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 .
Prosecution Status
Applicant’s amendments filed 6/30/2026 have been received and reviewed. The status of the claims is as follows:
Claims 1, 3, 5-6, 8, 10, and 17 are pending.
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.
1. Claims 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 17 are directed to facilitating purchase of consumables, which is considered a commercial interaction. Commercial interactions fall within a subject matter grouping of abstract ideas which the Courts have considered ineligible (Certain methods of organizing human activity). The claims do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, and do not include additional elements that provide an inventive concept (are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea).
Under step 1 of the Alice/Mayo framework, it must be considered whether the claims are directed to one of the four statutory classes of invention. In the instant case, claim 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 recite an apparatus, comprising one or more processors. Claim 10 recites a method with at least one step. Claim 17 recites a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. Therefore, the claims are each directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention (process, apparatus, manufacture).
Under step 2A of the Alice/Mayo framework, it must be considered whether the claims are “directed to” an abstract idea. That is, whether the claims recite an abstract idea and fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Regarding independent claim 1, the claim sets forth a process in which consumable purchases are facilitated, in the following limitations:
store user information including information for identifying the printer capable of printing and first terminal information that allows for identification of the plurality of users who can use the printer and for identification of the plurality of terminal devices;
store printing information including information for identifying the printer that has executed printing and remaining amount information on the consumable in the printer;
store purchase authority information related to presence or absence of purchase authority of the consumable;
store a plurality of pieces of notification information according to a combination of a plurality of notification conditions, wherein the plurality of the notification conditions includes thresholds of the remaining amount information set by a user;
obtain first update-time information corresponding to the printing information and second update-time information corresponding to the user information;
compare the first update-time information and the second update-time information with locally stored update-time information corresponding to the printing information and the user information, respectively;
in response to determining, based on the comparison, that the printing information has been updated, obtain updated printing information;
in response to determining, based on the comparison, that the user information has been updated, obtain updated user information;
obtain third update-time information corresponding to the purchase authority information and fourth update-time information corresponding to the notification information;
compare the third update-time information and the fourth update-time information with locally stored update-time information corresponding to the purchase authority information and the notification information, respectively;
in response to determining, based on the comparison, that the purchase authority information has been updated, obtain updated purchase authority information;
in response to determining, based on the comparison, that the notification information has been updated, obtain updated notification information; and
determine, in the terminal device, based on the terminal information, the remaining amount information, the purchase authority information, and the notification information stored in the terminal device, information related to purchase of the consumable to be notified;
wherein the information related to purchase of the consumable is set for each of the plurality of pieces of notification information,
the information related to purchase of the consumable set for notification information according to the notification conditions satisfied by each of the plurality of terminal devices among the plurality of pieces of notification information,
the notification conditions satisfied by each of the plurality of terminal devices are determined based on the user information, the printing information, and the purchase authority information,
the purchase authority information includes second terminal information that allows for identification of a user having the purchase authority of the consumable and allows for identification of the terminal device usable to purchase the consumable,
the user having the purchase authority of the consumable is notified of first information as information related to the consumable and the terminal device of a user having no purchase authority is notified of the consumable of second information, which is different from the first information, as the information related to the consumable,
in a case where the remaining amount information is less than a first threshold set by a user, the user of terminal device not usable to purchase the consumable is notified of the information related to purchase of the consumable, and
in a case where the remaining amount information is less than a second threshold set by a user, which is greater than the first threshold, the user of terminal device usable to purchase the consumable is notified of the information related to purchase of the consumable.
The above-recited limitations establish a commercial interaction with a consumer to facilitate the purchase of a consumable. This arrangement amounts to both a sales activity or behavior; and business relations. Such concepts have been considered ineligible certain methods of organizing human activity by the Courts (See MPEP 2106.04(a)).
Claim 1 does recite additional elements:
a controller including a processor and a memory, the controller configured to:
notify each of the plurality of terminal devices of information related to purchase of the consumable,
each of the plurality of terminal devices is notified of
the terminal device of
The technology recited in the specification makes clear the general-purpose nature of the technological environment. Paragraphs [0042] - [0046], [0091] set forth a series of generic, known, existing technological elements for performing the invention. Paragraph [0205] indicates that while exemplary general-purpose systems may be specific for descriptive purposes, any elements or combinations of elements capable of implementing the claimed invention are acceptable -- “it is possible to apply the technique according to the information processing apparatus described in the above-described embodiments to various widely-known systems”. That is, the technology used to implement the invention is not specific or integral to the claim.
Therefore, considered both individually and as an ordered combination, the additional elements do no more than generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use. That is, given the generality with which the additional limitations are recited, the limitations do not implement the abstract idea with, or use the abstract idea in conjunction with, a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim. Additionally, the claims do not reflect an improvement in the functioning of a computer, or an improvement to other technology or technical field, do not effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing; and do not apply or use the abstract idea in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the abstract idea. Accordingly, the Examiner concludes that the claim fails to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, and is therefore “directed to” the abstract idea.
