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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 September 24, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed September 24, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
Claim Objections
Claims 12-13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claims 12-14, line 2, “in the SaaS interface” should read --in the interface--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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, 9-10, 12-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mann (US 20150186913 A1) in view of Jakobsson (US 20220391887 A1), and in further view of Mathews (US 20230072988 A1).
Regarding Claims 1, 15, and 19, Mann teaches A method of generating code snippets to … digital content, the method comprising (Mann: Abstract; Paragraph(s) 0019, 0037, 0173-0174, 0320, 0323): A system for generating code snippets to license digital content, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory in communication with the processor and comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, program the processor to (Mann: Abstract; Paragraph(s) 0019, 0037, 0173-0174, 0320, 0323, 0125): A computer program product for generating code snippets to license digital content, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable program code stored thereon, the computer readable program code configured to (Mann: Abstract; Paragraph(s) 0019, 0037, 0173-0174, 0320, 0323, 0125):
acquiring a digital asset in an interface (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0018-0019, 0033-0034, 0266 teach(es) Supported Platforms: various software platforms (i.e., SaaS); “in-app content” or “Virtual Content” or Content: a virtual commodity or virtual asset (also termed herein “content item”)); generating metadata and an access uniform resource locator (URL) for the digital asset (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0005, 0015, 0019, 0187-0190 teach(es) Trackers are operative for tracking the source of the installation of an app and the app's context. Once an app is installed, trackers determine which publisher the user came through, and what contextual information (i.e., metadata) was accumulated by the publisher including tracking re-directions among a plurality of publishers; App Tracking URL=App Download URL: a URL which eventually leads an end user to an App's download screen, such as but not limited to a link to an App store URL or a some other URL that redirects to the App store URL); generating a primary … file to create a plurality of code snippets in different formats for the digital asset, wherein the plurality of code snippets include a plurality of pre-truncated, pre-abstracted code snippets interpolated from strings of code representing different layers of features of the digital asset (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0083, 0173-0174, 0187-0190, 0018, 0215, 0311, 0323 teach(es) integration code e.g. snippet for incorporation by the programmer on an advertiser's app, wherein the code is operative, when run on a processor, to cause the advertiser, upon installation of each individual app, to be notified of the offer id which was the source for the installation of the individual app, to redeem the individual content offer and to enable the quantity inside the individual app's current installation corresponding to the offer id; The apparatus of FIG. 8 is operative in conjunction with a suitable user interface which prompts the advertiser's programmer to provide inputs e.g. as defined herein for app and offer processing (e.g. amount and currency, anonymity, etc. for an offer). The UI also typically supports generation by the advertiser's programmer of ready-to-deploy code snippets); detecting user interaction associated with the digital asset on a graphical user interface (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0265, 0048 teach(es) an end user accepts an offer presented to him by a Publisher App, and eventually navigates to the App which is associated with the Content Offer the user accepts); [highlighting] at least a portion of the digital asset on the graphical user interface during the user interaction (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0279 teach(es) an advertiser may a/b test a new dimension of parameters of his ad, relating to the value of the offer to a user, e.g. try different amounts of gold coins, different types of currency or in-app items, perform more than one offering in a single ad (“pick your loot: a magic sword or a magic armor?”)); and in response to detecting the user interaction associated with the digit asset, activating an abstraction process to automatically generate a truncated embeddable code snippet after detection of a … of the digital asset by … (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0187-0190 teach(es) selecting, via the user interface, a source code snippet performing at least a portion of a voucher redemption process; and incorporating (i.e., activating an abstraction process) at least the source code snippet into an advertiser's server or client; and (if the advertiser chose server-side code implementation)).
However, Mann does not explicitly teach …to license digital content, and …a licensing of the digital asset.
Jakobsson from same or similar field of endeavor teaches …to license digital content, and …a licensing of the digital asset (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0248-0249 teach(es) NFTs may be intended to generate revenue through licensing (music, art work, code snippets)).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Mann to incorporate the teachings of Jakobsson for …to license digital content, and …a licensing of the digital asset.
There is motivation to combine Jakobsson into Mann because Jakobsson’s teaching of licensing related code snippet would facilitate generating revenue through licensing of digital assets such as NFTs (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0248-0249).
