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
1. This is in response to application filed on 08/19/2024 in which claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
(3) Status of Claims
2. Claims 1-20 are pending, of which claims 1, 8 and 15 are in independent form.
Double Patenting
3. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-20 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting over claims 1-23 of US Patent 11,650,789. This is a double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
The subject matter claimed in the instant application is fully disclosed in the patent and is covered by the patent since the patent and the application are claiming common subject matter, as claims 1-20 of the current application are broadened versions of claims 1-23 of US Patent 11,650,789.
4. A rejection based on double patenting of the “same invention” type finds its support in the language of 35 U.S.C. 101 which states that “whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process... may obtain a patent therefor...” (Emphasis added). Thus, the term “same invention,” in this context, means an invention drawn to identical subject matter. See Miller v. Eagle Mfg. Co., 151 U.S. 186 (1894); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Ockert, 245 F.2d 467, 114 USPQ 330 (CCPA 1957).
A statutory type (35 U.S.C. 101) double patenting rejection can be overcome by canceling or amending the claims that are directed to the same invention so they are no longer coextensive in scope. The filing of a terminal disclaimer cannot overcome a double patenting rejection based upon 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claims 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as claiming the same invention as that of claims 1-19 of prior U.S. Patent No. 12,164,829. This is a statutory double patenting rejection.
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.
5. Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8-9, 11, 13, 15-16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over DiMaria et al. (US PG Pub 2016/0196270) filed on July 07, 2016 in view of Gilley (US PG Pub 2020/0154079) published on May 14, 2020 in further view of Bodin (2007/2014485) September 13, 2007 in further view of Quirino(US PG Pub 2017/0177296) published on June 22, 2017.
As per claim 1, 8 and 15, DiMaria teaches An audio file distribution system comprising: a server configured to aggregate and store a plurality of audio files in a database(Para[0031][0032] fig 1 discloses server and database for storing data, as taught by Dimaria); and
a plurality of computing devices in communication with the server(fig 1 shows computer communicate with server via network, as taught by DiMaria), each computing device comprising a processor and a display coupled to the processor(Para[0090-0091] discloses computer and display, as taught by DiMaria), the processor configured to
render an audio playback graphical user interface (GUI) on the display for playing a given audio file from the database(fig 3-4 Para[0028-0031][0060] audio playlist render weekly and stored in database, as taught by DiMaria), the audio playback GUI comprising a playback control user input(fig 5 Para[0032] the station set 321 is generated according to editorial input received from the editor device, as taught by DiMaria), and
when the audio snippet creation user input is activated, render an audio snippet creation GUI for the server to generate an audio snippet of the given audio file(Para[0028][0036-0037][0060] fig 3-5 portion 410 and 420 determined based on received input from the editor device. Portion 410 and 420 includes podcast, as taught by DiMaria);
the server configured to
add the audio snippet of the given audio file to the database comprising a plurality of audio snippets(Para[0039][0073-0074] collection of data corresponds to an audio or video file stored in database, as taught by DiMaria),
rank the audio snippet along with other audio snippets based upon heuristics data from respective users of the plurality of computing devices(Para[0134] Media files are ranked based on score, as taught by DiMaria), and
DiMaria does not explicitly teach and an audio snippet creation user input,
generate a custom link to externally access the audio snippet within the database,
render an audio snippet discovery GUI on the display for viewing the plurality of audio snippets, the audio snippet discovery GUI configured to receive swipe input to scroll through the plurality of audio snippets.
On the other hand, Gilley teaches render an audio snippet creation GUI(fig 11 shows interface for deep tagging movies, as taught by Gilley)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify DiMaria invention with the teaching of Gilley because doing so would result in increased efficiency and accuracy by displaying the editing screen to the user
The combination of DiMaria and Gilly does not explicitly teach generate a custom link to externally access the audio snippet within the database,
On the other hand, Bodin teaches generate a custom link to externally access the audio snippet within the database(Para[0086][0160]URL link corresponds to audio or video file, as taught by Bodin),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify DiMaria and Gilley invention with the teaching of Bodin because doing so would result in increased efficiency and accuracy by allowing the user easily access the desired audio file by clicking on the URL.
The combination of DiMaria, Bodin and Gilly does not explicitly teach render an audio snippet discovery GUI on the display for viewing the plurality of audio snippets, the audio snippet discovery GUI configured to receive swipe input to scroll through the plurality of audio snippets.
