DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/20/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 28 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-6, 21-34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2015/0222680 by Grover in view of US 2015/0081904 by Guedalia et al. and US 2023/0342101 by Geddes et al.
Regarding claim 1, Grover discloses a method of controlling a media output device, the method comprising:
establishing a media playback session at a host device through the media output device (fig. 3A-3B, paragraph 0052 teaches “As some example, the VCS 1 may be configured to play back an audio signal provided to the VCS 1 using a sound system of the VCS 1, and play back a video signal provided to the VCS 1 using a display of the head unit 302 or one or more other display units of the VCS 1, such as headrest or other vehicle 31 video display units visible from the second or third vehicle 31 rows”);
wirelessly broadcasting a participant ID from a participant device to the host device (in addition to discussion above, paragraph 0032-0034 teaches wirelessly receiving information. paragraph 0044 teaches “…..For instance, the nomadic devices 53-B and 53-C may utilize a local low energy protocol for sending and receiving short pieces of data (such as BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE)) to read stored server address information made available by the server nomadic device 53-A……To facilitate the local networking, one of the nomadic devices 53 may be configured to provide its address to the other nomadic devices 53 to allow the other devices 53 to connect to the address. As one possibility, the server nomadic device 53-A may be configured to display its address on the device display in a user-readable form (such as in the form of a numerically-represented Internet Protocol (IP) address), and the users of each of the other nomadic devices 53 (e.g., devices 53-B and 53-C as illustrated in the flow diagram 400) may enter the displayed IP address into their devices 53-B and 53-C to facilitate the connection”);
associating, at the host device, the participant ID with a session ID for the media playback session and sending the association to a server (in addition to discussion above, paragraph 0044-0046 teaches “The network of nomadic devices 53 may be further configured to compile the combined registered media content list 308 of all the media content 306 that the devices 53 each store locally. As one possibility, the server nomadic device 53 may send a request 404 to each of the connected nomadic devices 53 querying the receiving connected nomadic devices 53 for a listing of their instances of media content 306. Each nomadic device 53 being queried may be configured to compile and return a response 406 including a listing of the instances of media content 306 hosted by the respective device 53. The listing may, for example, include the metadata for each of the instances of media content 306 hosted or stored by the responding nomadic device 53. As one possibility, each of the other nomadic devices 53-B and 53-C may provide the listings to the server nomadic device 53-A as a set of name/value pairs specifying the metadata properties of the instances of media content 306 stored by the nomadic device 53.”); and
transmitting session information from the server to the participant device to permit the participant device to join the media playback session at the media output device (in addition to discussion above, paragraph 0049 teaches “As one possibility, the nomadic device 53-B may further send a request 412 to the server nomadic device 53-A requesting playback of an instance of media content 306 included in the registered media content list 308. As another possibility, the nomadic device 53-B may send a request for addition of the instance of media content 306 to the playlist 310, and may then request playback 412 of the playlist 310 or of an instance of media content 306 added to the playlist 310. The nomadic device 53-B may specify the instance of media content 306 in the request 412 to the server nomadic device 53-A in various ways, such as according to metadata information provided in the registered media content list 308, according to an index into the registered media content list 308, or according to a unique identifier included in the registered media content list 308 associated with the requested instance of media content 306.”).
Grover fails to disclose adjusting a threshold signal strength value based on a type of media output device; in response to detecting a signal strength value associated with the participant device that is greater than the adjusted threshold signal strength value; adjust playback at the media output device.
Guedalia et al. discloses adjust playback at the media output device (paragraph 0098 teaches “The host 830 may also control the vehicle audio system 820's volume via the Cube 810. The Cube 810 receives the songs on the global playlist from the various participants 842, 844, and 846 and streams them to the vehicle audio system 820.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the ability to include adjust playback at the media output device, as taught by Guedalia et al. into the system of Grover, because such incorporation would allow for the benefit to controlling display/play of the playback device, thus increase user accessibility of the system.
