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 .
Continued Prosecution Application
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/15/2026 has been entered.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NIklas Terrahe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZsfPKfx80o), hereinafter Terrahe, in view of Kwon et al. (US 20170059939), hereinafter Kwon.
Regarding claim 9, Terrahe teaches of a simulated range (p. 3, the enclosed room could be a simulated region for animals to roam and feed; Examiner notes MPEP §2114(II) with regard to intended use of a claimed apparatus) comprising:
a physical enclosure including a plurality of sidewalls (enclosed room with a plurality of sidewalls);
animals (the human inside the room is an animal. Multiple animals of any type can be placed inside);
a projector or display for showing, on one or more of the plurality of sidewalls of the physical enclosure, a digitized, visual stimulus to the animals (the walls display a digitized, visual stimulus to the animals in the room); and a computerized storage unit including:
a collection of digital images or motion pictures (pp. 3-6, collection of digital images and motion pictures) that, when shown by the projector or display, can be perceived by the animals such that the animals are encouraged to engage in a free-range activity or behavior (the images can be selected to encourage free-range activity or behavior. For example, the wheat field in p. 5 could encourage feeding, nesting, or pecking because they could perceive it as a safe environment to do those behaviors. A wheat field can encourage feeding in horses and chickens because they can eat wheat); and
looping the collection of digital images or motion pictures (the digital images and motion pictures can be looped such as how the city landscape on page 3 and 6 are repeated. The video player on Youtube also has a feature to loop the video (right click the video and select loop) and can be applied to image and video software that is used in the room) to habituate the animals to more regularly engage in positive behaviors, to less regularly engage in negative behaviors (the images are capable of encouraging positive behaviors and discouraging negative behaviors such as encouraging positive behavior of how the human is able to sit still and watch the images and is less regularly engaging in erratic behavior such as running around and banging on the walls. The human can instead be a non-human animal such as a dog that keeps still while being entertained by the images and not going out of control), and to train the animals to be able to handle potential stresses (can train animals to handle potential stresses such as being around tall buildings as seen on p. 3 or unknown animals like monkeys on p. 4).
Terrahe does not appear to teach of non-human animals and applying the projector to the non-human animals.
Kwon teaches of (fig. 1) non-human animals (¶0028, dog in fig. 1 and other animals other than humans can view the display device) and applying the projector to the non-human animals (figs. 1-2, ¶00028, a human and an animal other than the human can use a display device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Terrahe to incorporate the teachings of Kwon of non-human animals and applying the projector to the non-human animals in order to influence the behavior and activity of non-human animals such that the owner of the animals can better control the animal’s comfort, behavior, and activity.
With further regard to claim 9, Examiner notes that a claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987). See MPEP §2114(II).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 9 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 cited references made of record in the contemporaneously filed PTO-892 form and not relied upon in the instant office action are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, and may have one or more of the elements in Applicant’s disclosure and at least claim 1.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZOE TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-8530. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7:30am-6pm EST.
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/ZOE TAM TRAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3647
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