UNITED STA IBS p A IBNT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`UNITED STA TES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
`United States Patent and Trademark Office
`Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
`P.O. Box 1450
`Alexandria., Virginia 22313-1450
`www.uspto.gov
`
`APPLICATION NO.
`
`FILING DATE
`
`FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
`
`ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.
`
`CONFIRMATION NO.
`
`90/012,876
`
`05/23/2013
`
`7932923
`
`4079-116
`
`6419
`
`04/30/2014
`7590
`6449
`ROTHWELL, FIGG, ERNST & MANBECK, P.C.
`607 14th Street, N.W.
`SUIIB 800
`WASHINGTON, DC 20005
`
`EXAMINER
`
`BASEHOAR, ADAM L
`
`ART UNIT
`
`PAPER NUMBER
`
`3992
`
`MAIL DATE
`
`DELIVERY MODE
`
`04/30/2014
`
`PAPER
`
`Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
`
`The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
`
`PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
`
`

`

`Commissioner for Patents
`United States Patent and Trademark Office
`P.O. Box 1450
`Alexandria, VA 22313-·1450
`W"aAA"I.IJ:.'=ptO.QOV
`
`DO NOT USE IN PALM PRINTER
`
`(THIRD PARTY REQUESTER'S CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS)
`
`DINESH AGARWAL, P.C.
`
`5350 SHAWNEE ROAD
`
`SUITE 330
`
`ALEXANDRIA, VA 22312
`
`EX PARTEREEXAMINATION COMMUNICATION TRANSMITTAL FORM
`
`REEXAMINATION CONTROL NO. 90/012.876.
`
`PATENT NO. 7932923.
`
`ART UN IT 3992.
`
`Enclosed is a copy of the latest communication from the United States Patent and Trademark
`Office in the above identified ex parte reexamination proceeding (37 CFR 1.550(f)).
`
`Where this copy is supplied after the reply by requester, 37 CFR 1.535, or the time for filing a
`reply has passed, no submission on behalf of the ex parte reexamination requester will be
`acknowledged or considered (37 CFR 1.550(g)).
`
`PTOL-465 (Rev.07-04)
`
`

`

`Control No.
`
`90/012,876
`
`Patent Under Reexamination
`
`7932923
`
`Examiner
`
`Art Unit
`
`Notice of Intent to Issue
`Ex Parte Reexamination Certificate
`
`2.
`
`AIA (First Inventor to File)
`Status
`3992
`ADAM L. BASEHOAR
`No
`-- The MAILING DATE of this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address --
`1. IZI Prosecution on the merits is (or remains) closed in this ex parte reexamination proceeding. This proceeding is
`subject to reopening at the initiative of the Office or upon petition. Cf. 37 CFR 1.313(a). A Certificate will be issued
`in view of
`(a) 1Z1 Patent owner's communication(s) filed: 16 April 2014.
`(b) D Patent owner's failure to file an appropriate timely response to the Office action mailed: __ .
`( c) D Patent owner's failure to timely file an Appeal Brief (37 CFR 41.31 ).
`(d) D The decision on appeal by the D Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences D Court dated __
`(e) D Other: __
`The Reexamination Certificate will indicate the following:
`IZI Yes D No
`(a) Change in the Specification:
`D Yes IZI No
`(b) Change in the Drawing(s):
`(c) Status of the Claim(s):
`(1) Patent claim(s) confirmed: __ .
`(2) Patent claim(s) amended (including dependent on amended claim(s)): 1-41
`(3) Patent claim(s) canceled: __ .
`(4) Newly presented claim(s) patentable: __ .
`(5) Newly presented canceled claims: 42-81.
`(6) Patent claim(s) D previously D currently disclaimed: __
`(7) Patent claim(s) not subject to reexamination: __ .
`
`3. D A declaration(s)/affidavit(s) under 37 CFR 1.130(b) was/were filed on __ .
`4. IZI Note the attached statement of reasons for patentability and/or confirmation. Any comments considered necessary
`by patent owner regarding reasons for patentability and/or confirmation must be submitted promptly to avoid
`processing delays. Such submission(s) should be labeled: "Comments On Statement of Reasons for Patentability
`and/or Confirmation."
