DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . It is responsive to the submission dated 11/13/2024. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination, of which, claims 1, and 19-20 are independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 11/13/2024 and 02/09/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and are being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claims 1-3, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeffery et al. (WO 2023203439 A1) in view of Tan et al. (US 20230350487).
Considering claim 1, Jeffery discloses a system (item 100, fig. 1) comprising: at least one processor (items 120[A-C]); at least one memory component (see fig. 2, items 240 & 250) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations (see para. 3) comprising:
receiving, by a first [head-wearable] apparatus, a short-range wireless signal from a second [head-wearable] apparatus, the short-range wireless signal comprising data that identifies a first digital effects session that is currently active on the second [head-wearable] apparatus, the second [head-wearable] apparatus being within a threshold distance of the first [head-wearable] apparatus (for example, Jeffery discloses: A user’s client device may detect client devices associated with other users within a proximity of the client device. A proximity detection of other client devices may result in application functionality (e.g., game actions in a location-based parallel reality game) corresponding to the detection, such as an exchange of application data (e.g., game data between players or their client devices, game progress for a player, access to a game feature, or establishing a connection between players). In embodiments, detection of client devices is performed using personal area network devices of the client devices, such as Bluetooth® devices or Wi-Fi Direct devices. In the same or different embodiments, proximity detection can occur when client devices are disconnected from an online system hosting the location-based application. In this case, the player devices can store proximity detections of other client devices and provide information describing the detections to the online system after connecting to the online system (e.g., via the internet). The online system then performs application functionality (e.g., game actions) based on received information describing proximity detections. See paras. 3, 21-24 and 75);
obtaining, by the first [head-wearable] apparatus, information corresponding to the first digital effects session based on the data, the information comprising a list of users currently active in the first digital effects session and a name of a first digital effects application being executed by the first digital effects session (e.g., Jeffery discloses a first client device detects a second client device within a proximity of the first client device. A first player of a location-based application is associated with the first client device and a second player is associated with the second client device. In response to detecting the second client device, the first client device provides a notification of availability of a multiplayer activity involving the first player and the second player. For example, the first client device displays on the screen of the first client device a prompt asking if the user wants to participate in a raid with a nearby player. The first client device receives user input indicating that the first player has selected the notification and in response, provides the multiplayer activity of the location-based application. See paras. 4, 21-22, 35-34, 64 and 76); and
in response to obtaining the information corresponding to the first digital effects session, presenting an indicator in a user interface of the first [head-wearable] apparatus, the indicator informing a user of the first [head-wearable] apparatus that one or more digital effects sessions are currently active on one or more [head-wearable] apparatuses within the threshold distance of the first [head-wearable] apparatus (e.g., In response to detecting the second client device, the first client device provides a notification of availability of a multiplayer activity involving the first player and the second player. For example, the first client device displays on the screen of the first client device a prompt asking if the user wants to participate in a raid with a nearby player. The first client device receives user input indicating that the first player has selected the notification and in response, provides the multiplayer activity of the location-based application. See paras. 4, 28-33, and 77-78).
The Jeffery reference does not explicitly describe the different client devices to be head-wearable devices.
Nevertheless, considering that Jeffery provides the plurality of client devices to be portable devices with comprehensive augmented reality applications in the physical and/or virtual world (see paras. 26 and 41), the inclusion of head-mounted devices is merely an obvious choice, since such practice is well-known in the art as evidence of Tan. See paras. 31-38 of Tan.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify portable client devices of Jeffery to include and function as wearable head-mounted devices, in the same conventional manner as taught by Tan; in order to provide to the user wearing the deice to have independent control of the device while freely navigate the real-world environment (see par. 31), since such was reasonable expectation of success at the time of the invention.
As per claim 2, Jeffery discloses the first digital effects application comprises an augmented reality (AR) experience (see paras. 16-19, 43 and 76), and wherein the short-range wireless signal is a broadcast signal that comprises at least one of a Bluetooth signal, a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signal, a WiFi signal, or an extended Bluetooth signal (see paras 24-25 and 27).
As per claim 3, Jeffery, as modified by Tan, discloses displaying, by the first head-wearable apparatus, a menu with a plurality of options associated with digital effects sessions, wherein a first option of the plurality of options corresponds to the one or more digital effects sessions that are active within the threshold distance of the first head-wearable apparatus (see paras. 45-48 and 75-78); and in response to obtaining the information corresponding to the first digital effects session and in response to receiving the short-range wireless signal from the second head-wearable apparatus, presenting an icon within the first option as the indicator (see paras. 48-51 and 76-77, wherein the “button” or “push notification” provided via the device’s user interface is considered to encompass obvious representation of an icon or menu).
The invention of claim 19 contains features that correspond in scope with the limitations recited claim 1. As the limitations of claim 1 were found obvious over the combined teachings of Jeffery and Tan, it is readily apparent that the applied prior arts perform the underlying elements. As such, the limitations of claim 19 are, therefore, subject to rejections under the same rationale as claim 1.
The subject-matter of independent claim 20 corresponds in terms of a computer readable medium to that of independent method claim 1, and the rationale raised above to reject the later also apply, mutatis mutandis, to the former.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 4-18 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, because the prior art of record fail to teach the system of claim 3, wherein the operations comprise: receiving input that selects the first option; and in response to receiving the input that selects the first option, presenting one or more tiles each associated with a different digital effects session that is active within the threshold distance of the first head-wearable apparatus, wherein a first tile of the one or more tiles is associated with the first digital effects session corresponding to the obtained information, the first tile comprising an image that represents the first digital effects session, one or more avatars of list of users currently active in the first digital effects session, and the name of the first digital effects application (as recited in claim 4), wherein the operations comprise: activating the first digital effects session by the second head-wearable apparatus, the activating comprising: presenting an icon associated with the first digital effects application on the second head-wearable apparatus; receiving input that selects the icon on the second head-wearable apparatus; in response to receiving the input, presenting a plurality of options comprising a first option to launch the first digital effects application in single player mode and a second option to launch the first digital effects application in multiplayer mode; and receiving a selection of the second option to activate the first digital effects session using the first digital effects application (as recited in claim 12).
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Shams et al. (US 20170256029) discloses a technique for controlling a head-worn computer when viewing virtual images, including image content, that encourages an ergonomic head position to reduce neck pain, includes determining an angle of the head-worn computer relative to horizontal, determining an angle of a line of sight to the center of the virtual image as presented to a user's eye, determining a deviation between the determined angle of the line of sight and a predetermined ergonomic angle, and shifting the image content of the virtual image vertically as displayed to the user's eye so that a portion of the image content is not viewable, wherein the amount of shifting is in reverse correspondence to the magnitude of the determined deviation.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WESNER SAJOUS whose telephone number is (571) 272-7791. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10:00 TO 7:30 (ET).
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/WESNER SAJOUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612
WS
05/29/2026
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