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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to application No. 18/781,430 filed on 12/10/2025. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are pending and have been examined.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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) 1-5, 7, 11-14, 16, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brodersen et al. (US 2010/0057576) in view of Badawiyeh et al. (US 2014/0089957).
Consider claims 1, 11, and 20, Brodersen teaches a computer-implemented method, a system, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a server in network communication with at least one database, the computer-implemented method comprising operations including/ cause the server to perform operations comprising (Figs.1, 4, Paragraph 0017-0021):
a memory including instructions (memory 130, ROM 140, RAM 150, storage device 160 – Fig.1, Paragraph 0018-0019); and
at least one processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to perform operations (processor 120-Fig.1, Paragraph 0017-0018) comprising:
receiving a request from a mobile application to download a multimedia article for offline consumption on a user device (Paragraph 0024 teaches a user can download copies of an episode asset on various and diverse playback devices, such as Apple iPhone. Paragraph 0031 teaches online playback device 404 such as Apple iPhone, etc. Some typical examples of online playback devices is an Apple iPhone with iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store software. User requests or purchases a particular episode. Paragraph 0033 teaches in cases where the online playback device 404 cannot communicate with the portal 402, the impression logging cache 436 can serve as an intermediate storage. When communications are reestablished, the cache 436 uploads any previously unreported impression logs, including those gathered before and during the period of noncommunication. Paragraph 0037 teaches offline playback device 406 can be a device that connects only intermittently, such as a device with wifi that a user can disable. Examples of such devices can include an Apple iPhone. Thus, an iPhone where wifi can be turned off, can function as an offline device when wifi is turned off and as on online device when wifi is turned on);
constructing a download package containing the multimedia article and a plurality of alternative multimedia articles (Paragraph 0031-0033, 0035, 0038), wherein the download package comprises a distribution scheme comprising metadata that delineates an order and frequency for presenting the plurality of alternative multimedia articles during offline consumption, wherein constructing the download package comprises: determining information of the user; and adapting the distribution scheme in response to the information (Paragraph 0023 teaches dynamic ad breaks with variable number of ads. Paragraph 0038 teaches in an another aspect, the ads are dynamic, the number of ads is variable {frequency}, their positions in the content changes {order}, etc. The system can base dynamic bundles on user profile information, information about the user’s location, the time of day, the current activity of the user, collective user profiles of multiple users, the type of playback device, etc. Fixed episode bundle can be converted to a more dynamic bundle with a mere change in metadata to indicate, when, where, and what to play during ad breaks. Paragraph 0043 teaches time-sensitive ads that are played depending on the date or time of playback. Paragraph 0046 teaches for offline playback, a complete set of ads that may be compatible with each level of a content rating are downloaded. A parent who doesn’t want the child to view any inappropriate advertisements like beer commercials or suggestive commercials may set a G-equivalent rating for ads in the ad bundle. As complete set of ads may be downloaded [0046], for dynamic bundles, the ads can be dynamic, variable, and positions in content changes. And played back based on various settings, such as user profile information, time of day, etc [0038]. As described in [0043] where dynamic ads are time-sensitive ads, they are only played during specific times of the day. Similarly, the other settings of dynamic ads provides for positions of ads in the content changes {order}, number of ads {frequency}, which may be based on user profile information, user’s location, activity of the user, etc {user content viewing preference data});
transmitting the download package to the mobile application (Fig.5, Paragraph 0041-0042);
receiving, from the mobile application, offline interaction data associated with the plurality of alternative multimedia articles during the offline consumption of the multimedia article (Paragraph 0033, 0035, 0037, 0048-0050); and
reconciling the offline interaction data with online interaction data generated during online consumption of other multimedia articles in the mobile application (Paragraph 0032 teaches ad assets and episode assets may be included themselves or links to their locations online may be included. Paragraph 0033 teaches in cases where the online playback device 404 cannot communicate with the portal 402, the impression logging cache 436 can serve as an intermediate storage. When communications are reestablished, the cache 436 uploads any previously unreported impression logs, including those gathered before and during the period of noncommunication. Paragraph 0049 teaches playback device(s) can directly report media impression of the episode and/or the individual ads. System can report periodically or as impression information is received. Paragraph 0050 teaches transmitting a journal file generated on the playback device which identifies the playback device and when an episode bundle is played, and recording a media impression for each unique transmitted journal file which corresponds to the database entry. Paragraph 0052 teaches media bundle also includes a media impression cache 630. When impressions are reported, the unique ID 632 is included in some form to identify each impression on each playback device uniquely, thereby reducing the risk of spoofing a reporting database with false or inaccurate impression statistics. For iPhone device, where wifi can be turned on and off. When wifi is on, where ad and/or episode assets may be links to their locations online, these can be fetched for online playback and impressions regarding online playback may be transmitted. When wifi is off, where ad and/or episode assets themselves are included and downloaded. They can be viewed offline, where when device is offline, impressions are stored until device, where impressions regarding offline viewing are then transmitted after device connected online again. The online and offline impressions is reconciled in that they are both transmitted to provider for storage and processing, where impression(s) are linked to each playback device uniquely corresponding to viewing of the particular media content(s)).
