DETAILED ACTION
This communication is a Final Office Action rejection on the merits. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been addressed below.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 10/30/25 (related to the 112 Rejection) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Applicant amended the claim and removed the limitation of “automatically performing the service.” Therefore, amended claim does not include new matter. The 112 Rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed on 10/30/25 (related to the 103 Rejection) have been fully considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection. Applicant's amendments necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Rejection based on a newly cited reference(s) follows.
Applicant's arguments filed on 10/30/25 (related to the 101 Rejection) have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant states, on pages 14-17, that the system "may provide a centralized monitoring system of multiple terminals and/or centralized communication system for multiple agent devices, thereby preventing one or more of the multiple terminals from having to be individually configured to identify and communicate with an available agent at the service location" ([0013]). This is a technological improvement in the field of art of terminal device management, reducing computing and network resources and enabling new functionality that was not previously possible.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant. The amended limitations in their respective claims, are directed, in part, to identification and allocation of agents to a specific type of service. These claim elements are considered to be abstract ideas because they are directed to “certain methods of organizing human activity” which include “managing interactions between people.” In this case, the claim as a whole is directed to selecting an agent to perform a type of service for the user, which is merely following rules or instructions (see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)). If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing interactions between people, then it falls within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
The main functions of the additional elements recited in claim 1 are merely used to: collect data (e.g., record log associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal), analyze the data (e.g., analyze the record log and select a set of agents that facilitate the service at the location), and display certain results of the collection and analysis (e.g., transmit a notification to the selected agent to perform the service for the user, wherein the notification indicates a time period in which the service should be provided and information associated with the operation). Those are functions that the courts have described as merely indicating a field of use or technological environment in which to apply a judicial exception (see MPEP 2106.05(h)). Also, the additional element of an application server is merely used to: receive status information of the agents that are logged into the application sessions (Paragraph 0012); configure individual terminals at multiple service locations to be communicatively coupled with available agents at corresponding service locations of the individual terminals (Paragraph 0013); and allow the agent devices to engage in application sessions, wherein the agents may be capable of providing a service (Paragraph 0022). This is considered “field of use” MPEP 2106.05h at Step 2A, Prong 2, since it’s just used to receive status information from the set of application sessions (e.g., availability such as standby mode or active session) and establish a new application session between the agent and the terminal (e.g., ATM or POS), but the application session is not improved. At Step 2B, this is conventional still, receiving or transmitting data over a network (see MPEP 2106.05d). Lastly, although claim 1 recites “a notification that identifies the operation to enable an agent, of the one or more agents, associated with the agent device to perform the service for the user,” the claim does not specify remedial actions that are executed to remediate or solve the specific issue at the terminal (see MPEP 2106.05(f), no details of how a solution of a problem is accomplished). Rather, as stated by the Applicant, the invention is merely used to: ensure that an available agent is aware of a specific issue at a specific terminal; and permits the agent device to communicate with the terminal (see Applicant’s specification, Paragraph 0046). Therefore, the amended claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or provide significantly more.
Independent claims 8 and 15 recite similar features and therefore are rejected for the same reasons as independent claim 1. Claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 are rejected for having the same deficiencies as those set forth with respect to the claims that they depend from, independent claims 1,8, and 15.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., an abstract idea) without reciting significantly more.
Independent Claim 1
Step One - First, pursuant to step 1 in the January 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (“2019 PEG”) on 84 Fed. Reg. 53, the claim 1 is directed to an apparatus which is a statutory category.
