DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Notice for all US Patent Applications filed on or after March 16, 2013
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.
Status of the Claims
This communication is in response to communications received on 10/21/25. Claim(s) 1, 8, and 15 has/have been amended and applicant does not provide any information on where support for the amendments and/or new claims can be found in the instant specification. Therefore, Claims 1-20 is/are pending and have been addressed below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see applicant’s remarks, filed 10/21/25, with respect to rejections under 35 USC 101 for claim(s) 1-20 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive as far as they apply to the amended 101 rejection(s) below.
Applicant respectfully traversed the rejection on pg. 11-25.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees because a) while the amendment furthers the argument from the prior amendment, b) the claims are receiving two data sets, determining data based on the data sets, adding the data sets to a file, using the file to create a profile, and performing general analysis on the created profile to add new data to the profile which is more determining data based on the data sets, and using the determined data to provide marketing information to the user.
Applicant is relying on 2106.05(d) “well understood, routine, and conventional” however Examiner is relying on 2106.05(f) “apply it.” Examiner relied on “apply it” because of item (2) Whether the claim invokes computers or other machinery merely as a tool to perform an existing process of 2106.05(f).
The claims here are not like those the Federal Circuit found patent eligible in DDR because applicant’s claim(s) here is/are not solving an internet-centric problem specifically arising in the realm of computers or computer networks nor is/are the claimed solution(s) necessarily rooted in computer technology.
Thus, the argument(s) are unpersuasive.
Applicant’s arguments, see applicant’s remarks, filed 10/21/25, with respect to rejections under 35 USC 103 for claim(s) 1-20 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive as far as they apply to the amended 103 rejection(s) below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
The limitation(s) below for representative claim(s) 1, 8, and 15 that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, is directed to develop a customer profile for the identified customer based on all identified customer activity.
Step 1: The claim(s) as drafted, is/are a process (claim(s) 1-7 recites a series of steps) and system (claim(s) 8-20 recites a series of components).
Step 2A – Prong 1: The claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) (emphasis added):
Claim 15: receive a device ID for a mobile device that has entered a physical location of a retailer;
utilize the device ID for said mobile device to search for and identify a customer associated with the device ID for said mobile device, wherein said identifying of said customer does not initiate an overt response or interaction with said customer or otherwise alter a shopping experience of said customer;
automatically utilizing location information provided by a communication provider to obtain location data for said user's computing device;
receive tracking information for the mobile device, the tracking information limited to activity in the physical location of the retailer;
add the tracking information to a customer data file of the identified customer;
receive identification (ID) information for a user's computing device that is accessing a website of the retailer;
utilize the ID information for said user's computing device to search for and identify the customer associated with the ID information for said user's computing device, wherein said identifying of said customer does not initiate an overt response or interaction with said customer or otherwise alter a shopping experience of said customer;
receive browsing information for the website as performed by the user's computing device;
add the browsing information to the customer data file of the identified customer;
utilize the information in the customer data file to develop a customer profile for the identified customer;
identify marketing information, said marketing information comprising:
online marketing of said retailer; and
in-store marketing of said retailer;
add said marketing information to said customer data file;
utilize said customer data file to evaluate a success of said in-store marketing as contrasted with said online marketing for said identified customer;
assign a best marketing avenue for said identified customer, wherein said best marketing avenue is either said online marketing or said in-store marketing;
personalize a future marketing to said identified customer based on said assigned best marketing avenue; and
provide said personalized future marketing to said identified customer via said best marketing avenue.
Claim 1 and 8: the same analysis as claim(s) 15.
Dependent claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 recite the same or similar abstract idea(s) as independent claim(s) 1, 8, and 15 with merely a further narrowing of the abstract idea(s).
The identified limitations of the independent and dependent claims above fall well-within the groupings of subject matter identified by the courts as being abstract concepts of:
a method of organizing human activity (commercial or legal interactions including advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, or business relations) because the invention is directed to economic and/or business relationships as they are associated with develop a customer profile for the identified customer based on all identified customer activity.
Step 2A – Prong 2: This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because:
The additional elements unencompassed by the abstract idea include computing system, user computing device (claim(s) 1), a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions embodied therein that when executed cause a computer system, mobile device, user computing device (claim(s) 8), a computing system comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, the one or more processors, mobile device, user computing device, said computing system associated with said retailer (claim(s) 15), user computing device (claim(s) 2-4, 7, 12-14, 18, 20), and mobile device (claim(s) 5, 7, 9-11, 14, 16-20).
