DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Status of the Claims
The amendment received on 05 January 2026 has been acknowledged and entered.
Claim 7 has been amended. Claims 3-6 were previously canceled.
No new claims have been added. Claims 1-2 and 7-11 are currently pending.
Response to Amendment and Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05 January 2026 with respect to the rejection of claims 1-2 and 7-11 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues (in Remarks, pages 9-10 of 12) that Hull never provides user messages or subscribe controls in its search results.
In response to Applicant’s arguments, the Examiner respectfully disagrees and notes that ¶¶ [0076],[0106]-[0107] was cited as disclosing (Hull et al.: [0076] Online social network members can send electronic messages (e.g. email, IM, SMS, etc., or combinations thereof) to selected groups of users within the social network defined by user-specified criteria applied to member relationships); ([0106] The user of the system will also be able to set and control what kind of messages they receive from people within the network. For instance, a user can define which users he or she would like to receive invitations to join the social network from, which users he or she would like to receive e-mail messages or instant messages from {The Examiner interprets this to mean “subscribing”}; ([0107], The user can invite another user to join their network by sending an invitation to another user. For example, user A invites user B to join user A's network… In one embodiment, an activation button will be set up on a user's profile page to allow anyone viewing the user's profile page to instantly invite the user to his or her network. It should also be understood that if the security settings are set in a way that the user does not wish to receive invitations, the activation button will not appear. … (see [0110],0122],[0129],[0084]-[0085],[0028 for p2p]; FIG 5, Portal 506).
Applicant argues (in REMARKS, pages 10-11 of 12) that further, claims 8 and 11 variously recite showing to a searching user, "a profile of the writing user, wherein the profile includes an indication of the subscriber status of the searching user and a plurality of the messages written by the writing user." Where the rejection newly applies Gerace for this element, Gerace merely teaches showing a user their own profile 37. See Gerace, FIG. 2C, element 37 ("My Profile"); Col. 6, 11 7-15; Col. 9, 11. 30-44. These claims require the user to be shown profiles of different users, with message(s) from the other user, not their own profiles. There appears to be no way in Gerace for a user to search and view a different user's profile, including that other users' messages and subscription status. In this way Gerace cannot meet the viewing of a profile of another user showing their messages and your subscription status to them as required by claims 8 and 11.
In response to Applicant’s argument, the Examiner respectfully notes that Gerace et al. discloses in col. 15, line 64 -col. 16, line 10, that Continuing with FIGS. 2a-2d, the system 100 profiles the known/registered user based on material he writes and reads… In addition, known/registered users can browse all other members' profiles 37. They can browse only the members' public profile information and the members' articles/connections/groups/taxonomies that are flagged as public). Therefore, Gerace et al. teaches browsing other profiles to see subscriptions. Gerace et al. further discloses in col. 7, lines 39-44, When a member sees another member's profile information, the system 100 (connect module 31) shows him if he is connected to that member and how he is connected to this member by showing the shortest connection path from him to the other member and for each connection class. The system 100 preferably shows multiple paths of network relation, up to three levels or degrees of separation. Me>User 1>User 2>You. A subject user sees his closest connection. Beyond three levels, the system 100 indicates that the subject user is not closely connected in one embodiment. The number of people connected between a given user and a subject target person (including the target person) is termed the ‘degrees of separation’ with respect to the user); and col. 8, lines 63- col. 9, line 7, that each user has attributes and a profile 37 (discussed above in FIG. 2c) stored in a respective user table 122. For a given user, the respective user table 122 includes the groups (e.g., by respective group identifier) to which the user belongs and subscriptions to other users (author users). Gerace et al. further discloses in col. 9, lines 30-44, that likewise, system 100 employs user tables 122 to determine and display author users with fastest growing subscriber base. For each user, that one user may subscribe to an author user and this is indicated as a subscription 71 in the user table 122 of the one user. System 100 displays to each subscriber an indication of his subscriptions 71 and displays to the author user a list of his subscribers).
Applicant argues (in REMARKS, pages 12-13 of 13) that None of Volk, Meeks, Spivack, Meek, or Johnson are applied for the contents of claims 1, 7, 8, or 11 missing from Hull and Gerace, and these references are anyway not seen to cure the disclosure deficiencies of Hull and Gerace. Because Volk, Spivack, Meek, Johnson, Hull, and Gerace, alone and in combination, fail to teach or suggest each and every element of claims 1, 7, 8, or 11, these references cannot anticipate or render obvious the same. Claims 2, 9, and 10 are allowable at least for depending from an allowable base claim. each and every element of claims 1 and 11, these references cannot anticipate or render obvious the same.
