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 .
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 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis 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.
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 § 2146 et seq. 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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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 9 of U.S. Patent No. 12,423,741. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the instant claims are anticipated by the patented claims as demonstrated below.
Instant Application
US PAT 12,423,741
1, 10, and 19: A method comprising:
1. A method comprising:
receiving and presenting be a media player of a media-presentation location, a media-content item being streamed over a network to the media player form a media server of the media-presentation system, wherein the media-presentation system further includes a control server for controlling streaming of the media-content item by the media server;
receiving and presenting by a media player of a media-presentation system, at a media-presentation location, a media-content item being streamed over a network to the media player from a media server of the media-presentation system, wherein the media-presentation system further includes a control server for controlling streaming of the media-content item by the media server;
before ending of the presentation of the media-content item (i) predicting by the media-presentation system a media end time defining when the presentation of the media content by the media player will end, (ii) identifying by the media-presentation system a breakpoint in the media-content item that will occur before the predicted end time, (iii) selecting by the media-presentation system one or more items available to order, the selecting of each item of the one or more items being based at least on the item, if ordered at the identified breakpoint, being deliverable to the media-presentation location at the predicted media end time, and (iv) based on the identifying and the selecting, automatically transmitting by the control server to the media player a control signal that specifies the identified breakpoint and that directs the media player to pause at the identified breakpoint the presenting of the media-content item and to present at the identified breakpoint an order prompt indicating the one or more selected items as being available to order,
before ending of the presentation of the media-content item (i) predicting by the media-presentation system a media end time defining when the presentation of the media content by the media player will end, (ii) identifying by the media-presentation system a breakpoint in the media-content item that will occur before the predicted end time, (iii) selecting by the media-presentation system one or more items available to order, the selecting of each item of the one or more items being based at least on the item, if ordered at the identified breakpoint, being deliverable to the media-presentation location at the predicted media and time, and (iv) based on the identifying and the selecting, automatically transmitting by the control server to the media player a control signal that specifies the identified breakpoint and that causes (a) pausing by the media player at the identified breakpoint the presenting of the media-content item and (b) presenting by the media player at the identified breakpoint an order prompt indicating the one or more selected items as being available to order,
wherein the control server maintains context data indicating state of presentation of the media-content item by the media player at the media-presentation location, including an indication of remaining streaming duration of the media-content item, and wherein predicting when the presentation of the media-content item at the media-presentation location will end comprises the control server (i) referring to the context data to determine the remaining streaming duration of the media-content item and (ii) offsetting a current time of day by the determined remaining streaming duration.
wherein the control server maintained context data indicating state of presentation of the media-content item by the media player at the media-presentation location, including an indication of remaining streaming duration of the media-content item, and wherein predicting when the presentation of the media-content item at the media-presentation location will end comprises the control server (i) referring to the context data to determine the remaining streaming duration of the media-content item and (ii) offsetting a current time of day by the determined remaining streaming duration.
2 and 11: wherein the identified breakpoint comprises at least one of an intermission, a commercial break, a time when the media-content item transitions from one content segment, episode, chapter, storyline to another, or a time when there is a lull in action in the media-content item.
2. wherein the identified breakpoint comprises at least one of an intermission, a commercial break, a time when the media-content item transitions from one content segment, episode, chapter, storyline to another, or a time when there is lull in action in the media-content item.
3, 12, and 20: determining by the media-presentation system that, if the item is ordered at the identified breakpoint, the item will be deliverable to the media-presentation location at the predicted media end time.
3. determining by the media-presentation system that, if the item is ordered at the identified breakpoint, the item will be deliverable to the media-presentation location at the predicted media end time.
4 and 13: receiving by the media-presentation system, in response to the presented order prompt, an order for at least one of the one or more items, and responsively processing by the media-presentation system the order.
4. receiving by the media-presentation system, in response to the presented order prompt, an order for at least one of the one or more items, and responsively processing by the media-presentation system the order.
5 and 14: determining by the media-presentation system that presentation of the media-content item will end later than predicted; and responsive to determining by the media-presentation system that presentation of the media- content item will end later than predicted, updating by the media-presentation system the order.
5. determining by the media-presentation system that presentation of the media-content item will end later than predicted; and3 responsive to determining by the media-presentation system that presentation of the media-content item will end later than predicted, updating by the media-presentation system the order.
6 and 15: wherein processing the order comprises processing the order through an application programming interface.
6. wherein processing the order comprises processing the order through an application programming interface.
7 and 16: wherein each of the one or more items comprises a food item.
7. wherein each of the one or more items comprises a food item.
8 and 17: wherein selecting the one or more items is further based on a correlation with a subject matter of the media-content item.
8. wherein selecting the one or more items is further based on a correlation with a subject matter of the media-content item.
9 and 18: wherein the media-content item is selected from the group consisting of a movie, a television show, and video game.
9. wherein the media-content item is selected from the group consisting of a movie, a television show, and video game.
