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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the RCE filed on 8/20/26. Claims 1-20 and new
claims 21-24 are presented for examination.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Shi et al., US Pub. No.20090163175 in view of et Przybysz et al., US
20100217858.
As to claim 1, Shi discloses a method of creating one or more user accounts with at least a first communication service provider, said method comprising the following steps:
placing a user account creation request with said first communication service provider
by a first user, using a communication device and receiving said request by a
processing server of said first communication service provider (using the VSIM processor 113 determines that the user is a new user, the user is prompted to create a new account, enter authentication credentials and the authentication credentials are stored in the authentication database 106, see fig.6, [0057]);
presentation of one or more lists of telephone numbers generated by a communication service provider, each comprising at least one telephone numbers by said processing server to said first user, said one or more lists of telephone numbers, said telephone numbers comprising at least one telephone number for said first user to select, said at least one telephone number having the format of a national, regional or international, landline or mobile telephone number (the new user may be given a choice among a number of available telephone numbers. see [0057];
selection of a telephone number from said one or more lists of telephone numbers by
said first user, creating a user account for said first user with said first communication
service provider and assigning said telephone number, selected by said first user, as a
login for said user account (i.e., allowing users to be registered with a number of VSIM service providers, thereby giving users the flexibility to purchase phones from the store of their choice and purchase VSIM services from the VSIM service provider of their choice, see [0058] to [0059]).
Shi does not specifically disclose dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented. However, Przybysz discloses dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented (detecting identities including telephone numbers owned by the IMS network operator and will be able to determine that an identity belongs to the operator but is unallocated, see abstract, fig.3, [0040]). It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to implement Przybysz's teachings into the computer system of Shi to control unallocated telephone numbers because it would have allowed operators and service providers to control user access to services and to charge users accordingly (see Przybysz's [0005]).
As to claim 3, Shi discloses said first communication service provider is a web
page or a communication software application (server software, see [0030].
As to claim 4, Shi discloses the one or more lists of telephone numbers were
provided by a third party telecom provider (subscription services, see [0032)).
As to claim 5, Shi discloses proposing a pre-existing telephone number
associated with said first user to enter or select before the step of presenting one or
more telephone lists (see [0057]).
As to claim 6, Shi discloses one or more validation steps said user account to be
created, whereon said one or more validation steps is authentication of said first user's
communication device, validation by said first user e-mail, validation by SMS of said
user's mobile device, validation by fingerprint using said user mobile device recognition,
validation by facial recognition using said user mobile device, validation by password
creation by said first user, or a combination thereof (number of authentication methods may be employed, including password verification, biometric recognition, and combinations thereof. , see [0033] to [0034]).
As to claim 7, Shi discloses aid validation steps occur prior to the step of presenting one or more lists of telephone numbers (telephone list, see [0057]).
As to claim 8, Shi discloses one or more steps of securing the created user account (processing securing steps, see [0033] to [0034)).
As to claim 9, Shi discloses after the step of creating said first user account, a
step of said first user account, followed by a step of making said telephone number
available for possible further requests (see [0057] to [0058)).
As to claim 10, Shi discloses creating, by the first user, one or more additional
accounts with the first communication service provider, said method comprising the
following steps: placing a new user account creation request with said first communication service provider by said first user using a communication device, receipt
of said new request by the processing server, presentation by said processing
server to said first user of one or more lists of telephone numbers each comprising at
least one telephone number (using the VSIM processor 113 determines that the user is a new user, the user is prompted to create a new account, enter authentication credentials and the authentication credentials are stored in the authentication database 106, see fig.6, [0057]),
selection, by said first user, of a new telephone number from said list or lists of telephone numbers, creating a new user account for said first user with the first communication service provider and assigning said new telephone number, selected by said first user to said new user account (allowing users to be registered with a number of VSIM service providers, thereby giving users the flexibility to purchase phones from the store of their choice and purchase VSIM services from the VSIM service provider of their choice, see [0058] to [0059]).
Shi does not specifically disclose dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented. However, Przybysz discloses dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented (detecting identities including telephone numbers owned by the IMS network operator and will be able to determine that an identity belongs to the operator but is unallocated, see abstract, fig.3, [0040]). It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to implement Przybysz's teachings into the computer system of Shi to control unallocated telephone numbers because it would have allowed operators and service providers to control user access to services and to charge users accordingly (see Przybysz's [0005)).
As to claim 11, Shi discloses the first user already has at least one user account
with the first communication service provider prior to creation said first user account (accounts creation, see [0057) to [0058).
As to claim 12, Shi discloses creating, by a first user, a user account with a first
communication service provider, by implementing the method of creating the one or
more user account according to claim 1 (providing location-based services to consumers by creating user accounts using a service provider (account creation, see fig.3, [0057]), connection of said first user to his user account with said first communication service provider by means of a communication device and using the
telephone number assigned to said first users account, and initiation by said first user,
of a communication with said second user, for the establishment of a telephone-type
communication link between said first user and said second user ( allowing users to be registered with a number of VSIM service providers, see [0057] to [0058]).
As to claim 13, Shi discloses activating said first telephone number selected by
the first user, with a third party provider, and/or one or more telephone operators (see
[0058] to [0059]).
As to claim 14, Shi discloses the communication comprises exchanging voice,
images, video, and a combination thereof (see [0057]).
As to claim 15, Shi discloses wherein a logout step is added after the step of
creating an account, and before the log in step (login and log off processing, see [0069] to [0071]).
