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
Applicant is advised that the new art unit number is 2692. Please use the new art unit number for all future communications.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 13, 19 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 13, line 2: “device.” should be --device--.
Claim 19, line 2: “device.” should be --device--.
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.
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 13 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 13 and 19, the phrase "for example" or “e.g.,” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
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.
Claim(s) 1-9, 14-17, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GN et al. (US 2025/0300752) in view of Li et al. (WO 2009/113040).
Regarding claim 16, GN discloses a user device (Fig. 1) comprising:
a computer processor (106); and
a memory (108) coupled to the computer processor (¶ 0030);
wherein the computer processor and the memory are configured for (¶ 0030):
scanning for wireless audio broadcasts on the user device (¶ 0023), the wireless audio broadcasts originating in a vicinity of the user device (¶ 0051: in-range);
receiving a plurality of signals at the user device (¶ 0024-0025), the plurality of signals comprising unstructured data (metadata 510), the unstructured data comprising textual data (metadata) and auditory data (e.g., genre) relating to the wireless audio broadcasts (¶ 0055);
analyzing the unstructured data (¶ 0055); and
ranking the wireless audio broadcasts based on the unstructured data (¶ 0055).
GN is not relied upon to disclose classifying the wireless audio broadcasts based on the unstructured data.
In a similar field of endeavor, Li discloses
analyzing the unstructured data; (Fig. 4: 408 and page 14, lines 3-9) and
classifying the wireless audio broadcasts based on the unstructured data (Fig. 4: 410 and page 14, lines 10-19: broadcasts are classified into multiple user profiles),
thus creating a recommended broadcast list that can be used either to (i) automatically switch to another broadcast (Fig. 5: 510) (similar to what is performed by GN in Fig. 5) or (ii) present the list to a user to select from (Fig. 5: 512-514) depending on whether or not automatic switching is enabled (Fig. 5: 508) (page 16, line 11 to page 17, line 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: create a recommended broadcast list that can be used either to (i) automatically switch to another broadcast or (ii) present the list to a user to select from depending on whether or not automatic switching is enabled,
and to do so would include: classifying the wireless audio broadcasts based on the unstructured data,
the motivation being to provide an option for a user to select a channel from a recommended channel list (Li - paragraph spanning pages 16-17) associated with multiple profiles (Li - page 14, lines 10-19).
Regarding claim 17, GN-Li discloses the user device of claim 16, and Li discloses wherein the classifying of the wireless audio broadcasts comprises clustering (Fig. 4: 410 and page 14, lines 10-19: broadcasts are clustered into multiple user profiles) and ranking the audio broadcasts (paragraph spanning pages 9-10).
The teachings of Li relied upon above are combinable with GN-Li for the same reasons set forth above in the claim 16 rejection.
Claims 1, 20 recite similar limitations as claims 16, 16, respectively, and are rejected for the same reasons set forth above in the rejections of claims 16, 16, respectively.
Regarding claim 2, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1, and GN discloses wherein the user device comprises a visual user interface (see Fig. 4) (¶ 0048-0049) or a non-visual user interface (¶ 0050).
Regarding claim 3, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1, and GN discloses wherein the textual data comprise metadata (¶ 0055).
Regarding claim 4, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 3, and GN discloses wherein the metadata comprise one or more of a broadcast name, a broadcast type, a make or model of a transmitting device, a broadcast language, a broadcast parental rating, and broadcast program information (¶ 0023).
Regarding claim 5, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 3, and GN discloses wherein the auditory data comprise one or more of a genre, beats per minute, a key signature, a codec configuration, presence of speech, a music sentiment, and a presence of a musical instrument (¶ 0055, 0023).
Regarding claim 6, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1, and Li discloses wherein the classifying of the wireless audio broadcasts comprises ranking the audio broadcasts (paragraph spanning pages 9-10).
The teachings of Li relied upon above are combinable with GN-Li for the same reasons set forth above in the claim 1 rejection.
Regarding claim 7, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 6.
