DETAILED ACTION
Acknowledgement
This non-final office action is in response to the request for continued examination (RCE) filed on 05/12/2026.
Status of Claims
Claims 4, 16, and 28 have been cancelled.
Claims 1-3, 6, 10, 12-15, 18, 22, 24-27, 30, 34, and 36 have been amended.
Claims 1-3, 5-15, 17-27, and 29-36 are now pending.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/12/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 05/12/2026 regarding the 35 U.S.C. 101 and 103 rejections of the claims have been fully considered. The Applicant argues the following.
(1) As per the 101 rejection, the Applicant argues the claims as amended reflect a process between non-human distributed actors. Therefore, the claim does not involve any human activity. Independent claims 1 enables non-human distributed actors to interface with electronic interfaces specifically designed for interactions by humans.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The Examiner submits that the claims still reflect Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity because the claims reflect an abstract process of managing and scheduling resources to perform a task. These abstract steps can be performed by a human, for example a resource coordinator following business rules or workflow instructions and also applied to both “non-human” and “human” resources, similarly. Managing and assigning resources to address needs can reflect fundamental economic practices as well as managing personal behavior (i.e. a person following a set of instructions). The steps of executing one or more interactions on a respective electronic interface for interaction by humans reflects certain activity between a person and a computer. Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity encompasses fundamental economic principles or practices, commercial or legal interactions, and managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions. Therefore, these claims fall within the abstract grouping of Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity and thus are not patent eligible. The 35 U.S.C. 101 is maintained.
(2) As per the 103 rejection, the Applicant argues that the combination of Horvitz and Carter fails to teach disclose, or even suggest "monitoring an environment to detect a request from a requesting non-distributed actor concerning an unfulfilled need associated with the non-human distributed actors".
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The Examiner submits that based on an updated search and consideration, Carter alone teaches all of the elements in the amended claims as shown in the updated claim mapping below. Therefore, the previous 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection is withdrawn and a new 35 U.S.C. 102(a) rejection is entered. See details below.
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 statements (IDSs) submitted on 12/25/2025, 03/13/2026, and 05/21/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-3, 5-15, 17-27, and 29-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention, “Distributed Actor-Based Information System & Method”, is directed to an abstract idea, specifically Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity, without significantly more. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements individually or in combination provide mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer.
Step 1: Claims 1-3, 5-15, 17-27, and 29-36 are directed to a statutory category, namely a process (claims 1-3 and 5-12), a manufacture (claims 13-15 and 17-24), and a machine (claims 25-27 and 29-36).
Step 2A (1): Claims 1-3, 6-15, 18-27, and 30-36 are directed to an abstract idea of Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity, based on the following claim limitations: “maintaining a group of distributed actors, wherein each of the distributed actors offers at least one skill and is assigned to one or more of a plurality of network groups,…, and wherein each network group is associated with a separate entity; monitoring an environment to detect a request from a requesting non-human distributed actor concerning an unfulfilled need associated with the non-human distributed actor; processing the request to identify a skill required to service the request, thus defining a required skill; identifying one or more non-human distributed actors capable of providing the required skill based, at least in part, upon the required skill and availability of skills within the plurality of network groups, thus defining one or more qualified non-human distributed actors; assigning the request to the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors to address the unfulfilled need, thus defining one or more assigned non-human distributed actors; and performing the at least one skill offered by the one or more assigned non-human distributed actors… (claims 1, 13, and 25); wherein assigning the request to the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors to address the unfulfilled need includes one or more of: immediately assigning to the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors; inquiring on the availability of the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors; and allowing the requesting non-human distributed actor to choose the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors from a group of potential non-human distributed actors (claims 2, 14, and 26); wherein monitoring an environment to detect a request from the requesting non-human distributed actor concerning an unfulfilled need includes: detecting the existence of a request (claims 3, 15, and 27); wherein the one or more assigned non-human distributed actors interact, directly or indirectly, with one or more distributed sub-actors to address at least a portion of the unfulfilled need (claims 6, 18, and 30); addressing at least a portion of the unfulfilled need with the required skill (claims 7, 19, and 31); wherein addressing at least a portion of the unfulfilled need with the required skill includes: generating one or more response portions with the required skill (claims 8, 20, and 32); forming a bespoke response to the unfulfilled need based, at least in part, upon the one or more response portions (claims 9, 21, and 33); providing the bespoke response to the requesting non-human distributed actor (claims 10, 22, and 34); effectuating, in whole or in part, the bespoke response (claims 11, 23, and 35); wherein maintaining a group of non-human distributed actors includes: maintaining a database that defines the group of non-human distributed actors (claims 12, 24, and 36).”