Detailed Action
1. This office action is in response to communication filed December 17, 2025. Claims 8, 10-13, and 15-18 are currently pending and claims 8 and 13 are the independent claims.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
3. This Final Office Action is in response to the applicant’s remarks and arguments filed on
December 17, 2025.
Claims 8 and 13 were amended. Claims 1-7, 9, and 14 have been cancelled. Claims 17-18 are new. Claims 8, 10-13, and 15-18 remain pending in the application. Claims 10-12 and 15-16 filed on March 13, 2023 are being considered on the merits along with amended claims 8 and 13 and new claims 17-18.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 8, 10-13, and 15-18 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.
On pages 10-14 of the Remarks, the Attorney respectfully submits that the claims as amended are not disclosed or suggested by the cited references.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Attorney regarding the amended independent claims 8 and 13. The Attorney suggests that the prior art does not teach/suggest “duplicating client interactions”. The Examiner respectfully submits that the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims are rejected under section 5 of the 103 claim rejections. A future amendment from the Attorney to specifically include duplication of client interactions could require further search, but with the current claim limitations of the independent claims, the independent claims remain rejected.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Attorney regarding the new claims. The newly added prior art of Arzur and the previously provided prior art of Wang discloses the limitations of new claims 17 and 18. As such, claims 8, 10-13, and 15-18 remain rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103.
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.
5. Claims 8, 11-13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0191798) – hereinafter “Zhu” in view of Wang et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2015/0095763) – hereinafter “Wang” and Grant et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0318507) – hereinafter “Grant”.
Regarding independent claim 8, Zhu discloses:
A method for acquiring and distributing user interactions in a web browser, ([0037] “The rendered content delivered by the rendered content delivery module 140 can be configured with an interaction script. In some implementations, the interaction script includes computer-executable instructions that cause the end user computing device 125 to transmit an indication of an interaction with the delivered content sent to the end user computing device 125 from the data processing system 110. For example, the interaction can include a click, swipe, tap, hover-over with a cursor, or any other interaction with a content item. The computer-executable instructions can include a script, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, among others. The computer-executable instructions can be executed within an application or web browser of the end user computing device 125, such as the application or web browser that caused the end user computing device 125 to transmit the content request received by the content request module 130. The application can include, for example, an Internet browser, a mobile application, a gaming application, a GPS application, a virtual reality application, or any other computer program capable of reading and executing the computer-executable instructions.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, user interactions such as clicks and swipes are executed in an Internet browser.
the method comprising steps of:
transmitting a content of a web page from a web server to a client, the web page content including a synchronization script configured to establish a connection between the client and an emulation system … (Fig. 1 and [0005] “In some implementations, the rendered content file includes a script configured to transmit, responsive to an interaction with the rendered content file, an indication of an interaction with the rendered content file at the client device. In some implementations, the method further includes inserting, by the data processing system, an address of a server to which the indication of the interaction is transmitted from the client device.” and [0029] “The content provider computing devices 115 can include servers or other computing devices operated by a content provider entity to provide content items such as content for display on information resources at the end user computing device 125. The content provided by the content provider computing device 115 can include third party content items for display on information resources such as a website or web page that includes primary content, e.g. content provided by the content publisher computing device 120.” and [0037] “The rendered content delivered by the rendered content delivery module 140 can be configured with an interaction script. In some implementations, the interaction script includes computer-executable instructions that cause the end user computing device 125 to transmit an indication of an interaction with the delivered content sent to the end user computing device 125 from the data processing system 110. For example, the interaction can include a click, swipe, tap, hover-over with a cursor, or any other interaction with a content item. The computer-executable instructions can include a script, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, among others. The computer-executable instructions can be executed within an application or web browser of the end user computing device 125, such as the application or web browser that caused the end user computing device 125 to transmit the content request received by the content request module 130. The application can include, for example, an Internet browser, a mobile application, a gaming application, a GPS application, a virtual reality application, or any other computer program capable of reading and executing the computer-executable instructions.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the content from a web page is provided by the content provider computing devices 115 which can include servers and the end user computing device interactions with the delivered content are captured by the interaction script and sent to a server such as an emulation system.
