Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application 18/045,431, filed on 10/10/2022 (or after March 16, 2013), is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA (First Inventor to File).
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.
This application is a CON of 16/409,776 filed on 05/11/2019 is now US PAT 11468019, 16/409,776 is a CON of 14/214,309 filed on 03/14/2014 is now US PAT, 10331631,14/214,309 has DOM PRO 61/799,817 filed on 03/15/2013, 14/214,309 has DOM PRO 61/799,986 filed on 03/15/2013, 14/214,309 has PRO 61/799,846 filed on 03/15/2013, 14/214,309 has DOM PRO 61/799,131 filed on 03/15/2013, 14/214,309 has PRO 61/800,036 filed on 03/15/2013
DETAILED ACTION
Response to RCE-2
Claims 1-3,5,8-10,12,14-17,19 are pending in this application.
Examiner acknowledges applicant’s amendment filed on 12/18/2025
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has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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
10/31/2024 has been entered, office action mailed on 12/18/2025
Drawings
The Drawings filed on 8/13/2020 are acceptable for examination purpose.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for domestic priority application
U.S. Provisional Patent application serial number # 61/799,817 filed on 03/15/2013, 61/799,986 filed on 03/15/2013, 61/799,846 filed on 03/15/2013, 61/799,131 filed on 03/15/2013, 61/800,036 filed on 03/15/2013, under 35 U.S.C. 119 (e)
Response to Arguments
Double Patent:
At page 7, examiner noted applicant’s remarks on double patent rejection, however, applicant may consider filing terminal disclaimer to overcome the double patent rejection, subject to approval.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO internet Web site contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit http://www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application will determine what form should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-3,5,8-10,12,14-17,19 of US Application No. 18/045,431 (as amended 12/18/2025) are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,468,019. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the patented claims perform the same steps as the claims in the instant application.
Instant US application: 18/045,431(as amended 12/18/2025)
US Patent No. 11,468,019
Claim 1,8,15, An information analytics system for analyzing information related to entities of interest and establishing rankings, the information analytics system comprising:
a processor configured to acquire computer readable instructions stored one or more memory devices and execute the instructions to:
process data relating to an entity of interest, the data comprising:
external data received from external data sources;
internal data comprising data maintained on an internal database; and
server traffic data comprising data related to server requests related to the entity of interest
generating linked data by determining an association between at least a first external data associated with the entity of interest and a first internal data associated with the entity of interest by matching one or more attributes of the first external data to the first internal data;
generating a plurality of features comprising summary attributes associated with a particular aspect of the entity of interest, wherein the plurality of features is generated based upon the linked data;
generating a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features,
receiving a query, wherein the query comprises a request for information on one or more entities associated with the query;
identifying a plurality of entities based upon the query, wherein the plurality of entities comprises entity of interest;
generating an ordered list of the plurality of entities, wherein the position of the entity of interest within the ordered list is based upon the score for the entity of interest; and
modify the order of the at least the entity of interest by altering the score for the entity of interest based at least upon on one or more contextual conditions associated with the query and a bias, represented as a function that combines two or more placerank values, the one or more contextual conditions associated with the query comprising at least one of: a time at which the query is received, a geographic location from which the query is received, an application from which the query is received, a profile of a user from which the query is received, or a type of a computing device that sent the query, and wherein the bias is determined using a machine learning model trained to determine feature weights for one or more contextual conditions
Claim 1, 8,15 An information analytics system for analyzing information related to entities of interest and establishing rankings, the information analytics system comprising:
a processor configured to acquire computer readable instructions stored in one or more memory devices and execute the instructions to:
process data relating to an entity of interest, the data comprising:
external data received from external data sources;
internal data comprising data previously received from external data sources and maintained on an internal database; and
server traffic data comprising one or more of a quantity, timing, frequency, and change in frequency, of server requests related to the entity of interest received from server logs;
determine an association between the external data for the entity of interest and the internal data for the entity of interest by matching one or more attributes of the external data to the internal data;
generate from the processed data a plurality of features comprising: summary attributes associated with a particular aspect of the entity of interest;
generate data comprising a computation of a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features, the computation comprising a weighted combination of the plurality of features, wherein the score is to indicate an importance of the entity of interest;
process data comprising an information request received from a client computing device including a query, wherein the information request is to request information on one or more entities associated with the query;
identify the at least one entity associated with the query based on at least one score associated with the at least one entity;
order the at least one entity based on the at least one score using a sorting mechanism; and
initiate transmission of data comprising the at least one entity to the client computing device, wherein the processor is to further execute the one or more computer instructions to modify the order of the at least one entity by altering one or more scores of the at least one entity based on one or more contextual conditions associated with the information request, the one or more contextual conditions associated with the information request comprising at least one of: a time at which the information request is received, a geographic location from which the information request is received, an application from which the information request is received, a profile of a user from which the information request is received, or a type of the computing device that sent the information request
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill was made to modify and/or to omit the additional elements of claim 1-21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,468,019 to arrive at the claims 1-3,5,8-10,12,14-17,19 (as amended 12/18/2025) of the instant application 18/045,4 31 because the ordinary skilled person would have realized that the remaining element(s) would perform the same function as before and the only difference particularly claim 1,8,15 instant application 18/045,431, generating a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features, wherein the bias is determined using a machine learning model trained to determine feature weights for one or more contextual conditions, while claim 1,8,15 of U.S. Patent No. 11,468,019, generate data comprising a computation of a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features, the computation comprising a weighted combination of the plurality of features, wherein the score is to indicate an importance of the entity of interest, is absent of the limitation from instant application 18/045,431 claim 1, 8,15, omission and/or addition of elements and its function in combination is obvious expedient if the remaining elements perform same functions as before.
