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 .
Claims 17-20 are pending.
No claims are amended. Claims 1-16 are cancelled. No claims are added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed August 4, 2025, with regards to Section 101 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues, on page 3, that the claims “are not directed to the broad concept of displaying real estate data using computer components. Rather, the claims in this application are directed to the use of dynamic tickers to display particular information and content that is relevant to the user's real estate state.” This argument does not negate any part of the rejection. In fact, it reinforces the rejection of the claims as bring directed to an abstract idea. That is, the claims are directed to identifying particular information and content that is relevant to the user's real estate state. The identification of particularly relevant information is a method of organizing human activity and a mental process. Such steps are processes normally performed by humans such as real estate agents and property managers in their normal functions, including the identification of information that is determined to be relevant to a particular client. Such steps may also be performed mentally.
In addition, Applicant again argues that claims are directed to statutory subject matter for the same reasons as claim 1 in Example 42. Specifically, Applicant provides a detailed analysis of claim 17, but argues the independent claim is eligible because it is not directed to the recited judicial exception, despite acknowledging in the provided analysis on page 5 that “The claim as a whole recites a method of organizing human activity.” The fact that the data is specific does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. As noted previously, in Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc., 896 F.3d 1335, 1344 (Fed. Cir. 2018), the Fed. Circuit found that related claims were directed to providing information to a person without interfering with the person's primary activity, noted that such a basic and longstanding practice can be found in a breaking news ticker across the bottom of the screen, or the nontechnical human activity of passing a note to a person who is in the middle of a meeting or conversation. While the information provided to the ticker in the instant claims is specific information, the patent in Interval Licensing, U.S. Patent No. 6,034,652 also provided specifically user tailored information by a specific information source. In addition, the arguments identify no error in the rejection. Instead of addressing the rejection of record, the arguments merely attempt to substitute their own analysis. Again, as previously note, the closest example is found in Example 21: Transmission Of Stock Quote Data, claim 1. In Example 21, claim 1, the claim recites the additional limitations of using a transmission server with a memory that stores subscriber preferences, a transmitter that receives and sends information over the Internet, and a microprocessor that performs the generic functions of comparing and formatting information, but the additional elements were found to be recited at a high level of generality and found to perform the generic computer functions of receiving, processing and transmitting information. Generic computers performing generic computer functions, alone, do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. The claims do not specifically limit such display processes to a particular embodiment or technical requirements. The use of the claimed ticker does not particularly limit the claim beyond such generic computer functions. As such, the arguments are not persuasive.
Applicant's arguments with respect to the Section 103 rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the characterization of the cited art is inaccurate. However, the arguments fail to identify any error or even address that motivation to combine. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Dickson in order to provide continuously updated data according to the user’s personal interests (see col. 3, lines 28-50 of Nawaz et al.). As the references are clearly combinable, the arguments are not persuasive.
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 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Representative claim 17 recites “storing, …, user characteristic and profile information for a user, the user characteristic and profile information including property transaction information and property-related web browsing information; determining, …, a real estate state of the user, among a plurality of available real estate states, based on the property transaction information and the property-related web browsing information, the plurality of available real estate states including at least three of a first-time buyer, a repeat-buyer, a new owner, a mid-term owner, a long-term owner, a renter, an owner-renter, a seller, or an investor; determining, …, real estate content for the dynamic ticker based on the determined real estate state of the user and the property-related web browsing information, ….; transmitting, …, the determined real estate content;….”. Therefore, the claim as a whole is directed to “Real Estate Data Management and Distribution”, which is an abstract idea because it is a method of organizing human activity, including commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations) and managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions), and a mental process, including concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion). “Real Estate Data Management and Distribution” is considered to be is a method of organizing human activity because the claimed steps are directed to processes normally performed by humans such as real estate agents and property managers in their normal functions, including the identification of information that is determined to be relevant to a particular client. See, for example, “The cost of homeownership vs. renting over 3, 5 and 10 years” by Peter Warden (January 26, 2019, retrieved from https://themortgagereports.com/46632/the-cost-of-homeownership-vs-renting-over-3-5-and-10-years). As such, the claims are directed to an abstract idea.
