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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/01/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4,6,8 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ding (US20250104290) in view of Nakamura (WO2025041433A1).
Regarding Claims 1,11 and 12, Ding discloses A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program executable by a computer, the program causing a computer to execute: (Paragraph [0346])
the image information including an image that has been generated and information used to generate the image, (Figure 12 and Paragraph [0244] E.N. The image generation system receives the user input that includes the text prompt. Identifying the prompt may include receiving a question or request from the user via text or speech. The interaction client may identify keywords from the prompt and apply weights to each of the identified keywords.)
Ding does not, but in related art, Nakamura discloses associating image information with a restriction condition, (Paragraph [0065] E.N. In this way, the second user information is extracted by removing information that should be kept private from the first user information. In the example above, the text information "Research results on bazbaz, a new product being developed by Mr. A, are ***" does not contain any words or strings whose second evaluation value exceeds the threshold, therefore, no words or strings are removed from the text information. One of ordinary skill in the art can determine that a prompt used to generate an image contains specific modifiers that may be removed in order to restrict a similar image from being produced by competitors.)
and the restriction condition restricting sharing of the image information; and restricting generation or display of the image information based on the restriction condition. (Paragraph [0056-0057] E.N. The closer a word or string of characters has a rating of 1, the more likely it is that it should be kept private. The threshold is set to, for example, 0.9, and any word or string whose evaluation value exceeds the threshold is treated as information that should be kept private.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding to incorporate the teachings of Nakamura because Ding does not explicitly disclose restriction condition which is disclosed by Nakamura. Incorporating the teachings of Nakamura to Ding allows for the use of restrictions on certain data/information to be not used by other users when generating images.
Regarding Claim 2, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 1. Ding further discloses wherein the restriction condition includes client information. (Paragraph [0098] E.N. The menu identifies the type of user data that the external resource will be authorized to use. In response to receiving a user selection of an accept option, the interaction client adds the external resource to a list of authorized external resources and allows the external resource to access user data from the interaction client. The external resource is authorized by the interaction client to access the user data under an OAuth 2 framework.)
Regarding Claim 4, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 1. Ding does not, but in related art, Nakamura discloses wherein, in response to a user specifying client information, the restricting includes restricting the generation or the display of the image information that is the same as or similar to the image information associated with the specified client information. (Paragraph [0056-0057] E.N. The closer a word or string of characters has a rating of 1, the more likely it is that it should be kept private. The threshold is set to, for example, 0.9, and any word or string whose evaluation value exceeds the threshold is treated as information that should be kept private.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding to incorporate the teachings of Nakamura because Ding does not explicitly disclose restriction condition which is disclosed by Nakamura. Incorporating the teachings of Nakamura to Ding allows for the use of restrictions on certain data/information to be not used by other users when generating images.
Regarding Claim 6, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 1. Ding further discloses wherein the image information includes a prompt that has been used to generate the image, (Paragraph [0141] E.N. The resulting image may be intended to represent a visual interpretation of a text prompt. As described further below, the image may also be generated based on additional “guidance,” such as structural data provided in addition to the text prompt.)
a weight of a design element in the prompt, (Paragraph [0126] E.N. The connections between neurons have associated weights, which define the influence of the input from a transmitting neuron to a receiving neuron. During the training phase, these weights are adjusted by the learning algorithm to optimize the performance of the network. Different types of neural networks may use different activation functions and learning algorithms, affecting their performance on different tasks.)
and an evaluation of the image. (Paragraph [0274] E.N. The image table stores image data associated with messages for which message data is stored in the entity table, including, for example, AI-generated images as mentioned above.)
Regarding Claim 8, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 1. Ding further discloses wherein the image information includes a priority order of a design element according to an arrangement order of text data that has been input by a user to generate the image. (Paragraph [0126] E.N. The connections between neurons have associated weights, which define the influence of the input from a transmitting neuron to a receiving neuron. During the training phase, these weights are adjusted by the learning algorithm to optimize the performance of the network. Different types of neural networks may use different activation functions and learning algorithms, affecting their performance on different tasks.)
Claim(s) 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ding (US20250104290) in view of Nakamura (WO2025041433A1) and in further view of Xinyue (Prompt Stealing Attacks against text-to-image generation models).
