Prior art

Analysis of Prior Art Cited in US Patent 12,118,591

The following is an analysis of the most relevant prior art cited in US Patent 12,118,591, titled "Mobile device streaming media application." Each citation is examined for its potential to anticipate the claims of the patent under 35 U.S.C. § 102. The analysis is based on the information available in the patent document and publicly accessible patent databases as of May 13, 2026.

Overview of US Patent 12,118,591

US Patent 12,118,591, issued on October 15, 2024, with a priority date of February 12, 2010, describes a system and process for coordinating and presenting streaming media content on mobile devices. The core claims revolve around a server that receives and stores a plurality of media messages, each with associated expiration information. The server selects subsets of these messages to create different feeds, which are then provided to a mobile application. A key aspect of the invention is the association of an advertisement prompt with each media message presented in the feed.

Analysis of Cited Prior Art

The patent examiner cited numerous prior art references during the prosecution of the application for US Patent 12,118,591. The most pertinent of these are detailed below.

US Patent 7,756,744 B2

• Full Citation: US Patent 7,756,744 B2, "User-driven data network communication system and method," assigned to Dotomi, Inc.
• Publication/Filing Dates: Published July 13, 2010; Filed July 31, 2000.
• Brief Description: This patent discloses a system for delivering personalized and targeted advertisements to users over a data network. It describes collecting user data and preferences to create user profiles, which are then used to select and deliver relevant advertising content. The system also allows for user interaction with the advertisements.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference is relevant to the advertising aspects of US Patent 12,118,591. Specifically, it discloses the concept of associating advertisements with content delivered to a user. It could be argued that US 7,756,744 anticipates the element of an "advertisement prompt" as recited in claim 1 and its dependent claims. However, the '744 patent is more focused on the personalization of ads based on user profiles rather than the creation of distinct, switchable feeds of media messages with associated ad prompts as claimed in the '591 patent.

US Patent Application Publication 2002/0052781 A1

• Full Citation: US Patent Application Publication 2002/0052781 A1, "Interactive advertisement mechanism on a mobile device," assigned to Avantgo, Inc.
• Publication/Filing Dates: Published May 2, 2002; Filed September 10, 1999.
• Brief Description: This publication describes a system for providing interactive advertisements on mobile devices. It details how advertisements can be downloaded and displayed within an application on a mobile device, and how users can interact with these advertisements. The system also includes features for tracking user interactions with the ads.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference is highly relevant as it discloses interactive advertisements on a mobile device, which directly relates to the "advertisement prompt" in claim 1 of US 12,118,591. It describes the presentation of ads within a mobile application and user interaction with those ads, which could be seen as anticipating the core advertising functionality claimed. The distinction for the '591 patent would likely lie in the specific method of creating and providing multiple, distinct feeds of media messages selected based on expiration information.

US Patent 7,339,940 B2

• Full Citation: US Patent 7,339,940 B2, "Targeted messaging to end user terminal connected to a service node in a communications network," assigned to Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ).
• Publication/Filing Dates: Published March 4, 2008; Filed May 18, 2000.
• Brief Description: This patent details a system for delivering targeted messages to user terminals in a communications network. It describes how a service node can intercept communication and insert targeted messages, including advertisements, based on user information or the content of the communication.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: The '940 patent's disclosure of inserting targeted messages into a data stream is relevant to the concept of associating an "advertisement prompt" with a "media message" as described in claim 1. While this patent teaches the delivery of targeted advertising, it does not appear to describe the creation of multiple, selectable "feeds" of media content on a mobile application, which is a key limitation of the independent claims of the '591 patent.

US Patent Application Publication 2009/0156170 A1

• Full Citation: US Patent Application Publication 2009/0156170 A1, "Methods and systems for transmitting video messages to mobile communication devices," by inventor Anthony Rossano.
• Publication/Filing Dates: Published June 18, 2009; Filed December 12, 2007.
• Brief Description: This publication describes a system for creating and transmitting video messages to mobile devices. It includes features for users to record, edit, and send video messages. The system also contemplates the inclusion of advertisements with the video messages.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference is significant as it discloses the transmission of user-generated media (video messages) to mobile devices, a concept central to the '591 patent. The mention of including advertisements with these messages touches upon the "advertisement prompt" element of claim 1. However, this publication does not appear to detail the server-side selection of messages into distinct "feeds" based on expiration information, nor the ability for a mobile application to switch between these feeds, which are distinguishing features of US 12,118,591.

US Patent Application Publication 2010/0161635 A1

• Full Citation: US Patent Application Publication 2010/0161635 A1, "Method and apparatus for providing a mobile video blog service," by inventor Spondon Dey.
• Publication/Filing Dates: Published June 24, 2010; Filed December 22, 2008.
• Brief Description: This application describes a service that allows users to create and share video blogs from their mobile devices. It details a platform for uploading, storing, and sharing video content. The service also includes features for categorizing and searching for video blogs.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference discloses a mobile media sharing platform, which aligns with the general subject matter of the '591 patent. It describes receiving and storing media messages from users. However, it does not explicitly teach the concept of "expiration information" for media messages, the creation of distinct "feeds" based on this information, or the association of "advertisement prompts" with each message in the feed as claimed in claim 1 of US 12,118,591. The novelty of the '591 patent appears to be in this specific combination of features.

Summary of Findings

While the cited prior art references disclose various elements of the invention claimed in US Patent 12,118,591, none appear to fully anticipate the independent claims. The key distinguishing features of the '591 patent seem to be the combination of:

1. Receiving and storing media messages with expiration information.
2. Selecting subsets of these messages to create at least two distinct feeds.
3. Providing these distinct and switchable feeds to a mobile application.
4. Associating an advertisement prompt with each media message within the feeds.

The prior art generally addresses mobile advertising, media sharing, and content delivery, but not in the specific integrated manner claimed in US 12,118,591. The combination of managing media message lifecycle through expiration data and curating multiple, ad-supported feeds for a mobile application appears to be the novel contribution of this patent.