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 .
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
This Office action is Non-Final.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed on 04/11/2024 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5-12 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rice (US 10,121,025 B1) hereinafter “Rice”, further in view of White (US 2016/0275182 A1) hereinafter “White”.
With respect to claims 1 and 11, the Rice reference discloses a method and non-transitory storage medium having stored therein instructions that are executable by one or more hardware processors to perform operations [see col. 2, lines 20-31, disclosing a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store instructions, the instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive data identifying content associated with a content provider; receive hash data that is based on a hash of the content; access a blockchain associated with the content, the blockchain including: validation information specifying a process for validating the content; determine whether the content is accurate based on the validation information; store results of the determination in the blockchain, the results being stored in the blockchain as a transaction; and perform an action based on the results] comprising:
receiving, by a server, an initial blockchain request from a client, and the initial blockchain request includes a description [see col. 2, lines 23-26, disclosing receive data identifying content associated with a content provider; and receive hash data that is based on a hash of the content];
receiving, from the client, a completed blockchain transaction request that comprises the initial blockchain request and the selected phrase(s) and selected words [see col. 2, lines 27-29, disclosing validation information specifying a process for validating the content; determine whether the content is accurate based on the validation information; also, see col. 17, lines 59-63, which discloses the format and content of text included in the content may provide an indication regarding the tone of the content (e.g., use of superlative language, capitalizing all letters of a word and/or words, use of exclamation points, and/or the like)]; and
adding, to a blockchain, the selected phrase(s) and selected words of the completed blockchain request [see col. 2, lines 29-31, disclosing store results of the determination in the blockchain, the results being stored in the blockchain as a transaction; and perform an action based on the results].
Rice discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium, as referenced above.
Rice does not explicitly discloses:
based on the description, performing a taxonomy phrase search of a taxonomy to identify one or more phrases that correspond to the description;
receiving, from the client, a phrase selection indicating one of the phrase(s) selected by a user; and
performing a taxonomy word search of the taxonomy to identify one or more words that correspond to respective fields of the selected phrase(s).
However, White discloses it comprises:
based on the description, performing a taxonomy phrase search of a taxonomy to identify one or more phrases that correspond to the description [see ¶0056, disclosing pseudo code contained in the second unstructured data can be parsed and to tokenized to generate database entries for the semantic validation rules; Further, spoken language rule descriptions contained in the second unstructured data can be parsed to identify keywords, field tags and/or sequences in the spoken language rule descriptions, and the spoken language rule descriptions can be converted into one or more rule library functions];
receiving, from the client, a phrase selection indicating one of the phrase(s) selected by a user [see ¶0049, disclosing the map 210 can be used to generate and validate messages 230 populated with data 240, the messages 230 conforming to a particular standard; The data 240 can be input by a user and/or retrieved from a suitable database]; and
performing a taxonomy word search of the taxonomy to identify one or more words that correspond to respective fields of the selected phrase(s) [see ¶0050, disclosing when the map editor 220 generates the message 230, but before the message 230 is sent as an outbound message, the map editor 220 can access the structured data 145 for semantic validation rules that are applicable to the message 230; From the structured data 145, the map editor 220 can generate one or more semantic validation rules that comply with the particular standard to which the message 230 complies, and process the semantic validation rules to validate the message; For example, the semantic validation rules can be configured as HTML, XML, or configured in any other suitable format].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to modify the blockchain content validator as taught by Rice with the semantic validator as taught by White. Doing so ensures that the content stored and/or recorded on the blockchain conforms to a structured semantic and regulatory requirement.
With respect to claims 2 and 12, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination further discloses wherein the taxonomy phrase search and the taxonomy word search are performed on a single taxonomy [White, see ¶0021, disclosing a data structure that specifies formats for messages and semantic validation rules to be applied to validate the messages in accordance with a particular standard].
With respect to claims 5 and 15, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination further discloses wherein the phrases do not include any free-form text input fields [White, see ¶0020, disclosing sematic validation rules for use in generating messages that conform to the particular standard and validating the messages; as understood by the Examiner, the semantic validation prevents invalid free-form content].
With respect to claims 5 and 15, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination further discloses wherein the user is prevented from inputting, to the blockchain transaction request, anything other than the words or the phrases [White, see ¶0046, disclosing structured data 145 also can define qualifiers and their associated word validations, business names of elements generated in message formats, special code word exceptions, and error codes associated with syntax validation of field data].
With respect to claims 7 and 17, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination further discloses wherein the server communicates with the client by way of an API (application program interface) included in the server and located in front of the blockchain [Rice, see col. 24, lines 17-22, disclosing a smart contract implemented by content validation node 220 may provide (e.g., via an API) validation wrapper device 250 with information designed to enable validation wrapper device 250 to communicate the second content data (and/or any additional information to be used for content validation) to content validation node 220].