In response to Applicant’s argument, the Examiner respectfully disagrees for reasons as stated above regarding the rejection of claims 1 and 11.
Priority
Applicant's claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 121 is acknowledged. Applicant has not complied with one or more conditions for receiving the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 121 as follows:
The later-filed application must be an application for a patent for an invention which is also disclosed in the prior application (the parent or original non-provisional application or provisional application). The disclosure of the invention in the parent application and in the later-filed application must be sufficient to comply with the requirements of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551,32 SPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994). The claimed invention is not supported by the specification of the foreign application India 878/MUM/2005 filed on 07/22/2005. The priority date for the claim limitations of the instant application will be 07/18/2006 which is the filing date of PCT/IN2006/000260.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Volk et al. (US PG Pub. 2006/0129907) in view of Meek et al. (US PG Pub. 20080005072 A1) in view of Spivack et al. (US Patent No. 7,433,876) in further view of Johnson et al. (US Patent No. 5,555,426) and Hull et al. (US PG Pub. 2011/0289574).
As per claim 1, Volk et al. discloses a method of subscribing to one or more sources based on searched content of sources of a network (Volk et al.: [0078] Internet user subscribes to network content provider), the method comprising:
causing, by a server (Volk et al.: [0073) server computers), a query window to be displayed on a first computing device of a first user,
wherein the query window includes a search display to perform a search (Volk et al.: [0154], FIG. 6 illustrates a video web search results page 600 implemented in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The search results page 600 comprises a title section 605, a search section 610, a view options section 615 and a content display area 620. An Internet user can search the web for videos by selecting the video button in the search section 610 and typing a search term into the field in the search section 610. The results of the search are displayed in the content display area 620).
causing, by the server, after performing the search, a result display to be displayed on the first computing device to the first user (Volk et al.: [0154], FIG. 6 illustrates a video web search results page 600 implemented in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The search results page 600 comprises a title section 605, a search section 610, a view options section 615 and a content display area 620. An Internet user can search the web for videos by selecting the video button in the search section 610 and typing a search term into the field in the search section 610. The results of the search are displayed in the content display area 620),
wherein the active subscribe control, when selected after the search is performed and after messages written by users are displayed, causes the server to subscribe the first user to the second user (Volk et al.: [0156], In addition, window 705 provides a link to subscribe to the feed),
wherein the server performs the causing the query window to be displayed, the causing the result display to be displayed, the subscribing the first user to the second user (Volk et al.: [0042] The term server as used herein, unless otherwise specified expressly or by context, is intended to have a broad non-limiting definition, and refers, without limitation, to any computer or group of computers coupled to a computer network that stores network information and provides the network information to one or more other computers on the network; also see ([0073],[0077], [0157]).
The sole difference between Volk et al. and the claimed subject matter is that Volk et al. does not teach performing a natural language string search.
Meek et al. teaches the search is a natural language string (Meek et al.: [0060] Queries can also be posed in the form of natural language similar to, for example, "What products are preferred for purchase friends in this department?" or "What friends of friends of friends have gone to this restaurant?"). Since each individual element and its function are shown in the prior art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself that is in the substitution of the natural language string search of Meek et al. for the keywork search of Volk et al.. Thus the simple substitution for one known element for another producing a predictable results renders the claim obvious.
Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. does not further disclose, however, Spivack et al. discloses:
receiving, from a plurality of human services users, a plurality of messages, wherein the plurality of messages are received by being input by the plurality of human services users into a messaging graphical user interface provided by the network (Spivack et al.: col. 3, lines 10-63, Provide every individual user, or group, with their own Metaweb--a new kind of site about them, which can link to/from Metaweb sites created by their friends and by groups they have relationships with. They can use their Metawebs for:
Building a new kind of homepage about themselves, their group or their organization or product, Publishing their ideas and information, Publishing a semantic weblog, Sharing knowledge with a group or team, Managing projects and tasks with groups, Sharing files and data
Provide a top-level ontology of Metaweb node types
Provide top-level taxonomies of Knodes for topics (from the open directory, dmoz.org taxonomy of topics, and possibly the Library of Congress taxonomy, as well as other taxonomies that can be added by users, such as a medical taxonomy, etc.)
