DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the response to the amendment filed on 09/29/2025. Claims 1, 4, 12, 15, and 20 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending and currently under consideration for patentability.
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 .
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims are directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, natural phenomenon, or abstract idea) without significantly more.
Step 1: In a test for patent subject matter eligibility, claims 1-20 are found to be in accordance with Step 1 (see 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility), as they are related to a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. Claims 1-11 recite a method, claims 12-19 recite a system, and claim 20 recites a non-transitory computer-readable medium. When assessed under Step 2A, Prong I, they are found to be directed towards an abstract idea. The rationale for this finding is explained below:
Step 2A, Prong I: Under Step 2A, Prong I, claims 1-20 are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more, as they all recite a judicial exception. Independent Claims 1, 12, and 20 recite limitations directed to the abstract idea including digitally verifying that a user of a social media application has attained an achievement; and in response to digitally verifying that the user has attained the achievement, providing the user with an option to digitally claim a graphical element corresponding to the achievement, wherein the option to digitally claim the graphical element is only provided to users who have been digitally verified as having attained the achievement, wherein the graphical element comprises a visual depiction of an activity corresponding to the achievement. These further limitations are not seen as any more than the judicial exception. Claims 1, 12, and 20 recite additional limitations including digitally/graphical element; and “in response to receiving user input digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application”. Verifying that a user has attained an achievement in order to provide the user a graphical element is considered to be an abstract idea, specifically, certain methods of organizing human activity; such as managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) because the claims are directed to managing a relationship between parties (i.e. verifying user completed a task) in order to provide information (i.e. graphical element). Furthermore, verifying that a user has attained an achievement in order to provide the user a graphical element is also considered to be fall under another grouping of abstract idea, specifically, Mental Processes; such as concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion) because the claims are directed to verifying user completed a task in order to provide information (i.e. graphical element) which can all be performed in the human mind. Therefore, under Step 2A, Prong I, Claims 1, 12, and 20 are directed towards an abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong II: Step 2A, Prong II is to determine whether any claim recites any additional element that integrate the judicial exception (abstract idea) into a practical application. Claims 1, 12, and 20 recite additional limitations including digitally/graphical element; and “in response to receiving user input digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application”. The additional limitations including digitally/graphical element are not found to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application because they are seen as adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea - see MPEP 2106.05(f) and generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h). Accordingly, alone, and in combination, these additional elements are seen as using a computer or tool to perform an abstract idea, adding insignificant-extra-solution activity to the judicial exception. They do no more than link the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use, i.e. digital/graphical element, and therefore do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. The courts decided that although the additional elements did limit the use of the abstract idea, the court explained that this type of limitation merely confines the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment and this fails to add an inventive concept to the claims (See Affinity Labs of Texas v. DirecTV, LLC,). Under Step 2A, Prong II, these claims remain directed towards an abstract idea.
Step 2B: Claims 1, 12, and 20 recite additional limitations including digitally/graphical element; and “in response to receiving user input digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application”. The additional limitations, reciting - digitally/graphical element, do not integrate the judicial exception (abstract idea) into a practical application because of the analysis provided in Step 2A, Prong II. Claims 1, 12, and 20 also recite additional limitations – “in response to receiving user input digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application”. However, this additional element or a combination of elements does not result in the claims amounting to significantly more than the judicial exception. Merely posting data (i.e. graphical element) on a user’s social media page based on receiving user input is seen as adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception - see MPEP 2106.05(g) because this is a computer function that is well-understood, routine, and conventional. For example, according to ¶¶ [0002]-[0004] of U.S. Publication 2019/0147017 to Tran; “Social media networks have been around for many years and they are very popular. Some social media networks have millions, tens of millions, and even hundreds of millions of daily users. Many social media networks, such as FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, and the like, allow users to generate content, which may then be posted or otherwise provided to a user's network of friends, followers, and others… Further, content posted in conventional social media networks is displayed solely as of the time and date that the content was posted.” Furthermore, the additional limitations including in response to receiving user input digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application are not found to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application because they are seen as adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception - see MPEP 2106.05(g). As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements listed amount to no more than mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component. In addition, the applicant’s specifications describe generic computer-based elements, ¶ [0086], for implementing “any type or form of computing device or system capable of executing computer-readable instructions”, which do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea of itself, which is not enough to transform an abstract idea into eligible subject matter. Furthermore, there is no improvement in the functioning of the computer or technological field, and there is no transformation of subject matter into a different state. Under Step 2B in a test for patent subject matter eligibility, these claims are not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2-11 and 13-19 further recite independent claims 1 and 12, respectively. Dependent claims 2-11 and 13-19 when analyzed as a whole are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the additional recited limitation fail to establish that the claims are not directed to an abstract idea:
Under Step 2A, Prong I, these additional claims only further narrow the abstract idea set forth in Claims 1, 12, and 20. For example, claims 3, 5, 7-11, 14, and 16-19 describe the limitations for verifying that a user has attained an achievement in order to provide the user a graphical element – which is only further narrowing the scope of the abstract idea recited in the independent claims.
