DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims:
Claims 1 – 20 are pending.
Claims 9 and 17 are amended. This rejection is Final.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments in the amendments, filed 11/05/2025, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The reasons set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1 – 2, 7 – 10, 15 – 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bergstrom (US 20190158930).
As per claim 1, a computer system comprising:
a processing system including one or more processing devices and one or more computer storage devices, the processing system processing computer program instructions that configure the processing system to implement:
an application processing data (Client Device 200 also includes a Standard Player 232 (in one embodiment, a standard video player integrated into a Standard HTML5 Web Browser 230) to view or play streaming digital content, See ¶98);
a setup protocol client in communication with the application and responsive to the application to request establishment of a real-time streaming connection using a real-time streaming protocol with another device, the request including a request for one or more bidirectional data channels within the real-time streaming connection (Client Device 200 in communication with Web Browser 230 requests bi-directional establishment of a real-time streaming connections with other Client Devices 20, See ¶101 - 104); and
a real-time streaming client in communication with the application to receive the data from the application and to communicate the data to the other device over the bidirectional data channel of the real-time streaming connection (STD Player 232 in communication with Client Device 200 communicates video channel data via the bi-directional data channel through Signaling Server 330, See ¶101 - 104).
As per claim 2, the computer system of claim 1, wherein the application further processes streaming media data with the data, and wherein the setup protocol client is further responsive to the application to request establishment of one or more streaming media channels on the real-time streaming connection, and wherein the real-time streaming client is further in communication with the application to further receive the streaming media data and the data from the application and transmit the streaming media data over the one or more streaming media channels of the real-time streaming connection to the other device while communicating data to and from the application and the other device over the bidirectional data channel of the real-time streaming connection (Web Browser 230 requests streaming media data from one or more video channels, wherein Client Device 200 receives the streaming media data over the bidirectional data channel, See ¶101 - 104).
As per claim 7, the computer system of claim 2, wherein the data on the bidirectional data channel includes metadata to be synchronized with the live real-time streaming media data (Video event data includes metadata synchronized with the generated video and audio, See ¶10).
As per claim 8, the computer system of claim 1, wherein the real-time streaming client further is configured to receive data from the other device over the bidirectional data channel of the real-time streaming connection and to communicate the data to the application (Client Device 200 in communication with Web Browser 230 requests bi-directional establishment of a real-time streaming connections with other Client Devices 200, See ¶101 - 104).
As per claim 9, a computer system comprising:
a processing system including one or more processing devices and one or more computer storage devices, the processing system processing computer program instructions that configure the processing system to implement:
an application processing data (Client Device 200 also includes a Standard Player 232 (in one embodiment, a standard video player integrated into a Standard HTML5 Web Browser 230) to view or play streaming digital content, See ¶98);
a setup protocol client in communication with the application and responsive to the application to request establishment of a real-time streaming connection using a real-time streaming protocol with another device, the request including data specifying one or more bidirectional data channels within the real-time streaming connection (Client Device 200 in communication with Web Browser 230 requests bi-directional establishment of a real-time streaming connections with other Client Devices 20, See ¶101 - 104); and
a real-time streaming client in communication with the application to communicate the data received from the other device over the bidirectional data channel of the real-time streaming connection to the application (STD Player 232 in communication with Client Device 200 communicates video channel data via the bi-directional data channel through Signaling Server 330, See ¶101 - 104).
As per claim 10, the computer system of claim 9, wherein the application further processes streaming media data with the data, and wherein the setup protocol client is further responsive to the application to request establishment of one or more streaming media channels on the real-time streaming connection, and wherein the real-time streaming client is further in communication with the application to further receive the streaming media data over the one or more streaming media channels of the real-time streaming connection from the other device, while communicating data to and from the application and the other device over the bidirectional data channel of the real-time streaming connection and communicating the received streaming media data to the application (Web Browser 230 requests streaming media data from one or more video channels, wherein Client Device 200 receives the streaming media data over the bidirectional data channel, See ¶101 - 104).
As per claim 15, the computer system of claim 10, wherein the data on the bidirectional data channel includes metadata to be synchronized with the live real-time streaming media data (Video event data includes metadata synchronized with the generated video and audio, See ¶10).
As per claim 16, the computer system of claim 9, wherein the real-time streaming client further is configured to receive data from the application and to send data to the other device over the bidirectional data channel of the real-time streaming connection (STD Player 232 in communication with Client Device 200 communicates video channel data via the bi-directional data channel through Signaling Server 330, See ¶101 - 104).
