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 .
The amendment filed on 08/06/2026 have been entered. Applicant amended claims 1, 6-9, 11, and 15-19 in the amendment.
Claims 1-20 remain pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 filed on 08/06/2026 have been considered but they are deemed to be moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the at least one element of the received information" in line 16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Same rejection applies to claim 11.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the comparing" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Same rejection applies to claim 16.
Claim 9 recites the limitation “the previous activity related to the sporting event of interest” in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Same rejection applies to claim 19.
All dependent claims are rejected as having the same deficiencies as the claims they depend from.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9, 11-17, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bostick et al. (US 2017/0070769 A1), hereinafter Bostick, in view of Tran (US 2007/0207782 A1), and further in view of Wagner et al. (US 2017/0086018 A1), hereinafter Wagner.
Regarding claim 1, Bostick discloses
A method comprising:
identifying a user profile that stores notification preferences related to a sports team participating in a sporting event ([0009]: when a match between the broadcasted content and the preferences indicated by the profile of the user occurs, a notification message is displayed to the user; & [0033]: notification program 124 determines the preferences, either liked or disliked, for each user based on one or more of: (i) the user’s social network profile or profiles; (ii) profiles of users who are friends with or otherwise connected within the social network the user is a member of; (iii) viewing habits or past interactions with video player program 122; (iv) previous responses by the user to notifications generated by notification program 124; and (iv) user-designated preferences; & [0029]: each profile includes preferences such as preferred teams or players in a team; & [0044]: a preference for a sports team is present in a profile of a user);
determining at least one end user device associated with the user profile is receiving a stream of at least a portion of the sporting event ([0021]: computing device 120 includes video player program 122 that receives video data 114 for display to the user; & [0033]: notification program 124 determines the preferences, either liked or disliked, for each user based on one or more of: (i) the user’s social network profile or profiles; (ii) profiles of users who are friends with or otherwise; (iii) viewing habits or past interactions with video player program 122; (iv) previous responses by the user to notifications generated by notification program 124; and (iv) user-designated preferences);
receiving information related to the sporting event ([0027]: notification program 124 retrieves content data 116);
determining the information meets at least one element of criteria stored in the user profile comprising the information at an end user device associated with the user profile ([0027]: by comparing the preferences of the user and the content of the soccer game, notification program 124 displays a message indicating the player is now active in the game; & [0029]: profile data 126 includes preferences of user of video player program 122; preferences include information indicating preferred content the user wants to receive notifications from notification program 124 when relevant video data 114 is accessible by video player program 122; each profile includes preferences such as, but not limited to, preferred genres of movies or shows; preferred subjects or topics; preferred game types; preferred shows, networks, channels, or other types of content producers; preferred teams or players in a team; preferred hometown or location of teams; or preferred event type or situations).
Bostick does not explicitly disclose
for causing to change a frequency of delivery of a notification;
causing to change, based at least in part on the determining, the frequency of delivery of the notification comprising the at least one element of the received information.
However, Tran discloses
causing to change, based at least in part on the determining, the frequency of delivery of the notification comprising the at least one element of the received information ([0097]: alerts can be set on a regular delivery schedule or for event-triggers such as stock quote and sports score changes; event-triggered alerts are addition to periodic alerts that can be scheduled for delivery at the time and preference of the user).
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate feature of Tran in Bostick because Bostick discloses display a message based on user preference ([0027]) and Tran further suggests event-triggered alerts are addition to periodic alerts ([0097]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Tran in the Bostick system in order to keep the user informed.
Bostick and Tran do not explicitly disclose
receiving information related to the sports team participating in the sporting event that indicates the sports team participating in the sporting event is performing poorly according to a sporting event type associated with the sporting event.
However, Wagner discloses
receiving information related to the sports team participating in the sporting event that indicates the sports team participating in the sporting event is performing poorly according to a sporting event type associated with the sporting event ([0152]: if the trigger criteria are that the preference data indicate a particular sports team and that the context data indicate that the sports team has host, the message may include text indicating the result and providing a coupon for a free drink; & [0153]: the message retrieved at the step 506 may be transmitted to the electronic device 101 for notification on the electronic device 101).
