DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1-7, 13, 15, and 17 submitted on 08/11/2025 are pending and have been examined. Claims 8-12, 14, and 16 have been cancelled. Claim 17 has been newly added.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for National Stage entry from a PCT application under 35 U.S.C. 371. The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. PCT/JP2021/024774, filed on 06/30/2021.
Claim Objections
Claims 15 and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 15 recites “isplay the relevance data on a display” on page 5 of the claims submitted on 08/11/2025. There appears to be a typographical error and based on Fig. 2 and ¶0011 of the instant specification, the Examiner believes that the limitation should recite, “display the relevance data on a display”, and it will be interpreted as such for purposes of compact prosecution and clarity on the record.
Claim 17 recites “a transition the number of discards” on page 6 of the claims submitted on 08/11/2025. There appears to be a typographical error and based on ¶0027 of the instant specification, the Examiner believes that the limitation should recite, “a transition of the number of discards” and it will be interpreted as such for purposes of compact prosecution and clarity on the record.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-7, 13, 15, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more. The claims recite an abstract idea. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The claim(s) do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Step 1
Claims 1-7 and 17 are directed to a machine, claim 13 is directed to a process, and claim 15 is directed to an article of manufacture (see MPEP 2106.03).
Step 2A, Prong 1
Claim 1, taken as representative, recites at least the following limitations that recite an abstract idea:
a shop comprising:
acquire sales data in a past target period indicating at least one of a number of sales and a number of preparations of a product in a first shop for each unit period, and discard data indicating a number of discards of the product for the each unit period;
acquire customer data in the past target period indicating at least one of a number of customers of the first shop and a traffic amount of a first area including the first shop for the each unit period; and
generate relevance data in the past target period indicating relevance among the sales data, the discard data, and the customer data, and display the relevance data on a display.
The above limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas, enumerated in MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(II), in that it recites a commercial interaction. Claims 13 and 15 recites similar limitations as claim 1.
Thus, under Prong 1 of Step 2A, claims 1, 13, and 15 recite an abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong 2
Claim 1 includes the following additional elements that are bolded:
a shop data processing apparatus comprising:
at least one memory configured to store one or more instructions; and
at least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to:
acquire sales data in a past target period indicating at least one of a number of sales and a number of preparations of a product in a first shop for each unit period, and discard data indicating a number of discards of the product for the each unit period;
acquire customer data in the past target period indicating at least one of a number of customers of the first shop and a traffic amount of a first area including the first shop for the each unit period; and
generate relevance data in the past target period indicating relevance among the sales data, the discard data, and the customer data, and display the relevance data on a display.
Claim 13 includes additional elements such as a shop data processing method comprising:
by a computer, executing operations. Claim 15 includes additional elements such as a non-transitory storage medium storing a program causing a computer.
The additional elements recited in claims 1, 13, and 15 merely invoke such elements as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment of computers and processors (see MPEP 2106.05(f) and MPEP 2106.05(h). These additional elements are described at a high level in Applicant’s specification without any meaningful detail about their structure or configuration (see ¶¶0048-0052 and Fig. 8).
As such, under Prong 2 of Step 2A, when considered both individually and as a whole, the additional elements do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application and, thus, claims 1, 13, and 15 are directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B
As noted above, while the recitation of the additional elements in independent claims 1, 13, and 15 are acknowledged, claims 1, 13, and 15 merely invoke such additional elements as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment (see MPEP 2106.05(f) and MPEP 2106.05(h)).
Even when considered as an ordered combination, the additional elements of claim 1, 13, and 15 do not add anything that is not already present when they are considered individually. Therefore, under Step 2B, there are no meaningful limitations in claims 1, 13, and 15 that transform the judicial exception into a patent eligible application such that the claims amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself (see MPEP 2106.05).
As such, independent claims 1, 13, and 15 are ineligible.
Dependent claims 2-7 and 17 when analyzed as a whole, are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 because they do not add “significantly more” to the abstract idea. More specifically, dependent claims 2-7 and 17 merely further define the abstract limitations of claims 1, 13, and 15 or provide further embellishments of the limitations recited in independent claims 1, 13, and 15. Claims 2-7 and 17 do not introduce any further additional elements.