. The claims describe a process of maintaining skills for a group of distributed actors (i.e. resources), monitoring an environment for a request of an unfulfilled need, and assigning distributed actors (i.e. resources) to address the request/unfulfilled need (i.e. task). Maintaining skills of distributed actors (i.e. resources), monitoring an environment for requests, and assigning distributed actors (i.e. resources) to address the requests reflects an abstract process of managing and scheduling resources to perform a task. These abstract steps can be performed by a human, for example a resource coordinator following business rules or workflow instructions and also applied to both “non-human” and “human” resources, similarly. Therefore, these limitations, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, fall within the abstract grouping of Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity. Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity encompasses fundamental economic principles or practices, commercial or legal interactions, and managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions. Managing and assigning resources to address needs can reflect fundamental economic practices as well as managing personal behavior (i.e. a person following a set of instructions). Therefore, claims 1-3, 6-15, 18-27, and 30-36 are directed to an abstract idea and are not patent eligible.
Step 2A (2): The claims as a whole do not integrate this abstract idea into a practical application. In particular, claims 1, 5, 12, 13, 17, 24, 25, 29, and 36 recite additional elements of “a computer-implemented method, executed on a computing device (claim 1); wherein each distributed actor is a non-human distributed actor that performs a respective skill without human intervention; executing one or more interactions on a respective electronic interface specific to each assigned non-human distributed actor without human intervention, wherein executing the one or more interactions includes: processing the respective electronic interface specific to each assigned non-human distributed actor by identifying content of the respective electronic interface and functionality of the respective electronic interface and processing the content and functionality for the respective electronic interface to perform the one or more interactions on the electronic interface; (claims 1, 13, and 25); wherein the group of distributed actors include one or more of: a software platform; a software application; a virtual machine; and a web-based service (claims 5, 17, and 29); database (claims 12, 24, and 36); a computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations (claim 13); and a computing system including a processor and memory configured to perform operations (claim 25)”. These additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because the claims do not recite (a) an improvement to another technology or technical field and (b) an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself and (c) implementing the abstract idea with or by use of a particular machine, (d) effecting a particular transformation or reduction of an article, or (e) applying the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of an abstract idea to a particular technological environment. These additional elements evaluated individually and in combination are viewed as computing devices that are used to perform the abstract idea and communicate results. Limitations that recite mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea are not indicative of integration into a practical application (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). Therefore, claims 1-3, 5-15, 17-27, and 29-36 as a whole do not include individual or a combination of additional elements that integrate the abstract idea into a practical application and thus are not patent eligible.
Step 2B: The claims as a whole do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Claims 1, 5, 12, 13, 17, 24, 25, 29, and 36 recite additional elements of ““a computer-implemented method, executed on a computing device (claim 1); wherein each distributed actor is a non-human distributed actor that performs a respective skill without human intervention; executing one or more interactions on a respective electronic interface specific to each assigned non-human distributed actor without human intervention, wherein executing the one or more interactions includes: processing the respective electronic interface specific to each assigned non-human distributed actor by identifying content of the respective electronic interface and functionality of the respective electronic interface and processing the content and functionality for the respective electronic interface to perform the one or more interactions on the electronic interface; (claims 1, 13, and 25); wherein the group of distributed actors include one or more of: a software platform; a software application; a virtual machine; and a web-based service (claims 5, 17, and 29); database (claims 12, 24, and 36); a computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations (claim 13); and a computing system including a processor and memory configured to perform operations (claim 25)”. These additional elements evaluated individually and in combination are viewed as mere instructions to apply or implement the abstract idea on a computer. Applying an abstract idea on a computer does not integrate an abstract idea into a practical application or provide an inventive concept (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). Therefore, claims 1-3, 5-15, 17-27, and 29-36 as a whole do not include individual or a combination of additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea and thus are not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-15, 17-27, and 29-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Carter et al. (US 2017/0264634 A1).
