DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-7, 9-12, 14-18 are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-12, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LePrince et al. (US 2010/0100913) in view of Prodan et al. (US 2011/0302612), and further in view of Kenagy et al. (US 2009/0239514), and further in view of Kushida et al. (US 2007/0174862), and further in view of Jeon (US 2018/0160179).
Claim 1, LePrince teaches a method comprising:
managing access, by an access device, to multimedia contents via a communication network, said contents being stored on the content server (p. 0004), wherein the managing comprises: in the access device:
detecting a fast zapping phase (i.e. burst zapping) of receiving successive selection commands of the plurality of received selection commands (i.e. channel change requests) by the access device (i.e. timing of channel change requests) and in which a spacing between consecutive commands is less than a given time (i.e. T_tempo) (fig. 1-2; p. 0004-0007);
“for at least one of the transmitted access requests corresponding to the selection commands received during the detected fast zapping phase (i.e. burst zapping), transmitting to the content server the access request for the selected content with an identifier of the selected content” (i.e. channel change information) (p. 0027-0037).
LePrince is not entirely clear in teaching a method comprising:
receiving a plurality of multimedia content selection commands from a control device;
transmitting a respective access request for a selected content via the communication network to the content server for each of the plurality of received selection commands;
“transmitting, a datum informing that the fast zapping phase is detected”;
wherein said datum is configured to trigger, for the selected contents corresponding to the selection commands received during the detected fast zapping phase, called zapping phase selected contents responses from the content server when said zapping phase selected content are available, said responses, respectively including replacement contents that are different from and replace the zapping phase selected contents, said replacement contents comprising the information relating to the zapping phase selected contents including images comprising information on the selected content.
Prodan teaches the specific features of:
receiving a plurality of multimedia content selection commands from a control device (i.e. scrolling through program list) (fig. 3; p. 0080, 0089-0090);
transmitting a respective access request for a selected content via the communication network to the content server for each of the plurality of received selection commands (i.e. request for channel program preview) (fig. 3; p. 0080, 0089-0090).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided preview channel as taught by Prodan to the system of LePrince to allow users to preview channels while scrolling (p. 0080).
Kushida teaches the specific feature of:
“transmitting, a datum (i.e. user changing channel at high speed detection information) informing that the fast zapping phase is detected” (i.e. user searching for content) (p. 0160-0164).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided fast channel change detection as taught by Kushida to the system of LePrince to update channel selection process (p. 0162).
Kenagy teaches a method comprising:
“wherein said datum is configured to trigger (i.e. detecting channel surfing), for the selected contents corresponding to the selection commands received during the detected fast zapping phase (i.e. during channel surfing), called zapping phase selected contents responses from the content server when said zapping phase selected content are available” (i.e. advertisement) (p. 0043).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided a channel thumbnail as taught by Jeon to the system of LePrince to improve user experience during a channel change delay (p. 0016).
Jeon teaches the specific feature of:
“said responses (i.e. video content related data), respectively including replacement contents that are different from and replace the zapping phase selected contents (i.e. other graphic images), said replacement contents comprising the information relating to the zapping phase selected contents including images comprising information on the selected content” (i.e. related data which include other graphic images) (p. 0033-0037).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided replacement contents as taught by Jeon to the system of LePrince to provide content during a fast channel change (p. 0037).
Claim 4, LePrince teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spacing between consecutive selection commands concerns spacing between a current selection command and a selection command received subsequently (i.e. T_tempo describes the timeout spacing) (p. 0004-0007).
Claim 5, LePrince teaches the method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising, for each selection command received, triggering a time delay (i.e. T_tempo), and transmitting the corresponding access request at the end of the time delay if no selection command is received during this time delay (p. 0004-0007).
Claim 6, 11, LePrince teaches the management method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spacing between consecutive selection commands relates to spacing between a current command and a command previously received (i.e. timeout and T_tempo) (p. 0004-0007).
Claim 7 is analyzed and interpreted as an apparatus of claim 1.
Claim 9 recites “a non-transitory computer-readable data medium on which is astored at least one series of program code instructions for executing a method of managing access when the instructions are executed by a processor” to perform the steps of claim 1.