executing the synchronization script by using the client and establishing the connection between the client and the emulation system; ([0037] “The rendered content delivered by the rendered content delivery module 140 can be configured with an interaction script. In some implementations, the interaction script includes computer-executable instructions that cause the end user computing device 125 to transmit an indication of an interaction with the delivered content sent to the end user computing device 125 from the data processing system 110. For example, the interaction can include a click, swipe, tap, hover-over with a cursor, or any other interaction with a content item. The computer-executable instructions can include a script, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, among others. The computer-executable instructions can be executed within an application or web browser of the end user computing device 125, such as the application or web browser that caused the end user computing device 125 to transmit the content request received by the content request module 130. The application can include, for example, an Internet browser, a mobile application, a gaming application, a GPS application, a virtual reality application, or any other computer program capable of reading and executing the computer-executable instructions.” and [0090] “The computing system such as system 100 or system 500 can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network (e.g., the network 105). The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In some implementations, a server transmits data (e.g., an HTML page) to a client device (e.g., for purposes of displaying data to and receiving user input from a user interacting with the client device). Data generated at the client device (e.g., a result of the user interaction) can be received from the client device at the server (e.g., received by the data processing system 110 from the content provider computing device 115).”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the end user computing device interactions with the delivered content are captured by the interaction script and sent to the data processing system 110.
using the synchronization script to ensure that information about how the web page is at least one of specifically displayed or structured or functions on the client is also transmitted to the emulation system; ([0037] “The rendered content delivered by the rendered content delivery module 140 can be configured with an interaction script. In some implementations, the interaction script includes computer-executable instructions that cause the end user computing device 125 to transmit an indication of an interaction with the delivered content sent to the end user computing device 125 from the data processing system 110. For example, the interaction can include a click, swipe, tap, hover-over with a cursor, or any other interaction with a content item. The computer-executable instructions can include a script, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, among others. The computer-executable instructions can be executed within an application or web browser of the end user computing device 125, such as the application or web browser that caused the end user computing device 125 to transmit the content request received by the content request module 130. The application can include, for example, an Internet browser, a mobile application, a gaming application, a GPS application, a virtual reality application, or any other computer program capable of reading and executing the computer-executable instructions.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the end user computing device interactions with the delivered content are captured by the interaction script and sent to the data processing system 110 such that the information regarding the interaction and the content item it interacts with is transmitted.
transmitting, over the connection, acquisition data acquired by using the client… ([0005] “In some implementations, the rendered content file includes a script configured to transmit, responsive to an interaction with the rendered content file, an indication of an interaction with the rendered content file at the client device. In some implementations, the method further includes inserting, by the data processing system, an address of a server to which the indication of the interaction is transmitted from the client device.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the interaction with the rendered content file at the client device causes transmission to a server to indicate such interaction.
Zhu does not explicitly disclose:
… [executing] an emulation system on a further server;
… causing user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in the client to be emulated by the emulation system and to remain accessible at any time whether the webpage or the client is currently available; and
configuring the emulation system to ensure that upon specific user interactions or responses of the transmitted web page content being present, messages in relation thereto are sent to one or more further servers.
However, Wang discloses:
… [executing] an emulation system on a further server; (Fig. 1 showing server system 120 comprising browser emulator 126) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the emulation system executing on a further server is comparable to browser emulator 126 on server system 120.
… causing user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in the client to be emulated by the emulation system and to be available; ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is also configured to provide binding and synchronization utilizing the specialized communications channel 102. For the purposes of this specification, the term binding refers to a technique where any user interaction with respect to a browser application is recognized by a browser application that communicates with the browser application via a specialized communications channel. User interaction with a browser application could trigger both generating of native browser/DOM events and/or DOM changes, such as, key typing in text field, mouse movement and click, window resizing, etc. The term synchronization refers to a technique where any changes to the DOM associated with the web page rendered by a browser application that result from a browser emulator executing JavaScript code user are propagated to the browser application via a specialized communications channel 102. The browser emulator 126, in one example embodiment, may also be configured to include capture and replay capability (a capture and replay module) that permits capturing events at a browser application and replaying the captured events at the browser emulator 126.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the replay capability permits capturing events at a browser application and replaying the captured events at the browser emulator 126.
