Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
The following is a Final Office Action in response to Applicant’s amendment received 05/28/2026.
In accordance with Applicant’s amendment, claims 2, 5, 7-11, 13-17, and 19-21 are amended, claims 4, 12, 18, and 22 are canceled, and claims 23-25 are added as new claims. Claims 2-3, 5-11, 13-17, 19-21, and 23-25 are currently pending.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection set forth in this Office Action.
The 35 U.S.C. §102 rejection of claims 5, 8, 13-14, and 19-20 is withdrawn in response to applicant’s amendment, however a new ground of rejection is applied to these claims under §103 below, as necessitated by the amendment.
Response to Arguments
Response to §102(a)(1) arguments: Applicant’s arguments (Remarks at pgs. 10-11) concerning the §102 rejection are primarily raised in support of the new limitations added to independent claims 2/11/17, which are believed to be fully addressed in the updated §102 rejection applied to these claims in the instant office action.
Specification
The Title of the invention is objected to for the following reason: The title of the invention, which is currently recited as “DATA STRUCTURE VISUALIZATION AND MANAGEMENT FOR REAL-TIME DATA,” is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. See MPEP 606.01.
The Examiner suggests a new title of “SCHEDULING, MANAGING, AND PROVIDING STREAMING EVENT CONTENT USING CALENDAR DATA STRUCTURES AND EVENT OBJECTS.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 2-3, 7, 9-11, 15-17, 21, and 24-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Spivack et al. (US 2011/0289422, hereinafter “Spivack”).
Claims 2/11/17: As per claim 2, Spivack teaches a method (pars. 73, 270, and Fig. 18: system…generates an interactive calendar guide for current and upcoming events) comprising:
providing a first user interface to a content creator device, the first user interface including one or more first graphical interface elements to receive media data to associate with streaming events (pars. 76, 79, 84, 93, 106, 185, 249, 258, 260, and 262: In one embodiment, the interactive web guide provides a graphical user interface for content providers [i.e., via content creator device] to use to automate upload event data. Event providers specify a name, location, credentials of the XML files to be used for extraction of data for upload, and a frequency of review of the XML files. The event providers can either manually or automatically create the XML files to be used by the web guide to automatically upload the event data; Examples of events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include, but are not limited to, video or audio streams; Event providers 140 can send information about their online events to the interactive web guide for presentation to users; interactive web guide server 120 includes an event provider module; system receives online event data from event providers. Online event data can include location of the event, time of the event, and metadata relating to the event);
receiving, by control circuitry and via the first user interface on the content creator device, first user input data from a content creator regarding a streaming event, the first user input data indicating a scheduled time and an acquisition value for the streaming event (pars. 76, 79, 93, 105-07, 224, and 247-249, and 269-276: e.g., API enables the external parties to add event data; event provider [i.e., content creator] module 180 can be any combination of software agents and/or hardware components able to receive data about online events from event providers; Examples of events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include…video or audio streams; provides a graphical user interface for content providers to use to automate upload event data; event profiles database 122 stores data related to online events including, but not limited to, start time, event location, and metadata about the event [e.g., a video or audio streaming event]; event profiles database 122 stores data related to online events including, but not limited to, start time…pricing [i.e., scheduled time and acquisition value]; Online events can be any scheduled activity … such as a video stream, … social event, product launch (e.g., launch of a new blog post or article), a scheduled tweet or link, podcast, etc.; provides a profile of an event, including … information about the content, channel, time, cost [i.e., acquisition value]; Events can be … pay per view; computer system 1800 includes a processor, memory, non-volatile memory, and an interface device [i.e., control circuitry, first user interface]; computer system 1800 can be controlled by operating system; provides a graphical user interface);
generating, by the control circuitry and based on the first user input data, event object data for the streaming event, the event object data indicating the scheduled time and the acquisition value (pars. 73, 76, 81-84, 105-106, 111, 194, 224, and 236: e.g., event profiles database 122, temporal index database 124, user database 126, and advertisement database 128 can store information such as data, images, videos, and/or any other data item utilized by parts of the interactive web guide server; interactive web guide server 120 can retrieve data from and add data to the event profiles database; Examples of events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include…video or audio streams; system compiles a database of scheduled online events, such as event profiles database…including, but not limited to, start time, event location, and metadata about the event; event profiles database 122 stores data related to online events including, but not limited to, start time, … pricing [i.e., acquisition value]);