Seed the network by creating top-level public Metawebs for particular topics of interest, such as:
Music (all about music, Places Countries (all about various countries), Cities (all about various cities), Destinations (places), Sports (all about sports), Business, Industries, Professions, Literature (all about literature), Politics, Kids, Hobbies, Cooking Collecting, Technology, (A Metaweb about technology), Products (A Metaweb about products), Cameras, Computers, Software, Autos, Cultures Religion Ethnic National Lifestyles); and
storing, in a database in the network, the plurality of messages from the human services users in association with an identification of the users (Spivack et al.: col. 29, lines 21-34, col. 29, lines 14-19, Business Method for Building a Model of the World Through Analysis of On-Line Information Using Wikis, listserv, Web pages, dictionaries, encyclopedias, geographical resources, and related content to build a knowledge network, as a way to bootstrap a semantic model of the world, and get people started using semantic technologies using semcards mined form the Web and constructed by hand to build a model of the world that mirrors documents, databases, web-pages, people, projects, etc. and their real relationships in the world as an intermediate, uniform representation of this information, semcards afford both automatic and human creation and editing of said information);
wherein the subscribing causes the first user to become one of several subscribers of the second user (Spivack et al.: col. 20, line 22-col. 21, line 6); and
storing, by the server, followers of the second user, including the first user, in a storage medium coupled to the server (Spivack et al.: col. 20, line 22-col. 21, line 6; Ticker: It should be positioned as identity and presence. There may also be "friendsware" features here--for example the ticker. You can post things to the ticker and other hotnode users can subscribe to your ticker. Every hotnode user is a feed. You can make tickers by subscribing to them. You can post to your ticker and they get things. Also, if you subscribe to Joe's ticker, you get article or picture X that Joe posted. Now it comes onto your ticker and (depending on your prefs for your subscription to Joe) when Joe's posting appears on your ticker it can automatically (or not) be reposted to your channel and then appears on the tickers of all subscribers to you. It's social IM for news articles, pictures, music. You could have things come into automatically even like RSS you get etc (col. 20, line 22-col. 21, line 6). The Examiner interprets this mean that followers are stored in order to maintain a list of friends for the ticker. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention that friends/subscribers are stored in order to maintain a list of recipients to receive feeds/tickers.
storing, by the server, the new message written by the second user in the storage medium (Spivack et al.: col. 7, lines 18-20; recent posts);
identifying, by the server and the storage medium coupled to the server, the stored subscribers of the second user as recipients of the new message (Spivack et al.: col. 10, lines 28-47); and
sending, by the server, the new message written by the second user to each subscriber of the second user, wherein the server performs the storing the subscribers, the storing the posted new message, the identifying the stored subscribers, and the sending the new message without further action by the first or second user (Spivack et al.: col. 3, lines 4-8; One of the new things about Hotnode is that any user can use their Hotnode account to give their friend or colleague a subscription to something. For example, I send you the hotnode for my contact information. If you accept that hotnode, you will always have my current contact information, as long as I update my copy of it to reflect my contact information correctly. No matter how many of my contacts have my contact information--they all get updates when I change my local copy. Others can set their account to alert them, on the Web and/or via email, whenever the contact information hotnode changes (Spivack et al.: col. 16, lines 50-61). Spivack further discloses Ticker: It should be positioned as identity and presence. There may also be "friendsware" features here--for example the ticker. You can post things to the ticker and other hotnode users can subscribe to your ticker. Every hotnode user is a feed. You can make tickers by subscribing to them. You can post to your ticker and they get things. Also, if you subscribe to Joe's ticker, you get article or picture X that Joe posted. Now it comes onto your ticker and (depending on your prefs for your subscription to Joe) when Joe's posting appears on your ticker it can automatically (or not) be reposted to your channel and then appears on the tickers of all subscribers to you. It's social IM for news articles, pictures, music. You could have things come into automatically even like RSS you get etc. (Spivack et al.: col. 20, line 22-col. 21, line 6). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. to include the subscribers becoming followers as taught by Spivack et al. to provide a method for sharing information as a way of building a knowledge network (Spivack et al.: col. 1, lines 45-48).
Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Johnson et al. discloses:
receiving, at the server from the second computing device of the second user, a new message written by the second user for posting and subsequent distribution to one or more subscribers of the second user not identified by the second user (Johnson et al.: col. 4, lines 8-20; The method and system, however, also permit a potential recipient user to make himself invisible to senders, so that his name will not be reported to a sender either as a potential recipient or as confirmation of delivery. This option is provided because a potential recipient user may not want others to know that he is reviewing a message or that he is interested in a particular topic); and (Johnson et al.: col. 1, line 65-col. 2, line5 ); A method and apparatus are desired in which a sender may send a message to an interested but undesignated user without delay and also in which an undesignated user may receive messages of interest concurrently with the sending of the message by the sender, even though the sender of the message has not explicitly identified that user as an addressee of the message and may not even know that the user is interested in receiving the message. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Spivack et al. followers to include nonspecific users as taught by Johnson et al. to provide privacy to recipient who may not want others knowing the user is interested in particular topics (Johnson et al.: `col. 4, lines 12-20).
Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. and Johnson et al. does not further disclose, however, Hull et al. discloses:
based on searched content of sources of a single network with a single operator (Hull et al.: [0132], FIG. 5, 506);
wherein the result display simultaneously displays a plurality of messages including a message written by a second user found from the keyword search, an identification of each user who wrote each of the messages, and an active subscribe link to the writer user for each user associated with each of the displayed messages (Hull et al.: [0085]; Thus, for example, a search for new "new movies" could yield a search result that provides information about new movies that other members of the user's social network thought were good new movies: The same concept applies to other portal services such as music or games enjoyed by "friends" network members, good business-related books read by members of a "work" network, and the like. Thus, it will be recognized from the teachings herein regarding the multiple opportunities for interoperability for a social network environment within a portal environment to yield much greater relevance to a social network user because the portal has much greater ability to gather information about the user and the other members of the user's social network); and (Hull et al.: [0017] When a user initiates a search, results will be displayed which respond to the search criteria. The system can set a specified number of results that are displayed for the search. In addition to searching other users' profiles, a user may be able to search invitations to see which users have invited which other user's to their network. This search can be initiated by a user name, or, alternatively using other criteria such as location or interest. It should be understood that this will result in enhanced ability for a user to see inter-relationships between other users who might have similar interests to them. Additionally, users may search categories, networks, or all users of the system that they wish to interact with. In order to avoid a search which would return all users in the database, some of the search criteria must be set by the system. An example of criteria which can be set for the search is displayed in the table below) also see ([0110],[0115],[0015],[0068],[0071]],[0077]);
wherein the first user, the second user, the subscribe control, each of the messages, and the new message are all within the single network (Hull et al.: [0076] Online social network members can send electronic messages (e.g. email, IM, SMS, etc., or combinations thereof) to selected groups of users within the social network defined by user-specified criteria applied to member relationships); ([0106] The user of the system will also be able to set and control what kind of messages they receive from people within the network. For instance, a user can define which users he or she would like to receive invitations to join the social network from, which users he or she would like to receive e-mail messages or instant messages from {The Examiner interprets this to mean “subscribing”}; ([0107], The user can invite another user to join their network by sending an invitation to another user. For example, user A invites user B to join user A's network… In one embodiment, an activation button will be set up on a user's profile page to allow anyone viewing the user's profile page to instantly invite the user to his or her network. It should also be understood that if the security settings are set in a way that the user does not wish to receive invitations, the activation button will not appear. … (see [0110],0122],[0129],[0084]-[0085],[0028 for p2p]; FIG 5, Portal 506).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. and Johnson et al. to include a list of messages displayed from a search result and links as taught by Hull et al. in order to provide users the ability to subscribe to other users presenting information/topics.
As per claim 2, Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. in view of Johnson et al. and Hull et al. discloses the method of claim 1. Volk et al. does not further disclose, however, Spivack et al. discloses further comprising:
receiving, from the first computing device of the first user, a selection of a plurality of endpoints for receiving messages (Spivack et al.: col. 2, lines 65-67; This tool will also have built-in capabilities for sharing microcontent objects with other users via email and/or p2p and/or IM);
wherein the first user is one of a plurality of users who are followers of the second user (Spivack et al.: col. 3, lines 9-26; Provide every individual user, or group, with their own Metaweb--a new kind of site about them, which can link to/from Metaweb sites created by their friends and by groups they have relationships with);
storing, by the server, the selection of the plurality of endpoints in a third storage (Spivack et al.: col. 2, lines 55-67, col. 38, lines 46-56); and
identifying, by the server and the third storage, the plurality of endpoints selected by the first user, wherein the sending of the new message includes sending the new message to each of the plurality of endpoints selected by the first user (Spivack et al.: col. 10, lines 28-47; col. 17, lines 9-26). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Johnson et al. and Hull et al. to include the subscribers becoming followers as taught by Spivack et al. to provide endpoints for sharing information as a way of building a knowledge network (Spivack et al.: col. 1, lines 45-48).
Claims 7 and 9 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Volk et al. (US PG Pub. 2006/0129907) in view of Meek et al. (US PG Pub. 20080005072 A1) in further view of Spivack et al. (US Patent No. 7,433,876) and Hull et al. (US PG Pub. 2011/0289574).
As per claim 7, Volk et al. discloses a method of optimizing user-to-user associations in a network accessed by the users, (Volk et al.: [0078] Internet user subscribes to network content provider), the method comprising:
receiving, from a searching user, a Volk et al.: [0154], FIG. 6 illustrates a video web search results page 600 implemented in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The search results page 600 comprises a title section 605, a search section 610, a view options section 615 and a content display area 620. An Internet user can search the web for videos by selecting the video button in the search section 610 and typing a search term into the field in the search section 610. The results of the search are displayed in the content display area 620).
