Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/659,542

CONTENT ITEM RECOMMENDATIONS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
May 09, 2024
Examiner
SAINT CYR, JEAN D
Art Unit
2425
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Roku Inc.
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
60%
Grant Probability
Moderate
3-4
OA Rounds
3y 5m
To Grant
68%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 60% of resolved cases
60%
Career Allow Rate
355 granted / 590 resolved
+2.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 5m
Avg Prosecution
39 currently pending
Career history
629
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.2%
-34.8% vs TC avg
§103
69.9%
+29.9% vs TC avg
§102
9.6%
-30.4% vs TC avg
§112
5.7%
-34.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 590 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/14/2026 has been entered. Response to arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to all pending claims have been fully considered, but they are moot because of the new ground of rejection. Applicant argues that cited references failed to disclose determining, by at least one computer processor, interaction based data associated with the second form of content based on an interaction of a user with a first media content, wherein the first media content is of the second form; wherein the user historical data comprises a metric indicative of an average of a percentage duration of the media content consumed by a user before the media content is stopped. However, Lalwaney et al disclose a system being able to provide bookmark information and duration of the portion of the video content that is already presented to a user upon receiving a pause command as disclosed in para. 0065-0066; 0061; 0059. And Shanmugam et al disclose the system is able to monitor or track interactions or viewing history of a user with respect to media contents and the system is able to use machine learning model to recommended clips of video contents related to video contents being viewed or watched by the users and finally, the system may shorten the length of the received video content from a first time duration to a second time duration to provide or generate media clips as disclosed in para. 0017;0038; 0050; 0056;0064-0065.This action is made non-final. Claims rejections-35 U.S.C. 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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shanmugam(US.Pub.No.20250016411) in view of Lei(US.Pub.No.20170242571) and Phillips(US.Pub.No.20210193187) and Lalwaney (US.Pub.No. 20120087634). Regarding claim 1, Shanmugam et al disclose a computer-implemented method for generating a recommendation for a media content of a first form of content based on user interactions with a second form of content, comprising(the system is able to use machine learning model to recommended clips of video contents related to video contents being viewed or watched by the users; 0017; determining, by at least one computer processor, interaction based data associated with the second form of content based on an interaction of a user with a first media content, wherein the first media content is of the second form (the system is able to monitor or track interactions or viewing history of a user with respect to media contents and the system may shorten the length of the received video content from a first time duration to a second time duration to provide or generate media clips ; 0050; 0056;0064-0065;0017;0038); providing, as an input to at least one machine learning model(the system is able to use machine learning model to process data; abstract; 0018; 0047) , the interaction based data, a representation of the first media content(user can input data via user interface; 0014; 0016), user historical data indicative of a user behavior with media contents of the first form of content or the second form of content(the system can provide viewing history related to the user behavior to machine learning model to process data accordingly; 0017; 0067; 0121), and metadata associated with the first media content(the system provides metadata or parameters related to clips of video content; 0017). But did not explicitly disclose receiving, as an output from the at least one machine learning model, one or tags indicative of a user interest; identify a second media content of the first form of content based on the one or more tags, wherein the first form of content is of a different length than the second form of content and wherein the second media content is not associated with the first media content; wherein the user historical data comprises a metric indicative of an average of a percentage duration of the media content consumed by a user before the media content is stopped. However, Lei et al disclose receiving, as an output from the at least one machine learning model(an artificial intelligence,0091), one or tags indicative of a user interest(a user's personal interests,0010;0058); identify a second media content of the first form of content based on the one or more tags, wherein the first form of content is of a different length than the second form of content(the system is able to modify multimedia contents by providing a shorten version as summary of the multimedia content; 0015;0066-0067;0057). It would have been obvious for any person of ordinary skill in the art at that time the invention was filed to incorporate the teaching of Lei to modify Shanmugam by providing options to present a shorten version as summary of a multimedia contents for the purpose of improving viewing experiences accordingly. And Phillips et al disclose wherein the second media content is not associated with the first media content(the system is able to recommend scenes of other contents or descriptions of other contents to users based on scenes being currently watched or viewed in a video content;0100). It would have been obvious for any person of ordinary skill in the art at that time the invention was filed to incorporate the teaching of Phillips to modify Shanmugam and Lei by providing options to recommend scenes of contents or description of scenes associated with other contents for the purpose of improving the satisfaction of the users accordingly. And Lalwaney et al disclose wherein the user historical data comprises a metric indicative of an average of a percentage duration of the media content consumed by a user before the media content is stopped(the system is able to provide bookmark information and duration of the portion of the video content that is already presented to a user upon receiving a pause command; 0065-0066; 0061; 0059). It would have been obvious for any person of ordinary skill in the art at that time the invention was filed to incorporate the teaching of Lalwaney to modify Shanmugam and Lei and Phillips by providing bookmark information and duration of portion of video content being watched or viewed by a user resulting in “ wherein the user historical data comprises a metric indicative of an average of a percentage duration of the media content consumed by a user before the media content is stopped” for the purpose of controlling viewing history associated with the users accordingly. Regarding claim 2, Shanmugam et al disclose further comprising: determining additional interaction based data associated with the first form of content based on interactions of the user with the second media content(the system is able to monitor or track interactions or viewing history of a user with respect to media contents;0050; 0056;0064-0065); and retraining the at least one machine learning model based on the additional interaction based data(machine learning model can be trained to generate clips of media contents based 0on interaction related to the users; 0028;0032;0038). Regarding claim 3, Shanmugam et al disclose further comprising: transforming the interaction based data associated with the second form of content and the additional interaction based data associated with the first form of content to a common representation(the system can embed multiple data to the machine learning model; 0071-0072;0017;0020). Regarding claim 4, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 1. Regarding claim 5, Shanmugam et al disclose wherein the media content of the first form of content is a subset of a media content of the second form of content(the system is able to video clips or segments related to the main video contents; 0102; 0015; 0017;0038). Regarding claim 6, Shanmugam et al disclose wherein the at least one machine learning model includes a sequential machine learning model(see fig.1 and fig.2 having a sequence of machine learning models; 0018; 0020;0022;0028-0030). Regarding claim 7, Shanmugam et al disclose wherein the output of the at least one machine learning model comprises a sequence of short form video contents(0038; 0074). Regarding claim 8, Shanmugam et al disclose wherein the metadata associated with the first media content represents one of: a title of a first media content item; a category of the first media content item; a genre of the first media content item; a rating of the first media content; or cast information(the system is able to provide video contents by using different categories;0004; 0014; 0054). Regarding claim 9, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 1. Regarding claim 10, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 2. Regarding claim 11, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 3. Regarding claim 12, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 4. Regarding claim 13, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 5. Regarding claim 14, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 6. Regarding claim 15, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 7. Regarding claim 16, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 1. Regarding claim 17, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 2. Regarding claim 18, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 4. Regarding claim 19, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 5. Regarding claim 20, it is rejected using the same ground of rejection for claim 6. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEAN D SAINT CYR whose telephone number is (571)270-3224. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Pendleton can be reached at 5712727527. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JEAN D SAINT CYR/Examiner, Art Unit 2425 /Brian T Pendleton/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2425
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Prosecution Timeline

May 09, 2024
Application Filed
May 27, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Aug 22, 2025
Examiner Interview Summary
Aug 22, 2025
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Aug 26, 2025
Response Filed
Sep 20, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Jan 14, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Jan 21, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 11, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
60%
Grant Probability
68%
With Interview (+8.3%)
3y 5m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 590 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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