Step 2A, Prong One - Claim 1 recites: A system for managing a terminal, the system configured to: maintain a record associated with the terminal; receive, based on maintaining the record, a record associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal, wherein the record includes a time of the operation and a type of the operation; determine, based on the time of the operation and the type of the operation, that the operation is associated with one or more agents providing a service for the user; automatically determine, based on the service and from location information in the record, a location of the terminal; identify a set of agents that facilitates the service at the location, wherein the set of agents are identified based on determining that the set of agents are registered to a service location; access a set of statuses, wherein each status of the set of statuses indicates whether a particular agent, of the set of agents, is in a standby mode or is an active session; select, based on accessing the set of statuses, an agent of the set of agents; transmit, to the agent, a notification that identifies the operation to enable an agent, of the one or more agents, to perform the service for the user, wherein the notification indicates a type of the operation that was repeated a certain quantity of times within a certain time period and associated with a card being withheld within the terminal, wherein the notification includes the record associated with the operation associated with the card being withheld within the terminal, and wherein the notification indicates a time period in which the service should be provided, the time period being based on a time of the operation associated with the card being withheld within the terminal; provide, based on the notification, instructions that cause a new session between the agent and the terminal to be established, wherein the new session permits the agent to communicate with the terminal; monitor activity associated with at least one of the terminal or the agent; and perform the service based on the established new session and based on the time period indicated in the notification. These claim elements are considered to be abstract ideas because they are directed to “certain methods of organizing human activity” which include “managing interactions between people.” In this case, the claim as a whole is directed to selecting an agent to perform a type of service for the user, which is merely following rules or instructions (see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)). If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing interactions between people, then it falls within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Step 2A Prong 2 - The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. Claim 1 includes additional elements: one or more memories; one or more processors; a terminal management server; a record log; from the terminal; an application server, a set of application sessions, hosted by the application server, that involves a set of agent devices that facilitates the service at the location and that are logged into the set of application sessions.
The memory is merely used to store a set of instructions (Paragraph 0062). The processor is merely used to execute the set of instructions (Paragraph 0062). The terminal management server is merely used to monitor activity based on information in the records (Paragraph 0020). The record log is merely used to maintain the records from the terminals (Paragraph 0021). The terminal is merely used to provide a record associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal (Paragraph 0002). The application server is merely used to: receive status information of the agents that are logged into the application sessions (Paragraph 0012); configure individual terminals at multiple service locations to be communicatively coupled with available agents at corresponding service locations of the individual terminals (Paragraph 0013); and allow the agent devices to engage in application sessions, wherein the agents may be capable of providing a service (Paragraph 0022). The set of application sessions is merely used to indicate statuses of corresponding agents that are logged into the application sessions (Paragraph 0012). The set of agent devices is merely used to receive, generate, store, process, and/or provide information associated with managing the terminal in association with the terminal management system (Paragraph 0052). Merely stating that the step is performed by a computer component results in “apply it” on a computer (MPEP 2106.05f). These elements of “memory,” “processor,” “terminal management server,” “log,” “terminal,” “application server,” “application sessions,” and “devices” are recited at a high level of generality such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer element. Also, the set of agent devices, the terminal, and the set of application sessions are considered “field of use” since they’re just used to receive/transmit information, but the technology is not improved (MPEP 2106.05h). Accordingly, alone and in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Therefore, the claim is directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B - The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the claims describe how to generally “apply” the concept of identifying a set of agents that facilitates the service at the location. The specification shows that the memory is merely used to store a set of instructions (Paragraph 0062). The processor is merely used to execute the set of instructions (Paragraph 0062). The record log is merely used to maintain the records from the terminals (Paragraph 0021). The terminal is merely used to provide a record associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal (Paragraph 0002). The application server is merely used to: receive status information of the agents that are logged into the application sessions (Paragraph 0012); configure individual terminals at multiple service locations to be communicatively coupled with available agents at corresponding service locations of the individual terminals (Paragraph 0013); and allow the agent devices to engage in application sessions, wherein the agents may be capable of providing a service (Paragraph 0022). The set of agent devices is merely used to receive, generate, store, process, and/or provide information associated with managing the terminal in association with the terminal management system (Paragraph 0052). Also, the set of agent devices, the terminal, and the set of application sessions are considered a conventional computer function of “receiving and transmitting over a network” (MPEP 2106.05d). Thus, nothing in the claim adds significantly more to an abstract idea. The claim is ineligible.
Independent claim 8 is directed to an article of manufacture at step 1, which is a statutory category. Claim 8 recites similar limitations as claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons at step 2a, prong one; step 2a, prong 2; and step 2b. Claim 8 further recites “non-transitory computer-readable medium” – which is treated as just an explicit “processor/computer” for executing the operations and is treated under MPEP 2106.05f in the same manner as claim 1. Accordingly, this additional element of “non-transitory computer-readable medium” is viewed as “apply it on a computer” at step 2a, prong 2 and step 2b. Thus, the claim is ineligible.