“Real Estate Data Management and Distribution” is considered to be is a mental process because the classification of certain users and provision of information to buyers, sellers, renters and investors is normally performed in the minds of humans such as real estate agents and property managers in their normal functions. As such, the claims are directed to an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, claim 17 recites the following additional element(s): a memory device, an analytics processor communicatively coupled to the memory device, and a user device, and displaying the dynamic real estate ticker on the user device; and sequentially and automatically scrolling the determined real estate content within the dynamic real estate ticker. These additional elements individually or in combination do not integrate the exception into a practical application. That is, the recitation of these additional elements amount to merely reciting the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). The recited additional elements are general purpose computing products long commercially available products and uses those product for gathering and analyzing information using conventional techniques and displaying the result. See TLI Communications, 823 F.3d at 612-13, 118 USPQ2d at 1747-48. Specifically, the claimed display of data in a dynamic ticker may be provided as a web site, text messages, or a desktop widget. See paragraph [0005] of the instant specification. The focus of the claims here is directed to "providing information to a person without interfering with the person's primary activity," i.e., the result-centric construction of the claimed "attention manager.” Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc., 193 F.Supp.3d 1184, 1188 (W.D. Wash. 2016). Standing alone, the act of providing someone an additional set of information without disrupting the ongoing provision of an initial set of information is an abstract idea. Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc., 896 F.3d 1335, 1344 (Fed. Cir. 2018). In that case, the Fed. Circuit noted that such a basic and longstanding practice can be found in a breaking news ticker across the bottom of the screen, or the nontechnical human activity of passing a note to a person who is in the middle of a meeting or conversation. Id. These generalized claims do not "recite any assertedly inventive technology for improving computers as tools"; rather, the Patent's use of broad computer terminology, while avoiding preempting the underlying concepts of starting, completing, quantifying, and memorializing timekeeping, do no more than announce that a computer will carry out those prosaic tasks. As such, the additional elements do no more than generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use (see MPEP 2106.05(h)). Accordingly, 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. Claim 17 is directed to an abstract idea.
Claim 17 does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements, individually and in combination, are merely being used to apply the abstract idea to a technological environment. As noted above, the use of general purpose computing products long commercially available for gathering and analyzing information using conventional techniques and displaying the result have previously been held to not amount to significantly more. That is, the claims do not go beyond requiring the collection, analysis, and display of available information in a particular field, stating those functions in general terms, without limiting them to technical means for performing the functions that are arguably an advance over conventional computer and network technology. Electric Power Group, LLC v. Alston S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2016). Accordingly, claim 17 is ineligible.
Dependent claims 18-20 merely further limit the abstract idea and are thereby considered to be ineligible.
Dependent claim 18 further limits the abstract idea of “Real Estate Data Management and Distribution” by introducing the element of determining, …, the real estate state of the user is a new owner when the property transaction information includes a sales record for a property purchased by the user within a past three years; determining, …, the real estate state of the user is a mid-term owner when the property transaction information includes a sales record for a property purchased by the user between a past three to ten years; determining, …, the real estate state of the user is a long-term owner when the property transaction information includes a sales record for a property purchased by the user over ten years ago; determining, …, the real estate content includes property improvement, maintenance, and residential service information when the real estate state is the new owner; determining, …, the real estate content includes property renovation, maintenance, mortgage refinance information, and residential service information when the real estate state is the mid-term owner; and determining, …, the real estate content includes property reconstruction or remodel information when the real estate state is the long-term owner, which does not include an improvement to another technology or technical field, an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself, or meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Rather, the claims relate to data selection for output. Therefore, dependent claim 18 is also non-statutory subject matter.
Dependent claim 19 further limits the abstract idea of “Real Estate Data Management and Distribution” by introducing the element of determining, …, the real estate state of the user is a first-time buyer when the property transaction information does not include a sales record that is related to the user and the property-related web browsing information includes real estate listings for purchase; determining, …, the real estate state of the user is a repeat-buyer when the property transaction information includes at least one sales record for a property purchased by the user and the property-related web browsing information includes real estate listings for purchase; determining, …, the real estate content includes neighborhood information including at least one of an average transaction price, an average square footage, an average year built, or real estate market data information when the real estate state is the first-time buyer; and determining, …, the real estate content includes neighborhood information including at least one of an average transaction price, an average square footage, an average year built, or real estate market data information when the real estate state is the repeat-buyer, which does not include an improvement to another technology or technical field, an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself, or meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Rather, the claims relate to data selection for output. Therefore, dependent claim 19 is also non-statutory subject matter.