Under Step 2A, Prong II, for dependent claims 3, 5, 7-11, 14, and 16-19, there are no additional elements introduced. Dependent claims 2 and 13 recite – “the user posting content via the social media application, from the certain location, with location access enabled for the social media application; determining the certain location based on GPS data, indicating the certain location, collected by one or more sensors of a mobile device on which the social media application is installed; or determining the certain location based on location information, indicating the certain location, received from an application linked to the social media application via a user permissions setting” and dependent claims 4 and 15 recite – “prompting the user to digitally claim the graphical element via a user interface of the social media application”. However, the “social media application” and “sensors of a mobile device” in order to determine location and “user interface” are seen as adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea - see MPEP 2106.05(f) and generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h). Thus, they do not present integration into a practical application, or amount to significantly more.
Under Step 2B, the dependent claims 3, 5, 7-11, 14, and 16-19 do not include any additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Dependent claims 2, 4, 13, and 15 recite additional limitations that do not integrate the judicial exception (abstract idea) into a practical application because of the analysis provided in Step 2A, Prong II. Dependent claim 6 recites additional elements that are seen as well understood, routine, and conventional and therefore, do not integrate the claims into a practical application. For example, dependent claim 6 recites – “posting the graphical element to a highlights section of the user's digital profile”. Merely posting data (i.e. graphical element) on a user’s social media page (i.e. highlights section of the user's digital profile) is seen as adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception - see MPEP 2106.05(g) because this is a computer function that is well-understood, routine, and conventional. For example, according to ¶¶ [0002]-[0004] of U.S. Publication 2019/0147017 to Tran; “Social media networks have been around for many years and they are very popular. Some social media networks have millions, tens of millions, and even hundreds of millions of daily users. Many social media networks, such as FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, and the like, allow users to generate content, which may then be posted or otherwise provided to a user's network of friends, followers, and others… Further, content posted in conventional social media networks is displayed solely as of the time and date that the content was posted.” Additionally, there is no improvement in the functioning of the computer or technological field, and there is no transformation of subject matter into a different state. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional claims do not provide any additional elements that would amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Under Step 2B, these claims are not patent eligible.
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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication 2018/0075393 to Lovell in view of U.S. Publication 2016/0358283 to Regala.
Claims 1-11, 12-19, and 20 are method, system, and computer-readable medium claims, respectively, with substantially indistinguishable features between each group. For purposes of compact prosecution, the Office has grouped the common method, system and non-transitory computer readable storage medium claims in applying applicable prior art.
