Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Applicant’s summary of the telephone interview of 9 September 2025 is accurate.
Applicant’s correction of the typo error in claims 1 and 11 is acknowledged. The objection to claims 1, 11 is withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10 October 2025 regarding the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 with respect to the independent claims as amended have been fully considered. The rejection under 101 is withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments regarding the art rejection of all pending claims have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection presented in this Office action. Note applicant argues the claims as amended.
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 (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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 1-8, 11-18 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bell et al (US 20030200192 A1) of record, in view of Murphy (US 20040249686 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Bell discloses, teaches or suggests a method of geotagging an object property in an ontology via a gazetteer, comprising:
receiving a query via a graphical user interface (GUI) (see at least Fig. 6, 0054: as will be discussed in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 6, a user interface allows users to query, cross reference, and view event information in one or more associations of the attributes as ingested and organized. Like public users, registered users 55 may view event information through the user interface, but may also preset event viewing preferences including event query attributes and distribution modes. Registered users may submit event based information 24, e.g., data containing a topic, time, and location, into the event database for distribution, designating public distribution or distribution to members of a specified registered users group 60. Affiliate event information 40 may be entered into a private virtual network (PVN) 45 by an affiliate administrator or other information provider, organized by specified attributes, and released to the event database for distribution to a group of predetermined users or to affiliate members 50);
running the query against a gazetteer system to obtain one or more geographical coordinates (see at least 0023: The method includes processing of location indicators such as mail code (zip), street addresses, or intersections to geographic locations and extents by use of geo-coding engines, translations of geographic proper nouns to geographic locations and extents by use of a gazetteer, with the option of extending these reference sources by adding geographic sources for additional countries, third party provided information of standard geographic translations or alternate types of geographic information such as sales territories, school districts, or the like. The method also provides for tallying the occurrence of geographic proper nouns encountered in event information not contained in the gazetteer to prioritize gazetteer extension activities, and similarly for other geographic reference translations to locations.);
causing a presentation in the GUI of a digital map including a set of regions corresponding to a set of geographical coordinates from the one or more geographical coordinates (see at least Fig. 6, 0054: as will be discussed in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 6, a user interface allows users to query, cross reference, and view event information in one or more associations of the attributes as ingested and organized. Like public users, registered users 55 may view event information through the user interface, but may also preset event viewing preferences including event query attributes and distribution modes. Registered users may submit event based information 24, e.g., data containing a topic, time, and location, into the event database for distribution, designating public distribution or distribution to members of a specified registered users group 60. Affiliate event information 40 may be entered into a private virtual network (PVN) 45 by an affiliate administrator or other information provider, organized by specified attributes, and released to the event database for distribution to a group of predetermined users or to affiliate members 50.);
receiving a selection of a region of the set of regions (see at least 0028: event information may be viewed where the location criteria of the query may be set by a location defined by a global positioning system (GPS), network based triangulation, e.g. as required by the FCC for cell phones, or any other automated location determination that can be transmitted for use in processing. Either the exact transmitted location can be used as a location selection criterion, or some spatial extent around the transmitted location can provide search criteria for the location attribute.);
causing a presentation in the GUI of a geotag dialog for an object of an ontology corresponding to the region, the object being of an object type and having a plurality of properties (see at least
0017: To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, an event information processing method of processing event based information for distribution and display in an event information processing system includes the steps of acquiring event based information from at least one information source, wherein the event based information includes attributes associated with a topic, a time, and a location. The topic, time, and location attributes from the acquired event based information may then be identified either directly from the event information, or by inference from the source of the event information. In one embodiment of the present invention, the acquired event based information may then be stored in a database and indexed by the identified topic, time, and location attributes. Accordingly, the stored event based information may be displayed as event information reflective of a query dictated by search criteria comprising coextensive ranges of topic, time, and location. Selection criteria can be set according to predetermined values, from interactive specifications, or automatically augmented by correlated attribute values available from hierarchical sources for any or all of the attributes;
see also 0019: The event information processing method herein described provides an efficient means to organize, select, and display global event information that may be relevant to a user. Event information, by definition, contains "what", "when", and "where" data. By creating associations and presenting each in an intuitive format, e.g., topic-listing, time-calendar, location-map, the user avoids the problem of irrelevant information with an easy selection mechanism. In one embodiment, user specified values of selection attributes may be augmented with correlated values of one or more of the selection attributes to provide relevant additional event information);
the difference is Bell does not specifically show: the geotag dialog including a plurality of fields, including a first field for a property, a second field for a location to be associated with the property, and a third field for a time range to be applied to associating the property with the location,
however it is customary in the art as shown by Murphy to include a plurality of fields in a query dialog to help users filter search criteria for a property (see Murphy Fig.3);
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include such fields while implementing the interactive map of Bell in order to facilitate searching by users’ specific needs;
Note Bell clearly suggests the second field automatically filled based on a geographical coordinate of the region (see at least 0006: Each geographic feature has a unique identifier, a set of coordinates (which may be real-world latitude and longitude) for positioning the feature, and attribute data describing the feature. A GIS provides functionality to analyze, query and display data,
See also 0129: The ancillary reference source display may be enabled automatically or may be optionally selected by the user to display ancillary information correlated to the current event displayed. In automatic mode, the ancillary reference source process creates a selected ancillary reference data indicator by identifying the location attribute, e.g., the latitude/longitude in a location lookup table; the topical attribute in a topical lookup table; and the temporal attribute using a temporal lookup table).
