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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-30 are pending
Claims 1, 12, and 21 are amended
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-30 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
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 1-6, 8-26, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Swaminathan et al. US Patent Publication No. 2014/0040026 in view of Sherwin et al. US Patent No. 8,799,943.
Regarding Claim 1, Swaminathan discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device associated with a user [Figure 2 Client device 200], a manifest comprising
selecting, by the computing device, based on information associated with the user, and for an advertisement insertion opportunity of the plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in the content, one advertisement of the plurality of advertisement options in the manifest for that advertisement insertion opportunity [0019];
and causing output of the selected advertisement during the advertisement insertion opportunity [0036; the media playback module 200b sequentially access the media segment URLs and the advertisement URLs included in the modified manifest file in accordance with the predetermined sequence, to thereby display a continuous content stream including the user-customized advertisements].
Swaminathan fails to clearly disclose a manifest comprising a plurality of advertisement options for each of a plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in content.
In an analogous art, Sherwin discloses a manifest comprising a plurality of advertisement options for each of a plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in content [Figure 5 Step 520 & 525].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Swaminathan and Sherwin, before the effective filing date of the invention, in order to efficiently manipulate a manifest [Sherwin Col. 1 lines 5-10].
Regarding Claim 12, Swaminathan discloses an apparatus comprising:
one or more processors [0092];
and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors [0094], configures the apparatus to:
receive, by a computing device associated with a user [Figure 2 Client device 200], a manifest comprising
select, by the computing device, based on information associated with the user, and for an advertisement insertion opportunity of the plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in the content, one advertisement of the plurality of advertisement options in the manifest for that advertisement insertion opportunity [0019];
and cause output of the selected advertisement during the advertisement insertion opportunity [0036; the media playback module 200b sequentially access the media segment URLs and the advertisement URLs included in the modified manifest file in accordance with the predetermined sequence, to thereby display a continuous content stream including the user-customized advertisements].
Swaminathan fails to clearly disclose a manifest comprising a plurality of advertisement options for each of a plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in content.
In an analogous art, Sherwin discloses a manifest comprising a plurality of advertisement options for each of a plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in content [Figure 5 Step 520 & 525].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Swaminathan and Sherwin, before the effective filing date of the invention, in order to efficiently manipulate a manifest [Sherwin Col. 1 lines 5-10].
Regarding Claim 21, Swaminathan discloses one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed [0091], cause:
receiving, by a computing device associated with a user [Figure 2 Client device 200], a manifest comprising
selecting, by the computing device, based on information associated with the user, and for an advertisement insertion opportunity of the plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in the content, one advertisement of the plurality of advertisement options in the manifest for that advertisement insertion opportunity [0019];
and causing output of the selected advertisement during the advertisement insertion opportunity [0036; the media playback module 200b sequentially access the media segment URLs and the advertisement URLs included in the modified manifest file in accordance with the predetermined sequence, to thereby display a continuous content stream including the user-customized advertisements].
Swaminathan fails to clearly disclose a manifest comprising a plurality of advertisement options for each of a plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in content.
In an analogous art, Sherwin discloses a manifest comprising a plurality of advertisement options for each of a plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in content [Figure 5 Step 520 & 525].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Swaminathan and Sherwin, before the effective filing date of the invention, in order to efficiently manipulate a manifest [Sherwin Col. 1 lines 5-10].
Regarding Claims 2, 13 and 22, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, wherein the manifest further comprises information indicating a network address from which each advertisement of the plurality of advertisement options can be retrieved, the method further comprising:
retrieving, by the computing device, the selected advertisement based on the information indicating the network address for the advertisement [Swaminathan 0036; access a list of URLs included in the manifest file in order to playback video content].
Regarding Claims 3, 14, and 23, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, wherein the causing output of the selected advertisement comprises retrieving the selected advertisement based on a network address for the selected advertisement [Swaminathan 0036; advertisement URLs].