Additionally, GN discloses wherein the ranking comprises a function of one or more of a favorite broadcast, a recent broadcast, a broadcast of a contact, a broadcast frequently subscribed to, an installed app, a relative proximity to a transmitting device (¶ 0056), a direction of the user device (¶ 0056), a direction of a transmitting device, a geographical location of the broadcast, a public or private status of the broadcast, an invitation status of the broadcast, a group membership to the broadcast, a broadcast language, a number of active listeners, and a playlist associated with the user device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: wherein the ranking comprises a function of one or more of a favorite broadcast, a recent broadcast, a broadcast of a contact, a broadcast frequently subscribed to, an installed app, a relative proximity to a transmitting device, a direction of the user device, a direction of a transmitting device, a geographical location of the broadcast, a public or private status of the broadcast, an invitation status of the broadcast, a group membership to the broadcast, a broadcast language, a number of active listeners, and a playlist associated with the user device,
the motivation being to establish criteria from which the ranking can be determined (GN - ¶ 0056).
Regarding claim 8, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1, and Li discloses comprising displaying the classified wireless audio broadcasts on a display device (paragraph spanning pages 16-17: view list through 202) (page 5, top paragraph: 202 includes display) or conveying the classified audio broadcasts to the user via a non-visual interface.
The teachings of Li relied upon above are combinable with GN-Li for the same reasons set forth above in the claim 1 rejection.
Regarding claim 9, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 8.
Additionally, Li discloses comprising automatically displaying or conveying the classified audio broadcasts when a user is in a vicinity of a transmission origin of the wireless audio broadcasts or automatically presenting to the user device a voice user interface in combination with a tactile (button-based) control (page 5, top paragraph: tactile interface and buttons).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: comprising automatically displaying or conveying the classified audio broadcasts when a user is in a vicinity of a transmission origin of the wireless audio broadcasts or automatically presenting to the user device a voice user interface in combination with a tactile (button-based) control,
the motivation being to provide an interface by which a user can perform various functions, such as set and save user preferences in a user profile (Li - page 5, top paragraph).
Regarding claim 14, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Additionally, Li discloses wherein the scanning for the wireless audio broadcasts is executed on an automatic and continuous basis (page 15, lines 11-15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: wherein the scanning for the wireless audio broadcasts is executed on an automatic and continuous basis, the motivation being to be able to have an updated recommended channel list (Li - page 15, lines 11-15).
Regarding claim 15, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1, and Li discloses wherein the classifying the wireless audio broadcasts based on the unstructured data comprises a clustering of the unstructured data (Fig. 4: 410 and page 14, lines 10-19: broadcasts are clustered into multiple user profiles).
The teachings of Li relied upon above are combinable with GN-Li for the same reasons set forth above in the claim 1 rejection.
Claim(s) 10, 11, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GN in view of Li in view of Alpert et al. (US 2024/0147196).
Regarding claim 10, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1.
GN-Li is not relied upon to disclose comprising receiving subscription requests for the classified audio broadcasts from the user device.
In a similar field of endeavor, Alpert discloses receiving subscription requests (432) for the classified audio broadcasts from the user device (420a) (Fig. 4 and ¶ 0060).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: comprising receiving subscription requests for the classified audio broadcasts from the user device, the motivation being to implement a connection involving a private key so that a third device cannot receive the data (Alpert - ¶ 0035).
Regarding claim 11, GN-Li-Alpert discloses the method of claim 10, and Alpert discloses wherein the subscription requests are a function of one or more of a relationship, a distance (¶ 0065: within range), an event (¶ 0061: message send event at regular time intervals), a place and a time (¶ 0061: message send event at regular time intervals).
The teachings of Alpert relied upon above are combinable with GN-Li-Alpert for the same reasons set forth above in the claim 10 rejection.
Regarding claim 18, GN-Li discloses the user device of claim 16.
GN-Li is not relied upon to disclose wherein the user device is configured for permitting the user to request a subscription for the classified audio broadcasts.
In a similar field of endeavor, Alpert discloses wherein the user device (420a) is configured for permitting the user to request (432) a subscription for the classified audio broadcasts (Fig. 4 and ¶ 0060).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: wherein the user device is configured for permitting the user to request a subscription for the classified audio broadcasts, the motivation being to implement a connection involving a private key so that a third device cannot receive the data (Alpert - ¶ 0035).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GN in view of Li in view of Zigler et al. (US 2009/0061807).
Regarding claim 12, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1.
GN-Li is not relied upon to disclose comprising maintaining a database of the wireless audio broadcasts that are available in a geographic location or point of interest; receiving a subscription request from the user device for a particular wireless audio broadcast; and upon entering the geographic location or point of interest, transmitting the wireless audio broadcast to the user device.
