DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claims 1-48 are canceled.
Claims 49-76 are newly added.
Claims 49-76 are presented for examination.
The claims and only the claims form the metes and bounds of the invention. “Office personnel are to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the supporting disclosure. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054-55, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027-28 (Fed. Cir. 1997). Limitations appearing in the specification but not recited in the claim are not read into the claim. In re Prater, 415 F.2d 1393, 1404-05, 162 USPQ 541, 550-551 (CCPA 1969)” (MPEP p 2100-8, c 2, I 45-48; p 2100-9, c 1, l 1-4). The Examiner has full latitude to interpret each claim in the broadest reasonable sense. The Examiner will reference prior art using terminology familiar to one of ordinary skill in the art. Such an approach is broad in concept and can be either explicit or implicit in meaning.
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 49-71 and 73-74 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim 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 49 recites “upon distribution of the content that includes the one or more watermark payloads, detection of the one or more watermark payloads from the embedded content, transmission of a lookup request including detected assigned identifiers to the lookup service, receipt of a lookup response including the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers, transmission of a metadata request using the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers, and acquisition of a response to the metadata request including metadata associated with the registrant's content is enabled”.
Claim 49 recites the conditions of distribution of content …, detection of the one or more watermark payloads …, transmission of a lookup request …, receipt of a lookup response …, transmission of a metadata request …, and acquisition of a response to the metadata request …
However, the result upon meeting those conditions is missing. This limitation is therefore indefinite and incomplete.
Claim 49 also recites “storing by the registrant metadata associated with the watermarked registrant's content at a network location associated with the internet address” and “receipt of a lookup response including the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for “the watermarked registrant's content” and “the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers” in the claim.
Claim 49 also recites “distributing registrant’s content to one or more client devices, and wherein;”. The limitation ends with wherein and a semicolon. The wherein clause seems incomplete.
Claim 73 recites “upon distribution of the content that includes the one or more watermark payloads, detection of the one or more watermark payloads from the embedded content, transmission of a lookup request including detected identifiers to the lookup service, receipt of a lookup response including the internet address associated with the detected identifiers, transmission of a metadata request using the internet address associated with the detected identifiers, and acquisition of a response to the metadata request including metadata associated with the content is enabled”.
Claim 73 recites the conditions of distribution of content …, detection of the one or more watermark payloads …, transmission of a lookup request …, receipt of a lookup response …, transmission of a metadata request …, and acquisition of a response to the metadata request …
However, the result upon meeting those conditions is missing. This limitation is therefore indefinite and incomplete.
Claim 73 also recites “receipt of a lookup response including the internet address associated with the detected identifiers”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for “the internet address associated with the detected identifiers” in the claim.
Claim 73 also recites “distributing the content to one or more client devices, and wherein;”. The limitation ends with wherein and a semicolon. The wherein clause seems incomplete.
Claims 50-71 depend from Claim 49, and are similarly rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph.
Claim 74 depends from Claim 73, and is similarly rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that
form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless —
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or
in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective
filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 49, 59, 63, 67 and 72-76 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US PGPUB 2003/0084294 by Aoshima et al. (“Aoshima”).