associating, by the control circuitry, the event object data with a data slot in a calendar data structure, the data slot being associated with a period of time (pars. 142, 224, and Figs. 32-33 and 36: e.g., showing multiple events include, but are not limited to, zooming in or out of the time slot, showing a nested calendar for the channel within a time slot [i.e., calendar data structure]; My Matrix showing a personal calendar of recommended events or a lineup of user selected and ordered channels [i.e., calendar data structure]; FIG. 32 depicts an example list view of "MY SCHEDULE" under the "MY MATRIX" tab of the interactive site of scheduled web-based events);
receiving, by the control circuitry, video data to associate with the streaming event (pars. 76, 81, 86, 106, 124, 126, 142, 176, 224, and 265-266: Examples of events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include…video or audio streams; store information such as data, images, videos, and/or any other data item utilized by parts of the interactive web guide server; receives information such as data (e.g., text, video files, etc.); interactive web guide can include a video carousel that displays still or video images associated with events; Each listed event in the mini grid can include an associated event image, and or additional metadata; user adds an event to his personal calendar, the user effectively sends an RSVP to the event for themselves and/or others they represent, and the interactive web guide stores the information about the user and the event in a database; export the event to an external calendar…email the event or reminder to other users or friends, and/or share the event via a social networking utility or website);
associating, by the control circuitry, the video data with the event object data (pars. 81, 124, 145, 183, 194-202, 224, and 265: interactive web guide can include a video carousel that displays still or video images associated with events; store information such as data, images, videos, and/or any other data item utilized by parts of the interactive web guide server; grid can be filtered according to any search query by media, channel, and/or event type including, but not limited to, video; grid or schedule of online event listings in a video thumbnail or embedded video player; events can be stored in the event profiles database 122 as data record objects that include a start time, one or more online event locations, and one or more elements of metadata about the event; Event objects can be linked to other events, such as related events, repeats, similar events, contained events, events that contain the events, required events, prior events, next events, etc.; Event objects can be linked to other information, such as related content, comments, web sites, documents; Each listed event in the mini grid can include an associated event image, and or additional metadata (event timing, event category, channel information, event summary, even description, related users, user reviews, etc.));
embedding, by the control circuitry, the video data within the data slot in the calendar data structure (par. 183: currently live online event can be displayed on an event profile page or within an interactive guide, grid or schedule [i.e., in the calendar data structure] of online event listings in a video thumbnail or embedded video player; See also, pars. 142, 224, and Figs. 32-33 and 36: e.g., showing multiple events include, but are not limited to, zooming in or out of the time slot, showing a nested calendar for the channel within a time slot [i.e., calendar data structure]; My Matrix showing a personal calendar of recommended events [i.e., calendar data structure,] or a lineup of user selected and ordered channels [wherein any of the events shown in My Matrix may include the video data, such as for currently live online events, as discussed above, and as exemplified in Fig. 32’s Live Matrix thumbnails of video data within a calendar data structure]);
providing, via a second user interface on a content consumption device, a first calendar view displaying scheduled events with each scheduled event presented at a corresponding time slot, the scheduled events including the streaming event (pars. 76, 94, 106, 142, and 224: e.g., display module 182 responds to user commands to change the way the interactive web guide is caused to be displayed, such as customizing a display of the guide, zooming in or out of a time slot, showing nested calendars…within a time slot, and showing a three-dimensional view of stacked events occurring in the same time slot; Methods for showing multiple events include, but are not limited to, zooming in or out of the time slot, showing a nested calendar for the channel within a time slot; My Matrix showing a personal calendar of recommended events or a lineup of user selected and ordered channels; Online events can be any scheduled activity or happening on the web, such as a video stream, audio stream);
