DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Amendment filed on 07/23/2025
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/23/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant in page 8, with respect to the objections to claims made in the office action mailed on 05/05/2025, argues, “The Applicant has amended the claims and respectfully requests the withdrawal of these objections”
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Applicant’s amendment fails to address all of the objections made in the office action mailed on 05/05/2025, see claim objections below.
Applicant in page 8, with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112 made in the office action mailed on 05/05/2025, argues, “The Applicant has amended the claims to correct the errors m response to the Examiner's rejections and objections. The Applicants respectfully request the withdrawal of these objections in view of these amendments.”
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Applicant’s amendment fails to address all of the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112 made in the office action posted on 05/05/2025, see rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112 below.
Priority
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 nonprovisional 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 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, except for the best mode requirement. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 32 USPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994)
The disclosure of the prior-filed application, Application No. 16/820,777, fails to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application. Claim limitation that are not supported by the specification of Application No. 16/820,777 are:
receiving, by one or more processors, bids related to the labor costs, wherein the bids are analyzed based on a predetermined set of requirements and all bids which do not meet the set of requirements are removed– in claim 1
monitoring, by one or more processors, the time-line for the construction of the structure and identifying milestones and irregularities in the construction of the building – in claim 1
processing, by one or more processors, a bidding process based on the identified labor requirements, wherein at least one bid is received and the at least one bid is analyzed based on a predetermined set of requirements and all bids which do not meet the set of requirements are removed and the construction personnel are analyzed to determine a combination of construction personnel based on a price, historic relationships and availability and one bid is selected for each labor requirement – in claim 1
monitor the construction process and update a construction timeline based on completion of tasks, wherein it is determined when specific events occur and deviations from the construction timeline and alerts are created at these specific events and deviations. - in claim 9
sort through the set of bids related to the labor requirements, wherein bids which do not meet a predetermined set of requirements are removed and at least one bid for each labor requirement is selected and presenting the set of bids to within a user interface to be selected by a user- in claim 9
process a set of bids from construction personnel, wherein the set of bids are analyzed and the construction personnel are analyzed to determine a combination of construction personnel based on a price and availability - in claim 9
generate a bill of materials, wherein the bill of materials categorizes a series of required construction personnel types- in claim 17.
monitor a bidding process for construction personnel types required to build the final design, wherein the bidding process comprises; receive at least one bid, analyze the at least one bid, wherein the at least one bid is analyzed to determine a combination of construction personnel based on price and availability, filter the at least one bid, wherein bids which do not meet a predetermined set of requirements associated with price and availability are removed, and all remaining bids are presented within a user interface for selection– in claim 17
calculate a construction process for the structure based on the bill of materials and the selected construction personnel types- in claim 17
The disclosure of the prior-filed application, Application No. 16/820,777 doesn’t provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for above claim limitations directed to bidding process, construction personnel types and identifying milestones and irregularities in the construction of the building. Accordingly, claims 1-6,9-11,13-14,17 and 20-21 are not entitled to the benefit of the prior application.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 9 recites,
“A computer program product for developing a structure design comprising:
the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:
program instructions to compile a catalog of building components, wherein each building component has an associated set of specifications and suppliers;…..”
The claim language appears to be grammatically incorrect. As an initial matter, in “A computer program product for developing a structure design comprising: the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium”, the phrase “the computer program product comprising” appears to be redundant, as the same phrase appears in the preamble already. Additionally, limitations following preamble “the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:” should be directed to functions or steps that the program instructions cause the computing device to perform. However the limitation following this limitation is not directed to a functions, instead it is directed to a list of program instructions. The rest of the limitations of the claim are also directed to a list of program instructions instead of a list of functions that the program instructions cause the computing device to perform.
