DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Note: Preliminary amendment filed 08/13/2025 and 10/14/2025 has been received and considered.
Claims 1-20 have been canceled and claims 21-34 have been newly added.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(e) the invention was described in a patent granted on an application for patent by another filed in the United States before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or on an international application by another who has fulfilled the requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), and (4) of section 371(c) of this title before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent.
The changes made to 35 U.S.C. 102(e) by the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 (AIPA) and the Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical Amendments Act of 2002 do not apply when the reference is a U.S. patent resulting directly or indirectly from an international application filed before November 29, 2000. Therefore, the prior art date of the reference is determined under 35 U.S.C. 102(e) prior to the amendment by the AIPA (pre-AIPA 35 U.S.C. 102(e)).
Claims 21-34 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e)as being anticipated by Beals (US 2010/0272257).
Regarding claim 21, Beals discloses a method comprising:
receiving, at a user device, via an IP-based video delivery network, a stream of media content in a first format (receive audio/video stream in any format over an IPTV distribution system; see at least paragraphs 0018-0019), wherein the stream of the media content comprises a plurality of data packets (transport stream; see at least paragraphs 0022-0023), and wherein each respective data packet of the plurality of data packets comprises a respective unencrypted portion required by the first format and a respective encrypted portion that comprises respective encrypted video data (the transport stream includes unencrypted portions and encrypted content; see at least paragraphs 0023-0025);
processing, at the user device, the stream of the media content by:
stripping the respective unencrypted portion from each respective data packet (by tuner; see at least paragraphs 0022-0023); and
assembling the respective encrypted portion of each respective data packet into a second encrypted stream in a second format different from the first format, wherein the second format is compatible with a hardware decryption device of the user device that is configured to store one or more private keys (generating a filtered transport stream 224 and providing the stream to a conditional access system that interface with a smart card for decrypting the filtered transport stream; see at least paragraphs 0024-0025);
based at least in part on providing the second encrypted stream to the hardware decryption device, causing the hardware decryption device to:
decrypt the second encrypted stream, using the one or more private keys, to generate a decrypted video stream (decrypting the filtered transport stream using encrypted key information; see at least paragraphs 0024-0026 and 0030); and
based at least in part on receiving a request for the media content from one or more applications associated with the user device, generating for display, on the user device, the decrypted video stream (outputting the stream; see at least paragraphs 0019-0021 and 0032).
Regarding claim 22, Beals discloses the method of claim 21, wherein the hardware decryption device is a part of a video card associated with the user device (see at least paragraphs 0024-0025).
Regarding claim 23, Beals discloses the method of claim 21, wherein the one or more applications is not aware that the stream of the media content is received via the IP-based video delivery network (see at least paragraphs 0019-0021 and 0032).
Regarding claim 24, Beals discloses the method of claim 21, wherein the one or more applications is associated with an operating system of the user device, and wherein the operating system is not configured to decrypt the respective encrypted video data of each respective data packet using software decryption (see at least paragraphs 0019-0021, 0032 and 0043).
Regarding claim 25, Beals discloses the method of claim 21, wherein the one or more applications functions as one of a program guide, a digital video recorder (DVR), or a program that translates and synchronizes the media content to a mobile device (see at least paragraphs 0019 and 0023).
Regarding claim 26, Beals discloses the method of claim 21, wherein the one or more applications is not configured to directly process IP-based unicast streams or IP-based multicast streams (without decryption; as above).
Regarding claim 27, Beals discloses the method of claim 21, wherein the second encrypted stream in the second format is consistent with a traditional broadcast TV feed (see at least paragraph 0019).
Claim 28 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 21.
Claim 29 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 22.
Claim 30 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 23.
Claim 31 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 24.
Claim 32 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 25.
Claim 33 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 26.
Claim 34 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 27.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YASSIN ALATA whose telephone number is (571)270-5683. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7-4 ET.
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/YASSIN ALATA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426
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