Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Application No. 18/816,240

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Aug 27, 2024
Priority
Sep 01, 2023 — JP 2023-141904
Examiner
SAINT CYR, LEONARD
Art Unit
2658
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Ricoh Company, Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
1y 1m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
900 granted / 1163 resolved
+15.4% vs TC avg
Strong +18% interview lift
Without
With
+18.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
1192
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
17.0%
-23.0% vs TC avg
§103
41.7%
+1.7% vs TC avg
§102
27.2%
-12.8% vs TC avg
§112
1.3%
-38.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1163 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 – 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Applicant argues that Zhao et al. do not teach receiving a first reply from a second user in response to the first comment; displaying the first reply on the display; receiving a second comment from the first user; displaying the second comment on the display; receiving a second reply from the second user in response to the second comment; displaying the second reply on the display; wherein the evaluation item is positioned on the display closer to the first reply than to the second reply (Amendment, pages 1, 2). 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 - 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US PAP 2020/0159829) in view of Porro et al. (US PAP 2012/0216130). As per claims 1, 13, 14, Zhao et al. teach an information processing apparatus, comprising circuitry configured to: receiving a first comment from a first user; displaying the first comment on a display (“displaying sentiments of user text comments.”; paragraphs 24, 28, 74); displaying, on the display, an evaluation item indicating an evaluation of the first comment in association with a character string of the comment (“displaying sentiments of user text comments. In some implementations, comment analysis system 200 may include a computing device comprising a processor, a memory, and a storage (not shown) comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor using the memory, perform, for example, the method for displaying sentiment of user text comments.”; paragraphs 24, 28, 74). However, Zhao et al. do not specifically teach receiving a first reply from a second user in response to the first comment; displaying the first reply on the display; receiving a second comment from the first user; displaying the second comment on the display; receiving a second reply from the second user in response to the second comment; displaying the second reply on the display; wherein the evaluation item is positioned on the display closer to the first reply than to the second reply. Porro et al. disclose that the comment stream can include reply comments from others users, in the event the user who received the initial ongoing feedback has granted permission for others to review the comment stream. For example, if a user of the enterprise social network accesses the ongoing feedback application, the user can review one or more ongoing feedback streams that another user has permitted to be shared. Once an ongoing feedback stream is permitted to be shared, the entire ongoing feedback stream can be reviewed. The post to Chatter field 152 can allow the ongoing feedback comment to be posted to Chatter.RTM. or any other designated social network… The reply comment section 148 can include one or more reply comments in an ongoing feedback stream. A reply comment can be a reply to feedback or another reply comment. The reply comment section 154 can include a user name field 156, an image field 158, a reply comment field 160, a timestamp field 162, a write a comment field 164, and a comment button 166. The user name field 156 can include the name of the user sending the reply comment. The image field 158 can include an image associated with the user who sent the reply comment…and/or display the ongoing feedback on the ongoing feedback user interface 100 of the first user. The notification can include the name of the second user, the reply comment, a timestamp for the reply comment, and a link to access the ongoing feedback user interface 100 for the first user (paragraphs 44, 45, 106). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to reply to different comments as taught by Porro et al. in Zhao et al., because that would help receiving ongoing feedback in a timely manner (paragraph 34). As per claim 2, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the evaluation item includes a plurality of evaluation items, the character string of the first reply includes a plurality of character strings of a plurality of replies, and the circuitry displays, on the display, the plurality of evaluation items and the plurality of character strings of the plurality of replies in chronological order (“determining, final sentiment scores for each word of the sequence of words and generating a sentiment visualization for the sequence of words showing the final sentiment scores corresponding to each word of the sequence of words.”; Zhao et al., paragraphs 6, 26, 53 – 56; see “The ongoing feedback streams can be ordered with the most recent on top.”; of Porro et al. paragraphs 43 – 45, 124, 125). As per claim 3, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to display, on the display, additional character strings of additional replies of the second user, one or more of the additional character strings of the second user being displayed before and after the comment of the user (“Comments received from users may include, for example, a message (e.g., text 274) and a score rating the user's experience with the software application (e.g., ratings 276).”; Zhao et al., paragraphs 29 – 32; Porro et al. paragraphs 43 – 45). As per claim 4, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose a memory that stores a training model including audio information and video information, wherein the circuitry is further configured to evaluate the first reply of the first user using the training model (“relate to comment analysis by way of a sentiment model”; Zhao et al., paragraphs 6, 21; Porro et al. paragraphs 43 – 45). As per claim 5, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the evaluation item includes an intermediate evaluation item that is hidden from the display (Zhao et al., paragraphs 62, 74 – 77). As per claim 6, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the evaluation item includes at least one of an acknowledgement skill, a listening skill, or a questioning skill that is related to an interactive communication skill (Zhao et al., paragraphs 73 – 77). As per claim 7, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the evaluation item includes at least one of a facial expression, a tone of voice, or a gesture that is related to an impression from the second user (“a comment and review interface may be provided that allows users to rate their experience with the application and leave a comment explaining their rating. Comments may be received as text from an input device, as audio, as an image or as other methods of input.”; Zhao et al., paragraphs 2, 32, 84; Porro et al. paragraphs 43 – 45). As per claim 8, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to display, on the display, an evaluation indicator for the evaluation item in association with the evaluation item (Zhao et al., paragraphs 24, 28, 73 - 77). As per claim 9, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the circuitry is further configured to play one of audio of the comment and an image including the audio in association with the evaluation item (“The message may also be received as audio recorded by a microphone, and processed using natural language processing, to determine a text representation of the audio. As yet another example, the message may also be formatted as an image containing text (e.g., an image of a paper document taken by a digital camera or scanned in via a scanner), and processed using optical character recognition (OCR) to determine a text representation of the image.”; Zhao et al., paragraphs 2, 32, 84). As per claim 10, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to play one of audio of an additional reply of the second user and an additional image including the audio of the additional reply (“The message may also be received as audio recorded by a microphone, and processed using natural language processing, to determine a text representation of the audio. As yet another example, the message may also be formatted as an image containing text (e.g., an image of a paper document taken by a digital camera or scanned in via a scanner), and processed using optical character recognition (OCR) to determine a text representation of the image.”; Zhao et al., paragraphs 2, 32, 84; Porro et al. paragraphs 43 – 45, 106). As per claim 11, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to play one of audio of a model reply prepared in advance for the evaluation item or an image including the audio of the model reply in association with the evaluation item (“The message may also be received as audio recorded by a microphone, and processed using natural language processing, to determine a text representation of the audio. As yet another example, the message may also be formatted as an image containing text (e.g., an image of a paper document taken by a digital camera or scanned in via a scanner), and processed using optical character recognition (OCR) to determine a text representation of the image.”; Zhao et al., paragraphs 2, 32- 34, 84; Porro et al. paragraphs 43 – 45, 106). As per claim 12, Zhao et al. in view of Porro et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to display, on the display, a model reply prepared in advance for the evaluation item in association with the evaluation item (Zhao et al., paragraphs 6, 19 – 25; Porro et al. paragraphs 43 – 45, 106). 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 LEONARD SAINT-CYR whose telephone number is (571)272-4247. The examiner can normally be reached Monday- Friday. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Richemond Dorvil can be reached at (571)272-7602. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /LEONARD SAINT-CYR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2658
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 27, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 26, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Apr 15, 2026
Interview Requested
Apr 22, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
May 01, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 24, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+18.0%)
3y 1m (~1y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1163 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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