Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 19/201,849

IDENTIFYING CHANNEL FEATURE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP ON A CONTENT PLATFORM

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
May 07, 2025
Priority
May 10, 2024 — provisional 63/645,819
Examiner
LE, RONG
Art Unit
4100
Tech Center
4100
Assignee
Google LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 0m
Est. Remaining
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allowance Rate
305 granted / 448 resolved
+8.1% vs TC avg
Strong +29% interview lift
Without
With
+29.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
476
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.0%
-34.0% vs TC avg
§103
61.5%
+21.5% vs TC avg
§102
12.6%
-27.4% vs TC avg
§112
11.1%
-28.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 448 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 19/201,849 CTNF 86386 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Miscellaneous Claims pending: 1-20 Claims amended: n/a Claims cancelled: n/a New claims: n/a Claim Objections 7.44 Claimed Subject Matter Not in Specification 07-44 AIA The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o) . Correction of the following is required: Claim(s) 4, 11, 17, is/are objected, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 4, 11, 17, states that the “…determining one or more respective channel membership levels; and in response to receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of channel feature recommendations, associating, based on the plurality of engagement signals and a number of selected channel feature recommendations, a first channel feature recommendation with a respective channel membership level. . ..” which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Further action required . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-2, 4-5, 8-9, 11-12, 15, 17-18 , is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (US 20250240499) to (Sterling) in view of (US 20230171452) to (Bonner) in view of (US 20240205483) to (McBeth) . Regarding claim(s) 1, 8, 15, Sterling teach receiving, from a channel owner of one or more channels, by a processing device of a content sharing platform, a request pertaining to a creation of a channel of the one or more channels; ….and causing a channel user interface (UI) of the content sharing platform to be presented to the channel owner, the channel UI providing a first subset of plurality of channel feature for the channel and one or more UI elements visually representing a customized selection of one or more of the first subset of the plurality of channel feature for the channel to be created. ( Fig. 1, P. 7, 42-46, 50-56, the creator can upload the content to a video sharing platform, such as rumble.com or YouTube;… Fig 1. interface includes a web-based interface, content creator is presented with the entire interface, directed to the creation of content by the content creator and directed to displaying advertisement opportunities and allowing the content creator to select an advertising opportunity in real time while creating content, content creator can also be simultaneously viewing advertisement opportunities available to them on the ad campaign interface 12, opportunities may show the content creator any one or more of the following: brand, company, product details, script, advertiser guidance, pricing style (cost per live view or cost per live read) and an estimate. Estimates may be based on the point in time of the live stream, i.e. number of current viewers, or some other criteria. and make selections ) Sterling further teach a system, a memory device; and a processing device coupled to the memory device, the processing device to perform operations, A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for a server that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations. ( P. 12-15, 42, 61, ). Bonner further teach request pertaining to a creation of a channel membership for a channel of the one or more channels; … channel membership to be created for the channel. ( Fig 1, P. 26, 28-29, content creator 12 may specify the subscription level to preferential access correlation,... the specification and management of subscriptions on behalf of content creator 12 may be handled by subscription component 18 alone or in conjunction with database 24. For example, a user interface may be provided via subscription component 18 allowing content creator 12 to specify his/her desired subscription levels and corresponding preferential access, as well as his/her preferred sources of revenue. Subscription component 18 may receive the information input by content creator 12 and transmit the information for storage as one or more records ). 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 Sterling by request pertaining to a creation of a channel membership for a channel of the one or more channels, channel membership to be created for the channel as taught by Bonner in order to allow supporters of a project are given rewards or special perks, where the size and/or exclusivity of the rewards or special perks may depend on the amount contributed. McBeth further teach identifying a plurality of engagement signals associated with the one or more channels of the channel owner; determining, based on the plurality of engagement signals, a plurality of channel feature recommendations for the channel to be created for the channel; one or more UI elements visually representing a customized selection of one or more of first subset of plurality of channel feature recommended for the channel to be created. (Fig. 6, 8A-8B, 9A-9B, P. 80, 94, 109, 120, 124, 125, analytics module 310 may communicate with UIM 318 to present analytics/insights to creators and speakers for them to better understand what content to continue creating or to avoid in order to increase audience engagement. FIG. 8A shows a brief description of the metric for a communication session (e.g., “Jay Leno Live!” show) in an interface 800, which reads on (plurality of engagement signals associated with one or more channels of channel owner) and thus improve the values creators and/or audiences may get from their work, such as suggest which creators should work together in a communication session, recommend sponsorships to creators and content to brands. Assessment module 316 may intelligently recommend brands to sponsor creators and logistically handle the execution of enhancing content and communication session creation experience, which reads on (channel feature recommendations to be created), assessment module 316 may also generate recommendations and suggestions to increase the values creators and/or audiences may get from their work ). 