DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the response to the amendment filed on 08/21/2025. Claims 1, 11, and 16 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending and currently under consideration for patentability.
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 .
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Examiner would like to note that Claims 16-20 were not rejected for the computer usable storage device including "signals" and "carrier waves" because the claims language recites that the computer-readable memory is coupled to processors and according to ¶ [0027] the computer-readable memory/instructions must be executed by the one or more processors.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims are directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, natural phenomenon, or abstract idea) without significantly more.
Step 1: In a test for patent subject matter eligibility, claims 24-43 are found to be in accordance with Step 1 (see 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility), as they are related to a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. Claims 1-10 recite a method, claims 11-15 recite a system, and claims 16-20 recite a computer program product. When assessed under Step 2A, Prong I, they are found to be directed towards an abstract idea. The rationale for this finding is explained below:
Step 2A, Prong I: Under Step 2A, Prong I, claims 1, 11, and 16 are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more, as they all recite a judicial exception. Claims 1, 11, and 16 recite limitations directed to the abstract idea including receiving an ad request; generating an ad request message based upon the ad request; sending the ad request message; receiving an ad response message in response to the ad request message, wherein the ad response message includes one or more digital ad assets associated with a digital advertisement; sending an ad response, wherein the ad response includes the one or more digital ad assets for display to a user; monitoring operating states of one or more additional applications during a time interval for display of the one or more digital ad assets; receiving an analytics notification, wherein the analytics notification contains information regarding a reported interaction of the user with the one or more digital ad assets displayed at a time of the reported interaction; obtaining application data to confirm the reported interaction, wherein the application data includes the operating states of the one or more additional applications at the time of the reported interaction; generating an analytics message, wherein the analytics message includes at least a portion of the application data or a confirmation generated from the application data; and sending the analytics message. These further limitations are not seen as any more than the judicial exception. Claims 1, 11, and 16 recite additional limitations including by one or more processors of the mobile computing device; from or to an ad-requesting application / ad management application / additional applications operating on the mobile computing device; a supply-side platform server of a digital advertising network via a communication network; and “generating the analytics message comprises signing the analytics message with a cryptographic key on the mobile computing device”. Sending an ad response which includes digital ad assets for display to a user is considered to be an abstract idea, specifically, certain methods of organizing human activity; such as commercial interactions, advertising, marketing, and sales because the claims are directed to sending an advertisement (i.e. ad response) in response to an ad request. Furthermore, the process in which the ad response is sent is directed to another abstract idea, specifically, mental processes such as concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion) because the steps in the claims are directed to receiving data (i.e. ad request and ad response) and sending data (i.e. ad request and ad response) within a mobile computing device environment. Therefore, under Step 2A, Prong I, claims 1, 11, and 16 are directed towards an abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong II: Step 2A, Prong II is to determine whether any claim recites any additional element that integrate the judicial exception (abstract idea) into a practical application. Claims 1, 11, and 16 have recited the following additional elements: by one or more processors of the mobile computing device; from or to an ad-requesting application / ad management application / additional applications operating on the mobile computing device; a supply-side platform server of a digital advertising network via a communication network; and “generating the analytics message comprises signing the analytics message with a cryptographic key on the mobile computing device”. The additional elements reciting – “by one or more processors of the mobile computing device; from or to an ad-requesting application / ad management application / additional applications operating on the mobile computing device; a supply-side platform server of a digital advertising network via a communication network” in claims 1, 11, and 16 are not found to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Merely adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea and Generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(f) is not indicative of integration into a practical application. Accordingly, alone, and in combination, these additional elements are seen as using a computer or tool to perform an abstract idea, adding insignificant-extra-solution activity to the judicial exception. They do no more than link the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use, i.e. applications operating on a mobile computing device, and therefore do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. The courts decided that although the additional elements did limit the use of the abstract idea, the court explained that this type of limitation merely confines the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment and this fails to add an inventive concept to the claims (See Affinity Labs of Texas v. DirecTV, LLC,). Under Step 2A, Prong II, these claims remain directed towards an abstract idea.
