DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The Applicant’s amendment, filed 02/05/2026, was received and entered. As the result, the independent claims 1, 15 and 20 were amended. No claims were cancelled and added. Therefore, claims 1-20 are pending in this application at this time.
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 1-3, 5-7 and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over White et al. (US 8,879,702 as cited in the previous Office Action) in view of Edwards et al. (US 7,031,441).
Regarding claim 1, White et al. (hereinafter “White”) teaches a method for augmenting and transmitting telephonic entity data (i.e., system 100 includes a device 102, as shown in figure 1, to perform a method to send information to a called party device 104; col.3, lines 38-41), comprising:
providing a telephonic switching and computing framework, the framework to connect with a switched telephone network (STN) and a data network (i.e., device 102 may connect and receive information from a plurality of sources including public switched telephone network (PSTN) 110 and other sources include data network, etc.; col.3, lines 51-58);
providing access to a data storage over the data network, the data storage comprising a collection of data, the collection containing an augmented data record (i.e., a microprocessor 202 of device 102, as shown in figure 2, comprises an internal Ethernet interface or communicates (accesses) with Ethernet interface 204 to retrieve information from CNAM database 116 or another database 118; col.4. lines 64-57 and col.4, line 63 – col.5, line 4);
receiving an incoming telephone call from the STN, the incoming telephone call originating from a caller (i.e., when a calling party initiates a call using calling party device 114, calling party device 114 send an automatic number identification (ANI) or other information to device 112 via the PSTN 110; col.4, lines 5-12);
receiving caller ID information from the STN associated with the incoming telephone call, the caller ID information comprising a caller data element, the caller data element representing the caller’s telephone number (i.e., device 102 receives the ANI as caller data element representing the caller’s telephone number (col.1, lines 23-26));
in response to a trigger event (i.e., in response the ANI received from the calling party device 114 as starting of the incoming telephone call), searching for and retrieving within the data storage the augmented data record, the augmented data record comprising an augmented data element associated with the caller data element, the augmented data element not being included within the received caller ID information (i.e., device 102 queries the database 116 or 118 for caller name and/or additional information, such as a message; col.4, lines 14-24; col.5, lines 8-23);
further in response to the trigger event, transmitting the augmented data element to a device over the network (i.e., device 102 forwarding the calling party name and additional information to called party device; col.5, lines 24-44).
It should be noticed that White failed to clearly teach the features of generating a trigger event upon detection of telephony signaling associated with receipt of the incoming telephone call from the switched telephone network (STN) within the telephonic switching and computing framework, as amended to the claim. However, Edwards et al. (hereinafter “Edwards”) teaches a method and apparatus for remotely triggering a connection from a first device to a network. The network comprises a trigger service 410, as shown in figure 4A, to generate a trigger event via detecting a telephone signaling, such as wireless signals, etc. (col.7, lines 60-64; col.8, lines 60-67). Thus, the trigger events are generated by the trigger service 410 within the network, which performed as the telephone switching and computing framework. Edwards further teaches an incoming call or signaling is used to convey a trigger event via the switched circuit technologies, such as POTS and ISDN, which is the switched telephone network (STN)(col.9, lines 1-20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of generating a trigger event upon detection of telephony signaling associated with receipt of the incoming telephone call from the switched telephone network (STN) within the telephonic switching and computing framework, as taught by Edwards, into view of White in order to provide searches and retrievals of additional information related to the incoming telephone call.
Regarding claim 2, White further teaches the CNAM database 116 and/or other database 118 are used to perform or operate as a service (col.3, lines 51 through col.4, line 24).
Regarding claim 3, White further teaches the trigger event, such as the device 102, in response to receiving the ANI or other identifier or start of the incoming telephone call received from the calling party device 114, sends the query to search of calling party name in col.4, lines 4-24. Edwards also teaches the generation of the trigger event, such as distinctive ringing, number of rings, etc. as the starting of the incoming call in col.8, line 60 through col.9, line 12.
