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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/30/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moraghan et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10,708,654).
Referring to claim 1, Moraghan discloses determining a target access of content provisioned through a content provider system (see Column 3, Lines 26-48 for the headend sending to the STB a UC Config file that instructs the STB on how to collect viewing activity).
Moraghan also discloses monitoring actual access of the content provisioned through the content provider system (see Column 3, Lines 49 through Column 4, Line 54 for monitoring/collecting viewing data 106 based on the received UC Config file).
Moraghan also discloses determining an expected future access of the content provisioned through the content provider system within a time frame, based at least on the monitored actual access of the content (see Column 8, Lines 24-28 and Column 13, Lines 37-67).
Moraghan also discloses managing the provisioning of the content through the content provider system, based at least on the expected future access of the content with respect to the target access of the content (see Column 14, Lines 1-9).
Referring to claim 2, Moraghan discloses generating an access projection model for estimating access of the content provisioned thorough the content provider system (see Column 19, Lines 37-64 for generating a machine learning model that uses the channel tuning and viewing activity to compute an optimal viewing pattern).
Moraghan also discloses monitoring the actual access of the content over time (see Column 19, Line 65 through Column 20, Line 12 for monitoring actual access of content to generate predictions).
Moraghan also discloses updating the access projection model based at least on the actual access of the content (see Column 20, Lines 13-24 continually updating the model using a testing process).
Moraghan also discloses determining the expected future access of the content by applying the access projection model based on the actual access of the content (see Column 19, Lines 45-47 for using the access prediction models to determine a predicted channel/service/time state vector).
Referring to claim 3, Moraghan also discloses monitoring the actual access of the content over time (see Column 19, Line 65 through Column 20, Line 12 for monitoring actual access of content to generate predictions).
Moraghan also discloses determining the expected future access of the content by applying an access projection model that is based at least on the actual access of the content (see Column 19, Lines 45-47 for using the access prediction models to determine a predicted channel/service/time state vector).
Moraghan also discloses managing the provisioning of the content based at least on the expected future access of the content within the time frame, with respect to the target access of the content (see Column 14, Lines 1-9).
Referring to claim 4, Moraghan also discloses identifying one or more access constraints for specific content provisioned thorough the content provider system (see Column 3, Lines 26-51 for the UC Config file including access constraints).
Moraghan also discloses generating an access constraint mapping data structure that includes a mapping of at least one of the one or more access constraints for the specific content provisioned through the content provider system (see Column 3, Lines 26-51 for the headend generating the UC Config file/data structure that defines the access constraints, which restricts the collection, storage and sending of viewing data 106).
Moraghan also discloses determine the target access based at least on the one or more access constraints mapped to the specific content (see Column 3, Lines 26-51 for instructing the STB to selectively collect, store and send viewing data 106 according to the UC Config file).
Referring to claim 5, Moraghan also discloses displaying, to a user, the target access, and at least one of the expected future access and actual access (see Figure 8 and Column 14, Lines 53-56).
Moraghan also discloses receiving a user control input (see Column 14, Lines 56-67).
Moraghan also discloses managing the provisioning of the content according to the user control input (see Column 14, Lines 56-67 for the user input being used to control inventory management).
Referring to claim 6, Moraghan also discloses that the target access of the content includes a target number of users (see Column 6, Line 65 through Column 7, Line 26).
Referring to claim 7, Moraghan also discloses that the target access of the content is set based on agreed access rights between an operator of the content provider system and one or more providers of the content (see Column 6, Lines 33-37 for encrypting the viewing data, which would require an agreement in the form of a decryption key that is transmitted between the STB and Headend).
Referring to claim 8, Moraghan also discloses the actual access of the content includes at least one of an actual number of users or an actual number of times the content is viewed (see Column 17, Lines 25-31).
Referring to claim 9, Moraghan also discloses maintaining a usage profile of the content that is based on at least one of target access, actual access, or expected future access (see Column 3, Lines 26-51).
Referring to claim 10, Moraghan also discloses determining that the actual access is below the target access (see Column 6, Lines 1-25 for determining when actual access meets a threshold/target access and uploading the viewing data once the threshold has been met and Column 16, Lines 3-17 and Column 20, Lines 43-63 for optimizing ad placement once a threshold has been exceeded, therefore determining if a level is below or above a threshold level).
Moraghan also discloses receiving a user input to adjust placement of the content on a user interface (see Figures 9-10 and Column 15, Line 4 through Column 16, Line 2).
Referring to claim 11, Moraghan also discloses determining that the expected future access is below the target access (see Column 6, Lines 1-25 for determining when actual access meets a threshold/target access and uploading the viewing data once the threshold has been met and Column 16, Lines 3-17 and Column 20, Lines 43-63 for optimizing ad placement once a threshold has been exceeded, therefore determining if a level is below or above a threshold level).
Moraghan also discloses receiving a user input to adjust placement of the content on a user interface (see Figures 9-10 and Column 15, Line 4 through Column 16, Line 2).
Referring to claim 12, Moraghan also discloses maintaining a usage profile of the content that includes a pay-per-view price for accessing the content (see Figure 9 and Column 15, Line 6-35 for maintaining a profile of advertising that is available for purchase/pay-per-view price).
Referring to claim 13, Moraghan also discloses maintaining a usage profile of the content that includes types of devices that accessed the content (see Column 4, Lines 8-13).
Referring to claim 14, Moraghan also discloses maintaining a usage profile of the content that includes at least one of a description of the content, and keywords associated with the content (see Column 6, Lines 38-42).
Referring to claim 15, Moraghan also discloses comparing the actual access to the target access (see Figure 5 and Column 12, Line 56 through Column 13, Line 2).
Moraghan also discloses adjusting a price to access the content based on the comparison (see Column 13, Lines 20-31).
Referring to claims 16-19, see the rejection of claims 1-4, respectively.
Referring to claim 20, see the rejection of claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON P SALCE whose telephone number is (571)272-7301. The examiner can normally be reached 5:30am-10:00pm M-F (Flex Schedule).
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/Jason Salce/Senior Examiner, Art Unit 2421
Jason P Salce
Senior Examiner
Art Unit 2421
January 20, 2026