Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/816,240

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Aug 27, 2024
Examiner
SAINT CYR, LEONARD
Art Unit
2658
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Ricoh Company Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 1m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allow Rate
882 granted / 1144 resolved
+15.1% vs TC avg
Strong +18% interview lift
Without
With
+18.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
32 currently pending
Career history
1176
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
17.8%
-22.2% vs TC avg
§103
39.1%
-0.9% vs TC avg
§102
28.0%
-12.0% vs TC avg
§112
2.2%
-37.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1144 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1 – 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhao et al. (US PAP 2020/0159829). As per claims 1, 13, 14, Zhao et al. teach an information processing apparatus, comprising circuitry configured to: display, on a display, an evaluation item indicating an evaluation of a comment of a user 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). As per claim 2, Zhao et al. further disclose the evaluation item includes a plurality of evaluation items, the character string of the comment includes a plurality of character strings of a plurality of comments, and the circuitry displays, on the display, the plurality of evaluation items and the plurality of character strings of the plurality of comments 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.”; paragraphs 6, 26, 53 – 56). As per claim 3, Zhao et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to display, on the display, additional character strings of additional comments of another user, one or more of the additional character strings of said another 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).”; paragraphs 29 – 32). As per claim 4, Zhao 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 comment of the user using the training model (“relate to comment analysis by way of a sentiment model”; paragraphs 6, 21). As per claim 5, Zhao et al. further disclose the evaluation item includes an intermediate evaluation item that is hidden from the display (paragraphs 62, 74 – 77). As per claim 6, Zhao 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 (paragraphs 73 – 77). As per claim 7, Zhao 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 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.”; paragraphs 2, 32, 84). As per claim 8, Zhao 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 (paragraphs 24, 28, 73 - 77). As per claim 9, Zhao 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.”; paragraphs 2, 32, 84). As per claim 10, Zhao et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to play one of audio of an additional comment of another user and an additional image including the audio of the additional comment (“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.”; paragraphs 2, 32, 84). As per claim 11, Zhao et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to play one of audio of a model comment prepared in advance for the evaluation item or an image including the audio of the model comment 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.”; paragraphs 2, 32- 34, 84). As per claim 12, Zhao et al. further disclose the circuitry is configured to display, on the display, a model comment prepared in advance for the evaluation item in association with the evaluation item (paragraphs 6, 19 – 25). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Al-Qurishi et al. teach METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REALTIME MEASURING OF PRODUCT REPUTATION. Mizumoto et al. teach CONVERSATION ANALYZING METHOD. He et al. teach Comment Ordering System. Hall et al. teach Method For Sorting A Defined Set Of Comments. 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
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Prosecution Timeline

Aug 27, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 24, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102
Apr 15, 2026
Interview Requested

Precedent Cases

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

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+18.2%)
3y 1m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1144 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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