DETAILED ACTION
Status
This communication is in response to Applicant’s “AMENDMENT AND RESPONSE TO NON-FINAL REJECTION” filed on December 30, 2025 (hereinafter “Amendment”). In the Amendment, Applicant cancelled Claims 104-106, 108-109, 121, 124, 127-130 and 132; and amended Claims 103, 110, 113-116, 118, 120, 122-123, 126 and 134-135. Applicant previously cancelled Claims 1-102. Therefore, Claims 103, 107, 110-120, 122-123, 125-126, 131 and 133-135 are currently pending and presented for examination. Of the pending claims, Claims 103, 134 and 135 are independent claims.
The present application (i.e., U.S. App. No. 15/829,976), filed after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file (FITF) provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA ).
Examiner notes this application (i.e., U.S. App. No. 15/829,976) was filed in 2017 and published as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0172093 of Neal Harley Landers (hereinafter “Landers ‘093”).
AIA or Pre-AIA Notice: In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103 and 112 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103 and 112) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the explanation relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
CIP
In view of the Office of Petitions’ decision (dated 8/01/2023) to grant Applicant’s petition filed on 7/18/2023 (i.e., regarding a delayed ADS that was not filed within the “time period” in compliance with 37 CFR 1.76), this application appears to be a continuation-in-part (“CIP”) application of U.S. Application No. 14/790,712 filed on July 2, 2015, now U.S. Patent No 9,836,763 (“Parent Application”), which is a continuation-in-part (“CIP”) application of U.S. Application No. 13/667,711 filed on November 2, 2012, now U.S. Patent No 9,076,161 (“Grandparent Application”). The disclosure of each of these earlier-filed applications does not provide adequate written description support in the manner required by the 35 U.S.C. 112 for the claims pending in this application. See MPEP § 201.08. In accordance with MPEP § 609.02 A. 2 and MPEP § 2001.06(b) (last paragraph), the Examiner has reviewed and considered the prior art cited in the Parent Application. Also in accordance with MPEP § 2001.06(b) (last paragraph), all documents cited or considered ‘of record’ in the Parent Application are now considered cited or ‘of record’ in this application. Additionally, Applicant is reminded that a listing of the information cited or ‘of record’ in the Parent Application need not be resubmitted in this application unless Applicants desire the information to be printed on a patent issuing from this application. See MPEP § 609.02 A. 2. Finally, Applicant is reminded that the prosecution history of the Parent Application is relevant in this application. See e.g., Microsoft Corp. v. Multi-Tech Sys., 357 F.3d 1340, 1350 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (holding that statements made in prosecution of one patent are relevant to the scope of all sibling patents).
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
Applicant is notified of 37 C.F.R. 1.56, which states that each inventor named in the application has a duty to disclose information material to patentability.
Applicant is notified of MPEP § 2001.06(b): “prior art references from one application must be made of record in another subsequent application if such prior art references are ‘material to patentability’ of the subsequent application”.
Examiner notes that none of IDS documents submitted in this application, in the “Parent Application”, and in the “Grandparent Application” list any document associated with the instant inventor, Neal Landers.
Response to Amendments
A Summary of the Response to Applicant’s Amendment:
Applicant’s Amendment overcomes all previous rejections to Claims 104-106, 108-109, 121, 124, 127-130 and 132 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) of the AIA (via cancellation); therefore, the Examiner withdraws all previous rejections to Claims 104-106, 108-109, 121, 124, 127-130 and 132 (now cancelled).
Applicant’s Amendment overcomes all previous rejections to Claims 103-135 under 35 U.S.C. §§ 112(b) and 101; therefore, the Examiner withdraws all previous §§ 112(b) and 101 rejections to Claims 103-135. However, after resolving previous AIA § 112(b) issues and consideration by Examiner of Applicant’s Amendment and resulting claim language in view of the prior art, Applicant’s Amendment introduces new statutory rejections to Claims 103, 107, 110-120, 122-123, 125-126, 131 and 133-135 under 35 U.S.C. 102; therefore, the Examiner asserts prior art rejections to Claims 103, 107, 110-120, 122-123, 125-126, 131 and 133-135 under 35 U.S.C. 102, as provided below.
