DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application and Response to Election/Restriction Requirement
Claims 1-20 were pending and currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. A restriction requirement was mailed on December 10, 2025. Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I (claims 1-15) in the reply filed on May 19, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 16-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claims 1-15 are pending and currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104.
Priority
The instant application was filed on January 27, 2025. Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged. The instant application is a national phase under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCT International Application No. US/2023/028831, filed on July 27, 2023, which claims for the benefit of prior-filed provisional application # 63/392,624, which was filed on July 27, 2022. Applicant’s claim for the benefit of the prior-filed provisional application is acknowledged.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 27, 2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 3, 4, 13, and 14 are objected to because of the following informalities: --remotely-- should be inserted subsequent “website viewed” and “by the user” should be deleted to maintain consistency of terminology throughout the claims (e.g., to maintain consistency with claims 1, 2, 11, and 12). Appropriate correction is required.
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.
v Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Step 1:
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are drawn to methods (i.e., a process), while claim(s) 11-15 is/are drawn to systems (i.e., a machine/manufacture). As such, claims 1-15 is/are drawn to one of the statutory categories of invention (Step 1: YES).
Step 2A - Prong One:
In prong one of step 2A, the claim(s) is/are analyzed to evaluate whether it/they recite(s) a judicial exception.
Claim 1 (representative of independent claim(s) 11) recites/describes the following steps;
identifying a sponsored advertisement payload…the sponsored advertisement payload associated with a featured product;
determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload;
creating…a register associating the sponsored advertisement payload, the featured product, and the user;
identifying a transaction by the user associated with the featured product; and
updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload based on the transaction
These steps, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, describe or set-forth a process for correlating/attributing user interactions with advertisements (sponsored advertisement payload) associated with a product with users’ purchases of those products and updating at attribute of the advertisement accordingly. More specifically, the process comprises identifying a sponsored advertisement payload, the sponsored advertisement payload associated with a featured product; determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload; creating a register associating the sponsored advertisement payload, the featured product, and the user; identifying a transaction by the user associated with the featured product; and updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload based on the transaction. This process amounts to a commercial or legal interactions (specifically, an advertising, marketing or sales activity or behavior; business relations). These limitations therefore fall within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” subject matter grouping of abstract ideas.
As such, the Examiner concludes that claim 1 recites an abstract idea (Step 2A – Prong One: YES).
Independent claim(s) 11 recite/describe nearly identical steps (and therefore also recite limitations that fall within this subject matter grouping of abstract ideas), and this/these claim(s) is/are therefore determined to recite an abstract idea under the same analysis.
Each of the depending claims likewise recite/describe these steps (by incorporation - and therefore also recite limitations that fall within this subject matter grouping of abstract ideas), and this/these claim(s) is/are therefore determined to recite an abstract idea under the same analysis. Any element(s) recited in a dependent claim that are not specifically identified/addressed by the Examiner under step 2A (prong two) or step 2B of this analysis shall be understood to be an additional part of the abstract idea recited by that particular claim. The same reasoning is similarly applicable to the limitations in the remaining dependent claims, and their respective limitations are not reproduced here for the sake of brevity.
Step 2A - Prong Two:
In prong two of step 2A, an evaluation is made whether a claim recites any additional element, or combination of additional elements, that integrate the exception into a practical application of that exception. An “addition element” is an element that is recited in the claim in addition to (beyond) the judicial exception (i.e., an element/limitation that sets forth an abstract idea is not an additional element). The phrase “integration into a practical application” is defined as requiring an additional element or a combination of additional elements in the claim to apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception, such that it is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception.