The claimed invention is derived from the combining of the concept of causing user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in the client to be emulated by the emulation system and to be available in the secondary reference with the concept of transmitting, over the connection, acquisition data acquired by using the client in the primary reference. Thus, the limitation of transmitting, over the connection, acquisition data acquired by using the client, causing user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in the client to be emulated by the emulation system and to be available is taught by the primary reference with support from the secondary reference.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add [executing] an emulation system on a further server and causing user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in the client to be emulated by the emulation system and to be available as seen in Wang's invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable results such that monitoring of user interactions are then to be emulated. Emulation of web page content with specific user interactions leads to messages sent to further servers which could be based on a plurality of interactions such as pressing “Buy Now” on a purchase to contact a purchase authentication server, drag-and-dropping a file onto a website to upload a file to a server, or closing a web page and thus severing the connection to a server.
In addition, Grant discloses:
configuring the emulation system to ensure that upon specific user interactions or responses of the transmitted web page content being present, messages in relation thereto are sent to one or more further servers. ([0112] “simulated execution of the targeted reference to measure and improve results and to identify peer relationship and delivery network configurations (e.g., identify target advertisement, target link, or target link in X position of Y list, and simulate a user's selection of the target advertisement/link by transmitting a request back to the web or content service or server with the target information, such as by sending the click-event back to a web portal with the desired link simulating the user's click on this actual link).”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the user selection of a target advertisement is simulated and a request is transmitted to the server with the target information.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add configuring the emulation system to ensure that upon specific user interactions or responses of the transmitted web page content being present, messages in relation thereto are sent to one or more further servers as seen in Grant’s invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable results such that monitoring of user interactions are to then be emulated. Emulation of web page content with specific user interactions leads to messages sent to further servers which could be based on a plurality of interactions such as pressing “Buy Now” on a purchase to contact a purchase authentication server, drag-and-dropping a file onto a website to upload a file to a server, or closing a web page and thus severing the connection to a server.
Regarding claim 11, Zhu discloses the method of claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose:
which further comprises configuring the emulation system in advance for the web page content of the web server such that, upon transmission of acquisition data, and optionally further acquisition data originating from an execution of a respective web page content, the emulation system prompts an execution of steps specified in advance in the configuration.
However, Wang discloses:
which further comprises configuring the emulation system in advance for the web page content of the web server … ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is configured to include a script engine and an associated threading model that emulates behavior of a browser application. The browser emulator 126, in one embodiment, supports complete browser DOM and may be configured to simulate behavior of vendor-specific browsers.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the browser emulator is specifically set up to emulate browsers and can even be configured to simulate vendor-specific browser behavior.
… such that, upon transmission of acquisition data, and optionally further acquisition data originating from an execution of a respective web page content, the emulation system prompts an execution of steps specified in advance in the configuration. ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is also configured to provide binding and synchronization utilizing the specialized communications channel 102. For the purposes of this specification, the term binding refers to a technique where any user interaction with respect to a browser application is recognized by a browser application that communicates with the browser application via a specialized communications channel. User interaction with a browser application could trigger both generating of native browser/DOM events and/or DOM changes, such as, key typing in text field, mouse movement and click, window resizing, etc. The term synchronization refers to a technique where any changes to the DOM associated with the web page rendered by a browser application that result from a browser emulator executing JavaScript code user are propagated to the browser application via a specialized communications channel 102.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the binding and synchronization provided by the browser emulator come from receiving user interactions and those user interactions triggering generation of browser changes such as mouse movement and window resizing.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add configuring the emulation system in advance for the web page content of the web server such that, upon transmission of acquisition data, and optionally further acquisition data originating from an execution of a respective web page content, the emulation system prompts an execution of steps specified in advance in the configuration as seen in Wang's invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow the use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that the emulation system is prepared for specific data in advance and then handles the data in a pre-prepared manner to effectively use the emulation system’s resources.
Regarding claim 12, Zhu discloses the method of claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose:
using the client to transmit information relating to at least one of an arrangement or a position of individual elements or operating elements in a display region of the client to the emulation system; and
considering a user interaction to have occurred when the acquisition data relates to image positions defined by the information.