Independent claim 15 is directed to a method at step 1, which is a statutory category. Claim 15 recites similar limitations as claim 1 and claim 18 and is rejected for the same reasons at step 2a, prong one; step 2a, prong 2; and step 2b. Thus, the claim is ineligible.
Dependent claims 2 and 12 are not directed to any additional claim elements. Rather, these claims offer further descriptive limitations of the abstract idea mentioned above - such as: wherein the operation involves withholding the card within the terminal, and wherein the notification indicates that the service involves the card being withheld within the terminal; and wherein the notification identifies at least one of: the type of the operation, a user identifier associated with the user, a terminal identifier associated with the terminal, or a location identifier associated with the location of the terminal. These processes are similar to the abstract idea noted in the independent claim because they further the limitations of the independent claim which are directed to certain methods of organizing human activity which include managing interactions between people. In addition, no additional elements are integrated into the abstract idea. Therefore, the claims still recite an abstract idea that can be grouped into certain methods of organizing human activity.
Dependent claims 3-5, 9-11, and 17-18 are not directed to any additional claim elements. Rather, these claims offer further descriptive limitations of elements found in the independent claims and addressed above - such as wherein the application session is further used to: receive a user credential; determine that the status indicates a standby mode; determine that the status indicates that the agent is designated to provide the service; determine, based on the status, a time period associated with the agent facilitating performance of the service; determine that the agent is registered to the location; and facilitate communication between the agent device and the user. These processes are similar to the abstract idea noted in the independent claim because they further the limitations of the independent claim which are directed to certain methods of organizing human activity which include managing interactions between people. The additional functions of the application session are considered “field of use” at Step 2A, Prong 2, since they’re merely used to receive information (e.g., agent status and credentials), but the technology is not improved (see MPEP 2106.05h). At Step 2B, this is conventional still, “receiving and transmitting over a network” (see MPEP 2106.05d). Thus, nothing in the claim adds significantly more to the abstract idea. The claim is ineligible.
Dependent claims 6 and 19 are directed to an additional element such as: a user device. The user device and/or the terminal are merely used to receive a notification to indicate to the user that the agent is available to provide the service for the user (Paragraph 0043). The agent device is further used to alert an agent to provide the service for the user (Paragraph 0040). These elements of “user device,” “terminal,” and “agent device” are considered “field of use” at Step 2A, Prong 2, since they’re merely used to receive information (e.g., a notification), but the technology is not improved (see MPEP 2106.05h). At Step 2B, this is conventional still, “receiving and transmitting over a network” (see MPEP 2106.05d). Thus, nothing in the claim adds significantly more to the abstract idea. The claim is ineligible.
Dependent claims 7, 13, 16, and 20 are not directed to any additional claim elements. Rather, these claims offer further descriptive limitations of elements found in the independent claims and addressed above - such as wherein the record log is further used to: provide a user identifier associated with the user; identify a terminal identifier; and maintaining record logs for individual terminals of a plurality of terminals. These processes are similar to the abstract idea noted in the independent claim because they further the limitations of the independent claim which are directed to certain methods of organizing human activity which include managing interactions between people. The additional functions of the record log are considered “field of use” at Step 2A, Prong 2, since they’re merely used to receive and store information (e.g., user identifier and terminal identifier), but the technology is not improved (see MPEP 2106.05h). At Step 2B, this is conventional still, “receiving and transmitting over a network” and “storing information in a memory” (see MPEP 2106.05d). Thus, nothing in the claim adds significantly more to the abstract idea. The claim is ineligible.