Regarding Claim 3, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 2. Ding does not, but in related art, Nakamura discloses wherein the program causes the computer to further execute acquiring second client information based on first client information, (Paragraph [0006] E.N. A user image generation apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure comprises: a first acquisition unit that acquires first user information related to the user from a terminal device used by the user; an extraction unit that extracts second user information by excluding information that should not be made public from the first user information)
and the restricting includes restricting the generation or the display of the image information that is the same as or similar to the image information associated with the second client information. (Paragraph [0056-0057] E.N. The closer a word or string of characters has a rating of 1, the more likely it is that it should be kept private. The threshold is set to, for example, 0.9, and any word or string whose evaluation value exceeds the threshold is treated as information that should be kept private.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding to incorporate the teachings of Nakamura because Ding does not explicitly disclose restriction condition which is disclosed by Nakamura. Incorporating the teachings of Nakamura to Ding allows for the use of restrictions on certain data/information to be not used by other users when generating images.
Ding and Nakamura do not, but in related art, Xinyue discloses a client of the second client information being in a competitive relationship with a client of the first client information, (Section 7 Discussion, Paragraph 2 E.N. For example, an adversary can perform prompt stealing attacks to quickly steal thousands of prompts on marketplaces and sell them on underground forums or a competitive marketplace. One of ordinary skill in the art can determine that competitors may try to steal prompts for their benefit.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding in view of Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Xinyue because Ding and Nakamura do not explicitly disclose clients and competitions which is disclosed by Xinyue. Incorporating the teachings of Xinyue to Ding and Nakamura allows for competition but without direct stealing of data between clients/users.
Regarding Claim 5, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 1. Ding and Nakamura do not, but in related art, Xinyue discloses wherein, when the image information is not associated with the restriction condition, the restricting includes restricting the generation or the display of the image information that is the same as or similar to the image information that is not associated with the restriction condition. (Figure 15 E.N. The PromptShield inserts modifiers to the artists prompts- giving the image generation a different generated image.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding in view of Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Xinyue because Ding and Nakamura do not explicitly disclose restricting the generation or the display of the image information that is the same as or similar to the image information that is not associated with the restriction condition which is disclosed by Xinyue.
Claim(s) 7 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ding (US20250104290) in view of Nakamura (WO2025041433A1) and in further view of Guan (CN117853600A).
Regarding Claim 7, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 1. Ding and Nakamura do not, but in related art, Guan discloses wherein the image information includes tone manner settings that include a style, a composition, and a hue, the tone manner settings having been input by a user to generate the image. (Paragraph [0057] E.N. The first descriptive data is used to describe the first image to be generated, that is, to describe the user's image generation requirements. For example, the first descriptive data can describe the style, color, size, and elements included in the image that the user expects to generate.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding in view of Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Guan because Ding and Nakamura do not explicitly disclose tone manner settings that include a style, a composition, and a hue, the tone manner settings having been input by a user to generate the image which is disclosed by Guan. Incorporating the teachings of Guan to Ding and Nakamura allows for a wide variety of customization that can be done as an input to generate an image.
Regarding Claim 9, Ding in view of Nakamura discloses the recording medium according to claim 1. Ding and Nakamura do not, but in related art, Guan discloses wherein the image information includes history information about generating the image. (Paragraph [0073] E.N. The user’s input data is obtained in the current round of dialogue and the historical dialogue data in the previous rounds of dialogue (including historical user input and historical system responses).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding in view of Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Guan because Ding and Nakamura do not explicitly disclose history information about generating the image which is disclosed by Guan. Incorporating the teachings of Guan to Ding and Nakamura allows for the use of prior conversations between the user and model to be used for image generation.
Regarding Claim 10, Ding in view of Nakamura and in further view of Guan discloses the recording medium according to claim 9. Ding and Nakamura do not, but in related art, Guan discloses wherein the program causes the computer to further execute causing a display part to display the history information in a list. (Paragraph [0125] E.N. The dialogue interface between the user and the AI image generation system can be divided into a historical dialogue area and a dialogue area. Historical conversations can be named, for example, after the data the user first entered in that conversation. Multiple historical conversations can be sorted according to the time when the user first sent data. The closer the time when the user first sent data is to the current time, the higher the ranking.)
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Ding in view of Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Guan because Ding and Nakamura do not explicitly display part to display the history information in a list which is disclosed by Guan. Incorporating the teachings of Guan to Ding and Nakamura allows for the use of prior conversations between the user and model to be used for image generation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AAYUSH ARYAL whose telephone number is (571)272-2838. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached at (571) 270-3351. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AAYUSH ARYAL/Examiner, Art Unit 2435
/AMIR MEHRMANESH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2435
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