DETAILED ACTION
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) 1-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reyes et al. (2020/0041803) in view of Kim et al. (2022/0385617).
Regarding claim 1, Reyes teaches a method comprising: at an electronic device (1420; Fig 14) in communication with one or more head-mounted displays (100; Fig 14) and one or more input devices (para [0088] WHUD 100 as shown in FIG. 1 includes multiple sensors, which can be used to capture input which can indicate a context of the user, and which can be used to capture input from the user which provides instructions to the WHUD 100. These sensors can include microphone 111, camera 112, inertial measurement unit (“IMU”) 113, eye-tracking system 114, proximity sensors 115 and any other sensor as appropriate for a particular application. A): while in a first mode (para [0096] At 201, at least one processor 120 identifies that WHUD 100 is to present content of at least one notification to a user of WHUD 100. Non-limiting examples of this include: WHUD 100 could receive a new message, and the at least one processor 120 could identify that a notification should be presented to a user of WHUD 100 informing the user of the new message), detecting, using the one or more input devices including an optical sensor (Fig 3E; para [0112] Camera 312 captures visual data including a representation of the other human 391), an event (para [0112] FIG. 3E shows a user 390 interacting face-to-face with another human 391); in accordance with a determination that the event satisfies one or more first criteria, the one or more first criteria including a first criterion that is satisfied when the event corresponds to an interaction of a user of the electronic device with a person (para [0111] FIGS. 3E-3N illustrate cases where WHUD 300 includes camera 312. In these examples, camera 312 captures user context data in the form of captured visual data, which can be analyzed by the at least one processor to determine whether the user is interacting with another human. para [0112] The at least one processor then analyzes the captured visual data, determines whether there is another human represented in the visual data, and subsequently determines whether the user 390 is interacting with the other human), transitioning the electronic device from the first mode to a second mode (Fig 5B and Fig 5D); in the second mode: in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device (para [0144] Essentially, the examples of FIGS. 5A and 5C show cases where content of a notification is presented to a user by display 101 according to a first presentation format when the at least one processor 120 determines that the user is not interacting with another human, and the examples of FIGS. 513 and 5D show cases where content of a notification is presented to a user by display 101 according to a second presentation format different from the first presentation format (i.e., a visual summary of content of the notification) when the at least one processor 120 determines that the user is interacting with another human.; Fig 11 further shows the ) (Fig 5A and Fig 5C shows the whole message; while Fig 5B and Fig 5D reflects how such whole message is not presented).
Reyes fails to teach, while in the second mode: receiving a notification from an application; and in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device; as claimed.
Kim teaches a method comprising: while in the second mode: receiving a notification from an application; and in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device (para [0071] Referring to the non-limiting example of FIG. 7, at operation 705, a notification manager (for example, notification manager 550 in FIG. 5) according to various embodiments of this disclosure, receives one or more notifications to be displayed in an AR display provided by the HMD. In some embodiments, the notifications are provided by applications running on the HMD or may be notifications provided by the HMD itself (for example, a low battery warning notification). At operation 705, the received notifications are added to an unseen notification(s) stack maintained by the notification manager, pending analysis at operations 710-725 to determine a current notification priority value).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have modified the method of Reyes with the teachings of Kim, because this will allow user to have limited distraction while performing activity that required undivided attention, thus improving user experience (Kim: para [0047]).
Regarding claim 2, Reyes teaches the method of claim1, further comprising: in accordance with a determination that the event does not satisfy the one or more first criteria, foregoing transitioning the electronic device from the first mode to the second mode (Fig 10; para [0153] If the at least one processor 120 determines at 1003 that the user of WHUD 100 is not interacting with another human, method 1000 proceeds to act 1004, in which WHUD 100 presents content of at least one notification to the user immediately (i.e., present the at least one notification according to a first presentation format).).
Regarding claim 3, Reyes teaches the method of claim1, further comprising: while in the second mode, in accordance with a determination that the event has ended, transitioning the electronic device from the second mode to the first mode (Fig 11; para [0156] The loop of acts 1105, 1106, and 1107 shown in FIG. 11 can be repeated indefinitely, until the at least one processor 120 determines that the user is no longer interacting with another human.).
