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 .
Double Patenting
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 nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claim 21-40 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 11593846. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they are different definitions or descriptions of the same subject matter varying in breadth and because of the claims in the instant application are broader than the claims in '846.
A comparison of the claim language follows, where the similar language is underlined for identification:
U.S. Patent No. 12382112
Instant Application
19/264582
A system comprising: a computing platform having a processing hardware and a system memory storing a software code; the processing hardware configured to execute the software code to: receive digital content indexed to a timeline; receive insertion data identifying a timecode of the timeline; encode the digital content using the insertion data to provide segmented content having a segment boundary at the timecode, a first segment and a second segment adjoining the segment boundary, wherein the first segment precedes the segment boundary and the second segment succeeds the segment boundary;apply a fade-out within or to the first segment and a fade-in within or to the second segment;wherein applying the fade-out and the fade-in produces and places the fade-out in the first segment and produces and places the fade-in in the second segment, and provides encoded first and second segments having the segment boundary situated between the fade-out and the fade-in configured as an insertion point for supplemental content.
A computer system comprising: a processing hardware; and a memory storing a software code; the processing hardware configured to execute the software code to:receive encoded digital content including a predetermined segment boundary, a first segment preceding and adjoining the predetermined segment boundary, and a second segment following and adjoining the predetermined segment boundary; and apply a fade-out within or to the first segment and a fade-in within or to the second segment; wherein applying the fade-out and the fade-in provides encoded first and second segments having the predetermined segment boundary configured as an insertion point for supplemental content.
U.S. Patent No. 12382112
Instant Application
19/264582
A method for use by a system including a computing platform having a processing hardware, and a system memory storing a software code, the method comprising: receiving, by the software code executed by the processing hardware, digital content indexed to a timeline; receiving, by the software code executed by the processing hardware, insertion data identifying a timecode of the timeline; encoding the digital content, by the software code executed by the processing hardware using the insertion data to provide segmented content having a segment boundary at the timecode, a first segment and a second segment adjoining the segment boundary, wherein the first segment precedes the segment boundary and the second segment succeeds the segment boundary; applying, by the software code executed by the processing hardware, a fade-out within or to the first segment and a fade-in within or to the second segment; wherein applying the fade-out and the fade-in produces and places the fade-out in the first segment and produces and places the fade-in in the second segment, and provides encoded first and second segments having the segment boundary situated between the fade-out and the fade-in configured as an insertion point for supplemental content.
A method for use by a computer system including a processing hardware and a memory storing a software code, the method comprising: receiving, by the software code executed by the processing hardware, encoded digital content including a predetermined segment boundary, a first segment preceding and adjoining the predetermined segment boundary, and a second segment following and adjoining the predetermined segment boundary; and applying, by the software code executed by the processing hardware, a fade-out within or to the first segment and a fade-in within or to the second segment; wherein applying the fade-out and the fade-in provides encoded first and second segments having the predetermined segment boundary configured as an insertion point for supplemental content.
Claims 22-30, 32-40 of the instant application are similar to claims 2-9, 11-19 patent application ‘112.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
2. Claim(s) 21-40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 11218784 B1 to Mekuira et al. (“Mekuira”) and US 20080276266 A1 to Hurchital et al. (“Hurchital”) and US 20190035431 A1 to Attorre.
As to claim 21, Mekuria teaches a computer system comprising: a processing hardware; and a memory storing a software code; the processing hardware configured to execute the software code to:receive encoded digital content including a predetermined segment boundary, a first segment preceding and adjoining the predetermined segment boundary, and a second segment following and adjoining the predetermined segment boundary; andapply a fade-out within or to the first segment and a fade-in within or to the second segment; wherein applying the fade-out and the fade-in provides encoded first and second segments having the predetermined segment boundary configured as an insertion point for supplemental content (Col. 13, ll. 30-45, request to specify one or more sets of encoding parameters to be used with a media file. Accordingly, information regarding the encoding parameters can be provided to a ABR Encoder 404, or other such component or service, that is able to receive the information through an appropriate interface (i.e., an API or console) and cause the profile and parameter data to be stored to appropriate repositories 407 as discussed elsewhere herein. When a request for a video file is received, the streaming server 403 can use the profile and parameter data to determine the appropriate encoding information, and can pass that to one or more ABR encoders 404, which can obtain the media file from media data store 405 (or from input content 408) and encode the media file per the encoding information, which can then be provided to the client device by the streaming server 403 or other such component) , wherein the first segment precedes the segment boundary and the second segment succeeds the segment boundary (Col. 16, ll. 56-65, upstream generators will place the marker for a break, action point, or injection point in the stream at the same time code or location, relative to the video frame, where the break, action point, or injection should occur. The injection can include the addition of alternative content while the remaining media content playback is paused, while an action can include starting another channel or selecting additional content to be presented during playback, among other such options. While many conventional approaches provide for some amount of pre-roll time, or provide the marker at a determined point prior in the stream to where the action or injection should occur, some providers provide little to no pre-roll time such that there can be issues with enabling the supplemental content (e.g., advertising or related content) to be ready to display at the appropriate time during playback); Mekuria does not teach re-process the first segment and the second segment to apply a fade-out within or to the first segment and a fade-in within or to the second segment ; wherein re-processing the first segment and the second segment provides encoded segments having the segment boundary configured as an insertion point for supplemental content. Hurchital teaches to apply a fade-out within or to the first segment and a fade-in within or to the second segment, wherein applying the fade-out and the fade-in provides encoded first and second segments having the segment boundary configured as an insertion point for supplemental content (¶0048, received content can also include object recognition. For example, automatic object recognition can be applied to received or acquired video data of a video content item to determine targeting criteria for one or more objects associated with the video content item. For example, the object recognition module 212 may automatically extract still frames from a video content item for analysis. The analysis may identify targeting criteria relevant to objects identified by the analysis. The analysis may also identify changes between sequential frames of the video content item that may be indicia of different scenes (e.g., fading to black). If the content item is an audio content item, then object recognition analysis is not applicable (because there is no video content to analyze). Examples of object recognition techniques include appearance-based object recognition, and object recognition based on local features). In view of the teachings of Hurchital, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Mekuria. The suggestion/motivation would be to provide a content processing apparatus which utilizes a recording medium effectively as advertising medium and a source of advertising income, a reproducing apparatus, a content processing system and a recording medium.
