DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Allowable Subject Matter
The claims would be allowable (but for the double patenting rejection below) because the prior art does not teach a method comprising receiving a user request for a content item, wherein the user is associated with a set of preferences or a context, then identifying a group of similar users based on the preference or context, then identifying, for each candidate content item of a group of candidate items, a difference between a first value of a measure of interaction associated with a first portion of the group of similar users after being provided the corresponding candidate item and a second value of the measure of interaction associated with a second portion of the group of similar users after having not been provided the corresponding candidate content item, and then determining a subset of the content items for which the interaction difference satisfies a criterion, identifying an activity rate for each candidate item, and finally identifying (selecting) and providing a candidate item of the subset to provide to the user based on the interaction difference, the activity rate, or context of the user.
The measure of interaction is for the requested video content item, after being provided (or not) the candidate video item. Further, the interaction difference and activity rate are determined regardless of whether they are used to ultimately select a candidate item to provide to the user.
The features cited above, taken together with the rest of the recited limitations, render the claims novel.
Examiner is also persuaded by the applicant’s argument (in parent application 16/933750, Applicant’s Remarks dated 6/1/2021) that the claimed method is performed in response to a request for content, which the cited references do not teach (in Bramucci, for example, a promotional item is requested, rather than targeted in response to a content request). That portion of the argument is reproduced below:
Specifically, Villars and Natoli do not mention receiving a request from a user to view a video content item, and hence cannot teach or describe "upon receiving the request from the user to view the video content item, identifying a first promotional video item corresponding to the video content item," as recited in amended claim 1 (emphasis added).
Bramucci teaches displaying a multimedia or video to a consumer in response to the consumer clicking on an online ad. (Bramucci, [0173]). As agreed during the Examiner interview, Bramucci fails to teach or suggest "upon receiving the request from the user to view the video content item, identifying a first promotional video item corresponding to the video content item," as recited in amended claim 1 (emphasis added).
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Double Patenting
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,155,883. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the examined application claims would have been anticipated by the reference claims. Both sets of claims are directed to a method of ranking candidate content items based on comparative watch times, and one of ordinary skill would see the claims in question as obvious variants of each other.
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees.
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy R Newlin whose telephone number is (571)270-3015. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 Mountain Time.
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/TIMOTHY R NEWLIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2424