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 .
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to application and preliminary amendment filed on 4 October 2024.
Claim(s) 5-6, 8, 10, 16-17, 19 was/were amended.
Claim(s) 1-22 is/are currently pending and have been examined.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 10-12 and 21-22 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, lines 1, 13 and 15;
Claim 10, lines 2 and 5;
Claim 11, line 4;
Claim 12, lines 1, 6 and 8;
Claim 21, lines 2 and 5;
Claim 22, line 4:
recite “personalisation” and/or “personalised” which should be personalization and personalized. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 5, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant regards as the invention. Claim 1 recites “a presence determination component in communication with a device database” in line 2 and the recites “a device database in communication with the presence determination component” in line 7, this seems to be redundant as it appears to the be same device database and since device database was recited previously in the claim the second recitation should be “the [[a]] device database,” however this just appears to be redundant as line two already indicates that the device database and the presence termination component are in communication with each other. The Examiner is treating the second recitation as a redundant recitation that is already present in line 2 of claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 5 and 16 recite “a presence device” in lines 2 and 6, however claim 2 recites “a presence device” in line 5, it is presumed that these are the same presence device, therefore the recitation in claim 5 should be “the presence device.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 5 and 16 recites “the device” in line 3, it appears this should recite “the presence device.” Appropriate correction is required.
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more.
Step 1 (The Statutory Categories): Is the claim to a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter? MPEP 2106.03.
Per Step 1, claim 1-11 is to a system (i.e., a machine), claim 12-22 to a method (i.e., a process). Thus, the claims are directed to statutory categories of invention. However, the claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because they are directed to an abstract idea, a judicial exception, without reciting additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application.
The analysis proceeds to Step 2A Prong One.
Step 2A Prong One: Does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon? MPEP 2106.04.
The abstract ideas of the claims are:
Mathematical Concepts
Data comparison algorithms - comparing device identifiers to determine which devices indicate presence
Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity
a) Fundamental Economic Principles - Targeted Advertising/Marketing:
“Generate a personalised content item based on data in the content database associated with the consumer” - This is targeted advertising/content delivery
Matching content to audiences based on historical consumption patterns
Commercial practice of personalization to increase engagement/revenue
b) Commercial Interactions:
Consumer-content provider relationship - providing content tailored to specific consumer
Data-driven marketing strategy - using consumer data to inform content decisions
Mental Processes
a) Observation:
“Determine the presence of a consumer” - observing whether someone is present (could be done by human looking at device connections)
b) Evaluation/Analysis:
“Based on data in the device database” - evaluating which connected devices indicate consumer presence (could be analyzed mentally: “smartphone connected = person present”)
“Based on data in the content database associated with the consumer” - analyzing what content person has consumed (could be done mentally: reviewing viewing history)
c) Recognition/Identification:
Identifying which consumer is present from among multiple possible users
Determining what content would interest the consumer based on patterns
d) Data Association:
Associating devices with consumers - recognizing relationships between devices and people
Associating content preferences with consumers - linking viewing history to individuals
The abstract idea are those which could be performed mentally, including with pen and paper. The steps describe, at a high level. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind, including observations, evaluations, judgements, and/or opinions, then it falls within the Mental Processes – Concepts Performed in the Human Mind grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Additionally and alternatively, the claim is directed to providing content tailored to specific consumer, which constitutes a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers commercial activity. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers commercial interactions, including contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing, sales activities or behaviors, and/or business relations, then it falls within the Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity – Commercial or Legal Interactions grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Additionally and alternatively, the claim is directed to associating content preferences with consumers - linking viewing history to individuals , which constitutes a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing personal behavior relationships, interactions between people. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing personal behavior relationships, interactions between people, including social activities, teaching, and/or following rules or instructions, then it falls within the Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity – Managing Personal Behavior Relationships, Interactions Between People grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Additionally and alternatively, the claim is directed to determining probability associated with the presence device, which constitutes a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers mathematical concepts (see Bayes theorm in the specification). If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers mathematical concepts, including mathematical relationships, mathematical formulas or equations, mathematical calculations, then it falls within the Mathematical Concepts grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A Prong Two: Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application? MPEP 2106.04.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional elements are merely instructions to apply the abstract idea to a computer, as described in MPEP 2106.05(f). Further, in MPEP 2106.05(f) it is noted that "[use] of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks (e.g., to receive, store, or transmit data) or simply adding a general purpose computer or computer components after the fact to an abstract idea (e.g., a fundamental economic practice or mathematical equation) does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more.” Therefore, according to the MPEP, this is not solely limited to computers but includes other technology that, recited in an equivalent to “apply it,” is a mere instruction to perform the abstract idea on that technology.