Attorre teaches applying the fade-out and the fade-in provides encoded first and second segments having the segment boundary situated between the fade-out and the fade-in configured as an insertion point for supplemental content. (¶0163). In view of the teachings of Attorre, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Mekuria and Hurchital. The suggestion/motivation would be integrating source digital content items into a target digital content item at appropriate time points so as to minimize the impact on user experience of viewing the integrated digital content.
4. As to claim 22, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the processing hardware is further configured to execute the software code to: before applying the fade-out and the fade-in determine, based on the segmented content, an optimal sequence of the segmented content for applying the fade-out and the fade-in the optimal sequence including at least one content segment in addition to the first segment and the second segment (Hurchital, ¶0048, received content can also include object recognition. For example, automatic object recognition can be applied to received or acquired video data of a video content item to determine targeting criteria for one or more objects associated with the video content item. For example, the object recognition module 212 may automatically extract still frames from a video content item for analysis. The analysis may identify targeting criteria relevant to objects identified by the analysis. The analysis may also identify changes between sequential frames of the video content item that may be indicia of different scenes (e.g., fading to black). If the content item is an audio content item, then object recognition analysis is not applicable (because there is no video content to analyze). Examples of object recognition techniques include appearance-based object recognition, and object recognition based on local feature).
5. As to claim 23, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 2, wherein the optimal sequence includes a plurality of content segments in addition to the first segment and the second segment, and wherein at least one of the plurality of content segments precedes the first segment or succeeds the second segment (Col. 17, ll. 5-28).
6. As to claim 24, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the supplemental content is new content (Col. 16, ll. 56-65, e.g., advertising or related content) to be ready to display at the appropriate time during playback).
7. As to claim 25, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 4, wherein the supplemental content comprises at least one advertisement (Col. 13, ll. 48-65, The live stream feed may comprise live video content (e.g., sporting events, concert events, pay-per-view events, etc.), pre-recorded content (e.g., television shows, movies, time-delayed events, sports highlights, etc.), and/or advertisement content (e.g., commercials), among others. The packager may receive one or more input signals (e.g., input) and generate one or more bitstreams. The bitstreams can be delivered by an encoder/packager to the content delivery network (CDN) 401. The bitstreams can represent various encoded/packaged versions of the signal feed, as may be encoded per the encoding parameters from the ABR Encoder 404. For example, the bitstream may be a high resolution and/or high bitrate version of the signal feed. In some embodiments, different bitstreams may provide alternate audio (e.g., different languages) and/or closed captions. The number and/or types of the bitstreams may be varied per the profile or other data.)
8. As to claim 26, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the supplemental content comprises new content and a black segment preceding the new content (¶0048) or succeeding the new content.
9. As to claim 27, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the supplemental content comprises new content, a first black segment preceding the new content, and a second black segment succeeding the new content (¶0048).
10. As to claim 28, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 1, wherein a same playlist for playback of the segmented content before applying the fade-out and the fade-in can be used for playback of the segmented content after re- processing (Fig. 5, Col. 22, ll. 23-40).
11. As to claim 29, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 1, wherein a timeline of the segmented content after applying the fade-out and the fade-in matches the timeline of the digital content (¶0119).
12. As to claim 30, Mekuria, Hurchital and Attorre teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the segmented content comprises adaptive bit- rate (ABR) content (Col. 13, ll. 30-45, request to specify one or more sets of encoding parameters to be used with a media file. Accordingly, information regarding the encoding parameters can be provided to a ABR Encoder 404).
13. As to claim 31, see the rejection of claim 21.
14. As to claim 32, see the rejection of claim 22.
15. As to claim 33, see the rejection of claim 23.
16. As to claim 34, see the rejection of claim 24.
17. As to claim 35, see the rejection of claim 25.
18. As to claim 36, see the rejection of claim 26.
19. As to claim 37, see the rejection of claim 27.
20. As to claim 38, see the rejection of claim 28.
21. As to claim 39, see the rejection of claim 29.
22. As to claim 40, see the rejection of claim 30.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTINE A KURIEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5694. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7:30-4:30.
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/CHRISTINE A KURIEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2421 /NATHAN J FLYNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2421
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