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 Sterling in view of Bonner by identifying a plurality of engagement signals associated with the one or more channels of the channel owner; determining, based on the plurality of engagement signals, a plurality of channel feature recommendations for the channel to be created for the channel; one or more UI elements visually representing a customized selection of one or more of first subset of plurality of channel feature recommended for the channel to be created as taught by McBeth in order to ensure when companies change their policies, creators won't lose their audiences without any control. Regarding claim(s) 2, 9, Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth teach The method, the system, the one or more UI elements, the channel owner, the customized selection, channel feature recommendation of the plurality of channel feature recommendations. McBeth further teach one or more UI elements are interactive to allow channel owner to modify customized selection or add a selection of another channel feature recommendation of the plurality of channel feature recommendations. (Fig. 6, 8A-8B, 9A-9B, P. 80, 94, 109, 120, 124, 125, analytics module 310 may communicate with UIM 318 to present analytics/insights to creators and speakers for them to better understand what content to continue creating or to avoid in order to increase audience engagement. FIG. 8A shows a brief description of the metric for a communication session (e.g., “Jay Leno Live!” show) in an interface 800, which reads on (plurality of engagement signals associated with one or more channels of channel owner) and thus improve the values creators and/or audiences may get from their work, such as suggest which creators should work together in a communication session, recommend sponsorships to creators and content to brands. Assessment module 316 may intelligently recommend brands to sponsor creators and logistically handle the execution of enhancing content and communication session creation experience, which reads on (channel feature recommendations to be created) 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 Sterling in view of Bonner by one or more UI elements are interactive to allow channel owner to modify customized selection or add a selection of another channel feature recommendation of the plurality of channel feature recommendations as taught by McBeth in order to ensure when companies change their policies, creators won't lose their audiences without any control. Regarding claim(s) 4, 11, 17, Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth teach The method, the system, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, one or more of the plurality of channel feature recommendations, the plurality of engagement signals. Bonner further teach determining one or more respective channel membership levels; and in response to receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of channel feature recommendations, associating, based on a number of selected channel feature recommendations, a first channel feature recommendation with a respective channel membership level. (Fig 1, P. 26, 28-29, 44, 46, 59-50 content creator 12 may specify the subscription level to preferential access correlation,... the specification and management of subscriptions on behalf of content creator 12 may be handled by subscription component 18 alone or in conjunction with database 24. For example, a user interface may be provided via subscription component 18 allowing content creator 12 to specify his/her desired subscription levels and corresponding preferential access, as well as his/her preferred sources of revenue. Subscription component 18 may receive the information input by content creator 12 and transmit the information for storage as one or more records, …. individual modifiable features may include and/or visually reproduce at least some of the subscribership information,. content creators may then review the modified digital assets prior to accepting them, content creators may make changes and/or edits to the modified digital assets presented in the recommendations, effectuate presentation of the individual recommendations in the reward fulfilment user interface presented on the computing platforms of the content creators). 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 Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth by determining one or more respective channel membership levels; and in response to receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of channel feature recommendations, associating, based on a number of selected channel feature recommendations, a first channel feature recommendation with a respective channel membership level as taught by Bonner in order to allow supporters of a project are given rewards or special perks, where the size and/or exclusivity of the rewards or special perks may depend on the amount contributed. McBeth in response to receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of channel feature recommendations, associating, based on plurality of engagement signals and a number of selected channel feature recommendations. (Fig. 6, 8A-8B, 9A-9B, P. 80, 94, 109, 120, 124, 125, analytics module 310 may communicate with