DETAILED ACTION
The action is responsive to the Application filed on 04/22/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in the case. Claims 1 and 11 are independent claims.
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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18 and 19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 11, 12, 15, 16, 18 and 19 of U.S. Patent No. 11966567. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims are an obvious variant of the claim set from the '567 patent only including minor differences in structure, see chart below where bolded portions are similar.
Application No. 18/642719
U.S. Patent No. 11966567
1. A system, comprising:
one or more processors and memory, the one or more processors configured to:
receive a request from an application executing on a user device, the application presenting a lobby interface comprising one or more contests displayed according to a ranking;
detect a change in a projected number of registrants for a first contest of the one or more contests based on a current number of registrants for the first contest and an amount of time until a registration deadline for the first contest;
update the ranking of the one or more contests of the lobby interface based on the change in the projected number of registrants; and
provide instructions cause the application to update the lobby interface according to the updated ranking of the one or more contests.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine the projected number of registrants based on at least one previous contest.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the at least one previous contest based on a similarity score determined based on the first contest and the at least one previous contest.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive the request in response to an interaction with the application executing on the user device.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the application to present the first contest positioned above a second contest of the one or more contests in a graphical list.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is associated with a user profile, and the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the one or more contests from a plurality of contests based on one or more profile attributes of the user profile.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the updated ranking of the one or more contests is generated further based on the one or more profile attributes.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more profile attributes include one or more of a history of past contests, a plurality of lineups, a user type, a location, and price parameters.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein the user profile is a first user profile of a plurality of user profiles, and the one or more processors are further configured to: identify one or more historic contests in which a second user profile of the plurality of user profiles has participated; and generate the instructions to cause the application to present, in the lobby interface, at least one additional contest selected based on the one or more historic contests.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the second user profile based on an association identified in the first user profile.
11. (Original) A system, comprising:
one or more processors coupled to non-transitory memory, the one or more processors configured to:
receive a request for contests from a device associated with a first user profile including one or more profile attributes, the device executing an application configured to present a lobby corresponding to the first user profile;
determine, for each contest of one or more contests, based on a current number of registrants entered into the contest and an amount of time until a registration deadline of the contest, a projected number of registrants at the registration deadline of the contest;
assign, to each contest of the one or more contests, a respective rank value based on the projected number of registrants at the registration deadline of the contest; and
provide one or more respective identifiers of the one or more contests to the device for display in the lobby of the application according to the respective rank value for each contest of the one or more contests.
12. (Original) The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the projected number of registrants for each contest of the one or more contests further based on registrant data of one or more similar contests.
15. (Original) The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate the lobby for the first user profile including the one or more contests, wherein the one or more contests are arranged in the lobby according to the respective rank value for each contest of the one or more contests.
16. (Original) The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to identify the one or more contests from a plurality of contests based on the one or more profile attributes of the first user profile.
18. (Original) The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify one or more historic contests in which the second user profile has participated; and
generate one or more recommendations for contests from a plurality of contests based on the one or more historic contests in which the second user profile has participated.
19. (Original) The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more profile attributes include one or more of a history of past contests, a plurality of lineups, a user type, a location, and price parameters.
Claims 1, 5-9, 11 and 15-19 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 31, 33, 34, 37 and 39 of U.S. Patent No. 11604569. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims are an obvious variant of the claim set from the '569 patent only including minor differences in structure, see chart below where bolded portions are similar.
Application No. 17/409437
U.S. Patent No. 11604569
1. A system, comprising:
one or more processors and memory, the one or more processors configured to:
receive a request from an application executing on a user device, the application presenting a lobby interface comprising one or more contests displayed according to a ranking;
detect a change in a projected number of registrants for a first contest of the one or more contests based on a current number of registrants for the first contest and an amount of time until a registration deadline for the first contest;
update the ranking of the one or more contests of the lobby interface based on the change in the projected number of registrants; and
provide instructions cause the application to update the lobby interface according to the updated ranking of the one or more contests.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine the projected number of registrants based on at least one previous contest.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the at least one previous contest based on a similarity score determined based on the first contest and the at least one previous contest.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive the request in response to an interaction with the application executing on the user device.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the application to present the first contest positioned above a second contest of the one or more contests in a graphical list.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is associated with a user profile, and the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the one or more contests from a plurality of contests based on one or more profile attributes of the user profile.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the updated ranking of the one or more contests is generated further based on the one or more profile attributes.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more profile attributes include one or more of a history of past contests, a plurality of lineups, a user type, a location, and price parameters.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein the user profile is a first user profile of a plurality of user profiles, and the one or more processors are further configured to: identify one or more historic contests in which a second user profile of the plurality of user profiles has participated; and generate the instructions to cause the application to present, in the lobby interface, at least one additional contest selected based on the one or more historic contests.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the second user profile based on an association identified in the first user profile.
