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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the communication filed on 04/16/2026.
Claims 4-5, 17 and 20 have been previously cancelled.
New claims 21-26 have been added.
Claims 1-3, 6-16, 18-19 and 21-16 are currently pending and are considered below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
6. 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.
7. Claims 21-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Representative claim 21, recites a method, which is a statutory class, executed by a package tracking platform, executable by one or more processors to implement a method for displaying a promotion of a product or service to package recipients linked to webpages, said method comprising:
receiving, by a package tracking platform, a request to display the promotion to package
recipients selected from multiple package recipients having respective recipient profiles, wherein the request specifies recipient criteria to be satisfied;
selecting, or receiving a selection of, by the package tracking platform, package
recipients from multiple package recipients, said package recipients being selected, or having been selected, based on (i) the recipient profile of each selected package recipient satisfying the recipient criteria specified in the request and (ii) each selected package recipient having ordered a package of good from a shipper such that the package has the package status of a SHIP status of currently being shipped to the package recipient via a first freight carrier or a RETURN status of currently being returned from the package recipient to the shipper via a second freight carrier;
embedding the promotion within content to be presented to each selected package
recipient who is linked to a package tracking webpage specific to each selected package recipient, wherein a package tracking website comprises the package tracking webpage, and wherein the communication is in the package tracking website that tracks shipment of the package of good;
sending an electronic communication to each selected package recipient, wherein the
electronic communication includes a link to the package tracking webpage which enables each selected package recipient to link to the package tracking webpage via the link to access the package tracking information pertaining to the package; and
displaying, by the package tracking platform on the package tracking webpage of the
package tracking website, the package tracking information and the content to each linked package recipient who is a selected package recipient linked to the package tracking webpage via the link.
The steps of
receiving, by a package tracking platform, a request to display the promotion to package
recipients selected from multiple package recipients having respective recipient profiles, wherein the request specifies recipient criteria to be satisfied;
selecting, or receiving a selection of, by the package tracking platform, package
recipients from multiple package recipients, said package recipients being selected, or having been selected, based on (i) the recipient profile of each selected package recipient satisfying the recipient criteria specified in the request and (ii) each selected package recipient having ordered a package of good from a shipper such that the package has the package status of a SHIP status of currently being shipped to the package recipient via a first freight carrier or a RETURN status of currently being returned from the package recipient to the shipper via a second freight carrier;
embedding the promotion within content to be presented to each selected package
recipient who is linked to a package tracking webpage specific to each selected package recipient, wherein a package tracking website comprises the package tracking webpage, and wherein the communication is in the package tracking website that tracks shipment of the package of good;
sending an electronic communication to each selected package recipient, wherein the
electronic communication includes a link to the package tracking webpage which enables each selected package recipient to link to the package tracking webpage via the link to access the package tracking information pertaining to the package; and
displaying, by the package tracking platform on the package tracking webpage of the
package tracking website, the package tracking information and the content to each linked package recipient who is a selected package recipient linked to the package tracking webpage via the link
as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers a method of organizing human activity. Given the broadest reasonable interpretation, the claim recites a method for displaying a promotion to package recipients linked to webpages. The above identified method steps recite commercial interactions such as sales activities and/or tailored personalized marketing relating to providing data associated with the person. The sales activities and tailored/personalized marketing (receiving a request to display the promotion and displaying the promotion to each selected package recipient) can be considered to involve a mental process of organizing information.
If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers commercial interaction such as tailored personalized marketing, then it falls within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Representative claim 23, recites a method, which is a statutory class, executed by a package tracking platform, a third-party platform executable by one or more processors to implement a method for displaying a promotion of a product or service to package recipients linked to webpages, said method comprising:
receiving, by the third-party platform, electronic shipment data and recipient information from a plurality of freight carriers and/or a plurality of shippers selling items to recipients and having the items shipped and delivered to the recipients by plurality of freight carriers;
aggregating, by the third party platform, the received electronic shipment data and recipient information into unified demographic recipient profiles in a unified demographic recipient profile database;
cross-referencing, by the third party platform, promotional attributes of one or more authorized promotional entities with a particular unified demographic recipient profile of a recipient who is associated with a specific in-transit parcel, wherein the cross-referencing utilizes data describing the specific in-transit parcel;
electronically generating, by the third party platform in response to the cross-referencing, at least one visible promotional structure associated with the cross-referenced promotional attributes;
embedding and deploying, by the third party platform, the at least one visible promotional structure within the web-based tracking page that tracks shipment of the in-transit parcel, wherein the web-based tracking page is provided by the third-party platform; and
displaying, by the third party platform, the visible promotional structure in the web-based
tracking page to the recipient during the shipment of the in-transit parcel.
