DETAILED ACTION
The following is a FINAL office action upon examination of the application number 18/712541.
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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-3, 6, and 10-16 have been amended.
Claims 4, 5, and 7-9 have been cancelled.
Claims 17-32 are new.
Claims 1-3, 6, and 10-32 are pending in the application and have been examined on the merits discussed below.
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 1-3, 6, and 10-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
(Step 1) Claims 13, 15, 29, and 31 are directed to a method; thus these claims are directed to a process, which is one of the statutory categories of invention. Claims 1-3, 6, 10-12, and 17-28 are directed to an apparatus comprising a processor; thus the apparatus comprises a device or set of devices, and therefore, is directed to a machine which is a statutory category of invention. Claims 14, 16, 30, and 32 are directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium, which is a manufacture, and this a statutory category of invention.
(Step 2A) The claims recite an abstract idea instructing how to adjust and manage a schedule, which is described by claim limitations reciting:
… a calendar tool that stores and manages schedule information of participants who are intended to participate to an assembly, comprising:
…. set an adjustment condition related to the assembly… and
… adjust an assembly time/date based on the adjustment condition…, wherein
… setting the adjustment condition, sets and stores the adjustment condition in the storage unit in response to an input operation by the adjustment initiator … wherein the adjustment condition includes required time for the assembly, an extraction span that is a target span to extract candidate time/dates of the assembly, a time frame during which the assembly is able to be held, a designation of one or more the participants, and an exclusion keyword that is used to exclude some of existing plans during which the participants are not available, wherein the existing plans are one or more, and are included in the schedule information of the participants,
reads out the adjustment condition stored in the storage unit, and
refers to the schedule information of all the participants, who are designated in the read adjustment condition, managed by the calendar tool,
identifies all the existing plans from the schedule information wherein a part of or all of time/dates of the existing plans fall within at least a range of the extraction span and the time frame designated in the adjustment condition,
identifies remaining existing plans from all the identified existing plans by eliminating one or more the existing plans of which one or more items include the exclusion keyword wherein the items are used to determine whether or not to include the exclusion keyword,
identifies time/dates A that fall within the extraction span and the time frame designated in the adjustment condition, and within which the remaining existing plans do not exist, identifies time/dates B out of the identified time/dates A wherein the time/dates B are able to secure the required time for the assembly that are designated in the assembly condition, and extracts the time/dates B as third candidate dates,
… presenting the extracted third candidate time/dates,
determines the assembly time/date out of the third candidate time/dates in response to a selection operation by the adjustment partner …, and
registers the determined assembly time/date in the schedule information of at least one of the participants in the calendar tool.
The identified limitations in the claims describing the adjusting and managing a schedule (i.e., the abstract idea) fall within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas, which covers fundamental economic practices and managing personal behavior. Dependent claims 10, 11, 12, 23, 24, and 25, recite limitations that further describe/narrow the abstract idea (i.e., adjusting and managing a schedule); therefore, these claims are also found to recite an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because additional elements such as the processor and a storage unit that communicates via a network with a first terminal apparatus used by an adjustment initiator, a second terminal apparatus used by an adjustment partner; adjustment condition setting unit; and time/date adjustment unit in claims 1, 2, 17, and 18; the processor and a storage unit that communicates via a network with a first terminal apparatus used by an adjustment initiator, a second terminal apparatus used by an adjustment partner in claims 13, 15, 29, and 31; and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program causing a computer composed with a processor and a storage unit that communicates via a network with a first terminal apparatus used by an adjustment initiator, a second terminal apparatus used by an adjustment partner; adjustment condition setting unit; and time/date adjustment unit in claims 14, 16, 30, and 32, do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea since these elements are only broadly applied to the abstract ideas at a high level of generality; thus, none of recited hardware offers a meaningful limitation beyond generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, in this case, implementation via a computer/processor.
Additional elements such as the adjustment condition setting unit causes the first terminal apparatus to display an operation screen…; when the adjustment partner performs an access to the time/date adjustment apparatus based on access information notified to the adjustment partner by the adjustment initiator; when the adjustment partner performs an access to the computer based on access information notified to the adjustment partner by the adjustment initiator; causes the second terminal apparatus to display a time/date adjustment screen; and a selection operation by the adjustment partner executed on the time/date adjustment screen, do not yield an improvement in the functioning of the computer itself, nor do they yield improvements to a technical field or technology; further, these limitations are recited at a high level of generality and only add insignificant extra-solution activities (data display/gathering).
Similarly, additional elements in claims 3, 6, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, and 28, such as the input … on the operation screen; the first terminal apparatus to display the time/date editing screen; the first terminal apparatus to display a list; adjustments …on the time/date editing screen; and displays a template creation screen as the operation screen… do not yield an improvement and only add insignificant extra-solution activities (data gathering/display). Accordingly, these additional element do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
(Step 2B) The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because as discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the hardware additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. Additional elements such as the adjustment condition setting unit causes the first terminal apparatus to display an operation screen…; when the adjustment partner performs an access to the time/date adjustment apparatus based on access information notified to the adjustment partner by the adjustment initiator; when the adjustment partner performs an access to the computer based on access information notified to the adjustment partner by the adjustment initiator; causes the second terminal apparatus to display a time/date adjustment screen; and a selection operation by the adjustment partner executed on the time/date adjustment screen, do not yield an improvement in the functioning of the computer itself, nor do they yield improvements to a technical field or technology; further, these limitations are recited at a high level of generality and only add insignificant extra-solution activities (data display/gathering). Additional elements in claims 3, 6, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, and 28, such as the input … on the operation screen; the first terminal apparatus to display the time/date editing screen; the first terminal apparatus to display a list; adjustments …on the time/date editing screen; and displays a template creation screen as the operation screen… do not yield an improvement and only add insignificant extra-solution activities (data gathering/display). With respect to data gathering limitations, the courts have recognized the use of computers to receive and transmit data as a well-understood, routine, and conventional, OIP Techs., Inc., v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359, 1363, 115 USPQ2d 1090, 1093 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (sending messages over a network); buySAFE, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 765 F.3d 1350, 1355, 112 USPQ2d 1093, 1096 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (computer receives and sends information over a network). With respect to data display limitations, the courts have found the presentation of data to be a well-understood, routine, conventional activity, OIP Techs., 788 F.3d at 1362-63, 115 USPQ2d at 1092-93 (see MPEP 2106.05(d)). In addition, when taken as an ordered combination, the ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present as when the elements are taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. See updated Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101 above.
Conclusion
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 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 ALAN TORRICO-LOPEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-3247. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-5PM.
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/ALAN TORRICO-LOPEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3625
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