CTNF 18/947,861 CTNF 101720 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1, 3, 4, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kyo (JP 2018028729 A) in view of Ota (US 20140365306 A1) . Regarding claim 4, 3, 1, Kyo teaches: An information processing device, executing communication with a display device, the information processing device comprising: a processor to execute a program; and a memory to store the program which, when executed by the processor, performs processes of, acquiring ratio information that indicates a ratio of each attribute corresponding to a plurality of users existing in a vicinity of the display device (Kyo ¶69 “(User Information Storage Unit 121) The user information storage unit 121 according to the embodiment stores various kinds of information on user attributes … The user information storage unit 121 shown in FIG. 4 includes items such as "user ID", "terminal ID", "age", "sex", and "interest".” ¶18 “Specifically, the statistical information storage unit 122 shown in FIG. 1 stores the total number (average) of users located in the surroundings (collection target range) of the digital signage terminal SN 1 during 10 to 12 o'clock, the composition ratio of men and women, and the age Composition ratio and the like are stored.” ¶19 “for the digital signage terminal SN 1, the ratio of the male to the female of the user around the digital signage terminal SN 1 is "7: 3" in the time period "10 - 12 o'clock" of the type ‘weekday’” Note: The claims states that a ratio of attributes of individuals nearby is found. This is taught by Kyo which teaches identifying attributes like age and gender of users standing nearby its display device, a digital sign. Kyo teaches that ratios are made of these attributes, an example provided is a 7:3 male to female ratio of people surrounding the digital sign.) a plurality of pieces of identification information capable of identifying the plurality of users (Kyo ¶70 “ ‘User ID’ indicates identification information for identifying a user . ‘Terminal ID’ indicates information for identifying the terminal device 10 used by the corresponding user. When a corresponding user uses a plurality of terminal devices 10, a plurality of "terminal IDs" may be stored in the user information storage unit 121. "Age" indicates the age of the user identified by the user ID. The "age" may be a specific age of a user identified by a user ID, such as 35 years old, for example. "Gender" indicates the sex of the user identified by the user ID. "Interest" indicates an object of interest to the user identified by the user ID. It should be noted that a plurality of "interests" may be registered.” ¶71 “For example, the user information storage unit 121 may store information on demographic attributes of a user and information on psychographic attributes. For example, the user information storage unit 121 may store information such as name, family composition, place of residence, income, lifestyle and the like.” Note: Kyo teaches that information that could identify a user like their age, gender, and interests are tracked and used.) , identifying one attribute based on ordinal ranks corresponding to the ratio of each attribute, (Kyo ¶31 “for example, the determining apparatus 100 is based on the ratio "20: 30: 30: 20" of the user's 0-10, 20-30, 40-50, and 60's over the weekday 12-14 The score of the type "0-10 generation" at 12 - 14 o'clock on weekdays, the score of "20 - 30 generation", the score of "40 - 50 generation" and the score of "over 60 '' are calculated. For example, the determining apparatus 100 calculates the score of the type "0 to 10" at 12 to 14 hours on weekdays as "0.2 (= 20 / (20 + 30 + 30 + 20))" …the score of the type "40 to 50" at 12 to 14 o'clock on weekdays as "0.3". Further, for example, the determining apparatus 100 calculates the score of the type "60 or more" at 12 to 14 o'clock on weekdays to be "0.2".” Note: This application’s specifications states “The identification unit 140 identifies one attribute based on ordinal ranks corresponding to the ratio of each attribute. For example, the identification unit 140 identifies an attribute whose ordinal rank is No. 1. That is, the identification unit 140 identifies an attribute whose ratio is the highest.” (no paragraph number is provided as the specifications lack numbering). Kyo teaches that attribute ratios are compared to see which one is the largest, for example comparing age group ratios to find which age group has the most people. These ratio scores of 0.2 or 0.3 are not an ordinal ranking, they are compared to each other to determine which ratio is the highest aka the ordinal rank. The ranking of a ratio being the highest and being chosen by the determining apparatus is the ordinal ranking.) identify advertisements as corresponding to the identified attribute based on the advertisement’s information, (Kyo ¶40 “the determination apparatus 100 calculates the score of the type "40-50 age" at 14 - 16 o'clock on weekdays as "0.1". In addition, for example, the determination apparatus 100 calculates the score of "type 60 or more " of "14 days / 16 o'clock on weekdays" as "0.6 (= 60 / (20 + 10 + 10 + 60))". Therefore, the determining apparatus 100 determines