However, Wang discloses:
using the client to transmit information relating to at least one of an arrangement or a position of individual elements or operating elements in a display region of the client to the emulation system; and ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is also configured to provide binding and synchronization utilizing the specialized communications channel 102. For the purposes of this specification, the term binding refers to a technique where any user interaction with respect to a browser application is recognized by a browser application that communicates with the browser application via a specialized communications channel. User interaction with a browser application could trigger both generating of native browser/DOM events and/or DOM changes, such as, key typing in text field, mouse movement and click, window resizing, etc.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the browser emulator is synchronized with the browser application and experiences changes to the browser environment including text field editing and window resizing.
considering a user interaction to have occurred when the acquisition data relates to image positions defined by the information. ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is also configured to provide binding and synchronization utilizing the specialized communications channel 102. For the purposes of this specification, the term binding refers to a technique where any user interaction with respect to a browser application is recognized by a browser application that communicates with the browser application via a specialized communications channel. User interaction with a browser application could trigger both generating of native browser/DOM events and/or DOM changes, such as, key typing in text field, mouse movement and click, window resizing, etc.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the user interaction with the browser application such as window resizing relates to the image position of the browser application.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add using the client to transmit information relating to at least one of an arrangement or a position of individual elements or operating elements in a display region of the client to the emulation system; and considering a user interaction to have occurred when the acquisition data relates to image positions defined by the information as seen in Wang's invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable results such that the position/arrangement of elements to be emulated are exactly the same as the client’s so it is ensured the emulation’s browser runs the same way as the user’s browser does.
Regarding independent claim 13, Zhu discloses:
An arrangement for acquiring and distributing user interactions, the arrangement comprising:
said web server configured to transmit a content of a web page to a client on request, the web page content including a synchronization script configured to establish a connection between said client and said emulation system on a further server; (Fig. 1 and [0005] “In some implementations, the rendered content file includes a script configured to transmit, responsive to an interaction with the rendered content file, an indication of an interaction with the rendered content file at the client device. In some implementations, the method further includes inserting, by the data processing system, an address of a server to which the indication of the interaction is transmitted from the client device.” and [0029] “The content provider computing devices 115 can include servers or other computing devices operated by a content provider entity to provide content items such as content for display on information resources at the end user computing device 125. The content provided by the content provider computing device 115 can include third party content items for display on information resources such as a website or web page that includes primary content, e.g. content provided by the content publisher computing device 120.” and [0037] “The rendered content delivered by the rendered content delivery module 140 can be configured with an interaction script. In some implementations, the interaction script includes computer-executable instructions that cause the end user computing device 125 to transmit an indication of an interaction with the delivered content sent to the end user computing device 125 from the data processing system 110. For example, the interaction can include a click, swipe, tap, hover-over with a cursor, or any other interaction with a content item. The computer-executable instructions can include a script, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, among others. The computer-executable instructions can be executed within an application or web browser of the end user computing device 125, such as the application or web browser that caused the end user computing device 125 to transmit the content request received by the content request module 130. The application can include, for example, an Internet browser, a mobile application, a gaming application, a GPS application, a virtual reality application, or any other computer program capable of reading and executing the computer-executable instructions.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the content from a web page is provided by the content provider computing devices 115 which can include servers and the end user computing device interactions with the delivered content are captured by the interaction script and sent to a server such as an emulation system.
said synchronization script causing information about how the web page is at least one of specifically displayed or structured or functions on the client to also be transmitted to said emulation system; ([0037] “The rendered content delivered by the rendered content delivery module 140 can be configured with an interaction script. In some implementations, the interaction script includes computer-executable instructions that cause the end user computing device 125 to transmit an indication of an interaction with the delivered content sent to the end user computing device 125 from the data processing system 110. For example, the interaction can include a click, swipe, tap, hover-over with a cursor, or any other interaction with a content item. The computer-executable instructions can include a script, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, among others. The computer-executable instructions can be executed within an application or web browser of the end user computing device 125, such as the application or web browser that caused the end user computing device 125 to transmit the content request received by the content request module 130. The application can include, for example, an Internet browser, a mobile application, a gaming application, a GPS application, a virtual reality application, or any other computer program capable of reading and executing the computer-executable instructions.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the end user computing device interactions with the delivered content are captured by the interaction script and sent to the data processing system 110 such that the information regarding the interaction and the content item it interacts with is transmitted.
