DETAILED ACTION
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/20/2025 has been entered.
Claim Status
Claims 1, 5, and 6 are amended.
Claims 11 and 12 are canceled.
No newly added claim(s).
Claims 1-10 and 13 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed in the amendment filed on 11/20/2025 have been fully considered but they moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained through the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 7 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 (a) as being unpatentable over Grannan (US 20080178219), in view of Lee et al. (US 20090025029), in further view of Kim (US 20050155061).
Regarding Claim 1, Grannan discloses, a method for processing multi-media content for a user device independent of the user device’s location (par. 0013 discloses set-top box processing media content for displaying on a display device (i.e., a user device for user to view the content)), the method comprising:
receiving, by a first server, a request for the multi-media content from a first serving node associated with the first server (par. 0030, first set-top box 204, a first server, receives search criteria (i.e., of video content as disclosed in par. 0026) from the second set-top box device 206, i.e., serving nodes are associated with each other as they are in peer-to-peer network));
advertising, by the first server, the request for the multi-media content (par. 0030 discloses the first set-top box device 204 may also transmit, or advertise the search criteria to the other set-top box devices);
receiving, by the first server, a message indicating availability of the multi-media content within a second serving node associated with a second server (par. 0030-0031, when another set-top box, i.e., a second serving node, identifies that relevant content is stored in their local storage, it informs the first set-top box about availability of relevant content, here all set-top boxes are associated with content source 102 (i.e., a second server) as disclosed in par. 0027 and fig. 2); and
redirecting, by the first server, the request for the multi-media content, received from the first serving node, to the second serving node (par. 0031 the first set-top box device 204 transmits a command to the other set-top box device to transmit the relevant segment to the second set-top box device 206 (Transmitting this command to the second set top box teaches “redirecting the received request of the content” to the second serving node).
Grannan does not disclose, wherein the multi-media content is reformatted by the first serving node for display on the user device, and
wherein the first serving node applies, to the multi-media content, a theme selected by a user that is automatically invoked across multiple user devices associated with the user, and wherein the theme is dynamically adjusted based on at least a display characteristic of each user device.
Lee discloses, wherein the multi-media content is reformatted by the first serving node for display on the user device (Par. 0035, the processing unit 23 shrinks the displayed picture to comply with the lower screen resolution of the mobile phone, i.e. the processing unit 23 shrinking of picture to display picture on lower screen resolution of mobile device = reformatting of media content), and
wherein the first serving node applies, to the multi-media content, a theme selected by a user that is automatically invoked across multiple user devices associated with the user, and wherein the theme is dynamically adjusted based on at least a display characteristic of each user device (Par. 0034, users can set up a digital channel through the user interface 22 based on the channel set-up template 26 by inputting the set-up text 281 and selecting the set-up picture 282 from the picture files 274 stored in the storage unit 21. That is to say, any user without knowing how to program is able to set up a digital channel, i.e. selecting “theme” = user configurable settings that is implemented for displaying of content, here inputting the set-up text 281 and selecting the set-up picture 282 = selecting theme by user. Par. 0035, Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary channel page of a mobile phone generated by the digital channel generation apparatus, the processing unit 23 adjusts the page layout of the digital channel based on the screen resolution of the mobile phone recorded in the mobile phone data 253. Compared with the page screen shown in FIG. 4D being used for a television display, the processing unit 23 shrinks the displayed picture to comply with the lower screen resolution of the mobile phone. Furthermore, because the aspect ratio of the screen of the mobile phone is higher than that of the television, the processing unit 23 makes a longitudinal layout for the film picture, the film briefing, the film title, the film length, the "PLAY" option and the "BACK" option so that the displayed screen is clearer for users, i.e. based on user configured layout or theme for displaying channel content data, channel generation apparatus invokes the layout and automatically adjust it based on type of device such as having different resolution and aspect ratio of screen, different layout for television screen vs mobile screen).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Grannan, by teaching of multi-media content is reformatted by the serving node for display on the user device and theme selected by a user that is automatically invoked across multiple user devices associated with the user and is dynamically adjusted based on at least a display characteristic of each user device, as taught by Lee, to accommodate adaptive content rendition on different devices and provide clear display of content to user based on capability of device, as disclosed in Lee par. 0035.