As to Claim 49, Aoshima teaches a method for embedding a watermark message in a content for facilitating acquisition of associated information, the method comprising: assigning to a registrant one or more identifiers selected by a registrar (Aoshima: at least ¶0025; “registration in the user certificate DB 202 shown in FIG. 3”; note: content assigned to user);
recording by the registrant at a lookup service a mapping associating at least one of the one or more identifiers with an internet address (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0070, 0149; “reads the private information of the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information received together with that Web page identification information from the authentication unit 204, in the user certificate DB 202. Then, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 examines whether the read private information satisfies the read service providing conditions. When the service providing conditions are satisfied, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 judges that browsing of the Web page is to be permitted”; ¶0050 further discloses “information that can specify URL) of the Web page concerned (hereinafter, this identification information is referred to as Web page identification information)”);
obtaining, at a watermark embedder that is implemented at least partially in electronic circuits, the one or more identifiers, forming one or more watermark payloads, each watermark payload including at least one of the one or more identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶0101; “Web server 10' makes an information terminal 40' display a Web page, when the information terminal 40' accesses the Web server 10' through the Internet 50. Here, in the Web server 10', a Web page used for moving to a Web page to which Web page providing conditions are set includes an authentication mark that has been issued to the above-mentioned Web page to which the Web page providing conditions are set, or to a person concerned such as a sender or author of that Web page. The authentication mark is electronic image data in which Web page attribute information and a signature to the Web page attribute information are embedded utilizing the electronic watermark technique or the like”; ¶¶0128-0129 further disclose “detect an action of selecting the authentication mark displayed in the Web page of the user” and “extracts the Web page identification information and the signature of the authentication mark issuer”);
embedding one or more of the watermark payloads in registrant's content using the watermark embedder that is implemented at least partially in electronic circuits (Aoshima: at least ¶0101; “… a Web page to which Web page providing conditions are set includes an authentication mark that has been issued to the above-mentioned Web page to which the Web page providing conditions are set, or to a person concerned such as a sender or author of that Web page. The authentication mark is electronic image data in which Web page attribute information and a signature to the Web page attribute information are embedded utilizing the electronic watermark technique or the like”; ¶0135 further discloses “Web page including an authentication mark”);
storing by the registrant metadata associated with the watermarked registrant's content at a network location associated with the internet address (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0016, 0067; “a user certificate DB 202 registers private information (information representing person's attributes such as name, address, age, and existence of bank account)”; ¶0149 further discloses “reads the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information in the user certificate DB 202, and reads the service providing conditions registered in association with the Web page identification information”; ¶0102 further discloses “the management apparatus 20' is connected to the service providing apparatus 30' through a dedicated network 60. However, the management apparatus 20' and the service providing apparatus 30' may be connected through the Internet 50, when a communication technique (such as cipher communication or the like) that can ensure security is employed”);
distributing registrant's content to one or more client devices, and wherein (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0129, 0153; “generates a browsing request including the URL specified by the extracted Web page identification information, and sends the request to the service providing apparatus 30' through the radio communication unit 401” and “sends the Web page corresponding to the URL included in the above-mentioned browsing request, to the information terminal 40”);
upon distribution of the content that includes the one or more watermark payloads (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0134-0135; “a Web page browsing request”, “when the Web page includes an authentication mark, this authentication mark is displayed additionally” and “Web page including an authentication mark”), detection of the one or more watermark payloads from the embedded content (Aoshima: at least ¶0137; “extracts the Web page identification information and the signature to the Web page identification information embedded in the authentication mark 1601”), transmission of a lookup request including detected assigned identifiers to the lookup service (Aoshima: at least ¶0144; “generates a browsing request including the URL specified by the Web page identification information”), receipt of a lookup response including the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶0145; “receiving the Web page browsing request including the designation of the URL from the information terminal 40' through the radio IF unit 301, the repeater unit 304 confirms whether the URL is registered in the Web management TBL 3041 (S2011). When it is registered, the repeater unit 304 sends a message to that effect to the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305. Further, the repeater unit 304 sends the Web page identification information registered in association with the URL in the Web management TBL 3041 to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306”), transmission of a metadata request using the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0145 & 0147; “sends the Web page identification information registered in association with the URL in the Web management TBL 3041 to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306. Receiving the message, the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 sends a certificate identification information transmission request to the information terminal 40' through the radio IF unit 301 (S2012)” and “the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 sends them to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306. The approval or denial information acquisition unit 306 generates a verification request including the certificate identification information and signature received from the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 and the Web page identification information received in S2011 from the repeater unit 304, and sends the verification request to the management apparatus 20' through the dedicated network IF unit 303 (S2015)”), and acquisition of a response to the metadata request including metadata associated with the registrant's content is enabled (Aoshima: at least ¶0149; “the approval or denial judgment unit 205 reads the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information in the user certificate DB 202, and reads the service providing conditions registered in association with the Web page identification information in the service providing condition DB 203. Then, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 examines whether the private information described in the user certificate satisfies the service providing conditions (for example, whether qualifications specified by the private information satisfy conditions required for accounting (for example, membership of a credit card)). The approval or denial judgment unit 205 sends the authentication unit 204 the judgment result indicating permission or rejection of browsing the Web page”).