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements as described above with respect to Step 2A Prong 2 fails to describe:
Improvements to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field - see MPEP 2106.05(a)
Applying or using a judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition – see Vanda Memo
Applying the judicial exception with, or by use of, a particular machine – see MPEP 2106.05(b)
Effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing - see MPEP 2106.05(c)
Applying or using the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception - see MPEP 2106.05(e) and Vanda Memo.
Thus the additional elements as described above with respect to Step 2A Prong 2 are merely (as additionally noted by instant specification [0235]) invoked as a tool and/or general purpose computer to apply instructions of an abstract idea in a particular technological environment, and/or mere application of an abstract idea in a particular technological environment and merely limiting the use of an abstract idea to a particular technological field do not integrate an abstract idea into a practical application (MPEP 2106.05(f)&(h)).
Step 2B: The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Thus the additional elements as described above with respect to Step 2A Prong 2 are merely (as additionally noted by instant specification [0235]) invoked as a tool and/or a general purpose computer to apply instructions of an abstract idea in a particular technological environment, and/or mere application of an abstract idea in a particular technological environment and merely limiting the use of an abstract idea to a particular technological field do not integrate an abstract idea into a practical application and thus similarly the combination and arrangement of the above identified additional elements when analyzed under Step 2B also fails to necessitate a conclusion that the claims amount to significantly more than the abstract idea for the same reasons as set forth above (MPEP 2106.05(f)&(h)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
It has been held that a prior art reference must either be in the field of applicant’s endeavor or, if not, then be reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the applicant was concerned, in order to be relied upon as a basis for rejection of the claimed invention. See In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 24 USPQ2d 1443 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Korra et al. (US 2017/0061511 A1) in view of Crutchfield (US 2015/0112826 A1).
Regarding claim 15 (currently amended), Korra teaches a computing system to manage information pertaining to anonymous and/or known customer activity both in store and online comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, the one or more processors to:
receive a device ID for a mobile device that has entered a physical location of a retailer;
automatically utilizing location information provided by a communication provider to obtain location data for a device [see at least [0019] “For purposes of the following discussion, mobile device 116, and similarly store associate's computer device 420 (if computer device 420 is a mobile computer device and not a POS system), may be a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a smart watch, a piece of smart jewelry, smart glasses, or other user portable devices having wireless connectivity.”;
[0031] “Actual location information may be obtained by the user's mobile device location services, such as but not limited to, GPS, WiFi, cellular service, beacon derived location determination and the like.”];
utilize the device ID for said mobile device to search for and identify a customer associated with the device ID for said mobile device [for the limitations above, see at least [0054-0062, specifically 0057] computer system “System 500 also includes computer usable non-volatile memory 510, e.g., read only memory (ROM), coupled to bus 504 for storing static information and instructions for processors 506A, 506B, and 506C. Also present in system 500 is a data storage unit 512”;
[0030] “Referring now to 210 of FIG. 2 and to FIG. 3, one embodiment determines that a mobile device is within an area of interest.”;
[0034] “With reference now to 220 of FIG. 2 and to FIG. 3, one embodiment interacts with the mobile device to determine an identifying characteristic. As described herein, the identifying characteristic should be a unique identifier. For example, the identifying characteristic may be, but is not limited to: a mobile device phone number, a mobile device identifier such as: a SIM card integrated circuit card identifier (ICCID) or a unique device identifier (UDID), a user's name, a user's store account number, a user's store rewards number, and a user identifier provided by an application operating on the mobile device.”;
[0035] “Referring now to 230 of FIG. 2 and to FIG. 3, one embodiment searches a database for a customer profile related to the identifying characteristic. For example, customer database 127 is a database that includes customer profile information. In general, the database may be a local database, a virtual database, a cloud database or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the customer profile information stored within customer database 127 will be associated with the identifying characteristic received from mobile device 116.”;
[0036] “For example, if the identifying characteristic is a mobile phone number, customer profile obtainer 120 would search the customer profile information of customer database 127 using the phone number from mobile device 116 as the search query. If a customer profile is identified as being associated with that mobile phone number, customer profile obtainer 120 would obtain the associated customer profile.”].
