DETAILED ACTION
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 Amendment
The Amendment filed on 9/18/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 6-7 with respect to claims 1 and 11 have been considered but are moot upon a further consideration and a new ground of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Checkley (US PGPub 2015/0370402).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 11 recite the limitation of ‘frame-by-frame seek control’. However, the specification of the imminent application fails to disclose the features of ‘frame-by-frame seek control’ required by the claims 1 and 11. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
in association with each other
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 and 11 recite the limitation "the smart seek command’. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims. The term “the smart seek command” does not have a proper antecedent basis in the referenced claims 1 and 11.
Claims 1 and 11 recite the limitations " … at least one watched portion of the media stream …”, “… drags a slider over at least one watched portion …” and “… being dragged to at least one watched portion, …”. There are THREE ‘at least one watched portion’ within the claims and if these terms ‘at least one watched portion’ refer to the same feature, the later TWO ‘at least one watched portion’ should be treated to show antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Checkley (US PGPub 2015/0370402).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Checkley teaches a method (Checkley, see abstract, Methods, systems and media for controlling playback of video using a touchscreen are provided) comprising:
generating for display a media stream (Checkley, see paragraph 0036, FIG. 3A shows an example of a mobile device 302 presenting a video using a screen 304 of a touchscreen); and
providing a smart seek function comprising: tracking, based on at least user interface input interacting with a progress bar for the media stream: at least one watched portion of the media stream during navigation or playing of the media stream; and at least one unwatched portion of the media stream (Checkley, see figure 3A and paragraph 0036, during presentation of the video by mobile device 302, a progress bar 306 can show a current time of the video that is being presented by showing a bar that fills progress bar 306 as the video is presented. Therefore, the bar that fills on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the presented portion of the video, and the empty area (not filled) on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the unwatched portion of the video); and
responsive to a user interface selection of the smart seek command that drags a slider over at least one watched portion providing frame-by-frame seek control (Checkley, see paragraph 0041, process 100 can respond to a swipe from right to left detected at 108 by causing presentation of the video to skip backward (e.g., rewind) a predetermined amount (which can be the same or different than the amount by which a rightward swipe causes presentation to skip ahead));
based at least in part on the slider being dragged to at least one watched portion, skipping the at least one watched portion (Checkley, see paragraph 0041, process 100 can respond to a swipe from left to right detected at 108 by causing presentation of the video to skip forward (e.g., fast forward) a predetermined amount); and
adjusting the display of the media stream to a play position corresponding to the at least one unwatched portion, and resuming the frame-by-frame seek control (Checkley, see paragraph 0069, FIG. 7C shows an example of mobile device 302 after processes 100 and/or 240 detect inputs to navigate through thumbnails, such as swipe 710 and/or any other suitable inputs in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. As shown, process 240 can cause thumbnails 712-716 to be presented, which can represent video at times around a time represented by progress bar 306 as shown in FIG. 7C).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Checkley teaches wherein the smart seek function is used in conjunction with at least one of a key frame, a progress indicator, a scroll bar, or a scrub bar (Checkley, see paragraph 0036, a progress bar 306 can show a current time of the video that is being presented by showing a bar that fills progress bar 306 as the video is presented).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Checkley teaches wherein the smart seek function includes a button that can be selected by a user at the client device (Checkley, see figure 3A and paragraph 0036, during presentation of the video by mobile device 302, a progress bar 306 can show a current time of the video that is being presented by showing a bar that fills progress bar 306 as the video is presented. Therefore, the bar that fills on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the presented portion of the video, and the empty area (not filled) on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the unwatched portion of the video).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Checkley teaches wherein the smart seek function is integrated into a media location browsing interface (Checkley, see paragraph 0068, FIG. 7A shows an example of mobile device 302 presenting the video using screen 304 when a press and hold gesture illustrated as filled in circle 702 is detected in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Checkley teaches wherein the media location browsing interface includes the smart seek function, wherein selection of the smart seek function initiates navigation to a prior viewing location in the media stream (Checkley, see figure 3A and paragraph 0036, during presentation of the video by mobile device 302, a progress bar 306 can show a current time of the video that is being presented by showing a bar that fills progress bar 306 as the video is presented. Therefore, the bar that fills on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the presented portion of the video, and the empty area (not filled) on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the unwatched portion of the video).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Checkley teaches wherein the smart seek function is activated by user action, wherein the user action includes a single swipe across a display associated with a client device (Checkley, see figure 3A and paragraph 0036, during presentation of the video by mobile device 302, a progress bar 306 can show a current time of the video that is being presented by showing a bar that fills progress bar 306 as the video is presented. Therefore, the bar that fills on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the presented portion of the video, and the empty area (not filled) on the progress bar of figure 3A shows the unwatched portion of the video).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Checkley teaches comprising:
in response to the client device receiving a request for the smart seek function, navigating the playing of the media stream to at least one bookmarked location (Checkley, see paragraph 0041, process 100 can respond to a swipe from right to left detected at 108 by causing presentation of the video to skip backward (e.g., rewind) a predetermined amount (which can be the same or different than the amount by which a rightward swipe causes presentation to skip ahead)).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Checkley teaches wherein the request for the smart seek function includes a single press or a single swipe (Checkley, see paragraph 0041, process 100 can respond to a swipe from right to left detected at 108 by causing presentation of the video to skip backward (e.g., rewind) a predetermined amount (which can be the same or different than the amount by which a rightward swipe causes presentation to skip ahead)).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Checkley teaches wherein:
the request for the smart seek function is selectable from any key frame (Checkley, see paragraph 0041, process 100 can respond to a swipe from left to right detected at 108 by causing presentation of the video to skip forward (e.g., fast forward) a predetermined amount), and
in response to the request for the smart seek function, the key frame is centered to the at least one bookmarked location (Checkley, see paragraph 0069, FIG. 7C shows an example of mobile device 302 after processes 100 and/or 240 detect inputs to navigate through thumbnails, such as swipe 710 and/or any other suitable inputs in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. As shown, process 240 can cause thumbnails 712-716 to be presented, which can represent video at times around a time represented by progress bar 306 as shown in FIG. 7C).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Checkley teaches wherein the smart seek function is accessible via at least one of a mobile device, a laptop device, a desktop device, or a tablet device (Checkley, see paragraph 0027, an application or a web browser being executed by a computing device having a touchscreen (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, an all-in-one computer, a desktop computer having a touchscreen, a laptop having a touchscreen, etc.) can present a video in a player window corresponding to at least a portion of a screen of the computing device).
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 CHONG G KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-0619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri @ 9am - 5pm.
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, Nicholas R. Taylor can be reached at 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHONG G KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
/NICHOLAS R TAYLOR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2443