Regarding claim 5, White further teaches the limitations of the claim in col.3, line 64 through col.4, line 4.
Regarding claim 6, White further teaches the limitations of the claim in figure 3 of a mobile device 300 and in col.5, lines 45-52.
Regarding claim 7, White further teaches the limitations of the claim, such as the microprocessor 202 of the device 102, as shown in figure 2, to control operations (computer-readable instructions) for sending information to called parties and receiving information from calling party devices and databases in col.4, lines 54-67.
Regarding claim 9, White further teaches the limitations of the claim in figure 12A, 13B, col.4, lines 13-34, col.11, lines 17-25 and lines 46-52.
Regarding claim 10, White further teaches the CNAM database 116 and/or other database 118 are used to perform or operate as a service (col.3, lines 51 through col.4, line 24).
Regarding claims 11 and 13, White further teaches the limitations of the claim, such as displaying user’s phone number, name, etc. on a graphical user interface as shown in figure 12A, 13B, col.4, lines 46-47; col.11, lines 17-25 and lines 46-52.
Regarding claims 12 and 14, White further teaches the limitations of the claim, such as providing a graphic user interface for displaying the retrieved caller related information, received from servers 160 and/or 170, along with options to save the retrieved called related information on the called party’s device in paragraphs [0050] and [0051].
Claims 4, 8 and 9, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over White et al. (US 8,879,702) in view of Edwards et al. (US 7,031,441) as applied to claim 1 and 7 above, and further in view of Schmackpfeffer et al. (US 2011/0319061 also cited in the previous Office Action).
Regarding claim 4, White and Edwards, in combination, teach all subject matter as claimed above, except for feature of transmission of the augmented data element via a short message service (SMS) communication message. However, Schmackpfeffer et al. (hereinafter “Schmackpfeffer”) teaches such limitations in paragraph [0074] for a purpose of providing related information to the calling party of a call to a called mobile device.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of transmission of the augmented data element via a short message service (SMS) communication message, as taught by Schmackpfeffer, into view of White and Edwards in order to provide the related information to the calling party of the call to the called party.
Regarding claim 8, White further teaches device 102 directly transmitting the retrieved information to called party device 126 via either a voice communication channel (RJ11) or a wireless connection (col.4, lines 46-49). Schmackpfeffer teaches feature of transmission of the augmented data element via a short message service (SMS) communication message in paragraph [0074].
Regarding claim 9, Schmackpfeffer also teaches the limitations of the claim in paragraph [0070], [0072]-[0073] and [0074].
Claims 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over White et al. (US 8,879,702) in view of McClintock et al. (US 8,218,736 also cited in the previous Office Action) and Edvards et al. (US 7,031,441).
Regarding claim 15, White teaches a system for augmenting and transmitting telephonic entity data (i.e., system 100 includes a device 102, as shown in figure 1, to send information to a called party device 104; col.3, lines 38-41), comprising:
at least one data storage, the data storage comprising a collection of data, the collection containing an augmented data record (i.e., a CNAM database 116 and/or other database 118; col.3, line 61 - col.4, line 1);
a telephonic apparatus (i.e., Central Office 112 performing a telephone, as shown in figure 1);
at least one network-connected computing apparatus (i.e., device 102) to:
at least partially execute computer code with a processor (i.e., microprocessor of device 102, as shown in figure 2, controls operations (execute computer code) for sending information to called party and receiving information from calling party devices or databases; col.4, lines 58-61);
communicate over a network with a telephonic apparatus (i.e., device 102 receive information from the central office 112; col.3, lines 51-54);
access the data storage over a network (i.e., device 102 queries databases 116 and/or 118; col.4, lines 13-18);
in response to a trigger event (i.e., in response the ANI received from the calling party device 114 as starting of the incoming telephone call), search for and retrieve within the data storage the augmented data record, the augmented data record comprising an augmented data element associated with the caller data element, the augmented caller data element not being included within the received caller ID information (i.e., device 102 queries the database 116 or 118 for caller name and/or additional information, such as a message; col.4, lines 14-24; col.5, lines 8-23;
transmit the augmented data element to a device over a network (i.e., device 102 forwarding the calling party name and additional information to called party device; col.5, lines 24-44).