Step 2B: Claims 1, 11, and 16 recite the following additional limitations including by one or more processors of the mobile computing device; from or to an ad-requesting application / ad management application / additional applications operating on the mobile computing device; a supply-side platform server of a digital advertising network via a communication network; and “generating the analytics message comprises signing the analytics message with a cryptographic key on the mobile computing device”. The additional elements reciting – “by one or more processors of the mobile computing device; from or to an ad-requesting application / ad management application / additional applications operating on the mobile computing device; a supply-side platform server of a digital advertising network via a communication network” do not integrate the judicial exception (abstract idea) into a practical application because of the analysis provided in Step 2A, Prong II. Furthermore, the courts have noted that receiving/transmitting data via a communication network is a well-understood, routine, and conventional computer function (“Receiving or transmitting data over a network, e.g., using the Internet to gather data, Symantec, 838 F.3d at 1321, 120 USPQ2d at 1362 (utilizing an intermediary computer to forward information); TLI Communications LLC v. AV Auto. LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 610, 118 USPQ2d 1744, 1745 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (using a telephone for image transmission); OIP Techs., Inc., v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359, 1363, 115 USPQ2d 1090, 1093 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (sending messages over a network); buySAFE, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 765 F.3d 1350, 1355, 112 USPQ2d 1093, 1096 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (computer receives and sends information over a network); but see DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., 773 F.3d 1245, 1258, 113 USPQ2d 1097, 1106 (Fed. Cir. 2014) ("Unlike the claims in Ultramercial, the claims at issue here specify how interactions with the Internet are manipulated to yield a desired result‐‐a result that overrides the routine and conventional sequence of events ordinarily triggered by the click of a hyperlink."). The additional limitations reciting – “generating the analytics message comprises signing the analytics message with a cryptographic key on the mobile computing device” do not amount to an inventive concept (aka “significantly more”) than the recited judicial exception because this additional limitation is seen as a well-understood, routine, conventional activity previously known to the industry, specified at a high level of generality, to the judicial exception - see MPEP 2106.05(d). For example, according to ¶¶ [0001] [0002] of U.S. Publication 2022/0182222 to Wei; “For example, conventional systems manage and utilize cryptographic keys to securely authorize the transfer of digital assets between user accounts across a blockchain system. In particular, such cryptographic key management systems (often referred to as “hardware security modules” or “crypto wallets”) utilize the cryptographic keys of a given user account to “sign” a transaction request or otherwise indicate that the user account has authorized a transaction request submitted to the blockchain system to initiate the transfer…Despite these advances, however, conventional cryptographic key management systems suffer from several technological shortcomings that undermine the efficiency, flexibility, and security of the implementing computing devices and corresponding blockchain systems. For example, conventional cryptographic key management systems are often inefficient. In particular, because cryptographic keys enable the transfer of valuable digital assets, conventional systems typically store the cryptographic key of a user account in a storage location that is difficult and time consuming to access, such as a cold storage location (e.g., an offline storage location).” Claims 1, 11, and 16 do not include additional elements or a combination of elements that result in the claims amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements listed amount to no more than mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component. In addition, the applicant’s specifications describe generic computer-based elements, ¶¶ [0054] [0062], for implementing the “general architecture of mobile computing devices” or “general purpose processor”, which do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea of itself, which is not enough to transform an abstract idea into eligible subject matter. Furthermore, there is no improvement in the functioning of the computer or technological field, and there is no transformation of subject matter into a different state. Under Step 2B in a test for patent subject matter eligibility, these claims are not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2-10, 12-15, and 17-20 further recite the method, system, and computer-readable medium of claims 1, 11, and 16, respectively. Dependent claims 2-10, 12-15, and 17-20 when analyzed as a whole are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the additional recited limitation fail to establish that the claims are not directed to an abstract idea:
Under Step 2A, Prong I, these additional claims only further narrow the abstract idea set forth in claims 1, 11, and 16. For example, dependent claims 5-7 and 9 further describe the limitations for sending an ad response which includes digital ad assets for display to a user such as the type of data being received to determine ad response– which is only further narrowing the scope of the abstract idea recited in the independent claims; determining a second promotion for display based on consumer interaction with a first promotion.