With respect to Claim 1:
Lovell teaches:
A computer-implemented method comprising: digitally verifying that a user of a social media application has attained an achievement (i.e. digitally verifying that a user completed action) (Lovell: ¶¶ [0105] [0106] “Once they have registered, in block 515 the participants can share via social media and their profile to invite friends to join them in the activity. In block 518, on the day of the event the participants automatically check in and in block 521 check out by scanning OR codes with their client devices at the project location…The volunteer tracking and verification of actions can be based on QR codes or the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the participants have individual member ID's/QR codes and when they arrive at the event, the host organization scans their QR code. The challenge clock starts and the hours that the participant is volunteering are tracked. When the participant is finished, the host scans their QR code on their way out and the system stops the clock and the total volunteer hours are recorded.”);
in response to digitally verifying that the user has attained the achievement, providing the user with an option to digitally claim a graphical element corresponding to the achievement, wherein the option to digitally claim the graphical element is only provided to users who have been digitally verified as having attained the achievement (Examiner notes that “option” is being interpreted broadly to include that the user opting in to share their information on their social media page) (i.e. graphical element or resume updates corresponding to achievements or clean credits are rewarded to users who have been verified that completed the action/challenge, wherein the user is provided the option to share this achievement information on their social media page) (Lovell: ¶ [0105] “In block 524, after they have checked out of the activity, the system automatically tallies their volunteer hours and they receive "clean credit" scores based on the impact of the activity multiplied by their hours. In block 527, the "clean credits" or CLEANCREDS can be used like a currency to be redeemed for rewards from corporate sponsors.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0109] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 of the processor-based web application server 22 automatically populates a user's online profile in real-time or automatically generates user's "live/living" resume in real-time. As volunteer/user performs social and/or environment service, the processor 100 in communication with the processor 210 of the client device associated with the user automatically populates and updates the user's "live/living" resume or real-time resume to reflect user's actions, work experiences and skills in real-time. That is, the processor 100 populates/builds/generates an online profile without the user having to add information themselves (i.e., no self-reporting or posting is required).” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0122] “It is appreciated that the user can share her profile with other users, organizations, employers, educators and other entities as. The recipient can access the system 10 to print the user action report that logs every action and contribution that the user made and tracked by the system 10.”); and
in response to receiving user input digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application (Examiner notes that “input” is being interpreted broadly to include the user opting in to share their information on their social media page) (i.e. user’s accomplishment/achievement is posted on social media profile) (Lovell: ¶ [0109] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 of the processor-based web application server 22 automatically populates a user's online profile in real-time or automatically generates user's "live/living" resume in real-time. As volunteer/user performs social and/or environment service, the processor 100 in communication with the processor 210 of the client device associated with the user automatically populates and updates the user's "live/living" resume or real-time resume to reflect user's actions, work experiences and skills in real-time. That is, the processor 100 populates/builds/generates an online profile without the user having to add information themselves (i.e., no self-reporting or posting is required).” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0124] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 digitally tracks/documents/confirms/verifies independent skill development, i.e. extracurricular, outside of the workplace/classroom, community based development. Unlike a typical online resume profiles, the system verifies applied skills and provides a standardized system to measure/track skill development of users. For example, in a typical profile, such as a Linkedin™ profile, the user can add her own skills that has not been verified to her profile and others can endorse her. Moreover, in such typical profile, the user generally has a total control as to what is added her profile. That is, the user can make up skills and in such profiling system, there is no standardization to compare skills from one user profile to another use profile. In the claimed system, a user never adds a skill to her profile. The system 10 allocates a skill to the user profile and resume based on the demonstrated skills associated with the actions undertaken by the user in the community or on system platform. The processor 100 tracks the number of times a user has engaged in activities that foster development of a specific skill and updates her profile to reflect such engagement and development.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0127] “When a user satisfies the criteria/requirement for a badge, the achievement is added to her user profile and displayed on her resume. A user can collect badges, track progress towards their completion and share their achievements.”).
Lovell does not explicitly disclose wherein the graphical element comprises a visual depiction of an activity corresponding to the achievement.
However, Regala further discloses wherein the graphical element comprises a visual depiction of an activity corresponding to the achievement (i.e. avatar visual depicts achievement/activity) (Regala: ¶ [0034] “The game may provide different visual views for the user, which can be considered as a village view, a location view, and a backpack view. In the village view, the user is given a real-time visual representation of what they are currently doing and where they are located in the village, as well as where other users in the village are and their activities as well. This view may be accomplished by a single glance by a user, because all users that are part of a village may be shown on the village map. Users are shown either moving toward a location in the village, or at the specific location that reflects their most recent activity. Activity information may be instantly updated based on user input or data from input devices such as pedometers and other biometric devices. Animation of the avatars may aid in showing the activity in which the associated users are engaged. For example, if a user is jogging, then their avatar may be shown jogging as well. Paths throughout a village may reveal timelines of past and present activities and challenges along that paths category (such as social, mental, diet, or physical challenges). The paths may allow players to check their own progress and the progress of others. The game may also allow users to zoom in on a particular avatar or activity and provide the user with a location view. The location view may be a two-dimensional front view that provides details about each player's status and activity.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to add Regala’s graphical element comprises a visual depiction of an activity corresponding to the achievement to Lovell’s in response to digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so in order “for a game that can allow people to connect, interact, and socialize with one another in a virtual community atmosphere” and “for a fun and entertaining way of visually representing users and their activity levels in the game, and a way for users to customize their game experience.” (Regala: ¶ [0003]).
