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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on April 2, 2026 has been entered. Accordingly, Claims 1-19 are pending in this application. Claims 16-19 are new claims. Claims 1, and 13-15 are independent claims and have been amended.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 7, 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rezvani (PG Pub. No. 2021/0064866 A1) and further in view of Codrington (PG Pub. No. 2019/0278839 A1) and Smith (PG Pub. No. 2022/0276881 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Rezvani discloses an information processing apparatus comprising circuitry configured to:
receive, from the user terminal, a request for registration of the first data selected by the user among the document information displayed on the user terminal, the request for registration including a document identification of the first data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0002], where the method involves receiving, at a computing device, and from a user interface, a set of inputs, where each input assigns a document of a first set of documents to a classifier of a set of classifiers such that the set of classifiers define document classification rules for a classification model);
select one or more of a plurality of management units as candidates for a registration destination in which the first data is to be registered, based on a feature amount of the first data and feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units (see Rezvani, paragraph [0002], where the classification model using a machine learning technique that assigns each document of a second set of documents to a particular destination of a plurality of destinations based on the document classification rules; see also paragraph [0027], where multilayer perceptron (e.g., a technique using two-three layers) may be used with ‘n-gram if-idf’ as features extraction with top k features); and
receive, from the user terminal, a selection made by the user from the list of the candidates, the selection including a destination identification of the registration destination selected by the user and the document identification of the first data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0026], where classification model may fail to classify a document during performance of the classification task; in such a case, the device may notify a user via an email or another form of notification (e.g., the message); the notification may include a link that enables the user to classify the document manually).
Rezvani does not disclose:
receive an input of a search condition input by a user using a user terminal connected to the information processing apparatus via a network;
extract document information from document data stored in a storage, based on the search condition received; and
transmit, to the user terminal, first display information configured to display the document information extracted as a search result;
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user).
Codrington discloses:
receive an input of a search condition input by a user using a user terminal connected to the information processing apparatus via a network (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users);
extract document information from document data stored in a storage, based on the search condition received (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users; the users may access the document(s) if they have certain security clearance and/or one or more users without such clearance may search provided document(s0 from the website that have been made accessible for such open user searching); and
transmit, to the user terminal, first display information configured to display the document information extracted as a search result (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users; the users may access the document(s) if they have certain security clearance and/or one or more users without such clearance may search provided document(s0 from the website that have been made accessible for such open user searching).
Rezvani and Codrington are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Codrington because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Rezvani in view of Codrington does not disclose:
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user.
Smith discloses:
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units (see Smith, [0007], where determining the one or more new workspaces for suggestion to the user may comprise: grouping documents from the set of active documents into a plurality of candidate workspaces for suggestion based on similarity amongst the documents; see also paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics; see also paragraph [0070], where cloud-based content management platform 115 may consider relatedness amongst the documents in the respective candidate workspace based on the similarity measures; accordingly, the higher the similarity measure is for a candidate workspace, the higher the rank is); and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user (see Smith, paragraph [0037], where in response to receiving the ‘Add to Workspace’ selection, the cloud-based content management platform 115 may provide a GUI component on the home screen GUI 200 listing workspaces created by the user so that the user can choose which workspace to add the corresponding document to).
Rezvani, Codrington, and Smith are all directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani and Codrington with Smith because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 2, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
select a group as a candidate for an assignment destination to which the first data is to be assigned, based on the feature amount of the first data and a feature amount of data belonging to one or more groups divided from a selected management unit, the selected management unit being one of the management units having been selected as the candidates (see Rezvani, paragraph [0052], where document classification workflow 300 further shows invoice classification 306, which involves arranging invoice group 330 into subgroups 340, 342, 344 based on difference in vendors; particularly, subgroup 340 includes X invoices that correspond to vendor A, subgroup 342 that includes Y invoices that correspond to vendor B, and subgroup 344 that includes Z invoices that correspond to vendor C … document classification workflow 300 may further classify other types of documents, such as delivery notes, contracts, and identifications; see also Fig. 3, where documents are grouped into types, and then classified by vendor for output to the vendor’s destination); and
transmit third display information indicating the candidate for the assignment destination (see Rezvani paragraph [0029], where the device may classify and provide extracted information in an organized format (e.g., a CSV file) for user review as well as store the invoices in folders arranged according to vendors (e.g., a first folder for Vendor A, a second folder for Vendor B).