The claims recite the following additional elements:
Network device, device database, content database, presence determination component, content generation component, content device
These elements are merely instructions to apply the abstract idea to a computer, per MPEP 2106.05(f). Applicant has only described generic computing elements in their specification.
(1) Whether the claim recites only the idea of a solution or outcome i.e., the claim fails to recite details of how a solution to a problem is accomplished. The recitation of claim limitations that attempt to cover any solution to an identified problem with no restriction on how the result is accomplished and no description of the mechanism for accomplishing the result, does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more because this type of recitation is equivalent to the words "apply it". See Electric Power Group, LLC v. Alstom, S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1356, 119 USPQ2d 1739, 1743-44 (Fed. Cir. 2016); Intellectual Ventures I v. Symantec, 838 F.3d 1307, 1327, 120 USPQ2d 1353, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2016); Internet Patents Corp. v. Active Network, Inc., 790 F.3d 1343, 1348, 115 USPQ2d 1414, 1417 (Fed. Cir. 2015). In contrast, claiming a particular solution to a problem or a particular way to achieve a desired outcome may integrate the judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more. See Electric Power, 830 F.3d at 1356, 119 USPQ2d at 1743.
[…]
(2) Whether the claim invokes computers or other machinery merely as a tool to perform an existing process. Use of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks (e.g., to receive, store, or transmit data) or simply adding a general purpose computer or computer components after the fact to an abstract idea (e.g., a fundamental economic practice or mathematical equation) does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more. See Affinity Labs v. DirecTV, 838 F.3d 1253, 1262, 120 USPQ2d 1201, 1207 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (cellular telephone); TLI Communications LLC v. AV Auto, LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 613, 118 USPQ2d 1744, 1748 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (computer server and telephone unit). Similarly, "claiming the improved speed or efficiency inherent with applying the abstract idea on a computer" does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide an inventive concept. Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363, 1367, 115 USPQ2d 1636, 1639 (Fed. Cir. 2015). In contrast, a claim that purports to improve computer capabilities or to improve an existing technology may integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more. McRO, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games Am. Inc., 837 F.3d 1299, 1314-15, 120 USPQ2d 1091, 1101-02 (Fed. Cir. 2016); Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., 822 F.3d 1327, 1335-36, 118 USPQ2d 1684, 1688-89 (Fed. Cir. 2016). See MPEP §§ 2106.04(d)(1) and 2106.05(a) for a discussion of improvements to the functioning of a computer or to another technology or technical field.
Therefore, per Step 2A Prong Two, the additional elements, alone and in combination, do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. The claim is directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B (The Inventive Concept): Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception? MPEP 2106.05.
Step 2B involves evaluating the additional elements to determine whether they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself.
The examination process involves carrying over identification of the additional element(s) in the claim from Step 2A Prong Two and carrying over conclusions from Step 2A Prong Two pertaining to MPEP 2106.05(f).
The additional elements and their analysis are therefore carried over: applicant has merely recited elements that facilitates the tasks of the abstract idea, as described in MPEP 2106.05(f).
Therefore, per Step 2B, the additional elements, alone and in combination, are not significantly more. The claims are not patent eligible.
Further, the analysis takes into consideration all dependent claims as well:
The dependent claims further limit the abstract idea.
Accordingly, claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 USC § 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elliot et al. (US 2013/0312018) in view of Ullah (US 2009/0298514).