As per claims 1, 13, and 15 (Currently Amended), Carter teaches a computer-implemented method, executed on a computing device, comprising (Carter e.g. Systems and methods are described that support information security and sub-system operational conformance with protocols (Abstract). In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method for facilitating information security and sub-system operational conformance of protocols is provided [0003].); a computer program product residing on a computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising (Carter e.g. In some embodiments, a computer-program product is provided that is tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium. The computer-program product can include instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to perform part or all of a method disclosed herein [0004].); a computing system including a processor and memory configured to perform operations comprising (Carter e.g. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computer system, in which various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented [0016].)
Carter teaches maintaining a group of distributed actors, wherein each of the distributed actors offers at least one skill and is assigned to one or more of a plurality of network groups, wherein each distributed actor is a non-human distributed actor that performs a respective skill without human intervention, and wherein each network group is associated with a separate entity; (Carter e.g. Systems and methods are described that support information security and sub-system operational conformance with protocols (Abstract). A plurality of sub-systems within the system is identified. Each sub-system of the plurality of sub-systems is configured to perform different types of operations via access to and usage of different resources [0003]. FIG. 1 shows an example network 100 for controlling resource access and operation across sub-systems and/or systems. Network 100 includes systems corresponding to multiple clients and to multiple locations. More specifically, each of on-site client 1 system 102, virtual client system 106 and client 2 system 104 can correspond to a set of devices and/or other components, such as one or more servers (e.g., and/or server farms or server clusters), user devices (e.g., desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smart phones), data storage devices (e.g., network-attached storage), and/or equipment [0018]. A system can include multiple sub-systems. Each of the multiple sub-systems may (for example) be configured to perform a different type of operation, to use different resources (and/or different types of resources), to generate different types of outputs, to be located at different geographical locations, to correspond to (e.g., to grant access to) different agents or users (e.g., to different departments of an organization), and so on [0019]. In the depicted instance, first sub-system 110 includes a content management resource 118, which is configured to query one or more data stores for content responsive to content requests and to transmit responses to content requests. For example, content management resource 118 may be configured to receive HTTP requests from a user device 119 and respond with webpage data. First sub-system 110 can further include a security resource 120, which may be configured to determine what data various users are authorized to receive and/or what types of actions various agents are authorized to make. For example, security resource 120 may receive or intercept a request from an agent device 122 to add or modify data in a content data store (e.g., stored locally at first sub-system 110 or remotely) and to determine whether such an addition or modification is allowed (e.g., based on an authentication of agent device 122 and/or information associated with the request) [0021].)
Carter teaches monitoring an environment to detect a request from a requesting non-human distributed actor concerning an unfulfilled need associated with the non-human distributed actor; (Carter e.g. The implementation of the protocol defines a workflow that is to occur in response to a detection at the sub-system of a defined event. The defined event corresponds to a device interaction or data change. One or more device interactions or data changes that corresponds to the defined event are detected. In response to the detection, the workflow is performed [0003]. For example, on-site client system 102 can include a first sub-system 110 and a second sub-system 112. First sub-system 110 can be configured to receive and respond to requests from user devices for content, and second sub-system 112 can be configured to dynamically monitor and re-configure network resources (Fig. 1 and [0019]). A usage monitor resource 148 can generate data logs corresponding to (for example) incoming communications, internal system performance (e.g., of content retrieval or equipment operation) and/or system communications. For example, usage monitor 148 can generate and maintain a data log assessed by performance monitor resource 128 based on monitoring of requests and request responses processed by content management resource 118 [0028]. FIG. 2 shows an example interaction between devices and systems for processing resource access requests ([0008] and [0031]). FIG. 3 shows an example interaction between devices and systems for processing resource access requests ([0009] and [0044]).)
Carter teaches processing the request to identify a skill required to service the request, thus defining a required skill; (Carter e.g. FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of an example process for processing resource access requests via conditioned authentication communications [0012]. First sub-system 110 also includes a processing resource 124, which can be configured to perform data processing, such as processing retrieved content (e.g., to convert it from a first to a second format or identifying particular content objects to retrieve in response to a request). First sub-system 110 further includes a scheduling resource 126, which may monitor incoming requests and identify when each request is to be processed (e.g., by managing a request queue) [0022].)