Bell further teaches:
receiving via the geotag dialog a selection of a property of the plurality of properties of the object as a value for the first field (see at least 0018: The event information processing method provides a utility for accessing all events regardless of whether their temporal attribute may be in the past, present, or future. This event information processing method allows processing past, present, and future event information from multiple sources to allow correlations whereas most information on events conventionally is not archived for later access.);
wherein the method is performed by one or more processors (see at least Fig. 1, 0054: As generally shown in FIG. 1, one embodiment of the present invention comprises an event information processing system 10 which may be an internet accessible service that provides event information to users 15).
Bell does not specifically use the word "ontology" defining object types and property types for properties in object and the object being of an object type having a plurality of properties according to the ontology.
However the recited ontology as discussed in applicant's specification paragraph 0045 merely describes object types as including "a person object type, a location object type and an event object type and the property type as an "address" property type, a "phone number" property type, and a "location name" property type. Objects may have any number of properties". Applicant's specification paragraph 0043 describes: Structured data is any data that adheres to a conceptual data model. In one embodiment, the mapping system works with structured data that adheres to a conceptual data model comprising objects and properties that are organized according to an object ontology. An object represents a real-world entity such as a person, place or thing. An object can also represent a real-world event such as a "phone call" or a "meeting". Each object may have one or more properties for describing various aspects of the object. For example, a "person" object may have an "address" property and a "phone number" property. Instances of objects may be labeled for identification. For example, an instance of a "person" object may be labeled with the person's name.
Consistent with applicant's specification paragraphs 0043, 0045 discussed above, Bell clearly teaches such "ontology" concept of defined object type and attribute type of the object when Bell shows an object type of an event and its attributes at least at paragraph 0019. The event information processing method herein described provides an efficient means to organize, select, and display global event information that may be relevant to a user. Event information, by definition, contains "what", "when", and "where" data. By creating associations and presenting each in an intuitive format, e.g., topic-listing, time-calendar, location-map, the user avoids the problem of irrelevant information with an easy selection mechanism. In one embodiment, user specified values of selection attributes may be augmented with correlated values of one or more of the selection attributes to provide relevant additional event information.
Bell/Murphy further teaches receiving via the geotag dialog a specification of a date range as a value for the third field, storing geotag data associating the property with the geographical coordinate and the date range (see at least Bell 0034: Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides a means whereby event based information subsets can be derived based on associations cross referenced by topic, time, and location, either single values, ranges, or categories of any or all of those attributes. In an embodiment of the invention, attribute selection criteria and event display may be accomplished through an interactive web- based user interface with a selection/display window for each attribute and an enhanced display based on one attribute according to user specification. The attribute windows allow users to select values or ranges of any or all of topics, times and location specifically or by interaction with the display in an attribute window. For example times may be selected either by marking dates on a calendar or by typing a date reference in the temporal attribute window; topics may be selected by typing words or phrases or by selecting from lists of topics arranged hierarchically in the topic attribute window; location selection may be set by typing a street address, intersection, geographic proper noun or by zooming or panning on a map displayed in the location attribute window. Displayed events will be reflective of the combination of search criteria set by the user. The geographic display will be correlated with displayed events by display type and scale from information in the geographic reference source; it may be a relief map, a street map, an aerial photograph, a floor plan diagram, or any other location display available from public sources or provided for specific applications).
