DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Claim 20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected claim 20, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the phone reply with Agent Ms. Hanchel Cheng (Reg. #73,223), on 1/5/2026.
Claim 20 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected claim 20, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply by phone on 1/5/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/12/2025 was filed before the first office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejection Notes
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 4-19, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Aamodt et al. (US 20040196310 A1, published: 10/7/2004).
Claim 1: Aamodt teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
defining a template including fields according to a template schema, the template schema including an arrangement of the fields and definitions for data content of the fields, wherein the definitions include a relative definition for data content that is relative to other data (exemplary data template definition Dialog box 600A includes a template name field 602, a task ID field 604, a cell layout field or button 606, a preview field 608, a select cells grid 610, a font field 612, a limit cell text field 614, a horizontal alignment field 616, and a vertical alignment field 618..sub.[JA6] A data template definition Dialog box 600A enables the user to customize or select the format of how data will be displayed within nodes that utilize the template [Aamodt, 0074]);
selecting the template to instantiate a new data object, the new data object having a data schema corresponding to the template schema (the `Cell Layout` dialog box can provide an interface for the selection of the number of rows and columns within for a cell layout of a particular data template [Aamodt, 0018]);
calculating a value of a relative field of the new data object using the relative definition (with this dialog box, one or more pre-existing data templates that define how data is displayed within a respective node can be selected [Aamodt, 0015]); and
populating fields of the new data object according to the definitions including populating the relative field with the calculated value (the task ID field 506 of Dialog box 500 permits a user to display data of a particular node within the preview field 508. That is, a user can select the data that is to be displayed within the data template in the preview field 508 by identifying the particular node according to its task identification field [Aamodt, 0073]).
Claim 17, sharing similar elements with claim 1, is likewise rejected.
Claim 2: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein calculating the value of the relative field comprises: identifying a source value of a base parameter; determining a dependent offset based on the base parameter; and modifying the source value using the dependent offset to obtain the value of the relative field ([Aamodt, 0055]).
Claim 4: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: instantiating a child data object according to the data schema, wherein the child data object includes at least one field that is relative to the new data object; calculating a value of a child field of the child data objects using a corresponding relative definition; and populating the child field using the calculated value ([Aamodt, 0074]).
Claim 18, sharing similar elements with claim 4, is likewise rejected.
Claim 5: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: instantiating child data objects that relate to the new data object in a linear series; and for each of the child data objects: calculating a value of a child field of the child data object based on a base parameter of one of another child data object or the new data object to which the child data object is directly related, and populating the field of the child data object using the calculated value ([Aamodt, 0074]).
Claim 19, sharing similar elements with claim 5, is likewise rejected.
Claim 6: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the relative definition comprises one of a date modification, a geographic modification, or a duration modification (Such cell parameters include, but are not limited to, font of text, horizontal alignment of data within a cell, vertical alignment of data within a cell, activation of labels within a cell, the number of lines within a cell, and date formats (if any) within a cell. When modification of the number of cells within a data template is desired, another dialog box can be activated, such as a `Cell Layout` dialog box [Aamodt, 0017]).
Claim 7: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: defining a linked field of the template that is linked to a pre-instantiated data object, wherein the definition of the linked field causes the linked field to be a default value until the pre-instantiated data object is created; and in response to determining the pre-instantiated data object has been newly instantiated, updating the value of the linked field based on a field of the newly-instantiated data object (each node can be assigned a defined relationship, represented by lines called links, relative to another node [Aamodt, 0009]; [Aamodt, 0060]).
Claim 8: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a first table having a first set of column names and a second table having a second set of column names, wherein the first and second set of column names are not the same; and selecting the template to instantiate a first data object corresponding to the first table and a second data object corresponding to the second table, the first and second data objects both having the data schema ([Aamodt, 0054]).
Claim 9: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: creating the template based on an existing data object, wherein the template schema matches the schema of the existing data object (with this dialog box, one or more pre-existing data templates that define how data is displayed within a respective node can be selected [Aamodt, 0015]).
Claim 10: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: identifying the existing data object in response to determining a user has created data objects having the schema of the existing data object above a threshold creation number; and generating, at a graphical user interface (GUI), a prompt recommending the user create the template using the existing data object (with this dialog box, one or more pre-existing data templates that define how data is displayed within a respective node can be selected [Aamodt, 0015]).
Claim 11: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a table from a user; identifying column names of the table; and in response to determining the column names correspond to a threshold number of definitions of the template schema, generating, at a GUI, a prompt recommending the user use the template to create the new data object ([Aamodt, 0054]).
Claim 12: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: generating for display a GUI comprising names, descriptions, and child relationships of templates of tables, wherein each template includes column names for the respective tables (exemplary data template definition Dialog box 600A includes a template name field 602, a task ID field 604, a cell layout field or button 606, a preview field 608, a select cells grid 610, a font field 612, a limit cell text field 614, a horizontal alignment field 616, and a vertical alignment field 618..sub.[JA6] A data template definition Dialog box 600A enables the user to customize or select the format of how data will be displayed within nodes that utilize the template [Aamodt, 0074, FIG. 6]).
Claim 13: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: generating child relationships between data objects at the GUI using cell objects, wherein the same cell object is used to represent templates generated for display and defined templates and not presently generated for display (Each node chain 306 further comprises child or dependent nodes 304B, 304C, and 304K (for the chain beginning with summary node 304A) and 304E-304J (for the chain beginning with summary node 304D) [Aamodt, 0058, FIG. 3]).
Claim 14: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: in response to selecting the template, instantiating a child data object related to the new data object, the child data object corresponding to a subtask of a task represented by the new data object (with this dialog box, one or more pre-existing data templates that define how data is displayed within a respective node can be selected [Aamodt, 0015]).
Claim 15: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: defining a hierarchy of relationships between a pair of data objects, wherein a relationship is between a given template and linked children templates, between a table of the given template and the linked children templates, or between a pre-instantiated data object and the linked children templates ([Aamodt, FIG. 3]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated.
Claim 16: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1. Aamodt further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: for each column of a table: accessing a row template corresponding to a respective row of the table; identifying a row value at the column; and determining, using the row value, whether to instantiate a new workflow or a new page ([Aamodt, FIG. 2]).
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.
Claim(s) 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aamodt et al. (US 20040196310 A1, published: 10/7/2004), in view of Boss et al. (US 20150363718 A1, published: 12/17/2015).
Claim 3: Aamodt teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 2. Aamodt does not teach wherein the base parameter is a first date, and to the operations further comprise: determining that the value of the relative field conflicts with a weekend or a holiday; and updating the value of the relative field to remove the conflict.
However, Boss teaches wherein the base parameter is a first date, and to the operations further comprise: determining that the value of the relative field conflicts with a weekend or a holiday; and updating the value of the relative field to remove the conflict (conflicts between the one or more milestones may be managed by displaying errors incurred due to milestone date conflicts, and the adjusting of completion dates (of the milestones) to determine an impact of the adjusting on the conflicts [Boss, 0175]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the invention was filed, to modify the template definition field creation invention of Aamodt to include the determination of date conflicts feature of Boss.
One would have been motivated to make this modification so that created fields will not be in conflict with certain ineligible dates. Such would help users create fields only for eligible dates.
Additional Reference
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following reference also contain template processing:
Shiohara et al. (US 20160371042 A1, published: 12/22/2016)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SETH A SILVERMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9783. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur, 8AM-4PM MST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Adam Queler can be reached at (571)272-4140. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Seth A Silverman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2172