The claim(s) recite the additional elements/limitations of
“computer-implemented…in a server” (claim 1)
“a system, comprising: a memory storing multiple instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions and cause the system to…in a server” (claim 11)
“accessing a website viewed remotely, via a client device, by a user…in the website” (claims 1 and 11)
“in the website…when the user accesses the website” (claims 2 and 12)
“wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a browser running in the client device” (claims 3 and 13)
“wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a retail media network application running in the client device” (claims 4 and 14)
“wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout, and determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises determining a hover motion of a pointer device, and a linger time over the banner display” (claims 5 and 15)
“wherein determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises identifying a click of the user over the sponsored advertisement payload, or a loading of a coupon in the sponsored advertisement payload to a redeeming application or a purchasing application in the client device” (claim 6)
“from a plugin in the website” (claim 8)
“from a point-of-sale device” (claim 9)
The requirement to execute the claimed steps/functions using means that are “computer-implemented…in a server” (claim 1) or by “a system, comprising: a memory storing multiple instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions and cause the system to…in a server” (claim 11) is equivalent to adding the words “apply it” on a generic computer and/or mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a generic computer. Applicant’s own disclosure explains that these “additional” elements may be embodied as a general-purpose computer (e.g., the published specification at paragraphs [0068]-[0077]). Furthermore, the recited “from a plugin in the website” (claim 8 are conventional computers or other machinery that are invoked merely as a tool to perform an existing process (i.e., report tracking data) and that are being used in their ordinary capacity. In other words, the claims invoke the plugin merely as tools to execute the abstract idea. This/these limitation(s) do/does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea, and therefore do/does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application (see MPEP 2106.05(f)).
The recited additional element(s) of “accessing a website viewed remotely, via a client device, by a user…in the website” (claims 1 and 11) and/or “in the website…when the user accesses the website” (claims 2 and 12) and/or “wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a browser running in the client device” (claims 3 and 13) and/or “wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a retail media network application running in the client device” (claims 4 and 14) and/or “wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout, and determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises determining a hover motion of a pointer device, and a linger time over the banner display” (claims 5 and 15) and/or “wherein determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises identifying a click of the user over the sponsored advertisement payload, or a loading of a coupon in the sponsored advertisement payload to a redeeming application or a purchasing application in the client device” (claim 6) and/or “from a plugin in the website” (claim 8) and/or “from a point-of-sale device” (claim 9) serves merely to generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use. Specifically, it/they serve(s) to limit the application of the abstract idea to computing environments, such as distributed computing environments and/or the internet, where information is represented digitally, exchanged between computers over a network, and presented using graphical user interfaces. They also serve merely to limit application of the abstract idea to internet-based advertising via websites (and/or certain type of web advertisement such as a banner advertisement), to certain environments for accessing internet-based advertising via websites (e.g., via a browser, via an application), and to internet-based advertising interactions. This reasoning was demonstrated in Bilski, where it was determined that certain claim elements limiting the basic concept of hedging to commodities and energy markets (merely limiting an abstract idea to one field of use) did not make the concept patentable. This reasoning was demonstrated in Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (Fed. Cir. 2015), where the court determined "an abstract idea does not become nonabstract by limiting the invention to a particular field of use or technological environment, such as the Internet [or] a computer"). This/these limitation(s) do/does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea, and therefore do/does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application (see MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Furthermore, although the claims recite a specific sequence of computer-implemented functions, and although the specification suggests certain functions may be advantageous for various reasons (e.g., business reasons), the Examiner has determined that the ordered combination of claim elements (i.e., the claims as a whole) are not directed to an improvement to computer functionality/capabilities, an improvement to a computer-related technology or technological environment, and do not amount to a technology-based solution to a technology-based problem. For example, Applicant’s published specification suggests that it is advantageous to implement the claimed business process because doing so can help an advertiser/brand determine correlations/attributions between ads interacted with by a user and purchases ultimately made by the user, which can help better understand their advertising/campaign performance and better plan their campaigns (see, for example, Applicant’s published disclosure at paragraphs [0020]-[0023]). These are non-technical business advantages/improvements. At most, the ordered combination of claim elements is directed to a non-technical improvement to an abstract idea itself (e.g., an improved process for correlating/attributing user interactions with advertisements).
