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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This action is a Final action on the merits in response to the application filed on 01/16/2026.
Claims 1, 8 and 15 have been amended. Claims 2, 9 and 16 have been cancelled. Claims 1, 3-8, 10-15, 17-23 are currently pending and have been examined in this application.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment has been considered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s remarks have been considered.
Applicant’s remarks regarding 35 U.S.C. 103, “Without submitting to the propriety of the rejection, and to expedite prosecution, the claims are noted as above.
Accordingly, withdrawal of the rejections under 35 U.S.C. §103 is respectfully requested.”
Examiner directs Applicant to the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection noted below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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(a) 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, 3-8, 10-15, 17-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sehrawat et al. (US 10083451) in view of Mandel et al. (US 20170223190).
Claim 1:
Sehrawat discloses:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving a set of communications in real-time, wherein the set of communications are received at a computing system associated with a communication session between a member device and a representative device and wherein the set of communications is received as the set of communications is being exchanged within the communication session (see at least Figure 8A and column 25, lines 4-12, conversation between customer and CSR; see also Figure 8B and associated text)
identifying one or more anchor terms in the set of communications, wherein the one or more anchor terms are identified by the computing system using natural language processing(see at least column 25, lines 30-35, third party processes communications to determine intent; see also Figure 5 and column 19, lines 29-39, communications may be processed with a neural network to determine intent; see also column 15, lines 40-49, communications may be processed by semantic response to determine intent and this intent may be used to select a template )
identifying an issue, from the one or more anchor terms wherein the issue identified by computing the computing system; (see at least column 25, lines 30-35, third party processes communications to determine intent; see also Figure 5 and column 19, lines 29-39, communications may be processed with a neural network to determine intent; see also column 15, lines 40-49, communications may be processed by semantic response to determine intent and this intent may be used to select a template )
presenting, the identified template, wherein when the identified template is selected to define the task, the task is generated; (see at least column 15, lines 40-65, based on determining intent a template may be selected and shown to CSR; see also column 16, lines 56-64; see also column 25, lines 29-39; Examiner notes that the limitation does not indicate a separate display/screen to execute the presenting.)
While Sehrawat discloses the above limitations, Sehrawat does not explicitly disclose the following limitations; however, Mandel does disclose:
identifying one or more anchor terms in the set of communications, wherein the one or more anchor terms are identified by the computing system using natural language processing; (see at least ¶0044-¶0045, customer service inquiry was received to select a natural language processing lexicon to be used in identifying topic characteristics (anchor terms) of inquiry; see also ¶0054)
processing, in real-time, additional communications, additional communications exchanged within the communication session, as the additional communications are being exchanged between the member device and the representative device; (see at least ¶0087, training is ongoing where a trained machine learning system may be further refined as additional customer service inquiries are received and resulting responses are scored; see also ¶0086, training machine learning system to select specific response templates to select suggested content; see also ¶0087, a trained machine learning system may be further refined as additional customer service inquiries are received and resulting responses scored)
dynamically updating the training of the machine learning model in real-time during the communication session, using the generated task, the selected template, the set of communications, and the additional communications , thereby increasing a likelihood of the machine learning model accurately identifying the templates for the communication session. (see also ¶0087, a trained machine learning system may be further refined as additional customer service inquiries are received and resulting responses scored)
generating, using the machine learning model and during the communication session, an additional template to include in the plurality of templates that define a task based on additional anchor terms derived from the additional communications. (see at least ¶0087; see also Figure 3 and ¶0116-¶0119, a partial or full response (template) is provided)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, to combine the customer service response system including determining intent of a conversation and selecting appropriate template of Sehrawat with the training machine learning system to select specific response templates of Mandel since each individual element and its function are shown in the prior art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself- that is in the selecting templates based on ML of the secondary reference for the third party template determination of the primary reference.
Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious.
Further, the combination provides for managing customer service inquiries to address customer needs (see Spec ¶0005).
