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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment, filed November 26, 2025, has been entered and carefully considered. Claims 1, 4, 12, 14, and 19 have been amended, and claim 3 has been canceled.
Claims 1-2 and 4-20 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on November 26, 2025 with regards to rejection of claims 1-2 and 4-20 have been fully considered 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
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 of this title, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2 and 4-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milbar (US 2009/0128323 A1) in view of Johnson et al. (US 2014/0327547 A1) and further in view of Lipowski et al. (U.S. Patent Application Number: 2019/0166457).
Regarding claims 1, 12 and 19, Milbar discloses an audio delivery system, comprising (Fig. 1): an alert processor configured to parse alert content by (Paragraph 0068): receiving first data representing the alert content (Paragraph 0068 discloses The HDP (e.g., either HDP 17 or HDP 19) receives an alert notification from an alert provider, parses the alert notification into an alert message, configures information of the alert message in a format suitable for the importer, and provides the alert message to the importer 18, the exciter 58 or both); and converting the alert content to an alert message that includes alert text and parameters (Paragraph 0068 discloses the HDP parses the alert notification to provide the alert message to the importer 18, the exciter 58, or both); and a connected radio server coupled to the alert processor via internet protocol (Paragraph 0045 and 0046 discloses, HDP linked to STL transmitter The STL link may be a digital microwave or Ethernet link, for example, and may use the standard User Datagram Protocol or the standard TCP/IP).
Milbar does not disclose the mechanism of configured to insert the alert content into a data stream by: receiving second data representing the alert message from the alert processor via internet protocol; receiving instructions from the alert processor via internet protocol to incorporate the alert message into the data stream, the data stream including an audio stream and the alert message; and providing the data stream to a connected radio receiver via internet protocol.
In an analogous art, Johnson discloses configured to insert the alert content into a data stream by: receiving second data representing the alert message from the alert processor via internet protocol; receiving instructions from the alert processor via internet protocol to incorporate the alert message into the data stream (Paragraphs 0112-0120, 0219 discloses the alert notification is stored in an alert database coupled to the alert processing server. An alert notification server can retrieve the alert notification from the alert database and determine one or more alert geographical tiles of interest that are affected by the alert. Again, the one or more alert geographical tiles define (encompass) the discrete condition and the user defined distance from the location of the discrete condition. The alert notification server can further determine one or more location-enabled devices having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile, where each alert geographical tile is within a user defined distance from the location of the discrete condition (parameters). A text portion of the alert is retrieved from the alert database and the text portion of the alert processed to generate an audio version of the alert. An alert text notification of the alert is constructed having the text portion of the alert, an alert identifier of the alert, a reference identifier for the audio version of the alert, the one or more alert geographical tiles and the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices and the alert text notification is stored into an alert notification queue. A gateway server can retrieve the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices, the alert text notification and the alert identifier of the alert from the alert notification queue and transmit the alert text notification to the one or more devices corresponding to the retrieved one or more device identifiers),
the data stream including an audio stream and the alert message; (Paragraphs 0112-0120, 0219 discloses a text portion of the alert is retrieved from the alert database and the text portion of the alert processed to generate an audio version of the alert. An alert text notification of the alert is constructed having the text portion of the alert, an alert identifier of the alert, a reference identifier for the audio version of the alert, the one or more alert geographical tiles and the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices and the alert text notification is stored into an alert notification queue. A gateway server can retrieve the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices, the alert text notification and the alert identifier of the alert from the alert notification queue and transmit the alert text notification to the one or more devices corresponding to the retrieved one or more device identifiers).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Johnson to the system of Milbar to provide the Multimedia Alerting method, system, apparatus, and device as described in embodiments herein provide the ability to convert mobile devices into a video, audio and/or textual severe weather early warning devices and to allow local television and/or radio broadcasts to be directed to a user of a mobile device in times of impending danger (Paragraph 0030).
The combination of Milbar and Johnson do not disclose the following limitations:
wherein the second data includes regional data representing a target geographical region; determining radio broadcasts available within the target geographical region; identifying radio receivers connected to the radio broadcasts; and providing the data stream to the connected radio receivers via internet protocol.