Regarding Claim 6, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to select the one or more of the plurality of management units based on a degree of relevance between the user who requests registration of the first data in one of the plurality of management units and each of the plurality of management units (see Rezvani, paragraph [0052], where document classification workflow 300 further shows invoice classification 306, which involves arranging invoice group 330 into subgroups 340, 342, 344 based on difference in vendors; particularly, subgroup 340 includes X invoices that correspond to vendor A, subgroup 342 that includes Y invoices that correspond to vendor B, and subgroup 344 that includes Z invoices that correspond to vendor C … document classification workflow 300 may further classify other types of documents, such as delivery notes, contracts, and identifications; see also Fig. 3, where documents are grouped into types, and then classified by vendor for output to the vendor’s destination; see also paragraph [0057], where block 402 of method 400 involves obtaining a document 402; particularly, a device may obtain the document from a user via an upload or a transfer (e.g., an email)).
Regarding Claim 7, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
Rezvani does not disclose select the one or more of the plurality of management units based on a degree of relevance between a conference held in an organization to which the user who requests registration of the first data in one of the plurality of management units belongs and each of the plurality of management units. Codrington discloses select the one or more of the plurality of management units based on a degree of relevance between a conference held in an organization to which the user who requests registration of the first data in one of the plurality of management units belongs and each of the plurality of management units (see Codrington, paragraph [0184], where Fig. 73 illustrates another view of the organizational folder structure 5000 that includes sub-folders labeled as Department 5004, Team 5006, Project 5008, and Task 5010; see also paragraph [0176], [0177], where documents and/or contents may be virtually displayed in the folders of the organizational folder structure 5000 … a user may own or co-own a folder within the organizational folder structure 5000 and may see all the contents in and linked to that folder; a user may also be assigned content in the folder and may view an organization path to the content in the folder).
Rezvani and Codrington are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Codrington because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 11, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of the management units is a collection of one or more pieces of the data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0029], where classification model of the service may use a different classifier for each network vendor to classify the phone bill invoices according to network vendors (e.g., invoices from Vendor A are sent to folder A and invoices from Vendor B are sent to folder B), which is generated when the one or more pieces of the data are classified based on commonality of input information (see Rezvani, paragraph [0023], where a device may obtain multiple documents of one or more types (e.g., invoices, contracts) form one or more users).
Regarding Claim 12, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein the group is formed by dividing a collection of one or more pieces of the data belonging to the plurality of management units based on a degree of similarity of the feature amounts of the one or more pieces of the data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0029], where classification model of the service may use a different classifier for each network vendor to classify the phone bill invoices according to network vendors (e.g., invoices from Vendor A are sent to folder A and invoices from Vendor B are sent to folder B).
Regarding Claim 13, Rezvani discloses an information processing system comprising:
an information processing apparatus (see Rezvani, paragraph [0030], where computing device 100 can include one or more input devices 102, one or more output devices 104, one or more processors 106); and
a user terminal connected to the information processing apparatus via a network (see Rezvani, paragraph [0030], where computing device 100 can include one or more input devices 102, one or more output devices 104, one or more processors 106), the information processing apparatus including circuitry configured to:
receive, from the user terminal, a request for registration of the first data selected by the user among the document information displayed on the user terminal, the request for registration including a document identification of the first data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0002], where the method involves receiving, at a computing device, and from a user interface, a set of inputs, where each input assigns a document of a first set of documents to a classifier of a set of classifiers such that the set of classifiers define document classification rules for a classification model);
select one or more of a plurality of management units as candidates for a registration destination in which the first data is to be registered, based on a feature amount of the first data and feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units (see Rezvani, paragraph [0002], where the classification model using a machine learning technique that assigns each document of a second set of documents to a particular destination of a plurality of destinations based on the document classification rules; see also paragraph [0027], where multilayer perceptron (e.g., a technique using two-three layers) may be used with ‘n-gram if-idf’ as features extraction with top k features); and
receive, from the user terminal, a selection made by the user from the list of the candidates, the selection including a destination identification of the registration destination selected by the user and the document identification of the first data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0026], where classification model may fail to classify a document during performance of the classification task; in such a case, the device may notify a user via an email or another form of notification (e.g., the message); the notification may include a link that enables the user to classify the document manually).
Rezvani does not disclose:
receive an input of a search condition input by a user using a user terminal connected to the information processing apparatus via a network;
extract document information from document data stored in a storage, based on the search condition received; and
transmit, to the user terminal, first display information configured to display the document information extracted as a search result;
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user).
