DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The following is a final office action in response to the amendment filed 4 Feb 2026.
The applicant's claim for benefit of provisional application US 63/465,736 (filed 05/11/2023), US 63/463,376 (filed 05/02/2023) and US 63/487,149 (filed 02/27/2023) has been received and acknowledged.
Applicant’s amendments to Claim 1, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, have been received and are acknowledged.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4 Feb 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With regard to the rejections under 35 USC 101, Applicant argues that: (1) The instant recited claims “integrate any abstract idea into a practical application” because the claims (referencing exemplary Claim 1) recite “ …specific features that accomplish a result that realizes an improvement in automated user-matching in electronic marketplace platforms…technical solution to a technical issue…anonymize aggregated party data… using a machine learning (ML) chatbot and use the ML chatbot to facilitate secure communication between user devices….” (Applicant’s response, 12-14) (2) Applicant further attempts to distinguish the instant claims from “…techniques for user-matching in electronic platforms frequently do not provide a means of anonymizing personally identifiable or sensitive information” and “…claim 1 elements allow user devices to communicate securely throughout the matching and communication coordination processes … elements of representative claim 1 improve upon existing user-matching and communication coordination techniques by anonymizing aggregated party data, using an ML chatbot to facilitate communications between user devices, and the communications comprising the anonymized data” (Applicant’s response, 14-15). (3) Claims 14 and 17 are subject matter eligible for the reason noted for Claim 1 and dependent claims are subject matter eligible based on their dependency on an patent eligible claim. (Applicant’s response, 15).
Examiner respectfully disagrees as noted in the rejection previously and below. As previously stated, Applicant’s own arguments have stated that the recited invention is in the field of “short term rentals” and currently Applicant argues that the recited invention, “accelerates the user matching process” using “a machine learning chatbot.” As argued, the “secure” aspect of the invention is based on ‘data’ anonymization by the ML chatbot and communications are facilitated by use of the “ machine learning chatbot.” This is “apply -it’ (See MPEP 2106.05 (f)) At most, the recited invention improves an abstract idea (i.e. “short-term rental” processes/matching). ( See also MPEP 21`-6.05 (d) …claiming the improved speed or efficiency inherent with applying the abstract idea on a computer" does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide an inventive concept. Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363, 1367, 115 USPQ2d 1636, 1639 (Fed. Cir. 2015). The computing elements are generic and recited at a high level. As such, no improvement to technology is rendered. As such Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive. (Applicant’s arguments, 1, 2 and 3)
Examiner withdrew the prior art in the prior office action of 5 November 2025 in view of Applicant’s amendments and arguments.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
When considering subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. 101, (1) it must be determined whether the claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention, i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. If the claim does fall within one of the statutory categories, (2a) it must then be determined whether the claim is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., law of nature, natural phenomenon, and abstract idea), and if so (2b), it must additionally be determined whether the claim is a patent-eligible application of the exception. If an abstract idea is present in the claim, any element or combination of elements in the claim must be sufficient to ensure that the claim amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Examples of abstract ideas include fundamental economic practices; certain methods of organizing human activities; an idea itself; and mathematical relationships/formulas. Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, et al., 573 U.S. ____ (2014).
The claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e. a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more. In the instant case, the claim(s) as a whole, considering all claim elements both individually and in combination, do not amount to significantly more than an abstract idea.
(1) In the instant case, the claims are directed towards a method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and the system of short-term rentals. In the instant case, Claims 14-16 are directed to a process. Claims 1-13 are directed to a system. Claims 17-20 are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium.
(2a) Prong 1: Short-term rental is categorized in/akin to the abstract idea subject matter grouping of: methods of organizing human activity [organizing human activity (commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations)]. As such, the claims include an abstract idea.
The specific limitations of the invention are (a) identified to encompass the abstract idea include:
1. (Currently Amended) A short-term rental system for intelligent coordination between a plurality of parties, the short-term rental system comprising:
…
… to:
aggregate, by scraping data from (i) a first personal account associated with a first party of the plurality of parties and (ii) a second personal account associated with a second party of the plurality of parties, party data indicative of items a party owns or desires from the plurality of parties at least in part by using permission granted to access the party data stored on a first user… associated with the first party and a second user … associated with the second party, wherein the second personal account is of a different personal account category than the first personal account,
anonymize, …, identifying information within the aggregated party data of at least the first party and the second party from the plurality of parties, wherein the … is trained using (i) a plurality of training party data from a plurality of training parties as input to generate a plurality of training outputs including a plurality of training items associated with the plurality of training parties and (ii) the plurality of training outputs,
determine, …based upon the anonymized aggregated party data, one or more items owned or desired by each party of the plurality of parties, wherein the … analyzes the anonymized aggregated party data using natural language processing, …
generate,…based upon the anonymized aggregated party data, a set of associated parties that includes at least he first party and the second party from the plurality of parties for each item of the one or more items, , and
for the set of associated parties, … cause, …, a communication between the first user .. and the second user …, wherein .. facilitates the communication, and wherein the communication comprises one or more exchange terms and a portion of the anonymized aggregated party data .