Dependent claims 14 is directed to an additional element such as: a user interface of the terminal. The user interface of the terminal is merely used to receive an indication of whether the user would like to receive an agent-based service associated with the terminal (Paragraph 0044). The user interface is considered “field of use” at Step 2A, Prong 2, since it’s used to receive information (e.g., a request for a service), but the technology is not improved (see MPEP 2106.05h). At Step 2B, this is conventional still, “receiving and transmitting over a network” (see MPEP 2106.05d). Thus, nothing in the claim adds significantly more to the abstract idea. The claim is ineligible.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Coutts et al. (US 7,545,816 B1), in view of Jan et al. (US 2020/0019935 A1), in further view of Block et al. (US 2016/0275760 A1) and Choudhuri et al. (US 2013/0024300 A1).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended), Coutts et al. discloses a system for managing a terminal, the system comprising (Column 1, lines 7-10, The disclosure of the inventors' commonly assigned U.S. patent application entitled "Transaction Processing Systems," filed on even date herewith, is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference; Column 1, lines 15-17, The invention relates to communications networks in which there are one or more transaction processing terminals that may require servicing or maintenance):
one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to (Column 9, lines 46-48, The state of health monitor 172 is implemented by software which is executed on the processor 142 and by memory which is accessed by the software):
maintain, by a terminal management server, a record log associated with the terminal (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Column 17, lines 4-22, Error Logging. Within a transaction terminal, such as any ATM, there may exist processes that will monitor the terminal's usage. This may involve an error detection procedure where every time an action is taken by the terminal, the action is recorded. This process is called error logging. The logging can include anything, from storing an amount of money dispensed from a particular cash cassette to indication of a customer's card passing over a particular sensor. A log may be represented by a stored value indicating the number of times terminal has produced specific error condition or related mnemonic, e.g., the mnemonic PRINT_LO may be an abbreviation indicating a printer ribbon has nearly run out. The stored Log may represent the number of times the corresponding error condition mnemonic or Tally had occurred. Therefore, inside the traditional transaction terminal there may be an abundance of untapped and highly valuable data. All this information can be useful in detecting what has gone wrong with a terminal or predicting when components or supplies will need replacement);
receive, by the terminal management server and based on maintaining the record log and from the terminal, a record associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal, wherein the record includes … a type of the operation (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Column 2, lines 6-16, Clearly, critical failure resolution and consumable media management are important issues for ATM, SST and POS terminals. A number of techniques exist which attempt to address these issues. The larger retail stores often use a loudspeaker system to allow the operator to call for assistance. This could be in response to some critical situation such as a receipt paper jam where the customer must wait for the problem to be resolved. It could be in response to running low on low denomination currency where the customer may be given an undesirably large amount of small change. Either situation undesirably inconveniences the customer; Column 13, lines 51-53, The critical failure information includes the error type, such as a card jam, and an identification of the transaction terminal experiencing that failure; Column 17, lines 4-22, Error Logging. Within a transaction terminal, such as any ATM, there may exist processes that will monitor the terminal's usage. This may involve an error detection procedure where every time an action is taken by the terminal, the action is recorded. This process is called error logging. The logging can include anything, from storing an amount of money dispensed from a particular cash cassette to indication of a customer's card passing over a particular sensor; Examiner notes that the log tracks issues/errors of an operation involving a user/customer of the terminal. In this case, the record log includes “type of the operation” since it can keep track of at least “amount of money dispensed from a particular cash cassette” and/or “error type such as a card jam”);
determine, by the terminal management server and based on … the type of the operation, that the operation is associated with one or more agents providing a service for the user (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Column 4, lines 12-19, By virtue of this system, a malfunctioning transaction terminal may be able to determine if there is a maintainer available to repair the malfunction, and if a maintainer is available, the transaction terminal is able to send a request (e.g., using an alert agent) to the maintainer. The maintainer may be a service engineer, a local designated employee or official, or an automated assistance system. Preferably, the maintainer information may include details for ranking the priority of the maintainer. These details may include the type of malfunctions the maintainer can repair, for example card reader malfunctions, cash drawer malfunctions, receipt printer malfunctions and such like. The details may also include an indication of the geographical location of the maintainer, for example whether the maintainer is local or remote; Column 13, lines 51-53, The critical failure information includes the error type, such as a card jam, and an identification of the transaction terminal experiencing that failure);
