Ex Parte Barton

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Feb 9, 2016

11982256 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 9, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
111982,256 10/31/2007
127614 7590 02/11/2016
Wong & Rees LLP
4677 Old Ironsides Drive, Suite 370
Santa Clara, CA 95054
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
James M. Barton
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
60097-0368 1778
EXAMINER
MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3683
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
02/11/2016 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address( es):
docketing@wongrees.com
jyang@wongrees.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte JAMES M. BARTON
Appeal2013-004631
Application 11/982,256
Technology Center 3600
Before ANTON W. PETTING, MICHAEL C. ASTORINO, and
TARA L. HUTCHINGS, Administrative Patent Judges.
PETTING, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE1
James M. Barton (Appellant) seeks review under 35 U.S.C. § 134 of a
final rejection of claims 26, 29-32, 35-38, and 41--43, the only claims
pending in the application on appeal. We have jurisdiction over the appeal
pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
1 Our decision will make reference to the Appellant's Appeal Brief ("App.
Br.," filed November 27, 2012) and Reply Brief ("Reply Br.," filed February
13, 2013), and the Examiner's Answer ("Ans.," mailed December 14, 2012),
and Final Rejection ("Final Act.," mailed September 13, 2012).
Appeal2013-004631
Application 11/982,256
The Appellant invented a way of distributing multimedia advertisements
to consumer devices. Specification para. 2.
An understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of
exemplary claim 26, which is reproduced below (bracketed matter and some
paragraphing added).
26. A method for distributing advertisements and/or content to
multimedia devices, comprising:
[ 1 ] receiving,
at a server,
content and associated metadata from advertisers and/ or
content providers,
the received content including at least one of:
[2] video advertisements or content, audio
advertisements or content, text advertisements or
content, graphical advertisements or content, or
multimedia advertisements or content,
the associated metadata including at least one of:
[ 4] receiving,
[3] content title, content synopsis,
information specifying what program or
type of program the content should be
played during, information specifying that
the content is to be played before or after a
program, or information specifying that the
content be displayed in a specific user
interface screen;
at the server,
a user's content viewing preferences;
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Application 11/982,256
[5] prior to the server receiving a synchronization request
from a multimedia device
that causes content items, in a content queue at the server
specifically for the multimedia device, to be transferred
from the server to the multimedia device,
the server performing:
[ 6] matching,
at the server,
the user's content viewing preferences with
appropriate received content using the received
associated metadata;
[7] enqueuing,
at the server,
a plurality of content items
as matched content and content information about
the plurality of content items in the content queue
at the server specifically for the multimedia device,
the same content queue being used by the server to
send queued content items to the multimedia
device at a plurality of different times in response
to a plurality of different synchronization requests
from the multimedia device;
[8] in response to the server receiving the synchronization
request from the multimedia device,
and
sending,
by the server,
the matched content and content information in the
content queue to the multimedia device;
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Application 11/982,256
[9] receiving user input commands and associated content
identification
from the multimedia device
that detail user input commands
input by the user while viewing a matched sent content.
The Examiner relies upon the following prior art:
Eldering US 2003/0149975 Al
Ishak US 2006/0223593 Al
Hopkins US 2007/0100690 Al
Aug. 7, 2003
Oct. 5, 2006
May 3, 2007
Claims 26, 30-32, 36-38, 42, and 43 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as unpatentable over Hopkins, Eldering, and Ishak.
Claims 29, 35, and 41 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Hopkins, Eldering, Ishak, and Official Notice.
ISSUES
The issues of obviousness tum primarily on whether Hopkins enqueues
ads into a single file for streaming.
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Application 11/982,256
FACTS PERTINENT TO THE ISSUES
The following enumerated Findings of Fact (FF) are believed to be
supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
Facts Related to Claim Construction
01. The disclosure contains no lexicographic definition of "enqueue."
02. The ordinary meaning of enqueue in a data processing context is
to add an item to the tail of a queue. 2
Facts Related to the Prior Art
Hopkins
03. Hopkins is directed to distribution of targeted advertising content
and, more particularly, to targeted advertisement distribution with
multimedia content obtained through the internet. Hopkins para.
,...,
L.
04. Hopkins describes receiving a request for multimedia content
from a user device via the internet, determining geo-location
information about the user device, and retrieving the requested
media content along with user demographic information. The
content including user demographic information is combined with
the geo-location information about the user device to provide a
user profile. Then, at least a first advertisement database is
queried for advertising material matching one or more
2 Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing http://foldoc.org//enqueue (last
visited Jan. 22, 2016).
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Application 11/982,256
characteristics of the demographic information about the user
and/or the user profile. If there is a matching advertisement
found, the matching advertising material is retrieved from the first
database, and inserted into the retrieved media content. The
retrieved multimedia content, along with the matching advertising
material, is then transmitted to the requesting user device
over/through the internet. Hopkins para. 20.