Thus, dependent claims 2-7 and 17 are ineligible.
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) 1-7, 13, 15, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bohn et al. (US 2019/0266680 A1 [previously cited]) in view of Haddad et al. (US 2008/0015938 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Bohn et al., hereinafter, Bohn, discloses a shop data processing apparatus comprising (Fig. 1; Abstract):
at least one memory configured to store one or more instructions (Fig. 1; ¶0021[Device 100 is an electronic computing device. Device 100 includes a processor 102, which is coupled to a memory 104. Memory 104 may include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), magnetic storage, and/or a read only memory such as flash, EEPROM, optical storage, or other suitable memory. In some embodiments, the memory 104 may not be a transitory signal per se. Memory 104 includes instructions, which when executed by the processor, implement steps of the present invention. In embodiments, device 100 may have multiple processors 102, and/or multiple cores per processor]); and
at least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to (Fig. 1; ¶0021):
acquire sales data indicating at least one of a number of sales and a number of preparations of a product in a first shop for each unit period (Fig. 2; ¶0035[Point of Sale (PoS) system 214 represents a computer terminal where customer orders, such as food orders, are entered. The PoS 214 records the types of items sold and the amount of each item sold. This information can be provided to the waste product analysis system 202. The system 202 can obtain historical consumption data based on records from the PoS system 214. Weekly, monthly, and yearly trends can be analyzed to predict when a condition for potential waste can occur]; Examiner notes that a number of preparations is comparable to a number of items sold), and
discard data indicating a number of discards of the product for the each unit period (Figs. 3 and 5[showing unit periods]; ¶¶0027-0029[Waste product analysis system 202 acquires metadata for a discarded product and records the metadata. Waste product analysis system 202 may extract the metadata from information transmitted from client devices of users… Waste product analysis system 202 analyzes the information received from client devices and/or computer vision system 230 to derive metadata about wasted products.]);
acquire customer data indicating at least one of a number of customers of the first shop and a traffic amount of a first area including the first shop for the each unit period (¶0032[using traffic data to derive the indicator of potential waste. Traffic server 212 may store data relating to traffic patterns received from media reports, government agency reports, crowdsourced traffic data, etc. System 202 may analyze the data received from server 212, and based on the analysis determine that due to construction near a restaurant, there will be traffic delays in the vicinity for a week. Based on an evaluation of historical data, system 202 may determine that nearby traffic jams correlate with fewer customers visiting the restaurant.]); and
generate relevance data indicating relevance among the sales data, the discard data, and the customer data, and display the relevance data on a display (Fig. 5; ¶0029[Waste product analysis system 202 analyzes the information received from client devices and/or computer vision system 230 to derive metadata about wasted products. System 202 also generates a report based on the recorded metadata] in view of ¶0023 which discloses a display).
Although Bohn discloses acquiring sales data indicating number of sales and preparations for each unit period, Bohn does not explicitly disclose acquiring sales data in a past target period indicating a number of sales.
However, Haddad et al., hereinafter, Haddad, teaches acquiring data in a past target period (¶0064[The client device 108 collects and stores sales data relating to the sales transaction at each of the one or more merchants where the customer has previously carried out a sales transaction.] in view of Abstract [A promotional system and method for point-of-sales terminals for a vendor, that performs steps including: i) accessing sales data representing previous sales transactions of a customer of the vendor with different merchants]).
Although Bohn discloses acquiring customer data indicating number of customers, Bohn does not explicitly disclose acquiring customer data in the past target period.
However, Haddad teaches acquiring data in a past target period (¶0064[The client device 108 collects and stores sales data relating to the sales transaction at each of the one or more merchants where the customer has previously carried out a sales transaction.] in view of Abstract [A promotional system and method for point-of-sales terminals for a vendor, that performs steps including: i) accessing sales data representing previous sales transactions of a customer of the vendor with different merchants]).
Although Bohn discloses generating relevance data indicating relevance, Bohn does not explicitly disclose generating relevance data in the past target period.
