Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/090,144

CONVERGED MODEL BASED RISK ASSESSMENT AND AUDIT GENERATION

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 28, 2022
Examiner
LIPMAN, JACOB
Art Unit
2434
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
International Business Machines Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allowance Rate
667 granted / 802 resolved
+25.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+12.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
824
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.2%
-38.8% vs TC avg
§103
67.2%
+27.2% vs TC avg
§102
19.6%
-20.4% vs TC avg
§112
2.4%
-37.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 802 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 . Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 28 December 2022 has been considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-8 and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sarker, USPN 2022/0012341. With regard to claims 1, 8, and 17, Sarkar discloses a computer-implemented method (0008, 0027) including evaluating, using a system risk evaluation model, system data, the evaluating identifying a system risk, the system risk including a risk associated with a system of an organization being audited (0009-0016, 0031-0035, 0036-0082), the system risk evaluation model computing a system risk score using a first plurality of weights assigned to data attributes of the system data (0010-0016, 0103-0104), evaluating, using a role risk evaluation model, role data, the evaluating identifying a role risk, the role risk including a risk associated with a role in the organization being audited (0017, 0110), the role risk evaluation model including computing a role risk score using a second plurality of weights assigned to data attributes of the role data (0017-0021, 0105-0106, 0110), generating, using an audit repository, an audit customized to the system risk and the role risk (0021, 0110), and causing adjusting, using a result of the audit, a configuration of the system (0021, 0040-0042, 0098, 0110). With regard to claims 2, 11, and 18, Sarkar discloses the method of claim 1, as outlined above, and further discloses evaluating, using the role risk and the system risk evaluation model, the system data, the evaluating identifying a second system risk related to the role risk (0021, 0088-0090). With regard to claims 3, 12, and 19, Sarkar discloses the method of claim 1, as outlined above, and further discloses evaluating, using the system risk and the role risk evaluation model, the role data, the evaluating identifying a second role risk related to the system risk (0059, 0084). With regard to claims 4, 13, and 20, Sarkar discloses the method of claim 1, as outlined above, and further discloses evaluating, using the system risk evaluation model, a subset of the system data, the subset including system data having attributes used by the system risk evaluation model in determining the system risk, the evaluating identifying a third system risk (0095-0098, 0107). With regard to claims 5 and 14, Sarkar discloses the method of claim 1, as outlined above, and further discloses evaluating, using the role risk evaluation model, a subset of the role data, the subset including role data having attributes used by the role risk evaluation model in determining the role risk, the evaluating identifying a third role risk (0105-0110). With regard to claims 6 and 15, Sarkar discloses the method of claim 1, as outlined above, and further discloses performing the audit (0040-0042, 0098, 0110). With regard to claims 7 and 16, Sarkar discloses the method of claim 1, as outlined above, and further discloses updating, based on the system risk, weights of attributes used in determining the system risk, the updating resulting in an updated system risk evaluation model (0103, 0095-0098), evaluating, using the updated system risk evaluation model, the system data, the evaluating identifying a new system risk (0104-0109, 0095-0098), and generating, using the audit repository, a second audit customized to the new system risk and the role risk (0098). 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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. Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sarkar in view of examiner’s official notice. With regard to claims 9 and 10 , Sarkar discloses the method of claim 1, as outlined above, and further discloses stored program instructions are stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system (0112), and wherein the stored program instructions are transferred over a network from a remote data processing system (0115, 0035, 0041), but does not specifically state that all the code is transferred. The examiner takes official notice that it is well known in the art to package software for sale and download, and to transfer that software to a purchasing entity, based on payment, or a pay as used meter payment agreement. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the instant effective filing date, to package the software of Sarkar and allow for it to be purchased or licensed based on metered use, for the motivation of generating profit, increasing stock process, and improving business performance. References Cited Parimi et al., USPN 2017/0295197, discloses a method to determine overall risk by evaluating multiple attributes and generating multiple risk scores, including a risk score based on role, a risk score based on a network, a risk score based on infrastructure, and a risk score based on configuration (0055), to name a few examples. Parimi further discloses updating role information (0038), system information (0005, 0070), and weights of risks (0108). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACOB LIPMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3837. The examiner can normally be reached 5:30AM-6:00PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ali Shayanfar can be reached at 571-270-1050. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JACOB LIPMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2434
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 28, 2022
Application Filed
Oct 21, 2023
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 24, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+12.6%)
2y 10m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 802 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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