Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 12/12/2025, with respect to Beveridge (US 108725512) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection has been withdrawn.
Examiner does not agree that Beveridge does not teach {when the evacuation prediction indicates that an evacuation order is likely to be issued within a period of time based on the event occurring, transmitting, via the evacuation prediction and management engine, an evacuation service offering to a user device; upon a user of the user device confirming acceptance of the evacuation service offering, receiving a payment from the user for the evacuation service offering}.
Beveridge teaches purchasing the evacuation services, so user buy the service, pay in advance for it and upon disaster occurrence, a message that recommend evacuation and caution to be taken is delivered to user and user also can receive money into their account to help with evacuation (see Fig. 16 and 5).
Examiner agrees that Beveridge does not teach {when the event or evacuation order occurs and based on the payment for the evacuation service offering, automatically initiating a payment to a user account}.
However, cited art Baral (US 11227325) that examiner used to reject claim 17 teach this limitation, examiner issuing a second non-final to further clarify the rejection.
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 1-2, 5-10, 13-14, 17, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beveridge (US 108725512) in view of Baral (US 11227325).
Regarding claim 1, Beveridge teaches, a method for predicting and managing evacuations (Col. 1, lines 17-21: Prior to the occurrence of predicted disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc., there are various precautions that residents of the predicted disaster zone can take to avoid or better withstand the impending disaster), the method comprising:
obtaining data associated with an event (abstract: receiving
location data from a personal electronic device of a user; receiving forecast data regarding a predicted disaster; making a determination of an educational message to be sent to the personal electronic device of the user, based on the location data and the forecast data);
processing the data via an evacuation prediction and management engine to obtain an evacuation prediction (Fig. 5 and receiving forecast data (step 505), with the system controller, regarding a predicted disaster and Col. 9, lines 32-63);
when the evacuation prediction indicates that an evacuation order is likely to be issued within a period of time based on the event occurring, transmitting, via the evacuation prediction and management engine, an evacuation service offering to a user device (Fig. 16, el. 1610-1630: Col. 17, lines 4-29: personal electronic device 1600 may include a graphical user interface 1605. Interface 1605 may be configured to display educational messages sent by the disclosed pre-disaster education system. In some embodiments, the educational message may include an alert message informing the user of predicted disaster conditions in the location of the user. For example, a first message 1610 may provide a warning that identifies the type of storm, the predicted time of arrival, and relative strength (e.g., wind speed) forecast, the system may be configured to send an instructional message with recommended precautions to be taken by the user prior to the predicted disaster. For example, third message 1625 illustrates an exemplary instructional message that provides suggestions about which items the user should purchase in preparation for the impending storm);
upon a user of the user device confirming acceptance of the evacuation service offering, receiving a payment for the user for the evacuation service offering (Fig. 6, el. 1625, 1630: send an instructional message with recommended precautions to be taken by the user prior to the predicted disaster. For example, third message 1625 illustrates an exemplary instructional message that provides suggestions about which items the user should purchase in preparation for the impending storm. in some embodiments, the system may be configured to send a recommendation message suggesting evacuation. For example, a fourth message 1630 may provide a recommendation for evacuation and may specify a time by which the user should leave the area).
Beveridge does not teach when the event or evacuation order occurs and based on the payment for the evacuation service offering, automatically initiating transmission of the payment to a user account.
Baral in the same art of endeavor teaches event based automatic transaction system (abstract), when the event or evacuation order occurs and based on the payment for the evacuation service offering, automatically initiating transmission of the payment to a user account. (claim 30: in response to determining that the user is at the event geolocation, by the financial institution computing system, automatically initiating and processing the event-based automatic transaction with a financial account associated with the user and provided by the financial institution computing system, to digitally purchase goods or services on behalf of the user by automatic payment through a mobile wallet client application linked to the financial account, updating the user geolocation in real time, and automatically transmitting a notification including the updating user geolocation to a first responder, wherein the event message includes at least one of the information sources).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Beveridge with Baral in order to improve the system and enhance the user’s experience and ensure better safety.