Claim 73 (a method claim) corresponds in scope to Claim 49, and is similarly rejected.
As to Claim 59, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49 wherein the watermark payload is embedded in an image watermark (Aoshima: at least ¶0101; “the authentication mark is electronic image data …”).
As to Claim 63, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49 wherein the lookup service comprises a cluster of lookup servers wherein mappings may be cached among one or more lookup servers of the cluster (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0070, 0149; “reads the private information of the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information received together with that Web page identification information from the authentication unit 204, in the user certificate DB 202. Then, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 examines whether the read private information satisfies the read service providing conditions. When the service providing conditions are satisfied, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 judges that browsing of the Web page is to be permitted”; ¶0050 further discloses “information that can specify URL) of the Web page concerned (hereinafter, this identification information is referred to as Web page identification information)”; Fig. 9 shows servers for lookup service).
As to Claim 67, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49 wherein the metadata includes a mapping between an identifier included in a watermark payload and a location in the media (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0129, 0153; “generates a browsing request including the URL specified by the extracted Web page identification information, and sends the request to the service providing apparatus 30' through the radio communication unit 401” and “sends the Web page corresponding to the URL included in the above-mentioned browsing request, to the information terminal 40”; ¶0059 further discloses “Web page registered in the Web page DB 103 and its URL”).
As to Claim 72, Aoshima teaches a method for obtaining associated information for a multimedia content, the method comprising: receiving a registrant's content at a receiver device equipped with a watermark detector that is implemented at least partially in electronic circuits, the received registrant's content missing associated information (Aoshima: at least ¶0101; “… a Web page to which Web page providing conditions are set includes an authentication mark that has been issued to the above-mentioned Web page to which the Web page providing conditions are set, or to a person concerned such as a sender or author of that Web page. The authentication mark is electronic image data in which Web page attribute information and a signature to the Web page attribute information are embedded utilizing the electronic watermark technique or the like”; ¶0135 further discloses “Web page including an authentication mark”; ¶0070 further discloses “reads the private information of the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information note: content is missing private information);
performing watermark detection on the received registrant's content by the receiver device to extract a payload of one or more embedded watermarks (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0128-0129; “detect an action of selecting the authentication mark displayed in the Web page of the user” and “extracts the Web page identification information embedded in the authentication mark”), the payload including one or more identifiers assigned by a registrar to the registrant (Aoshima: at least ¶0101; “Web server 10' makes an information terminal 40' display a Web page, when the information terminal 40' accesses the Web server 10' through the Internet 50. Here, in the Web server 10', a Web page used for moving to a Web page to which Web page providing conditions are set includes an authentication mark that has been issued to the above-mentioned Web page to which the Web page providing conditions are set, or to a person concerned such as a sender or author of that Web page. The authentication mark is electronic image data in which Web page attribute information and a signature to the Web page attribute information are embedded utilizing the electronic watermark technique or the like”; ¶¶0128-0129 further disclose “detect an action of selecting the authentication mark displayed in the Web page of the user” and “extracts the Web page identification information and the signature of the authentication mark issuer”; ¶0025 further discloses “registration in the user certificate DB 202 shown in FIG. 3”; note: content assigned to user), wherein the one or more identifiers are mapped to an internet address, the mapping is recorded at a lookup service (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0070, 0149; “reads the private information of the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information received together with that Web page identification information from the authentication unit 204, in the user certificate DB 202. Then, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 examines whether the read private information satisfies the read service providing conditions. When the service providing conditions are satisfied, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 judges that browsing of the Web page is to be permitted”; ¶0050 further discloses “information that can specify URL) of the Web page concerned (hereinafter, this identification information is referred to as Web page identification information)”), and metadata associated with the watermarked registrant's content is stored at a network location associated with the internet address (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0016, 0067; “a user certificate DB 202 registers private information (information representing person's attributes such as name, address, age, and existence of bank account)”; ¶0149 further discloses “reads the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information in the user certificate DB 202, and reads the service providing conditions registered in association with the Web page identification information”; ¶0102 further discloses “the management apparatus 20' is connected to the service providing apparatus 30' through a dedicated network 60. However, the management apparatus 20' and the service providing apparatus 30' may be connected through the Internet 50, when a communication technique (such as cipher communication or the like) that can ensure security is employed”);
