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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No.10-2024-0082232, filed on 06/24/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submitted on 05/22/2025 and 01/07/2026 have been considered by the Examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-4, 9, 11-13 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Cha et al. U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0404952 A1, (hereinafter Cha the first).
Regarding claim 1.
Cha the first teaches a method for displaying emoticons by a user terminal (Cha the first teaches in fig. 1 and para. [0010], [0087], [0090], [0092], [0124] and [0126] displaying, by a user terminal), the method comprising: receiving an interaction for selecting an emoticon included in at least one of a chat message or an input interface displayed in a chat room (Cha the first teaches in fig. 8 and para. [0134] the user terminal 10 separately displays any one of recommended emoticons. Specifically, the user terminal 10 may display any one of the emoticons in a preview form through an output part. A preview may be displayed on a chat room screen of the user terminal 10, which is different from a second area);
receiving an interaction for adding the selected emoticon to an emoticon group (Cha the first teaches in para. [0027] receiving, by the server, the first and second associated meta information from the user terminal; and selecting, by the server, the plurality of recommended emoticons related to the first and second associated meta information);
receiving text information through the chat room (Cha the first the in para. [0003] received instant message services is expanding from text information to various types of multimedia information. In the multimedia information, emoticons are more and more used because they can easily show a user's emotion in fun ways and further, Cha the first teaches in para. [0064] the another user may be a different subject to be distinguished from the user of the terminal 10. The another user may be a conversation partner of the user who is participating in the same chat room with the user and sends and receives messages); and
displaying, in response to the text information satisfying a predetermined criterion associated with keyword information corresponding to the emoticon group, an interface for inputting at least one emoticon included in the emoticon group through the chat room (Cha the first teaches in para. [0132] information of the chat room may be determined by various classification criterion in addition to the above-mentioned casual level. For example, it is possible to classify a chat room by a topic and display an emoticon suitable for that topic with the highest priority…, and further, Cha the first teaches in para. [0149] the user terminal 10 may arrange recommendation groups in consideration of history or classification information of a chat room. For example, if there is a history that the user has frequently sent emoticons with the keyword “Yes” in a specific chat room in response to an emoticon with the keyword “Let's eat”, the recommendation group 310 including emoticons related to the keyword “Yes” may be displayed at the top as shown in FIG. 5…).
Regarding claim 2.
Cha the teaches wherein the keyword information is determined based on information associated with at least one emoticon included in the emoticon group (Cha the first teaches in para. [0068] when the user terminal receives the first emoticon related to the keyword “Let's eat”, the user may respond using an emoticon related to the keyword “Okay”, “No”, “What should I eat?”, or the like in normal cases. In this case, “Let's eat” is the first meta information, and “Okay”, “No” and “what should I eat?” are associated meta information.).
Regarding claim 3.
Cha the first teaches receiving at least one keyword information for the emoticon group from a user (Cah the first teaches in para. [0068] when the user terminal receives the first emoticon related to the keyword “Let's eat”, the user may respond using an emoticon related to the keyword “Okay”, “No”, “What should I eat?”, or the like in normal cases).
Regarding claim 4.
Cha the first teaches wherein displaying the interface for inputting the at least one emoticon comprises: displaying information on the emoticon group in response to the text information satisfying the predetermined criterion associated with the keyword information (Cha the first teaches in para. [0023] displaying the first emoticon, the first emoticon may be displayed in a first area of a screen of a chat room, and in the displaying of the first and second recommendation groups…, and further, Cha the first teaches in para. [0132] information of the chat room may be determined by various classification criterion in addition to the above-mentioned casual level. For example, it is possible to classify a chat room by a topic and display an emoticon suitable for that topic with the highest priority); and
in response to an interaction with the emoticon group, displaying an interface for inputting at least one emoticon included in the emoticon group (Cha the first teaches in para. [0099] user terminal 10 may display a first emoticon 100 in a first area A110 of a screen of a chat room in operation S110. The first area A110 may be a portion in which a chat message is displayed).
Regarding claim 9.