However, the combination of Mann and Jakobsson does not explicitly teach JavaScript object notation (JSON), …highlighting at least a portion of the digital asset on the graphical user interface during the user interaction, and …by filtering the truncated embeddable code snippet from the plurality of code snippets in the JSON file.
Mathews from same or similar field of endeavor teaches …JavaScript object notation (JSON), …highlighting at least a portion of the digital asset on the graphical user interface during the user interaction, and …by filtering the truncated embeddable code snippet from the plurality of code snippets in the JSON file (Mathews: Paragraph(s) 0022, 0038 teach(es) the DSL construct is generated as a JSON file. The JSON file is a property file in a JSON format which lists field names and data types for each attribute used in the DSL. The JSON file enables a user to write a user story without having technical know-how or understanding of technical details. The generated JSON file is an intelligent feature of code template generation by which a data type associated with attributes used in the DSL construct is identified at run-time in the DSL construct, even though the attributes were not provided as input).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann and Jakobsson to incorporate the teachings of Mathews for JavaScript object notation (JSON), …highlighting at least a portion of the digital asset on the graphical user interface during the user interaction, and …by filtering the truncated embeddable code snippet from the plurality of code snippets in the JSON file.
There is motivation to combine Mathews into the combination of Mann and Jakobsson because Mathews’s teachings of JSON would facilitate the generation of code snippet (Mathews: Paragraph(s) 0022, 0038).
Regarding Claims 2, 16, and 20, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claims 1, 15, and 19 above; and Mann further teaches further comprising: generating one or more code snippets to cause the digital asset to be interactive (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0036, 0187-0190 teach(es) allowing advertisers to provide virtual content inside their apps to acquired users and to record the interactions of the user with the provided virtual content).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 2 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach wherein generating one or more code snippets to cause the digital asset to be interactive comprises: generating one or more code snippets to cause one or more hotspot icon links to be included in the digital asset.
Jakobsson further teaches wherein generating one or more code snippets to cause the digital asset to be interactive comprises: generating one or more code snippets to cause one or more hotspot icon links to be included in the digital asset (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0163 teach(es) computers, represented by an anchored NFT that is related to a physical entity (the hardware), may have access rights to WiFi networks. When computers are replaced with newer models, users may want to maintain all old relationships, for the new computer. For example, users may want to retain WiFi hotspots).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Jakobsson for wherein generating one or more code snippets to cause the digital asset to be interactive comprises: generating one or more code snippets to cause one or more hotspot icon links to be included in the digital asset.
There is motivation to combine Jakobsson into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Jakobsson’s teachings of Wi-Fi hotspot would facilitate inheriting rights from the anchored NFT related to the old computer (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0163).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 2 above; and Mann further teaches wherein generating one or more code snippets to cause the digital asset to be interactive comprises: generating one or more code snippets to cause an auto-populated ad placement to be included in the digital asset (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0062-0063 teach(es) Presentation of an offer to end-users may be publisher-specific and typically includes displaying an electronic ad and/or awaiting and/or prompting for responsive user input, optionally allowing the user richer interaction with the ad such as video controls, and (depending on the user's responsive input), either invoking the link or closing the ad).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 2 above; and Mann further teaches wherein generating one or more code snippets to cause the digital asset to be interactive comprises: generating one or more code snippets to cause one or more pop-up windows to be included in the digital asset (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0062-0063 teach(es) the ad comprises a pop-up served by a publisher within an individual one of: a computer game, app, web site, and printed poster with QR code, to an end-user).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 1 above; and Mann further teaches further comprising: tracking license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0035 teach(es) to provide a mobile in-app content redemption system for app advertisers over the Internet which may be mediated by a tracker or an app activation link).
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 6 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach wherein tracking the license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset is implemented in a blockchain.
Jakobsson further teaches wherein tracking the license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset is implemented in a blockchain (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0169, 0190 teach(es) Script tokens may also utilize rules and policies that describe how script elements are combined. Script tokens may also include rightsholder information, including but not limited to, licensing and copyright information. Executable elements of script tokens may include instructions for how to process inputs; how to configure other elements associated with the script tokens; and how to process information from other tokens used in combination with script tokens).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Jakobsson for wherein tracking the license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset is implemented in a blockchain.