Regarding claim 4, Reyes teaches the method of claim 3, further comprising: in response to transitioning the electronic device from the second mode to the first mode, presenting one or more notifications that were received and not presented while in the second mode (para [0154] Advantageously, delaying presentation of the at least one notification if the user is interacting with another human allows the user to completely focus on the interaction, and be presented with their notifications later when they might be finished with the interaction. Para [0158] In essence, method 1200 involves identifying when two or more notifications are to be presented at different times, and if the user is interacting with another human, delaying presentation of the two or more notifications until after a delay time has elapsed, and presenting the two or more notifications together after the delay time has elapsed. In summary, method 1200 can group notifications identified while the user is interacting with another human, and present the grouped notifications to the user after a delay time or after the user is no longer interacting with another human.).
Regarding claim 5, Reyes teaches the method, of claim 4, wherein presenting the one or more notifications that were received and not presented while in the second mode further includes presenting one or more summaries corresponding to the one or more notifications (para [0098] and/or grouping multiple notifications together for simultaneous presentation, as are discussed in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 5A-5D, 6A-6E, 7A-7D, 8A-8B, 9A-9B, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15A-15D. para [0144] In the case of FIG. 5B, the at least one processor 120 generates a convenient visual summary representative of the content of the message, but smaller in display size and easier for the user to quickly interpret, and display 101 displays the visual summary. Para [0145] but the content of the notification is also summarized into a convenient visual summary, similar to as discussed above with regards to FIGS. 5A-5D. para [0158] In summary, method 1200 can group notifications identified while the user is interacting with another human, and present the grouped notifications to the user after a delay time or after the user is no longer interacting with another human.).
Regarding claim 6, Reyes teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more input devices further include an audio sensor (311; Fig 3AA), and detecting the event using the one or more input devices including the optical sensor and the audio sensor (para [0124] In FIG. 3AA, WHUD 300 includes microphone 311, camera 312, IMU 313, eye tracking system 314, and proximity sensors 315, any or all of which can be used to capture user context data and provide the captured user context data to at least one processor carried by WHUD 300.) comprises determining an identity of the person and detecting audio information using the one or more input devices (para [0103] FIG. 3B illustrates an example wherein the at least one processor can analyze the captured audio data to determine whether human speech is represented in the captured audio data. Para [0106] For example, the at least one processor could analyze the captured audio data for names and keywords related to a project the user is working on, events the user is scheduled to attend, names of family members and friends of the user, or any other suitable content related to the user. Para [0123] FIGS. 3Y and 3Z show an implementation where WHUD 300 includes a plurality of proximity sensors 315a, 315b, 315c, and 315d which capture user facial proximity data and provide this captured user facial proximity data to the at least one processor, which in turn analyzes the captured user facial proximity data to determine whether the user is interacting with another human.).
Regarding claim 7, Reyes teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: while in the second mode, in accordance with a determination that one or more third criteria are satisfied, presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device after a threshold amount of time (Fig 11; para [0156] FIG. 11 involves delaying presentation of a notification if a user is interacting with a human, and periodically checking (with intervals of the delay time) whether the user is still interacting with the other human, in order to determine whether the at least one notification should be presented.).
Regarding claim 8, Reyes teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: while in the second mode, in accordance with a determination that one or more fourth criteria are satisfied, presenting the notification from the application on a second electronic device communicatively coupled to the electronic device and forgoing presenting the notification on the electronic device (para [0098] In summary, method 200 essentially involves WHUD 100 determining whether a user is interacting with another human based on user context data, and changing the presentation format of content of at least one notification if the user is interacting with another human. This change in presentation format can involve at least one or a combination of reducing the size of a visual notification presented by display 101, changing a location of a visual notification presented by display 101, reducing the vibration intensity or duration of a vibratory notification presented by speaker 102 or haptic output interface 103, changing the output device by which the notification is presented,).
