Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/517,166

CONTENT MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR CAPTURING AND GENERATIVELY TRANSFORMING CONTENT ITEM

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Nov 22, 2023
Examiner
DEBROW, JAMES J
Art Unit
2174
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
70%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 3m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 70% — above average
70%
Career Allow Rate
351 granted / 504 resolved
+14.6% vs TC avg
Strong +26% interview lift
Without
With
+25.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
529
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
11.1%
-28.9% vs TC avg
§103
52.5%
+12.5% vs TC avg
§102
23.9%
-16.1% vs TC avg
§112
6.4%
-33.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 504 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 . This Office Action is responsive to: Application filed 22 Nov. 2023 Claims 1-20 are pending in this case. Claims 1, 12 and 18 are independent claims Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 1-6, 10-16, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Qian et al. (Pub. No.: US 2009/0210214 A1; Filed: Feb. 19, 2008)(hereinafter “Qian”). Regarding independent claims 1 and 12, Qian disclose a method for transforming a captured content item, the method comprising: receiving a capture request to capture a content item (0003; 0005); upon receiving the capture request, capturing the content item and providing the content item in a first user interface element of a content management tool (0003; 0005); applying a generative transformation function to the content item to generate a transformed content item (0026; 0034-0040); writing the transformed content item in a second user interface element of the content management tool (0004; 0034-0040); receiving a paste request to paste the transformed content item at a requested location (0003); and in response to receiving the paste request, providing the transformed content item at the requested location (0003). Regarding dependent claim 2, Qian disclose the method of claim 1, wherein receiving the capture request to capture the content item comprises receiving a capture request to capture a content item in a first application (0004; 0028; 0036; 0042), and wherein the requested location is in a second application that is different from the first application (0004; 0028; 0036; 0037; 0042). Regarding dependent claim 3, Qian disclose the method of claim 1, wherein applying the generative transformation function to the content item comprises: automatically applying a previously selected generative transformation function to the content item (0035; 0038). Regarding dependent claim 4, Qian disclose the method of claim 1, wherein applying the generative transformation function to the content item comprises: receiving a user input indicating the generative transformation function to be applied to the content item (0034; 0038). Regarding dependent claim 5, Qian disclose the method of claim 4, wherein the user input is an indication of the generative transformation function in a third user interface element of the content management tool (0034; 0041). Regarding dependent claim 6, Qian disclose the method of claim 4, wherein the user input is a selection of the generative transformation function from a list of predefined generative transformation functions (0034; 0038). Regarding dependent claim 10, Qian disclose the method of claim 1, wherein applying the generative transformation function to the content item to generate the transformed content item comprises applying the generative transformation function to the content item using at least one of: a generative large language model (LLM), a transformer model, a diffusion model, or a multi-modal model (0004-0006; 0018; 0020). Regarding dependent claim 11, Qian disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the content item is at least one of text, image, or audio, and the transformed content item is at least one of text, image, or audio (0006; 0013; 0040). Regarding dependent claim 13, Qian disclose the computing device of claim 11, wherein to receive the capture request to capture the content item comprises to receive a capture request to capture a content item in a first application, and wherein the requested location is in a second application that is different from the first application (0003-0005; 0028; 0036; 0037; 0042). Regarding dependent claim 14, Qian disclose the computing device of claim 11, wherein to apply the generative transformation function to the content item comprises to automatically apply a previously selected generative transformation function to the content item (0035; 0038). Regarding dependent claim 15, Qian disclose the computing device of claim 11, wherein to apply the generative transformation function to the content item comprises to receive a user input indicating the generative transformation function to be applied to the content item (0034; 0038). Regarding dependent claim 16, Qian disclose the computing device of claim 14, wherein the user input is an indication of the generative transformation function in a third user interface element of the content management tool, or a selection of the generative transformation function from a list of predefined generative transformation functions (0034; 0038; 0041). Regarding independent claim 18, Qian disclose a method for transforming a captured content item, the method comprising: receiving a capture request to capture a content item in a first application (0003; 0005); in response to receiving the capture request, capturing the content item from the first application into a content management tool (0003; 0005); applying a generative transformation function to the content item to generate a transformed content item (0026; 0034-0040); receiving a paste request to paste the transformed content item into a second application (0003); and in response to receiving the paste request, providing the transformed content item to the second application (0003). Regarding dependent claim 20, Qian disclose the method of claim 18, wherein applying the generative transformation function to the content item comprises to: automatically applying a previously selected generative transformation function to the content item (0035; 0038); or receiving a user input indicating the generative transformation function to be applied to the content item (0034; 0038). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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 7-9, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qian in view of Radhakrishna et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0116149 A1; Filed: Oct. 9, 2021)(hereinafter “Radhakrishna”) Regarding dependent claim 7, Qian does not expressly disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the generative transformation function is a natural language prompt describing one or more tasks to be performed on the content item to generate the transformed content item. Radhakrishna teach wherein the generative transformation function is a natural language prompt describing one or more tasks to be performed on the content item to generate the transformed content item (0071; 0074). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Radhakrishna with Qian for the benefit of providing improvements in the field of tools for editing source code or other documents that contain text. Regarding dependent claim 8, Qian in view of Radhakrishna disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to receiving a copy request, receiving an edit request to edit the transformed content item (0005; 0020-0022). Regarding dependent claim 9, Qian does not expressly disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a copy request to copy the transformed content item; and in response to receiving the copy request, storing the transformed content item to a database Radhakrishna teach receiving a copy request to copy the transformed content item; and in response to receiving the copy request, storing the transformed content item to a database (0020-0022). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Radhakrishna with Qian for the benefit of providing improvements in the field of tools for editing source code or other documents that contain text. Regarding dependent claim 17, Qian does not expressly disclose the computing device of claim 11, wherein the generative transformation function is a natural language prompt describing one or more tasks to be performed on the content item to generate the transformed content item. Radhakrishna teach wherein the generative transformation function is a natural language prompt describing one or more tasks to be performed on the content item to generate the transformed content item (0071; 0074). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Radhakrishna with Qian for the benefit of providing improvements in the field of tools for editing source code or other documents that contain text. Regarding dependent claim 19, Qian does not expressly disclose the method of claim 18, wherein the generative transformation function 1s a natural language prompt describing one or more tasks to be performed on the content item to generate the transformed content item. Radhakrishna teach wherein the generative transformation function 1s a natural language prompt describing one or more tasks to be performed on the content item to generate the transformed content item (0071; 0074). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Radhakrishna with Qian for the benefit of providing improvements in the field of tools for editing source code or other documents that contain text. NOTE It is noted that any citations to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES J DEBROW whose telephone number is (571)272-5768. The examiner can normally be reached on 09:00 - 06:00. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William Bashore can be reached on 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 an application may be obtained from Patent Center and the Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center or Private PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center or Private PAIR to authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center or the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). 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) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form. /James J Debrow/ Primary Patent Examiner Art Unit 2174 571-272-5768
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 22, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 13, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

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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
70%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+25.7%)
3y 3m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 504 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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