Dependent claim 20 further limits the abstract idea of “Real Estate Data Management and Distribution” by introducing the element of receiving a message from the user device in the analytics processor indicative of a selection of the neighborhood information in the dynamic real estate ticker; determining, …, real estate listings that are related to a neighborhood related to the neighborhood information; and transmitting, …, the real estate listings for display, which does not include an improvement to another technology or technical field, an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself, or meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Rather, the claims relate to data selection for output. Therefore, dependent claim 20 is also non-statutory subject matter.
Dependent claims 18-20 also do not integrated into a practical application. The dependent claims recite no new additional elements other than those recited in the independent claims. As such, for substantially the same reasons as those set forth above, the additional elements individually or in combination do not integrate the exception into a practical application, but rather, the recitation of any additional element amounts to merely reciting the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). The dependent claims also do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of a computing system is merely being used to apply the abstract idea to a technological environment. That is, the claims provide no practical limits or improvements to any technology. Accordingly, dependent claims 18-20 are also 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.
Claims 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0170301 to Dickson in view of U.S. Patent No. 5959621 to Nawaz et al.
With regards to claim 17, Dickson teaches
a memory device storing user characteristic and profile information for a user to receive the dynamic ticker, the user characteristic and profile information including property transaction information and property-related web browsing information (paragraph [0056], “The client computing device and the property owner computing device may include a main memory, for example, random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory. Secondary memory may include, for example, a hard disk drive, removable storage drive. Removable storage drive may comprise a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a flash memory, or the like.”; paragraph [0106], “The communication may be an email or other communication, and the communication may include contact information and website login information, including a code, and an indication that the client 102 is interested in purchasing the property owner's property whether or not the property is currently for sale.”); and
an analytics processor communicatively coupled to the memory device (paragraph [0059], “The processing server 104 may include a receiving unit 118 configured to receive data over one or more networks via one or more protocols. The receiving unit 118 may receive registration information from one or more of the client device 106 or from the property owner device 110. As noted above, the registration information may include a client identifier, at least two preferences, and a property owner identifier, and may be stored within the profile database 114 of the processing server 104.”), the analytics processor configured to:
determine a real estate state of the user, among a plurality of available real estate states, based on the property transaction information and the property-related web browsing information (paragraph [0112], “Users, including clients and owners, may communicate with other homeowners, interested buyers/sellers, potential tenants/lessors, agents, vendors, and/or system administrators via the app. Users may also access real time information including when new listings affecting the property value of their property are listed, when other properties are sold that affect their property value, when a buyer is interested in purchasing their property, when a tenant is interested in leasing their property, term sheets, non-binding offers for purchase, rental offers, qualified offers, and/or any other communication that impacts market, property or users.”), the plurality of available real estate states including at least three of a first-time buyer, a repeat-buyer, a new owner, a mid-term owner, a long-term owner, a renter, an owner-renter, a seller, or an investor (paragraph [0097], “By way of example, the following non-exhaustive list of factors may be used to determine the likelihood: number of years the house has been owned (X1); the age of the owner (X2); marital status (X3); number of years married (X4); the purchase price of the home (X5); the market value of the home (X6); any existing debt on the home (X7); any equity in the home (X8); number of children in the household (X9); the ages of any children in the household (X10); average period of ownership within the neighborhood (X11); and/or average period of ownership within the market (X12).”),