Grover and Guedalia et al. fail to disclose adjusting a threshold signal strength value based on a type of media output device; in response to detecting a signal strength value associated with the participant device that is greater than the adjusted threshold signal strength value;
Geddes et al. discloses adjusting a threshold signal strength value based on a type of media output device; in response to detecting a signal strength value associated with the participant device that is greater than the adjusted threshold signal strength value (paragraph 0082 teaches “At 804, a connection is established between the first device and a second device. The second device includes a display. For example, the second device may be a large television or monitor in a conference room at an office. In another example, the second device may be a video-enabled smart speaker in a kitchen at a house. In yet another example, the second device may be a seatback device in a vehicle. The first device and the second device may, for example, be located in a same physical space. Alternatively, the first device may be within a threshold range (i.e., distance) of the second device.”, paragraph 0083 teaches “In some implementations, the connection between the first device and the second device may be established using a prior connection record accessed based on a detection of the first device within a threshold range of the second device. For example, the prior connection record may be a record or other data stored at the first device, the second device, the server device, or another device indicating a past connection established between the first device and the second device. Establishing the connection between the first device and the second device using the prior connection record may thus include determining that the first device is within a threshold range of the second device, accessing a data store storing the prior connection record based on the first device being within the threshold range of the second device, and authenticating access to the second device by the first device using the prior connection record. In some implementations, the connection between the first device and the second device may be established before the connection between the first device and the server device is established. For example, the conference participant, as the user of the first device, may enter a location or threshold range of the second device and cause the establishing of the connection between the first device and the second prior to causing the first device to connect to the video conference.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the ability to include adjusting a threshold signal strength value, as taught by Geddes et al. into the system of Grover and Guedalia et al., because such incorporation would allow a user to display/play of the playback device smoothly as adjusting signal strength, thus increase user accessibility of the system.
Regarding claim 2, the method wherein the host device is separate from the media output device and connected to the media output device wirelessly or via a communicating cable or wire (in addition to discussion above, Grover, fig. 5, paragraph 0053-0059 teaches “While the playlist presentation 502 is described above with respect to the nomadic devices 53, it should be noted that as illustrated in FIG. 3B, in some examples the head unit 302 may also operate as one of the devices 53 providing instances of media content 306, as well as optionally displaying and/or updating of the playlist 310. For example, instead of or in addition to the nomadic device 53-A connection to the VCS 1 via the media input 304, the VCS 1 may also be included in the local network allowing for sharing of the media playback functions of the VCS 1 among the nomadic devices 53”, paragraph 0024 teaches “In one illustrative embodiment, the system 1 uses the BLUETOOTH transceiver 15 to communicate 17 with a user's nomadic device 53 (e.g., cell phone, smart phone, PDA, or any other device having wireless remote network connectivity). The nomadic device can then be used to communicate 59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle 31 through, for example, communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. In some embodiments, tower 57 may be a WiFi access point.”. Herein, Grover teaches communication between host device (VCS 1) and media output device (nomadic device 53) and separated from each other as shown in fig. 5).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 3, the method wherein the host device and the participant device are connected to the server via separate network access points (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0044 teaches “For instance, the nomadic devices 53-B and 53-C may utilize a local low energy protocol for sending and receiving short pieces of data (such as BLUETOOTH Low Energy (BLE)) to read stored server address information made available by the server nomadic device 53-A, paragraph 0033-0034 teaches wire or wireless network; Geddes et al., paragraph 0018-0019 teaches “The system 100 includes a datacenter 106, which may include one or more servers.”).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 4, the method wherein the type of media output device comprises a car audio system or an outdoor audio system (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0033 teaches “Also, or alternatively, the CPU could be connected to a vehicle based wireless router 73, using for example a WiFi (IEEE 803.11) 71 transceiver. This could allow the CPU to connect to remote networks in range of the local router 73.”, paragraph 0052 teaches “Notably, in such examples the VCS 1 may not be required to be in communication with the network of nomadic devices 53 apart from the media input 304, and may also not be required to perform any signaling with the nomadic devices 53. Rather, the VCS 1 may instead simply play back whatever media content is provided to the VCS 1 via the media input 304. As some example, the VCS 1 may be configured to play back an audio signal provided to the VCS 1 using a sound system of the VCS 1, and play back a video signal provided to the VCS 1 using a display of the head unit 302 or one or more other display units of the VCS 1, such as headrest or other vehicle 31 video display units visible from the second or third vehicle 31 rows.”; Geddes et al., paragraph 0063 teaches “For example, the second device 504 may be a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a smartphone, a conference room audio/visual system device, a television, a digital signage device, a digital whiteboard device, a video-enabled smart speaker device, or an in-vehicle (e.g., dashboard or seatback) device. The conferencing software 506 may, for example, be the conferencing software 406 shown in FIG. 4.”).
