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
Claims 20–39 have been submitted for examination.
Claims 20–22, 24, 26–31, 33, 35–36, and 38, have been examined and rejected.
Claims 23, 25, 32, 34, 37, and 39, are objected to.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 23, 25, 32, 34, 37, and 39 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.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 20–22, 24, 26–31, 33, 35–36, and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cormican et al. (US 2019/0191218) in view of Watson (US 2021/0185369).
Regarding claims 20, 30, and 35, Cormican discloses:
A media playback system comprising:
one or more processors; data storage having instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the media playback system to perform operations (Cormican, ¶ [0011], “the system comprising a memory and a hardware processor that, when executing computer executable instructions stored in the memory, is configured to: cause a media content item to be presented on a user device;”) comprising:
receiving, at a computing device, a media data stream from a media content provider; (Cormican, ¶ [0028], “user interfaces 100 and 150 can include a media content item 102 that is being presented on a user device. In some embodiments, media content item 102 can be any suitable type of media content, such as video content (e.g., a television program, a movie, live-streamed video content, a video, and/or any other suitable type of video content), audio content (e.g., music, a podcast, a radio program, an audiobook, and/or any other suitable type of audio content), a video chat, and/or any other suitable type of media content”)
transmitting the media data stream from the computing device to a display device for playback; (Cormican, ¶ [0026], “the media content item can be presented on a media playback device”, ¶ [0044], “in example hardware 500 of FIG. 5, such hardware can include hardware processor 502, memory and/or storage 504, an input device controller 506, an input device 508, display/audio drivers 510, display and audio output circuitry 512, communication interface(s) 514, an antenna 516, and a bus 518.”)
determining that the media data stream comprises a contextual display user interface element; (Cormican, ¶ [0025], “a media content item that is presented on a user device with which the contextual information is associated can be transmitted to the user device in connection with metadata that indicates any suitable information”)
after the determination, causing a controller device to present a contextual controller user interface element corresponding to the contextual display user interface element; (Cormican, ¶ [0026], “the contextual interfaces can be presented on one or more user devices that are connected to the media playback device over a local area network”)
receiving, at the computing device, an indication of user input via the contextual controller user interface element; (Cormican, ¶ [0026], “the contextual interfaces can be presented on a second user device. For example, in some embodiments, the media content item can be presented on a television, and the contextual interfaces can be presented on a mobile phone, tablet computer, or other user device.”) and
Cormican does not explicitly teach “after receiving the indication, transmitting, via the computing device, a signal corresponding to the received indication of user input to the media content provider.”.
In a similar field of endeavor Watson teaches:
after receiving the indication (“in response to input from a viewer”), transmitting, via the computing device, a signal corresponding to the received indication of user input to the media content provider. (Watson, ¶ [[0081], “As shown, the playgraph 132(2) includes, without limitation, the playgraph type 210(2) of skip introduction, the segments 220(4) and 220(5), the control 230(2) specifying a choice region, and the control 230(3) associated with an “immediate transition.” As referred to herein, an immediate transition is an on-demand, non-linear transition between two non-contiguous blocks 122. The playgraph type 210 of skip introduction is associated with an exemplary streaming use case in which either the introduction of a title and then the main portion of the title are displayed or the introduction of the title is displayed until, in response to input from a viewer, the remainder of the introduction is skipped and the main portion of the title is displayed. For explanatory purposes only, the segment 220(4) corresponds to the introduction of a title and the segment 220(5) corresponds to the main portion of the title.”, ¶ [0016], “a media streaming service transmits blocks of media content items over one or more connections to a playback application executing on a client device”)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing
date of the invention to combine the system for a contextual controller as taught by Cormican with the system for control signals as taught by Watson, the motivation is “the introduction of the title is displayed until, in response to input from a viewer, the remainder of the introduction is skipped and the main portion of the title is displayed” as taught by Watson (¶ [0081]).
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Cormican and Watson teaches:
The media playback system of claim 20, wherein the contextual display user interface element comprises a selectable button (“selection of a particular button”), and wherein transmitting the signal corresponding to the received indication of user input to the media content provider comprises selecting the button. (Cormican, ¶ [0066], “a user of the user device can indicate via the contextual interface and/or in any other suitable manner (e.g., via a gesture such as pinching of a display, selection of a particular button, and/or in any other suitable manner)”)
Regarding claims 22, 31, and 36, the combination of Cormican and Watson teaches:
The media playback system of claim 20, wherein the contextual display user interface element is a first contextual display user interface element (“a button ”), wherein the contextual controller user interface element is a first contextual controller user interface element, (Watson, ¶ [0055], “the playback application 192 may display a button during the first portion of an introduction to a movie that a viewer can click to skip the remainder of the introduction.”) the operations further comprising: at a time after transmitting the signal corresponding to the received indication of user input to the media content provider, determining that the media data stream comprises a second contextual display user interface element; and presenting, via the controller device, a second contextual controller user interface element corresponding to the second contextual display user interface element, (“in response to input from a viewer”) wherein the second contextual display user interface element is different from the first contextual display user interface element (fast post play is different than skip introduction), and wherein the second contextual controller user interface element is different from the first contextual controller user interface element. (Watson, ¶ [0076], “As shown, the playgraph 132(1) includes, without limitation, the playgraph type 210(1) of fast post play, the segments 220(1)-220(3), and the control 230(1) associated with a “lazy transition.” As referred to herein, a lazy transition is a transition between the end of one segment 220 and the start of another segment 220 that occurs by default. The playgraph type 210 of fast post play is associated with an exemplary streaming use case in which, after one episode of a television show is displayed, either the next episode of the television show is automatically displayed or, in response to input from a viewer, credits associated with the episode are displayed. For explanatory purposes only, the segment 220(1) corresponds to an episode i of a television show, the segment 220(2) corresponds to credits for the episode i of the television show, and the segment 220(3) corresponds to an episode (i+1) of the television show.”)
