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 . Claims 1-14 and 18-23 have been reviewed and are under consideration by this office action.
Notice to Applicant
The following is a Final Office action. Applicant, on 01/26/2026, amended claims, cancelled claims 15-17, and added claims 21-23. Claims 1-14 and 18-23 are pending in this application and have been rejected below.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments are received and acknowledged.
Response to Arguments - 35 USC § 101
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 USC 101 rejections have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive.
Applicant contends that claims are not directed towards mental processes, nor certain methods of organizing human activity as the claims are directed towards how a computing device processes user interface events and transforms structured data to drive an improved interface.
Examiner finds the arguments regarding mental processes persuasive as the amended claims do not recite mental processes, however, are still directed towards certain methods of organizing human activity as the claims are directed towards modifying listings of properties for rental companies (See Specification, [02-03]).
Applicant contends at Step 2A-P2 that the claims as whole integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Applicant asserts that an improvement is made to the input to the graphical user interface technology and points to the Specification asserting small displays provide more computationally efficient interface. Applicant further asserts that features provide a technical improvement in how small screens capture, interpret, etc.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. The additional elements identified below are analyzed both individually as well as in combination and are performing the steps would be no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. See MPEP 2106.05(f) and/or amounts to no more than generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h).
The 101 Rejection is updated and maintained below.
Response to Arguments - 35 USC § 103
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 35 USC 103 rejections have been fully considered, but they are moot in view of the new line of rejections as the amended limitations required further search and consideration.
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.
Claims 1-14 and 18-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Step One - First, pursuant to step 1 in the January 2019 Guidance on 84 Fed. Reg. 53, the claim(s) 1, 11, and 20 is/are directed to statutory categories.
Step 2A, Prong One – The claims are found to recite limitations that set forth the abstract idea(s), namely in independent claims 1,11, and 20 recite a series of steps for modifying components of property listings.
Regarding Claim(s) 1, (Additional elements bolded) A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, data describing property listings associated with a host account of an online platform and time-specific components corresponding to the property listings;
based on the data, generating, by the computing device, a scheduling interface including a calendar visual, in which the calendar visual presents schedules of the property listings and includes visuals representing the time-specific components of the property listings;
rendering, by the computing device, the scheduling interface for display via a user interface;
receiving, by the computing device, user input via the scheduling interface, the user input including non-drag selection input, the user input corresponding to different time periods for different property listings and a time-specific modification to apply to the different property listings for the different time periods;
responsive to the receiving of the user input, selecting the first time period for the first property listing and the second time period for the second property listing, at least one of the first time period or the second time period including a contiguous date range corresponding to the non-drag selection input;
based on the different time periods selected, the time-specific modification, and the data, generating, by the computing device, modified data describing the property listings associated with the host account of the online platform by applying the time-specific modification to the different property listings for the different time periods including the contiguous date range,, the modified data including modified time-specific components of the property listings;
based on the modified data, updating, by the computing device, the visuals to modified visuals representing the modified time-specific components of the property listings; and
rendering, by the computing device, the modified visuals for display via the user interface as part of the calendar visual and the scheduling interface.
Regarding Claim(s) 11, A system comprising: a memory component; and a processing device coupled to the memory component, the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving data describing property listings associated with one or more host accounts of an online platform, the data including time-specific components of the property listings;
based on the data, generating an interactive scheduling interface including a calendar visual, in which the calendar visual presents schedules of the property listings and includes visuals representing the time-specific components of the property listings;
rendering the interactive scheduling interface for display via a user interface;
receiving user input via the interactive scheduling interface, the user input including non-drag selection input, the user input corresponding to a first time period for a first property listing of the property listings, a second time period for a second property listing of the property listings, and a time-specific modification to apply to the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period;
responsive to the receiving of the user input, selecting the first time period for the first property listing and the second time period for the second property listing, at least one of the first time period or the second time period including a contiguous date range corresponding to the non-drag selection input;
based on the first time period selected, the second time period selected, the time-specific modification, and the data, generating modified data describing the property listings associated with the one or more host accounts of the online platform by applying the time-specific modification to the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period, the modified data including modified time-specific components of the property listings;
based on the modified data, updating the visuals to modified visuals representing the modified time-specific components of the property listings;
and rendering the modified visuals.
Regarding Claim(s) 20, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving data describing property listings associated with one or more host accounts of an online platform, the data including time-specific components of the property listings;
based on the data an interactive scheduling interface including a calendar visual, in which the calendar visual presents schedules of the property listings and includes visuals representing the time-specific components of the property listings;
rendering the interactive scheduling interface;
receiving user input via the interactive scheduling interface, the user including non-drag selection input, the user input corresponding to selecting a first time period for a first property listing of the property listings, a second time period for a second property listing of the property listings, and a time- specific modification to apply to the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period; responsive to the receiving of the user input, selecting the first time period for the first property listing and the second time period for the second property listing, at least one of the first time period of the second time period including a contiguous date range corresponding to the non-drag selection input;
based on first time period selected, the second time period selected, the time-specific modification, and the data, generating simulated data describing the property listings associated with the one or more host accounts of the online platform by applying the time-specific modification to the data describing the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period of the property listings, the simulated data including simulated time-specific components of the property listings;
based on the simulated data, updating the visuals to modified visuals representing at least the simulated time-specific components of the property listings;
and rendering the modified visuals as part of the interactive scheduling interface.
Further the claims are directed towards the abstract idea grouping of “Certain methods of organizing human activity” — commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations) as the claims are directed towards modifying listings of properties (See Specification, [03]).
Step 2A, Prong Two - This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The independent claims utilize at least an receiving, by a computing device, data; an online platform; generating, by the computing device, a scheduling interface including a calendar visual; rendering, by the computing device, the scheduling interface for display via a user interface; receiving, by the computing device, user input via the scheduling interface; updating, by the computing device, the visuals to modified visuals; rendering, by the computing device, the modified visuals for display via the user interface as part of the calendar visual and the scheduling interface; A system comprising: a memory component; and a processing device coupled to the memory component, the processing device to perform operations comprising; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising: The additional elements are performing the steps would be no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. See MPEP 2106.05(f) and/or amounts to no more than generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h).