Claim 17 recites, “program instructions to monitor a bidding process for construction personnel types required to build the final design, wherein the bidding process comprises;”. Use of the semicolon (;) at the end of the limitation appears to be a typographical error as the limitations following the semicolon appears to be a list of steps comprised within the bidding process. For the sake of compact prosecution the limitation is being interpreted to recite, “program instructions to monitor a bidding process for construction personnel types required to build the final design, wherein the bidding process comprises:”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 9-11, 13-14, 17 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 9 recites, “program instructions to, determined if a deviation from the construction timeline occurs, the program instructions generate an alert signal for the deviation.”. This limitation is replete with grammatical errors which makes the scope of claim unclear. For example, “program instructions to, determined” appears to be grammatically incorrect, as the verb after the “to” should be in its base form (i.e. “determine”). Additionally, it is unclear from this limitation whether generating an alert signal is contingent on determining that "a deviations from the construction timeline occurs". For the sake of compact prosecution the generating an alert signal is interpreted as being contingent on determining that "a deviation from the construction timeline occurs".
Claims 10-11 and 13-14 depends on claim 9 and are therefore rejected due to their dependency.
Claim 17 recites a list of program instructions to perform various functions, e.g. program instructions to establish a set of plot restrictions, program instructions to modify a set of templates based on the plot restrictions, program instructions to provide a set of allowed templates for the structure, etc. These program instructions are not recited as being comprised within a storage and is not being executed by the CPU perform any of the claimed functions. Therefore the structure of the system is unclear and also the relationship between the program instructions and the structural recitation of the system (a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium associated with a computing device) is unclear. For the sake of compact prosecution the program instructions are being interpreted as being stored in the computer readable storage medium and being executed by the CPU. Additionally, the claim recites, “program instructions to request information associated with a plot, wherein the information is analyzed”. It is unclear as to which entity is performing the function of analyzing the information, since the program instruction is only claimed to request information associated with a plot.
Claim 20-21 depends on claim 17 and are also rejected due to their dependency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-6 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Independent claim 1 recites,
A computer implemented method for developing a structure design comprising:
generating, by one or more processors, a catalog of building component specifications;
designing, by one or more processors, a set of templates for a predefined number of structures, wherein the set of templates are based on a structure type;
receiving, by one or more processors, a set of information associated with a plot, wherein the set of information is analyzed to establish a set of plot restrictions, wherein the plot restrictions include zoning restrictions;
receiving, by one or more processors, a request for a template from the set of templates to be constructed on the plot of land;
manipulating, by one or more processors, the template based on the set of restrictions associated with the plot;
implementing, by one or more processors, a set of received alterations to the selected template, wherein a final design is constructed, and wherein a model of the template is manipulated based on these set of received alterations;
creating, by one or more processors, a structural model and a finished model of the final design;
analyzing, by one or more processors, the final design to identify each building component;
producing, by one or more processors, a pre-assembly plan for the final design;
determining, by one or more processors, if the final design can be built based on the plot based on the set of plot restrictions;
determining, by one or more processors, an assembly process for the final design of a finished building;
generating, by one or more processors, a bill of materials for the final design, wherein the bill of materials accesses the catalog of building components;
analyzing, by one or more processors, the building components within the bill of materials, and selecting building suppliers based on available shipping methods to the plot;
processing, by one or more processors, a bidding process based on the identified labor requirements, wherein at least one bid is received and the at least one bid is analyzed based on a
predetermined set of requirements and all bids which do not meet the set of requirements are removed and the construction personnel are analyzed to determine a combination of construction personnel based on a price , historic relationships and availability and one bid is selected for each labor requirement;
transporting, by one or more processors, the building components to the plot in the determined sequence;
identifying, by one or more processors, labor requirements and associated labor costs associated with the bill of materials and final design;
receiving, by one or more processors, bids related to the labor costs, wherein the bids are analyzed based on a predetermined set of requirements and all bids which do not meet the set of requirements are removed and filtered wherein a building cost is generated based on a selected bid;
calculating, by one or more processors, a timeline for the shipping and construction of the structure; and
monitoring, by one or more processors, the timeline for the construction of the structure and identifying milestones and irregularities in the construction of the building, and generating alerts based on the irregularities and milestones.
A thorough search has been conducted for the subject matter with the most relevant prior art found to be discussed.
