DETAILED ACTION
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 Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
an administration module [See Fig. 2; ¶0042]
a graphical user interface module [See Fig. 2; ¶0045]
an audiovisual selection module [See Fig. 2; ¶0045, ¶0048]
Claims 1, 8, 15
Claims 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17
Claims 1, 5-6, 8, 12-13, 15, 19-20
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are not being interpreted to cover only the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant intends to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to remove the structure, materials, or acts that performs the claimed function; or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) does/do not recite sufficient structure, materials, or acts to perform the claimed function.
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 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 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Basart et al. (US Patent #9137376) in view of Nelson et al. (US #2004/0008249) further in view of Ghani (US #2002/0085030).
Regarding Claim 1, Basart discloses a system for managing multi-device teleconferences (title, abstract, figs. 1-10), comprising:
a cloud system architecture (Basart fig. 2: cloud 262) comprising an administration module (Basart fig. 2: conference bridge 266; col. 1 lines 21-56 discloses the management of these resources can be performed by a conference bridge. A conference bridge is a machine that links conference participants and enables the sharing of resources between them. The conference bridge may also provide conferencing services such as recording and reporting functions), a graphical user interface module (Basart col. 6 lines 24-41 discloses the conference bridge 116 typically includes a number of ports [i.e., interfacing] each configured to provide one or more resources [e.g., audio, video, web and/or the like] to a conference participant), an audiovisual selection module (Basart col. 4 lines 18-29 discloses a teleconference system includes a plurality of communication devices for sharing media between a plurality of attendees during teleconferences, at least one conference bridge communicatively coupled to the plurality of communication devices, and a conferencing system), and a database (Basart fig. 2: data storage 268), the cloud system architecture configured to generate and administer a teleconference space of one or more devices (Basart col. 8 lines 6-62 discloses virtual machines can be used to replace devices in systems such as the communications system illustrated in fig. 1. Examples of some of the devices that can be replaced by one or more virtual machines include servers, conference bridges, phone switches, SIP trunks, and the like. A conference bridge 266 is provided in the cloud 262. The cloud also includes a server 270 and data storage 268. These devices can be configured to provide applications and/or services to the devices at both the first site 202 and the second site 232. Using the communications system of fig. 1 as an example, a teleconference system includes a plurality of communication devices. At least one conference bridge [e.g., conference bridge 116 and/or conference bridge 146] is coupled to the communication devices and configured to provide conferencing features to the communication devices. The teleconference system also includes a conferencing system, which can be an application running on a server [e.g., server 110 and/or server 140] or an application running on one or more of the conference bridges) by:
storing, in the database (Basart col. 6 lines 16-32 discloses server 110 can store data in local memory or in the data storage 108. The server 110 can be linked directly to the data storage 108 as shown in fig. 1. Alternatively, the server 110 can be linked to the data storage 108 via the network 120 or a local network. The data storage 108 is configured to store and maintain applications and data. The data storage 108 can be any conventional storage device or database. col. 9 lines 21-38 discloses these conference room-communication device associations can be provided in any known format [e.g., in a lookup table] and can be stored at one or more of the conference bridges [e.g., conference bridge 116 and/or conference bridge 146], at one or more of the servers (e.g., server 110 and/or server 140] and/or at one or more of the storage devices [e.g., data storage 108 and/or data storage 138]), one or more of:
communication systems data (Basart col. 6 line 33 to col. 7 line 3 discloses the switch 112 can be a telephone switch that communicates with the IP phone 104 and the soft phone 106 to establish communications channels that are used to make and receive calls), user data (Basart col. 13 lines 11-28 discloses the communication device is called directly into the teleconference by the scheduling system using a standard communication protocol to establish the call, then audio, video, and data can be sent and/or received from the communication devices using ), inbound audiovisual information data, and outbound teleconference stream data (Basart col. 8 lines 21-31 discloses the trunk 248 facilitates inbound and outbound calls between endpoints within the communications system and endpoints outside the communications system [e.g., external phone 252]. col. 6 lines 32-41 discloses the conference bridge 116 can be configured to link participants [e.g., users of IP phones 104, 134, 164; soft phones 106, 163, 166; and/or other endpoints as well as external phone 152] in a conference call and enable the sharing of resources between the participants. The conference bridge 116 can also provide conferencing services such as recording and reporting functions. The conference bridge 116 typically includes a number of ports each configured to provide one or more resources [e.g., audio, video, web and/or the like] to a conference participant);
Basart may not explicitly disclose changing, by the administration module, which data is executed on the one or more devices; generating, by the administration module, a telecommunication space for the one or more devices to join; recording, by the administration module, identifying information regarding each of the one or more devices; identifying, by the administration module, a user associated with a particular communication device; determining, by the audiovisual selection module, which of one or more streams will comprise an outbound teleconference stream; generating, by the graphical user interface module, the outbound teleconference stream, by storing and retrieving data from the database; and assigning, by the administration module, one or more names to the one or more devices participating in the teleconference.
