Apple's application 20040055446 (iPod) gets final PTO rejection

Apple's patent application 20040055446 [serial no. 10/282861], entitled Graphical user interface and methods of use thereof in a multimedia player, received a final rejection from the PTO in July 2005.

The first claim recites:

A method of assisting user interaction with a multimedia asset player by way of a hierarchically ordered user interface, comprising:
displaying a first order user interface having a first list of user selectable items;
receiving a user selection of one of the user selectable items; and
automatically transitioning to and displaying a second order user interface based upon the user selection.

There is a claim of priority to a provisional application:
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e).to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/399,806, entitled GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF IN A MULTIMEDIA PLAYER, which was filed on Jul. 30, 2002, and is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

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Standing in Apple's way appears to be a prior filing by inventor John Platt, who submitted a patent application for a similar software design for a portable device in May of 2002 -- just five months before Robbin submitted his claims on behalf of Apple.

John C. Platt's application 20030221541 [Auto playlist generation with multiple seed songs] filed May 30, 2002, appears to be an issue here.

The "summary of invention" of the '541 recites:

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The following is a summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not intended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0007] The present invention relates generally to systems and methodologies that facilitate generation of playlists. The invention can also facilitate organization and access to media items by identifying items similar to desirable characteristics and dissimilar to undesirable characteristics by analyzing user selectable seed items.

[0008] The present invention facilitates playlist generation for a library or collection of media items by permitting a user to select a plurality of seed items. Some of the seed items are selected as desirable indicating that the user prefers additional media items similar to the desirable seed items and others are selected as undesirable indicating that the user prefers additional media items dissimilar to the undesirable seed items. Additionally, the user can weight the seed items to establish a relative importance thereof. The invention compares media items in the collection with the seed items and determines which media items to be added to the playlist. The playlist can be regenerated by the user adding desirable seed items to the playlist and removing media items from the playlist (e.g., undesirable seed items).

[0009] Thus, the present invention reduces effort and time required by a user to generate a playlist that meets or is similar to desired characteristics or features by automatically generating a playlist based on seed items. Consequently, the user is not required to manually search through a collection of media items and select those items that meet the user's current mood or desire in order to generate a playlist.

[0010] To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative of various ways in which the invention may be practiced, all of which are intended to be covered by the present invention. Other advantages and novel features of the invention may become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

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All 58 claims of the Apple application were rejected under 35 USC 102(e) as anticipated in view of the published Platt application in a final rejection mailed July 13, 2005. The examiner made short work of Apple's arguments filed on May 12, in an Office Action comprising only six pages. Apple had tried to limit Platt to generating playlists to selecting from seed items. Apple's arguments were short, and didn't get the job done.

However, Apple attempted to swear behind the 102(e) reference, and it is not clear how that effort was handled.

**UPDATE

The Independent headlines a story "Apple blunder gives Gates iPod royalty", which includes text:

Apple Computer may be forced to pay royalties to Microsoft for every iPod it sells after it emerged that Bill Gates's software giant beat Steve Jobs' firm in the race to file a crucial patent on technology used in the popular portable music players. The total bill could run into hundreds of millions of dollars. [LBE note: This text, written with the word "may," does not support the headline "...gives Gates iPod royalty." Microsoft has not yet received a patent on the Platt application, so the issue of royalty is in the future.]

Although Apple introduced the iPod in November 2001, it did not file a provisional patent application until July 2002, and a full application was filed only in October that year.

In the meantime, Microsoft submitted an application in May 2002 to patent some key elements of music players, including song menu software.

(...)

The dispute, which emerged this week on the closely watched website, Appleinsider.com, could lead to Apple having to pay a licence fee for the technology of up to $10 a machine.

David Kaefer, Microsoft's director of intellectual property licensing and business development, said: "In general, our policy is to allow others to license our patents so they can use our innovative methods in their products."

Apple has signalled it will resist the move. A spokeswoman said Apple would continue to try to get its patent recognised. The company could take the case to the patent office's appeals board. "Apple invented and publicly released the iPod interface before the Microsoft patent application was filed," it said in a statement.

The battle comes as Microsoft is squaring up against another competitor, Google. Microsoft last month launched a lawsuit against the search-engine giant, accusing it of poaching a top executive to head a new research laboratory in China. The Redmond, Washington-based company also sued the executive, Kai-Fu Lee.