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 .
Status of Claims
This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 2/19/2026.
Claims 1, 8, and 21 have been amended.
Claims 1, 3-8, 10-14, 21, and 23-29 are pending and have been examined.
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, 3-8, 10-14, 21, and 23-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1: Claims 1, 3-7, and 27-29 are directed to a system. Claims 8 and 10-14 are directed to a method. Claims 21, and 23-26 are directed to a non-transitory medium. Thus, on their face they fall within the four statutory categories of patentable subject matter.
Step 2A prong 1:
Claim 1 includes all of the limitations of claims 8 and 21 and an additional limitation. Claim 1 will be used as representative. Each claims additional elements will be addressed individually. The following limitations, when considered individually and as an ordered combination, are merely descriptive of abstract concepts:
Claims 1, 8, 21:
receive, from a content author, a content item that includes one or more interactive elements,
wherein the content item and the one or more interactive elements are stored in a data structure in association with a plurality of user personas that each include shared attributes associated with a user group, and
wherein the plurality of user personas associated with the content item and the one or more interactive elements are defined by the content author;
assign, for each of the plurality of user personas, a respective score to the content item and respective scores to the one or more interactive elements included in the content item based on probabilities of users in the user group associated with the respective user persona engaging with the content item and the one or more interactive elements included in the content item;
serve, to a content consumer, the content item based on a request to access the content item;
track engagement data, comprising selection events that relate to the content consumer associated with the content consumer engaging with one or more of the content item or the one or more interactive elements included in the content item;
calculate, based on tracking the engagement data, scores for each of the plurality of user personas associated with the content item and the one or more interactive elements;
identify, based on calculating the scores, a user persona associated with the content consumer based on the engagement data; and
adapt a layout associated with the content item based on the user persona associated with the content consumer.
The following dependent claim limitations, when considered individually and as an ordered combination, are merely further descriptive of abstract concepts:
Claims 3, 10, 23:
wherein each of the scores calculated for the plurality of user personas represents a probability of the content consumer being associated with a subset of the shared attributes associated with the user group corresponding to a respective user persona of the plurality of user personas, and wherein the user persona associated with the content consumer is associated with a highest score, of the scores calculated for the plurality of user personas.
Claims 4, 11, 24:
determine, for a current version of the layout associated with the content item, a probability of the content consumer interacting with the one or more interactive elements; and
adjust the layout associated with the content item to place the one or more interactive elements at locations that increase the probability of the content consumer interacting with the one or more interactive elements based on the shared attributes associated with the user group corresponding to the respective user persona.
Claims 5, 12, 25:
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive, from the second user device, a subsequent request to access the content item; and serve, to the second user device, the content item in accordance with the adjusted layout.
Claims 6, 13:
track engagement data that relates to the content consumer engaging with one or more of the content item or the one or more interactive elements included in the content item based on the adjusted layout; and
reclassify the user persona associated with the content consumer based on the engagement data associated with the adjusted layout.
Claims 7, 14, 26:
select targeted content based on the shared attributes associated with the user group that corresponds to the user persona associated with the content consumer; and serve the targeted content to the content consumer.
Claim 27:
serve the content item based on interfacing with one or more third parties that provide access to the content item.
Claim 28:
wherein the content item is organized according to a layout that defines locations within a page where the one or more interactive elements are displayed.
Claim 29:
place the one or more interactive elements at locations within a page that increase a probability of the content consumer engaging with the one or more interactive elements based on the shared attributes associated with the user group corresponding to the user persona associated with the content consumer.
The claims provide a manner of tailoring content based on the characteristics of the user. In particular, a content author creates a piece of content with one or more interactive elements and assigns a plurality of personas ( see spec [0012] – user attributes like demographics, psychographics, etc.). The content is presented to content consumers and monitored for user engagement. The content consumer is assigned one of the personas based on the engagement with the content. The layout of the content is adapted based on the user persona. Specifically, such activity is in the form of managing personal behavior (including following rules or instructions).
Additionally, but for the inclusion of generic computing components, the steps of claim can be performed in the human mind or with pen and paper. A human analog would be able to receive a piece of content with interactive elements, provide the content to another user, monitor the user’s engagement with the content, classify the user based on the observed engagement, and change a layout of the content based on the classification. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas.
Step 2A prong 2: This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The claims recite the following additional elements: one or more processors (claim 1, 3-7, 27, 29), one or more memories (claim 1); first user device associated with a content author (claim 1, 8, 21); second user device associated with a content consumer (claim 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 21, 25, 26); content hosting system (claim 8)/ content hosting system with one or more processors (claim 21); non-transitory computer-readable medium (claim 21, 23-26); digital content/ wherein the content item is a digital content item (claim 1, 4-6, 8, 20, 27, 28); third party devices (claim 27); track, based on executing a user tracking module, engagement data comprising scroll events and hover events (claims 1, 8, 21);
The one or more processors, one or more memories, first user device associated with a content author, second user device associated with a content consumer, content hosting system/ content hosting system with one or more processors, non-transitory computer-readable medium, and third party devices are recited at a high level of generality and amount to applying the abstract idea using generic computing devices (paragraph [0027], [0028], [0029]). The one or more processors, one or more memories, content hosting system/ content hosting system with one or more processors, and non-transitory computer-readable medium are merely used to send and receive data (receive, serve) and process data (track, identify, adapt, assign, calculate, determine, adjust, reclassify, select). The first and second user devices do little more than represent the parties involved (content author, content consumer). Nothing in the claims improves upon computer technology or a technical field (See MPEP 2106.05(f)).
The content items being “digital” merely provides a general link to a particular technological environment (i.e. on a computer). Nothing in the claims improves upon digital content itself or a technical field (See MPEP 2106.05(h)).
