DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to claims filed on 12/22/2025
Claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-17, and 19-20 are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/22/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues in substance:
Specifically, Billou, Chintakindi, Sridhar, and Frank do not teach the following recitations and equivalent recitations of the independent claims: (1) determine that the real-time activity meets one or more triggers, wherein the one or more triggers comprise resource-based and time-based triggers associated with one or more resources located at the third party location, wherein the resource-based triggers comprise determining that the user has accessed the one or more resources located at the third party location and time-based triggers comprise determining that the user has spent an amount of time greater than a predetermined amount of time with the one or more resources
…
First, with respect to the claim recitation (1), the Office cites Billou at Figure and Col. 6 Lines 41-43 and Col. 5-Col. 6 Lines 53-67 and Lines 1-3 as teaching the previously pending recitation of “determine that the real-time activity meets one or more triggers, wherein the one or more triggers comprise at least one of resource-based triggers and time-based triggers associated with one or more resources located at the third party location” and Frank at Paragraph [0054] as teaching the previously pending recitation of dependent claim 4 of “determining that the user has accessed a first resource of the one or more resources.” Billou at the cited portions merely discloses a notification being triggered when a user is approaching or located within a predetermined distance different incentives bring offered for different merchants or types of merchants. Regarding the recitation of time-based triggers, Billou merely teaches restricting notifications during work hours or user’s work place. Frank at the cited portions merely teaches indication of user’s interest may be qualified based on demographics and activities which may comprise purchases, inquiries, demos, returns, browsing, selection, and showing interest. Nowhere does Billou or Frank, teach or suggest determine that the real-time activity meets one or more triggers, wherein the one or more triggers comprise resource-based triggers and time-based triggers associated with one or more resources located at the third party location, wherein the resource-based triggers comprise determining that the user has accessed the one or more resources located at the third party location and the time-based triggers comprise determining that the user has spent an amount of time greater than a predetermined amount of time with the one or more resources. As such, the office cited references, singly or in combination, do not teach or suggest the features of claim recitation (1).
With regard to point (a), Applicant argues that Billou and Frank do not explicitly teach “real-time activity meet[ing] one or more triggers” comprising of resource- and time-based triggers such that “resource-based triggers comprise determining that the user has accessed the one or more resources located at the third party location.”
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant. The combination of Billou and Frank teaches all limitations of the amended claim. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the claimed “determin[ation] that the user has accessed the one or more resources located at the third party location” broadly encompasses identifying a user performing an activity that indicates that a particular resource is available, selectable, purchasable, or otherwise capable of being acted upon by a user, such that satisfies a particular condition associated with a “resource-based trigger.” As such, the combination of Billou and Frank teach the limitations. Billou reasonably teaches generating incentives based on the monitoring of user movements within a third party location (Col. 1), and time-based generation of incentives (Col. 5). Frank reasonably teaches the resource-based and time-based trigger granularity recited including identifying resource accessibility through observed user interest ([0054]) and evaluating the amount of time a user is positioned near a resource, and using an arbitrary time threshold as trigger conditions ([0061]), thereby teaching real-time resource- and time-based triggers indicating resource accessibility at a third party location.
Argument has not been found to be persuasive.
(2) generate, via an artificial intelligence engine, real-time dynamic user specific resources values for the one or more resources located at the third party location, wherein the real-time dynamic user specific resource values for the one or more resources are associated with the real-time activity of the user and the one or more triggers based on the user data and the resource data extracted from the one or more data sources, wherein the real-time dynamic user specific resource values are purchasing values for the one or more resources, wherein the purchasing values are greater or lesser than actual listing value of the one or more resources
…
Second, with respect to the claim recitation (2), the Office cites Billou at Figure 1, Figure 3, Col. 5 Lines 9-11, Col. 8 Lines 34-38, Col. 9 Lines 64-66, Col. 6 Lines 21-25
With regard to point (b), Applicant argues that Billou and Chintakindi do not explicitly teach “wherein the real-time dynamic user specific resource values are purchasing values for the one or more resources, wherein the purchasing values are greater or lesser than actual listing value of the one or more resources.”