Step 2B - The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements are just “apply it” on a computer. (See MPEP 2106.05(f) – Mere Instructions to Apply an Exception – “Thus, for example, claims that amount to nothing more than an instruction to apply the abstract idea using a generic computer do not render an abstract idea eligible.” Alice Corp., 134 S. Ct. at 235) and/or amounts to no more than generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h).
Regarding Claim(s) 2 the claim further recite the additional element(s) of scheduling interface includes a plurality of selectable sort options. This element(s) is performing the steps would be no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. See MPEP 2106.05(f) and/or amounts to no more than generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h) in Steps 2A-Prong 2 and 2B.
Regarding Claim(s) 3-10, 12-14, 18-19, the claim further narrows the abstract idea or recite additional elements previously addressed. (i.e. receiving via computing device; interface including selectable options/filters; computing devices; scheduling interface includes a plurality of selectable sort options; etc.).
Regarding Claim(s) 21-23 the claim further recite the additional element(s) of user input includes a short actuation corresponding to a date cell followed by a long actuation; user input includes an actuation; and wherein the non-drag selection input includes modifier-assisted input. This element(s) is performing the steps would be no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. See MPEP 2106.05(f) and/or amounts to no more than generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h) in Steps 2A-Prong 2 and 2B.
Accordingly, the claim fails to recite any improvements to another technology or technical field, improvements to the functioning of the computer itself, use of a particular machine, effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, adding unconventional steps that confine the claim to a particular useful application, and/or meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of an abstract idea to a particular environment. See 84 Fed. Reg. 55. Viewed individually or as a whole, these additional claim element(s) do not provide meaningful limitation(s) to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claim(s) amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-9, 11, 13-14, 18, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1).
Regarding Claim(s) 1, Francis teaches: A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, data describing property listings associated with a host account of an online platform and time-specific components corresponding to the property listings; (Francis, [22-23]; one or more embodiments of a fleet management system that receives and integrates vehicle data for a fleet of different types of rental vehicles—and/or service data from vehicle service centers associated with such rental vehicles—from across different databases into a central platform.,, the fleet management system can receive vehicle data for provider-rental vehicles used in part for transporting transportation requestors according to a provider-use rental and vehicle data for personal-rental vehicles operated by a renter according to a personal-use rental and Francis, [57]; As further shown in FIG. 1, the server(s) 113 include the dynamic transportation matching system 114, which in turn includes the fleet management system 116 and the vehicle-fleet-platform database 118 and Francis, [120]; The fleet management system 116 can provide data to the computing device 501 to present the fleet management interface 500 according to computer-executable instructions on a software application of the computing device 501 (e.g., web browser or native application).
based on the data, generating, by the computing device, a scheduling interface including a calendar visual, in which the calendar visual presents schedules of the property listings and includes visuals representing the time-specific components of the property listings; rendering, by the computing device, the scheduling interface for display via a user interface; (Francis, [169]; In addition or in the alternative to showing such an unavailability notice, in some embodiments, the renter computing device 640 displays alternative rental options or alternative rental date options within a graphical user interface. As illustrated in FIG. 6F, for instance, the renter computing device 640 can also present an alternative options interface 668 in response to determining a user selection is unavailable. The alternative options interface 668 includes the text “Sold out,” “The option you selected is not available between June 25-27,” and “Please change your dates or choose another car below” and Francis, [Fig. 6F]; visual representation of plurality of listings in a calendar interface).
While Francis teaches an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties, Francis does not appear to explicitly teach: input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action. However, Francis in view of the analogous art of Truong (i.e. asset rentals) does teach: receiving, by the computing device, user input via the scheduling interface, the user input including non-drag selection input, the user input corresponding to different time periods for different property listings and a time-specific modification to apply to the different property listings for the different time periods; responsive to the receiving of the user input, selecting, by the computing device, the different time periods for the different property listings, the different time periods including a contiguous date range corresponding to the non-drag selection input; (Truong, [Fig. 1-4, 8-9]; visual representation of interfaces comprising different time periods, different property listings, and further time-specific modifications (i.e. price for different ranges input by user) and Truong, [10, 12]; In one embodiment, LeBreton illustrates a table having a one day period of time in the six columns (i.e., January 1st thru 6th) and six different hotels in the six rows (i.e., hotel 1, hotel 2, hotel 3, hotel 4, hotel 5, and hotel 6)… Embodiments of the invention provide a Mobile Online Vacation Rental Booking System having a mobile application with a selectable user interface coupled to a display of a mobile device, the selectable user interface configured to transmit first selected vacation data to the mobile device and receive second selected vacation data from the mobile device. The embodiment also includes an aggregator search engine coupled to receive first selected vacation data from the mobile device and to transmit second selected vacation data to the mobile device and Truong, [55]; This drilling feature advantageously allows a traveler to quickly and easily view vacation rentals based on different periods of time. The traveler can drill down from a particular month to a particular week, or vice a versa, to view the availability and prices for that period of time and Truong, [66]; a check-in widget 715, which may be disposed as a selectable calendar for selecting potential check in date data; and Truong, [87]; A user can select a vacation property category from vacation rentals 1402 or hotels 1404. Once a vacation property category is chosen, a user can select a vacation property location 1406. The user may choose to select a check in time and/or a check out time 1408). Examiner notes that Truong teaches a user inputting parameters which generates and renders the subsequent information.
based on the different time periods selected, the time-specific modification and the data, generating, by the computing device, modified data describing the property listings associated with the host account of the online platform by applying the time-specific modification to the different property listings for the different time periods including the contiguous date range, the modified data including modified time-specific components of the property listings; (Truong, [Fig. 1-4]; visual representation of interfaces comprising different time periods, different property listings, and further time-specific modifications (i.e. price for different ranges input by user) and Truong, [10, 12]; a table having a one day period of time in the six columns (i.e., January 1st thru 6th) and six different hotels in the six rows (i.e., hotel 1, hotel 2, hotel 3, hotel 4, hotel 5, and hotel 6). Each cell within the table shows the hotel's availability and price for that specific day. This enables the traveler to see if one hotel, or a mixture of hotels, is available for the entire stay and Truong, [47, 49]; FIG. 2 illustrates a weekly grid view of the system 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The system 100 includes a search engine 210 and a grid of cells 220. The search engine 210 can be the same as the search engine 110 described in Fig. I. The system 100 can also include individual listings (not shown) of the vacation rentals available for the desired city and a profile picture for each…the cell in the upper left hand corner indicates that there are 105 Honolulu studios available sometime during the first week of July, and the average nightly price during the first week is $205. If the traveler is willing to delay his vacation until after the 4th of July, the second week of July has significantly more availability and lower prices, both of which may be desirable to a flexible traveler). Examiner notes that Truong teaches generating modified data (i.e. price for weeks including selected range and surrounding weeks) for different properties. Examiner further notes the data is generated prior to displaying/rendering.