automatically determine, based on the service and from location information in the record, a location of the terminal (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Column 13, lines 51-58, The critical failure information includes the error type, such as a card jam, and an identification of the transaction terminal experiencing that failure. The identification may simply be a terminal number in the case where assistance is to be provided from within the environment of the LAN 10. Otherwise, the identification will include an IP address and contact information for gaining access to the malfunctioning transaction terminal; Column 25, lines 65-67, The data may then be passed from the WebServer class to the ObjectClient. In this example a vector that holds all the ATM location details can be used to send out a state of health request to all of the ATM modules in turn. This can be done simply by taking each of the locations in turn and sending out a request to them);
identify, based on an application server, a set of [agents], hosted by the application server, that involves a set of agent devices that facilitates the service at the location and that are logged into the [LAN] (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Column 4, lines 4-19, By virtue of this system, a malfunctioning transaction terminal may be able to determine if there is a maintainer available to repair the malfunction, and if a maintainer is available, the transaction terminal is able to send a request (e.g., using an alert agent) to the maintainer. The maintainer may be a service engineer, a local designated employee or official, or an automated assistance system. Preferably, the maintainer information may include details for ranking the priority of the maintainer. These details may include the type of malfunctions the maintainer can repair, for example card reader malfunctions, cash drawer malfunctions, receipt printer malfunctions and such like. The details may also include an indication of the geographical location of the maintainer, for example whether the maintainer is local or remote; Column 9, lines 25-32, The server 22 includes an I/O interface 132, an agent handler 140, a processor 142, an IP address and port number registry 170, a state-of health monitor 172, and transaction processing hardware/software 174; Column 11, lines 36-43, FIG. 9 shows a back office terminal 20 at which a maintainer can log on to the LAN 10. When a maintainer logs on to the LAN 10 via a back office terminal (e.g. 20a), a maintainer monitor 238 stores information about that maintainer and instructs an agent handler 240 to prepare and launch a service agent 50b (via physical I/O port 232) identifying that maintainer as an available service resource to the ATMs 16 and teller stations 18 on the LAN 10), wherein the set of agent devices are identified based on determining that the set of agent devices are registered to a service location via respective [LAN] involving agent devices of the set of agent devices (Column 4, lines 12-25, Preferably, the maintainer information may include details for ranking the priority of the maintainer. These details may include the type of malfunctions the maintainer can repair, for example card reader malfunctions, cash drawer malfunctions, receipt printer malfunctions and such like. The details may also include an indication of the geographical location of the maintainer, for example whether the maintainer is local or remote; and whether the maintainer is a primary contact or should only be contacted if there is no primary contact. Using information of this sort, if there are a plurality of maintainers available, the transaction terminal may be able to rank the available maintainers into a preferred visiting order according to the malfunction, the location of the maintainer, and other such details; Column 11, lines 65-66, The physical location of the maintainer (local or remote to the LAN 10));
access, via the [server], a set of statuses associated with the set of [agents], wherein each status of the set of statuses indicates whether a particular [agent], of the set of [agents], is in a standby mode or is an active session (Column 13, lines 1-11, The agent handler 40 uses the agent registry 45 to obtain the addresses of the maintainers to be visited by the alert agent 50c. If more than one maintainer is available (i.e. if more than one maintainer is currently logged on to the LAN 10) then the maintainers are prioritized within the address sub-fields of the alert agent 50c according to one or more predetermined criteria. The predetermined criteria may be the order in which the maintainers logged on to the LAN 10. Alternatively, the predetermined criteria may be based on the location of the maintainers, so that the maintainer that is closest has the highest priority and is visited first; Examiner interprets “maintainer currently logged on to the LAN” as the “standby mode”);