Under Step 2A, Prong II, for dependent claims 2-10, 12-15, and 17-20, there are no additional elements introduced that integrate the claims into a practical application. For example, dependent claims 2, 4, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, and 20 recite further describe the environment in which the abstract idea takes place such as application programs accessing/communicating with mobile computing devices. Thus, they do not present integration into a practical application, or amount to significantly more.
Under Step 2B, the dependent claims do not include any additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. For example, dependent claims 3, 8, 13, and 18 further recite collecting data / gathering statistics in response to an ad request and the courts have noted that “Presenting offers and gathering statistics” is seen as a well-understood, routine, and conventional computer function (See: OIP Techs., 788 F.3d at 1362-63, 115 USPQ2d at 1092-93;). Additionally, there is no improvement in the functioning of the computer or technological field, and there is no transformation of subject matter into a different state. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional claims do not provide any additional elements that would amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Under Step 2B, these claims are not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication 2010/0125501 to Choi in view of U.S. Publication 2017/0039242 to Milton and in further view of U.S. Patent 8,650,587 to Bhatia.
Claims 1-10, 11-15, and 16-20 are method, system, and computer-readable media claims, respectively, with substantially indistinguishable features between each group. For purposes of compact prosecution, the Office has grouped the common method, system and non-transitory computer readable storage medium claims in applying applicable prior art.
With respect to Claim 1:
Choi teaches:
A computer-implemented method in a mobile computing device, comprising: receiving, by one or more processors of the mobile computing device, an ad request from an ad-requesting application operating on the mobile computing device to an ad management application operating on the mobile computing device (i.e. receiving ad request from user of mobile device to ad management application on mobile device such as MobAd) (Choi: Fig. 3 and ¶ [0046] “In step 301, a user of the terminal sends an advertisement request to the Ad Engine 130 through the Ad App 150. Alternatively, Step 301 may also be performed after step 313.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0026] “Although the embodiments of the present invention described below will be presented using names of entities defined by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which is a 3rd generation mobile communication standard, or by MobAd of Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), which is a standard group providing applications for mobile terminals, the standards and entity names are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and the present invention may be applied to any other systems having similar technical backgrounds.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0032] “The Ad receiving terminal 100, i.e., a mobile terminal receiving mobile advertisements based on a mobile advertising service, may be a mobile phone, PDA, etc. The Ad receiving terminal 100 includes the Ad Engine 130 and at least one Ad App 150.”);
generating, by the one or more processors, an ad request message via the ad management application based upon the ad request (i.e. ad request message is generated based on ad request and C&P information) (Choi: Fig. 3 and ¶ [0047] “In step 303, the Ad Engine 130 retrieves C & P information of the current user from the C & P resource unit 110 in order to indicate C & P information of the current user. Step 303 is optional. That is, the Ad Engine 130 may send a request for the C & P information to the C & P resource unit 110 when necessary, or may be periodically provided with the C & P information from the C & P resource unit 110. When there is C & P information acquired in step 303, the Ad Engine 130 sends an advertisement request to the Ad Server 120, after applying the C & P information in step 305.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0049] “In step 307, the Ad Server 120, which has received the advertisement request, checks the C & P information reflected in the received request message, and retrieves C & P information of the current user from the C & P resource unit 110, when necessary.”);
sending, by the one or more processors, the ad request message from the ad management application to a supply-side platform server of a digital advertising network via a communication network (i.e. ad request message is sent to ad server from ad engine) (Choi: Fig. 3 and ¶ [0049] “In step 307, the Ad Server 120, which has received the advertisement request, checks the C & P information reflected in the received request message, and retrieves C & P information of the current user from the C & P resource unit 110, when necessary.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0038] “The Ad Server 120 illustrated in FIG. 2 is included in a network, and provides advertisements to the Ad Engine 130 and a Service Provider Application (SP App) 140. Like the Ad Engine 130, the Ad Server 120 also includes logical modules. The Ad Server 120 includes an Ad selection function 122, an Ad delivery function 123, an Ad metrics handling function 124, and a User/Service/Device data handling function 121.”);
receiving, at the one or more processors, an ad response message from the supply-side platform server to the ad management application in response to the ad request message, wherein the ad response message includes one or more digital ad assets associated with a digital advertisement (i.e. receiving (i.e. ad response message, comprising of selected advertisement, is based on ad request message and is sent from ad server to ad engine operating on MobAd) (Choi: Fig. 3 and ¶¶ [0049] [0050] “In step 307, the Ad Server 120, which has received the advertisement request, checks the C & P information reflected in the received request message, and retrieves C & P information of the current user from the C & P resource unit 110, when necessary…In step 309, the Ad Server 120 determines if there is an advertisement corresponding to the C & P information received in step 307. If there is an advertisement corresponding to the C & P information, the Ad Server 120 selects the advertisement in step 311.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0053] “In step 313, the Ad Server 120 delivers the applied C & P information (keyword in this embodiment) to the Ad Engine 130 with the advertisement selected in step 311. For example, C & P information referenced/used during advertisement selection may be provided in an advertisement response message with an advertisement as shown in Table 2.”); and