based on the modified data, updating, by the computing device, the visuals to modified visuals representing the modified time-specific components of the property listings; and
rendering, by the computing device, the modified visuals for display via the user interface as part of the calendar visual and the scheduling interface. (Truong, [42]; an intelligent search engine for vacation rentals to output to a mobile device. In one embodiment, a method and system aggregates rental properties and provides rental availability and its nightly average rate for a vacation rental search engine. The search result is displayed via graphical grid interface that includes a monthly/weekly timeline at the horizontal axis and bedroom sizes at the vertical axis. Available units and average nightly rates are display within each cell grid and Truong, [70]; Period matrix 800 also may include vacation rental selector 878, hotel selector 880, currency selector 882, list selector 884, map selector 886, or cities selector 888. From the period matrix 800, vacation rental selector 878 can advance the user to seasonal grid 900, which will be described more completely in FIG. 9. Hotel selector 880 can advance the user to a property matrix represented as a webpage featuring hotel rooms, similar in form to a property matrix of vacation rental properties and Truong, [Fig. 8-9]; visual representation of rendered display comprising modified visuals which include different properties, different timeframes, and time specific components).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties with the teachings of Truong including input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action in order to allow for a user to specify specific criteria and receive back a plurality of options to fit those needs (Truong, [87]; a user search module 1400, similar to SEARCH module 1360, which may be used on mobile device 1310. In some embodiments, search module 1400 may have a user interface, or front end, similar in structure and function to vacation data entry matrix 700, seen in FIG. 7, which may be presented on display 1305. From a home screen, e.g., display 1305, a user may provide data for a preselected number of parameters. A user can select a vacation property category from vacation rentals 1402 or hotels 1404. Once a vacation property category is chosen, a user can select a vacation property location 1406. The user may choose to select a check in time and/or a check out time 1408. The user may choose to forgo selecting a check in/out time 1408 and may decide to select type of accommodations 1410).
Regarding Claim(s) 2, Francis/Truong teaches: The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling interface includes a plurality of selectable sort options for sorting the schedules of the property listings. (Francis, [122]; the fleet management interface 500 includes a filtering bar 504 corresponding to the vehicle-data-summaries area 506. In one or more embodiments, the fleet management system 116 can utilize an indication of user input at a filter option within the filtering bar 504 to filter presentation of vehicle-data summaries in the vehicle-data-summaries area 506. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the filtering bar 504 includes filters corresponding to various vehicle data. More specifically, FIG. 5 illustrates that the filtering bar 504 includes filtering options (e.g., drop-down menus) corresponding to a service status, a vehicle class, vehicle tags, service locations, vehicle make (e.g. vehicle manufacturer), and vehicle model. However, the fleet management system 116 can filter the vehicle-data summaries based on a variety of types of vehicle data in addition to those illustrated in FIG. 5).
Regarding Claim(s) 3, Francis/Truong teaches: The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of selectable sort options includes at least one sort option of a make, model, year, license plate, price, trip days in an upcoming thirty day time period, and booked hours. (Francis, [122]; the fleet management interface 500 includes a filtering bar 504 corresponding to the vehicle-data-summaries area 506. In one or more embodiments, the fleet management system 116 can utilize an indication of user input at a filter option within the filtering bar 504 to filter presentation of vehicle-data summaries in the vehicle-data-summaries area 506. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the filtering bar 504 includes filters corresponding to various vehicle data. More specifically, FIG. 5 illustrates that the filtering bar 504 includes filtering options (e.g., drop-down menus) corresponding to a service status, a vehicle class, vehicle tags, service locations, vehicle make (e.g. vehicle manufacturer), and vehicle model. However, the fleet management system 116 can filter the vehicle-data summaries based on a variety of types of vehicle data in addition to those illustrated in FIG. 5).
Regarding Claim(s) 4, Francis/Truong teaches: The method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving, by the computing device, a selection of a selectable sort option of the plurality of selectable sort options; and sorting, by the computing device, the schedules of the property listings based on the selection of the selectable sort option. (Francis, [123]; the computing device 501 can filter the vehicle-data summaries based on a variety of selected criteria, including based on selection of columns corresponding to a table including the vehicle-data summaries. For example, in some embodiments, the computing device 501 filters the vehicle-data summaries based on service status in response to detecting user selection of a sorting option corresponding to service status. Similarly, in one or more embodiments, the computing device 501 filters the vehicle-data summaries based on a vehicle manufacturer or vehicle models based on user selection of a sorting option corresponding to the vehicle manufacturers or the vehicle models. Additionally, the computing device 501 can order the vehicle-data summaries within the fleet management interface 500 based on various user-selected criteria).
Regarding Claim(s) 5, Francis/Truong teaches: The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling interface includes a plurality of selectable filtering options for filtering the schedules of the property listings based on the data describing the property listings. (Francis, [136]; As shown in FIG. 6A, the fleet management system 116 performs an act 604 of receiving a user selection of rental location, class, and date. In one or more embodiments, the fleet management system 116 receives rental location, class, and date from a renter computing device. More specifically, in some embodiments, the fleet management system 116 receives an indication of user selection of the rental location, class, and date from the renter computing device via a transportation matching system and/or rental application).
Regarding Claim(s) 6, Francis/Truong teaches: The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of selectable filtering options includes at least one of property, location, and listing status. (Francis, [136]; As shown in FIG. 6A, the fleet management system 116 performs an act 604 of receiving a user selection of rental location, class, and date. In one or more embodiments, the fleet management system 116 receives rental location, class, and date from a renter computing device. More specifically, in some embodiments, the fleet management system 116 receives an indication of user selection of the rental location, class, and date from the renter computing device via a transportation matching system and/or rental application).