receiving, from the content consumption device, second user input data including a selection of the streaming event from the first calendar view (pars. 76, 106, 165, 176, and 191: e.g., Events can be added to a user's "My Events" view when the user clicks on a "Add to my events" button; When a user selects the button, the corresponding online event is added to the user's personal or shared calendar; upcoming selected and/or recommended events can be provided to users; Online events can be any scheduled activity or happening on the web, such as a video stream, audio stream; share with friends via email invites, within a shared calendar tool, with a recommendations tool, and sending an announcement about the event to a social network);
based on the second user input data, providing a visual representation indicating the acquisition value for the streaming event (pars. 76, 91, 106, 124, 143, 145, 156, 172-173, 176, 179, 224, and Fig. 2: e.g., send event reminders, and send data to the display module 182 for presenting events to the user that the user has signed up for in a "My Events" view of the interactive web guide [second user input data, visual representation]; events displayed in the video carousel can be periodically refreshed; display multiple events within a certain time segment within a calendar view in a dynamic manner; Within the grid, content can be sorted by a user according to channel name, channel popularity, show name, show popularity, price [i.e., acquisition value]; Events in the "My Events" webpage [i.e., third visual representation] can be categorized by categories include, but not limited to…price [i.e., acquisition value]; Events in any view (Grid view, List view, My Events view, Top Picks, search results, or any other view) can be sorted by the user in any of a number of ways including, but not limited to…price [i.e., acquisition value]…and content type (e.g., video, audio, chat, game platform, virtual reality, web site, etc.; Online events can be any scheduled activity or happening on the web, such as a video stream, audio stream);
receiving, from the content consumption device, third user input data including a request to acquire the video data associated with the streaming event (pars. 76, 106, 124-128, 153, 163, and 176: e.g., user can select a particular category under one of these tabs to access a listing of events, including events occurring now, upcoming events, and recent events. The user can select an event to perform an action such as viewing the event [i.e., third user input data]; system receives a play request for the event from the user [i.e., request to acquire the content associated with the event]; events can be added to a user's "My Events" view when the user clicks on a "Add to my events" button that is made available with each event listing in the interactive web guide. For example, in FIG. 3, the cursor has been moved over the event "2010 Australian Open--Court 6 (Day 5)" which brings up a pop-up window with event details [which may include video data for a streaming event, as discussed above] and the "Add to my events" button [i.e., request to acquire the content associated with the event]; Examples of events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include…video or audio streams; events can be any scheduled activity or happening on the web, such as a video stream; events displayed in the video carousel can be periodically refreshed);
based on the third user input data, performing an authorization process to acquire access to the streaming event (pars. 76, 106, and 159: e.g., At decision block 1910, the system determines if the online event is starting. If the online event is not starting yet (block 1910--No), the process remains at decision block 1910. If the online event is starting (block 1910--Yes), at decision block 1915 the system determines if the user has checked in to the event; Events can be free, pay per view, or available by subscription and can be accessed through the website hosting the interactive web guide or after registering at the website for certain events. Events may be open to the public or only open to specific audiences such as invited audiences or qualifying participants; events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include, but are not limited to, video or audio streams);and
based on the authorization process, providing the video data associated with the streaming event to the content consumption device at the scheduled time associated with the streaming event (pars. 76, 106, 156, and 195: Events can be free, pay per view, or available by subscription and can be accessed through the website hosting the interactive web guide or after registering at the website for certain events; events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include, but are not limited to, video or audio streams; Events may be open to the public or only open to specific audiences such as invited audiences or qualifying participants; When an event is played [which may be a streaming event associated with video data, see discussion above], if the event is presently occurring, the user can either be taken to the live event by pointing to the live URL for the event [i.e., livestreamed event]; the event can be accessed online through online video, audio, chat, virtual reality, interactive gaming, web browsing, or any other online application).
