DETAILED ACTION
This final rejection is responsive to communication filed March 30, 2026. Claims 1, 9, and 17 are currently amended. Claims 2, 3, 8, 10, 11, 16, 18, 19 and 24 are canceled. Claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-15, 17, and 20-23 are pending in this application.
The present application is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of US Patent Application 18/489,465.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on February 9, 2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-15, 17, and 20-23 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 2-3, 5-6, 11-12, 14-15, 20-21, and 23-24 of copending Application No. US 18/489,465 (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 2-3, 5-6, 11-12, 14-15, 20-21, and 23-24 of US patent application 18/489,465 anticipate every limitation of claims 1, 4-7, 9, 12-15, 17, and 20-23 of the present application.
For example, claims 2, 11, and 20 of US patent application 18/489,465 anticipate the limitations of claims 1, 4, 9, 12, 17 and 20 of the present application. Claims 3, 12, and 21 of US patent application 18/489,465 anticipate the limitations of claims 5, 13, and 21 of the present application. Claims 5, 14, and 23 of US patent application 18/489,465 anticipate the limitations of claims 6, 14, and 22 of the present application. Claims 6, 15, and 24 of US patent application 18/489,465 anticipate the limitations of claims 7, 15, and 23 of the present application.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 9 and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The term “the configuration” in the sixth from last line of the claims should be “a configuration.”
Further, there appears to be insufficient antecedent basis for the term “"the reconfigured query sub-components" in the third from last line of the claims because the claims only previously mention “change the configuration of query sub-components.”
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 4-7, 9, 12-15, 17, and 20-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Simitsis et al. (US 20170004173 A1) (‘Simitsis’) in view of Kumar et al. (US 2022/0342884 A1) (‘Kumar’), and further in view of Choudhury et al. (US 2018/0329958 A1) (‘Choudhury’).
With respect to claims 1, 9 and 17, Simitsis teaches a computing apparatus, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and a computer-implemented method, comprising:
a processor (paragraph 14);
a memory (paragraph 16) storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to:
determining, by the processor, one or more query relationships for a main query, formula and/or expression (paragraphs 17 and 27), wherein when determining the one or more query relationships, the apparatus is further configured to:
i) determine a first set of one or more subqueries that are referenced by the main query by at least (paragraphs 29-31);
examining, by the processor, metadata of the main query (Simitsis, paragraphs 29-31);
collecting, by the processor, one or more referenced queries (subqueries) in the metadata (Simitsis, paragraphs 29-31); and
loading, by the processor, a query definition for each of the one or more referenced queries (Simitsis, paragraphs 26, 29 and 30);
displaying, by the processor, an interactive entity relationship graph for displaying the main query and the one or more query relationships on a user interface, wherein the interactive entity relationship graph comprises nodes representing queries and edges representing references among queries across multiple documents or containers (Fig. 6A, paragraphs 10, 17, 19, 27 and 53-54);
executing, by the processor, the main query based on user interaction (paragraphs 11, 18 and 43);
displaying, by the processor, results for the main query (Fig. 6C, paragraphs 11, 19-20, and 57);
generate, by the processor, the one or more performance metrics (Simitsis, paragraphs 32-33 and 43);
map, by the processor, each performance component to a corresponding query based on the determined query relationships (Simitsis, paragraphs 11, 19, 37 and 57); and
overlaying, by the processor, the mapped one or more performance metrics (Figs. 6A-6C, paragraphs 19-20 and 54) on the at least one node and one link in the interactive entity relationship graph for display on the user interface (Simitsis, Figs. 6A-6C, paragraphs 44, 53, and 56-57),
wherein, after displaying the results for the main query and the overlaid mapped performance metrics on the interactive entity relationship graph, the processor is configured to allow the user to select and change the configuration of the interactive entity relationship graph displayed on the user interface (Figs. 6A-6C, paragraphs 58-59 and 61) and iteratively update the query tree as queries are executed to display a reconfigured interactive entity relationship graph that shows changes during configuration as the user builds a final result (paragraphs 20, 44, and 47-48).
Simitsis does not explicitly teach determining a second set of subqueries that reference the main query.
Kumar teaches determining, by the processor, a second set of subqueries that reference the main query (i.e. upstream dependency) (paragraphs 30 and 32); and also teaches:
examine, by the processor, metadata of the main query (Kumar, paragraphs 25, 32, and 37); and
collect, by the processor, one or more referenced queries (subqueries) in the metadata (Kumar, paragraphs 25, 32, and 37).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have modified Simitsis to determine whether the main query is referenced as taught by Kumar to enable upstream dependencies as well as downstream dependencies to be determined, thereby enabling a complete query lineage to be determined (Kumar, abstract) and analyzed with respect to query execution performance metrics. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the combination because Simitsis teaches determining query dependencies in a query tree having multiple levels and thus it is obvious that upstream dependencies may be determined.
