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 .
This communication is in response to the argument filed on 04/08/2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending and are rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, with respect to the rejection under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and is persuasive. The terminal disclaimer filed Aril 8, 2026 has been reviewed and is accepted. The Double Patenting rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, with respect to the rejection under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicants are arguing in substant the following:
Arguments to claims 1, 8, and 15:
The prior art does not teach: sending the second content segment from the cache storage to the content playback device at a rate associated with the determined bandwidth.
Response to the arguments of claims 1, 8, and 15:
SZE [0023] teaches that after storing data into a buffer, a buffer manager controls routing of input data packets from the buffer through the plurality of data connections (e.g., connections 1-N of Fig. 1). An operations engine configured to modify the routing based on input data sets providing information on at least throughput, packet loss, latency. That is, SZE discloses that the routing through the connections to a gateway is based on the determining bandwidth of the input data. Paragraph [0152], fig. 1 further discloses that if the aggregate throughput of connections 106 is smaller than the throughput between endpoint 102 and gateway 104, data coming from endpoint 102 may need to be temporarily stopped, then resumed when the amount of data drops below the appropriate threshold. The process of controlling throughput from the local buffers based on the input data received from the source teaches the argued limitation. In sum, SZE’s system does the following:
Receives data packets from the source endpoint (content server) and stores them in local buffers (cache) (see further paragraph [0088]).
Determines bandwidth associated with transmission from the source based on receipt time lengths and data sizes ([0152 and [249-250]).
Uses a scheduler to control the output rate of the data packets from the local buffers to the downstream gateway at a rate of the determined throughput ([0023]).
SZE teaches that using measured incoming bandwidth and throughput to manage buffer output rates so the downstream side is not overwhelmed. Applicant’s narrow reading that these teaching are unrelated is unpersuasive and ignores how a person or ordinary skill would understand the reference as a whole.
The rejection is maintained based on the reasons above.
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 1-6, 8-13, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SZE (US 20200236043 A1) in view of Schoeneberger (US 20050249192 A1).
Regarding claim 1, SZE teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by a content playback device, a first content segment and a second content segment, wherein the second content segment is pushed from a content server to the content playback device ([0088], fig. 1, the system 100 receives input (data flows) from a source endpoint 102 and schedules improved delivery of data packets across various connections 106, and then sequences the data packets (a first content segment and a second content segment) at the other end of the system 108 prior to transmission to the destination endpoint);
causing, by the content playback device, the second content segment to be stored in cache storage associated with the content playback device ([0035] each input data packet being associated with a corresponding sequence number representing an order in the data flow or sequence and to be store in one or more buffers);
determining, by the content playback device, a bandwidth associated with transmission of one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment from the content server to the content playback device ([0152] if the aggregate throughput of connections 106 is smaller (bandwidth associated with transmission) than the throughput between endpoint 102 and gateway 104, the prebuffers inside 104 will continually increase; [0250] As shown in FIG. 8B, in practice, the sender, receiver, and intermediate routing systems can introduce errors in the bandwidth estimate due to competition with other traffic, variability of processing times, network interface card (NIC) optimizations such as interrupt moderation); and
sending the second content segment from the cache storage to the content playback device at a rate associated with the determined bandwidth ([0023] scheduler configured to control the operation of the buffer manager by generating instructions that are executed by the buffer manager to control routing of the input data packets from the one or more buffers through the plurality of data connections).
SZE teaches the second gateway receives data from the source, but does not indicate the gateway is a playback device.
Schoeneberger teaches that the gateway is a playback device ([0007] prompts the gateway to start or stop an on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the gateway can be a playback device by stop or start the on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer, as taught by Schoeneberger. One would be motivated to do so to reduce bandwidth usage in a voice over internet protocol network.
Regarding claim 2, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 1, wherein Schoeneberger further teaches sending the second content segment from the cache storage to the content playback device comprises sending the second content segment from the cache storage on the content playback device to a content player on the content playback device ([0027] the workflow sends a "start playback" instruction signal from the media server to the gateway, thus triggering an on-hold playback from the gateway to the network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the gateway can be a playback device by stop or start the on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer, as taught by Schoeneberger. One would be motivated to do so to reduce bandwidth usage in a voice over internet protocol network.
Regarding claim 3, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 1, wherein SZE further teaches the content playback device comprises one or more of a set-top box, a streaming video player, or a content browser ([0117] the system may be configured to classify the video data and metadata associated with the clip, or the FEC data related to the video stream).