Claims 1 and 12:
Elliott et al. teach A content personalisation system comprising:
a presence determination component in communication with a device database, the presence determination component comprising a network device defining a network zone; (see at least [12]-[13] and Fig. 1 (presence detecting device (transceiver) configured to detect presence of occupants within the corresponding room as a function of wireless signaling…the wireless signaling used for presence detection may originate from wireless devices carried by the occupants. The occupants may carry a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag/transmitter, a mobile phone, a near field communication (NFC) device or other wireless device sufficient to facilitate transmission of a wireless signal), [14] (the wireless signal may include information sufficient to facilitate distinguishing an occupant from another), [18] (the first network interface 32 may be configured to facilitate exchanging signals between the presence detecting devices within the dwelling 12 and a first network 34 external to the dwelling…first inside network, such as a wireless or wired network, may be included within the dwelling to facilitate interconnecting each of the presence detecting devices with the first network interface 32), [19] (presence and identity database 36 may include information sufficient to relate the identifying information in the notification messages to particular users.), [20] presence and identity Webservices 26 may cooperate with the admin portal 38, presence and detecting database 36, backend infrastructures and the like to facilitate determining identification information for particular dwelling occupants…The identifying information may be provided to the presence and identity web services 26 to personalized TV service application 24. The personalized TV service application 24 may use this information to generate personalization information. The personalization information may then be provided on a room-by-room basis to the television in order to personalize the television service relative to the corresponding room occupant(s)… media database 40 may cooperate with the personalized TV service application 24 to facilitate personalizing various television services or other related media according to the particular room occupants, e.g. to personalize content advertised or made available to each room according to personal preferences of the user), [55] (with associated table), [121]-[127] (uses any of several different methods to detect user presence, including but not limited to RFID, Bluetooth, mobile smart phone and tablet devices using WiFi, 3G, LTE or other wireless networks, biometric recognition techniques, including facial recognition, body shape recognition, voice recognition, fingerprint recognition, an example of using RFID identity and presence detection in connection with a personalized TV service, the user carries or wears an RFID Tag that has been registered as belonging to the user’s identity in the Presence and Identity database of Elliott et al.)
Elliott et al. teach:
wherein the presence determination component is configured to:
determine the presence of a consumer within the network zone based on data in the device database; (see at least [55] (with associated table), [127] in the example of using RFID identity and presence detection in connection with a personalized television service, the user carries or wears an RFID tag that has been registered as belonging to the user’s identity in the presence and identity database … there is also an RFID reader that is co-located with the television and powered to read RFIDs at a distance appropriate to the room in which the television resides. When the user walks into the television room the RFID reader detects the presence of the RFID tag and reports the identifier for the RFID tag to the Presence and Identity Web server over Network A. Network A is likely to be an Internet Protocol (IP) network, but is not limited to being an IP network), [128] The Presence and Identity Web Server may record the presence of the RFID Tag and associates that RFID tag to the user whose identity was registered for that RFID Tag) of Elliott et al.)
Elliott et al. teach
a device database in communication with the presence determination component; (see at least [12]-[14], [18]-[20], [55] (with associated table), [127] there is also an RFID reader that is co-located with the television and powered to read RFIDs at a distance appropriate to the room in which the television resides. When the user walks into the television room the RFID reader detects the presence of the RFID tag and reports the identifier for the RFID tag to the Presence and Identity Web server over Network A. Network A is likely to be an Internet Protocol (IP) network, but is not limited to being an IP network), [128] The Presence and Identity Web Server may record the presence of the RFID Tag and associates that RFID tag to the user whose identity was registered for that RFID Tag) of Elliott et al.)
Elliott et al. teach:
a content generation component in communication with the presence determination component, a content database, and a content device; [see at least [20] (The presence and identity Web services 26 may cooperate with the admin portal 38, presence and detecting database 36, backend infrastructures and the like to facilitate determining identification information for particularly dwelling occupants. The identifying information, and optional preferences, may be provided from the presence and identity Web services 26 to the personalized TV service application 24. The personalized TV service application 24 may use this information to generate personalization information. The personalization information may then be provided on a room-by-room basis to the television in order to personalize the television service relative to the corresponding room occupant(s). A media database 40 may cooperate with the personalized TV service application 24 to facilitate personalizing various television services or other related media according to the particular room occupants, e.g., to personalize content advertised or made available to each room 14, 16, 18, according to the personal preferences of the user identified therein.), of Elliott et al.)