Claims 1-3,5,8-10,12,14-17,19 of US Application No. 18/045,431 (as amended 12/18/2025) are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-12 of U.S. Patent No. 10,331,631. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the patented claims perform the same steps as the claims in the instant application
Instant US application: 18/045,431
US Patent No. 10,331,631
Claim 1,8,15, An information analytics system for analyzing information related to entities of interest and establishing rankings, the information analytics system comprising:
a processor configured to acquire computer readable instructions stored one or more memory devices and execute the instructions to:
process data relating to an entity of interest, the data comprising:
external data received from external data sources;
internal data comprising data maintained on an internal database; and
server traffic data comprising data related to server requests related to the entity of interest
generating linked data by determining an association between at least a first external data associated with the entity of interest and a first internal data associated with the entity of interest by matching one or more attributes of the first external data to the first internal data;
generating a plurality of features comprising summary attributes associated with a particular aspect of the entity of interest, wherein the plurality of features is generated based upon the linked data;
generating a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features,
receiving a query, wherein the query comprises a request for information on one or more entities associated with the query;
identifying a plurality of entities based upon the query, wherein the plurality of entities comprises entity of interest;
generating an ordered list of the plurality of entities, wherein the position of the entity of interest within the ordered list is based upon the score for the entity of interest; and
modify the order of the at least the entity of interest by altering the score for the entity of interest based at least upon on one or more contextual conditions associated with the query and a bias, represented as a function that combines two or more placerank values, the one or more contextual conditions associated with the query comprising at least one of: a time at which the query is received, a geographic location from which the query is received, an application from which the query is received, a profile of a user from which the query is received, or a type of a computing device that sent the query, and wherein the bias is determined using a machine learning model trained to determine feature weights for one or more contextual conditions
Claim 1, 10,12 An information analytics system for analyzing information related to entities of interest and establishing rankings, the information analytics system comprising:
a processor configured to acquire computer readable instructions stored in one or more memory devices and execute the instructions to:
process data relating to an entity of interest, the data comprising:
external data received from external data sources;
internal data comprising data previously received from external data sources and maintained on an internal database; and
server traffic data comprising one or more of a quantity, timing, frequency, and change in frequency, of server requests related to the entity of interest received from server logs;
determine an association between the external data and the internal data by matching one or more attributes of the external data to the internal data;
generate from the processed data a plurality of features comprising summary attributes associated with a particular aspect of the entity of interest,
wherein the generation comprises processor instructions to:
format the external data, internal data, and server traffic data into structured data having a predetermined data structure, determine a subset of the structured data associated with the particular aspect of the entity of interest, and
generate the summary attributes of the particular aspect of the entity of interest based on the subset of the structured data;
generate data comprising a computation of a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features, the computation comprising a weighted combination of the plurality of features, wherein the score is to indicate an importance of the entity of interest;
process data comprising an information request received from a client computing device including a query, wherein the information request is to request information on one or more entities associated with the query;
identify the at least one entity associated with the query based on at least one score associated with the at least one entity;
order the at least one entity based on the at least one score using a sorting mechanism; and
initiate transmission of data comprising the at least one entity to the client computing device.
.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill was made to modify and/or to omit the additional elements of claim 1-12 of U.S. Patent No. 10,331,631 to arrive at the claims 1-3,5,8-10,12,14-17,19 of the instant application 18/045,4 31 because the ordinary skilled person would have realized that the remaining element(s) would perform the same function as before and the only difference particularly claim 1,8,15 instant application 18/045,431, generating a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features, wherein the bias is determined using a machine learning model trained to determine feature weights for one or more contextual conditions, while claim 1,10,12 of U.S. Patent No. 10,331,631, generate data comprising a computation of a score for the entity of interest using the plurality of features, the computation comprising a weighted combination of the plurality of features, wherein the score is to indicate an importance of the entity of interest, is absent of the limitation from instant application 18/045,431 claim 1, 8,15, Omission and/or addition of elements and its function in combination is obvious expedient if the remaining elements perform same functions as before
Reasons for Allowance
Claims 1-3,5,8-10,12,14-17,19 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons:
Under the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claimed limitation which is consistence with the Applicant’s specification. In view of applicant’s amendment to the claims, remarks filed on 12/18/2025, the prior art of Jouppi, US Pub. No. 2007/0088603, Cheng et al, US Pub. No. 2013/0254213 Cooper et al, US Pat. No. 8504681 do not disclose, make obvious or otherwise suggest the structure of applicant’s
“modify the order of the at least the entity of interest by altering the score for the entity of interest based at least upon on one or more contextual conditions associated with the query and a bias represented as a function that combines two or more placerank values the one or more contextual conditions associated with the query comprising at least one of a time at which the query is received”, in claim 1,8,15
These features, together with the other limitations of the independent claims are novel and non-obvious over the prior art of record. The dependent claims 2-3,5,9-10,12,14,16-17,19 being definite, enabled by the specification, and further limiting to the independent claims are also allowable.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Srirama Channavajjala whose telephone number is 571-272-4108. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM Eastern Time.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gorney, Boris, can be reached on (571) 270- 5626. The fax phone numbers for the organization where the application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300 Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free)
/Srirama Channavajjala/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2154