Dependent claims 7 and 10 fail to include any additional elements. In other words, each of the limitations/elements recited in respective dependent claims 7 and 10 is/are further part of the abstract idea as identified by the Examiner for each respective dependent claim (i.e. they are part of the abstract idea recited in each respective claim). For example, claim 10 recites “wherein updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload comprises at least one of extending a lifetime for the sponsored advertisement payload in the website, or providing a value added offer to the user for the featured product or for a related product”. This is an abstract limitation which further sets forth the abstract idea encompassed by claim 10. This limitation is not an “additional element”, and therefore it is not subject to further analysis under Step 2A- Prong Two or Step 2B. The same logic applies to each of the other dependent claims, whose limitations are not being repeated here for the sake of brevity and clarity. With respect to the other dependent claims not specifically listed here - each of the limitations/elements recited in these dependent claims other than those identified as being “additional” elements above (at the beginning of the Prong One analysis), are further part of the abstract idea encompassed by each respective dependent claim (i.e. it should be understood that these limitations are part of the abstract idea recited in each respective claim).
The Examiner has therefore determined that the additional elements, or combination of additional elements, do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Accordingly, the claim(s) is/are directed to an abstract idea (Step 2A – Prong two: NO).
Step 2B:
In step 2B, the claims are analyzed to determine whether any additional element, or combination of additional elements, is/are sufficient to ensure that the claims amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. This analysis is also termed a search for an "inventive concept." An "inventive concept" is furnished by an element or combination of elements that is recited in the claim in addition to (beyond) the judicial exception, and is sufficient to ensure that the claim as a whole amounts to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Alice Corp., 134 S. Ct. at 2355, 110 USPQ2d at 1981 (citing Mayo, 566 U.S. at 72-73, 101 USPQ2d at 1966)
As discussed above in “Step 2A – Prong 2”, the requirement to execute the claimed steps/functions using means that are “computer-implemented…in a server” (claim 1) or by “a system, comprising: a memory storing multiple instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions and cause the system to…in a server” (claim 11) is equivalent to adding the words “apply it” on a generic computer and/or mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a generic computer. These limitations therefore do not qualify as “significantly more” (see MPEP 2106.05(f)).
As discussed above in “Step 2A – Prong 2”, the recited additional element(s) of “accessing a website viewed remotely, via a client device, by a user…in the website” (claims 1 and 11) and/or “in the website…when the user accesses the website” (claims 2 and 12) and/or “wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a browser running in the client device” (claims 3 and 13) and/or “wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a retail media network application running in the client device” (claims 4 and 14) and/or “wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout, and determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises determining a hover motion of a pointer device, and a linger time over the banner display” (claims 5 and 15) and/or “wherein determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises identifying a click of the user over the sponsored advertisement payload, or a loading of a coupon in the sponsored advertisement payload to a redeeming application or a purchasing application in the client device” (claim 6) and/or “from a plugin in the website” (claim 8) and/or “from a point-of-sale device” (claim 9) serves merely to generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use. These limitations therefore do not qualify as “significantly more” (see MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Viewing the additional limitations in combination also shows that they fail to ensure the claims amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. When considered as an ordered combination, the additional components of the claims add nothing that is not already present when considered separately, and thus simply append the abstract idea with words equivalent to “apply it” on a generic computer and/or mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a generic computer, and generally link the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
Dependent claims 7 and 10 fail to include any additional elements. In other words, each of the limitations/elements recited in respective dependent claims 7 and 10 is/are further part of the abstract idea as identified by the Examiner for each respective dependent claim (i.e. they are part of the abstract idea identified by the Examiner to which each respective claim is directed).
The Examiner has therefore determined that no additional element, or combination of additional claims elements is/are sufficient to ensure the claim(s) amount to significantly more than the abstract idea identified above (Step 2B: NO).
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 5 and 15 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
v Claims 5 and 15 recite “wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout” and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term “prominent part” is a subjective term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “prominent part” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. What one practitioner might considered to be a prominent part of a web layout may be different from what another practitioner may consider to be a prominent part of a web layout. Therefore, the claim is indefinite for failing to particularly and distinctly claim the subject matter which the application regards as the invention.
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.