In an analogous art, Lipowski discloses
wherein the second data includes regional data representing a target geographical region (par. 0154 discloses the alert generation server 105 can determine that the official alert data for one of the official alerts includes text data describing an associated alert location. In some cases, the alert generation server 105 may identify the text data by processing the official alert data to identify text corresponding to known location identifiers (e.g., counties, cities, towns, postal or zip codes, etc. Figs.3-4); determining radio broadcasts available within the target geographical region (Paragraph 0154-0155 discloses alert generation server 105 may extract or isolate that portion of the text data identified at 410 for further processing in order to identify the geographic location associated with the official alert. The alert generation server 105 may store a plurality of geographic code associations in a database on memory 236. The geographic code associations may identify the geographic code associated with a particular text description of a location Fig. 3, paragraphs 0147-0148 disclose alert notification (broadcast data) data may be included in a notification response sent by the alert generation server 105 to the mobile device 115. The mobile alert application 218 can then generate the alert notification using the received alert notification data).
identifying radio receivers connected to the radio broadcasts (par. 0048, 0062, 0070-0072 discloses devices have at least one input device (e.g., a pushbutton keyboard, mouse, a touchscreen, and the like), and at least one output device (e.g., a display screen, a printer, a wireless radio, and the like. Further paragraph 0110 discloses an official alert system 120 may broadcast an official alert message that includes official alert data related to an official alert. [0067] The alert generation server 105 can also communicate with the plurality of mobile devices 115A-115N using the network 110. Each of the mobile devices 115 can have a mobile alert application operating thereon to facilitate communication with the alert generation server 105. [0055] The alert generation server can process the received alert data to generate alert events. The alert generation server may extract location-related data from the received alert data. The alert generation server may then analyze the location-related data to define geographic location codes for the received alert data. The geographic location codes can be identified for an alert event to define a geographic region associated with that alert event (i.e. where that alert event is occurring);
and providing the data stream to the connected radio receivers via internet protocol (par. 0048, 0062, 0070-0072 discloses devices have at least one input device (e.g., a pushbutton keyboard, mouse, a touchscreen, and the like), and at least one output device (e.g., a display screen, a printer, a wireless radio, and the like. Further paragraph 0110 discloses an official alert system 120 may broadcast an official alert message that includes official alert data related to an official alert Fig. 5, paragraph 0179 discloses to facilitate the generation of user-generated alert media, the mobile alert application 218 can provide an input interface that enables a user of the mobile device 115 to generate alert media).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Lipowski to the modified system of Milbar and Johnson to provide a disclosure related to generating real-time alerts, and in particular to systems and methods for generating location-based alerts for mobile device users (Abstract, Lipowski).
Regarding claims 2, 13 and 20. Milbar discloses wherein the connected radio receiver is a connected HD radio receiver (Paragraphs 0003, 0008, 0071 FIG. 10 and can place that event type code into a suitable field of a data structure that can be transmitted by digital radio broadcast transmission via any suitable channel, or further converted into a format suitable for digital radio broadcast transmission).
Regarding claim 4, Milbar discloses wherein the regional data includes one or more indicated areas affected by the alert content; the connected radio server is further configured to compare a location of the connected radio receiver with the one or more indicated areas, and determine that the location of the connected radio receiver is positioned within the one or more indicated areas (Paragraphs 0070, 0088 and 0089 disclose it may only be desirable to trigger rendering of alerts of a particular type if it pertains to a particular geographic region. For example, a pollution alert might only be a desirable alert if it pertained to a particular city, or county, or zip code within which the user was located. In such a situation, the combination of the location information with the type information could be used to trigger particular alerts to be rendered if they satisfy the type of alert selected by the user and the geographic location selected by the user).
Regarding claim 5, Milbar discloses an exporter configured to receive, from the alert processor, third data representing the alert message (Paragraph 0043 discloses the exporter accepts digital MPS audio 26 over an audio interface and compresses the audio. The exporter also multiplexes MPS data 40, exporter link data 24, and the compressed digital MPS audio to produce exciter link data 52); and a transmitter coupled to the exporter and configured to broadcast over- the-air an over-the-air audio stream that incorporates the alert message (Paragraph 0040 discloses FIG. 1 the exporter is resident at a radio station's studio site and the exciter is located at the transmission site, these elements may be co-located at the transmission site).
Regarding claim 6, Milbar discloses wherein the exporter is configured to receive, from the alert processor, the third data via user datagram protocol (UDP) (Paragraph 0045).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Milbar discloses wherein the exporter is configured to direct data to the alert processor via a first port and receive data from the alert processor via a second port different from the first port (Fig. 1, Paragraph 0044-0045 discloses the exporter is configured to direct data to the alert processor via a first port 52 and receive data from the alert processor via a second port different from the first port 24).