Elliott et al. teach:
wherein the content generation component is configured to:
provide a current content item to the content device associated with the consumer; (see at least [24] The personalized TV service application 24 and/or the other resources contemplated by the present invention may be configured in accordance with the contemplated concepts to use the knowledge and other information associated with presence of the room occupants, along with that user's recorded preferences and usage history, to create a personalized service for the user. In particular, the system 10 may be beneficial in personalizing video services, including, but not limited to: recommended programming; personalized programming guide; links into Social networking tools so that the user can see what his or her friends watched and liked, or can see what friends are watching right now; automatically tuning the channel to the program that the user usually watches at this time of day and day of week; automatically generating playlists of recommended programming based upon user preferences and viewing history; targeting specific advertisements to the user based upon preferences, viewing history, psychographic or demographic information, and other externally-supplied information about the user; and/or Supplying de-identified and aggregated Statistics to advertisers, agencies, marketers, content packagers and content creators.), [101] of Elliott et al.)
Elliott et al. teach:
generate a personalised content item based on data in the content database associated with the consumer; see at least [24] The personalized TV service application 24 and/or the other resources contemplated by the present invention may be configured in accordance with the contemplated concepts to use the knowledge and other information associated with presence of the room occupants, along with that user's recorded preferences and usage history, to create a personalized service for the user. In particular, the system 10 may be beneficial in personalizing video services, including, but not limited to: recommended programming; personalized programming guide; links into Social networking tools so that the user can see what his or her friends watched and liked, or can see what friends are watching right now; automatically tuning the channel to the program that the user usually watches at this time of day and day of week; automatically generating playlists of recommended programming based upon user preferences and viewing history; targeting specific advertisements to the user based upon preferences, viewing history, psychographic or demographic information, and other externally-supplied information about the user; and/or Supplying de-identified and aggregated Statistics to advertisers, agencies, marketers, content packagers and content creators.), [45] (the channel, VOD, application and the game menus can be customized to show channels, titles, and apps usually viewed by the user, or show recommendations through a recommendation engine that learns the preferences for each individual user from preference settings and user viewing history) of Elliott et al.) and
Elliott et al. teach:
provide the personalised content to the content device; (see at least [44] (The TV could automatically tune to the channel or program that the user usually watches at the current time of day or day of week, or to the channel or program that was most recently viewed.), [45] (the channel, VOD, application and the game menus can be customized to show channels, titles, and apps usually viewed by the user, or show recommendations through a recommendation engine that learns the preferences for each individual user from preference settings and user viewing history) of Elliott et al.) and
Elliott et al. teach:
wherein:
the content database comprises data indicative of one or more content items that have been previously presented. (see at least [24] usage history… viewing history, [45] (the channel, VOD, application and the game menus can be customized to show channels, titles, and apps usually viewed by the user, or show recommendations through a recommendation engine that learns the preferences for each individual user from preference settings and user viewing history) of Elliott et al.)
Elliott et al. does not explicitly disclose but Ullah teaches:
wherein:
the device database comprises data indicative of one or more devices that have previously connected to the network device; and (see at least [9] (a device-specific identifier (DSI) of a mobile device owned by a user, such as a MAC address of the user's mobile phone, may be associated with user names that the user enters when interacting with network content, such as web sites, using that mobile device…. Additionally, when a user interacts with network content using various network-connected devices and does not enter a username, activity performed during those sessions may still be categorized into profiles as the device-specific identifier of the device through which the interactivity was performed is still recorded. As such activity may be derived from more than one user of the same device,) [13] (activity may be derived from more than one user of the same device, patterns in activity performed on such devices without the accompaniment of a username may be conducted to find similarities among the network activity recorded containing both a DSI and username or to find similarities particularly to the network activity conducted on the user's mobile device as it is the), [19] (the creation of user-specific profiles rooted in the mobile DSI). [99] (the servers 210 compare the extracted Mobile DSI 212 across a database, or more generally a data store of user specific authentication/identification profiles 602 to find profiles which correspond to the extracted mobile DSIs (resulting in a corresponding profile 604), [100] (using the mobile device DSI and cross referencing it to a data store of user identities…) of Ullah)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. to include the device database comprises data indicative of one or more devices that have previously connected to the network device as taught by Ullah. One of Ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. in this way since single profile for a user which represents a wide range of activities across multiple devices and domains and once a usage profile is generated, targeting techniques, such as behavioral targeting, hand targeting, demographic targeting, geographic targeting, psychographic targeting, collaborative filtering, neural network-based targeting, hierarchical targeting, and the like may be used to target content, including advertisements, to be directed to the audio-enabled devices, such as Internet radios, of the user (see at least [10] Ullah).
