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 Amendment
Applicant's submission filed on 3/18/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 8 and 15 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.
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.
Claims 1-4, 8-11 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lasater et al. (US 2022/0383399 hereinafter Lasater) in view of Noskin et al. (US 11,539,801 hereinafter Noskin).
Regarding claim 1, Lasater discloses a system comprising:
a memory that stores a user profile associated with each user of a plurality of users that have access to a virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0018], [0050]-[0053]), wherein: each user profile is associated with at least a set of user interface (UI) elements from among a plurality of UI elements configured to be presented in the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0025]; i.e. each customer profile is associated with virtual reality objects of the retailers and/or avatars to be displayed in the virtual or augmented (VR/AR) environment); and a user associated with a user profile is authorized to view in the virtual environment only a particular set of the plurality of UI elements that are associated with the user profile (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018]; i.e. each customer logged into an account can view the virtual reality objects based on the customer profile, transaction history, preferences, etc.); and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0050]-[0053]):
receive a first request from a first user device associated with a first user to enter the virtual environment, wherein the first request comprises a first user credential that allows the first user access to the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0018], [0058]; i.e. receiving a customer’s request to log into an account associated with one or more retailers to access the VR/AR environment);
authorize, based on the first user credential, a first avatar of the first user to enter the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0018], [0025], [0058]; i.e. authorizing a customer and/or associated avatar enter the VR/AR environment);
obtain, based on the first user credential, a first user profile associated with the first user (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0058]; i.e. obtaining the customer profile based on the authorized account);
determine a first set of the plurality of UI elements associated with the first user profile of the first user and which the first user is authorized to view in the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0025]; i.e. determining virtual reality objects and/or avatar according to the customer’s profile);
render the virtual environment to display on the first user device of the first user only the first set of the UI elements which the first user is authorized to view in the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0025]; i.e. displaying the determining virtual reality objects and/or avatar on the user-operated device);
receive a second request from a second user device associated with a second user to enter the virtual environment, wherein the second request comprises a second user credential that allows the second user to access the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0018], [0025], [0058]; i.e. receiving other customers’ request to log into an account associated with one or more retailers to access the VR/AR environment);
authorize, based on the second user credential, a second avatar of the second user to enter the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0018], [0025], [0058]; i.e. authorizing the other customers and/or associated avatars enter the VR/AR environment);
obtain, based on the second user credential, a second user profile associated with the second user (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0025], [0058]; i.e. obtaining the other customer profiles based on the authorized accounts);
determine a second set of the plurality of UI elements associated with the second user profile of the second user and which the second user is authorized to view in the virtual environment (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0025]; i.e. determining virtual reality objects and/or avatar according to other customers’ profiles); and
render the virtual environment to display on the second user device of the second user only the second set of the UI elements (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0025]; i.e. displaying the determining virtual reality objects and/or avatar on the other user-operated devices);
wherein at least some of the first set of the plurality of UI elements associated with the first user are different from at least some of the second set of the plurality of UI elements associated with the second user (FIG. 1-4, ¶ [0016]-[0018], [0025]; i.e. the displayed virtual reality objects and/or avatars on the user-operated devices are based on the customer accounts and/or customer profiles).
Lasater does not explicitly disclose such that the first user and the second user view different sets of UI elements in the virtual environment shared between the first user and the second user at the same time.
However, Noskin discloses such that the first user and the second user view different sets of UI elements in the virtual environment shared between the first user and the second user at the same time (FIG. 6A-B & 7, col. 13, line 35-col. 14, line 61).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lasater and Noskin in order to enhance user experience by providing video editing techniques to shared real-time interactions between users (Noskin, col. 1, lines 5-20).
Regarding claim 2, Lasater in view of Noskin discloses the system of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a first field of view of the first user within the virtual environment (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022]); determine a first UI element that is positioned in the first field of view of the user (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022]); determine, based on the first user profile of the first user, whether the first user is authorized to view the first UI element (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022]); in response to determining that the first user is authorized to view the first UI element, render the first UI element for display on the first user device in the first field of view within the virtual environment (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022]); and in response to determining that the first user is not authorized to view the first UI element, do not render the first UI element (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022]).