Regarding claim 2, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein the data is received from a third-party oracle (Beveridge: Col. 6, lines 64-66: weather services, disaster response organizations, first responders (e.g., fire department, police department, coast guard, etc.).
Regarding claim 5, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein the evacuation service offering is structured based at least in part on at least one of a loss modeling, a probability of the event actually occurring, a location of the user, how many users have purchased the evacuation service offering, availability of one or more services, whether the user has existing insurance, a predetermined destination for the user, user modular selections from a service offering, or whether the user has accepted a request to participate in one or more other supportive services (Beveridge: abstract: making a determination of an educational message to be sent to the personal electronic device of the user, based on the location data and the forecast data).
Regarding claim 6, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein the evacuation prediction and management engine predicts, based on at least one of climate data or political data, whether the evacuation order is likely to be issued (Beveridge: Col. 6, lines 9-20: receiving forecast data regarding a predicted disaster, which is illustrated by a weather map 135. Although forecast data regarding a predicted disaster is represented by a weather map, it will be understood that forecast data regarding a predicted disaster may be any type of information regarding predicted disasters that may be considered by controller 105 in determining how to assist the users who are potentially affected by the impending disaster. Accordingly, while the disaster may include weather disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, snow storms, etc., in some cases, non-weather-based disasters may be considered by the system. For example, forest fires, war zones, acts of terrorism, etc. may be considered by the system).
Regarding claim 7, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein the evacuation prediction and management engine predicts, based on at least one of political data or other event-related data, whether the evacuation order is likely to be issued (Beveridge Col. 6, lines 9-20).
Regarding claim 8, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein the other event-related data is associated with at least one of an earthquake, a fire, smoke, a pandemic, a weather-event, or political unrest (Beveridge Col. 6, lines 9-20: forest fires, war zones, acts of terrorism).
Regarding claim 9, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein the evacuation service offering is customizable for the user with respect to at least one of cost, a set of evacuation services offered, a location of the user, a destination of the user in case of evacuation, a need for automatic booking of a hotel, or a need for food services (Beveridge Col. 10, lines 19-20, banking transaction may include a cash advance performed prior to a regularly scheduled payroll deposit. That is, if the user receives regular payroll deposits into their account, but the next deposit is scheduled for a time period during or following a predicted disaster, system 100 may issue a cash advance to the user prior to the scheduled deposit. The cash advance may enable the user to purchase various supplies to prepare for or evacuate from an impending disaster and Col. 6, lines 55-56).
Regarding claim 10, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein when the event occurs and based on the payment for the evacuation service offering, the method further comprises at least one of: accessing critical data associated with the user; automatically booking a hotel for the user; or receiving input from the user associated with the evacuation service offering and tailoring, based on the input, a service of the evacuation service offering (Beveridge Fig. 4, Col. 9, lines 2-25, Col. 9, lines 59-67: Upon considering any changes in the received location data, the determination of the banking transaction may change. For example, if the user's device is detected to now be outside of the predicted disaster zone, it may be concluded that the user is now out of the area, and thus, does not need assistance with evacuation. Similarly, the system may also again consider (or reconsider) any updated forecast data regarding an impending disaster, and change the determination of the banking transaction to be executed. For example, if the strength of the hurricane is forecast to be weaker than previously predicted, the amount of the cash advance to be provided may be reduced. Conversely, if the storm is forecast to be stronger than previously predicted, a larger cash advance may be provided).
Regarding claim 13, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, confirmation, via an interaction of the user with the user device, of at least one of a new location of the user or one or more purchases associated with the evacuation service offering (Beveridge Col. 9, lines 59-67: Upon considering any changes in the received location data, the determination of the banking transaction may change).