Regarding claim 4, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 1, wherein SZE further teaches determining the bandwidth comprises determining the bandwidth based on a timestamp and a data size indicated in a push message used to transmit the second content segment ([0249] The bandwidth estimation is based on the sum of the packet sizes (excluding the first packet), divided by the time required to transfer all of the packets).
Regarding claim 5, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 1, wherein SZE further teaches determining the bandwidth comprises determining a length of time to receive one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment and determining a data size of one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment ([0249] the packets are received and timestamps are recorded exactly 448 microseconds apart. The time at which it was received marks the time at which the second packet began its transmission from the bottleneck link).
Regarding claim 6, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 1, wherein SZE further teaches the content playback device comprises the cache storage ([0095] FIG. 1 provides an overview of a system with two gateways 104 and 108, each containing a buffer manager 150).
Regarding claim 8, SZE teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by a content playback device and in a cache storage associated with the content playback device, a first content segment and a second content segment, wherein the second content segment is pushed from a content server to the content playback device ([0088], fig. 1, the system 100 receives input (data flows) from a source endpoint 102 and schedules improved delivery of data packets across various connections 106, and then sequences the data packets (a first content segment and a second content segment) at the other end of the system 108 prior to transmission to the destination endpoint);
determining a time length associated with receiving the one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment and a data size of one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment ([0249] the packets are received and timestamps are recorded exactly 448 microseconds apart. The bandwidth estimation is based on the sum of the packet sizes (excluding the first packet), divided by the time required to transfer all of the packets).
determining, by the content playback device and based on the time length and data size, a bandwidth associated with transmission of one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment from the content server to the content playback device ([0152] if the aggregate throughput of connections 106 is smaller than the throughput between endpoint 102 and gateway 104, the prebuffers inside 104 will continually increase; [0250] As shown in FIG. 8B, in practice, the sender, receiver, and intermediate routing systems can introduce errors in the bandwidth estimate due to competition with other traffic, variability of processing times, network interface card (NIC) optimizations such as interrupt moderation); and
sending the second content segment from the cache storage to the content playback device at a rate associated with the determined bandwidth ([0023] scheduler configured to control the operation of the buffer manager by generating instructions that are executed by the buffer manager to control routing of the input data packets from the one or more buffers through the plurality of data connections).
SZE teaches the second gateway receives data from the source, but does not indicate the gateway is a playback device.
Schoeneberger teaches that the gateway is a playback device ([0007] prompts the gateway to start or stop an on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the gateway can be a playback device by stop or start the on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer, as taught by Schoeneberger. One would be motivated to do so to reduce bandwidth usage in a voice over internet protocol network.
Regarding claim 9, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 8, wherein Schoeneberger further teaches sending the second content segment from the cache storage to the content playback device comprises sending the second content segment from the cache storage on the content playback device to a content player on the content playback device ([0027] the workflow sends a "start playback" instruction signal from the media server to the gateway, thus triggering an on-hold playback from the gateway to the network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the gateway can be a playback device by stop or start the on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer, as taught by Schoeneberger. One would be motivated to do so to reduce bandwidth usage in a voice over internet protocol network.
Regarding claim 10, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 8, wherein SZE further teaches the content playback device comprises one or more of a set-top box, a streaming video player, or a content browser ([0117] the system may be configured to classify the video data and metadata associated with the clip, or the FEC data related to the video stream).
Regarding claim 11, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 8, wherein SZE further teaches determining the time length comprises determining a difference between a start time of receiving one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment and an end time of receiving one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment ([0012] generating the bandwidth of the first network interface includes: substituting a received timestamp for a particular packet in the burst with a sent timestamp of a packet sent after the particular packet).
Regarding claim 12, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 8, wherein determining the bandwidth comprises dividing the data size by the time length ([0249] The bandwidth estimation is based on the sum of the packet sizes (excluding the first packet), divided by the time required to transfer all of the packets).
Regarding claim 13, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 8, wherein SZE further teaches the content playback device comprises the cache storage ([0095] FIG. 1 provides an overview of a system with two gateways 104 and 108, each containing a buffer manager 150).
