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. 18/818,371 filed on 11/26/2025. Claim(s) 1-23 is/are pending and have been examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed on 03/03/2026 is/are considered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-23 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Although a new ground(s) of rejection has been made, some of Applicant’s arguments need to be addressed.
Applicant asserts on P.10 that “Thus, Hou does not disclose generating a manifest a placeholder for a secondary content pod that is transmitted to a video player, and subsequently generating a secondary content pod file, comprising actual locators for items of secondary content, that is transmitted to the video player,…”
A) In response, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. Hou explicitly teaches generating a manifest a placeholder for a secondary content pod that is transmitted to a video player (Paragraph 0028, 0035, 0037), and subsequently generating a secondary content pod file, comprising actual locator for items of secondary content (Paragraph 0024, 0037).
C) What Hou did not explicitly teach was transmitting the secondary content pod file comprising actual locators for items of secondary content to the video player, for which Engel was brought in to teach in (Fig.1, Paragraph 0064-0065, 0074-0075, 0079-0080, 0083). Therefore, the combination of Hou and Engel teaches this particular part of the claimed limitation.
D) Applicant asserts on P.11 regarding Independent claims 11 and 19 that “Amended independent claims 11 and 19, although differing in scope from claim 1, recite certain similar features discussed above with reference to claim 1…”
In response, the Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Note that independent claim did not amend to have the limitation “actual locators”, the limitation remains “generating the secondary content pod file, comprising locators for items of secondary content” which is taught by Hou (Paragraph 0024, 0037).
Independent claim 19 contain similar amendment having “actual locators”, in this limitation “generate the secondary content pod file, comprising actual locators for items of secondary content” which is taught by Hou (Paragraph 0024, 0037).
See Examiner’s response in part (A) above.
However, claims 11 and 19, were not amended similarly in regards to transmitting the secondary content pod file comprising actual locators for items of secondary content to the video player. Claims 11 and 19 continue to claim “transmitting over the network the secondary content pod file to the streaming content player” and “provide the secondary content pod file to the streaming content player” for which Hou continues to teach in (Paragraph 0096), as it only pertains to the reception of the secondary content pod file, which under broadest reasonable interpretation can also be the actual interstitial content(s) itself. As claimed, claims 11 and 19 do not necessitate transmission of actual locators to the video player over the network.
E) Applicant asserts on P.10, that “Further, Hou does not disclose an asynchronous bus or a session ID indicating the time to the next secondary content pod, and further does not disclose:…”
In response, the Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In regards to “asynchronous bus” please see Office Action below, where this is taught by the combination of Hou and Ahanger.
Additionally, session ID indicating the time to the next secondary content pod is taught by the combination of Hou and Lee. As Applicant has not explicitly narrowed what “indicating” entails, whether that means the time is encoded in the session ID or added as a parameter to the session ID. Under broadest reasonable interpretation, “indicating” could just be including, but not limited to a pointer, lookup, or some association between session ID and the time, for which is taught under Lee under broadest reasonable interpretation.
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) 11-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hou (US 2021/0160551) in view of Lee et al. (US 2012/0236779).
