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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 8/3/2015 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Applicant's “Request for Continued Examination” filed on 8/3/2015 has been considered.
Rejection to Claims 1-16 under 35 USC 112(b) have been overcome.
Claims 1 and 4 are amended.
Claims 2-3, 5-7, 10 are cancelled.
Claims 1, 4, 8-9 are currently pending and have been examined.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1 recites “clothing purchased in online,” and “purchasing the clothing in online,” which should read “clothing purchase online” and “purchasing the clothing online.” Appropriate correction is required.
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 of this title, 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, 4, 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application No. 2017/0293941 A1 to ACKEN in view of U.S. Patent Application No. 2022/0004756 A1 to JENNINGS in view of U.S. Patent Application No. 2018/0308149 A1 to GUO.
Regarding Claim 1, ACKEN discloses a system for constructing a digital closet, comprising:
a user terminal that ([0030] client devices)
interlocks account information for digital closet registration to a digital closet service platform, ([0049] A user ID is a unique identifier that associates that entry in the table with a specific registered user. [0038] The user “closet” database 613 includes models of various articles of clothing or other wearables that are registered as owned by the client)
receives core information related to clothing purchased, and ([0069] the system keeps track of previous clothing purchases of the user, and allows the users to upload other clothing that they own, [0038] the user “closet” database 613 includes a list of SKUs that are owned by each user, and the associated model is accessed by looking up that SKU in the clothing line database 614.)
creates a digital closet on the basis of information selected by a user from the received clothing-related core information; ([0038] the associated model is accessed by looking up that SKU in the clothing line database 614.)
and a server that [0033]
transmits the clothing-related core information to the user terminal., [0062] The user may also request through the user interface that the 3D model 651 be displayed using the advertised wearable 603 in combination with other wearables in the clothing line database 614 or wearables in the user “closet”).
But does not explicitly disclose email account information; clothing purchased in online; extracts clothing-related core information purchased online from images or text included in an email based on the email account information, and wherein the user terminal, upon receiving the clothing-related core information, registers an image or a text selected by the user in the digital closet or registers an image or a text corrected by the user's operation in the digital closet.
JENNINGS, on the other hand, teaches email account information. ([0081] email detailing a purchasing) clothing purchased in online ([0032] product information database 642 to provide product information and inventory status to the server 615 and in some cases as part of a website or customer portal accessible directly by the user 631, the user 632 and/or the user 633 as well as other people connected via the Internet 620.) extracts clothing-related core information purchased online from images or text included in an email based on the email account information, ([0081] the receipt to be captured may be a hard copy or physical receipt, such as from an in-store purchase. The receipt to be captured may alternatively be an electronic receipt or email received from a physical store server or computing device (for an in-store purchase), or an electronic receipt or email received from an online merchant (for an online purchase). The physical receipt, electronic receipt, and/or email detailing a purchasing may be captured and/or input into the receipt capturing tool and the receipt capturing tool may automatically extract pertinent data as discussed herein, such as item, price, date, location, merchant, warranty information, and other data detailed herein [0048] the server 110 may perform an optical character recognition (OCR) or text recognition of the photograph of the receipt or the scanned receipt.) wherein the clothing-related core information includes at least one of a sale route and a name of the clothing purchased in online, and information about options of the user when purchasing the clothing in online, and wherein the server performs OCR processing on an image included in the content of the email, and performs text parsing on a text included in the content of the email, thereby extracting the online-purchased clothing-related core information. ([0081] the receipt to be captured may be a hard copy or physical receipt, such as from an in-store purchase. The receipt to be captured may alternatively be an electronic receipt or email received from a physical store server or computing device (for an in-store purchase), or an electronic receipt or email received from an online merchant (for an online purchase). The physical receipt, electronic receipt, and/or email detailing a purchasing may be captured and/or input into the receipt capturing tool and the receipt capturing tool may automatically extract pertinent data as discussed herein, such as item, price, date, location, merchant, warranty information, and other data detailed herein [0048] the server 110 may perform an optical character recognition (OCR) or text recognition of the photograph of the receipt or the scanned receipt.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the SYSTEM, as taught by ACKEN, the features as taught by JENNINGS, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. It further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify ACKEN, to include the teachings of JENNINGS, in order to extract pertinent data (JENNINGS, [0081]).
