DETAILED ACTION
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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Response to Arguments
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Applicant’s arguments in the Remarks filed on 04/22/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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, 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh et al (US 2019/0149868) in view of Zhou et al (US 2021/0051350) and further in view of Gao et al (US 2020/0335029).
Regarding claim 1, Singh discloses a method for controlling video stream transmission, performed by a pulling terminal (a receiving client device 425 and a sending client device 420 in Figures 4-5 as “a pulling terminal” and “a pushing party” respectively), the method comprising:
receiving a video stream transmitted by a pushing party (¶ [0053] and ¶ [0075]-[0076] for receiving media stream transmitted by a sending client device 420), and detecting network indicator information of the video stream in the receiving process (¶ [0077] and ¶ [0080]-[0081] for receiving network performance measurement for incoming media stream);
obtaining a received data amount of the data packet corresponding to the video stream (Figure 4; ¶ [0075]-[0076] for receiving media data packets);
determining packet loss rate information of the video stream in the receiving process (¶ [0090] and ¶ [0147] for determining packet loss percentage).
determining a pulling bit rate matching the packet loss rate information and the network indicator information (¶ [0080]-[0086] for determining receiver-side bit rate based on the packet loss percentage and the network performance measurement information).
Singh discloses a receiving client device generates a receiver side bit rate value based on the network performance measurement information (¶ [0080]) for sending to a sending client device (¶ [0087]) to assist in a determination of bitrate value used in sending the media stream (¶ [0058]), but is silent about generating a pulling request based on the pulling bit rate, the pulling request being a request to the pushing party to perform pushing processing based on the pulling bit rate, and transmitting the pulling request to the pushing party. Singh also is silent about determining a transmitted data amount of the data packet based on a data packet size indicated by information included in the data packet, determining the packet loss rate information in the receiving process based on the received data amount and the transmitted data amount.
Zhou discloses generating a pulling request based on the pulling bit rate, the pulling request being a request to the pushing party to perform pushing processing based on the pulling bit rate, and transmitting the pulling request to the pushing party (¶ [0038]-[0042]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Singh system with the teaching of Zhou, so to provide an alternative way of acquiring and transmitting content in according to the network quality in the benefits of improving user viewing experience.
Gao discloses obtaining a received data amount of the data packet, determining a transmitted data amount of the data packet based on a data packet size indicated by information included in the data packet, and determining the packet loss rate information in the receiving process based on the received data amount and the transmitted data amount (¶ [0087]-[0091]).
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 Singh in view of Zhou system with the teaching of Gao, so to provide an alternative way of determining packet loss rate information as a matter of engineering choices.
Regarding claim 2, Singh in view of Zhou and further in view of Gao discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 1. The combined system further discloses wherein the determining comprises: determining, based on the network indicator information, quality of a network environment of the pulling terminal; and determining the pulling bit rate matching the quality of the network environment, wherein the quality of the network environment is positively correlated with the pulling bit rate (taught by Singh; ¶ [0080]-[0085]; and taught by Zhou; Figure 1; ¶ [0026]-[0035]).
Regarding claim 3, Singh in view of Zhou and further in view of Gao discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 2. The combined system further discloses wherein the network indicator information comprises a value of a network indicator; and wherein the determining, based on the network indicator information, the quality of the network environment of the pulling terminal comprises: determining, based on a relationship between the value of the network indicator and a preset indicator threshold, the quality of the network environment of the pulling terminal (taught by Zhou; ¶ [0065]-[0079]).
Regarding claim 4, Singh in view of Zhou and further in view of Gao discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 3. The combined system further discloses wherein the network indicator information comprises a plurality of values of the network indicator; and wherein the determining, based on the relationship between the value of the network indicator and the preset indicator threshold, the quality of the network environment of the pulling terminal comprises: detecting a relationship between each of the plurality of values of the network indicator and the preset indicator threshold, to obtain a first detection result; and determining, if the first detection result indicates that the plurality of values comprise a specified quantity of values greater than the preset indicator threshold, that the network environment of the pulling terminal is of first-level quality (taught by Zhou; ¶ [0065]-[0082]).
Regarding claim 5, Singh in view of Zhou and further in view of Gao discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 4. The combined system further discloses wherein the determining, based on the relationship between the value of the network indicator and the preset indicator threshold, the quality of the network environment of the pulling terminal further comprises: determining, if the first detection result indicates that the plurality of values do not comprise the specified quantity of values greater than the preset indicator threshold, that the network environment of the pulling terminal is of second-level quality, the first-level quality being lower quality than the second-level quality (taught by Zhou; ¶ [0065]-[0082]).
Regarding claim 6, Singh in view of Zhou and further in view of Gao discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 1. The combined system further discloses wherein the network indicator information comprises delay information; and wherein the detecting network indicator information of the video stream in the receiving process comprises: obtaining, if the network indicator information comprises the delay information, a receiving moment of the data packet corresponding to the video stream, determining a transmission moment of the data packet based on time stamp information carried in the data packet, and determining the delay information of the video stream in the receiving process based on the receiving moment and the transmission moment (taught by Singh; ¶ [0070]-[0071], ¶ [0090]-[0092] and ¶ [0147]; and taught by Zhou; ¶ [0027]-[0030] and ¶ [0075]-[0079]).
Regarding claim 7, Singh in view of Zhou and further in view of Gao discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 1. The combined system further discloses wherein, based on the pushing party comprising a pushing terminal, the transmitting the pulling request to the pushing party comprises: transmitting the pulling request to the pushing terminal, wherein the pulling request is configured for indicating the pushing terminal to perform pushing processing to a video stream server based on the pulling bit rate, and push the video stream to the pulling terminal through the video stream server; and after the transmitting the pulling request to the pushing party, the method further comprises: receiving the video stream corresponding to the pulling bit rate from the video stream server (Singh’s Figures 4-5 and 8; ¶ [0068]-[0088]).
Regarding claim 8, Singh in view of Zhou and further in view of Gao discloses the method as discussed in the rejection of claim 1. The combined system further discloses wherein, based on the pushing party comprising a video stream server, the transmitting the pulling request to the pushing party comprises (Singh’s Figures 4-5):
transmitting the pulling request to the video stream server, wherein the pulling request is configured for indicating the video stream server to perform pushing processing based on the pulling bit rate; and after the transmitting the pulling request to the pushing party, the method further comprises: receiving the video stream corresponding to the pulling bit rate from the video stream server (taught by Singh; ¶ [0068]-[0088]; and taught by Zhou; ¶ [0038]-[0042]).
Regarding claims 9-16, all limitations of claims 9-16 are analyzed and rejected corresponding to claims 1-8 respectively.
Regarding claims 17-20, all limitations of claims 17-20 are analyzed and rejected corresponding to claims 1-4 respectively.
Conclusion
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIGI L DUBASKY whose telephone number is (571)270-5686. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:00.
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/GIGI L DUBASKY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421
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