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 .
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.
Claims 1-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0278863 to Huang et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 2015/0178668 to Xu and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0196111 to Yang et al.
Huang et al. ‘863 disclose:
As concerns claim 1, an interaction method, comprising:
in response to detecting a predefined group member addition (Fig. 4, “Add a group member”; Fig. 3, 301-group operation request; Fig. 2-group function; Fig. 9-add a group member) operation, displaying one or more organization identities (“organization name/icon”; Fig. 4-“Department A”), wherein the one or more organization identities indicates an organization structure (“members” of organization; Fig. 4-User m, n, p, q; Fig. 4-“Department A”), wherein the organization structure includes multiple organization members (Fig. 6- shows an “organization structure” can include multiple members (i.e. User m, User n and User o); 0084, 0085-members in a group);
based on a selection operation for the one or more organization identities, determining a group member unit for a first group (Fig. 4-User m-Department manager), wherein the group member unit is a management unit (Fig. 4-Department manager) for managing first group members in the first group, users are added, deleted or updated in batches with the group member unit as a unit;
and
based on the determined group member unit, generating the first group (0056-creating a group; Fig. 4), wherein the first group members of the first group comprise organization members (Fig. 4-Manage users-User m, n, p, q) associated with the group member unit;
displaying a revocation (Fig. 7; Remove a group member) control corresponding to an organization identity of the group member unit of the first group;
in response to detecting a trigger operation for the revocation control, disassociating a group member unit corresponding to a trigger control and the first group (Fig. 7, if Remove a group member is selected).
in response to deleting the organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether the deleted organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode; and in a case that the deleted organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group.
As concerns claim 17, an interaction method, comprising: in response to detecting a predefined group member addition operation (Fig. 4, “Add a group member”; Fig. 3, 301-group operation request), displaying a group candidate object, wherein the group candidate object comprises a user group identity (Fig. 6, “Department”), and the user group identity indicates a user set comprising at least two users (Fig. 6, Users are listed); and based on a selection operation for the group candidate object, determining one or more selected user groups, and generating a first group (0056-creating a group; Fig. 4) based on the selected user groups, users are added, deleted or updated in batches with the user group as a unit;
wherein the in response to detecting the predefined group member addition operation, displaying a group candidate object comprises:
in response to detecting the predefined group member addition operation, displaying a second group identity (Fig. 6, multiple department groups) which indicates a second group having message interaction (0043-group chat; 0055) in a predetermined time period (0116-0118; 0143-target time period; Note: “predetermined” is a broad term, inherent to a have a time period for interaction);
in response to deleting the organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether the deleted organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode; and in a case that the deleted organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group.
As concerns claims 22 and 23 (CRM), an electronic device, comprising: at least one processor (0017); and at least one memory (0017) communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that upon execution by the at least one processor cause the apparatus to:
in response to detecting a predefined group member addition operation (0056-adding a group member; Fig. 4; 0060), display an organization identity (Fig. 6, “Department A”), wherein the organization identity indicates an organization structure (Fig. 6, users associated with Department), wherein the organization structure includes multiple organization members (Fig. 6- shows an “organization structure” can include multiple members (i.e. User m, User n and User o); 0084, 0085-members in a group);
based on a selection operation for the organization identity, determine a group member unit (Fig. 4-User m-Department manager) for a first group (Fig. 4, Department A), wherein the group member unit is a management unit (Fig. 4-Department manager) for managing first group members in the first group, users are added, deleted or updated in batches with the group member unit as a unit; and
based on the determined group member unit, generate the first group (0056-creating a group; Fig. 4), wherein the first group members of the first group comprise organization members (Fig. 4, Users of Department) associated with the group member unit
displaying a revocation (Fig. 7; Remove a group member) control corresponding to an organization identity of the group member unit of the first group;
in response to detecting a trigger operation for the revocation control, disassociating a group member unit corresponding to a trigger control and the first group (Fig. 7, if Remove a group member is selected);
in response to deleting the organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether the deleted organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode; and in a case that the deleted organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group;
or (alternative term “or” used, thus these limitations below need not be selected since the above limitations have been identified)
in response to detecting a predefined group member addition operation, display a group candidate object, wherein the group candidate object comprises a user group identity, and the user group identity indicates a user set comprising at least two users;
and based on a selection operation for the group candidate object, determine one or more selected user groups, and generating a first group based on the selected user groups users are added, deleted or updated in batches with the group member unit as a unit;
wherein the in response to detecting a predefined group member addition operation, display a group candidate object comprises:
in response to detecting the predefined group member addition operation, display a second group identity which indicates a second group having message interaction in a predetermined time period.
in response to deleting the organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether the deleted organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode; and in a case that the deleted organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group.
Huang et al. ‘863 do not disclose:
users are added, deleted or updated in batches with the group member unit as a unit.
Xu ‘668 teach:
users are added, deleted or updated in batches with the group member unit as a unit (0024-batch removing, batch adding).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the system of Huang et al. ‘863 with the batch operations of Xu ‘668, in order to provide enhanced user management.
Huang et al. ‘863 as modified do not disclose:
in response to deleting the organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether the deleted organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode; and in a case that the deleted organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group.