Applicant’s arguments/comments are found to be not persuasive with respect to the currently pending claims; please see Examiner’s “Response to Arguments” provided below.
AIA or Pre-AIA Notice: In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103 and 112 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103 and 112) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the explanation relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraph(s) of AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 that form(s) 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.
Claims 103, 107, 110-120, 122-123, 125-126, 131 and 133-135 are rejected are rejected under America Invents Act (AIA ) 35 U.S.C. §§ 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0117124 of Neal H. Landers (hereinafter “Landers”), which corresponds to U.S. Application Number 13/667,506 (now abandoned).
Regarding Claim 103, Landers discloses a method comprising:
(A) creating a planned advertisement for printing or displaying on physical or virtual lottery tickets, the creating comprising (e.g., “advertisement creating module 150 is configured to enable a user to create, upload, modify, and…select… images, logos, etc. into an advertisement to be created. The user can also enter text” —Landers at ¶ [0064]; “images, text, and code that defines the physical arrangement of the images and text within the ad window” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; “advertisement can be printed on a lottery ticket that is distributed to a person purchasing the lottery ticket” and/or “virtual tickets to users of mobile devices” —Landers at ¶¶ [0015] and [0042]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]):
(1) receiving and processing, by an advertisement managing server in communication with a user device of a remote user associated with an advertiser, advertisement creating input from the user device, the advertisement creating input including selections of a graphical element and a textual element to be electronically inserted in a preview window of the user device, the preview window having a viewable size and a viewable shape, and the advertisement creating input also including spatial positioning characteristics inputted by the remote user, the spatial positioning characteristics indicating how the graphical and textual elements are to be physically arranged and electronically displayed within the preview window, the advertisement managing server including one or more servers or computers (e.g., “advertisement creating module 150 is configured to enable a user to create, upload, modify, and…select… images, logos, etc. into an advertisement to be created. The user can also enter text” —Landers at ¶ [0064]; “images, text, and code that defines the physical arrangement of the images and text within the ad window” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]; and Figures 2C and 3B of Landers);
(2) providing, by the advertisement managing server, rendering information of the advertisement creating input to the user device, the rendering information instructing the user device to provide a display of the preview window on the user device, the display illustrating how the graphical and textual elements are to appear on the lottery tickets when exhibited according to the spatial positioning characteristics (e.g., “advertisement creating module 150 is configured to enable a user to create, upload, modify, and…select… images, logos, etc. into an advertisement to be created. The user can also enter text” —Landers at ¶ [0064]; “images, text, and code that defines the physical arrangement of the images and text within the ad window” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]; and Figures 2C and 3B of Landers);
(3) receiving, by the advertisement managing server, a notification from the user device that the remote user accepts the display of the graphical and textual elements within the preview window as approximately rendered on the user device based on the rendering information (e.g., “create, upload, modify, and…select… images, logos, etc. into an advertisement to be created” and “Once an advertisement strategy is created by the advertisement creating module 150, the advertisement strategy can be stored in a database (e.g., database 126) using the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶¶ [0064] and [0074]; “store an advertisement that the user creates using the advertisement creating module 150…. the saved ad can be stored in the database 126 by way of the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; “When completed, the advertisement strategies are stored in the database 126” and “advertisers can run advertisements” —Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0025]; “user … select specific days and… hours when the ads are run” and “advertisements can then be distributed to ticket printing devices” —Landers at ¶¶ [0060] and [0016]; “when a ticket is to be printed, an advertisement is retrieved from the database” —Landers at ¶ [0028]; Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0053], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]; as well as Figures 2C and 3B of Landers); and
(4) upon receiving the notification, saving, by the advertisement managing server, the selections of the graphical and textual elements and the spatial positioning characteristics in an advertisement database as the planned advertisement to be displayed on the physical or virtual lottery tickets (e.g., “advertisement strategy … stored in a database (e.g., database 126) using the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0074]; “store an advertisement that the user creates using the advertisement creating module 150…. the saved ad can be stored in the database 126 by way of the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; “When completed, the advertisement strategies are stored in the database 126” and “advertisers can run advertisements” —Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0025]; “user … select specific days and… hours when the ads are run” and “advertisements can then be distributed to ticket printing devices” —Landers at ¶¶ [0060] and [0016]; “when a ticket is to be printed, an advertisement is retrieved from the database” —Landers at ¶ [0028]; Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0069]; Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]; and Figures 2C and 3B of Landers);