However, Haddad teaches generating data in a past target period (¶0072[Each of the POS terminals 106a, 106b and 106c separately generates the relationship data for each vendor, based on the sales data for the respective customers of that vendor. Alternatively, the promotions server 102 may be used to generate the relationship data for each vendor and then transmit it to the relevant POS terminal 106a, 106b and 106c. The relationship data for a vendor represents one or more attributes of each of the merchants that have previously completed sales transactions with the customers of that vendor.] in view of Abstract [ii) generating, based on said sales data, relationship data representing one or more attributes of said merchants]).
The system of Haddad is applicable to the system of Bohn as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to analyzing and using customer sales data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the data acquiring and generating as disclosed by Bohn to include a past target period as taught by Haddad. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system of Bohn in order to do the cross-promotion on an ongoing basis (¶0003).
Regarding Claim 2, Bohn in view of Haddad teaches the shop data processing apparatus according to claim 1, Bohn further discloses wherein the relevance data indicate a transition of at least one of the number of customers and the traffic amount (¶0032[Embodiments may include using traffic data to derive the indicator of potential waste. Traffic server 212 may store data relating to traffic patterns received from media reports, government agency reports, crowdsourced traffic data, etc. System 202 may analyze the data received from server 212, and based on the analysis determine that due to construction near a restaurant, there will be traffic delays in the vicinity for a week. Based on an evaluation of historical data, system 202 may determine that nearby traffic jams correlate with fewer customers visiting the restaurant.]),
at least one of the number of sales and the number of preparations (¶0035[Point of Sale (PoS) system 214 represents a computer terminal where customer orders, such as food orders, are entered. The PoS 214 records the types of items sold and the amount of each item sold. This information can be provided to the waste product analysis system 202.]; Examiner notes that number of sales is comparable to number of preparations), and
the number of discards (¶¶0027-0029[Waste product analysis system 202 acquires metadata for a discarded product and records the metadata. Waste product analysis system 202 may extract the metadata from information transmitted from client devices of users… Waste product analysis system 202 analyzes the information received from client devices and/or computer vision system 230 to derive metadata about wasted products.]).
Regarding Claim 3, Bohn in view of Haddad teaches the shop data processing apparatus according to claim 1, Bohn further discloses wherein:
the unit period is a day unit (Fig. 5[shows day units as unit period]), and
the relevance data indicate, for each day of a week, at least one of the number of customers and the traffic amount (Fig. 5; ¶0048[generating the report may further include generating an indicator of potential waste, shown at 522. Embodiments may include using an electronic calendar from a sports schedule server to extract data. In the example, an electronic calendar of a sports team schedule is used to derive the indicator of potential waste. For example, if there is an away professional baseball game, and the restaurant is located instead near the home stadium, the away game may indicate a likelihood of potential waste since people will not be nearby]; Examiner notes that a sports team is comparable to a number of customers and traffic amount),
at least one of the number of sales and the number of preparations, and the number of discards (Fig. 5; ¶¶0047-0049[analyzing the metadata with a rules engine comprises receiving sales data for a predetermined time duration from a point of sale system and determining an amount of used product during the predetermined time duration based on the received data… generating the report may further include calculating average daily waste, shown at 520. This calculation can be made by aggregating the determined daily waste over a period of time. For example, it may be calculated over the period of a week. In the case, the total amount of waste from the week can be divided by seven days, for a total of the average daily waste.]; Examiner notes that sales data is comparable to number of sales and preparations).