Grannan in view of Lee does not disclose, wherein the theme is selected in terms of location of elements, including the multi-media content, on the user device.
Kim discloses, wherein the theme is selected in terms of location of elements, including the multi-media content, on the user device (Par. 0032-0037, with user selection, control unit can change the grids with width, size or position (i.e. location) of the first and second layout (i.e. theme) areas constituting EPG, and stores the information for configuration the first and second layout areas in storage unit).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Grannan in view of Lee, by teaching of wherein the theme is selected in terms of location of elements, including the multi-media content, on the user device, as taught by Kim, to deliver dynamically provide additional information by altering the location and shape format or theme of the media guide information, as disclosed in Kim, par. 0009-0011 and 0032-0037.
Regarding claim 2, the method of claim 1,
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim further discloses, further comprising:
receiving, by the first serving node, the multi-media content from the second serving node (Grannan par. 0031 discloses, If the relevant segment is stored at another set-top box device, the first set-top box device 204 may transmit a command or a request to the other set-top box device to transmit the relevant segment to the second set-top box device 206);
delivering, by the first serving node, the multi-media content to the user device, wherein the user device is registered with the first serving node (Grannan par. 0040 discloses user set-top box (i.e. requesting set-top box) receives data including relevant segments from peer device, the user set-top box device assembles the relevant segments to produce a custom video presentation, par. 0013 discloses, the set-top box device may provide the custom video presentation to a display device (i.e. the user device), i.e. display device is connected to set-top box as shown in fig. 1 therefore it is registered with set-top box).
Regarding claim 6, Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim meets claim limitation as set forth in claim 1, respectively, Grannan further discloses, a system for processing multi-media content for a user device independent of the user device location (par. 0013 discloses set-top box processing media content for displaying on a display device (i.e., a user device for user to view the content)).
Regarding claim 7, Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 13, The method of claim 1,
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim further discloses, wherein the type of content presented on both the user device and the new user device comprises at least one of a TV Stream, Internet web content, a user preferred content, or a user preferred layout (Lee par. 0034, users can set up a digital channel through the user interface 22 based on the channel set-up template 26 by inputting the set-up text 281 and selecting the set-up picture 282 from the picture files 274 stored in the storage unit 21. That is to say, any user without knowing how to program is able to set up a digital channel, i.e. content presented is TV stream or user preferred content or user preferred layout).
Claims 3 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 (a) as being unpatentable over Grannan (US 20080178219), in view of Lee et al. (US 20090025029), in further view of Kim (US 20050155061), in further view of MATSUMOTO (US 20080147873).
Regarding claim 3, the method of claim 2,
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim further discloses, wherein the reception, by the first serving node, of the multi-media content from the second serving node (Grannan par. 0040 discloses user set-top box (i.e., requesting set-top box) receives data including relevant segments from peer device).
Modified Grannan does not disclose, when reception of media content is interrupted, notifying the time of the interruption to the server.
MATSUMOTO discloses, when reception of media content is interrupted, notifying a time of the interruption to the server (par. 0121 discloses terminal notifies the server system of the content playback interruption time of the interrupted content and request streaming delivery of the content starting from the interrupted position). Not supported by older provisional
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combining with modified Grannan, teaching of when reception of media content is interrupted, notifying the time of the interruption to the server, as taught by MATSUMOTO, to be able to restart the delivery of the content starting from the interruption position, as disclosed in MATSUMOTO par. 0015.
Regarding claim 8, Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim in further view of MATSUMOTO meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 3.
Claims 4 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 (a) as being unpatentable over Grannan (US 20080178219), in view of Lee et al. (US 20090025029), in further view of Weissmueller et al. (US 20100045681).