Claims 11 and 17 are directed to a system with control circuitry and memory (claim 11) and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (claim 17) for performing substantially similar limitations as those set forth in claim 2 and addressed above. Spivack teaches a system and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media for performing the limitations discussed above (Spivack at pars. 270-274 and Fig. 18: computer system 1800 includes a processor, memory, non-volatile memory, and an interface device; computer-readable (storage) medium), and claims 11/17 are therefore rejected using the same reference and for substantially the same reasons as set forth above.
Claim 3: Spivack further teaches wherein the providing the first calendar view includes displaying a plurality of scheduled events associated with a plurality of content creators, respectively (pars. 139, 192, 200, 224, 258, and Figs. 32 and 36: describing/displaying calendar views, e.g., My Matrix, of events associated with different content providers/creators - e.g., can contain any set of events, such as events associated with one or more content providers; Event objects can be linked to particular channels, where channels can represent content providers, brands, shows, topics, editors, users, or special aggregations of events; user can also choose from a list of channels that the user's friends have share; My Matrix showing a personal calendar of recommended events or a lineup of user selected and ordered channels; Event Profile--a widget that provides a profile of an event, including optionally a trader for the event or selected content from the event, information about the content, channel, time, cost, rating, location, projected audience, popularity of the event, etc.; time slots can generally be adjusted, configured, or re-configured by a user. In some instances, the content provider or event provider of the events can specify the default time slots).
Claim 7: Spivack further teaches generating metric data indicative of a total number of acquisitions of the video data; and providing the metric data to the content creator (pars. 76, 104, 106, 111, 195, 203, 207, and 217: e.g., generate reports about online events, the demand for the events, statistics about the audience for online events, rankings or ratings for event providers, channels, and events; metrics about demand, audience, prices, or inventory related to the events; Reports can be generated for event providers on the demand for their events over time, the actual audience of their events, the demographics of their audience; Examples of events occurring over the web and/or web-based content include…video or audio streams; event can be accessed online through online video, audio, chat, virtual reality, interactive gaming, web browsing, or any other online application).
Claims 9/15/21: Spivack further teaches wherein the video data is accessible outside the period of time associated with the streaming event (pars. 150, 153, 156-157, 160, 172, 234, and 246: the event has already occurred, the user is taken to an archived or recorded copy of the event content that can have a different URL from the live event or even multiple URLs, or the user is given a choice of where to watch or play the event; system stores the recorded event at an online URL for on-demand access by the user or other users; describing content that is either live or scheduled occur during designated timeslots, which makes them inaccessible outside of such live or timeslot based content period - e.g., rows denote events at various time slots; streaming video or audio; web guide can show … events that are taking place at those time slots).
Claims 10/16: Spivack further teaches wherein providing the first calendar view and providing the video data occur through a same interface platform (pars. 73, 106, 124, and 156: e.g., interactive calendar guide for current and upcoming content and events available on the World Wide Web (Web) as well as web-based events that have recently occurred. The terms interactive calendar guide, interactive web guide, and online program guide can be used interchangeably. The interactive web guide provides content to a consumer; When an event is played, if the event is presently occurring, the user can either be taken to the live event …or the live event plays directly within the interactive web guide; interactive web guide can include a video carousel that displays still or video images associated with events; Online events can be any scheduled activity or happening on the web, such as a video stream, audio stream).
Claim 24: Spivack further teaches interfacing, via the control circuitry, with a native calendar platform at the content consumption device to include the streaming event in the native calendar platform (pars. 94, 124, 142, 156, 165, 176, 178, and 224: e.g., customizing a display of the guide, zooming in or out of a time slot, showing nested calendars for a channel within a time slot, and showing a three-dimensional view of stacked events occurring in the same time slot; adding the event to a "My Events" list or a personal or shared calendar; exporting the event to a digital calendar such as Google Calendar or Outlook; can be synced automatically or manually with various calendar applications (e.g.; iCal, Outlook, Google Calendar). For example, an email can be sent to a user with an iCal record attached to it for inclusion in his calendar. Alternatively, a calendar invitation can be sent to a user or automatically inserted into a linked calendar service or application with the user's permission; My Matrix showing a personal calendar of recommended events or a lineup of user selected and ordered channels events can be added to a user's "My Events" view when the user clicks on a "Add to my events" button that is made available with each event listing in the interactive web guide).
