Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/09/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 2-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tembey, USPG_Pub. 20160248766, in view of Negi, USPG_Pub. 20140096180.
Regarding claims 2, 12, Tembey discloses a system (fig. 3, entire) comprising:
control circuitry configured to:
receive a request to consume a media asset, the request associated with a first user (fig. 4, 410; Para. 50 (the gateway device detects a request placed for content by an audience member device-audience member device being a first device));
identify a media characteristic associated with the media asset (fig. 4, 430; Para. 52 (content attributes are determined));
access a data structure associated with the first user, the data structure comprising a plurality of content restriction indications (fig. 4, 440; Para. 53 (the audience traits meet data structure of first use and the traits of the audience user holds the indications of what is allowed or restricted for the audience user-see comparison between traits and content attributes determined art 430)); and
based on determining that the media characteristic is associated with a content restriction indication of the plurality of content restriction (fig. 4, 450; Para. 54 (a determination to provide or restrict content is based on the content attributes that are coincident with the user traits indicator) indications:
Tembey does not explicitly disclose determine a distance between the first user equipment device and a second user equipment device associated with a second user; and based on determining that the distance exceeds a threshold, block access to the media asset by the first user.
Negi discloses proximity based parental control wherein distance between the first user equipment device (Parent device) and a second user equipment device (child’s device) associated with a second user; and based on determining that the distance exceeds a threshold, block access to the media asset by the first user (fig. 5, 506 (content previously authorized for a child to view will remain authorized as long as child stays within proximity distance of parent device and blocked or disabled when distance exceed a threshold).
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 system of Tembey to include determine a distance between the first user equipment device and a second user equipment device associated with a second user; and based on determining that the distance exceeds a threshold, block access to the media asset by the first user as disclosed by Negi in other to support proximity based parental content control.
Regarding claims 3, 13, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: based on determining that the distance is below the threshold, allow access to the media asset by the first user (Negi: Para. 12, 48 (within proximity is below the threshold distance)).
Regarding claims 4, 14, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the distance between the first user equipment device and the second user equipment device is determined at a first time (Negi: Para. 48 (at the first is when the child device is within proximity)), and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine, at a second time later than the first time, a second distance between the first user equipment device and the second user equipment device (Negi: Para. 48 (the second time is when the child device is out of proximity)); and based on determining that the second distance exceeds the threshold, block access to the media asset by the first user (Negi: Para. 48; fig. 5, 34 (disabling access meets blocking)).
Regarding claims 5, 15, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: based on determining that the distance exceeds the threshold (Negi: fig. 5; Para. 48), generate instructions for display at the second user equipment device, a notification associated with the request to consume the media asset (Negi: fig. 5, 516 Para. 48 (control policy is the instruction received)).
Regarding claims 6, 16, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: based on receiving user input at the second user equipment device, refrain from blocking access to the media asset, and allow access to the media asset by the first user (Negi: Para. 47 (policy set by parent controls what child can watch-policy set by parent is input from second device)).
Regarding claims 7, 17, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: based on determining that the distance exceeds the threshold, generate instructions for display at the first user equipment device, a notification associated with the request to consume the media asset (Negi; fig. 5; Para. 47-48); and based on receiving user input from the second user at the first user equipment device, refrain from blocking access to the media asset, and allowing access to the media asset by the first user (Negi; fig. 5; Para. 48).
Regarding claims 8, 18, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the user input from the second user is a parental control password or a pin (Negi: Para. 1, 47, 48 (parental control is password protected)).
Regarding claims 9, 19, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when determining the distance between the first user equipment device and the second user equipment device, to: identify, based on a first user profile associated with the first user, a location of the first user equipment device; identify, based on a second user profile associated with the second user, a location of the second user equipment device; and compute the distance between the location of the first user equipment device and the location of the second user equipment device (Negi: fig. 5, entire; Para. 12-13; (Proximity sensors determine location of devices to determine if child device is in proximity)).
Regarding claims 10, 20, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the second user profile associated with the second user comprises the data structure associated with the first user (Tembey: fig. 4, 440; Para. 53 (gateway retrieves trait information of audience user which can be child user)).
Regarding claims 11, 21, Tembey in view of Negi discloses the system, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: receive, at the second user equipment device, selections of one or more content restriction indications; and based on receiving the selections, add the selected one or more content restriction indications to the data structure associated with the first user (Tembey: fig. 4, 440; Para. 53-54).
Conclusion
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/ANTHONY BANTAMOI/Examiner, Art Unit 2422