Consider claim 11, Hou teaches a computer-implemented method (Abstract, Figs.1, 2a), the method comprising:
receiving over a network at a content distribution system comprising one or more processing devices (Fig.2A, Network Interface 204A, computer-readable medium drive 206A, memory 210A; Paragraph 0007, 0046-0052), a request for a manifest from a streaming content player (Paragraph 0028 teaches a manifest may be downloaded to a client, e.g., a video player, in response to a client content request. Client may access and play each item of content, including primary content and interstitial content, in the order defined in the manifest, where the content is rendered on a display);
generating by the content distribution system the requested manifest, the generated manifest comprising primary content locators for corresponding segments of primary content, a placeholder for a secondary content pod, and an indication as to when the secondary content pod is to be played (Paragraph 0035 teaches a proxy service may be used to insert proxy locators, e.g., URLs, for some or all of the content, e.g., interstitial or other supplemental content, included in the manifest file to advantageously enable the manifest file to be much more quickly generated and provided to the client video player, thereby enabling video playback by the video player to be more quickly initiated. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may receive a request for media from a given client device 106 in the form of a request for a playlist manifest. The stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod);
transmitting by the content distribution system the requested manifest, comprising the comprising primary content locators, the placeholder for a secondary content pod and the indication as to when the secondary content pod is to be played, to the streaming content player (Paragraph 0028, 0035, 0037);
providing a session identifier indicating a time to a next secondary content pod to a session service, the session identifier indicating the time to the next secondary content pod (Paragraph 0028. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod. Paragraph 0047 teaches an input/output device interface 208A, all of which may communicate with one another by way of one or more communication buses or networks. Paragraph 0094 teaches the stitcher system may use the locator, e.g., URL, for the selected interstitial content to replace a corresponding redirect locator in the redirect database);
generating, via the session service, a secondary content pod request (Paragraph 0096 teaches the request is received at the redirect database);
providing the secondary content pod request to a secondary content pod service (Paragraph 0096 teaches the redirect database accesses the corresponding redirect locator, URL, corresponding to the request);
generating, using the secondary content pod service, one or more secondary content pod decisions, comprising a decision as to how many items of secondary content are to be included in the secondary content pod (Paragraph 0024 teaches the proxy service may determine if and what non-default interstitial content is to be played by the user system client in place of the default content. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod);
receiving from the streaming content player a request for a secondary content pod file (Paragraph 0095 teaches the user device video player requests interstitial content using a locator in the playlist manifest that corresponds to an entry in the redirect database);
generating the secondary content pod file, comprising locators for items of secondary content (Paragraph 0024 teaches the proxy service may determine if and what non-default interstitial content is to be played by the user system client in place of the default content. The proxy service may replace, as appropriate, the URLs to the default interstitial content with URLs to the determined non-default interstitial content. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod. Paragraph 0039 teaches URLs corresponding to the selected items may be inserted into the redirect database “just in time” so that the client device’s request will be redirected to the corresponding selected items at the appropriate time); and
transmitting over the network the secondary content pod file to the streaming content player (Paragraph 0096 teaches user device video player may receive the interstitial content corresponding to the redirect locator, e.g. from the content delivery network system).
Hou does not explicitly teach a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time;
the session identifier comprising the session ID indicating the time;
In an analogous art, Lee teaches a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time; the session identifier comprising the session ID indicating the time (Fig.87, Paragraph 0314).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Hou to include a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time; the session identifier comprising the session ID indicating the time, as taught by Lee, for the advantage of enabling the system to be able to easily track and identify when particular sessions start, providing system with better information and management.
Consider claim 19, Hou teaches non-transitory computer readable memory having program instructions stored thereon that when executed by at least one computing device cause the at least one computing device to perform operations (Abstract, Figs.1, 2a; computer-readable medium drive 206A, memory 210A; Paragraph 0007, 0046-0052, Paragraph 0122-0123) comprising:
receive a request for a manifest from a streaming content player (Paragraph 0028 teaches a manifest may be downloaded to a client, e.g., a video player, in response to a client content request. Client may access and play each item of content, including primary content and interstitial content, in the order defined in the manifest, where the content is rendered on a display);
generate the requested manifest, the generated manifest comprising primary content locators for corresponding segments of primary content, a placeholder for a secondary content pod, and an indication as to when the secondary content pod is to be played (Paragraph 0035 teaches a proxy service may be used to insert proxy locators, e.g., URLs, for some or all of the content, e.g., interstitial or other supplemental content, included in the manifest file to advantageously enable the manifest file to be much more quickly generated and provided to the client video player, thereby enabling video playback by the video player to be more quickly initiated. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may receive a request for media from a given client device 106 in the form of a request for a playlist manifest. The stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod);