The sole difference between Volk et al. and the claimed subject matter is that Volk et al. does not teach performing a natural language string search.
Meek et al. teaches the search is a natural language string (Meek et al.: [0060] Queries can also be posed in the form of natural language similar to, for example, "What products are preferred for purchase friends in this department?" or "What friends of friends of friends have gone to this restaurant?"). Since each individual element and its function are shown in the prior art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself that is in the substitution of the natural language string search of Meek et al. for the keywork search of Volk et al.. Thus the simple substitution for one known element for another producing a predictable results renders the claim obvious.
Meek et al. further discloses:
performing, with a processor in the network, a search of the database with the Meek et al.: [0071] FIG. 13 illustrates a flow diagram of a methodology of processing advertising based on a social network search engine in accordance with another aspect. At 1300, a social network user initiates a search. At 1302, the query is processed against a database of mapping information that maps users to categories of interaction data (e.g., searches). At 1304, the search results are returned with one or more links to others who are mapped to similar categories. At 1306, ads are attached to the links. At 1308, the ads are transmitted along the links for presentation to users of the social network);
providing a result of the search, in the query graphical user interface for display to the searching user, wherein the result includes (Meek et al.: [0078] At 1406, the client-side search engine accesses a datasource (e.g., local or remote) that includes mappings of network users to categories of interest and/or user interaction. At 1408, the engine returns search results as well as links to users of a social network that share interests in common with the topic of conversation or messaging), also see [0038]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention of Volk et al. to include the searching in natural language as well as searching databases as taught by Meek et al. to automatically develop or employ a generalized workspace in a client/server environment and/or a peer-to-peer (P2P) environment for aggregating web pages or other search results for access by other members or nodes of the social network (Meek et al.: [0048]).
Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. does not further disclose, however, Spivack et al. discloses:
receiving, from the plurality of human services users, a plurality of messages, wherein the plurality of messages are received by being input by the plurality of human services users into a messaging graphical user interface provided by the network (Spivack et al.: col. 3, lines 10-63, Provide every individual user, or group, with their own Metaweb--a new kind of site about them, which can link to/from Metaweb sites created by their friends and by groups they have relationships with. They can use their Metawebs for:
Building a new kind of homepage about themselves, their group or their organization or product, Publishing their ideas and information, Publishing a semantic weblog, Sharing knowledge with a group or team, Managing projects and tasks with groups, Sharing files and data
Provide a top-level ontology of Metaweb node types
Provide top-level taxonomies of Knodes for topics (from the open directory, dmoz.org taxonomy of topics, and possibly the Library of Congress taxonomy, as well as other taxonomies that can be added by users, such as a medical taxonomy, etc.)
Seed the network by creating top-level public Metawebs for particular topics of interest, such as:
Music (all about music, Places Countries (all about various countries), Cities (all about various cities), Destinations (places), Sports (all about sports), Business, Industries, Professions, Literature (all about literature), Politics, Kids, Hobbies, Cooking Collecting, Technology, (A Metaweb about technology), Products (A Metaweb about products), Cameras, Computers, Software, Autos, Cultures Religion Ethnic National Lifestyles);
storing, in a database in the network, the plurality of messages from the human services users in association with an identification of the users (Spivack et al.: col. 29, lines 21-34, col. 29, lines 14-19, Business Method for Building a Model of the World Through Analysis of On-Line Information Using Wikis, listserv, Web pages, dictionaries, encyclopedias, geographical resources, and related content to build a knowledge network, as a way to bootstrap a semantic model of the world, and get people started using semantic technologies using semcards mined form the Web and constructed by hand to build a model of the world that mirrors documents, databases, web-pages, people, projects, etc. and their real relationships in the world as an intermediate, uniform representation of this information, semcards afford both automatic and human creation and editing of said information);
receiving, from the plurality of human services users, a plurality of new messages by being input by the plurality of human services users into a messaging graphical user interface provided by the network (Spivack et al.: col. 3, lines 10-63, Provide every individual user, or group, with their own Metaweb--a new kind of site about them, which can link to/from Metaweb sites created by their friends and by groups they have relationships with. They can use their Metawebs for:
Building a new kind of homepage about themselves, their group or their organization or product, Publishing their ideas and information, Publishing a semantic weblog, Sharing knowledge with a group or team, Managing projects and tasks with groups, Sharing files and data
Provide a top-level ontology of Metaweb node types
Provide top-level taxonomies of Knodes for topics (from the open directory, dmoz.org taxonomy of topics, and possibly the Library of Congress taxonomy, as well as other taxonomies that can be added by users, such as a medical taxonomy, etc.)
