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 .
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.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-19 are pending.
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 obviousness-type 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); and 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-19 of conflicting Patent No. 12,225,242 B2. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claim 1 of the pending application is generic to all that is recited in claim 1 of the conflicting Patent No. 12,225,242 B2. That is, claim 1 of the pending application is anticipated by claim 1 of the conflicting application. Also the corresponding dependent claims are identically the same. Look below for example..
Table 1 illustrates the conflicting claim pairs:
Conflicting Patent No. 12,225,242 B2
1 and 3
1
2
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 and 12
Pending Application 19/011075
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Conflicting Patent No. 12,225,242 B2
10
11
13
14
15
16
17
1, 3 and 18
2, 19
Pending Application 19/011075
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Table 2 illustrates a mapping between the limitations claim 1 of the pending application and claim 1 of the conflicting Patent No. 12,225,242 B2. Claim 10 of pending application and claims 10 and 12 and in the conflicting Patent No. 12,225,242 B2, respectively, are analyzed similarly. Additionally, the dependent claims are analyzed similarly.
Conflicting Patent No. 12,225,242 B2
Claims 1 and 3 of Conflicting Application
Serial Number (19/011075)
Claim 1 of Pending Application
1. A system providing live broadcasting sessions in virtual environments, comprising:
at least one server computer comprising at least one processor and memory storing instructions implementing a virtual environment streaming application configured to, when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one server computer to:
create a virtual environment based on virtual environment creation instructions from a host client device connected to the at least one server computer via a network;
connect the virtual environment to an event that is broadcast through the virtual environment, the event being a live real-world event;
set up a live broadcasting session from the virtual environment comprising a broadcast of the event;
send an invitation to at least one invitee client device, wherein the invitation comprises 3D coordinates of the virtual environment specified for at least one invitee;
upon the at least one invitee accepting the invitation, open up a communication channel enabling access to the at least one invitee to the virtual environment, wherein the invitee client device accesses the virtual environment through a user graphical representation that is positioned at the specified 3D coordinates of the virtual environment; and
stream the live broadcasting session to the at least one invitee client device;
wherein the virtual environment streaming application selects between a selective forwarding unit (SFU) architecture to forward individual live streams from transmitting client devices to receiving client devices, and a multipoint control unit (MCU) architecture to forward a combined live stream of the live streams from the transmitting client devices to the receiving client devices, wherein the selecting is based on a threshold number of live streams from the transmitting client devices.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables a selection of an exclusive number of invitee user graphical representations to be visible to at least one host of the live broadcasting session, wherein at least one of the selected invitees is enabled to interact with the at least one host of the live broadcasting session.
1. A system providing live broadcasting sessions in virtual environments, comprising:
at least one server computer comprising at least one processor and memory storing instructions implementing a virtual environment streaming application configured to, when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one server computer to:
create a virtual environment based on virtual environment creation instructions from a host client device connected to the at least one server computer via a network;
connect the virtual environment to an event that is broadcast through the virtual environment;
set up a live broadcasting session from the virtual environment comprising a broadcast of the event;
send an invitation to at least one invitee client device;
upon the at least one invitee accepting the invitation, open up a communication channel enabling access to the at least one invitee to the virtual environment, wherein the invitee client device accesses the virtual environment through a user graphical representation that is positioned at the specified 3D coordinates of the virtual environment; and
stream the live broadcasting session to the at least one invitee client device,
wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables a selection of an exclusive number of invitee user graphical representations to be visible to at least one host of the live broadcasting session, wherein at least one of the selected invitees is enabled to interact with the at least one host of the live broadcasting session.
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 of this title, 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, 3, 5-7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 20190206129 A1 to Khalid in view of US Patent No. 11,838,336 B2 to Young and in further view of U.S. Pub. No. 20120079046 A1 to Murphy and in further view of US Pub. No. 20170351476 A1 to Yoakum.
As to claims 1, 10 and 18, Khalid discloses a system providing live broadcasting sessions in virtual environments, comprising:
at least one server computer comprising at least one processor and memory storing instructions implementing a virtual environment streaming application configured to, when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one server computer to (Khalid Fig. 1-11, ¶0014, 0022, 0025, 0027-0029, 0075, 0094-0095, virtual reality provider system having server with processor and memory to provide virtual reality world streaming to clients):
create a virtual environment based on virtual environment creation instructions from a host client device connected to the at least one server computer via a network (Khalid Fig. 1-11, ¶0015-0016, 0028, 0045-0047, generating virtual reality world upon request from user device connected to virtual reality provider server via network);
connect the virtual environment to an event that is broadcast through the virtual environment (Khalid Fig. 1-11, ¶0029-0030, 0047, 0050-0052, link the virtual reality world to broadcast content event through the virtual reality world, e.g. watching broadcast content together with users);
stream the live broadcasting session to the at least one invitee client device (Khalid Fig. 1-11, ¶0020, 0022, 0037-0040, 0077, 0085-0086, streaming the live broadcast stream to the invited user to watch together),
Khalid does not expressly disclose set up a live broadcasting session from the virtual environment comprising a broadcast of the event;
send an invitation to at least one invitee client device;
upon the at least one invitee accepting the invitation, open up a communication channel enabling access to the at least one invitee to the virtual environment, wherein the invitee client device accesses the virtual environment through a user graphical representation that is positioned at the specified 3D coordinates of the virtual environment; and
wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables a selection of an exclusive number of invitee user graphical representations to be visible to at least one host of the live broadcasting session, wherein at least one of the selected invitees is enabled to interact with the at least one host of the live broadcasting session.
