Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103 for US Patent 7173177

This analysis considers US Patent 7173177's independent Claim 1 in light of the provided prior art to determine if the claimed invention would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) at the time of the invention (priority date: December 28, 1999).

Independent Claim 1 (Plain-language overview):

A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

1. Store a playlist transferred via a network, where the playlist includes one or more items.
2. Generate a user interface.
3. Display the one or more items on the user interface.
4. Determine whether each item in the playlist is owned or un-owned.
5. Indicate on the user interface whether each item is owned or un-owned.

Combination of Prior Art References:

To render Claim 1 obvious, a combination of prior art references can be made using US6226672B1 and US5970474A.

Primary Reference: US6226672B1 (Sony Corporation)

• Title: "Method and system for allowing users to access and/or share media libraries, including multimedia collections of audio and video information via a wide area network."
• Priority Date: May 2, 1997
• Disclosures Relevant to Claim 1:
  • Computer readable medium storing instructions, generating a user interface, and displaying items: This patent inherently discloses a computer-readable medium storing instructions for a system that allows users to access and share media. Such a system would necessarily generate and display a user interface to present the media items to the user.
  • Store a playlist transferred via a network, wherein the playlist includes one or more items: The patent describes a "system for allowing users to access and/or share media libraries... via a wide area network." A media library, or a portion thereof, can function as a playlist (a collection of selected media items). The act of "sharing" these media libraries directly implies transferring the list of items over a network, and these "multimedia collections of audio and video information" are the "one or more items" in the playlist.

Secondary Reference: US5970474A (Sears, Roebuck And Co.)

• Title: "Registry information system for shoppers."
• Priority Date: April 24, 1997
• Disclosures Relevant to Claim 1:
  • Determine whether each item in the play list is owned or un-owned; and indicate on the user interface whether each item is owned or un-owned: This patent describes a gift registry system where a user creates a list of desired items. The system inherently determines and indicates the status of each item on the list as "purchased" (i.e., owned, or acquired by the recipient) or "remaining" (i.e., un-owned, or still needed). This functionality directly addresses the determination and indication of owned or un-owned status for items on a list within a user interface.

Motivation to Combine:

A Person Having Ordinary Skill in the Art (PHOSITA) in the field of online media management and e-commerce, at the time of the invention, would have been motivated to combine the features of US6226672B1 and US5970474A to enhance the functionality and user experience of managing and acquiring digital content.

The problem US7173177 aims to solve, as articulated in its background, is the cumbersome nature of traditional and early online shopping models, where users still had to manually track desired items and visit multiple vendors. The invention seeks to streamline this by providing a user interface that simultaneously manages owned and un-owned inventory with direct purchasing.

A PHOSITA, observing the increasing popularity of digital media and online sharing platforms (as exemplified by US6226672B1 for media libraries), would recognize the clear benefit of integrating a robust inventory status tracking system. It would be obvious to adapt the well-known concept of distinguishing "owned" from "un-owned" items on a list, as already implemented in online gift registry systems (like US5970474A), to the context of shared digital media playlists or libraries.

Specifically, when a user accesses a shared media library or a transferred playlist via a network (as taught by US6226672B1), it would be a natural and intuitive improvement to provide a clear indication on the user interface of which items they already possess (owned) versus which items they do not (un-owned). This combination would serve several practical purposes:

• Preventing Redundancy: Users could easily see which media items they already own, avoiding unnecessary re-purchases or re-downloads.
• Streamlining Acquisition: It would highlight new or missing items, making it easier for users to identify what they need to acquire to complete a collection or playlist.
• Enhanced User Experience: By presenting a consolidated view of both owned and desired items with clear status indicators, the user interface would be more informative and efficient for managing personal media inventory, aligning with the general trend of creating more intelligent and integrated online tools.

The application of a known technique for status tracking from one online list management system (gift registries) to another (networked media playlists) to achieve a predictable and beneficial result (clear inventory status for digital content) would have been obvious to a PHOSITA.