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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 8, 15 and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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 (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.
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 2-4, 10-14, 20 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cordray (US 2014/0089987 A1)(hereinafter Cordray).
Re claim 2, Cordray discloses a method comprising: receiving a request to store a content series comprising a sequence of episodes (see ¶ 91 for receiving a request to store a content series comprising a sequence of episodes (i.e. an interactive media guidance application may receive an indication of interest from a user to create a series aggregation of selected episodes of a series as described in fig. 1 at step 102 paragraph 49)); determining a last consumed episode of the sequence of episodes (see ¶ 63 for determining a last consumed episode of the sequence of episodes (i.e. the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92)); identifying a plurality of episodes of the sequence of episodes for storage, wherein the last consumed episode sequentially precedes each episode of the plurality of episodes (see ¶ 63 for identifying a plurality of episodes of the sequence of episodes for storage, wherein the last consumed episode sequentially precedes each episode of the plurality of episodes (i.e. the episodes selected may also identify the episodes of the selected series to be included in the series aggregation as shown, for example, in step 108 of FIG. 1B as described in paragraph 91, furthermore, the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92)); determining whether each of the plurality of episodes are available from a first source (see ¶ 55 for determining whether each of the plurality of episodes are available from a first source (i.e. the interactive media guidance application may identify episodes of the series aggregation that are already available to the user, an episode may be identified as available to the user if it is found located in a storage device in a home network and/or other local or remote storage devices that have recorded programs available to the user as described in fig. 1 at step 110 paragraph 54)); based on determining that one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are not available from the first source (see ¶ 55 for based on determining that one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are not available from the first source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as shown at step 112 of fig. 1). It should be noted that episodes shown at step 112 of fig. 1 are not available yet): determining that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from a second source (see ¶ 54 for determining that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from a second source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as described in fig. 1 paragraph 55)); and transmitting for display an indication that the one or more episodes are available from the second source (see ¶ 64 for transmitting for display an indication that the one or more episodes are available from the second source (i.e. the media guidance application may display a series aggregation list display screen that lists all episodes that the user has selected to be included in a series aggregation, the list of all episodes can include episodes from all available media sources as described in fig. 9 paragraph 100))
Re claim 3, Cordray as discussed in claim 2 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein the first source is a broadcast source and the second source is an over-the-top (OTT) source (see ¶ 78 for the first source is a broadcast source and the second source is an over-the-top (OTT) source (i.e. the media sources may include a broadcast provider, satellite provider, cable provider, VOD provider, PPV provider, DVD provider such as Netflix Blockbuster or any other DVD provider, Internet provider, any server, or any other provider of media as shown in fig. 3))
Re claim 4, Cordray as discussed in claim 2 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein determining that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are no available from the first source (see ¶ 55 for determining that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are no available from the first source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as shown at step 112 of fig. 1). It should be noted that episodes shown at step 112 of fig. 1 are not available yet) comprises determining that a broadcast schedule for the first source does not comprise the one or more episodes (see ¶ 61 for determining that a broadcast schedule for the first source does not comprise the one or more episodes (i.e. icon 1014 may be included in a listing to indicate that a particular episode may not be scheduled to be recorded as part of the series aggregation because, for example, the episode is not scheduled to be available in the foreseeable future from a broadcast media source as described in fig. 10 paragraph 110))
Re claim 10, Cordray as discussed in claim 2 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein determining that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are not available from the first source occurs at a first time (see ¶ 55 for determining that one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are not available from the first source at a first time (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as shown at step 112 of fig. 1). It should be noted that episodes shown at step 112 of fig. 1 are not available yet), and the method further comprising: determining, at a second time, that each episode of the plurality of episodes is available from the first source (see ¶ 55 for determining, at a second time, that each episode of the plurality of episodes is available from the first source (i.e. the interactive media guidance application may identify episodes of the series aggregation that are already available to the user, an episode may be identified as available to the user if it is found located in a storage device in a home network and/or other local or remote storage devices that have recorded programs available to the user as described in fig. 1 at step 110 paragraph 54)); storing each episode of the plurality of episodes (see ¶ 63 for storing each episode of the plurality of episodes (i.e. the episodes selected may also identify the episodes of the selected series to be included in the series aggregation as shown, for example, in step 108 of FIG. 1B as described in paragraph 92, furthermore, the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92)); and transmitting for display an indication that storage of the content series is complete (see fig. 12 ¶ 117 for transmitting for display an indication that storage of the content series is complete (i.e. the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92))