Codrington discloses:
receive an input of a search condition input by a user using a user terminal connected to the information processing apparatus via a network (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users);
extract document information from document data stored in a storage, based on the search condition received (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users; the users may access the document(s) if they have certain security clearance and/or one or more users without such clearance may search provided document(s0 from the website that have been made accessible for such open user searching); and
transmit, to the user terminal, first display information configured to display the document information extracted as a search result (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users; the users may access the document(s) if they have certain security clearance and/or one or more users without such clearance may search provided document(s0 from the website that have been made accessible for such open user searching).
Rezvani and Codrington are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Codrington because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Rezvani in view of Codrington does not disclose:
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user.
Smith discloses:
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units (see Smith, [0007], where determining the one or more new workspaces for suggestion to the user may comprise: grouping documents from the set of active documents into a plurality of candidate workspaces for suggestion based on similarity amongst the documents; see also paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics; see also paragraph [0070], where cloud-based content management platform 115 may consider relatedness amongst the documents in the respective candidate workspace based on the similarity measures; accordingly, the higher the similarity measure is for a candidate workspace, the higher the rank is); and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user (see Smith, paragraph [0037], where in response to receiving the ‘Add to Workspace’ selection, the cloud-based content management platform 115 may provide a GUI component on the home screen GUI 200 listing workspaces created by the user so that the user can choose which workspace to add the corresponding document to).
Rezvani, Codrington, and Smith are all directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani and Codrington with Smith because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 14, Rezvani discloses an information processing method comprising:
receive, from the user terminal, a request for registration of the first data selected by the user among the document information displayed on the user terminal, the request for registration including a document identification of the first data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0002], where the method involves receiving, at a computing device, and from a user interface, a set of inputs, where each input assigns a document of a first set of documents to a classifier of a set of classifiers such that the set of classifiers define document classification rules for a classification model);
select one or more of a plurality of management units as candidates for a registration destination in which the first data is to be registered, based on a feature amount of the first data and feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units (see Rezvani, paragraph [0002], where the classification model using a machine learning technique that assigns each document of a second set of documents to a particular destination of a plurality of destinations based on the document classification rules; see also paragraph [0027], where multilayer perceptron (e.g., a technique using two-three layers) may be used with ‘n-gram if-idf’ as features extraction with top k features); and
receive, from the user terminal, a selection made by the user from the list of the candidates, the selection including a destination identification of the registration destination selected by the user and the document identification of the first data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0026], where classification model may fail to classify a document during performance of the classification task; in such a case, the device may notify a user via an email or another form of notification (e.g., the message); the notification may include a link that enables the user to classify the document manually).
Rezvani does not disclose:
receive an input of a search condition input by a user using a user terminal connected to the information processing apparatus via a network;
extract document information from document data stored in a storage, based on the search condition received; and
transmit, to the user terminal, first display information configured to display the document information extracted as a search result;
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user).
Codrington discloses:
receive an input of a search condition input by a user using a user terminal connected to the information processing apparatus via a network (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users);
extract document information from document data stored in a storage, based on the search condition received (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users; the users may access the document(s) if they have certain security clearance and/or one or more users without such clearance may search provided document(s0 from the website that have been made accessible for such open user searching); and
transmit, to the user terminal, first display information configured to display the document information extracted as a search result (see Codrington, paragraph [0115], where a website may exist that provides one or more documents and/or one or more objects of the one or more documents for searching through, for example, a query mechanism on the website available and accessible to one or more users; the users may access the document(s) if they have certain security clearance and/or one or more users without such clearance may search provided document(s0 from the website that have been made accessible for such open user searching).
Rezvani and Codrington are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Codrington because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Rezvani in view of Codrington does not disclose:
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user.
Smith discloses:
transmit, to the user terminal, second display information configured to display a list of candidates for the registration destination selected based on the feature amount of the first data and the feature amounts of data belonging to each of the plurality of management units (see Smith, [0007], where determining the one or more new workspaces for suggestion to the user may comprise: grouping documents from the set of active documents into a plurality of candidate workspaces for suggestion based on similarity amongst the documents; see also paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics; see also paragraph [0070], where cloud-based content management platform 115 may consider relatedness amongst the documents in the respective candidate workspace based on the similarity measures; accordingly, the higher the similarity measure is for a candidate workspace, the higher the rank is); and
register the first data in the storage in association with the registration destination identified by the destination identification based on the selection made by the user (see Smith, paragraph [0037], where in response to receiving the ‘Add to Workspace’ selection, the cloud-based content management platform 115 may provide a GUI component on the home screen GUI 200 listing workspaces created by the user so that the user can choose which workspace to add the corresponding document to).