31. (Currently Amended) A system, comprising:
one or more processors coupled to memory, the one or more processors configured to:
receive a request for contests from a device associated with a first user profile, the first user profile including an activity profile and one or more profile attributes;
identify, using a selection algorithm, for a personalized lobby for the first user profile;
assign, using a ranking algorithm, to each contest of the one or more contests, a respective rank value based on (i) a projected number of registrants at a registration deadline associated with the contest and (ii) a similarity score between the one or more profile attributes and one or more contest attributes of the contest;
generate the personalized lobby for the first user profile including the one or more contests, wherein the one or more contests are arranged in the personalized lobby according to the respective rank value for each contest of the one or more contests; and
provide the personalized lobby to the device associated with the first user profile.
33. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify a plurality of profile attributes including one or more historic contests in which the first user profile has participated; and
generate one or more recommendations for contests from the plurality of contests based on the plurality of profile attributes.
34. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 33, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine, using the selection algorithm, the one or more recommendations for contests from the plurality of contests based on the one or more historic contests in which the first user profile has participated.
36. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:generate a second personalized lobby for a second user profile linked with the first user profile, the second personalized lobby including the one or more contests arranged in the second personalized lobby according to the respective rank value of each contest of the one or more contests; and provide the second personalized lobby to a second device associated with the second user profile with the one or more contests arranged in the second personalized lobby based on a likelihood that a second user associated with the second user profile will participate in the one or more contests.
37. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 36, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: extract, from the second user profile, a plurality of second profile attributes including one or more historic contests in which the second user profile has participated; and generate one or more recommendations for contests from the plurality of contests based on the plurality of second profile attributes.
39. (Previously Presented) The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more profile attributes include one or more of the following: a history of past contests, a plurality of lineups, a user type, a location, and price parameters.
Claims 1, 5-9, 11 and 15-19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 11, 17 and 19 of U.S. Patent No. 111263331. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims are an obvious variant of the claim set from the '331 patent only including minor differences in structure, see chart below where bolded portions are similar..
Application No. 18/642719
U.S. Patent No. 11126331
1. A system, comprising:
one or more processors and memory, the one or more processors configured to:
receive a request from an application executing on a user device, the application presenting a lobby interface comprising one or more contests displayed according to a ranking;
detect a change in a projected number of registrants for a first contest of the one or more contests based on a current number of registrants for the first contest and an amount of time until a registration deadline for the first contest;
update the ranking of the one or more contests of the lobby interface based on the change in the projected number of registrants; and
provide instructions cause the application to update the lobby interface according to the updated ranking of the one or more contests.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine the projected number of registrants based on at least one previous contest.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the at least one previous contest based on a similarity score determined based on the first contest and the at least one previous contest.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive the request in response to an interaction with the application executing on the user device.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the application to present the first contest positioned above a second contest of the one or more contests in a graphical list.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is associated with a user profile, and the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the one or more contests from a plurality of contests based on one or more profile attributes of the user profile.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the updated ranking of the one or more contests is generated further based on the one or more profile attributes.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more profile attributes include one or more of a history of past contests, a plurality of lineups, a user type, a location, and price parameters.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein the user profile is a first user profile of a plurality of user profiles, and the one or more processors are further configured to: identify one or more historic contests in which a second user profile of the plurality of user profiles has participated; and generate the instructions to cause the application to present, in the lobby interface, at least one additional contest selected based on the one or more historic contests.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: identify the second user profile based on an association identified in the first user profile.
