DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/2/226 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 7, filed 4/2/2026, with respect to the status of the claims is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-18 and 21-22 are pending.
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 7-8, filed 4/2/2026 with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-16 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are hereby acknowledged. The examiner notes that the applicant’s arguments are directed to the newly amended limitations not previously presented. Therefore, the examiner will set forth a new grounds of rejection in order to address the new limitations.
Furthermore, the applicant argues that the none of the cited references, individually or in combination, disclose or suggest the newly amended limitation and presents arguments regarding the alleged deficiencies of the prior art of record. In particular, applicant argues the following in Remarks filed 4/2/2026, pg. 9:
Barnett does not cure this deficiency. Barnett describes a social networking system that displays targeted content on a second screen of a user's device during commercial breaks. Barnett, ¶¶ 352-370. Barnett's social networking system 160 maintains user profiles (¶55) and includes an authorization server that "allows users 101 to opt in or opt out of having their actions logged by social networking system 160 or shared with other systems (e.g., third-party systems 170), such as, for example, by setting appropriate privacy settings." Id., 51. These disclosures relate to social networking privacy settings and activity logging. They do not disclose or suggest determining whether an account associated with a user device is configured to receive content notifications relating to advertisement portions. Barnett's notification controller 265 "provides information regarding content objects to the client device 130" (¶64), but this relates to social networking content object notifications, not to "determining that an account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification," as recited in independent claim 1.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. First, in response to the applicant’s argument cited above, that the Office Action fails to meet the prima facie case for obviousness standard cited by the applicant and the alleged deficiencies of Barnett, the test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981). More importantly, on the issue of obviousness, the Supreme Court stated that when a patent simply arranges old elements with each performing the same function it had been known to perform and yields no more than one would expect from such an arrangement, the combination is obvious. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 417, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007) (citing Sakraida v. AG Pro, Inc., 425 U.S. 273, 96 S. Ct. 1532, 47 L. Ed. 2d 784 (1976)). The Court further reiterated that in circumstances where the combination of two pre-existing elements did no more than they would in separate, sequential operation, the patent failed under 35 U.S.C. 103. See id. at 416-417 (citing Anderson's-Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co., 396 U.S. 57, 90 S. Ct. 305, 24 L. Ed. 2d 258 (1969)). The analysis of a rejection on obviousness grounds need not seek out precise teachings directed to the specific subject matter of the challenged claim, for a court can take account of the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ. See id. at 418. The obvious analysis cannot be confined by a formalistic conception of the words teaching, suggestion, and motivation. Id. at 419. Further, the Court stated that common sense teaches, however, that familiar items may have obvious uses beyond their primary purposes, and in many cases a person of ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle. See id. at 420.
With respect to the teachings of Barnett in paragraph [¶51], the prior art teaches, inter alia, the following:
…social-networking system 160 may include an authorization server that allows users 101 to opt in or opt out of having their actions logged by social-networking system 160 or shared with other systems (e.g., third-party systems 170), such as, for example, by setting appropriate privacy settings. In particular embodiments, third-party system 170 may be a network-addressable computing system that can host websites that embed data from social-networking system 160. Third-party system 170 may be accessed by the other components of network environment 100 either directly or via network 110. In particular embodiments, one or more users 101 may use one or more client systems 130 to access, send data to, and receive data from social-networking system 160 or third-party system 170. Client system 130 may access social-networking system 160 or third-party system 170 directly, via network 110, or via a third-party system. As an example and not by way of limitation, client system 130 may access third-party system 170 via social-networking system 160. Client system 130 may be any suitable computing device, such as, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, or a tablet computer.
More importantly, Barnett ¶54 and ¶¶61, 64 teaches that social networking system includes notification controller and an authorization server and selects content objects for sending to users as notifications. See also Barnett ¶73 for providing advertisements, in the form of notifications, to a user. Equally important is Barnett ¶80 teaching “when a user registers for an account with social-networking system 160, social-networking system 160 may create a user node 302 corresponding to the user, and store the user node 302 in one or more data stores. Users and user nodes 302 described herein may, where appropriate, refer to registered users and user nodes 302 associated with registered users.” Additionally, Barnett ¶91, ¶96 provides embodiments wherein users authenticates their account information as part of an authorization phase to be able to browse or view content in teaching that "authorization phase 501, a particular user 101 authenticates her social networking user identifier with a device 404 or 405 on which she wishes to browse or view content. As previously discussed, devices 404/405 may be any device on which a user may view content, including a personal computing device including a browser application viewing a website of an OTT provider 403, television, or mobile device running a dedicated application for a content provider.” See also Barnett ¶¶98-104 disclosing embodiments wherein a user provides authorization via the social networking system to control a user’s device and provide media data.
As discussed above, wherein Barnett teaches the social-networking system comprises a notification controller and authorization controller, Barnett ¶352-353, ¶¶368 also teachings providing the user device with notifications regarding breaks notifications, including at the beginning of the commercial break and then count down the indicated time until the end of the commercial break and wherein ¶378, 383 teaches the “social networking system 160 may determine that break 4020 has begun and thus may display targeted content 4010 on the second screen. In some embodiments, the API may also be used in a similar manner to indicate to social networking system 160 that break 4020 has ended (or is about to end), thus enabling social networking system 160 to stop displaying targeted content 4010, to pause any video within targeted content 4010, and to display notification 4030 as described above.” All things considered, Barnett teaches embodiments wherein the advertisements and notifications regarding advertisement are controlled by the social networking system, and as discussed above, the user sets up an account with the social networking system and provides authorizations and permissions to receive content. Therefore, the applicant’s arguments regarding Barnett are not persuasive.
