DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the original application filed on 02/20/2025. Claims 1, 3, 6-9, 11, 12, 14, 17, and 18 are amended, claims 16 and 19 are canceled, and claims 20-22 are newly added in the preliminary amendments filed on 02/20/2025. Claims 1-15, 17, 18, and 20-22 are pending.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 13-15, 17, 18, 20, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zou et al. (NNN, hereinafter “Zou”).
Regarding claim 1 (and similarly claims 17 and 18), Zou discloses:
A chat information processing method, comprising:
receiving a first operation for a first chat, wherein the first operation is used to spread content in the first chat to outside of the first chat, and the first chat is set as a first type of chat (receiving screenshot operation that can be used to disseminate chat information of privacy group chat, Zou: [0044]); and
performing, for the first operation, a second operation that prevents the first operation (prohibiting screenshot operation and sending alert, Zou: [0044]).
Regarding claim 2, Zou teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Zou further discloses:
setting the first chat as the first type of chat in response to receiving a first configuration operation performed on the first chat by a first type of member of the first chat (creating group chat and selecting type of group chat as privacy group chat, Zou: [0043], [0044], FIG. 4).
Regarding claim 4, Zou teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 2 above.
Zou further discloses:
sending, in the first chat, a first system message that is visible to all members in response to receiving the first configuration operation, wherein the first system message is used to prompt that the first chat is set as the first type of chat (sending alert prompt to all users in group chat indicating privacy group chat in response to receiving screenshot operation, Zou: [0044]).
Regarding claim 5, Zou teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Zou further discloses:
sending, in the first chat, a second system message that is visible only to a new member in response to the new member joining the first chat, wherein the second system message is used to prompt that the first chat is set as the first type of chat (displaying prompt indicating privacy group chat in response to new client entering group chat interface, Zou: [0044], FIG. 5).
Regarding claim 13, Zou teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Zou further discloses:
setting the first chat as the first type of chat in response to a second configuration operation performed on the first chat by a first type of member of the first chat (creating group chat and selecting type of group chat as privacy group chat, Zou: [0043], [0044], FIG. 4); and
sending, in the first chat, a second system message that is visible only to a new member in response to the new member joining the first chat, wherein the second system message is used to prompt that the first chat is set as the first type of chat (prohibiting screenshot operation in response to receiving screenshot operation, Zou: [0044]).
Regarding claim 14, Zou teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Zou further discloses:
before the receiving of the first operation for the first chat, further comprising: displaying a first window above the first chat (displaying group chat window interface, Zou: [0055], FIG. 6); and
responding to the first operation for the first window and performing, for the first chat, the second operation that prevents the first operation in response to receiving the first operation for the first window (prohibiting screenshot operation in response to receiving screenshot operation, Zou: [0044]).
Regarding claim 15, Zou teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Zou further discloses:
wherein the first operation comprises at least one of copying, forwarding, downloading, screenshotting, or screen recording (prohibiting screenshot operation and sending alert, Zou: [0044]).
Regarding claims 20 and 22, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claim 2. Therefore, claims 20 and 22 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claim 2 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6-12, and 21 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: Kim (US 2022/0164844 A1: Method and System for Providing Production and Distribution Platform), Cha et al. (US 2022/0150205 A1: Instant Messaging Server Providing Multiple Types of Chat Rooms), and Serper et al. (US 2022/0345533 A1: System and Method Associated with Calibrated Information Sharing Using Wave Dynamic Communication Protocol in an Ephemeral Content-Based Platform).
In the case of amendments, applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIL H. LEE whose telephone number is 571-272-3408. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 9am-6pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Glenton B. Burgess can be reached on 571-272-3949. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GIL H. LEE/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2454
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