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate feature of Wagner in Bostick and Tran because Bostick and Tran disclose display a message based on user preference (Bostick: [0027]) and Wagner further suggests transmit message associated to the trigger criteria indicating that the sports team has lost ([0152]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Wagner in the Bostick and Tran system in order to keep the user informed as desired.
Regarding claim 2, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
the user profile comprises a data structure accessible via a server communicatively accessible via the end user device ([0033]: notification program 124 determines the preferences, either liked or disliked, for each user based on one or more of: (i) the user’s social network profile or profiles; & [0034]: notification program 124 retrieves information from a social network profile from a social network platform).
Regarding claim 3, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
the notification preferences comprise criteria for causing delivery or preventing delivery of notifications related to at least one of an event of interest, a sporting event type, a predefined sports team, or statistical updates for a predefined sporting event participant ([0029]: each profile includes preferences such as, but not limited to, preferred genres of movies or shows; preferred subjects or topics; preferred game types; preferred shows, networks, channels, or other types of content producers; preferred teams or players in a team; preferred hometown or location of teams; or preferred event type or situations).
Regarding claim 4, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
the notification preferences stored via the user profile are based at least in part on stored data characterizing monitored user activity associated with the user profile ([0027]: when content matches preferences or viewing habits for a user, notification program 124 displays a message to the user alerting the user to the availability of the content; & [0029]: a profile in profile data 126 includes the viewing habits of the user; viewing habits includes information regarding the type of content for video data 114 the user often views, or other habits or interactions the user has when viewing content).
Regarding claim 5, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
the information related to the sporting event comprises at least one of:
a change in a score associated with the sporting event ([0025]: current score is updated when a scoring event occur in a sports game);
a change in a statistic associated with at least one participant of the sporting event;
an indication the sporting event has reached a half-time;
an indication the sporting event is ending or has ended;
an indication the sporting event corresponds to an end of a season; or
an indication the sporting event corresponds to a progression through a tournament.
Regarding claim 6, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
the comparing is based at least in part on at least one of keywords in the information or metadata associated with the sporting event ([0009]: a match between the broadcasted content and the preferences indicated by the profile of the user; & [0027]: comparing the preferences of the user and the content of the soccer game; & [0040]: compares the retrieved viewing preferences of the user to content data 116 of other videos or streams currently available for viewing in video data 114).
Regarding claim 7, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
the information related to the sports team participating in the sporting event is from at least one of a social network application, a media guidance application, or a database associated with the sporting event ([0020]: video distribution program 112, video data 114 and content data 116 are stored on content provider 110).
Regarding claim 9, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
the sporting event comprises a sporting event of interest ([0029]: each profile includes preferences such as, but not limited to, preferred genres of movies or shows; preferred subjects or topics; preferred game types; preferred shows, networks, channels, or other types of content producers; preferred teams or players in a team; preferred hometown or location of teams; or preferred event types or situations (e.g., a fight scene or romantic moment in a movie));
the notification preferences are based at least in part on a first level of interest in the sporting event of interest defined based at least in part on previous activity related to a previous sporting event of a same sporting event type performed through the user profile ([0029]: a profile in profile data includes the viewing habits of the user; viewing habits includes information regarding the type of content for video data 114 the user often views, or other habits or interactions the user has when viewing content);
the notification preferences further comprise a second level of interest corresponding to a performance metric associated with a sporting event type of the sporting event of interest ([0025]: the current score is updated when a scoring event occur in a sports game);
the previous activity related to the sporting event of interest performed through the user profile is based at least in part on an interaction with a data structure storing the performance metric ([0027]: notification program 124 retrieves content data 116; & [0025]: notification program 124 retrieves content data 116 as the data becomes available).
Regarding claims 11-17, the limitations of claims 11-17 are rejected in the analysis of claims 1-7 respectively and these claims are rejected on that basis.