The steps of
receiving, by the third-party platform, electronic shipment data and recipient information from a plurality of freight carriers and/or a plurality of shippers selling items to recipients and having the items shipped and delivered to the recipients by plurality of freight carriers;
aggregating, by the third party platform, the received electronic shipment data and recipient information into unified demographic recipient profiles in a unified demographic recipient profile database;
cross-referencing, by the third party platform, promotional attributes of one or more authorized promotional entities with a particular unified demographic recipient profile of a recipient who is associated with a specific in-transit parcel, wherein the cross-referencing utilizes data describing the specific in-transit parcel;
electronically generating, by the third party platform in response to the cross-referencing, at least one visible promotional structure associated with the cross-referenced promotional attributes;
embedding and deploying, by the third party platform, the at least one visible promotional structure within the web-based tracking page that tracks shipment of the in-transit parcel, wherein the web-based tracking page is provided by the third-party platform; and
displaying, by the third party platform, the visible promotional structure in the web-based
tracking page to the recipient during the shipment of the in-transit parcel
as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers a method of organizing human activity. Given the broadest reasonable interpretation, the claim recites a method for displaying a promotion to package recipients linked to webpages. The above identified method steps recite commercial interactions such as sales activities and/or tailored personalized marketing relating to providing data associated with the person. The sales activities and tailored/personalized marketing (receiving a request to display the promotion and displaying the promotion to each selected package recipient) can be considered to involve a mental process of organizing information.
If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers commercial interaction such as tailored personalized marketing, then it falls within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim recites the additional elements of a package tracking platform, a third-party platform, a computer program product, one or more memory and one or more processors. The computer system is recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer functions of receiving a request to display the promotion, selecting or receiving a selection of package recipients) such that they amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. The limitation embedding the promotion within a communication using generic computers is not a patentable improvement to computer technology. Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim is directed to an abstract idea.
The claims does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of
a package tracking platform, a third-party platform, a computer program product, one or more memory and one or more processors amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. The additional elements are similar to the additional elements found by courts to be mere instructions to apply an exception because they do no more than merely invoke computers or machinery to perform an existing process such as: a common business method or mathematical algorithm being applied on a general purpose computer (Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. V. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 US 208, 223; Versata Dev. Group, Inc. v. SAP Am., Inc., 793 F.3d 1306, 1334); requiring the use of software to tailor information and provide it to the user on a generic computer, Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363, 1370-71). Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept.
Thus, considered as an ordered combination, the additional elements add nothing that is not already present when the steps are considered separately. That is, a package tracking platform, a computer program product, one or more memory and one or more processors, performing commercial interactions including: receiving a request to display the promotion, selecting or receiving a selection of package recipients, amount to mere instructions to apply the steps to a computer comprising of a processor.
Thus, claims 21 and 23 are not eligible.
As for dependent claims 22 and 24-26, these claims recite cross referencing, by the package tracking platform, the recipient profile of each package recipient of the multiple package recipients with the recipient criteria specified in the request to identify package recipients whose recipient profile satisfies the recipient criteria; and receiving, by the package tracking platform from a package tracker, the package status and related details of a package of goods ordered by each identified package recipient who ordered the package of goods from the shipper; and selecting, try the package tracking platform from the identified package recipients, the package recipients who ordered the package of goods from the shipper, wherein the package has the package status of a SHIP or a RETURN, as drafted, is a process that under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind or using pen and paper but for the recitation of generic computer components. For example but for the “the package tracking platform, a third-party platform, computing system, one or more memory and one or more processors,” language in claims 21 and 23. The claim falls into the mental process grouping of abstract ideas. The additional limitations of the dependent claims, when considered individually and as an ordered combination, do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Claims 21-26 are therefore not drawn to eligible subject matter as they are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Potentially Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 1-3, 6-16 and 18-19 are potentially allowable once all of the above rejections have been overcome. The claims use the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolized the exception.
Response to Arguments
9. Applicant's arguments filed on 04/16/2026 with respect to the rejection of claims 1-3, 6-16 and 18-19 under 35 U.S.C. 101 have been fully considered and they are persuasive. The rejection of claims 1-3, 6-16 and 18-19 under 35 U.S.C. 101 has been withdrawn. Furthermore, Examiner notes that newly added claims 21-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101. See new rejection above.
Conclusion
10. Regarding prior art rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102/103(a):
11. The invention is directed towards “receiving, by a package tracking platform, a request to display the promotion to package recipients selected from multiple package recipients having respective recipient profiles, wherein the request specifies recipient criteria to be satisfied; selecting, or receiving a selection of, by the package tracking platform, package recipients from multiple package recipients, said package recipients being selected, or having been selected, based on (i) the recipient profile of each selected package recipients satisfying the recipient criteria specified in the request and (ii) each selected package recipient having ordered a package of good from a shipper such that the package has the package status of a SHIP status of currently being shipped to the package recipient via a first freight carrier or a RETURN status of currently being returned from the package recipient to the shipper via a second freight carrier; generating, by the package tracking platform using a script generated by the package tracking platform, a package tracking website comprising a package tracking webpage for each selected package recipient: embedding the promotion within a communication to be presented to each selected package recipient who is linked to the package tracking webpage specific to each selected package recipient, wherein the communication in the package tracking website that tracks shipment of the package of good; and sending an electronic communication to each selected package recipient, wherein the electronic communication invites each selected package recipient to link to the package tracking webpage to access the package tracking information pertaining to the package; and displaying, by the package tracking platform on the package tracking webpage of the package tracking website, the package tracking information and the promotion to each selected package recipient who is linked to the package tracking webpage as a result of being invited to link to the package tracking webpage, wherein the package tracking webpage has a look and feel of a webpage at a website of a package provider selected from the group consisting of the shipper and one freight carrier, wherein the one freight carrier is the first freight carrier or the second freight carrier if the package currently has the SHIP status or the RETURN status, respectively, and wherein the package provider provides the product or service promoted by the promotion, wherein the package tracking website is not owned or controlled by the package provider.