With respect to Claims 12 and 20:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 1. Claim 12 recites “A system comprising: at least one physical processor; and physical memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the physical processor, cause the physical processor to:” (Lovell: ¶ [0014]) perform the method of claim 1. Claim 20 recites “A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer- readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:” (Lovell: ¶ [0014]) perform the method of claim 1. Claims 12 and 20 do not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 1. Therefore they are rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 2:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the achievement is traveling to a certain location (i.e. achievement includes traveling to project location) (Lovell: ¶ [0105] “Through GPS technology in block 506, the system provides the participant with a list of volunteer service projects within geographic proximity of the participants current location. In block 509, the participant can sign up through an application on their client device or they can sign up through the system website. The challenge/volunteer service project is added to their profile. In block 512, the host organization receives a list of all of the participants that have registered for their program/activity. Once they have registered, in block 515 the participants can share via social media and their profile to invite friends to join them in the activity. In block 518, on the day of the event the participants automatically check in and in block 521 check out by scanning OR codes with their client devices at the project location.”); and
digitally verifying that the user has attained the achievement comprises verifying that the user has traveled to the certain location in response to at least one of: determining the certain location based on GPS data, indicating the certain location, collected by one or more sensors of a mobile device on which the social media application is installed; or determining the certain location based on location information, indicating the certain location, received from an application linked to the social media application via a user permissions setting (i.e. verifying user has completed task/challenge, by verifying user is at location according to check-in or scan from application linked to social media or GPS data via sensors of mobile device) (Lovell: ¶¶ [0112] [0113] “By scanning of the code, e.g., OR code of the organization or the event using the user's client device 12, the mobile app running on the user's client device can confirm the location and user presence with organizations and/or participation in events. Participation/actions can include showing up to a venue/specific location, donating an item and/or completing a desired physical action…That is, the user does not self-report on her actions, the processor 210 verifies the user's actions from an activation from a host of the action via mobile scan, member ID card scan, or check-in through system provider's web interface. Both the user and the host receive real-time updates of the action.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0058] “In an exemplary embodiment, the mobile telephone project application may access global positioning system (GPS) data provided by a participant's mobile telephone. The GPS data can be used in conjunction with an organization's volunteer service project. For example, the GPS data may be used to determine the eligibility of a participant for a project. For example, if a participant is located within a predetermined area within a certain time window, the participant would be eligible for a project. Alternatively or additionally, the GPS data can be used to evaluate a participant, for example, measuring how quickly a participant completes a project that requires participants to visit certain points in a city or region. In an exemplary embodiment, the GPS data can be used in the generation of activity feeds (such as newsfeeds and mini-feeds) that display information about participants' interactions with projects that are being run using the mobile telephone project application. For example, when a participant enters a site where a volunteer service project is being conducted, a newsfeed may be generated in the participating social network based platforms. In an exemplary embodiment, the GPS data can also be used by the mobile telephone promotion application to enable a participant to interact with the project.”).
Lovell does not explicitly disclose the user posting content via the social media application, from the certain location, with location access enabled for the social media application.
However, Regala further discloses the user posting content via the social media application, from the certain location, with location access enabled for the social media application (i.e. user posts activity content via social media from user’s current location corresponding to activity) (Regala: ¶ [0076] “In some embodiments the device may be a cell phone or other personal electronic that has GPS capabilities and can report the user's location during particular activities. It may be possible for a user to have several devices associated with an account so that the game can recognize the different activities that the user engages in with the real world and use the information it receives from the devices to update the activity log, update challenge information, and otherwise represent the user's activities to other users of the game.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to add Regala’s user posting content via the social media application, from the certain location, with location access enabled for the social media application to Lovell’s in response to digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so in order “for a game that can allow people to connect, interact, and socialize with one another in a virtual community atmosphere” and “for a fun and entertaining way of visually representing users and their activity levels in the game, and a way for users to customize their game experience.” (Regala: ¶ [0003]).