Seed the network by creating top-level public Metawebs for particular topics of interest, such as:
Music (all about music, Places Countries (all about various countries), Cities (all about various cities), Destinations (places), Sports (all about sports), Business, Industries, Professions, Literature (all about literature), Politics, Kids, Hobbies, Cooking Collecting, Technology, (A Metaweb about technology), Products (A Metaweb about products), Cameras, Computers, Software, Autos, Cultures Religion Ethnic National Lifestyles); and
sending, by the network, messages from the writing user from the plurality of new message to the searching user in response to the received selection (Spivack et al.: col. 3, lines 4-8; One of the new things about Hotnode is that any user can use their Hotnode account to give their friend or colleague a subscription to something. For example, I send you the hotnode for my contact information. If you accept that hotnode, you will always have my current contact information, as long as I update my copy of it to reflect my contact information correctly. No matter how many of my contacts have my contact information--they all get updates when I change my local copy. Others can set their account to alert them, on the Web and/or via email, whenever the contact information hotnode changes (Spivack et al.: col. 16, lines 50-61). Spivack et al. further discloses Ticker: It should be positioned as identity and presence. There may also be "friendsware" features here--for example the ticker. You can post things to the ticker and other hotnode users can subscribe to your ticker. Every hotnode user is a feed. You can make tickers by subscribing to them. You can post to your ticker and they get things. Also, if you subscribe to Joe's ticker, you get article or picture X that Joe posted. Now it comes onto your ticker and (depending on your prefs for your subscription to Joe) when Joe's posting appears on your ticker it can automatically (or not) be reposted to your channel and then appears on the tickers of all subscribers to you. It's social IM for news articles, pictures, music. You could have things come into automatically even like RSS you get etc. (Spivack et al.: col. 20, line 22-col. 21, line 6). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention of Volk et al. to include the subscribers becoming followers as taught by Spivack et al. to provide a method for sharing information as a way of building a knowledge network (Spivack et al.: col. 1, lines 45-48).
Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. and Spivack et al. does not further disclose, however, Hull et al. discloses:
wherein, the result includes,
at least a portion of one of the messages from the plurality of human services users matching the Hull et al.: [0085]; Thus, for example, a search for new "new movies" could yield a search result that provides information about new movies that other members of the user's social network thought were good new movies: The same concept applies to other portal services such as music or games enjoyed by "friends" network members, good business-related books read by members of a "work" network, and the like. Thus, it will be recognized from the teachings herein regarding the multiple opportunities for interoperability for a social network environment within a portal environment to yield much greater relevance to a social network user because the portal has much greater ability to gather information about the user and the other members of the user's social network),
a writing user of the one of the messages from the plurality of human services users in association with the one of the messages (Hull et al.: [0017] When a user initiates a search, results will be displayed which respond to the search criteria. The system can set a specified number of results that are displayed for the search. In addition to searching other users' profiles, a user may be able to search invitations to see which users have invited which other user's to their network. This search can be initiated by a user name, or, alternatively using other criteria such as location or interest. It should be understood that this will result in enhanced ability for a user to see inter-relationships between other users who might have similar interests to them. Additionally, users may search categories, networks, or all users of the system that they wish to interact with. In order to avoid a search which would return all users in the database, some of the search criteria must be set by the system. An example of criteria which can be set for the search is displayed in the table below) also see ([0110],[0115],[0015],[0068],[0071]],[0077]), and
a subscribe control for the writing user and selectable by the searching user (Hull et al.: [0106] The user of the system will also be able to set and control what kind of messages they receive from people within the network. For instance, a user can define which users he or she would like to receive invitations to join the social network from, which users he or she would like to receive e-mail messages or instant messages from {The Examiner interprets this to mean “subscribing”};
receiving a selection by the searching user through the subscribe control for the writing user and storing the searching user as a subscriber of the writing user in the network based on the selection (Hull et al.: [0106] The user of the system will also be able to set and control what kind of messages they receive from people within the network. For instance, a user can define which users he or she would like to receive invitations to join the social network from, which users he or she would like to receive e-mail messages or instant messages from {The Examiner interprets this to mean “subscribing”}; ([0107], The user can invite another user to join their network by sending an invitation to another user. For example, user A invites user B to join user A's network… In one embodiment, an activation button will be set up on a user's profile page to allow anyone viewing the user's profile page to instantly invite the user to his or her network. It should also be understood that if the security settings are set in a way that the user does not wish to receive invitations, the activation button will not appear. … (see [0110],0122],[0129],[0084]-[0085],[0028 for p2p]; FIG 5, Portal 506). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. and Spivack et al. to include a list of messages displayed from a search result and links as taught by Hull et al. in order to provide users the ability to subscribe to other users presenting information/topics.