Regarding claim 3, Lasater in view of Noskin discloses the system of Claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to: detect that the first user has switched from the first field of view to a second field of view within the virtual environment (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022], [0025]); in response to detecting that the first user has switched to the second field of view, determine a portion of the plurality of UI elements that are part of the second field of view (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022], [0025]); determine, based on the first user profile of the first user, one or more UI elements from the first set of UI elements that are part of the determined portion of the UI elements (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022], [0025]); and render the one or more UI elements from the first set of UI elements to display on the first user device in the second field of view within the virtual environment (Lasater, ¶ [0016]-[0022], [0025]).
Regarding claim 4, Lasater in view of Noskin discloses the system of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, a third request initiated by the first user from the first user device to provide to the second user access to a particular UI element that the first user is authorized to access but the second user is not authorized to access (Lasater, ¶ [0025], [0043]); verify, based on the first user profile, that the first user has access to the particular UI element (Lasater, ¶ [0025], [0043]); and in response to successfully verifying that the first user has access to the particular UI element, render the particular UI element for display on the second user device as part of the virtual environment (Lasater, ¶ [0025], [0043]).
Regarding claim 8, see claim 1 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 9, see claim 2 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 10, see claim 3 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 11, see claim 4 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 15, see claim 1 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 16, see claim 2 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 17, see claim 3 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 18, see claim 4 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Claims 5, 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lasater et al. (US 2022/0383399 hereinafter Lasater) in view of Noskin et al. (US 11,539,801 hereinafter Noskin) and further in view of Hsu et al. (US 2025/0272926).
Regarding claim 5, Lasater in view of Noskin discloses the system of Claim 1.
Lasater in view of Noskin does not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is further configured to: receive a configuration request from the first user to configure the second user profile associated with the second user, wherein the configuration request comprises one or more UI elements the second user can access within the virtual environment; and in response to receiving the configuration request, add the one or more UI elements including the configuration request to the second user profile of the second user.
However, Hsu discloses wherein the processor is further configured to: receive a configuration request from the first user to configure the second user profile associated with the second user, wherein the configuration request comprises one or more UI elements the second user can access within the virtual environment; and in response to receiving the configuration request, add the one or more UI elements including the configuration request to the second user profile of the second user (FIG. 1, ¶ [0047]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lasater, Noskin and Hsu in order to promote and popularize the augmented reality technology to the daily application and/or commercial application (Hsu, ¶ [0002]-[0006]).
Regarding claim 12, see claim 5 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 19, see claim 5 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Claims 6-7, 13-14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lasater et al. (US 2022/0383399 hereinafter Lasater) in view of Noskin et al. (US 11,539,801 hereinafter Noskin) and further in view of Weinberg (US 2024/0377919).
Regarding claim 6, Lasater in view of Noskin discloses the system of Claim 1.
Lasater in view of Noskin does not explicitly disclose wherein each UI element of the plurality of UI elements is uniquely identified by a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and is stored on one or more computing nodes of a blockchain network.
However, Weinberg discloses wherein each UI element of the plurality of UI elements is uniquely identified by a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and is stored on one or more computing nodes of a blockchain network (¶ [0015]-[0018], [0027]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lasater, Noskin and Weinberg in order to display Non-Fungible Tokens in a virtual environment (Weinberg, ¶ [0015]-[0016]).
Regarding claim 7, Lasater in view of Noskin and Weinberg discloses the system of Claim 6, wherein the first user profile stores NFTs associated with the first set of UI elements and the second user profile stores NFTs associated with the second set of UI elements (Weinberg, ¶ [0015]-[0018], [0027]).
Regarding claim 13, see claim 6 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 14, see claim 7 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Regarding claim 20, see claim 6 above for the same reasons of rejections.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached at (571)270-3351. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.D.N/Examiner, Art Unit 2435
/AMIR MEHRMANESH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2435
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