Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/992,422

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jan 08, 2025
Priority
Jul 15, 2022 — provisional 63/368,538 +2 more
Examiner
CASTRO, ALFONSO
Art Unit
2421
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Sony Group Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
51%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 3m
Est. Remaining
69%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 51% of resolved cases
51%
Career Allowance Rate
222 granted / 439 resolved
-7.4% vs TC avg
Strong +19% interview lift
Without
With
+18.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 8m
Avg Prosecution
22 currently pending
Career history
480
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.5%
-38.5% vs TC avg
§103
92.6%
+52.6% vs TC avg
§102
1.7%
-38.3% vs TC avg
§112
2.4%
-37.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 439 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/8/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dewa, Yoshiharu EP 3876547A1 (hereafter Dewa) and in further view of Bouazizi; Imed et al. US 20210409818 A1 (hereafter Bouazizi) and in further view of WG 03, MPEG Systems, "Exploration Experiments for MPEG-I Scene Description", ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 3, N0540, Available Online at: https://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/open/jtc1sc29wg3, April 29, 2022, 78 pages (hereafter ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3) and in further view of Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 29, Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information, "Information technology — Coded representation of immersive media — Part 14: Scene Description", ISO/IEC DIS 23090-14:2021(E), 2021, 109 pages (hereafter Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1). Regarding claim 1, “an information processing apparatus, comprising a play unit that interactively plays, in a case where an execution condition of interactive play specified in a scene description has been met, interactive media specified to be interactively played in the scene description in accordance with processing contents of the interactive play specified in the scene description, wherein the interactive play is a play method of playing media as interactive processing, and the interactive processing is interaction-type processing of executing the processing contents specified in the scene description in a case where the execution condition specified in the scene description has been met” Dewa para 0020, 0035-0037, 0045-0049, 0088, 0111-0114 discloses a display apparatus and the interaction apparatus wherein the display apparatus displays a broadcast or streamed content to be viewed by the user and the interaction apparatus interacts with the user, receives a command of speech, gesture, or the like and presents information to the user; control information included in the broadcast stream data is utilized to present instructions and enables the disclosed interaction apparatus to control display characters in response to user interaction commands. Whereas Dewa does not use the terms “scene description,” in an analogous art, Bouazizi teaches improvement to scene descriptions formats in order to support immersive and interactive media (para 50-53, 90-97, 100-102, 107-110, 182-183, 233). The motivation to modify Dewa and Bouazizi is further evidenced in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 and Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Section 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met. 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 Dewa’s invention for an information processing apparatus for displaying media content and action of objects comprising enabling a user with interactive content for controlling displayed objects based on user feedback by further incorporating known elements Bouazizi’s invention for improvement to scene descriptions formats in order to support immersive and interactive media because ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 recognizes the benefit of utilizing scene description data in MPEG scene user interactivity allowed for media content visual objects triggered based on whether conditions are met to improve displayed interactive media content. Regarding claim 2, “wherein in the scene description, as a description with respect to the media to be referenced in accordance with the scene description, any one of start time specification, autoplay specification, or interactive play specification is present, and the interactive media are specified to be interactively played by using the interactive play specification whose value is true, the play unit interactively plays the interactive media in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive play in a case where the execution condition of the interactive play has been met, the start time specification is a description to specify a play start time of the media, the autoplay specification is a description to specify whether to start playing the media as soon as the media are ready, and the interactive play specification is a description to specify whether to interactively play the media” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claim 1 wherein Bouazizi para 139-141, 155 further teaches utilizing media info tags comprising Boolean values for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. Regarding claim 3, “wherein in the scene description, as a description with respect to the media to be referenced in accordance with the scene description, the interactive play specification is capable of being present in a case where the value of the autoplay specification is false, and the interactive media are specified to be interactively played by using the autoplay specification whose value is false and the interactive play specification whose value is true, the play unit interactively plays the interactive media in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive play in a case where the execution condition of the interactive play has been met, the autoplay specification is a description to specify whether to start playing the media as soon as the media are ready, and the interactive play specification is a description to specify whether to interactively play the media” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claim 1 wherein Bouazizi para 135, 139-141, 155 further teaches utilizing media info tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 and Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Section 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met. Regarding