select, by the terminal management server and based on accessing the set of statuses, an agent device of the set of agent devices (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Column 4, lines 12-27, Preferably, the maintainer information may include details for ranking the priority of the maintainer. These details may include the type of malfunctions the maintainer can repair, for example card reader malfunctions, cash drawer malfunctions, receipt printer malfunctions and such like. The details may also include an indication of the geographical location of the maintainer, for example whether the maintainer is local or remote; and whether the maintainer is a primary contact or should only be contacted if there is no primary contact. Using information of this sort, if there are a plurality of maintainers available, the transaction terminal may be able to rank the available maintainers into a preferred visiting order according to the malfunction, the location of the maintainer, and other such details. The transaction terminal may thus be able to generate a list of maintainers to be visited by the alert agent, where the first maintainer on the list has the highest ranking; Column 11, lines 36-43, FIG. 9 shows a back office terminal 20 at which a maintainer can log on to the LAN 10. When a maintainer logs on to the LAN 10 via a back office terminal (e.g. 20a), a maintainer monitor 238 stores information about that maintainer and instructs an agent handler 240 to prepare and launch a service agent 50b (via physical I/O port 232) identifying that maintainer as an available service resource to the ATMs 16 and teller stations 18 on the LAN 10; Examiner interprets the back office terminal as the agent device);
transmit, by the terminal management server, to the agent device, …, a notification that identifies the operation to enable an agent associated with the agent device to perform the service for the user (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Figure 9, Back Office Terminal 20; Column 4, lines 25-31, The transaction terminal may thus be able to generate a list of maintainers to be visited by the alert agent, where the first maintainer on the list has the highest ranking. Preferably, if a maintainer declines to perform the repair or if a maintainer fails to respond to the alert agent within a predetermined time period, the alert agent travels to the next maintainer on the list; Column 28, lines 35-41, This class handled the records in the same manner as the Replenishers screen. It would extract the data and display it in the Field Engineer's screen. However, this screen presented more information and all the contents of the records were extracted and used. This included the ATM's location, module name, state of health, error name, full error description and components to check), wherein the notification indicates a type of the operation … associated with a card being [jammed/stuck] within the terminal, wherein the notification includes the record associated with the operation associated with the card being [jammed/stuck] within the terminal (Figure 9, Back Office Terminal 20; Column 4, lines 25-31, The transaction terminal may thus be able to generate a list of maintainers to be visited by the alert agent, where the first maintainer on the list has the highest ranking. Preferably, if a maintainer declines to perform the repair or if a maintainer fails to respond to the alert agent within a predetermined time period, the alert agent travels to the next maintainer on the list; Column 28, lines 35-41, This class handled the records in the same manner as the Replenishers screen. It would extract the data and display it in the Field Engineer's screen. However, this screen presented more information and all the contents of the records were extracted and used. This included the ATM's location, module name, state of health, error name, full error description and components to check; Column 33, lines 42-54, When a critical failure occurs within an ATM or teller station in the network, an alert agent program may be launched by the site experiencing the failure. An alert agent program is shown in FIG. 41A as having been launched by the ATM 3. The alert agent may indicate a critical failure such as a card jam. The alert agents may use a location list built up in an agent registry 455 from the service agents that visited earlier. An alert agent may be launched to arrive at the agent handler at each location on its list either in turn or according to some predefined rules), and wherein the notification indicates a time period in which the service should be provided, the time period being based on a time of the operation associated with the card being [jammed/stuck] within the terminal (Column 32, lines 62-67, This information can be used to alert an operator of some impending problem. Alternatively, the information can be used to schedule an appropriate time to service a terminal site; Column 33, lines 42-54, When a critical failure occurs within an ATM or teller station in the network, an alert agent program may be launched by the site experiencing the failure. An alert agent program is shown in FIG. 41A as having been launched by the ATM 3. The alert agent may indicate a critical failure such as a card jam. The alert agents may use a location list built up in an agent registry 455 from the service agents that visited earlier. An alert agent may be launched to arrive at the agent handler at each location on its list either in turn or according to some predefined rules);
