Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/829,740

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CAPTURING THE ATTENTION OF A VIEWER

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 10, 2024
Examiner
LEE, MICHAEL
Art Unit
2422
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Fm Marketing GmbH
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
79%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 8m
To Grant
89%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 79% — above average
79%
Career Allow Rate
1038 granted / 1310 resolved
+21.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+9.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
38 currently pending
Career history
1348
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.5%
-35.5% vs TC avg
§103
41.2%
+1.2% vs TC avg
§102
35.2%
-4.8% vs TC avg
§112
7.5%
-32.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1310 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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) 1-3, 6, 10-12, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et al. (2023/0008199) in view of Park (2014/0012587). Regarding claim 1, Yu discloses a mobile device (30), comprising a clock configured to create a touch time stamp when a viewer of a multimedia media playback played on a screen touches a virtual call-to- action (CTA) button on a remote control in response to a request to the viewer to press the CTA button, and configured to create a trigger time stamp when the viewer presses the CTA button on the remote control (note touch and hold operation and tap operation as described in par. 40); except configured to create a release time stamp when the viewer finishes touching the CTA button on the remote control. However, Yu teaches that the virtual button can be configured to perform different operations, but not limited to, such as touch and hold and tap operations (par. 40). Park, from the similar field of endeavor, teaches the scheme of generating a timestamp when a software or virtual button is released in a mobile device (note par. 42, 47). In addition, Park also teaches the generation of timestamp when the virtual button is actuated or pressed. Hence, in view the similarity in between Yu and Park and if release timestamp is needed in Yu, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include Park into Yu so that the release timestamp could be part of the input operations of Yu. Regarding claim 2, Yu discloses the request to the viewer comprises a configuration instruction to display the CTA button on the screen (note par. 40). Regarding claim 3, Yu discloses a communication interface arranged to send a change instruction to the remote control, requesting the viewer to press the CTA button and change the an appearance of the CTA button (note par. 40). Regarding claim 6, Yu inherently discloses the clock is further configured to create a presentation time stamp documenting when the request was displayed to the viewer (note par. 93, 98, 144, 148). Regarding claim 10-12, and 15, see similar rejections as set forth above. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 4-5, 7, 9, 13-14, and 16-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) 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. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL LEE whose telephone number 571-272-7349. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, John Miller, can be reached on 571-272-7353. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /MICHAEL LEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2422
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 10, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 05, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Aug 29, 2025
Response Filed
Sep 30, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Jan 26, 2026
Response Filed
Feb 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
79%
Grant Probability
89%
With Interview (+9.6%)
2y 8m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 1310 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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