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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/26/24 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
a first search step, a second search step, an association step, a generation step corresponds to: the first search step 10, the second search step 20, the association step 30 and the generation step 35 of the support are steps carried out on or by an electronic unit, and they are operated automatically, apart from triggering the first search step 10. No manual intervention is involved in the implementation of these steps. The deliverable of these steps is an interactive display on a support computer screen. The deliverable of these steps can also be a document to be printed or printed – Specification page 6, lines 23-29
electronic unit corresponds to: electronic unit 9 can be a computer, server, smartphone or tablet in Specification page 13, lines 6-10
a first means corresponds to: one first means, for example the electronic unit, making it possible to manually select an area of the support,– Specification page 4, lines 18-19
a second means corresponds to: one second means, for example the electronic unit, configured to present at least one denomination – Specification page 4, lines 20-21,
an association means corresponds to: an association means, for example the electronic unit, associating the denomination – Specification page 4, lines 22-23,
a means of generating corresponds to: a means of generation, for example the electronic unit, of a support which illustrates the association made by the association means - Specification page 4, lines 24-25
a first search step, an electronic unit, a second search step, an association step, a generation step in claim 12, Specification page 6, lines 6-18.
a first means, a second means, an association means, a means of generating, in claim 22, Specification page 9, lines 1-5
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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) 12-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brindisi US 20050216828 in view of Levine US 20130246436.
Claim 12. Brindisi teaches a method of aiding in interpretation of a document comprising at least one referenced drawing and a text associated with the referenced drawing, the method comprising:
in a first search step, an electronic unit searches in the referenced drawing or in the text for at least one reference (the program searches the text of the corresponding text document (text or drawing) for each instance of the reference text items (paragraph 0016) Note: a computer configured and/or programmed to perform as described here, such as through a software program loaded on the computer (paragraph 0014), therefore, the electronic unit is read as the computer;
in a second search step, the electronic unit searches in the text for at least one denomination relating to the reference identified by implementation of the first search step (images of the detailed description portion of the patent (reference) may be processed with OCR (search) to identify the relevant part names (denomination) (paragraph 0023);
at an association step, the electronic unit associates a denomination identified at end of the second search step with the reference identified at end of the first search step (the program then preferably displays a list or table containing (preferably at least the above-noted groups (b)-(d) of) the reference text elements identified from the drawings, correlated to their tentatively or default identified names, and preferably visually grouped in a logical order (paragraph 0017);
a modification sequence which, in absence of identification of at least one reference during implementation of the first search step or in event of error in the identification of at least one reference during the implementation of the first search step or in event of absence of identification of at least one denomination during the implementation of the second search step or in the event of error in the identification of at least one denomination during the implementation of the second search step (Each text item may then be automatically whited-out and, in an interactive display, replaced with an editable text box containing the same text, inviting the user to replace the existing text with a symbolic reference (paragraph 0027), comprises at least:
Brindisi fails to teach in a generation step, the electronic unit generates a support which illustrates the association step; and
a step of manual selection of a zone of the support, a step of presentation of at least one denomination or a step of manual entry of a denomination, in relation to a reference present or entered in the zone of the support selected manually, and a step of combining the denomination presented or entered manually with the reference present or entered manually in the zone of the support, the combination being displayed on the support.
Levine teaches in a generation step, the electronic unit generates a support which illustrates the association step (the index table generating module (106) is configured to receive instructions from the user via the user interface to sort the data contained in the index table (20) in accordance with a provided sort parameter, and to provide output from which the user interface module (102) (electronic unit) can generate an associated output of the index table (20) to the user (paragraph 0033); and
a step of manual selection of a zone of the support, a step of presentation of at least one denomination or a step of manual entry of a denomination, in relation to a reference present or entered in the zone of the support selected manually (parsing module (104) is to identify the descriptive word or phrase (denomination) associated with each identified reference occurrence within the written description or drawing figures of the electronic document (paragraph 0031), and a step of combining the denomination presented or entered manually with the reference present or entered manually in the zone of the support, the combination being displayed on the support (Data obtained by the parsing module (104), which includes each identified reference occurrence, any accompanying descriptive words or phrases, and the associated unique position markers is communicated with the editing and analysis tool (100) to an index table generating module (106), to populate a dynamic index table (20) (paragraph 0032). output of the index table (20) may be interactive. The output may be utilized to provide an interactive visual display, a static visual display (paragraph 0033) Note: the index table (20) is read as a combination of the reference and the descriptive words, see fig 5 and is also displayed. Note: the claim requires a choice of different scenerios to meet the claim limitation. Examiner has highlighted which scenerios are being addressed
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Brandisi to include: a generation step, the electronic unit generates a support which illustrates the association step; and
a step of manual selection of a zone of the support, a step of presentation of at least one denomination or a step of manual entry of a denomination, in relation to a reference present or entered in the zone of the support selected manually, and a step of combining the denomination presented or entered manually with the reference present or entered manually in the zone of the support, the combination being displayed on the support;
The reason of doing so would to accurately identify and enter text that is found in the document.