provide the requested manifest, comprising the comprising primary content locators, the placeholder for a secondary content pod and the indication as to when the secondary content pod is to be played, to the streaming content player (Paragraph 0028, 0035, 0037);
providing a session identifier indicating a time to a next secondary content pod to a session service (Paragraph 0028. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod. Paragraph 0047 teaches an input/output device interface 208A, all of which may communicate with one another by way of one or more communication buses or networks. Paragraph 0094 teaches the stitcher system may use the locator, e.g., URL, for the selected interstitial content to replace a corresponding redirect locator in the redirect database);
generate, via the session service, a secondary content pod request (Paragraph 0096 teaches the request is received at the redirect database. The redirect database accesses the corresponding redirect locator, URL, corresponding to the request);
generate one or more secondary content pod decisions, comprising a decision as to how many items of secondary content are to be included in the secondary content pod (Paragraph 0024 teaches the proxy service may determine if and what non-default interstitial content is to be played by the user system client in place of the default content. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod);
receive from the streaming content player a request for a secondary content pod file (Paragraph 0095 teaches the user device video player requests interstitial content using a locator in the playlist manifest that corresponds to an entry in the redirect database);
generate the secondary content pod file, comprising actual locators for items of secondary content (Paragraph 0024 teaches the proxy service may determine if and what non-default interstitial content is to be played by the user system client in place of the default content. The proxy service may replace, as appropriate, the URLs to the default interstitial content with URLs to the determined non-default interstitial content. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod. Paragraph 0039 teaches URLs corresponding to the selected items may be inserted into the redirect database “just in time” so that the client device’s request will be redirected to the corresponding selected items at the appropriate time); and
provide the secondary content pod file to the streaming content player (Paragraph 0096 teaches user device video player may receive the interstitial content corresponding to the redirect locator, e.g. from the content delivery network system).
Hou does not explicitly teach a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time;
In an analogous art, Lee teaches a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time (Fig.87, Paragraph 0314).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Hou to include a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time, as taught by Lee, for the advantage of enabling the system to be able to easily track and identify when particular sessions start, providing system with better information and management.
Consider claim 12, Hou and Lee teach wherein the content distribution system is configured to include in the manifest a plurality of placeholders for respective secondary content pods, wherein each placeholder is identical (Hou - Paragraph 0022 teaches a single proxy beacon URL may be used to access multiple beacons via the redirect database. Paragraph 0025 teaches user system client receives the playlist with proxy interstitial URLS and proxy beacon URLS).
Consider claims 13 and 20, Hou and Lee teach further comprising dynamically generating the placeholder for the secondary content pod using a rule (Hou - Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod).
Consider claims 14 and 21, Hou and Lee teach transmitting the manifest to the streaming content player prior to filling the secondary content pod with secondary content identifiers (Hou - Paragraph 0035 teaches a proxy service may be used to insert proxy locators, e.g., URLs, for some or all of the content, e.g., interstitial or other supplemental content, included in the manifest file to advantageously enable the manifest file to be much more quickly generated and provided to the client video player, thereby enabling video playback by the video player to be more quickly initiated. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may receive a request for media from a given client device 106 in the form of a request for a playlist manifest. The stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod).
Consider claim 15 and 22, Hou and Lee teach dynamically reducing or increasing a quantity of secondary items that are included in subsequent secondary content pod files transmitted to the streaming content player (Hou - Paragraph 0041 teaches redirect database entries may be dynamically modified after the playlist manifest file is downloaded to the video player, to thereby functionally accomplish the goal of having a dynamically available playlist manifest file).
Consider claim 16, Hou and Lee teach wherein the system is configured to fill the secondary content file based at least in part on an initial secondary content pod marker (Hou - Paragraph 0054 teaches interstitial selection service 204B may assemble content information for a given interstitial pod, e.g., the length of the interstitial pod, the subject matter of requested primary content, information regarding a channel the viewer is watching, the content of a scene in which the interstitial pod is located, etc., and transmit the information to one or more interstitial source systems, e.g., interstitial source systems 108.sub.1 . . . 108.sub.n. The interstitial source systems may propose interstitial content to the interstitial selection service 204B of the stitcher system. The interstitial selection service 204B may evaluate the proposals, e.g., based on interstitial content subject, the proposal source, associated bid amounts, etc., and select one or more items of interstitial content for inclusion in the interstitial pod).