`
`5. □ Note attached NOTICE OF REFERENCES CITED (PTO-892).
`6. □ Note attached LIST OF REFERENCES CITED (PTO/SB/08 or PTO/SB/08 substitute).
`
`7. D The drawing correction request filed on __ is: D approved
`
`D disapproved.
`
`8. D Acknowledgment is made of the priority claim under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or (f).
`a)D All b)D Some*
`c)D None
`of the certified copies have
`D been received.
`D not been received.
`D been filed in Application No. __ .
`D been filed in reexamination Control No. __ .
`D been received by the International Bureau in PCT Application No. __ .
`
`* Certified copies not received: __ .
`
`9. D Note attached Examiner's Amendment.
`
`10. D Note attached Interview Summary (PTO-474).
`
`11. D Other:-----=-
`All correspondence relating to this reexamination proceeding should be directed to the Central Reexamination Unit at
`the mail, FAX, or hand-carry addresses given at the end of this Office action.
`
`cc: Requester (if third party requester)
`U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
`Notice of Intent to Issue Ex Parte Reexamination Certificate
`PTOL-469 (Rev. 08-13)
`
`Part of Paper No 20140418
`
`/ADAM L BASEHOAR/
`Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 90/012,876
`Art Unit: 3992
`
`Page 2
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`The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
`
`DETAILED ACTION
`
`1.
`
`This Office action addresses original claims 1-41 and newly presented claims 42-81 of
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`United States Patent Number 7,932,923 B2 (Lipton et al), for which it has been determined in the
`
`Order Granting Ex Parte Reexamination (hereafter the "Order") mailed 06/17/2013 that a
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`substantial new question of patentability was raised in the Request for Ex Parte reexamination
`
`filed on 05/23/2013 (hereafter the "Request").
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`2.
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`This Office action is a response to the Patent Owner's (PO) After Final Amendment and
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`Reply (hereafter the "Reply") filed 04/16/2014. PO's Reply, along with its accompanying
`
`amendments, has been entered and made of record. By virtue of PO's Reply: (1) the
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`specification has been amended (see: Reply, p. 2); (2) original independent claims 1, 8, 9, 20, 22,
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`29, and 30 have been amended (see: Reply, pp. 3-6); and (3) newly presented claims 42-81 have
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`been cancelled (see: Reply, p. 6).
`
`Regarding PO's amendment to the specification, said amendment is sufficient to properly
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`correct the benefit claim (see: MPEP 211.03: "the reference to the prior application was previously
`
`submitted within the time period set forth in 37 CFR 1. 78, but not in the location of the application as required by 37
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`CFR 1.78 (e.g., if the reference was submitted in an oath or declaration or the application transmittal letter), and the
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`information concerning the benefit claim was recognized by the Office as shown by its inclusion on the first filing
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`receipt. .. still required to submit the reference in compliance with 37 CFR 1.78 by filing an amendment to the first
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`sentence(s) of the specification") to satisfy the specific reference requirement found lacking and
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`discussed in at least the Final Action (see: Final Action, pp. 5-6).
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 90/012,876
`Art Unit: 3992
`
`Page 3
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`In view of PO's amendments to original independent claims 1, 8, 9, 20, 22, 29, and 30, as
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`discussed below in the Statement of Reasons for Patentability and/or Confirmation section, the
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`remaining corresponding rejections (i.e., rejections relating to original claims 1-41) related to the
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`primary Day-I reference (see: Final Action, pp. 24, 25, and 29-31) have been withdrawn.
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`Therefore, amended original claims 1-41 are found patentable and/or confirmed.
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`STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR PATENTABILITY AND/OR CONFIRMATION
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`3.