On the other hand, Quirino teaches render an audio snippet discovery GUI on the display for viewing the plurality of audio snippets, the audio snippet discovery GUI configured to receive swipe input to scroll through the plurality of audio snippets(Para[0061-0064] The news feed 302 includes a second audio content item 312 adjacent to the audio content item 304. A portion of the second audio content item 312 is initially shown in the news feed 302. If the user swipes to the left to scroll horizontally, an entirety of the second audio content item 312 can appear within the screen 300 and the audio content item 304 can disappear from the screen, as taught by Quirino).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify DiMaria, Bodin and Gilley invention with the teaching of Quirino because doing so would result in increased efficiency allowing the user to control playback of the audio content associated with the audio content item even though the audio content item 304 is no longer in view
As per claim 2, 9 and 16, the combination of DiMaria, Bodin, Qurino and Gilley teaches wherein the plurality of audio files comprises at least one of a plurality of podcast audio files, a plurality of audiobook audio files, and a plurality of music audio files(Para[0060], as taught by DiMaria).
As per claim 4, 11 and 18, the combination of DiMaria, Bodin, Qurino and Gilley teaches wherein the visual waveform input comprises a displayed audio waveform (Para[0037], as taught by DiMaria), and a slidable time domain selection input for the audio snippet of the given podcast audio file(Para[0157], as taught by Gilley).
As per claim 6 and 13, the combination of DiMaria, Bodin, Qurino and Gilley teaches wherein the slidable time domain selection input for the audio snippet has a default position based upon a current playback position in the given audio file(Para[0147][0157], as taught by Gilley).
6. Claims 3, 5, 10, 12, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over DiMaria et al. (US PG Pub 2016/0196270) filed on July 07, 2016 in view of Gilley (US PG Pub 2020/0154079) published on May 14, 2020 in further view of Bodin (2007/2014485) September 13, 2007 in further view of Quirino(US PG Pub 2017/0177296) published on June 22, 2017 in further view of Xing (US PG Pub 2018/0276540) published on September 27, 2018.
As per claim 3, 10 and 17, the combination of DiMaria, Bodin, Qurino and Gilley teaches and an audio snippet creation playback control user input (fig 5 e.g human input, as taught by DiMaria).
the combination of DiMaria and Gilley does not teach wherein the audio snippet creation GUI comprises a visual waveform input
On the other hand, Xing teaches wherein the audio snippet creation GUI comprises a visual waveform input (Para[0047] wave signal corresponds to song, as taught by Xing)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify DiMaria, Bodin, Qurino and Gilley invention with the teaching of Xing because doing so would result in increased accuracy by generating a spectrogram, a spectral centroid calculation, a melodic range spectrogram, shift-invariant latent variable (silvet) note transcription, cepstral pitch analysis, constant-Q, an onset likelihood curve, or any other visual representation of the snippet.
As per claim 5 and 12, the combination of DiMaria, Bodin, Quirino Gilley and Xing teaches wherein the displayed audio waveform comprises a waveform extending for an entirety of the given podcast audio file (Para[0047-0049], as taught by Xing).
As per claim 19, the combination of DiMaria, Bodin, Xing and Gilley teaches wherein the displayed audio waveform comprises a waveform extending for an entirety of the given podcast audio file(Para[0047-0049], as taught by Xing); and
wherein the slidable time domain selection input for the audio snippet has a default position based upon a current playback position in the given audio file(Para[0147][0157], as taught by Gilley).
7. Claims 7, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over DiMaria et al. (US PG Pub 2016/0196270) filed on July 07, 2016 in view of Gilley (US PG Pub 2020/0154079) published on May 14, 2020 in further view of Bodin (2007/2014485) September 13, 2007 in further view of Quirino(US PG Pub 2017/0177296) published on June 22, 2017 in further view of Rottler (US PG Pub 2011/0173539) published on July 14, 2011.
As per claim 7, 14 and 20, the combination of DiMaria, Bodin, Quirino and Gilley does not teach wherein the heuristics data comprises audio playback data and audio playback completion event data.
On the other hand, Rottler teaches wherein the heuristics data comprises audio playback data(Para[0085-0087] discloses audio item, as taught by Rottler) and audio playback completion event data(Para[0085-0087] discloses audio item after being played, as taught by Rottler).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify DiMaria, Bodin, Quirino and Gilley invention with the teaching of Rottler because doing so would allow the user easily recognized the audio file that the user already selected to listen.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYEEZ R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3069. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-6:30PM EST.
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/RAYEEZ R CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2174 Saturday, June 13, 2026
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