Subject Matter Eligibility
The claim recite the control server sending a control signal that specifies a breakpoint and causes the media player to pause the media at the specified breakpoint to present the prompt indicating the one or more selected items being available to order, which necessarily utilizes the technology of the server and media player with the abstract idea, and integrates the abstract idea into a practical application beyond merely providing a general link to a particular technological environment.
Subject Matter Free of Prior Art
Claims 1-20 are determined to have overcome the prior art of rejection and are free of the prior art, however, the claims remain rejected under Double Patenting.
Claims 1-20 are found to overcome the prior art rejection for the reasons as set forth below.
Claim 1 recites the claimed features of a method comprising:
(iii) selecting by the media-presentation system one or more items available to order, the selecting of each item of the one or more items being based at least on the item, if ordered at the identified breakpoint, being deliverable to the media-presentation location at the predicted media end time, and (iv) based on the identifying and the selecting, automatically transmitting by the control server to the media player a control signal that specifies the identified breakpoint and that directs the media player to pause at the identified breakpoint the presenting of the media-content item and to present at the identified breakpoint an order prompt indicating the one or more selected items as being available to order;
The closest prior art was found to be as follows:
Fredette (US 20150302347 A1) discloses [0084] - “upon retrieving the live content data, the desired delivery time determination module 406 may be able to determine the timing of the live event and identify interruptions or breaks, e.g. time-outs or intermissions, in presentation of the live content. In one embodiment, the desired delivery time determination module 406 may estimate from the retrieved live content data and commercials data at which points during the live broadcast the commercials are to be presented (e.g. estimate a timing of half-times or intermissions, which are typically set of occur at predetermined times during a course of the event). As such, the desired delivery time determination module 406 may identify breaks in the live action and estimate therefrom the timing of the next intermission or commercial break. The desired delivery time determination module 406 may then set the desired delivery time of the patron's order to match the time of the next intermission”.
However, Fredette does not disclose identifying items that if ordered at the identified breakpoint, would be delivered by the end of the media content item. Furthermore, Fredette also does not disclose where the server pauses the media content item at the identified breakpoint to present a prompt of the selected items.
Janugani (US 20200162771 A1) discloses [0024] – “selects secondary media content 111 to accompany the primary media content 110 being provided as described with respect to the previous process block 405 and then provides the selected secondary content 11 to the media device 125. For example, the secondary media content 111 could be commercial content, e.g., a communication providing information about items such as food available for delivery at a time that the primary content 110 is being provided”.
However, Janugani does not disclose where the items are selected based on being delivered by the end of the media content item if ordered at a predicted breakpoint, or pausing the media content item at the predicted breakpoint.
Bhogale (US 20220319119 A1) discloses [0044] – “It is noted that the time of delivery can be based on a specific point in time associated with the event. For example, the user may designate that the delivery time to be a half hour before the start of the event, halftime (e.g., event that is for a football game), end of first quarter, end of game, seventh inning (e.g., baseball game), etc. So, the user-defined delivery time can be relative to a point in time associated with the event. In this way, if the event is delayed for any reason (because of weather or because of a prior game that goes into overtime delaying the start of the game associated with the party), the group receives their delivery of ordered items at an appropriate desired time relative to the event's progress”.
However, Bhogale does not disclose predicting a breakpoint and selecting items that if ordered at the breakpoint would be delivered by the end of the media content item, or pausing the media content item at the predicted breakpoint to present the prompt of the selected items.
PTO-892 Reference U discloses interactive advertisement formats in interactive digital television to tailor to individuals and lead to less commercial skips. The commercials have a raised dependency on the metadata of the movie or TV show to refine the recommended commercials.
However, PTO-892 Reference U does not disclose predicting a breakpoint or selecting items to be delivered to the user.
It was found that no references alone or in combination, neither anticipates, reasonable teaches, nor renders obvious the below noted features of Applicant’s invention. The features of claim 1 in combination that overcome the prior art are:
(iii) selecting by the media-presentation system one or more items available to order, the selecting of each item of the one or more items being based at least on the item, if ordered at the identified breakpoint, being deliverable to the media-presentation location at the predicted media end time, and (iv) based on the identifying and the selecting, automatically transmitting by the control server to the media player a control signal that specifies the identified breakpoint and that directs the media player to pause at the identified breakpoint the presenting of the media-content item and to present at the identified breakpoint an order prompt indicating the one or more selected items as being available to order;
Therefore, none of the cited references disclose or render obvious each and every feature of the claimed invention and the claimed invention is determined to be free of the prior art. Although individually the claimed features could be taught, any combination of references would teach the claimed limitations using a piecemeal analysis, since references would only be combined and deemed obvious based on knowledge gleaned from the applicant's disclosure. Such a reconstruction is improper (i.e., hindsight reasoning). See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971). The examiner emphasizes that it is the interrelationship of the limitations that renders these claims free of the prior art/additional art.
Therefore, it is hereby asserted by the Examiner that, in light of the above, that claims 1-20 are free of prior art as the references do not anticipate the claims and do not render obvious any further modification of the references to a person of ordinary skill in art.
Conclusion
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/T.J.K./ Examiner, Art Unit 3689
/VICTORIA E. FRUNZI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3689 8/26/2026
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