Claims 2 and 13:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 1 and 12, respectively above, Elliott et al. further teach:
wherein the presence determination component determines the presence of the consumer by: detecting a connection of one or more user devices to the network device; determining one or more presence devices of the one or more connected user devices; and determining that a presence device of the one or more presence devices is associated with the consumer. (see at least [23] (the services personalization may include room-level personalization for secondary devices 25, such as but not necessarily limited to tablets, smartphones, computers and/or other devices that may be configured to supplemental occupant experience relative to content interfaced through the television or otherwise being delivered by the service provider), [41] the TV, set-top, mobile phone, table or other device could automatically detect who is watching a particular TV through any number of detection verification mechanisms), [55] (with associated table), [127] in the example of using RFID identity and presence detection in connection with a personalized television service, the user carries or wears an RFID tag that has been registered as belonging to the user’s identity in the presence and identity database … there is also an RFID reader that is co-located with the television and powered to read RFIDs at a distance appropriate to the room in which the television resides. When the user walks into the television room the RFID reader detects the presence of the RFID tag and reports the identifier for the RFID tag to the Presence and Identity Web server over Network A. Network A is likely to be an Internet Protocol (IP) network, but is not limited to being an IP network), [128] The Presence and Identity Web Server may record the presence of the RFID Tag and associates that RFID tag to the user whose identity was registered for that RFID Tag) of Elliott et al.)
**It is noted the instant specification states the presence device may refer to a device associated with a user that indicates the presence of the user. For example, the presence device may be a smartphone or a smartwatch.
Claim 3 and 14:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 2 and 13, respectively above, Elliott et al. does not explicitly disclose, however Ullah teaches:
wherein the presence determination component determines that the presence device of the one or more presence devices is associated with the consumer based on a consumer probability associated with the presence device. (see at least [9] (a device-specific identifier (DSI) of a mobile device owned by a user, such as a MAC address of the user's mobile phone, may be associated with user names that the user enters when interacting with network content, such as web sites, using that mobile device. Once the DSI is associated with one or more user names, activities associated with those user names can be tracked and used to generate a profile for that user, regardless of what network-connected device is used to undertake the activities… multi-device profile may be created for that user, such that activity on a network performed on a network-connected device whether accompanied by a username or not, can still be categorized into a single profile for a user which represents a wide range of activities across multiple devices and domains. Once a usage profile is generated, targeting techniques, such as behavioral targeting, hand targeting, demographic targeting, geographic targeting, psychographic targeting, collaborative filtering, neural network-based targeting, hierarchical targeting, and the like may be used to target content, including advertisements, to be directed to the television of the user), [10] (once the DSI is associated with one or more user names, activities associated with those user names can be tracked and used to generate a profile for that user, regardless of what network-connected device is used to undertake the activities), [161] (virtual map of a location can be assembled by examining the various latencies in a specific location. For example, network latency analysis may facilitate identifying loose physical boundaries of a location by collecting and analyzing the network latencies around a building or home. This data may be used to facilitate associating detected activity that is associated with network devices ( e.g. network activity, movement of a mobile device, dwell time at a fine grained position, and the like) with a user profile. This may further facilitate identifying behavioral traits of the user. In an example, if a device is determined to be within 30 feet of a television, yet not in the detected "docking position for the device", the television is turned on, and the content being viewed is consistent with the user's profile based behavior or preferences, it may be reasonable to determine that the user is watching television.) of Ullah)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. to include wherein the presence determination component determines that the presence device of the one or more presence devices is associated with the consumer based on a consumer probability associated with the presence device as taught by Ullah. One of Ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. in this way since such activity may be derived from more than one user of the same device, patterns in activity performed on such devices without the accompaniment of a username may be conducted to find similarities among the network activity recorded containing both a DSI and username or to find similarities particularly to the network activity conducted on the user’s mobile device as it is the most individual-specific network connected device (see at least [10] Ullah).