Regarding claim 5, the method wherein a host user of the host device provides no input to initiate or authorize the participant device to join the media playback session (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0044 teaches “To facilitate the local networking, one of the nomadic devices 53 may be configured to provide its address to the other nomadic devices 53 to allow the other devices 53 to connect to the address. As one possibility, the server nomadic device 53-A may be configured to display its address on the device display in a user-readable form (such as in the form of a numerically-represented Internet Protocol (IP) address), and the users of each of the other nomadic devices 53 (e.g., devices 53-B and 53-C as illustrated in the flow diagram 400) may enter the displayed IP address into their devices 53-B and 53-C to facilitate the connection”).
Regarding claim 6, the method wherein transmitting the session information occurs following a request being sent from the participant device to the server for the session information, wherein upon receipt of the request, the server determines that the participant device is associated with the media playback session using the participant ID and responds with the session information (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0044-0046 teaches “The network of nomadic devices 53 may be further configured to compile the combined registered media content list 308 of all the media content 306 that the devices 53 each store locally. As one possibility, the server nomadic device 53 may send a request 404 to each of the connected nomadic devices 53 querying the receiving connected nomadic devices 53 for a listing of their instances of media content 306. Each nomadic device 53 being queried may be configured to compile and return a response 406 including a listing of the instances of media content 306 hosted by the respective device 53. The listing may, for example, include the metadata for each of the instances of media content 306 hosted or stored by the responding nomadic device 53. As one possibility, each of the other nomadic devices 53-B and 53-C may provide the listings to the server nomadic device 53-A as a set of name/value pairs specifying the metadata properties of the instances of media content 306 stored by the nomadic device 53.”).
Regarding claim 21, the method wherein the request from the participant device to the server for the session information is sent in response to selection of a user interface element displayed on the participant device, wherein the user interface element displays a representation of the media playback session (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0049 teaches “As one possibility, the nomadic device 53-B may further send a request 412 to the server nomadic device 53-A requesting playback of an instance of media content 306 included in the registered media content list 308. As another possibility, the nomadic device 53-B may send a request for addition of the instance of media content 306 to the playlist 310, and may then request playback 412 of the playlist 310 or of an instance of media content 306 added to the playlist 310. The nomadic device 53-B may specify the instance of media content 306 in the request 412 to the server nomadic device 53-A in various ways, such as according to metadata information provided in the registered media content list 308, according to an index into the registered media content list 308, or according to a unique identifier included in the registered media content list 308 associated with the requested instance of media content 306.”).
