Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 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
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mickelsen et al. (US 20140267906 A1) in view of Zarom (US 20100174783 A1) and further in view of Topiwala et al. (US 9609336 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Mickelsen teaches a media device (device 10), comprising:
a memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory (within device 10 - see figures 2-3) and configured to:
cause the content to be played on a TV (displaying the video content on TV 20 to a viewer at the viewing location – see FIGs. 2-3 and 0017);
identify at least one appropriate accessory device, wherein the TV and the media device are communicatively coupled to the at least one appropriate accessory device a network; (identifying at least one accessory device 16/18, wherein TV 20 and device 10 are communicatively coupled to the at least one accessory device 16/18 via a network 12/14 – FIGs. 2-3, 0013-0015, 0022, 0023, 0044 and 0048).
Mickelsen teaches transmitting the at least one non-TV experience trigger to said at least one appropriate accessory device in a manner synchronous with playing the content on the TV to thereby extend playback of the content beyond the TV (the system determines when the commands associated with cue/metadata tag should be sent to the appropriate devices, e.g., sending the commands to the appropriate devices with respect to lead time so that the effects of the devices are properly synced with the content presentation. See Mickelsen: 0007, 0032, 0038, 0039, 0041, 0042, 0047-0048).
Mickelsen lacks to teach “transmit at least one non-TV experience trigger of the data stream to the at least one appropriate accessory device via the network in a manner synchronous with playing the content on the TV based on (1) a length of time the network will take to deliver the at least one non-TV experience trigger to the at least one appropriate accessory device based on a characterization of the network that is indicative of an impact to the network, the impact being associated with a video encoding of the content having a resolution from among a plurality of video encodings having different resolutions, and (2) a length of time that the at least one appropriate accessory device will take to execute the at least one non-TV experience trigger”.
Zarom teaches providing a system and method for a system and a method for enabling sharing and editing of such digital data while controlling and synchronizing the displaying of the edited data on a plurality of computers through a network. Particularly, one or more commands are transmitted by one or more computers and/or received by a coordinating device simultaneously or within a designated time interval. The time interval may be the estimated or approximate time from transmitting and/or receiving the commands that it takes for all the computers in the session to execute at least one or more of the commands in accordance with a characterization of a network. See 0011, 0081, 0096, 0097, 0126. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mickelsen by including the features of transmitting at least one command to at least one device via a network in connected with time will take to deliver the at least one command to the at least one device based on a characterization of a network, and time that the one device will take to execute the at least one command as taught or suggested by Zarom to increase effectiveness for manipulating and synchronizing the displaying of the controlled digital data on multiple devices through the network.
Topiwala teaches adaptively encoding video based on feedback data related to network. Particularly, encoding server 110 adaptively changes resolution of a video on the fly or scale the video quality up or down based on the factors described by the feedback data, including network condition for transmitting the encoded video, network delay, encoder and decoder processing capacity and feedback from viewers of the decoded video. See abstract; col. 4, lines 4, lines11-26. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Mickelsen and Zarom by including a characterization of the network that is indicative of an impact to the network, the impact being associated with a video encoding of the content having a resolution from among a plurality of video encodings having different resolutions as taught or suggested by Topiwala to optimize video display in alignment with network conditions.
Regarding claim 2, Mickelsen teaches that wherein the at least one non-TV experience trigger specifies that at least one appropriate accessory device is physically remote from the media device and a TV (the at least one identified device personal to the user is physically remote from device 10 and TV 20 – see FIGs. 2-3).
Regarding claim 3, Mickelsen teaches that the at least one processor is configured to identify the at least one appropriate accessory device based on the at least one appropriate accessory device being physically remote from the media device and the TV as specified by the at least one non-TV experience trigger (at least one cue/metadata tag associated with a specific command for at least one identified device personal to a user, wherein the at least one identified device personal to the user is physically remote from device 10 and TV 20 – see 0007, 0012, 0022, 0025, 0033, 0036, 0038, 0041, 0042, 0044, 0047, and FIGs. 2-3).