As per claim 9, Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. and Spivack et al. discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the subscriber user interface further includes a messaging interface for direct communication between only the writing user and the searching use (col. 2, lines 63-67, Simultaneously, or soon after, we will give away a free, optional, open-source desktop tool for publishing and subscribing to the Metaweb. This tool will also have built-in capabilities for sharing microcontent objects with other users via email and/or p2p and/or IM; (col. 20, lines 34-36; (It also enables you to profile yourself and set your presence easily, and do jabber IM with anyone); and (col. 38, lines 28-34; Every hotnode has policies on it governing who can see it, who can change policies, who can add to or edit content in it, etc. Every hotnode can be subscribed to as RSS or Atom or email digest or IM alerts, etc. Every hotnode can be published to (via API, via IM, or via email to an address for that hotnode); also see col. 38, lines 46-61 , the Examiner interprets this to mean that users/authors can send an IM). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention that to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. to include sending an IM only between the requestor and author/writer as taught by Spivack et al. in order maintain a level of privacy when communicating as set by user’s preference (Spivack et al.: col. 28, lines 7-9).
Claims 8 and 10 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Volk et al. (US PG Pub. 2006/0129907) in view of Meek et al. (US PG Pub. 20080005072 A1) in further view of Spivack et al. (US Patent No. 7,433,876) in view of Hull et al. (US PG Pub. 2011/0289574) as applied to claim 7 above and in further view of Gerace et al. (US Patent No. 10,740,722 B2).
As per claim 8, Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. and Spivack et al. discloses the method of claim 7. Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. does not further disclose, however, Spivack et al., further comprising:
Spivack et al. discloses in col. 20. Lines 22- col.21, line 6; The Dashboard is initially your address book. It is a jabber client. It shows you current address and presence of all your contacts. It is a Hotnode client and it shows you how much new mail you have at Hotnode (and at any POPs you have too). Hotnode can push news, alerts, etc. to it via Jabber… There may also be "friendsware" features here--for example the ticker. You can post things to the ticker and other hotnode users can subscribe to your ticker. Every hotnode user is a feed. You can make tickers by subscribing to them. You can post to your ticker and they get things. Also, if you subscribe to Joe's ticker, you get article or picture X that Joe posted. Now it comes onto your ticker and (depending on your prefs for your subscription to Joe) when Joe's posting appears on your ticker it can automatically (or not) be reposted to your channel and then appears on the tickers of all subscribers to you. It's social IM for news articles, pictures, music. You could have things come into automatically even like RSS you get etc.
Spivack et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Gerace et al. discloses:
providing, by the network to the searching user, a subscriber user interface to the searching user showing a profile of the writing user, wherein the profile includes an indication of the subscriber status of the searching user and a plurality of the messages written by the writing user (Gerace et al.: col. 15, line 64 -col. 16, line 10, Continuing with FIGS. 2a-2d, the system 100 profiles the known/registered user based on material he writes and reads… In addition, known/registered users can browse all other members' profiles 37. They can browse only the members' public profile information and the members' articles/connections/groups/taxonomies that are flagged as public); (Gerace et al. col. 7, lines 39-44, When a member sees another member's profile information, the system 100 (connect module 31) shows him if he is connected to that member and how he is connected to this member by showing the shortest connection path from him to the other member and for each connection class. The system 100 preferably shows multiple paths of network relation, up to three levels or degrees of separation. Me>User 1>User 2>You. A subject user sees his closest connection. Beyond three levels, the system 100 indicates that the subject user is not closely connected in one embodiment. The number of people connected between a given user and a subject target person (including the target person) is termed the ‘degrees of separation’ with respect to the user); and col. 8, lines 63- col. 9, line 7, that each user has attributes and a profile 37 (discussed above in FIG. 2c) stored in a respective user table 122. For a given user, the respective user table 122 includes the groups (e.g., by respective group identifier) to which the user belongs and subscriptions to other users (author users). Gerace et al. further discloses in col. 9, lines 30-44, that likewise, system 100 employs user tables 122 to determine and display author users with fastest growing subscriber base. For each user, that one user may subscribe to an author user and this is indicated as a subscription 71 in the user table 122 of the one user. System 100 displays to each subscriber an indication of his subscriptions 71 and displays to the author user a list of his subscribers).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention that to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. and Hull et al. to include a subscription status as taught by Gerace et al. in order to inform the user of current subscriptions (Gerace et al.: col. 23, lines 23-25).
