DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the original application filed on 11/07/2024. Claims 1-9 are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
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 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being unpatentable subject matter.
Regarding claim 8, “A computer program” as recited in the claim is not limited in the specification to exclude transitory forms of signal transmission. The aforementioned medium can therefore be interpreted to be directed to transitory forms of signal transmission. Transitory forms of signal transmission are not directed to one of the four statutory categories, i.e. non-statutory and not patentable, as established in In re Nuijten. Refer to MPEP 2106(I). Examiner recommends Applicant to recite claims 8 and 9 as independent 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 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burckart et al. (US 2014/0281906 A1, hereinafter “Burckart”) in view of Kotecha et al. (US 2015/0023168 A1, hereinafter “Kotecha”).
Regarding claim 1 (and similarly claims 7-9), Burckart discloses:
receiving a request designating a page referencing a set of elements called dynamic elements, at least some of the dynamic elements corresponding to audio-video contents (receiving request for HTML webpage including dynamic data, Burckart: [0035], [0048]),
emitting to the client of a specific page linked to the at least one audio-video content, in response to the request (rendering HTML pages with links referencing dynamic content, Burckart: [0044]).
Burckart does not explicitly disclose:
determining a traffic peak associated with at least one audio-video content.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kotecha teaches:
determining a traffic peak associated with at least one audio-video content (determining traffic congestion associated with video, Kotecha: [0038]-[0043]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Burckart in view of Kotecha in order to further modify the method of rendering requested webpage with links referencing dynamic content from the teachings of Burckart with the method of determining traffic congestion associated with dynamic content from the teachings of Kotecha.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would have reduced network congestion (Burckart: [0013]).
Regarding claim 2, Burckart-Kotecha teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Burckart-Kotecha further discloses:
wherein the specific page is adapted to reference the at least one audio-video content, and, possibly, the requested page (rendering HTML pages with links referencing dynamic content, Burckart: [0044]).
Regarding claim 3, Burckart-Kotecha teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Burckart-Kotecha further discloses:
wherein the specific page is a static page including no dynamic element (rendering static HTML pages, Burckart: [0044]).
Regarding claim 4, Burckart-Kotecha teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Burckart-Kotecha further discloses:
wherein the determining comprises a monitoring of the traffic associated with a set of audio-video contents, and a detection of a traffic peak among the traffics (monitoring traffic flows to determine traffic congestion, Kotecha: [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding claim 5, Burckart-Kotecha teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 4 above.
Burckart-Kotecha further discloses:
wherein the detection is based on a comparison of the traffics with a determined threshold (determining traffic congestion based on threshold, Kotecha: [0035]-[0037]).
Regarding claim 6, Burckart-Kotecha teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Burckart-Kotecha further discloses:
wherein processing operations corresponding to the determining of a traffic peak are triggered prior to the receiving of the request (monitoring traffic flows to determine traffic congestion, Kotecha: [0038]-[0043]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: Hosur (US 2017/0041372 A1: Content Insertion in Streaming Media Content) and Bacus et al. (US 2013/0002647 A1: Managing Web Page Data in a Composite Document).
In the case of amendments, applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIL H. LEE whose telephone number is 571-272-3408. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 9am-6pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian J. Gillis can be reached on 571-272-7952. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GIL H. LEE/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446