DETAILED ACTION
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) 1-3, 5, 8, 11-13, 15-18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bostick (US 2016/0203639) in view of Koc (US 2019/0000147).
Regarding claim 1, Bostick discloses a terminal device comprising:
a communication unit (412, fig. 4 and para. 59) that receives virtual space information (para. 68) defining a virtual space (see 612 and 614 in fig. 6; wherein the virtual space is created in the display of the AR glasses) that corresponds to a real space (fig. 6) by placing virtual objects corresponding to real objects (fig. 6 and para. 63) from a management device (702, fig. 7 and para. 73, 69, 76); and
a control unit (416, fig. 4) that causes the virtual space defined by the received virtual space information to be output by an output unit (para. 60-61),
wherein in the virtual space, a virtual object indicating that inhalation is prohibited (612 and 614 in fig. 6) is placed at a location in the virtual space that corresponds to a prohibited inhalation location where inhalation using the inhalation device is not allowed in the real space (para. 64-65).
Bostick fails to disclose wherein the virtual space information includes location information indicating an inhalation position of the user.
Koc discloses wherein the virtual space information includes location information indicating an inhalation position of the user (para. 93, 89-90; wherein VR headset 400 is informed when a user inhales a e-cigarette and then produces a corresponding virtual vapor cloud during exhale, wherein e.g. the inhale and exhale locations are the same) of an inhalation device that generates an aerosol to which a flavor component is added (para. 115, 87, 28).
When the invention was made (pre-AIA ) or before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the teachings of Koc in the device of Bostick. The motivation for doing so would have been to accurately provide virtual vapor clouds located at the same location as a real vapor cloud (Koc; para. 115, 93, such that the virtual vapor is accurately displayed to the users of the VR headsets). Further wherein the virtual vapor clouds may be manipulated in design by the user (Koc; para. 115).
Regarding claim 2, Bostick discloses wherein the virtual space includes a topographical change (614, fig. 6) that causes a topographical feature to appear (see fig. 6), such that the topographical feature acts as an obstacle at the location in the virtual space that corresponds to the prohibited inhalation location (see fig. 6 and para. 64-65).
Regarding claim 3, Bostick fails to discloses an avatar.
Koc discloses wherein, in the virtual space, an avatar is placed at locations inside the virtual space according to the locations of the users in the real space (para. 118-119, 124-125; wherein a user can see the vapor clouds of an another user in the virtual space while looking through VR glasses).
When the invention was made (pre-AIA ) or before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the teachings of Koc in the device of Bostick. The motivation for doing so would have been to be able to actively see other users in a virtual environment (Koc; para. 118-119, 124-125), such that the same virtual space is capable of being shared between two users and updated to both users based on either user’s actions.
Regarding claim 5, Bostick wherein, in the virtual space, actions that are executable by the avatar are limited at the location in the virtual space that correspond to the prohibited inhalation location (para. 64; wherein e.g. photography is prohibited).
Regarding claim 8, Bostick discloses wherein, in the virtual space, a virtual object (614, fig. 6) indicating that inhalation is allowed is placed at a location (e.g. smoking is allowed outside of 614, fig. 6) in the virtual space that corresponds to an allowed inhalation location where the inhalation using the inhalation device is allowed in the real space (fig. 6 and para. 65).
Claims 11-12 and 16-17 are rejected for the same reasons as claims 1-2, respectively. See above rejections.
Claims 13 and 18 are rejected for the same reasons as claim 3 above.
Claims 15 and 20 are rejected for the same reasons as claim 5 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6-7, 9-10, 14 and 19 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
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/ROBIN J MISHLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2628