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 .
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 9-13 in the reply filed on 11/24/2025 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 04/22/2024 and 08/04/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 01/12/2024 are accepted 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 9-13 are rejected under 35 USC 101. The claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter because claim 9 is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Claims 10-13 fail to remedy these deficiencies.
The claim 9 recites receiving and transmitting the GC’s determination of which Entities will be on a team working on the jobsite, displaying an interactive map showing the locations of jobsites and other construction entities that are offering construction resources, and construction entities that are requesting construction resources; storing information of its associated Entity’s jobsites, excess construction resources that it has for the jobsite, and the construction resources it needs to complete work on a jobsite; interacting with its associated Entity to create and send posts offering excess construction resources that it has that it would like to offer to other Entities; interacting with its associated Entity to create and send posts requesting construction resources that it needs from other Entities; receiving indications from the MCD associated with the GC on which Entities are authorized to work on the jobsite, and will be part of the private network; setting up connections to allow team members to freely communicate with each other in the private network; receiving posts from the MCDs; determining which other MCDs should receive the posts to provide the Posts to those remote Entities that should receive them; and connecting MCDs to allow them to communicate with each other, upon request.
The Claim 9 recites receiving, transmitting, displaying, storing, interacting, receiving indications, setting up, receiving posts, providing, and connecting steps as drafted, are processes that under broadest reasonable interpretation, cover performance of managing personal behavior, but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting “a plurality of Mobile Computing Devices (“MCDs”), an internal Memory, and a server”, nothing in the claim element precludes the steps from practically being performed by organizing human activity. For example, but for the “a plurality of Mobile Computing Devices (“MCDs”), an internal Memory, and a server” in the context of these claims encompasses a person manually receives/transmits the GC’s determination, displays/represents an interactive map, stores information, interacts between entities to create and send posts, receives authorization indications, sets up connections to allow teams members to communicate, receives posts, determines which entities should receive the posts, provides the posts, and connects entities to allow them to communicate. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation by managing personal behavior but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claims recite an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claims as a whole merely describe how to generally “apply” the concept of receiving, transmitting, displaying, storing, interacting, receiving indications, setting up, receiving posts, determining, providing, and connecting in a computer environment. The claimed computer components such as the plurality of Mobile Computing Devices (“MCDs”), the internal Memory, and the server are recited at a high level of generality and are merely invoked as tools to perform receiving, transmitting, displaying, storing, interacting, receiving indications, setting up, receiving posts, determining, providing, and connecting steps. Simply implementing the abstract idea on a generic computer is not a practical application of the abstract idea. Accordingly, this additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim 9 is directed to an abstract idea.
The claim 9 does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of using the plurality of Mobile Computing Devices (“MCDs”), the internal Memory, and the server to perform receiving, transmitting, displaying, storing, interacting, receiving indications, setting up, receiving posts, determining, providing, and connecting steps amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. Therefore, the claim does not amount to significantly more than the recited abstract idea (Step 2B: NO). The claim 9 is not patent eligible.
Claims 10-13, disclose insignificant helpful content to further describe content, such as the monitored times of an entity was contacted/invited presentation, a quantity equal to invitations per view being the number of times that an Entity was invited presentation, and corporate information collection from different sources, which are merely descriptive content to further limit the abstract idea but not make it less abstract. Thus, the claims 10-13 are directed to an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because descriptive content in claims 10-13 further limit the abstract idea but not make it less abstract. Thus, the claims 10-13 are directed to an abstract idea.
There are no additional claim element limitations recited in the claims 10-13. Therefore, the claim does not amount to significantly more than the recited abstract idea (Step 2B: NO). The claims 10-13 are not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by International Patent Publication No. WO 2020/067411 to Matsui.