Yang et al. ‘111 teach:
in response to deleting (0009-removing selected group member; 0022; Fig. 17; 0081-delete previously selected group member) the organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether the deleted organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode (0060-group affiliation; 0063; Fig. 17; 0080-include in group, associated relationships); and in a case that the deleted organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group (Fig. 17; 0009; 0063; member removed from one group but still affiliated with another group “first group”; ),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the system of Huang et al. ‘863 as modified, with deleting a member as taught by Yang et al. ‘111, in order to provide user management across groups.
Huang et al. ‘863 further disclose:
As concerns claim 2, the method according to claim 1, wherein the based on the determined group member unit, generating the first group comprises at least one of: adding all the organization members associated with the determined group member unit to the first group (Fig. 7, Super administrator, Manage all employees in the enterprise; 0048-group operation; 0103-whole range of the enterprise);
generating the first group (0056-creating a group; Fig. 4); and adding a new first group member (0056-adding a group member; Fig. 4; 0060) to a generated first group.
As concerns claim 3, the method according to claim 1, further comprising: updating the first group members in the first group based on updating the organization members associated with the group member unit (0056-adding/removing a group member; can correspond with changes made to the organization; BRI, limitations from specification are not read into the claims, the claims do not set any mechanism linking how updating the first group and updating organization is carried out).
As concerns claim 4, the method according to claim 3, wherein the updating the first group members in the first group based on updating the organization members associated with the group member unit comprises: in response to adding an organization member to the organization members associated with group member unit, determining the added organization member as a first group member of the first group (Fig. 4, Fig. 6; user can visually determine the group member is associated with the organization; 0109-check, according to position information of a user role).
As concerns claim 5, the method according to claim 3, wherein the updating the first group members in the first group based on updating the organization members associated with the group member unit comprises: in response to deleting an organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether to delete the deleted organization member from the first group based on the group member unit of the first group associated with the deleted organization member (user can “determine”, i.e. think about deleting a member; claim does not set forth any action beyond the “determining whether to delete”; 0062-removing a group member).
As concerns claim 6, the method according to claim 5, wherein the in response to deleting an organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether to delete the deleted organization member from the first group based on the group member unit of the first group associated with the deleted organization member comprises: in response to determining that the deleted organization member is associated with a remaining group member unit of the first group, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group (Fig. 4, Fig. 6; 0062-user can retain by not removing the other user from a group).
As concerns claim 7, the method according to claim 5, wherein the in response to deleting an organization member from the organization members associated with group member unit, determining whether to delete the deleted organization member from the first group based on the group member unit of the first group associated with the deleted organization member comprises: in response to determining that the deleted organization member is not associated with a group member unit of the first group, determining whether the deleted organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode (Fig. 4, add a group member; Fig. 6-manage users from other groups); in a case that the deleted organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, retaining the deleted organization member in the first group (if added they will be a part of the group); and in a case that the deleted organization member is not added to the first group in the first addition mode, deleting the deleted organization member from the first group (Fig 4, remove a group member will delete a member from the group).
As concerns claim 8, the method according to claim 7, wherein the first addition mode in which a member is added to the first group comprises at least one of: a mode in which a member is added to the first group based on selecting a user identity (Fig. 4, Manage users, select a User); and a mode in which based on selecting a second group identity, a second group member associated with the second group identity is added to the first group (Fig. 4, Manage users, select a different user).
As concerns claim 9, the method according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of: determining a trigger operation for a group generation control as the group member addition operation; determining a new member search operation (Fig. 8, Select a contact) for a generated group as the group member addition operation; and determining a new member addition operation (Fig. 7-Add a group member; Fig. 6-Manage users; Fig. 4-Add a group member) for the generated group as the group member addition operation.
As concerns claim 10, the method according to claim 1, wherein the in response to detecting a predefined group member addition operation, displaying one or more organization identities comprises: obtaining an organization identity of an organization to which a current user belongs (Fig. 6, Manage users, with Department identity); determining whether the current user has a first permission (Fig. 4, permission management) based on permission configuration (Fig. 4, permission management) information associated with the obtained organization identity, wherein the permission configuration information indicates an organization member having the first permission in an organization, and the first permission indicates a permission for adding the organization to a group (Fig. 4, permission management; add or create); and displaying the organization identity based on the first permission of the organization to which the current user belongs (Fig. 6, identifies User and Department and Manager).
As concerns claim 11, the method according to claim 10, wherein the permission configuration information is configured by: displaying a permission configuration page corresponding to the organization identity, wherein the permission configuration page comprises a group addition option (Fig. 4-Permission management, Add a group member), and the group addition option comprises at least one of: an everyone option, an organization leader option, an unmanned option, and a custom person option (Fig. 4, Fig. 7-add member “custom person option”; 0109-role permission);
based on a selection operation for the group addition option, generating the permission configuration information corresponding to the organization identity,
or，
displaying at least one of: a blacklist region and a whitelist region (Fig. 6-Whitelist user; 0099), wherein the blacklist region is configured to display an identity of an organization member not having the first permission selected by a user, and the whitelist region is configured to display an identity of an organization member having the first permission selected by a user (0099-enterprise internal employees); and
the permission configuration information corresponding to the organization identity is generated based on a selection operation for a group addition option comprises: generating the permission configuration information based on at least one of: the selection operation for the group addition option, the identity of the organization member displayed in the blacklist region, and the identity of the organization member displayed in the whitelist region (0099-whitelist, identifies of employees).
