content is a second type of content, different from the first type of content: displaying, via the display, a second object corresponding to the shared content in the three-dimensional environment; and maintaining display of the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device to be separated by the first distance.
Delgado discloses a similar method for displaying object in a 3d space, including: in response to receiving the first input:
[The following are contingent limitations (the rest of claim 1), as they are based on the determination of content type, first, or second, as claimed below. Therefore, the BRI of this method (does not apply to system and medium types, claims 23-24) only includes one of these following contingencies (for first type / second type). See MPEP 2111.04 II, and Ex parte Schulhauser, Appeal 2013-007847 (PTAB April 28, 2016.)]
in accordance with a determination that the shared content is a first type of content: displaying, via the display, a first object corresponding to the shared content in the three-dimensional environment; and updating display of the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device, such that the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device are separated by a second distance, different from the first distance (par. 8, 3D representations of multiple virtual objects may be placed and repositioned within the AR space. Fig. 13-14F; par. 243-244); and
in accordance with a determination that the shared content is a second type of content, different from the first type of content: displaying, via the display, a second object corresponding to the shared content in the three-dimensional environment; and maintaining display of the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device to be separated by the first distance (Fig. 6G; par. 199, the user device 500 may provide the user with one or more indicators indicating that no collision is detected, which indicates that the 3D representation of the virtual object physically fits within the bounded space defined by the spatial features of the AR space 610.)
In other words, Delgado discloses placing / displaying objects that fit (first type) and placing objects that do not fit (second type) whereby other multiple virtual objects (e.g. users as taught by Delgado) are repositioned so as to accommodate the larger virtual object, thereby, the distance between other multiple objects (users) is changed. Furthermore, Delgado teaches that it can do so automatically (par. 6.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Fradet and Delgado so as to make room for shared content without the content being stuck / occluded by user’s avatars.
Claim 2, 10, 18: Fradet and Delgado disclose the method of claim 1, wherein: the determination that the shared content is the first type of content is in accordance with a determination that the first object corresponding to the shared content is configured to have a size that is greater than a threshold size when the first object is displayed in the three-dimensional environment; and the determination that the shared content is the second type of content is in accordance with a determination that the second object corresponding to the shared content is configured to have a size that is within a threshold size when the second object is displayed in the three-dimensional environment (Delgado par. 183, For example, in some implementations surface detection, e.g., using the image analyzer 334a, can also take perspective measurements to determine the actual size of the detected surface(s), which can then be used to determine a position in which the virtual object fits into the space.)
Claim 3, 11, 19: Fradet and Delgado disclose method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the shared content is the second type of content is in accordance with a determination that the second object corresponding to the shared content corresponds to a two-dimensional representation of the user of the second electronic device or a two-dimensional representation of the user of the third electronic device (Delgado FIG. 11, some or all users can be represented by small icons IC in a corner of the screen. In the depicted example, the second user UB is in sight, i.e. shown on the display of the first user device, whereas three further users C, D and E sharing the same MR scene are not visible and are, therefore, represented by the icons IC. By a simple drag & drop action on one of the icons, sharing of the content with the associated user can be launched.)
Claim 6, 14, 22: Fradet and Delgado disclose method of claim 1, further comprising: while displaying the first object corresponding to the shared content at a first position in the three-dimensional environment relative to a viewpoint of the first electronic device in accordance with a determination that the shared content is the first type of content in response to receiving the first input, receiving, via the one or more input devices, a second input corresponding to a request to scale the first object in the three-dimensional environment; and in response to receiving the second input, in accordance with a determination that the request is to increase a size of the first object relative to the viewpoint of the first electronic device: increasing the size of the first object in the three-dimensional environment relative to the viewpoint of the first electronic device in accordance with the second input; and updating a position of the first object in the three-dimensional environment to be a second position, farther from the first position, in the three-dimensional environment relative to the viewpoint (Delgado Fig. 8, allowing the user to enter the size of the box, and thereby scale it in size as needed.)
Claim(s) 7, 15, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fradet (20230063303) in view of Delgado (20220130126) in further view of Valdivia (20180095637.)
Claim 7, 15, 23: Fradet and Delgado disclose method of claim 1. However, the combination does not explicitly disclose, further comprising: while displaying the second object corresponding to the shared content in the three-dimensional environment in accordance with the determination that the shared content is the second type of content in response to receiving the first input, detecting an indication that a user of a fourth electronic device has joined the communication session; and in response to detecting the indication: displaying, via the display, a three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the fourth electronic device in the three-dimensional environment; wherein the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device remain separated by the first distance.
Valdivia discloses a similar method for displaying avatars in a virtual reality, including: further comprising: while displaying the second object corresponding to the shared content in the three-dimensional environment in accordance with the determination that the shared content is the second type of content in response to receiving the first input, detecting an indication that a user of a fourth electronic device has joined the communication session; and in response to detecting the indication: displaying, via the display, a three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the fourth electronic device in the three-dimensional environment; wherein the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the second electronic device and the three-dimensional representation corresponding to the user of the third electronic device remain separated by the first distance (par. 171, other users may join subsequently (e.g., on their own initiative if they have the requisite permissions, or upon receiving an invite). A user in the virtual room may be able to see avatars of other users.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Fradet and Valdivia so as to allow more users to join the room / session.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Haswell (9,047,690) a system for a virtual environment.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREY BELOUSOV whose telephone number is (571) 270-1695 and Andrew.belousov@uspto.gov email. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Adam Queler, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-4140. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Andrey Belousov/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2172
9/19/26
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