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 .
This communication is responsive to the application filed on August 8, 2026. Claims 1-20 are pending at the time of examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on August 28, 2025 was considered by the examiner. See attached PTO-form 1449.
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).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-20 of the instant application are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No.12,425,694. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1-20 are directed to
Instant application Patent (‘694)
1.A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions recorded thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one data processor of a system, cause the system to:
obtain, from a database storing multiple digital media, a digital medium among the multiple digital media including metadata associated with the digital medium, wherein the digital medium includes video data or audio data;
obtain an indication of content associated with the digital medium; provide the indication of the content associated with the digital medium and a prompt to an artificial intelligence, wherein the prompt requests multiple tags based on the indication of the content associated with the digital medium, wherein a tag among the multiple tags indicates the content associated with the digital medium;
obtain the multiple tags from the artificial intelligence;
determine relevance associated with the multiple tags;
based on the relevance, select a predetermined number of tags from the multiple tags;
decrease a memory footprint associated with the database by storing the selected tags in the database by adding the selected tags to the metadata associated with the digital medium to obtain new metadata; and
enable a search of the multiple digital media stored in the database by searching the selected tags.
A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions recorded thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one data processor of a system, cause the system to:
obtain, from a database storing multiple video data, a video data among the multiple video data including metadata associated with the video data, wherein the video data is associated with a video, wherein the metadata includes a title associated with the video data, wherein the database storing the multiple video data is configured to support a first search using the metadata;
extract, from the video associated with the video data, an audio and a closed caption data; provide the audio, the closed caption data, the title associated with the video data, and a prompt to a large language model, wherein the prompt requests multiple tags based on the audio, the closed caption data, and the title associated with the video data, wherein a tag among the multiple tags includes a natural language text indicating content associated with the video data;
obtain the multiple tags from the large language model;
determine relevance associated with the multiple tags;
based on the relevance, select a predetermined number of tags from the multiple tags;
decrease a memory footprint associated with the database by storing the selected tags in the database by adding the selected tags to the metadata associated with the video data to obtain new metadata; and enable a second search of the multiple video data stored in the database by searching the new metadata, wherein results of the second search have a lower error margin than results of the first search.
8. A method comprising:
obtaining, from a database storing multiple digital media, a digital medium among the multiple digital media including metadata associated with the digital medium, wherein the digital medium includes video data or audio data;
obtaining an indication of content associated with the digital medium;
providing the indication of the content associated with the digital medium and a prompt to an artificial intelligence, wherein the prompt requests multiple tags based on the indication of the content associated with the digital medium, wherein a tag among the multiple tags indicates the content associated with the digital medium;
obtaining the multiple tags from the artificial intelligence; determining relevance associated with the multiple tags;
based on the relevance, selecting a predetermined number of tags from the multiple tags;
decreasing a memory footprint associated with the database by storing the selected tags in the database by adding the selected tags to the metadata associated with the digital medium to obtain new metadata; and
enabling a search of the multiple digital media stored in the database by searching the selected tags.
8. A method comprising:
obtaining, from a database storing multiple digital media, a digital medium among the multiple digital media including metadata associated with the digital medium, wherein the digital medium includes video data or audio data, wherein the database storing the multiple digital media is configured to support a first search using the metadata;
obtaining, from the digital medium, an audio and a closed caption data; providing the audio, the closed caption data, the metadata, and a prompt to an artificial intelligence, wherein the prompt requests multiple tags based on the audio, the closed caption data, and the metadata, wherein a tag among the multiple tags indicates content associated with the digital medium;
obtaining the multiple tags from the artificial intelligence;
determining relevance associated with the multiple tags; based on the relevance, selecting a predetermined number of tags from the multiple tags;
decreasing a memory footprint associated with the database by storing the selected tags in the database by adding the selected tags to the metadata associated with the digital medium to obtain new metadata; and
enabling a second search of the multiple digital media stored in the database by searching the new metadata, wherein the second search provides more accurate results than the first search.
14. A system comprising: at least one hardware processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the system to:
obtain, from a database storing multiple digital media, a digital medium among the multiple digital media including metadata associated with the digital medium, wherein the digital medium includes video data or audio data;
obtain an indication of content associated with the digital medium; provide the indication of the content associated with the digital medium and a prompt to an artificial intelligence, wherein the prompt requests multiple tags based on the indication of the content associated with the digital medium, wherein a tag among the multiple tags indicates the content associated with the digital medium;
obtain the multiple tags from the artificial intelligence;
determine relevance associated with the multiple tags;
based on the relevance, select a predetermined number of tags from the multiple tags; decrease a memory footprint associated with the database by storing the selected tags in the database by adding the selected tags to the metadata associated with the digital medium to obtain new metadata; and
enable a search of the multiple digital media stored in the database by searching the selected tags.
14. A system comprising: at least one hardware processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the system to: obtain, from a database storing multiple digital media, a digital medium among the multiple digital media including metadata associated with the digital medium, wherein the digital medium includes video data or audio data, wherein the database storing the multiple digital media is configured to support a first search using the metadata; obtain, from the digital medium, an audio and a closed caption data;
provide the audio, the closed caption data, the metadata, and a prompt to an artificial intelligence, wherein the prompt requests multiple tags based on the audio, the closed caption data, and the metadata, wherein a tag among the multiple tags indicates content associated with the digital medium;
obtain the multiple tags from the artificial intelligence;
determine relevance associated with the multiple tags; based on the relevance, select a predetermined number of tags from the multiple tags;
decrease a memory footprint associated with the database by storing the multiple tags in the database by adding the multiple tags to the metadata associated with the digital medium to obtain new metadata; and
enable a second search of the multiple digital media stored in the database by searching the new metadata, wherein the second search provides more accurate results than the first search.
After analyzing the language claim of the claims, it is clear that claims 1-20 of the instant application are merely an obvious variation of claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,425,694. While claims 21-40 of the instant application is slightly broader than claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,425,694, this difference is not enough to distinguish the two instant application claims and the patent claims. With respect to the language and the disclosure of the instant application not only fail to distinguish it from the Patent No. 12,425,694, but indicate that it is merely a subset of the Patent No12,425,694. These differences are not sufficient to render the claims patentably distinct, and therefore, claims 1-20 of the instant application are valid.
A later patent/application claim is not patentably distinct from an earlier claim if the later claim is anticipated by the earlier claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record, listed on form PTO-892, and not relied upon, if any, is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEBBIE M LE whose telephone number is (571)272-4111. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Rones can be reached at 571-272-4085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DEBBIE M LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2168 August 8, 2026
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