With regard to claim 9, Matsui discloses a networked supply chain marketplace system for the construction industry comprising:
a. a plurality of Mobile Computing Devices (“MCDs”), each associated with a construction Entity, whereas one of the Entities is a General Contractor (GC) in charge of completing construction on a jobsite (page 2, lines 19-24, page 4, lines 7-8, the construction company 101 includes, at a construction site or the like. a construction company terminal 2 used by each person in charge of the construction company 101);
b. wherein the MCD receives and transmits the GC’s determination of which Entities will be on a team working on the jobsite (page 17, 31-32, In step SS13, the construction company 101 operates the construction company terminal 2 to select the refueling company 103.);
c. wherein each MCD is capable of displaying an interactive map showing the locations of jobsites and other construction entities that are offering construction resources, and construction entities that are requesting construction resources (Fig. 13, page 13, lines 10-24, In the example of the screen 271, the position of a refueling vehicle is visualized by displaying an icon on a map with position information about a site where a construction machine requiring refueling is present.);
d. wherein each MCD has an internal Memory capable of storing information of its associated Entity’s jobsites, excess construction resources that it has for the jobsite, and the construction resources it needs to complete work on a jobsite (abstract, Fig., 14B, A computation unit 34 acquires, from an integrated database 51, construction company information acquired by a construction company information acquisition unit 31, construction equipment information provider information acquired by a construction equipment information provider information acquisition unit 32, and oil provider information acquired by an oil provider information acquisition unit 33, and executes the necessary computation.);
e. wherein each MCD also is capable of interacting with its associated Entity to create and send posts offering excess construction resources that it has that it would like to offer to other Entities (page 18, lines 15-18, the fuel price visualization function attached to this system makes it possible to visualize the refueling conditions, offer prices, etc. of a plurality of refueling providers to the construction company, and present the list to the construction company terminal 2);
f. wherein each MCD also is capable of interacting with its associated Entity to create and send posts requesting construction resources that it needs from other Entities (page 18, lines 12-14, The person in charge of the construction company selects a desired store from the selected refueling companies and requests an estimate.);
g. a Server coupled to the plurality of MCDs, is adapted to: i. receive indications from the MCD associated with the GC on which Entities are authorized to work on the jobsite, and will be part of the private network (page 17, lines 37-page 8, lines 3, When the construction contractor 101 is satisfied with the contents of the estimate, a contract for refueling is concluded between the construction company 101 and the refueling provider 103. In step SS15, the construction company 101 starts providing data on fuel for each construction machine.);
ii. set up connections to allow team members to freely communicate with each other in the private network (Fig. 2, Fig. 3, page 5, lines 14-16, Each of the server 1, the construction company terminal 2, the construction equipment information provider terminal 3, the refueling provider terminal 4, the manager terminal 5, and the learning device 6 is connected to a predetermined network such as the Internet. The communication unit 19 communicates with other devices (for example, the construction company terminal 2, the construction equipment information provider terminal 3, the refueling provider terminal 4, and the like in FIG. 2) via the network N including the Internet.);
iii. receive posts from the MCDs and determine which other MCDs should receive the posts, and provide the Posts to those remote Entities that should receive them (page 3, lines 8-10 and 16-20, When applying for this service, the construction company 101 inputs the address of the construction site. In addition, the construction machine information providing company 102 can obtain, for example, information on a construction company requiring a new construction machine by receiving the provision of this service. As a result, the construction machine information providing company 102 can receive services such as introduction of new customer candidates and display of operation information of machines owned by the company.); and
iv. connect MCDs to allow them to communicate with each other, upon request (page 16, lines 8-10 and page 18, lines 5-6, , the manager manages the construction site in the branch, and the director of the construction site communicates with the person who operates the construction company terminal 2. In the construction company terminal 2, on the display screen related to the “fuel estimation request / confirmation” function.).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Publication No. WO 2020/067411 to Matsui, in view of Canadian Patent No. 2900589 to Scott et al.
With regard to claim 10, Matsui substantially discloses the claimed invention, however, Matsui does not disclose the Server can monitor how many times an Entity was contacted about a contraction resource listed in a Post; and displays this information near the icon associated with the construction resource contacted.