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.
v Claims 1-4, 6, 7, and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Zen et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2009/0216579, August 27, 2009 - hereinafter "Zen”)
With respect to claims 1 and 11, Zen teaches a computer-implemented method, and a system, comprising:
a memory storing multiple instructions; (claim 11) ([0024]-[0032])
one or more processors configured to execute the instructions and cause the system to: (claim 11) ([0024]-[0032])
accessing a website viewed remotely, via a client device, by a user; ([0036] “The advertising service 206 may include one or more servers or other computing devices that may be employed to deliver advertisements to user devices, such as the user device 202…advertising services may select and deliver advertisements to user devices, such as the user device 202, in a number of different manners. For instance, the advertising service 206 may provide advertisements for placement on web pages that may be requested by and viewed on the user device 202… may provide advertisements for presentation with search results from a search engine. Additionally, the advertising service 206 may deliver advertisements to a client application residing on the user device 202, such as an advertisement-based software application” – the user is viewing a website remotely (from the server) via the client device, [0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204m ay track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the tracking service (which may be a tracking application or other tracking mechanism executed on the user’s client device) accesses a website the user is viewing to track certain information such as the specific the advertisements (i.e., sponsored advertisement payloads) presented to the user in a website and/or their clicks/hovers, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”)
identifying a sponsored advertisement payload in the website, the sponsored advertisement payload associated with a featured product; ([0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204 may track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the tracking service (which may be a tracking application or other tracking mechanism executed on the user’s client device) can identify the advertisements (i.e., sponsored advertisement payloads) presented to the user in a website, [0052] “the tracking service tracks information regarding the user's interaction with advertisements presented during the online activity. For instance, the tracking service may track information regarding advertisements presented to the user, a number of times particular advertisements are presented to the user, advertisements a user hovered over, and advertisements selected by the user”, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”, the sponsored advertisement payload associated with a featured product (e.g., per [0002]-[0003] “ purchase product…allowing the online advertising and purchasing to be more easily correlated...determining that online advertising is effective when users purchase products…look at a variety of advertisements…decide to buy the camera offline…a user may purchase a product or service separate from an online advertisement that may have led to the purchase” & [0017] “advertisement delivered to the user may have an associated offer for a user to redeem an incentive or rebate. As used herein, the term "offer" generally refers to any type of compensation or remuneration that induces a user to perform some activity desired by an advertiser. For example, in some instances, an offer may include a rebate for purchasing a product or service”)
determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload; ([0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204 may track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the tracking service (which may be a tracking application or other tracking mechanism executed on the user’s client device) can determine that the user has interacted with (e.g., hovered a curser over, clicked) the advertisement (i.e., sponsored advertisement payloads), [0052] “the tracking service tracks information regarding the user's interaction with advertisements presented during the online activity. For instance, the tracking service may track information regarding advertisements presented to the user, a number of times particular advertisements are presented to the user, advertisements a user hovered over, and advertisements selected by the user”, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”)
creating, in a server, a register associating the sponsored advertisement payload, the featured product, and the user; ([0040] “Information regarding a user's online activity may be stored. In various embodiments, the information regarding the online activity may be stored by the tracking service 204, the advertising service 206, and/or another service. The information stored may include information regarding user interactions with advertisements and/or information regarding other online activity. Additionally, offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the system creates an activity record (i.e., a register) in a server (per [0036] “The advertising service 206 may include one or more servers”) associating the user and their associated tracked interactions (e.g., hovers, clicks, views) with the identified advertisement (i.e., sponsored advertisement payloads), [0045] “A unique identifier may be assigned to the user 214 by the tracking service 204, the payment service 208, or another associated service and may be used when tracking a user's online activity”, [0047] “The tracking service 306 may track information including user interactions with advertisements delivered to