Korra doesn’t/don’t explicitly teach but, in the field pertinent to the particular problem with which the applicant was concerned such databases of user data, Crutchfield discloses
utilize the device ID for said mobile device to search for and identify a customer associated with the device ID for said mobile device, wherein said identifying of said customer does not initiate an overt response or interaction with said customer or otherwise alter a shopping experience of said customer [see at least [0308] multiple channel types “For example, a retailer specializing in consumer electronics may set up a first (online) channel by establishing an Internet web portal and/or distributing a mobile application … The same electronics retailer may also have a second (offline) channel by running one or more physical stores, stands, or kiosks which shoppers could visit in person.”; [0027, 0310] detect a user based on a device (computer or mobile device) used at a channel such as store or online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.” and “the invention comprises a mobile application running on a mobile device”; [0311] “In Step 2608, the shopper may be identified with a unique identifier that serves to distinguish each shopper from other visitors or customers of the retailer. If prior interactions between the shopper and the retailer can be confirmed, the shopper may already have been associated with a unique identifier and that identifier may continue to be used.”; [0312] Upon identifying user save data about user’s current shopping experience thus no interaction is initiated “Next, in Step 2610, data associated with the shopper's activities while visiting the first retail sales channel may be recorded and stored in the shopper database.”];
data for said user's computing device [see at least [0310] detect a user based on a device used online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.];
receive tracking information for the mobile device, the tracking information limited to activity in the physical location of the retailer [see at least [0033] “the vendor may monitor the customer's location throughout the store by monitoring the location of the customer's mobile device”];
add the tracking information to a customer data file of the identified customer [see at least [0310] detect a user based on a device used online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.”];
receive identification (ID) information for a user’s computing device that is accessing a website of the retailer [see at least [0310] detect a user based on a device used online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.;];
utilize the ID information for said user’s computing device to search for and identify the customer associated with the ID information for said user’s computing device, wherein said identifying of said customer does not initiate an overt response or interaction with said customer or otherwise alter a shopping experience of said customer [see at least [0308] multiple channel types “For example, a retailer specializing in consumer electronics may set up a first (online) channel by establishing an Internet web portal and/or distributing a mobile application … The same electronics retailer may also have a second (offline) channel by running one or more physical stores, stands, or kiosks which shoppers could visit in person.”; [0027, 0310] detect a user based on a device used online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.” and “the invention comprises a mobile application running on a mobile device”; [0311] “In Step 2608, the shopper may be identified with a unique identifier that serves to distinguish each shopper from other visitors or customers of the retailer. If prior interactions between the shopper and the retailer can be confirmed, the shopper may already have been associated with a unique identifier and that identifier may continue to be used.”; [0312] Upon identifying user save data about user’s current shopping experience thus no interaction is initiated “Next, in Step 2610, data associated with the shopper's activities while visiting the first retail sales channel may be recorded and stored in the shopper database.”];
receive browsing information for the website as performed by the user’s computing device [see at least [0016, 0109] for types of customer service channels such as a telephone call center and physical store (additional types of customer service channels: [0129, 0144, 0179] ); [0318] “The various embodiments and features of the presently disclosed invention may be used in any combination”;
[0031, 0033, 0077, 0115] prior and current collected data can be combined (customer data file) and the combined data can be a) shopping data, b) “through the use of sensors located throughout the store that collect in-store data reflecting the customer's activity. For example, these sensors may monitor a customer's body language, or foot traffic patterns throughout the store.” such as “the vendor may monitor the customer's location throughout the store by monitoring the location of the customer's mobile device”, c) “a customer's browser or similar application for accessing web sites or other information” and/or d) “personal, demographic, and/or psychographic information” including “customer's age, gender, residence, financial status, expertise, or personal tastes”];