Rezvani, Codrington, and Smith are all directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani and Codrington with Smith because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 15, Rezvani discloses a non-transitory readable medium storing a plurality of program codes (see Rezvani, paragraph [0036], where computer-readable storage media can include non-transitory computer readable media that stores program code), which when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform the method according to Claim 14 [it is the position of the Examiner that Claim 15 is rejected at least in view of the reasons set forth above with respect to Claim 14].
Regarding Claim 16, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
Rezvani does not disclose in response to a user selection to generate a new registration destination, generate the new registration destination and register the first data in the new registration destination. Smith discloses in response to a user selection to generate a new registration destination, generate the new registration destination (see Smith, paragraph [0007], where providing the home screen GUI for the user may comprise … responsive to receiving, via the home screen GUI, the user input indicating approval to create a particular workspace from the one or more new workspaces for suggestion, adding a visual representation of the particular workspace to the second area) and register the first data in the new registration destination (see Smith, paragraph [0037], where in response to receiving the ‘Add to Workspace’ selection, the cloud-based content management platform 115 may provide a GUI component on the home screen GUI 200 listing workspaces created by the user so that the user can choose which workspace to add the corresponding document to).
Rezvani and Smith are all directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Smith because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 17, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
Rezvani does not disclose:
calculate a cosine similarity between a distributed representation vector of the first data and a distributed representation vector of document data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
select one or more of the plurality of management units as candidates for the registration destination, based on the cosine similarity.
Smith discloses:
calculate a cosine similarity between a distributed representation vector of the first data and a distributed representation vector of document data belonging to each of the plurality of management units (see Smith, paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics [it is the position of the Examiner that cosine similarity is inherently a measurement of vector representations]); and
select one or more of the plurality of management units as candidates for the registration destination, based on the cosine similarity (see Smith, paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics).
Rezvani and Smith are all directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Smith because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 18, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
Rezvani does not disclose:
calculate a cosine similarity, between a TF-IDF vector of the first data and a TF-IDF vector of document data belonging to each of the plurality of management units; and
select one or more of the plurality of management units as the candidates for the registration destination, based on the cosine similarity.
Rezvani in view of Smith discloses:
calculate a cosine similarity (see Smith, paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics), between a TF-IDF vector of the first data and a TF-IDF vector of document data belonging to each of the plurality of management units paragraph [0027], where multilayer perceptron (e.g., a technique using two-three layers) may be used with ‘n-gram if-idf’ as features extraction with top k features); and
select one or more of the plurality of management units as the candidates for the registration destination, based on the cosine similarity (see Smith, paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics).
Rezvani and Smith are all directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Smith because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 19, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
Rezvani does not disclose:
calculate similarity values between the first data and document data belonging to the plurality of management units;
select one or more of the plurality of management units as the candidates for the registration destination, based on the similarity values; and
cause the user terminal to display the list of candidates for the registration destination together with the similarity values, in a state in which the candidates are sorted according to similarity values.
Smith discloses:
calculate similarity values between the first data and document data belonging to the plurality of management units (see Smith, paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics);
select one or more of the plurality of management units as the candidates for the registration destination, based on the similarity values (see Smith, paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics); and
cause the user terminal to display the list of candidates for the registration destination together with the similarity values, in a state in which the candidates are sorted according to similarity values (see Smith, paragraph [0062], where cloud-based content management system 115 may base the grouping or clustering based on similarity amongst the documents in topicality, attachment source, associated users, and/or timing and/or frequency of user access … the cloud-based content management platform 115 may measure similarity by a cosine distance, Euclidean distance, Manhattan distance, Minkowski distance, or any other statistical metrics; see also paragraph [0070], where cloud-based content management platform 115 may consider relatedness amongst the documents in the respective candidate workspace based on the similarity measures; accordingly, the higher the similarity measure is for a candidate workspace, the higher the rank is).
Rezvani and Smith are all directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Smith because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Claims 3-5 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rezvani and Codrington as applied to Claims 1, 2, 6, 7, 11-19 above, and further in view of Ording (PG Pub. No. 2012/0246596 A1).