Mizikovsky (US20150234377Al) in ¶0140-¶0141 teaches generating a building model for the standard building design from a store, including a plurality of material elements representing materials for use in constructing a building in accordance with the building model, each material element having material properties including construction attributes. ¶0218 teaches displaying details of a plurality of available standard building designs by accessing available building designs stored in the database 211, and then providing an indication of these to the user, for example by displaying a webpage including a list of available building designs. ¶0224 teaches, updating building model in accordance with selected design customizations, storing the updated model in the database 211 for subsequent use. ¶0271 teaches determining a final plan and a bill of materials corresponding to the final plan. ¶0177 teaches generating construction information associated with carrying out the construction project in accordance with the construction attributes of the customized construction model. ¶0272 teaches, The final plan and/or the bill of materials may also be compared to the customized building model to ensure these conform to one another such that no design customizations or associated material elements are omitted from the final plan. ¶0251 teaches generating and finalizing a schedule for the project. ¶0255 teaches taking manufacturer lead times for deliveries of materials required for subsequent installation tasks in consideration while finalizing the schedule. ¶0232-¶0233 teaches identifying cost for installing each material. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
Bumbalough (US20160210377Al) in ¶0056 teaches generating address specific 3D building information model. ¶0052 teaches an address specific 3D building information model 88 provides views (e.g., elevation views) and sheets (e.g., architectural plans, build sheets, construction drawings, mechanical system layout drawings, etc.). ¶0051 and ¶0052 teaches options resolver 86 implements option rules which may be stored in the options manager database, therefore it receives the option rules. ¶0058 teaches, option rules can be related to federal codes (e.g., fire safety, electrical safety, flood elevations), local codes (e.g., maximum building height), homeowner association covenants (e.g., maximum 3-car garage, no vinyl siding, etc.), or any other prevailing rules or codes which may be applicable to a specific address in which the address specific 3D BIM model is developed for, therefore the options rules are associated with the plot. ¶0057 teaches, the options resolver (e.g., options resolver 86) may logically evaluate each of the associated option rules based on the values supplied (e.g., options selected and/or related values such as measurements or quantities) and modify 3D elements to generate an address specific 3D BIM model of the building at 108. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
Crane, JR. (US20150363730Al) in ¶0107 teaches matching buyers and suppliers based on the buyer's location of need and the supplier's location and/or shipping capabilities. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
Ladha et. al. (US20180012125Al) in ¶0062 teaches At block 230, the computer system detects a discrepancy between a component of the structure under construction and a corresponding component of the reference structure. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
Torres (US20080109330Al) in ¶0066 teaches The individual building components are then transported to the construction site to arrive in the prescribed sequence from the respective building component suppliers. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
Kiefer (US20050091122Al) in ¶0053 teaches, a system which reviews bids to determine which bids meet minimum standards, and then selects the bidder from a group with the lowest price. Also teaches, the bid aggregator and selector 78 may initially remove any bidders that do not meet minimum bidding requirements, so that such bidders are not even included in the evaluation process. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
Sit (US20060136179Al) Sit in ¶0037 teaches, at least one function and one parameter are evaluated for the blueprint to determine whether the blueprint meets a criterion and if it is determined (268) that the blueprint does not meet the at least one criterion, an indication which indicates that the blueprint does not meet the at least one criterion is output. Also teaches generating a report of each criteria met. ¶0025 teaches criteria includes building codes or regulation. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
Ndolo (US20190266651Al) Ndolo in ¶0061 teaches, service providers provide a bid offer and service availability schedule to provide the service. The selection module 216 is configured to select the service provider based on the possible service availability schedule. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of the independent claim 1.
No other art could be found which alone or in combination teaches all of the limitations of the independent claim 1. Claim 1 is therefore allowed.
Dependent claims 2-6 depend from independent claim 1 and are allowable due to their dependency.
