DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 15, in paragraph 61, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 19, in paragraph 72, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 41, in paragraph 137, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 43, in paragraph 148, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on pages 45-46, in paragraph 165, line 11 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 46, in paragraph 171, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 47, in paragraph 175, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on pages 46-47, in paragraph 172, in lines 3-4, Applicants write, “Smiling Face with Open Mouth and Tears 804” including 9 tokens. It is thought Applicants meant to write, “Smiling Face with Open Mouth and Tears” 804 including 9 tokens. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 47, in paragraph 173, in lines 5-7, Applicants write, For example, the display device 202 may generate “Laughing Tears 806” of four tokens as the first text in the form of compressing “Smiling Face with Open Mouth and Tears 804”, which is the name of the emoticon 802. It is thought Applicants meant to write, For example, the display device 202 may generate “Laughing Tears” 806 of four tokens as the first text in the form of compressing “Smiling Face with Open Mouth and Tears” 804, which is the name of the emoticon 802. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 47, in paragraph 174, in line 4, Applicants write, “Hilarious 808” of three tokens. It is thought that Applicants meant to write, Applicants write, “Hilarious” 808 of three tokens. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 47, in paragraph 174, in lines 6-7, Applicants write, “So painful 810” of two tokens. It is thought that Applicants meant to write, Applicants write, “So painful” 810 of two tokens. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 48, in paragraph 180, line 3 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on page 50, in paragraph 192, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on pages 50-51, in paragraph 197, line 2 does not end with a period. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the phrase "or similar" renders the claim indefinite because the claim includes elements not actually disclosed (those encompassed by "or similar"), thereby rendering the scope of the claim unascertainable. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claims 2-10 are rejected under the same rationale as claim 1 for at least the reasons stated above. The claims are dependent upon claim 1, but do not add any features or subject matter that would solve the deficiencies of claim 1.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 11, the phrase "or similar" renders the claim indefinite because the claim includes elements not actually disclosed (those encompassed by "or similar"), thereby rendering the scope of the claim unascertainable. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claims 12-20 are rejected under the same rationale as claim 11 for at least the reasons stated above. The claims are dependent upon claim 11, but do not add any features or subject matter that would solve the deficiencies of claim 11.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7, 8, 10-15, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pilon et al. (WO 2025/073037) and further in view of Bae et al. (U.S. 11,962,545).
With respect to claim 1, Pilon teaches a display device, comprising: a display (Pilon, Fig. 2, elements 200 and 212; pages 19-20, paragraph 70); a transceiver (Pilon, Fig. 2, element 206; page 19, paragraph 69), memory to store at least one program (Pilon, Fig. 2, element 204; page 19, paragraph 68); and at least one processor (Pilon, Fig. 2, element 202; page 19, paragraph 68), electrically connectable to the memory, and including a processing circuit to execute at least one instruction of the at least one program while connected to the memory, wherein at least one processor, individually or in combination, is configured (Pilon, Fig. 2, element 204; page 19, paragraph 68) to: control the display to display content (Pilon, Fig. 2, elements 200 and 212; pages 19-20, paragraph 70); identify (Pilon, page 24, paragraph 85) a chat message input (Pilon, page 17, paragraph 64) by a user (Pilon, page 24, paragraph 85); change the identified chat message into an abbreviated message having a meaning identical or similar to the identified chat message (Pilon, pages 24-25, paragraph 85); and control the transceiver to transmit the abbreviated message to a server enabled to provide (Pilon, page 30, paragraph 98) a chatbot response (Pilon, page 17, paragraph 64).
Pilon does not explicitly teach while the content is displayed; and based on context information associated with the content being displayed.
However, Bae teaches while the content is displayed (Bae, Fig. 9, element 940; col. 12, lines 1-16); and based on context information (Bae, col. 13, lines 41-52) associated with the content being displayed (Bae, col. 7, lines 59-63 and col. 8, lines 14-15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Pilon in view of Bae in order to enable while the content is displayed; and based on context information associated with the content being displayed. One would be motivated to do so in order to although viewing real-time broadcast channels provided with chat rooms by the service operator, if there are few chat room participants or chat is not active, a server device may automatically provide a chatbot participating chat service to all of the display devices participating in the chat rooms, thereby providing a meaningful, extended chat experience as well as real-time broadcast channel viewing, to the user group viewing the real-time broadcast channels (Bae, col. 2, lines 31-38).
With respect to claim 2, the combination of Pilon and Bae teaches the invention described in claim 1, including the display device wherein the abbreviated message includes a number of tokens smaller than a number of tokens of the identified chat message (Pilon, pages 24-25, paragraph 85).