Regarding Claim 4, Bohn in view of Haddad teaches the shop data processing apparatus according to claim 1, Bohn further discloses wherein
the relevance data include, for the each unit period, data indicating at least one of the number of customers and the traffic amount (Fig. 5; ¶0048[generating the report may further include generating an indicator of potential waste, shown at 522. Embodiments may include using an electronic calendar from a sports schedule server to extract data. In the example, an electronic calendar of a sports team schedule is used to derive the indicator of potential waste. For example, if there is an away professional baseball game, and the restaurant is located instead near the home stadium, the away game may indicate a likelihood of potential waste since people will not be nearby]; Examiner notes that a sports team is comparable to a number of customers and traffic amount),
at least one of the number of sales and the number of preparations, and the number of discards (Fig. 5; ¶¶0047-0049[analyzing the metadata with a rules engine comprises receiving sales data for a predetermined time duration from a point of sale system and determining an amount of used product during the predetermined time duration based on the received data… generating the report may further include calculating average daily waste, shown at 520. This calculation can be made by aggregating the determined daily waste over a period of time. For example, it may be calculated over the period of a week. In the case, the total amount of waste from the week can be divided by seven days, for a total of the average daily waste.]; Examiner notes that sales data is comparable to number of sales and preparations), and
the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions to cause a specific period being the unit period satisfying a predetermined condition to be displayed in an aspect different from another unit period (Fig. 5; ¶0035[The system 202 can obtain historical consumption data based on records from the PoS system 214. Weekly, monthly, and yearly trends can be analyzed to predict when a condition for potential waste can occur.] in view of ¶¶0047-0049[generating the report may include determining an overage amount of used product during a predetermined time duration, shown at 518… generating the report may further include calculating average daily waste, shown at 520. This calculation can be made by aggregating the determined daily waste over a period of time. For example, it may be calculated over the period of a week. In the case, the total amount of waste from the week can be divided by seven days, for a total of the average daily waste.], ¶0023 discloses a display; Examiner notes that a period of time of a week is comparable to a specific period and that seven days is comparable to an aspect different from another unit period such as monthly which is longer than 7 days).
Regarding Claim 5, Bohn in view of Haddad teaches the shop data processing apparatus according to claim 4, Bohn further discloses wherein the predetermined condition includes at least one of the following:
1) a ratio of at least one of the number of customers and the traffic amount, and at least one of the number of sales and the number of preparations satisfies a reference;
2) the discard data satisfy a reference (¶0035[The PoS 214 records the types of items sold and the amount of each item sold. This information can be provided to the waste product analysis system 202…. if the system 202 identifies a trend that during the first week of each month consumption of a product is lower than the other weeks of the month, then the report can suggest purchasing less perishable food inventory for the first week of the month.]); and
3) it is decided that it is better to change the number of preparations.
Regarding Claim 6, Bohn in view of Haddad teaches the shop data processing apparatus according to claim 5, Bohn further discloses wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions to include, in the relevance data, information being capable of determining a recommendation number of the number of preparations in the specific period (¶0041[Sales data is received for a predetermined time duration from a point of sale system, and an amount of used product during the predetermined time duration is determined based on the received data… Accordingly, a recommendation can then be made based on how much product was sold, and how much was discarded. For example, if the restaurant normally sells 100 tomatoes per day, and it is determined that on average 30 per day are discarded, the system 202 can recommend reducing the number of tomatoes to be purchased in future orders.]).
Regarding Claim 7, Bohn in view of Haddad teaches the shop data processing apparatus according to claim 1, Bohn further discloses wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions to:
acquire the sales data and the discard data of a second shop being different from the first shop (Fig. 5[element 510]; ¶0044[The report includes the location to which it corresponds, at 510. The location may be extracted from memory of a previously stored manually entered user input, or determined from a geolocation receiver using, e.g., a global positioning satellite system, such as GPS… In cases where a business has multiple locations, using location information allows an analysis of waste in each location. The waste output of each location can be compared, and locations outputting the most waste can be further examined to determine if there are any ways to address the higher levels of waste output.]);
acquire the customer data of the second shop (¶¶0032-0044[Embodiments may include using traffic data to derive the indicator of potential waste. Traffic server 212 may store data relating to traffic patterns received from media reports, government agency reports, crowdsourced traffic data, etc. System 202 may analyze the data received from server 212, and based on the analysis determine that due to construction near a restaurant, there will be traffic delays in the vicinity for a week. Based on an evaluation of historical data, system 202 may determine that nearby traffic jams correlate with fewer customers visiting the restaurant.] in view of ¶0081[In addition, while a particular feature of embodiments of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more features of the other embodiments as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.]); and
generate the relevance data of the second shop, and display the relevance data simultaneously with relevance data of the first shop on the display (Fig. 5; ¶0044[In cases where a business has multiple locations, using location information allows an analysis of waste in each location. The waste output of each location can be compared]; Examiner notes that comparing the two shops is comparable to displaying relevance data simultaneously, in view of ¶0051[It should also be recognized that the report may include more or fewer elements displayed thereon] in view of ¶0081[In addition, while a particular feature of embodiments of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more features of the other embodiments as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.]).