Claims 9-11,13-14,17 and 20-21 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) and the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 9 recites,
A computer program product for developing a structure design comprising:
the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:
program instructions to compile a catalog of building components, wherein each building component has an associated set of specifications and suppliers;
program instructions to design a set of structure templates, wherein each structure template is related to a specific structure type;
program instructions to request information associated with a plot, wherein the information is analyzed to establish a set of plot restrictions and wherein the set of plot restrictions are related to zoning;
program instructions to receive a request to build a structure on the plot, wherein it is determined if the structure can be built based on the plot restrictions and wherein it is determined the structure can be built;
program instructions to provide a set of allowed templates for the structure;
program instructions to receive the selection of a template;
program instructions to receive a set of modifications to the selected template;
program instructions to process the set of modifications to determine if they can be made to the selected template, and if not then creating a new model based on the set of modifications, plot restrictions, and structural feasibility;
program instructions to generate a structural model and a finished model of the final design, wherein the set of models include the final design and a model of structural elements;
program instructions to quantify the building components of the final design, wherein the pre-fabrication requirements are assessed;
program instructions to generate a bill of materials;
program instructions to analyze the bill of materials to identify labor requirements and material suppliers;
program instructions to process a set of bids from construction personnel, wherein the set of bids are analyzed and the construction personnel are analyzed to determine a combination of construction personnel based on a price, historical relationships, and availability;
program instructions to process the set of bids related to the labor requirements, wherein bids which do not meet a predetermined set of requirements are removed and at least one bid for each labor requirement is selected and presenting the set of bids to within a user interface to be selected by a user;
program instructions to calculate a construction process for the structure based on the building component suppliers, a sequence for assembly, and availability of the building components;
program instructions to determine the order for transporting the building components to the plot in the determined sequence;
program instructions to monitor the construction process and updating a construction timeline based on notifications of completed tasks; and
program instructions to determined if a deviation from the construction timeline occurs, the program instructions generate an alert signal for the deviation.
Prior art cited in the prosecution history and mentioned above with respect to claim 1, alone or in combination fails to teach or suggest all of the limitation of the independent claim 9. No other art could be found which alone or in combination teaches all of the limitations of the independent claim 9. Therefore, Claim 9 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) and rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Dependent claims 10-11 and 13-14 depends on claim 9 and would also be allowable due to their dependency.
Claim 17 recites,
A system for developing a structural design comprising:
a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium associated with a computing device;
program instructions to request information associated with a plot, wherein the information is analyzed and program instructions to establish a set of plot restrictions, wherein the plot restrictions include zoning restrictions;
program instructions to modify a set of templates based on the plot restrictions;
program instructions to provide a set of allowed templates for the structure;
program instructions to receive the selection of a template;
program instructions to receive a series of alterations to the template, wherein the alterations are within the set of plot restrictions, and wherein the received alterations are applied to a model of the template;
program instructions to amend the template based on requests received, wherein a final design is formed, and determine if the final design is within the set of plot restrictions;
program instructions to quantify the building components of the final design, wherein the pre-fabrication requirements are assessed;
program instructions to generate a bill of materials, wherein the bill of materials categorizes a series of required construction personnel types;
program instructions to create a structural model and a finished model of the final design, wherein the final design is interactive;
program instructions to determine an assembly process for the final design of a finished building program instructions to monitor a bidding process for construction personnel types required to build the final design, wherein the bidding process comprises;
receive at least one bid,
analyze the at least one bid, wherein the at least one bid is analyzed to determine a combination of construction personnel based on price and availability,
filter the at least one bid, wherein bids which do not meet a predetermined set of requirements associated with price and availability are removed, and all remaining bids are presented within a user interface for selection, and
select at least one bid; and
program instructions to calculate a construction process for the structure based on the bill of materials and selected construction personnel types.
Prior art cited above with respect to claim 1, fails to teach or suggest all of the limitations of the amended independent claim 17.
Additionally, Mimran (US20190273807Al) in ¶0044 teaches, central server filtering bids before presenting to service requester based on price. ¶0049 teaches the centralized server 320 will then filter all received service request bids before sending (355) the filtered bid info to the user device 310. Once received, the user may make (356) a choice of providers from the received bids. However it doesn’t teach all of the limitations of claim 17.
No other art could be found which alone or in combination teaches all of the limitations of the independent claim 17. Claim 17 therefore would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) and rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Dependent claims 20-21 depends on claim 17 and are therefore would also be allowable due to their dependency.
Conclusion
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 ISTIAQUE AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-7087. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday 10AM -6PM and alternate Fridays.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini Shah can be reached at (571) 272-2279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ISTIAQUE AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2116 /KAMINI S SHAH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2116