DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/904,631 filed on 10/2/2024. The preliminary amendment presented on 12/10/2024, which cancels claim 1 and adds new claims 2-19, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 2-19 have been examined.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/10/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 2-19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,137,057 (hereinafter Patent ‘057). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because Patent ‘057 teaches as follows:
Applicant’s claims 2 and 11
Patent ‘057’s claim 15
A system comprising: a memory; and control circuitry configured to:
A system comprising: an input/output circuitry of a network compute orchestrator (NCO) configured to:
receive, by a network compute orchestrator (NCO), a first request for providing data for a first portion of an extended reality (XR) environment, wherein the first request was generated in connection with a first virtual location within the XR environment;
receive a request for service from a requester device;
determine, by the NCO, based at least in part on the first virtual location within the XR environment:
(a) a first compute grade requirement for providing data for the XR environment at the first virtual location; and
(b) a first maximum acceptable latency for providing data for the XR environment at the first virtual location;
a control circuitry of the NCO configured to:
determine that the service requested by the requester device is a first type of service of a plurality of service types;
access a first data structure that stores for each service type of the plurality of service types:
(a) a compute grade required for a respective service type of the plurality service types, and
(b) a maximum acceptable latency for the respective service type of the plurality of service types;
based at least in part on (a) the determined first compute grade requirement, or (b) the determined first maximum acceptable latency:
select, by the NCO, a first network device of an arrangement of network devices to process the first request; and
determine, according to the accessing of the first data structure:
(a) a required compute grade requirement for the first type of service, and
(b) a maximum acceptable latency for the first type of service;
cause, by the NCO, the first network device to process the first request;
wherein the input/output circuitry is configured to:
cause the selected network device of the network arrangement of network devices to perform the requested service for the requester device
receive, by the NCO, a second request for providing data for a second portion of the XR environment, wherein the second request was generated in connection with a second virtual location within the XR environment different from the first virtual location;
determine, by the NCO, based at least in part on the second virtual location within the XR environment:
(a) a second compute grade requirement for providing data for the XR environment at the second virtual location; and
(b) a second maximum acceptable latency for providing data for the XR environment at the second virtual location;
access a second data structure that stores for each network device of a network arrangement of network devices:
(a) a number and a type of available compute units, and
(b) an estimated or measured latency of communication from the respective network device of the network arrangement of network devices to the requester device; and
based at least in part on (a) the determined second compute grade requirement, or (b) the determined second maximum acceptable latency: select, by the NCO, a second network device of the arrangement of network devices to process the second request, wherein the second network device is different from the first network device; and
select a selected network device of the network arrangement of network devices, based at least in part on determining that the second data structure indicates that:
(a) the selected network device has an available compute unit meeting the required compute grade requirement for the first type of service, and
(b) the selected network device has the estimated or measured latency of communication from the respective network device of the network arrangement of network devices to the requester device that is lower than the maximum acceptable latency for the first type of service; and
cause, by the NCO, the second network device to process the second request.
wherein the input/output circuitry is configured to:
cause the selected network device of the network arrangement of network devices to perform the requested service for the requester device.
Patent ‘057 further teaches the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) environment in claims 9 and 14.
Applicant’s extended reality (XR) referred to the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)(virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR) sometimes referred to, collectively and more generally, as Extended Reality (XR)), see, applicant’s published specification ¶ [0003]).
Therefore, Patent ‘057 teaches similar limitations as presented above.
Rest of dependent claims 3-10 and 12-19 are rejected for the dependency on the rejected claims 2 and 11 respectively.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeong S Park whose telephone number is (571)270-1597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30 ET.
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/JEONG S PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2417
August 8, 2026
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