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant. Billou teaches all limitations of the amended claim. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the claimed real-time dynamic user specific resource values encompass incentive-based values that operate to modify the existing price or purchasing value of a good or resource, including any form of value adjustment that increases or decrease the effective purchase price of a good. Particularly, Billou describes a system and method to provide users of incentives offered by funding sources based on the user’s location (Col. 1). Accordingly, Billou discloses generating resources value that are directly associated with, and that have an effect on, the purchasing value of such resources. Billou further teaches that such purchasing values may be modified, for example through incentives in the form of discounts equal to or greater than 10% of a purchase price (Col. 2). Therefore, Billou’s teaching appropriately demonstrates that the generated values are directly related to the purchasing value of resources, and that such purchasing values may reflect a value greater than or less than an actual listed value.
Argument has not been found to be persuasive.
The Office cited references also do not teach or suggest the recitations of dependent claim 2 of (3) transmit the real-time dynamic user specific resource values to resource tags positioned adjacent to the one or more resources, wherein the resource tags display the purchasing values for the one or more resources, wherein the resource tags corresponding to the one or more resources are located at the third party location.
…
Third, with respect to the claim recitation (3), the Office cites Billou at Col. 10 Lines 32-44 as teaching the previously pending claim recitation of “transmit the real-time dynamic user specific resource values to resource tags associated with the one or more resources, wherein the resource tags corresponding to the one or more resources are located at the third party location.” Billou at the cited portions merely teaches a payment application on user’s phone monitoring the user’s location and movement and detecting that the user is approaching an apparel store where a particular credit card is offering discounts. Nowhere does Billou teach or suggest transmit the real-time dynamic user specific resource values to resource tags positioned adjacent to the one or more resources, wherein the resource tags corresponding to the one or more resources are located at the third party location. As such, the office cited references do not teach or suggest the features disclosed in claim recitation (3)
With regard to point (c), Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 2, 9, and 16 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.
And (4) cause the resource tags located at the third party location to display the real-time dynamic user specific resource values.
…
Fourth, with respect to the claim recitation (4), the Office cites Billou at Figure 4 label 402 as teaching the previously pending claim recitation of “causing the resource tags located at the third party location to display the real-time dynamic user specific resource values.” Billou at the cited portion merely teaches a display of a computer and providing notifications for incentives offered by various funding sources based on user’s location. Nowhere does Billou teach or suggest, causing the resource tags located at the third party location to display the real-time dynamic user specific resource values. As such, the office cited references do not teach or suggest the features disclosed in claim recitation (4).
With regard to point (d), Applicant asserts Billou does not teach displaying the resource tag associated with the real-time dynamic user specific resource values.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant. It is understood that an incentive is generated in association with a particular resource and a corresponding price. Under broadest reasonable interpretation, a “resource tag” broadly encompasses any physical or digital display of a particular resource and its price. Accordingly, Billou presents a method of indicating to the user a real-time dynamic user specific resource incentive by transmitting such resource value to the associated resource tag of the resource at a third party location for viewing (Col. 10). Further, Billou expresses that a payment provider server may maintain interactions with a user device to facilitate the purchase of good or services, and communicate display information, implicitly teaching pricing information associated with a resource (Col. 4). Therefore, Billou’s teaching appropriately demonstrates that the resource tags located at a third party location present real-time dynamic user specific resource values.
Argument has not been found to be persuasive.
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, 5-8, 10, 12-15, 17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Billou Pat. No. US 10,657,556 B2 (hereinafter Billou) in view of Chintakindi et al. Pub. No. US 2020/0104876 (hereinafter Chintakindi) in view of Sridhar Pub. No. US 2022/0391938 (hereinafter Sridhar) in view of Frank et al. Pub. No. US 2007/0264968 (hereinafter Frank).
