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 .
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of U.S. Patent Application No. 16/983,146, filed August 3, 2020.
This communication is responsive to amendment filed on 05/11/2026.
Status of claims:
Claims 1-20 were canceled.
Claims 21, 23-24, 26, 28-29, 33, 25-26 and 38-39 are amended.
Claims 21-40 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended and newly added limitations have been considered in analyzing of the new ground of rejections. Referring in details the section below.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., Inre Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); Inre Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a jomt research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP $§ 706.02(1)(1) - 706.02(1)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b). Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 21-40 of the application are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 3-8, 10-14, and 16-20 of US patent no. 11/775,408 B2 with lesser limitations. Since the difference of the claimed subject matters in scope is deminims and unrelated to the overall aesthetic appearance of the claims being compared. In addition, it is obvious for an ordinary skilled person in the art at the time the invention was made to remove limitations from the claims for the purpose to extend a broader intentional usage for his/hers invention. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
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 21-40 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 applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 21, 33 and 39: recite the newly added limitations the limitation “identify a plurality of vector clusters that group a plurality of vectors corresponding to features of electronic reports based on cosine similarities computed between the plurality of vectors in an N-dimensional vector space; determine, via a neural network, an intent for each of the plurality of vector clusters, wherein the intent is associated with creation of the electronic reports that correspond to each of the plurality of vectors grouped in a respective vector cluster of the plurality of vector clusters; label the plurality of vector clusters based on the intent associated with the creation of the electronic reports that correspond to each of the plurality of vectors grouped in the respective vector cluster”. The claims provide no guidance as base on what condition and how these limitations are performed/processed. Applicant is required for clarification.
Applicant is reminder that although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims (See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
- All dependent claims are rejected under the same rational as their based claim as above.
Claim 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01.
The omitted elements of claims 21, 33 and 39 are the followings: “encoding the features of each user into a binary vector to form a matrix representing the number of electronic user reports, wherein each row of the matrix represents a vector of different user report and, each column of the matrix represents a different features of the features for the user report; feeding the binary vector for each user report from the matrix into an autoencoder neural network, wherein the autoencoder neural network generates float vectors by generating a N-dimensional float vector representing the user report for each user report, and wherein the N- dimensional float vector comprises floating point numbers with fractional parts; projecting the float vectors representing the user reports into a N-dimensional space”. See the Applicant’s specification, Figure 12 and paragraphs [0005]-[0007]. Applicant is reminder that although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims (See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
- All dependent claims are rejected under the same rational as their based claim as above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-40 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under the double patenting and 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ) 2nd paragraph set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOAN T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)-270-3103. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, Thursday-Friday from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Aleksandr Kerzhner can be reached on (571) 270-1760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-4103. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
08/14/2026
/LOAN T NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2165
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