Regarding Claim(s) 8, Francis/Truong teaches: The method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving, by the computing device, user input selecting one or more of the plurality of selectable filter options; and (Francis, [136]; As shown in FIG. 6A, the fleet management system 116 performs an act 604 of receiving a user selection of rental location, class, and date. In one or more embodiments, the fleet management system 116 receives rental location, class, and date from a renter computing device. More specifically, in some embodiments, the fleet management system 116 receives an indication of user selection of the rental location, class, and date from the renter computing device via a transportation matching system and/or rental application).
based on the one or more selectable filter options selected, filtering, by the computing device, the schedules of the property listings presented by the calendar visual. (Francis, [169]; In addition or in the alternative to showing such an unavailability notice, in some embodiments, the renter computing device 640 displays alternative rental options or alternative rental date options within a graphical user interface. As illustrated in FIG. 6F, for instance, the renter computing device 640 can also present an alternative options interface 668 in response to determining a user selection is unavailable. The alternative options interface 668 includes the text “Sold out,” “The option you selected is not available between June 25-27,” and “Please change your dates or choose another car below.” As shown in FIG. 6F, the alternative options interface 668 also includes alternate rental vehicles 670, including listing of availability and pricing information for “Full-size” and “SUV” categories, despite “Compact” being sold out).
Regarding Claim(s) 9, Francis/Truong teaches: The method of claim 6, wherein the listing status includes at least one of listed, pending, not yet published, snoozed, unlisted, and deactivated. (Francis, [156]; As shown in FIG. 6B, the third-party-vehicle-selection interface 642 includes a rental vehicle listing 644 corresponding to a rental location “Anchorage Square.” The rental vehicle listing 644 includes information about different vehicle classes available at the rental location and accompanying data, including vehicle features and pricing). Examiner notes that the listing status would be “listed” when the user can see the listing.
Regarding Claim(s) 11, Francis teaches: A system comprising: a memory component; and a processing device coupled to the memory component, the processing device to perform operations comprising: (Francis, [239]; Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise or utilize a special purpose or general-purpose computer including computer hardware, such as, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussed in greater detail below. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure also include physical and other computer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or data structures.
receiving data describing property listings associated with one or more host accounts of an online platform, the data including time-specific components of the property listings; (Francis, [22-23]; one or more embodiments of a fleet management system that receives and integrates vehicle data for a fleet of different types of rental vehicles—and/or service data from vehicle service centers associated with such rental vehicles—from across different databases into a central platform.,, the fleet management system can receive vehicle data for provider-rental vehicles used in part for transporting transportation requestors according to a provider-use rental and vehicle data for personal-rental vehicles operated by a renter according to a personal-use rental and Francis, [57]; As further shown in FIG. 1, the server(s) 113 include the dynamic transportation matching system 114, which in turn includes the fleet management system 116 and the vehicle-fleet-platform database 118 and Francis, [120]; The fleet management system 116 can provide data to the computing device 501 to present the fleet management interface 500 according to computer-executable instructions on a software application of the computing device 501 (e.g., web browser or native application).
based on the data, generating an interactive scheduling interface including a calendar visual, in which the calendar visual presents schedules of the property listings and includes visuals representing the time-specific components of the property listings; rendering the interactive scheduling interface for display via a user interface; (Francis, [169]; In addition or in the alternative to showing such an unavailability notice, in some embodiments, the renter computing device 640 displays alternative rental options or alternative rental date options within a graphical user interface. As illustrated in FIG. 6F, for instance, the renter computing device 640 can also present an alternative options interface 668 in response to determining a user selection is unavailable. The alternative options interface 668 includes the text “Sold out,” “The option you selected is not available between June 25-27,” and “Please change your dates or choose another car below” and Francis, [Fig. 6F]; visual representation of plurality of listings in a calendar interface).
While Francis teaches an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties, Francis does not appear to explicitly teach: input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action. However, Francis in view of the analogous art of Truong (i.e. asset rentals) does teach: receiving user input via the interactive scheduling interface, the user input including non-drag selection input, the user input corresponding to a first time period for a first property listing of the property listings, a second time period for a second property listing of the property listings, and a time-specific modification to apply to the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period; responsive to the receiving of the user input, selecting the first time period for the first property listing and the second time period for the second property listing, at least one of the first time period or the second time period including a contiguous date range corresponding to the non-drag selection input; ((Truong, [Fig. 1-4, 8-9]; visual representation of interfaces comprising different time periods, different property listings, and further time-specific modifications (i.e. price for different ranges input by user) and Truong, [10, 12]; In one embodiment, LeBreton illustrates a table having a one day period of time in the six columns (i.e., January 1st thru 6th) and six different hotels in the six rows (i.e., hotel 1, hotel 2, hotel 3, hotel 4, hotel 5, and hotel 6)… Embodiments of the invention provide a Mobile Online Vacation Rental Booking System having a mobile application with a selectable user interface coupled to a display of a mobile device, the selectable user interface configured to transmit first selected vacation data to the mobile device and receive second selected vacation data from the mobile device. The embodiment also includes an aggregator search engine coupled to receive first selected vacation data from the mobile device and to transmit second selected vacation data to the mobile device and Truong, [55]; This drilling feature advantageously allows a traveler to quickly and easily view vacation rentals based on different periods of time. The traveler can drill down from a particular month to a particular week, or vice a versa, to view the availability and prices for that period of time and Truong, [66]; a check-in widget 715, which may be disposed as a selectable calendar for selecting potential check in date data; and Truong, [87]; A user can select a vacation property category from vacation rentals 1402 or hotels 1404. Once a vacation property category is chosen, a user can select a vacation property location 1406. The user may choose to select a check in time and/or a check out time 1408). Examiner notes that Truong teaches a user inputting parameters which generates and renders the subsequent information
based on the first time period selected, the second time period selected, the time-specific modification, and the data, generating modified data describing the property listings associated with the one or more host accounts of the online platform by applying the time-specific modification to the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period, the modified data including modified time-specific components of the property listings; (Truong, [Fig. 1-4]; visual representation of interfaces comprising different time periods, different property listings, and further time-specific modifications (i.e. price for different ranges input by user) and Truong, [10, 12]; In one embodiment, LeBreton illustrates a table having a one day period of time in the six columns (i.e., January 1st thru 6th) and six different hotels in the six rows (i.e., hotel 1, hotel 2, hotel 3, hotel 4, hotel 5, and hotel 6). Each cell within the table shows the hotel's availability and price for that specific day. This enables the traveler to see if one hotel, or a mixture of hotels, is available for the entire stay and Truong, [47, 49]; FIG. 2 illustrates a weekly grid view of the system 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The system 100 includes a search engine 210 and a grid of cells 220. The search engine 210 can be the same as the search engine 110 described in Fig. I. The system 100 can also include individual listings (not shown) of the vacation rentals available for the desired city and a profile picture for each…the cell in the upper left hand corner indicates that there are 105 Honolulu studios available sometime during the first week of July, and the average nightly price during the first week is $205. If the traveler is willing to delay his vacation until after the 4th of July, the second week of July has significantly more availability and lower prices, both of which may be desirable to a flexible traveler). Examiner notes that Truong teaches generating modified data (i.e. price for weeks including selected range and surrounding weeks) for different properties. Examiner further notes the data is generated prior to displaying/rendering.
