DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Miscellaneous
Claims pending: 1-20
Claims amended: 1, 8, 15,
Claims cancelled: n/a
New claims: 1-20
Response to Double Patenting
Applicant’s approved terminal disclaimer overcomes the double patenting issue raised; therefore, it is withdrawn.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment to claim 1, 8, 15 overcomes the Rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112 first paragraph raised; therefore, the Rejection is withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 8, 15 have been fully considered.
Regarding applicant’s remarks dated 01/06/2026, pg. 11-12.
Upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Fisch, see detailed action below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 8-11, 14-18, is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over (US 20040181818) to (Heyner) in view of (US 20170041668) to (Fisch).
Regarding claim(s) 8, 15, Heyner teach a computing system comprising a processor and a memory, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions that, upon execution by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a set of acts, (Fig. 1, 5, P. 31-230, 445,)
determining an amount of an incentive to be offered to a user of a media device in exchange for enabling monitoring to be performed on the media device with permission for the computing system to identify users within an audience;
presenting, via a display, monitoring agreement, wherein monitoring agreement specifies amount of incentives and associated permission to identified user within audience.. obtaining an input authorizing the monitoring to be performed with the associated permission; based on obtaining the input, enabling the computing system to perform the monitoring and identify users within the audience; and communicating, via a network interface, with a remote monitoring entity, to notify the remote monitoring entity that the monitoring is enabled with the associated permission and to enable issuance of the incentive. ( Fig. 5, 15, 17, 50, 54-55, 58, 60, 502, P. 53, 99, 161, 163, 202, 238-240, 257, 267-270, 311, 3225, 334, 335, having the viewer create a profile including entering the age, gender, ethnicity, etc. info of the viewer, which reads on (demographics) (specifically 15, 17, P. 53, 311, 325, 334, 335), and giving the viewers usage monitoring options as shown in Fig 5, where the viewer can select via their display an agreement to be monitored with incentives or not, or with exception, etc. which reads on (presenting, via a display, monitoring agreement, wherein monitoring agreement specifies amount of incentives and associated permission to identified user within audience) (specifically Fig 5, P. 238-239, 264), and offering different levels of incentives for different levels of monitoring, and allowing users to accumulate the incentives based on their selection, and identify as being present in the local audience, monitoring is enabled when user agrees to an monitoring agreement, and usage monitoring data is transmitted via network to usage application provider 300a, which reads on (a remote monitoring entity)).
Fisch further teach determining based on demographic information that a monitoring agreement is to be offered. (Abst, P.121, 122, monitor to obtain demographic information of a user such as via a survey, via the input and present an agreement to the user via the output device of the media presentation device, enable collection of monitoring information when the agreement is accepted, prevent collection of monitoring information when the agreement is not accepted, the users are sent metering items after their collected demographic information )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Heyner by determining based on demographic information that a monitoring agreement is to be offered as taught by Fisch in order to find ways to better allocate advertising expenditures and better market products.
Regarding claim(s) 9, 16, Heyner in view of Fisch teach The computing system, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method, obtaining the input, obtaining the input via a control receiver.
Heyner further teach receive remote control commands. (Fig 5, P. 31, 230, User input devices (200c) in the television environment typically take the form of a handheld remote control).
Regarding claim(s) 10, 17, Heyner in view of Fisch teach The computing system, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method, the monitoring to be performed, the media device.
Heyner further teach generating and reporting monitoring information representative of media presented by the media device. (P. 58, 60, 268, usage monitoring data is reported and transmitted via network to usage application provider 300a).
Regarding claim(s) 11, 18, Heyner in view of Fisch teach The computing system, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method, the monitoring to be performed, the media device, generating and reporting monitoring information.
Heyner further teach representative of a source providing the media to the media device. (P. 58, 60, 268, 458, usage monitoring data is reported and transmitted via network to usage application provider 300a, and monitoring the use of system resources by application programs (300c, 301d, and 302d), looking for certain "signatures" characterizing non-compliant application programs.).
Regarding claim(s) 14, Heyner in view of Fisch teach The computing system, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method, the monitoring to be performed, the media device, generating and reporting monitoring information.
Heyner further teach computing system is integrated with media device. (Fig. 34, 54-55, 58, 60, 502, P. 99, 161, 163, 202, 238-240, 257, 267-270, programmable television controller and a display device contained within an integrated media device (201a), specifically, FIG. 201 shows an integrated media device.... P. 34, 180, 241,)
Claim 12-13, 19-20, is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over (US 20040181818) to (Heyner) in view of (US 20170041668) to (Fisch) in view of (US 20120124604) to (Small).
Regarding claim(s) 12, 19, Heyner in view of Fisch teach The computing system, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method, the monitoring to be performed, the media device, generating and reporting monitoring information, identifying users within the audience
Heyner in view of Fisch fail to specifically teach identifying users within the audience via an imaging device.
Small further teach identifying users within the audience via an imaging device. (Fig. 1, P. 4, 18, 20, 24-25, 35-37, 40, 47-48, 81, monitoring using a camera and identified content data from multiple households, the identified viewer that agreed to be monitored/polled within the TV environment)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the
invention was made to modify Heyner in view of Fisch by identifying users within the audience via an imaging device as taught by Small in order to provide an unbiased response by the viewers of the TV programming.
Regarding claim(s) 13, 20, Heyner in view of Fisch teach The computing system, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the method, the monitoring to be performed, the media device, generating and reporting monitoring information, identifying users within the audience
Heyner in view of Fisch fail to specifically teach identifying users within the audience via an imaging device.
Small teach prompting the audience to identify themselves. (Fig. 1, P. 4, 18, 20, 24-25, 35-37, 40, 47-48, 81, one embodiment, users may be asked to identify themselves, specifically P. 36)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the
invention was made to modify Heyner in view of Fisch by identifying users within the audience via an imaging device as taught by Small in order to provide an unbiased response by the viewers of the TV programming.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 are allowable.
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 RONG LE whose telephone number is (571)270-7637. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (9 am - 6pm).
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/RONG LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421