(B) receiving and processing, by the advertisement managing server, time information from the user device, the time information specifying a time period when the planned advertisement is permitted to be displayed on the physical or virtual lottery tickets (e.g., “advertisements have been printed according to their associated time … parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0032], [0051], [0053] and [0060]);
(C) receiving and processing, by the advertisement managing server, boundary information from the remote user, the boundary information specifying a distance parameter that defines a geographical area surrounding a preselected location chosen by the advertiser, the geographical area including geographic positions that have a distance from the preselected location that is less than or equal to the distance parameter (e.g., “advertisements have been printed according to their associated … location parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0051], [0053]–[0054], [0061] and [0072]);
(D) activating, by the advertisement managing server, the planned advertisement as part of an advertisement campaign to advertise on the physical or virtual lottery tickets in response to the advertisement managing server receiving a selection from the user device to activate the planned advertisement (e.g., “advertisement strategy … stored in a database (e.g., database 126) using the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0074]; “store an advertisement that the user creates using the advertisement creating module 150…. the saved ad can be stored in the database 126 by way of the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; “When completed, the advertisement strategies are stored in the database 126” and “advertisers can run advertisements” —Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0025]; “user … select specific days and… hours when the ads are run” and “advertisements can then be distributed to ticket printing devices” —Landers at ¶¶ [0060] and [0016]; “when a ticket is to be printed, an advertisement is retrieved from the database” —Landers at ¶ [0028]; Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0069]; Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0028], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]; and Figures 2C and 3B of Landers);
(E) determining, by a lottery ticket managing server that is physically separate from the advertisement managing server, whether lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices are physically located within the geographical area during the time period defined by the time information, each of the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices being configured to exhibit lottery ticket information including lottery numbers exhibited on each of the lottery tickets, and each of the lottery tickets having a first display area to exhibit the lottery ticket information as well as a second display area to exhibit advertising information, wherein the first display area is visually separate and distinct from the second display area (e.g., Figures 2C and 3B of Landers; “advertisement can be printed on the same ticket that includes the lottery numbers” —Landers at ¶ [0016]; “ticket printing devices 84 … when a ticket is to be printed, it is printed with the combination of a selected advertisement and ticket information on the ticket” —Landers at ¶ [0040]; “advertisements have been printed according to their associated time and location parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0032], [0051], [0053], [0060]–[0061] and [0072]);
(F) in response to determining, by the lottery ticket managing server, that the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices are located physically within the geographical area during the time period, instructing each of the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices (e.g., “advertisement can be printed on the same ticket that includes the lottery numbers” —Landers at ¶ [0016]; “ticket printing devices 84 … when a ticket is to be printed, it is printed with the combination of a selected advertisement and ticket information on the ticket” —Landers at ¶ [0040]; “advertisements have been printed according to their associated time and location parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; “advertisements can be revealed at the proper times” —Landers at ¶ [0053]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0032], [0051], [0053], [0060]–[0061] and [0072]): (1) to obtain the planned advertisement from the advertisement database independent of the lottery ticket managing server (e.g., “advertisement strategy … stored in a database (e.g., database 126) using the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0074]; “store an advertisement that the user creates using the advertisement creating module 150…. the saved ad can be stored in the database 126 by way of the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; “When completed, the advertisement strategies are stored in the database 126” and “advertisers can run advertisements” —Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0025]; “user … select specific days and… hours when the ads are run” and “advertisements can then be distributed to ticket printing devices” —Landers at ¶¶ [0060] and [0016]; “when a ticket is to be printed, an advertisement is retrieved from the database” —Landers at ¶ [0028]; Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0069]; Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]; and Figures 2C and 3B of Landers); and (2) during the time period: (-i-) to exhibit the lottery ticket information within the first display area of each of the lottery tickets (e.g., “ticket that includes the lottery numbers” —Landers at ¶ [0016]; “ticket printing devices 84 … when a ticket is to be printed, it is printed with the combination of a selected advertisement and ticket information on the ticket” —Landers at ¶ [0040]; as well as Landers at ¶¶ [0028], [0043] and [0064]); and (-ii-) to exhibit the planned advertisement within the second