based on the modified data, updating the visuals to modified visuals representing the modified time-specific components of the property listings; and rendering the modified visuals. (Truong, [42]; an intelligent search engine for vacation rentals to output to a mobile device. In one embodiment, a method and system aggregates rental properties and provides rental availability and its nightly average rate for a vacation rental search engine. The search result is displayed via graphical grid interface that includes a monthly/weekly timeline at the horizontal axis and bedroom sizes at the vertical axis. Available units and average nightly rates are display within each cell grid and Truong, [70]; Period matrix 800 also may include vacation rental selector 878, hotel selector 880, currency selector 882, list selector 884, map selector 886, or cities selector 888. From the period matrix 800, vacation rental selector 878 can advance the user to seasonal grid 900, which will be described more completely in FIG. 9. Hotel selector 880 can advance the user to a property matrix represented as a webpage featuring hotel rooms, similar in form to a property matrix of vacation rental properties and Truong, [Fig. 8-9]; visual representation of rendered display comprising modified visuals which include different properties, different timeframes, and time specific components).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties with the teachings of Truong including input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action in order to allow for a user to specify specific criteria and receive back a plurality of options to fit those needs (Truong, [87]; a user search module 1400, similar to SEARCH module 1360, which may be used on mobile device 1310. In some embodiments, search module 1400 may have a user interface, or front end, similar in structure and function to vacation data entry matrix 700, seen in FIG. 7, which may be presented on display 1305. From a home screen, e.g., display 1305, a user may provide data for a preselected number of parameters. A user can select a vacation property category from vacation rentals 1402 or hotels 1404. Once a vacation property category is chosen, a user can select a vacation property location 1406. The user may choose to select a check in time and/or a check out time 1408. The user may choose to forgo selecting a check in/out time 1408 and may decide to select type of accommodations 1410).
Regarding Claim(s) 13, Francis/Truong teach: The system of claim 11, wherein the user input via the interactive scheduling interface includes a third time period for the first property listing of the property listings, and the generating of the modified data includes applying the time- specific modification to the first property listing for the third time period. (Truong, [42]; an intelligent search engine for vacation rentals to output to a mobile device. In one embodiment, a method and system aggregates rental properties and provides rental availability and its nightly average rate for a vacation rental search engine. The search result is displayed via graphical grid interface that includes a monthly/weekly timeline at the horizontal axis and bedroom sizes at the vertical axis. Available units and average nightly rates are display within each cell grid and Truong, [70]; Period matrix 800 also may include vacation rental selector 878, hotel selector 880, currency selector 882, list selector 884, map selector 886, or cities selector 888. From the period matrix 800, vacation rental selector 878 can advance the user to seasonal grid 900, which will be described more completely in FIG. 9. Hotel selector 880 can advance the user to a property matrix represented as a webpage featuring hotel rooms, similar in form to a property matrix of vacation rental properties and Truong, [Fig. 8-9]; visual representation of rendered display comprising modified visuals which include different properties, different timeframes, and time specific components).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties with the teachings of Truong including input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action in order to allow for a user to specify specific criteria and receive back a plurality of options to fit those needs (Truong, [87]; a user search module 1400, similar to SEARCH module 1360, which may be used on mobile device 1310. In some embodiments, search module 1400 may have a user interface, or front end, similar in structure and function to vacation data entry matrix 700, seen in FIG. 7, which may be presented on display 1305. From a home screen, e.g., display 1305, a user may provide data for a preselected number of parameters. A user can select a vacation property category from vacation rentals 1402 or hotels 1404. Once a vacation property category is chosen, a user can select a vacation property location 1406. The user may choose to select a check in time and/or a check out time 1408. The user may choose to forgo selecting a check in/out time 1408 and may decide to select type of accommodations 1410).
Regarding Claim(s) 14, While Francis/Truong teach listing modifications, neither appear to recite the explicit details surrounding price modification. However, Francis/Truong in view of the analogous art of Wilson (i.e. property management) does teach: The system of claim 11, wherein the modification is a price modification. (Truong, [46, 58]; the cell in the upper left hand corner indicates that there are 338 Honolulu studios available sometime during the month of May, and the average nightly price of these available studios is $141. If the traveler is willing to delay his vacation until a non-summer month, such as October, the selection increases to 525 available studios and the average nightly price drops down to $77. As such, at a glance, a traveler can conveniently see the availability and prices for different months and bedrooms… The availability and prices refer only to the desired days of the month. If the traveler drills down to the weeks of June, the weekly grid of cells 430 displays three bedroom options over three weeks. Again, the availability and prices refer only to the days of the week desired (e.g., Thursday through Sunday).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties with the teachings of Truong including input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action in order to allow for a user to specify specific criteria and determine price points over a period of time (Truong, [58]; The availability and prices refer only to the desired days of the month. If the traveler drills down to the weeks of June, the weekly grid of cells 430 displays three bedroom options over three weeks. Again, the availability and prices refer only to the days of the week desired (e.g., Thursday through Sunday).).