determine real estate content for the dynamic ticker based on the determined real estate state and the property-related web browsing information (paragraph [0090], “In step 618, the client preferences, client requirements, neighborhood preferences, and neighborhood requirements, if selected, are compared to the property listings, matches are made 614, and a list of potential matches and near matches is generated at step 616. The processing unit 122 may match properties within a top rated neighborhood or a neighborhood chosen by the client with the client's property preferences and property requirements to find properties most closely matching those preferences and requirements.”), …., and
transmit, to the user device, the determined real estate content for display by the user device (paragraph [0063], “The processing unit 122 may generate a list of suitable real estate listings for transmission to the client device 106 via a transmitting unit 120. The list may be based on properties located in a specific neighborhood or properties having certain features. The transmitting unit 120 may be configured to transmit the list over one or more networks via one or more network protocols.”), but fails to explicitly teach that the determined content is displayed sequentially in an automatically scrolling display. However Nawaz et al. teaches:
displaying the dynamic … ticker on the user device (Col. 3, lines 20-27, “The present invention provides a ticker display pane as part of a desktop on a client computer. The desktop is called an "active" desktop because data is animated (e.g., scrolling) in the ticker display pane. The ticker data is updated automatically by retrieving the data directly from content providers. The ticker data also may contain hyperlinks and be sourced from multiple servers on multiple networks”); and
sequentially and automatically scrolling the determined … content within the dynamic real estate ticker (Col. 3, lines 29-40, “The data is displayed in a substantially continuous sequence of discrete data items that are animated in the ticker display pane. For example, the data items may scroll across the ticker display pane or flash onto the display pane all at once, filling the display pane. Because the ticker display pane is part of or integrated into the desktop, the user does not need to open a separate window to display the data items. …”)
This part of Nawaz et al. is applicable to the system of Dickson as they both share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are directed to user specific information provision systems. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of real estate data gathering and display Dickson to output the gathered data on the serial consumption ticker display as taught by Nawaz et al. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Dickson in order to provide continuously updated data according to the user’s personal interests (see col. 3, lines 28-50 of Nawaz et al.).
With regards to claim 18, Dickson teaches
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate state of the user is a new owner when the property transaction information includes a sales record for a property purchased by the user within a past three years (paragraph [0039], “Client Profile—Electronic data representing a client's profile that includes the client preferences and client requirements, but also may include data from prior property requests, information from the client about the client that is designated for presentation to a property owner (e.g., identifying the client as a prospective home owner, developer, real estate professional, etc. and optionally, credit worthiness, income, wealth, etc.), including information that might help determining or identifying potential properties of interest that may not be designated for sharing with prospective property owners (e.g., prior history of buying, tracked buying habits, reputation score, etc.).”; paragraph [0100], “By way of example, the following non-exhaustive list of factors may be used to determine the likelihood: number of years the house has been owned (Y1); the age of the owner (Y2); marital status (Y3); number of years married (Y4); the purchase price of the home (Y5); the market value of the home (Y6); any existing debt on the home (Y7); any equity in the home (Y8); number of children in the household (Y9); the ages of any children in the household (Y10); average period of ownership within the neighborhood (Y11); and/or average period of ownership within the market (Y12).”);
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate state of the user is a mid-term owner when the property transaction information includes a sales record for a property purchased by the user between a past three to ten years (paragraph [0039], “Client Profile—Electronic data representing a client's profile that includes the client preferences and client requirements, but also may include data from prior property requests, information from the client about the client that is designated for presentation to a property owner (e.g., identifying the client as a prospective home owner, developer, real estate professional, etc. and optionally, credit worthiness, income, wealth, etc.), including information that might help determining or identifying potential properties of interest that may not be designated for sharing with prospective property owners (e.g., prior history of buying, tracked buying habits, reputation score, etc.).”; paragraph [0100], “By way of example, the following non-exhaustive list of factors may be used to determine the likelihood: number of years the house has been owned (Y1); the age of the owner (Y2); marital status (Y3); number of years married (Y4); the purchase price of the home (Y5); the market value of the home (Y6); any existing debt on the home (Y7); any equity in the home (Y8); number of children in the household (Y9); the ages of any children in the household (Y10); average period of ownership within the neighborhood (Y11); and/or average period of ownership within the market (Y12).”);