Claim 25: Spivack further teaches receiving, via the second user interface, one or more messages transmitted from the content consumption device; associating the one or more messages with the streaming event; and displaying the one or more messages in the second user interface (pars. 70, 76, 94, 106, 142, 156, 167, 177, 224, and Fig. 69: e.g., FIG. 69 depicts an example screen shot of a notification or reminder which can be created to remind a user prior to occurrence of a web-based event; reminders can be provided to a user via email, short message service (SMS), social media such as Twitter, really simple syndication (RSS), phone call, pop-up alerts in a desktop application or any other application, alerts within the interactive web guide; notification provides a URL so that the user's friends can join the event. In one embodiment, the web guide can allow any user interaction with the web guide to prompt a notification to be sent to the user's friends; alert for "Ashton Kutcher" and see any events that include him in Twitter, YouTube, Livestream, etc.; Online events can be any scheduled activity or happening on the web, such as a video stream, audio stream).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claims 5, 13, 19, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as unpatentable over Spivack et al. (US 2011/0289422, hereinafter “Spivack), as applied to claims 2, 11, and 17 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2009/0150919, hereinafter “Lee”).
Claims 5/13/19: Spivack further teaches receiving, while the video data is being displayed via the content consumption device, feedback data for the video data, the feedback data being indicative of how the content is being received; associating the feedback data with an indication…; and providing at least a portion of the feedback data to the content creator (pars. 76. 104, 106, 131, 141, 153-154, 157, 207-208, and 246: e.g., event is currently taking place and real-time audience measurement; if a user RSVPs to an online chat event is Linable to watch it live, the web guide can record it by making a saved digital online video, text, or audio file that records the chat session; capabilities for showing live streaming video or audio, providing interactive chat; Online events can be any scheduled activity or happening on the web, such as a video stream, audio stream; interactive web guide server 120 includes a report generator module 196. The report generator module 196 can be any combination of software agents and/or hardware components able to generate reports about online events…statistics about the audience for online events, rankings or ratings for event providers, channels, and events…and that provide high-level metrics about them, similar to a ratings system for online events and content; generate reports about online events, the demand for the events, statistics about the audience for online events, rankings or ratings for event providers [i.e., provide feedback data to content creators]; Reports can be generated for event providers [i.e., provide feedback data to content creators), but does not explicitly teach an indication of a period of time during the video data that the feedback data was received.
Lee teaches an indication of a period of time during the video data that the feedback data was received (pars. 4, 53, 57, 119, 145-148, and Figs. 4 and 12-14: e.g., Once correlated, the responses from the subject to the segments in the media instance can be reported to an interested party to determine which segment(s) of the media instance actually engage the subject or turn the subject off; segments mark important response moments of engagement of a subject of the media instance and, as moments in time, are used to correlate the media instance to the physiological response of the subject or player; responses are synchronized with the media instance at each and every moment over the entire duration of the media instance, allowing the user to identify the second-by second changes in subjects' emotions and their causes; collect, record, store and manage verbatim reactions 1502 (comments and feedbacks) from a plurality of subjects of a media instance; media instance is, for example, a video, an audio clip, an advertisement, a movie, a television (TV) broadcast, a radio broadcast, a video game, an online advertisement, a recorded video and/or audio program, and/or other types of media).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Spivack with Lee because the references are analogous because Spivack and Lee are each directed to computer-implemented features for managing and analyzing the presentation of media content and thus within applicant’s field of endeavor of time-based management of data-streaming events, and because modifying Spivack to incorporate Lee’s indication of a period of time during the video data that the feedback data was received, as claimed, would serve the motivation to analyze user behavior data in order to generate recommendations for events, channels, and the like based on user preferences (Spivack at par. 132); and further obvious because the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim 23: Spivack does not teach the limitation of claim 23.
