COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A VIRTUAL MEETING SPACE

Application No. 19/030,804

• Filed: Jan 17, 2025
• Priority: Aug 07, 2015 — EU 15180273.3
  • Aug 05, 2016 — nonprovisional of PCTEP2016068817
  • Feb 02, 2018 — continuation of 10/565,770
  • Jan 08, 2020 — continuation of 11/189,072
  • Nov 18, 2021 — continuation of 11/657,559
  • Apr 07, 2023 — continuation of 12/243,147
• Examiner: BROWN, SHEREE N
• Assignee: Apple Inc.
• OA Round: 1 (Non-Final)

Office Action

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 .
Application Status
This office action is responsive to the Application No:19/030,804 filed on 08/09/2025 (Priority Date: 08/07/2015).
Claims 1-20 are pending and presented for examination.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on application EP15180273.3 filed on 08/07/2015. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy, as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/17/2025 is being considered by the examiner. A signed IDS is hereby attached.
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(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NELSON, US 20160306429 in view of Hughes, US 9381426.
Claim 1:
NELSON discloses a method (See NELSON Abstract). NELSON discloses an avatar in NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053 but fails to explicitly disclose animating an avatar. Hughes disclosed this feature in Column 7, Lines 40-50. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified NELSON by the teachings of Hughes to enable improved generation of avatar by using animation, more effectively (See Hughes FIELD OF INVENTION). Additionally, both references teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, providing interactive avatars. This close relation between both of the references highly suggests an expectation of success.
As modified:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses the following:
detecting a second biometric characteristic of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 00641);
animating (See Hughes Column 7, Lines 40-50) an avatar (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053) representing the first user based on the first biometric characteristic and the second biometric characteristic (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064);
and causing presentation of the avatar representing the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053).
Claim 2:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the first biometric characteristic of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064) is a facial characteristic (See NELSON Paragraph 0023) of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064).
Claim 3:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the facial characteristic (See NELSON Paragraph 0023) of the first user is a face geometry of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0020-00212).
Claim 4:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the second biometric characteristic (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064) of the first user is an eye feature of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0006; 0020).
Claim 5:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the eye feature of the first user is a gaze direction (See Hughes Column 10, Lines 5-10).
Claim 6:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the eye feature of the first user is a blinking state (See Hughes Column 5, Lines 10-27).
Claim 7:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the second biometric characteristic of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064) is a head pose of the first user (See Hughes Column 3, Lines 1-60).
Claim 8:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the second biometric characteristic of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064) is a facial expression of the first user (See Hughes Column 10, Lines 5-10).
Claim 9:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein the second biometric characteristic of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064) is an arm movement of the first user (See Hughes Column 7, Lines 35-40).
Claim 10:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein detecting the second biometric characteristic (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064) and animating (See Hughes Column 7, Lines 40-50) the avatar are performed continuously to provide a live animation (See Hughes Column 16, Lines 20-30) of the avatar representing the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053).
Claim 11:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses wherein causing presentation of the avatar (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053) representing the first user includes causing presentation of the avatar (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053) representing the first user to a second user in a virtual meeting space (See NELSON Paragraph 0017).
Claim 12:
The combination of NELSON and Hughes discloses detecting a third biometric characteristic of the first user (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064), wherein animating (See Hughes Column 7, Lines 40-50) the avatar (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053) representing the first user is further based on the third biometric characteristic (See NELSON Paragraphs 0033; 0040; 0053; 0064).
Claims 13-14:
Claims 13-14 are rejected on the same basis as claims 1-2.
Claim 15:
Claim 15 is rejected on the same basis as claim 4.
Claims 16-17:
Claims 16-17 are rejected on the same basis as claim 7-8.
Claim 18:
Claim 18 is rejected on the same basis as claim 12.
Claim 19:
Claim 19 is rejected on the same basis as claim 10.
Claim 20:
Claim 20 is rejected on the same basis as claim 1.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20120293506 relates in general to avatar-based virtual collaborative assistance, and in greater detail to creation of a working, training, and assistance environment by means of techniques of augmented reality.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEREE N BROWN whose telephone number is [phone]. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00 PM EST.
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, SAID BROOME can be reached at [phone]. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHEREE N BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612 June 3, 2026

1 NELSON Paragraph 0064 recites “[0064] At an operation 202, values derived from biometric samples may be obtained. A first value may be derived from a first biometric sample of a first user. A second value may be derived from a second biometric sample of a second user. The first value may be different from the second value. The first value may be different from the second value due to physical differences between the first user and the second user. Operation 202 may be performed by one or more processors configured to execute a seed value component that is the same as or similar to seed value component 22, in accordance with one or more implementations.”
2 Note: The examiner interprets Applicant’s teachings of “geometry” as being the same as “measurements” as taught by Nelson.

Prosecution Timeline

• Jan 17, 2025: Application Filed
• Aug 09, 2025: Response after Non-Final Action
• Jun 08, 2026: Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)