With respect to Claim 13:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 2. Claim 13 does not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 2. Therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 3:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the achievement is associated with an additional user or group (i.e. achievement is associated organization or group) (Lovell: ¶ [0064] “Terms for entering a project may include agreeing to receive unsolicited information, for example, a newsletter sent by either the web application server 22 or the organization running the project. Alternatively or additionally, the terms for entering a project may include the participant's permission for the organization running the project to use the information provided by the participant to promote other goods or services that may or may not be related to the underlying project or to promote other related business activities of the organization. In an exemplary embodiment, if an organization is promoting a third-party organization's goods and/or services, the terms for entering a project may include the participant's permission for the third-party organization to use information provided by the participant for related business activities.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0078] “In an exemplary embodiment, clicking on a link or a button or checking a box to elect to become a member of a group associated with an organization will automatically result in the participant becoming a member. Alternatively, clicking on a link or button or checking a box to elect to become a member of a group associated with an organization will trigger a pop-up window or a new browser window to open where the participant can take action to become a member of a group. Upon submission of a service project registration form, the participant is shown a webpage listing the names of the participant's social network friends, and she can select friends to invite to enter the project. An organization can provide an incentive to participants for inviting friends by, for example, increasing the participant's chances of winning for each friend that is invited or for each invited friend that subsequently enters the volunteer service project.”); and
digitally verifying that the user has attained the achievement comprises receiving user input from the additional user or group verifying that the user has attained the achievement (i.e. host of organization can verify if user has completed task/project/challenge) (Lovell: ¶ [0072] “The reporting module 44 provides records that can be printed by a participant and submitted to their school for graduation volunteer hour requirements. These records are automatically verified by the host organizations through the system. In another aspect of the reporting module 44, the reporting module 44 receives feedback, reviews or comments from the participants upon check out/completion of the volunteer activity and generate a report for the organization based on this data.”).
With respect to Claim 14:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 3. Claim 14 does not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 3. Therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 4:
Lovell does not explicitly disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein providing the user with the option to digitally claim the graphical element comprises prompting the user to digitally claim the graphical element via a user interface of the social media application.
However, Regala further discloses wherein providing the user with the option to digitally claim the graphical element comprises prompting the user to digitally claim the graphical element via a user interface of the social media application (i.e. user is able to claim or post graphical element via user interface of social media) (Regala: ¶ [0083] “Referring to FIG. 12, a sample challenges page according to an example embodiment is shown. A challenges tab 70 contains challenge messages 72 that allow the user to keep track of challenges that they are participating in. The user can track their progress in a particular challenge, can review an activity log associated with a particular challenge, and can review completed challenges. Buttons 44 on the challenges tab 70 allow the user to post information about challenges on other social networking sites. A button 44 also allows the user to create a new challenge. A text box 48 on the challenges tab 70 also allows the user to search for a particular challenge.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made, to add Regala’s prompting the user to digitally claim the graphical element via a user interface of the social media application to Lovell’s in response to digitally claiming the graphical element, posting the graphical element to a digital user footprint corresponding to the user within a page of the social media application. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so in order “for a game that can allow people to connect, interact, and socialize with one another in a virtual community atmosphere” and “for a fun and entertaining way of visually representing users and their activity levels in the game, and a way for users to customize their game experience.” (Regala: ¶ [0003]).
With respect to Claim 15:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 4. Claim 15 does not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 4. Therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 5:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digital footprint comprises a digital profile of the user (Lovell: ¶ [0109] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 of the processor-based web application server 22 automatically populates a user's online profile in real-time or automatically generates user's "live/living" resume in real-time. As volunteer/user performs social and/or environment service, the processor 100 in communication with the processor 210 of the client device associated with the user automatically populates and updates the user's "live/living" resume or real-time resume to reflect user's actions, work experiences and skills in real-time. That is, the processor 100 populates/builds/generates an online profile without the user having to add information themselves (i.e., no self-reporting or posting is required).” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0124] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 digitally tracks/documents/confirms/verifies independent skill development, i.e. extracurricular, outside of the workplace/classroom, community based development. Unlike a typical online resume profiles, the system verifies applied skills and provides a standardized system to measure/track skill development of users. For example, in a typical profile, such as a Linkedin™ profile, the user can add her own skills that has not been verified to her profile and others can endorse her. Moreover, in such typical profile, the user generally has a total control as to what is added her profile. That is, the user can make up skills and in such profiling system, there is no standardization to compare skills from one user profile to another use profile. In the claimed system, a user never adds a skill to her profile. The system 10 allocates a skill to the user profile and resume based on the demonstrated skills associated with the actions undertaken by the user in the community or on system platform. The processor 100 tracks the number of times a user has engaged in activities that foster development of a specific skill and updates her profile to reflect such engagement and development.”).