display area of each of the lottery tickets in a graphical manner that reproduces the graphical and textual elements according to the spatial positioning characteristics as accepted by the remote user and saved within the advertisement database (e.g., “advertisement strategy … stored in a database (e.g., database 126) using the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0074]; “store an advertisement that the user creates using the advertisement creating module 150…. the saved ad can be stored in the database 126 by way of the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; “When completed, the advertisement strategies are stored in the database 126” and “advertisers can run advertisements” —Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0025]; “user … select specific days and… hours when the ads are run” and “advertisements can then be distributed to ticket printing devices” —Landers at ¶¶ [0060] and [0016]; “when a ticket is to be printed, an advertisement is retrieved from the database” —Landers at ¶ [0028]; Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0069]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0028], [0043], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]); and
(G) tracking, by the advertisement managing server, a number of times that the planned advertisement was exhibited on the lottery tickets by the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices as well as locations where, within the geographical area, the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices exhibited the planned advertisement during the time period (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0035]–[0036] and [0054]; “confirmation of the printing of advertisements… communicated back” —Landers at ¶ [0033]; and “inform the respective advertisers or agents associated with advertisers of the results of the advertisement strategies” such as “advertisement printed the selected number of times” —Landers at ¶¶ [0040] and [0063]).
Regarding Claim 107, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, further comprising a step of encoding or encrypting the planned advertisement to prevent unauthorized access to the planned advertisement (e.g., “security elements” —Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0055] and [0070]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0024] and [0070]).
Regarding Claim 110, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, further comprising a step of enabling the remote user to perform one or more actions of uploading textual input, uploading graphical input, selecting preauthorized textual input from a template storage device, and selecting image templates from the template storage device in order to incorporate uploaded or selected textual or graphical input into the planned advertisement. (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0064]–[0066]).
Regarding Claim 111, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, further comprising a step of conducting a content approval process to automatically check for inappropriate content in the planned advertisement (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0052] and [0075]–[0077]).
Regarding Claim 112, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the time period includes one or more time windows that include specific hours of one or more days when the planned advertisement is to be printed (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0006], [0015], [0060], [0062] and [0073]).
Regarding Claim 113, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the physical or virtual lottery tickets are physical lottery tickets, wherein the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices include lottery ticket printing devices, and wherein lottery numbers are printed in the first display area of each of the physical lottery tickets (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0016] and [0019]–[0020]).
Regarding Claim 114, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the physical or virtual lottery tickets are virtual lottery tickets, whether the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices includes mobile devices, and wherein each mobile device has a display screen for exhibiting the lottery ticket information and planned advertisement (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0040] and [0042]–[0044]).
Regarding Claim 115, Landers discloses the method of claim 114, further comprising the steps of: determining, by the lottery ticket managing server, whether the mobile devices are located within the geographical area during the time period defined by the time information (e.g., “advertisements have been printed according to their associated time and location parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; “advertisements can be revealed at the proper times” —Landers at ¶ [0053]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0032], [0051], [0053], [0060]–[0061] and [0072]); and
in response to determining that the mobile devices are located within the geographical area during the time period (e.g., “advertisements have been printed according to their associated time and location parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; “advertisements can be revealed at the proper times” —Landers at ¶ [0053]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0032], [0051], [0053], [0060]–[0061] and [0072]), enabling each mobile device to: (a) obtain the planned advertisement from the advertisement database; and (b) during the time period: (1) exhibit the lottery ticket information within the first display area; and (2) exhibit the planned advertisement within the second display area (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0006], [0015], [0028], [0043], [0060], [0062], [0064] and [0073]; and Figures 2A–6 of Landers).
Regarding Claim 116, Landers discloses the method of claim 115, wherein the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices are incorporated in one or more vehicles, and wherein the advertisement campaign is configured to target one or more types of the one or more vehicles for exhibiting the planned advertisement (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0014], [0040] and [0042]–[0044]).