The combination of references is made under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 3, the combination of Pilon and Bae teaches the invention described in claim 1, including the display device wherein at least one processor, individually or in combination, is configured to: change a first text included in the identified chat message into a second text including a number of tokens smaller than a number of tokens of the first text based on a language model, and use a message including the second text as the abbreviated message (Pilon, pages 24-25, paragraph 85).
The combination of references is made under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 4, the combination of Pilon and Bae teaches the invention described in claim 1, including the display device wherein at least one processor, individually or in combination, is configured to: detect a language of the identified chat message based on a language model; count a first token number which is a number of tokens of the identified chat message; translate the identified chat message into a language different from the detected language; count a second token number which is a number of tokens of the translated chat message; and use the translated chat message as the abbreviated message in response to the second token number being smaller than the first token number (Pilon, page 24, paragraph 82).
The combination of references is made under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 5, the combination of Pilon and Bae teaches the invention described in claim 1, including the display device wherein at least one processor, individually or in combination, is configured to: detect a language of the identified chat message based on a language model; count a first token number which is a number of tokens of the identified chat message; determine a second token number smaller than the first token number; translate the identified chat message into a language different from the detected language based on the determined second token number; and use the translated chat message as the abbreviated message (Pilon, page 24, paragraph 82).
The combination of references is made under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 7, the combination of Pilon and Bae teaches the invention described in claim 1, including the display device wherein the context information is generated based on meta information, and wherein the meta information includes (Bae, col. 13, lines 41-52) at least one of broadcast time information, broadcast channel information (Bae, col. 8, line 65 – col. 9, line 9), a broadcast program title, a broadcast program description, a broadcast program genre (Bae, col. 5, lines 32-41 and col. 7, lines 59-63), broadcast program cast information, broadcast program staff information, or broadcast program screen information obtained based on an electronic program guide (EPG).
The combination of references is made under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 8, the combination of Pilon and Bae teaches the invention described in claim 1, including the display device wherein the context information is generated based on meta information, and wherein the meta information includes (Bae, col. 13, lines 41-52) at least one of information about a person or an object appearing in the content or background information about the content obtained by screen analysis of the display device, voice or sound information obtained by audio analysis of the display device, text information obtained from a screen of the content by a text detection operation (Bae, col. 14, lines 27-36), information about one or more chat participants including the user (Bae, col. 13, lines 41-52), or conversation history information about the one or more chat participants (Bae, Fig. 9, element 940; col. 12, lines 1-16).
The combination of references is made under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 10, the combination of Pilon and Bae teaches the invention described in claim 1, including the display device wherein at least one processor, individually or in combination, is configured to: receive a response message to the abbreviated message from the server through the transceiver (Pilon, pages 24-25, paragraph 85); and control the display to display the received response message as the chatbot response (Bae, col. 8, lines 23-36).
The combination of references is made under the same rationale as claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 11, Pilon teaches a method for providing a chat service by a display device, the method comprising: displaying content (Pilon, Fig. 2, elements 200 and 212; pages 19-20, paragraph 70); identifying (Pilon, page 24, paragraph 85) a chat message input (Pilon, page 17, paragraph 64) by a user (Pilon, page 24, paragraph 85); changing the identified chat message into an abbreviated message having a meaning identical or similar to the identified chat message (Pilon, pages 24-25, paragraph 85); and transmitting the abbreviated message to a server enabled to provide (Pilon, page 30, paragraph 98) a chatbot response (Pilon, page 17, paragraph 64).
Pilon does not explicitly teach while the content is displayed; and based on context information associated with the content being displayed.
However, Bae teaches while the content is displayed (Bae, Fig. 9, element 940; col. 12, lines 1-16); and based on context information (Bae, col. 13, lines 41-52) associated with the content being displayed (Bae, col. 7, lines 59-63 and col. 8, lines 14-15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Pilon in view of Bae in order to enable while the content is displayed; and based on context information associated with the content being displayed. One would be motivated to do so in order to although viewing real-time broadcast channels provided with chat rooms by the service operator, if there are few chat room participants or chat is not active, a server device may automatically provide a chatbot participating chat service to all of the display devices participating in the chat rooms, thereby providing a meaningful, extended chat experience as well as real-time broadcast channel viewing, to the user group viewing the real-time broadcast channels (Bae, col. 2, lines 31-38).
Claims 2-5, 7, 8, and 10 do not teach or define any new limitations above claims 12-15, 17, 18, and 20 and therefore are rejected for similar reasons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 9, 16, and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alicia Baturay whose telephone number is (571) 272-3981. The examiner can normally be reached at 7am – 4pm, Mondays – Thursdays, Eastern Time.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in person, or video conferencing using a USPTO-supplied, web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, Applicants are encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) form at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamal Divecha can be reached at (571) 272-5863. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in .docx format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (in USA or Canada) or 571-272-1000.
/Alicia Baturay/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2441
August 24, 2026
Prosecution Insights