Cha the first teaches wherein receiving the interaction for adding the selected emoticon to the emoticon group comprises receiving an interaction for adding the selected emoticon to any one previously created emoticon group (Cha the first teaches in para. [0014] receiving, by the user terminal, a plurality of recommended emoticons related to the first and second associated meta information from the server, and the displaying of the first and second recommendation groups may include classifying and displaying the plurality of recommended emoticons, which are received in the receiving, into the first and second recommendation groups…, and further, Cha the first teaches in para. [0026] a plurality of recommended emoticons corresponding to the first emoticon to the user terminal, the plurality of recommended emoticons being included in any one of first and second recommendation groups; and receiving, by the server, information on any one emoticon selected from among the plurality of recommended emoticons from the user terminal; and providing, by the server, the selected recommended emoticon to a counterpart terminal that is a chat counterpart of the user terminal…).
Regarding claim 11.
Cha the first the teachers wherein an order in which at least one emoticon included in the emoticon group is displayed is related to an emoticon usage history of a user (Cha the firs teaches in para. [0148] if there is a history that the user has frequently sent emoticons with the keyword “Yes” in response to an emoticon with the keyword “Let's eat”, a recommendation group 310 including emoticons related to the keyword “Yes” may be displayed at the top as shown in FIG. 5…, a recommendation group 310b including emoticons related to the keyword “What should I eat?” may be displayed at the top, as shown in FIG. 9.).
Regarding claim 12.
Cha the first teaches requesting a server to share the emoticon group (Cha the first teaches in para. [0026] there is provided a method for recommending emoticons, the method including; providing, by a server, a first emoticon related to first meta information to a user terminal; providing, by the server, a plurality of recommended emoticons corresponding to the first emoticon to the user terminal and further, Cha the first the teaches in para. [0027] prior to the providing the plurality of recommended emoticons, further include: receiving, by the server, the first and second associated meta information from the user terminal; and selecting, by the server, the plurality of recommended emoticons related to the first and second associated meta information).
Regarding claim 13.
Cha the first teaches wherein, at least one of (i) information about whether another user account is allowed to save the shared emoticon group or (ii) any emoticon available for saving from the shared emoticon group is determined based on a predetermined relationship between a user account requesting the sharing and the another user account (Cha the first teaches in para. [0052] user may be a user of the user terminal 10 or may refer to an account registered as a user in an instant message service provided by the server 20. Accordingly, the fact that the server 20 transmits certain information to a user may mean that the information is transmitted to the user terminal 10 through the user's account registered in the server 20. Here, the claim lists features in the alternative. While the claim lists a number of optional limitations only one limitation from the list is required and needs to be met by the prior art. However, Cha the first teaches the limitation of sharing user account).
Regarding claims 17 and 19.
Claims 17 and 19 incorporate substantively all the limitation of claim 1 in a method and a server form and are rejected under the same rationale. Furthermore, regarding the limitation of a server, the prior art of record Cha the first teaches in par. [0014]-[0016].
Regarding claim 18.
Claim 18 incorporates substantively all the limitation of claim 2 in a method form and is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 5-8 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha the first in view of Cha U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0360551 A1 (hereinafter Cha the second).
Regarding claim 5. Cha the first teaches the method of claim 4.
Cha the first does not explicitly teach wherein displaying the information on the emoticon group comprises displaying information on at least one text-matched emoticon that satisfies matching information for the text information.
However, Cha the second teaches wherein displaying the information on the emoticon group comprises displaying information on at least one text-matched emoticon that satisfies matching information for the text information (Cha the second teaches in para. [0058] the sequence of the emoticons included in the timeline emoticon edited by the user corresponds to the hidden sequence, the terminals 130 and 170 may automatically insert a new emoticon).
Therefore, Cha the first and Cha the second are analogues arts and they are in the same field of endeavor as they both are directed to a method for displaying emoticons by a user terminal to manage a chat message in a chat room by matching the text message to automatically insert a new emoticon.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of creating a new emoticon automatically ([0058]) as taught, by Cha the second into the teachings of Cha the first invention. One would have been motivated to do so in order to the method enables transmitting and receiving a chat message including the timeline emoticon in an effective manner.
Regarding claim 6.