add the browsing information to the customer data file of the identified customer [see at least [0100, 0094] similar to receiving limitation above where prior and current collected data can be combined (customer data file), the combined data may come from different storage locations such as “vendor's website or otherwise at a vendor server”];
utilize the information in the customer data file to develop a customer profile for the identified customer [see at least [0094] customer data file to develop a customer profile “The qualification process is a recognition process in which the vendor determines information about the customer's needs, preferences, and traits. The qualification process may be implemented by retrieving a customer's personal, demographic, or psychographic information stored in a vendor's databases 205 or 206.”];
identify marketing information, said marketing information comprising [see at least [0243] “Furthermore, the retailer may leverage the Passport account information for Marketing/Promotion (5). The shopper's purchase history and product discovery history, as well as many other personal data, may reveal a lot about which products the shopper needs or wants. Therefore, a number of targeted marketing or promotion leads may be generated and presented to the shopper based on his/her Passport account data.”]:
online marketing of said retailer [see at least [0266] “According to some embodiments, to encourage the use of Passport for online shopping, cardholders may be granted special information on the retailer's website (e.g., store inventory, store specials, upcoming promotions, etc.) which is not otherwise available to non-Passport-cardholders. Also, the cardholders may be offered special promotions and, possibly, a special emailed newsletter.”]; and
in-store marketing of said retailer [see at least [0305] “In addition, various incentives such as discount coupons, reward points, and rebate offers could be generated and pushed to the shopper's device 250 in substantial real-time, for example, to boost the shopper's interest in certain products and/or to extend the shopper's stay in the store.”];
add said marketing information to said customer data file [see at least [0016, 0109] for types of customer service channels such as a telephone call center and physical store (additional types of customer service channels: [0129, 0144, 0179] ); [0318] “The various embodiments and features of the presently disclosed invention may be used in any combination”;
[0240] prior and current collected data can be combined (customer data file) and the combined data can be from more than one service channel “Sometimes, the Out-of-Store Discovery (1) and In-Store Discovery (2) sessions may be repeated a few times before any final purchase decision is made and carried out. The shopper's Passport account may be used to track and transition among these sessions and to organize the information collected therefrom for personalized shopping assistance.”; [0187] “In one embodiment, the out-of-store shopping information includes information such as which items the customer has viewed, which items they added to their shopping cart, items they have added to wish-lists, or which advertisements or promotions the customer may have clicked on.”; [0305] “In addition, various incentives such as discount coupons, reward points, and rebate offers could be generated and pushed to the shopper's device 250 in substantial real-time, for example, to boost the shopper's interest in certain products and/or to extend the shopper's stay in the store.” [0318] “The various embodiments and features of the presently disclosed invention may be used in any combination”];
utilize said customer data file to evaluate a success of said in-store marketing as contrasted with said online marketing for said identified customer [see at least [0240] did a conversion from in store to online or online to instore occur “Sometimes, the Out-of-Store Discovery (1) and In-Store Discovery (2) sessions may be repeated a few times before any final purchase decision is made and carried out.”; [0298] conversation rates including from in store to online “the intelligent fixture(s) and/or related beacon or sensor devices may gather data to provide at least gross statistics on store performance, such as foot traffic patterns in the store, activity levels in the store for different days of the week and/or times of day, advisory conversion rate, website return conversion rate (i.e., how often a consumer viewing a product in the store returns home and purchases it online), and so on.”; [0246] engagement rates “engagement and email click/open rates”;
[0266, 0305] marketing data from the purchase ([0266]) “According to some embodiments, to encourage the use of Passport for online shopping, cardholders may be granted special information on the retailer's website (e.g., store inventory, store specials, upcoming promotions, etc.) which is not otherwise available to non-Passport-cardholders. Also, the cardholders may be offered special promotions and, possibly, a special emailed newsletter.” ([0305]) “In addition, various incentives such as discount coupons, reward points, and rebate offers could be generated and pushed to the shopper's device 250 in substantial real-time, for example, to boost the shopper's interest in certain products and/or to extend the shopper's stay in the store.”]
