DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
In response to the election/restriction requirement sent out on 12/23/2025, applicant has elected group I (Claims 1-8 and 21) without traverse.
Claim Objections
1.Claim 21, line 5 objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 21, line 5 states “wherein the initial activity data;” which is objected for containing incomplete sentence. For examination purposes, examiner not consider the phrase “wherein the initial activity data” Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
2. Claims 1-8 are allowed.
3. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The applicant’s set of claims filed on 02/09/2026 have been reviewed by the examiner in view of the prior arts of a search; and it is agreed that the prior arts of the search fail to disclose “obtaining initial activity data associated with the contact interacting with the unassisted channel of the service provider, wherein the initial activity data comprises at least one of information about the contact during a predetermined period of time after the first time; or a number of interactions of the contact on the unassisted channel; determining to direct the contact to at least one assisted channel of the service provider based on the initial activity data and the agent data; based on determining to direct the contact to the at least one assisted channel of the service provider, transmitting an electronic notification to a personal device of the contact; after transmitting the electronic notification to the contact, obtaining a request from a personal device to establish an agent connection to the contact center system on the at least one assisted channel; and pairing, based on the request, a personal device of the contact to the contact center system, wherein the pairing establishes a communication between an agent of the plurality of agents and the contact” as shown in the independent claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4.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.
5. Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sayko et al. (US 20140126708) in view of LORE et al. (US 20180190291).
Regarding claim 21, Sayko discloses a method comprising: obtaining contact connection data associated with a contact at a first time, wherein the contact connection data comprises activity of the contact on a first channel of a service provider (Paragraphs: 0050-0051: Sayko discusses how the contact center identify and monitor the user and to track the user's activity; and how the system monitor and tracks a user's session on a web application); obtaining initial activity data associated with the contact interacting with the first channel (Paragraphs: 0050-0051: monitor and to track user's activity), wherein the initial activity data; obtaining second channel data comprising a capacity of a second channel of a service provider (Paragraphs: 0044 and 0058: Sayko discusses how determination is made that the selected agent has a WebRTC-capable browser);
Sayko discloses the invention set forth above but does not specifically point out “determining to direct the contact to the second channel based on the initial activity data and the second channel data; based on determining to direct the contact to the second channel, transmitting an electronic notification to a personal device of the contact; after transmitting the electronic notification to the contact, obtaining a request from a personal device to establish a connection to the second channel”
LORE however discloses determining to direct the contact to the second channel based on the initial activity data and the second channel data (Paragraphs: 0007 and 0060: LORE discusses how a contact center Interaction Router/Manager use the data collected and stored in the memory, e.g., data store, the attributes about what and why the customer initiated the conversation including emotion and sentiment scores to identify an appropriate agent/specialist to handle the customer interaction); based on determining to direct the contact to the second channel, transmitting an electronic notification to a personal device of the contact (Paragraphs: 0007 and 0064-0067: LORE discusses how a notification engine may monitor the customer interaction to determine the customer issue, and inform the customer; and how the system routes customer interactions to agents/specialists equipped to handle customers based on attributes captured during interaction with assisted and unassisted channels); after transmitting the electronic notification to the contact, obtaining a request from a personal device to establish a connection to the second channel (0007, 0041-0042 and 0061: LORD discusses how notification engine monitor the customer interaction to determine whether to generate and send a notification to customer or contact; and how Customer interactions also include alternate channels, such as websites, chat, email, SMS, etc. Other channels, i.e. it would have been obvious to obtain a request from a personal device to establish a connection, after confirming from a contact via a notification).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Sayko, and modify a system to determine to direct the contact to the second channel based on the initial activity data and the second channel data; based on determining to direct the contact to the second channel, transmitting an electronic notification to a personal device of the contact; after transmitting the electronic notification to the contact, obtaining a request from a personal device to establish a connection to the second channel, as taught by LORE, thus allowing to drive workforce management forecasting and scheduling resulting in cost savings and improved agent/specialist availability, as discussed by LORE.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOSEF K LAEKEMARIAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5149. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30-6:30 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached at (571) 272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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YOSEF K. LAEKEMARIAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2651
/YOSEF K LAEKEMARIAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691