DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Application 18/240,495 filed on 08/31/2023.
In the instant application, claim 1 is independent claim; Claim 1 has been examined and are pending. This action is made non-final.
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 .
Drawings
The drawings submitted on 08/31/2023 are acceptable.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/31/2023 was filed before the mailing date of the first office action on the merits. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter. Claim 1 recites “A computer-implemented, annotation-based document system …”. However, the specification does not mention any structure associated with the claimed system. Therefore, it would be reasonable to interpret the claimed “A computer-implemented, annotation-based document system” as software per se.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 is allowed when the 35 USC § 101 rejection is resolved.
Examiner’s Statement of reason of Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The present invention is directed to a computer-implemented, annotation-based document system for streamlining the process of annotating or extracting data content from a document or set of documents and generating a written report/review document about a specific source document or set of documents, whereby the report contains content generated by one or multiple users. The invention describes an annotation-based document management system that includes at least three interrelated regions of a graphical user interface and enables users to quickly access, from a list of documents, locations of interest within each document.
Independent claim 1 when considered as a whole, are allowable over the prior art of record.
The closest prior arts can be found: Thomas et al. (US 7945600) teaches a method for organizing a plurality of electronic documents to facilitate review of the electronic documents. A summary representation is generated for each electronic document in a plurality of electronic documents. Similarity metrics are determined between electronic documents in the plurality of electronic documents based upon the summary representations for the electronic documents. The plurality of electronic documents are grouped into a hierarchical collection of folders based upon the similarity metrics, each folder in the hierarchical collection of folders comprising one or more electronic documents from the plurality of electronic documents related to a concept represented by the folder. Wilde at al. (US 2022/0236843) teaches a method for summarizing suggested content and sharing the summarized suggested content is described. In one aspect, a computer-implemented method includes performing an analysis of text of a document, searching a document library for content elements and documents based on the analysis of the text, identifying candidate documents and candidate content based on the searching, presenting a list of candidate documents or candidate content with the document authoring application, receiving a selection of a candidate document or candidate content from the list in the document authoring application, and providing the selected candidate document to a collaborative content sharing platform, the collaborative content sharing platform configured to generate a graphical user interface that displays a list of shared documents, the shared documents includes candidate documents selected by one or more users of a group of users that share access to the collaborative content sharing platform. Rasmussen et al. (US 2008/0256113) teaches a method for sharing information between application programs. Some embodiments are particularly directed to techniques for accessing information from one application program that is managed or maintained by another application program. For example, an apparatus such as a computing device or system may include a first application program to create information in the form of notes for an operator or user. A second application program may be used to generate or display a target document. A context management module may be arranged to manage information shared between the first and second application programs, such as a note with a target document or vice-versa.
However, closest prior arts as discussed above, do not teach or suggest the particular combination of steps or elements as recited in the independent claims1. For example, the prior arts do not teach of suggest the steps of “A computer-implemented, annotation-based document management system for a set of one or more documents, the system including at least three interrelated regions of a graphical user interface, comprising: a first region of the graphical user interface that lists at least one first document, and shows, for that first document, at least two associated elements that include at least one identifier for that first document and at least one direct or indirect reference to at least one first data value associated with that first document; a second region of the graphical user interface that can display some or all of the content of the first document listed in the first region of the graphical user interface, whereby at least one element included in the content of the first document can be augmented with at least one first visual mark-up; and a third region of a graphical user interface that contains at least one first field that can be populated with at least one first data value associated with the first document displayed in the second region of the graphical user interface, whereby a direct or indirect reference to the first data value can be shown in the first region of the graphical user interface, as part of the at least two elements associated with the first document listed.”
While the cited prior arts disclose some of the claimed features as explained above, however, the cited prior arts fail to disclose or suggest each and every limitation together as Claimed. Furthermore, the Examiner cannot determine a reasonable motivation, either from the cited prior art or the existing case law, to combine the known references to render the claimed invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record on form PTO-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicant is required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111(c) to consider these references fully when responding to this action.
It is noted that any citation to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33,216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006,1009, 158 USPQ 275,277 (CCPA 1968)).
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tam T. Tran whose telephone number is (571) 270-5029. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William L. Bashore can be reached on 571-272-4088. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAM T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2174