11. (Currently Amended) A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory comprising computer-readable instructions stored therein that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a request for one or more contests from a device associated with a first user profile, the first user profile including an activity profile and one or more profile attributes, the request including one or more contest attributes;
identify a user vector associated with the first user profile, the user vector linking the first user profile with one or more different user profiles of a plurality of user profiles in a contest management system, each of the one or more different user profiles in the user vector having similar profile attributes, the one or more different user profiles associated with one or more different users from a first user associated with the first user profile;
determine, using a selection algorithm, the one or more contests from a plurality of contests for the first user profile based on (i) the activity profile, (ii) the one or more profile attributes of the one or more different user profiles in the user vector, and (iii) the one or more contest attributes;
assign, using a ranking algorithm, to each contest of the one or more contests, a respective rank value based on a projected number of registrants at a registration deadline associated with the contest and based on the similar profile attributes of the one or more different user profiles;
generate a personalized lobby for the first user profile having the one or more contests, wherein the one or more contests are arranged in the personalized lobby according to the respective rank value for each contest of the one or more contests; and
provide the personalized lobby to the device associated with the first user profile.
16. (Currently Amended) The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to: generate a second personalized lobby for a second user profile of the one or more different user profiles linked with the first user profile in the user vector, the second personalized lobby including the one or more contests arranged in the second personalized lobby according to [[their]] the respective rank valuesvalue of each contest of the one or more contests; and provide the second personalized lobby to the device associated with the second user profile with the one or more contests arranged in the second personalized lobby based on a likelihood that a second user associated with the second user profile will participate in the one or more contests.
17. (Currently Amended) The system of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to: extract, from the second user profile, a plurality of profile attributes, the plurality of profile attributes including contests in which the second user profile has participated and contests in which the one or more different user profiles linked with the first user profile in the user vector have participated; and generate, one or more recommendations for contests from the plurality of contests based on the plurality of profile attributes.
19. (Original) The system of claim 11, wherein the profile attributes include one or more of the following: a history of past contests, a plurality of lineups, a user type, a location, and price parameters.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 5-8, 11 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Vojnovic et al. (US 20100293026 A1, hereinafter Vojnovic).
As to claim 1, Vojnovic discloses a system, comprising:
one or more processors and memory, the one or more processors configured (“Computing-based device 900 also comprises one or more processors 901 which may be microprocessors, controllers or any other suitable type of processors for processing computing executable instructions to control the operation of the device in order to provide a crowdsourcing system,” Vojnovic paragraph 0070; “The computer executable instructions may be provided using any computer-readable media, such as memory 902,” Vojnovic paragraph 0071) to:
receive a request from an application executing on a user device, the application presenting a lobby interface comprising one or more contests displayed according to a ranking ("This relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants N. The contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602," Vojnovic paragraph 0057);
detect a change in a projected number of registrants for a first contest of the one or more contests based on a current number of registrants for the first contest and an amount of time until a registration deadline for the first contest ("This parameter may be observed by the crowdsourcing node 100 which is arranged to monitor the number of participants in each contest 101 over time. The crowdsourcing node 100 may also be arranged to estimate or monitor the total number of potential participants 104," Vojnovic paragraph 0025 "The crowdsourcing node 100 is arranged to observe and/or estimate 500 the total number N of potential users of the crowdsourcing service," Vojnovic paragraph 0032; "The crowdsourcing node stores or has access to details of a plurality of contests 101 each having an associated reward. Each contest comprises a task and a time period for completing the task," Vojnovic paragraph 0023);
update the ranking of the one or more contests of the lobby interface based on the change in the projected number of registrants ("This relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants N. The contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602," Vojnovic paragraph 0057); and
provide instructions cause the application to update the lobby interface according to the updated ranking of the one or more contests ("This relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants N. The contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602," Vojnovic paragraph 0057).
As to claim 5, Vojnovic further discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the application to present the first contest positioned above a second contest of the one or more contests in a graphical list ("This relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants N. The contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602," Vojnovic paragraph 0057).
As to claim 6, Vojnovic further discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the user device is associated with a user profile, and the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify the one or more contests from a plurality of contests based on one or more profile attributes of the user profile ("The contest recommendation engine 600 has a data structure storing a function for partitioning the population of users into the skill levels. An example of this function is given in equation 2 below. It also has another data structure holding a relationship specifying the probability that a player of a particular skill selects a particular contest of a given class. An example of this relationship is given in equation 3 below. This probability relationship is used by the contest recommendation engine 600 to rank contests in a skill specific way and so to create a list of recommended contests 602 for a particular user. For example, given a user with a particular skill, the contest recommendation engine maps that user to a given skill level," Vojnovic paragraph 0059; "The contest recommendation engine then recommends all the selected contest classes or selects a subset of those to recommend to the user. The sub set may be selected in any suitable manner for example, by making a random selection, on the basis of past history for that user, on the basis of information about the contests or in any other way," Vojnovic paragraph 0065, getting and ranking contests based on user skill level and past history of the user).