Regarding Claim 3, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
classify second data into a plurality of groups based on the feature amount of the second data (see Rezvani, paragraph [0052], where document classification workflow 300 further shows invoice classification 306, which involves arranging invoice group 330 into subgroups 340, 342, 344 based on difference in vendors; particularly, subgroup 340 includes X invoices that correspond to vendor A, subgroup 342 that includes Y invoices that correspond to vendor B, and subgroup 344 that includes Z invoices that correspond to vendor C … document classification workflow 300 may further classify other types of documents, such as delivery notes, contracts, and identifications; see also Fig. 3, where documents are grouped into types, and then classified by vendor for output to the vendor’s destination).
Rezvani does not disclose newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered and divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups. Ording discloses newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered (see Ording, paragraph [0008], where in response to the windows being moved onto the placeholder workspace image, a new virtual workspace (and new workspace image) can be generated that includes the windows that were moved onto the placeholder workspace image) and divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups (see Ording, paragraph [0079], where the user interface is updated to display application windows associated with the selected workspace as visually grouped clusters (640)).
Rezvani and Ording are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Ording because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 4, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:
select a group as a candidate for an assignment destination to which the first data is to be assigned, the group having the same groups as groups of a selected management unit that is one of the management units having been elected as the candidates, based on the feature amount of the first data and a feature amount of data belonging to the groups divided from the selected management unit (see Rezvani, paragraph [0052], where document classification workflow 300 further shows invoice classification 306, which involves arranging invoice group 330 into subgroups 340, 342, 344 based on difference in vendors; particularly, subgroup 340 includes X invoices that correspond to vendor A, subgroup 342 that includes Y invoices that correspond to vendor B, and subgroup 344 that includes Z invoices that correspond to vendor C … document classification workflow 300 may further classify other types of documents, such as delivery notes, contracts, and identifications; see also Fig. 3, where documents are grouped into types, and then classified by vendor for output to the vendor’s destination); and
transmit third display information indicating the candidate for the assignment destination (see Rezvani paragraph [0029], where the device may classify and provide extracted information in an organized format (e.g., a CSV file) for user review as well as store the invoices in folders arranged according to vendors (e.g., a first folder for Vendor A, a second folder for Vendor B).
Rezvani does not disclose the group being one of a plurality of groups divided from a management unit that is newly generated. Ording discloses the group being one of a plurality of groups (see Ording, paragraph [0079], where the user interface is updated to display application windows associated with the selected workspace as visually grouped clusters (640)) divided from a management unit that is newly generated (see Ording, paragraph [0008], where in response to the windows being moved onto the placeholder workspace image, a new virtual workspace (and new workspace image) can be generated that includes the windows that were moved onto the placeholder workspace image).
Rezvani and Ording are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Ording because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 5, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:
select a group as a candidate for an assignment destination to which the first data is to be assigned, the groups having same data and groups as data and groups of a selected management unit that is one of the management units having been selected as the candidates, based on the feature of the first data and a feature amount of data belonging to the groups divided from the selected management unit (see Rezvani, paragraph [0052], where document classification workflow 300 further shows invoice classification 306, which involves arranging invoice group 330 into subgroups 340, 342, 344 based on difference in vendors; particularly, subgroup 340 includes X invoices that correspond to vendor A, subgroup 342 that includes Y invoices that correspond to vendor B, and subgroup 344 that includes Z invoices that correspond to vendor C … document classification workflow 300 may further classify other types of documents, such as delivery notes, contracts, and identifications; see also Fig. 3, where documents are grouped into types, and then classified by vendor for output to the vendor’s destination); and
transmit third display information indicating the candidate for the assignment destination (see Rezvani paragraph [0029], where the device may classify and provide extracted information in an organized format (e.g., a CSV file) for user review as well as store the invoices in folders arranged according to vendors (e.g., a first folder for Vendor A, a second folder for Vendor B).
Rezvani does not disclose the group being one of a plurality of groups divided from a management unit that is newly generated. Ording discloses the group being one of a plurality of groups (see Ording, paragraph [0079], where the user interface is updated to display application windows associated with the selected workspace as visually grouped clusters (640)) divided from a management unit that is newly generated (see Ording, paragraph [0008], where in response to the windows being moved onto the placeholder workspace image, a new virtual workspace (and new workspace image) can be generated that includes the windows that were moved onto the placeholder workspace image).