Consider claims 17 and 23, Hou and Lee teach dynamically adjusting a length of at least one secondary content pod based at least in part on a rule, an algorithm, a user-type, and/or a session behavior (Hou - Paragraph 0054 teaches interstitial selection service 204B may assemble content information for a given interstitial pod, e.g., the length of the interstitial pod, the subject matter of requested primary content, information regarding a channel the viewer is watching, the content of a scene in which the interstitial pod is located, etc., and transmit the information to one or more interstitial source systems, e.g., interstitial source systems 108.sub.1 . . . 108.sub.n. The interstitial source systems may propose interstitial content to the interstitial selection service 204B of the stitcher system. The interstitial selection service 204B may evaluate the proposals, e.g., based on interstitial content subject, the proposal source, associated bid amounts, etc., and select one or more items of interstitial content for inclusion in the interstitial pod).
Consider claim 18, Hou and Lee teach instructing, via the content distribution system, the streaming content player to request secondary content at specified time intervals, thereby enabling a video player cache to be prewarmed with second content items (Hou - Paragraph 0059 teaches a playlist manifest for a program may be automatically requested based at least in part on a comparison of the current time and the scheduled starting time for the item of content. If the difference between the current time and the scheduled starting time satisfies a threshold, which could be 0 seconds, or some larger number, e.g., 0.5, 1, or 2 seconds, to enable buffering of the program prior to the start time, the corresponding playlist manifest may be automatically requested and provided to the stitcher system).
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hou (US 2021/0160551), in view of Ahanger et al. (US 2008/0307454), in view of Lee et al. (US 2012/0236779), and further in view of Engel et al. (US 2017/0195744).
Consider claim 1, Hou teaches a system configured to provide distribution of video content over a network (Abstract, Fig.1), the system comprising:
a computer device; a network interface; non-transitory computer readable memory having program instructions stored thereon that when executed by the computer device cause the system to perform operations comprising (Fig.2A, Network Interface 204A, computer-readable medium drive 206A, memory 210A; Paragraph 0007, 0046-0052);
receive, via the network interface, from a video player a request for a manifest, wherein the video player is configured to receive and play at least streaming video content (Paragraph 0028 teaches a manifest may be downloaded to a client, e.g., a video player, in response to a client content request. Client may access and play each item of content, including primary content and interstitial content, in the order defined in the manifest, where the content is rendered on a display);
generate, using a stitcher service, the requested manifest, the generated manifest comprising primary content locators for corresponding segments of primary content, a placeholder for a secondary content pod, and an indication as to when the secondary content pod is to be played with respect to a beginning of the primary content (Paragraph 0035 teaches a proxy service may be used to insert proxy locators, e.g., URLs, for some or all of the content, e.g., interstitial or other supplemental content, included in the manifest file to advantageously enable the manifest file to be much more quickly generated and provided to the client video player, thereby enabling video playback by the video player to be more quickly initiated. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may receive a request for media from a given client device 106 in the form of a request for a playlist manifest. The stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod);
transmit the requested manifest, comprising the comprising primary content locators, the placeholder for a secondary content pod and the indication as to when the secondary content pod is to be played with respect to the beginning of the primary content, to the video player (Paragraph 0028, 0035, 0037);
provide, on an bus, a session identifier indicating a time to a next secondary content pod (Paragraph 0028. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod. Paragraph 0047 teaches an input/output device interface 208A, all of which may communicate with one another by way of one or more communication buses or networks. Paragraph 0094 teaches the stitcher system may use the locator, e.g., URL, for the selected interstitial content to replace a corresponding redirect locator in the redirect database);
receive, at a session service via the bus, the session identifier indicating the time to the next secondary content pod (Paragraph 0047 teaches an input/output device interface 208A, all of which may communicate with one another by way of one or more communication buses or networks. Paragraph 0095 teaches the user device video player requests interstitial content using a locator in the playlist manifest that corresponds to an entry in the redirect database);
generate, via the session service, a secondary content pod request; provide, on the bus, the secondary content pod request (Paragraph 0096 teaches the request is received at the redirect database);