Re claim 11, Cordray as discussed in claim 2 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein determining the last consumed episode (see ¶ 63 for determining the last consumed episode (i.e. the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92)) comprises: identifying a list of episodes watched by a user profile associated with the request (see ¶ 52 for identifying a list of episodes watched by a user profile associated with the request (i.e. data structure 200 may include field 202 that may include all episodes of a series aggregation, field 202 may include a list of episodes of the series aggregation and may identify each episode using episode identifiers, field 202 may be populated with a list of episode identifiers in response to a user's indication of interest to create a series aggregation, as in step 102 of process 100 of FIG. 1 as described in fig. 2 paragraph 67, furthermore, in response to a user selection of save setup option 714, the media guidance application may save the settings that the user selected for the series aggregation, using a series aggregation may invoke process 100 from FIG. 1 and the creation of data structure 200 and other necessary information, for example, data structures 200 and 300 saving the settings may also involve saving the series aggregation that the user selected (including the associated data structure 200) as part of the user's profile information as described in paragraph 93)); and determining the last consumed episode based on a latest episode from the list of episodes (see ¶s 52, 67 for determining the last consumed episode based on a latest episode from the list of episodes (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92))
Re claim 12, Cordray discloses a system comprising: input/output circuitry configured to (i.e. control circuitry 1902 is connected to input/output 1604, input/output 1904 may be connected to one or more communications paths such as paths 1414, 1416, 1418, 1428, 1436, and 1438 of FIG. 14 as described in paragraph 184): receive a request to store a content series comprising a sequence of episodes (see ¶ 91 for receive a request to store a content series comprising a sequence of episodes (i.e. an interactive media guidance application may receive an indication of interest from a user to create a series aggregation of selected episodes of a series as described in fig. 1 at step 102 paragraph 49)); and transmit for display an indication that the one or more episodes are available from the second source (see ¶ 64 for transmit for display an indication that the one or more episodes are available from the second source (i.e. the media guidance application may display a series aggregation list display screen that lists all episodes that the user has selected to be included in a series aggregation, the list of all episodes can include episodes from all available media sources as described in fig. 9 paragraph 100)); and control circuitry configured to (i.e. control circuitry 1902 is connected to input/output 1604, input/output 1904 may be connected to one or more communications paths such as paths 1414, 1416, 1418, 1428, 1436, and 1438 of FIG. 14 as described in paragraph 184): determine a last consumed episode of the sequence of episodes (see ¶ 63 for determine a last consumed episode of the sequence of episodes (i.e. the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92)); identify a plurality of episodes of the sequence of episodes for storage, wherein the last consumed episode sequentially precedes each episode of the plurality of episodes (see ¶ 63 for identify a plurality of episodes of the sequence of episodes for storage, wherein the last consumed episode sequentially precedes each episode of the plurality of episodes (i.e. the episodes selected may also identify the episodes of the selected series to be included in the series aggregation as shown, for example, in step 108 of FIG. 1B as described in paragraph 91, furthermore, the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92)); determine whether each of the plurality of episodes are available from a first source (see ¶ 55 for determine whether each of the plurality of episodes are available from a first source (i.e. the interactive media guidance application may identify episodes of the series aggregation that are already available to the user, an episode may be identified as available to the user if it is found located in a storage device in a home network and/or other local or remote storage devices that have recorded programs available to the user as described in fig. 1 at step 110 paragraph 54)); and based on determining that one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are not available from the first source (see ¶ 55 for based on determining that one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are not available from the first source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as shown at step 112 of fig. 1). It should be noted that episodes shown at step 112 of fig. 1 are not available yet): determine that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from a second source (see ¶ 54 for determine that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from a second source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as described in fig. 1 paragraph 55))
Re claim 13, Cordray as discussed in claim 3 above discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 13.
Re claim 14, Cordray as discussed in claims 4 and 12 above discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 14.
Re claim 20, Cordray as discussed in claims 10 and 12 above discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 20.
Re claim 21, Cordray as discussed in claims 11 and 12 above discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 21.
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 (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.
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 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cordray (US 2014/0089987 A1)(hereinafter Cordray) as applied to claims 2-4, 10-14, 20 and 21 above, and further in view of Gausman (US 2018/0137157 A1)(hereinafter Gausman).