In a similar field of endeavor, Zigler discloses comprising maintaining a database of the wireless audio broadcasts that are available in a geographic location or point of interest (¶ 0051); receiving a subscription request from the user device for a particular wireless audio broadcast (¶ 0069); and upon entering (download can be automatic) the geographic location or point of interest, transmitting the wireless audio broadcast to the user device (¶ 0051-0053).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: comprising maintaining a database of the wireless audio broadcasts that are available in a geographic location or point of interest; receiving a subscription request from the user device for a particular wireless audio broadcast; and upon entering the geographic location or point of interest, transmitting the wireless audio broadcast to the user device, the motivation being to allow a user to search for and listen to broadcasts in a certain geographic location or point of interest (Zigler - ¶ 0051-0052), and implement conditional access to broadcasts via subscription (Zigler - ¶ 0069).
Claim(s) 13, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GN in view of Li in view of Alathur et al. (US 2023/0328495) in view of Bloom (US 2022/0086548).
Regarding claim 13, GN-Li discloses the method of claim 1.
GN-Li is not relied upon to disclose comprising automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user dons a listening device (e.g., headphones, earbuds, etc ... ).
In a similar field of endeavor, Alathur discloses automatically connecting to a wireless device on a wireless device list when a trigger is detected (¶ 0049) and automatically performing any additional actions such as to begin playing (¶ 0064), where the trigger can be opening a set of headphones so as to prepare to don the headphones (¶ 0050).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: automatically connect to a wireless device on a wireless device list (which in terms of GN-Li would be a broadcast on the broadcast list since the broadcasts are each wirelessly delivered from a wireless device) when a trigger is detected, and automatically performing any additional actions (which can include automatically selecting and receiving the broadcast, if not already covered by the earlier automatic connecting), where the trigger is opening a set of headphones so as to prepare to don the headphones, the motivation being to implement a quick and/or simple connection feature (Alathur - ¶ 0049).
While GN-Li-Alathur discloses comprising automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user opens a listening device so as to don the listening device
GN-Li-Alathur is not relied upon to disclose comprising automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user dons a listening device (e.g., headphones, earbuds, etc ... ).
In a similar field of endeavor, Bloom discloses that a trigger for automatically activating features or playback can be when a user dons a listening device (¶ 0210).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to try any of the triggers of ¶ 0050 of Alathur or the trigger of ¶ 0210 of Bloom of when a user dons a listening device as the trigger for Alathur, and note that the latter would result in: comprising automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user dons a listening device (e.g., headphones, earbuds, etc ... ), the motivation being to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success, to address the issue of what all events can be used as triggers for Alathur. See MPEP § 2143(E).
Regarding claim 19, GN-Li discloses the user device of claim 16.
GN-Li is not relied upon to disclose wherein the user device is configured for automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user dons a listening device (e.g., headphones, earbuds, etc ... ).
In a similar field of endeavor, Alathur discloses a user device is configured for automatically connecting to a wireless device on a wireless device list when a trigger is detected (¶ 0049) and automatically performing any additional actions such as to begin playing (¶ 0064), where the trigger can be opening a set of headphones so as to prepare to don the headphones (¶ 0050).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: wherein the user device is configured for automatically connecting to a wireless device on a wireless device list (which in terms of GN-Li would be a broadcast on the broadcast list since the broadcasts are each wirelessly delivered from a wireless device) when a trigger is detected, and automatically performing any additional actions (which can include automatically selecting and receiving the broadcast, if not already covered by the earlier automatic connecting), where the trigger is opening a set of headphones so as to prepare to don the headphones, the motivation being to implement a quick and/or simple connection feature (Alathur - ¶ 0049).
While GN-Li-Alathur discloses wherein the user device is configured for automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user opens a listening device so as to don the listening device
GN-Li-Alathur is not relied upon to disclose , wherein the user device is configured for automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user dons a listening device (e.g., headphones, earbuds, etc ... ).
In a similar field of endeavor, Bloom discloses that a trigger for automatically activating features or playback can be when a user dons a listening device (¶ 0210).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious to try any of the triggers of ¶ 0050 of Alathur or the trigger of ¶ 0210 of Bloom of when a user dons a listening device as the trigger for Alathur, and note that the latter would result in: wherein the user device is configured for automatically selecting and receiving a broadcast when a user dons a listening device (e.g., headphones, earbuds, etc ... ), the motivation being to choose from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success, to address the issue of what all events can be used as triggers for Alathur. See MPEP § 2143(E).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK FISCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-3549. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 1-6, 7:30-11:59pm EST.
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/MARK FISCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692