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 .
Response to Amendments
The action is responsive to the Applicant’s Amendment filed on 03/10/2026.
Claims 1-11 are pending in the application.
The 101 rejection of claim 10 previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 12/11/2025 is hereby withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejections previously made and the amended claims filed on 3/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In view of the claim amendments, the rejections are being updated accordingly.
In regards to independent claim 1, Applicant argued that cited reference Suryanarayana fails to disclose or teach "the artificial intelligence engine generates a response output---, the response output comprising a natural language response field" recited in claim 1 of the present application.
In response to the arguments, it is submitted that the limitation that the Applicant is arguing in claim 1 actually recites, “so that the artificial intelligence engine generates a response output according to the natural language inquiry and the system configuration information”. This limitation is intended use, indicating an intended outcome, and it simply expresses the intended result of a process step positively recited. This descriptive material will not distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art in terms of patentability. The actual steps of the claim include receiving… a… inquiry, providing the inquiry, receiving the response, and providing… a... response. Claim 1 does not recite a step where the artificial intelligence engine generates a response output. Also, the claim language is broad and does not define what the response would include, if one was generated. However, paragraph [0010] of the instant specification states, “In some embodiments, in step (D), the natural language response is in a text, voice or graphic format.” Suryanarayana explicitly teaches generating a text response in paragraph [0036], where data related to an issue is provided to the software agent, and the artificial intelligence engine generates a message, which is a response, as recited in claim 1.
Also, the Applicant argues that cited reference “Suryanarayana et al. clearly differs from the technical content claimed in claim 1 of the present application… Suryanarayana et al. fails to disclose or teach "providing the user with a natural language response in the natural language response field." recited in claim 1 of the present application.” However, additional details about the message are provided in paragraph [0037] that immediately follows, adding that “The chat application may also provide a message to the user indicating what actions were performed to address the issue, e.g., “The BIOS was reconfigured to enable secure boot”, “The BIOS was reconfigured to enable Wake-On LAN”, or the like.” Suryanarayana’s messages correspond directly to paragraphs [0006]-[0010] of the instant specification, and to the response examples provided in paragraph [0028] of the instant specification. Therefore, Suryanarayana et al. does not differ from the technical content claimed in claim 1 of the present application. Suryanarayana clearly teaches a message that is provided to the user with a natural language response as recited in claim 1, and explicitly states in paragraphs [0036]-[0037] that the software agent uses a chat bot and natural language processing. Thus, for at least the reasons as set forth above, it is submitted that the limitations of claim 1 are properly addressed.
Furthermore, it is also submitted that all limitations in pending claims, including those not specifically argued, are properly addressed. The reason is set forth in the rejections. See claim analysis below for detail.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Suryanarayana et al. (US 20210089325 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Suryanarayana discloses a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) setup service method, performed by a computer device ([Abstract]: The computing device may store the script in non-volatile memory and boot into a setup state of a basic input output system (BIOS) of the computing device), the method comprising steps of:
(A) receiving a natural language inquiry from a user ([0017]: When a user has an issue with a computing device, the user may use a chat application to connect to a software agent being executed on a server… The information (e.g., chat data) provided by the user responding to the questions from the software agent may be received by the server… The server may perform natural language processing to break the information into multiple problem-related tokens);
(B) providing the natural language inquiry and system configuration information related to the computer device to an artificial intelligence engine (Fig. 1; [0017]: the chat application may retrieve and send diagnostic error messages, system log messages, configuration information, and the like to the server… a machine learning module executing on the server may select or create a script to modify the BIOS), so that the artificial intelligence engine generates a response output according to the natural language inquiry and the system configuration information (Fig. 1; [0036]: After the reboot, the chat application 134 may regain control and read the script status 152 indicating a result of executing the script 164. The chat application 134 may send a message to the server 104 indicating whether or not the script 164 was successfully executed);
(C) receiving the response output from the artificial intelligence engine, the response output comprising a natural language response field (Fig. 1; [0036]: The chat application 134 may notify the user as to whether the script 164 was successfully executed, for example, by displaying a message to the user); and
(D) providing the user with a natural language response in the natural language response field ([0037]: The chat application may also provide a message to the user indicating what actions were performed to address the issue, e.g., “The BIOS was reconfigured to enable secure boot”, “The BIOS was reconfigured to enable Wake-On LAN”, or the like).
Regarding Claim 2, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 1,
wherein in step (C), the response output comprises the natural language response field and/or a BIOS command field ([0037]: The chat application may also provide a message to the user indicating what actions were performed to address the issue, e.g., “The BIOS was reconfigured to enable secure boot”, “The BIOS was reconfigured to enable Wake-On LAN”, or the like), and
step (D) further comprises executing a BIOS setting adjustment command in the BIOS command field to adjust a BIOS setting ([0037]: The UEFI BIOS may execute the script by executing the actions in the action tree, thereby causing modifications to the UEFI BIOS to create a modified UEFI BIOS. The modified UEFI BIOS may address the issue that the user was encountering).
