DETAILED ACTION
This application has been examined. Claims 26-51 are pending. Claim 1-25 are cancelled. Claims 26-51 are submitted as new claims.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/1/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/1/2025 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds for rejection.
Priority
This application claims benefits of priority from Provisional Application 63319728 filed March 14, 2022.
The effective date of the claims described in this application is March 14, 2022.
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, 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) 26-61 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gaon (USPGPUB 2020/0351234) further in view of Khan (USPGPUB 2016/0246936) further in view of Orbach (USPGPUB 2017/0019496)
Regarding Claim 26
Gaon Paragraph 7 disclosed connecting users with other users, who have either experienced, are currently experiencing, or are about to experience the same milestones or steps, to assist one another in navigating the life event.
Gaon Paragraph 8 disclosed wherein someone who can connect the user to those others whom they know, someone the user wants to spend time with, and/or someone the user wants to talk to in order to seek advice on certain life events. The connections can be created through videos.
Gaon disclosed (re. Claim 26) a computer system, comprising:a messaging interface configured to enable communication between electronic devices associated with users (Gaon-Paragraph 89, GUIs may be provided in a software, a software application, a web browser)
a profile data structure storing,(Gaon-Paragraph 83, The input data may be stored in a database) for each user, (Gaon-Paragraph 81, input data may also be obtained from a social media or a social networking website visited by the plurality of users, Paragraph 241, users may have created profiles) a type of user role (Gaon-Paragraph 205, the user can pick may comprise “been there” or “follow.”) and one or more topics (Gaon-Paragraph 82, input data may be categorized based on the one or more life events. For instance, the input data may comprise data related to starting and/or attending college, starting a new career, getting married, having children, starting a business, getting divorced, retirement, relocation, or being diagnosed with a serious/chronic illness)
a routing module (Gaon-Paragraph 195, user matching system(s) 110 can assist in matching the user to someone who have experienced, are experiencing, or are likely to experience the life events that the user is interested in) configured to, in response to a request associated with a first user to discuss a selected topic, perform operations comprising: identifying second users associated with the selected topic;(Gaon-Paragraph 91, enabling the first and second users to communicate with one another via the electronic interface or platform, after the first and second users are connected with one another)
Gaon disclosed (re. Claim 26) filtering the second users to obtain a subset of the second users based at least in part on routing rules associated with types of user roles of the second users, (Gaon-Paragraph 123, Paragraph 195, matching the user to someone who have experienced, are experiencing, or are likely to experience the life events that the user is interested in) and providing information specifying the subset of the second users to an electronic device of the first user via the messaging interface (Gaon-Paragraph 91, enabling the first and second users to communicate with one another via the electronic interface or platform, after the first and second users are connected with one another)
Gaon disclosed (re. Claim 26) when the type of user role is a peer (Gaon-Paragraph 204-205, the user can pick may comprise “been there” or “follow.”)
While Gaon substantially disclosed the claimed invention Gaon does not disclose (re. Claim 26) a payment module configured to enforce payment options based at least in part on the type of user role of a given second user, wherein, for different types of user roles, enforcing the payment options during communication about the selected topic comprises: when the type of user role is a peer, enabling the communication about the selected topic without payment; when the type of user role is a volunteer, enabling receiving of donations associated with the communication about the selected topic; and when the type of user is a professional, enable receiving of predefined fees for one or more communication sessions associated with the communication about the selected topic.
Khan Figure 3 Paragraph 203 disclosed wherein Counseling services 203 may be implemented via an internet server or cloud services platform that is connected to the internet or some similar network.
Khan Paragraph 121 disclosed wherein, upon entry, Counseling services 203 may link the user to those one or more professionals' waiting room(s), websites, calendars, scheduling system, availability data, messaging center, document center or another connection.