said client having a user-operable web browser configured to execute said synchronization script and to thereby: ([0037] “The rendered content delivered by the rendered content delivery module 140 can be configured with an interaction script. In some implementations, the interaction script includes computer-executable instructions that cause the end user computing device 125 to transmit an indication of an interaction with the delivered content sent to the end user computing device 125 from the data processing system 110. For example, the interaction can include a click, swipe, tap, hover-over with a cursor, or any other interaction with a content item. The computer-executable instructions can include a script, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript, among others. The computer-executable instructions can be executed within an application or web browser of the end user computing device 125, such as the application or web browser that caused the end user computing device 125 to transmit the content request received by the content request module 130. The application can include, for example, an Internet browser, a mobile application, a gaming application, a GPS application, a virtual reality application, or any other computer program capable of reading and executing the computer-executable instructions.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the end user computing device interactions with the delivered content are captured by the interaction script and sent to the data processing system 110.
establish said connection between said client and said emulation system, and ([0090] “The computing system such as system 100 or system 500 can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network (e.g., the network 105). The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In some implementations, a server transmits data (e.g., an HTML page) to a client device (e.g., for purposes of displaying data to and receiving user input from a user interacting with the client device). Data generated at the client device (e.g., a result of the user interaction) can be received from the client device at the server (e.g., received by the data processing system 110 from the content provider computing device 115).”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the client-server relationship transmits data back and forth between the client device and the server, such as an emulation system.
acquire acquisition data specified in said synchronization script and transmit the acquisition data over said connection to said emulation system; ([0005] “In some implementations, the rendered content file includes a script configured to transmit, responsive to an interaction with the rendered content file, an indication of an interaction with the rendered content file at the client device. In some implementations, the method further includes inserting, by the data processing system, an address of a server to which the indication of the interaction is transmitted from the client device.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the interaction with the rendered content file at the client device causes transmission to a server to indicate such interaction.
Zhu does not explicitly disclose:
a web server, a client and an emulation system;
… [executing] an emulation system on a further server;
said emulation system configured to emulate user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in said client by using said emulation system; and
said emulation system configured, upon specific user interactions or responses of the transmitted web page content being present, to cause messages in relation thereto to be transmitted to one or more further servers.
However, Wang discloses:
a web server, a client and an emulation system; (Fig. 1 including browser application 110, server system 120, web server 122, and browser emulator 126)
… [executing] an emulation system on a further server; (Fig. 1 showing server system 120 comprising browser emulator 126) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the emulation system executing on a further server is comparable to browser emulator 126 on server system 120.
said emulation system configured to emulate user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in said client by using said emulation system; and ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is also configured to provide binding and synchronization utilizing the specialized communications channel 102. For the purposes of this specification, the term binding refers to a technique where any user interaction with respect to a browser application is recognized by a browser application that communicates with the browser application via a specialized communications channel. User interaction with a browser application could trigger both generating of native browser/DOM events and/or DOM changes, such as, key typing in text field, mouse movement and click, window resizing, etc. The term synchronization refers to a technique where any changes to the DOM associated with the web page rendered by a browser application that result from a browser emulator executing JavaScript code user are propagated to the browser application via a specialized communications channel 102. The browser emulator 126, in one example embodiment, may also be configured to include capture and replay capability (a capture and replay module) that permits capturing events at a browser application and replaying the captured events at the browser emulator 126.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the replay capability permits capturing events at a browser application and replaying the captured events at the browser emulator 126.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add a web server, a client and an emulation system; [executing] an emulation system on a further server and said emulation system configured to emulate user interactions and subsequent responses of the web page content in said client by using said emulation system as seen in Wang's invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable results such that monitoring of user interactions are to then be emulated. Emulation of web page content with specific user interactions leads to messages sent to further servers which could be based on a plurality of interactions such as pressing “Buy Now” on a purchase to contact a purchase authentication server, drag-and-dropping a file onto a website to upload a file to a server, or closing a web page and thus severing the connection to a server.
