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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 04/24/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 3-5 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Snyder (U.S Publication No. 20150012308 A1) in view of Cho et al. (KR 102336353 B1, with English translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Snyder discloses a method, executed by a performance setting application of a manager terminal, for checking a setting status of multiple light emitting devices (which is systems and methods supplement events to allow attendee participation using mobile devices, see fig. 1-6), (via authoring and distribution system 100) of the administrator terminal (via computing system 200) checks the setting status of a plurality of light emitting devices (see paragraph [0069] and [0090]), comprising:
acquiring pairing information for the multiple light emitting devices (via mobile devices 160; there is a description of capturing position information and providing information to the authoring and distribution system 100, see paragraph [0062], [0064], [0073], and [0080]);
displaying setting status information for a first performance according to the acquired pairing information on a setting status interface (via user interface 400) at a first time point (which is a description of displaying a layout of the seat associated with a registered participant in the participant column 432, see fig. 4, paragraph [0075], and [0117]);
determining at least one target seat (which are seats to be black spots, positions of holes) according to the setting status information for the first performance (see paragraph [0144]);
and changing and storing performance direction data matched with the first performance according to the provided feedback content (which is a description that the participation information is in real time and the pixel size composed of a plurality of participants is adjusted to prevent black spots. In addition, there is a description that the effect is moved and positioned according to the participation rate of the position in the venue, see paragraph [0080] and [0144]).
Snyder does not explicitly disclose transmitting a setting encouragement message to the determined target seat; and providing feedback content for the setting status information of the first performance at a second time point after transmitting the setting encouragement message.
However, Snyder discloses the message transmission itself is shown, but does not specified the setting encouragement message transmission to the determined target seat; and Snyder also shows a real-time display of participation information, but does not specified as providing feedback content after the encouragement message is transmitted.
Cho, on the other hand, discloses a system for controlling a cheering stick for directing performance and a method thereof. Cho describes a configuration in which an unmatched support bar is blinked or lit to request the next information update (see paragraph [0048]-[0049], and [0065]; this corresponds to a setting encouragement message that encourages setting for an unset object).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the system and method as taught by Snyder with the system and method as taught by Cho which having a common technical field of setting management of a light emitting device for an audience in a performance venue; and could have been easily conceived by a person skilled in the art to apply the configuration of sending an update request to the unmatched target of Cho to the target seat grasped as the position of the black spot or the hole of the invention described in Snyder to make a configuration of sending a setting encouragement message to the target seat.
In addition, Snyder describes a configuration in which participation information is displayed in real time and the effect is moved or positioned according to the participation rate. Therefore, it is a matter naturally assumed in the operation of the invention described in Snyder in view of Cho to display the participation rate or the setting status reflecting the result as feedback after the above-mentioned encouragement message is transmitted, and no particular difficulty is recognized.
Regarding claim 3, Snyder in view of Cho discloses the method for checking a setting status of multiple light emitting devices of claim 1, wherein displaying the setting status information for the first performance includes: extracting from the pairing information seat information matched with an audience terminal or a light emitting device that has received seat-specific direction data through pairing (which described that the seat information of the registered attendees is displayed. The visual effect corresponds to the seat, see paragraph [0114], [0117], and [0144] by Snyder); determining the extracted seat information as paired seats (which is information on the seat that does not become a black spot, see paragraph [0144] by Snyder); determining from the pairing information the remaining seat information, excluding the determined paired seats, as non-paired seats (which is information of a seat to be black Pochi. There is a description of the case where the pixel and the seat are 1:1, see paragraph [0081] and [0144] by Snyder); and displaying a seat layout indicating the paired seats and the non-paired seats (see fig. 4, paragraph [0117] by Snyder).
Regarding claim 4, Snyder in view of Cho discloses the method for checking a setting status of multiple light emitting devices of claim 3, wherein displaying the setting status information for the first performance includes: acquiring a total number of seats sold for the first performance from a performance management server (although there is no description of the performance management server; however, it is considered that the information of the performance venue in FIG. 3 includes the information of the total number of seats. There is a description of receiving participant information from outside, and there is also a description of the total number of participants, see fig. 3B, paragraph [0080] and [0144] by Snyder); and calculating a pairing proportion that is a ratio of a number of the determined paired seats to the total number of seats (see paragraph [0081] by Snyder), and the seat layout and the pairing proportion are displayed in real time on a setting status interface (there is a description that the number of registered attendees is displayed, and it is considered that there is a case where the absolute value is displayed as a rate, see paragraph [0080] and [0117] by Snyder).
Regarding claim 5, Snyder in view of Cho discloses the method for checking a setting status of multiple light emitting devices of claim 1, wherein determining target seat includes: acquiring the performance direction data for the first performance (see paragraph [0080] and [0144] by Snyder); determining a first direction scene from the acquired performance direction data (see paragraph [0080] and [0144] by Snyder); determining a first main set on a target seat determination interface based on a seat layout on which the first direction scene is indicated (see paragraph [0080] and [0144] by Snyder); classifying non-paired seats from the determined first main set (see paragraph [0080] and [0144] by Snyder); and determining at least one non-paired seat to be the target seat (see paragraph [0080] and [0144] by Snyder).