provide, by the terminal management server, based on the notification and to the application server, instructions that cause a new application session between the agent device and the terminal to be established, wherein the new application session permits the agent device to communicate with the terminal and is established by the application server (Figure 4, item 22, Server; Column 9, lines 25-32, The server 22 includes an I/O interface 132, an agent handler 140, a processor 142, an IP address and port number registry 170, a state-of health monitor 172, and transaction processing hardware/software 174; Column 33, lines 42-47, When a critical failure occurs within an ATM or teller station in the network, an alert agent program may be launched by the site experiencing the failure. An alert agent program is shown in FIG. 41A as having been launched by the ATM 3. The alert agent may indicate a critical failure such as a card jam; Column 33, lines 55-61, Upon reaching an agent handler of a replenisher or maintenance program, the alert agent may query training and authority levels recorded there in order to decide whether help is available. If a person is available who is trained and authorized to work on the error contained within the alert agent, then the alert agent may present a request for assistance on that person's terminal; Column 19, lines 31-39, FIG. 15 shows a peer-to-peer messaging component that would allow individual modules to inter-communicate, and host, application and user interface components that would provide the module functionality. The hardware interface would generate logs and tallies as the module operates and defines the state of health of the module. These logs and tallies could be accessed by the agent and embedded server components in order to provide added functionality contemplated by this invention; Column 34, lines 8-18, If at any point the alert agent successfully summons assistance, the alert agent may be acknowledged and critical failure information carried by the alert agent may be registered at the location capable of assisting. The information can include the error type, such as a card jam, and an identification of the terminal concerned. The identification may simply be a terminal number in the case where assistance is to be provided from within the environment of the local area network. Otherwise, the identification may include an address and contact information for gaining access to the terminal; Examiner notes that the agent may provide assistance within the network (e.g., based on a terminal number and using an application). Therefore, based on broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the specification, Coutts et al. discloses “a new application session between the agent device and the terminal to be established, wherein the application session permits the agent device to communicate with the terminal” since an application is used to connect the selected agent with the terminal);
monitor activity associated with at least one of the terminal or the agent device (Column 8, lines 34-46, The ATM 16 has four service elements 44 in the form of a user interface 44a, a card reader 44b, a cash dispenser 44c, and a receipt printer 44d. The ATM 16 also has a service agent registry 45, and operation monitoring facilities 46 comprising a service element monitor 48 and an associated service registry 49. The service element monitor 48 interrogates the service elements 44 to obtain operating information relating to service elements 44 in the ATM 16. The operating information includes state of health information. The service element monitor 48 is located and arranged so as to provide operating data which indicates the state of health of the ATM 16 by monitoring the operations being carried out by the service elements 44; Column 20, lines 30-39, A feature of the UTC architecture is that it can integrates ATM modules of a branch office or region with the teller stations and back office systems through the regional server component. An example of a branch office network of this form is shown in FIG. 17. This environment provides a mechanism for servicing personnel or replenishers to directly monitor ATMs under their care through the embedded Web techniques and allows intelligent agent technologies to be employed within this environment, providing a means to continuously monitor conditions and report errors as they occur; It can be noted that the claim language is written in alternative form. The limitation taught by Coutts et al. is based on “monitor activity associated with at least one of the terminals");
and perform the service based on the established new application session and based on the time period indicated in the notification (Column 32, lines 62-67, This information can be used to alert an operator of some impending problem. Alternatively, the information can be used to schedule an appropriate time to service a terminal site; Column 34, lines 8-18, If at any point the alert agent successfully summons assistance, the alert agent may be acknowledged and critical failure information carried by the alert agent may be registered at the location capable of assisting. The information can include the error type, such as a card jam, and an identification of the terminal concerned. The identification may simply be a terminal number in the case where assistance is to be provided from within the environment of the local area network. Otherwise, the identification may include an address and contact information for gaining access to the terminal).
Although Coutts et al. discloses a record associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal, wherein the record includes a type of the operation, Coutts et al. does not specifically disclose wherein the record includes a time of the operation.
