DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-20 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over US 7,765,574 by Maybury et al. in view of US 2009/0123069 by Deng et al.
Regarding claim 1, Maybury et al. discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, a content stream (fig. 10, col. 9 lines 22-35 teaches “Consider as one example of a preferred embodiment of the invention an observation of the format of Cable News Network's (CNN's) evening PrimeNews program. A Prime News broadcast includes events typical of all news broadcasts, such as a start and end portion having with an anchor person segment, reporter segments preceded by an introductory anchor segment, and commercials segments serving as story boundaries.”);
determining visual information based on one or more visual characteristics of the content stream (in addition to discussion above, col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 liens 19 teaches “The CNN logo is displayed in the video stream. There is typically a fade from black to the logo. As the logo is displayed, the audio stream contains a recording of James Earl Jones saying "This is CNN". Highlights. This state lasts from 30-90 seconds. During this state, the CNN anchor introduces the top stories that will be covered in the full broadcast, typically with 5-15 second long story "teasers".”);
determining that commercial content was displayed (in addition to discussion above, col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19 teaches “Advertising. Advertising states last from 90 to 240 seconds and consist of a series of 15-, 30- or 60-second commercials. The advertiser always records the commercials, they are never delivered by an anchor.”); and
storing, based on the determining that the commercial content was displayed, an indication of the displayed commercial content (in addition to discussion above, col. 5 lines 5-col. 6 liens 8 teaches “The files representing the imagery 104, audio 106 and closed captioned text 108 streams are then fed to the Broadcast News Editor 100 to complete various functions for segmentation and classification of the news program. Those functions include scene change detection 110, scene classification 112, silence detection 114, speaker change detection 116, speech transcription 117, and closed captioned preprocessing 118. The outputs of these functions are provided to a correlation process 120, which performs multiple functions such as broadcast detection 122, commercial detection 124, and story segmentation 126.….. The results of the above process are stored in the relational multimedia database management system 140 and video server and media storage 142. This data are then made available to the browser-enabled client 170 over a network connection 180 such as the Internet, a corporate Internet or other computer network.”).
Maybury et al. fails to disclose determining that commercial content was displayed based on the visual information and corresponding visual information based on known visual characteristics specific to known content;
Deng et al. discloses determining that commercial content was displayed based on the visual information and corresponding visual information based on known visual characteristics specific to known content (paragraph 0024 teaches “FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an example system to measure brand exposures in media streams. The example system of FIG. 1 utilizes one or more media measurement techniques, such as, for example, audio codes, audio signatures, video codes, video signatures, image codes, image signatures, etc., to identify brand exposures in presented media content (e.g., such as content currently being broadcast or previously recorded content) provided by one or more media streams. In an example implementation, image signatures corresponding to one or more portions of a media stream are compared with a database of reference image signatures that represent corresponding portions of reference media content to facilitate identification of one or more scenes broadcast in the media stream and/or one or more brand identifiers included in the broadcast scene(s).”, paragraph 0032 teaches “If, however, the current scene is indicated to be a scene of interest, the brand exposure monitor 150 then determines one or more expected regions of interest residing within the current scene that may contain a brand identifier (e.g., logo), as discussed in greater detail below. The brand exposure monitor 150 then verifies the expected region(s) of interest with one or more databases (not shown) storing information representative of reference (e.g., previously learned and/or known) brand identifiers (e.g., logos). If all of the expected region(s) of interest are verified to include corresponding expected brand identifier(s), the example brand exposure monitor 150 reports exposure to matching brand identifiers.”, paragraph 0006, 0009, 0023, 0034, 0074, 0100)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the ability to include determining that commercial content was displayed based on the visual information and corresponding visual information based on known visual characteristics specific to known content, as taught by Deng et al. into the system of Maybury et al., because such incorporation would allow for the benefit of playing commercial based on visual information for the user to enjoy during play of content, thus increase user flexibility of the system.