There is motivation to combine Jakobsson into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Jakobsson’s teachings of script token including licensing and copyright information would facilitate execution of instructions for how to process inputs; how to configure other elements associated with the script tokens; and how to process information from other tokens used in combination with script tokens (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0169).
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 7 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach wherein a non-fungible token (NFT) is used to reference the digital asset in the blockchain environment.
Jakobsson further teaches wherein a non-fungible token (NFT) is used to reference the digital asset in the blockchain environment (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0054, 0123, 0172 teach(es) While NFTs are typically written to immutable ledgers, data (e.g. images, audio and/or video content) referenced by the NFTs are often stored on separate server systems; the media wallet application enables the user device to obtain and conduct transactions with respect to NFTs by communicating with an NFT blockchain via the network interface).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Jakobsson for wherein a non-fungible token (NFT) is used to reference the digital asset in the blockchain environment.
There is motivation to combine Jakobsson into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Jakobsson’s teachings of inheritance NFTs would facilitate making references to other NFTs (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0172).
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 1 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach further comprising: tracking, in a blockchain environment, commerce activities for commerce content included in the digital content.
Jakobsson further teaches further comprising: tracking, in a blockchain environment, commerce activities for commerce content included in the digital content (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0190-0191 teach(es) In the context of a content creator receiving a physical element from an owner, the content creator can deregister the physical element by causing its representation to be erased from the authenticity database used to track ownership; he NFT identifier may specify attributes including, but not limited to, the creator of the mouse painting and NFT (“Artist”), the blockchain the NFT is on (“NFT-Chain”), and an identifying value for the digital element (“no. 0001”); In affirming the connection between the NFT and painting, Process can associate the NFT's DAV with the physical representation of the NFT in a database. In some embodiments, the association can be performed through making note of the transaction and clarifying that it encapsulates both the mouse painting and the mouse NFT).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Jakobsson for further comprising: tracking, in a blockchain environment, commerce activities for commerce content included in the digital content.
There is motivation to combine Jakobsson into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Jakobsson’s teachings of tracking the NFT and related item ownership would facilitate verification of the validity of the item related to the NFT (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0190-0191).
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 1 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach wherein the digital asset is acquired through a drag-and-drop upload interface included in the SaaS interface.
Jakobsson further teaches wherein the digital asset is acquired through a drag-and-drop upload interface included in the SaaS interface (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0140 teach(es) The placing of content in a given partition may be performed by a drag-and-drop action performed on a visual interface).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Jakobsson for wherein the digital asset is acquired through a drag-and-drop upload interface included in the SaaS interface.
There is motivation to combine Jakobsson into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Jakobsson’s teachings of drag-and-drop action would facilitate allowing movement including, but not limited to, one item, a cluster of items, and a multiplicity of items and clusters of items (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0140).
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 1 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach wherein the digital asset is acquired by creating the digital asset using a digital canvas included in the SaaS interface.
Mathews further teaches wherein the digital asset is acquired by creating the digital asset using a digital canvas included in the SaaS interface (Mathews: Paragraph(s) 0022, 0038 teach(es) the DSL construct may be designed textually. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, DSL construct may be designed graphically).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Mathews for wherein the digital asset is acquired by creating the digital asset using a digital canvas included in the SaaS interface.
There is motivation to combine Mathews into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Mathews’s teachings of graphically-designed DSL construct using JSON file would facilitate the interface for acquiring a digital asset (Mathews: Paragraph(s) 0022, 0038).
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 1 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach initiating the digital asset in the SaaS interface through an online content registration form.
Jakobsson further teaches further comprising: initiating the digital asset in the SaaS interface through an online content registration form (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0066 teach(es) The NFT platform utilizes one or more immutable ledgers (e.g. one or more blockchains) to enable a number of verified content creators to access an NFT registry service to mint NFTs in a variety of forms including (but not limited to) celebrity NFTs, character NFTs from games, NFTs that are redeemable within games, NFTs that contain and/or enable access to collectibles, and NFTs that have evolutionary capabilities representative of the change from one NFT state to another NFT state).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Jakobsson for initiating the digital asset in the SaaS interface through an online content registration form.