Regarding claim 19, the limitations of claim 19 are rejected in the analysis of claim 9 above and this claim is rejected on that basis.
Claim(s) 8 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bostick in view of Tran, in view of Wagner, and further in view of Antalek (US 2015/0082344 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick, Tran, and Wagner do not explicitly disclose
the at least one element of criteria stored in the user profile for causing to change the frequency of delivery of the notification comprises at least one of:
determining at least one participant in the sporting event previously viewed via the user profile is performing poorly according to the sporting event type;
determining at least one participant is in the sporting event or a sports team participating in the sporting event is performing poorly according to the sporting event type; or
determining the user profile has not yet viewed the sporting event despite the information comprising an indication that the sporting event has ended.
However, Antalek discloses
the at least one element of criteria stored in the user profile for causing to change the frequency of delivery of the notification comprises at least one of:
determining at least one participant in the sporting event previously viewed via the user profile is performing poorly according to the sporting event type ([0080]: in the basketball game, a participant (e.g., a favorite team of the user) associated with the user (e.g., as indicated in a user profile store locally on storage 308) or remotely at any location accessible via communications network 414 has lost the scored contest; in response, the media guidance application has determined particular content related to the media asset to present based on the outcome);
determining at least one participant is in the sporting event or a sports team participating in the sporting event is performing poorly according to the sporting event type; or
determining the user profile has not yet viewed the sporting event despite the information comprising an indication that the sporting event has ended.
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate feature of Antalek in Bostick, Tran, and Wagner because Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose display a message based on user preference (Bostick: [0027]) and Antalek further suggests determine a participant/a favorite team of the user has lost the scored contest ([0080]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Antalek in the Bostick, Tran, and Wagner system in order to provide relevant information/content to the user.
Regarding claim 18, the limitations of claim 18 are rejected in the analysis of claim 8 above and this claim is rejected on that basis.
Claim(s) 10 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bostick in view of Tran, in view of Wagner, and further in view of Salomons et al. (US 2017/0013312 A1), hereinafter Salomons.
Regarding claim 10, Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose the method as described in claim 1. Bostick further discloses
identifying the notification preferences stored via the user profile based at least in part on the competition level ([0027]: the user has a preference to a particular player on a team playing in the match; & [0029]: each profile includes preferences such as, but not limited to, preferred game types; preferred teams or players in a team).
However, Salomons discloses
determining a competition level associated with the sporting event ([0056]: if channel 2 broadcasts a football match in which one of the sides is Manchester City the relevance determined by formula 1 will be multiplied by 1.1*1.2=1.32 (this is a football match and it includes Manchester City, so the relevance is higher than for any other football match not involving Manchester City)).
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate feature of Salomons in Bostick, Tran, and Wagner because Bostick, Tran, and Wagner disclose display a message based on user preference (Bostick: [0027]) and Salomons further suggests determine football match in Manchester City is relevance ([0056]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Salomons in the Bostick, Tran, and Wagner system in order to provide user interested information/content to the user.
Regarding claim 20, the limitations of claim 20 are rejected in the analysis of claim 10 above and this claim is rejected on that basis.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Glancy (US 2015/0221177 A1). The user profile account may include a list of preferred sporting events, leagues, teams, sports, wagering opportunities, preferred event outcomes, and/or any suitable event identified by the associated user ([0035]).
Laycock et al. (US 2013/0273987 A1). The user indicates a preference for football competitions in the American Football Conference (AFC) over competitions in the National Football Conference (NFC) ([0047]).
Kim et al. (US 2015/0347597 A1). When the corresponding user mainly watches an English soccer league and games with Korean players, the controller may determine an English league and a team with a Korean player among English teams as an object field of interest ([0082]).
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 KAYLEE J HUANG whose telephone number is (571)272-0080. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joon H Hwang can be reached at 571-272-4036. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Kaylee Huang
09/21/2026
/KAYLEE J HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2447
Prosecution Insights