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 .
Claims 2-21 are currently pending and prosecuted.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7 July 2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3 December 2025 was considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as based on a disclosure which is not enabling. The disclosure does not enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without “a display to present a virtual object to the user”, which is/are critical or essential to the practice of the invention but not included in the claim(s). See In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 188 USPQ 356 (CCPA 1976).
Claims 2, 11, and 16 contain the limitation “a contact feature characterizing an interaction of the user with a virtual object.” Currently, the claims do not provide any way for a virtual object to be presented or displayed to a user. However, in order for the user to interact with a virtual object, it is necessary that the virtual object be displayed to the user using a display. For example, in Figs. 1A-1H, the virtual object 140 is displayed to the user 110 by the display 130 in an artificial reality environment 132. It is noted that [0029] of the Specification specifically states, “the path of the virtual object 140 are displayed on a display (e.g., a head-wearable device or television).” Similarly, in Figs. 2A-3C, the virtual object 140 is displayed to the user 110 through head-wearable device 230 or 232 through display 231 or 233, respectively. It is noted in [0046] that “the user 110 making contact with the virtual object 140 using the virtual bat 250 as indicated on the display 231.” Thus, based on the Applicant’s Specification, a display to present the virtual object to a user is critical and essential to the practice of the invention and necessarily must be present within the claims but is not included in the claims.
As such, Claims 2, 11 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 1st paragraph, due to a lack of enablement. Similarly, Claims 3-10, 12-15 and 17-21 are rejected due to their dependency on Claims 2, 11, and 16, respectively.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN T REED whose telephone number is (571)272-7234. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 0800-1800.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ke Xiao can be reached at 571-272-7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Stephen T. Reed/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627
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