an advertisement targeting the type "60's" whose score is the largest among the types as the third advertisement” ¶41 “the determining apparatus 100 selects the advertisement E or the advertisement F in which "60's" is included in the tag among the advertisements A to F, etc. stored in the advertisement information storage unit 123 as the candidate advertisement of the third advertisement.” Note: Kyo teaches that its device evaluates the attributes of users nearby and determines which ratio has the first ordinal rank, or in other words which ratio has the highest score making it the first to be used. This relevant attribute is searched for in an analogous) , comparing the first advertisements with the second advertisements, (Kyo ¶41, cited below, teaches comparing two advertisements to determine which one to choose. Specifically, Kyo compares content info, the bid price, between the ads with a relevant attribute.) and identify content corresponding to the identified attribute out of content corresponding to the identified advertisement based on the advertisement information; (Kyo ¶42 “The determining apparatus 100 determines an advertisement to be displayed on the digital signage terminal SN 1 as the third advertisement based on the information on the bid price of each of the candidate advertisements among the candidate advertisements of the third advertisement. In the example of FIG. 1, since the advertisement F is higher in bidding price than the advertisement E, as shown in the display schedule information SC 11, the determining apparatus 100 sets the advertisement F on the digital signage terminal SN 1” ¶26 “for example, in the example of FIG. 1, advertisement E is for product E and the bid price is "60". In addition, the advertisement E mainly indicates that it is an advertisement targeting users who are interested in traveling in their 60's or traveling. Further, for example, in the example of FIG. 1, the advertisement F is for the product F and the bid price is "80". In addition, advertisement F indicates that it is an advertisement targeting users who are interested in traveling in the 60's or traveling mainly.” Note: Previously it was shown in ¶41 how candidate advertisements that have matching attributes to the users are chosen. Here in ¶42 Kyo teaches that the content being advertised in those same candidate advertisements is identified and evaluated to determine which advertisement content should be displayed. Specifically, as also seen in ¶26, Kyo identifies the product info for the product in the ad comparing two products against each other for their bid price. This shows Kyo finds relevant advertisements with a corresponding attribute and identifies content of the advertisement that also necessarily corresponds to the attribute. In ¶42 Kyo also teaches that the content) and executing control for making the display device display the identified content. (Kyo ¶42 “the determining apparatus 100 sets the advertisement F on the digital signage terminal SN 1” Note: Cited above previously and reprovided here, Kyo teaches that the chosen relevant advertisement is displayed to the device.) Kyo teaches that attributes of users near its display device are found, stored, and ranked to determine which attribute to find a matching advertising content for. Kyo does not teach that its advertising content is for a facility or store, or keep a record of user purchase history in those facilities to use in determining content to display. This is instead taught by Ota which teaches acquiring information that indicates attributes corresponding to a plurality of users existing in a vicinity of the display device, (Ota Abstract “A user information providing apparatus according to an embodiment includes a business operator information database, an entry information acquiring unit, a user information extracting unit, and a user information output unit … The user information extracting unit extracts user information on the business operator corresponding to the place which the wireless terminal has entered” Ota ¶143 “As illustrated in FIG. 11, the user information table includes information in which a ‘terminal ID’, ‘demographic attributes’, and ‘psychographic attributes’ are associated with each ‘association source user ID’.” ¶144 “The ‘association source user ID’ is identification information used by the advertisement distributor to identify the user U of the wireless terminal 5 .” ¶ 145 “The ‘demographic attributes’ indicate demographic user attribute information. The ‘demographic attributes’ are classified into, for example, attributes ‘sex’ and ‘age’ of the user U. For example, ‘1’ is stored in the attribute ‘sex’ when the user U is a female and ‘2’ is stored in the attribute ‘sex’ when the user U is a male. The age of the user U is stored in the attribute ‘age’. The ‘demographic attributes’ are not limited to the attributes illustrated in FIG. 11, but may include various attributes, such as the job, family structure, annual income, address, native place, and academic background of the user U.” Note: Ota teaches a device that displays content that gathers information about users of the device. Specifically attribute information of the users is determined such as