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 1-3 are presented for examination.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kunz (US 8078953 B2) in view of Muller (US 8271962 B2) further in view of Bunsen (US 4845652 A), Redlich (US 20050132070 A1) and Yamamura (US 6023766 A).
Regarding Claim 1, Kunz (US 8078953 B2) teaches
A programmable calculator and equation solver comprising:
(A) a USB device comprising a software application that can be executed by a computer operating system (Col 2: ln 63-67, The interface 1024 for external drive implementations includes at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 interface technologies);
(B) the software application comprising a multiple document interface application capable of displaying multiple documents at the same time, with each document displayed in its own window (Col 1: 43-6, architecture includes an add-on to a word processing application that facilitates operating on mathematical symbols, expressions, and/or equations input to a word processing document, and returning results back to the document; Col 3: ln 12-20, the word processing application 102 includes an editing tool 202 for entering the math-based input 104 into the document 106) Examiner Comments: Kunz describes a word processing application that handles multiple documents, as word processors commonly support multiple document interfaces for displaying multiple documents simultaneously in separate windows,
the multiple document interface application comprising: (i) a text entry module that is capable of being used to create, save, and access one or more documents comprising one or more lines of text, each line of text comprising (a) an instruction or comment, (b) one or more mathematical and/or trigonometric formulas, or (c) computer programming language instructions (Col 3: ln 10-20, The user enters the math input 104 into the document 106 of the word processing application 102 using the editing tool 202. The math component 108 includes a transform tool 204 that receives and converts the math input 104 (e.g., a math expression) into a suitable format (e.g., MathML) for processing by a math engine 206);
(ii) a CALCULATE module comprising the capability of being used to execute the one or more mathematical and/or trigonometric formulas, the CALCULATE module reading the lines of text from top to bottom, the CALCULATE module outputting the results of the executed instructions, and the CALCULATE module being capable of converting the outputted results in different forms comprising numerals, radians, degrees, and/or gradients (Col 3: ln 10-20, The math component 108 includes a transform tool 204 that receives and converts the math input 104 (e.g., a math expression) into a suitable format (e.g., MathML) for processing by a math engine 206; Col 3: ln 21-41, The math engine 206 analyzes the input and returns a number of options in the form of math operations that can be performed on the input, such as equation solving, graphing, calculating, integrating, generating and presenting the calculation steps, etc., by way of calls to the math engine 206. … the results can be inserted into the document 106 for suitable placement (e.g., below the input);
(C) the software application further comprising a solver application, the solver application comprising: (i) a formula input module that is capable of being used to enter at least one mathematical and/or trigonometric formula that has [at least one unknown variable] (Col 3: ln 1-10, the user can input the math-based input in the form of math symbols, expressions and/or equations into the document 106. The math component 108 processes and receives the input of the document 106, and processes the input to return options and/or results based on those options to the document 106);
(ii) a solver module that is capable of being used to solve the [at least one unknown variable] in the at least one mathematical and/or trigonometric formula, the solver module being capable of outputting the results of the solution of the [at least one unknown variable] (Col 1: ln 43-60, The engine processes the transformed input and returns one or more operations to the user that can be performed on the input. This can include calculating mathematical solutions, graphing equations and viewing steps to solving math problems. A user interface allows the user to choose from the possible operations and to interactively manipulate input and graphs in the word application);
Kunz did not specifically teach
(iii) a RUN module comprising the capability of being used to execute the computer programming language instructions, the RUN module reading the lines of text from top to bottom, the RUN module outputting the results of the executed instructions, and the RUN module being capable of converting the outputted results in different forms comprising numerals, radians, degrees, and/or gradients
at least one unknown variable
(D) the software application further comprising an optional encryption/decryption function that is capable of encrypting or decrypting the text or selected text within each of the documents
and (E) the software application further comprising an optional licensing function that is capable of being used to control the use of the software application and limit such use to licensed users.