Young discloses set up a live broadcasting session from the virtual environment comprising a broadcast of the event (Young col. 10, ll. 3-10, 20-30, col. 12, ll. 12-15, 22-45, user setting up live broadcast to schedule future event and inviting friends in virtual room including a broadcast of live video); and
send an invitation to at least one invitee client device (Young col. 10, ll. 3-10, 20-30, col. 12, ll. 12-15, 22-45, sending invites to friends),
wherein at least one of the selected invitees is enabled to interact with the at least one host of the live broadcasting session (Young col. 12, ll. 53-59, col. 24, ll. 35-40, invited user interacting/talking with host).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khalid by set up a live broadcasting session from the virtual environment comprising a broadcast of the event and send an invitation to at least one invitee client device, wherein at least one of the selected invitees is enabled to interact with the at least one host of the live broadcasting session as disclosed by Young. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to allow the user to setup the live broadcasting session from the virtual room providing live broadcast of the user thereby enhancing the user’s experience.
Khalid and Young do not expressly disclose upon the at least one invitee accepting the invitation, open up a communication channel enabling access to the at least one invitee to the virtual environment, wherein the invitee client device accesses the virtual environment through a user graphical representation that is positioned at the specified 3D coordinates of the virtual environment; and
wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables a selection of an exclusive number of invitee user graphical representations to be visible to at least one host of the live broadcasting session.
Murphy discloses upon the at least one invitee accepting the invitation, open up a communication channel enabling access to the at least one invitee to the virtual environment, wherein the invitee client device accesses the virtual environment through a user graphical representation that is positioned at the specified 3D coordinates of the virtual environment (Murphy Fig. 3B, ¶0037-0038, by accessing the electronic invitation, the second user may be enabled to enter the location in the virtual world environment and to enable communications to the neighboring avatar where the invitation including location identifier in the virtual world environment for the second user).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khalid and Young by upon the at least one invitee accepting the invitation, open up a communication channel enabling access to the at least one invitee to the virtual environment, wherein the invitee client device accesses the virtual environment through a user graphical representation that is positioned at the specified 3D coordinates of the virtual environment as disclosed by Murphy. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to provide location information that allows the invited user to enter the location in the virtual world allowing communications with different users thereby enhancing the user’s experience.
Khalid, Young and Murphy do not expressly disclose wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables a selection of an exclusive number of invitee user graphical representations to be visible to at least one host of the live broadcasting session.
Yoakum discloses wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables a selection of an exclusive number of invitee user graphical representations to be visible to at least one host of the live broadcasting session (Yoakum Fig. 1, 2, 4-8, 16, ¶0071-0072, 0079, 0082, 0091, 0093-0095, 0100, 0102, 0111, 0124, 0164-0165, 0183, application/software allows the selection of a private number of participates displayed on the graphic user interface for the host of the live broadcasting collaboration session), wherein at least one of the selected invitees is enabled to interact with the at least one host of the live broadcasting session (Yoakum Fig. 1, 2, 4-8, 16, ¶0071-0072, 0079, 0082, 0091, 0093-0095, 0100, 0102, 0111, 0124, 0164-0165, 0183, the invited/selected users interacting/talking with the host of the live broadcasting collaboration session).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khalid, Young and Murphy by wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables a selection of an exclusive number of invitee user graphical representations to be visible to at least one host of the live broadcasting session, wherein at least one of the selected invitees is enabled to interact with the at least one host of the live broadcasting session as disclosed by Yoakum. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to provide a graphical user interface that allows the user to view the selected/invited users in the private meeting area allowing the user the easily/quickly identify the different users thereby enhancing the user’s experience.
As to claims 3, 12 and 19, Murphy and Yoakum disclose wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables invitees to interact with each other by exchanging real-time audio and video (Murphy ¶0030, audio communication and Yoakum ¶0032, 0035, 0043, 0067, 0091, live video).
As to claims 5 and 14, Yoakum discloses wherein the virtual environment streaming application further displays a symbolic graphical representation of invitees not comprised within the selection of the exclusive number of invitees. (Yoakum Fig. 1, 2, 4-8, 16, 18, ¶0071-0072, 0079, 0082, 0091, 0093-0095, 0100, 0102, 0111, 0124, 0164-0165, 0183, audience area 1604 that is not including in the private meeting area).
As to claims 6 and 15, Murphy discloses wherein the virtual environment streaming application further enables displaying graphical representations of reactions of invitees (Murphy Fig. 3B, ¶0025, gestures/emoticons).