Regarding claim 9, Snyder in view of Cho discloses the method for checking a setting status of multiple light emitting devices of claim 5, wherein providing the feedback content includes: generating the feedback content indicating a first pairing proportion at the first time point and a second pairing proportion at the second time point (see paragraph [0080]-[0081] by Snyder); and providing an interface for shifting the first main set to another zone when the second pairing proportion is equal to or smaller than a preset criterion (see paragraph [0081] by Snyder).
Regarding claim 10, Snyder in view of Cho discloses the method for checking a setting status of multiple light emitting devices of claim 9, wherein changing and storing the performance direction data matched with the first performance includes: shifting the first main set to a second main set in which the number of non-paired seats is smaller than a preset criterion (see paragraph [0081] by Snyder); and changing and storing the performance direction data so that the first direction scene is performed in the second main set (see paragraph [0081] by Snyder).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Snyder (U.S Publication No. 20150012308 A1) in view of Cho et al. (KR 102336353 B1, with English translation attached), and further in view of Choi et al. (U.S Publication No. 20240005220 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Snyder discloses a system for checking a setting status of multiple light emitting devices (which is systems and methods supplement events to allow attendee participation using mobile devices, see fig. 1-6), (via authoring and distribution system 100) of the administrator terminal (via computing system 200) checks the setting status of a plurality of light emitting devices (see paragraph [0069] and [0090]); wherein a manager terminal includes at least one memory (which is system memory 208) and at least one processor (which is processing unit 206), and at least one application stored in a memory of a manager terminal and executed by the processor to provide a performance setting service (see fig. 1-6, paragraph [0073] and [0093]) including:
acquiring pairing information for the multiple light emitting devices (via mobile devices 160; there is a description of capturing position information and providing information to the authoring and distribution system 100, see paragraph [0062], [0064], [0073], and [0080]);
displaying setting status information for a first performance according to the acquired pairing information on a setting status interface (via user interface 400) at a first time point (which is a description of displaying a layout of the seat associated with a registered participant in the participant column 432, see fig. 4, paragraph [0075], and [0117]);
determining at least one target seat (which are seats to be black spots, positions of holes) according to the setting status information for the first performance (see paragraph [0144]);
and changing and storing performance direction data matched with the first performance according to the provided feedback content (which is a description that the participation information is in real time and the pixel size composed of a plurality of participants is adjusted to prevent black spots. In addition, there is a description that the effect is moved and positioned according to the participation rate of the position in the venue, see paragraph [0080] and [0144]).
Snyder does not explicitly disclose the system being linked to at least one kiosk providing a pairing service to a light emitting device and an audience terminal.
Choi, on the other hand, discloses a method performed by an application executed by at least one processor of a kiosk, and comprises detecting ticket reservation information, extracting seat information including a position of a seat at a performance hall from the detected ticket reservation information, determining a seat library corresponding to the extracted seat information, pairing the kiosk and a cheering light stick to store the determined seat library, and transmitting the seat library to the paired cheering light stick (see abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the system and method as taught by Snyder with the system and method as taught by Choi having the system being linked to at least one kiosk providing a pairing service to a light emitting device and an audience terminal. Since the seat library pairing method and system using short-distance wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present invention enables the pairing of a cheering light stick and a kiosk with an intuitive user experience, the time and inconvenience which are required for storing a seat library may be reduced. Therefore, the convenience for a user may be increased (see paragraph [0031] by Choi).
Snyder further discloses the message transmission itself is shown, but does not specified the setting encouragement message transmission to the determined target seat; and Snyder also shows a real-time display of participation information, but does not specified as providing feedback content after the encouragement message is transmitted.
Cho, on the other hand, discloses a system for controlling a cheering stick for directing performance and a method thereof. Cho describes a configuration in which an unmatched support bar is blinked or lit to request the next information update (see paragraph [0048]-[0049], and [0065]; this corresponds to a setting encouragement message that encourages setting for an unset object).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the system and method as taught by Snyder in view of Choi with the system and method as taught by Cho which having a common technical field of setting management of a light emitting device for an audience in a performance venue; and could have been easily conceived by a person skilled in the art to apply the configuration of sending an update request to the unmatched target of Cho to the target seat grasped as the position of the black spot or the hole of the invention described in Snyder to make a configuration of sending a setting encouragement message to the target seat.
In addition, Snyder describes a configuration in which participation information is displayed in real time and the effect is moved or positioned according to the participation rate. Therefore, it is a matter naturally assumed in the operation of the invention described in Snyder in view of Cho and Choi to display the participation rate or the setting status reflecting the result as feedback after the above-mentioned encouragement message is transmitted, and no particular difficulty is recognized.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 6-8 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI N PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5518. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
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/Thai Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 09/03/2026
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