Claim 4 and 15:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 3 and 14, respectively above, Elliott et al. teaches:
wherein the consumer probability is based on:
current content [[metadata]]; (see at least [44] (The TV could automatically tune to the channel or program that the user usually watches at the current time of day or day of week, or to the channel or program that was most recently viewed.) of Elliott et al.)
historic content [[metadata]] in the content database. , (see at least [45] (the channel, VOD, application and the game menus can be customized to show channels, titles, and apps usually viewed by the user, or show recommendations through a recommendation engine that learns the preferences for each individual user from preference settings and user viewing history) of Elliott et al.)
Elliot et al. does not disclose but Ullah teaches:
historic device data in the device database (see at least [169] Such actions may be determined by comparing the data aggregated from the RFID/WiFi or other potential wireless identification/categorization-enabling signal collected by the embedded wireless components of the mobile handset of the user with the given user's historical internet behavior which together, in tum, may be associated with the given user's user-specific authentication/identification profile) of Ullah); and
metadata (see at least [155] (the mobile DSI tag representation may be integrated with the content’s metadata (or data within the content which is used to describe the content, examples include content title, copyright information, production year, etc.) of Ullah)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. to include historic device data in the device database and metadata as taught by Ullah. One of Ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. in this way since such activity may be derived from more than one user of the same device, patterns in activity performed on such devices without the accompaniment of a username may be conducted to find similarities among the network activity recorded containing both a DSI and username or to find similarities particularly to the network activity conducted on the user’s mobile device as it is the most individual-specific network connected device (see at least [10] Ullah).
Claim 5 and 16:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 2 and 13, respectively above, Elliott et al. does not explicitly disclose, however Ullah teaches:
wherein the presence determination component determines that the device is a presence device by:
determining a device identifier of the device; (see at least [89] (device MAC database) of Ullah)
comparing the device identifier to a list of presence device identifiers stored on the device database; (see at least [99] (compare mobile DSI across a database, or more generally a data store of user-specific authentication/identification profiles to find the profiles which correspond to the extracted mobile DSIs) of Ullah) and
determining that the device identifier matches an identifier of a presence device. (see at least [96] (this will allow the set-top or television to determine individuals within viewing proximity of the television by virtue of the presence of their mobile handsets. Individual handsets may be detected uniquely by retrieving the handset DSI and when available a GPS/cellular/radio/wave triangulation coordinate for the handset. By associating the DSI with a user identification as described in Fig. 2, an identity of viewers or listeners in detectable proximity to the television may be determined) of Ullah)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. to include determining a device identifier of the device; comparing the device identifier to a list of presence device identifiers stored on the device database; determining that the device identifier matches an identifier of a presence device as taught by Ullah. One of Ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. in this way since using location based technology such as GPS/cellular/radio wave triangulation, a more precise location for the user may be determined so that advertising for a user viewing the television may be presented on the television (see at least [92] Ullah).
Claim 6 and 17:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 2 and 13, respectively above, Elliott et al. teaches:
wherein the one or more presence devices comprises one or more first presence devices. (see at least [13] (the wireless signaling used for presence detection may originate from wireless devices carried by the occupants. The occupants may carry a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag/transmitter, a mobile phone, a near field communication (NFC) device or other wireless device sufficient to facilitate transmission of the wireless signaling) of Elliott et al.)
Claim 7 and 18:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 6 and 17, respectively above, Elliott et al. teaches:
wherein the one or more first presence devices are determined by:
determining a connection independency score for each device associated with the list of device identifiers; and selecting a device having a connection independency score that meets an independency threshold. (see at least [38] (a replace presence sequence diagram… the replace presence detection system may be used to notify the presence detecting device to cease future presence determinations for one or more wireless devices. The presence detecting device may receive instruction from a user to permanently or temporally block presence detection operations…), [128] (when the user leaves the room, the RFID reader detects the absence of the user and reports that the user has left the room to the presence and identity server. The presence and identity server reports the user’s absence to the personalized TV service application and the personalized TV service is de-activated and normal TV service resumes.) of Elliot et al.)