access, via a secondary content pod service, the secondary content pod request (Paragraph 0096 teaches the redirect database accesses the corresponding redirect locator, URL, corresponding to the request);
generate, using the secondary content pod service, one or more secondary content pod decisions, comprising a decision as to how many items of secondary content are to be included in the secondary content pod (Paragraph 0024 teaches the proxy service may determine if and what non-default interstitial content is to be played by the user system client in place of the default content. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod);
receive, via the network interface, a request for a secondary content pod file from the video player (Paragraph 0095 teaches the user device video player requests interstitial content using a locator in the playlist manifest that corresponds to an entry in the redirect database);
generate the secondary content pod file, comprising actual locators for items of secondary content (Paragraph 0024 teaches the proxy service may determine if and what non-default interstitial content is to be played by the user system client in place of the default content. The proxy service may replace, as appropriate, the URLs to the default interstitial content with URLs to the determined non-default interstitial content. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod. Paragraph 0039 teaches URLs corresponding to the selected items may be inserted into the redirect database “just in time” so that the client device’s request will be redirected to the corresponding selected items at the appropriate time); and
transmit, via the network interface, the secondary content pod file for items of secondary content to the video player (Paragraph 0096 teaches user device video player may receive the interstitial content corresponding to the redirect locator, e.g. from the content delivery network system).
Hou does not explicitly teach bus is an asynchronous bus;
a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time;
the session identifier comprising the session ID indicating the time;
transmit, via the network interface, the secondary content pod file comprising the actual locators for items of secondary content to the video player.
In an analogous art, Ahanger teaches bus is an asynchronous bus (Paragraph 0083).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Hou to include bus is an asynchronous bus, as taught by Ahanger, for the advantage of allowing device(s) to operate independently, allowing for variable data transfer speeds, higher speed data transfer, providing higher performance, scalability, and flexibility in data transfer and communication.
Hou and Ahanger do not explicitly teach a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time;
the session identifier comprising the session ID indicating the time;
transmit, via the network interface, the secondary content pod file comprising the actual locators for items of secondary content to the video player.
In an analogous art, Lee teaches a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time; the session identifier comprising the session ID indicating the time (Fig.53, Paragraph 0235; Fig.87, Paragraph 0314).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Hou and Ahanger to include a session identifier comprising a session ID indicating a time; the session identifier comprising the session ID indicating the time, as taught by Lee, for the advantage of enabling the system to be able to easily track and identify when particular sessions start, providing system with better information and management.
Hou, Ahanger, and Lee do not explicitly teach transmit, via the network interface, the secondary content pod file comprising the actual locators for items of secondary content to the video player.
In an analogous art, Engel teaches transmit, via a network interface, a secondary content pod file comprising actual locators for items of secondary content to a video player (Fig.1, Paragraph 0064-0065, 0074-0075, 0079-0080, 0083).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Hou, Ahanger, and Lee to include transmit, via a network interface, a secondary content pod file comprising actual locators for items of secondary content to a video player, as taught by Engel, for the advantage of saving server-side resources, enabling client devices control over advertisement information (Engel – Paragraph 0078), providing greater client side control over retrieval and playback of content, alleviating added processing on the server side end.
Consider claim 2, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the system is configured to transmit metadata associated with the secondary content to the video player in-band with the secondary content, via a link, and/or out of band (Hou - Paragraph 0038 teaches context information may be transmitted before, after, or in parallel to the transmission of the playlist manifest with proxy URLs, pointing to corresponding entries in a redirect database, to the client device 106 that requested the playlist manifest).
Consider claim 3, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the stitcher service is configured to include in the manifest a plurality of placeholders for respective secondary content pods, wherein each placeholder is identical (Hou - Paragraph 0022 teaches a single proxy beacon URL may be used to access multiple beacons via the redirect database. Paragraph 0025 teaches user system client receives the playlist with proxy interstitial URLS and proxy beacon URLS).