Lee teaches based on the at least a portion of the feedback data, generating metric data indicating a time period most associated with positive feedback (pars. 51, 63, 119, and Figs. 4 and 12: describing/displaying a timeline of the video corresponding to positive and negative user feedback responses, including max/peak intensity values and time associated therewith - e.g., media defining module can generate signature(s) of the media instance by setting each frequency segment to a binary 1 when the segment has a peak frequency value greater than a threshold value; graph represents the amplitude (intensity) of the one or more physiological responses. Here, the one or more physiological responses are aggregated over the subjects via one or more of: max, min, average, deviation, or a higher ordered approximation of the intensity of the physiological responses from the subjects).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the combination of Spivack/Lee to incorporate Lee’s feature for generating metric data indicating a time period most associated with positive feedback, as claimed, in order to serve the motivation to analyze user behavior data in order to generate recommendations such as actionable insights on what changes the user can make to improve the media instance based on in-depth analysis of the subjects' reactions (Spivack at par. 127); and further obvious because the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as unpatentable over Spivack et al. (US 2011/0289422, hereinafter “Spivack), as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Doss et al. (US 2004/0093290, hereinafter “Doss”).
Claim 6: Spivack teaches the limitations of claim 2 as set forth above, and with respect to claim 6 further teaches providing the metric data to the content creator (pars. 104, 111, 131, 141, 153-154, 157, 203, 207-208, 217, and 246: e.g., report generator module 196 can be any combination of software agents and/or hardware components able to generate reports about online events…statistics about the audience for online events, rankings or ratings for event providers, channels, and events…and that provide high-level metrics about them, similar to a ratings system for online events and content; generate reports about online events, the demand for the events, statistics about the audience for online events, rankings or ratings for event providers; Reports can be generated for event providers; generate reports about online events, the demand for the events, statistics about the audience for online events; metrics about demand, audience, prices, or inventory related to the events; Reports can be generated for event providers on the demand for their events over time, the actual audience of their events, the demographics of their audience), however Spivack does not explicitly teach analyzing a plurality of calendar data structures associated with a plurality of users, respectively; based on the analyzing, generating metric data indicative of a most available time period within the plurality of calendar data structures.
Doss teaches analyzing a plurality of calendar data structures associated with a plurality of users, respectively; based on the analyzing, generating metric data indicative of a most available time period within the plurality of calendar data structures (paragraphs 26-27, 96-97, 124, 134-135, Figs. 8-12, and claim 39: e.g., performing a free-time search of calendar data by: retrieving availability information for a plurality of users; locating free-time segments which are available in the retrieved availability information; adjusting the located free-time segments based on one or more context-sensitive criteria which are applicable to this free-time search; when more than one possible meeting time is found, the preferred times may be chosen over other times or presented at the top of a list of results for the person scheduling the meeting to choose from; scheduler may choose to see possible meeting times sorted according to when the meeting time and/or location are most convenient for the maximum number of invitees; determining one or more free-time segments when each of the plurality of users is available, according to the adjusted free-time segments for each of the users; and providing the determined free-time segments as a result of the free-time search. The retrieved availability information preferably comprises calendar data from the users' electronic calendars; Following completion of Blocks 230 or 240, processing reaches Block 250 where the computed search results are presented to the user for his review. A sample search results display is provided in FIG. 12).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Spivack with Doss because the references are analogous because Spivack is directed to computer-implemented features for managing/scheduling streaming media content and thus within applicant’s field of endeavor of time-based management of data-streaming events, whereas Doss’s free-time search features based on information gleaned from users’ calendars (i.e., time-based data structure) is reasonably pertinent to the problem with which applicant is concerned (time-based management of events using time-based/calendar data structures) and because modifying Spivack to incorporate Doss’s features for analyzing data structures associated with users to generate/send metric data indicative of a most available time period, as claimed, would serve the motivation to allow users of the web guide to socially connect with friends based on their availability (Spivack at paragraphs 101, 169, 171, and 184); and further obvious because the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claims 8, 14, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as unpatentable over Spivack et al. (US 2011/0289422, hereinafter “Spivack), as applied to claims 2, 11, and 17 above, and further in view of Ruben et al. (US 2016/0173622, hereinafter “Ruben”).