gender, age, income, etc…) facility information indicating correspondence relationship among a facility, content and an attribute, (Ota ¶53 “For example, the advertiser sends the advertising information including the distribution conditions which designate the associated company C and user attributes (for example, the preference or interest of the user U), which makes it possible to distribute the advertising content to the wireless terminal 5 of the user U having the designated user information among the users U who use the associated company C. In addition, the advertiser inserts the designation of the store into the distribution conditions, which makes it possible to distribute the advertising content to the wireless terminal 5 of the user U having the user information corresponding to the designated store.” Note: Ota teaches that when an advertiser provides ads for their facility they include associated attributes allowing the users potential interests or preferences to be associated with the store. The user information has already been shown previously to contain demographic attributes like age, gender, etc…) a plurality of pieces of identification information capable of identifying the plurality of users (Ota ¶143 “the user information table includes information in which a ‘terminal ID’ , ‘demographic attributes’, and ‘psychographic attributes’ are associated with each ‘association source user ID’ .” ¶144 “The ‘association source user ID’ is identification information used by the advertisement distributor to identify the user U of the wireless terminal 5 .” Note: Ota teaches an “association source user ID” that enables the device to identify a user and associate them with data stored on them. Information taught to be associated with this user ID is demographic attributes, taught to include things like age, gender, income, address, etc… teaching a plurality of pieces of identification information capable of identifying users.) and usage history information indicating facilities used by the plurality of users, (Ota ¶33 “Examples of the user information stored in the user information DB include information (hereinafter, in some cases, referred to as behavior history information) about the store visit history or purchase history of the user U in the store of the associated company C and the identification information (hereinafter, referred to as a terminal ID) of the wireless terminal 5 . The behavior history information also includes, for example, the identification information (hereinafter, referred to as a store ID) of the store of the associated company C.” Note: Ota teaches that its device associates a user’s store visit and purchase history is stored in their user ID info.) identifying first facilities as facilities corresponding to the identified attribute based on the facility information, (Ota ¶102 “The user information of the associated company C is not limited to that illustrated in FIG. 6, but may be information, such as age, sex, preference,” ¶53 “Ota ¶53 “For example, the advertiser sends the advertising information including the distribution conditions which designate the associated company C and user attributes (for example, the preference or interest of the user U), which makes it possible to distribute the advertising content to the wireless terminal 5 of the user U having the designated user information among the users U who use the associated company C.” Note: Ota teaches that facilities corresponding to user attributes can be identified as when advertisers submit ads for their facilities relevant attribute info is included as well.) and identifying second facilities as facilities used by the plurality of users based on the usage history information and the plurality of pieces of identification information, ( PNG media_image1.png 324 488 media_image1.png Greyscale Note: In Fig. 6 Ota shows that facilities visited by users previously are identified detailing the purchase and visit history for multiple stores by multiple users.) identifying a facility least frequently used by the plurality of users or a facility most frequently used by the plurality of users out of the first facilities (Ota ¶171 “For example, when the number of times the entered user U visits the store of the associated company CB, which is determined from the store visit history of the user information, is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the advertising content extracting unit 82 extracts, for example, ‘advertising content Yd’ with an advertisement ID ‘O4’ from the advertising information table.” Note: Ota teaches that the frequency at which users visit stores is known and used to make decisions about advertising. As all store frequencies for a user are identified, Ota is aware of the most and least frequently visited facilities.) It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kyo with Ota where a display device that: collects attribute info on users, determines attribute ratios to find a first ranked ratio, uses the most relevant attribute to find advertisement content with the same attribute, and compares potential ads to determine which to display also considers information such as user purchase history when determining which content to choose, and supports the ability to display ads for facilities near the device rather than just product advertisements. There are several reasons that would motivate one to do so, Kyo already gathers lots of personal info on users like their age, address, income, gender, etc… to determine what ad would be the most relevant to show to a group of users. Extending this information to include purchase history, a commonly tracked analytic by advertisers, would provide even more info that is directly usable in providing users with relevant ads. Displaying ads for stores or other facilities near the displayed ad content is a common advertising method, the benefits of which could be taken advantage of if the display showed content for nearby facilities as described in Ota . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kyo (JP 2018028729 A) in view of Ota (US 20140365306 A1 and further in view Takanashi (JP 2012128395 A) . Regarding claim 2, Kyo teaches: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring circuitry acquires guidance effect information indicating correspondence relationship between a guidance effect (Kyo does not teach all of the guidance effect’s components, so we do not claim that Kyo teaches the guidance effect value.) indicating a guidance effect of guiding to content, (Kyo ¶59 “The ratio of the user who performed an operation such as selecting a predetermined content may be used as an index value indicating the effect of the advertisement (hereinafter also referred to as " estimated index value "). For example, the determining device 100 may consider the estimated index value as the advertisement A displayed on the digital signage terminal SN undefined 1 is selected and transmit the same index value as the CTR ( Click Through Rate ) of the advertisement A displayed on the digital signage terminal SN ⟨ May be used. In this case, the determining apparatus 100 calculates an index value (hereinafter referred to as "cost value") indicating the cost-effectiveness of the advertisement to the digital signage terminal SN 1, based on the estimated index value and the cost of displaying the advertisement on the digital signage terminal SN 1 , Also referred to as "effect index value" may be calculated. Further, the determining apparatus 100 may determine a display schedule of the advertisement in the digital signage terminal SN undefined 1 based on the calculated effect index value.” Note: The specifications state “Further, the acquisition unit 120 acquires a first congestion level, as the congestion level of a facility corresponding to the content before the content is displayed, from a device installed in the facility. The acquisition unit 120 acquires a second congestion level, as the congestion level of the facility corresponding to the content after the content is displayed, from the device installed in the facility. The guidance effect calculation unit 160 calculates a congestion level increase ratio based on the first congestion level and the second congestion level. The guidance effect calculation unit 160 calculates a guidance effect value by using expression (1). Incidentally, α is a constant … Here, the content is provided to the terminal device 500, by which the terminal device 500 is made to display the content. After the content is displayed by the terminal device 500, the user clicks on content in which the user had interest. The terminal device 500 calculates a click ratio based on the number of pieces of displayed content and the number of pieces of content clicked on. The acquisition unit 120 may acquire the click ratio from the terminal device 500. The guidance effect calculation unit 160 may also calculate the guidance effect value by using expression (2). guidance effect value = congestion level increase ratio + α × click ratio” The specifications define a guidance effect value as taking the before/after of a facility’s congestion levels and adding an additional piece of info such as click ratio. The click ratio for the displayed ad is multiplied by α, a customizable value allowing one to increase/decrease the influence of the click ratio or leave it as is but does not introduce any new information. Kyo teaches that its determining apparatus, which selects relevant content to display, uses the click ratio information to calculate a similar “cost-effectiveness” score that is used to find the most effective ads, and is used in the selection process. While Kyo teaches leveraging the cost-effectiveness in the same way as the application leverages the guidance effect value, it does not teach a before/after congestion ratio calculation for its value, thus Kyo does not teach the guidance effect value completely, only a similar value leveraging a click ratio to a similar effect) and after identifying the content corresponding to the attribute, (Kyo ¶69, ¶40, cited previously teach identifying content to display corresponding to an attribute.) the identifying circuitry identifies content based on the effect value corresponding to the identified content. (Kyo ¶59 “the CTR ( Click Through Rate ) of the advertisement A displayed on the digital signage terminal SN ⟨ May be used. In this case, the determining apparatus 100 calculates an index value (hereinafter referred