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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. This Office Action is in response to the amendment filed on 03/05/2026.
Claims 21, 28 and 35 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 have been canceled.
Claims 21-40 are pending.
Response to Arguments
2. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 21-40 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Examiner’s Note
3. A configurable flow (According to Google): “A configurable flow in data refers to a system or process designed to allow users to adapt how data is ingested, transformed, routed, and stored without needing to modify the underlying code. It enables tailored data handling—such as changing source-to-target mappings, defining business rules, or altering processing steps—through an interface or parameter updates.”
Diestler et al, US 20160255089, [Diestler: Paragraph 21 (“the individual among the organizations and/or external identity(s) of the individual among external content services”, i.e., ‘first group of users’ and “external identify(s)” = ‘second group of users’)] [Diestler: Paragraphs 21-22 (“The content access manager may map the individual's internal user identifier to content permissions (e.g., read/write/share permissions) associated with the individual across each organization that is associated with the individual and the external content service(s) associated with the individual”, i.e., ‘write permission’) [Diestler: Paragraphs 56 (“import external content from across hierarchy levels, organizations, personal and publically-available content to which they have access”, i.e., ‘different levels of access to the file’].
Wetherall et al, US 20160110374, [Wetherall: Paragraph 48 (“records within a user framework that facilitates appropriate levels of access and control for both document users (e.g. content creators, manipulators, reviewers, etc.) and records managers”, i.e., ‘different levels of access to the file’)] [Wetherall: Paragraph 72 (“For example, access permissions (e.g. read, write, etc.) can be configured per user, per role, etc., and can be defined at a record level, a record folder level, a record category level, and/or a file plan level”, i.e., ‘write permission’ and ‘different levels of access to the file’)] [Wetherall: Paragraph 75 (“handling records management for all content of an organization, including content that is generated, modified, accessed, etc. by users who are internal and optionally also external to the organization. These users can interact with documents 102 via one or more content management system sites, which can also be referred to as collaboration or sharing sites”, i.e., sharing files to external users (‘second group of users’))].
Kucera et al, US 20140019880, [Kucera: Paragraph 37 (“For example, a partner can be an entity external to an organization that sells services and/or provides support on behalf of an employee, who is an internal user of the organization.”, i.e., “a partner” is “external to an organization” or ‘second group of users’)] [Kecura: Paragraph 168 (“A record can also have a status, the update of which can be provided by an owner of the record or other users having suitable write access permissions to the record. The owner can be a single user, multiple users, or a group. In one implementation, there is only one status for a record”, i.e., ‘write permission’)] [Kucera: Paragraph 168 (“Allowing an organization's employees to interact with customers and partners in a customer or partner community may provide an improved customer experience.”, i.e., allowing access to “partner community” (‘second group of users’))] [Kucera: Paragraph 212 (“a hierarchical role model, users at one permission level may have access to applications, data, and database information accessible by a lower permission level user, but may not have access to certain applications, database information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level”, i.e., ‘different levels of access to the file’)] [Kucera: Paragraphs 57, 62, 67 and 71 (“The "following" of a record stored in a database, as described in greater detail below, allows a user to track the progress of that record. Updates to the record, also referred to herein as changes to the record, are one type of information update that can occur and be noted on an information feed such as a record feed or a news feed of a user subscribed to the record”)].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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 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.
5. 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.