sending, by the one or more processors an ad response from the ad management application to the ad-requesting application, wherein the ad response includes the one or more digital ad assets for display to a user of the mobile computing device by the ad-requesting application (i.e. ad response comprising of selected advertisement is sent from ad engine of MobAd or other mobile advertising application to Ad App or the application running on user mobile device) (Choi: ¶ [0053] “In step 313, the Ad Server 120 delivers the applied C & P information (keyword in this embodiment) to the Ad Engine 130 with the advertisement selected in step 311. For example, C & P information referenced/used during advertisement selection may be provided in an advertisement response message with an advertisement as shown in Table 2.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0055] “In step 317, the Ad Engine 130 delivers the received advertisement and C & P information (keyword) to the Ad App 150, thereby providing the advertisement to the user.”);
receiving, by the one or more processors, an analytics notification from the ad-requesting application to the ad management application, wherein the analytics notification contains information regarding a reported interaction of the user with the one or more digital ad assets displayed by the ad-requesting application at a time of the reported interaction (i.e. receive metrics of advertisements which include when the content was transmitted or time of interaction and the interaction results) (Choi: ¶ [0036] “The Ad metrics handling function 133 receives metrics (or interaction results) from the Ad App 150, combines the metrics with information (e.g., a time the metrics were measured) known to the Ad Engine 130, checks and indicates fraudulence of the received metrics, and provides the metrics to the Ad Server 120.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0041] “The Ad metrics handling function 124 supports collecting impressions of advertisements and user response information, received from the Ad Engine 13 0 and the service provider application 140, collecting and handling metrics-related information (e.g., information about the time the advertisements were impressed or exposed) and integrating the collected several metrics.”);
obtaining, by the one or more processors, application data by the ad management application to confirm the reported interaction, wherein the application data includes the […] one or more additional applications running on the mobile computing device at the time of the reported interaction (i.e. receive metrics from service provider application data associated with impression of advertisements which include when the content was transmitted or time of interaction and the interaction results) (Choi: ¶ [0036] “The Ad metrics handling function 133 receives metrics (or interaction results) from the Ad App 150, combines the metrics with information (e.g., a time the metrics were measured) known to the Ad Engine 130, checks and indicates fraudulence of the received metrics, and provides the metrics to the Ad Server 120.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0041] “The Ad metrics handling function 124 supports collecting impressions of advertisements and user response information, received from the Ad Engine 13 0 and the service provider application 140, collecting and handling metrics-related information (e.g., information about the time the advertisements were impressed or exposed) and integrating the collected several metrics.”);
generating, by the one or more processors, an analytics message via the ad management application, wherein the analytics message includes at least a portion of the application data obtained by the ad management application or a confirmation generated from the application data by the ad management application […] (i.e. generating metrics from service provider application data associated with impressions of advertisements) (Choi: ¶ [0036] “The Ad metrics handling function 133 receives metrics (or interaction results) from the Ad App 150, combines the metrics with information (e.g., a time the metrics were measured) known to the Ad Engine 130, checks and indicates fraudulence of the received metrics, and provides the metrics to the Ad Server 120.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0041] “The Ad metrics handling function 124 supports collecting impressions of advertisements and user response information, received from the Ad Engine 13 0 and the service provider application 140, collecting and handling metrics-related information ( e.g., information about the time the advertisements were impressed or exposed) and integrating the collected several metrics.”); and
sending, by the one or more processors, the analytics message from the ad management application to the supply-side platform server via the communication network (i.e. sending metrics associated with impressions of advertisements to ad engine) (Choi: ¶ [0036] “The Ad metrics handling function 133 receives metrics (or interaction results) from the Ad App 150, combines the metrics with information (e.g., a time the metrics were measured) known to the Ad Engine 130, checks and indicates fraudulence of the received metrics, and provides the metrics to the Ad Server 120.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0041] “The Ad metrics handling function 124 supports collecting impressions of advertisements and user response information, received from the Ad Engine 13 0 and the service provider application 140, collecting and handling metrics-related information ( e.g., information about the time the advertisements were impressed or exposed) and integrating the collected several metrics.”).