Khan disclosed (re. Claim 26) a payment module configured to enforce payment options based at least in part on the type of user role of a given second user, (Khan-Paragraph 80, online counseling system, and services are provided to experts and/or users for free or for a reduced price) wherein, for different types of user roles, enforcing the payment options during communication about the selected topic comprises:
when the type of user is a professional, enable receiving of predefined fees for one or more communication sessions associated with the communication about the selected topic.(Khan-Paragraph 84, online counseling system sends the fees for completed sessions to experts)
Gaon and Khan are analogous art because they present concepts and practices regarding social networks for wellness. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Khan into Gaon. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable group counseling sessions can be given wherein the expert can assess the demeanor of the clients as they interact and wherein online group counseling can be augmented by occasional private conversations.(Khan-Paragraph 65)
Gaon-Khan disclosed (re. Claim 26) when the type of user role is a peer, (Gaon-Paragraph 204-205, the user can pick may comprise “been there” or “follow.”)
enabling the communication about the selected topic without payment; (Khan-Paragraph 80, online counseling system, and services are provided to experts and/or users for free or for a reduced price)
While Gaon-Khan substantially disclosed the claimed invention Gaon-Khan does not disclose (re. Claim 26) when the type of user role is a volunteer, enabling receiving of donations associated with the communication about the selected topic
Orbach Paragraph 41 disclosed wherein a user selecting an MNS solution, which caused the user to transact with a provider, will likewise commit the user to a fixed or proportional donation to MNS or to an MNS user-with-Needs. By another scenario, an MNS can be a free service, but encourages members to donate to a supplier who supplied the answer to their needs; and a percentage of this donation will be donated to the MNS. A transforming variation of this scenario is that the total donation will be paid to the MNS, and the MNS will pay some (or even most) of it to the supplier.
Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 26) when the type of user role is a volunteer,(Orbach-Paragraph 164, MNS may employ volunteers and/or experts to manage and moderate the information, filter out users who do not comply with MNS ethics and regulations) enabling receiving of donations associated with the communication about the selected topic.( Orbach-Paragraph 41,a user selecting an MNS solution, which caused the user to transact with a provider, will likewise commit the user to a fixed or proportional donation to MNS or to an MNS user-with-Needs. By another scenario, an MNS can be a free service, but encourages members to donate to a supplier who supplied the answer to their needs; and a percentage of this donation will be donated to the MNS. A transforming variation of this scenario is that the total donation will be paid to the MNS, and the MNS will pay some (or even most) of it to the supplier)
Gaon,Khan and Orbach are analogous art because they present concepts and practices regarding social networks for wellness. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Orbach into Gaon-Khan. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable every user with a need to feel more confident using an MNS to get quality advice from someone more knowledgeable in the area of his need—if that someone was also sensitive to what might be appropriate to the user's circumstances.(Orbach-Paragraph 67)
Regarding Claim 37
Claim 37 (re. method) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 26. Claim 37 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 26.
Regarding Claim 45
Claim 45 (re. non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 26. Claim 45 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 26.