Consider claim 4, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the placeholder for the secondary content pod is dynamically generated using a rule (Hou - Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod).
Consider claim 5, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the system is configured to transmit the manifest to the video player prior to filling the secondary content pod with secondary content identifiers (Hou - Paragraph 0035 teaches a proxy service may be used to insert proxy locators, e.g., URLs, for some or all of the content, e.g., interstitial or other supplemental content, included in the manifest file to advantageously enable the manifest file to be much more quickly generated and provided to the client video player, thereby enabling video playback by the video player to be more quickly initiated. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may receive a request for media from a given client device 106 in the form of a request for a playlist manifest. The stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod).
Consider claim 6, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the secondary content pod file is generated using a service separate from the stitcher service (Hou - Paragraph 0035 teaches a proxy service may be used to insert proxy locators, e.g., URLs, for some or all of the content, e.g., interstitial or other supplemental content, included in the manifest file to advantageously enable the manifest file to be much more quickly generated and provided to the client video player, thereby enabling video playback by the video player to be more quickly initiated. Paragraph 0037 teaches stitcher system 104 may receive a request for media from a given client device 106 in the form of a request for a playlist manifest. The stitcher system 104 may identify, e.g., based on the primary content being requested, user information, time of day, a specification from an accessed file, and/or other information, the location within the primary content and length of an interstitial pod, a time frame reserved for interstitials, wherein one or more interstitials may be needed to fill a pod).
Consider claim 7, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the system is configured to dynamically reduce or increase a quantity of secondary items that are included in subsequent secondary content pod files transmitted to the video player (Hou - Paragraph 0041 teaches redirect database entries may be dynamically modified after the playlist manifest file is downloaded to the video player, to thereby functionally accomplish the goal of having a dynamically available playlist manifest file).
Consider claim 8, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the system is configured to fill the secondary content file based at least in part on an initial secondary content pod marker (Hou - Paragraph 0054 teaches interstitial selection service 204B may assemble content information for a given interstitial pod, e.g., the length of the interstitial pod, the subject matter of requested primary content, information regarding a channel the viewer is watching, the content of a scene in which the interstitial pod is located, etc., and transmit the information to one or more interstitial source systems, e.g., interstitial source systems 108.sub.1 . . . 108.sub.n. The interstitial source systems may propose interstitial content to the interstitial selection service 204B of the stitcher system. The interstitial selection service 204B may evaluate the proposals, e.g., based on interstitial content subject, the proposal source, associated bid amounts, etc., and select one or more items of interstitial content for inclusion in the interstitial pod).
Consider claim 9, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the system is configured to dynamically adjust a length of at least one secondary content pod based at least in part on a rule, an algorithm, a user-type, and/or a session behavior (Hou - Paragraph 0054 teaches interstitial selection service 204B may assemble content information for a given interstitial pod, e.g., the length of the interstitial pod, the subject matter of requested primary content, information regarding a channel the viewer is watching, the content of a scene in which the interstitial pod is located, etc., and transmit the information to one or more interstitial source systems, e.g., interstitial source systems 108.sub.1 . . . 108.sub.n. The interstitial source systems may propose interstitial content to the interstitial selection service 204B of the stitcher system. The interstitial selection service 204B may evaluate the proposals, e.g., based on interstitial content subject, the proposal source, associated bid amounts, etc., and select one or more items of interstitial content for inclusion in the interstitial pod).
Consider claim 10, Hou, Ahanger, Lee, and Engel teach wherein the system is configured to instruct the video player to request secondary content at specified time intervals, thereby enabling a video player cache to be prewarmed with second content items (Hou - Paragraph 0059 teaches a playlist manifest for a program may be automatically requested based at least in part on a comparison of the current time and the scheduled starting time for the item of content. If the difference between the current time and the scheduled starting time satisfies a threshold, which could be 0 seconds, or some larger number, e.g., 0.5, 1, or 2 seconds, to enable buffering of the program prior to the start time, the corresponding playlist manifest may be automatically requested and provided to the stitcher system).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/JASON K LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425
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