claim 4, “wherein in the scene description, as a description with respect to the media to be referenced in accordance with the scene description, other method specification is capable of being present in a case where the value of the autoplay specification is false, and the interactive media are specified to be interactively played by using the autoplay specification whose value is false and the interactive play specification whose value is true, the play unit interactively plays the interactive media in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive play in a case where the execution condition of the interactive play has been met, the autoplay specification is a description to specify whether to start playing the media as soon as the media are ready, the other method specification is a description to specify whether to apply a play method other than specified-time play and autoplay, the specified-time play is a play method of starting playing the media at a specified time, the autoplay is a play method of starting playing the media as soon as the media are ready, and the interactive play specification is one of the other method specification and is a description to specify whether to interactively play the media” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-3 wherein Bouazizi para 135-137, 139-141, 155 further teaches utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 and Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Section 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met. Regarding claim 5, “wherein in the scene description, as a description with respect to the media to be referenced in accordance with the scene description, in a case where the value of the autoplay specification is false, it is considered that it has been specified to play the media as the interactive processing, the interactive media are specified to be interactively played by using the autoplay specification whose value is false, the play unit interactively plays the interactive media in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive play in a case where the execution condition of the interactive play has been met, and the autoplay specification is a description to specify whether to start playing the media as soon as the media are ready” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-4 wherein Bouazizi para 135-137, 139-141, 155 further teaches utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 and Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Section 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met. Regarding claim 6, “wherein in the scene description, as a description with respect to the media to be referenced in accordance with the scene description, the interactive play specification is capable of being present in a case where start time specification is a negative value, and the interactive media are specified to be interactively played by using the start time specification that is the negative value and the interactive play specification whose value is true, the play unit interactively plays the interactive media in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive play in a case where the execution condition of the interactive play has been met, the start time specification is a description to specify a play start time of the media, and the interactive play specification is a description to specify whether to interactively play the media” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-5 wherein Bouazizi para 135-137, 139-141, 155 further teaches utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 and Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Section 7.6.3.3 discussing negative values and Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values. Regarding claim 7, “wherein in the scene description, as a description with respect to the media to be referenced in accordance with the scene description, other method specification is capable of being present in a case where the start time specification is a negative value, and the interactive media are specified to be interactively played by using the start time specification that is the negative value and the interactive play specification whose value is true, the play unit interactively plays the interactive media in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive play in a case where the execution condition of the interactive play has been met, the start time specification is a description to specify a play start time of the media, the other method specification is a description to specify whether to apply a play method other than specified-time play and autoplay, the specified-time play is a play method of starting playing the media at a specified time, the autoplay is a play method of starting playing the media as soon as the media are ready, and the interactive play specification is one of the other method specification and is a description to specify whether to interactively play the media” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-6 wherein Bouazizi para 135-137, 139-141, 155 further teaches utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 and Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Section 7.6.3.3 discussing negative values and Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values. Regarding claim 8, “wherein in the scene description, as a description with respect to the media to be referenced in accordance with the scene description, it is considered that it has been specified to play the media as the interactive processing in a case where the start time specification is a negative value, and the interactive media are specified to be interactively played by using the start time specification that is the negative value, the play unit interactively plays the interactive media in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive play in a case where the execution condition of the interactive play has been met, and the start time specification is a description to specify a play start time of the media” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-7 wherein Bouazizi para 135-137, 139-141, 155 further teaches utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 and Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Section 7.6.3.3 discussing negative values and Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values. Regarding claim 9, “wherein in the scene description, setup of a device that outputs the interactive media has been specified as a type of processing contents of the interactive processing, and the play unit sets up the device in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive processing in a case where the execution condition of the interactive processing has been met” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-8 wherein Bouazizi para 62-74 further teaches loading of content by the device that outputs the interactive media; see also , 135-137, 139-141, 155 utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 pg. 9-10 disclose setup of a device for video format output; see also Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 see also Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values. Regarding claim 10, “wherein in the scene description, the execution condition of the setup of the device has been set to be met preceding the execution condition of the interactive play” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-9 wherein Bouazizi para 62-74 further teaches loading of content by the device that outputs the interactive media; see also , 135-137, 139-141, 155 utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 pg. 9-10 disclose setup of a device for video format output; see also Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. See also Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values; see also Section 5.2.4.3 and 7.2 scene descriptions comprising presentation engine loading data. Regarding claim 11, “wherein in the scene description, as the type of the processing contents of the interactive processing, it has been specified to execute preliminary processing on the interactive media before the interactive media are interactively played, further comprising a preliminary processing unit that executes the preliminary processing in accordance with the processing contents of the interactive processing in a case where the execution condition of the interactive processing has been met” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-10 wherein Bouazizi para 62-74 further teaches loading of content by the device that outputs the interactive media wherein preliminary processing to prepare content for display when needed for display; see also , 135-137, 139-141, 155 utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 pg. 9-10 disclose setup of a device for video format output; see also Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. See also Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values; see also Section 5.2.4.3 and 7.2 scene descriptions comprising presentation engine loading data. Regarding claim 12, “wherein in the scene description, a behavior specified to show an execution condition and processing contents of preliminary processing executed on the interactive media before the interactive media are interactively played has been described, further comprising a preliminary processing unit that executes the preliminary processing in accordance with the behavior” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-10 wherein Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values; see also Section 5.2.4.3 and 7.2 scene descriptions comprising presentation engine loading data. See also Bouazizi para 62-74 further teaches loading of content by the device that outputs the interactive media wherein preliminary processing to prepare content for display when needed for display; see also , 135-137, 139-141, 155 utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 pg. 9-10 disclose setup of a device for video format output; see also Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. Regarding claim 13, “wherein in the scene description, a behavior specified to control the interactive processing in an application has been described, and the play unit causes the application to control the interactive processing in accordance with the behavior” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-10 wherein Dewa para 0020, 0035-0037, 0045-0049, 0088, 0111-0114 discloses a display apparatus and the interaction apparatus wherein the display apparatus displays a broadcast or streamed content to be viewed by the user and the interaction apparatus interacts with the user, receives a command of speech, gesture, or the like and presents information to the user; control information included in the broadcast stream data is utilized to present instructions and enables the disclosed interaction apparatus to control display characters in response to user interaction commands; See also Bouazizi para 62-74 further teaches loading of content by the device that outputs the interactive media wherein preliminary processing to prepare content for display when needed for display; see also , 135-137, 139-141, 155 utilizing media info for start time and also tags comprising Boolean values (wherein Boolean values are true/false/1/0) for autoplay functionality specifying that a video will start playing as soon as it is ready. See also ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29/WG3 pg. 9-10 disclose setup of a device for video format output; see also Section 5.10.2 to 5.10.7 discussing MPEG scene interactivity allowed for media content visual objects comprising autoplay disclosure and triggers based on whether conditions are met. See also Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 Sections 4.2-4.3 discussing scene descriptions allowed for media content visual objects triggers based on whether conditions are met and also disclosing Boolean values for negative and positive values; see also Section 5.2.4.3 and 7.2 scene descriptions comprising presentation engine loading data. Regarding the claim 14 and the apparatus claims 15-20, the claims are grouped and rejected with the apparatus claims 1-13 because the steps of the method claims and elements of the apparatus claims are met by the disclosure of the apparatus and methods of the reference(s) as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-13 and because the elements of the apparatus are easily converted into elements of computer implemented methods or an apparatus elements by one of ordinary skill in the art. CONCLUSION Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALFONSO CASTRO whose telephone number is (571)270-3950. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm. 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, Nathan Flynn can be reached. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ALFONSO CASTRO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 08, 2025
Application Filed
Apr 08, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
51%
Grant Probability
69%
With Interview (+18.6%)
3y 8m (~2y 3m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 439 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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