In addition, Grant discloses:
said emulation system configured, upon specific user interactions or responses of the transmitted web page content being present, to cause messages in relation thereto to be transmitted to one or more further servers. ([0112] “simulated execution of the targeted reference to measure and improve results and to identify peer relationship and delivery network configurations (e.g., identify target advertisement, target link, or target link in X position of Y list, and simulate a user's selection of the target advertisement/link by transmitting a request back to the web or content service or server with the target information, such as by sending the click-event back to a web portal with the desired link simulating the user's click on this actual link).”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the user selection of a target advertisement is simulated and a request is transmitted to the server with the target information.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add said emulation system configured, upon specific user interactions or responses of the transmitted web page content being present, to cause messages in relation thereto to be transmitted to one or more further servers as seen in Grant’s invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow applying a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield predictable results such that monitoring of user interactions are to then be emulated. Emulation of web page content with specific user interactions leads to messages sent to further servers which could be based on a plurality of interactions such as pressing “Buy Now” on a purchase to contact a purchase authentication server, drag-and-dropping a file onto a website to upload a file to a server, or closing a web page and thus severing the connection to a server.
Regarding claim 16, it is an arrangement claim having the same limitations as cited in method claim 11. Thus, claim 16 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 11 above.
6. Claims 10 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0191798) – hereinafter “Zhu” in view of Wang et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2015/0095763) – hereinafter “Wang” and Grant et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0318507) – hereinafter “Grant”, further in view of Nesbitt et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0266145).
Regarding claim 10, Zhu discloses the method of claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose:
which further comprises configuring the emulation system in advance for the web page of the web server, causing:
the web server to transmit an additional code portion in the synchronization script to the client, the additional code portion prompting the client to ascertain further acquisition data; and
the emulation system to process the further acquisition data based on at least one of a configuration or the web page content transmitted by the client to the emulation system.
However, Wang discloses:
which further comprises configuring the emulation system in advance for the web page of the web server, causing: ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is configured to include a script engine and an associated threading model that emulates behavior of a browser application. The browser emulator 126, in one embodiment, supports complete browser DOM and may be configured to simulate behavior of vendor-specific browsers.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the browser emulator is specifically set up to emulate browsers and can even be configured to simulate vendor-specific browser behavior.
the emulation system to process the further acquisition data based on at least one of a configuration or the web page content transmitted by the client to the emulation system. ([0030] “FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method 500 for processing user interaction directed to a browser application that is in communication with a virtual browser, in accordance with one embodiment.” and [0031] “At operation 530, the browser communications module 116 of FIG. 1 delivers the message to the browser emulator 126 of FIG. 1. The server-side DOM is synchronized with the DOM used at the browser application 110 if the user interaction event resulted in any changes to the client-side DOM, at operation 540. At operation 550, an event handling module provided at the server system 120 of FIG. 1 delivers a simulated browser event to the DOM elements of the browser emulator 126, based on the associated propagation model, and triggers the JavaScript execution if there are registered event listeners or event handlers.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the browser emulator receives simulated browser event data from the client browser application and processes the user interaction.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add configuring the emulation system in advance for the web page of the web server causing: the emulation system to process the further acquisition data based on at least one of a configuration or the web page content transmitted by the client to the emulation system as seen in Wang's invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow the use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that the emulation system is prepared for specific data in advance and then handles the data in a pre-prepared manner to effectively use the emulation system’s resources.
In addition, Nesbitt discloses:
the web server to transmit an additional code portion in the synchronization script to the client, the additional code portion prompting the client to ascertain further acquisition data; ([0004] “Further, the system comprises a browser application running on a client computer on the computer network configured to execute the script inserted within a web page that is requested without substantially increasing load time of the web page and is configured to collect web metric data and transmit via an asynchronous connection to a metric server among a list of metric servers identified in the script a request for recording any web metric data collected for the web page to a metric server among a plurality of servers identified in the script by using a method such that the request is not cached at an intermediate proxy.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the browser receives the script and is requested to collect and transmit web metric data.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the web server to transmit an additional code portion in the synchronization script to the client, the additional code portion prompting the client to ascertain further acquisition data as seen in Nesbitt’s invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results such that the additional web metric data is to be collected so the user environment is properly emulated.
Regarding claim 15, it is an arrangement claim having the same limitations as cited in method claim 10. Thus, claim 15 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 10 above.