See also Bell 0058: After the acquired information 130 has been TTL analyzed, the information 250 may be formatted and stored as event information in an event database using event database logic 300. The information, indexed by topic, time, and location attributes, may be stored either in a public event database 320 or in a private event database 310, depending on an event viewing authorization of the event based information).
Regarding claim 2, Bell/Murphy further teaches or suggests the method of claim 1, the digital map including a location identifier flag for the geographical coordinate of the set of geographical coordinates (see at least Bell 0128:... Spatial data source selection may be responsive to any search, pan, and zoom requested by the user explicitly or by interaction with a spatial data image displayed in the GUI. The spatial data sources thus create a selected spatial data set by identifying the location attribute, e.g., the latitude/longitude, elevation, extent; the topical attribute using a topical- spatial data lookup table; and the temporal attribute within a user query. Once the selected information is identified, the spatial data source processing selectively clips and retrieves spatial data from the spatial data library as an image for presentation to the querying user.), the selection of the region being performed via a selection of the location identifier flag (see at least Bell 0128: selected spatial data set by identifying the location attribute, e.g., the latitude/longitude, elevation, extent; the topical attribute using a topical-spatial data lookup table; and the temporal attribute within a user query.).
Regarding claim 3, Bell/Murphy further teaches or suggests the method of claim 1, the digital map including an image of the earth (see at least Bell Fig.6) note as written the claimed image of the earth is not specifically defined thus reads on the digital map shown in Fig.6 of Bell.
Regarding claim 4, Bell/Murphy further teaches or suggests the method of claim 1, the object being a new object (see at least Bell 0129 an event displayed as a result of a user query.), the method further comprising receiving via the geotag dialog a new label name for the object (see at least Bell 0129 In automatic mode, the ancillary reference source process creates a selected ancillary reference data indicator).
Regarding claim 5, Bell/Murphy further teaches the method of claim 1, the gazetteer maintaining a database for associating text with geographical coordinates (see at least Bell 0017: In one embodiment of the present invention, the acquired event based information may then be stored in a database and indexed by the identified topic, time, and location attributes. Accordingly, the stored event based information may be displayed as event information reflective of a query dictated by search criteria comprising coextensive ranges of topic, time, and location., Bell 0023: The method includes processing of location indicators such as mail code (zip), street addresses, or intersections to geographic locations and extents by use of geo-coding engines, translations of geographic proper nouns to geographic locations and extents by use of a gazetteer, with the option of extending these reference sources by adding geographic sources for additional countries, third party provided information of standard geographic translations or alternate types of geographic information such as sales territories, school districts, or the like. The method also provides for tallying the occurrence of geographic proper nouns encountered in event information not contained in the gazetteer to prioritize gazetteer extension activities, and similarly for other geographic reference translations to locations. See also Bell 0028:.. In one embodiment of the present invention, event information may be viewed where the location criteria of the query may be set by a location defined by a global positioning system (GPS)).
Regarding claim 6, Bell/Murphy further teaches or suggests the method of claim 1, further comprising causing a presentation in the GUI a view of locations of geo- tagged events that occurred during a period of time (see at least Bell 0020: The method provides a unified means to promote future vents, identify current events, and provide access to historic events).
Regarding claim 7, Bell/Murphy further teaches or suggests the method of claim 6, the view including the digital map (see at least the digital map shown in Fig.6 of Bell), each location of the locations being represented as a superimposed dot on the digital map (see at least item 68 in Fig,6 explained in Bell 0134: Events meeting user specified search criteria for attribute values may be displayed in each window. For example, an event list corresponding to event designations 68 may be displayed in the topic window 62. Event designations 68 may also be displayed according to their location attribute on the location display graphic or map in the location window 66, or on the calendar displayed in the temporal window 64). Note as shown in Fig, 6 the location of the event is clearly represented as a superimposed dot on the digital map as claimed.
Regarding claim 8, Bell/Murphy further teaches or suggests the method of claim 7, further comprising:
receiving a selection of a filter based on an event type (see at least Bell 0024:...; The method further includes extending the location attributes determined for an event to include a position, any applicable spatial extent, and any hierarchical location types correlated to the event location. Thus while an event will be held at specific location, for example Grant Park, it will be correlated with the geographic location of Grant Park as well as with Chicago and Illinois).
causing an update of the view where superimposed dots representing the locations of geo-tagged events of the event type change colors (see at least Bell 0025 The method includes recognition of temporal information in a variety of formats, translation to a universal time for correlation, and correlation of the event with applicable time categories such as time of day, day of week, month, year, century. For specific applications additional time categorizations may be added, for example geological eras, or sales campaign time periods.).