`
`Claims 1-41 are patentable and/or confirmed. The following is an Examiner's statement
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`of reasons for patentability and/or confirmation of claims 1-41 found in this reexamination
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`proceeding. Claims 1-41 are confirmed and/or patentable over the prior art that was explained in
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`the Request and determined to raise a substantial new question of patentability in the Order
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`granting reexamination and over the prior art that was applied and discussed by the Examiner in
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`the present reexamination proceeding because of the following:
`
`Independent claim 1 has been amended to incorporate the new limitation of, "applying
`
`the new user rule to only the plurality of detected attributes." (see: Lipton '923, column 14, lines
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`64-67: "only the video primitives are reviewed"). Said new limitation having previously been
`
`indicated as patentable/confirmable with regard to the limitations of independent claim 1 by
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`virtue of the features presented in new independent claim 55 (see: Final Action, pp. 36-37). As
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`similarly presented in the Final Action, the Examiner agrees with the PO (see: Zeger Declaration,
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`Paragraphs 133-134) that the conceptual queries utilized in the video query system of Day-I are
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`not applied to "only" the detected attributes, but require the use of object-oriented abstractions to
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`interface with the VSDG model. As shown in the Lipton '923 patent, an event discriminator
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 90/012,876
`Art Unit: 3992
`
`Page 4
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`("user rule") can be applied only against video primitives as opposed to abstractions thereof (see:
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`Lipton '923, column 8, lines 16-17: "identified in terms of video primitives or abstractions
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`thereof'; column 8, lines 50-53: "one or more discriminators are identified by describing
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`interactions between video primitives (or their abstractions)"). As similarly presented in the
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`Final Action, the Examiner further agrees with the PO that the Courtney '755, Shotton, Brill, and
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`Courtney '584 references (see: Final Action, pp. 13-17) do not teach the independence based
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`claim elements of identifying "an event of the object that is not one of the detected attributes"
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`and "wherein the plurality of attributes that are detected are independent of which event is
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`identified." Therefore, the combination of the cited references do not appear to remedy the
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`various deficiencies as noted above.
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`Regarding additional independent claims 8, 9, 20, 22, 29, and 30, the additional
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`independent claims have each been amended to recite substantially similar limitations as
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`discussed above with regard to amended independent claim 1 and are thus patentable and/or
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`confirmable based on the same rationale.
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`Regarding dependent claims 2-7, 10-19, 21, 23-28, and 31-41, the claims are dependent
`
`on patentable and/or confirmable claims, and are therefore also patentable and/or confirmed.
`
`Any comments considered necessary by PA TENT OWNER regarding the above
`
`statement must be submitted promptly to avoid processing delays. Such submission by the
`
`patent owner should be labeled: "Comments on Statement of Reasons for Patentability and/or
`
`Confirmation" and will be placed in the reexamination file.
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 90/012,876
`Art Unit: 3992
`
`Page 5
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`4.
`
`All correspondence relating to this ex parte reexamination proceeding should be directed
`
`Conclusion
`
`as follows:
`
`By U.S. Postal Service Mail to:
`
`Mail Stop Ex Parte Reexam
`ATTN: Central Reexamination Unit
`Commissioner for Patents
`P.O. Box 1450
`Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
`
`By FAX to:
`
`(571) 273-9900
`Central Reexamination Unit
`
`By hand to:
`
`Customer Service Window
`Randolph Building
`401 Dulany St.
`Alexandria, VA 22314
`
`By EFS-Web:
`
`Registered users of EFS-Web may alternatively submit such correspondence via the
`electronic filing system EFS-Web, at
`
`https:/ i efs. uspto. rarov i efileimyportal/efs-registered
`
`EFS-Web offers the benefit of quick submission to the particular area of the Office that
`needs to act on the correspondence. Also, EFS-Web submissions are "soft scanned" (i.e.,
`electronically uploaded) directly into the official file for the reexamination proceeding, which
`offers parties the opportunity to review the content of their submissions after the "soft scanning"
`process is complete.
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 90/012,876
`Art Unit: 3992
`
`Page 6
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`Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
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`Reexamination Legal Advisor or Examiner, or as to the status of this proceeding, should be
`
`directed to the Central Reexamination Unit at telephone number (571) 272-7705.
`
`/Adam L Basehoar/
`
`Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
`
`Conferees:
`
`/DENNIS BONSHOCK/
`
`Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
`
`/ ALEXANDER KOSOWSKI/
`
`Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3992
`
`