Furthermore, the examiner incorporates by reference the findings of fact relating to the prior art of record comprising Chen, Ransom, Barnett, Ren, Stern, Lalka, and Wood. For example, wherein the combination of Chen, Ransom, Barnett, and Ren render obvious providing a notification to a mobile device that a commercial break is about to end, Stern para 11, 18-19, 42-43, 47 teaches that a countdown timer is generated from the advertisement information messages and displayed along with the content of the advertisement segment; For a set of contiguous advertising segments the countdown time will show the time remaining until the end of the set of advertising segments and the resumption of the displaying of the main program. Thus, a user viewing the screen during an advertisement is informed as to the amount of time remaining before the program content, as opposed to advertising content, will be displayed again. All things considered, the applicant’s arguments regarding the combination of prior art alleged deficiencies directed to the prior art to Barnett are not persuasive. Therefore, the examiner will set forth a new grounds of rejection in order to address the new limitations.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
With respect to newly amended limitations recited in claim 1, 8, 15, and their corresponding dependent claims 1-7, 9-14, 15-18, and 21-22, applicant has not pointed out where the new (or amended) claim is supported, nor does there appear to be a written description of the claim limitation as recited in the newly amended limitations (i.e., submitted amendments to the independent claim reciting, inter alia, “determining that an account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification” and “the determination that the account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification”) in the application as filed. Therefore, the claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph. See MPEP §2163.04 , e.g., Hyatt v. Dudas, 492 F.3d 1365, 1370, n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (citing MPEP § 2163.04 which provides that a “simple statement such as ‘applicant has not pointed out where the new (or amended) claim is supported, nor does there appear to be a written description of the claim limitation ‘___’ in the application as filed’ may be sufficient where the claim is a new or amended claim, the support for the limitation is not apparent, and applicant has not pointed out where the limitation is supported.”); see also MPEP §§ 714.02 and 2163.06 (“Applicant should ... specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure.”); and MPEP § 2163.04 states “If applicant amends the claims and points out where and/or how the originally filed disclosure supports the amendment(s), and the examiner finds that the disclosure does not reasonably convey that the inventor had possession of the subject matter of the amendment at the time of the filing of the application, the examiner has the initial burden of presenting evidence or reasoning to explain why persons skilled in the art would not recognize in the disclosure a description of the invention defined by the claims.”).
With respect to newly amended independent claims, the applicant has not point to any portion of the originally filed specification for the claims as amended. The applicant submitted amendments to the independent claim reciting, inter alia, “determining that an account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification” and “the determination that the account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification.” Whereas, the applicant’s originally filed specification appears to support that determining that an account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is authorized to receive the notification, the applicant’s specification does not provide a disclosure that the user performs any configuration on a user device. Applicant’s originally filed specification states the following in references to an account associated with user devices:
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As is evident from the cited sections of applicant’s specification, the disclosure states that “[t]he account may be configured to receive content notifications” and not the user’s devices is configured wherein the disclosure does not state that any modification is made to the user device and/or the user device’s configuration. For the purpose of compact prosecution, the examiner will interpret the limitations as an account is configured to receive content notifications on a user’s device. Correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen; Jianfeng et al. US 20150019223 A1 (hereafter Chen) and in further view of Ransom; Mumin et al. US 20160173942 A1 (hereafter Ransom) and in further view of Barnett; John Samuel US 20180124438 A1 (hereafter Barnett) and in further view of Ren, Dahai, US20150095932A1 (hereafter Ren) and in further view of Stern; Peter et al. US 20110243533 A1 (hereafter Stern) and in further view of Lalka; Vipul Kishore et al. US 20190104382 A1 (hereafter Lalka) and in further view of Wood; Christopher et al. US 20120131098 A1 (hereafter Wood).
Regarding claim 1, “a method comprising: determining, at a content server, that content output device at a first location is causing output of content; determining, based on a start of an advertisement portion of the content, an end time of the advertisement portion and at least one sponsor of a notification associated with the advertisement portion; determining that an account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification; and based on an indication that that a user device is located at a second location that is different from the first location, and based on the determination that the account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification, and before the end time of the advertisement portion, sending, to the user device the notification, for output by the user device, that indicates a time remaining in the advertisement portion and identifies the at least one sponsor” (Chen teaches para 15-20 first user device is a TV for displaying broadcast content and a second device is a tablet; para 20 determining start of advertisement wherein advertisement index is received from content provider; Fig. 2 and para 20 teaching - match sampled data generated by the block 203 with the same sampling frequency as that used by the content provider with the at least one set of referenced sampled data from the block 207, so as to identify the starting of the TV advertisement as indicated by the block 208 and the ending of the TV advertisement as indicated by the block 209; para 17 advertisement server provides data for detecting the TV advertisement and para 33 states “…the server responds with an advertisement schedule including the information of duration (starting and ending times), product or service names, slogan, type etc . . . in the step 506. As shown in the FIG. 5, an advertisement with a given slogan is scheduled to play in channel 5 from 20:00:00 to 20:00:10, the brand spokesman is a Chinese sport star named "Liu Xiang" The tablet will use the advertisement schedule to display a chosen advertisement to the user. Besides, the server can send instant notification for instructing the tablet to present an advertisement as shown in the step 507. The instant notification is useful for a live program.”); Regarding “based on an indication that that a user device is located at a second location that is different from the first location, and based on the determination that the account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification, and before the end time of the advertisement portion, sending, to the user device the notification, for output by the user device, that indicates a time remaining in the advertisement portion and identifies the at least one sponsor” Chen further teaches para 20 and Fig. 2 - the identification of the starting or the ending can be optionally displayed on the tablet for the user's information according a variant implementation, and can be used to trigger other events but Chen does not reference based on an indication that a user device is located at a second location that is different from the first location. Chen also does not disclose the account associated with the user device in relation the notification as claimed. Additionally, with respect to “based on an indication that that a user device is located at a second location that is different from the first location, and based on the determination that the account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification, and before the end time of the advertisement portion, sending, to the user device the notification, for output by the user device, that indicates a time remaining in the advertisement portion and identifies the at least one sponsor” as claimed, Chen teaches that the mobile device (second device tablet) must be in the vicinity of the first device (TV) in order to obtain starting/ending of TV advertisement (Fig. 1 disclosing a home network with short range communication between a TV and second device; para 18-21, 30-32 second device captures audio data while in the vicinity or the TV).