05. Hopkins describes how the content is broken into segments
between which the advertising material is placed. If multiple
advertisements are identified, these may be interspersed between
the segments of content. The retrieved content and advertising
material is then compiled into a single file for transmission via the
internet to the requesting user device. Hopkins para. 21.
06. Hopkins describes how, when a user requests content from a
content owner's website, the system first calls a geo-location
engine to determine an approximate location of the user device.
Concurrently, the system queries a content database to retrieve the
requested multimedia content along with corresponding content,
geo-location restrictions, if any, demographic values and content
rules, or parameters. These content rules or parameters define the
restrictions and rules for advertisement insertions provided by the
content provider. Second, the system analyzes the rules of the
content (e.g., whether the system is to provide an advertisement
that has already been predefined by the content owner, select an
advertisement from a local affiliate, or select an advertisement
automatically from the database). These parameters and rules also
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Application 11/982,256
preferably provide bounding criteria for maximum number of
advertisement insertions, frequencies, etc. Third, the system
queries one or more advertisement databases to retrieve
advertisements that match the rules or criteria provided by the
content provider, affiliate, and geo-location information for the
user device. Finally, the system preferably compiles or
concatenates the ad( s) and the multimedia content to a single file
that is then either streamed or downloaded to the user device.
This is important because there is only 1 file the user streams or
downloads, with the advertisements embedded between sequential
segments of the content. Hopkins para. 43.
07. Hopkins describes how, in another query operation, the question
is asked whether the retrieved affiliate ad or ads match the user
profile determined in operation. If there is a match, control
transfers to operation where the affiliate's ad or ads are queued for
embedding in the requested content. If, on the other hand, the user
profile does not match the affiliate profile, control passes to query
operation without queuing affiliate advertisements. Hopkins para.
63.
08. Hopkins describes how, once all the advertisements permitted by
the content provider to be associated with the requested content
are queued, the queued ads are inserted, or otherwise collated, at
their requisite segment locations in the content. Then, the content
and ads are compiled into a single file for delivery to the user
device. Hopkins para. 72.
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Application 11/982,256
Eldering
09. Eldering is directed to presenting targeted advertisements to a
subscriber along with content selected by the subscriber in a
content on demand (CoD) system. The targeted advertisements
are selected based on matching advertisement profiles with
subscriber profiles. The advertisement profiles define traits and
characteristics about an intended target market for the
advertisement that include, but are not limited to, demographics,
viewing characteristics, purchasing characteristics, and presence
or absence of specific transactions. The subscriber profiles define
traits and characteristics about the subscriber that include, but are
not limited to, demographics, viewing characteristics, purchasing
characteristics, and transaction records. Eldering para. 52.
Ishak
10. Ishak is directed to mobile communication services and, more
particularly, to a system and method for delivery of content to a
mobile communication device in a manner that reduces power
consumption. Ishak para. 2.
ANALYSIS
We are persuaded by the Appellant's argument that
the cited art including Hopkins fails to disclose enqueuing a
plurality of content items and the content information about the
plurality of content items in a content queue at the server
specifically for a multimedia device, as in the claimed
invention. Hopkins discloses an approach in which the
requested video content interleaved with the advertisements is
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Application 11/982,256
received and displayed to the user. Spec1t1ca11y, Hopkins
describes that advertisements are compiled with requested
video content in a single file downloaded or streamed to a user's
device.
App. Br. 7-8 (emphasis omitted). While we would agree that Hopkins
enqueues the ads with information regarding the ads, Hopkins does so to
then place those ads at specified segment locations within other content in a
single file, other than the ad queue, that is then sent to a user device. FF 08.
Placing items at specified points within a data structure is not enqueueing,
which is simply placing items at the tail of a queue. FF 02. It is that single
file that is then transmitted as a stream to a user device. Hopkins's ad queue
is not sent to the user device.
The Examiner found that enqueueing means arranging information in
some order. Ans. 2. The Examiner provides no evidence to support this
finding and indeed, such a broad definition is at odds with the ordinary
definition of enqueueing. We agree with the Examiner that a priority queue
has a dequeueing operation removing items by priority in addition to a
dequeueing operation removing items by order of insertion (id.), but a
priority queue does not have corresponding plural enqueueing operations.
More to the point, a priority queue does not have an operation to insert items
at specific places other than the head or tail of a data structure. As this is
what Hopkins does, Hopkins's single file for streaming is not a priority
queue.
All independent claims have similar limitations.
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Application 11/982,256
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The rejection of claims 26, 30-32, 36-38, 42, and 43 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as unpatentable over Hopkins, Eldering, and Ishak is improper.
The rejection of claims 29, 35, and 41under35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Hopkins, Eldering, Ishak, and Official Notice is improper.
DECISION
The rejections of claims 26, 29-32, 35-38, and 41--43 are reversed.
REVERSED
cda
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