With regard to claim 1, Billou teaches a system for dynamically providing tailored user specific dynamic real-time resource values, the system comprising (Abstract, A system and/or method may be provided to notify a user of incentives offered by various funding sources based on the user’s location. In particular, incentives offered by various funding sources at various merchant locations are determined):
at least one network communication interface (Fig. 4, Network Interface 420);
at least one non-transitory storage device (Fig. 4, Memory 410; col. 12, line 43, a non-transitory memory); and
at least one processing device coupled to the at least one non-transitory storage device and the at least one network communication interface wherein the at least one processing device is configured to (Fig. 4, Memory 410 and Network Interface 420 coupled to Processor 414 via Bus 412):
determine that a user is at a third party location (Abstract, The user’s location and movements are monitored);
in response to determining that the user is at the third party location (Col. 13, lines 25-26, in response to determining that the current location of user device is within the notification zone) continuously monitor real-time activity of the user (Fig. 1 and col. 7, lines 19-21, the movement of the user 105 may be tracked or monitored to determine whether user 105 is approaching or departing from a certain incentive location) by communicating with the one or more third party entity devices (Col. 7, lines 7-12, At step 302, payment provider server 170 (third party device) may receive or detect user 105’s location. For example, user device 110 may detect the location of user device 110 via GPS or positioning beacons, such as WiFi or Bluetooth beacons. The location of user device 110 may be sent (user device communicating with third party) to payment provider server 170) located at the third party location (Col. 7, lines 13-16, At step 304, payment provider server 170 may determine incentive locations near user 105. In particular, payment provider server 170 may access the incentive database to find incentives that are offered at locations near user 105);
determine that the real-time activity meets one or more triggers (Fig. 1 and col. 6, lines 41-43, a notification may be triggered and sent to a user 105 when user 105 is approaching or located (one or more triggers) within a predetermined distance from the incentive location), wherein the one or more triggers comprise resource-based triggers (Col. 5-Col. 6, lines 63-67 and lines 1-3, Different incentives may be offered at different merchants or types of merchants. For example, one percent cash back may be offered at grocery stores while two percent cash back may be offered at gas stations. In another example, five percent discount may be offered at all locations of a particular department store. Each funding source may have its own incentive program designating various incentives that may be earned at various merchants and locations) and time-based triggers associated with one or more resources located at the third party location (Col. 6, lines 39-53, Each incentive may include notification settings indicating whether and how user 150 is to be notified for the incentive … In an embodiment, a time and location where user 105 allows notifications to be presented to user 105 may be designated. For example, the user 105 may restrict notifications during work hours or at user 105’s work place … For example, incentives for personal items may be presented to user 105 during non-business hours while incentives for office items may be presented to user 105 during business hours (Examiner notes: Time-based triggers at third party locations)
…; and
generate real-time dynamic user specific resource values for the one or more resources located at the third party location (Fig. 3, Step 306 Generate notification for nearby incentives; Col. 1, lines 58-65, In particular, incentives offered by various funding sources at various merchant locations are determined. The user’s location and movement are monitored. When the user approaches or is near a merchant location where a funding source offers incentives, a notification maybe generated and presented to the user to notify or remind the user of the incentives offered at the merchant location; Col. 5, line 9-11, The incentives may include additional cash backs, reward points, discounts, and the like (Examiner notes: resource values), wherein the real-time dynamic user specific resource values for the one or more resource are associated with the real-time activity of the user and the one or more triggers (Fig. 1 and col. 8 lines 34-38 If user 105 is approaching an incentive location or is located within a notification zone (associated with the one or more triggers); Fig. 1 and col. 9, lines 64-66, user 105 may be enticed in real time; Col. 6, lines 21-25, At step 210, payment provider server 170 may store and update incentives offered by user 105’s designated funding sources in an incentive database. The incentive database may be updated periodically to reflect most recent incentives (real-time values are dynamic) offered by the respective funding sources)
… wherein the real-time dynamic user specific resource values are purchasing values for the one or more resources (Col. 1, lines 16-30, In today’s commerce, many payment transactions, such as retail purchases, fund transactions, and the like, are made electronically using a payment service provider. In particular, a customer may have various funding sources, such as different credit cards, bank accounts, debit cards, and the like to choose from when making payments. A funding source may partner with a merchant to offer incentives, such as additional cash back or reward points, to entice the customer to utilize the funding source when making purchases as he merchant), wherein the purchasing values are greater or lesser than actual listing value of the one or more resources (Col. 2, line 9-11, In another example, the user may allow incentives related to discounts equal to or greater than 10% of purchase price to be presented to the user).