Carter teaches identifying one or more non-human distributed actors capable of providing the required skill based, at least in part, upon the required skill and availability of skills within the plurality of network groups, thus defining one or more qualified non-human distributed actors; (Carter e.g. The implementation depicted in FIG. 1 illustrates various types of resources of systems. Resources represented by separate blocks may, but need not, correspond to separate devices or groups of devices [0020]. Virtual client system 106 includes various resources for a system that are, for example, operating in the cloud (Fig. 1 and [0026]). In the depicted instance, virtual client system 106 includes a data storage resource 142, which may include databases and/or data stores for a client. The databases and/or data stores may be configured to facilitate periodic updating and/or retrieving data in response to queries generated and coordinated by a query resource 144 [0027]. For example, a data store can include content objects managed by content management resource 118, and query resource 144 can be configured to generate a query for content objects from an external source (e.g., a source system 146). As another example, a data store can include historical operational data of one or more equipment resources 134 for client 2 system. As yet another example, a data store can include data corresponding to requests for particular types of outputs of equipment resource 134, such that queries of the data store (e.g., as performed using query resource 144) can be used to control operation parameters of equipment resource 134 to facilitate responsiveness to the requests [0027]. FIG. 4 shows an example block diagram of a system 400 to support sub-system conformance of a systemwide protocol. Each of one, more or all of the depicted components may be assigned to, at least partly allocated to and/or configured to perform operations or store data for a particular client [0054]. The protocol may identify constraints on resource accesses (e.g., to pertain to agents and/or agent devices), such as indications as to which types of resources are available for use, types of permitted use and/or times of permitted use [0054].)
Carter teaches assigning the request to the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors to address the unfulfilled need, thus defining one or more assigned non-human distributed actors; and, (Carter e.g. An allocation resource 152 can control which cloud resources are allocated to a given client, client sub-system, task performance, and so on. For example, allocation resource 152 can control allocation of memory, data stores (e.g., network attached storage), processors, and/or virtual machines [0030]. FIG. 4 shows an example block diagram of a system 400 to support sub-system conformance of a system-wide protocol. Each of one, more or all of the depicted components may be assigned to, at least partly allocated to and/or configured to perform operations or store data for a particular client [0054].)
Carter teaches performing the at least one skill offered by the one or more assigned non-human distributed actors by executing one or more interactions on a respective electronic interface specific to each assigned non-human distributed actor without human intervention, wherein executing the one or more interactions includes (Carter e.g. The implementation of the protocol defines a workflow that is to occur in response to a detection at the sub-system of a defined event. The defined event corresponds to a device interaction or data change. One or more device interactions or data changes that corresponds to the defined event are detected. In response to the detection, the workflow is performed [0003]. FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of one or more components of a system environment 900 by which services provided by one or more components of an embodiment system may be offered as cloud services, [0109]. System environment 900 includes one or more client computing devices 904, 906, and 908 that may be used by users to interact with a cloud infrastructure system 902 that provides cloud services [0109]. The client computing devices may be configured to operate a client application such as a web browser, a proprietary client application (e.g., Oracle Forms), or some other application, which may be used by a user of the client computing device to interact with cloud infrastructure system 902 to use services provided by cloud infrastructure system 902 [0109]. Network(s) 910 may facilitate communications and exchange of data between clients 904, 906, and 908 and cloud infrastructure system 902 [0113]. In certain embodiments, services provided by the cloud infrastructure system may include a host of services that are made available to users of the cloud infrastructure system on demand, such as online data storage and backup solutions, Web-based e-mail services, hosted office suites and document collaboration services, database processing, managed technical support services, and the like [0115]. In some examples, a service in a computer network cloud infrastructure may include protected computer network access to storage, a hosted database, a hosted web server, a software application, or other service provided by a cloud vendor to a user, or as otherwise known in the art [0116].):
Carter teaches processing the respective electronic interface specific to each assigned non- human distributed actor by identifying content of the respective electronic interface and functionality of the respective electronic interface; and (Carter e.g. Cloud infrastructure system 902 may comprise one or more computers and/or servers [0114]. Cloud infrastructure system 902 may include a suite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings that are delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based, elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner [0117]. In certain embodiments, the customer may access a cloud User Interface (UI), cloud UI 912, cloud UI 914 and/or cloud UI 916 and place a subscription order via these Uls [0129]. At operation 940, information regarding the order is communicated to an order orchestration module 922. Order orchestration module 922 may utilize the order information to orchestrate the provisioning of services and resources for the order placed by the customer [0133].)