transmitting a lookup request including detected assigned identifiers to the lookup service (Aoshima: at least ¶0144; “generates a browsing request including the URL specified by the Web page identification information”);
receiving a lookup response including the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶0145; “receiving the Web page browsing request including the designation of the URL from the information terminal 40' through the radio IF unit 301, the repeater unit 304 confirms whether the URL is registered in the Web management TBL 3041 (S2011). When it is registered, the repeater unit 304 sends a message to that effect to the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305. Further, the repeater unit 304 sends the Web page identification information registered in association with the URL in the Web management TBL 3041 to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306”);
transmitting a metadata request using the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0145 & 0147; “sends the Web page identification information registered in association with the URL in the Web management TBL 3041 to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306. Receiving the message, the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 sends a certificate identification information transmission request to the information terminal 40' through the radio IF unit 301 (S2012)” and “the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 sends them to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306. The approval or denial information acquisition unit 306 generates a verification request including the certificate identification information and signature received from the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 and the Web page identification information received in S2011 from the repeater unit 304, and sends the verification request to the management apparatus 20' through the dedicated network IF unit 303 (S2015)”); and
receiving a response to the metadata request including metadata associated with the registrant's content (Aoshima: at least ¶0149; “the approval or denial judgment unit 205 reads the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information in the user certificate DB 202, and reads the service providing conditions registered in association with the Web page identification information in the service providing condition DB 203. Then, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 examines whether the private information described in the user certificate satisfies the service providing conditions (for example, whether qualifications specified by the private information satisfy conditions required for accounting (for example, membership of a credit card)). The approval or denial judgment unit 205 sends the authentication unit 204 the judgment result indicating permission or rejection of browsing the Web page”).
As to Claim 74, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 73 further comprising: assigning to a registrant one or more identifiers selected by a registrar (Aoshima: at least ¶0025; “registration in the user certificate DB 202 shown in FIG. 3”).
As to Claim 75, Aoshima teaches a method for obtaining associated information for a multimedia content, the method comprising: receiving a content at a receiver device equipped with a watermark detector that is implemented at least partially in electronic circuits, the received content missing associated information (Aoshima: at least ¶0101; “… a Web page to which Web page providing conditions are set includes an authentication mark that has been issued to the above-mentioned Web page to which the Web page providing conditions are set, or to a person concerned such as a sender or author of that Web page. The authentication mark is electronic image data in which Web page attribute information and a signature to the Web page attribute information are embedded utilizing the electronic watermark technique or the like”; ¶0135 further discloses “Web page including an authentication mark”; ¶0070 further discloses “reads the private information of the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information note: content is missing private information);
performing watermark detection on the received content by the receiver device to extract a payload of one or more embedded watermarks (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0128-0129; “detect an action of selecting the authentication mark displayed in the Web page of the user” and “extracts the Web page identification information embedded in the authentication mark”), the payload including one or more identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶0101; “Web server 10' makes an information terminal 40' display a Web page, when the information terminal 40' accesses the Web server 10' through the Internet 50. Here, in the Web server 10', a Web page used for moving to a Web page to which Web page providing conditions are set includes an authentication mark that has been issued to the above-mentioned Web page to which the Web page providing conditions are set, or to a person concerned such as a sender or author of that Web page. The authentication mark is electronic image data in which Web page attribute information and a signature to the Web page attribute information are embedded utilizing the electronic watermark technique or the like”; ¶¶0128-0129 further disclose “detect an action of selecting the authentication mark displayed in the Web page of the user” and “extracts the Web page identification information and the signature of the authentication mark issuer”), wherein the one or more identifiers are mapped to an internet address, the