Cha the first in view of Park teaches wherein: displaying the information on the at least one text-matched emoticon comprises displaying an interface for displaying the text-matched emoticon, and an interface for displaying the at least one text-matched emoticon and information on the emoticon group are displayed separately in the chat room (Cha the first teaches in para. [0103] the recommended emoticons may be displayed in a second area A120 different from the first area A110 of the chat room screen. The second area A120 may be an area in which a keyboard interface for inputting a chat message is displayed, and may be changed to displaying the plurality of recommendation groups in operation S130 and also Cha the first teaches in para. [0035] the current user and the chat object enter a chat room and communicate by transmitting information such as a text, voice, a video, and an emoticon…, and display the second interactive emoticon in a chat interface, where the second interactive emoticon and the first interactive emoticon have the same interaction effect and further, Cha the second teaches in para. [0089] the terminal may generate the timeline emoticon by inserting a hidden emoticon prepared corresponding to the hidden sequence to the plurality of emoticons automatically or according to a selection of the user… A method of generating a timeline emoticon when a sequence of a plurality of emoticons included in the timeline emoticon is edited to match a preset hidden sequence will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 5 below).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of generating a timeline emoticon when a sequence of a plurality of emoticons included in the timeline emoticon is edited to match a preset hidden sequence ([0089]) as taught, by Cha the second into the teachings of Cha the first invention. One would have been motivated to do so in order to the method enables providing a set of recommendation groups of recommended emoticons associated with the emoticon received by the user terminal, thus allowing a user to select a preferred emoticon in a convenient manner.
Regarding claim 7. Cha the first teaches the method of claim 1.
Cha the first in view of Park teaches wherein receiving the interaction for adding the selected emoticon to the emoticon group comprises: displaying an interface for requesting creation of a new emoticon group including the selected emoticon (Cha the first teaches in para. [0025] display a first emoticon related to the first meta information through the output part; and display first and second recommendation groups through the output part, the first and second recommendation groups each comprising at least one recommended emoticon corresponding to the first emoticon and further, Cha the second teaches in para. [0058] the sequence of the emoticons included in the timeline emoticon edited by the user corresponds to the hidden sequence, the terminals 130 and 170 may automatically insert a new emoticon); and
receiving an interaction for adding the selected emoticon to the new emoticon group generated according to the interface for requesting the creation of the new emoticon group (Cha the first teaches in para. [0027] receiving, by the server, the first and second associated meta information from the user terminal; and selecting, by the server, the plurality of recommended emoticons related to the first and second associated meta information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of creating a new emoticon automatically ([0058]) as taught, by Cha the second into the teachings of Cha the first invention. One would have been motivated to do so in order to the method enables transmitting and receiving a chat message including the timeline emoticon in an effective manner.
Regarding claim 8.
Cha the second further teaches wherein the interface for requesting the creation of the new emoticon group comprises an interface for inputting keyword information corresponding to the new emoticon group (Cha the second teaches in para. [0058] the sequence of the emoticons included in the timeline emoticon edited by the user corresponds to the hidden sequence, the terminals 130 and 170 may automatically insert a new emoticon (“hidden emoticon”), which the user cannot use in general, into the timeline emoticon and further, Chan the second teaches in para. [0059] for example, it may be assumed the user generates a timeline emoticon by sequentially selecting emoticons a, f, b, and g included in an emoticon set A and the hidden sequence also has an order of a, f, b, and g.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of creating a new emoticon automatically ([0058]) as taught, by Cha the second into the teachings of Cha the first invention. One would have been motivated to do so in order to the method enables transmitting and receiving a chat message including the timeline emoticon in an effective manner.
Regarding claim 15. Cha the first the teaches the method of claim 1.
Cha the first does not explicitly teach in response to an interaction requesting editing of the emoticon group, displaying an interface for editing the emoticon group.
However, Cha the second teaches in response to an interaction requesting editing of the emoticon group, displaying an interface for editing the emoticon group (Cha the second teaches in para. [0058] when the sequence of the emoticons included in the timeline emoticon edited by the user corresponds to the hidden sequence, the terminals 130 and 170 may automatically insert a new emoticon).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of creating a new emoticon automatically ([0058]) as taught, by Cha the second into the teachings of Cha the first invention. One would have been motivated to do so in order to the method enables transmitting and receiving a chat message including the timeline emoticon in an effective manner.