However, Nelson (title, abstract, figs. 1-15) teaches changing, by the administration module, which data is executed on the one or more devices (Nelson ¶0055 discloses CM 146a establishes back-channel connection 126a with media hub server 130. Back-channel connection 126a is used as a control channel to change [or define] how the video and audio signals come across conference channel(s) 124a; figs. 4-5);
generating, by the administration module, a telecommunication space for the one or more devices to join (Nelson ¶0040 discloses it should be appreciated that calls from conference client A 144a route through media hub server 130. Other participants similarly use their associated conference client to place calls to media hub server 130 to join the conference. ¶0074 discloses conference log region 216 provides a running log of participants joining the conference and the time at which the participant joined);
recording, by the administration module, identifying information regarding each of the one or more devices (Nelson ¶0041 discloses CM 146a is configured to monitor conference client A 144a. That is, CM 146a looks at how a user is interacting with the software application by monitoring a video display window of client A 144a. In addition, CM 146a interprets the users interactions in order to transmit the interactions to the server component. Alternatively, CM 146 is configured to provide four functions. One function monitors the start/stop of a conference channel so that a back-channel communication session can be established in parallel to a conference channel session between the participant and the server component. A second function monitors events, such as user interactions and mouse messages, within the video window displayed by conference client 144. A third function handles control message information between the CM 146 and a backchannel controller 140 of the server component. A fourth function provides an external user-interface for the participant that can be used to display and send images to other conference members, show the other connected participants names, and other communication information or tools);
identifying, by the administration module, a user associated with a particular communication device (Nelson ¶0074 discloses devices' region 212 provides remote devices configured to supply information for the conference for a particular client);
determining, by the audiovisual selection module, which of one or more streams will comprise an outbound teleconference stream (Nelson ¶0059 discloses region 182a is reserved to allow the media hub server to insert its own user interface directly into the outbound video stream image supplied to each participant).
Basart and Nelson are analogous art as they pertain to joining teleconference. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify teleconference system (as taught by Basart) to include monitoring user events over the video display region containing the conference content, and also include the conference session control information (as taught by Nelson, ¶0042) to enable a multi-participant video-conferencing environment where the participants have peer-to-peer video-conferencing software such that the videoconferencing environment allows the user flexibility in defining configuration features and content delivery (Nelson, ¶0011).
Basart in view of Nelson may not explicitly disclose generating, by the graphical user interface module, the outbound teleconference stream, by storing and retrieving data from the database; and assigning, by the administration module, one or more names to the one or more devices participating in the teleconference.
However, Ghani (title, abstract, figs. 1-22) teaches generating, by the graphical user interface module, the outbound teleconference stream, by storing and retrieving data from the database (Ghani fig. 18c: 1876 send the archive to server for permanent storage and retrieve when required to display the archive of drawings, slides and slides with drawings); and
assigning, by the administration module (Ghani ¶0101 discloses the administration and accounting for multiple clients from the internal system administration perspective is handled by administration application 190; fig. 1), one or more names to the one or more devices participating in the teleconference (Ghani ¶0058 discloses on control A [administrator] console 200a, audience box 202 lists the presenter and then the list of participants directly underneath. The presenter's name is shown on the top of the list with a line separating it from the user's name. Participants that wish to pose a query are shown to the presenter in hand-raised box 204. Hand raiser box 204 contains the names of participant that have pressed hand raise button 305; fig. 3. ¶0062 discloses authorize button 216 allows a presenter to select one of the hand-raised persons to authorize him or her for speaking and using whiteboard 400. The name should be first selected from hand-raised box 204 before authorizing the participant. The name of the authorized participant appears in authorized box 208. ¶0166 discloses other activities provided by ConfApp3$Run class 1836 [not shown on fig. 18a] include displaying the user names in audience list box 202 [fig. 2], informing the users about any newcomers or departing users).
Basart, Nelson, and Ghani are analogous art as they pertain to joining teleconference. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings fo Basart in view of Nelson in light of the teachings of Ghani to administer multiple clients and schedule multiple sessions for each client using administration application (as taught by Ghani, ¶0101) to provide improvements in several key areas but namely in presenter-participant interaction by supplying dynamic whiteboard capabilities, real-time full-duplex audio and video capabilities, web touring, session management, polling, file sharing, whisper capabilities, attendance, and hand raising features for participant hand-off capabilities (Ghani, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 2, Basart in view of Nelson and Ghani discloses the system of claim 1,
wherein the cloud system architecture is located internal to the one or more communication devices (Basart col. 8 lines 15-20 discloses fig. 2 is another example of an exemplary communications system where some of the devices are in a cloud 262. The cloud 262 allows sharing of resources between different sites [and possibly different communications systems]. Devices in the cloud 262 can be physical devices or virtual machines).
Regarding Claim 3, Basart in view of Nelson and Ghani discloses the system of claim 1. But Basart in view of Nelson may not explicitly disclose wherein one or more of the stored data is retrieved by the graphical user interface module to generate the outbound teleconference stream.