GUO discloses and wherein the user terminal, upon receiving the clothing-related core information, registers an image or a text selected by the user in the digital closet or registers an image or a text corrected by the user's operation in the digital closet. ([0035] he closet acquisition block 116 includes the steps of collecting images of each item of clothing in a user's wardrobe. The images of clothing items may be retrieved from or sent by a user or other person who takes photos of each item of clothing and send them over communication path 121 so that them may be stored in the closet item library 118. In some embodiments, clothing items may be acquired by scraping a user's emails for purchase receipts, which may include links to the images of the purchased item. These images may then be retrieved and stored in the closet items library 118.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the method, as taught by ACKEN and JENNINGS, the features as taught by GUO, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. It further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination, to include the teachings of GUO, in order to offer wardrobe solutions (GUO, [0002]).
Regarding Claim 4, ACKEN in view of JENNINGS and GUO teaches the system of claim 1.
However the combination of ACKEN and JENNINGS does not explicitly teach wherein the server searches for the product sale site on the basis of at least one of the sale route of the online-purchased clothing and the name of the clothing purchased online, collects images and texts posted on the product sale site, and extracts and transmits the clothing-related core information including an image and a text related to the online-purchased clothing to the user terminal.
GUO discloses wherein the server searches for the product sale site on the basis of at least one of the sale route of the online-purchased clothing and the name of the clothing purchased online, collects images and texts posted on the product sale site, and extracts and transmits the clothing-related core information including an image and a text related to the online-purchased clothing to the user terminal. ([0035] In some embodiments, clothing items may be acquired by scraping a user's emails for purchase receipts, which may include links to the images of the purchased item. These images may then be retrieved and stored in the closet items library 118.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the method, as taught by ACKEN and JENNINGS, the features as taught by GUO, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. It further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination, to include the teachings of GUO, in order to offer wardrobe solutions (GUO, [0002]).
Regarding Claim 8, ACKEN in view of JENNINGS and GUO teaches the system of claim 4.
ACKEN wherein when receiving the clothing-related core information, the user terminal registers an image or a text selected by user's operation in a digital closet or registers an image or a text corrected by user's operation in a digital closet. ([0069] and allows the users to upload other clothing that they own, [0036] (7) additional marketing information including advertising copy and 2-D images of the item; (8) manufacturing source; and (9) pricing information..)
Regarding Claim 9, ACKEN in view of JENNINGS and GUO teaches the system of claim 8.
ACKEN wherein the user terminal analyzes similarity between the image or the text registered in the digital closet and pre-stored clothing data, combines clothing of which the similarity satisfies a preset reference or more, thereby creating a coordinated combination.. ([0060] The user may also request through the user interface that the 3D model 651 be displayed using the advertised wearable 603 in combination with other wearables in the clothing line database 614 or wearables in the user “closet” database 613 that are available to the user 631 [0068] The ad server 615 pulls together a 3D personalized ad by querying the advertiser campaign database 617, loading the avatar 601 that is personalized for the recipient of the advertisement, loading wearable models 603, and possibly remotely accesses the retailer server 640 to include product information and inventory status for the advertised wearable(s) in the recipient's size at local retail stores, and creates and servers an ad to the targeted register users.)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed with respect to the rejection of claims under 35 USC 112(b) have been fully considered.
The rejections to claims 4 and 8 have been overcome by amendment to the claims.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to rejection of the claim under 35 USC 103 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Applicant argues Acken fails to disclose any functionality or concept related to constructing a digital closet; Jenning fails to disclose any feature or mechanism for building or managing a digital closet; Acken and Jennings are non-analogous art, and their combination lacks motivation or logical rationale.
Examiner disagrees. Acken and Jennings teaches aspects of the claims as claimed above. In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, Acken teaches the claim as a whole. Examiner turns to Jennings to teach email account information, clothing purchased online, and extracting clothing-related core information purchased online from images or text included in email based on the email account information. It would have been obvious to combine the two because they both solve the problem of extracting pertinent data.
Further, Applicant’s amendment necessitated reliance upon the GUO reference to teach wherein the user terminal, upon receiving the clothing-related core information, registers an image or a text selected by the user in the digital closet or registers an image or a text corrected by the user's operation in the digital closet. Examiner directs Applicant’s attention to the office action, above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michelle T. Kringen whose telephone number is (571)270-0159. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 11am-7pm.
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/MICHELLE T KRINGEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3689