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate state of the user is a long-term owner when the property transaction information includes a sales record for a property purchased by the user over ten years ago (paragraph [0039], “Client Profile—Electronic data representing a client's profile that includes the client preferences and client requirements, but also may include data from prior property requests, information from the client about the client that is designated for presentation to a property owner (e.g., identifying the client as a prospective home owner, developer, real estate professional, etc. and optionally, credit worthiness, income, wealth, etc.), including information that might help determining or identifying potential properties of interest that may not be designated for sharing with prospective property owners (e.g., prior history of buying, tracked buying habits, reputation score, etc.).”; paragraph [0100], “By way of example, the following non-exhaustive list of factors may be used to determine the likelihood: number of years the house has been owned (Y1); the age of the owner (Y2); marital status (Y3); number of years married (Y4); the purchase price of the home (Y5); the market value of the home (Y6); any existing debt on the home (Y7); any equity in the home (Y8); number of children in the household (Y9); the ages of any children in the household (Y10); average period of ownership within the neighborhood (Y11); and/or average period of ownership within the market (Y12).”);
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate content includes property improvement, maintenance, and residential service information when the real estate state is the new owner (paragraph [0052], “The property owner registration information may include a property owner identifier and, optionally, property information including estimated or assessed value and attributes of the property including age of the property, current and previous building permit information, and the like.”; paragraph [0064], “The transmitting unit 120 may also send a communication to the property owner device 110 providing offers to provide home related services and goods.”; paragraph [0109], “In step 514, the property owner may answer a series of questions via inputs into the property owner computing device 110 regarding their property including listing price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, recent upgrades, recent appraisals, current mortgage balances, information about flooring, roof, appliances, and the yard, and the like.”);
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate content includes property renovation, maintenance, mortgage refinance information, and residential service information when the real estate state is the mid-term owner (mortgage refinance information, paragraph [0078], “Moreover, the processing unit 122 could provide a market analysis and/or market forecast based on the available economic data for a specified neighborhood and/or individual properties therein. The economic data may include home sales figures, house price appreciation, household formation data, home ownership rates, housing affordability, market inventory, speculative building index, inventories to sales ratios, median days on the market, builders' cost index, mortgage originations (purchases and refinances), ARM share of overall mortgages, cash-out refinancing activities, mortgage loan to value ratio, Federal Reserve survey of banks' lending practices, mortgage delinquency rates, building permit information, patterns of growth (past, present, and future), dollar per square foot, dollar per square foot per number of bedrooms, dollar per square foot per building quality, dollar per square foot per building effective age, number of days on the market per number of bedrooms, number of days on the market based on building quality, number of days on the market based on building effective age, comparisons between submarkets and comparisons between submarkets over a period of years or months.”); and
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate content includes property reconstruction or remodel information when the real estate state is the long-term owner (paragraph [0064], “The transmitting unit 120 may also send a communication to the property owner device 110 providing offers to provide home related services and goods.”; paragraph [0073], “When included, the client requirements may include price range, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, number of rooms, empty lot, readiness for tear down, lot size, square footage, year built, year upgraded and the like.”; paragraph [0109], “In step 514, the property owner may answer a series of questions via inputs into the property owner computing device 110 regarding their property including listing price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, recent upgrades, recent appraisals, current mortgage balances, information about flooring, roof, appliances, and the yard, and the like.”).