Choi does not explicitly disclose wherein generating the analytics message comprises signing the analytics message with a cryptographic key on the mobile computing device.
However, Milton further discloses wherein generating the analytics message comprises signing the analytics message with a cryptographic key on the mobile computing device (i.e. log or analytics message includes device identifier which comprises of a cryptographic key) (Milton: ¶¶ [0110] [0111] “Other examples include entities serving content to mobile computing devices, like advertising networks responding to requests for advertisements to insert into webpages or native applications, in some cases with those requests including a geolocation of the computing device to inform the selection. In some cases, the source may provide an application programming interface exposing a feed of the network activity log data, or the source may provide a batch of such data uploaded periodically. The data need not be pulled from a log, rather the term "log" indicates the data is of the sort that is logged, for example in server logs. The number of sources is expected to be relatively large and diverse, for example, some embodiments may receive data from more than 6 or 12 different sources, and in some cases more than 50…In some cases, the different sources may provide this data in a different format from one another. In some cases, computing devices may be identified in the network activity log data according to an identifier assigned by a provider of an operating system of the computing device, like an identifier for advertising (IDFA) assigned by the iOS™ operating system or an Android™ advertising ID. In other cases, the provider of the data may anonymize the device identity by identifying the device with a cryptographic hash of various attributes of the device, like a hash of the device's MAC address and processor version.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to add Martin’s generating the analytics message comprises signing the analytics message with a cryptographic key on the mobile computing device to Choi’s sending, by the one or more processors an ad response from the ad management application to the ad-requesting application, wherein the ad response includes the one or more digital ad assets for display to a user of the mobile computing device by the ad-requesting application. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so in order for “facilitating the presentation of high-value and high-relevance advertisements and services to users while respecting the users' interest in privacy.” (Milton: ¶ [0051]).
Choi and Milton do not explicitly disclose monitoring, by the one or more processors, operating states of one or more additional applications running on the mobile computing device by the ad management application during a time interval for display of the one or more digital ad assets by the ad-requesting application; and obtaining, by the one or more processors, application data by the ad management application to confirm the reported interaction, wherein the application data includes the operating states of the one or more additional applications running on the mobile computing device at the time of the reported interaction.