Regarding Claim 13, Bohn discloses a shop data processing method comprising (Fig. 1; Abstract):
by a computer, executing operations comprising (Fig. 1; ¶0021):
acquiring sales data indicating at least one of a number of sales and a number of preparations of a product in a first shop for each unit period (Fig. 2; ¶0035[Point of Sale (PoS) system 214 represents a computer terminal where customer orders, such as food orders, are entered. The PoS 214 records the types of items sold and the amount of each item sold. This information can be provided to the waste product analysis system 202. The system 202 can obtain historical consumption data based on records from the PoS system 214. Weekly, monthly, and yearly trends can be analyzed to predict when a condition for potential waste can occur]; Examiner notes that a number of preparations is comparable to a number of items sold), and
discard data indicating a number of discards of the product for the each unit period (Figs. 3 and 5[showing unit periods]; ¶¶0027-0029[Waste product analysis system 202 acquires metadata for a discarded product and records the metadata. Waste product analysis system 202 may extract the metadata from information transmitted from client devices of users… Waste product analysis system 202 analyzes the information received from client devices and/or computer vision system 230 to derive metadata about wasted products.]);
acquiring customer data indicating at least one of a number of customers of the first shop and a traffic amount of a first area including the first shop for the each unit period (¶0032[using traffic data to derive the indicator of potential waste. Traffic server 212 may store data relating to traffic patterns received from media reports, government agency reports, crowdsourced traffic data, etc. System 202 may analyze the data received from server 212, and based on the analysis determine that due to construction near a restaurant, there will be traffic delays in the vicinity for a week. Based on an evaluation of historical data, system 202 may determine that nearby traffic jams correlate with fewer customers visiting the restaurant.]); and
generating relevance data indicating relevance among the sales data, the discard data, and the customer data, and displaying the relevance data on a display (Fig. 5; ¶0029[Waste product analysis system 202 analyzes the information received from client devices and/or computer vision system 230 to derive metadata about wasted products. System 202 also generates a report based on the recorded metadata] in view of ¶0023 which discloses a display).
Although Bohn discloses acquiring sales data indicating number of sales and preparations for each unit period, Bohn does not explicitly disclose acquiring sales data in a past target period indicating a number of sales.
However, Haddad teaches acquiring data in a past target period (¶0064[The client device 108 collects and stores sales data relating to the sales transaction at each of the one or more merchants where the customer has previously carried out a sales transaction.] in view of Abstract [A promotional system and method for point-of-sales terminals for a vendor, that performs steps including: i) accessing sales data representing previous sales transactions of a customer of the vendor with different merchants]).
Although Bohn discloses acquiring customer data indicating number of customers, Bohn does not explicitly disclose acquiring customer data in a past target period.
However, Haddad teaches acquiring data in a past target period (¶0064[The client device 108 collects and stores sales data relating to the sales transaction at each of the one or more merchants where the customer has previously carried out a sales transaction.] in view of Abstract [A promotional system and method for point-of-sales terminals for a vendor, that performs steps including: i) accessing sales data representing previous sales transactions of a customer of the vendor with different merchants]).
Although Bohn discloses generating relevance data indicating relevance, Bohn does not explicitly disclose generating relevance data in a past target period.
However, Haddad teaches generating data in a past target period (¶0072[Each of the POS terminals 106a, 106b and 106c separately generates the relationship data for each vendor, based on the sales data for the respective customers of that vendor. Alternatively, the promotions server 102 may be used to generate the relationship data for each vendor and then transmit it to the relevant POS terminal 106a, 106b and 106c. The relationship data for a vendor represents one or more attributes of each of the merchants that have previously completed sales transactions with the customers of that vendor.] in view of Abstract [ii) generating, based on said sales data, relationship data representing one or more attributes of said merchants]).
The method of Haddad is applicable to the method of Bohn as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to analyzing and using customer sales data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the data acquiring and generating as disclosed by Bohn to include a past target period as taught by Haddad. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bohn in order to do the cross-promotion on an ongoing basis (¶0003).