Billou teaches a system for generating real-time resource values but does not explicitly teach utilizing an artificial intelligence engine to generate real-time resource values.
However, in analogous art Chintakindi teaches,
Utilizing via an artificial intelligence engine (¶ [0098], The first entity system may then evaluate the data to generate one or more offers or outputs … machine learning may be used to generate one or more offers, outputs and/or insights)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the resource value generation system of Billou with Chintakindi’s teachings of utilizing machine learning techniques. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination, with reasonable expectation of success, because utilizing machine learning techniques facilitates the analysis of both structured and unstructured data to identify patterns, behaviors and the like, as suggested by Chintakindi (¶ [0081]). As a result, machine learning techniques analyzing user data improves the resource value generation system as it is able to generate customized output based on user preferences, as taught by Chintakindi (¶ [0312]).
However, the combination does not teach the remaining limitations.
Sridhar teaches extract (i) user data associated with the user ([0004], Information about the user’s spending habits, payment habits, purchase history (such as products or services purchased, types and locations of merchants or vendors purchased from, etc.), web browsing habits, hobbies, and/or interests may be monitored, collected, and/or analyzed) and (ii) resource data associated with the one or more resources from one or more data sources ([0028], In some cases, to collect more detailed information about the purchase transactions identified from the user’s bank and/or credit card accounts, the user analysis module 113 may request and receive transaction line item detail information from a merchant associated with the purchase transaction), wherein the user data and the resource data comprise historical interaction data of the user ([0027], The user analysis module 113 may be used by the server 110 to collect and analyze data associated with the user for making determinations about customized notifications to generate for the user. Using the information provided during system configuration process, the user analysis may access the bank accounts, credit card accounts, etc. provided by the user to collect data associated with, for example, purchase transactions made by the user using the bank or credit card account), resource level data associated with the one or more resources ([0028], The user analysis module 113 may receive from the merchant computing device 140, line item data associated with the purchase transaction. The line item data may include a name or description of the item purchased, a price of the item, and/or a quantity of the item purchased), similarity data associated with the one or more resources and the user ([0038], The user’s product proclivity may be reflected as a score ranging, for example, from 0 to 100, and may indicate a likelihood, based on the analysis of the collected data, that the user would be inclined to purchase a particular product or category of product. A score of 100, for example, may indicate a high proclivity for purchasing the particular product or category of product, while a score of 0 might indicate a low proclivity for purchasing the product or category of product), and resource pool data of the user ([0016], The server 110 may be a computing device, such as a server, used by a banking institution or other financial institution to provide functionality associated with generating customized purchase offers to provide to its users. The users may hold a transaction account, such as a bank account, a credit card account, a commercial account, a line of credit, or the like, maintained by the banking institution)
… based on the user data and the resource data extracted from the one or more data sources ([0044], the notification generation module 114 may identify products offered at the particular landmark that may be of interest to the user based on user analysis),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to apply the teachings of Sridhar with the teachings of Billou and Chintakindi in order to provide a system that teaches notification generation based on extraction of user and product level data, including historical interaction, similarity, and resource pool data. The motivation for applying Sridhar teaching with Billou and Chintakindi teaching is to provide a system that allows for generation of personalized notifications tailored to individual users, maximizing engagement, and reduction of computational waste produced from mass e-mail advertisement (Sridhar, [0012]). Billou, Chintakindi, and Sridhar are analogous art directed towards price determination and advertisement. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine Sridhar with Billou and Chintakindi to teach the claimed invention in order to provide increased user engagement and computational resources.