mapping is recorded at a lookup service (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0070, 0149; “reads the private information of the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information received together with that Web page identification information from the authentication unit 204, in the user certificate DB 202. Then, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 examines whether the read private information satisfies the read service providing conditions. When the service providing conditions are satisfied, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 judges that browsing of the Web page is to be permitted”; ¶0050 further discloses “information that can specify URL) of the Web page concerned (hereinafter, this identification information is referred to as Web page identification information)”), and metadata associated with the watermarked content is stored at a network location associated with the internet address (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0016, 0067; “a user certificate DB 202 registers private information (information representing person's attributes such as name, address, age, and existence of bank account)”; ¶0149 further discloses “reads the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information in the user certificate DB 202, and reads the service providing conditions registered in association with the Web page identification information”; ¶0102 further discloses “the management apparatus 20' is connected to the service providing apparatus 30' through a dedicated network 60. However, the management apparatus 20' and the service providing apparatus 30' may be connected through the Internet 50, when a communication technique (such as cipher communication or the like) that can ensure security is employed”);
transmitting a lookup request including detected assigned identifiers to the lookup service (Aoshima: at least ¶0144; “generates a browsing request including the URL specified by the Web page identification information”);
receiving a lookup response including the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶0145; “receiving the Web page browsing request including the designation of the URL from the information terminal 40' through the radio IF unit 301, the repeater unit 304 confirms whether the URL is registered in the Web management TBL 3041 (S2011). When it is registered, the repeater unit 304 sends a message to that effect to the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305. Further, the repeater unit 304 sends the Web page identification information registered in association with the URL in the Web management TBL 3041 to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306”); transmitting a metadata request using the internet address associated with the detected assigned identifiers (Aoshima: at least ¶¶0145 & 0147; “sends the Web page identification information registered in association with the URL in the Web management TBL 3041 to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306. Receiving the message, the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 sends a certificate identification information transmission request to the information terminal 40' through the radio IF unit 301 (S2012)” and “the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 sends them to the approval or denial information acquisition unit 306. The approval or denial information acquisition unit 306 generates a verification request including the certificate identification information and signature received from the certificate identification information acquisition unit 305 and the Web page identification information received in S2011 from the repeater unit 304, and sends the verification request to the management apparatus 20' through the dedicated network IF unit 303 (S2015)”); and
receiving a response to the metadata request including metadata associated with the content (Aoshima: at least ¶0149; “the approval or denial judgment unit 205 reads the user certificate registered in association with the certificate identification information in the user certificate DB 202, and reads the service providing conditions registered in association with the Web page identification information in the service providing condition DB 203. Then, the approval or denial judgment unit 205 examines whether the private information described in the user certificate satisfies the service providing conditions (for example, whether qualifications specified by the private information satisfy conditions required for accounting (for example, membership of a credit card)). The approval or denial judgment unit 205 sends the authentication unit 204 the judgment result indicating permission or rejection of browsing the Web page”).
As to Claim 76, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 75 wherein one or more identifiers are assigned by a registrar to a registrant (Aoshima: at least ¶0025; “registration in the user certificate DB 202 shown in FIG. 3”).
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 50-53 and 58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2003/0084294 by Aoshima et al. (“Aoshima”) in view of US PGPUB 2010/0317399 by Rodriguez et al. (“Rodriguez”).
As to Claim 50, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Rodriguez discloses wherein the watermark payload is embedded in a video watermark (Rodriguez: at least ¶¶0018 & 0020; “digitally watermarks the projected video with a payload indicating the source of the video. For example, the watermark payload can comprise the YouTube index number for the video (dMH0bHeiRNg), its name (The Evolution of Dance), or its URL (youtube-dot-com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg)” and “if the watermark payload comprises the full URL, retrieval of the video clip is straightforward”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rodriguez’s feature of wherein the watermark payload is embedded in a video watermark (Rodriguez: at least ¶¶0018 & 0020) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow for retrieval of video content using watermark payload (Rodriguez: at least ¶0020).