As per claim 17, a computer system comprising:
a processing system including one or more processing devices and one or more computer storage devices, the processing system processing computer program instructions that configure the processing system to implement:
a real-time streaming server instance supporting establishment of a real-time streaming connection with one or more bidirectional data channels within the real-time streaming connection, to communicate data over the one or more bidirectional data channels within the real-time streaming connection (Virtual Broadcast Server 300 supports establishment of real-time streaming connections via bidirectional data channels to communicate data between Client Devices 200, See ¶101 – 104 / Fig. 3); and
a setup protocol server instance responsive to requests from other devices to establish a real-time streaming connection with the real-time streaming server instance, the requests including a request for one or more bidirectional data channels within a requested real-time streaming connection, wherein the setup protocol server instance, in response to a request from a device, issues a request to the real-time streaming server instance to establish the requested real-time streaming connection with the requested one or more bidirectional data channels within the real-time streaming connection, and responds to the device with connection information for the device to complete the requested real-time streaming connection (Virtual Broadcast-Server 300 provides a HTML5 webpage (setup protocol server instance) wherein requests from Client Devices 200, initiated from interaction with said webpage, issues a request to establish a real-time streaming connection between two Client Devices 200, See ¶101 – 104 and ¶129).
As per claim 18, the computer system of claim 17, the setup protocol server instance is further responsive to requests to establish one or more streaming media channels on the real-time streaming connection (Virtual Broadcast Server 300 supports establishment of real-lime streaming connections via bidirectional data channels to communicate data between Client Devices 200, See ¶101 – 104).
As per claim 20, the computer system of claim 18, wherein the data on the bidirectional data channel includes metadata to be synchronized with the live real-time streaming media data (Video event data includes metadata synchronized with the generated video and audio, See ¶10).
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.
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.
Claim(s) 3 – 6, 11 – 14, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom (US 20190158930) and in view of Murillo (NPL / WebRTC-HTTP ingest protocol (WHIP) and WebRTC-HTTP Egress protocol (WHEP)).
As per claim 3, Bergstrom discloses all limitations of claim 2.
Bergstrom discloses:
the computer system of claim 2, wherein the setup protocol client comprises a WebRTC … client and the real-time streaming client comprises a WebRTC client supporting the WebRTC protocol (Client Device 200 comprises WebRTC 222 supporting the WebRTC protocol, See ¶101 – 102, Fig. 2).
Bergstrom however does not expressly disclose:
a WebRTC for HTTP Ingest Protocol (WHIP) client.
Murillo discloses:
… a WebRTC for HTTP Ingest Protocol (WHIP) client (WHIP client, See Sections 2 and 3) …
It would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the Applicant's effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Murillo’s teaching of a WHIP client, along with a setup protocol client comprising a WebRTC client to improve Bergstrom’s system. Bergstrom and Murillo both disclose systems WebRTC streaming protocols. Murillo’s system includes a WHIP client that encodes and delivers media to remote media servers. The combination is an improvement upon the existing system because a setup protocol client can comprise a WebRTC client, as taught by Bergstrom, where the setup protocol client can be a WHIP client, as taught by Murillo, to allow a simpler protocol for streaming content in real-time using WebRTC.
As per claim 4, the computer system of claim 3, wherein the computer system comprises a WebRTC streaming server housing a WebRTC server instance and a WHIP/WHEP server instance (Murillo, WebRTC Media Server housing a server instance for the ingress and egress of streaming data to WHIP/WHEP clients, See Sections 2 and 3).
As per claim 5, the computer system of claim 3, wherein the computer system comprises a stream manager for a cluster of server computers comprising a plurality of WebRTC server computers, wherein each WebRTC server computer includes a respective WebRTC server instance, and wherein the stream manager includes a WHIP/WHEP server instance, and is configured to, in response to a request to the WHIP/WHEP server instance, select a WebRTC server computer for supplying the requested WebRTC connection and to communicate with the WebRTC server instance of the selected WebRTC server computer (Murillo, A plurality of WHIP/WHEP endpoints and WebRTC Media Servers on separate servers are provided and managed to deliver requests to each of said endpoint and server, See WHIP Section 4.3 / WHEP Section 4.6).
As per claim 6, the computer system of claim 3, wherein the computer system comprises a load balancer for a collection of server computers comprising a plurality of WebRTC server computers, each WebRTC server computer including a respective WebRTC server instance and an associated WHIP/WHEP server instance (Murillo, A load balancer is provided to balance the load between a plurality of WHIP/WHEP endpoints and WebRTC Media Servers, See WHIP Section 4.3 / WHEP Section 4.6), and wherein the load balancer is configured to, in response to a request, select a WebRTC server computer for supplying the requested WebRTC connection and to communicate with the WHIP/WHEP server instance of the selected WebRTC server computer, and wherein the WHIP/WHEP server instance of the selected WebRTC server computer is configured to respond to the setup protocol client (Murillo, The load balancer, in response to requests, selects a WebRTC Media Server to supply a WebRTC connection to wherein the WebRTC Media Server responds to the WHIP/WHEP client with the requested media, See WHIP Section 4.3 / WHEP Section 4.6).