In an analogous art, Ransom teaches the deficiency of Chen wherein a notification such as a count-down timer is displayed to indicate the ending of an advertisement (para 65). Ransom does not reference the limitation with respect to “based on an indication that a user device is located at a second location that is different from the first location in relation to a sponsor, however, Ranson para 40, 56, 77 does disclose that the advertisement content metadata identifies the content provider which a person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably infer the content provider is the sponsor of the content (i.e., content metadata can comprise content title, content provider, content type (e.g., local advertisement, non-local advertisement), content format (e.g., digital, analog), content length (e.g., temporal data for the interval between content starting point and content ending point), content identifier (e.g., content id), content release date, content update frequency, and the like.). Ransom also does not disclose the account associated with the user device in relation the notification as claimed.
In an analogous art, Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370, 383) comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break (para 352-370, 383). Barnet teaches the advertisement content comprises displaying a countdown time, prior to the end time of the advertisement section, until the commercial being displayed ends and the regular program (para 6, 352, 368, 383). Barnett first teaches a notification 4030 regarding break 4020 (i.e., The notification may present, for example, a countdown timer that shows how much time is remaining before the end of the commercial break. See also Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370) comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break (para 352-370) and wherein the advertisement content is displayed with sponsor information (para 201-205). See also [0363] In some embodiments, targeted content 4010 may include sponsored content or any other advertising content. For example, an advertiser could purchase commercial breaks for a certain demographic in a certain area (e.g., females 35-40 years old in a certain city or state). Targeted content 4010 would then include sponsored content from the advertiser during commercial breaks for that demographic. Based on the teachings of Barnett, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that the countdown displayed is a total time remaining for the entire commercial break in combination with sponsor information. Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably inferred that where Barnett teaches a commercial break comprises a plurality of videos or just one video, then a situation where multiple commercials are presented, then the total time comprises adding the length of each commercial to identify the total time remaining.
Additionally, with respect to “based on an indication that a user device is located at a second location that is different from the first location” as claimed, Barnett only teaches that the mobile second device 840 must be in the vicinity of the first device 830 utilizing a Wi-Fi connection or dongle 810 (Fig. 8 and 109). See also Barnett para 381-383 – second device is detected in the vicinity location of a first device when a commercial break is about to occur in order to present supplemental content on the second device. See also para 152, 161, 214 utilizing GPS location data sent by mobile device to identify location of mobile device in relation to a TV location/room. However, Barnett, similar to Chen and Ransom, do not disclose a second location that is different from the first location as claimed.
Regarding "determining that an account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification” and "the determination that the account associated with the user device indicates that the user device is configured to receive the notification," Barnett in paragraph [¶51], the prior art teaches, inter alia, the following:
…social-networking system 160 may include an authorization server that allows users 101 to opt in or opt out of having their actions logged by social-networking system 160 or shared with other systems (e.g., third-party systems 170), such as, for example, by setting appropriate privacy settings. In particular embodiments, third-party system 170 may be a network-addressable computing system that can host websites that embed data from social-networking system 160. Third-party system 170 may be accessed by the other components of network environment 100 either directly or via network 110. In particular embodiments, one or more users 101 may use one or more client systems 130 to access, send data to, and receive data from social-networking system 160 or third-party system 170. Client system 130 may access social-networking system 160 or third-party system 170 directly, via network 110, or via a third-party system. As an example and not by way of limitation, client system 130 may access third-party system 170 via social-networking system 160. Client system 130 may be any suitable computing device, such as, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, or a tablet computer.
More importantly, Barnett ¶54 and ¶¶61, 64 teaches that social networking system includes notification controller and an authorization server and selects content objects for sending to users as notifications. See also Barnett ¶73 for providing advertisements, in the form of notifications, to a user. Equally important is Barnett ¶80 teaching “when a user registers for an account with social-networking system 160, social-networking system 160 may create a user node 302 corresponding to the user, and store the user node 302 in one or more data stores. Users and user nodes 302 described herein may, where appropriate, refer to registered users and user nodes 302 associated with registered users.” Additionally, Barnett ¶91, ¶96 provides embodiments wherein users authenticates their account information as part of an authorization phase to be able to browse or view content in teaching that "authorization phase 501, a particular user 101 authenticates her social networking user identifier with a device 404 or 405 on which she wishes to browse or view content. As previously discussed, devices 404/405 may be any device on which a user may view content, including a personal computing device including a browser application viewing a website of an OTT provider 403, television, or mobile device running a dedicated application for a content provider.” See also Barnett ¶¶98-104 disclosing embodiments wherein a user provides authorization via the social networking system to control a user’s device and provide media data.