Regarding Claim 27,38,46
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 27,38,46) wherein the type of user role comprises: the peer, (Gaon-Paragraph 204-205, the user can pick may comprise “been there” or “follow.”) the volunteer, (Orbach-Paragraph 164, MNS may employ volunteers and/or experts to manage and moderate the information, filter out users who do not comply with MNS ethics and regulations,Khan- Paragraph 71,clients have the ability to prepay for a session, or be billed on a per-minute basis, depending on their particular priority or issue. Experts can also decide to not charge for a session) or the professional.( Khan-Paragraph 84, online counseling system sends the fees for completed sessions to experts)
Regarding Claim 28,39,47
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 28,39,47) wherein a type of user that is the peer receives donation-based compensation, (Orbach-Paragraph 41,a user selecting an MNS solution, which caused the user to transact with a provider, will likewise commit the user to a fixed or proportional donation to MNS or to an MNS user-with-Needs. By another scenario, an MNS can be a free service, but encourages members to donate to a supplier who supplied the answer to their needs; and a percentage of this donation will be donated to the MNS. A transforming variation of this scenario is that the total donation will be paid to the MNS, and the MNS will pay some (or even most) of it to the supplier) a second type of user that is the volunteer is uncompensated, (Khan-Paragraph 80, online counseling system, and services are provided to experts and/or users for free or for a reduced price) and a third type of user that is the professional is compensated.(Khan-Paragraph 84, online counseling system sends the fees for completed sessions to experts)
Regarding Claim 29,40,48
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 29,40,48) wherein the payment module is integrated with the messaging interface. (Khan-Paragraph 84, online counseling system sends the fees for completed sessions to experts)
Regarding Claim 30,44
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 30,44) wherein the identifying the second users comprises searching among created user profiles based at least in part on the selected topic and discussion topic groups comprising one of: health issues, relationship issues, divorce issues, loneliness issues or mental health issues. (Gaon-Paragraph 9, different life journeys or events that users may crowdsource may comprise mental illness, breast cancer, marriage)
Regarding Claim 31
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 31) wherein the identifying the second users comprises searching among created user profiles who are peers for the selected topic, and wherein the peers experience a common issue associated with the topic.(Gaon-Paragraph 11, wherein each life event comprises a plurality of different steps on a timeline; analyzing the input data to determine, for each user and life event, which step(s) on the timeline that each user (a) has experienced, (b) is currently experiencing, or (c) likely to experience in the future; and matching the plurality of users with one another, based on the life events and the steps that the users have experienced, are currently experiencing, or likely to experience in the future)
Regarding Claim 32
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 32) searching among created user profiles who are volunteers for the selected topic.(Khan- Paragraph 79, convey to the client what they need to pay in order to proceed)
Regarding Claim 33
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 33) wherein the identifying the second users comprises searching among created user profiles who are professionals having training in an issue associated with the selected topic.(Khan-Paragraph 119, counseling server 203 may then filter participating professionals' records and provide access to expert/counselor/doctor/professional data for experts who match the user's counseling needs.)
Regarding Claim 34,41,49
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 34,41,49) wherein the communication involves secure communication between the electronic device and a second electronic device associated with the given second user.(Khan-Paragraph 81, online counseling system uses secure, encrypted, or otherwise protected methods to exchange data,Paragraph 150, an expert 204 or client 202 may lock or unlock a session to prevent or allow other parties to enter the session. A client 202 or expert 204 may ensure privacy during a session with this feature or they can also password protect a waiting room)
Regarding Claim 35,42,50
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 35,42,50) wherein the computer system is configured to: provide fee information to the electronic device, wherein the fee information indicates costs associated with the subset of the second users and the costs correspond to the types of user roles of the subset of the second users; (Khan-Paragraph 131, user may review the expert profile data of each expert and make a selection 232,Paragraph 79, convey to the client what they need to pay in order to proceed , Paragraph 70,experts can easily change their billing rate and create and/or edit a customized web page from the system's control center feature) and
receive, from the electronic device, one or more user selections of one or more second users in the subset of the second users based at least in part on the fee information.(Khan-Paragraph 131, user may review the expert profile data of each expert and make a selection 232,Paragraph 79, convey to the client what they need to pay in order to proceed, Paragraph 71,clients have the ability to prepay for a session, or be billed on a per-minute basis, depending on their particular priority or issue. Experts can also decide to not charge for a session, Paragraph 98, clients are permitted to access the system and participate in a session on a pay-per-minute basis while being allowed to terminate the session at any time without incurring a minimum charge. In this way, clients are not discouraged from trying the services for fear of incurring a minimum charge)
Regarding Claim 36,43,51
Gaon-Khan-Orbach disclosed (re. Claim 36,43,51) wherein the computer system is configured to receive, from the electronic device, second information specifying payment for at least one of the one or more second users specified by at least one of the one or more user selections. (Khan-Paragraph 84, online counseling system sends the fees for completed sessions to experts)
Conclusion
Examiner’s Note: In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREG C BENGZON whose telephone number is (571)272-3944. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8 AM - 4:30 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John Follansbee can be reached on (571) 272-3964. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREG C BENGZON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444