Regarding claim 15, SZE teaches method comprising:
receiving, by a content playback device and in a cache storage associated with the content playback device, a first content segment and a second content segment, wherein the second content segment is pushed from a content server to the content playback device ([0088], fig. 1, the system 100 receives input (data flows) from a source endpoint 102 and schedules improved delivery of data packets across various connections 106, and then sequences the data packets (a first content segment and a second content segment) at the other end of the system 108 prior to transmission to the destination endpoint);
determining, by the content playback device, a bandwidth associated with transmission of one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment from the content server to the cache storage ([0152] if the aggregate throughput of connections 106 is smaller (bandwidth associated with transmission) than the throughput between endpoint 102 and gateway 104, the prebuffers inside 104 will continually increase; [0250] As shown in FIG. 8B, in practice, the sender, receiver, and intermediate routing systems can introduce errors in the bandwidth estimate due to competition with other traffic, variability of processing times, network interface card (NIC) optimizations such as interrupt moderation); and
sending the second content segment from the cache storage to the content playback device at a reduced rate, based on the determined bandwidth, slower than available for transmission between the cache storage and the content playback device ([0023] scheduler configured to control the operation of the buffer manager by generating instructions that are executed by the buffer manager to control routing of the input data packets from the one or more buffers through the plurality of data connection; [0199] As such, the scheduler 160 and/or the sequencer 162 may be operable to reduce extreme variability in the buffer time of packets).
SZE teaches the second gateway receives data from the source, but does not indicate the gateway is a playback device.
Schoeneberger teaches that the gateway is a playback device ([0007] prompts the gateway to start or stop an on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the gateway can be a playback device by stop or start the on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer, as taught by Schoeneberger. One would be motivated to do so to reduce bandwidth usage in a voice over internet protocol network.
Regarding claim 16, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 15, wherein Schoeneberger further teaches sending the second content segment from the cache storage to the content playback device comprises sending the second content segment from the cache storage on the content playback device to a content player on the content playback device ([0027] the workflow sends a "start playback" instruction signal from the media server to the gateway, thus triggering an on-hold playback from the gateway to the network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the gateway can be a playback device by stop or start the on-hold playback from the gateway to a customer, as taught by Schoeneberger. One would be motivated to do so to reduce bandwidth usage in a voice over internet protocol network.
Regarding claim 17, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 15, wherein SZE further teaches the content playback device comprises one or more of a set-top box, a streaming video player, or a content browser ([0117] the system may be configured to classify the video data and metadata associated with the clip, or the FEC data related to the video stream)
Regarding claim 18, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 15, wherein SZE further teaches determining the bandwidth comprises determining the bandwidth based on a timestamp and a data size indicated in a push message used to transmit the second content segment ([0249] The bandwidth estimation is based on the sum of the packet sizes (excluding the first packet), divided by the time required to transfer all of the packets).
Regarding claim 19, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 15, wherein SZE further teaches determining the bandwidth comprises determining a length of time to receive one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment and determining a data size of one or more of the first content segment or the second content segment ([0249] the packets are received and timestamps are recorded exactly 448 microseconds apart. The time at which it was received marks the time at which the second packet began its transmission from the bottleneck link).
Regarding claim 20, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 15, wherein SZE further teaches the content playback device comprises the cache storage ([0095] FIG. 1 provides an overview of a system with two gateways 104 and 108, each containing a buffer manager 150).
Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SZE (US 20200236043 A1) in view of Schoeneberger (US 20050249192 A1) and further in view of Su (US 20170195448 A1).
Regarding claim 7, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 1, SZE does not explicitly teach wherein the cache storage is comprised in a separate computing device from the content playback device.
Su teaches
the cache storage is comprised in a separate computing device from the content playback device ([0043], fig. 6, the system 600 includes a client playback device 611 and cache storage 615).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the system includes a playback device and a cache storage separately, as taught by Su. One would be motivated to do so to serve the HTTP Response from the cache storage to the client playback device.
Regarding claim 14, SZE and Schoeneberger teach the method of claim 8, SZE does not ex wherein the cache storage is comprised in a separate computing device from the content playback device.
Su teaches
the cache storage is comprised in a separate computing device from the content playback device ([0043], fig. 6, the system 600 includes a client playback device 611 and cache storage 615).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the SZE disclosure, the system includes a playback device and a cache storage separately, as taught by Su. One would be motivated to do so to serve the HTTP Response from the cache storage to the client playback device.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-0657. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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, Umar Cheema can be reached at 5712703037. 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.
/ANH NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458
Prosecution Insights