However, Scott teaches the Server can monitor how many times an Entity was contacted about a contraction resource listed in a Post; and displays this information near the icon associated with the construction resource contacted (fig. 2e, page 8, lines 18-23 and page 11, lines 8-13, It also shows the level of interest shown by prospects, including the number of website views and whether comments have been input by viewers, the number of web site viewers who saved that vehicle for later viewing, the number of intern& leads, the number of phone calls about that vehicle, and the number of people who appeared on the dealer floor to see that vehicle. The parameter related to current demand may be determined automatically from a count of the number of physical customers, the number of callers, the number of digital viewers, the number testing the product, the number of offers to purchase, the number penciling
financing, the number closing a deal, and/or the number unwinding the deal.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Matsui to include, the Server can monitor how many times an Entity was contacted about a contraction resource listed in a Post; and displays this information near the icon associated with the construction resource contacted, as taught in Scott, in order to show the level pf current interest (Scott, fig, 31-3c).
With regard to claim 11, Matsui substantially discloses the claimed invention, however, Matsui does not disclose the Server can monitor how many times an Entity was contacted about a contraction resource listed in a Post; and displays this information near the icon associated with the construction resource contacted.
However, Scott teaches the Server: is adapted to monitor how many times an Entity was invited to work on a jobsite; and displays this information near the icon associated with the Entity that was invited (fig. 2e, page 8, lines 18-23 and page 11, lines 8-13).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Matsui to include, the Server: is adapted to monitor how many times an Entity was invited to work on a jobsite; and displays this information near the icon associated with the Entity that was invited, as taught in Scott, in order to show the level pf current interest (Scott, fig, 31-3c).
With regard to claim 12, Matsui substantially discloses the claimed invention, however, Matsui does not disclose the Server: displays a quantity equal to invitations per view being the number of times that an Entity was invited work on a jobsite divided by the number of times that the Entity was viewed.
However, Scott teaches t the Server: displays a quantity equal to invitations per view being the number of times that an Entity was invited work on a jobsite divided by the number of times that the Entity was viewed (fig. 2e, page 8, lines 18-23 and page 11, lines 8-13 and page 11, digital interest, A single indication of current demand may be obtained by weighting the importance of each of these individual factors. Digital interest= page views/clicks by viewers collected from web analytics= a consumer adding an item to a wish list= requests for more information, such as email form submissions containing contact information= social sentiment, such as Facebook likes. Examiner notes that a number of email form submissions containing contact information divided by page views/clicks by viewers collected from web analytics is considered as “a quantity equal to invitations per view”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Matsui to include, the Server: displays a quantity equal to invitations per view being the number of times that an Entity was invited work on a jobsite divided by the number of times that the Entity was viewed, as taught in Scott, in order to show the level pf current interest (Scott, fig, 31-3c).
Claims 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over International Patent Publication No. WO 2020/067411 to Matsui, in view of International Patent Publication No. WO 2015/183940 to Tamblyn et al.
With regard to claim 13, Matsui substantially discloses the claimed invention, however, Matsui does not disclose at least one communication device connected to the Server that communicates with at least one Internet site, wherein the Server to collect corporate information from the Internet site of a size of each Entity and uses the Entity sizes to normalize analytic information posted for the Entity.
However, Tamblyn teaches at least one communication device connected to the Server that communicates with at least one Internet site, wherein the Server to collect corporate information from the Internet site of a size of each Entity and uses the Entity sizes to normalize analytic information posted for the Entity (The values may be normalized based on normalization factors, such as, for example, company size, vertical industry, and the like. Paragraph 94).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Matsui to include, at least one communication device connected to the Server that communicates with at least one Internet site, wherein the Server to collect corporate information from the Internet site of a size of each Entity and uses the Entity sizes to normalize analytic information posted for the Entity, as taught in Tamblyn, in order to quickly understand their performance and react based on the information (Tamblyn, paragraph 1).
Conclusion
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/ARIEL J YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627