[0240] prior and current collected data can be combined (customer data file) and the combined data can be from more than one service channel “Sometimes, the Out-of-Store Discovery (1) and In-Store Discovery (2) sessions may be repeated a few times before any final purchase decision is made and carried out. The shopper's Passport account may be used to track and transition among these sessions and to organize the information collected therefrom for personalized shopping assistance.”; [0308-0309, 0312] document each retail channel visits and if there is a purchase during the retail channel visit ([0308] )“a retailer … may maintain multiple retail sales channels.” including online and offline such as a physical store ([0309]) “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel” ([0312]) “Next, in Step 2610, data associated with the shopper's activities while visiting the first retail sales channel may be recorded and stored in the shopper database. For example, one or more of the following pieces of information may be recorded: … product(s) purchased; … and so on”; [0318] “The various embodiments and features of the presently disclosed invention may be used in any combination”;];
assign a best marketing avenue for said identified customer, wherein said best marketing avenue is either said online marketing or said in-store marketing;
personalize a future marketing to said identified customer based on said assigned best marketing venue; and
providing said personalized future marketing to said identified customer via said best marketing avenue [for the limitations above, see at least [0239-0240, 0243-0244] use customer data from interacting with various channels (both an in store and out of store) to generate personalized data of the user, where the personalized data of the user is used to make recommendations of relevant information and products to the user “keeping track of the interactions with a retailer's website and sales personnel, and/or making recommendation of relevant information and products” and “The potency of the Passport account extends well beyond the moment when a purchase is completed and further into various post-sale functions and activities, may facilitate targeted marketing and promotion which can lead to more future sales.”;
[0318] “The various embodiments and features of the presently disclosed invention may be used in any combination”; [0318, 0240, 0298, 0266, 0305] combine the following for a making a recommendation of using a specific channel for marketing thus generating personalized user data of a personalized shopping style;
[0240] did a conversion from in store to online or online to instore occur “Sometimes, the Out-of-Store Discovery (1) and In-Store Discovery (2) sessions may be repeated a few times before any final purchase decision is made and carried out.”; [0298] conversation rates including from in store to online “the intelligent fixture(s) and/or related beacon or sensor devices may gather data to provide at least gross statistics on store performance, such as foot traffic patterns in the store, activity levels in the store for different days of the week and/or times of day, advisory conversion rate, website return conversion rate (i.e., how often a consumer viewing a product in the store returns home and purchases it online), and so on.”; [0246] engagement rates “engagement and email click/open rates”;
[0266, 0305] marketing data from the purchase ([0266]) “According to some embodiments, to encourage the use of Passport for online shopping, cardholders may be granted special information on the retailer's website (e.g., store inventory, store specials, upcoming promotions, etc.) which is not otherwise available to non-Passport-cardholders. Also, the cardholders may be offered special promotions and, possibly, a special emailed newsletter.” ([0305]) “In addition, various incentives such as discount coupons, reward points, and rebate offers could be generated and pushed to the shopper's device 250 in substantial real-time, for example, to boost the shopper's interest in certain products and/or to extend the shopper's stay in the store.”;
Fig. 26 and [0310-0315] future marketing done when user is not at or using current retailer location; [0310] detect a user based on a device used online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.; [0311] “In Step 2608, the shopper may be identified with a unique identifier that serves to distinguish each shopper from other “visitors or customers of the retailer. If prior interactions between the shopper and the retailer can be confirmed, the shopper may already have been associated with a unique identifier and that identifier may continue to be used.”; [0312] Upon identifying user save data about user’s current shopping experience thus no interaction is initiated “Next, in Step 2610, data associated with the shopper's activities while visiting the first retail sales channel may be recorded and stored in the shopper database.”; [0313] “Sometime later, in Step 2612, the shopper's visit to a second retail sales channel may be detected.”; [0314] “Once the shopper has been identified, at least some of the recorded data of the shopper's visit to the first retail sales channel may be retrieved from the database(s) in Step 2614.”; [0315] “Then, in Step 2616, a customized communication may be generated and conveyed to the shopper during the visit to the second retail sales channel. The customized communication may be formulated for a number of purposes and delivered in a number of ways. For example, based on the shopper's recently visit to the online store, it may be determined what the shopper plans to see or buy on the current shopping trip, and informational and/or promotional messages may be generated accordingly to help the shopper with product research and/or to entice the shopper to make a purchase.”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Korra with Crutchfield to include the limitation(s) above as disclosed by Crutchfield. Doing so would help further define Korra’s plurality of different search locations and this will provide a better customer data as the data will be both more varied and specific [see at least Crutchfield [0013, 0136-0137] ].