As discussed above, wherein Barnett teaches the social-networking system comprises a notification controller and authorization controller, Barnett ¶352-353, ¶¶368 also teachings providing the user device with notifications regarding breaks notifications, including at the beginning of the commercial break and then count down the indicated time until the end of the commercial break and wherein ¶378, 383 teaches the “social networking system 160 may determine that break 4020 has begun and thus may display targeted content 4010 on the second screen. In some embodiments, the API may also be used in a similar manner to indicate to social networking system 160 that break 4020 has ended (or is about to end), thus enabling social networking system 160 to stop displaying targeted content 4010, to pause any video within targeted content 4010, and to display notification 4030 as described above.” All things considered, Barnett teaches embodiments wherein the advertisements and notifications regarding advertisement are controlled by the social networking system, and as discussed above, the user sets up an account with the social networking system and provides authorizations and permissions to receive content.
EXAMINER’S NOTE: Prior art made of record but not relied upon in order to avoid duplicative references Abecassis; Max US 20150086173 A1 providing screen notifications regarding upcoming commercial breaks and identifying the length of the particular segments (para 174-188) is beneficial when a viewer is in a public place or a private gathering also corresponds to applicant’s claimed “based on a location of a user device associated with the content output device”
In an analogous art, Ren para 58 teaches set-top box 230 may provide the notification to user device 220 based on determining that the user is not within a particular proximity of display device 240. In this case, set-top box 230 may determine that user device 220 has been moved from a first room (e.g., a room including display device 240) to a second room, and may provide a notification indicating that the commercial has ended to the user of user device 220. For example, a user may indicate that the user is leaving a room (e.g., the room that includes display device 240) by providing input to user device 220, and user device 220 may notify set-top box 230 that the user has left the room. Ren paragraph 58 teaches:
“…Additionally, or alternatively, set-top box 230 may provide the notification to the user via user device 220. For example, set-top box 230 may provide the notification to user device 220 based on determining that the user is not within a particular proximity of display device 240. In this case, set-top box 230 may determine that user device 220 has been moved from a first room (e.g., a room including display device 240) to a second room, and may provide a notification indicating that the commercial has ended to the user of user device 220. For example, a user may indicate that the user is leaving a room (e.g., the room that includes display device 240) by providing input to user device 220, and user device 220 may notify set-top box 230 that the user has left the room….”
Ren para 31 further teaches that “[a] commercial and/or a commercial break may be used broadly to refer to a subset of programming associated with a channel (e.g., a TV channel, a radio channel, etc.), such as an advertisement, a segment of a particular program (e.g., a weather report, an interview, a scene, etc.), a station identification break, or the like.” A person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably infer that where a commercial and/or commercial break is understood as an advertisement and/or a station identification break, then the sponsor of the commercial is either the advertiser or station providing the station identification break. Therefore, based on the teachings of Ren (i.e., For example, set-top box 230 may provide the notification to user device 220 based on determining that the user is not within a particular proximity of display device 240. In this case, set-top box 230 may determine that user device 220 has been moved from a first room (e.g., a room including display device 240) to a second room) the set-top box has obtained the location data associated with the user device indicating that the user device is located at a second location that is different from the first location. Again, the applicant’s claim limitation does not explicitly claim how the set-top box obtains the location data of the user device as claimed. Whereas paragraph 58 of Ren discloses “a notification indicating that the commercial has ended to the user of user device 220”, the combination of prior art to Chen, Ransom, Barnett (and Stern below) render obvious providing a notification that the commercial break is about to end.
The prior art to Stern recognizes a benefit of providing the viewer with notifications (e.g., a countdown timer generated from the advertisement information messages and displayed along with the content of the advertisement segment). As such, wherein the combination of Chen, Ransom, Barnett, and Ren render obvious providing a notification to a mobile device that a commercial break is about to end, Stern para 11, 18-19, 42-43, 47 teaches that a countdown timer is generated from the advertisement information messages and displayed along with the content of the advertisement segment; For a set of contiguous advertising segments the countdown time will show the time remaining until the end of the set of advertising segments and the resumption of the displaying of the main program. Thus, a user viewing the screen during an advertisement is informed as to the amount of time remaining before the program content, as opposed to advertising content, will be displayed again.
Whereas Stern teaches the benefit of providing a viewer with a set of contiguous advertising segments and a countdown time showing the time remaining until the end of the set of advertising segments and the resumption of the displaying of the main program, Stern does not disclose that the advertisement information messages comprising a sponsor of a notification associated with the advertisement portion, as discussed above, Ren para 31 further teaches that “[a] commercial and/or a commercial break may be used broadly to refer to a subset of programming associated with a channel (e.g., a TV channel, a radio channel, etc.), such as an advertisement, a segment of a particular program (e.g., a weather report, an interview, a scene, etc.), a station identification break, or the like.” A person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably infer that where a commercial and/or commercial break is understood as an advertisement and/or a station identification break, then the sponsor of the commercial is either the advertiser or station providing the station identification break.