the user device 304, and, in some cases, information regarding other online activity, such as web browsing, searching, and other online activities. In some embodiments, the tracking service 306 stores information regarding the online activity.”, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”, [0061] “the receiving information may include details of the activity completed for the offer. For instance, the information may include a location at which the activity was performed, a time/date of the activity, and/or specifics regarding a particular product/service purchased by the user” – the offer associated with a specific advertisement is for a specific product and therefore the data store stores information associating the user with the featured product associated with the advertisement (see also [0002]-[0003] “ purchase product…allowing the online advertising and purchasing to be more easily correlated...determining that online advertising is effective when users purchase products…look at a variety of advertisements…decide to buy the camera offline…a user may purchase a product or service separate from an online advertisement that may have led to the purchase” & [0017] “advertisement delivered to the user may have an associated offer for a user to redeem an incentive or rebate. As used herein, the term "offer" generally refers to any type of compensation or remuneration that induces a user to perform some activity desired by an advertiser. For example, in some instances, an offer may include a rebate for purchasing a product or service”))
identifying a transaction by the user associated with the featured product; and ([0042]-[0043] “the user 212 may visit a retail store or other offline location and perform some offline activity, such as making a purchase. The user's payment card is read by a payment card reader 210 at the offline location, and information is transmitted to the payment service 208, for example, though a transaction network facilitating electronic payment transactions…may communicate information regarding the activity completed for an offer to the tracking service 204, advertisement service 206, and/or other associated service, which may associate the offer activity with the online activity…The information…may include more detailed information regarding the activity, such as, for instance, products or services purchased, price paid, purchase location, and time/date of a transaction”, see also [0002]-[0003] “ purchase product…allowing the online advertising and purchasing to be more easily correlated...determining that online advertising is effective when users purchase products…look at a variety of advertisements…decide to buy the camera offline…a user may purchase a product or service separate from an online advertisement that may have led to the purchase” & [0017] “advertisement delivered to the user may have an associated offer for a user to redeem an incentive or rebate. As used herein, the term "offer" generally refers to any type of compensation or remuneration that induces a user to perform some activity desired by an advertiser. For example, in some instances, an offer may include a rebate for purchasing a product or service” – therefore the transaction is for the featured product)
updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload based on the transaction ([0018]-[0020] “tracking service or an associated service identifies an advertisement that has an associated offer…associates information regarding the offer with the user's account…the activity may be an offline activity, such as a user purchasing a product at a "brick and mortar" store using a payment card or other payment mechanism, while in other embodiments the activity may be an online activity, such as a user purchasing a product or service on the Internet using a payment card or other payment mechanism…may identify the offer associated with the activity. By recognizing that an activity for an offer has been completed, the rebate and/or incentive for the offer may be provided to the user based on the completion of that activity.” – therefore the system updates an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload based on the transaction (per BRI informed by claim 10 which explains updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload based on the transaction comprises providing a value added offer to the user for the featured product or for a related product, [0043]-[0044] “ information regarding the offer activity may simply indicate that a required activity for an offer has been completed or may include more detailed information regarding the activity, such as, for instance, products or services purchased, price paid, purchase location, and time/date of a transaction...Upon completing activity for a given offer, the user 212 may be provided a rebate or incentive for the offer. The rebate or incentive may be provided to the user 212 in a variety of different manners within the scope of embodiments of the present invention. For instance, in one embodiment in which the offer includes a rebate, the payment service 208 may provide a credit to the user's account or the payment price may be reduced at the time of the purchase” – therefore the system updates an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload based on the transaction (per BRI informed by claim 10 which explains updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload based on the transaction comprises providing a value added offer to the user for the featured product or for a related product, [0053] “an offer may be identified and/or stored for the user when the user hovers over the corresponding advertisement. In still further cases, an offer may be identified and/or stored when the user selects the corresponding advertisement.”)
