Obviousness

Under 35 U.S.C. § 103, an invention cannot be patented if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made. This "obviousness" standard involves considering the scope and content of the prior art, the differences between the prior art and the claims, the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art, and secondary considerations of non-obviousness. A combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be obvious.

The claims of US Patent 9451001 revolve around receiving a playable media file in a social network, creating and providing an annotation along with a data profile indicating an embedding location to a network server, the server embedding the annotation, and managing a table of contents (creating if it's the first annotation, updating otherwise). The playable media file can be various formats (audio, video, etc.).

Let's consider combinations of prior art references cited in US9451001 that could render its claims obvious:

Combination 1: US6687878B1 (Real Time Image Ltd.) + US20120317210A1 (Microsoft Corporation)

• US6687878B1 (Synchronizing/updating local client notes with annotations previously made by other clients in a notes database): This patent describes synchronizing notes/annotations. While it focuses on "notes" rather than explicit "playable media files," the concept of associating annotations with content and sharing them among users in a networked environment is present. It addresses the idea of multiple users adding to a shared information space.

• US20120317210A1 (Asynchronous Video Threads): This reference explicitly deals with "asynchronous video threads," strongly implying the ability to associate comments or discussions with specific points in a video. The term "threads" suggests a sequential or time-based organization of content related to the video.

• Motivation to Combine: A person having ordinary skill in the art, seeking to enhance social interaction around media files, would be motivated to combine the annotation and multi-user collaboration aspects of US6687878B1 with the video-specific threading capabilities of US20120317210A1. It would be an obvious step to apply the concept of user-generated annotations from US6687878B1, which are linked to content and managed in a database, to the specific context of video files, as exemplified by the "video threads" in US20120317210A1. The "notes database" in US6687878B1 could readily be adapted to store data profiles and locations for annotations within playable media files, and the synchronization aspect aligns with updating a table of contents. The explicit mention of "video" in US20120317210A1 directly addresses the "Playable Media File" aspect of US9451001.

Combination 2: US20130046761A1 (Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson) + US20120284343A1 (Lee David D)

• US20130046761A1 (Method and Apparatus for Social Tagging of Media Files): This reference focuses on "social tagging of media files." Tagging can be considered a form of annotation, where users add descriptive information to media. The "social" aspect implies a shared network environment.

• US20120284343A1 (Program Guide Based on Sharing Personal Comments about Multimedia Content): This patent describes sharing "personal comments about multimedia content," directly addressing the concept of user-generated textual or other comments associated with media. The "program guide" suggests a structured way to access and view this content and its associated comments.

• Motivation to Combine: A person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the "social tagging" described in US20130046761A1 with the "sharing personal comments about multimedia content" from US20120284343A1. Tags, which are a form of annotation, naturally lend themselves to being embedded or associated with specific locations or segments of multimedia content, especially when considered in the context of shared personal comments. The idea of a "program guide" could easily be extended to a "table of contents" for annotations and comments within a playable media file, allowing for organized access to user-generated content associated with specific media points. The combination would result in a system where users can not only tag media socially but also attach more detailed comments, which are then organized for easy navigation, mirroring the table of contents and embedding features of US9451001.

General Obviousness Considerations for US9451001:

Many of the elements claimed in US9451001, such as social networking, sharing media files, creating annotations (text, audio, video), embedding content at specific locations within media, and organizing these annotations (e.g., in a table of contents), were individually known in the prior art. The core contribution appears to be the specific combination of these elements within a social network context, particularly the dynamic creation and updating of a table of contents for embedded annotations in playable media files.

However, given the cited prior art, a person skilled in the art (e.g., a software developer for social media platforms) would have understood the benefits of:

1. Enabling multi-user interaction with media: Social networks inherently foster sharing and collaborative interaction.
2. Contextualizing comments/annotations: Associating comments directly with specific points in time within a media file provides valuable context.
3. Organizing user-generated content: As the number of annotations grows, a mechanism like a table of contents becomes a natural and desirable feature for navigation and management.

The motivation to combine these known elements to create the system described in US9451001 would stem from the continuous drive in social networking to enhance user engagement, facilitate richer communication around shared content, and improve content discoverability and organization. The logical progression of features in social media and multimedia platforms would lead to the integration of these functionalities. The specific steps of determining if an annotation is the first and then creating or updating a table of contents are routine programming tasks for managing lists or data structures associated with a media file.