Regarding Claims 4, 15, and 24, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, wherein the information associated with the user comprises one or more of: demographics information associated with the user; information associated with a geographical region associated with the user [Sherwin Col. lines 5-13]; or information associated with a device type of the computing device associated with the user.
Regarding Claims 5, 16, and 25, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, wherein the manifest is received, from a plurality of different manifest options, based on one or more of: a geographic region associated with the computing device [Sherwin Col. 3 lines 60-67]; a device type of the computing device; or demographics information associated with the user.
Regarding Claims 6, 17, and 26, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, wherein the plurality of advertisement options are each associated with one or more of: different preference information associated with the user [Swaminathan 0039; the client device transmits user preference information to an advertisement network server and/or a request for a particular amount of advertisement URLs for accessing user-customized advertisements]; or different device information.
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, further comprising: receiving, in a data stream associated with the content, information indicating a network address of the manifest, and wherein the receiving the manifest is based on the information indicating the network address of the manifest [Swaminathan 0038; the client device requests access to a manifest file from a web server (e.g. by transmitting to the web server an HTTP request to a specified URL corresponding to the manifest file].
Regarding Claims 9, 18, and 28, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, further comprising: receiving a data stream comprising:
the content [Swaminathan 0038-0039];
and information indicating a network address of the manifest [Swaminathan 0038];
after receiving the manifest, receiving, in the data stream, second information indicating a second network address of an updated manifest comprising a second plurality of advertisement options for each of the plurality of advertisement insertion opportunities in the content [Swaminathan 0046 & 0061];
and retrieving, based on the second network address, the updated manifest [Swaminathan 0059].
Regarding Claims 10, 19, and 29, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, wherein the manifest further comprises, for each of the plurality of advertisement options, information indicating an advertisement type comprising one or more of: a video file; a web page; or an audio file [Sherwin Col. 8 lines 1-14].
Regarding Claims 11, 20, and 30, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin discloses a method, apparatus, and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, wherein the manifest further comprises, for each of the plurality of advertisement options, information indicating one or more times for the output of the advertisement during the content [Sherwin Figure 5 Step 520].
Claims 7 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Swaminathan et al. US Patent Publication No. 2014/0040026 in view of Sherwin et al. US Patent No. 8,799,943 in further view of Patwa et al. US Patent Publication No. 2011/0225035.
Regarding Claims 7 and 27, the combination of Swaminathan and Sherwin fails to disclose wherein the plurality of advertisement options comprise a first advertisement option for a general audience and a second advertisement option for a targeted audience.
In an analogous art, Patwa discloses a method wherein the plurality of advertisement options comprise a first advertisement option for a general audience and a second advertisement option for a targeted audience [0031].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Swaminathan, Sherwin, and Patwa, before the effective filing date of the invention, so that advertising performance information can include information for online ads targeted to general, specific, or general and specific audiences [Patwa 0029].
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Anderson et al. US Patent No. 7,546,619 - o provide content, that more closely matches the putative interests of a current network audience, the utility may receive signals from only those CPEs which are currently active. That is, CPEs which are currently outputting content to a network user. In another arrangement, the utility may receive signals from a statistical sample of less than the entirety of the CPEs associates with the broadcast network. Such CPEs may be randomly selected at the head end of the network, or the CPEs in the network may randomly report to the head end. In any case, statistical sampling less than an entirety of the CPEs associated with the broadcast network may reduce bandwidth requirements for the utility.
Penberthy et al. US Patent No. 8,265,990 - a system and method for selecting portions of content, and media content sets to be delivered over a packet based (e.g., an internet protocol (IP)) network. The selected portions of content (such as a web page) may be keywords such as a word or a group of words. The media content sets may include one or more of video content (that may include an audio portion), audio content, graphics, images, or other multimedia or single media content. The media content set may include advertising, informational, business, educational, governmental, institutional, customized (e.g., personalized) content and/or other content. According to an example embodiment, the present invention provides a heuristic model employing a piece-wise linear optimization function to select keywords and the media content sets for delivery by a media delivery provider.
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.
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/SAHAR AQIL RIAZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424
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