Regarding Claim 117, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the boundary information includes a plurality of distance parameters defining a plurality of geographical areas surrounding a plurality of preselected business locations, each geographical area including points having a distance from a respective preselected business location that is less than or equal to a respective distance parameter (e.g., “advertisements… according to their associated … location parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0051], [0053]–[0054], [0061] and [0072]).
Regarding Claim 118, Landers discloses the method of claim 117, wherein the advertiser is associated with a business entity having a plurality of business establishments at the plurality of preselected business locations where business is conducted, and wherein each of the preselected business locations is associated with a location of a respective business establishment (e.g., “advertisement for their pizza restaurant” —Landers at ¶ [0065]; “advertisements… according to their associated … location parameters” —Landers at ¶ [0054]; and Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0051], [0053]–[0054], [0061] and [0072]).
Regarding Claim 119, Landers discloses the method of claim 117, wherein the boundary information also includes one or more areas encompassed within territorial borders, and wherein the territorial borders include country borders, state borders, county borders, and city borders (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0023], [0025], [0051], [0053], [0061] and [0072]).
Regarding Claim 120, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, further comprising a step of: (a) storing a plurality of planned advertisements (e.g., “advertisement strategy … stored in a database (e.g., database 126) using the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0074]; “store an advertisement that the user creates using the advertisement creating module 150…. the saved ad can be stored in the database 126 by way of the database manager 149” —Landers at ¶ [0069]; “When completed, the advertisement strategies are stored in the database 126” —Landers at ¶ [0053]; “when a ticket is to be printed, an advertisement is retrieved from the database” —Landers at ¶ [0028]; Landers at ¶¶ [0053] and [0069]; Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0028], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]; and Figures 2C and 3B of Landers); and (b) allowing the remote user to select one or more of the plurality of planned advertisements to be exhibited during one or more time periods (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0015], [0025], [0030], [0032], [0040], [0051], [0053]–[0054], [0059], [0060], [0062] and [0066]–[0067]).
Regarding Claim 122, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the lottery-ticket-exhibiting devices are ticket printing devices for printing the lottery ticket information on physical tickets, wherein the method further comprises a step of receiving ticket-type criteria from the user device for designating types of tickets on which the planned advertisement is to be printed (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0016], [0019]–[0020], [0022] and [0062]).
Regarding Claim 123, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the planned advertisement includes a coupon that is redeemable before or after a valid time related to an event associated with the lottery tickets (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0065] and [0068]).
Regarding Claim 125, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the rendering information indicates how the graphical and textual elements are to appear on a ticket that has been physically printed according to spatial positioning characteristics (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]).
Regarding Claim 126, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, further comprising steps of: (a) confirming, by the advertisement managing server, that the planned advertisement was exhibited on the physical or virtual lottery tickets; and (b) tracking the number of times the planned advertisement was exhibited on the physical or virtual lottery tickets and where within the geographical area the planned advertisement was exhibited(e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0035]–[0036] and [0054]; “confirmation of the printing of advertisements… communicated back” —Landers at ¶ [0033]; and “inform the respective advertisers or agents associated with advertisers of the results of the advertisement strategies” such as “advertisement printed the selected number of times” —Landers at ¶¶ [0040] and [0063]).
Regarding Claim 131, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, further comprising a step of enabling a human reviewer to review contents of the planned advertisement to ensure the planned advertisement meets specific censorship criteria and is appropriate for general audiences (e.g., Landers at ¶ [0077]).
Regarding Claim 133, Landers discloses the method of claim 103, wherein the advertisement creating input also includes spatial positioning characteristics input from the user device, the spatial positioning characteristics indicating how the graphical and textual elements are to be electronically arranged within the preview window (e.g., Landers at ¶¶ [0024], [0064], [0066]–[0069] and [0073]–[0074]).
Regarding Claim 134, Landers discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing logic instructions configured to cause a processing device (e.g., Figures 2A, 2C, 2D, 3B and 4-6 of Landers; and Landers at ¶¶ [0048]–[0050]) to execute substantially similar processes/steps as recited in independent Claim 103, and, therefore, independent Claim 134 is rejected on the same basis(es) as applied above with respect to independent Claim 103.