It should be noticed that White teaches the Central Office 112 as a telephone apparatus. White failed to teach the Central Office 112 is configured to receive an incoming call from a caller entity at a caller device; to receive from a switched telephone network (STN) telephone calls; and to receive caller ID information from the STN, the caller ID information comprising a caller data element, the caller data element representing the caller’s telephone number and to communicate over a network with the computing apparatus. However, McClintock et al. (hereinafter “McClintock”) teaches a carrier’s network 102 comprising a local exchange switch, a service switching point (SSP) 104 (telephone apparatus), as shown in figure 1. McClintock further teaches one or more mobile phones 106 and one or more phones 110 connected to the SSP 104 to originate calls from a carrier customer 100 (col.6, lines 24-38 and lines 46-51). McClintock further teaches the SSP 114 receives a phone number of the customer (caller ID information) and other information from a call signal to provide a trigger to a Service Control Point (SCP) 116 (col.7, lines 2-9). McClintock finally teaches the SSP 104 may communicate with a softswitch 114 via one of a SCP/Call controller 116 and Call Manager 126 (col.6, line 65 through col.7, 21).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of the SSP 104 for receiving an incoming call from a caller entity at a caller device; receiving from a switched telephone network (STN) telephone calls; and receiving caller ID information from the STN, the caller ID information comprising a caller data element, the caller data element representing the caller’s telephone number and communicating over a network with the computing apparatus, as taught by McClintock, into view of White in order to receive and process calls from callers and connect calls to called parties.
It should be noticed that White and McClintock, in combination, failed to clearly teach the features of generating a trigger event upon detection of telephony signaling associated with receipt of the incoming telephone call from the switched telephone network (STN) within the telephonic switching and computing framework, as amended to the claim. However, Edwards et al. (hereinafter “Edwards”) teaches a method and apparatus for remotely triggering a connection from a first device to a network. The network comprises a trigger service 410, as shown in figure 4A, to generate a trigger event via detecting a telephone signaling, such as wireless signals, etc. (col.7, lines 60-64; col.8, lines 60-67). Thus, the trigger events are generated by the trigger service 410 within the network, which performed as the telephone switching and computing framework. Edwards further teaches an incoming call or signaling is used to convey a trigger event via the switched circuit technologies, such as POTS and ISDN, which is the switched telephone network (STN)(col.9, lines 1-20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of generating a trigger event upon detection of telephony signaling associated with receipt of the incoming telephone call from the switched telephone network (STN) within the telephonic switching and computing framework, as taught by Edwards, into view of White in order to provide searches and retrievals of additional information related to the incoming telephone call.
Regarding claim 16, white further teaches the device 102 performed both of functionalities, such as receiving the call from the calling party and routing the call to the called party (functionality of the telephone apparatus). White also teaches the functionality (functionality of a computing apparatus) of querying the databases 116 and/or 118 for calling party name and additional information and providing the calling party name and additional information to the called party (col.4, lines 4-47).
Regarding claim 17, white further teaches the device 102 performed as either or combination of the telephone apparatus or telephonic switching device for routing and connecting the caller device to called device; a computing device for querying calling party name and additional information stored in the databases 116 and/or 118 (col.4,lines 4-47).
Regarding claim 18, McClintock further teaches carrier customer 100, as shown in figure 1, can be either one of calling party or called party for initiating outgoing calls and receiving incoming calls. The carrier customer 100 may have one or more landline phones 101, personal computer, etc. (col.6, lines 24-38 and col.11, lines 3-8).
Claims 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over White et al. (US 8,879,702) in view of Schmackpfeffer et al. (US 2011/0319061) and Edwards et al. (US 7,031,441).