However, the combination does not explicitly teach resource-based and time-based triggers comprising user access or duration with a resource, respectively.
Frank teaches wherein the resource-based triggers comprise determining that the user has accessed the one or more resources located at the third party location (¶ [0054], The indication of user interest may further be qualified based on demographics, activities observed in the first area, etc. Such activities may include purchases, inquiries, demos, returns, customer browsing, selection, and showing interest) and the time-based triggers comprise determining that the user has spent an amount of time greater than a predetermined amount of time with the one or more resources (¶ [0061], a person that spends five minutes in front of the hot dog freezer in a grocery store may be a good potential customer to offer a coupon or other incentive to buy complementary goods)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the resource engagement triggers of Frank with the systems of Billou, Chintakindi, and Sridhar resulting in a system which is equipped to determine user-activated triggers. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination, with reasonable expectation of success, because notifying users of incentives based on their behaviors allows the incentive to reach the user before they purchase a good, as suggested by Frank (¶ [0061]).
With regard to claim 3, Billou teaches continue monitoring the real-time activity of the user based on causing the resource tags to display the real-time dynamic user specific resource values (Col. 10, lines 32-36 and lines 45-48, the user is walking in the shopping mall (user is performing real-time activity) … the payment application on the mobile device monitors the user’s location and movement (monitor the user’s activity) and detects that the user is approaching an apparel store where a particular credit card is offering discounts (resource tags to display resource values) … The user is driving home from the shopping mall. The payment application detects that the user is approaching a restaurant (user’s activity is continuously being monitored) at which another credit card is offering additional cash backs).
With regard to claim 5, the combination teaches the claim, wherein Sridhar teaches wherein the one or more third party devices comprise image capturing devices, barcode scanners, weight sensors, and proximity sensors (Sridhar, [0070], Referring to FIG. 2, an example computing device 200 is provided. The example computing device may include or incorporate … the merchant computing device 140 (third party device); [0075], The one or more sensor devices 213 may include one or more of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a GPS device, a biometric sensor, a proximity sensor, imagine capturing device, a magnetometer, etc.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to apply the teachings of Sridhar with the teachings of Billou and Chintakindi in order to provide a system that teaches sensors for detecting product interactions. The motivation for applying Sridhar teaching with Billou and Chintakindi teaching is to provide a system that allows for determination of interaction between user and items, such that allows for the monitoring of users entering notification zones and product engagement (Sridhar, [0090]-[0092]). Billou, Chintakindi, and Sridhar are analogous art directed towards targeted advertising. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine Sridhar with Billou and Chintakindi to teach the claimed invention in order to provide detection capabilities to improve accuracy in user tracking and notification delivery.
With regard to claim 6, Billou teaches transmit one or more notifications associated with the one or more triggers to one or more other third party entities (Col. 1, line 59, incentives offered by various funding sources (one or more other third party entities) at various merchant locations);
receive one or more resource offers for the one or more resources associated with the one or more triggers from the one or more other third party entities (Fig. 2, Step 206 Receive incentive information from funding source); and
transmit the one or more resource offers to a user device of the user (Fig. 3, Step 308 Send notification to user).
With regard to claim 7, Billou teaches cause the user device of the user to display the one or more resource offers (Fig. 1, col. 13, lines 47-49, the notification is presented to the 110 user device).
With regard to claim 8, Billou teaches the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable instructions for causing a computer processor to perform the steps of (Col. 15, lines 37-38, A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions). Claim 8 is a computer readable storage medium having similar limitations as claim 1. Thus, claim 8 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 1.