Brodersen does not explicitly teach wherein information of the user is one or more learned behavioral patterns of the user during prior consumption of one or more prior multimedia articles, the learned behavior patterns comprising at least one of (i) one or more user start/stop tendencies, (ii) a user interruption frequency, or (iii) a user completion behavior; and
the information is the one or more learned behavioral patterns.
In an analogous art, Badawiyeh teaches wherein information of a user is one or more learned behavioral patterns of the user during prior consumption of one or more prior multimedia articles, the learned behavior patterns comprising at least one of (i) one or more user start/stop tendencies, (ii) a user interruption frequency, or (iii) a user completion behavior; and the information is the one or more learned behavioral patterns (Paragraph 0027 teaches user’s past viewing habits can be used to schedule advertising breaks, where ads may be strategically placed for a viewing presentation. Paragraph 0029 teaches user’s selection habits can be used to determine when advertising breaks should be scheduled. User may habitually select specific channels during specific periods of viewing time. A decision can be made to selectively present advertising during viewing of specific channels and not present advertising during view of other channels. User may watch program continuously from 8-8:30pm on NBC, switching between CNN, Hulu, and YouTube from 8:30-9pm. It can be determined that ad breaks be scheduled during the time of viewing of content from Hulu and YouTube, as users may be more receptive to ads, but not when viewing content on CNN. IF user is alternatively or iteratively viewing between pay content and free content, it may be decided to present ads to a user during the viewing of free content and limit or restrict presentation of ads during the viewing of pay content).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Brodersen to include wherein information of a user is one or more learned behavioral patterns of the user during prior consumption of one or more prior multimedia articles, the learned behavior patterns comprising at least one of (i) one or more user start/stop tendencies, (ii) a user interruption frequency, or (iii) a user completion behavior; and the information is the one or more learned behavioral patterns, as taught by Badawiyeh, for the advantage of providing ads during viewing of content when a user should be more receptive to ads (Badawiyeh – Paragraph 0029), allowing the system to better evaluate and make determinations that can be better tuned and/or tailored to users, improving the user viewing experience.
Consider claims 2 and 12, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach wherein the multimedia article is one of: an audio article, a video article, or an audiovisual article (Brodersen - Paragraph 0023, 0031).
Consider claim 3, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach wherein the mobile application is a multimedia streaming platform (Brodersen - Paragraph 0031).
Consider claims 4 and 13, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach wherein the constructing comprises: identifying context data associated with a user of the mobile application; determining which types of alternative multimedia articles from a pool of available alternative multimedia articles match the context data; and including, in the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, at least one of the alternative multimedia articles from the pool of available alternative multimedia articles that match the context data (Brodersen - Paragraph 0038, 0045-0046).
Consider claims 5 and 14, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach wherein the context data comprises: alternative multimedia article viewing preferences, content viewing preferences, and user characteristic data (Brodersen - Paragraph 0023, 0038, 0039, 0045-0046).