Regarding claim 4, method of claim 2,
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim further discloses, further comprising:
delivery of the reformatted multi-media content to the user device (Lee Par. 0035, the processing unit 23 shrinks the displayed picture to comply with the lower screen resolution of the mobile phone, i.e. the processing unit 23 shrinking of picture to display picture on lower screen resolution of mobile device = reformatting of media content).
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim does not disclose, transmitting, by the first serving node, a message indicating a status of delivery of the multi-media content to the user device, to the first server.
Weissmueller discloses, transmitting, by the first serving node, a message indicating a status of delivery of the multi-media content to the user device, to the first server (par. 0012 discloses providing the content provider with verification that the associated visual content was timely and properly displayed, par. 0041 discloses the electronic visual display controller 104 is operable to receive information from the operation server 102 and drive the electronic visual display 106. Additionally, the electronic visual display controller 104 may be utilized to interact with and/or control the electronic visual display 106, here electronic visual display controller 104 is a serving node).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine with modified Grannan, teaching of transmitting a message to the server indicating a status of delivery of multi-media content to the user device, as taught by Weissmueller, to provide notification to an operator of a success or failure of the content being timely and properly displayed based on the verification, as disclosed in Weissmueller par. 0012.
Regarding claim 9, Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim in further view of Weissmueller meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 4.
Claims 5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 (a) as being unpatentable over Grannan (US 20080178219), in view of Lee et al. (US 20090025029), in further view of Krikorian et al. (US 20060095471), in further view of Greenwood (US 20030198458).
Regarding claim 5, method of claim 1,
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim further discloses, further comprising:
a connection between the first serving node and the second serving node to support streaming of the multi-media content to the first serving node (Grannan par. 0029 discloses, the content source 202 may send a request to the second set-top box device 206 to send the stored content segment to the first set-top box device 204 via the network 208, i.e., network connection 208 supports streaming of the content between first and second serving nodes).
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim does not disclose, storing , by the first server, the multi-media content for a period of time when connection between first node and the second node fails to support streaming of media content, and wherein the rating of the multi-media content is based on a frequency with which the multi-media content is being requested.
Krikorian discloses, storing , by the first server, the multi-media content for a period of time when connection between first node and the second node fails to support streaming of media content (par. 0104 discloses, an on-network storage device, such as a PC, can be used to store content temporarily after a connection between the personal broadcaster and the remote client has been interrupted, here storing temporarily = for a period of time, on-network storage device = server).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine with modified Grannan, teaching of period of time the content to be stored is based on a frequency with which the multi-media is being requested, as taught by Krikorian, to be able to resume the stream from the point at which the previously interrupted transfer left off, as disclosed in Krikorian par. 0104.
Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim in further view of Krikorian does not disclose, wherein the period of time is based on a rating of the multi-media content, and wherein the rating of the multi-media content is based on a frequency with which the multi-media content is being requested.
Greenwood discloses, wherein the period of time is based on a rating of the multi-media content, and wherein the rating of the multi-media content is based on a frequency with which the multi-media content is being requested (par. 0023 discloses video program storage management, where available storage is monitored and when space is less than threshold, then next low priority (i.e. low rating) of video is identified based on frequency of viewing of the video and identified as candidate for conversion in lower quality, par. 0025 discloses system provides the user with a list of programs that are candidates for conversion, the user selects programs to be deleted to create additional storage for a new programs).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine with modified Grannan, teaching of period of time the content to be stored is based on a frequency with which the multi-media is being requested, as taught by Greenwood, to be able priorities the content for storage and giving higher priority content more storage space, as disclosed in Greenwood par. 0003
Regarding claim 10, Grannan in view of Lee in further view of Kim in further view of Krikorian in further view of Greenwood meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 5.
Conclusion
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/A.D/Examiner, Art Unit 2422
/JOHN W MILLER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2422