With respect to Claim 16:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 5. Claim 16 does not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 5. Therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 6:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein posting the graphical element to the digital user footprint comprises posting the graphical element to a highlights section of the user's digital profile (i.e. achievement information is updated to resume section of user’s profile) (Lovell: ¶ [0109] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 of the processor-based web application server 22 automatically populates a user's online profile in real-time or automatically generates user's "live/living" resume in real-time. As volunteer/user performs social and/or environment service, the processor 100 in communication with the processor 210 of the client device associated with the user automatically populates and updates the user's "live/living" resume or real-time resume to reflect user's actions, work experiences and skills in real-time. That is, the processor 100 populates/builds/generates an online profile without the user having to add information themselves (i.e., no self-reporting or posting is required).” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0124] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 digitally tracks/documents/confirms/verifies independent skill development, i.e. extracurricular, outside of the workplace/classroom, community based development. Unlike a typical online resume profiles, the system verifies applied skills and provides a standardized system to measure/track skill development of users. For example, in a typical profile, such as a Linkedin™ profile, the user can add her own skills that has not been verified to her profile and others can endorse her. Moreover, in such typical profile, the user generally has a total control as to what is added her profile. That is, the user can make up skills and in such profiling system, there is no standardization to compare skills from one user profile to another use profile. In the claimed system, a user never adds a skill to her profile. The system 10 allocates a skill to the user profile and resume based on the demonstrated skills associated with the actions undertaken by the user in the community or on system platform. The processor 100 tracks the number of times a user has engaged in activities that foster development of a specific skill and updates her profile to reflect such engagement and development.”).
With respect to Claim 7:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digital footprint comprises a profile element (Lovell: ¶ [0109] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 of the processor-based web application server 22 automatically populates a user's online profile in real-time or automatically generates user's "live/living" resume in real-time. As volunteer/user performs social and/or environment service, the processor 100 in communication with the processor 210 of the client device associated with the user automatically populates and updates the user's "live/living" resume or real-time resume to reflect user's actions, work experiences and skills in real-time. That is, the processor 100 populates/builds/generates an online profile without the user having to add information themselves (i.e., no self-reporting or posting is required).” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0124] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 digitally tracks/documents/confirms/verifies independent skill development, i.e. extracurricular, outside of the workplace/classroom, community based development. Unlike a typical online resume profiles, the system verifies applied skills and provides a standardized system to measure/track skill development of users. For example, in a typical profile, such as a Linkedin™ profile, the user can add her own skills that has not been verified to her profile and others can endorse her. Moreover, in such typical profile, the user generally has a total control as to what is added her profile. That is, the user can make up skills and in such profiling system, there is no standardization to compare skills from one user profile to another use profile. In the claimed system, a user never adds a skill to her profile. The system 10 allocates a skill to the user profile and resume based on the demonstrated skills associated with the actions undertaken by the user in the community or on system platform. The processor 100 tracks the number of times a user has engaged in activities that foster development of a specific skill and updates her profile to reflect such engagement and development.”).
With respect to Claim 17:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 7. Claim 17 does not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 7. Therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 8:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digital footprint comprises a social media post (i.e. achievement is a social media post on user’s profile which can be shared by the user) (Lovell: ¶ [0109] “In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, the processor 100 of the processor-based web application server 22 automatically populates a user's online profile in real-time or automatically generates user's "live/living" resume in real-time. As volunteer/user performs social and/or environment service, the processor 100 in communication with the processor 210 of the client device associated with the user automatically populates and updates the user's "live/living" resume or real-time resume to reflect user's actions, work experiences and skills in real-time. That is, the processor 100 populates/builds/generates an online profile without the user having to add information themselves (i.e., no self-reporting or posting is required).” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0148] “When a user action is carried out (note unlike current systems which would track just digital actions such as liking, sharing or commenting on a post-the claimed system tracks physical action and intangible actions such as the dedication of time as a volunteer). The system 10 documents in real-time and a duplicate digital record is made both on the user's profile and to the relevant organization's record, i.e. host of the event/activity, reporting employer, etc. The system 10 timestamps the validated record and adds to a chain in a linear, chronological order to the accounts of both the user and organization. New records of validated actions are linked to older records, making a chain of records or "living ledger" that show every action made in the history of that blockchain (aka user's and organization's history). The system 10 continually updates the entire chain so that every ledger shows a real-time reflection of the user's achievements and recorded actions, giving each member the ability to measure and compare their impact and share their actions with other users and organizations.”).