12. The prior art of record teaches:
13. Ho (U.S. Pub. No. 2013/0346156) talks about placing targeted advertisements on parcel packages, preferably from an internal advertiser server. The method includes receiving information regarding one or more packages to be delivered to one or more recipients. The method also includes retrieving promotion data regarding one or more promotions targeted to the one or more recipients. One or more personalized promotion labels are generated from the promotion data. The one or more personalized promotion labels are transmitted to one or more output devices for placement of the one or more personalized promotion labels on the one or more packages (see at least paragraph 0008).
14. BOSE (U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0101377) talks about providing targeted content in real-time comprises: a web and application server that identifies one or more user interactions from a user on a website hosted by an entity; a processor that receives the one or more user interactions and converts the one or more user interactions into one or more real-time attributes; and an engine that identifies customized content for the user from a remote processor, adjusts the customized content based on the one or more real-time attributes, and generates an output comprising the customized content for display on the website for the user in real-time (see at least paragraph 0006).
15. Fabian et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2015/0019384) talks about enabling a direct sale of a product or a service comprising a processor configured to provide an application comprising: a software module for the user or the group of users to purchase a product
directly from a manufacturer, provided that the buyer has the option to purchase the product from at least two manufacturers; a software module for selecting a shipping service for the product, provided that shipping is from the manufacturer to the user or the group of users, and provided that the user or the group of users has the option to purchase the service from at least two shipping providers; a software module for tracking the product through the manufacturing and shipping processes; and a software module for social networking comprises directly connecting to the manufacturer, the shipping provider, other users, or other group of users (see at least the Abstract).
16. Du (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0344742) talks about a network communication system that includes a network processing center for receiving and converting an electronic or electro-magnetically transmissible data/content into a physically deliverable object and/or network transmissible content data files for carrying out a hybrid delivery of the data/content by a physical delivery process and/or a network electro-magnetic delivery process to a recipient or an ECRMA. A machine-readable code such as QR code is used in the continuous information flow among the various components of this system. This unique machine-readable code is associated with multiple kinds of address-linked information, user-related personally identifiable information, or biometric information. This code also embodies some derivative component(s) which can be individually accessed and manipulated. The delivery status of the electronic contents or the tangible item and their post-delivery activities are tracked by a variety of mechanisms and the information obtained from the tracking is send back to the content-senders. The continuous communication between the content sender and recipient is enabled through the system and the unique machine-readable code (see at least the Abstract).
17. Galit et al. (U.S. Patent No. 8,371,502) talks about cardholder can also provide demographic information, including age, education level, income level, marital and family status, and other registration data as understood by those skilled in the art (see at least paragraph 12 (Summary).
18. Kohl (U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0042744) talks about the inventive system maintains several features that will create repeat traffic. Repeat traffic, otherwise quantified as a site's "stickiness" factor, is a critical component of healthy e-commerce. The colorful, tangible, and eye-catching trading card will aid in creating brand loyalty by reminding the online consumer of the site and its location on the web. Promotional giveaways encourage repeat traffic as trading cardholders re-visit sites while looking for their winning number. The frequency of each giveaway can be adjusted to fit the site's mission, visitor pool, and demographic makeup. The trading cards can be re-designed and re-issued periodically in electronic or hard copy form so as to attract new interest and encourage repeat visits (see at least Paragraph 0020).
19. Benveniste et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0126146) talks about the user determines whether a control group should be assigned to the target group 174. As explained above, the hold-out control group represents marketing entities that would be statistically representative (e.g., similar in demographic or financial bracket) to the marketing entities of the target group. The user uses the control group to test the effectiveness of the marketing campaign (i.e., measure the incremental benefit of sending the promotion, also known as "lift" over the control group). If the user determines that a control group is desired, then the user assigns a control group to the target group 176. The control group is measured against every promotion instance assigned to its target group. A control group can be used multiple times for different target groups if desired. Next, the user determines if group-level custom attributes are desired 178. The order of determining whether a control group is desired 174 and determining if group attributes are desired 178 can be reversed if desired in the group management process 40b (see at least paragraph 0055).
20. The claims have overcome the prior art of record. While it is believed that each of the claims exists individually in the prior art, the combination of the references requires a number of references that would no longer render the claims obvious to combine.
21. 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.
22. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARILYN G MACASIANO whose telephone number is (571)270-5205. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 12:00-9:00 pm.
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/MARILYN G MACASIANO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3622 12/27/2025
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