Under step 2B of the Alice/Mayo framework, it must finally be considered whether the claim includes any additional element or combination of elements that provide an inventive concept (i.e., whether the additional element or elements are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea). In the instant case, the additional elements (recited above) simply perform well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry, specified at a high level of generality, to implement the judicial exception. Communicating information in the form of notifying devices (i.e., receiving or transmitting data over a network) has been repeatedly considered well-understood, routine, and conventional activity by the Courts (See MPEP 2106.05(d)). Accordingly, the Examiner asserts that the additional elements, considered both individually, and as an ordered combination, do not provide an inventive concept, and the claim is ineligible for patent.
Independent Claims 10, 11, 13 and 17 are substantially similar in scope to claim 1 and ineligible for similar reasons.
Regarding Claims 3, 6, 8
Dependent claims 3, 6, and 8 merely set forth embellishments to the abstract idea of Claims 1, 10, and 17. Therefore, they do nor confer eligibility on the claimed invention and are ineligible for the same reasons as the claims from which they depend.
Regarding Claim 5
Claim 5 sets forth:
wherein the printing information includes third terminal information that allows for identification of a user who has requested printing by the printer and allows for identification of a terminal device that has given an instruction to execute printing by the printer, and the notification unit changes a timing of notification between a terminal device that has requested printing by the printer and a terminal device that has not requested printing by the printer.
Such a recitation merely embellishes the abstract idea of facilitating purchase of a consumable. While the claim does set forth the additional limitation of “the notification unit”, this recitation is similar to the additional limitations in claim 1, as it does no more than generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. As such, it does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, and does not provide an inventive concept. Accordingly, the claim does not confer eligibility on the claimed invention and is ineligible for similar reasons to claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 USC 101 rejection have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive. Applicant initially argues that any abstract idea is integrated into a practical application:
The practical application of Applicant's invention is clearly evident in its ability to mitigate notification fatigue by notifying only a user with purchase authority, through a second threshold, while withholding notification from users without purchase authority until a different (first) threshold is met. The claimed invention also prevents supply-chain procurement lag by relying on four distinct, independent categories of updated information. This differs significantly and fundamentally from the Office Action's attempts to characterize Applicant's invention as generic computer steps for reordering ink.
In Applicant's claimed invention, tiered notification is achieved by notifying the terminal device of the user having the purchase authority of the consumable of first information as information related to the consumable and notifying the terminal device of a user having no purchase authority of the consumable of second information, which is different from the first information, as the information related to the consumable. In this way, a terminal device usable to purchase the ink is notified differently than the other terminal devices (notified later or not at all) that are not able to purchase ink, relieving notification fatigue.
Moreover, by relying on four distinct types of information - printing information, user information, purchase authority information, and notification information, and using updated information only when necessary, timely, efficient reordering of a consumable, e.g., ink, is provided.
It is therefore respectfully submitted Applicant's claimed invention not only meets but exceeds the requirement that any idea deemed to be abstract must be integrated into a practical application.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The test for integration into a practical application in the Alice/Mayo framework is not a test of whether a claimed invention has an application that is useful or functional, but whether a claim implements an abstract idea with, or use the abstract idea in conjunction with, a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, reflect an improvement in the functioning of a computer or an improvement to other technology or technical field, effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing or apply or use the abstract idea in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the abstract idea. Here, applicant explains the practical benefits of the claimed invention in “its ability to mitigate notification fatigue” and prevention of “supply-chain procurement lag”. These asserted benefits are commercial in nature and do not meet any of the considerations listed above for integrating an abstract idea into a practical application.
Applicant further argues that the claims provide an inventive concept:
Contrary to the Office Action's assertion of the claims failing to include additional elements that provide an inventive concept, Applicant's claimed invention recites a specific, integrated architectural arrangement of reordering a consumable that should not be characterized as conventional or routine data processing.
To alleviate notification fatigue, asynchronous levels of notification based on different thresholds of notification of different users are provided. When the remaining amount of information is less than a first threshold set by a user, the terminal device not usable to purchase the consumable is notified of the information related to purchase of the consumable, and when the remaining amount information is less than a second threshold set by a user, which is greater than the first threshold, the terminal device usable to purchase the consumable is notified of the information related to purchase of the consumable.
Further, by obtaining four different types of information, and comparing this information with locally stored updated information, information is updated only when needed. In this way, network bandwidth can be optimized.
Accordingly, it is submitted that Applicant's claimed invention does substantially more than perform well-understood, routine, conventional activities, but instead sets forth an unconventional, ordered combination of elements. The claims thus fail to preempt the use of the abstract idea of reordering ink for a shared printer when the ink supply is low.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Similar to above, applicant argues commercial benefits provide an inventive concept. There is no judicial precedent for commercial benefits or improvements rendering an otherwise ineligible claim eligible. Additionally, while applicant asserts that “network bandwidth can be optimized”, the claims are completely silent on any manner of modifying bandwidth used, or any mechanism that actively adjusts bandwidth, or alters its usage in any way. The claims recite no technical mechanism for altering the manner in which any of the terminal devices function, only granting the devices (i.e., users of the devices) purchase authority to enter into a transaction. As noted in the rejection above, the claims simply perform well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry (storing data, sending notifications), specified at a high level of generality, to implement the abstract idea. Accordingly, the claims do not provide an inventive concept, and are held to be abstract.
For the above reasons, applicant’s arguments are not persuasive, and the rejection is maintained.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL A MISIASZEK whose telephone number is (571)272-6961. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday. 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marissa Thein can be reached at 571-272-6764. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL MISIASZEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3688
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