Further with respect to claims 1, 9, and 17, Simitsis does not explicitly teach a user selecting and changing the configuration of query sub-components and iteratively rerun the reconfigured query sub-component to display a reconfigured interactive entity relationship graph that shows changes during configuration as the user builds a final result.
Choudhury teaches a user selecting and changing the configuration of query sub-components (paragraphs 18, 192, 196, 201) and iteratively rerun the reconfigured query sub-component to display a reconfigured interactive entity relationship graph that shows changes during configuration as the user builds a final result (paragraphs 78 and 201-202).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the interactive entity relationship graph of Simitsis to allow a user to select and change query components and rerun the reconfigured query components to show changes on the graph as taught by Choudhury because Simitsis teaches a user changing configuration of an interactive graph and updating the graph as queries execute, and thus incorporating the user also changing query sub-components as taught by Choudhury would yield predictable results, namely updating the interactive graph based on user input. Further, the modification would enable a query graph building tool that enhance usability by providing intuitive ways to specify query graphs and their subgraphs and providing an intuitive way to present the results of continuous subgraph matching queries (Choudhury, abstract).
With respect to claims 4, 12, and 20, Simitis in view of Kumar and Choudhury teaches wherein when determining the second set of one or more subqueries that reference the main query, the apparatus is further configured to:
load, by the processor, one or more containers (i.e. databases) (Simitsis, paragraphs 24-26, 39 and 41); and
examine, by the processor, the one or more containers (Simitsis, paragraphs 24-26, 34 and 41); and
for each query in each container, the apparatus is further configured to:
examine, by the processor, metadata of each query in each container (Kumar, paragraphs 25, 32, and 37); and
determine, by the processor, whether the main query is referenced (i.e. upstream dependency) (Kumar, paragraphs 30 and 32).
With respect to claims 5, 13, and 21, Simitis in view of Kumar and Choudhury teaches wherein collecting the one or more referenced queries in the metadata comprises: examining, by the processor, stored metadata for one or more explicit references to one or more related objects (Kumar, paragraphs 25, 32 and 37); and
using, by the processor, the metadata to retrieve the one or more related objects (Kumar, paragraphs 25, 33, and 37).
With respect to claims 6, 14, and 22, Simitis in view of Kumar and Choudhury teaches wherein loading a query by reference comprises: loading, by the processor, a unique identifier associated with each of the one or more referenced queries (Simitsis, paragraphs 29 and 31; Kumar, paragraph 28).
With respect to claims 7, 15, and 23, Simitsis in view of Kumar and Choudhury teaches, wherein displaying the relationship graph comprises: drawing, by the processor, a node on a graph representing the main query, with a left port for revealing a dependency relationship and a right port for revealing a usage relationship (Simitsis, Figs. 6A-6C, paragraphs 53-54; also Kumar, lineage graph, paragraphs 33).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 30, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues Applicant argues that Simitsis fails to teach overlaying mapped performance metrics on at least one node and one link in the interactive entity relationship graph. The examiner disagrees. Simitsis shows overlaying performance metrics on at least one node and one link in the interactive entity relationship graph in element 638 in Fig. C (paragraph 57).
Applicant further argues that Simitsis fails to teach displaying an interactive entity relationship graph with nodes representing queries and edges representing references among queries across multiple containers. The examiner disagrees. Simitsis teaches displaying an interactive entity relationship graph with nodes representing queries and edges representing references among queries across multiple containers (Figs. 6A-6C, paragraphs 17, 19, 27 and 53-54). Applicant’s specification does not mention edges representing references among queries across multiple containers. As such, given the broadest reasonable interpretation, in a relationship graph showing connections between queries and parent-child relationships, the edges would represent references or relationships among queries.
In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, the motivation is found in both the references themselves and in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art, as explained in the 103 rejection above.
In response to applicant's argument that the examiner's conclusion of obviousness is based upon improper hindsight reasoning, it must be recognized that any judgment on obviousness is in a sense necessarily a reconstruction based upon hindsight reasoning. But so long as it takes into account only knowledge which was within the level of ordinary skill at the time the claimed invention was made, and does not include knowledge gleaned only from the applicant's disclosure, such a reconstruction is proper. See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971).
Conclusion
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 ALICIA M WILLOUGHBY whose telephone number is (571)272-5599. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5:30, EST, M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ajay Bhatia can be reached at 571-272-3906. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALICIA M WILLOUGHBY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2156
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