Regarding Claim(s) 18, Francis/Truong teaches: The system of claim 11, wherein the time-specific components of the property listings include at least one of booking settings, price settings, listing settings, listing status, bookings, and prices. (Francis, [169]; In addition or in the alternative to showing such an unavailability notice, in some embodiments, the renter computing device 640 displays alternative rental options or alternative rental date options within a graphical user interface. As illustrated in FIG. 6F, for instance, the renter computing device 640 can also present an alternative options interface 668 in response to determining a user selection is unavailable. The alternative options interface 668 includes the text “Sold out,” “The option you selected is not available between June 25-27,” and “Please change your dates or choose another car below” and Francis, [Fig. 6F]; visual representation of plurality of listings in a calendar interface). Examiner interprets the “sold out” label as the listing status and/or booking.
Regarding Claim(s) 22, While Francis teaches selecting date ranges, Francis does not appear to explicitly teach: The method of claim 1, wherein the user input includes an actuation corresponding to a date-column header, in which the actuation designates a corresponding date for each concurrently displayed property listing. However, Francis/Truong does teach the limitation: (Truong, [51]; The first grid of cells 320 displays three bedroom options over three months. To drill down, a first selection 330 selects the month of July. In another embodiment, the first selection 330 selects any of the four cells in this column to drill down to the weeks in July. The first selection 330 drills down from the month based view 320 to the week based view).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including selecting date ranges with the teachings of Truong including actuation corresponding to a date-column header in order to provide a user with a method to sort corresponding dates and further drill down to different timeframes. (Truong, [51]; The first grid of cells 320 displays three bedroom options over three months. To drill down, a first selection 330 selects the month of July. In another embodiment, the first selection 330 selects any of the four cells in this column to drill down to the weeks in July. The first selection 330 drills down from the month based view 320 to the week based view 340).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1), and Yu et al. (CN 113538067 A).
Regarding Claim(s) 7, While Francis/Truong does teach a plurality of filter option, neither appear to explicitly teach irrelevant filter options. However, Francis/Truong in view of the analogous art of Yu (i.e. property rental) does teach: The method of claim 5, wherein the generating of the scheduling interface further comprises identifying, by the computing device, irrelevant filter options based on the data describing the property listings, and wherein the plurality of selectable filtering options do not include the irrelevant filter options. (Yu, [pg. 8, para. 5]; the discrete feature will expand a large number of features after one-hot coding, so it will be further filter wherein the feature selection can remove irrelevant features, reduce the problem of excessive input data dimension, and reduce the training difficulty of the prediction model, and improve the prediction precision. The invention combines the correlation coefficient method and the maximum information coefficient method to comprehensively analyze the importance of each characteristic to the demand, to determine the prediction model input characteristic).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis/Truong does including a plurality of filter option with the teachings of Yu including irrelevant filter options in order to reduce excessive data inputs (Yu, [pg. 8, para. 5]; the discrete feature will expand a large number of features after one-hot coding, so it will be further filter wherein the feature selection can remove irrelevant features, reduce the problem of excessive input data dimension, and reduce the training difficulty of the prediction model, and improve the prediction precision. The invention combines the correlation coefficient method and the maximum information coefficient method to comprehensively analyze the importance of each characteristic to the demand, to determine the prediction model input characteristic).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1) and Chekuri et al. (US 20100145801 A1).
Regarding Claim(s) 10, While Francis/Truong teach time periods for a plurality of rental reservations (which implies non-consecutive days as the reservations would be unrelated), neither appear to explicitly teach The method of claim 1, wherein the different time periods include non-consecutive days. However, Franci/Truong in view of the analogous art of Chekuri (i.e. calendar modification) does teach the entirety of the limitation: (Chekuri, [167]; The change in the specified time slot may include change in duration (number of consecutive time slots), number of non-consecutive time slots, time of day, day of week, date of month, month of year, or any possible combinations). Users may modify the time slot parameters listed above such that other, previously excluded, time slots become available for matching, thus, possibly resulting in a broader choice of possible match choices).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of time periods for a plurality of rental reservations (which implies non-consecutive days as the reservations would be unrelated). with the teachings of Chekuri including non-consecutive days in order to allow for a better possibility of matching requested needs of users/hosts (Chekuri, [167]; time periods for a plurality of rental reservations (which implies non-consecutive days as the reservations would be unrelated).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1) and Benjamin et al. (US 20140200942 A1).
Regarding Claim(s) 12, While Francis/Truong teach a plurality of filtering options neither appear to explicitly teach a default option. However, Francis/Truong in view of the analogous art of Benjamin (i.e. scheduling) does teach: The system of claim 11, wherein a default filter of the interactive scheduling interface filters out one or more schedules for the property listings that are at least one of not listed, pending, and not yet published. (Benjamin, [100]; This list may contain both pending events and pending friend and group invitations. In a default view, the pending list may be collapsed up into its button/link, (located on the top right of the personal calendar), with a bubbled number designating how many pending invitations the user currently has listed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis/Truong including a plurality of filtering options with the teachings of Benjamin including default filter options in order to allow a user to see active information and further expand pending as needed. (Benjamin, [100]; This list may contain both pending events and pending friend and group invitations. In a default view, the pending list may be collapsed up into its button/link, (located on the top right of the personal calendar), with a bubbled number designating how many pending invitations the user currently has listed. Upon selection of this button, the list will fall down the right side of one's personal calendar. A user may select a checkmark or an X to confirm or reject this event. By selecting the event within the interface, (not the check or X) the event details will overlay the screen. When an event is pending, the user will be shown who invited them to the event, or which group member posted the event to a group calendar. If a user is invited to a hidden event, they will not know who invited them).
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1) and Wilson et al. (US 20150332418 A1).
Regarding Claim(s) 19, While Francis/Truong teach listing modifications, neither appear to recite the explicit details surrounding price modification. However, Francis/Truong in view of the analogous art of Wilson (i.e. property management) does teach: The system of claim 14, wherein the price modification is limited by at least one of a floor price or a ceiling price set by the one or more host accounts. (Wilson, [80]; The CMA process then requests the user to select comparable properties (i.e. less than ten comparable properties) to include in a CMA report. Additionally, the CMA process may also request the user to select a recommended price (e.g. average price, average price adjusted for square footage, maximum price, maximum price adjusted for square footage, median price, median price adjusted for square footage, minimum price, minimum price adjusted for square footage, and the like, etc.). Once the comparable properties and the recommended price are selected by the user, the CMA process generates and transmits a CMA report to the user interface 13 for viewing, printing, emailing, or other means of use by the user).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis/Truong including listing modifications with the teachings of Wilson including price modifications, recommendations, ceiling prices in order to let the user decide what criteria they would like to follow when listing a property. (Wilson, [80]; The CMA process then requests the user to select comparable properties (i.e. less than ten comparable properties) to include in a CMA report. Additionally, the CMA process may also request the user to select a recommended price (e.g. average price, average price adjusted for square footage, maximum price, maximum price adjusted for square footage, median price, median price adjusted for square footage, minimum price, minimum price adjusted for square footage, and the like, etc.). Once the comparable properties and the recommended price are selected by the user, the CMA process generates and transmits a CMA report to the user interface 13 for viewing, printing, emailing, or other means of use by the user).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1) and Masuda et al. (US 20190266295 A1).