With respect to Claim 18:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 8. Claim 18 does not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 8. Therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 9:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digital footprint comprises a ribbon of claimed graphical elements, each of which corresponds to a different verified achievement (i.e. badge reads on ribbon) (Lovell: ¶¶ [0126] [0127] “The user can track her skill development in her dashboard through their action report and skill graphs that show their top skills, i.e., the ones that she applied/demonstrated the most through her Actions. Organizations, such as academic institutions and companies, can specify criteria and particular skill development objectives for users by generating digital badges. These digital badges have a specific set of requirements that a user must demonstrate before earning, e.g., a university may create an Event Marketing badge. To earn this badge, the user must complete 20 Actions that demonstrate the application of the Job Task Planning and Organizing and Campaign Development skills). The system 10 tracks user's completion of the actions with these associated skills and automatically assigns the badge to the user after the user has satisfied the criteria for earning this badge…Through tracking the completion of actions for both the user and organization, the claimed system eliminates the need for the organization to track/review and manually issue micro-credentials to users for their achievements. Also, the claimed system eliminates the need for the user to record and report on their actions. This improves the accuracy of the records and reduces the subjective nature of skill reporting associated with the currently available system, as well as reducing the requisite administrative labor/manpower. When a user satisfies the criteria/requirement for a badge, the achievement is added to her user profile and displayed on her resume. A user can collect badges, track progress towards their completion and share their achievements.”).
With respect to Claim 10:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: enabling an additional user to search for users who have attained the achievement (i.e. users and organizations can be searched according to achievements) (Lovell: ¶ [0133] “Credits/points earned are showcased on user and organization profiles. They can be featured on leaderboards and can compare their score to others in similar markets. Scores can be used to search for actively engaged, motivated and high performing user candidates. Organization scores help industry stakeholders and other organizations in identifying high performing candidates for investment/partnership/community support as well as search organizations based on their social footprint and civic engagement.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0143] “Unlike the currently available system, the claimed system 10 validates/verifies experiences and actions with enhanced transparency. Demonstrated skills are backed by searchable data from a candidate's actions, i.e. the system links the demonstrated skills back to user's real examples of when the skills were applied and how. Experience goes beyond standard work context to included measured outcomes and social impact, the data is not arbitrarily chosen/reported but backed by verifiable and searchable actions by a candidate.”); and
returning, within a search results list, a name of a user account of the user (i.e. users are searchable (i.e. searchable names of users are displayed via social network) (Lovell: Fig. 3A and ¶ [0143] “Unlike the currently available system, the claimed system 10 validates/verifies experiences and actions with enhanced transparency. Demonstrated skills are backed by searchable data from a candidate's actions, i.e. the system links the demonstrated skills back to user's real examples of when the skills were applied and how. Experience goes beyond standard work context to included measured outcomes and social impact, the data is not arbitrarily chosen/reported but backed by verifiable and searchable actions by a candidate.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0074] “In the example of FIG. 3A, the social network user profile database 20A can store user profile data, including descriptive data of personal information such as, but not limited to, a first name and last name of the user, a valid email address, a unique user identifier within the social network, birth date, gender, occupation, etc. User profile data can further include interest information, which can include, but is not limited to, activities, hobbies, photos, etc. In an exemplary embodiment, the social network server 18 can store the information in the social network user database 20, and the processor-based web application server 22 can be permitted to access information in the social network user database 20 if the user grants permission. The database 20 can also store a user's social network contacts, for example, in database 20B. A user's social network contacts can be provided via one or more software agents and/or hardware modules coupled to the database 20B. For example, a user can invite a member of the social network to become a friend, and the invited member may become listed as such in the user's list of social network contacts if the invited member agrees.”).