Regarding claims 24, 33, and 38, the combination of Cormican and Watson teaches:
The media playback system of claim 20, wherein determining that the media data stream comprises the contextual display user interface element comprises inferring a skip option (“a lazy transition is a transition between the end of one segment 220 and the start of another segment 220 that occurs by default”) based at least in part on a timestamp of video data being played back. (Watson, ¶ [0076], “As shown, the playgraph 132(1) includes, without limitation, the playgraph type 210(1) of fast post play, the segments 220(1)-220(3), and the control 230(1) associated with a “lazy transition.” As referred to herein, a lazy transition is a transition between the end of one segment 220 and the start of another segment 220 that occurs by default. The playgraph type 210 of fast post play is associated with an exemplary streaming use case in which, after one episode of a television show is displayed, either the next episode of the television show is automatically displayed or, in response to input from a viewer, credits associated with the episode are displayed. For explanatory purposes only, the segment 220(1) corresponds to an episode i of a television show, the segment 220(2) corresponds to credits for the episode i of the television show, and the segment 220(3) corresponds to an episode (i+1) of the television show.”)
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Cormican and Watson teaches:
The media playback system of claim 20, wherein the controller device comprises a touch-sensitive display, (Cormican, ¶ [0041], “presenting interfaces of contextual information related to the media content item, and/or any other suitable functions. For example, in some embodiments, user devices 406 can include a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer, a laptop computer, a vehicle (e.g., a car, a boat, an airplane, or any other suitable vehicle) information or entertainment system, and/or any other suitable mobile device and/or any suitable non-mobile device (e.g., a desktop computer, and/or any other suitable non-mobile device).”)
and wherein the contextual controller user interface element comprises a selectable button displayed via the touch-sensitive display. (Cormican, ¶ [0066], “a user of the user device can indicate via the contextual interface and/or in any other suitable manner (e.g., via a gesture such as pinching of a display, selection of a particular button, and/or in any other suitable manner)”, Watson, ¶ [0055], “the playback application 192 may display a button during the first portion of an introduction to a movie that a viewer can click to skip the remainder of the introduction.”)
Regarding claim 27, the combination of Cormican and Watson teaches:
The media playback system of claim 20, further comprising, after determining that the media data stream comprises the contextual display user interface element, determining, from among a set of one or more user interface elements associated with the media content provider, a user interface element associated with the media content provider corresponding to the contextual display user interface element. (Watson, ¶ [0103], “the playgraph 132(4) includes, without limitation, the playgraph type 210(4) of branched narrative, the segments 220(7)-220(11), and the controls 230(4)-(5) associated with branch selections. Each control 230 that is associated with a branch selection is also referred to herein as the “branch selection control 230.” In alternate embodiments, each playgraph 132 having the playgraph type 210 of branched narrative may include, without limitation, any number of segments 220, at least one branch selection control 230, and any number of additional controls 230.”)
Regarding claim 28, the combination of Cormican and Watson teaches:
The media playback system of claim 20, wherein causing the controller device to present the contextual controller user interface element corresponding to the contextual display user interface element comprises causing the controller device to present a controller user interface that comprises a subset of one or more user interface elements associated with the media content provider, wherein the subset of one or more user interface elements comprises the contextual controller user interface element. (Watson, ¶ [0103], “the playgraph 132(4) includes, without limitation, the playgraph type 210(4) of branched narrative, the segments 220(7)-220(11), and the controls 230(4)-(5) associated with branch selections. Each control 230 that is associated with a branch selection is also referred to herein as the “branch selection control 230.” In alternate embodiments, each playgraph 132 having the playgraph type 210 of branched narrative may include, without limitation, any number of segments 220, at least one branch selection control 230, and any number of additional controls 230.”)
Regarding claim 29, the combination of Cormican and Watson teaches:
The media playback system of claim 28, wherein causing the controller device to present the contextual controller user interface element comprises suppressing display of user interface elements associated with the media content provider unrelated to the contextual controller user interface element. (Watson teaches that interface elements are only shown during “choice regions” and are otherwise suppressed, ¶ [0081], “the control 230(2) specifying a choice region,”)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL B PIERORAZIO whose telephone number is (571)270-3679. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 8am - 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nasser Goodarzi can be reached on 5712704195. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL B. PIERORAZIO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426