As to Claim 51, Aoshima and Rodriguez teach the method of claim 50 wherein the watermark payload is embedded in a video watermark in registrant's content (Rodriguez: at least ¶¶0018 & 0020; “digitally watermarks the projected video with a payload indicating the source of the video. For example, the watermark payload can comprise the YouTube index number for the video (dMH0bHeiRNg), its name (The Evolution of Dance), or its URL (youtube-dot-com/watch?v= dMH0bHeiRNg)” and “if the watermark payload comprises the full URL, retrieval of the video clip is straightforward”).
As to Claim 52, Aoshima and Rodriguez teach the method of claim 49 wherein the watermark payload is detected in a video watermark (Rodriguez: at least ¶¶0019 & 0021; “watermark decoder software recovers the encoded payload data” and “parse the payload data”).
As to Claim 53, Aoshima and Rodriguez teach the method of claim 52 wherein the watermark payload is detected in a video watermark in registrant's content (Rodriguez: at least ¶¶0019 & 0021; “watermark decoder software recovers the encoded payload data” and “parse the payload data”).
As to Claim 58, Aoshima and Rodriguez teach the method of claim 49 wherein where the watermark payload is embedded in both a video watermark and an audio watermark (Rodriguez: at least ¶¶0018 & 0020; “digitally watermarks the projected video with a payload indicating the source of the video. For example, the watermark payload can comprise the YouTube index number for the video (dMH0bHeiRNg), its name (The Evolution of Dance), or its URL (youtube-dot-com/watch? v=dMH0bHeiRNg)” and “if the watermark payload comprises the full URL, retrieval of the video clip is straightforward”; note: video comprises audio).
Claims 54-57 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2003/0084294 by Aoshima et al. (“Aoshima”) in view of US Patent 8,180,844 by Rhoads et al. (“Rhoads”).
As to Claim 54, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Rhoads discloses wherein the watermark payload is embedded in an audio watermark (Rhoads: at least Col. 3 Lines 63-64; “identify a URL corresponding to the watermark (using the database 17), and return the URL to the application 28c”; Col. 4 Lines 36-38 further disclose “different watermark sources (e.g., one responds to watermarks found in audio, another responds to watermarks found in print advertising, etc.)”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rhoads’s feature of wherein the watermark payload is embedded in an audio watermark (Rhoads: at least Col. 3 Lines 63-64, Col. 4 Lines 36-38) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to establish “… links to associated electronic resources, such as web pages” (Rhoads: at least Abstract).
As to Claim 55, Aoshima and Rhoads teach the method of claim 54 wherein the watermark payload is embedded in an audio watermark in registrant's content (Rhoads: at least Col. 3 Lines 63-64; “identify a URL corresponding to the watermark (using the database 17), and return the URL to the application 28c”; Col. 4 Lines 36-38 further disclose “different watermark sources (e.g., one responds to watermarks found in audio, another responds to watermarks found in print advertising, etc.)”).
As to Claim 56, Aoshima and Rhoads teach the method of claim 49 wherein the watermark payload is detected in an audio watermark (Rhoads: at least Col. 3 Lines 63-64; “identify a URL corresponding to the watermark (using the database 17), and return the URL to the application 28c”; Col. 4 Lines 36-38 further disclose “different watermark sources (e.g., one responds to watermarks found in audio, another responds to watermarks found in print advertising, etc.)”).
As to Claim 57, Aoshima and Rhoads teach the method of claim 56 wherein the watermark payload is detected in an audio watermark in registrant's content (Rhoads: at least Col. 3 Lines 63-64; “identify a URL corresponding to the watermark (using the database 17), and return the URL to the application 28c”; Col. 4 Lines 36-38 further disclose “different watermark sources (e.g., one responds to watermarks found in audio, another responds to watermarks found in print advertising, etc.)”).
Claims 60-61 and 64-66 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2003/0084294 by Aoshima et al. (“Aoshima”) in view of US PGPUB 2003/0135561 by Bodin et al. (“Bodin”).