With respect to claims 8 and 18, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination further discloses wherein the taxonomy has a hierarchical structure with the phrases at a top of the hierarchical structure, and the words below the phrases in the hierarchical structure [White, see ¶0042, disclosing the documentation 120 can be scanned and the rule can be turned into code which is stored in the rule library; In this regard, the documentation scanner 110 can be configured to identify pseudo code in the documentation 120; In cases where the pseudo code is not provided in the documentation, the documentation scanner 110 can parse the spoken language rule descriptions and identify keywords, message field tags and sequences; the cited portions appears to depict a hierarchical structure that it must follow which the semantic rules follow].
With respect to claims 9 and 19, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination further discloses wherein after the completed blockchain request has been received from the client, a check is performed to verify that a request header of the completed blockchain request has not been modified in transmit from the client to the server [Rice, see col. 25, lines 16-20, disclosing validation wrapper device 250 may periodically check the blockchain network for a transaction associated with the content data, e.g., in a manner designed to enable validation wrapper device 250 to read and obtain validation results from the blockchain].
With respect to claims 10 and 20, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination further discloses wherein the phrases each comprise one or more elements in which one of the words may be inserted [White, see ¶0027, disclosing the structured data 140, 145 can comprise information (e.g., parameters) related to specifications for the structures of the messages, information (e.g., parameters) related to semantic validation rules to be applied to such messages when the messages are passed to a map for validation, business names to be populated into the fields of messages, etc].
Claims 3, 4, 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rice and White, further in view of Zhou et al. (US 11,403,301 B2) hereinafter “Zhou”.
With respect to claims 3 and 13, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination does not discloses wherein the taxonomy phrase search and the taxonomy word search comprise searching a property graph in which one of the words and phrases are represented by respective nodes, and the other of the words and phrases are represented by edges that connect two or more of the nodes.
However, Zhou discloses wherein the taxonomy phrase search and the taxonomy word search comprise searching a property graph in which one of the words and phrases are represented by respective nodes, and the other of the words and phrases are represented by edges that connect two or more of the nodes [see col. 4, lines 39-47, disclosing a knowledge graph includes data organized in a graph containing nodes and edges; The data of a knowledge graph may include states about relationships between things and concepts, and those statements may be represented as nodes and edges of a graph; The nodes of a knowledge graph each contain a piece or pieces of data and the edges represent relationships between the data contained in the nodes that the edges connect].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to modify the combination with the knowledge graph as taught by Zhou. Doing so would have facilitated traversal and validation of relationships among connected semantic elements, thereby, enabling more reliable enforcement of semantic constraints prior to recording validated transaction data in the blockchain.
With respect to claims 4 and 14, as modified, the combination of Rice and White discloses the method and non-transitory storage medium of claims 1 and 11, as referenced above. The combination does not discloses wherein the taxonomy phrase search and the taxonomy word search comprise searching less than an entire property graph [White, see ¶0025, discloses the documentation scanner 110 can parse the pseudo code and tokenize the pseudo code to generate database entries for the structured data 145 for the semantic validation rules; so it appears to scan less than an entire documents based on the semantic validation rules but not being based on a property graph].
However, Zhou discloses a property graph [[see col. 4, lines 39-47, disclosing a knowledge graph includes data organized in a graph containing nodes and edges; The data of a knowledge graph may include states about relationships between things and concepts, and those statements may be represented as nodes and edges of a graph; The nodes of a knowledge graph each contain a piece or pieces of data and the edges represent relationships between the data contained in the nodes that the edges connect].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to modify the combination with the knowledge graph as taught by Zhou. Doing so would have facilitated traversal and validation of relationships among connected semantic elements, thereby, enabling more reliable enforcement of semantic constraints prior to recording validated transaction data in the blockchain.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kase disclosing detecting asset misuse, loss, or piracy in supply chain using neural networks.
Barnett et al. discloses semantic-taxonomy-based immutable ledger request evaluation.
Smith et al. discloses generating directed graph using raw data.
Schilders discloses graph-based model ownership.
Ireland et al. discloses financial messaging transformation-as-a-service.
Cella et al. discloses transactions platforms where systems include sets of other systems.
Vouk et al. discloses on-chain governance of blockchain.
Mehta discloses technical language processing.
Yoshihama et al. discloses blockchain timestamp agreement.
Falk discloses transaction selection device for selecting blockchain transactions.
Bier et al. discloses reducing storage of blockchain metadata via dictionary-style compression.
Jayachandran et al. disclose customized endorsement logic for blockchain.
Conclusions/Points of Contacts
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE A CASANOVA whose telephone number is (571)270-3563. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Aleksandr Kerzhner can be reached at (571) 270-1760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JORGE A CASANOVA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2165