DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/19/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/19/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
101
Applicant argues that the claims are not directed to an abstract idea. The Examiner disagrees. The claims plainly describe action to be taken by counselors-(persons), based on rules or guidelines. This would be considered organizing human activity. Applicant further argues that the claims recite a practical application. The Examiner disagrees. While the newly amended claim language describes providing access rights to a chat room, these steps can be reasonable performed by a user/counselor as opposed to the system itself. The Examiner suggests providing clarifying language that clarifies how access is granted.
Applicant further argues that the claims are similar to those of Example 42. The Example disagrees. The instant application is not related to standardizing formats, specifically patient records, like Example 42. The instant application also does not share the same fact pattern of Example 42. Accordingly, Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive and the rejections are maintained.
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 1-4, 7-11 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
MPEP 2106 Step 2A-Prong 1
The claims recite:
receiving, a second user registered in the service, a message of a first user regarding a counseling request through the second user registered in the service;
generating a first counseling ticket corresponding to the chat based on the received message, wherein the first counseling ticket includes a chat log at least based on the received message;
identifying accounts of a plurality of counselors linked;
acquiring the number of counseling tickets in a waiting state allocated to each of accounts of a plurality of counselors linked in which information on a counseling ticket of the channel is stored;
controlling access rights of the counselors to the chat corresponding to the first counseling ticket by allocating the first counseling ticket to an account of a first counselor among the accounts of the counselors based on the number of the counseling tickets in the waiting state acquired to correspond to each of the accounts of the counselors; and
updating a state of the first counseling ticket to the waiting state based on the allocation of the first counseling ticket the updating comprising:
providing the chat for counseling to the first counselor;
updating the state of the first counseling ticket to a progress state by:
receiving a connection request with the first counseling ticket received from the first counselor through the chat;
in response to receiving the connection request, acquiring the number of counseling tickets in the progress state allocated to the account of the first counselor; and
updating the state of the first counseling ticket to the progress state based on the acquired number of the counseling tickets in the progress state not exceeding a threshold value:
transmitting the chat log of the first counseling ticket to the account of the first counselor, wherein the access rights to the chat corresponding to the first counseling ticket are controlled such that an access of a of the first counselor is permitted and access of other counselors is not permitted.
updating the state of the first counseling ticket to the progress state based on the acquired number of the counseling tickets in the progress state not exceeding a threshold value:
providing the updated state to the first counselor to display the allocated first counseling ticket in the progress state and
The claims falls into the abstract idea groupings of (b) Certain Methods Of Organizing Human Activity ** fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk) commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations) managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions)**
The limitations under their broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of certain methods of organizing human activity but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than recited, “a chat room of a channel, channel server, channel, database, non-transitory computer readable medium, terminals, chat interface, instant messaging service, chat room”, nothing in the claim element precludes the step from practically being managing personal behavior. Accordingly, the claims recite an abstract idea.
MPEP 2106 Step 2A-Prong 2
The recited limitations are not indicative of integration into a practical application. In particular, the claims only recite the following additional elements, “a chat room of a channel, channel server, channel, database, non-transitory computer readable medium, terminals, chat interface, instant messaging service, chat room.” These additional elements are recited at a high-level of generality such that in conjunction with the abstract limitations, they amount to no more than:
Adding 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);
- (channel server, database, channel, non-transitory computer readable medium, terminals, instant messaging service, chat room)
iv. Generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use, -(chat interface, chat room of a channel, chatroom )
The claims do not include additional elements individually or in an ordered combination that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Integration into a practical application requires the additional element(s) to apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception, such that the claim is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception. This is not the case in the instant application. Further, as discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements amount to no more than: mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component.
MPEP 2106 Step 2B
Eligibility requires that the claim recites additional elements that amount to an inventive concept (aka “significantly more”) than the recited judicial exception. As discussed above, this is where the instant application falls short. The claims do not include additional elements individually or in an ordered combination that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception
Dependent Claims Step 2A:
The limitations of the dependent claims but for those addressed below merely set forth further refinements of the abstract idea without changing the analysis already
presented (that is, they further limit the organizing of human activities at step 2A —
Prong One without adding any new additional elements other than those already
analyzed above with respect to the independent claims at 2A — Prong Two; moreover
claims 5-6 describe a chat interface, 8-9-chatrooms, 11-database, but these additional elements do not remedy the deficiencies.
Dependent Claims Step 2B:
The dependent claims merely use the same general technological environment
and instructions to implement the abstract idea as the independent claims without
adding any new additional elements. Accordingly, they are not directed to significantly
more than the exception itself, and are not eligible subject matter under § 101.
The claims are not rejected by the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TONYA S JOSEPH whose telephone number is (571)270-1361. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-2:30, First Fridays Off.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shannon Campbell can be reached at (571) 272-5587. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TONYA JOSEPH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628
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