Consider claims 7 and 16, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach wherein the reconciling comprises combining metrics from the offline interaction data with the online interaction data (Brodersen - Paragraph 0033 teaches in cases where the online playback device 404 cannot communicate with the portal 402, the impression logging cache 436 can serve as an intermediate storage. When communications are reestablished, the cache 436 uploads any previously unreported impression logs, including those gathered before and during the period of noncommunication. Paragraph 0049 teaches playback device(s) can directly report media impression of the episode and/or the individual ads. System can report periodically or as impression information is received. Paragraph 0050 teaches transmitting a journal file generated on the playback device which identifies the playback device and when an episode bundle is played, and recording a media impression for each unique transmitted journal file which corresponds to the database entry. Paragraph 0052 teaches media bundle also includes a media impression cache 630. When impressions are reported, the unique ID 632 is included in some form to identify each impression on each playback device uniquely, thereby reducing the risk of spoofing a reporting database with false or inaccurate impression statistics. For iPhone device, where wifi can be turned on and off. When wifi is on, where ad and/or episode assets may be links to their locations online, these can be fetched for online playback and impressions regarding online playback may be transmitted. When wifi is off, where ad and/or episode assets themselves are included and downloaded. They can be viewed offline, where when device is offline, impressions are stored until device, where impressions regarding offline viewing are then transmitted after device connected online again. The online and offline impressions is reconciled in that they are both transmitted to provider for storage and processing, where impression(s) are linked to each playback device uniquely corresponding to viewing of the particular media content(s)).
Claim(s) 6, 9, 15, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brodersen et al. (US 2010/0057576), in view of Badawiyeh et al. (US 2014/0089957), and further in view of Berger et al. (US 8,701,145).
Consider claims 6 and 15, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach wherein the offline interaction data includes metrics (Brodersen - Paragraph 0033, 0035), but does not explicitly teach metrics corresponding to one or more of: a viewing duration for at least one of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, a user skip action for any of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, a user selection action for any of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, or a viewing start and a viewing end time for the at least one of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles.
In an analogous art, Berger teaches metrics corresponding to one or more of: a viewing duration for at least one of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, a user skip action for any of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, a user selection action for any of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, or a viewing start and a viewing end time for the at least one of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles (Col 12: lines 34-41, 46-51, Col 18: lines 37-43, Col 19: lines 35-38).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Brodersen and Badawiyeh to include metrics corresponding to one or more of: a viewing duration for at least one of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, a user skip action for any of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, a user selection action for any of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, or a viewing start and a viewing end time for the at least one of the plurality of alternative multimedia articles, as taught by Berger, for the advantage of enabling the system to continue to accurately track the display and interaction of advertisements in detail, even in offline viewing, so that important information is not missed, and can continue to be provided back to the provider for data collection and processing.
Consider claims 9 and 18, Brodersen and Badawiyeh do not explicitly teach further comprising:
identifying, from the offline interaction data, a user-selected alternative multimedia article from the plurality of alternative multimedia articles during the offline consumption of the multimedia article; and
transmitting, based on the identified user-selected alternative multimedia article and through the mobile application, information to the user device.
In an analogous art, Berger teach further comprising: identifying, from offline interaction data, a user-selected alternative multimedia article from a plurality of alternative multimedia articles during the offline consumption of the multimedia article; and transmitting, based on the identified user-selected alternative multimedia article and through a mobile application, information to a user device (Figs.13-14, Col 12: lines 44-54, Col 19: lines 26-63).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Brodersen and Badawiyeh to include further comprising: identifying, from offline interaction data, a user-selected alternative multimedia article from a plurality of alternative multimedia articles during the offline consumption of the multimedia article; and transmitting, based on the identified user-selected alternative multimedia article and through a mobile application, information to a user device, as taught by Berger, for the advantage of supporting interactive commercials during offline playout (Berger – Col 19: lines 26-27), enabling user to continue to interact with content while offline, while deferring provision of additional information until it can be made available, providing users with the utmost functionality possible, within the given limitation(s).
Claim(s) 8 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brodersen et al. (US 2010/0057576), in view of Badawiyeh et al. (US 2014/0089957), and further in view of Klein et al. (US 2013/0298147).