Claim 13, Brindisi in view of Levine teaches during which the step of presenting at least one denomination comprises a presentation of a list of denominations, the method comprising a step of choosing a particular denomination in the list of denominations carried out between the step of presenting at least one denomination relating to the reference present or entered manually in the zone of the support and the combination step (the program then preferably displays a list or table containing (Brindisi: preferably at least the above-noted groups (b)-(d) of) the reference text elements identified from the drawings, correlated to their tentatively or default identified names (denomination), and preferably visually grouped in a logical order as shown in FIG. 2 again with user-interactivity permitting corrections and modifications as desired (paragraph 0017).
Claim 14, Brindisi in view of Levine teaches during which the step of presenting the list of denominations comprises at least one step of calculating occurrences of these denominations and a display step of these occurrences on the support (Levine: fig 5 lists the number of occurrences, which is a visual display (paragraph 0021).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Brandisi to include: during which the step of presenting the list of denominations comprises at least one step of calculating occurrences of these denominations and a display step of these occurrences on the support;
The reason of doing so would to accurately identify and enter text that is found in the document.
Claim 15. Brindisi in view of Levine teaches during which, in the absence of identification of at least one reference during the implementation of the first search step, the manual selection step of a zone of the support comprises a sub-step of selection of a zone of the support which has not been identified at the end of the first search step and a sub-step of manual entry of a reference in a zone of the drawing which has not been identified at the end of the first search step (Brindisi: If an identified reference text item of group (b)-(d) is not found whatsoever in the patent text, and such item is not a Figure number used in the text, a "missing" code is preferably associated with that reference character (and preferably communicated to the user such as the "not found" in FIG. 2). If such item is a Figure number used in the text (e.g., 114 and 115 in FIG. 1), a "probable other Figure view reference" code is preferably associated with that reference character (and preferably communicated to the user such as in FIG. 2 (paragraph 0016). the program then preferably displays a list or table containing (preferably at least the above-noted groups (b)-(d) of) the reference text elements identified from the drawings, correlated to their tentatively or default identified names, and preferably visually grouped in a logical order, again with user-interactivity permitting corrections and modifications as desired (paragraph 0017)
Claim 16, Brindisi in view of Levine teaches during which, in the event of an error in location of at least one reference during the implementation of the first search step, the manual selection step of a zone of the support comprises a sub-step of replacing a reference identified in the drawing at the end of the first search step by a reference entered manually (Brindisi: If an identified reference text item of group (b)-(d) is not found (location) whatsoever in the patent text (error), and such item is not a Figure number used in the text, a "missing" code is preferably associated with that reference character (and preferably communicated to the user such as the "not found" in FIG. 2). If such item is a Figure number used in the text (e.g., 114 and 115 in FIG. 1), a "probable other Figure view reference" code is preferably associated with that reference character (and preferably communicated to the user such as in FIG. 2 (paragraph 0016)..
Claim 17. Brindisi in view of Levine teaches during which the electronic unit identifies the denomination in relation to the reference entered manually by implementing the second search step, then combines on the support said denomination identified with the reference entered manually (Brindisi: the program searches the text of the corresponding text document for each instance of the reference text items of (b), (c), and (d), to discern the associated part name(s) for such text item (first search) paragraph 0016). The program preferably selects the positioning and orientation for annotation of the part names with reference to the location, estimated font size, and orientation of the reference text items (second search (paragraph 0019).
Claim 18. Brandisi in view of Levine teaches where the support is at least one annotated drawing comprising the referenced drawing and at least one denomination associated with a reference by implementation of the association step and at least one denomination combined with a reference by implementing the modification sequence (Brandisi: the part names are annotated in the whitespaces (or opaque layover) in a font preferably similar to the native font of the reference text items of the drawing sheet as best identified by OCR (fig 2 and paragraph 0020).
Claim 19. Brandisi in view of Levine teaches where the support comprises at least one glossary comprising at least the denomination identified or entered manually and the reference identified during the first search step or entered manually, the electronic unit associating the glossary with the referenced drawing carrying at least one reference present in the glossary, the electronic unit being configured to display the glossary next to the referenced drawing (Brandisi: fig 2 and 3) Note: In fig 2, a list of parts identified in the drawing of fig 3 is listed, which reads on a glossary. Fig 2 is displayed to the user (paragraph 0009 and 0017).
