Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 62-70, 72-81 are presented for examination.
This action is in response to amendment filed on 11/13/25.
The New Grounds of Rejection
Applicant’s amendment and argument with respect to claims 62-70, 72-81 filed on 11/13/25 have been fully considered but they are deemed to be moot in views of the new grounds of rejection.
Applicant indicated in the remark page 11, further claims 79 through 81 recite similar features to those of claim 62 and are distinguishable for at least the reasons provided herein. However, claims 79-81 does not include the newly amended feature such as payment service provider nor the data capture from the voice communication channel.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 62-70, 72-81 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heath et al. US Patent Number 10,270,865, hereinafter Heath, in view of Coffey, US Publication Number 2003/0142809, hereinafter Coffey.
Referring to claim 62, Heath discloses a computer-implemented method of processing data in a customer-agent interaction (figures 1-4) through a voice communication channel (Col 6 lines 20-28, the communication among the network entities could be in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) call , the method comprising the steps of:
retrieving a web form comprising one or more elements (web content/elements from web site 124), from a web server (web server 122), using a first device (agent’s computer 118)(Col 17 lines 17-21, the agent 116 browses to a proxied website);
displaying the web form to the agent via a browser (agent’s browser 112) running on the first device (figure 1, the agent 116 browses to a proxied website, web site/form is displayed on the agent’s browser; Col 17 lines 17-24, the agent 116 is served with the original site www.merchant.com);
detecting, by the first device (agent’s computer 118), an interaction of the agent (agent 116) with a first element in the web form, wherein the interaction triggers the capture, using a data capture means, of communication information input by the customer (customer 142)(Col 17 lines 45-51, steps 312-316, the agent 116 performs a customer assistance task to enter communication information input (telephone number) acquired from customer 142, into the data field on the webpage served to the agent web browser 112 (data capturing));
modifying one or more elements of the web form in response to the detected interaction using a program running in the browser (Col 17 lines 45-21, entering data at agent’s browser to change the content on the web page is viewed as modifying one or more elements of the web form in response to the detected interaction using a program running in the browser, and where the program has to exist for browser software to operate);
generating a submission from the web form (Col 17 lines 52-53, step 318, the agent selects the “Activate handoff” button on the web page served to the agent web browser 112, corresponds to submission generation); and
transmitting the submission to a payment service provider (Col 17 lines 54-62, action from step 318 is performed, and the party that serves the submitted action is viewed as the service provider; Col 9 lines 40-48, the party that services the submitted action could be the secure proxy server which is accepting payment request therefore is viewed as a payment service provider).
Heath does not explicitly teach wherein the interaction triggered the capture from the voice communication channel.
Coffey teaches a data communication system used in a customer and merchant environment where in the information exchanged among network entities could be captured in a number of ways know in the art such as data entry or voice capture etc. ([0099], Col 9 lines 40-48).
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the use of voice capture from entity interaction for data entry of Coffey into Heath, because both Heath and Coffey disclose data entry/input during the entity interaction and Coffey teaches such data entry could be done by voice capture triggered by the interaction.
A person with ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the modification to Heath to allow an automated user input by allowing voice capturing for data input as suggested by Coffey ([0015][0099]).
Referring to claim 63, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein transmitting the submission to the payment service provider comprises redirecting the generated submission via a proxy device, the proxy device configured for: modifying the redirected submission to include the captured communication information; and forwarding the modified submission to the payment service provider (Col 17 line 55- Col 18 line 3, figures 1 and 2 a proxy server 132 and 232 is used to perform the submission redirection for the captured communication information (e.g. the customer’s inputted telephone number).
Referring to claim 64, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 63, wherein the original destination of the submission is associated with the payment service provider, optionally wherein redirection of the generated submission via the proxy device is either: directly initiated by the program running in the browser, or initiated by predetermined DNS and/or proxy settings of the first device, or initiated by the program running in the browser, by dynamically controlling DNS and/or proxy settings of the first device (figures 1 and 2; Col 17 line 55- Col 18 line 3; submission redirection could be initiated either from the agent or the proxy).
Referring to claim 65, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein the original destination of the submission is associated with a backend server (server 130 or 230) configured to forward the submission to a destination associated with the payment service provider (Col 7 lines 27-47, The secure proxy server forwards this request to the merchant webserver 122 via connection 157).
Referring to claim 66, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 63, wherein the original destination of the submission is associated with a backend server, the backend server either: configured to transmit the submission to the in view of Coffey service provider via the proxy, based on an inspection of the submission; or configured to forward the submission to a destination associated with the service provider, based on an inspection of the submission (figure 3b, steps 330, 332, Col 18 lines 31-36, parsing the request at the proxy server to make determination before forwarding to the destination is viewed as transmit the submission to the service provider via the proxy, based on an inspection of the submission).