As to Claim 60, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Bodin discloses wherein the lookup request conforms to a standardized network communications protocol (Bodin: at least ¶0078; “utilize HTTP to download a digital file. In such embodiments, it is typical for downloading the digital file to include receiving from a client device (102) a first HTTP request message (326) requesting the HTML file having the conventional file name”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Bodin’s feature of wherein the lookup request conforms to a standardized network communications protocol (Bodin: at least ¶0078) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to “distributes digital objects in HTML documents using HTTP” (Bodin: at least ¶0051).
As to Claim 61, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Bodin discloses wherein the lookup request conforms to the HTTP protocol (Bodin: at least ¶0078; “utilize HTTP to download a digital file. In such embodiments, it is typical for downloading the digital file to include receiving from a client device (102) a first HTTP request message (326) requesting the HTML file having the conventional file name”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Bodin’s feature of wherein the lookup request conforms to the HTTP protocol (Bodin: at least ¶0078) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to “distributes digital objects in HTML documents using HTTP” (Bodin: at least ¶0051).
As to Claim 64, Aoishma teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Bodin discloses wherein the internet address comprises at least one of: a server name; a hostname; or an IP address (Bodin: at least ¶0051; “a URL typically includes an internet protocol address, or a domain name that resolves to an internet protocol address”; ¶0101 also discloses, for example, “one domain identified by the domain name `grandma.net,` and the other identified by the domain name `someother.net.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Bodin’s feature of wherein the internet address comprises at least one of: a server name; a hostname; or an IP address (Bodin: at least ¶¶0051, 0101) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to “distributes digital objects in HTML documents using HTTP” (Bodin: at least ¶0051).
As to Claim 65, Aoishma teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Bodin discloses wherein the metadata request conforms to a standardized network communications protocol (Bodin: at least ¶0051; “a URL typically includes an internet protocol address, or a domain that resolves to an internet protocol address”; ¶0098 further discloses “a URL (318) encoded (312) with the file system location (310), including the path name (311), where the digital file (280) is stored” and “requesting the digital file (212) which is downloaded to the browser in a second HTTP `response` message (320)”; note: digital files such as image files include metadata such as file names).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Bodin’s feature of wherein the metadata request conforms to a standardized network communications protocol (Bodin: at least ¶¶0051, 0098) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to “distributes digital objects in HTML documents using HTTP” (Bodin: at least ¶0051).
As to Claim 66, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Bodin discloses wherein the metadata request conforms to the HTTP protocol (Bodin: at least ¶0051; “a URL typically includes an internet protocol address, or a domain that resolves to an internet protocol address”; ¶0098 further discloses “a URL (318) encoded (312) with the file system location (310), including the path name (311), where the digital file (280) is stored” and “requesting the digital file (212) which is downloaded to the browser in a second HTTP `response` message (320)”; note: digital files such as image files include metadata such as file names).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Bodin’s feature of wherein the metadata request conforms to the HTTP protocol (Bodin: at least ¶¶0051, 0098) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to “distributes digital objects in HTML documents using HTTP” (Bodin: at least ¶0051).
Claim 62 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2003/0084294 by Aoshima et al. (“Aoshima”) in view of US Patent 10,164,943 by Phipps.
As to Claim 62, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Phipps discloses wherein the lookup request conforms to the DNS protocol (Phipps: at least Col. 13 Lines 28-37; “client system performs a DNS lookup of the detection hostname contained within the detection URL (e.g., as a first step to retrieving a web page at the detection URL). In some embodiments, performing a DNS lookup of the detection hostname comprises providing the detection hostname to a DNS server for DNS lookup. In some embodiments, the DNS server further forwards the request before DNS lookup is performed. In 514, the client system receives an IP address for the detection hostname (e.g., as the response to the DNS lookup)”; Col. 14 Lines 51-53 also disclose “the client system performs a DNS lookup of the detection URL and receives in response the IP address of the web server”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Phipps’ feature of wherein the lookup request conforms to the DNS protocol (Phipps: at least Col. 13 Lines 28-37; Col. 14 Lines 51-53) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to retrieve a web page at an URL (Phipps: at least Col. 13 Lines 30-32).