to as "cost value") indicating the cost-effectiveness of the advertisement to the digital signage terminal SN 1 … Also referred to as "effect index value" may be calculated. Further, the determining apparatus 100 may determine a display schedule of the advertisement in the digital signage terminal SN undefined 1 based on the calculated effect index value.” Note: Kyo teaches that the effectiveness of an advertisement is calculated using a click ratio, described in more detail in the full ¶59 citation above. This effectiveness value calculated using click ratio is directly used in determining what content will be displayed. ) A “guidance effect value” is primarily the congestion ratio of a facility before and after, as defined by the specification’s equation “guidance effect value = congestion level increase ratio + α × click ratio” where α is an adjustable weight allowing for the influence of the click ratio to be altered. The core value that determines the guidance effect value is the congestion level increase ratio. This is taught by Takanashi which teaches guidance effect information indicating correspondence relationship between a guidance effect value indicating a guidance effect of guiding to a facility and content, (Takanashi ¶86 “the information comparison unit 101 compares the congestion degree calculated in (S32) with the congestion degree previously calculated by the congestion degree calculation unit 111 by the processing device, and whether or not the congestion degree has changed … the information comparison unit 101 determines that the congestion degree has not changed if the change in the congestion degree is within several percent (for example, 5%), and the congestion degree has changed if the change in the congestion degree is greater than several percent” ¶82 “ advertisements and notifications (guidance) are displayed on the second display terminal 20. In particular, when the change content of the degree of congestion is displayed on the first display terminal 10, the second display terminal 20 displays an advertisement or notification ( related to the change content displayed on the first display terminal 10. Information) is displayed.” Note: As established the guidance effect value refers to the before/after congestion comparison value. This value is then used in determining what content should be displayed. Takanashi clearly teaches the change in congestion is calculated, and if it is significant enough then a change in displayed advertisement content is displayed based on the congestion change. While Takanashi does not include a click ratio aspect that can further adjust the congestion change it does teach the majority of the guidance effect value, only missing the relatively less impactful final weighting from the click ratio.) identifying circuitry identifies content based on the guidance effect value corresponding to the identified content. (Takanashi ¶82 “advertisements and notifications (guidance) are displayed on the second display terminal 20. In particular, when the change content of the degree of congestion is displayed on the first display terminal 10, the second display terminal 20 displays an advertisement or notification (related to the change content displayed on the first display terminal 10. Information) is displayed.”) It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Kyo with Takanashi where a calculated value that leverages a change in congestion to determine what advertisement content should be displayed to a digital display also includes a click ratio for an ad in the calculation. There are several reasons that would motivate one to do so, the congestion or busyness level of a facility is a known business metric used to evaluate success of products, ads, and other business aspects that can be leveraged to make decisions about what content to advertise. It would be obvious to include another known and popular advertisement success metric, how often users click on an ad, in calculating an effectiveness value to help choose what content to next display. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN GREGORY HAKALA whose telephone number is (571)272-7863. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-5:00pm. 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, King Poon can be reached at (571) 270-0728. 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. /ALAN GREGORY HAKALA/Examiner, Art Unit 2617 /KING Y POON/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 2 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 3 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 4 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 5 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 6 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 7 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 8 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 9 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 10 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 11 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 12 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 13 Art Unit: 2617 Application/Control Number: 18/947,861 Page 14 Art Unit: 2617
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