Regarding Claim(s) 20, Francis teaches a: non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising: (Francis, [239]; Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise or utilize a special purpose or general-purpose computer including computer hardware, such as, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussed in greater detail below. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure also include physical and other computer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or data structures. In particular, one or more of the processes described herein may be implemented at least in part as instructions embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by one or more computing devices (e.g., any of the media content access devices described herein). In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions, from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, (e.g., a memory), and executes those instructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein).
receiving data describing property listings associated with one or more host accounts of an online platform, the data including time-specific components of the property listings; (Francis, [22-23]; one or more embodiments of a fleet management system that receives and integrates vehicle data for a fleet of different types of rental vehicles—and/or service data from vehicle service centers associated with such rental vehicles—from across different databases into a central platform.,, the fleet management system can receive vehicle data for provider-rental vehicles used in part for transporting transportation requestors according to a provider-use rental and vehicle data for personal-rental vehicles operated by a renter according to a personal-use rental and Francis, [57]; As further shown in FIG. 1, the server(s) 113 include the dynamic transportation matching system 114, which in turn includes the fleet management system 116 and the vehicle-fleet-platform database 118 and Francis, [120]; The fleet management system 116 can provide data to the computing device 501 to present the fleet management interface 500 according to computer-executable instructions on a software application of the computing device 501 (e.g., web browser or native application).
based on the data an interactive scheduling interface including a calendar visual, in which the calendar visual presents schedules of the property listings and includes visuals representing the time-specific components of the property listings; rendering the interactive scheduling interface; (Francis, [169]; In addition or in the alternative to showing such an unavailability notice, in some embodiments, the renter computing device 640 displays alternative rental options or alternative rental date options within a graphical user interface. As illustrated in FIG. 6F, for instance, the renter computing device 640 can also present an alternative options interface 668 in response to determining a user selection is unavailable. The alternative options interface 668 includes the text “Sold out,” “The option you selected is not available between June 25-27,” and “Please change your dates or choose another car below” and Francis, [Fig. 6F]; visual representation of plurality of listings in a calendar interface).
While Francis teaches an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties, Francis does not appear to explicitly teach: input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action. However, Francis in view of the analogous art of Truong (i.e. asset rentals) does teach: receiving user input via the interactive scheduling interface, the user including non-drag selection input, the user input corresponding to selecting a first time period for a first property listing of the property listings, a second time period for a second property listing of the property listings, and a time- specific modification to apply to the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period; responsive to the receiving of the user input, selecting the first time period for the first property listing and the second time period for the second property listing, at least one of the first time period of the second time period including a contiguous date range corresponding to the non-drag selection input; (Truong, [Fig. 1-4, 8-9]; visual representation of interfaces comprising different time periods, different property listings, and further time-specific modifications (i.e. price for different ranges input by user) and Truong, [10, 12]; In one embodiment, LeBreton illustrates a table having a one day period of time in the six columns (i.e., January 1st thru 6th) and six different hotels in the six rows (i.e., hotel 1, hotel 2, hotel 3, hotel 4, hotel 5, and hotel 6)… Embodiments of the invention provide a Mobile Online Vacation Rental Booking System having a mobile application with a selectable user interface coupled to a display of a mobile device, the selectable user interface configured to transmit first selected vacation data to the mobile device and receive second selected vacation data from the mobile device. The embodiment also includes an aggregator search engine coupled to receive first selected vacation data from the mobile device and to transmit second selected vacation data to the mobile device and Truong, [55]; This drilling feature advantageously allows a traveler to quickly and easily view vacation rentals based on different periods of time. The traveler can drill down from a particular month to a particular week, or vice a versa, to view the availability and prices for that period of time and Truong, [66]; a check-in widget 715, which may be disposed as a selectable calendar for selecting potential check in date data; and Truong, [87]; A user can select a vacation property category from vacation rentals 1402 or hotels 1404. Once a vacation property category is chosen, a user can select a vacation property location 1406. The user may choose to select a check in time and/or a check out time 1408). Examiner notes that Truong teaches a user inputting parameters which generates and renders the subsequent information
based on first time period selected, the second time period selected, the time-specific modification, and the data, generating… data describing the property listings associated with the one or more host accounts of the online platform by applying the time-specific modification to the data describing the first property listing for the first time period and the second property listing for the second time period of the property listings, the simulated data including… time-specific components of the property listings; (Truong, [Fig. 1-4]; visual representation of interfaces comprising different time periods, different property listings, and further time-specific modifications (i.e. price for different ranges input by user) and Truong, [10, 12]; In one embodiment, LeBreton illustrates a table having a one day period of time in the six columns (i.e., January 1st thru 6th) and six different hotels in the six rows (i.e., hotel 1, hotel 2, hotel 3, hotel 4, hotel 5, and hotel 6). Each cell within the table shows the hotel's availability and price for that specific day. This enables the traveler to see if one hotel, or a mixture of hotels, is available for the entire stay and Truong, [47, 49]; FIG. 2 illustrates a weekly grid view of the system 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The system 100 includes a search engine 210 and a grid of cells 220. The search engine 210 can be the same as the search engine 110 described in Fig. I. The system 100 can also include individual listings (not shown) of the vacation rentals available for the desired city and a profile picture for each…the cell in the upper left hand corner indicates that there are 105 Honolulu studios available sometime during the first week of July, and the average nightly price during the first week is $205. If the traveler is willing to delay his vacation until after the 4th of July, the second week of July has significantly more availability and lower prices, both of which may be desirable to a flexible traveler). Examiner notes that Truong teaches generating modified data (i.e. price for weeks including selected range and surrounding weeks) for different properties. Examiner further notes the data is generated prior to displaying/rendering.