LePrince inherently teaches “a non-transitory computer-readable data medium on which is astored at least one series of program code instructions for executing a method of managing access when the instructions are executed by a processor” to perform the steps of claim 1.
Claim 10 is analyzed and interpreted with respect to claim 1. Claim 10 additionally recites a “content server”. LePrince inherently teaches a “content server” within a IP television system.
Claim 12 is analyzed and interpreted with respect to claim 1. Claim 10 additionally recites a “content server”. LePrince inherently teaches a “content server” within a IP television system.
Claim 14 recites “a non-transitory computer-readable data medium on which is stored at least one series of program code instructions for executing a method of managing access when the instructions are executed by a processor” to perform the steps of claim 10.
LePrince inherently teaches “a non-transitory computer-readable data medium on which is stored at least one series of program code instructions for executing a method of managing access when the instructions are executed by a processor” to perform the steps of claim 10.
Claim(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LePrince et al. (US 2010/0100913) in view of Prodan et al. (US 2011/0302612), and further in view of Kenagy et al. (US 2009/0239514), and further in view of Kushida et al. (US 2007/0174862), and further in view of Jeon (US 2018/0160179), and further in view of Ohta (US 2007/0188655).
Claim 2, LePrince is silent regarding the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said replacement contents includes informative data relating to contents other than the selected content.
Ohta teaches the method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said replacement contents includes informative data (i.e. relating to contents other than the selected content (fig 8; p. 0036).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided a channel change menu as taught by Ohta to the system of LePrince to allow for controlling channel selection (p. 0039).
Claim 3, LePrince is silent regarding the method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the informative includes information relating to at least one content adjacent to the selected content.
Ohta teaches the method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the informative data includes information relating to at least one content adjacent to the selected content (i.e. according to sub-menu) (fig 8; p. 0036).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided a channel change menu as taught by Ohta to the system of LePrince to allow for controlling channel selection (p. 0039).
Claim(s) 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LePrince et al. (US 2010/0100913) in view of Prodan et al. (US 2011/0302612), and further in view of Kenagy et al. (US 2009/0239514), and further in view of Kushida et al. (US 2007/0174862), and further in view of Jeon (US 2018/0160179), and further in view of Shin et al. (US 2017/0085943).
Claim 15, LePrince is silent regarding The method according to claim 1, wherein the selected content and the zapping phase selected contents include a film.
Shin teaches The method according to claim 1, wherein the selected content and the zapping phase selected contents include a film (i.e. movie) (p. 0098-0100).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided zapping phase movie information as taught by Shin to the system of LePrince to provide related movie information during zapping (p. 0098).
Claim 16, LePrince is silent The method according to claim 15, wherein the images of the replacement contents include an image relating to the film.
Shin teaches The method according to claim 15, wherein the images of the replacement contents include an image relating to the film (i.e. photos) (p. 0098-0100).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided zapping phase movie information as taught by Shin to the system of LePrince to provide related movie information during zapping (p. 0098).
Claim 17, LePrince is silent The method according to claim 15, wherein the images of the replacement contents include an image comprising a duration of the film.
Shin teaches The method according to claim 15, wherein the images of the replacement contents include an image comprising a duration of the film (i.e. running time) (p. 0098-0100).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided zapping phase movie information as taught by Shin to the system of LePrince to provide related movie information during zapping (p. 0098).
Claim 18, LePrince is silent The method according to claim 15, wherein the images of the replacement contents include an image comprising a name of the film.
Shin teaches The method according to claim 15, wherein the images of the replacement contents include an image comprising a name of the film (i.e. movie title) (p. 0098-0100).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to have provided zapping phase movie information as taught by Shin to the system of LePrince to provide related movie information during zapping (p. 0098).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-7, 9-12, 14-18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Claims 1-7, 9-12, 14-18 are rejected.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20170164050 A1 RAI; Pete et al. – presenting alternative content
US 20070118872 A1 Song; Jae-Yeon et al. – related data for use in a zapping system.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUSHFIKH I ALAM whose telephone number is (571)270-1710. The examiner can normally be reached 1:00PM-9:00PM.
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MUSHFIKH I. ALAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2426
/MUSHFIKH I ALAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426 8/31/2026
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