Regarding claim 8, Milbar discloses wherein the connected radio server is configured to receive, from the alert processor, the second data via a secure variant of transmission control protocol (TCP) (Paragraph 0045).
Regarding claim 9, Milbar discloses wherein the connected radio server is configured to direct data to the alert processor via a first port and receive data from the alert processor via a second port different from the first port (Fig. 1, Paragraph 0044-0045).
Regarding claims 10 and 18, Milbar discloses wherein: the alert processor is further configured to receive the first data from at least one depository server; the at least one depository server is positioned remote to the alert processor and remote to the connected radio server; and the at least one depository server is connected via internet protocol to the alert processor (Paragraph 0068, See Fig.1 discloses The content for AAS can be supplied by service providers 44, which provide service data 46 to the importer via an application program interface (API). The service providers may be a broadcaster located at the studio site or externally sourced third-party providers of services and content. The importer can establish session connections between multiple service providers. The importer encodes and multiplexes service data 46, SPS audio 38, SPS data 36, and alert information to produce exporter link data 24, which is output to the exporter via a data link).
Regarding claim 11, Milbar does not disclose wherein the connected radio receiver is further configured to: repeatedly check, at a specified time interval, the alert-augmented data stream to determine if the alert processor has issued an alert message; determine that the alert processor has issued an alert message; and extract, from the alert-augmented data stream, a uniform resource locator (URL) corresponding to the alert message
In an analogous art, Johnson discloses wherein the connected radio receiver is further configured to: repeatedly check, at a specified time interval, the alert-augmented data stream to determine if the alert processor has issued an alert message; determine that the alert processor has issued an alert message; and extract, from the alert-augmented data stream (Paragraph 0182, 0195 disclose the application on the device retrieves the Media RSS URL for the current Tile from the Media Server Database 215 at Block 815. [0195] 3. The application on the device retrieves the Media RSS file from the Media RSS Server 255 using the URL and parses the file retrieving the title, time and location of each clip stored), a uniform resource locator (URL) corresponding to the alert message (Paragraph 0148. 0180).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Johnson to the system of Milbar to provide the Multimedia Alerting method, system, apparatus, and device as described in embodiments herein provide the ability to convert mobile devices into a video, audio and/or textual severe weather early warning devices and to allow local television and/or radio broadcasts to be directed to a user of a mobile device in times of impending danger (Paragraph 0030).
Regarding claim 14, Milbar discloses the regional data includes one or more indicated areas affected by the alert content; the connected radio server is further configured to compare a location of the connected radio receiver with the one or more indicated areas, and determine that the location of the connected radio receiver is positioned within the one or more indicated areas (Paragraphs 0070, 0088 and 0089 disclose it may only be desirable to trigger rendering of alerts of a particular type if it pertains to a particular geographic region. For example, a pollution alert might only be a desirable alert if it pertained to a particular city, or county, or zip code within which the user was located. In such a situation, the combination of the location information with the type information could be used to trigger particular alerts to be rendered if they satisfy the type of alert selected by the user and the geographic location selected by the user).
Regarding claim 15, Milbar discloses receiving, from the alert processor, with an exporter via user datagram protocol (UDP), third data representing the alert message; (Paragraph 0043, 0045 discloses the exporter accepts digital MPS audio 26 over an audio interface and compresses the audio. The exporter also multiplexes MPS data 40, exporter link data 24, and the compressed digital MPS audio to produce exciter link data 52); broadcasting over-the-air, with a transmitter coupled to the exporter, an over-the-air audio stream that incorporates the alert audio. (Paragraph 0040 discloses FIG. 1 the exporter is resident at a radio station's studio site and the exciter is located at the transmission site, these elements may be co-located at the transmission site)
Regarding claim 17, Milbar discloses wherein the connected radio server is configured to: receive, from the alert processor, the second data via a secure variant of transmission control protocol (TCP) (Paragraph 0045); direct data to the alert processor via a first port and receive data from the alert processor via a second port different from the first port (Fig. 1, Paragraph 0044-0045).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 11,963,080 B1 Balmakhtar et al. discloses systems and methods are provided for dynamically generating intelligent alerts at a network edge based on coverage area characteristics. A central alert orchestrator within the network determines target edge locations and forwards alerts to regional alert systems at the target edge locations. The regional alert systems modify either content of the alert or the alert metadata or both based on characteristics of the alerts and the coverage area.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROMANI OHRI whose telephone number is (571)272-5420. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-5:00pm.
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/ROMANI OHRI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413