With respect to claims 2 and 12, Zen teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 11;
wherein accessing a website viewed remotely comprises triggering, in the website, a tracking routine when the user accesses the website ([0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204m ay track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the tracking service (which may be a tracking application or other tracking mechanism executed on the user’s client device) triggers, in the website, a tracking routine when the user accesses the website, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”)
With respect to claims 3 and 13, Zen teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 11;
wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a browser running in the client device ([0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204m ay track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the tracking service (which may be a tracking application or other tracking mechanism executed on the user’s client device) acceses a browser running in the client device (e.g., when browsing webpages), [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”)
With respect to claims 4 and 14, Zen teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 11;
wherein accessing a website viewed by the user comprises accessing a retail media network application running in the client device ([0036] “The advertising service 206 may include one or more servers or other computing devices that may be employed to deliver advertisements to user devices, such as the user device 202…advertising services may select and deliver advertisements to user devices, such as the user device 202, in a number of different manners. For instance, the advertising service 206 may provide advertisements for placement on web pages that may be requested by and viewed on the user device 202… may provide advertisements for presentation with search results from a search engine. Additionally, the advertising service 206 may deliver advertisements to a client application residing on the user device 202, such as an advertisement-based software application” & [0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204m ay track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the tracking service (which may be a tracking application or other tracking mechanism executed on the user’s client device) accesses an application running in the client device (e.g., when ads are presented in device applications) – Examiner notes that the phrase “retail media network” merits no patentable weight as the owner/provider of the application on the user device in which the ads are presented is not functionally related to the tracking/accessing step – it is descriptive material, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”)
With respect to claim 6, Zen teaches the method of claim 1;
wherein determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises identifying a click of the user over the sponsored advertisement payload, or a loading of a coupon in the sponsored advertisement payload to a redeeming application or a purchasing application in the client device ([0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204 may track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises identifying a click of the user over the sponsored advertisement payload [0052] “the tracking service tracks information regarding the user's interaction with advertisements presented during the online activity. For instance, the tracking service may track information regarding advertisements presented to the user, a number of times particular advertisements are presented to the user, advertisements a user hovered over, and advertisements selected by the user”, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”)
With respect to claim 7, Zen teaches the method of claim 1;
further comprising storing in the register at least one of a location of the sponsored advertisement payload in a web layout of the website, a consumer identification for the user, a brand manufacturer for the featured product, a retailer sponsoring the website, a channel used by the client device to access the website, and a classifier for a type of featured product ([0045] “A unique identifier may be assigned to the user 214 by the tracking service 204, the payment service 208, or another associated service and may be used when tracking a user's online activity” therefore storing in the register at least a consumer identification for the user, [0061] “The received information may include a unique user identifier to identify the user” )
With respect to claim 9, Zen teaches the method of claim 1;
wherein identifying the transaction comprises receiving a notification from a point-of-sale device at a retail store indicative of the transaction ([0042]-[0043] “the user 212 may visit a retail store or other offline location and perform some offline activity, such as making a purchase. The user's payment card is read by a payment card reader 210 at the offline location, and information is transmitted to the payment service 208, for example, though a transaction network facilitating electronic payment transactions…may communicate information regarding the activity completed for an offer to the tracking service 204, advertisement service 206, and/or other associated service, which may associate the offer activity with the online activity…The information…may include more detailed information regarding the activity, such as, for instance, products or services purchased, price paid, purchase location, and time/date of a transaction” – therefore identifying the transaction comprises receiving a notification from a point-of-sale device at a retail store indicative of the transaction, [0014] “ including offline activities such as purchasing products or services from a "brick and mortar" store. Additionally, embodiments allow purchasing and other activity, including offline activity, to be identified and associated with the online activity that led to the purchase or other activity, thereby allowing the effectiveness of online advertising to be more accurately realized.”
With respect to claim 10, Zen teaches the method of claim 1;
wherein updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload comprises at least one of extending a lifetime for the sponsored advertisement payload in the website, or providing a value added offer to the user for the featured product or for a related product ([0018]-[0020] “tracking service or an associated service identifies an advertisement that has an associated offer…associates information regarding the offer with the user's account…the activity may be an offline activity, such as a user purchasing a product at a "brick and mortar" store using a payment card or other payment mechanism, while in other embodiments the activity may be an online activity, such as a user purchasing a product or service on the Internet using a payment card or other payment mechanism…may identify the offer associated with the activity. By recognizing that an activity for an offer has been completed, the rebate and/or incentive for the offer may be provided to the user based on the completion of that activity.” – therefore updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload comprises providing a value added offer to the user for the featured product or for a related product, [0043]-[0044] “ information regarding the offer activity may simply indicate that a required activity for an offer has been completed or may include more detailed information regarding the activity, such as, for instance, products or services purchased, price paid, purchase location, and time/date of a transaction...Upon completing activity for a given offer, the user 212 may be provided a rebate or incentive for the offer. The rebate or incentive may be provided to the user 212 in a variety of different manners within the scope of embodiments of the present invention. For instance, in one embodiment in which the offer includes a rebate, the payment service 208 may provide a credit to the user's account or the payment price may be reduced at the time of the purchase” – therefore updating an attribute of the sponsored advertisement payload comprises providing a value added offer to the user for the featured product or for a related product, [0017] “As used herein, the term "offer" generally refers to any type of compensation or remuneration that induces a user to perform some activity desired by an advertiser. For example, in some instances, an offer may include a rebate for purchasing a product or service. In other instances, an offer may include an incentive other than a rebate, such as frequent flyer miles or reward points that may be redeemed by the user”
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 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.