Claim 8 and 19:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 6 and 17, respectively above, Elliott et al. teaches:
wherein the one or more presence devices further comprises one or more second presence devices. (see at least [13] (the wireless signaling used for presence detection may originate from wireless devices carried by the occupants. The occupants may carry a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag/transmitter, a mobile phone, a near field communication (NFC) device or other wireless device sufficient to facilitate transmission of the wireless signaling), [23] (the services personalization may include room-level personalization for secondary devices 46, such as but not necessarily limited to tablets, smartphones, computers and/or other devices that may be configured to supplemental occupant experience… such secondary device personalization may cooperate with the personalization pro9vided through the television and/or operated independently thereof…) of Elliott et al.)
Claim 9 and 20:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 8 and 19, respectively above, Elliott et al. teaches:
wherein the one or more second presence devices are determined based on a network event overlap between a device and the one or more first presence devices. (see at least [23] services interfaced through the television could be personalized to a first room occupant 48 and services interfaced through the secondary device 46 could be personalized to a second room occupant 50.) of Elliott et al.)
Claim 10 and 21:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 1 and 12, respectively above, Elliott et al. teaches:
wherein generation of the personalised content item comprises:
determining an interest of the consumer based on content [[metadata]] stored in the content database; and generating the personalised content item based on the interest of the consumer. (see at least [24] (the system 10 may be beneficial in personalizing video services, including, but not limited to: recommended programming; personalized programming guide; links into Social networking tools so that the user can see what his or her friends watched and liked, or can see what friends are watching right now; automatically tuning the channel to the program that the user usually watches at this time of day and day of week; automatically generating playlists of recommended programming based upon user preferences and viewing history; targeting specific advertisements to the user based upon preferences, viewing history, psychographic or demographic information, and other externally-supplied information about the user; and/or Supplying de-identified and aggregated Statistics to advertisers, agencies, marketers, content packagers and content creators), [76]-[77] (measurements data can be used to customized a user’s experience including driving a recommendation engine user’s who like this also liked that..), [100] (measurements can be enhanced by combining data from several different measurements sources, some of which are outside of a service provider’s domain. For example, it could be useful to an advertiser to know that a viewer who likes to watch Seinfeld also takes an annual trip to Hawaii every Spring, and therefore might be a good target for airline and travel ads each Winter) of Elliot et al.)
Elliot et al. does not disclose but Ullah teaches:
metadata (see at least [155] (the mobile DSI tag representation may be integrated with the content’s metadata (or data within the content which is used to describe the content, examples include content title, copyright information, production year, etc.) of Ullah)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. to metadata as taught by Ullah. One of Ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system/method of Elliott et al. in this way since such activity may be derived from more than one user of the same device, patterns in activity performed on such devices without the accompaniment of a username may be conducted to find similarities among the network activity recorded containing both a DSI and username or to find similarities particularly to the network activity conducted on the user’s mobile device as it is the most individual-specific network connected device (see at least [10] Ullah).
Claim 11 and 22:
Elliott et al. in view of Ullah teach the system and method of claim 10 and 21, respectively above, Elliott et al. teaches:
wherein generating the personalised content item further comprises: determining an attribute of the consumer; and generating the personalised content item based on the interest of the consumer and the attribute of the consumer. (see at least [24] (the system 10 may be beneficial in personalizing video services, including, but not limited to: recommended programming; personalized programming guide; links into Social networking tools so that the user can see what his or her friends watched and liked, or can see what friends are watching right now; automatically tuning the channel to the program that the user usually watches at this time of day and day of week; automatically generating playlists of recommended programming based upon user preferences and viewing history; targeting specific advertisements to the user based upon preferences, viewing history, psychographic or demographic information, and other externally-supplied information about the user; and/or Supplying de-identified and aggregated Statistics to advertisers, agencies, marketers, content packagers and content creators), [76]-[77] (measurements data can be used to customized a user’s experience including driving a recommendation engine user’s who like this also liked that..), [100] (measurements can be enhanced by combining data from several different measurements sources, some of which are outside of a service provider’s domain. For example, it could be useful to an advertiser to know that a viewer who likes to watch Seinfeld also takes an annual trip to Hawaii every Spring, and therefore might be a good target for airline and travel ads each Winter) of Elliot et al.)
Conclusion
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SARAH M. MONFELDT
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3692
/SARAH M MONFELDT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3629