Regarding claim 2, the method wherein the one or more visual characteristics comprise an image of a logo in the content stream (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0032).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 3, the method wherein the determining that the commercial content was displayed is further based on audio data of the content stream (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0034 teaches “During scene and/or brand identifier recognition, the brand exposure monitor 150 may also present any corresponding audio content to the user 170 to further enable identification of any brand audio mention(s). Upon detection of an audio mention of a brand, the user 170 may so indicate the audio mention to the brand exposure monitor 150 by, for example, clicking on an icon on the GUI 152, inputting descriptive information for the brand identifier (e.g., logo), etc. Furthermore, key words from closed captioning, screen overlays, etc., may be captured and associated with detected audio mentions of the brand. Additionally or alternatively, audio, image and/or video codes inserted by content providers 130 to identify content may be used to identify brand identifiers. For example, an audio code for a segment of audio of the media stream 160 may be extracted and cross-referenced to a database of reference audio codes. Audio exposure of a detected brand identifier may also be stored in the example brand exposure database 155. The audio mentions stored in the example brand exposure database 155 may also contain data that links the audio mention(s) to scene(s) being broadcast. Additionally, the identified audio mentions may be added to reports and/or data regarding brand exposure generated from the example brand exposure database 155.”).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 4, the method wherein known visual characteristics comprise one or more known characteristics specific to a known commercial (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0032).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 5, the method wherein the known visual characteristics comprise one of more known images of a known logo, and wherein the determining that commercial content was displayed comprises determining whether the visual information matches corresponding visual information based on the one or more known images (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0043 teaches “To determine whether the scene having a signature matching one or more reference signatures is a repeated scene of interest or a repeated scene of changed interest, the example scene recognizer 252 of FIG. 2 identifies one or more expected regions of interest included in the scene at issue based on stored information associated with reference scene(s) corresponding to the matched reference signature(s). An example brand recognizer 254 (also known as a logo detector 254) included in the example brand exposure monitor 150 then performs brand identifier recognition (also known as "logo detection") by comparing and verifying the expected region(s) of interest with information corresponding to one or more corresponding expected reference brand identifiers stored in the learned knowledge database 264 and/or a brand library 266.”, paragraph 0060-0061).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 6, the method wherein the known visual characteristics comprise one or more known characteristics specific to an image associated with one or more of: a broadcast station; a production company; a sporting event; or a content program (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0004, 0006, paragraph 0011 teaches “The brand identifier data may include, but is not limited to, internal identifiers, names of entities (e.g., corporations, individuals, etc.) owning the brands associated with the brand identifiers, brand names, product names, service names, etc.”, paragraph 0023 teaches “For example, the media content may correspond to any type of sporting event, including a baseball game, as well as any television program, movie, streaming video content, video game presentation, etc.”, paragraph 0073 teaches “For example, the brand identity information stored in the brand database 266 may include, but is not limited to, internal identifiers, names of entities (e.g., corporations, individuals, etc.) owning the brands associated with the brand identifiers, product names, service names, etc.”, paragraph 0099).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 7, the method wherein the one or more visual characteristics indicate one or more of: a channel over which the content stream was received; a service provider associated with the content stream; a production company associated with content in the content stream; or a program in the content stream (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0004, 0006, paragraph 0011 teaches “The brand identifier data may include, but is not limited to, internal identifiers, names of entities (e.g., corporations, individuals, etc.) owning the brands associated with the brand identifiers, brand names, product names, service names, etc.”, paragraph 0023 teaches “For example, the media content may correspond to any type of sporting event, including a baseball game, as well as any television program, movie, streaming video content, video game presentation, etc.”, paragraph 0073 teaches “For example, the brand identity information stored in the brand database 266 may include, but is not limited to, internal identifiers, names of entities (e.g., corporations, individuals, etc.) owning the brands associated with the brand identifiers, product names, service names, etc.”, paragraph 0099).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 8, the method further comprising classifying, based on the visual information and the corresponding visual information based on the known visual characteristics specific to known content, one or more segments of the content stream as one or more commercial content segments (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0039 teaches “Assuming that the detected scene currently being processed (referred to as the "current scene") is not excluded, the example scene recognizer 252 begins classifying the scene into one of the following four categories: a repeated scene of interest, a repeated scene of changed interest, a new scene, or a scene of no interest. For example, a scene of no interest is a scene known or previously identified as including no visible brand identifiers (e.g., logos). A repeated scene of interest is a scene of interest known to include visible brand identifiers (e.g., logos) and in which all visible brand identifiers are already known and can be identified. A repeated scene of changed interest is a scene of interest known to include visible brand identifiers (e.g., logos) and in which some visible brand identifiers (e.g., logos) are already known and can be identified, but other visible brand identifiers are unknown and/or cannot be identified automatically. A new scene corresponds to an unknown scene and, therefore, it is unknown whether the scene includes visible brand identifiers (e.g., logos).”, paragraph 0040-0041).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 9, the method further comprising determining, based on the visual information, a channel on which the content stream was displayed (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0004, 0006, paragraph 0011 teaches “The brand identifier data may include, but is not limited to, internal identifiers, names of entities (e.g., corporations, individuals, etc.) owning the brands associated with the brand identifiers, brand names, product names, service names, etc.”, paragraph 0023 teaches “For example, the media content may correspond to any type of sporting event, including a baseball game, as well as any television program, movie, streaming video content, video game presentation, etc.”, paragraph 0073 teaches “For example, the brand identity information stored in the brand database 266 may include, but is not limited to, internal identifiers, names of entities (e.g., corporations, individuals, etc.) owning the brands associated with the brand identifiers, product names, service names, etc.”, paragraph 0099).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 10, the method further comprising sending, to a second computing device, timing information associated with the commercial content (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., fig. 1, 19, col. 5 lines 35-44 teaches “The UNIX server 160 is used to provide portions of both the BNE 100 and BNN 200 subsystem functions. The client workstation 170 is used to browse the formatted information. This enable users of multimedia platforms to access multimedia content via browser programs.”, col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19; Deng et al., paragraph 0033, 0066).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Regarding claim 11, the method further comprising classifying, based on the visual information and the corresponding visual information based on the known visual characteristics, one or more segments in the content stream as one or more of: commercial content; television show content; sports content; news content; event content; or movie content (in addition to discussion above, Maybury et al., col. 9 lines 35-col. 10 lines 19, col. 13 lines 44-col. 13 lines 57; Deng et al., fig. 5-6, paragraph 0040-0041).
The motivation for combining references has been discussed in independent claim above.
Claim 12 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 1 above.
Claim 13 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 2 above.
Claim 14 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 3 above.
Claim 15 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 4 above.
Claim 16 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 5 above.
Claim 17 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 1 above.
Claim 18 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 2 above.
Claim 19 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 3 above.
Claim 20 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in the corresponding claim 5 above.
Conclusion
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/NIGAR CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484
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