As concerns claim 12, the method according to claim 10, wherein the displaying the organization identity based on the first permission of the organization to which the current user belongs comprises: displaying the organization identity of the organization to which the current user having the first permission belongs (Fig. 6, User with Department), and displaying a selection control corresponding to the organization identity (Fig. 6, Department manager).
As concerns claim 13, the method according to claim 10, wherein the displaying the organization identity based on the first permission of the organization to which the current user belongs comprises: displaying the organization identity of the organization to which the current user belongs (Fig. 6), wherein the displayed organization identity comprises at least one of: the organization identity of the organization for which the current user has the first permission (Fig. 6, Manager, Department A) and the organization identity of the organization for which the current user does not have the first permission;
displaying a selection control corresponding to the organization identity of the organization for which the current user has the first permission (Fig. 6, Manager, Department A); or for the organization identity of the organization for which the current user does not have the first permission, prompting, a predefined prompt mode, the current user does not have a permission to add an organization member associated with the organization identity to the group.
As concerns claim 14, the method according to claim 13, wherein the predefined prompt mode comprises at least one of:
a mode in which the organization identity of the organization for which the current user does not have the first permission and the organization identity of the organization for which the current user has the first permission are distinguishably displayed in a predefined displaying mode (Fig. 6, Department manager); and
a mode in which in response to detecting a triggering operation for the organization identity of the organization for which the current user does not have the first permission, prompting information is displayed, wherein the prompt information indicates at least one of: that the current user does not have the permission to add an organization member associated with the organization identity to the group, that the current user has the permission to select an organization member and add the organization member to the group, and that the current user has a permission to apply for the first permission.
As concerns claim 15, the method according to claim 1, further comprising updating the first group members of the first group based on the disassociated group member unit (Fig. 7; Remove a group member is selected, thus group member is no “disassociated”).
As concerns claim 16, the method according to claim 15, wherein the updating the first group members of the first group based on the disassociated group member unit comprises:
determining, for an organization member associated with the disassociated group member unit, whether the organization member is added to the first group in a first addition mode, or is associated with a group member unit of the first group, or is added to the first group in a first addition mode and is associated with a group member unit of the first group (Fig. 4, add a group member);
in a case that the organization member is added to the first group in the first addition mode, or is associated with the group member unit of the first group, or is added to the first group in the first addition mode and is associated with the group member unit of the first group, retaining the organization member in the first group (Fig. 4, add a group member, will retain the member); and
in a case that the organization member is not added to the first group in the first addition mode and is not associated with the group member unit of the first group, deleting the organization member from the first group (Fig. 4, remove a group member).
As concerns claim 18, the method according to claim 17, wherein at least two user group identities are selected (Fig. 6, multiple department groups); and the generating a first group based on the selected user groups comprises:
determining a union of users associated with the at least two selected user groups, and adding all users in the union to the first group (Fig. 6, users from other department can be added to a group including other department users); or，
wherein the user group identity comprises at least one of: an organization identity and a second group identity, and the organization identity indicates an organization structure.
As concerns claim 19, the method according to claim 17, wherein the based on a selection operation for the group candidate objects, determining one or more selected user groups (Fig. 6, multiple department groups), and generating a first group based on the selected user groups comprises: based on a selection operation for a group identity, determining a group indicated by the selection operation as a group member unit of the first group, wherein the group member unit is a management unit (Fig. 6, Department manager) for managing first group members in the first group.
As concerns claim 20, the method according to claim 19, wherein the based on a selection operation for a group identity, determining a group indicated by the selection operation as a group member unit of the first group comprises at least one of:
based on detecting a selection operation for an organization identity, determining organization members associated with the organization identity as first group members of the first group (Fig. 6, users with a particular department association); and based on detecting a selection operation for a second group identity, determining second group members associated with the second group identity corresponding to the selection operation as first group members of the first group (Fig. 6, users from other department groups identified).
As concerns claim 21, the method according to claim 20, wherein the in response to detecting a predefined group member addition operation, displaying a group candidate object comprises:
based on a target search term, searching for a communication object matching the target search term in communication objects of a current user, wherein the communication objects of the current user comprises at least one of: an organization identity, a second group identity, and a user identity (Fig. 10, Search for a user role); and displaying (Fig. 10, return result; Fig. 1, 110-comprises a display; Fig. 4, 6 and 7) a searched communication object as a group candidate object.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 24, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant’s arguments have been previously addressed in the previous Office Actions. The claims are given the broadest reasonable interpretation and limitations from the specification are not read into the claims.
Additionally, concerning Xu, the inclusion of additional features does not preclude the prior art reference from teaching the applicant’s claimed features. The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981).
The applicant’s arguments are also directed to newly amended claims that have been addressed in the rejections cited above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any 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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/JOHN B WALSH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451