However, Bhatia further discloses:
monitoring, by the one or more processors, operating states of one or more additional applications running on the mobile computing device by the ad management application during a time interval for display of the one or more digital ad assets by the ad-requesting application (i.e. monitoring analytics of operating states of the one or more additional programs running on mobile computing device, such as TV programming application or social media, in real-time or during the advertisement display) (Bhatia: Col. 48 Lines 21-42 “In further implementations, the Mobile-Track may determine whether a user clicked a URL link comprising media program content, e.g., a Youtube link, etc. The Mobile-Track may extract an identifier, e.g., a web ID, etc., to determine the name of the media program. In another implementation, the Mobile-Track may obtain excerpts of the media program, and determine a name of the media program via an embedded digital signature. In further implementation, the MobileTrack may set time stamp on the user's click on the URL link comprising a media program to record how long the user has been exposed to the media program. Further implementation of the ad identification are discussed in FIG. 7F. In further implementations, the Mobile-Track may track a user's browsing history by monitoring a stream of "clicks" the user has submitted on his mobile device. For example, the Mobile-Track may monitor user's "clicks" to determine a type of the click, e.g., usage of media playing, visits of a different URL link, posting of social media contents, usage of an application, and/or the like. Using an app. The MobileTrack may then determine advertisement exposure associated with each "click" ( e.g., via ad image identification illustrated in FIG. 7F).” Furthermore, as cited in Col. 38 Lines 6-30 “In one implementation, the Mobile-Track media measurement portal 570 may use different platforms for social media reporting and structured data reporting, and have a tight integration at the data and UI layers of both the platforms. Additional implementations of the Mobile-Track media measurement portal 570 may comprise: out of the box connectors for social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc ( e.g., at 583e, etc.); web based taxonomy creation and management user interfaces; industry specific prebuilt taxonomies ( e.g., at 583b, etc.); text analytics engine with sentiment analysis with learning algorithms (e.g., at 583c, etc.); ability to define fields for which social content needs to be extracted ( e.g., at 583c, etc.); data API calls to extract large data set in and out of the platform in real time and/or in batch mode (e.g., at 583d, etc.); data API calls for UI widget integration to create mesh-up ( e.g., at 572, etc.); multiple tenant support to ensure taxonomies defined at organization and department level (e.g., at 583b, etc.); single sign on support with active directory service interfaces (ADSI) and other light weight directory access protocol (LDAP) providers ( e.g., at 572, 573a, etc.); components to generate insights from large historical data ( e.g., over two terabytes of data); components to schedule data extraction jobs from social media sites (e.g., at 583e, etc.); components to support to host the service on a cloud, and/or the like.”); and
obtaining, by the one or more processors, application data by the ad management application to confirm the reported interaction, wherein the application data includes the operating states of the one or more additional applications running on the mobile computing device at the time of the reported interaction (i.e. obtaining application data to confirm advertisement interaction, wherein application includes operating states of other applications with the advertisement interaction time stamp and wherein the data is received in real-time) (Bhatia: Col. 23 Lines 19-37 “In another embodiment, the Mobile-Track server 220 may generate questions 338b synchronized and/or related to the TV program ads 343a, which may be devised by the Mobile-Track based on the media content the user has viewed, the advertisement the user has viewed, and/or the like. For example, if the channel the user has been watching recently has played advertisement of "Audi," the Mobile-Track may prompt a question to the user such as "which brand automobile would you prefer?" to determine the advertisement effects. In another example, the user 233a may receive realtime information synchronized with a product placement embedded in the TV program. For example, when a user is watching a TV show, he may receive a prompt question 338b related to an embedded advertisement in a scene of the TV show, e.g., "Do you want to learn more about Penny's sunglasses?" In a further implementation, the Mobile-Track may redirect the user to a URL "www.buythings.com/XYZ-designer/spring2000" if the user clicks to learn more about the product.” Furthermore, as cited in Col. 48 Lines 21-42 “In further implementations, the Mobile-Track may determine whether a user clicked a URL link comprising media program content, e.g., a Youtube link, etc. The Mobile-Track may extract an identifier, e.g., a web ID, etc., to determine the name of the media program. In another implementation, the Mobile-Track may obtain excerpts of the media program, and determine a name of the media program via an embedded digital signature. In further implementation, the MobileTrack may set time stamp on the user's click on the URL link comprising a media program to record how long the user has been exposed to the media program. Further implementation of the ad identification are discussed in FIG. 7F. In further implementations, the Mobile-Track may track a user's browsing history by monitoring a stream of "clicks" the user has submitted on his mobile device. For example, the Mobile-Track may monitor user's "clicks" to determine a type of the click, e.g., usage of media playing, visits of a different URL link, posting of social media contents, usage of an application, and/or the like. Using an app. The MobileTrack may then determine advertisement exposure associated with each "click" ( e.g., via ad image identification illustrated in FIG. 7F).” Furthermore, as cited in Col. 38 Lines 6-30 “In one implementation, the Mobile-Track media measurement portal 570 may use different platforms for social media reporting and structured data reporting, and have a tight integration at the data and UI layers of both the platforms. Additional implementations of the Mobile-Track media measurement portal 570 may comprise: out of the box connectors for social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc ( e.g., at 583e, etc.); web based taxonomy creation and management user interfaces; industry specific prebuilt taxonomies ( e.g., at 583b, etc.); text analytics engine with sentiment analysis with learning algorithms (e.g., at 583c, etc.); ability to define fields for which social content needs to be extracted ( e.g., at 583c, etc.); data API calls to extract large data set in and out of the platform in real time and/or in batch mode (e.g., at 583d, etc.); data API calls for UI widget integration to create mesh-up ( e.g., at 572, etc.); multiple tenant support to ensure taxonomies defined at organization and department level (e.g., at 583b, etc.); single sign on support with active directory service interfaces (ADSI) and other light weight directory access protocol (LDAP) providers ( e.g., at 572, 573a, etc.); components to generate insights from large historical data ( e.g., over two terabytes of data); components to schedule data extraction jobs from social media sites (e.g., at 583e, etc.); components to support to host the service on a cloud, and/or the like.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to add Bhatia’s monitoring, by the one or more processors, operating states of one or more additional applications running on the mobile computing device by the ad management application during a time interval for display of the one or more digital ad assets by the ad-requesting application; and obtaining, by the one or more processors, application data by the ad management application to confirm the reported interaction, wherein the application data includes the operating states of the one or more additional applications running on the mobile computing device at the time of the reported interaction to Choi’s sending, by the one or more processors an ad response from the ad management application to the ad-requesting application, wherein the ad response includes the one or more digital ad assets for display to a user of the mobile computing device by the ad-requesting application. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so in order “to design customized products/content/advertising to shoppers/viewers, and real time analytics to better manage ad campaigns, and/or the like.” (Bhatia: Col. 46 Lines 36-38).
With respect to Claims 11 and 16:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 1. Claim 11 recites “A mobile computing device, comprising: one or more processors; and a computer-readable memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile computing device to:” (Choi: ¶ [0032]) perform the steps of method claim 1. Claim 16 recites “A computer-readable memory coupled to one or more processors and storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors of a mobile computing device, cause the one or more processors to:” (Choi: ¶¶ [0033] [0034]) perform the steps of method claim 1. Claims 11 and 16 do not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 1. Therefore they are rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 2:
Choi teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the ad request comprises a remote procedure call from the ad-requesting application to the ad management application (i.e. ad request is sent from ad receiving terminal with ad app to ad engine) (Choi: Fig. 2 and ¶ [0026] “Although the embodiments of the present invention described below will be presented using names of entities defined by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which is a 3rd generation mobile communication standard, or by MobAd of Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), which is a standard group providing applications for mobile terminals, the standards and entity names are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and the present invention may be applied to any other systems having similar technical backgrounds.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0032] [0033] “The Ad receiving terminal 100, i.e., a mobile terminal receiving mobile advertisements based on a mobile advertising service, may be a mobile phone, PDA, etc. The Ad receiving terminal 100 includes the Ad Engine 130 and at least one Ad App 150…The Ad App 150 provides an interface between the user and the Ad Engine 130 to enable an advertisement request and keyword entry by the user. Further, the Ad App 150 describes advertisements received from the Ad Server 120 and provides them for the user. That is, the Ad App 150 may replay video advertisements and voice advertisements or display text advertisements according to their type.”).
With respect to Claims 12 and 17:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 2. Claims 12 and 17 do not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 2. Therefore they are rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 3:
Choi teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the ad request message contains an augmented ad request (i.e. request includes new or additional request for more/new C&P information or local environment data) (Choi: ¶ [0059] “If additional C & P information is needed as there are too many advertisements corresponding to the keyword received from the Ad Engine 13 0, the Ad Server 120 acquires new C & P information by sending a request for the new C & P information to the C & P resource unit 110 in step 409. In this embodiment, where it is assumed that as there are too many advertisements corresponding to the keyword reflected by the Ad Engine 130, the Ad Server 120 provides an advertisement by additionally using the new C & P information representing location information of the current user.”); and
generating the ad request message comprises (i) collecting local environment data associated with the mobile computing device and (ii) augmenting information of the ad request with the local environment data to generate the augmented ad request (i.e. collecting/receiving C&P information associated with mobile device and adding said information to ad request) (Choi: ¶¶ [0060] [0061] “In step 411, the Ad Server 120 selects an advertisement corresponding to the C & P information acquired in step 403 and the C & P information transmitted in step 405. If there is no advertisement corresponding to the C & P information acquired in step 403 and the C & P information transmitted in step 405, the Ad Server 120 may provide a default advertisement…In step 413, the Ad Server 120 delivers the location information and keyword, which are the applied to the C & P information, to the Ad Engine 130 together with the advertisement. The delivery method of step 413 is equal to the delivery method of step 313 in FIG. 3, except for the C & P information provided with the advertisement.”).