Furthermore, all of the claimed elements were known in the prior arts of Korra and Crutchfield and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim(s) 1 and 8 & 5 and 12, the claim recites analogous limitations to claim(s) 15 above and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 16, modified Korra teaches the computing system of claim 15,
and Korra teaches wherein the one or more processors are further to: utilize a proprietary database to search for and identify the customer associated with the ID information and the device ID for said mobile device [see at least [0035] “Referring now to 230 of FIG. 2 and to FIG. 3, one embodiment searches a database for a customer profile related to the identifying characteristic. For example, customer database 127 is a database that includes customer profile information. In general, the database may be a local database, a virtual database, a cloud database or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the customer profile information stored within customer database 127 will be associated with the identifying characteristic received from mobile device 116.”;
[0036] “For example, if the identifying characteristic is a mobile phone number, customer profile obtainer 120 would search the customer profile information of customer database 127 using the phone number from mobile device 116 as the search query. If a customer profile is identified as being associated with that mobile phone number, customer profile obtainer 120 would obtain the associated customer profile.”;
[0018] “An example of cloud 126 is a network such as the Internet, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or the like. Customer database 127 is a database that includes customer profile information. Database 127 may be store specific, retailer specific, company specific, a shared database, a conglomerate database, a portion of a larger storage database, and the like. Moreover, the database could be a local database, a virtual database, a cloud database or a combination thereof.”].
Regarding claim(s) 2 and 9, the claim recites analogous limitations to claim(s) 16 above and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 17, modified Korra teaches the computing system of claim 16,
and Korra teaches wherein the one or more processors are further to: utilize a proprietary database to search for and identify the customer associated with the ID information and the device ID for said mobile device [see at least [0035] “Referring now to 230 of FIG. 2 and to FIG. 3, one embodiment searches a database for a customer profile related to the identifying characteristic. For example, customer database 127 is a database that includes customer profile information. In general, the database may be a local database, a virtual database, a cloud database or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the customer profile information stored within customer database 127 will be associated with the identifying characteristic received from mobile device 116.”;
[0036] “For example, if the identifying characteristic is a mobile phone number, customer profile obtainer 120 would search the customer profile information of customer database 127 using the phone number from mobile device 116 as the search query. If a customer profile is identified as being associated with that mobile phone number, customer profile obtainer 120 would obtain the associated customer profile.”;
[0018] “An example of cloud 126 is a network such as the Internet, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or the like. Customer database 127 is a database that includes customer profile information. Database 127 may be store specific, retailer specific, company specific, a shared database, a conglomerate database, a portion of a larger storage database, and the like. Moreover, the database could be a local database, a virtual database, a cloud database or a combination thereof.”]
Regarding claim(s) 3 and 10, the claim recites analogous limitations to claim(s) 17 above and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 4 and 18, modified Korra teaches the computing system of claim 15, .
Modified Korra doesn’t/don’t explicitly teach but Crutchfield discloses
wherein the one or more processors are further to: obtain authorization before obtaining the device ID for the mobile device [0313] opt-in through mobile app or other means “The shopper's presence in or near a physical retail location may be detected in a number of ways. For instance, with a Passport app or other mobile app on the shopper's mobile device, either the app or an in-store device, fixture, or server could sense and identify the shopper. The mobile app may be configured (e.g., through shopper opt-in) to announce the presence and identity of the shopper or the mobile device. Alternatively, the shopper may enter his or her name, email address, login name, or other identifier (e.g., loyalty or rewards card number) or perform a biometric scan at an intelligent fixture, or initiate a contact or contactless communication between the shopper's mobile device and an in-store device (e.g., via NFC or Bluetooth communications).”;
[0027, 0310] detect a user based on a device (computer or mobile device) used at a channel such as store or online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.” and “the invention comprises a mobile application running on a mobile device”;
[0081] various types of mobile devices also include a computer (tablet or laptop) or smaller portable (phone) “As described in more detail below, mobile devices may include mobile personal computers, such as laptops, notebooks, netbooks, tablets, PDAs (personal digital assistants), smart phones (e.g., the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire, etc.), and other forms of portable computer devices”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify modified Korra with Crutchfield to include the limitation(s) above as disclosed by Crutchfield. Doing so would help further define modified Korra’s plurality of different search locations and this will provide a better customer data as the data will be both more varied and specific [see at least Crutchfield [0013, 0136-0137] ].
Furthermore, all of the claimed elements were known in the prior arts of modified Korra and Crutchfield and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim(s) 13, the claim recites analogous limitations to claim(s) 4 and 18 above and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 11 and 19, modified Korra teaches the computing system of claim 15 .