Regarding claim 16.
Cha the second further teaches wherein the interface for editing the emoticon group comprises at least one of the following: an interface for deleting an emoticon included in the emoticon group, an interface for changing a display order of emoticons included in the emoticon group, an interface for adding a new emoticon to the emoticon group, or an interface for modifying keyword information corresponding to the emoticon group (Cha the second teaches in para. [0084] the plurality of emoticons selected by the user in the timeline emoticon generation mode or by editing the plurality of emoticons, such as by inserting, deleting, or adjusting display times of the emoticons…, and further, Cha the second teaches in para. [0105] the terminal may perform an edition, such as adding the plurality of emoticons selected by the user to an emoticon preview area, deleting an emoticon displayed in the emoticon preview area according to a selection of the user, or adjusting an arrangement position in the emoticon preview area).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of adding the plurality of emoticons selected by the user to an emoticon preview area ([0105]) as taught, by Cha the second into the teachings of Cha the first invention. One would have been motivated to do so in order to the method enables transmitting and receiving a chat message including the timeline emoticon in an effective manner.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha the first in view of Rathod U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0309801 A1, (hereinafter Rathod).
Regarding claim 14. Cha the first teaches the method of 12.
Cha the first does not explicitly teach wherein at least one of (i) information about whether another user account is allowed to save the shared emoticon group or (ii) information on any emoticon available for saving from the shared emoticon group is determined based on emoticon usage permission for the another user account.
However, Rathod teaches wherein at least one of (i) information about whether another user account is allowed to save the shared emoticon group or (ii) information on any emoticon available for saving from the shared emoticon group is determined based on emoticon usage permission for the another user account (Rathod teaches in para. [0119] emoticons, files, objects & like and select one or more contacts or group(s) of contacts and can call them and in the event of acceptance of call by said selected one or more users share with them with option of “do not reply” or enable to reply and/or save share contents..., and further, Rathod teaches in para. [0120] one or more clients or departments, call numbers, extensions, menus, queues, schedules, accounts and further, Rathod teaches in para. [0197] Call e.g. Chat Call Saving or Recording 760 i.e. monitors, reviews, indexes and saves one or more types of call(s) e.g. chatcalls and associate shared messages or contents to user's account. Note that here, the claim lists features in the alternative. While the claim lists a number of optional limitations only one limitation from the list is required and needs to be met by the prior art and thus, the prior art of record Rathod addressed the limitation recited under “(i)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of adding the plurality of emoticons selected by the user to an emoticon preview area ([0105]) as taught, by Cha the second into the teachings of Cha the first invention. One would have been motivated to do so in order to the method enables transmitting and receiving a chat message including the timeline emoticon in an effective manner.
Prior art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cheng et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2024/0195770 A1) which discloses in the [Abstract] and para. [0004]-[0010] a first image is displayed in a messaging interface. The first image includes an interaction effect between a plurality of virtual objects.
Park (U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0376199 A1) which discloses in the [Abstract] a keyword database comprising information on keywords matched with emoticons and storing the received keyword database, and displaying conversation information in a chat room and in para. [0007] selecting an extended keyword based on the basic keyword using the keyword database; displaying an extended keyword interface corresponding to the extended keyword as well as the basic keyword interface…;
Park et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0088616 A1) which discloses in the [Abstract] and para. [0013] about the text entry method may further comprise, if one emoticon is selected from the emoticon set, displaying a plurality of text sets corresponding to the selected emoticon on a screen; and if one text set is selected from among the plurality of text sets, displaying one or more text strings contained in the selected text set on a screen. The entering may comprise entering a text string selected from among the one or more text strings.
Yang (U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0413625 A1) which discloses in figs. 1-4 and para. [0089]-[0095] about the user terminal 10 may store the matching information in the memory 14 or transmit the same to the server 20. Specifically, the user terminal 10 may store the matching information received in the operation S110, at a pre-stored location.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BERHANU SHITAYEWOLDETSADIK whose telephone number is (571)270-7142. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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/BERHANU SHITAYEWOLDETSADIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
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