As such, the motivation to modify Chen, Ransom, Barnett, and Ren is further evidenced by Lalka para 124 discloses presenting sponsor content comprising the current status of the event in response to a determination or timing of an intermission, either based on the location being changed (e.g., exiting the theater during the middle of a scheduled performance) or based on a known break. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably inferred that Lalka provides sponsored content to a mobile device comprising the status of the viewing event when the viewer is viewing broadcast content (e.g., theater) and there is an intermission, break, and/or when the viewer has stepped away from viewing the main content presentation. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably inferred that in the prior art teachings of Chen, Ransom, Barnett, and Ren, the combined teachings alert the user as to when the status of the broadcast programming is presenting advertisements in order to provide the viewer with the advertisement/commercial time remaining before the main programming begins.
The prior art to Wood also recognizes the benefit of displaying advertisement breaks on a main display and simultaneously utilizing a second display (e.g., mobile device) for displaying content associated with the sponsor of the advertisement break being presented on the main display. Wood para 0088-0089, PARA 210 and Fig. 4C, 4D, 10B, 10C, 12teaches the following:
[0088] Currently adverts presented during programs are often not directly related to the program content and as such may be of no interest to the viewer. However, the user experience can be significantly improved when a consumer has access to this invention. This can be illustrated in a number of examples below. A viewer has selected to watch a documentary on the National Geographic channel. It is live TV, so there is no mechanism to fast forward adverts. It is about the animals in the Amazon rainforest and the effects due to habitat destruction. During this program adverts may appear for products such as nappies, soft drink or the latest sports car. With this invention however, the TV network offers supplementary content related to rainforests in general and also content on ways to reduce our footprint on the planet. For example, as the program begins, a message appears on the screen of the TV or remote control indicating that more information is available during the course of the program.
[0089] After ten minutes of viewing an advert for the latest sports car comes on, a message appears on the remote showing the Manufacturer's logo and an additional information icon appears on the screen of the viewer's remote control. The additional information icon directs the viewer to links for the current sponsors of the program, such as the nappy supplier, car manufacturer's interne website home page, and a soft drink offer. Additionally though, links to websites on the Tasmanian rainforests and hybrid cars are also shown. The viewer presses the mute button the remote control to mute the sound during the adverts. At that instant, a series of slogans from the car manufacturer are overlayed on the screen of the TV to assist the message intent during the muted state.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chen’s invention for detecting a start of an advertisement portion of the content from various advertisers to provide notifications on a computing device separate from a television (e.g., tablet or mobile device) by further incorporating known elements of Ransom's invention for providing a utilizing content metadata for providing a notification to display as a count-down timer to indicate the ending of an advertisement such that the viewer is able to switch back to viewing the main programming content when on demand programming is not available. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chen and Ransom’s invention by further incorporating known elements of Barnett’s invention for displaying advertisement notifications on TV, prior to the end of the commercial portion, in addition to, a second screen of a second computing device that is in the vicinity location of the TV, such as a mobile device, comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break in order to utilize received data for a set of contiguous advertising segments and show the countdown time with the time remaining until the end of the set of advertising segments and the resumption of the displaying of the main program to enable the viewer to perform a personal activity such as a restroom break because the prior art to Ren recognizes the benefit of providing the viewer with a mobile phone, that has moved to a location different from the room where the set-top box located, with an indication that the advertisement has ended or provide a notification as disclosed in Stern to display a countdown time remaining until the end of the set of advertising segments and the resumption of the displaying of the main program. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chen, Ransom, Barnett, and Ren by further incorporating known elements of Lalka’s invention for presenting sponsor content comprising the current status of the event in response to a determination or timing of an intermission, either based on the location being changed (e.g., exiting the theater during the middle of a scheduled performance) or based on a known break as the modification would provide sponsored content to a mobile device comprising the status of the viewing event when the viewer is viewing broadcast content (e.g., theater) and there is an intermission, break, and/or when the viewer has stepped away from viewing the main content presentation and the combined teachings alert the user as to when the status of the broadcast programming is presenting advertisements in order to provide the viewer with the advertisement/commercial time remaining before the main programming begins to enable the viewer to not miss the start of a presentation after an intermission or break. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chen, Ransom, Barnett, Ren and Lalka’s invention by further incorporating known elements of Wood’s invention for displaying advertisement breaks on a main display and simultaneously utilizing a second display (e.g., mobile device) for displaying content associated with the sponsor of the advertisement break being presented on the main display because the combination would enable the sponsor of the advertisement content presented on the main display to enable the viewer to access additional sponsor content, on a mobile device, related to the advertisement products being displayed on the main display during an intermission or advertisement break.
Regarding claim 2, “wherein the user device and the content output device are associated with at least one of a user or a premises” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claim 1 wherein Chen teaches that the mobile device (second device tablet) must be in the vicinity of the first device (TV) in order to obtain starting/ending of TV advertisement (Fig. 1 disclosing a home network with short range communication between a TV and second device; para 18-21, 30-32 second device captures audio data while in the vicinity or the TV); Chen further teaches the second user device registers for notifications in paragraph 33. See also Barnett para 91, 163, 168-173 – associating mobile device with user’s social networking account to deliver associated content including advertisements). Barnett teaches that the mobile second device 840 must be in the vicinity of the first device 830 utilizing a Wi-Fi connection or dongle 810 (Fig. 8 and 109). See also Barnett para 381-383 – second device is detected in the vicinity location of a first device when a commercial break is about to occur in order to present supplemental content on the second device. See also Ransom para 50-53 wherein user identifiers are associated to only one particular user and wherein Ransom teaches that users are subscribers with a particular level of service which a person of ordinary skill in the art would understand corresponds to subscriber of an account. See also Ren para 58.