However, Jan et al. discloses to receive, by the terminal management server and based on maintaining the record log and from the terminal, a record associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal, wherein the record includes a time of the operation and a type of the operation (Figure 9, Management Layer; Paragraph 0016, An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, transfer funds, or obtaining account information, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff; Paragraph 0022, In embodiments, in which the hardware device being serviced is an ATM, some examples of ATM components that can be proactively serviced can include a card reader, keypad, display screen, receipt printer and cash dispenser, as well as other components and systems employed in ATM's. It is noted that this example is specific for ATM hardware devices, and that other hardware devices may have different components that can be serviced; Paragraph 0041, 1. A data acquisition process for the failure prediction model 50 can be executed resulting in retrieval of sensor data, hardware device usage data, periodical (e.g., weekly, monthly, etc.) hardware device availability data, hardware device configuration data, hardware device service record data, past repair event data. Sensor data may include, inter alia, time stamped error and warning messages, a status from each hardware machine, etc. Hardware device, e.g., ATM, usage data may include, inter alia, functionality data, transactional data, etc. ATM configuration data may include, inter alia, a machine manufacture, a machine model type, a machine model number, a machine hardware and software configuration, etc. Hardware service record data, such as ATM service record data, may include time stamped service records including, inter alia, incident ticket open time, affected component, repair notes, failure categories, parts, hours for repairs, technician traveling time, etc.; Examiner notes that Jan et al. discloses a type of the operation since it can identify at least an error operation);
determine, by the terminal management server and based on the time of the operation and the type of the operation, that the operation is associated with one or more agents providing a service for the user (Figure 9, Management Layer; Paragraph 0063, The cognitive priority model development application 57 can then calculate how many hardware machines, e.g., ATMs, will be serviced for each of the planning windows. This calculation can take into account the number of technicians, the travel time a technician needs to take to reach the site of the hardware machine that need service, the number of hardware machines that need service, and the amount of time per service call for each hardware machine being serviced; Paragraph 0066, For example, in one embodiments, in which the hardware devices are ATMs, once the prediction model 50 provides a prediction of failure, and the business priority data accumulating application 56 collects data on the hardware devices, e.g., ATMs 14a, 14n regarding machine usage, cross bank network transactions, criticality, locality, ATM inventories, and the score for the actual failure date vs. the predicted failure date, the cognitive priority model development application 57 can provide a regression model illustrating how the technicians can proactively service the system of ATMs 14a, 14n so that any missed called will have a minimized business effect on the system).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system for managing a terminal, wherein a record associated with an operation involving a user of the terminal includes a type of the operation of the invention of Coutts et al. to further incorporate wherein the record includes a time of the operation of the invention of Jan et al. because doing so would allow the system to determine the likelihood that specific hardware devices will need maintenance. Therefore, using proactive maintenance to avoid a failure that would interrupt the hardware devices ability to function in service; and take into account the component of the apparatus, i.e., ATM, that is likely to fail and is therefore needing proactive maintenance to avoid failure (see Jan et al., Paragraph 0022). Further, the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in combination each element would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Although Coutts et al. discloses to select an agent based on a set of statuses associated with the agents (Column 13, lines 1-11, availability of the maintainers), Coutts et al. does not specifically disclose wherein an application session indicates a standby mode or an active session.
However, Block et al. discloses identify, based on an application server, a set of application sessions, hosted by the application server (Paragraph 0287, In the exemplary arrangement additional capabilities for operation of automated banking machines may be accomplished by computer software operating in one or more servers. The servers are in operative communication with at least one automated banking machine, at least one computer including a teller station terminal, and other computers; Paragraph 0352, The exemplary terminal may comprise a thin client software architecture in operative connection with a server running applications requested by the terminal. Alternatively the terminal may comprise a computer operative to run some applications locally therein while accessing other applications that are run remotely on another computer such as a server 90), that involves a set of agent devices that facilitates the service at the location and that are logged into the set of application sessions (Paragraph 0311, As can be appreciated the data may indicate that some transaction types may be handled by service providers who are capable of dealing with a wide variety of financial transactions while other transaction types will be routed to persons who are specialists. The services cloud may operate to route the messages to the workstations of service providers based on stored data which indicates the authority or capabilities of the workstation and/or the person currently signed on as the operator thereof; Paragraph 0312, Alternatively if the consumer is requesting a transaction outside of normal business hours the services cloud will operate in accordance with the associated programming to cause messages from the automated banking machine to be routed to teller terminals located at a facility in another location where remote tellers are currently working and available. Thus the exemplary arrangements have the capabilities for assuring that if a session with a teller is required, computers of the services cloud can provide the connection to an appropriate service provider during those times that the operator of the system wishes to provide the human teller assistance), wherein the set of agent devices are identified based on determining that the set of agent devices are registered to a service location via respective application sessions involving agent devices of the set of agent devices (Paragraph 0039, FIG. 19 shows a plurality of customer stations that are remotely located from a shared service provider station, which can communicate with each respective customer station; Paragraph 0287, In the exemplary arrangement additional capabilities for operatio