7. Claims 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0191798) – hereinafter “Zhu” in view of Wang et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2015/0095763) – hereinafter “Wang” and Grant et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0318507) – hereinafter “Grant”, further in view of Arzur (U.S. Pub. No. 8,255,491).
Regarding claim 17, Zhu discloses the method according to claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose:
using the emulation system to run an emulation of the web page as the web page is also displayed in the client with the web browser, the emulation system replicating all user interactions and program responses of the user on the client and its web browser, as well as programming of the web page, in the same way as the user interactions, the program responses and the programming actually take place on the web browser; and
the emulation system using the captured data relating to the web browser and a browser window being used, user interactions, and their positions to determine and assign the positions to individual buttons on the web page, just as the determination and assignment of position occurs in the web browser on the client.
However, Wang discloses:
the emulation system using the captured data relating to the web browser and a browser window being used, user interactions, and their positions to determine and assign the positions to individual buttons on the web page, just as the determination and assignment of position occurs in the web browser on the client. ([0023] “The browser emulator 126 is also configured to provide binding and synchronization utilizing the specialized communications channel 102. For the purposes of this specification, the term binding refers to a technique where any user interaction with respect to a browser application is recognized by a browser application that communicates with the browser application via a specialized communications channel. User interaction with a browser application could trigger both generating of native browser/DOM events and/or DOM changes, such as, key typing in text field, mouse movement and click, window resizing, etc.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the browser emulator is synchronized with the browser application and experiences changes to the browser environment including text field editing and window resizing which can relate to button positioning.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the emulation system using the captured data relating to the web browser and a browser window being used, user interactions, and their positions to determine and assign the positions to individual buttons on the web page, just as the determination and assignment of position occurs in the web browser on the client as seen in Wang’s invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow use of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way such that the emulation system captures data and user interactions to determine positions of buttons on the web page in the same way as the client’s web browser does.
In addition, Arzur discloses:
using the emulation system to run an emulation of the web page as the web page is also displayed in the client with the web browser, the emulation system replicating all user interactions and program responses of the user on the client and its web browser, as well as programming of the web page, in the same way as the user interactions, the program responses and the programming actually take place on the web browser; and (Col. 7, Lines 45-54 “The emulation system 104 also may re-write hyperlinks in the webpage so that, when a hyperlink is selected, the resulting request is sent to emulation server 104. For instance, a user may select a hyperlink displayed in the webpage, or the browser rendering the webpage may automatically select the hyperlink to download an item, such as an image, that forms part of the webpage. This may allow a user viewing the displayed webpage on the web application to interact with the webpage in the same manner that a user could if viewing the webpage on the emulated device.”) The citation is interpreted to read on the claimed invention because under broadest reasonable interpretation, the emulation system replicates user interactions with the hyperlinks in a webpage.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add using the emulation system to run an emulation of the web page as the web page is also displayed in the client with the web browser, the emulation system replicating all user interactions and program responses of the user on the client and its web browser, as well as programming of the web page, in the same way as the user interactions, the program responses and the programming actually take place on the web browser as seen in Arzur’s invention into Zhu's invention because these modifications allow combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results such that the emulation system emulates all interactions/responses to the emulated web browser in the same way as the user’s web browser.
Regarding claim 18, it is an arrangement claim having the same limitations as cited in method claim 17. Thus, claim 18 is also rejected under the same rationale as addressed in the rejection of claim 17 above.
Conclusion
8. 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art includes Dias et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,389,795), Goodger et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2014/0281897), Muttik (U.S. Pub. No. 2014/0180666), Aslam et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0323553), and Lakshmanan et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0222273). The prior art discloses varying levels of emulation of user applications or transmission of data regarding web pages. Additionally, prior art Niemeyer et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2013/0096906) discloses a client interacting with a web browser that is emulated on another device.
Examiner has cited particular columns/paragraphs/sections and line numbers in the references applied and not relied upon to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
When responding to the Office action, applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the reference(s) cited or the objections made. A showing of how the amendments avoid such references or objections must also be present. See 37 C.F.R. 1.111(c).
When responding to this Office action, applicant is advised to provide the line and page numbers in the application and/or reference(s) cited to assist in locating the appropriate paragraphs.
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/D.T./Examiner, Art Unit 2198
/PIERRE VITAL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2198