Regarding claim 22, the method wherein adjusting the playback at the media output device comprises changing a volume of the playback (in addition discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0021 teaches “In the illustrative embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1, a processor 3 controls at least some portion of the operation of the vehicle-based computing system. Provided within the vehicle, the processor allows onboard processing of commands and routines.”, paragraph 0075; Guedalia et al., paragraph 0098 as discussed above).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 23, the method wherein the host device can control permissions of the participant device with respect to the playback (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0035-0036 teaches “These services may include transport routing of messages between the connected devices and the CPU 3, global notification services to allow connected devices to provide alerts to the user, application launch and management facilities to allow for unified access to applications executed by the CPU 3 and those executed by the connected devices, and point of interest location and management services for various possible vehicle 31 destinations.”, paragraph 0042 teaches “In the alternate example 300B, the head unit 302 of the VCS 1 itself may perform the role of the server nomadic device 53-A and may be included in the local network allowing for sharing of the media playback functions.”, paragraph 0062-0064 teaches “At block 604, the server nomadic device 53-A identifies the other nomadic devices 53. For example, the devices 53 may send registration messages 402 to the identified address of the server nomadic device 53-A to register with the server nomadic device 53-A. The server nomadic device 53-A may accordingly identify the other nomadic devices 53 to be registered with the local network of devices 53.”).
Regarding claim 24, the method further comprising: after the participant device joins the media playback session, transmitting a message to the server to delete the association (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0057-0058 teaches “In some cases, the instances of media content 306 stored by a nomadic device 53 may change. For example, the nomadic device 53 may download additional instances of media content 306, or instances of media content 306 may be deleted from the nomadic device 53. The refresh element 516 may be configured to allow the nomadic device 53 to provide a refreshed listing of the instances of media content 306 on the device 53, to allow the server nomadic device 53-A to stay updated with current information. (In other examples, the nomadic device 53 may be configured to automatically provide updates to the server nomadic device 53-A regarding changes in media content 306, the server nomadic device 53-A may be configured to periodically poll the nomadic devices 53 for updates, etc.). If the server nomadic device 53-A determines that an instance of media content 306 on the playlist 310 has been removed from the nomadic device 53 on which it was stored, the server nomadic device 53-A may be configured to automatically remove that instance of media content 306 from the playlist 310 (or in some cases search the registered media content list 308 for another available copy of the removed instance). When changes are made to the playlist 310, the nomadic device 53 displaying the user interface 500 may be configured to send a message to the server nomadic device 53-A configured to cause the server nomadic device 53-A to update the playlist 310. The server nomadic device 53-A may be further configured to inform the other nomadic devices 53 of the changes to the playlist 310, to allow the other nomadic devices 53 maintain updates playlist presentations 502. To allow for updating of the indication 506, the server nomadic device 53-A may also be configured to inform the nomadic devices 53 of which instance of media content 306 is currently being played, if any.”).
Regarding claim 25, the method wherein the association includes the participant ID and the session ID (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0044 teaches “Regardless of approach, using the address the nomadic devices 53-B and 53-C may accordingly send a registration message 402 to the server nomadic device 53-A to register with the server nomadic device 53-A.”).
Regarding claim 26, the method wherein the participant ID is generated by the participant device (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0044 teaches “Regardless of approach, using the address the nomadic devices 53-B and 53-C may accordingly send a registration message 402 to the server nomadic device 53-A to register with the server nomadic device 53-A.”).
Regarding claim 27, the method further comprising: after receiving the session information, the participant device confirms, to the server, that the participant device has joined the media playback session (in addition to discussion above, Grover, paragraph 0062-0064 teaches “At block 606, the server nomadic device 53-A requests media content 306 listings from the identified networked devices. As one possibility, the server nomadic device 53 may send a request 404 to each of the connected nomadic devices 53 querying the connected nomadic devices 53 for a listing of their instances of media content 306. Each identified device 53 being queried may be configured to compile and send a response 406 back to the server nomadic device 53-A including a listing of the instances of media content 306 hosted by the respective device. The listing may, for example, include the metadata for each of the instances of media content 306 hosted by the device.”).
Claim 28 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 1 above.
Claim 29 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 3 above.
Claim 30 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 4 above.
Claim 31 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 5 above.
Claim 32 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 6 above.
Claim 33 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 22 above.
Claim 34 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 24 above.
Conclusion
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/NIGAR CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484