DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/9/2026 has been entered.
Claim Status
Claims 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, and 15 are pending in this Office Action.
Claims 1, 6, 11, and 15 are amended.
Claims 2, 4-5, 7, 9-10, 12, and 14 are cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 6, 11, and 15 have been considered but, are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection. The reasons set forth below.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 6, 11, and 15 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, line 9, “for” should be added before “a service logo” to improve form. The same change should be made in claims 6, 11, and 15.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 6, 11, and 15 each recite “the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with”. It is not clear if the service image is actually interchangeable and complementary or if the claim only requires an intention of the service image to be interchangeable and complementary. Therefore, it is unclear what the metes and bounds of these claims are.
Claims 3, 8, and 13 are rejected as being dependent on indefinite claims 1, 6, and 11.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (WO 2020/162712) in view of HiSilicon Technologies, “Service Discovery and Programme Metadata for DVB-I” (Hereafter “DVB”), further in view of Candelore et al. (US 2005/0028193), and further in view of Jitkoff et al. (US 2015/0371411).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, Park teaches: A method and apparatus for processing media data [(abstract)], the method comprising:
generating media data [providing generated media content of a service, such as MPEG video (page 8 and 56, Fig. 4 and 5)]
generating a service list related to the media data [a service list server may generate a service list (page 13, 21, and 44, Fig. 21 and 46)]
transmitting the media data over a broadcast network or broadband [providing broadcast service delivery through a broadcast network and a broadband network (page 8-9, Fig. 4 and 5)]
receiving a query of a service discovery [receiving a query as part of a discovery process for broadcast service (page 12-13, Fig. 9-10)] and
transmitting a service discovery list table [receiving the query and transmitting a response including a Service Discovery List Table (SDLT) (page 12-13, Fig. 9-10)],
wherein the service discovery list table includes: related material information including a related value, and a media locator for representing a URI to an image file [SDLT includes related material information including a HowRelated element indicating how files indicated by the related material information are related to a broadcast service, and a media locator information may include media URI to an image file related to a broadcast service, such as a promotional still image (page 42-44, Fig. 32 and 43-44)].
While Park discloses icons related to a service, Park does not explicitly disclose: the related value including at least one of a term ID equal to 1001.1 for a service list logo, a term ID equal to 1001.2 a service logo, and a term ID equal to 1001.3 for a service image; the image file is for the service list logo or the service logo; wherein the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data; and a format of the image includes an image/webp.
DVB teaches: the related value including at least one of a term ID equal to 1001.1 for a service list logo, a term ID equal to 1001.2 a service logo, and a term ID equal to 1001.3 for a service image [the HowRelated section may include termIDs, where value “1001.1” indicates a service list logo, a second value “1001.2” indicates a service logo, and a third value “1000.1” indicates an image, such as a banner (page 33 and 174-175)]
the image file is for the service list logo or the service logo [URI to the image file for service list log or service logo (page 33)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Park and DVB before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Park by incorporating the related value including at least one of a term ID equal to 1001.1 for a service list logo, a term ID equal to 1001.2 a service logo, and a term ID equal to 1001.3 for a service image and the image file is for the service list logo or the service logo as disclosed by DVB. The motivation for doing so would have been to describe how the service list logo or service logo is related to the service in accordance with the DVB-I standard. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Park and DVB in obtaining the invention as specified in the instant claim.
DVB does not explicitly disclose: the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data; and a format of the service image includes an image/webp.
Candelore teaches: the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data [images or logos may be intended to be substitutable, such as a local channel logo may be substituted for a national logo or may be additionally supplemented (par. 35 and 43, Fig. 7)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Park, DVB, and Candelore before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Park and DVB by incorporating the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data as disclosed by Candelore. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow a local content distributor to replace a logo with a local logo (Candelore - par. 27). Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Park and DVB with Candelore in obtaining the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Candelore does not explicitly disclose a format of the service image includes an image/webp.
