DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Allowable Subject Matter
But for the double patenting rejection below, claim 1 would be allowable because the prior art does not teach tracking, by a legacy receiving device, viewer measurement tokens generated during playback of a content stream and corresponding to an action, control, or event that occurred during content playback, then merging, by the legacy receiving device, the tracked viewer measurement tokens with a set of baseline format tokens associated with the playback of the content stream, to generate merged token data comprising both the tracked tokens and the baseline tokens (see Specification para. 58), wherein the baseline format is used by a content server for serving the content to the legacy receiving device and for communication with a new generation (not legacy) receiving device, and finally transmitting by the legacy receiving device, the merged token data to the content server for storage.
These limitations, taken together with the rest of the claimed invention, render claim 1 and dependents allowable.
But for the double patenting rejection below, claim 10 would be allowable because the prior art does not teach tracking, by a legacy receiving device (i.e. a device , viewer measurement tokens generated during playback of a content stream and corresponding to an action, control, or event that occurred during content playback, associating each of the tracked viewer measurement tokens with timing information corresponding to the tracked tokens, then merging, by the legacy receiving device, the tracked viewer measurement tokens with a set of baseline format tokens associated with the playback of the content stream, to generate merged token data comprising both the tracked tokens and the baseline tokens (see Specification para. 58), wherein the baseline format is used by a content server for serving the content to the legacy receiving device and for communication with a new generation (not legacy) receiving device.
These limitations, taken together with the rest of the claimed invention, render claim 10 and dependents allowable.
But for the double patenting rejection below, claim 16 would be allowable because the prior art does not teach tracking, by a legacy receiving device (i.e. a device that is not compatible with or able to process content in the manner of the new generation device recited below), viewer measurement tokens generated during playback of a content stream and corresponding to an action, control, or event (related to the viewer, not the content itself) that occurred during content playback, associating each of the tracked viewer measurement tokens with timing information corresponding to the tracked tokens, then merging, by the legacy receiving device, the tracked viewer measurement tokens with a set of baseline format tokens associated with the playback of the content stream, to generate merged token data comprising both the tracked tokens and the baseline tokens (see Specification para. 58), wherein the baseline format is used by a content server that serves the content, then storing the merged token data at the server.
These limitations, taken together with the rest of the claimed invention, render claim 16 and dependents allowable.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled "Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.
Double Patenting
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,328,473.
Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the examined application claim would have been anticipated by the reference claims. Both sets of claims are directed to a method of merging tokens for use in legacy video systems, and one of ordinary skill would see the claims in question as obvious variants of each other.
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees.
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy R Newlin whose telephone number is (571)270-3015. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 Mountain Time.
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/TIMOTHY R NEWLIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2424
Prosecution Insights