Consider claims 8 and 17, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach further comprising: compiling the metrics from the combined offline interaction data with the online interaction data into a report; and transmitting, the report to a designated network (Brodersen - Paragraph 0033 teaches in cases where the online playback device 404 cannot communicate with the portal 402, the impression logging cache 436 can serve as an intermediate storage. When communications are reestablished, the cache 436 uploads any previously unreported impression logs, including those gathered before and during the period of noncommunication. Paragraph 0049 teaches playback device(s) can directly report media impression of the episode and/or the individual ads. System can report periodically or as impression information is received. Paragraph 0050 teaches transmitting a journal file generated on the playback device which identifies the playback device and when an episode bundle is played, and recording a media impression for each unique transmitted journal file which corresponds to the database entry. Paragraph 0052 teaches media bundle also includes a media impression cache 630. When impressions are reported, the unique ID 632 is included in some form to identify each impression on each playback device uniquely, thereby reducing the risk of spoofing a reporting database with false or inaccurate impression statistics. For iPhone device, where wifi can be turned on and off. When wifi is on, where ad and/or episode assets may be links to their locations online, these can be fetched for online playback and impressions regarding online playback may be transmitted. When wifi is off, where ad and/or episode assets themselves are included and downloaded. They can be viewed offline, where when device is offline, impressions are stored until device, where impressions regarding offline viewing are then transmitted after device connected online again. The online and offline impressions is reconciled in that they are both transmitted to provider for storage and processing, where impression(s) are linked to each playback device uniquely corresponding to viewing of the particular media content(s). Paragraph 0051 teaches reporting to a larger audience measurement group such as Nielsen Media Research).
Brodersen and Badawiyeh do not explicitly teach transmitting, at a predetermined time, a report to a designated network.
In an analogous art, Klein teaches transmitting, at a predetermined time, a report to a designated network (Paragraph 0091-0092).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Brodersen and Badawiyeh to include transmitting, at a predetermined time, a report to a designated network, as taught by Klein, for the advantage of providing important and pertinent information to interested parties, enabling them to better tailor offerings, and adjust as needed, providing needed and valuable insight to others.
Claim(s) 10 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brodersen et al. (US 2010/0057576), in view of Badawiyeh et al. (US 2014/0089957), and further in view of Patel et al. (US 2020/0359076).
Consider claims 10 and 19, Brodersen and Badawiyeh teach further comprising:
receiving, at the computer system, another request from the mobile application to download another multimedia article to the user device for offline consumption (Brodersen - Paragraph 0024 teaches a user can download copies of an episode asset on various and diverse playback devices, such as Apple iPhone. Paragraph 0031 teaches online playback device 404 such as Apple iPhone, etc. Some typical examples of online playback devices is an Apple iPhone with iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store software. user requests or purchases a particular episode. Paragraph 0033 teaches in cases where the online playback device 404 cannot communicate with the portal 402, the impression logging cache 436 can serve as an intermediate storage. When communications are reestablished, the cache 436 uploads any previously unreported impression logs, including those gathered before and during the period of noncommunication. Paragraph 0037 teaches offline playback device 406 can be a device that connects only intermittently, such as a device with wifi that a user can disable. Examples of such devices can include an Apple iPhone. Thus, an iPhone where wifi can be turned off, can function as an offline device when wifi is turned off and as on online device when wifi is turned on. If user wants to use the system again at a later time, they can use it again to download other desired multimedia content(s));
constructing another download package containing the another multimedia article and a second plurality of alternative multimedia articles (Brodersen - Paragraph 0031-0033, 0035, 0038); and
transmitting the another download package to the mobile application (Brodersen - Fig.5, Paragraph 0041-0042).
Brodersen and Badawiyeh do not explicitly teach identifying one or more previously viewed alternative multimedia article from the plurality of alternative multimedia article;
wherein the second plurality of alternative multimedia articles contain unviewed alternative multimedia articles in place of the one or more previously viewed alternative multimedia articles.
In an analogous art, Patel teaches identifying one or more previously viewed alternative multimedia article from a plurality of alternative multimedia article; wherein a second plurality of alternative multimedia articles contain unviewed alternative multimedia articles in place of the one or more previously viewed alternative multimedia articles (Paragraph 0077-0079, 0160, 0165).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Brodersen and Badawiyeh to include identifying one or more previously viewed alternative multimedia article from a plurality of alternative multimedia article; wherein a second plurality of alternative multimedia articles contain unviewed alternative multimedia articles in place of the one or more previously viewed alternative multimedia articles, as taught by Patel, for the advantage of keeping media asset more relevant and up-to-date for the user (Patel – Paragraph 0079), providing users with the opportunity to be exposed to fresher and/or newer content, so that user may hopefully stay more engaged and interested, when viewing other content.
Conclusion
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/JASON K LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425