Regarding claim 3, “wherein the user device and the content output device are located at a premises, wherein the first location comprises at least one of: a first room, a first section, a first floor, or a first portion of the premises, and wherein the second location comprises at least one of: a second room, a second section, a second floor, or a second portion of the premises” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-2 wherein Ren para 58 teaches the deficiency with respect to “rooms” recited in “wherein the first location comprises at least one of: a first room, a first section, a first floor, or a first portion of the premises, and wherein the second location comprises at least one of: a second room, a second section, a second floor, or a second portion of the premises.”
Regarding claim 4, “further comprising determining the at least one sponsor of the notification is based on at least one of: a user preference, indicated by metadata associated with the advertisement portion, a primary entity of a plurality of entities associated with the advertisement portion, or a section of the a plurality of sections of the advertisement portion” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-4 wherein Chen para 20 teaches each portion has particular identification data to notify of a particular advertisement - determining start of advertisement wherein advertisement index is received from content provider; Fig. 2 and para 20 teaching - match sampled data generated by the block 203 with the same sampling frequency as that used by the content provider with the at least one set of referenced sampled data from the block 207, so as to identify the starting of the TV advertisement as indicated by the block 208 and the ending of the TV advertisement as indicated by the block 209). See Chen further teaches para 17, 21, 31, 32, 33 – presenting information associated with the content output by the content output device, a slogan. See also Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370) comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break (para 352-370) and wherein the advertisement content is displayed with sponsor information (para 201-205). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably inferred, based on the teachings of Barnett that “further comprising determining the at least one sponsor of the notification is based on at least” a section of the a plurality of sections of the advertisement portion because each different advertisement is presented with the associated sponsor.
Regarding claim 5, “wherein the notification comprises at least one of information associated with the content a slogan, a catchphrase, or a trademark” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-4 wherein the term trademark is broadly interpreted as any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies goods or services; See also Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370) comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break (para 352-370) and wherein the advertisement content is displayed with sponsor information (para 201-205). See Chen further teaches para 17, 21, 31, 32, 33 – presenting information associated with the content output by the content output device, a slogan.
Regarding claim 6, “wherein the advertisement portion comprises a plurality of sections that are each associated with a section end time, and wherein sending the notification comprises sending, prior to the section end time for a first section of the plurality of sections, the notification” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-5 wherein Stern para 47 teaches The display image includes a frame 401 of an ad segment along with an information section 402 displayed at the bottom of the image 400. As illustrated the information section 402 includes an ad presentation countdown timer 406 generated in accordance with the invention in addition to a channel and current time field 404. The ad presentation countdown timer 406 displays the presentation time remaining in a set of consecutive ad segments or the time remaining in an individual ad segment depending on the embodiment. As should be appreciated in either embodiment during presentation of the last ad segment, e.g., ad segment N 214′, in a set of consecutive ad segments the time remaining will be the time to the end of the last ad segment 214′. See also Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370) comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break (para 352-370). Barnet teaches the advertisement content comprises displaying a countdown time, prior to the end time of the advertisement section, until the commercial being displayed ends and the regular program (para 6, 352, 368, 383). Barnett first teaches a notification 4030 regarding break 4020 (i.e., The notification may present, for example, a countdown timer that shows how much time is remaining before the end of the commercial break. In some embodiments, targeted content 4010 may be presented to user 101 during downtimes of live events such as halftime and timeouts of live sporting events. In those embodiments, targeted content 4010 may include content related to the live event or the venue of the live event.). More importantly, Barnett also teaches “…targeted content 4010 may include one or more videos that are related to what user 101 is currently watching on TV 830. For example, if user 101 is watching the "Lone Survivor" TV show, targeted content 4010 may include a highlight video of past episodes of "Lone Survivor." Related videos to be included in targeted content 4010 may be determined by social networking system 160 by analyzing social graph 300 (e.g., finding videos connected to a concept node 304 of "Lone Survivor"). In some embodiments, targeted content 4010 includes multiple short videos related to what user 101 is currently watching on TV 830 that are queued and ready to play when a commercial break begins. In some embodiments, targeted content 4010 includes a video that is formatted to play for the length of time of the commercial break. Structuring targeted content 4010 to play for the amount of time of the commercial break is described in more detail below.). Based on the teachings of the prior art, it is evident that the mobile device and a set-top box displays time remaining in an advertisement section and based on the teachings of Stern, a person would have understood the elements of displaying a time of the advertisement section may be displayed on a per advertisement format or in a total advertisement format for time remaining. Furthermore, based on the teachings of Barnett, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that the countdown displayed is a total time remaining for the entire commercial break. Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably inferred that where Barnett teaches a commercial break comprises a plurality of videos or just one video, then a situation where multiple commercials are presented, then the total time comprises adding the length of each commercial to identify the total time remaining.