Regarding claim 4, Mickelsen in view of Topiwala teaches that wherein the at least one processor is further configured to monitor network traffic of the network for the presence or absence of acknowledgments in the network (the network analysis module collects data describing the network conditions for transmitting video – see Topiwala: col. 5, lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 5, Mickelsen in view of Zarom teaches that wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a length of time the network will take to deliver the at least one non-TV experience trigger to the at least one appropriate accessory device via the network based on the characterization of the network (determine a length of time will take to deliver the at least one command to the at least one device via the network in accordance with the characterization of the network – See Zarom: 0011, 0081, 0096, 0097, 0126).
Regarding claim 6, Mickelsen teaches that wherein the at least one non-TV experience trigger is included in metadata associated with the content, and the at least one processor is configured to receive the metadata with the data stream (see 0012 and 0025).
Regarding claim 7, Mickelsen teaches that wherein the network communicatively couples the media device with at least some of a plurality of accessory devices (network 14 couples to device 10 with some of a plurality of personal devices – see FIG. 2), and wherein to provide the at least one non-TV experience trigger, the at least one processor is further configured to: identify first accessory devices among the plurality of accessory devices that have capabilities supporting the at least one non-TV experience trigger; and identify second accessory devices among the first accessory devices that are located in or proximate to a media system containing the media device (module 46 queries the viewing location devices database 42 and the personal user device database 44 to get the address, activation commands, capability, and type of effect for each identified device which can be used, and analyzes the command associated with the cue/metadata tag to determine what an appropriate device from a plurality of devices 16 and/or 18 to provide the effect, and identifies one or more devices 16 located in or proximate to a media system comprising device 10 – see FIG. 2, 0017, 0018, 0022, 0033, 0037, 0038, 0041, 0042, 0044, and 0047).
Regarding claim 8, Mickelsen teaches that wherein the network communicatively couples the media device with at least some of a plurality of accessory devices (network 14 couples to device 10 with some of a plurality of personal devices – see FIG. 2), and wherein to provide the at least one non-TV experience trigger, the at least one processor is further configured to: identify first accessory devices among the plurality of accessory devices that have capabilities supporting the at least one non-TV experience trigger; and identify second accessory devices among the first accessory devices that are located distant from a media system containing the media device or are associated with a specific user (module analyzes the command associated with the cue/metadata tag to determine what an appropriate device from a plurality of devices 16 and/or 18 to provide the corresponding effect, and identifies one or more personal devices that are located distant from a media system comprising 10 or are associated with a specific user, e.g., cell phone, smartphone, tablet…etc – see FIG. 2, 0017, 0018, 0022, 0031, 0033, 0037, 0038, 0041, 0042, 0044, and 0047).
Regarding claim 9, Mickelsen in combination with Zhu teaches that the at least one processor is further configured to receive a data stream containing content and at least one non-television (non-TV) experience trigger (receiving content stream comprising video content and cues/metadata tags – see Mickelsen: 0012, 0025, 0033, 0036, 0038, 0039 and FIGs. 2-3); and characterize the network based on presence or absence of acknowledgments in the network (determining the condition of a network based on response message or no response message in the network. See Zhu: 0027, 0041, 0055, 0057, 0067, 0084, 0089, 0090-0091).
Regarding claims 10 and 16, see rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claims 11 and 17, see rejection of claims 2-3.
Regarding claim 12 and 18, see rejection of claims 4-5.
Regarding claim 13, see rejection of claim 6.
Regarding claim 14, see rejection of claim 7.
Regarding claim 15, see rejection of claim 8.
Regarding claim 19, Mickelsen teaches that wherein said at least one appropriate accessory device is separate and distinct from a media system containing the media device, the at least one non-TV experience trigger is included in metadata associated with the content, and the operations further comprise receiving the metadata with the data stream (receiving content stream comprising video content and cues/metadata tags – see 0012, 0017, 0025, 0033, 0036, 0038, 0039 and FIGs. 2-3).
Regarding claim 20, Mickelsen teaches transmitting the content to the TV to be played on the TV as the media device receives the data stream; or storing the content before causing the content to be played on the TV (see FIGs 2-3, 0016, 0017, 0043).
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 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.
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/NGOC K VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421
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