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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to the rejection made under § 102 and 103 have been fully considered but are persuasive. The amendments overcome the rejection. The rejection is withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to the rejection made under § 101 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that the amended claims are directed to a practical application constituting a technical improvement.
The problem highlighted in the Arguments is at the abstract layer of organizing human activities, not one borne out of technology. The problems noted in Specification do not highlight any failures of modern computers. These are business implementation problems and do not set forth any deficiencies that are particular to computer capabilities or any other technology. "In sum, 'software can make non-abstract improvements to computer technology just as hardware improvements can.' Enfish, 822 F.3d at 1335. But to be directed to a patent-eligible improvement to computer functionality, the claims must be directed to an improvement to the functionality of the computer or network platform itself." Customedia Techs., LLC v. Dish Network Corp., 951 F.3d 1359, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2020) (emphasis added).
These elements are all abstract and when viewed in combination only amount to applying the abstract idea on generic computers. "Examiners evaluate integration into a practical application by: (1) identifying whether there are any additional elements recited in the claim beyond the judicial exception(s); and (2) evaluating those additional elements individually and in combination to determine whether they integrate the exception into a practical application…" MPEP 2106.04(d) II. (emphasis added).
Accordingly, the rejection is maintained.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter (a judicial exception without significantly more). Claims are eligible for patent protection under § 101 if they are in one of the four statutory categories and not directed to a judicial exception to patentability. Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014). Claims 1-14 and 16, each considered as a whole and as an ordered combination, are directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claim 1 recites a computer-readable storage media. Claim 11 recites a system.
Step 2A, prong 1: Claim 11 recites the abstract idea of providing search results based on attributes. This idea is described by the following steps:
identifying a plurality of item listings based on a search input;
determining attributes of the plurality of item listings;
providing data based on the search input and the plurality of item attributes of item listings, the data comprising at least one of: search data, item review data, and item return data;
generating a hierarchy of the ranking of attributes for the plurality of item listings, determining the ranking of the attributes based at least in part on analysis of differences in attribute values among the plurality of item listings to determine an extent to which attributes distinguish the plurality of item listings from one another, and determining the ranking of the attributes based at least in part on analysis of information for plurality of item listings; and
providing one or more search results for presentation to the user based on a top ranked attribute of the hierarchy the ranking of the attributes.
Claim 1 recites equivalent limitations.
This idea falls into the certain methods of organizing human activity grouping of abstract ideas as it is directed towards commercial interactions including advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors (i.e., determine attributes of item listings and providing search results).
Step 2A, prong 2: Claims 1 and 11 recite additional elements that fail to integrate the abstract idea into practical application.
Claims 1 and 11 recite a search component, an attribute determination component, a user interface component, one or more processors; and computer storage media storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computing system to perform operations. However, these elements are generic computing components (see at least paragraph 085) that are simply used to perform operations that would otherwise be abstract (see MPEP2106.05(f)).
Claims 1 and 11 additionally recite using a machine-learned model. However, the machine-learned models are recited at a high level of generality and are merely used as tools to perform the process (i.e., determining the cost of fulfilling an add-on order offer and determining a conversion rate) (see MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Step 2B: Claims 1 and 11 fail to recite additional elements that amount to an inventive concept.
For the reasons identified with respect to Step 2A, prong 2, claims 1 and 11 fail to recite additional elements that amount to an inventive concept. For example, use of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks (e.g., to receive, store, or transmit data) or simply adding a general-purpose computer or computer components after the fact to an abstract idea (e.g., a fundamental economic practice or mathematical equation) does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more (see MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Dependent Claims Step 2A:
The limitations of the dependent claims merely set forth further refinements of the abstract idea identified at step 2A—Prong One, without changing the analysis already presented. Additionally, for the same reasons as above, the limitations fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they use the same general technological environment and instructions to implement the abstract idea as the independent claims identified at step 2A—Prong Two.
Dependent Claims Step 2B:
The dependent claims merely use the same general technological environment and instructions to implement the abstract idea. These do not amount to significantly more for the same reasons they fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Moreover, the Specification also indicates this is the routine use of known components for the same reasons presented with respect to the elements in the independent claims above.
Thus, when considering the combination of elements and the claimed invention as a whole, the claims are not patent eligible.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 and 16 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101, set forth in this Office action.
REASONS FOR ALLOWANCE
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for indicating allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious the combination of:
identifying by at least one of one or more servers of a search system, a plurality of item listings based on a search input; determining attributes of the plurality of item listings; providing, by at least one of the one or more servers of the search system, data based on the search input and the plurality of item listings as input to a machine learning model trained on attributes of item listings from user interaction data from the search system, the user interaction data comprising at least one of: search data, browse data, item review data, and item return data; generating, by the machine learning model, a hierarchy of the ranking of attributes for the plurality of item listings, wherein the machine learning model determines the ranking of the attributes based at least in part on analysis of differences in attribute values among the plurality of item listings to determine an extent to which attributes distinguish the plurality of item listings from one another, and wherein the machine learning model determines the ranking of the attributes based at least in part on analysis of information visible in search snippets for plurality of item listings to determine an extent to which attributes are apparent from the search snippets; and providing, by at least one of the one or more servers of the search system, one or more search results for presentation on a user device based on a top ranked attribute of the hierarchy the ranking of the attributes.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/MILA AIRAPETIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3688