Carter teaches processing the content and functionality for the respective electronic interface to perform the one or more interactions on the electronic interface without human intervention. (Carter e.g. At operation 942, upon receiving an order for a new subscription, order orchestration module 922 sends a request to order provisioning module 924 to allocate resources and configure those resources needed to fulfill the subscription order [0134]. Order provisioning module 924 enables the allocation of resources for the services ordered by the customer. Order provisioning module 924 provides a level of abstraction between the cloud services provided by cloud infrastructure system 900 and the physical implementation layer that is used to provision the resources for providing the requested services [0134]. At operation 944, once the services and resources are provisioned, a notification of the provided service may be sent to customers on client devices 904, 906 and/or 908 by order provisioning module 924 of cloud infrastructure system 902 [0135].)
As per claims 2, 14, and 26 (Currently Amended), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 1, the computer program product of claim 13, and the computing system of claim 25, Carter teaches wherein assigning the request to the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors to address the unfulfilled need includes one or more of: immediately assigning to the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors; inquiring on the availability of the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors; and allowing the non-human requesting distributed actor to choose the one or more qualified non-human distributed actors from a group of potential non-human distributed actors (Carter e.g. An allocation resource 152 can control which cloud resources are allocated to a given client, client sub-system, task performance, and so on. For example, allocation resource 152 can control allocation of memory, data stores (e.g., network attached storage), processors, and/or virtual machines [0030]. FIG. 4 shows an example block diagram of a system 400 to support sub-system conformance of a system-wide protocol. Each of one, more or all of the depicted components may be assigned to, at least partly allocated to and/or configured to perform operations or store data for a particular client [0054]. One or more protocol management devices 405 can manage one or more protocols that apply to system 400 and/or the client. A protocol can include, for example, a policy or rule. The protocol may identify target performance results (e.g., as individual values, categories and/or via one or more thresholds), which may pertain to (for example) a throughput, operation time or frequency, quality metric, and/or efficiency. The protocol may identify constraints on resource accesses (e.g., to pertain to agents and/or agent devices), such as indications as to which types of resources are available for use, types of permitted use and/or times of permitted use [0054].)
As per claims 3, 15, and 27 (Currently Amended), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 1, the computer program product of claim 13, and the computing system of claim 25, Carter teaches wherein monitoring an environment to detect a request from the requesting non-human distributed actor concerning an unfulfilled need includes: detecting the existence of a request (Carter e.g. The implementation of the protocol defines a workflow that is to occur in response to a detection at the sub-system of a defined event. The defined event corresponds to a device interaction or data change. One or more device interactions or data changes that corresponds to the defined event are detected. In response to the detection, the workflow is performed [0003]. As one particular example, an implementation may define one or more types of trigger events (with definitions stored in a trigger event definition data store 430) and a workflow process (with processing definitions stored in a processing definition data store 435) that is to occur in response to detecting a defined event [0058]. For example, a trigger event may include detecting a device interaction of a particular type (e.g., detecting a presence or communication from a new resource or agent device, receiving a new access request, and/or detecting that one device of sub-system 420 is attempting to write data to a data store), detecting a data change (e.g., via an alert from a sub-system device or via detecting a change in a data store, such as a modification of a previously stored data element or a storing of a new data element), detecting a change in an availability status of a resource, detecting at least a threshold number of resource-operation errors, and so on [0058].)