However, Muller (US 8271962 B2) teaches
(iii) a RUN module comprising the capability of being used to execute the computer programming language instructions, the RUN module reading the lines of text from top to bottom, the RUN module outputting the results of the executed instructions, and the RUN module being capable of converting the outputted results in different forms comprising numerals, radians, degrees, and/or gradients (Col 2: ln 50-53, input is received from a text editor containing lines of text of a first script, first commands to control objects in a simulation are identified in the lines of text in the editor, second commands to control the objects in the simulation are identified in lines of text of a second script, a state of the simulation is updated in accordance with the input and the first and second commands, and the simulation is displayed in a graphical display) Examiner Comments: Muller teaches a text editor for scripts (programming instructions), executing them line by line which is known to someone ordinary skilled in the art the execution is done from top to bottom.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Kunz’ teaching to Muller’s in order to include a run module for executing programming instruction to enhance the versatility of the math-oriented word processing application by adding script execution capabilities, allowing users to combine mathematical formulas with programmable logic for more complex simulations and calculations, as both deal with text-based input processing and output in interactive environments (Muller [Summary]).
Kunz and Muller did not specifically teach
at least one unknown variable
(D) the software application further comprising an optional encryption/decryption function that is capable of encrypting or decrypting the text or selected text within each of the documents
and (E) the software application further comprising an optional licensing function that is capable of being used to control the use of the software application and limit such use to licensed users.
However, Bunsen (US 4845652 A) teaches
at least one unknown variable (Col 1: 31-36, In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention a user-to-calculating device interface for the solution of mathematical equations is set out. The interface allows for the simple construction of equations which may be utilized or stored; Col 12: ln 1-10, The solver has two ways of finding an answer. First, the solver tries to find a direct solution by "isolating" the user-variable you are solving for (frequently called the "unknown"). Isolating a variable involves rearranging the formula so that the unknown is by itself on the left-hand side of the formula).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Kunz and Muller’s teaching to Bunsen’s in order to include a dedicated solver for unknows to provide advanced equation solving functionality in the math application, improving user efficiency in handling complex mathematical problems with unknowns, as Bunsen provides a consistent interface for such operations that integrates well with text-based math input systems (Bunsen [Summary]).
Kunz, Muller and Bunsen did not specifically teach
(D) the software application further comprising an optional encryption/decryption function that is capable of encrypting or decrypting the text or selected text within each of the documents
and (E) the software application further comprising an optional licensing function that is capable of being used to control the use of the software application and limit such use to licensed users.
However, Redlich (US 20050132070 A1) teaches
(D) the software application further comprising an optional encryption/decryption function that is capable of encrypting or decrypting the text or selected text within each of the documents (Para 0022, enable the user to establish (a) the scope of the security sensitive words, characters or icon, data objects, (b) the future use (or destruction or encryption) of a filter enabling extraction of security sensitive data, (c) the selection of storage locations (local, removable, in an LAN, a WAN or on the Internet) for extracted data and remainder or common data and (d) one or multiple levels of security limiting full reconstruction and enabling partial reconstruction of the extracted data and the remainder or common data).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Kunz, Muller and Bunsen’s teaching to Redlich in order to include encryption/decryption to add data security to the document-based math software, protecting sensitive formulas or text, as Redlich simplifies securing selected text in editors, integrating seamlessly with word processing applications (Redlich [Summary]).
Kunz, Muller, Bunsen and Redlich did not specifically teach
and (E) the software application further comprising an optional licensing function that is capable of being used to control the use of the software application and limit such use to licensed users.
However, Yamamura (US 6023766 A) teaches
and (E) the software application further comprising an optional licensing function that is capable of being used to control the use of the software application and limit such use to licensed users (Col 3: ln 34-40, provide a software license control system and software license control equipment that realize to enhanced efficiency in controlling a license for a software and reliability of the license and to simplify the control operation by a user).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Kunz, Muller, Bunsen and Redlich’s teaching to Yamamura’s in order to include a licensing function to control access and usage of the software application, ensuring only licensed users can execute it, as it simplifies license management in software systems, preventing unauthorized use (Osakada [Summary]).
Regarding Claim 3, Kunz, Muller, Bunsen, Redlich and Yamamura teach
The programmable calculator and equation solver of claim 1, wherein the software application uses Rich Text Format (Kunz [Col 2: ln 64-67, The system 100 includes a word processing application 102 for receiving and rendering math-based input 104 (INPUT) in a word processing document 106]) Examiner Comments: It is known to someone ordinary skilled in the art that word processing application includes a Rich text format.
Conclusion
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/AMIR SOLTANZADEH/Examiner, Art Unit 2191 /WEI Y MUI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2191