Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103 for US Patent 9462440

This analysis considers US Patent 9462440 (hereinafter "the '440 patent") under 35 U.S.C. § 103, which concerns whether the claimed invention would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) at the time of the invention (priority date January 8, 2007). The analysis identifies combinations of prior art references that would render the claims obvious and explains the motivation for a POSITA to combine them.

The independent claim 1 of the '440 patent describes a method for delivering content to a mobile communication device. Key elements include:

• Detecting a communication session involving a mobile communication device user with a social community web site.
• Determining context parameters by detecting that the user added or edited content on the social community web site.
• The social community web site automatically generating a content trigger to start concurrent applications on mobile devices of other community members.
• Retrieving information corresponding to the added/edited content using these concurrent applications.
• Delivering this content to one or more mobile communication devices.

Identified Prior Art References (published before January 8, 2007):

The following prior art references, cited in the '440 patent, are relevant for this analysis:

1. US20060190616A1 to Mayerhofer ("Mayerhofer"): "System and method for aggregating, delivering and sharing audio content."
2. US6807529B2 to Motorola, Inc. ("Motorola '529"): "System and method for concurrent multimodal communication."
3. US6912581B2 to Motorola, Inc. ("Motorola '581"): "System and method for concurrent multimodal communication session persistence."
4. US6996394B2 to Qualcomm Incorporated ("Qualcomm"): "Server processing in providing messages for a wireless device connecting to a server."
5. US6052122A to Tele-Publishing, Inc. ("Tele-Publishing"): "Method and apparatus for matching registered profiles."
6. US20060242291A1 to Nevalainen ("Nevalainen"): "Method and device for determining and notifying users having matching preference profiles."

Obviousness Combination: Mayerhofer + Motorola ('529 / '581) + Qualcomm

A combination of Mayerhofer, Motorola ('529 / '581), and Qualcomm would render Claim 1 of US9462440 obvious.

Teachings of the References:

• Mayerhofer (US20060190616A1): This reference describes a system for users to capture and share media content with other users, specifically through a "community website for sharing it with other users". It details "community media playlist sharing system, where system users upload media playlists in real-time, which are automatically converted to a standardized format and shared with other users of the community". This directly teaches:

  • Delivering content to mobile communication devices.
  • Detecting user interaction with a community website (e.g., uploading content).
  • Retrieving content from web sites (community website).
  • Delivering content related to shared interests to other community members.
  • The core concept of a communication session between a mobile user and a social community web site, and detecting when a user "added or edited a content" (by capturing and transmitting media clips or uploading playlists).

• Motorola '529 (US6807529B2) and Motorola '581 (US6912581B2): These patents collectively teach systems and methods for "concurrent multimodal communication" and "session persistence" on mobile devices. They describe universal coordinated multi-modal conversational user interfaces (CUIs) that operate across various applications. This directly teaches the concept of "concurrent applications" that can be active and manage different communication modalities on a mobile device.

• Qualcomm (US6996394B2): This patent focuses on server processing for providing messages to wireless devices. It covers server-based communication and notification mechanisms, including systems for "exchanging GPS or other position data between wireless devices for purposes of group activities" using a "Buddy Watch application". It also discusses sending "commercial messages" or "dynamic display advertising" to users based on identification and demographic information. This provides the server-side infrastructure for detecting actions and delivering notifications to mobile devices.

Motivation to Combine:

A POSITA in 2007, observing the increasing popularity of both social networking and advanced mobile device capabilities, would have been motivated to combine the teachings of these references to enhance real-time interaction within mobile social communities. The problem to be solved would be how to make content sharing within a social community more immediate and engaging for mobile device users.

1. Mayerhofer + Motorola: Mayerhofer teaches sharing user-generated content (e.g., media clips, playlists) via a community website. However, it does not explicitly detail how this shared content would automatically trigger interactive applications on other members' mobile devices. Motorola, on the other hand, provides the technical solution for managing and initiating "concurrent applications" on mobile devices for multimodal communication. It would be an obvious design choice for a POSITA to integrate Motorola's concurrent application technology into Mayerhofer's social sharing system. This would allow new content uploaded to a community site (Mayerhofer) to automatically activate relevant concurrent applications (Motorola) on other community members' mobile devices, enabling immediate viewing or interaction with the shared content, thus improving user engagement and immediacy. For example, if a user uploads a new song (Mayerhofer), a concurrent music player application could be automatically started on other users' phones to offer a listen.
2. Adding Qualcomm: Qualcomm provides the robust server processing and messaging infrastructure necessary to mediate between the social community website and the individual mobile devices. The server described by Qualcomm can detect events (such as user activity in "group activities") and deliver messages to wireless devices. A POSITA would find it obvious to use such a server-based system (Qualcomm) as the central computing entity of the '440 patent to:
   • Detect the "added or edited content" action by a user on the social community website (Mayerhofer).
   • Automatically generate a "content trigger" from the social community web site (facilitated by Qualcomm's messaging capabilities).
   • Transmit this trigger to relevant community members' mobile devices to start the "concurrent applications" (Motorola) for retrieving and presenting the newly shared content.

This combination addresses all elements of Claim 1, including the specific constraints. The motivation stems from the desire to create a more dynamic and interactive mobile social experience by seamlessly integrating content sharing, sophisticated mobile application management, and efficient notification delivery.