DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 08/28/2025 have been considered but are moot in view of a new ground of rejections.
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2021/0073551 A1 – hereinafter Lee), Wang et al. (US 2009/0240650 A1 – hereinafter Wang), Kobayashi et al. (US 2013/0024807 A1 – hereinafter Kobayashi), and Cheong et al. (US 2016/0103830 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses a method comprising: obtaining subtitles for an item of media content ([0044] – obtaining subtitles from a subtitle file for a video content); dividing the subtitles to create shorts ([0044] – dividing the subtitles into subtitle segments); obtaining video data for the item of media content ([0043]-[0062] – obtaining video data for the video content); dividing the video data into video shots, wherein the dividing occurs at scene boundaries of the video data ([0043]; [0053]-[0057] – dividing the video data into video segments, the dividing occurs when a difference between two consecutive frames exceeds a threshold thus indicating a scene change); and aligning the shorts with the video shots to create content segments ([0058] – aligning the shorts of subtitles with the video segments), wherein displaying in response to a search string provided by a user search results comprising ones of the content segments that correspond to the search string (Fig. 4; [0077]-[0079]; [0083] – displaying search results in response to a search string ‘water’). Li also discloses using UI navigation to display items interacted by the user ([0039]); and displaying thumbnails (Fig. 4).
However, Li does not explicitly disclose dividing the subtitles into topics to create shorts corresponding to the topics, wherein each of the content segments is associated with at least one of the topics; during presentation of the media content, displaying in response to a search string provided by a user search results comprising ones of the content segments that correspond to the search string; and in response to selection of one of the content segments from the search results, navigating the presentation of the content to a beginning of the selected one of the content segments; wherein the displaying further comprises, for each of the ones of the content segments that correspond to the search string, displaying a thumbnail corresponding to the content segments, wherein each of the thumbnails comprises an image derived from video data comprising the corresponding content segment.
Wang discloses dividing subtitles into topics to create shorts corresponding to the topics, wherein each of the content segments is associated with at least one of the topics (Fig. 4; [0058] – dividing the subtitles into topics to create shorts, each short comprising a group of consecutive subtitles of a same subject or topic as shown in Fig. 4); displaying in response to a search string provided by a user search results comprising ones of the content segments that correspond to the search string ([0023] – displaying a response to a search string, e.g. “sports” etc., as “desired contents” to be retrieved by the user so that the user can locate the desired content conveniently).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Wang into the method of Li to facilitate searching video segments based on topics.
However, Li and Wang do not disclose during presentation of the media content to a user, displaying in response to a search string provided by a user search results comprising ones of the content segments that correspond to the search string; and in response to selection of one of the content segments from the search results, navigating the presentation of the content to a beginning of the selected one of the content segments; wherein the displaying further comprises, for each of the ones of the content segments that correspond to the search string, displaying a thumbnail corresponding to the content segments, wherein each of the thumbnails comprises an image derived from video data comprising the corresponding content segment.
Kobayashi discloses displaying in response to a search string provided by a user search results comprising ones of content segments that correspond to the search string ([0069]-[0071] – displaying search results corresponding to a search string during playback of a content); and in response to selection of one of the content segments from the search results, navigating the presentation of the content to a beginning of the selected one of the content segments ([0085]; Fig. 6 – at steps S104-S105); wherein the displaying further comprises, for each of the ones of the content segments that correspond to the search string, displaying a thumbnail corresponding to the content segments, wherein each of the thumbnails comprises an image derived from video data comprising the corresponding content segment (Figs. 5A-5B – search results can be displayed in form of thumbnails extracted from the corresponding scene video as further described in at least [0071]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Kobayashi into the method taught by Li and Wang to enhance the search and playback interface of the method.
Li, Wang, and Kobayashi do not disclose the displaying of search results during presentation of the media content to a user.
Cheong discloses displaying of search results during presentation of a media content to a user ([0047]-[0049] – searching is performed during playback of a content).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings of Cheong into the method taught by Li, Wang, and Kobayashi to allow the user to search for desired segments at any convenient time including during playback.
Regarding claim 2, Li also discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the aligning the shorts with the video shots to create content segments further comprises comparing an end time of one of the shorts with an end time of an aligned one of the video shots ([0058] – comparing end time of the subtitle segment with end time of the end frame of the video shots).
Regarding claim 3, Li also discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the aligning the shorts with the video shots to create content segments further comprises updating the end time of the aligned one of the video shots to correspond to the end time of the short ([0059]; Fig. 3D – updating the end time of the aligned one of the video shots by merging video segments).
Regarding claim 4, Li also discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the content segments are searchable ([0077]-[0079]; Fig. 4 – the content segments are searched and search results can be displayed).
Regarding claim 5, Li also discloses the method of claim 1, wherein each of the content segments has associated therewith a start time, an end time ([0058]-[0059] – a start time corresponding to the time of the start frame and an end time corresponds to the time of the end frame), and a summary ([0068]; Fig. 4 – scene labels provide a summary).
Regarding claim 6, Li also discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising identifying content segments that correspond to a search request from a user (Fig. 4; [0078]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG Q DANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1116. The examiner can normally be reached IFT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thai Q Tran can be reached at 571-272-7382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HUNG Q DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484
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