Regarding Claim 135, Landers discloses a system comprising a decentralized processing device and a memory device configured to store computer-readable logic having instructions that enable the processing device (e.g., Figures 2A, 2C, 2D, 3B and 4-6 of Landers; and Landers at ¶¶ [0048]–[0050]) to execute substantially similar processes/steps as recited in independent Claim 103, and, therefore, independent Claim 135 is rejected on the same basis(es) as applied above with respect to independent Claim 103.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments in the Amendment filed on March 12, 2025, have been fully considered and are persuasive with respect to the rejections discussed and stated in the Office action dated July 2, 2025. However, after considering Applicant’s claims amendments and the new claim language in view of the previous § 112(b) issues being resolved, Examiner submits prior art rejections to Applicant’s pending claims, as provided above in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0117124 (“Landers”), which corresponds to U.S. Application Number 13/667,506 (now abandoned).
Conclusion
The following references are considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure, and are being made of record albeit the references are not relied upon as a basis for rejection in this Office action:
U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003/0208560 (“Inoue”); 2010/0057654 (“Otto”); and 2005/0222905 (“Wills”) as indicated in the non-final Office action dated 12/2/2022.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0117100 of Neal H. Landers (hereinafter “Landers ‘100”).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0093419 of Wright et al. (hereinafter “Wright”) for “it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that other indicia can be printed on a lottery ticket such as advertising, media… coupons, passes to events, etc.” —Wright at ¶ [0411].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0292600 of David Davis (hereinafter “Davis”).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0125407 of Kang Hean Lee (hereinafter “Lee”) for “edits the design of the advance ticket in person, and stores the edited ticket. Then, the user is issued the edited ticket through a ticket issuing machine…. movie, theater, and concert tickets in advance over a communication network, such as the Internet….” —Abstract of Lee; and “`ticket layout` means to prescribe how to arrange a region having contents indispensable for the ticket (for example, bar codes and the title of a performance) and contents that the user wants to put in the ticket.” —Lee at ¶ [0043];
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0063274 of Dublin, III et al. (hereinafter “Dublin”) for “4) Select and/or preview advertisements and promotions scheduled for or available to that venue and optionally approve or reject them (such review and or approval/rejection might be either individually or by category, for instance reject all beer advertisements for a venue that does not serve alcohol, or reject ads for a particular beer brand not served at that venue); 5) Provide a dashboard or control panel to manage the rollout and release of various advertisements and promotions for campaigns at or across venues for which the user has been granted control” —Dublin at ¶¶ [0083]–[0084].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0012866 of Celik et al. (hereinafter “Celik et al”) for “An advertiser has the option of selecting the geographic location in which they display featured listings.” —Celik et al at ¶ [0074]; and Figures 8-9 of Celik et al showing a “SELECT ADVERTISING REGIONS FOR YOUR LISTING” with an interactive map displayed.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0012865 of Aytek Celik (hereinafter “Celik”) for an interactive map with “SELECT ADVERTISING REGIONS FOR YOUR LISTING” —Figures 8-11 of Celik; Figures 8-11 of Celik are advertiser interfaces —Celik at ¶¶ [0018]–[0021]; “FIG. 8 illustrates an interface 800 in which an advertiser may choose a region or location for an advertisement. The interface 800 is for selecting a region 802 for the advertisement…. The interface 800 automatically selects a region based upon the address of the business from the location information 406 as shown in FIG. 4. The category 804 shows the geographic location as "near San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif." The advertiser may choose the region for an advertisement to display. The advertiser may select a location various ways, such as by pointing a curser to a location on a map 818 displayed and clicking on it, or an associated text or image.” —Celik at ¶ [0057]; “the advertiser may select a geographic location or region for which the advertiser determines to advertise. The area 908, the state 910, or the region 912 can be selected from the pull-down menus to narrow the geographic location for which the ad will be displayed. The advertiser may select a location from any or all of the area 908, the state 910, or the region 912 and selects the show available inventory button 914. This is just one embodiment of the selection of geographic location. Alternatively, the advertiser may be provided a limited set of advertising region choices from which to choose based on the advertiser's business address. The advertiser may also select a location in other ways such as by pointing a curser to a location on a map displayed on the page 212 and clicking.” —Celik at ¶ [0063].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0221982 of Harkins et al. (hereinafter “Harkins”) for “a lottery number that is printed on the purchaser's receipt…. receipts and… lottery tickets may also be used as advertising space” —Harkins at ¶ [0004]; and for printing an advertisement within an advertisement area on a customer receipt —Figure 7 of Harkins.