DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/5/2026 has been entered.
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 Amendment
Applicant presents amendments to claims 1, 4, and 6–10, claims 2–3 are cancelled, and claims 11–15 are newly introduced. All amendments have been fully considered.
Applicant’s amendments are sufficient to overcome the previous rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) for being indefinite. The rejections are hereby withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments are sufficient to overcome the previous combination of prior art serving as the basis for the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103. In light of Applicant’s clarification of the nature of the recited relationship information (which also affected the interpretation of the recited content data), a new search was conducted and a new primary reference was identified. New rejections of the claims are presented below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant presents arguments with respect to claims 1–10. All arguments have been fully considered.
The Examiner agrees with Applicant’s arguments that the amended claims do not read on the previously cited prior art. As mentioned above, a new search was conducted and new art and a new combination of art is asserted as the basis for the new rejections below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 11–15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 11–13 recite, “… number of times of registration on the user by users other than the user …”, which is unclear. It cannot be determined what “registration on the user” means.
Claim 14 recites, “… number of times of "good" feedback on the user by users other than the user …”, which is unclear. I cannot be determined what “feedback on the user” means.
Claim 15 recites, “… number of times of channel registration on the user by users other than the user …”, which is unclear. It cannot be determined what “channel registration on the user” means.
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, 4–7, 10–15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Overall (US 2022/0405795 A1, published Dec. 22, 2022).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, Overall discloses: a verification system comprising a processor configured to: acquire, from a user terminal of a user, content data provided to an external information processing system providing an environment in which content can be used (content creators 50 contribute, by means of a creator interface 180, content to be featured on the creator’s website and on social media platforms. Overall Figure 2 and ¶¶ 51–52.); acquire, from the user terminal, relationship information indicating a relationship between the user and the content data in the environment (relationship data is collected from the creator interface, unique identification and other preliminary data, which enables metric data to be extracted related to the creator’s profile and the creator’s content published on the websites. Overall ¶¶ 52 and 54.), wherein the relationship information includes user evaluation information related to an evaluation of the user by users other than the user in the environment (processing generates metric data using models and algorithms that pertain to a creator’s credentials as content creator and is exemplified by data including number of followers and follower interaction rates, such as number of likes in a finite time period. Overall ¶ 56.); and verify that the user is an author of the content data based on the relationship information (API connectors verify the creator’s data and creator’s preliminary data and extract additional creator metric data, such as followers and views and can authenticate connections with the social network endpoint, including brokering communication between the brand module and the content platform server. Overall ¶¶ 7 and 53.).
Regarding claim 4, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine verification criteria based on user information related to the user to be acquired from a predetermined information processing system, wherein the processor is configured to verify that the user is the author of the content data further based on the criteria determined (the creator is prompted to input preliminary data used to connect the creator with content featured on websites and social media platforms. Overall ¶ 52.).
Regarding claim 5, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to request, from the user terminal, the relationship information necessary for verification according to a verification result (the creator is prompted to input preliminary data used to connect the creator with content featured on websites and social media platforms. Overall ¶ 52.).
Regarding claim 7, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, further comprising a storage connected to the processor, wherein the processor stores the content data and the relationship information associated with the content data in the storage when the content data and the relationship information are acquired through a series of operations (various databases are used to persist relationship and content data including, preliminary data database 184, a metric database 192, and a creator tag database 196, as well as platform server 110. Overall Figures 1–2 and ¶¶ 51–52 and 56.).
Regarding claim 10, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: extract the additional relationship information from a list of pieces of relationship information that can be provided from the user terminal; and request the user terminal to provide the additional relationship information (relationship data is collected from the creator interface, unique identification and other preliminary data, which enables metric data to be extracted related to the creator’s profile and the creator’s content published on the websites. Overall ¶¶ 52 and 54. Additionally, creator 50 can be prompted to grant the brand 60 authority to access private data held by third-party platforms for use as preliminary relational data. Overall ¶ 52.).
Regarding claim 11, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the user evaluation information includes number of times of registration on the user by users other than the user in the environment and number of times of "good" feedback on the user by users other than the user in the environment (processing generates metric data using models and algorithms that pertain to a creator’s credentials as content creator and is exemplified by data including number of followers and follower interaction rates, such as number of likes in a finite time period. Overall ¶ 56.).
Regarding claim 12, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the user evaluation information includes number of times of registration on the user by users other than the user in the environment or number of times of "good" feedback on the user by users other than the user in the environment (Overall ¶ 56.).
Regarding claim 13, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the user evaluation information includes number of times of registration on the user by users other than the user in the environment (Overall ¶ 56.).
Regarding claim 14, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the user evaluation information includes number of times of "good" feedback on the user by users other than the user in the environment (Overall ¶ 56.).
Regarding claim 15, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1, wherein the user evaluation information includes number of times of channel registration on the user by users other than the user in the environment (Overall ¶ 56.).
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 8 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Overall in view of Hasan (US 2021/0374797 A1, published Dec. 2, 2021).
Regarding claim 8, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1. Overall does not disclose: further comprising a storage connected to the processor, wherein the processor stores the content data and the relationship information associated with the content data in the storage when the relationship information includes a content ID of the content data.
However, Hasan does disclose: further comprising a storage connected to the processor, wherein the processor stores the content data and the relationship information associated with the content data in the storage when the relationship information includes a content ID of the content data (detection and tagging of media content generating and embedding hashtags (identifiers) prior to uploading and publishing content by creators on social medial platforms. Hasan ¶ 42.).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the tracking of an internet content creator’s content and related social medial interaction with the content of Overall with associating a unique relationship identifier to the content based upon the teachings of Hasan. The motivation being to for tracking other user’s interactions with the published content. Hasan ¶ 42.
Claim 9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Overall in view of Gogate (US 2023/0359681 A1, published Nov. 9, 2023).
Regarding claim 9, Overall discloses the limitations of claim 1. Overall does not disclose: wherein the processor is configured to acquire, from the user terminal, additional relationship information indicating a relationship between the user and the content data in the environment when the verification fails; and verify that the user is an author of the content data based on the additional relationship information.
However, Gogate does disclose: wherein the processor is configured to acquire, from the user terminal, additional relationship information indicating a relationship between the user and the content data in the environment when the verification fails; and verify that the user is an author of the content data based on the additional relationship information (misattribution can be overridden and attribution of original content can be assigned based upon a variety of factors outside of direct user provenance and can be determined other attributes and confidence factors, such as time of creation, platform on which content was first shared. Gogate ¶ 58.).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the tracking of an internet content creator’s content and related social medial interaction with the content of Overall with relying on alternative means of attribution when verification of authorship fails based upon the teachings of Gogate. The motivation being to correct misattributions. Gogate ¶ 4.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VANCE M LITTLE whose telephone number is (571) 270-0408. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm.
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/VANCE M LITTLE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2493