Claims 11-18 essentially recite the limitations of claims 1-8 in form of non-transitory computer program product thus are rejected for the same reasons discussed in claims 1-8 above.
Claims 9, 19 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bell et al (US 20030200192 A1) of record, in view of Murphy (US 20040249686 A1), in view of Loui et al (US 20060090141 A1) of record in parent application 14/818,102 now abandoned.
Regarding claim 9, Bell/Murphy does not specifically show the method of claim 6, the view including a histogram of bars showing a distribution of occurrences of the geo-tagged events over the period of time.
However it is customary in the art as shown by Loui to display data collections on an event histogram timeline to help users visualize event occurrences (see at least Loui Figs. 2, 3, 6).
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include such an event histogram as taught by Loui while implementing the method of Bell/Murphy in order to assist users in visualizing event occurrences.
Claim 19 essentially recites the limitations of claim 9 in form of a non-transitory computer program product thus is rejected for the same reasons discussed in claim 9 above.
Claims 10, 20 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bell et al (US 20030200192 A1) of record, in view of Murphy (US 20040249686 A1), in view of Loui et al (US 20060090141 A1) of record in parent application 14/818,102 now abandoned, further in view of Sali et al (US 20050023354 A1), also of record in parent application 14/818,102 now abandoned.
Regarding claim 10, Bell/Murphy/Loui does not specifically show the method of claim 9, the bars being color-coded based on event types.
However it is well known in the art to do so as shown by Sali (see at least 0048) to differentiate bars of a histogram.
it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the claimed features while implementing the method of Bell/Murphy/Loui in order to differentiate bars of the event histogram.
Claim 20 essentially recites the limitations of claim 10 in form of a non-transitory computer program product thus is rejected for the same reasons discussed in claim 10 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Naaman et al (US 20090049408 A1) teach an apparatus has logic for causing a display of a map having a selectable tag, where the logic causes a display of a set of content objects in response to selection of the tag. The content object is associated with the tag and geographical location of the map. The logic displays the content objects in a viewing window and causes change in the display of the tag in response to the change in map zoom level. Filter logic (110) filters the content objects based on a user input associated with the content objects and based on associated metadata.
Kuwabara et al (JP 2008275565 A) teach the apparatus (100) has a setting screen display unit (12) for displaying a setting screen, to set the search condition parameters information of vehicle route. An acquisition unit (13) acquires the permissible range of several search condition parameters based on the series of operation inputs received through an input unit (2). Two information retrieval units (10,11) search the recommendation route information based on the acquired permissible range of search parameters.
Rieh, Soo Young. "Analysis of multiple query reformulations on the web: The interactive information retrieval context." Information Processing & Management 42.3 (2006): 751-768.
Abstract: This study examines the facets and patterns of multiple Web query reformulations with a focus on reformulation sequences. Based on IR interaction models, it was presumed that query reformulation is the product of the interaction between the user and the IR system. Query reformulation also reflects the interplay between the surface and deeper levels of user interaction. Query logs were collected from a Web search engine through the selection of search sessions in which users submitted six or more unique queries per session. The final data set was composed of 313 search sessions. Three facets of query reformulation (content, format, and resource) as well as nine sub-facets were derived from the data. In addition, analysis of modification sequences identified eight distinct patterns: specified, generalized, parallel, building-block, dynamic, multitasking, recurrent, and format reformulation. Adapting Saracevic’s stratified model, the authors develop a model of Web query reformulation based on the results of the study. The implications for Web search engine design are finally discussed and the functions of an interactive reformulation tool are suggested.
Sigala, Marianna. "Geoportals and Geocollaborative Portals: Functionality and Impacts on Travellers' Trip Panning and Decision Making Processes." (2009).
As more and more travelers wish to create their personalised trip itineraries, the provision of geographical information and services is an unavoidable necessity for travel websites. The current evolution of geoportals and geocollaborative portals present numerous opportunities for making the trip planning process less complex and time consuming, more efficient, social, collaborative and enjoyable for travelers and their travel companions. This paper aimed to analyse the functionality and services of geoportals and geocollaborative portals and to thoroughly demonstrate their impacts on the trip planning and decision making processes on travelers. The discussion provides practical guidelines for designing geoportals and/or geocollaborative portals and directing future research.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 UYEN T LE whose telephone number is (571)272-4021. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/UYEN T LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2156 26 January 2026
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