Regarding claim 20, White teaches a method for augmenting and transmitting telephonic entity data (i.e., system 100 includes a device 102, as shown in figure 1, to perform a method to send information to a called party device 104; col.3, lines 38-41), comprising:
providing a telephonic switching and computing framework, the framework to connect with a switched telephone network (STN) and a data network (i.e., providing device 102 to connect PSTN 110, as shown in figure 1, and data network; col.3, lines 51-58);
providing access to a data storage over the data network (i.e., device 102 sending a query for calling part name to CNAM database 116 and/or other database 118 via data network; col.4, lines 13-18), the data storage comprising a collection of data, the collection containing an augmented data record (i.e., the CNAM database 116 and/or other database 118 comprising information collected from a plurality of sources, such as the PSTN 110, data network, etc., col.3, lines 51-58);
providing access to at least one data storage over the data network, the at least one data storage comprising at least one collection of data (i.e., device 102 sending a query for calling part name to CNAM database 116 and/or other database 118 via data network wherein the information comprising calling party name, etc.; col.3, line 61 through col.4, line 1 ; col.4, lines 13-18);
providing access to a collection of data containing an augmented data record (i.e., a lookup is performed in CNAM database 116 and/or database 118 for the calling party name; col.4, lines 18-23);
receiving an incoming telephone call from the STN, the incoming telephone call originating from a caller (i.e., when a calling party initiates a call using calling party device 114, calling party device 114 send an automatic number identification (ANI) or other information to device 112 via the PSTN 110; col.4, lines 5-12);
receiving caller ID information from the STN, the caller ID information comprising a caller data element, the caller data element representing the caller’s telephone number (i.e., device 102 receives the ANI as caller data element representing the caller’s telephone number (col.1, lines 23-26));
providing access to a collection of data containing a second augmented data record, the second augmented data record containing a second augmented data element, the second augmented data element being associated with the augmented data element and the augmented data element not being contained within the caller ID information (i.e., device 102 providing a query to databases 116 and/or 118 to perform a lookup for the calling party name; col.4, lines 13-23);
in response to a trigger event (i.e., in response the ANI received from the calling party device 114 as starting of the incoming telephone call), searching for and retrieving within the data storage the augmented data record, the augmented data record comprising an augmented data element associated with the caller data element (i.e., performed by the databases 116 and/or 118, according to the query received from the device 102, a lookup for the calling party number; col.4, lines 13-23; col.4, lines 64-67); and
further in response to the trigger event, searching for and retrieving within the one or more data storages the second augmented data record (i.e., searching or lookup additional information; col.4, lines 20-23; wherein the additional comprising information related to the calling party, col.3, line 61 through col.4, line 1; col.5, lines 11-15).
It should be noticed that White failed to teach the feature of further in response to the trigger event, saving the second augmented data element or a variation of the second augmented data element to a data storage over the network. However, Schmackpfeffer et al. (hereinafter “Schmackpfeffer”) teaches a system and method for providing enhanced information to a mobile communication device regarding a calling device. Schmackpfeffer further teaches the system comprising query server 160 with storage device 55 to store information relating to caller devices, as shown in figure 1 (para. [0062]). Schmackpfeffer also teaches a third party data server 170 with a data store 175 to store records including telephone numbers and other contact information (para. [0068]). Schmackpfeffer further teaches an information application module 420 of the query server 160 is configured to store the results of a query included contents received from the third party data server 170 in the storage device 55 (para. [0071]). Schmackpfeffer also teaches the results transmitted from the data server 170 over a network and received by the mobile communication device to be stored in a caller information data store on the mobile communication device (para. [0010]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the feature of saving the second augmented data element or a variation of the second augmented data element to a data storage over the network, as taught by Schmackpfeffer, into view of White in order to quickly retrieved and provide the saved augmented data elements as the enhanced information on the future calls to the called party.
