DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/05/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
4. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEWIS et al (2012/0047542) in view of SYLVAIN (2008/0127246) and further in view of BADAWLYEH (2022/0321932).
As to claims 1-9, LEWIS discloses systems and method for rule based dynamic server-side streaming manifest and further discloses a method or system comprising:
a manifest server in communication with a user device; and a storage device in communication with the manifest server (dynamic manifest server “DMFS” and Storage devices or servers figs.1-4 and [0015-0019]), DMFS configured to
Receiving, by a dynamic manifest server (dynamic manifest server “DMFS” of the system figs.1-4 and [0015-0019]), a request for streaming a content item in a streaming session initiated on a user device; obtaining, by the dynamic manifest server, a content playlist including a plurality of content segments associated with the requested content item; sending, by the dynamic manifest server, a request for advertisement (Ad) to be played in an Ad break session within the streaming session to an Ad provider; obtaining, by the dynamic manifest server, an Ad response from the Ad provider, the Ad response including an Ad playlist of a plurality of Ad segments associated with the Ad; sending, by the dynamic manifest server, the Ad response to a storage device configured to store the Ad response by the storage device (figs.1-4, [0015-0019], [0022-0028] and [0030-0033] and [0035-0041]), DMFS evaluates various business rules and dynamically creates specific version of manifest of content segments and ad segments over various servers in a CDN: ; live, pre-recorded, etc. tailored according to client type and sate of interactions; the manifest or playlist can be updated in real-time or periodically based on the various factors
Generating, by the dynamic manifest server, a variant manifest file including the content playlist and the Ad segments of the Ad playlist inserted in the content playlist; sending the variant manifest file to the user device configured to initiate playback of the content segments and the Ad segments specified in the variant manifest file by the user device; obtaining real-time user state data indicating a current playback status of the streaming session; and in response to a determination that the playback of the Ad segments in the Ad break session (played or inserted between segments during Specific or predetermined time periods or intervals or blocks to play ads, [0022-0028]-Ad breaks) has been completed based on the current playback status of the streaming session, automatically executing, by the storage device, a first cache clearing process to (remove the Ad) response from the storage device determining, by the dynamic ([0015-0019], [0022-0028]-Ad breaks and [0030-0033] and [0035-0041]), DMFS evaluates various business rules and dynamically creates specific version of manifest of content segments and ad segments over various servers in a CDN: ; live, pre-recorded, etc. tailored according to client type using the media player application (MPA) and sate of interactions; the manifest or playlist can be updated in real-time or periodically based on the various factors; the MPA can dynamically request real-time or periodically the manifest to add new rules to rule resolution to receive specific schedule advertising blocks; some videos may be pre-processed and cached for faster response; Ad breaks; played or inserted between segments during Specific or predetermined time periods or intervals or blocks to play ads) manifest server, that the Ad break session is within a first predetermined time duration from the current playback status, wherein the first predetermined time duration is of 30 seconds and other specific durations (see figs.2+ [0020-0026]); in response to the request for streaming a content item and generating, by the dynamic manifest server, a master manifest file; and sending, by the dynamic manifest server, the master manifest file to the user device, where the Ad break session correspond to a time period during which the AD segments are played between two segments associated with the content item ([0015-0019], [0022-0028] and [0030-0033] and [0035-0041]), DMFS dynamically creates specific version of manifest of content segments and ad segments tailored clients based on sate of interactions; the manifest or playlist can be updated in real-time or periodically based on the various factors; the MPA can dynamically request real-time or periodically the manifest to add new rules to rule resolution to receive specific schedule advertising blocks; some videos may be pre-processed and cached for faster response; Ad breaks; played or inserted between segments during Specific or predetermined time periods or intervals or blocks to play ads).
LEWIS caches segments of streams and ads including caching some for faster response, BUT appears silent as to in response to receiving, from the user device, an indication that playback of the Ad segments in the AD break session has been completed, executing, by the storage device, a first cache clearing process to remove the Ad response from the storage device.
However, in the same field of endeavor, SYLVAIN discloses digital media recorder-based advertising and further discloses in response to receiving, from the user device, an indication that playback of the Ad segments in the AD break session has been completed, executing, by the storage device, a first cache clearing process to remove the Ad response from the storage device (figs.1-6, Abstract, [0003-0004], [0016-0024] and [0027-0034]), interacting or skipping through ads and updating with target ads based on user state data
Hence it would have been obvious before the filing date of claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of SYLVAIN into the system of LEWIS for efficient processing of the ads to generate target ads on-demand during ad breaks for client devices accordingly
LEWIS as modified by SYLVAIN, appear silent as to where the updating removes ads from the storage, or performs a cache clearing process to remove ads and further silent as to time stamping manifest, an Ad template configured to guide the playback of the Ad segments specified in the Ad response, and the Ad template is sent to the user device along with the variant manifest file
However, in the same field of endeavor, BADAWLYEH discloses time-based dynamic secondary content replacement calls in time-shifted content and other various streaming session: broadcast, live, VOD, etc. content (figs.1-8, [0004-0016] and [0087-0100]) further discloses generating dynamic manifest of content tailored to clients, scheduled ads and other contents; timestamping the manifest, a determining that the playback of the Ad segments in specific Ad break(s) session(s) has been completed based on the current playback status of the streaming session, automatically executing, by the storage device, a first cache clearing process to remove the Ad response from the storage device; further time stamping manifest, an Ad template configured to guide the playback of the Ad segments specified in the Ad response, and the Ad template is sent to the user device along with the variant manifest file delivery to the clients accordingly; targeting specific ads schedule based on specific time window to various clients and dynamically and/or adaptively clearing the various manifest for the specific time window accordingly (figs.1-8, Abstract, [0011-0016], [0033-0035], [0095-0099], [0155-0157] and [0177-0180]), dynamic ad insertion to replace ads including global removal of all existing ads manifest or playlist or selectively replacement of individual ads within the playlist; ads placement may be limited during specific time window
Hence it would have been obvious before the filing date of claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of BADAWLYEH into the system of LEWIS as modified by SYLVAIN for efficient processing and streaming of various time sensitive content to various types of client devices accordingly
Claim 10 is met as previously discussed in claims 1-9.
As to claims 11-19, the claimed “A system comprising…” is composed of the same structural elements that were discussed with respect to claims 1-9.
Claim 20 is met as previously discussed in claims 1-9.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANNAN Q SHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7355. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7-4.
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/ANNAN Q SHANG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424
ANNAN Q. SHANG