Claims 68-70 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2003/0084294 by Aoshima et al. (“Aoshima”) in view of US PGPUB 2006/0112067 by Morris.
As to Claim 68, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Morris discloses wherein the metadata includes at least one of: channel identification; program identification; content identification; content identification (Morris: at least ¶0033; “the "View Metadata" service includes a sub-menu listing available metadata vocabularies: "Basic", "Photographic", "Aircraft", "Corporate", "Geographic", and "Other. The "Basic" vocabulary could include information such as owner, name of file”); segment identification; content size; a date on which content was produced (Morris: at least ¶0033; “the "View Metadata" service includes a sub-menu listing available metadata vocabularies: "Basic", "Photographic", "Aircraft", "Corporate", "Geographic", and "Other. The "Basic" vocabulary could include information such as owner, name of file, when file created, etc.”); a date on which content was edited; content rightsholder identification (Morris: at least ¶0033; “the "View Metadata" service includes a sub-menu listing available metadata vocabularies: "Basic", "Photographic", "Aircraft", "Corporate", "Geographic", and "Other. The "Basic" vocabulary could include information such as owner”); content author identification; timecode identification; copyright information; and closed captions.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Morris’ feature of wherein the metadata includes at least one of: channel identification; program identification; content identification; content identification (Morris: at least ¶0033); segment identification; content size; a date on which content was produced (Morris: at least ¶0033); a date on which content was edited; content rightsholder identification (Morris: at least ¶0033) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to invoke metadata service that provides more information multimedia content (Morris: at least ¶0029 & 0033; “she wants more information about the particular aircraft in the image”).
As to Claim 69, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but Morris discloses wherein the metadata includes a location where at least one of the following can be accessed: advertising content, software applications, interactive services content, signaling that enables various services (Morris: at least ¶0020; “metadata 104 includes a service uniform resource locator (URL) 105, which references a server 106 where the browser can retrieve services available for the object 103. The server 106 includes a service profile application 107, which manages service profiles for various objects stored in a profile database 108. Each service profile describes the services available to an object based on its identity, type, source, owner, or other attribute and how to invoke each service”), and other relevant data.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Morris’ feature of wherein the metadata includes a location where at least one of the following can be accessed: advertising content, software applications, interactive services content, signaling that enables various services (Morris: at least ¶0020) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to remotely invoke available services (Morris: at least ¶0024; “these services can be invoked as set forth in the service profile”)
As to Claim 70, Aoshima and Morris teach the method of claim 69 wherein the location includes a URL (Morris: at least ¶0020; “metadata 104 includes a service uniform resource locator (URL) 105, which references a server 106 where the browser can retrieve services available for the object 103. The server 106 includes a service profile application 107, which manages service profiles for various objects stored in a profile database 108. Each service profile describes the services available to an object based on its identity, type, source, owner, or other attribute and how to invoke each service”).
Claim 71 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2003/0084294 by Aoshima et al. (“Aoshima”) in view of US PGPUB 2014/0310623 by O'Connell et al. (“O'Connell”).
As to Claim 71, Aoshima teaches the method of claim 49.
Aoshima does not explicitly disclose, but O'Connell discloses wherein, the metadata request includes an interval code (O'Connell: at least ¶0061; “request all (or some subset) of metadata for the month (or other time period) and perform the filtering on the metadata without making a separate request when the user changes the date range (e.g., to week), asset class or other parameter”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate O'Connell’s feature of wherein, the metadata request includes an interval code (O'Connell: at least ¶0061) with Aoshima’s method.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow users to retrieve metadata in an adjustable time range (O'Connell: at least ¶0092; “if the user changes the time range (e.g., by selecting a new view, panning to a new time or otherwise changing the time range), the timeline program can request new object ids and/or metadata to populate the new time line for the new time range”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Huen Wong whose telephone number is (571) 270-3426. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday (10:30AM EST - 6:30PM EST). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Charles Rones can be reached on (571) 272-4085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300 for regular communications and after final communications.
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/H .W./
Examiner, AU 2168
05 February 2026
/CHARLES RONES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2168