based on the… data, updating the visuals to modified visuals representing at least the simulated time-specific components of the property listings; and rendering the modified visuals as part of the interactive scheduling interface. (Truong, [42]; an intelligent search engine for vacation rentals to output to a mobile device. In one embodiment, a method and system aggregates rental properties and provides rental availability and its nightly average rate for a vacation rental search engine. The search result is displayed via graphical grid interface that includes a monthly/weekly timeline at the horizontal axis and bedroom sizes at the vertical axis. Available units and average nightly rates are display within each cell grid and Truong, [70]; Period matrix 800 also may include vacation rental selector 878, hotel selector 880, currency selector 882, list selector 884, map selector 886, or cities selector 888. From the period matrix 800, vacation rental selector 878 can advance the user to seasonal grid 900, which will be described more completely in FIG. 9. Hotel selector 880 can advance the user to a property matrix represented as a webpage featuring hotel rooms, similar in form to a property matrix of vacation rental properties and Truong, [Fig. 8-9]; visual representation of rendered display comprising modified visuals which include different properties, different timeframes, and time specific components).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties with the teachings of Truong including input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action in order to allow for a user to specify specific criteria and receive back a plurality of options to fit those needs even if it requires multiple resources. (Truong, [10]; In one embodiment, LeBreton illustrates a table having a one day period of time in the six columns (i.e., January 1st thru 6th) and six different hotels in the six rows (i.e., hotel 1, hotel 2, hotel 3, hotel 4, hotel 5, and hotel 6). Each cell within the table shows the hotel's availability and price for that specific day. This enables the traveler to see if one hotel, or a mixture of hotels, is available for the entire stay.
While Francis teaches generating data based on user input, Francis does not appear to teach the use of simulated data. However, Francis in view of the analogous art of Masuda (i.e. property management) does teach the entirety of the limitation: (Masuda, [24]; receiving route data that includes digital data that describes one or more of the vehicle's real-life journeys, actual driving routes, roadway environment and weather conditions during these journeys; executing one or more digital simulations that include the digital twin operating in simulated conditions that are the same as or similar to those described by the route data (these simulations may be periodically or continually re-executed based on the receipt of one or more of the following: new onboard data; new measured data; and new route data); estimating, based on the simulations, one or more components of the vehicle that will fail at an interval that satisfies a threshold).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including an online platform with time-specific components for a plurality of property listings and selecting properties with the teachings of Truong including input corresponding to different properties, periods, and a responsive action in order to allow for a user to specify specific criteria and receive back a plurality of options to fit those needs (Truong, [87]; a user search module 1400, similar to SEARCH module 1360, which may be used on mobile device 1310. In some embodiments, search module 1400 may have a user interface, or front end, similar in structure and function to vacation data entry matrix 700, seen in FIG. 7, which may be presented on display 1305. From a home screen, e.g., display 1305, a user may provide data for a preselected number of parameters. A user can select a vacation property category from vacation rentals 1402 or hotels 1404. Once a vacation property category is chosen, a user can select a vacation property location 1406. The user may choose to select a check in time and/or a check out time 1408. The user may choose to forgo selecting a check in/out time 1408 and may decide to select type of accommodations 1410).
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1) and Masser et al (US 20160291705 A1).
Regarding Claim(s) 21, Francis teaches a: The method of claim 1, wherein the user input includes a… actuation corresponding to a date cell followed by a…actuation corresponding to a contiguous range of date cells including the date cell. (Francis, [161]; the renter computing device 640 can generate the selected-rental-duration indicator 650 based on detecting a user tap of the first and last dates).
While Francis teaches an actuation followed by a subsequent actuation on dates, Francis does not appear to teach short and long actuations. However, Francis in view of the analogous art of Masser (i.e. user interfacing ) does teach the entirety of the limitation. (Masser, [34]; As another example, another click pattern may be one short click of the left mouse button, followed by a long click of a right mouse button, followed by another short click of the left mouse button. As a further example, a click pattern may be a long click of the left mouse button, followed by a short pause, followed by a long click of the left mouse button).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including inputs to select date ranges with the teachings of Masser including multiple input modes in order to allow for a system that accepts customized inputs and lead to greater speed and efficiency (Masser, [31]; The input device customization module 104 may also perform a user defined action corresponding to the user defined click pattern in response to the input click pattern matching the user defined click pattern. In this manner, the input device customization module 104 may facilitate customized operation of an input device to enhance operation of the information handling device 102. Ultimately, this may allow a user of the information handling device 102 to perform various operations faster and/or more efficiently).
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Francis et al. (US 20220207450 A1) in view of Truong et al. (US 20150081350 A1) and Dixon et al. (US 20240073222 A1).
Regarding Claim(s) 23, Francis teaches: The method of claim 1, wherein the non-drag selection input includes… input selecting... date ranges across a plurality of the property listings. (Francis, [161]; the renter computing device 640 can generate the selected-rental-duration indicator 650 based on detecting a user tap of the first and last dates).
While Francis teaches selecting dates, Francis does not appear to specify non-consecutive selection or teach modifier-assisted inputs. However, Francis in view of the analogous art of Dixon (i.e. data interfaces) does teach: modifier-assisted input and non-consecutive selections. (Dixon, [97]; In another example, graphical interface 510 may be interactive to specify a time period for network activity by interacting with one or more controls, such as shift-click and selecting one or more interactive tiles. Multiple tiles may be selected such that the information displayed in data record interface 520 will be for data records for which information is displayed in the selected tiles. Multiple consecutive or non-consecutive tiles may be selected).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the disclosed invention to have combined the teachings of Francis including selecting of date ranges with the teachings of Dixon including modifier assisted input and non-consecutive selections in order to allow a user the flexibility to make either consecutive or no-consecutive selections. (Dixon, [97]; In another example, graphical interface 510 may be interactive to specify a time period for network activity by interacting with one or more controls, such as shift-click and selecting one or more interactive tiles. Multiple tiles may be selected such that the information displayed in data record interface 520 will be for data records for which information is displayed in the selected tiles. Multiple consecutive or non-consecutive tiles may be selected).
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.
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/JEREMY L GUNN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3624