Regarding Claim 15, Bohn discloses a non-transitory storage medium storing a program causing a computer to (Fig. 1; ¶0021 in view of ¶0076[A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, may be non-transitory]):
acquire sales data indicating at least one of a number of sales and a number of preparations of a product in a first shop for each unit period (Fig. 2; ¶0035[Point of Sale (PoS) system 214 represents a computer terminal where customer orders, such as food orders, are entered. The PoS 214 records the types of items sold and the amount of each item sold. This information can be provided to the waste product analysis system 202. The system 202 can obtain historical consumption data based on records from the PoS system 214. Weekly, monthly, and yearly trends can be analyzed to predict when a condition for potential waste can occur]; Examiner notes that a number of preparations is comparable to a number of items sold), and
discard data indicating a number of discards of the product for the each unit period (Figs. 3 and 5[showing unit periods]; ¶¶0027-0029[Waste product analysis system 202 acquires metadata for a discarded product and records the metadata. Waste product analysis system 202 may extract the metadata from information transmitted from client devices of users… Waste product analysis system 202 analyzes the information received from client devices and/or computer vision system 230 to derive metadata about wasted products.]);
acquire customer data indicating at least one of a number of customers of the first shop and a traffic amount of a first area including the first shop for the each unit period (¶0032[using traffic data to derive the indicator of potential waste. Traffic server 212 may store data relating to traffic patterns received from media reports, government agency reports, crowdsourced traffic data, etc. System 202 may analyze the data received from server 212, and based on the analysis determine that due to construction near a restaurant, there will be traffic delays in the vicinity for a week. Based on an evaluation of historical data, system 202 may determine that nearby traffic jams correlate with fewer customers visiting the restaurant.]); and
generate relevance data indicating relevance among the sales data, the discard data, and the customer data, and display the relevance data on a display (Fig. 5; ¶0029[Waste product analysis system 202 analyzes the information received from client devices and/or computer vision system 230 to derive metadata about wasted products. System 202 also generates a report based on the recorded metadata] in view of ¶0023 which discloses a display).
Although Bohn discloses acquiring sales data indicating number of sales and preparations for each unit period, Bohn does not explicitly disclose acquiring sales data in a past target period indicating a number of sales.
However, Haddad teaches acquiring data in a past target period (¶0064[The client device 108 collects and stores sales data relating to the sales transaction at each of the one or more merchants where the customer has previously carried out a sales transaction.] in view of Abstract [A promotional system and method for point-of-sales terminals for a vendor, that performs steps including: i) accessing sales data representing previous sales transactions of a customer of the vendor with different merchants]).
Although Bohn discloses acquiring customer data indicating number of customers, Bohn does not explicitly disclose acquiring customer data in a past target period.
However, Haddad teaches acquiring data in a past target period (¶0064[The client device 108 collects and stores sales data relating to the sales transaction at each of the one or more merchants where the customer has previously carried out a sales transaction.] in view of Abstract [A promotional system and method for point-of-sales terminals for a vendor, that performs steps including: i) accessing sales data representing previous sales transactions of a customer of the vendor with different merchants]).
Although Bohn discloses generating relevance data indicating relevance, Bohn does not explicitly disclose generating relevance data in a past target period.
However, Haddad teaches generating data in a past target period (¶0072[Each of the POS terminals 106a, 106b and 106c separately generates the relationship data for each vendor, based on the sales data for the respective customers of that vendor. Alternatively, the promotions server 102 may be used to generate the relationship data for each vendor and then transmit it to the relevant POS terminal 106a, 106b and 106c. The relationship data for a vendor represents one or more attributes of each of the merchants that have previously completed sales transactions with the customers of that vendor.] in view of Abstract [ii) generating, based on said sales data, relationship data representing one or more attributes of said merchants]).
The system of Haddad is applicable to the system of Bohn as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to analyzing and using customer sales data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the data acquiring and generating as disclosed by Bohn to include a past target period as taught by Haddad. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system of Bohn in order to do the cross-promotion on an ongoing basis (¶0003).