There is motivation to combine Jakobsson into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Jakobsson’s teachings of NFT registry service would facilitate minting NFTs (Jakobsson: Paragraph(s) 0066).
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 15 above; and the combination further teaches wherein the instructions further program the processor to: track license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset; and track commerce activities for commerce content included in the digital content, as stated above with respect to claims 6 and 10.
Claim(s) 8, 11, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mann in view of Jakobsson in further view of Mathews, as applied to claims 1 and 15 above, in further view of Phoutchanthavongsa (US 20220261139 A1).
Regarding Claims 8 and 18, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claims 6 and 15 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach generating an engagement score for the digital asset based on the license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset.
Phoutchanthavongsa from same or similar field of endeavor teaches further comprising: generating an engagement score for the digital asset based on the license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset (Phoutchanthavongsa: Paragraph(s) 0116-0117 teach(es) The widget suggestions circuitry is also configured to prioritize and/or rank widget configuration item suggestions. That is, in some embodiments, the widget suggestions circuitry assigns scores and/or weights to widget configuration items and then uses the scored and/or weighted widget configuration items to determine widget configuration item suggestions).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Phoutchanthavongsa for generating an engagement score for the digital asset based on the license purchase and placement activities of the digital asset.
There is motivation to combine Phoutchanthavongsa into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Phoutchanthavongsa’s teachings of scoring would facilitate prioritizing and/or ranking widget configuration item suggestions (Phoutchanthavongsa: Paragraph(s) 0116, 0040).
Regarding Claim 11, the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews teaches all the limitations of claim 10 above; however the combination does not explicitly teach generating a commerce score for the digital asset based on the commerce activities.
Phoutchanthavongsa from same or similar field of endeavor teaches further comprising: generating a commerce score for the digital asset based on the commerce activities (Phoutchanthavongsa: Paragraph(s) 0116-0117, 0040, as stated above with respect to claim 8).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews to incorporate the teachings of Phoutchanthavongsa for generating a commerce score for the digital asset based on the commerce activities.
There is motivation to combine Phoutchanthavongsa into the combination of Mann, Jakobsson, and Mathews because Phoutchanthavongsa’s teachings of scoring would facilitate prioritizing and/or ranking widget configuration item suggestions (Phoutchanthavongsa: Paragraph(s) 0116).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed September 24, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding applicant’s argument under Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 that “Mann's description of trackers deployed on an app that are used to track the source of the installation of app and contextual information does not generate metadata for the digital asset, but provides context around a user who installs a particular application,” examiner respectfully argues that the claims do not define or use the “metadata”. It is recommended to amend the term with more technical details and context. Regarding applicant’s further argument that “the combination… does not suggest “generating.. an access uniform resource locator (URL) for the digital asset,” examiner respectfully argues that Mann teaches a URL which eventually leads an end user to an App's download screen, such as but not limited to a link to an App store URL or a some other URL that redirects to the App store URL (Mann: Paragraph(s) 0005, 0015, 0019, 0187-0190). Regarding applicant’s still further argument that “the claimed element describes truncating the embeddable code snippet by filtering out all but the relevant code snippet from the JSON file that is executed to provide the digital asset. Accordingly, Grosz' assets (i.e., stickers, shapes, backgrounds, layers, and frames) are not filtered from any JSON file of the plurality of code snippets generated for providing the digital asset in a particular format,” examiner respectfully argues that Mathews from same or similar field of endeavor teaches that a JSON file can be used for generating DSL construct by editing textually or graphically (Mathews: Paragraph(s) 0022, 0038). It is recommended to amend the claims further with more technical details and contexts of code snippets, metadata, URL, truncated embeddable code snippet, etc.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Grosz (US 9420121 B2) teaches Method For Tracking Theme-based Digital Assets For Clients Engaged In Image-based Project Creation Through An Electronic Interface, including a digital item or asset placed on canvas, advertisement, and drag and drop.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLAY LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3309. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8-5pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Neha Patel can be reached on (571)270-1492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CLAY C LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3699