Regarding claim 7, “wherein the notification indicates a time remaining in the first section” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-6 wherein Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370); See also Stern; Peter et al. (US 20110243533 A1) wherein Stern para 47 teaches The display image includes a frame 401 of an ad segment along with an information section 402 displayed at the bottom of the image 400. As illustrated the information section 402 includes an ad presentation countdown timer 406 generated in accordance with the invention in addition to a channel and current time field 404. The ad presentation countdown timer 406 displays the presentation time remaining in a set of consecutive ad segments or the time remaining in an individual ad segment depending on the embodiment. As should be appreciated in either embodiment during presentation of the last ad segment, e.g., ad segment N 214′, in a set of consecutive ad segments the time remaining will be the time to the end of the last ad segment 214′; see also Stern para 11 teaches that a countdown timer is generated from the advertisement information messages and displayed along with the content of the advertisement segment; For a set of contiguous advertising segments the countdown time will show the time remaining until the end of the set of advertising segments and the resumption of the displaying of the main program. Thus, a user viewing the screen during an advertisement is informed as to the amount of time remaining before the program content, as opposed to advertising content, will be displayed again. Claim 7 is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in KSR. On the issue of obviousness, the Supreme Court stated that when a patent simply arranges old elements with each performing the same function it had been known to perform and yields no more than one would expect from such an arrangement, the combination is obvious. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 417, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007) (citing Sakraida v. AG Pro, Inc., 425 U.S. 273, 96 S. Ct. 1532, 47 L. Ed. 2d 784 (1976)). The Court further reiterated that in circumstances where the combination of two pre-existing elements did no more than they would in separate, sequential operation, the patent failed under 35 U.S.C. 103. See id. at 416-417 (citing Anderson's-Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co., 396 U.S. 57, 90 S. Ct. 305, 24 L. Ed. 2d 258 (1969)). The analysis of a rejection on obviousness grounds need not seek out precise teachings directed to the specific subject matter of the challenged claim, for a court can take account of the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ. See id. at 418. The obvious analysis cannot be confined by a formalistic conception of the words teaching, suggestion, and motivation. Id. at 419. Further, the Court stated that common sense teaches, however, that familiar items may have obvious uses beyond their primary purposes, and in many cases a person of ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle. See id. at 420. In the elements of claim 7, the sequential display of the time remaining in a first section of a plurality of sections does not more than displaying the combined times of all the sections to allow the viewer to know when each section of the total sections ends.
Regarding claims 8-10, 12 and 14-16 the method claims are grouped and rejected with the method claims 1-7 because independent claims 8 and 14-16 comprise a combination of steps recited in independent claim 1 and dependent claims 2-7. Regarding claim 14, elements for “at least one user preference or an indication of an entity that sponsored the notification” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-7 wherein Ranson para 40, 56, 77 does disclose that the advertisement content metadata identifies the content provider which a person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably infer the content provider is the sponsor of the content (i.e., content metadata can comprise content title, content provider, content type (e.g., local advertisement, non-local advertisement), content format (e.g., digital, analog), content length (e.g., temporal data for the interval between content starting point and content ending point), content identifier (e.g., content id), content release date, content update frequency, and the like.). Ransom para 59 further teaches user information can comprise preference information for presenting content As an example, the preference information can indicate a specific user (e.g., viewer, customer) prefers a particular brand of product (e.g., a particular brand of shoes) and/or a particular class of product (e.g., automobile). Accordingly, a second content item that is relevant to the user information can be determined. In an aspect, the content items comprise advertisements and the selected one or more second content items can comprise abbreviated versions of one or more first content items. Chen para 20 teaches each portion has particular identification data to notify of a particular advertisement - determining start of advertisement wherein advertisement index is received from content provider; Fig. 2 and para 20 teaching - match sampled data generated by the block 203 with the same sampling frequency as that used by the content provider with the at least one set of referenced sampled data from the block 207, so as to identify the starting of the TV advertisement as indicated by the block 208 and the ending of the TV advertisement as indicated by the block 209). See Chen further teaches para 17, 21, 31, 32, 33 – presenting information associated with the content output by the content output device, a slogan. See also Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370) comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break (para 352-370) and wherein the advertisement content is displayed with sponsor information (para 201-205). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably inferred, based on the teachings of Barnett that “further comprising determining the at least one sponsor of the notification is based on at least one of an indication of an entity that sponsored the notification because each different advertisement is presented with the associated sponsor. (see also Barnett para 352-354 – advertisements for commercial break are related to the content viewed by such that the content being viewed (e.g., Lone Survivor) is the user’s viewing preference at the moment.). See also Ren para 31 further teaches that “[a] commercial and/or a commercial break may be used broadly to refer to a subset of programming associated with a channel (e.g., a TV channel, a radio channel, etc.), such as an advertisement, a segment of a particular program (e.g., a weather report, an interview, a scene, etc.), a station identification break, or the like.” A person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably infer that where a commercial and/or commercial break is understood as an advertisement and/or a station identification break, then the sponsor of the commercial is either the advertiser or station providing the station identification break. Therefore, independent claims 8 and 14-16 the elements of the method are met by the disclosure of the apparatus and methods of the reference(s) as discussed above, and because the elements of the system are easily converted into elements/steps of an apparatus/method by one skilled in the art.
Regarding claim 11, “wherein the user device comprises at least one of: a computing device, a tablet device, a personal data assistant (PDA), a smart device, a vehicle entertainment system, or a portable media player” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-7 wherein Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370); see also Chen Fig. 1 disclosing a first and second device comprising a television and tablet. See also Barnett ¶51 Client system 130 may be any suitable computing device, such as, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, or a tablet computer.
