Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/437,324

Systems and Methods for Implementing Contextual Cookies

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Feb 09, 2024
Examiner
NGUYEN, PHUONG H
Art Unit
2174
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Verizon Communications Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
63%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 2m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 63% of resolved cases
63%
Career Allowance Rate
184 granted / 292 resolved
+8.0% vs TC avg
Strong +43% interview lift
Without
With
+42.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 8m
Avg Prosecution
12 currently pending
Career history
308
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.5%
-37.5% vs TC avg
§103
78.1%
+38.1% vs TC avg
§102
16.9%
-23.1% vs TC avg
§112
1.9%
-38.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 292 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
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 § 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 1-20 are 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. Regarding Independent claims 1, 12, and 16 recite “contextual cookie” lacks a clear, established meaning in the art and is not defined by the claim. It is unclear what distinguishes a “contextual cookie” from a conventional cookie or other data storage construct. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification, the term “contextual cookie” is interpreted as a data record associated with a user that stores context-related information derived from user interaction. The claims further recite “user intent information” and “engagement information” lack clear and objective boundaries and are not defined in a manner that would inform one of ordinary skill in the art of the scope of the invention with reasonable certainty. Dependent claims 2-11, 13-15, and 17-20 are further rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 second paragraph, for being dependent upon rejected base independent claims. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by HAJIMIRZA et al. (US Pub. 2021/034951 A1, hereinafter "Hajimirza"). Claim 1: Hajimirza teaches A system (Fig. 2, [0045], eye-tracking system 200) comprising: a memory that stores instructions (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 2, [0009], memory storing computer readable instructions); and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to perform a process (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 2, [0047]) comprising: tracking engagement information of a user while the user views user interface content (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0054], e.g., S402); determining, based on the engagement information, a gaze point of the user with respect to the user interface content; mapping the gaze point of the user to a user interface element associated with the user interface content (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0055]-[0056], e.g., S403-404); and dynamically generating or updating, based on the engagement information and the mapping of the gaze point of the user to the user interface element, a contextual cookie that is configured to store user intent information associated with the user’s engagement with the user interface content (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0069]-[0073], e.g., S405). Claim 2: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the contextual cookie is configured to be used across different domains and different subdomains to track engagement of the user with respect to different user interface content (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 3, [0037]-[0040], [0086]-[0087]). Claim 3: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the tracking of the engagement information includes: accessing image data captured by an imaging device positioned in front of the user; and processing the image data to identify at least some of the engagement information (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 2, [0047], [0054], cameras 230). Claim 4: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the engagement information includes biometric information including eye gaze position information indicative of where the user is looking with respect to the user interface content (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 2, [0019]-[0020], [0054]). Claim 5: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 4, wherein the biometric information further includes at least one of eye attribute information, heart rate information, or facial expression information (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 2, [0054], e.g., eye attribute information). Claim 6: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the mapping of the gaze point of the user to the user interface element includes: accessing a domain tree structure of the user interface content that includes information indicating a position and one or more attributes of the user interface element associated with the user interface content; and determining, based on the domain tree structure, that the gaze point of the user is at a position that corresponds to the user interface element (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 3, [0037]-[0044]). Claim 7: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the dynamically generating or updating of the contextual cookie includes: determining, based on the engagement information, an intent of the user with respect to the user interface element; and storing the intent of the user as part of the user intent information of the contextual cookie (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0069]-[0073], e.g., S405). Claim 8: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the dynamically generating or updating of the contextual cookie includes: generating a plurality of behavior vectors based on the engagement information; clustering the plurality of behavior vectors into a plurality of clusters; classifying the plurality of clusters; predicting, based on the classifying of the plurality of clusters, an intent of the user with respect to the user interface element; and storing the intent of the user as part of the user intent information of the contextual cookie (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0069]-[0072], e.g., S405). Claim 9: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the dynamically generating or updating of the contextual cookie includes executing a machine learning algorithm to process the engagement information (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0070]-[0073]). Claim 10: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the user intent information of the contextual cookie includes: a first name-value pair that includes information indicating an intent of the user with respect to the user interface element; and a second name-value pair that includes information indicating an ignored portion of the interface content (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0054]-[0057], [0118]). Claim 11: Hajimirza teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the process further comprises: determining, based on the engagement information, an additional gaze point of the user with respect to the user interface content (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0053]-[0054], e.g., S402; [0070]-[0071]); mapping the additional gaze point of the user to an additional user interface element associated with the user interface content; and determining, based on the mapping of the additional gaze point to the additional user interface element, an engagement sequence of the user with respect to the user interface element and the additional user interface element (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0055]-[0056], e.g., S403-404), wherein the dynamically generating or updating of the contextual cookie includes determining, based on the engagement sequence, an intent of the user with respect to the user interface element and the additional user interface element (“Hajimirza”, Fig. 4, [0069]-[0073], e.g., S405). Claim 12: Claim 12 is directed to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for implementing the method steps of claim 1. Therefore, claim 12 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 13: Claim 13 is directed to the storage medium of claim 12 for implementing the method steps of claim 2. Therefore, claim 13 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 14: Claim 14 is directed to the storage medium of claim 12 for implementing the method steps of claim 6. Therefore, claim 14 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 15: Claim 15 is directed to the storage medium of claim 12 for implementing the method steps of claim 7. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 16: Claim 16 is directed to a method for implementing the method steps of claim 1. Therefore, claim 16 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 17: Claim 17 is directed to the method of claim 16 for implementing the method steps of claim 11. Therefore, claim 17 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 18: Claim 18 is directed to the method of claim 16 for implementing the method steps of claim 2. Therefore, claim 18 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 19: Claim 19 is directed to the method of claim 16 for implementing the method steps of claim 6. Therefore, claim 19 is rejected under similar rationale. Claim 20: Claim 20 is directed to the method of claim 16 for implementing the method steps of claim 8. Therefore, claim 20 is rejected under similar rationale. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Turgeman et al. (U.S. 2018/0034850 A1) discloses system, device, and method of generating and managing behavioral biometric cookies. Dhawan et al. (U.S. 2016/0314494 A1) interaction-based content configuration. Venable et al. (U.S. 2014/0380230 A1) discloses selecting user interface elements via position signal. Examiner has cited particular columns and line and/or paragraph numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. The examiner requests, in response to this Office action, support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line no(s) in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the examiner in prosecuting the application. When responding to this office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections See 37 CFR 1.111(c). Point of Contact Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUONG H NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1300. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-4:00 PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William Bashore can be reached at 571-272-4088. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /PHUONG H NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2174
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 09, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 16, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112
Jul 14, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Jul 14, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
63%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+42.9%)
3y 8m (~1y 2m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 292 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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