However, Ghani (title, abstract, figs. 1-22) teaches wherein one or more of the stored data is retrieved by the graphical user interface module to generate the outbound teleconference stream (Ghani fig. 18c: 1876 send the archive to server for permanent storage and retrieve when required to display the archive of drawings, slides and slides with drawings).
Basart, Nelson, and Ghani are analogous art as they pertain to joining teleconference. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings fo Basart in view of Nelson in light of the teachings of Ghani to administer multiple clients and schedule multiple sessions for each client using administration application (as taught by Ghani, ¶0101) to provide improvements in several key areas but namely in presenter-participant interaction by supplying dynamic whiteboard capabilities, real-time full-duplex audio and video capabilities, web touring, session management, polling, file sharing, whisper capabilities, attendance, and hand raising features for participant hand-off capabilities (Ghani, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 4, Basart in view of Nelson and Ghani discloses the system of claim 1. But Basart in view of Nelson may not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more names are assigned using information contained in the communication systems data.
However, Ghani (title, abstract, figs. 1-22) teaches wherein the one or more names are assigned using information contained in the communication systems data (Ghani ¶0058 discloses on control A [administrator] console 200a, audience box 202 lists the presenter and then the list of participants directly underneath. The presenter's name is shown on the top of the list with a line separating it from the user's name. Participants that wish to pose a query are shown to the presenter in hand-raised box 204. Hand raiser box 204 contains the names of participant that have pressed hand raise button 305; fig. 3. ¶0062 discloses authorize button 216 allows a presenter to select one of the hand-raised persons to authorize him or her for speaking and using whiteboard 400. The name should be first selected from hand-raised box 204 before authorizing the participant. The name of the authorized participant appears in authorized box 208. ¶0166 discloses other activities provided by ConfApp3$Run class 1836 [not shown on fig. 18a] include displaying the user names in audience list box 202 [fig. 2], informing the users about any newcomers or departing users).
Basart, Nelson, and Ghani are analogous art as they pertain to joining teleconference. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings fo Basart in view of Nelson in light of the teachings of Ghani to administer multiple clients and schedule multiple sessions for each client using administration application (as taught by Ghani, ¶0101) to provide improvements in several key areas but namely in presenter-participant interaction by supplying dynamic whiteboard capabilities, real-time full-duplex audio and video capabilities, web touring, session management, polling, file sharing, whisper capabilities, attendance, and hand raising features for participant hand-off capabilities (Ghani, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 5, Basart in view of Nelson and Ghani discloses the system of claim 1. But Basart may not explicitly disclose wherein the cloud system architecture is further configured to generate and administer the teleconference space of the one or more devices by:
However, Nelson (title, abstract, figs. 1-15) teaches selecting, by the audiovisual selection module, the outbound teleconference stream based on one or more criteria (Nelson ¶0059 discloses region 182a is reserved to allow the media hub server to insert its own user interface directly into the outbound video stream image supplied to each participant).
Basart and Nelson are analogous art as they pertain to joining teleconference. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify teleconference system (as taught by Basart) to include monitoring user events over the video display region containing the conference content, and also include the conference session control information (as taught by Nelson, ¶0042) to enable a multi-participant video-conferencing environment where the participants have peer-to-peer video-conferencing software such that the videoconferencing environment allows the user flexibility in defining configuration features and content delivery (Nelson, ¶0011).
Regarding Claim 6, Basart in view of Nelson and Ghani discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the cloud system architecture is further configured to generate and administer the teleconference space of the one or more devices by:
receiving, by the audiovisual selection module, a manual selection determining the outbound teleconference stream (Basart col. 7 lines 32-44 discloses the trunk 148 [fig. 1] provides an interface between the VoIP system and public switched telephone network [PSTN] 150. The trunk 148 facilitates inbound and outbound calls between endpoints within the VoIP system and endpoints outside the VoIP system [e.g., external phone 152]. col. 8 lines 21-32 discloses the trunk 248 [fig. 2] facilitates inbound and outbound calls between endpoints within the communications system and endpoints outside the communications system [e.g., external phone 252]).
Regarding Claim 7, Basart in view of Nelson and Ghani discloses the system of claim 1,
wherein the inbound audiovisual information data comprises recorded video or one or more stored images (Basart col. 6 lines 32-41 discloses the conference bridge 116 may be configured to link participants [e.g., users of IP phones 104, 134, 164; soft phones 106, 163, 166; and/or other endpoints as well as external phone 152] in a conference call and enable the sharing of resources between the participants. The conference bridge 116 may also provide conferencing services such as recording and reporting functions. The conference bridge 116 typically includes a number of ports each configured to provide one or more resources [e.g., audio, video, web and/or the like] to a conference participant).
Claims 8-20 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claims 1-7 (Basart col. 16 lines 8-46 discloses a device, system, methods [figs. 7-10], and non-transitory medium capable of storing, containing, or carrying instructions or data).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOGESHKUMAR G PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3957. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 AM-4 PM PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached at (571) 272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YOGESHKUMAR PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
Prosecution Insights