Claim 20. Brandisi in view of Levine teaches in which the document is an industrial property title and the referenced drawing is a drawing of the industrial property title (Brandisi: the program searches the text of the corresponding text document (paragraph 0016), the electronic unit applying the second search step and/or the modification sequence to at least one claim of the industrial property title (Brandisi: the program also preferably obtains (search) and saves a record of which pages of the image correspond to the various sections of the patent, such as claims (paragraph 0017)
Claim 21. Brandisi in view of Levine teaches A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to claim 12 (Levine: computer program code containing instructions embodied in tangible media, or another computer readable storage medium (paragraph 0044).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Brandisi to include: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to claim 12
The reason of doing so would to store the computer program.
Claim 22. Brandisi teaches A system for assisting in interpretation of a document comprising at least one referenced drawing and a text associated with the referenced drawing (abstract), the system comprising at least:
a first means of searching for at least one reference in the referenced text or on the referenced drawing (the program searches the text of the corresponding text document (text or drawing) for each instance of the reference text items (paragraph 0016) Note: a computer configured and/or programmed to perform as described here, such as through a software program loaded on the computer (paragraph 0014), therefore, the electronic unit is read as the computer;
a second means of searching in the text for at least one denomination relating to the reference identified by the first search means (images of the detailed description portion of the patent (reference) may be processed with OCR (search) to identify the relevant part names (denomination) (paragraph 0023);
an association means associating the denomination identified by the second search means with the reference identified by the first search means (preferably at least the above-noted groups (b)-(d) of) the reference text elements identified from the drawings, correlated to their tentatively or default identified names, and preferably visually grouped in a logical order (paragraph 0017);
Brindisi fails to teach a means of generating a support which illustrates the association made by the association means;
a modification module which comprises:
at least a first means making it possible to manually select a zone of the support, at least one second means configured to present at least one denomination in relation to a reference present or entered in zone of the support or configured to manually enter a denomination, and at least one means of combining the denomination presented or manually entered with the reference present or manually entered in the zone of the support, the system being configured to display said combination on the support;
Levine teaches a means of generating a support which illustrates the association made by the association means (the index table generating module (106) is configured to receive instructions from the user via the user interface to sort the data contained in the index table (20) in accordance with a provided sort parameter, and to provide output from which the user interface module (102) (electronic unit) can generate an associated output of the index table (20) to the user (paragraph 0033); and
a modification module (the parsing module (104) (paragraph 0031) which comprises:
at least a first means making it possible to manually select a zone of the support, at least one second means configured to present at least one denomination in relation to a reference present or entered in zone of the support or configured to manually enter a denomination (the parsing module (104) may be instructed by a user (through a program setup at the user interface (102)) to simply associate a predetermined number of words which precede each identified reference occurrence with that occurrence of the reference (paragraph 0031), and at least one means of combining the denomination presented or manually entered with the reference present or manually entered in the zone of the support, the system being configured to display said combination on the support (Data obtained by the parsing module (104), which includes each identified reference occurrence, any accompanying descriptive words or phrases (denomination), and the associated unique position markers is communicated with the editing and analysis tool (100) to an index table generating module (106), to populate a dynamic index table (20) (paragraph 0032). output of the index table (20) (combination) may be interactive. The output may be utilized to provide an interactive visual display, a static visual display (paragraph 0033) Note: the index table (20) is read as a combination of the reference and the descriptive words, see fig 5 and is also displayed. Note: the claim requires a choice of different scenerios to meet the claim limitation. Examiner has highlighted which scenerios are being addressed
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art to have modified Brandisi to include: a means of generating a support which illustrates the association made by the association means;
a modification module which comprises:
at least a first means making it possible to manually select a zone of the support, at least one second means configured to present at least one denomination in relation to a reference present or entered in zone of the support or configured to manually enter a denomination, and at least one means of combining the denomination presented or manually entered with the reference present or manually entered in the zone of the support, the system being configured to display said combination on the support;
The reason of doing so would to accurately identify and enter text that is found in the document.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Michael Burleson whose telephone number is (571) 272-7460 and fax number is (571) 273-7460. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30p.m. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Akwasi Sarpong can be reached at (571) 270- 3438.
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Michael Burleson
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2681
Michael Burleson
March 19, 2026
/MICHAEL BURLESON/
/AKWASI M SARPONG/SPE, Art Unit 2681