As per claim 11, the computer system of claim 10, wherein the setup protocol client comprises a WebRTC for HTTP Egress Protocol (WHEP) client (Murillo, WHEP client, See Sections 2 and 3) and the real-time streaming client comprises a WebRTC client supporting the WebRTC protocol (Bergstrom, Client Device 200 comprises WebRTC 222 supporting the WebRTC protocol, See ¶101 – 102, Fig. 2).
As per claim 12, the computer system of claim 11, wherein the computer system comprises a WebRTC streaming server housing a WebRTC server instance and a WHIP/WHEP server instance (Murillo, WebRTC Media Server housing a server instance for the ingress and egress of streaming data to WHIP/WHEP clients, See Sections 2 and 3).
As per claim 13, the computer system of claim 11, wherein the computer system comprises a stream manager for a plurality of server computers comprising a plurality of WebRTC server computers, each WebRTC server computer including a respective WebRTC server instance, and wherein the stream manager includes a WHIP/WHEP server instance, and wherein the stream manager is configured to, in response to a request, select a WebRTC server computer for supplying the requested WebRTC connection and to communicate with the WebRTC server instance of the selected WebRTC server computer (Murillo, A plurality of WHIP/WHEP endpoints and WebRTC Media Servers on separate servers are provided and managed to deliver requests to each of said endpoint and server, See WHIP Section 4.3 / WHEP Section 4.6).
As per claim 14, the computer system of claim 11, wherein the computer system comprises a load balancer for a plurality of server computers including a plurality of WebRTC server computers, each WebRTC server computer including a respective WebRTC server instance and an associated WHIP/WHEP server instance (Murillo, A load balancer is provided to balance the load between a plurality of WHIP/WHEP endpoints and WebRTC Media Servers, See WHIP Section 4.3 / WHEP Section 4.6), and wherein the load balancer is configured to, in response to a request, select a WebRTC server computer for supplying the requested WebRTC connection and to communicate with the WHIP/WHEP server instance of the selected WebRTC server computer, and wherein the WHIP/WHEP server instance of the selected WebRTC server computer responds to the setup protocol client (Murillo, The load balancer, in response to requests, selects a WebRTC Media Server to supply a WebRTC connection to wherein the WebRTC Media Server responds to the WHIP/WHEP client with the requested media, See WHIP Section 4.3 / WHEP Section 4.6).
As per claim 19, the computer system of claim 18, wherein the setup protocol server instance comprises a WebRTC for HTTP Ingress or Egress Protocol (WHIP or WHEP) server instance and the real-time streaming server instance comprises a WebRTC server instance supporting the WebRTC protocol (Murillo, The setup protocol server instance comprises a WHIP or WHEP endpoint and the real-time streaming server instance supports WebRTC, See Sections 2 and 3).
Remarks
Applicant s arguments, with regards to independent claims 1, 9, and 17 and dependent claims 7, 15, and 20, filed on 11/05/2025, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The current arguments are based on independent claims 1, 9, and 17 and dependent claims 7, 15, and 20 which are present in the remarks by the applicant.
With respect to independent claims 1, 9, and 17, Applicant argues that Bergstrom does not disclose “a setup protocol client in communication with the application and responsive to the application to request establishment of a real-time streaming connection using a real-time streaming protocol with another device, the request including a request for one or more bidirectional data channels within the real- time streaming connection.” Examiner responds that Bergstrom discloses a setup protocol client in communication with the application by teaching a WebRTC client that communicates with a desktop or smartphone application (¶101) and discloses responsive to the application to request establishment of a real-time streaming connection using a real-time streaming protocol with another device by teaching that upon clicking a link from an application, in response, the signaling server can establish a real time connection via the WebRTC client with a client or another device (¶102), where the request including a request for one or more bidirectional data channels within the real- time streaming connection is taught by the client device utilizing the communicator for bidirectional communications with the signaling server within the real time streaming connection (¶104). Therefore, Bergstrom discloses the claimed limitation as required.
With respect to dependent claims 7, 15, and 20, Applicant argues that Bergstrom does not disclose “wherein the data on the bidirectional data channel includes metadata to be synchronized with the live real-time streaming media data.” Examiner responds that as previously discussed, Bergstrom discloses a bidirectional communication for receiving and relaying video content in a real time streaming connection (¶101 - 104) where the video event data can include synchronized metadata with the generated video and audio (¶10). Therefore, Bergstrom discloses the claimed limitation as required.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/NAZIA NAOREEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458