Claims 8/14/20: Spivack does not explicitly teach the limitation of claims 8/14/20.
Ruben teaches wherein the first user interface includes a selectable icon which, when selected, allows for receiving of the video data from the content creator device and transferring of the video data to the content consumption device in real-time (pars. 37, 51, 58, 84, and Figs. 4-5: e.g., user uses his or her computing device to provide a real-time camera view; Continuing with the example of FIG. 5, a live mode or real-time media sharing option 530 can be enabled. Therefore, an automatic transmission or automatic sharing of media content produced by User A 516 can be initiated immediately or in (or near) real-time. As such, the time metadata is presented as “Now’. Furthermore, User A 516 can select an option 532 to indicate when the automatic sharing is to be ceased. In this example, the automatic sharing will cease or stop when User A 516 moves outside a virtual boundary of Park ABC. In some instances, there can be an icon, such as a blinking or pulsing icon, to indicate that the live-mode or real-time media sharing option is active; user communicates posts to the social networking system 930 from a user device 910. Posts may include data such as status updates or other textual data, location information, images such as photos, videos, links, music or other similar data and/or media).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Spivack with Ruben because the references are analogous because Spivack and Ruben are each directed to computer-implemented features for managing the presentation of media content and are thus within applicant’s field of endeavor of time-based management of data-streaming events, and because modifying Spivack to incorporate Ruben’s selectable real-time video data feature, as claimed, would serve the motivation to analyze user behavior data in order to provide live event streaming on its platform (Spivack at par. 156); and further obvious because the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Gingras et al. (US 2011/0071878): discloses mobile applications for calendar sharing and scheduling, including retrieve, from the remote server, calendars of the participants when settings associated with the calendars allow a sharing of the calendars with the organizing participant; and output the calendars to the user interface for display (paragraph 15).
Meltzer et al. (US 2014/0310045): discloses features for generating and managing calendar events.
Kanjilal et al. (US 2009/0100332): disclose features for integrating rich media into a web-based calendar, including a calendar interface displaying embedded video events (pars. 32, 39, and Figs. 1-4).
Skeen et al. (US 2013/0339877): discloses multi-media management and streaming techniques, including embedding of content and event management within a calendar mobile interface (pars. 175, 431-432, 553, 558, and Figs. 8A/B, 18, 19, and 26).
Feldman (US 2009/0083365): discloses, inter alia, a feature for receiving receive discussion data indicative of one or more messages associated with the event; and associate the discussion data with the calendar event object (paragraph 2, claim 13, and Figs. 2d and 2G: e.g., module for displaying a calendar of local events…message and discussion board).
A. M. Ahmed, T. Qiu, F. Xia, B. Jedari and S. Abolfazli, "Event-Based Mobile Social Networks: Services, Technologies, and Applications," in IEEE Access, vol. 2, pp. 500-513, 2014: discloses features for organizing social events such as meetings/conferences/tradeshows, including activity calendars, video live-streaming architecture, and multimedia mobilization.
R. Gaglianello, L. Spergel and D. Liu, "Convergence of telephony and television: More than a computer on your TV," 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Broadband Multimedia Systems and Broadcasting, Bilbao, Spain, 2009, pp. 1-7: discloses implementation of converged services such as set-top-boxes, DVRs, and real-time alerts to facilitate interaction and control of resources, including calendar-based service integration with television programming, shared streaming video such as video-on-demand and pay-per-view content, and calendar alerting and reminder services.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Timothy A. Padot whose telephone number is 571.270.1252. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 8:30 - 5:30. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Brian Epstein can be reached at 571.270.5389. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571- 273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY PADOT/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3625
07/20/2026
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