As per claims 5, 17, and 29 (Original), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 1, the computer program product of claim 13, and the computing system of claim 25, Carter teaches wherein the group of distributed actors include one or more of: a software platform; a software application; a virtual machine; and a web-based service. (Carter e.g. FIG. 1 shows an example network 100 for controlling resource access and operation across sub-systems and/or systems. Network 100 includes systems corresponding to multiple clients and to multiple locations. More specifically, each of on-site client 1 system 102, virtual client system 106 and client 2 system 104 can correspond to a set of devices and/or other components, such as one or more servers (e.g., and/or server farms or server clusters), user devices (e.g., desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smart phones), data storage devices (e.g., network-attached storage), and/or equipment [0018]. Virtual client system 106 includes various resources for a system that are, for example, operating in the cloud [0026].)
As per claims 6, 18, and 30 (Currently Amended), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 1, the computer program product of claim 13, and the computing system of claim 25, Carter teaches wherein the one or more assigned non-human distributed actors interact, directly or indirectly, with one or more non-human distributed sub-actors to address at least a portion of the unfulfilled need. (Carter e.g. In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method for facilitating information security and sub-system operational conformance of protocols is provided. A plurality of sub-systems within the system is identified. Each sub-system of the plurality of sub-systems is configured to perform different types of operations via access to and usage of different resources [0003]. A system can include multiple sub-systems. Each of the multiple sub-systems may (for example) be configured to perform a different type of operation, to use different resources (and/or different types of resources), to generate different types of outputs, to be located at different geographical locations, to correspond to (e.g., to grant access to) different agents or users (e.g., to different departments of an organization), and so on. For example, on-site client system 102 can include a first sub-system 110 and a second sub-system 112. First sub-system 110 can be configured to receive and respond to requests from user devices for content, and second sub-system 112 can be configured to dynamically monitor and re-configure network resources [0019]. Each of first sub-system 110 and second sub-system 112 can further communicate with a sub-system coordination resource 116. Sub-system coordination resource 116 may process data from each of one or more sub-systems to (for example) determine whether operation at one sub-system is consistent with operation at another sub-system or with system-level policies and/or to determine how one or more resources are to be allocated to a sub-system [0019]. FIG. 4 shows an example block diagram of a system 400 to support sub-system conformance of a system-wide protocol. Each of one, more or all of the depicted components may be assigned to, at least partly allocated to and/or configured to perform operations or store data for a particular client [0054].)
As per claims 7, 19, and 31 (Original), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 1, the computer program product of claim 13, and the computing system of claim 25, Carter teaches further comprising: addressing at least a portion of the unfulfilled need with the required skill. (Carter e.g. FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of one or more components of a system environment 900 by which services provided by one or more components of an embodiment system may be offered as cloud services, [0109]. In certain embodiments, order orchestration module 922 enables the management of business processes associated with each order and applies business logic to determine whether an order should proceed to provisioning. At operation 942, upon receiving an order for a new subscription, order orchestration module 922 sends a request to order provisioning module 924 to allocate resources and configure those resources needed to fulfill the subscription order. Order provisioning module 924 enables the allocation of resources for the services ordered by the customer [0134].)
As per claims 8, 20, and 32 (Original), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 7, the computer program product of claim 19, and the computing system of claim 31, Carter teaches wherein addressing at least a portion of the unfulfilled need with the required skill includes: generating one or more response portions with the required skill. (Carter e.g. The implementation depicted in FIG. 1 illustrates various types of resources of systems. Resources represented by separate blocks may, but need not, correspond to separate devices or groups of devices [0020]. In the depicted instance, first sub-system 110 includes a content management resource 118, which is configured to query one or more data stores for content responsive to content requests and to transmit responses to content requests. For example, content management resource 118 may be configured to receive HTTP requests from a user device 119 and respond with webpage data. First sub-system 110 can further include a security resource 120, which may be configured to determine what data various users are authorized to receive and/or what types of actions various agents are authorized to make. For example, security resource 120 may receive or intercept a request from an agent device 122 to add or modify data in a content data store (e.g., stored locally at first sub-system 110 or remotely) and to determine whether such an addition or modification is allowed (e.g., based on an authentication of agent device 122 and/or information associated with the request) [0021].)