With respect to Claims 13 and 18:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 3. Claims 13 and 18 do not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 3. Therefore they are rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 4:
Choi does not explicitly disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein: the ad-requesting application has a first set of permissions for accessing resources of the mobile computing device; the ad management application has a second set of permissions for accessing resources of the mobile computing device that is different from the first set of permissions; and the local environment data is collected by the ad management application according to the limitations of the second set of permissions.
However, Milton further discloses:
wherein: the ad-requesting application has a first set of permissions for accessing resources of the mobile computing device (i.e. permission to access transaction records from device) (Milton: ¶¶ [0135] [0136] “The architecture may include a message broker described below, that communicates with a distributed processing system described below, to access and updates records in an in-memory database described below…In some cases, a feed of network activity log data may be received by a message broker configured to handle real-time data feeds, for instance with a distributed transaction log, like with Apache Kafka™. Some embodiments may executing the message processing system on a cluster of servers. In some cases, messages may be arranged in topics of messages, with each message having a key, a value, and a timestamp.”);
the ad management application has a second set of permissions for accessing resources of the mobile computing device that is different from the first set of permissions (i.e. different permission is given to access location data of device) (Milton: ¶ [0181] “From time to time, the location of the mobile devices 216 may be obtained by the mobile devices. For example, when a user interacts with a special-purpose application, in some cases, the application may have permission to obtain the location of the mobile device and report that location to a third party server associated with the application, such that the location may be obtained by the user profiler 212 from the third party server. In another example, the user may visit a website having code that obtains the current location of the mobile device. This location may be reported back to the server from which the website was obtained or some other third party server, such as an ad server for an affiliate network, and location histories may be obtained from this server. In another example, locations of the mobile devices 216 may be obtained without the participation of the mobile device beyond connecting to a network.”); and
the local environment data is collected by the ad management application according to the limitations of the second set of permissions (i.e. location data of device is collected according to permission to access data) (Milton: ¶ [0181] “From time to time, the location of the mobile devices 216 may be obtained by the mobile devices. For example, when a user interacts with a special-purpose application, in some cases, the application may have permission to obtain the location of the mobile device and report that location to a third party server associated with the application, such that the location may be obtained by the user profiler 212 from the third party server. In another example, the user may visit a website having code that obtains the current location of the mobile device. This location may be reported back to the server from which the website was obtained or some other third party server, such as an ad server for an affiliate network, and location histories may be obtained from this server. In another example, locations of the mobile devices 216 may be obtained without the participation of the mobile device beyond connecting to a network.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to add Martin’s ad-requesting application has a first set of permissions for accessing resources of the mobile computing device; the ad management application has a second set of permissions for accessing resources of the mobile computing device that is different from the first set of permissions; and the local environment data is collected by the ad management application according to the limitations of the second set of permissions to Choi’s sending, by the one or more processors an ad response from the ad management application to the ad-requesting application, wherein the ad response includes the one or more digital ad assets for display to a user of the mobile computing device by the ad-requesting application. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so in order for “facilitating the presentation of high-value and high-relevance advertisements and services to users while respecting the users' interest in privacy.” (Milton: ¶ [0051]).
With respect to Claims 14 and 19:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 4. Claims 14 and 19 do not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 4. Therefore they are rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 5:
Choi does not explicitly disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 3,wherein the local environment data comprises one or more of a type of the mobile computing device, an age of the mobile computing device, or a location of the mobile computing device.
However, Milton further discloses wherein the local environment data comprises one or more of a type of the mobile computing device, an age of the mobile computing device, or a location of the mobile computing device (i.e. operating system type or device type, version identifier reads on age of computing device, and location of device) (Milton: ¶ [0095] “In some cases, information beyond time and location may be used for matching. For instance, in some embodiments, ea