Claim 3:
Sehrawat and Mandel disclose discloses claim 1. Sehrawat further disclose:
further comprising: generating one or more proposal options for completion of the task, wherein the one or more proposal options are generated based on the task, and wherein when a proposal option is selected, the task is performed according to the selected proposal option. (see at least column 25, 55-67, CSR selects a suggested response and suggested resources are presented as well)
Claim 4:
Sehrawat and Mandel disclose discloses claim 1. Sehrawat further disclose:
wherein the task is performed according to one or more parameters associated with the task, the method further comprising: updating a console to present data fields for defining the one or more parameters associated with the task, wherein the console is updated when the template is selected to define the task, and wherein the data fields correspond to a task type associated with the task. (see at least column 26, lines 17-40, transmitting updated data; see also column 29, lines 13-15)
Claim 5:
Sehrawat and Mandel disclose discloses claim 1. Sehrawat further disclose:
further comprising: dynamically generating one or more prompts for additional information, wherein when the one or more prompts are generated, the one or more prompts are provided to obtain the additional information; and ( see at least column 27, lines 22-31, CSR sends question to customer which require a response)
While Sehrawat discloses the above limitations, Sehrawat does not explicitly disclose the following limitation; however, Mandel does disclose:
updating the template based on the additional information. (see at least ¶0135, response template may be edited to include additional customer data)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, to combine the customer service response system including determining intent of a conversation and selecting appropriate template of Sehrawat with the training machine learning system to select specific response templates of Mandel in order to manage customer service inquiries to address customer needs (see Spec ¶0005).
Claim 6:
Sehrawat and Mandel disclose discloses claim 1. Sehrawat further disclose:
further comprising: facilitating a communications session corresponding to the task, wherein the communications session is facilitated between the member and the representative device; and (see at least column 25, lines 4-13, conversation; see also column 25, lines 32-36, select template using intent and present suggestions based on template)
automatically presenting information corresponding to the task through the communications session (see at least Figures 8A-8I and column 25, lines 55-60, sending response to customer to perform a task; see also column 26, lines 24-39)
Claim 7:
Sehrawat and Mandel disclose discloses claim 1. Sehrawat further disclose:
further comprising: transmitting a notification in response to identifying the issue, wherein when the notification is received by the representative device, the issue and the template are dynamically presented on the representative device (see at least column 25, 29-39, transmits selected template to generate update data to CSR)
Claim 22:
Sehrawat and Mandel disclose discloses claim 1. Sehrawat further disclose:
wherein presenting the identified template comprises presenting the identified template on a user interface and wherein the user interface is updated to display one or more task parameters of the task associated with the selected template. (see at least Figure 8D and associated text; see also column 25, lines the bottom of screen shows a suggested response to respond to customer inquiry)
Claim 23:
Sehrawat and Mandel disclose discloses claim 1. Sehrawat further disclose:
further comprising facilitating, by the computing system, performance of the task, wherein the task is performed according to one or more parameters associated with the task. (see at least column 25, lines 45-67 – column 26, lines 1-12, response template indicates setting up pin, instructions are provided to customer to setup pin)
Claims 8, 10-14 for a system (Sehrawat see Figure 9) and Claims 15, 17-21 for a non-transitory CRM (see column 32, lines 53-54) substantially recite the subject matter of Claims 1-7 and are rejected based on the same rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered relevant but not applied:
Nishant et al. (US 10963525) discloses a chat bot comprising a machine learning engine, an intent analysis system and a query system. The chat bot generates an interface window overlaid on the website, when the website is displayed on the client device. The chat bot generates an automated conversational dialog with the user via the interface window, and receives user input from the client device via the interface window, responsive to the automated conversational dialog. The intent system identifies an intent from the user input. The query system automatically queries at least one source among the content sources and obtains query results, based on the identified intent.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RENAE FEACHER whose telephone number is (571)270-5485. The examiner can normally be reached on 9-5:30.
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/RENAE FEACHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3625
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