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 .
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.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kesar et al (US 20130332068 A1).
As to claim 18, Kesar teaches A photo system to process digital photos (Kesar Abstract), the photo system including a tangibly embodied computer processor (CP) and a tangibly embodied database (Kesar [0037] and [0079]), the CP implementing instructions on a non-transitory computer medium disposed in the database (Kesar [0079]), and the database in communication with the CP, the photo system comprising:
(A) a communication portion for providing communication between the CP and users, and the users including a first user and a second user (Kesar [0020]-[0022] discloses hotspot application comprises software or instructions for remote execution run on and displayed on device.);
(B) the database that includes the non-transitory computer medium, and the database including the instructions, (a) the database including a photo database that stores photos, and (b) each photo, in the photo database, including image data and photo data, and the photo data, for each photo, includes location data associated with the photo (Kesar [0037] discloses Image hosting provider 230 may comprise an online collection of images and provides for photograph storage and sharing services utilized by client device 201 according to one embodiment. The image hosting provider 230 includes a photo database 234 and metadata database 236. Tag aggregator 207 may search for and explore photographs (which may be shared photographs) associated with the location of the map image in metadata database 236.); and
(C) the CP, and the CP performing processing, based on the instructions, including:
(a) interacting with the first user, such interacting including performing processing to generate a photo walk, the photo walk including a plurality of walk spots (WSs), the plurality of WSs including a first walk spot (WS) and a second WS (Kesar [0047] discloses a user of a computing device may locate photographic hotspots (i.e. photo walk) using a photograph hotspot discovery software application. The application may request a geographic location to retrieve a target map area and to locate photographs and hotspots (i.e. photo walk) within the area of the geographic location. The search radius may define the radius from the geographic location used to determine map data retrieval and a radius to search for photographs. Displaying the at least one portion of the map to the user. In some embodiments, the user's location may also be displayed on the map relative to the geographic location (e.g., the user's location is centered on the map display as illustrated in FIG. 1). Photographs with the highest interestingness scores may be identified on the map with photo markers/hotspots (i.e. walk spots). In embodiments where user location is also displayed on the map as a marker, the photo markers/hotspots (i.e. walk spots) may be distinguished from the user location marker by, for example, color, shape, and/or size. According to another embodiment, propagating the at least one portion of the map with markers identifying the location of highest ranking photos within the geographic location includes identifying and propagating the at least one portion of the map with markers identifying the location of photographs.), and
(i) the first WS associated with a first set of photos, the first WS associated with a first area, and each of the photos in the first set of photos also associated with the first area based on respective location data of each photo (Kesar Figure 4A-4B and [0057]-[0059] discloses Region map 402 includes a plurality of red translucent dots or markers representing the locations of the most "interesting" photographs such as marker 404 and marker 406. Hotspo ts may be indicated using translucent red dots. In the illustrated embodiment, clusters of photographs (i.e. set of photos) such as 404, 408, and 410 represent exemplary hotspots (i.e. walk spots). The region map shows multiple hotspots/markers (i.e. first WS, second WS, etc.). Each marker/hotspot/location comprises at least one photograph (but could be a cluster of photos) associated with that location.); and
(ii) the second WS associated with a second set of photos, the second WS associated with a second area, and each of the photos in the second set of photos also associated with the second area based on respective location data of each photo (Kesar Figure 4A-4B and [0057]-[0059] discloses Region map 402 includes a plurality of red translucent dots or markers representing the locations of the most "interesting" photographs such as marker 404 and marker 406. Hotspots may be indicated using translucent red dots. In the illustrated embodiment, clusters of photographs (i.e. set of photos) such as 404, 408, and 410 represent exemplary hotspots (i.e. walk spots). The region map shows multiple hotspots/markers (i.e. first WS, second WS, etc.). Each marker/hotspot/location comprises at least one photograph (but could be a cluster of photos) associated with that location.);
(b) interacting with the second user, such interacting with the second user including performing processing to guide the second user through the photo walk, including:
(i) providing information to guide the second user from the first WS to the second WS (EXAMINER NOTE: Kesar [0047] discloses a hotspot application which can be accessed by multiple users. Kesar [0049] discloses the photographs may be retrieved from social networking sites where only certain photographs are available to the user of the photograph hotspot discovery application based on the user's social network connections. Therefore, the hotspot application allows additional users/social connections to access hotspots (i.e. walk spots) comprising photographs (i.e. photo walk) associated with a desired geographical location. The region map acts a “guide” to allow users to trace the path previous users took (i.e. navigate/walk to the location of where phots were taken), providing a virtual tour. See [0047]-[0068] and Figures 4A-8.);
(ii) outputting first information to the second user upon the second user being observed at the first WS (EXAMINER NOTE: The claim does not specify that the second user is at the location physically, and thus could be there virtually. Kesar Figure 5A and [0060] discloses the user is able to select (i.e. virtually locate) markers (i.e. first walk spot, second walk spot, etc.) on a map and zoom in, providing additional photos and information for that location.); and
(iii) outputting second information to the second user upon the second user being observed at the second WS (EXAMINER NOTE: The claim does not specify that the second user is at the location physically, and thus could be there virtually. Kesar Figure 5A and [0060] discloses the user is able to select (i.e. virtually locate) markers (i.e. first walk spot, second walk spot, etc.) on a map and zoom in, providing additional photos and information for that location.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 19 is 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.
Specifically, claim 19 recites “(a) identifying a segmented area (SA); (b) associating artwork with the SA; (c) generating an associatable virtual asset (AVA) that is associated with both the segmented area and the artwork; (d) outputting the artwork to a third party to tokenize the artwork; (e) inputting second data from the third party, and the second data including a token that is associated with the artwork; (f) associating the token to the AVA so as to generate a tokenized virtual asset; and (g) saving the tokenized virtual asset to a data table, so as to update the data table, and the tokenized virtual asset including ownership data that represents an ownership interest of the tokenized virtual asset”, which is not found in the cited prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bergboer et al (US 8660358 B1) - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selectively providing images. In one aspect, a method includes receiving image data that specify feature values for a plurality of images. The image data include, for each image, location data that specify a geographic location for the image. A group of images in which each image has location data specifying a geographic location that is within a threshold distance of a reference location are selected. Pairs of matching images are selected from the group of images. A reference image for the geographic location is selected from the pairs of matching images. Data that cause presentation in a map space of a photo collection image that includes a visual representation of the reference image are provided. The photo collection image is presented in the map space and at a map position for the geographic location.
Charytoniuk et al (US 20140040774 A1) - Embodiments generally relate to sharing photos in a social network system. In one embodiment, a method includes determining a geographic location associated with each photo of a plurality of photos associated with a user. The method also includes providing a geographic map to the user, where each photo is displayed on the geographic map based on the geographic location of each photo. The method also includes enabling the user to select photos to share based on interaction with the geographic map.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JARED M BIBBEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1054. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8AM-6PM.
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/JARED M BIBBEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2161