As to claim 16, Shi discloses system for establishing a communication link
between a first user and a second user for implementing the method of claim 12, said
system comprising a first user with a communication device and a first communication
service provider, comprising one or more software applications (VSIM server software, see [0029] )and/or one or more Internet pages one or more processing servers, proposing one or more lists of telephone numbers and allowing the creation of
a user account, having as identifier of one of the proposed telephone numbers, at least
one second communication service provider and one or more telephone communication
networks, allowing data communication and/or one or more Internet networks and one
or more operators running said network(s) (new account user setups, see [0057]]). Shi does not specifically disclose dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented. However, Przybysz discloses dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented (detecting identities including telephone numbers owned by the IMS network operator and will be able to determine that an identity belongs to the operator but is unallocated, see abstract, fig.3, [0040] – [0041]). It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to implement Przybysz's teachings into the computer system of Shi to control unallocated telephone numbers because it would have allowed operators and service providers to control user access to services and to charge users accordingly (see Przybysz's [0005)).
As to claim 17, Shi discloses said one or more lists of telephone numbers contains only telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more lists of telephone numbers are presented, further includes telephone numbers which are not already associated with a SIM, eSIM, or virtual number (SIM, see [0032] to [0034]).
As to claim 18, Shi discloses said one or more lists of telephone numbers
contains only telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the
time said one or more lists of telephone numbers are presented, further includes
telephone numbers which are not already associated with a SIM, eSIM, or virtual
number (using VSIM service provider, see [0032] to [0034]).
Claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1.
As to claim 20, Shi discloses wherein said telephone numbers presented in said
one or more lists: are not associated with a SIM, , eSim or virtual number at the time of
the presentation and upon deletion of said user account, said assigned telephone
number is returned to a pool of unallocated telephone numbers for possible
assignments (see [0032] to [0035]).
As to claim 21, Shi discloses a method of creating one or more user accounts with at least a first communication service provider, the method comprising:
placing a user account creation request with the first communication service provider by
a first user using a communication device, receiving the request by a processing server of the first communication service provider (new users account creation, see [0057]),
presenting, by the processing server to the first user, one or more lists of telephone
numbers, each list comprising at least one telephone number having the format of a national, regional or international landline or mobile telephone number, that are not already associated with a SIM, eSIM, or virtual number (using the VSIM processor 113 determines that the user is a new user, the user is prompted to create a new account, enter authentication credentials and the authentication credentials are stored in the authentication database 106, see fig.6, [0057] to [0058]);
receiving, from the first user, a selection of a first telephone number from the one or more lists and creating a user account for the first user with the first communication service provider; and assigning the selected first telephone number as the unique identifier of the created user account, whereby the selected first telephone number thereafter serves as the identifier by which other users of the first communication service provider can initiate communications with the first user (allowing users to be registered with a number of VSIM service providers, thereby giving users the flexibility to purchase phones from the store of their choice and purchase VSIM services from the VSIM service provider of their choice, see [0058] to [0059]).
Shi does not specifically disclose dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented. However, Przybysz discloses dynamically filtering to only include telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time said one or more list of telephone numbers are presented (detecting identities including telephone numbers owned by the IMS network operator and will be able to determine that an identity belongs to the operator but is unallocated, see abstract, fig.3, [0040]). It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to implement Przybysz's teachings into the computer system of Shi to control unallocated telephone numbers because it would have allowed operators and service providers to control user access to services and to charge users accordingly (see Przybysz's [0005]).
As to claim 22, Shi discloses the one or more lists of telephone numbers are
obtained by the first communication service provider from a third-party provider that is distinct from the first communication service provider and from any telephone network operator and wherein the telephone numbers in the lists are provided in the form of indicator ranges from which the numbers are generated (telephone numbers assigned, see [0057] to [0058]).
As to claim 23, Shi discloses that prior to or after the selection step, one or more validation steps for the user account, the validation steps comprising at least one of:
authentication of the first user's communication device, validation by e-mail, validation by SMS, fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, or creation of a password, or any combination thereof (number of authentication methods may be employed, including password verification, biometric recognition, and combinations thereof. , see [0033] to [0034]).
As to claim 24, Shi discloses creating, by the first user, one or more additional user accounts with the first communication service provider by: placing a new user
account creation request; receiving the new request at the processing server; presenting one or more further lists of telephone numbers that contain only telephone numbers that are not allocated by a telecom operator at the time the further lists are presented and that are not already associated with a SIM, eSIM, or virtual number, receiving a selection of a second telephone number from the further lists; creating the additional user account; and assigning the second telephone number as the unique identifier of the additional user account (VSIM server processing, see [0057] to [0058]).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi
and Przybysz as in above and further in view of Ring et al., US Pub. No.20120033610.
As to claim 2, Shi and Przybysz's and Thompson's teachings still applied as in item 3 above. Neither Shi nor Przybysz specifically discloses the communication device is a landline telephone. However, Ring discloses the communication device is a landline telephone (landline services, see [0039]). It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to
implement Ring's teachings into the computer system of Shi to process data information because it would have provided a plurality of user identities or personas on
a single mobile device in a communication network (see [0040]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, filed on 8/20 /26 with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s)
under 1-18 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has
been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is
made in view of Shi et al., US 20090163175.
Conclusion
Claims 1-20 are rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Khanh Dinh whose telephone number is (571) 272-
3936. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 8:00 A.m.
to 5:00 P.m.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, Cheema Umar, can be reached on (571) 270-3037. The fax phone number
for this group is (703) 872-9306.
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/KHANH Q DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458