Referring to claim 67, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein modifying the web form comprises removing one or more of the elements of the web form (Col 17 lines 45-21, entering data at agent’s browser to change the content on the web page is viewed as modifying one or more elements of the web form in response to the detected interaction, and the change would serve a removal or elimination of previous content/form in order to display the new content/form on the web page; Col 10 lines 27-50, mask/remove the detected sensitive data to prevent output of the sensitive data on one or both of the agent's browser 112,212 and customer's browser 146,246);.
Referring to claim 68, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein modifying the web form comprises hiding, obscuring or modifying one or more of the elements of the web form to prevent the agent from determining data held or input therein (Col 10 lines 27-50, mask the detected sensitive data to prevent output of the sensitive data on one or both of the agent's browser 112,212 and customer's browser 146,246, the masking sensitive data is viewed as hiding, obscuring or modifying one or more of the elements of the web form to prevent the agent from determining data held or input).
Referring to claim 69, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein modifying the web form comprises pre-populating one or more of the elements of the web form with values (Col 17 lines 45-51, steps 312-316, the agent 116 performs a customer assistance task to enter communication information input (telephone number) acquired from customer 142, into the data field on the webpage served to the agent web browser 112 (data capturing); forms for data entry on the website is viewed as pre-populated elements).
Referring to claim 70, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 69, wherein modifying the web form comprises pre-populating the first element with a value formatted to conform to one or more validation rules or checksums of the web form or backend server (Col 7 lines 21-23, figures 1-3, steps 302-306, webpage served to the client is viewed as pre-populated webpage with the first element that conforms with some validation rules or checksums of the web form in order to be presented to the agent or customer)
Referring to claim 72, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein the modified one or more of the elements of the web form includes the first element (Col 17 lines 45-21, entering data at agent’s browser to change the content on the web page is viewed as modifying one or more elements (including the first element) of the web form in response to the detected interaction).
Referring to claim 73, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein modifying an element comprises inserting a value into said element, wherein said value comprises one or more of: a value formatted to conform to one or more validation rules or checksums of the web form or backend server; a unique token; or the captured communication information, wherein the captured communication information has been made unviewable by the agent (Col 17 lines 45-21, entering data at agent’s browser to change the content on the web page is viewed as modifying one or more elements of the web form by entering the value, and Col 10 lines 27-50, mask the customer phone number to prevent output (unviewable) of the sensitive data on one or both of the agent's browser 112,212)
Referring to claim 74, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein the detected interaction is with a context menu provided for the first element by the program running in the browser (figure 1, the agent 116 browses to a proxied website, web site/form is displayed on the agent’s browser; Col 17 lines 17-24, the agent 116 is served with the original site www.merchant.com; webpage with content for requesting data input is viewed as a context menu provided for the first element).
Referring to claim 75, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 69, wherein modifying the web form comprises pre-populating the first element with a unique token (Col 17 lines 34-38, unique identifier corresponds to the unique token that associated with the content in the web page).
Referring to claim 76, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 62, wherein modifying the web form comprises modifying one or more of the elements of the web form to show feedback indicative of the progress of the capturing of communication information, wherein said feedback comprises an indication of either: a number of spoken utterances input by the customer; or a number of SIP signals input by the customer; or a number of DTMF key presses input by the customer; or a number of computer-readable characters entered by the customer (Col 17 lines 45-51, steps 312-316, the agent 116 performs a customer assistance task to enter communication information input (telephone number) acquired from customer 142, into the data field on the webpage served to the agent web browser 112 (data capturing); entering the telephone number to the web page is viewed as modifying one or more of the elements of the web form to show feedback indicative of the progress of the capturing of communication information comprising an indication of a number of computer-readable characters entered by the customer; Col 16 line 64 – Col 17 line8, DTMF keypresses).
Referring to claim 77, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 63, wherein the proxy device either: adds the captured communication information to the submission based on matching said captured communication information with a header found in the submission received by the proxy device; or receives a response from the service provider and forwards the response to the browser, wherein the proxy device modifies one or more headers of said response (Col 7 lines 27-47, the secure proxy server 132 mediate communications between the merchant website 124 and the agent web browser 112, for the initially-requested web page and subsequent web pages, covers the limitation “receives a response from the service provider and forwards the response to the browser”).
Referring to claim 78, Heath in view of Coffey discloses the method of claim 63, wherein the proxy device adds the captured communication information to the submission based on matching said captured communication information with the unique token, the unique token being included in the content of the submission (steps 308-310, Col 17 lines 34-47, associating the communication session among the agent, the server and the customer with the unique identifier generated by the proxy as a reference for the communications).
Referring to claims 79-81, the claims encompass the same scope of the invention as that of the claims 62-78. Therefore, claims 79-81 are rejected on the same ground as the claims 62-78.
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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIANGCHE A WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-3992. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am to 6:30pm.
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Liang-che Alex Wang
December 2, 2025
/LIANG CHE A WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2447