Regarding claim 9, Reyes teaches an electronic device comprising: one or more head-mounted displays (100; Fig 14); one or more input devices (para [0088] WHUD 100 as shown in FIG. 1 includes multiple sensors, which can be used to capture input which can indicate a context of the user, and which can be used to capture input from the user which provides instructions to the WHUD 100. These sensors can include microphone 111, camera 112, inertial measurement unit (“IMU”) 113, eye-tracking system 114, proximity sensors 115 and any other sensor as appropriate for a particular application.); a memory (121; Fig 1; para [0161]); one or more processors (120; Fig 1; para [0161]); and one or more programs stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors (para [0178] as one or more computer programs executed by one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs executed by on one or more controllers (e.g., microcontrollers) as one or more programs executed by one or more processors (e.g., microprocessors, central processing units, graphical processing units),), the one or more programs including instructions for: while in a first mode (para [0096] At 201, at least one processor 120 identifies that WHUD 100 is to present content of at least one notification to a user of WHUD 100. Non-limiting examples of this include: WHUD 100 could receive a new message, and the at least one processor 120 could identify that a notification should be presented to a user of WHUD 100 informing the user of the new message), detecting, using the one or more input devices including an optical sensor (Fig 3E; para [0112] Camera 312 captures visual data including a representation of the other human 391), an event (para [0112] FIG. 3E shows a user 390 interacting face-to-face with another human 391); in accordance with a determination that the event satisfies one or more first criteria, the one or more first criteria including a first criterion that is satisfied when the event corresponds to an interaction of a user of the electronic device with a person (para [0111] FIGS. 3E-3N illustrate cases where WHUD 300 includes camera 312. In these examples, camera 312 captures user context data in the form of captured visual data, which can be analyzed by the at least one processor to determine whether the user is interacting with another human. para [0112] The at least one processor then analyzes the captured visual data, determines whether there is another human represented in the visual data, and subsequently determines whether the user 390 is interacting with the other human), transitioning the electronic device from the first mode to a second mode (Fig 5B and Fig 5D); in the second mode: in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device (para [0144] Essentially, the examples of FIGS. 5A and 5C show cases where content of a notification is presented to a user by display 101 according to a first presentation format when the at least one processor 120 determines that the user is not interacting with another human, and the examples of FIGS. 513 and 5D show cases where content of a notification is presented to a user by display 101 according to a second presentation format different from the first presentation format (i.e., a visual summary of content of the notification) when the at least one processor 120 determines that the user is interacting with another human.; Fig 11 further shows the ) (Fig 5A and Fig 5C shows the whole message; while Fig 5B and Fig 5D reflects how such whole message is not presented).
Reyes fails to teach, while in the second mode: receiving a notification from an application; and in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device; as claimed.
Kim teaches an electronic device comprising: while in the second mode: receiving a notification from an application; and in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device (para [0071] Referring to the non-limiting example of FIG. 7, at operation 705, a notification manager (for example, notification manager 550 in FIG. 5) according to various embodiments of this disclosure, receives one or more notifications to be displayed in an AR display provided by the HMD. In some embodiments, the notifications are provided by applications running on the HMD or may be notifications provided by the HMD itself (for example, a low battery warning notification). At operation 705, the received notifications are added to an unseen notification(s) stack maintained by the notification manager, pending analysis at operations 710-725 to determine a current notification priority value).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have modified the device of Reyes with the teachings of Kim, because this will allow user to have limited distraction while performing activity that required undivided attention, thus improving user experience (Kim: para [0047]).
Regarding claims 10-16 which are apparatus claims and are similar in scope to claim 2-8, therefore claims 10-16 are rejected same as claims 2-8, as explained above.