Regarding Claim 3, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 2, wherein in step (D), the BIOS setting is adjusted through a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), a Device Firmware Configuration Interface (DFCI), changing a variable or a Human Interface Infrastructure (HII) Setup Data Hub (Fig. 2; [0037]-[0038] The UEFI BIOS may execute the script by executing the actions in the action tree, thereby causing modifications to the UEFI BIOS to create a modified UEFI BIOS… For example, a gaming platform may provide particular settings not available on a consumer platform or an enterprise platform. The manufacturer may modify the settings from a gaming platform for use with other types of platforms [Modifying the settings corresponds to changing a variable]).
Regarding Claim 4, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 1, wherein in step (A), the natural language inquiry is in a text, voice, graphic or video format (Fig. 1; [0032]: When a user has an issue with the computing device 102, the user may use the chat application 134 to initiate a chat with the software agent 106. For example, the software agent 106 may send a series of chat questions, such as a representative chat question 158, and receive in response, a series of chat responses from the user, such as a representative chat response 160).
Regarding Claim 5, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 1, wherein in step (D), the natural language response is in a text, voice or graphic format (Fig. 1; [0032]: When a user has an issue with the computing device 102, the user may use the chat application 134 to initiate a chat with the software agent 106.. For example, the software agent 106 may send a series of chat questions, such as a representative chat question 158, and receive in response, a series of chat responses from the user, such as a representative chat response 160).
Regarding Claim 6, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 1, wherein the natural language inquiry is a BIOS setting adjustment inquiry ([0003]: For example, a user may call a technical support specialist (e.g., a human being) who provides suggestions on modifying the BIOS settings) and/or a data inquiry related to use of the computer device ([0032]-[0033]: For example, the user may have an issue regarding enabling or disabling a feature (e.g., Wi-Fi, secure boot, hyper-threading, or the like) or the user may have problems with a particular feature, e.g., the particular feature is enabled but not all of the functionality is available).
Regarding Claim 7, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 1, wherein the system configuration information comprises BIOS information and/or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) information (Fig. 1; [0029]: The UEFI 122 is used as an example of a BIOS used by the computing device 102… The UEFI 122 may use information obtained during initialization to update one or more of the ACPI tables 140 with various platform configurations).
Regarding Claim 8, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 1, wherein the artificial intelligence engine is located within the computer device or is disposed at a cloud, and is a trained or untrained artificial intelligence engine (Fig. 1; [0022]-[0023]: The server 104 may host various software components and data, such as, for example, a representative software agent (“chat bot”) 106, a supervised machine learning model (SLM) 108… The SLM 108 may be trained to perform an analysis of data, including system logs, and data in a chat between a customer (e.g., associated with the computing device 102) and the software agent 106).
Regarding Claim 9, Suryanarayana discloses the BIOS setup service method according to claim 1, wherein in step (D), the natural language response is transmitted to another device outside the computer device (Fig. 1; [0027]: The network driver 130 enables the computing device 102 to communicate with other devices (e.g., the server 104) via the network 105… The network driver 130 enables the computing device 102 to communicate with other devices (e.g., the server 104) via the network 105; [0071]: Thus, implementations herein are operational with numerous environments or architectures, and may be implemented in general purpose and special-purpose computing systems, or other devices having processing capability).
Regarding Claim 10, Suryanarayana discloses a computer device, comprising: a processor;a non-transitory memory coupled to the processor and storing a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), wherein the BIOS includes: system configuration information related to the computer device (Fig. 1; [0029]: The UEFI 122 is used as an example of a BIOS used by the computing device 102… The UEFI 122 may use information obtained during initialization to update one or more of the ACPI tables 140 with various platform configurations); and
a user interface, coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute the BIOS to acquire the system configuration information, and to perform the BIOS setup service method of claim 1 ([0029]: The UEFI 122 may include a user interface (UI) 138… The UI 138 may enable a user to navigate the UEFI 122 to set various parameters, including enabling or disabling various features).
Regarding Claim 11, Suryanarayana discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having a plurality of instructions stored therein, wherein a computer device, after reading the plurality of instructions, is enabled to perform the BIOS setup service method of claim 1 (Fig. 8; [0067]: Both memory 804 and mass storage devices 812 may be collectively referred to as memory or computer storage media herein and may be any type of non-transitory media capable of storing computer-readable, processor-executable program instructions as computer program code that can be executed by the processors 802 as a particular machine configured for carrying out the operations and functions described in the implementations herein).
Conclusion
17. 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 extension fee 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 SHIRLEY D. HICKS whose telephone number is (571)272-3304. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 7:30 - 4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Rones can be reached on (571) 272-4085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/S D H/Examiner, Art Unit 2168
/CHARLES RONES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2168
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