Rezvani and Ording are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Ording because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 8, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
classify second data into a plurality of groups based on a determination indicating whether an organization to which the second data relates and an organization to which a user who requests registration of the second data in one of the plurality of management units belongs are a same organization (see Rezvani, paragraph [0052], where document classification workflow 300 further shows invoice classification 306, which involves arranging invoice group 330 into subgroups 340, 342, 344 based on difference in vendors; particularly, subgroup 340 includes X invoices that correspond to vendor A, subgroup 342 that includes Y invoices that correspond to vendor B, and subgroup 344 that includes Z invoices that correspond to vendor C … document classification workflow 300 may further classify other types of documents, such as delivery notes, contracts, and identifications; see also Fig. 3, where documents are grouped into types, and then classified by vendor for output to the vendor’s destination; see also paragraph [0057], where block 402 of method 400 involves obtaining a document 402; particularly, a device may obtain the document from a user via an upload or a transfer (e.g., an email)).
Rezvani does not disclose:
newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered; and
divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups.
Ording discloses:
newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered (see Ording, paragraph [0008], where in response to the windows being moved onto the placeholder workspace image, a new virtual workspace (and new workspace image) can be generated that includes the windows that were moved onto the placeholder workspace image); and
divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups (see Ording, paragraph [0079], where the user interface is updated to display application windows associated with the selected workspace as visually grouped clusters (640)).
Rezvani and Ording are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Ording because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 9, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
classify second data into a plurality of groups based on an organization to which the second data relates (see Rezvani, paragraph [0052], where document classification workflow 300 further shows invoice classification 306, which involves arranging invoice group 330 into subgroups 340, 342, 344 based on difference in vendors; particularly, subgroup 340 includes X invoices that correspond to vendor A, subgroup 342 that includes Y invoices that correspond to vendor B, and subgroup 344 that includes Z invoices that correspond to vendor C … document classification workflow 300 may further classify other types of documents, such as delivery notes, contracts, and identifications; see also Fig. 3, where documents are grouped into types, and then classified by vendor for output to the vendor’s destination; see also paragraph [0057], where block 402 of method 400 involves obtaining a document 402; particularly, a device may obtain the document from a user via an upload or a transfer (e.g., an email)).
Rezvani does not disclose:
newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered; and
divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups.
Ording discloses:
newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered (see Ording, paragraph [0008], where in response to the windows being moved onto the placeholder workspace image, a new virtual workspace (and new workspace image) can be generated that includes the windows that were moved onto the placeholder workspace image); and
divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups (see Ording, paragraph [0079], where the user interface is updated to display application windows associated with the selected workspace as visually grouped clusters (640)).
Rezvani and Ording are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Ording because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 10, Rezvani in view of Codrington and Smith discloses the information processing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
Rezvani does not disclose:
classify second data into a plurality of groups based on a conference to which the second data relates;
newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered; and
divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups.
Codrington discloses classify second data into a plurality of groups based on a conference to which the second data relates see Codrington, paragraph [0184], where Fig. 73 illustrates another view of the organizational folder structure 5000 that includes sub-folders labeled as Department 5004, Team 5006, Project 5008, and Task 5010; see also paragraph [0176], [0177], where documents and/or contents may be virtually displayed in the folders of the organizational folder structure 5000 … a user may own or co-own a folder within the organizational folder structure 5000 and may see all the contents in and linked to that folder; a user may also be assigned content in the folder and may view an organization path to the content in the folder).
Rezvani and Codrington are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani with Codrington because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Rezvani in view of Codrington does not disclose:
newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered; and
divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups.
Ording discloses:
newly generate a management unit in which the second data is to be registered (see Ording, paragraph [0008], where in response to the windows being moved onto the placeholder workspace image, a new virtual workspace (and new workspace image) can be generated that includes the windows that were moved onto the placeholder workspace image); and
divide the newly generated management unit into the plurality of groups (see Ording, paragraph [0079], where the user interface is updated to display application windows associated with the selected workspace as visually grouped clusters (640)).
Rezvani, Codrington, and Ording are both directed toward assigning data to virtual workspaces. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Rezvani and Codrington with Ording because it amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results (see MPEP 2143(I)(A)).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s Arguments, filed April 2, 2026, have been fully considered, but they are moot in light of the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARHAD AGHARAHIMI whose telephone number is (571)272-9864. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm ET.
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/FARHAD AGHARAHIMI/Examiner, Art Unit 2161
/APU M MOFIZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2161
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