DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the Applicants response filed 9/1/2026. Claims 1-14 are examined and pending. Claims 15-34 have been withdrawn in the election.
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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 9/1/2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. 12,107,938 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doughty et al. (U.S. 2014/0244401 A1, hereinafter “Doughty”) in view of Cooper (U.S. 2014/0006158 A1, hereinafter “Cooper”) in further view of Francolla (U.S. 2019/0266200 A1, hereinafter “Francolla”).
As to claims 1 and 8, Doughty discloses a computing device comprising: one or more hardware computer processors; and one or more storage devices configured to store software instructions executable by the one or more hardware computer processors to cause the computing device (para.[0034]; Figure 1, server 104) to:
send a first first-party user identifier of the user of the computing device to a collector in response to accessing a first domain (para. [0042]-[0043]; discloses the server receiving the first user profile associated with the first device) ;
redirect the computing device to a centralized domain (para.[0040]; discloses server redirecting to the sponsor database the first user profile);
output the centralized domain in response to the correlation (para. [0054]; discloses displaying to the user a sponsored content based on the sponsor database and profiles of the user).
However, Doughty does not disclose explicitly generating a first user prompt in response to the accessing the first website; receive a first input from the user in response to the first user prompt.
In an analogous art, Cooper discloses a device to generate a first prompt in response to the accessing the first website (Figure 6 and para. [0147]; discloses users arriving at the subscription network and website, receive an opt-in interface )
receive a first input from the user in response to the first user prompt (para. [00149]; discloses “ Upon clicking on this button and submission of a completed form, Jane 6060 would be "opted-in" to the Anytown Network. “);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Doughty by incorporating a user interface to opt-in to tracking of user activity as taught by Cooper in order to allow user to have the ability the manage their own privacy settings relating to their personal data.
However, Doughty-Cooper does not explicitly disclose the device wherein receiving, from the collector, an indication that the user is associated with both the first first-party user identifier and a second first-party user identifier associated with the centralized domain; and output the centralized domain in response to the indication
In an analogous art, Francolla discloses the device wherein receiving, from the collector, an indication that the user is associated with both the first first-party user identifier and a second first-party user identifier associated with the centralized domain; and output the centralized domain in response to the indication (para. [0007], [0024]-[0025], [0129]; discloses tracking service uses the service user identifier (master identifier) to identify or reference the user of the tracking service across multiple different website domains and the website is visited ) .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Doughty-Cooper by incorporating a master identifier to track the user across multiple domains as taught by Francolla in order to allow the platform to improve business value for the for the information that can be provided to the media partners. (Francolla, para. [0116])
As to claim 2, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the computing device of claim 1, wherein the first first-party user identifier comprises at least one of: information about a web browser used by the user; a user identity for the user associated with the first website (para. [0044]; discloses the user having a profile that is connected to mobile login information and application login information); an IP address of a computerized device used by the user; a user-agent of the web browser of the user; a webpage visited by the user; a query parameter in a URL visited by the user; a domain visited by the user; and a code that is unique to at least one of the user and a current web browsing session of the user.
As to claim 3, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the computing device of claim 1, wherein the first user prompt comprises at least one of: an authentication link that prompts the user to log into a user account on the first website; a request for the user to accept one or more cookies; a pop-up modal, tab, or window that prompts the user to join a newsletter or mailing list; a pop-up modal, tab, or window that prompts the user to join a community on the first website (Cooper, Figure 6); a link that prompts the user to complete a common action on the first website; and a pop-up modal, tab, or window that offers the user a promotional offer or other discount code in response to the user providing the first input.
As to claim 4, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the computing device of claim 1, wherein the first user input comprises at least one of: an affirmative input or action by the user to accept one or more cookies; an affirmative input or action by the user to join a newsletter or a mailing list; an affirmative input or action by the user to join a community (Cooper, para. [00149]; discloses “ Upon clicking on this button and submission of a completed form, Jane 6060 would be "opted-in" to the Anytown Network. “); an affirmative input or action by the user to begin a prompted process; an email address of the user; a click of "yes" in response to the first user prompt; and a closing of the pop-up window of the first user prompt.