As to claim 7, Vojnovic further discloses the system of claim 6, wherein the updated ranking of the one or more contests is generated further based on the one or more profile attributes ("The contest recommendation engine 600 has a data structure storing a function for partitioning the population of users into the skill levels. An example of this function is given in equation 2 below. It also has another data structure holding a relationship specifying the probability that a player of a particular skill selects a particular contest of a given class. An example of this relationship is given in equation 3 below. This probability relationship is used by the contest recommendation engine 600 to rank contests in a skill specific way and so to create a list of recommended contests 602 for a particular user. For example, given a user with a particular skill, the contest recommendation engine maps that user to a given skill level," Vojnovic paragraph 0059, ranking contest based on a user's skills and skill level).
As to claim 8, Vojnovic further discloses the system of claim 6, wherein the one or more profile attributes include one or more of a history of past contests, a plurality of lineups, a user type, a location, and price parameters ("The contest recommendation engine 600 has a data structure storing a function for partitioning the population of users into the skill levels. An example of this function is given in equation 2 below. It also has another data structure holding a relationship specifying the probability that a player of a particular skill selects a particular contest of a given class. An example of this relationship is given in equation 3 below. This probability relationship is used by the contest recommendation engine 600 to rank contests in a skill specific way and so to create a list of recommended contests 602 for a particular user. For example, given a user with a particular skill, the contest recommendation engine maps that user to a given skill level," Vojnovic paragraph 0059; "The contest recommendation engine then recommends all the selected contest classes or selects a subset of those to recommend to the user. The sub set may be selected in any suitable manner for example, by making a random selection, on the basis of past history for that user, on the basis of information about the contests or in any other way," Vojnovic paragraph 0065, getting and ranking contests based on user skill level (i.e., a user type) and past history of contests of the user).
As to claim 11, Vojnovic discloses a method, comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors coupled to memory (“Computing-based device 900 also comprises one or more processors 901 which may be microprocessors, controllers or any other suitable type of processors for processing computing executable instructions to control the operation of the device in order to provide a crowdsourcing system,” Vojnovic paragraph 0070; “The computer executable instructions may be provided using any computer-readable media, such as memory 902,” Vojnovic paragraph 0071), a request from an application executing on a user device, the application presenting a lobby interface comprising one or more contests displayed according to a ranking ("This relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants N. The contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602," Vojnovic paragraph 0057);
detecting, by the one or more processors, a change in a projected number of registrants for a first contest of the one or more contests based on a current number of registrants for the first contest and an amount of time until a registration deadline for the first contest ("This parameter may be observed by the crowdsourcing node 100 which is arranged to monitor the number of participants in each contest 101 over time. The crowdsourcing node 100 may also be arranged to estimate or monitor the total number of potential participants 104," Vojnovic paragraph 0025 "The crowdsourcing node 100 is arranged to observe and/or estimate 500 the total number N of potential users of the crowdsourcing service," Vojnovic paragraph 0032; "The crowdsourcing node stores or has access to details of a plurality of contests 101 each having an associated reward. Each contest comprises a task and a time period for completing the task," Vojnovic paragraph 0023);
updating, by the one or more processors, the ranking of the one or more contests of the lobby interface based on the change in the projected number of registrants ("This relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants N. The contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602," Vojnovic paragraph 0057); and
providing, by the one or more processors, instructions cause the application to update the lobby interface according to the updated ranking of the one or more contests ("This relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants N. The contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602," Vojnovic paragraph 0057).
As to claim 15, it is substantially similar to claim 5 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
As to claim 16, it is substantially similar to claim 6 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
As to claim 17, it is substantially similar to claim 7 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
As to claim 18, it is substantially similar to claim 8 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
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 2-4 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vojnovic et al. (US 20100293026 A1, hereinafter Vojnovic) in view of Thaler et al. (US 20170095739 A1, hereinafter Thaler).
As to claim 2, Vojnovic discloses the system of claim 1, however Vojnovic does not appear to explicitly disclose a limitation wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine the projected number of registrants based on at least one previous contest.
Thaler teaches a limitation wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine the projected number of registrants based on at least one previous contest ("By way of a non-limiting example, suppose a contest with an entry fee of F dollars fills Y minutes before the contest start time. In accordance with one or more embodiments, contest manager 102 uses at least one previous contest generation period to determine a number of users who joined contests with the same entry fee, F, in the last Y minutes before contest start time in the previous contest generation period(s). By way of a non-limiting example, for MLB, the system can use the previous day's MLB data to estimate how many additional participants are likely to enter a contest with entry fee F in the time remaining, Y," Thaler paragraph 0050).