The limitation regarding track, based on executing a user tracking module, engagement data comprising scroll events and hover events is insignificant extra solution activity of data gathering. Such data collection is tangential to the invention as nothing in the claims improves upon the collection of this type of data or the technical field (See MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Accordingly, when considered both individually and as an ordered combination, the additional elements do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Step 2B: The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Similarly, as above with regard to practical application, the additional elements when considered both individually and as an ordered combination, do not provide an inventive concept as they merely provide generic computing components used as a tool to implement the abstract idea, provide a general link to a particular technological environment, and provide insignificant extra solution action.
Further, track, based on executing a user tracking module, engagement data comprising scroll events and hover events was well understood, routine, and conventional at the time of the claimed invention. (See https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/mouse-tracking-what-it-is-and-how-to-use-to-understand-user-behaviour-30180e6da44c - “A really common use of Mouse Tracking occurs in marketing testing.” – 2021; https://onezero.medium.com/almost-every-website-you-visit-records-exactly-how-your-mouse-moves-4134cb1cc7a0 - “Almost Every Website You Visit Records Exactly How Your Mouse Moves” – 2020; https://tushar-dhiti.medium.com/types-of-heat-maps-9f2474d11d3b - “Those are the most popular and commonly used heat map types. In order to capture the user’s data, you need to add some monitoring code on your website, allow it to operate long enough to gather appropriate data, and end up with a fascinating insight into how consumers communicate with their mouse while browsing a website. Move maps are mouse-tracking heat maps. Move maps watch where users move and stop their mouse when browsing the website. The red spots points in a move map display when you stop the mouse Evidence in research shows a correlation between where users are searching and where their mouse is. A moving map informs you of where users are seeing when they are scrolling around the website. Scroll maps give you the actual proportion of people who scroll to any point on the page: the more red the location, the more users had seen it. A scroll map is a website heat chart displaying how quickly users travel down a site. The most noticeable and least prominent portions of a website from hot (popular) to cold (unpopular) can be obtained with scroll maps on a laptop, smartphone, tablet, and screen.” – 2021; https://thehackernews.com/2017/11/website-keylogging.html#:~:text=Most%20of%20the%20websites%20log,behavior%2C%20keystrokes%20and%20every%20movement. - Most of the websites log its users' online activities, but a recent study from Princeton University has suggested that hundreds of sites record your every move online, including your searches, scrolling behavior, keystrokes and every movement.” “Dubbed "Session Replay," the technique is used even by most popular websites, including The Guardian, Reuters, Samsung, Al-Jazeera, VK, Adobe, Microsoft, and WordPress, to record every single movement a visitor does while navigating a web page, and this incredibly extensive data is then sent off to a third party for analysis.” "More and more sites use "session replay" scripts. These scripts record your keystrokes, mouse movements, and scrolling behaviour, along with the entire contents of the pages you visit, and send them to third-party servers," – 2017; https://sitecare.com/track-user-movements-site/ - “The most common type of user movement tracking tool is mouse tracking, which allows you to track cursor movements — whether it be actual clicks or just where the cursor is hovering. One of the most common ways to visualize mouse tracking is through heat mapping, which offers a colorful representation of the “hottest” areas where people click or hover on your site. If you’re looking for an even more granular way to track user movements, you can’t get more granular than session replays. Session replays are recorded playback videos of each of your users’ sessions — where they clicked, how they scrolled, what pages they visited, and more.” – 2018;
As a result, the claims are not patent eligible.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-8, 10-14, 21, and 23-29 are allowed over the prior art but remain rejected under 35 USC 101.
While each limitation can be found individually in the prior art, the examiner was unable to find a reasonable combination of references that teach each and every limitation in the context of the claimed invention. As a result, such rejections have been withdrawn.
Daly JR et al (US 2013/0031470) is considered the closest prior art. Daly teaches monitoring user activity including website visits and interactive elements of those websites. Users are assigned to groups based on the monitored activities. A personalized layout template for each group is used to determine the arrangement of elements for content.
Wayner (US 2021/0374878) teaches content creators uploading content. The content creator can assign categories to associate with the content for targeting.
Jackson et al (US 2014/0067943) teaches based on characteristics of the target user, characteristics of the set of users connected to the target user and/or characteristics of the set of candidate groups, one or more candidate groups are selected. For example, the candidate group with the highest candidate score is selected or candidate groups having a candidate scores of at least a threshold are selected and assigned to a group.
Raichelgauz et al (US 2017/0180443) teaches tracking performance of content by monitoring user clocks, scrolls, and mouse hovers.
Guo et al (US 2018/0181572) teaches an online system that retrieves user data of a user relating to one or more of the topic groups. The online system determines a likelihood of the user interacting with content items tagged to the topic group for each topic group by applying one or more trained classifiers to the user data of the user.
Gerber et al (US 2022/0351252) teaches determining the creative elements to include in targeted content that will be presented to a sample of consumers, the sentiment prediction model may determine each consumer's engagement probability with targeted content including creative elements having different sentiment tags. The targeted content including creative elements with the sentiment that produced the highest engagement probability (e.g., the highest score for an email opening impression) will then be published to present the consumer with the targeted content that is most likely to trigger the desired engagement.
Word (US 9,852,451) teaches tracking content performance based on mouse hovers, scrolling, and clicks.
Response to Arguments
The examiner has considered but does not find persuasive applicant’s arguments regarding rejections under 35 USC 101. The examiner finds the alleged improvements are to the business concept itself and not technology or a technical field. The data analysis described would not be considered a technical solution. As a result, such rejections have been maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER STROUD whose telephone number is (571)272-7930. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri. 9AM-5PM.
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CHRISTOPHER STROUD
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3621B
/CHRISTOPHER STROUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3621