6. Claims 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kucera et al (US 20140019880).
Claim 21:
Kucera suggests a system comprising: a memory; and a database system implemented using a server system comprising one or more processors, the database system [Kucera: Paragraph 3 (“This patent document relates generally to in an online social network using a database system”)] managed for use by an organization and configurable to cause: maintaining, in a database, a file accessible by a first group of users associated with the organization [Kucera: Paragraph 93 (“interact with CRM data, follow users, follow records, upload files, follow groups, join groups, create groups, follow organizations and create communities”)]. Kucera suggests obtaining an indication that the file is to be accessed by an external system external to the database system for collaboration with a second group of users external to the organization, the indication that the file is to be accessed including a tagging, in the file, by a collaborative author in the first group of users [Kucera: Paragraph 37 (“For example, a partner can be an entity external to an organization that sells services and/or provides support on behalf of an employee, who is an internal user of the organization.”, i.e., “a partner” is “external to an organization” or ‘second group of users’)] [Kucera: Paragraphs 37, 40 and 43 (“a community can be provided as a secure space for different stake-holders of an organization, such as employees, customers and partners of the organization to collaborate with one another by accessing shared data, interacting with relevant tasks and business processes, and using conversational services such as chat sessions, feed-based communication, and private messaging.”)] [Kucera: Paragraph 168 (“Allowing an organization's employees to interact with customers and partners in a customer or partner community may provide an improved customer experience.”, i.e., allowing access to “partner community” (‘second group of users’))]. Kucera suggests determining one or more permissions from a set of permissions providing different levels of access to the file, the one or more permissions including a write permission [Kecura: Paragraph 168 (“A record can also have a status, the update of which can be provided by an owner of the record or other users having suitable write access permissions to the record. The owner can be a single user, multiple users, or a group. In one implementation, there is only one status for a record”, i.e., ‘write permission’)] [Kucera: Paragraph 212 (“a hierarchical role model, users at one permission level may have access to applications, data, and database information accessible by a lower permission level user, but may not have access to certain applications, database information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level”, i.e., ‘different levels of access to the file’)]. Kucera suggests automatically granting [[a]] the one or more permissions including the write permission in the file to at least the one or more of a plurality of participants in the second group of users. Kucera suggests sharing the file with the external system for collaboration with the one or more participants in the second group of users [Kucera: Paragraph 168 (“Allowing an organization's employees to interact with customers and partners in a customer or partner community may provide an improved customer experience.”, i.e., allowing access to “partner community” (‘second group of users’))]. Kucera suggests obtaining an indication that the shared file has been updated [Kucera: Paragraphs 57, 62, 67 and 71 (“The "following" of a record stored in a database, as described in greater detail below, allows a user to track the progress of that record. Updates to the record, also referred to herein as changes to the record, are one type of information update that can occur and be noted on an information feed such as a record feed or a news feed of a user subscribed to the record”)]. Kucera suggests providing an updated version of the file with the database system, the updated version of the file being accessible according to the permissions set in the database system [Kucera: Paragraphs 57, 62, 67 and 71 (“The "following" of a record stored in a database, as described in greater detail below, allows a user to track the progress of that record. Updates to the record, also referred to herein as changes to the record, are one type of information update that can occur and be noted on an information feed such as a record feed or a news feed of a user subscribed to the record”)].
Claim 22:
Kucera suggests wherein the database system is further configurable to cause: processing a configurable flow for one or more documents to include a collaborative authoring session [Kucera: Paragraph 51 (“one session is maintained for all of the external communities of an organization that an employee is a member of, and a separate session is maintained for the internal employee community …allowing Acme customers to collaborate on the community”)] [Kucera: Paragraph 69 (“Which actions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events have feed tracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to which users can also be configurable.”)].
Claim 23:
Kucera suggests wherein the flow is configurable to add authors as participants and create flow steps for checking in and checking out a document [Kucera: Paragraphs 101-103 (“election 728 has not been checked, thus preventing partners from interacting with such tasks. A "business process interaction" selection 732 has been activated, allowing partners to view and interact with business processes otherwise available to members of a given community.”)] [Kucera: Paragraph 69 (“Which actions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events have feed tracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to which users can also be configurable.”)].