As to claims 7, Yoakum discloses wherein the virtual environment streaming application enables the audience to explore the virtual environment by moving in the virtual environment (Yoakum Fig. 1, 2, 4-8, 16, 18, ¶0071-0072, 0079, 0082, 0091, 0093-0095, 0100, 0102, 0104, 0111, 0124, 0164-0165, 0167, 0183, audience/participant to freely move in the interactive virtual booths).
Claims 4 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 20190206129 A1 to Khalid in view of US Patent No. 11,838,336 B2 to Young in further view of U.S. Pub. No. 20120079046 A1 to Murphy in further view of US Pub. No. 20170351476 A1 to Yoakum and US Pub. No. 20230326208 A1 to Cooley-White.
As to claims 4 and 13, Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum do not expressly disclose wherein the virtual environment streaming platform enables said interactions with the at least one host to become part of a public video stream that is shared with other client devices.
Cooley-White discloses wherein the virtual environment streaming platform enables said interactions with the at least one host to become part of a public video stream that is shared with other client devices (Cooley-White ¶0050, 0063, 0102, 0103, gameplay of the user posted to social media platform e.g. Youtube, to share with user devices)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum by wherein the virtual environment streaming platform enables said interactions with the at least one host to become part of a public video stream that is shared with other client devices as disclosed by Cooley-White. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to allow users to share video on social media platforms thereby enhancing the user’s experience.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 20190206129 A1 to Khalid in view of US Patent No. 11,838,336 B2 to Young in further view of U.S. Pub. No. 20120079046 A1 to Murphy in further view of US Pub. No. 20170351476 A1 to Yoakum and US Pub. No. 20230163987 A1 to Young (hereinafter as “Young II”).
As to claim 8, Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum do not expressly disclose wherein the presentation of movement by at least some of the audience members is disabled for the view of the at least one host.
Young II discloses wherein the presentation of movement by at least some of the audience members is disabled for the view of the at least one host (Young II ¶0049, the intervention response may include a variety of response types, such as removing the user from the virtual environment, removing another user from the virtual environment, hiding, muting, or disabling the avatar of another user or muting another user, enabling a proximity barrier (i.e., a physical separator based on distances in a personal bubble), and other similar responses).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum by wherein the presentation of movement by at least some of the audience members is disabled for the view of the at least one host as disclosed by Young II. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to provide an intervention system that allows avatars of another user to be disabled thereby enhancing the user’s experience.
Claims 9 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 20190206129 A1 to Khalid in view of US Patent No. 11,838,336 B2 to Young in further view of U.S. Pub. No. 20120079046 A1 to Murphy in further view of US Pub. No. 20170351476 A1 to Yoakum and US Pub. US Pub. No. 20110244954 A1 to Goldman
As to claims 9 and 17, Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum do not expressly disclose wherein the field of view of users including hosts and invitees is calculated from a specified 3D coordinate of the virtual environment where the corresponding user graphical representation is positioned.
Goldman discloses wherein the field of view of users including hosts and invitees is calculated from a specified 3D coordinate of the virtual environment where the corresponding user graphical representation is positioned (Goldman Fig. 18, 19, 25-27, ¶0103, 0105, 0111, field of user determined from avatars position and orientation in the virtual 3D space).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum by wherein the field of view of users including hosts and invitees is calculated from a specified 3D coordinate of the virtual environment where the corresponding user graphical representation is positioned as disclosed by Goldman. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to provide a coordinate system that allows host/invitees to be positioned in the virtual environment using the coordinate system that allows users to be positioned to each other accordingly thereby enhancing the user's experience.
Claims 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 20190206129 A1 to Khalid in view of US Patent No. 11,838,336 B2 to Young in further view of U.S. Pub. No. 20120079046 A1 to Murphy in further view of US Pub. No. 20170351476 A1 to Yoakum and in further view of US Pub. No. 20200302693 A1 to Singh.
As to claim 16, Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum do not expressly disclose wherein creating the virtual environment comprises: retrieving user preference data; and using the user preference data to customize the virtual environment.
Singh discloses wherein creating the virtual environment comprises: retrieving user preference data (Singh ¶0016, 0031, 0034, receive user preferences); and using the user preference data to customize the virtual environment (Singh ¶0016, 0031, 0034, using user preferences to generate the virtual environment).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Khalid, Young, Murphy and Yoakum by wherein the field of view of users including hosts and invitees is calculated from a specified 3D coordinate of the virtual environment where the corresponding user graphical representation is positioned as disclosed by Goldman. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to provide a coordinate system that allows host/invitees to be positioned in the virtual environment using the coordinate system that allows users to be positioned to each other accordingly thereby enhancing the user's experience.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 11 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.
Conclusion
Claims 1, 3-10 and 12-19 have been have been rejected.
Claims 2 and 11 are objected
Correspondence Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYU CHAE whose telephone number is (571)270-5696. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00am -4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NASSER MOAZZAMI can be reached on 571-272-4195. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYU CHAE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426