Regarding Claim 17, Bohn in view of Haddad teaches the shop data processing apparatus according to claim 1, Bohn further discloses wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions to simultaneously display, on the display, a transition of at least one of the number of customers and the traffic amount, a transition of at least one of the number of sales and the number of preparations, and a transition of the number of discards (Figs. 1 and 5[showing transition in the number of discards]; ¶¶0044-0050[In some embodiments, generating the report may include determining an overage amount of used product during a predetermined time duration, shown at 518… In some embodiments, generating the report may further include generating an indicator of potential waste, shown at 522. Embodiments may include using an electronic calendar from a sports schedule server to extract data.] in view of ¶0023[Device 100 further includes a user interface 108, examples of which include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, a light emitting diode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED) display, or other suitable display technology]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 7-10 of the remarks filed 08/11/2025, with respect to the previous 35 USC § 101 rejections have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on pages 8 and 9 of the remarks that the claims are directed to a technological improvement and are eligible under Step 2A. Examiner respectfully disagrees. According to the MPEP 2106.04, the question of whether a claim is “directed to” a judicial exception in Step 2A is now evaluated using a two-prong inquiry. Prong One asks if the claim “recites” an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon. Under that prong, the mere inclusion of a judicial exception such as a method of organizing human activity in a claim means that the claim “recites” a judicial exception (see MPEP 2106.04 [“The mere inclusion of a judicial exception such as a mathematical formula (which is one of the mathematical concepts identified as an abstract idea in MPEP § 2106.04(a)) in a claim means that the claim "recites" a judicial exception under Step 2A Prong One.”]). Additionally, MPEP 2106.04 instructs examiners to refer to the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) (i.e., mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activities, and mental processes) in order to identify abstract ideas. As noted above and in the previous office action, the claims recite sales operations. This is an abstract idea because it is a concept of business relations which makes it a method of organizing human activity (i.e., one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)).
Furthermore, applicant asserts on pages 8 and 9 of the remarks that the amended claims address a technical problem in shop management. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Shop management to grasp the relationship between multiple, disparate types of data to determine the appropriate number of product orders or preparations is directed to the abstract idea and mere application of the abstract idea on generic additional elements does not overcome the rejection. See ¶0050 and Fig. 8 of the instant specification where these additional components are described at a high level and as generic.
Furthermore, acquiring sales data, discard data, and customer data, generating relevance data indicating the relationship among the data and displaying the result by simultaneously displaying the sales amount, discard amount, and number of customers on a single graph are all part of the abstract idea and mere application of the abstract idea on generic devices and displays does not overcome the rejection. See ¶0050 and Fig. 8 of the instant specification where these additional components are described at a high level and as generic. Additionally, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
The instant claims which recite using data to improve sales operations, are not directed to improving the existing technological process (see MPEP 2106.04(a) and 2106.05(a)) requiring the generic components to operate in an unconventional manner to achieve an improvement in computer functionality or requiring the non-conventional and non-generic arrangement of known, conventional pieces to improve a technical process. The additional elements are insufficient to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because the claim fails to (i) reflect an improvement in the functioning of a computer, or an improvement to other technology or technical field, (ii) implement the judicial exception with, or use the judicial exception in conjunction with, a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, (iii) effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, or (iv) applies or uses the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment. As currently recited, the instant claims are directed to improving the argued business task of acquiring sales data in a past target period, acquiring customer data in the past target period, and generating relevance data in the past target period as recited in claims 1, 13, and 15.
Applicant further argues on pages 9 and 10 of the remarks that the claims recite significantly more than the abstract idea by integrating the abstract idea in a practical application. Applicant claims that the specific combination of data sources, specific data generation, and specific visual application of the abstract idea amount to a practical application of the abstract idea. Examiner respectfully disagrees. The combination of sales data, discard data, and customer data are part of the abstract idea. Furthermore, the visual representation of displaying sales and discard amounts as bar graphs and customers numbers as a line graph to directly prompt whether a shop clerk should increase or decrease inventory is also part of the abstract idea. The argued dependent claims 4 and 5 reciting a specific period are also part of the abstract idea. The mere application of these abstract ideas on components such as a device, computer, display, processor, and memory does not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea and does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Accordingly, Examiner maintains that the invention is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more. The claims recite an abstract idea. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The claim(s) do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Thus the 35 USC §101 rejections are maintained.
Applicant’s arguments on pages 11-12 of the remarks filed 08/11/2025, with respect to the previous 35 USC § 102 rejections have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new 103 rejection of the amended claims. Reference Haddad has been newly added as necessitated by the claim amendments.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/AHOORA LADONI/Examiner, Art Unit 3688
/VICTORIA E. FRUNZI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3689 10/6/2025