14. (Currently Amended) A … method for intelligent coordination between a plurality of parties, the method comprising:
aggregating, by scraping data from (i) a first personal account associated with a first party of the plurality of parties and (ii) a second personal account associated with a second party of the plurality of parties, party data indicative of items a party owns or desires from the plurality of parties at least in part by using permission granted to access the party data stored on a first user…associated with the first party and a second user … associated with the second party, wherein the second personal account is of a different personal account category than the first personal account;
anonymizing,…, identifying information within the aggregated party data of at least the first party and the second party from the plurality of parties, wherein … is trained using (i) a plurality of training party data from a plurality of training parties as input to generate a plurality of training outputs including a plurality of training items associated with the plurality of training parties and (ii) the plurality of training outputs;
determining, … based upon the anonymized aggregated party data, one or more items owned or desired by each party of the plurality of parties, wherein the …analyzes the anonymized aggregated party data using natural language processing,
generating,… based upon the anonymized aggregated party data, a set of associated parties that includes at least a pair of parties the first and the second party from the plurality of parties for each item of the one or more items-; and
for the set of associated parties, causing, …, a communication between the first user device and the second user device, wherein … facilitates the communication and wherein the communication comprises one or more exchange terms and a portion of the anonymized aggregated party data …...
17. (Currently Amended) A … to:
aggregate, by scraping data from (i) a first personal account associated with a first party of the plurality of parties and (ii) a second personal account associated with a second party of the plurality of parties, party data indicative of items a party owns or desires from the plurality of parties at least in part by using permission granted to access the party data stored on a first user … associated with the first party and a second user … associated with the second party, wherein the second personal account is of a different personal account category than the first personal account;
anonymize, by executing a machine learning (ML) chatbot, identifying information within the aggregated party data of at least the first party and the second party from the plurality of parties, wherein the ML chatbot is trained using (i) a plurality of training party data from a plurality of training parties as input to generate a plurality of training outputs including a plurality of training items associated with the plurality of training parties and (ii) the plurality of training outputs,
determine, …based upon the anonymized aggregated party data, one or more items owned or desired by each party of the plurality of parties, wherein the … analyzes the aggregated party data using natural language processing, and wherein the … is trained using (i) a plurality of training party data from a plurality of training parties as input to generate a plurality of training outputs including a plurality of training items associated with the plurality of training parties and (ii) the plurality of training outputs;
generate,…based upon the anonymized aggregated party data, a set of associated parties that includes at least the first party and the second party from the plurality of parties for each item of the one or more items,; and
for the set of associated parties, cause, …, a communication between the first user device and the second user device, wherein the… facilitates the communication and wherein the communication comprises one or more exchange terms and a portion of the anonymized aggregated party data
As stated above, this abstract idea falls into the (b) subject matter grouping of: methods of organizing human activity .
Prong 2: When considered individually and in combination, the instant claims are do not integrate the exception into a practical application because the steps of aggregating…anonymizing…determining… generating… do not apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that that imposes a meaningful limitation on the judicial exception (i.e. the abstract idea).
The instant recited claims including additional elements (i.e. cause.. a communication… ; / transmitting…) do not improve the functioning of the computer or improve another technology or technical field nor do they recite meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of an abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The limitations merely recite: “apply it” (or an equivalent) or merely include instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer or merely uses a computer a as tool to perform an abstract idea or merely uses generic computing elements to perform well known, routine, and conventional functions or generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use (See MPEP 2106.05 (d) and (f))
(2b) In the instant case, Claims 14-16 are directed to a process. Claims 1-13 are directed to a system. Claims 17-20 are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium.
Additionally, the claims (independent and dependent) do not include additional elements that individually or in combination are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception of abstract idea (i.e. provide an inventive concept). As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of: (processor, tangible non-transitory memory, processors, ML chatbot ) merely uses a computer a as tool to perform an abstract idea or merely uses generic computing elements to perform well known, routine, and conventional functions. (See MPEP 2106.05 (d) and (f)) (Specification, [9] non-transitory computer-readable medium; [37] non-transitory computer readable medium… [10] chatbot… computer system… [96-] non-transitory computer readable medium.. computer …. processor… )
The dependent claims have also been examined and do not correct the deficiencies of the independent claims.
It is noted that claims (2-13, 15-16, 18-20) introduce the additional elements including further instructions/steps of: aggregating.. determining…generating… initiating… (Claims 2, 15 and 18); receiving… determining… generating… initiating… (Claims 3, 16 and 19); generating…(Claims 4 and 20); generate… Claim 5); …determining… (Claim 6); …determine… perform… initiate… (Claim 7); … determine… initiate…(Claim 8); determining… determining… determining…(Claim 9)…generate…(Claim 10) ….generate/negotiate… (Claim 11)… Send… receive…. Generate … (Claim 12)…. anonymize.. or anonymize…(Claim 13). These elements are not a practical application of the judicial exception because these limitations merely recite: “apply it” (or an equivalent) or merely include instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer or merely uses a computer a as tool to perform an abstract idea or merely add insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception or generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use (See MPEP 2106.05 (f) and (g)) Further these limitations taken alone or in combination with the abstract do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea alone because the elements amount to mere use of a computer a as tool to perform an abstract idea or merely uses generic computing elements to perform well known, routine, and conventional functions. (See MPEP 2106.05 (d) and (f)) (Specification, [9] non-transitory computer-readable medium; [37] non-transitory computer readable medium… [10] chatbot… computer system… [96-] non-transitory computer readable medium.. computer …. processor… )
Therefore, claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20070088588 A1, Methods and apparatus for transacting a commercial rental of textbooks and other items between independent suppliers and independent users by a facilitator
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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/ASHA PUTTAIA H/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3691