With regards to claim 19, Dickson teaches to
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate state of the user is a first-time buyer when the property transaction information does not include a sales record that is related to the user and the property-related web browsing information includes real estate listings for purchase (paragraph [0039], “Client Profile—Electronic data representing a client's profile that includes the client preferences and client requirements, but also may include data from prior property requests, information from the client about the client that is designated for presentation to a property owner (e.g., identifying the client as a prospective home owner, developer, real estate professional, etc. and optionally, credit worthiness, income, wealth, etc.), including information that might help determining or identifying potential properties of interest that may not be designated for sharing with prospective property owners (e.g., prior history of buying, tracked buying habits, reputation score, etc.).”; paragraph [0100], “By way of example, the following non-exhaustive list of factors may be used to determine the likelihood: number of years the house has been owned (Y1); the age of the owner (Y2); marital status (Y3); number of years married (Y4); the purchase price of the home (Y5); the market value of the home (Y6); any existing debt on the home (Y7); any equity in the home (Y8); number of children in the household (Y9); the ages of any children in the household (Y10); average period of ownership within the neighborhood (Y11); and/or average period of ownership within the market (Y12).”);
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate state of the user is a repeat-buyer when the property transaction information includes at least one sales record for a property purchased by the user and the property-related web browsing information includes real estate listings for purchase (paragraph [0039], “Client Profile—Electronic data representing a client's profile that includes the client preferences and client requirements, but also may include data from prior property requests, information from the client about the client that is designated for presentation to a property owner (e.g., identifying the client as a prospective home owner, developer, real estate professional, etc. and optionally, credit worthiness, income, wealth, etc.), including information that might help determining or identifying potential properties of interest that may not be designated for sharing with prospective property owners (e.g., prior history of buying, tracked buying habits, reputation score, etc.).”);
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate content includes neighborhood information including at least one of an average transaction price, an average square footage, an average year built, or real estate market data information when the real estate state is the first-time buyer (paragraph [0042], “Neighborhood—A geographical location defined by a zip code and at least one desired parameters other than zip code and including a group of properties. A particular neighborhood may be defined using a variety of methods. In one embodiment a neighborhood is determined using information associated with each property. For example, such information could be the conventional or recognized name of the neighborhood in which the property sits. Another way a neighborhood may be defined is by using the mailing address for each property or another location based aspect of the information associated with each property.”; paragraph [0077], “The economic data may include median list price, average list price, asking price per square foot, average days on the market, inventory of properties, most expensive listing, least expensive listing, percent of properties with price decrease, percent of properties relisted, percent of properties flipped, median house size, median lot size, median number of bedrooms, and median number of bathrooms.”; paragraph [0088], “The database also connect to a public records system, such as a tax records database, in step 612 to obtain ownership records and title information of properties included in the property listings.”); and
determining, via the analytics processor, the real estate content includes neighborhood information including at least one of an average transaction price, an average square footage, an average year built, or real estate market data information when the real estate state is the repeat-buyer (paragraph [0046], “Property Attributes—Property attributes are characteristics specific to an individual property. Property attributes may include the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and other rooms in a building, the price, the assessed value, the type of property, the size of the building, and the size of the lot. Property attributes may also include data such as pictures or video of the property, links to tax records information, and other information specific to the property.”; paragraph [0054], “In embodiments, the databases, including the property database 116, may be populated with information from GIS (geographic information systems) files, including subdivisions, neighborhood groups, access to public transportation, access to rail lines, school attendance zones, average commute times, proximity to landmarks, road access and the like.”; paragraph [0064], “The transmitting unit 120 may also send a communication to the property owner device 110 providing offers to provide home related services and goods.”).
With regards to claim 20, Dickson teaches
receiving a message from the user device in the analytics processor indicative of a selection of the neighborhood information in the dynamic real estate ticker (paragraph [0068], “Each client profile 202 a, 202 b may include at least a client identifier 204, a device identifier 206, and at least two client preferences 208. The client profile 202 a, 202 b may also include client requirements and neighborhood preferences and neighborhood requirements. The client profile 202 a, 202 b may be inputted via the client computing device 106.”; paragraph [0069], “In one embodiment, at least two client preferences 208 may be specific to a particular region. The client expresses his or her preferences in a quantifiable manner using techniques known in the art. For example, the client may be asked to indicate on a numerical scale the relative importance of a particular property attribute, which then serves to weight the preference.”);
determining, via the analytics processor, real estate listings that are related to a neighborhood related to the neighborhood information (paragraph [0064], “In some embodiments, the transmitting unit 120 may also send a communication to the property owner device 110 indicating interest in purchasing or leasing their property that may or may not be listed for sale, but is within the client's neighborhood of interest to solicit interest in selling the property, as discussed in more detail below.”); and
transmitting, from the analytics processor to the user device, the real estate listings for display (paragraph [0063], “The processing unit 122 may generate a list of suitable real estate listings for transmission to the client device 106 via a transmitting unit 120.”).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Joshua D Schneider whose telephone number is (571)270-7120. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9am-5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jessica Lemieux can be reached on (571)270-3445. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Joshua D Schneider/Examiner, Art Unit 3626
/JESSICA LEMIEUX/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3626