Re claim 6, Cordray as discussed in claim 2 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein determining that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from the second source (see ¶ 54 for determining that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from the second source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as described in fig. 1 paragraph 55))
Cordray fails to explicitly teach comprises determining that a user profile associated with the request indicates a subscription to the second source. However, the reference of Gausman explicitly teaches comprises determining that a user profile associated with the request indicates a subscription to the second source (see ¶ 197 for determining that a user profile associated with the request indicates a subscription to the second source (i.e. in the example request for the TV show, the system can infer that a producer or provider or source of a requested content can come from the user's subscriptions, a personal profile))
Therefore, taking the combined teachings of Cordray and Gausman as a whole, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate this feature (subscription) into the system of Cordray as taught by Gausman.
One will be motivated to incorporate the above feature into the system of Cordray as taught by Gausman for the benefit of receiving a request to establish a topic at 1102, wherein the topic can be identified by a unique identifier, referred to generally as a topic label, wherein the topic label can be a label for the entity and an address by which a rich entity capsule structure can be accessed, wherein resources associated with the topic are determined at 1104, for example, the resources can be identified in a manifest data item or file of the topic entity, wherein resources can include, without limitation, histories, subscriptions, owned content, capabilities, wherein the resources can include content and/or services of one or more network service providers, personal content and/or a blend, more generally, the resources can include any information owned by the entity and/or to which the entity has access and permissions, wherein the request referred to at 1102 and/or 1112 can be originated from equipment of a network service subscriber, such as a smart TV, a remote control, a smart phone, a residential gateway, a media processor, a general purpose computer, a game console, a proxy and the like, wherein in some request can be generated by an application resident on equipment of a user, for example the application can be related to a subscription service, e.g., provided by a network service provider, wherein services can include, without limitation, streaming media, real-time voice, live events, file transfer, messaging, social media, and the like in order to have a user friendly interaction when requesting content (see fig. 11 ¶s 186-187, 194)
Re claim 16, Cordray as discussed in claim 12 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein the control circuitry (i.e. control circuitry as described in fig. 14 paragraph 135) is configured to determine that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from the second source (see ¶ 54 for determine that the one or more episodes of the plurality of episodes are available from the second source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as described in fig. 1 paragraph 55))
Cordray fails to explicitly teach by determining that a user profile associated with the request indicates a subscription to the second source. However, the reference of Gausman explicitly teaches by determining that a user profile associated with the request indicates a subscription to the second source (see ¶ 197 by determining that a user profile associated with the request indicates a subscription to the second source (i.e. in the example request for the TV show, the system can infer that a producer or provider or source of a requested content can come from the user's subscriptions, a personal profile))
Therefore, taking the combined teachings of Cordray and Gausman as a whole, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate this feature (subscription) into the system of Cordray as taught by Gausman.
Per claim 16, Cordray and Gausman are combined for the same motivation as set forth in claim 6 above.
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cordray (US 2014/0089987 A1)(hereinafter Cordray) as applied to claims 2-4, 10-14, 20 and 21 above, and further in view of Pearlman et al. (US 2015/0382052 A1)(hereinafter Pearlman).
Re claim 7, Cordray as discussed in claim 2 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein the indication that the one or more episodes are available from the second source (see ¶ 54 for the indication that the one or more episodes are available from the second source (i.e. an available missed episode may be an episode of the series aggregation that needs to be recorded to complete the series aggregation and that may be known to be available from one or more queried media sources currently or at some known time in the future, examples of the one or more sources from which the media guidance application may acquire and record missed episodes include traditional broadcast, cable, or satellite programming media sources and subscription-based media sources or purchase-based media sources, pay-per-view, VOD, Internet downloads, DVD providers, IPTV or any other type of media source as described in fig. 1 paragraph 55))
Cordray fails to explicitly teach comprises a hyperlink to the second source. However, the reference of Pearlman explicitly teaches comprises a hyperlink to the second source (see ¶ 30 for a hyperlink to the second source (i.e. a hyperlink))
Therefore, taking the combined teachings of Cordray and Pearlman as a whole, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate this feature (hyperlink) into the system of Cordray as taught by Pearlman.