With respect to Claim 19:
All limitations as recited have been analyzed and rejected to claim 10. Claim 19 does not teach or define any new limitations beyond claim 10. Therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
With respect to Claim 11:
Lovell teaches:
The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising enabling the additional user to digitally correspond with users listed in the search results list (i.e. user can invite other user to join the service project, wherein the invitation reads on digitally correspond) (Lovell: ¶ [0074] “A user's social network contacts can be provided via one or more software agents and/or hardware modules coupled to the database 20B. For example, a user can invite a member of the social network to become a friend, and the invited member may become listed as such in the user's list of social network contacts if the invited member agrees.” Furthermore, as cited in ¶ [0078] “Upon submission of a service project registration form, the participant is shown a webpage listing the names of the participant's social network friends, and she can select friends to invite to enter the project. An organization can provide an incentive to participants for inviting friends by, for example, increasing the participant's chances of winning for each friend that is invited or for each invited friend that subsequently enters the volunteer service project.”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments see pages 7-8 of the Remarks disclosed, filed on 09/29/2025, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. § 101 rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are not persuasive. The Applicant asserts “Specifically, the claims integrate any recited judicial exception into a practical application by providing an improvement to the technical field of social networking. For example, para. [0020] of the specification explains that “[c]omputers have facilitated convenient and efficient access to user-supplied information, but they have also introduced [] new challenges related to security and trust,” creating a “need to reliably authenticate user information (e.g., an assertion of an achievement)” as reliance on digital platforms continues to increase. To address this technical challenge, the claimed invention provides a system that digitally confirms whether a user of a social media application has completed or received an achievement, thereby providing an authenticated and reliable representation of these accomplishments. As a result, the claimed invention “improve[s] the field of social networking by improving data culling, data organization, and data discovery (e.g., to present useful content to an end user via a digital organization that is easy to use).” Specification, para. [0019]. Not only do the claims provide an improvement to field of social networking, but the claims also improve the functioning of “a computer itself by improving data consumption flows and data organization.” Id.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Examiner notes that the claims provide no description of how the claims “digitally confirm” or “digitally verify” the suer’s accomplishment/achievement. There is no improvement to “data culling, data organization, and data discovery”, at most the claims have an ancillary or secondary effect on the data culling/organization/discovery. Furthermore, the additional limitations including digitally/graphical element are not found to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application because they are seen as adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea - see MPEP 2106.05(f) and generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h). Accordingly, alone, and in combination, these additional elements are seen as using a computer or tool to perform an abstract idea, adding insignificant-extra-solution activity to the judicial exception. They do no more than link the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use, i.e. digital/graphical element, and therefore do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. The courts decided that although the additional elements did limit the use of the abstract idea, the court explained that this type of limitation merely confines the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment and this fails to add an inventive concept to the claims (See Affinity Labs of Texas v. DirecTV, LLC,).. Therefore, the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 is maintained above with an updated analysis.
Applicant’s arguments see pages 8-10 of the Remarks disclosed, filed on 09/29/2025, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 3, 5-12, 14, and 16-20 over Lovell have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of U.S. Publication 2016/0358283 to Regala.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure. The following reference are cited to further show the state of the art:
U.S. Publication 2014/0179412 to Seabolt for disclosing sharing a game play over a social network include executing a play session of a game. During execution of the play session, an option is provided to share a portion of the game on a social network. In response to receiving a request to share the portion of the game, an instance of the game is generated at a time when the request is received and is posted to a stream of the social network. The instance of the game inherits a current state of the play session. A reward is generated to a user account that plays the instance in the stream and to the user that initiates the sharing of the portion of the game upon the user playing the instance of the game claims the reward.
U.S. Patent 8,548,855 to Svendsen for disclosing generating and utilizing photo advertisements ("ads"). In one embodiment, a photo check-in process is performed for a user located within a geographic check-in zone which results in a photo advertisement that is utilized as a photo check-in for the user. In another embodiment, a photo advertisement is posted as a status update for a user via a social networking service. In another embodiment, photo advertisements are created by users and stored for subsequent use in serving ad requests.
U.S. Publication 2024/0378247 to Kelly for disclosing methods for analyzing social media data using various techniques, including classifying at least one contagious phenomenon propagating on a network, providing stance detection based on the social media data, clustering the social media data, and/or generating and analyzing knowledge graph embeddings using the social media data.
U.S. Publication 2024/0370943 to Gulati for disclosing (1) providing a selectable dashboard element within an interface of a dating application configured for a user of the dating application, (2) receiving user input selecting the dashboard element, and (3) in response to receiving the user input, presenting a digital dating-analytics dashboard that provides information relating to the user's dating history aggregated via the dating application.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Azam Ansari, whose telephone number is (571) 272-7047. The examiner can normally be reached from Monday to Friday between 8 AM and 4:30 PM.
If any attempt to reach the examiner by telephone is unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Waseem Ashraf, can be reached at (571) 270-3948.
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Applicants are invited to contact the Office to schedule either an in-person or a telephonic interview to discuss and resolve the issues set forth in this Office Action. Although an interview is not required, the Office believes that an interview can be of use to resolve any issues related to a patent application in an efficient and prompt manner.
/AZAM A ANSARI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3621
December 10, 2025
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