Jitkoff teaches: a format of the service image includes an image/webp [a format of the image may be JPEG, PNG, WebP, or any other image file format (par. 35)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Park, DVB, Candelore, and Jitkoff before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Park, DVB, and Candelore by incorporating a format of the service image includes an image/webp. DVB discloses that the images may be of type image/jpeg or image/png, but other image formats can also be provided (page 33). Therefore, the motivation for including webp would have been to incorporate a well-known image format as a matter of preference. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Park, DVB, and Candelore with Jitkoff to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Regarding claims 3 and 8, Park, DVB, Candelore, and Jitkoff teach the method of claim 1; Park further teaches: the service discovery list table comprises a plurality of service lists for multiple service list servers [multiple service list servers and receiving an aggregated service list including all DVB-I service lists (page 21-22, Fig. 21)].
Regarding claim 11, Park teaches: A method of processing media data by a Digital Video Broadcasting-Internet, DVB-I, client [processing broadcast content by a DVB-I player (page 21, Fig. 21)], the method comprising:
receiving a broadcast signal over a broadcast network or broadband [The DVB-I player (21000) may mean a broadcast signal receiving apparatus that receives the content over broadcast network or broadband network (page 21-22, Fig. 21)]
transmitting a query of a service discovery [transmit a query for requesting a Service Discovery List Table (SDLT) (page 12-13, Fig. 9-10)] and
receiving a service discovery list table [receiving the SDLT (page 13)],
wherein the service discovery list table includes: related material information including a related value, and a media locator for representing a URI to an image file [SDLT includes related material information including a HowRelated element indicating how files indicated by the related material information are related to a broadcast service, and a media locator information may include media URI to an image file related to a broadcast service, such as a promotional still image (page 42-44, Fig. 32 and 43-44)].
While Park discloses icons related to a service, Park does not explicitly disclose: the related value including at least one of a term ID equal to 1001.1 for a service list logo, a term ID equal to 1001.2 a service logo, and a term ID equal to 1001.3 for a service image; the image file is for the service list logo or the service logo; wherein the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data; and a format of the image includes an image/webp.
DVB teaches: the related value including at least one of a term ID equal to 1001.1 for a service list logo, a term ID equal to 1001.2 a service logo, and a term ID equal to 1001.3 for a service image [the HowRelated section may include termIDs, where value “1001.1” indicates a service list logo, a second value “1001.2” indicates a service logo, and a third value “1000.1” indicates an image, such as a banner (page 33 and 174-175)]
the image file is for the service list logo or the service logo [URI to the image file for service list log or service logo (page 33)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Park and DVB before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Park by incorporating the related value including at least one of a term ID equal to 1001.1 for a service list logo, a term ID equal to 1001.2 a service logo, and a term ID equal to 1001.3 for a service image and the image file is for the service list logo or the service logo as disclosed by DVB. The motivation for doing so would have been to describe how the service list logo or service logo is related to the service in accordance with the DVB-I standard. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Park and DVB in obtaining the invention as specified in the instant claim.
DVB does not explicitly disclose: the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data; and a format of the service image includes an image/webp.
Candelore teaches: the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data [images or logos may be intended to be substitutable, such as a local channel logo may be substituted for a national logo or may be additionally supplemented (par. 35 and 43, Fig. 7)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Park, DVB, and Candelore before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Park and DVB by incorporating the service image is intended to be interchangeable and complementary with the service logo to depict a scene or theme for service data as disclosed by Candelore. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow a local content distributor to replace a logo with a local logo (Candelore - par. 27). Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Park and DVB with Candelore in obtaining the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Candelore does not explicitly disclose a format of the service image includes an image/webp.
Jitkoff teaches: a format of the service image includes an image/webp [a format of the image may be JPEG, PNG, WebP, or any other image file format (par. 35)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Park, DVB, Candelore, and Jitkoff before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Park, DVB, and Candelore by incorporating a format of the service image includes an image/webp. DVB discloses that the images may be of type image/jpeg or image/png, but other image formats can also be provided (page 33). Therefore, the motivation for including webp would have been to incorporate a well-known image format as a matter of preference. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Park, DVB, and Candelore with Jitkoff to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 13, claim 13 is rejected for the same reasons given in the above rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 is rejected for the same reasons given in the above rejection of claim 11.
Conclusion
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/ALEXANDER BOYD/ Examiner, Art Unit 2424
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