As per claim 10, Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. and Spivack et al. discloses the method of claim 7. Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. and Hull et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Gerace et al. discloses wherein the query graphical user interface further includes a payment control for the searching user to provide payment to the writing user (Gerace et al.: col. 23, 17-29; also see FIG. 2C). In a preferred embodiment, the compensation is paid in either points or currency units depending on user or system settings/preferences. Points Operation 39 (FIG. 2c) supports this feature/aspect. The invention system 100 can offer to convert points to currency units or pay users in currency units, based on user preferences or based on minimum earning thresholds set by the system software 92. Applicants' approach is to pay the author based on the value that he creates in the readership community at large. For example, when a content item is viewed by a reader-user clicking on (or otherwise selecting) a page, if that page is a group or user page, that group or user is awarded points for the referral); and (Gerace et al.: col. 26, lines 34-36; Another feature of the present invention involves allowing reader-users to tip (optionally pay a gratuity to) the author). (Gerace et al. further discloses a profile with status in FIG. 2A}. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention that to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. and Hull et al. to include a payment for the writer as taught by Gerace et al. in order to pay the author based on the value that he creates in the readership community at large (col. 23, lines 23-25).
Claim 11 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Volk et al. (US PG Pub. 2006/0129907) in view of Meek et al. (US PG Pub. 20080005072 A1) in view of Spivack et al. (US Patent No. 7,433,876) in further view of Johnson et al. (US Patent No. 5,555,426) and Hull et al. (US PG Pub. 2011/0289574) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Gerace et al. (US Patent No. 10,740,722 B2).
As per claim 11, Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. in view of Johnson et al. and Hull et al. discloses the method of claim 1.
Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Johnson et al. and Hull et al. does not further disclose, however, Spivack et al., discloses:
The Dashboard is initially your address book. It is a jabber client. It shows you current address and presence of all your contacts. It is a Hotnode client and it shows you how much new mail you have at Hotnode (and at any POPs you have too). Hotnode can push news, alerts, etc. to it via Jabber… There may also be "friendsware" features here--for example the ticker. You can post things to the ticker and other hotnode users can subscribe to your ticker. Every hotnode user is a feed. You can make tickers by subscribing to them. You can post to your ticker and they get things. Also, if you subscribe to Joe's ticker, you get article or picture X that Joe posted. Now it comes onto your ticker and (depending on your prefs for your subscription to Joe) when Joe's posting appears on your ticker it can automatically (or not) be reposted to your channel and then appears on the tickers of all subscribers to you. It's social IM for news articles, pictures, music. You could have things come into automatically even like RSS you get etc. in col. 20. Lines 22- col.21, line 6;
Spivack et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Gerace et al. discloses:
providing, by the network to the first user, a subscriber user interface to the first user showing a profile of the second user, wherein the profile includes an indication of the subscriber status of the first user and a plurality of the messages written by the second user (Gerace et al. discloses in col. 15, line 64 -col. 16, line 10, that Continuing with FIGS. 2a-2d, the system 100 profiles the known/registered user based on material he writes and reads… In addition, known/registered users can browse all other members' profiles 37. They can browse only the members' public profile information and the members' articles/connections/groups/
taxonomies that are flagged as public); Gerace et al.: col. 8, lines 63- col. 9, line 7,FIG. 4A ; Each user has attributes and a profile 37 (discussed above in FIG. 2c) stored in a respective user table 122. For a given user, the respective user table 122 includes the groups (e.g., by respective group identifier) to which the user belongs and subscriptions to other users (author users); and (Gerace et al.: col. 9, lines 30-44, Likewise, system 100 employs user tables 122 to determine and display author users with fastest growing subscriber base. For each user, that one user may subscribe to an author user and this is indicated as a subscription 71 in the user table 122 of the one user. System 100 displays to each subscriber an indication of his subscriptions 71 and displays to the author user a list of his subscribers). {The Examiner interprets the users to be a reader and/or writer and therefore can see profiles and subscriptions}. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention that to modify the invention of Volk et al. in view of Meek et al. in view of Spivack et al. in view of Johnson et al. and Hull et al. to include a subscription status as taught by Gerace et al. in order to inform the user of current subscriptions (Gerace et al.: col. 23, lines 23-25).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
1) Rouse, Wade, “Social Networking 3.0”, November 18, 2005; technologyreview.com, 7 pages.
2) Sullivan, Danny, “Community-Based Search Engines”, 12 December 2004, searchenginewatch.com, 8 pages.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FREDA A. NELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-7076. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 10:15 am - 6:45 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shannon S. Campbell can be reached on (571) 272-5587. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/F. A. N./
Examiner, Art Unit 3628
/SHANNON S CAMPBELL/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3628
Prosecution Insights