With regard to claim 10, it is a computer readable storage medium having similar limitations as claim 3. Thus, claim 10 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 3.
With regard to claim 12, it is a computer readable storage medium having similar limitations as claim 5. Thus, claim 12 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 5.
With regard to claim 13, it is a computer readable storage medium having similar limitations as claim 6. Thus, claim 13 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 6.
With regard to claim 14, it is a computer readable storage medium having similar limitations as claim 7. Thus, claim 14 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 7.
With regard to claim 15, Billou teaches a computer implemented method (Abstract, A system and/or method may be provided). Claim 15 is a computer implemented method having similar limitations as claim 1. Thus, claim 15 is rejected for the similar rationale as applied to claim 1.
With regard to claim 17, it is a computer implemented method having similar limitations as claim 3. Thus, claim 17 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 3.
With regard to claim 19, it is a computer implemented method having similar limitations as claim 5. Thus, claim 19 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 5.
With regard to claim 20, it is a computer implemented method having similar limitations as claim 6. Thus, claim 20 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 6.
Claims 2, 9, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Billou in view of Chintakindi in view of Sridhar in view of Frank as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Dey et al. Pub. No. US 2018/0068375 A1 (hereinafter Dey).
With regard to claim 2, Billou teaches transmit the real-time dynamic user specific resource values to resource tags (Col. 10, line 32-44, generates a notification: “Use XXX credit card and get (transmit) 10% discount (resource value) at XXX apparel (to resource tag associated with the one or more resources)”) …, wherein the resource tags corresponding to the one or more resources are located at the third party location (Col. 10, lines 32-36, The user is shopping in a mall today. While the user is walking the shopping mall, the payment application on the mobile device monitors the user’s location and movement and detects that the user is approaching an apparel store where a particular credit card is offering discounts); and
cause the resource tags located at the third party location to display the real-time dynamic user specific resource values (Fig. 4, Display 402; Col. 9, lines 55-57, By using the above process 300, notifications for incentive offered by various funding sources may be notified to user 105 based on user 105’s location).
However, Billou does not explicitly teach resource tags positioned adjacent to the one or more resources, wherein the resource tags display the purchasing value for the one or more resources
Dey teaches resource tags positioned adjacent to the one or more resources ([0011], Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and associated methods to obtain real-time prices of products in physical stores, in response to a price quotation pull request of a given product expressed by a customer using a smart price tag attached to the product; [0017], A dynamic price generator 120, which may be in communication with the external database 108 and various external processes 110 for dynamic price generation, generates a price for the product for sale 106 corresponding to the requesting smart price tag 104 … The dynamic price response dispatcher 118 sends a dynamic price response 114, including the generated price, back to the smart price tag 104), wherein the resource tags display the purchasing value for the one or more resources ([0018], The smart price tag 104 displays the current price (Examiner notes: a purchasing value associated with the tagged resource) on the display 210 for a predetermined period of time)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to apply the teachings of Dey with the teachings of Billou, Chintakindi, Sridhar, and Frank in order to provide a method that teaches a smart price tag to retrieve and display the value of an adjacent product. The motivation for applying Dey teaching with Billou, Chintakindi, Sridhar, and Frank teaching is to provide a method that allows for collection, aggregation, and analysis of real-time user-interest data to intelligently optimize and set prices (Dey, [0023]). Billou, Chintakindi, Sridhar, and Frank and Dey are analogous art directed towards price determination. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Dey with Billou, Chintakindi, Sridhar, and Frank to teach the claimed invention in order to provide a resource tag adjacent to a product to apply dynamic pricing.
With regard to claim 9, it is a computer readable storage medium having similar limitations as claim 2. Thus, claim 9 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 2.
With regard to claim 16, it is a computer implemented method having similar limitations as claim 2. Thus, claim 16 is rejected for the same rationale as applied to claim 2.
Conclusion
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.
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/I.A.C./Examiner, Art Unit 2195
/Aimee Li/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2195