It should be noticed that White and Schmackpfeffer, in combination, failed to clearly teach the features of generating a trigger event upon detection of telephony signaling associated with receipt of the incoming telephone call from the switched telephone network (STN) within the telephonic switching and computing framework, as amended to the claim. However, Edwards et al. (hereinafter “Edwards”) teaches a method and apparatus for remotely triggering a connection from a first device to a network. The network comprises a trigger service 410, as shown in figure 4A, to generate a trigger event via detecting a telephone signaling, such as wireless signals, etc. (col.7, lines 60-64; col.8, lines 60-67). Thus, the trigger events are generated by the trigger service 410 within the network, which performed as the telephone switching and computing framework. Edwards further teaches an incoming call or signaling is used to convey a trigger event via the switched circuit technologies, such as POTS and ISDN, which is the switched telephone network (STN)(col.9, lines 1-20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of generating a trigger event upon detection of telephony signaling associated with receipt of the incoming telephone call from the switched telephone network (STN) within the telephonic switching and computing framework, as taught by Edwards, into view of White and Schmackpfeffer in order to provide searches and retrievals of additional information related to the incoming telephone call.
Regarding claim 21, Schmackpfeffer further teaches that the saved results will be transmitted to the mobile device 120 on future calls without having to resubmit a query to the third party data store 170 (para. [0071]). Schmackpfeffer further teaches the communication module 430 transmits the requested information or data (results) via a data communication channel (para. [0074]). Thus, Schmackpfeffer obviously teaches the query server 160 performed as a web server.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over White et al. (US 8,879,702) in view of McClintock et al. (US 8,218,736) and Edwards et al. (US 7,031,441), as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Schmackpfeffer et al. (US 2011/0319061).
Regarding claim 19, White, McClintock and Edwards, in combination, teach all subject matters as claimed above, except for features of associating within the data storage a second augmented data record having at least one association between an augmented data element of the augmented data record with a second augmented data element from within the second augmented data record; transmit the first augmented data element or the second augmented data element to a receiving device over a network. However, Schmackpfeffer teaches the system and method for providing enhanced information to a mobile communication device. The system comprises a query server 160 having a storage device 55, as shown in figure 1. The system also comprising one or more servers 170 having one or more databases 175. Schmackpfeffer further teaches that the query sever 160 comprises an information application module 420, as shown in figure 4, receives information in a query or request sent from the mobile communication device 110 (caller device) and assesses records in the storage device 55 using the information included the calling device identification number or other contract information to obtain the requested information pertaining to the contract (para. [0067]). Schmackpfeffer further teaches that the information for each contract in the storage device 55 can include a data and timestamp, and the information application module 420 can access a third party data store 170 to retrieve content of timestamp (read on augmented data element of a second augmented data record) associated or corresponding to the timestamp augmented data element of a first augmented data record) previously retrieved from the storage device 55 (para. [0070]) for a purpose of updating the information. Schmackpfeffer further teaches the transmission of the requested information to called party via a communication channel (para. [0074]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of associating within the data storage a second augmented data record having at least one association between an augmented data element of the augmented data record with a second augmented data element from within the second augmented data record; transmit the first augmented data element or the second augmented data element to a receiving device over a network, as taught by Schmackpfeffer, into view of White, McClintock and Edwards in order to update the contact information related to the calling party.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
According to the Applicant’s arguments stated on pages 4 and 5 in the remarks, Applicant mainly argued that the amended independent claims 1, 15 and 20 “…expressly require that trigger event be generated by telephone signaling within the telephone switching and computing framework. The amended language clarifies that the trigger event arises from telephony signaling processed within the framework itself, rather than from a service invocation…”, as stated in the first paragraph, page 5. Based on the arguments stated in the remarks, Examiner performed updated searches and found the Edwards et al. reference, as cited above, to teach the features amended to the independent claims 1, 15 and 20, as discussed above.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for response to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the date of this action. In the event a first response is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event will the statutory period for response expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
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/Binh Kien Tieu/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2694
Date: February 2026