Claim 24:
Kucera suggests wherein the flow is configurable to automatically start, end and/or cancel the collaborative authoring session [Kucera: Paragraphs 101-103 (“election 728 has not been checked, thus preventing partners from interacting with such tasks. A "business process interaction" selection 732 has been activated, allowing partners to view and interact with business processes otherwise available to members of a given community.”)] [Kucera: Paragraph 69 (“Which actions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events have feed tracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to which users can also be configurable.”)] [Kucera: Paragraph 110 (“after the first session has been identified, at block 814, a server 108 in social networking system 104 is configured to determine whether the first session is still valid. One or more processing operations can be performed at block 814 to check for one or a combination of conditions indicating that the first session is valid, as described in greater detail below with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. At block 816, if the session with community 316 has timed out or is otherwise invalid, the request to access the second community is denied, for example, by delivering an appropriate response to computing device”)].
Claim 25:
Kucera suggests wherein the sharing of the file with the external system enables users to collaborate and create content [Kucera: Paragraph 43 (“Acme Corporation may have an internal employee community for Acme employees to collaborate, share resources, and research the Acme knowledge database, and an external customer community for Acme customers to get customer support and to ask questions and interact with other Acme customers”)].
Claim 26:
Kucera suggests wherein the indication that the shared file has been updated indicates that users have edited documents and viewed changes simultaneously [Kucera: Paragraph 56 (“The "users can access one or more information feeds, which include information updates presented as items or entries in the feed. Such a feed item can include a single information update or a collection of individual information updates. A feed item can include various types of data including character-based data, audio data, image data and/or video data. An information feed can be displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device such as the display of a computing device as described below. The information updates can include various social network data from various sources and can be stored in an on-demand database service environment. In some implementations, the disclosed methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media may be configured or designed for use in a multi-tenant database environment.”)] [Kucera: Paragraph 61 (“Members of the group may view and post to this group feed in accordance with a permissions configuration for the feed and the group. Information updates in a group context can also include changes to group status information”)].
Claim 27:
Kucera suggests wherein the indication that the shared file has been updated indicates that documents have been edited directly in a browser [Kucera: Paragraph 56 (“The "users can access one or more information feeds, which include information updates presented as items or entries in the feed. Such a feed item can include a single information update or a collection of individual information updates. A feed item can include various types of data including character-based data, audio data, image data and/or video data. An information feed can be displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device such as the display of a computing device as described below. The information updates can include various social network data from various sources and can be stored in an on-demand database service environment. In some implementations, the disclosed methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable storage media may be configured or designed for use in a multi-tenant database environment.”)] [Kucera: Paragraph 61 (“Members of the group may view and post to this group feed in accordance with a permissions configuration for the feed and the group. Information updates in a group context can also include changes to group status information”)] [Kucera: Paragraphs 82 and 106 (“during a browsing session, user 140d may submit a request via computing device 144 to access a second”)].
Claim 28:
Claim 28 is essentially the same as claim 21 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a program product rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 29:
Claim 29 is essentially the same as claim 22 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a program product rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 30:
Claim 30 is essentially the same as claim 23 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a program product rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 31:
Claim 31 is essentially the same as claim 24 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a program product rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 32:
Claim 32 is essentially the same as claim 25 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a program product rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 33:
Claim 33 is essentially the same as claim 26 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a program product rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 34:
Claim 34 is essentially the same as claim 27 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a program product rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 35:
Claim 35 is essentially the same as claim 21 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a method rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 36:
Claim 36 is essentially the same as claim 22 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a method rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 37:
Claim 37 is essentially the same as claim 23 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a method rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 38:
Claim 38 is essentially the same as claim 24 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a method rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 39:
Claim 39 is essentially the same as claim 25 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a method rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Claim 40:
Claim 40 is essentially the same as claim 26 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a method rather than a system and rejected under the same reasons as applied above.
Conclusion
7. 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to [Hung D. Le], whose telephone number is [571-270-1404]. The examiner can normally be communicated on [Monday to Friday: 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.].
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Apu Mofiz can be reached on [571-272-4080]. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Hung Le
04/22/2026
/HUNG D LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2161