One will be motivated to incorporate the above feature into the system of Cordray as taught by Pearlman for the benefit of displaying screens that may be used to provide media guidance data, wherein the display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 and 5-7 may be implemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform, wherein while the displays of FIGS. 1-2 and 5-7 are illustrated as full screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed, wherein a user may indicate a desire to access content information by selecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user input interface or device, wherein in response to the user's indication, the media guidance application may provide a display screen with media guidance data organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of programming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organization criteria in order to have a user friendly interaction when selecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a hyperlink) (see ¶ 30)
Re claim 17, the combination of Cordray and Pearlman as discussed in claim 7 above discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 17.
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cordray (US 2014/0089987 A1)(hereinafter Cordray) as applied to claims 2-4, 10-14, 20 and 21 above, and further in view of Cordray et al. (US 2007/0157249 A1)(hereinafter Cordray-2).
Re claim 9, Cordray as discussed in claim 2 above discloses all the claim limitations with additional claimed feature wherein: determining the last consumed episode (see ¶ 63 for determining the last consumed episode (i.e. the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92)); and identifying the plurality of episodes for storage (see ¶ 63 for identifying the plurality of episodes for storage (i.e. the episodes selected may also identify the episodes of the selected series to be included in the series aggregation as shown, for example, in step 108 of FIG. 1B as described in paragraph 92, furthermore, the user may select to be alerted when the series aggregation is complete (e.g., all episodes within a series aggregation have been recorded), when a user-selected number of episodes in the sequence of episodes have been recorded where the sequence of episodes recorded enables a user to begin accessing the series aggregation (e.g., the first three episodes of the series aggregation, the first six episodes of the series aggregation, the seventh through twelfth episodes where the users viewing history indicates that the user has previously viewed episodes 1-6, etc.), or at any other suitable time as described in paragraph 92))
Cordray fails to explicitly teach comprises identifying a series progress indicator that indicates the last consumed episode; comprises: identifying a season of the content series associated with the series progress indicator; and selecting the plurality of episodes based on the series progress indicator, wherein each of the plurality of episodes are associated with the season. However, the reference of Cordray-2 explicitly teaches comprises identifying a series progress indicator that indicates the last consumed episode (see ¶ 126 for identifying a series progress indicator that indicates the last consumed episode (i.e. the current progress in progress column 1206 indicates that the user's last completed program in the series is season 3, episode 3 as described in fig. 12 paragraph 127)); comprises: identifying a season of the content series associated with the series progress indicator (see ¶ 126 for identifying a season of the content series associated with the series progress indicator (i.e. this viewing progress indicates that the user has watched episodes 1 through 3 of season 3 and all the episodes in any previous season or seasons (e.g., seasons 1 and 2) as described in fig. 12 paragraph 127)); and selecting the plurality of episodes based on the series progress indicator, wherein each of the plurality of episodes are associated with the season (see ¶ 130 for selecting the plurality of episodes based on the series progress indicator, wherein each of the plurality of episodes are associated with the season (i.e. a user may highlight any entry in progress column 1206 to automatically present the next unwatched episode in the series on the user equipment as described in fig. 12 paragraph 127))
Therefore, taking the combined teachings of Cordray and Cordray-2 as a whole, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate this feature (progress) into the system of Cordray as taught by Cordray-2.
One will be motivated to incorporate the above feature into the system of Cordray as taught by Cordray-2 for the benefit of having a progress screen 1200 that may be accessed via PROFILES button 420 of remote control 400 of FIG. 4, wherein progress screen 1200 is accessed via a link from another interactive media application, such as an interactive program guide, wherein media viewing progress screen 1200 displays a user's current viewing progress of user-selected media content included in the user's media profile, for example, the programs included in media profile record 710 (FIG. 7B) may be included in progress screen 1200, wherein media content included in media content summary region 1202 may include any content capable of being displayed by, presented to, or recorded by, the user equipment 110 of FIG. 1, typically content included in media content summary region 1202 has a pre-defined viewing order, as with a traditional broadcast series and sporting event series, so that the interactive media monitoring application may track a user's progress through the series of related programs in order to have a user friendly interaction when accessing media viewing progress screen 1200 (see fig. 12 ¶ 126)
Re claim 19, the combination of Cordray and Cordray-2 as discussed in claims 9 and 12 above discloses all the claimed limitations of claim 19.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE M MESA whose telephone number is (571)270-1706. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30AM-6:00PM ET.
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2/10/2026
/JOSE M. MESA/
Examiner
Art Unit 2484
/THAI Q TRAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2484