UIM 318 to present analytics/insights to creators and speakers for them to better understand what content to continue creating or to avoid in order to increase audience engagement. FIG. 8A shows a brief description of the metric for a communication session (e.g., “Jay Leno Live!” show) in an interface 800, and thus improve the values creators and/or audiences may get from their work, such as suggest which creators should work together in a communication session, recommend sponsorships to creators and content to brands. Assessment module 316 may intelligently recommend brands to sponsor creators and logistically handle the execution of enhancing content and communication session creation experience, which reads on (channel feature recommendations), assessment module 316 may also generate recommendations and suggestions to increase the values creators and/or audiences may get from their work, selecting one of the recommendation would read on ( receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of channel feature recommendations )). 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 Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth by receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of channel feature recommendations, associating, based on plurality of engagement signals and a number of selected channel feature recommendations as taught by McBeth in order to ensure when companies change their policies, creators won't lose their audiences without any control. Regarding claim(s) 5, 12, 18, Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth teach The method, the system, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, identifying the plurality of engagement signals. McBeth further teach at least one of:(i) identifying a number of subscribers associated with the channel owner;(ii) identifying a geographic location of one or more subscribers associated with the channel owner; or (iii) identifying a type of content associated with the channel owner, wherein the type of content comprises at least one of: livestream media, short form media, or long form media. (Fig. 8A-8B, P. 94, the insight summary includes a list 812 of metrics 814 . As depicted, metrics 814 that are associated with a live communication session and generated for a creator may be presented in order of priority as follows: [0095] Live Attendees: a number of audiences in the communication session; [0096] Most Engaged: a number of total reactions by unique/active users; [0097] Least Engaged: a number of users that either left the communication session or did not react at all while listening/viewing the communication session; [0098] Total: a number of total listeners/viewers, etc. etc.) 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 Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth by at least one of:(i) identifying a number of subscribers associated with the channel owner;(ii) identifying a geographic location of one or more subscribers associated with the channel owner; or (iii) identifying a type of content associated with the channel owner, wherein the type of content comprises at least one of: livestream media, short form media, or long form media as taught by McBeth in order to ensure when companies change their policies, creators won't lose their audiences without any control . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 3, 10, 16 , is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (US 20250240499) to (Sterling) in view of (US 20230171452) to (Bonner) in view of (US 20240205483) to (McBeth) in view of (US 20240251130) to (Berezhony) Regarding claim(s) 3, 10, 16, Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth teach the method, the system, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, determining, for each engagement signal of the plurality of engagement signals, the channel UI, the plurality of offer recommendations, McBeth further teach determining, for each engagement signal of plurality of engagement signals, a respective ranking. (Fig. 6, 8A-8B, 9A-9B, P. 80, 94, 109, 120, 124, 125, analytics module 310 may communicate with UIM 318 to present analytics/insights to creators and speakers for them to better understand what content to continue creating or to avoid in order to increase audience engagement. FIG. 8A shows a brief description of the metric for a communication session (e.g., “Jay Leno Live!” show) in an interface 800, and thus improve the values creators and/or audiences may get from their work, such as suggest which creators should work together in a communication session, recommend sponsorships to creators and content to brands. Assessment module 316 may intelligently recommend brands to sponsor creators and logistically handle the execution of enhancing content and communication session creation experience). Berezhony further teach provide a second subset of plurality of offer recommendations, wherein the second subset of the plurality of offer recommendations is arranged in an order based on respective ranking for each engagement signal. (P. 24, 33, 69, 72, 80, prefetch (e.g., cache or fetch and locally store) a sequence of videos from a recommendation engine (e.g., the video ranking module) that match current preference of a user criterion that identifies a user or content creator to which a given user subscribes, messaging client application 104 communicates with the video ranking module 414 to obtain a list of videos that best match the current preferences of the given user ). 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 Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth by provide a second subset of plurality of offer recommendations, wherein the second subset of the plurality of offer recommendations is arranged in an order based on respective ranking for each engagement signal as taught by Berezhony in order to provide many ways to share videos among users . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 6, 13, 19 , is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (US 20250240499) to (Sterling) in view of (US 20230171452) to (Bonner) in view of (US 20240205483) to (McBeth) in view of (US 20240251130) to (Berezhony) in view of (US 20220329910) to (Resnick) Regarding claim(s) 6, 13, 19, Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth in view of Berezhony teach the method, the system, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, determining, for each engagement signal of the plurality of engagement signals, the respective ranking. Resnick further teach assigning a weight value to each engagement signal of plurality of engagement signals. ( P. 129, each of the content items may be assigned a ranking value and ranked accordingly, wherein a highest (or lowest) ranked content item in the library may correspond to the engagement content item most likely to be of interest to a user). 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 Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth in view of Berezhony by assigning a weight value to each engagement signal of plurality of engagement signals as taught by Resnick in order to provide more appealing content, and to increase interest and more engagement from users . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 7, 14, 20 , is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (US 20250240499) to (Sterling) in view of (US 20230171452) to (Bonner) in view of (US 20240205483) to (McBeth) in view of (US 20240251130) to (Berezhony) in view of (US 20110179453) to (Poniatowski) Regarding claim(s) 7, 14, 20, Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth in view of Berezhony teach the method, the system, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, determining, for each engagement signal of the plurality of engagement signals, the respective ranking. Bonner further teach determining a fee associated with each of the one or more respective channel membership levels. ( P. 3, Subscribers may be users of the membership platform who subscribe, through payment of a one-time and/or recurring (e.g., monthly) fee, to one or more content creators. A subscriber of an individual content creator may obtain access to benefit items offered through the membership platform by virtue of being a subscriber to the individual content creator ) Poniatowski further teach based on one or more of: a number of channel features included in a respective channel membership level, resources to be consumed to provide the respective channel membership level, time to be spent to implement the respective channel membership level, an estimated value of the respective channel membership level to subscribers, engagement signals with respect to fee recommendations previously provided to the channel owner, or existing membership level fees of channels of other channel owners, wherein the one or more UI elements of the channel UI displays the fee associated with each of the one or more respective channel membership levels. (Fig 37, P. 133-134, he content availability data includes information indicating whether a particular item of content is available from a source approved by the user, such as a subscription level necessary to view the content from a particular source, a fee that will be charged to the user to view the content from a particular source, or a characteristic of the available stream(s) of the content at a particular source, at step 3750 user is given the option for retrieval, which reads on (displays fee associated with membership level)). 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 Sterling in view of Bonner in view of McBeth in view of Berezhony by based on one or more of: a number of channel features included in a respective channel membership level, resources to be consumed to provide the respective channel membership level, time to be spent to implement the respective channel membership level, an estimated value of the respective channel membership level to subscribers, engagement signals with respect to fee recommendations previously provided to the channel owner, or existing membership level fees of channels of other channel owners, wherein the one or more UI elements of the channel UI displays the fee associated with each of the one or more respective channel membership levels as taught by Poniatowski in order to provide more appealing content, and to increase flexibility and more engagement from users. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONG LE whose telephone number is (571)270-7637. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (9 am - 6pm). 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, Nathan Flynn can be reached at 5712721915. 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. /RONG LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 2 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 3 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 4 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 5 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 6 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 7 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 8 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 9 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 10 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 11 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 12 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 13 Art Unit: 2421 Application/Control Number: 19/201,849 Page 14 Art Unit: 2421
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 07, 2025
Application Filed
May 12, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jul 30, 2026
Interview Requested
Aug 05, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Aug 05, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
68%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+29.1%)
3y 3m (~2y 0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 448 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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