As per claims 9, 21, and 33 (Original), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 8, the computer program product of claim 20, and the computing system of claim 32, Carter teaches further comprising: forming a bespoke response to the unfulfilled need based, at least in part, upon the one or more response portions (Carter e.g. FIG. 2 shows an example interaction between devices and systems for processing resource access requests ([0008] and [0031]). At an eleventh action, access control system 225 controls a resource 230 so as to enable or inhibit access to the resource in accordance with the access right data. For example, access control system 225 may transmit an access request, retrieve data from resource 230 and/or add part or all identifier data to a whitelist. At a twelfth action, access control system 225 sends a response communication to agent device 205 that indicates whether access to the resource is granted. The response may include additional access-enabling information, such as a network address of a resource [0042].)
As per claims 10, 22, and 34 (Currently Amended), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 9, the computer program product of claim 21, and the computing system of claim 33, Carter teaches further comprising: providing the bespoke response to the requesting non-human distributed actor (Carter e.g. FIG. 2 shows an example interaction 200 between devices and systems for processing resource access requests. A first action can include an agent device 205 transmitting a request for a token to an information security system 210. Agent device 205 can correspond to a device of or being used by a human agent (e.g., an employee of an institution corresponding to a system), a non-human agent (e.g., executing code), or third-party user [0031]. Agent device 205 may, or may not, be located within a geographical area corresponding to a site or location of a system or institution at a time that the token request is transmitted. The requested token can correspond to a data element that is to be mapped to information including identifying and/or security information that may be used to determine whether requests from agent device 205 are to be granted [0031]. At a second action, information security system 210 can query an access right data store 215 for access right data corresponding to the request (e.g., to an agent or user identified in the request or to agent device 205). In some instances, other information in the request (e.g., identifying a type of agent or sub-system) can be used to identify the access right data [0032]. Using the access right data, information security system 210 can generate a credential for agent device 205. The credential can include and/or represent data or information corresponding to agent device 205 (e.g., data or information corresponding to a human or non-human agent) [0034].)
As per claims 11, 23, and 35 (Original), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 9, the computer program product of claim 21, and the computing system of claim 33, Carter teaches further comprising: effectuating, in whole or in part, the bespoke response. (Carter e.g. At an eleventh action, access control system 225 controls a resource 230 so as to enable or inhibit access to the resource in accordance with the access right data. For example, access control system 225 may transmit an access request, retrieve data from resource 230 and/or add part or all identifier data to a whitelist. At a twelfth action, access control system 225 sends a response communication to agent device 205 that indicates whether access to the resource is granted. The response may include additional access-enabling information, such as a network address of a resource [0042].)
As per claims 12, 24, and 36 (Currently Amended), Carter teaches the computer-implemented method of claim 1, the computer program product of claim 13, and the computing system of claim 25, Carter teaches wherein maintaining a group of non-human distributed actors includes: maintaining a database that defines the group of non-human distributed actors (Carter e.g. FIG. 1 shows an example network for controlling resource access and operation across sub-systems and/or systems [0007]. FIG. 1 shows an example network 100 for controlling resource access and operation across sub-systems and/or systems. Network 100 includes systems corresponding to multiple clients and to multiple locations. More specifically, each of on-site client 1 system 102, virtual client system 106 and client 2 system 104 can correspond to a set of devices and/or other components, such as one or more servers (e.g., and/or server farms or server clusters), user devices (e.g., desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smart phones), data storage devices (e.g., network-attached storage), and/or equipment [0018]. The implementation depicted in FIG. 1 illustrates various types of resources of systems. Resources represented by separate blocks may, but need not, correspond to separate devices or groups of devices [0020]. Virtual client system 106 includes various resources for a system that are, for example, operating in the cloud [0026]. In the depicted instance, virtual client system 106 includes a data storage resource 142, which may include databases and/or data stores for a client. The databases and/or data stores may be configured to facilitate periodic updating and/or retrieving data in response to queries generated and coordinated by a query resource 144 [0027].)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure include US: Radha et al. (US 2023/0342202 A1) "System and Method of Adaptive Scalable Microservice", FOR: White, R. (WO-2023191968-A1) “Auto-Managing Requestor Communications to Accommodate Pending Activities of Diverse Actors”, NPL: I. Djordjevic and C. Phillips, "Architecture for secure work of dynamic distributed groups," First IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference, 2004. CCNC 2004., Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2004, pp. 495-500.
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/A.M./Examiner, Art Unit 3624
/Jerry O'Connor/Supervisory Patent Examiner,Group Art Unit 3624
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