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0113733 of Kushner et al. (hereinafter “Kushner”) for “Marketing for the lottery … by advertising through any or all of the following: … cellular websites, cellular service providers… printed on event tickets” —Kushner at ¶ [0017].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0140500 of Uday Kurkure (hereinafter “Kurkure”) for “when a ticket is printed at a gas station, a coupon for a nearby merchant or business is printed along with the ticket. The coupon can be suitable depending on the time of day. For example, if the ticket is printed at noon, a coupon for a local restaurant may be printed or if at night, a coupon for a movie ticket” —Kurkure at ¶ [0022]; and “the user has the option of overriding a certain configuration, such as ad layout, at print time. Users may scale down the size of the primary printed content to create space for the targeted advertisements. Users may also select to not have any advertisements printed or display the advertisements on a monitor instead of having them printed. The users may are also given the option to select which coupons and ads he wants printed by viewing them on the screen first.” —Kurkure at ¶ [0025].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0000367 of Jooste et al. (hereinafter “Jooste”) for “Format manager module 121 is responsible for…managing the design, layout and editing of the variable information relating to a ticket order (as well as the relationship of the variable information to pre-printed information). Examples of variable information that is commonly found on a ticket include price information, size information, style information and identification codes relating to the product to which the ticket is to be affixed…. format manager module 121 is responsible for generating a web-based proof which (1) can be interactively reviewed and modified by the client, (2) accurately reflects the particular print characteristics of the target printer for the print job, (3) shows the relationship between the static and variable data, and (4) accurately reproduces images on finished tickets including pre-printed graphics and other stock elements….” —Jooste at ¶ [0050].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0163346 of Lee et al. (hereinafter “Lee”) for “issuing a lotto… and providing the front and the back side of… lotto as an advertising space…. an advertisement is put on the front or the back of a receipt or a lotto; a lottery is purchased through the Internet; and a bill or a receipt on which a real lotto number printed is provided to a user.” —Lee at ¶ [0001].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0096988 of Yanagisawa et al. (hereinafter “Yanagisawa”) for “combines check-out information with the advertising information so as to generate printing data, which is output at a printing device, and printed as a receipt with an ad.” —Abstract of Yanagisawa; “creating advertising information data” —Yanagisawa at ¶ [0115]; and creating advertising, previewing it 1151 and revising 1162 it —Figures 11-13 of Yanagisawa.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0083906 of Gregory J. Speicher (hereinafter “Speicher”).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0133465 of Koge et al. (hereinafter “Koge”) for “a communication entry box 10c where communication body (text data) is entered, an image selection button 10d to select the image file, an image file display box 10e to display the name of the image file, and send button 10f to send the entered dispatch request information to servers 3 and 4. In addition,… recipient information entry section 10b there are entry boxes to enter the recipient's name, zip code, address…mail address, age, gender, occupation, interests, etc. When image selection button 10d is clicked, a separate screen that lists the saved image files on the hard disk, etc., of terminal 2 is displayed and the image file name that is selected from said screen is displayed in image file display box 10e.” —Koge at ¶ [0073]; and “FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the preview screen. As shown in the figure, preview screen 11 comprises a front side display 11a that displays the front side of the postcard to be printed, a back side display 11b that displays the back side of the postcard to be printed, a print execution button 11c to transmit the print command to the printed matter dispatching server 3, a content correction button 11d that transmits a correction command to the printed matter dispatching server 3, and a print cancel button 11c that transmits a print cancel command to the printed matter dispatching server 3. Also, in the front side display 11a, in addition to the recipient data (zip code, address, name) and sender data (name, zip code, address), the advertising data A extracted from the advertising database 7 based on recipient data and an automatically generated lottery number (serial number) are displayed in a designated layout. At the same time, in the back side display 11b, in addition to the correspondence or image that was entered in said dispatch request screen 10, advertising data B and C extracted from the advertising database 7 are displayed in the designated layout.” —Koge at ¶ [0074].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0041022 of Minowa et al. (hereinafter “Minowa”) for “ ‘ advertising information’ refers to advertising information for advertising a commodity (or goods for sale) or announcing an event… as well as the information in the form of coupons, lottery tickets, or the like…. "advertising information" includes…slips to be issued by kiosk terminals, tickets to be issued by ticket selling agents,…lottery tickets, or the like.” —Minowa at ¶ [0010].