Accordingly it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Vojnovic to use previous contests to estimate a projected number of registrants as taught by Thaler. One would have been motivated to make such a combination so that more data could be used to estimate the number of registrants thus increasing the chances of the estimation being accurate.
As to claim 3, Vojnovic as modified by Thaler further discloses the system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify the at least one previous contest based on a similarity score determined based on the first contest and the at least one previous contest ("In accordance with one or more embodiments, contest manager 102 uses at least one previous contest generation period to determine a number of users who joined contests with the same entry fee, F, in the last Y minutes before contest start time in the previous contest generation period(s)," Thaler paragraph 0050).
As to claim 4, Vojnovic discloses the system of claim 1, however Vojnovic does not appear to explicitly disclose a limitation wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive the request in response to an interaction with the application executing on the user device.
Thaler teaches a limitation wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive the request in response to an interaction with the application executing on the user device (“The GUI screen examples shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 may be provided by one or more server computers via an electronic communications network, such as and without limitation the internet, and generated by a web browser a number of user computing devices, for example,” Thaler paragraph 0118; “The example shown in FIG. 7 provides a listing of MLB contests with guaranteed payouts. Each line below the title line corresponds to an instance of a contest generated by contest manager 102. Fields 702, 704, 706, 708 and 710 display information for each contest instance including a contest description in field 702, number of current participants and maximum number of possible participants in field 704, an entry fee amount in field 706, a prize pool amount, e.g., a total amount of the prizes to be awarded, in field 708 and a contest start time in field 710. The contest start time may be used to by the contest manager 102 to determine a contest generation period,” Thaler paragraph 0019).
Accordingly it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Vojnovic to display a lobby interface based on a user request as taught by Thaler. One would have been motivated to make such a combination so that the user could actually see the generated lobby interface whenever the user would like thus resulting in greater utility and greater ease of use.
As to claim 12, it is substantially similar to claim 2 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
As to claim 13, it is substantially similar to claim 3 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
As to claim 14, it is substantially similar to claim 4 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
Claims 9, 10, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vojnovic et al. (US 20100293026 A1, hereinafter Vojnovic) in view of Lippert (US 20190080427 A1).
As to claim 9, Vojnovic discloses the system of claim 6, however Vojnovic does not appear to explicitly disclose a limitation wherein the user profile is a first user profile of a plurality of user profiles, and the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify one or more historic contests in which a second user profile of the plurality of user profiles has participated; and
generate the instructions to cause the application to present, in the lobby interface, at least one additional contest selected based on the one or more historic contests.
Lippert teaches a limitation wherein the user profile is a first user profile of a plurality of user profiles, and the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify one or more historic contests in which a second user profile of the plurality of user profiles has participated ("For example, the newsfeed 502 includes multiple entries that displays bets proposed to the user, bets that the user is currently involved with, and bets that the user's friends and contacts are currently involved with," Lippert paragraph 0077); and
generate the instructions to cause the application to present, in the lobby interface, at least one additional contest selected based on the one or more historic contests ("For example, the newsfeed 502 includes multiple entries that displays bets proposed to the user, bets that the user is currently involved with, and bets that the user's friends and contacts are currently involved with," Lippert paragraph 0077).
Accordingly it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Vojnovic to use a friend’s contests to display contests to the user as taught by Lippert. One would have been motivated to make such a combination so that the selected contests to be displayed could be more relevant to the user.
As to claim 10, Vojnovic as modified by Lippert further discloses the system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
identify the second user profile based on an association identified in the first user profile ("For example, the newsfeed 502 includes multiple entries that displays bets proposed to the user, bets that the user is currently involved with, and bets that the user's friends and contacts are currently involved with," Lippert paragraph 0077).
As to claim 19, it is substantially similar to claim 9 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
As to claim 20, it is substantially similar to claim 10 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20190066449 A1 to Gill et al. discloses an interactive wagering machine where bets are recommended to the user based on the user's list of friends; and
US 20100041482 A1 to Kumar et al. discloses a recommendation generator and method for determining affinities to participate in a venture exchange where bets are recommended to the user based on the user's list of friends.
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/DANIEL SAMWEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2171