As to claim 5, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the computing device of claim 4, wherein the one or more storage devices are further configured to store software instructions executable by the one or more hardware computer processors to cause the computing system to: generate a second user prompt after the user is redirected to the centralized domain; and receive a second input from the user in response to the second user prompt (Cooper, para. [0160]; discloses “ processes and/or content and/or advertising being triggered and/or generated and/or delivered to aforementioned User 1020, Jane Smith 9060, across a variety of content delivery channels and/or devices and/or methods, for example email” and provides request to search for a local business).
As to claim 6, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the computing device of claim 4, wherein the one or more storage devices are further configured to store software instructions executable by the one or more hardware computer processors to cause the computing system to redirect the user back to the first website (Cooper, para. [0152]; discloses “The App in the example interface 7000 could be provided by the Anytown Network SN 1240 as a mobile and/or tablet app, a desktop computer software application, a website, a mobile website and/or other devices and/or applications. In the example screen, the greeting and top-right 7020 section indicate that Jane is authenticated and/or "logged-in" to the App”).
As to claim 7, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more storage devices are further configured to store software instructions executable by the one or more hardware computer processors to cause the computing system to display a different user prompt when the user next visits the first website in response to the first user input (Cooper, para.[0168]; discloses the user being able to access internet search to search the Anytown network instead of an opt in interface) or the prior abandonment of the first user prompt by the user .
As to claim 9, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the first first-party user identifier comprises at least one of: information about a web browser used by the user; a user identity for the user associated with the first website (Doughty, para. [0044]; discloses the user having a profile that is connected to mobile login information and application login information);; an IP address of the user; a user-agent of the web browser of the user; a webpage visited by the user; a query parameter in a URL visited by the user; a domain visited by the user; and a code that is unique to at least one of the user and a current web browsing session of the user.
As to claim 10, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the user prompt comprises at least one of: an authentication link that prompts the user to log into a user account on the first website; a request for the user to accept one or more cookies; a pop-up modal, tab, or window that prompts the user to join a newsletter or mailing list; a pop-up modal, tab, or window that prompts the user to join a community on the first website (Cooper, Figure 6); a link that prompts the user to complete a common action on the first; and a pop-up modal, tab, or window that offers the user a promotional offer or other discount code in response to the user providing the first input.
As to claim 11, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the first user input comprises at least one of: an affirmative input or action by the user to accept one or more cookies; an affirmative input or action by the user to join a newsletter or a mailing list; an affirmative input or action by the user to join a community (Cooper, para. [00149]; discloses “ Upon clicking on this button and submission of a completed form, Jane 6060 would be "opted-in" to the Anytown Network. “); an affirmative input or action by the user to begin a prompted process an email address of the user; a click of "yes" in response to the first user prompt; and a closing of the pop-up window of the first user prompt.
As to claim 12, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising: generating a second user prompt after the user is redirected to the centralized domain; and receiving a second input from the user in response to the second user prompt (Cooper, para. [0160]; discloses “ processes and/or content and/or advertising being triggered and/or generated and/or delivered to aforementioned User 1020, Jane Smith 9060, across a variety of content delivery channels and/or devices and/or methods, for example email” and provides request to search for a local business).
As to claim 13, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising redirecting the user back to the first website (Cooper, para. [0152]; discloses “The App in the example interface 7000 could be provided by the Anytown Network SN 1240 as a mobile and/or tablet app, a desktop computer software application, a website, a mobile website and/or other devices and/or applications. In the example screen, the greeting and top-right 7020 section indicate that Jane is authenticated and/or "logged-in" to the App”).
As to claim 14, Doughty-Cooper-Francolla discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising displaying a different user prompt when the user next visits the first website in response to the first user input (Cooper, para.[0168]; discloses the user being able to access internet search engine to search the Anytown network instead of an opt in interface) or the prior abandonment of the first user prompt by the user.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Falkenburg et al. (U.S. 10,567,529 B2) discloses displaying a user interface with two or more sets of tracking-data configuration options associated with a plurality of websites, the sets including: a first tracking-data configuration option that, when selected, causes the device to block all of the plurality of websites from storing tracking data; and a second tracking-data configuration option that, when selected, causes the computing device to limit receipt by all of the plurality of websites of information associated with device. While displaying the user interface, the method includes: receiving a selection of the first tracking-data configuration option; and, in response, causing the computing device to block all of the plurality of websites from storing tracking data of at least the first type on the computing device.
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOE CHACKO whose telephone number is (571)270-3318. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 5712723951. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOE CHACKO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