Regarding claim 14, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, wherein the evacuation prediction and management engine coordinates with at least one of a hotel booking service, a car rental services, a food industry service, a map service, an airline service, a personal home booking service, banking services, communication services, or emergency services (Beveridge Col. 10, lines 7-16: For example, if a storm is weaker, the initial determination may be to provide a cash advance in an amount that may enable the user to purchase food for the entire family for a week. If the forecast changes and the storm is subsequently forecast to be stronger, the new determination for a cash advance may provide for evacuation. In such case, the amount of cash needed for the evacuation may be less than that needed to obtain food and supplies for a week and also banking transaction: see claim 1).
Regarding claim 17, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, when the event occurs and based on the payment for the evacuation service offering, transmitting an evacuation route to the user device to guide the user to a destination (abstract, Col. 25, lines 24-44).
Regarding claim 19, see claim 1 rejection.
Regarding claim 20, see claim 1 rejection.
Claims 3, 4, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beveridge (US 10872512) in view of Baral in view of Unagami (US 12301654).
Regarding claim 3, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, the claimed method.
Beveridge in view of Baral does not teach wherein the data is confirmed to be accurate via recordation on a blockchain network.
Unagami in the same art of endeavor teaches wherein the data is confirmed to be accurate via recordation on a blockchain network (Col. 13, lines 60-66).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Beveridge with Beveridge in order to improve the system and increased security, control, and performance.
Regarding claim 4, Beveridge in view of Baral in view of Beveridge teaches, wherein the data relates to at least one of climate data or political data (Beveridge: abstract; Weather).
Regarding claim 11, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, the claimed method.
Beveridge in view of Baral does not teach wherein the method is performed by a smart contract operating on a blockchain network.
Unagami in the same art of endeavor teaches the method is performed by a smart contract operating on a blockchain network (Col. 13, lines 60-66: routing information and may be a smart contract converted into a format in which the smart contract can be recorded into the transaction data or may be an incentive such as a crypto token. Information included in the transaction data may be information obtained by compressing the entire ledger information recorded in the first distributed ledger for MANET blockchain network 2A, that is, MANET distributed ledger 1071, and adding the timestamp of this time to the compressed ledger information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Beveridge with Unagami in order to improve the system and increased security, control, and performance.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beveridge (US 10872512) in view of Baral in view of Billman (US 8,639620).
Regarding claim 15, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, the claimed method.
Beveridge in view of Baral does not teach confirming, by the evacuation prediction and management engine, that the user does not already have insurance coverage for an evacuation.
Billman in the same art of endavor teaches the above (user has no insurance policy and assign him for one Col. 2, lines 37-54).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Beveridge with Billman in order to improve the system and enhance the services provided to the user.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beveridge (US 10872512) in view of Baral in view of Cai (US 20130103309).
Regarding claim 16, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, the claimed method.
Beveridge in view of Baral does not teach wherein the evacuation prediction and management engine coordinates with a communication service and ensures that the user has data bandwidth during the evacuation.
Cai in the same art of endavor teaches evacuation prediction and management engine coordinates with a communication service and ensures that the user has data bandwidth during the evacuation (Paragraph 19).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Beveridge with Cai in order to improve the system and ensure reliability of the communication.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beveridge (US 10872512) in view of Baral (US 11227325) in view of Postrel (US 20050031096).
Regarding claim 18, Beveridge in view of Baral teaches, the claimed method.
Beveridge in view of Baral does not teach wherein the evacuation prediction and management engine distributes users across at least one of one or more different routes or to one or more different destinations during an evacuation to reduce traffic issues.
Postrel teaches wherein the evacuation prediction and management engine distributes users across at least one of one or more different routes or to one or more different destinations during an evacuation to reduce traffic issues (Paragraph 62).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Beveridge with Baral with Postrel in order to improve the system and ensure better service and safety for the user.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIA EL-ZOOBI whose telephone number is (571)270-3434. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn Edward can be reached at (571)270-7136. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIA EL-ZOOBI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692