Regarding claim 13, “the content output device comprises at least one of: a set-top box, a digital streaming device, a gaming device, a media storage device, a digital recording device, or a television” is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-7 wherein Barnett teaches advertisement notifications are displayed on TV, in addition to, a second screen of the user 101 such as a mobile device (para 352-370); See also Barnett ¶51 Client system 130 may be any suitable computing device, such as, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, or a tablet computer. See also Chen Fig. 1 disclosing a first and second device comprising a television and tablet. See also Ren para 58.
Claims 17-18, 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen; Jianfeng et al. US 20150019223 A1 (hereafter Chen) and in further view of Ransom; Mumin et al. US 20160173942 A1 (hereafter Ransom) and in further view of Barnett; John Samuel US 20180124438 A1 (hereafter Barnett) and in further view of Ren, Dahai, US20150095932A1 (hereafter Ren) and in further view of Stern; Peter et al. US 20110243533 A1 (hereafter Stern) and in further view of Lalka; Vipul Kishore et al. US 20190104382 A1 (hereafter Lalka) and in further view of Wood; Christopher et al. US 20120131098 A1 (hereafter Wood) and in further view of Shimy; Camron et al. US 20110072452 A1 (hereafter Shimy).
Regarding claim 17, “further comprising at least one of: determining, based on a signal sent by the user device associated with the location data, that the user device is at the second location; determining, based on global positioning system (GPS) data associated with the user device, that the user device is at the second location, wherein the GPS data is associated with the location data; determining, based on signal triangulation data associated with the user device, that the user device is at the second location, wherein the signal triangulation data is associated with the location data; or determining, based on a signal strength associated with the user device, that the user device is at the second location” Barnett teaches para 152, 161, 214 utilizing GPS location data sent by mobile device to identify location of mobile device in relation to a TV location/room and further teaches that the mobile second device 840 must be in the vicinity of the first device 830 utilizing a Wi-Fi connection or dongle 810 (Fig. 8 and 109). See also Barnett para 381-383 – second device is detected in the vicinity location of a first device when a commercial break is about to occur in order to present supplemental content on the second device. However, Barnett does not disclose the elements with respect to triangulation as claimed. Chen, Ransom, Ren and Stern do not disclose the deficiency of Barnett.
In an analogous art, Shimy teaches the deficiency of Barnett wherein a set-top box is able to identify a mobile device based on a GPS signal ( ) and is also able to obtain signal strength indicators from a mobile device to determine the location of the mobile device based on a triangulation calculation (para 53).
See also prior art made of record but not relied upon in order to avoid duplicative references: Shimy; Camron et al. US 20120319825 A1 disclosing [0072] MUED 502 or HUED 504 may include position information circuitry, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) circuitry, location-based services (LPS) circuitry, triangulation circuitry, hybrid positioning systems circuitry, or any other suitable position obtaining circuits or combinations of such circuits. MUED 502 or HUED 504 may use the position information obtained from the position information circuitry to determine the current position of MUED 502 or HUED 504. In some implementations, MUED 502 or HUED 504 may obtain the current position of MUED 502 or HUED 504 by accessing a social network, such as over the Internet.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chen, Ransom, Ren, Stern, Lalka, Wood and Barnett for utilizing the GPS of a mobile device to obtain the location of a mobile device to provide notifications on a computing device separate from a television (e.g., tablet or mobile device) and for displaying advertisement notifications on TV, prior to the end of the commercial portion, in addition to, a second screen of a second computing device that is in the vicinity location of the TV, such as a mobile device, comprising notifications of a countdown prior to the end time of each commercial break in order to utilize received data for a set of contiguous advertising segments and show the countdown time with the time remaining until the end of the set of advertising segments and the resumption of the displaying of the main program to enable the viewer to perform a personal activity such as a restroom break because the prior art to Shimy recognizes the benefit of providing the viewer with a mobile phone, that has moved to a location different from the room where the set-top box located, with notifications for viewing content when moving between television sets and continue watching the same content at a different location.
Regarding claim 18, wherein the user device is at the second location during output of the advertisement portion is further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1 and 17 wherein Shimy further teaches that the user device is tracked to a different location to enable the user to seamlessly continue watching the same content across multiple devices (para 3, 94, 106, 134 - the content notifications will be provided to a television set in a different room). See also the teachings of Lalka para 124 discloses presenting sponsor content comprising the current status of the event in response to a determination or timing of an intermission, either based on the location being changed (e.g., exiting the theater during the middle of a scheduled performance) or based on a known break. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably inferred that Lalka provides sponsored content to a mobile device comprising the status of the viewing event when the viewer is viewing broadcast content (e.g., theater) and there is an intermission, break, and/or when the viewer has stepped away from viewing the main content presentation.
Regarding claims 21-22, are further rejected on obviousness grounds as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-18 wherein Barnett teaches para 152, 161, 214 utilizing GPS location data sent by mobile device to identify location of mobile device in relation to a TV location/room and further teaches that the mobile second device 840 must be in the vicinity of the first device 830 utilizing a Wi-Fi connection or dongle 810 (Fig. 8 and 109). See also Barnett para 381-383 – second device is detected in the vicinity location of a first device when a commercial break is about to occur in order to present supplemental content on the second device. However, Barnett does not disclose the elements with respect to triangulation as claimed. Chen, Ransom, Ren and Stern do not disclose the deficiency of Barnett. Shimy, however, teaches the deficiency of Barnett wherein a set-top box is able to identify a mobile device based on a GPS signal ( ) and is also able to obtain signal strength indicators from a mobile device to determine the location of the mobile device based on a triangulation calculation (para 53).
Conclusion
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/ALFONSO CASTRO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421
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