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.
v Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zen et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2009/0216579, August 27, 2009 - hereinafter "Zen”) in view of Levine (U.S. PG Pub No. 2008/00406583, February 14, 2008 - hereinafter "Levine”)
With respect to claims 5 and 15, Zen teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 11;
determining that the user has interacted with the sponsored advertisement payload comprises determining a hover motion of a pointer device ([0038]-[0040] “ the tracking service 204 may track interaction with advertisements delivered to the user device 202 from the advertising service 204. The interaction may include, for instance, advertisements presented by the user device 202, a number of times a particular advertisement has been presented by the user device 202, whether a user has hovered over a presented advertisement (e.g., by using a pointing device to place a cursor over the advertisement), and/or whether a user has selected a presented advertisement (e.g., by using pointing device to select the advertisement). In further embodiments, the tracking service 204 may also track online activity other than user interactions with advertisements. For instance, the tracking service 204 may track information such as web pages viewed by a user during web browsing, search queries submitted to a search engine, and search results selected by a user…a variety of techniques may be employed for tracking online activities of user devices…a client application may reside on the user device 202 to track activities and to communicate information regarding those activities to the tracking server 20…any mechanisms now known or later developed for tracking online activities of the user device 202 may be employed within the scope of embodiments of the present invention…offers associated with advertisements presented to the user are identified” – therefore the tracking service (which may be a tracking application or other tracking mechanism executed on the user’s client device) can determine that the user has interacted with (e.g., hovered a curser over, clicked) the advertisement (i.e., sponsored advertisement payloads), [0052] “the tracking service tracks information regarding the user's interaction with advertisements presented during the online activity. For instance, the tracking service may track information regarding advertisements presented to the user, a number of times particular advertisements are presented to the user, advertisements a user hovered over, and advertisements selected by the user”, [0054] “Generally, any of a variety of different information regarding a user's online activities may be tracked and stored. By way of example only and not limitation, this information may include web pages viewed by the user, search queries issued by the user, search results selected by the user, and/or time/date information for online activity…may store specifics regarding the advertisement corresponding with the offer. For instance, an advertiser may associate a similar offer with a variety of different advertisements. The tracking service and/or other associated service could identify and store which advertisement was viewed and/or selected by the user to receive the offer”)
Zen does not appear to disclose,
wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout, and
determining a linger time over the banner display
However, Levine discloses
wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout, and (Fig 2a and [0043] “Web page configured with a center textual content column 54, having conventional embedded link text hyperlink elements 56, a top banner creative 56, and various side creatives 58, 60, 62, 64. As generally indicated, the banner 56 and side 58 creatives represent single invokeable presentation elements, while the side advertisement 62 includes multiple 62A, 62B invokeable presentation elements,”
determining a linger time over the banner display ([0071] “the success rate of invoking presentation elements for particular classes of products or services can be used…Similarly, the duration that a user appears to linger on a type or class of advertisement, as inferred for example from the duration of a mouseOver event, can be weighted as an indication of potential interest of the particular product or service then displayed”, [0063] “collecting event data representing client browser events, including, but not limited to, on Click, on DblClick, on DragDrop, on Focus, on KeyPress, on Load, on MouseDown, on MouseMove, on MouseOut, on MouseOver, on Resize, on Select, and on Submit, and variously recording time of occurrence, duration, and cursor location related to the events and event series”
Levine suggests it is advantageous to include wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout, and determining a linger time over the banner display, because these are common types of advertisements displays in webpages and common locations to display them, and because doing so can infer the level of interest the user had in the sponsored advertisement payload and/or product associated with it ([0071] & [0063] & [0043]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method and system of Zen to include wherein the sponsored advertisement payload is a banner display on a prominent part of a web layout, and determining a linger time over the banner display, as taught by Levine, because these are common types of advertisements displays in webpages and common locations to display them, and because doing so can infer the level of interest the user had in the sponsored advertisement payload and/or product associated with it.
v Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zen et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2009/0216579, August 27, 2009 - hereinafter "Zen”) in view of Faricy et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2023/0316382, October 5, 2023 - hereinafter "Faricy”)
With respect to claim 8, Zen teaches the method of claim 1;
wherein identifying the transaction comprises identifying that the user has remotely activated the transaction in the website ([0002] “in some cases users may purchase products and services online (thereby allowing the online advertising and purchasing to be more easily correlated)”, [0019] “in other embodiments the activity may be an online activity, such as a user purchasing a product or service on the Internet using a payment card or other payment mechanism”)
Zen does not appear to disclose,
identifying that the user has remotely activated the transaction, from a plugin in the website
However, Faricy discloses
identifying that the user has remotely activated the transaction, from a plugin in the website ([0059] “may provide front-end features (e.g., tracker plugin) that are configured to track, analyze and extract insight about how a customer interact with a website and/or personalized content….(e.g. product catalog) may be rendered on a target e-commerce site with tracking features (e.g., web analytics tracker), that is capable of extracting intelligence and insight for a variety of applications. For instance, data may be collected indicative of customer interaction with the target site and user behavior. In some cases, the data may be analyzed to extract metrics and usage analytics measuring the degree to which media content were provided or made available to and viewed by customers (e.g., the number of times a content item was pitched to customers), to extract performance metrics measuring the degree to which visitors have engaged with (e.g., clicked, read, edited, shared, saved) the content (e.g., the dwell time on an item, such as the amount of time that the content was displayed in a content viewer (e.g., web browser or other application), to extract impact analytics indicative of the personalized elements' impact on business metrics (e.g., average revenue per pitch of a content item that may be obtained from other systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, marketing automation systems, etc.), and various other analytics”, [0057] “to incorporate or integrate personalization features (e.g., smart elements, tracker plugin, etc.) to an existing website” – plugin in the website and per Fig 4 “purchases” and [0012] “deploying a tracker plugin to the target website for tracking user behaviors on the target website. In some embodiments, the method further comprises extracting analytics from the tracked user behavior indicating an impact of at least one of the one or more personalization features” the system may identify transactions (purchases) the user conducts on the website)
Since each individual element and its function are shown in the prior art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself. That is in the substitution of the tracking mechanism to detect online purchases of Faricy (i.e., a plugin in the website) for the tracking mechanism to detect online purchases of Zen. Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious.
Prior Art of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure.
Nelakonda et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2019/0012700, January 10, 2019) teaches tracking online ad impressions and ad interactions, storing this information in a register, tracking product transactions, and correlating/attributing various ad interaction events to the product purchases. Discloses use of tracking code/applet and plugin.
Srinivasan (U.S. PG Pub No. 2016/0364747, December 15, 2016) teaches tracking online ad impressions and ad interactions, storing this information in a register, tracking product transactions, and correlating/attributing various ad interaction events to the product purchases. Discloses receiving transaction data from POS device. Discloses using loyalty account identifier in register.
Singh et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2018/0053218, February 22, 2018) teaches using a tracking script or plugin on a checkout page of a website to detect products purchased.
Crossley et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2018/0063265, March 1, 202018) teaches code in a website calling an SDK to access a website being viewed by a user and identify advertisements displayed and track user interactions with the advertisements.
Maycotte et al. (U.S. PG Pub No. 2015/0088635, March 26, 2015) teaches code in a website calling an SDK to access a website being viewed by a user and identify advertisements displayed and track user interactions with the advertisements.
Xiong et al. (U.S. Patent No. 2015/0278876, October 1, 2015) teaches code in a website calling an SDK to access a website being viewed by a user and identify advertisements displayed and track user interactions with the advertisements.
Conclusion
No claim is allowed
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M DETWEILER whose telephone number is (571)272-4704. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM ET.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Waseem Ashraf can be reached at telephone number (571)-270-3948. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES M DETWEILER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3621
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