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 .
Double Patenting
2. 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. See 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) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent is shown to be commonly owned with this application. See 37 CFR 1.130(b). 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 1-20 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over independent claims of the following: U.S. Patent No. 12,262,140. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because independent claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,262,140, and independent claims of the present application share the following:
Pending Application 19/056,162
U.S. Patent No. 12,262,140
A method, comprising: transmitting, for display at devices of participants of a video conference, a primary composite video comprising a shared media background and video of a host participant;
dividing the participants into a plurality of virtual breakout sessions, wherein each virtual breakout session includes a subset of the participants;
maintaining display of the primary composite video across all of the virtual breakout sessions;
receiving, from a first participant device in a first virtual breakout session, a request to share supplemental content;
generating a modified composite video for the first virtual breakout session by combining the primary composite video with the supplemental content;
and transmitting the modified composite video only to participant devices assigned to the first virtual breakout session while continuing to transmit the primary composite video to participant devices in other virtual breakout sessions
A method, comprising: transmitting, for display at devices of users of a conference, a first composite video depicting a media background shared to the conference by a first user of the users and depicting the media background at least partially overlaid by images of the first user;
receiving a presentation content from a device of a second user of the users, wherein the presentation content is associated with a document accessed by the device of the second user from a repository and the presentation content is streamed from the device of the second user;
and transmitting for display a second composite video depicting the media background partially overlaid by the presentation content and the images of the first user to at least a subset of the devicesi assigning different subsets of the users to respective virtual breakout rooms;
displaying the first composite video in each of the respective virtual breakout rooms;
receiving another presentation content from another device of a user assigned to one of the respective virtual breakout rooms;
and transmitting for display at respective devices of the users of only the one of the respective virtual breakout rooms a third composite video that includes the first composite video and the another presentation content
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Amal Zenati whose telephone number is 571-270-1947. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 -5:00 M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ahmad Matar can be reached on 571- 272- 7488. 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).
/AMAL S ZENATI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693