Modified Korra doesn’t/don’t explicitly teach but Crutchfield discloses
wherein the one or more processors are further to: obtain authorization before obtaining the device ID for the mobile device [0313] opt-in through mobile app or other means “The shopper's presence in or near a physical retail location may be detected in a number of ways. For instance, with a Passport app or other mobile app on the shopper's mobile device, either the app or an in-store device, fixture, or server could sense and identify the shopper. The mobile app may be configured (e.g., through shopper opt-in) to announce the presence and identity of the shopper or the mobile device. Alternatively, the shopper may enter his or her name, email address, login name, or other identifier (e.g., loyalty or rewards card number) or perform a biometric scan at an intelligent fixture, or initiate a contact or contactless communication between the shopper's mobile device and an in-store device (e.g., via NFC or Bluetooth communications).”;
[0027, 0310] detect a user based on a device (computer or mobile device) used at a channel such as store or online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.” and “the invention comprises a mobile application running on a mobile device”;
[0081] various types of mobile devices also include a computer (tablet or laptop) or smaller portable (phone) “As described in more detail below, mobile devices may include mobile personal computers, such as laptops, notebooks, netbooks, tablets, PDAs (personal digital assistants), smart phones (e.g., the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire, etc.), and other forms of portable computer devices”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify modified Korra with Crutchfield to include the limitation(s) above as disclosed by Crutchfield. Doing so would help further define modified Korra’s plurality of different search locations and this will provide a better customer data as the data will be both more varied and specific [see at least Crutchfield [0013, 0136-0137] ].
Furthermore, all of the claimed elements were known in the prior arts of modified Korra and Crutchfield and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim(s) 6, the claim recites analogous limitations to claim(s) 11 and 19 above and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 7, 14, and 20, modified Korra teaches the computing system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors.
Modified Korra doesn’t/don’t explicitly teach but Crutchfield discloses
are further to:
build the customer data file from known information provided by the customer, the known information from the group consisting of: the device ID for the mobile device, the identification (ID) information for the user’s computing device, an email address, and a credit account information [see at least [0033] “the vendor may monitor the customer's location throughout the store by monitoring the location of the customer's mobile device”;
[0310] detect a user based on a device used online “In Step 2606, a shopper's visit to a first retail sales channel may be detected. For example, the shopper may visit the first (online) channel by shopping on the Internet web portal via a standard web browser or with the mobile app distributed by the retailer or a third party. The shopper could be detected based on an identifier of the shopper's computing device, its network address (e.g., IP address, mobile phone number), or login credentials or other personal information supplied by the shopper.”; [0310] login credentials including credit account information (which is not defined in the instant specification) such as name “his or her name, email address, login name, or other identifier (e.g., loyalty or rewards card number)”;
[0031, 0033, 0077, 0115] prior and current collected data can be combined (customer data file) and the combined data can be a) shopping data (as noted above), b) “through the use of sensors located throughout the store that collect in-store data reflecting the customer's activity. For example, these sensors may monitor a customer's body language, or foot traffic patterns throughout the store.” such as “the vendor may monitor the customer's location throughout the store by monitoring the location of the customer's mobile device”, c) “a customer's browser or similar application for accessing web sites or other information” and/or d) “personal, demographic, and/or psychographic information” including “customer's age, gender, residence, financial status, expertise, or personal tastes” and “personal information the customer provided while registering for an account with the vendor”;
[0100, 0094] a) similar to above where prior and current collected data can be combined (customer data file), the combined data may come from different storage locations such as “vendor's website or otherwise at a vendor server”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify modified Korra with Crutchfield to include the limitation(s) above as disclosed by Crutchfield. Doing so would help further define modified Korra’s plurality of different search locations and this will provide a better customer data as the data will be both more varied and specific [see at least Crutchfield [0013, 0136-0137] ].
Furthermore, all of the claimed elements were known in the prior arts of modified Korra and Crutchfield and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
When responding to the office action, any new claims and/or limitations should be accompanied by a reference as to where the new claims and/or limitations are supported in the original disclosure.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/J.W./Examiner, Art Unit 3624
/Jerry O'Connor/Supervisory Patent Examiner,Group Art Unit 3624