Regarding claim 17, Reyes teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device (para [0089] WHUD 100 as shown in FIG. 1 also includes at least one processor 120 and a non-transitory processor-readable medium 121 communicatively coupled to the at least one processor 120. The at least one processor 120 can be any suitable component which can execute instructions or logic, including but not limited to a micro-controller, microprocessor, multi-core processor, integrated-circuit, ASIC, FGPA, programmable logic device, or any appropriate combination of these components. The non-transitory processor-readable medium 121 can be any suitable component which can store instructions, logic, or programs, including but not limited to non-volatile or volatile memory, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), FLASH memory, registers, magnetic hard disk, optical disk, or any combination of these components. The non-transitory processor-readable medium 121 can store processor executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor 120, cause the WHUD 100 to implement the present systems, devices, and methods), cause the electronic device to perform a method comprising: while in a first mode (para [0096] At 201, at least one processor 120 identifies that WHUD 100 is to present content of at least one notification to a user of WHUD 100. Non-limiting examples of this include: WHUD 100 could receive a new message, and the at least one processor 120 could identify that a notification should be presented to a user of WHUD 100 informing the user of the new message), detecting, using the one or more input devices including an optical sensor (Fig 3E; para [0112] Camera 312 captures visual data including a representation of the other human 391), an event (para [0112] FIG. 3E shows a user 390 interacting face-to-face with another human 391); in accordance with a determination that the event satisfies one or more first criteria, the one or more first criteria including a first criterion that is satisfied when the event corresponds to an interaction of a user of the electronic device with a person (para [0111] FIGS. 3E-3N illustrate cases where WHUD 300 includes camera 312. In these examples, camera 312 captures user context data in the form of captured visual data, which can be analyzed by the at least one processor to determine whether the user is interacting with another human. para [0112] The at least one processor then analyzes the captured visual data, determines whether there is another human represented in the visual data, and subsequently determines whether the user 390 is interacting with the other human), transitioning the electronic device from the first mode to a second mode (Fig 5B and Fig 5D); in the second mode: in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device (para [0144] Essentially, the examples of FIGS. 5A and 5C show cases where content of a notification is presented to a user by display 101 according to a first presentation format when the at least one processor 120 determines that the user is not interacting with another human, and the examples of FIGS. 513 and 5D show cases where content of a notification is presented to a user by display 101 according to a second presentation format different from the first presentation format (i.e., a visual summary of content of the notification) when the at least one processor 120 determines that the user is interacting with another human.; Fig 11 further shows the ) (Fig 5A and Fig 5C shows the whole message; while Fig 5B and Fig 5D reflects how such whole message is not presented).
Reyes fails to teach, while in the second mode: receiving a notification from an application; and in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device; as claimed.
Kim teaches an electronic device comprising: while in the second mode: receiving a notification from an application; and in accordance with a determination that one or more second criteria are satisfied, forgoing presenting the notification from the application on the electronic device (para [0071] Referring to the non-limiting example of FIG. 7, at operation 705, a notification manager (for example, notification manager 550 in FIG. 5) according to various embodiments of this disclosure, receives one or more notifications to be displayed in an AR display provided by the HMD. In some embodiments, the notifications are provided by applications running on the HMD or may be notifications provided by the HMD itself (for example, a low battery warning notification). At operation 705, the received notifications are added to an unseen notification(s) stack maintained by the notification manager, pending analysis at operations 710-725 to determine a current notification priority value).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of present application to have modified the device of Reyes with the teachings of Kim, because this will allow user to have limited distraction while performing activity that required undivided attention, thus improving user experience (Kim: para [0047]).
Regarding claims 18-24 which are directed towards non-transitory computer readable storage medium and are similar in scope to claim 2-8, therefore claims 18-24 are rejected same as claims 2-8, as explained above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-24 filed on 03/13/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hermsen et al. (11,747,891) teaches A system and method of selectively outputting content on a head mounted wearable computing device is provided. The system may determine a context associated with the operation of the head mounted wearable computing device, and selectively output content on the head mounted wearable computing device, or delay the output of content, based on the context. The content may be displayed in one or more designated portions of the display of the head mounted wearable computing device so as to reduce distraction to the user, and enhance situational awareness and situational safety during use of the head mounted wearable computing device.
Jun et al. (2017/0337897) teaches A head mounted display (HMD) device including a communication processor configured to communicate with a mobile terminal; a display configured to display a content received from the mobile terminal; and a controller configured to in response to an event generated on the mobile terminal, selectively display an object on the display corresponding to the event generated on the mobile terminal, based on a type of the displayed content.
Joo (2016/0034042) teaches A wearable glasses is provided. The wearable glasses includes a sensing circuit, a communication interface, a display, and a controller. The sensing circuit senses movement information of a user wearing the wearable glasses. The communication interface receives notification message information. The display displays the notification message information within an angle of view of the user wearing the wearable glasses. The controller determines a movement state of the user based on the sensed movement information of the user and controls the display to display the received notification message information according to the movement state of the user.
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/PREMAL R PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2624
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