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0217329 of Mark Good (hereinafter “Good”) for “define SWF objects by adding components such as…text and images for graphical advertisements.” —Good at ¶ [0050] and Figures 14-15 of Good; and “SWF GUI 300 may be configured to receive image and text inputs from user 10, convey message and preview outputs to user 10, and provide action options to user 10.” —Good at ¶ [0052]; and “give user 10 an ability to add one or more images to the SWF file and add text to the SWF file, including to SWF file images configured to receive text.” —Good at ¶ [0054].
See How to Write Advertisements That Sell, from SYSTEM, The Magazine of Business, Copyright 1912, by A.W. Shaw Company (hereinafter “How to Write Advertisements That Sell”) regarding the concept of determining and providing merchant information (i.e., an advertisement) to a user based on proximity/location classification of the user (geographic location or distance):
“waste no space or money addressing poor prospects; get a mental map and portrait of your prospect group in each medium and of the task your copy must perform in that situation; with all your power, focus your appeal where it belongs.” (p. 21 of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding emphases added);
“information that helps the single line advertiser to get the attention of his particular prospect groups…. Far more complete analysis of such statistics means the conservation of millions in advertising. Many periodicals compile tables analyzing population by trades, professions, location (city, suburban and country), by income, reading habits; purchasing habits and various other useful lines of cleavage. On this data you can base important divisions in your advertising campaign.” (p. 22 of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding and underlining emphases added);
“Every advertisement contains the assurance to…consumers, that at the nearest of his stores will be found the most complete stock of drugs and accessories in the city.” (p. 29-30 of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding emphases added);
“You may group your prospects by race, by wealth or class, by age, by sex, by religion, by; trades and professions, by tastes, habits and living conditions, location, institutions or associations,” (p. 34 of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding and underlining emphases added);
“An inducement and means of easy response can often be hinged upon local circumstances.” (p. 79 of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding emphases added);
“best informed as to local classes and buying tastes. Within a month the territory had been divided by classes, maps had been made, new goods had been purchased to suit these various buying groups…from every section and the advertising began to go out with a new directness of aim” (p. 94 of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding and underlining emphases added);
"study and tabulation of the passing throng. The business man satisfied...as to the point where he could reach the greatest possible number of good prospects."; “The advertiser...having located his high-profit prospect districts and groups...has fixed a standard by which to judge the mediums that...offer him the desired adverting contact”; and “a clever advertiser divides the periodical field alone into a dozen classifications, geographic and sociological, professional and class.” (see p. 95 of “Part XIV — Choosing Profitable Sales Mediums and Lists” of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding and underlining emphases added); and
“According to an advertising expert the first questions for any advertiser to ask concern the medium in relation to its territory: (1) Is the territory of this medium desirable for my business? (2) Am I ready to do business in this territory? (3) Is this medium essential or valuable in covering this territory?” (p. 97 of How to Write Advertisements That Sell, bolding and underlining emphases added).
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mathew Syrowik whose telephone number is 313-446-4862. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (Eastern Time). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Waseem Ashraf, can be reached at telephone number 517-270-3948. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information of published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information of unpublished applications is available through Patent Center for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center, please contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free) or by email at EBC@uspto.gov. Examiner interviews are available via telephone or video conference using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, please email Mathew.Syrowik@USPTO.gov or applicant may use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated-interview-request-air-form. For additional information or questions, please contact the Inventors Assistance Center at 1-800-786-9199 (toll free), 571-272-1000 (local), or 1-800-877-8339 (TDD/TTY).
/Mathew Syrowik/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3621