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 the Claims
This is Non-Final Office Action in response to the application filed on 8/30/2024. Claims 1-16 are pending and addressed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites, “upon receipt of a request, determining if the user is logged in: if so, retrieving internal information on the user; if not, retrieving external information on the user; parsing the internal and/or external user information.” It is unclear how both the internal AND the external user information can be parsed when only the internal information is retrieved if the user logged in OR only the external information is retrieved is the user is not logged in. Therefore, claim 1 is indefinite. For purpose of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “upon receipt of a request, determining if the user is logged in: if so, retrieving internal information on the user; if not, retrieving external information on the user; parsing the internal or external user information.” Examiner suggests amending as such.
Claim 1 recites, “upon receipt of a request, determining if the user is logged in: if so, retrieving internal information on the user; if not, retrieving external information on the user; parsing the internal and/or external user information; determining a set of courses based on the parsed user information; displaying the set of courses and one or more informational elements for one or more courses based on the parsed user information.” It is unclear to which “the parsed user information” the underlined limitations are referring since the claim recites “retrieving internal information” or “retrieving external information”. Therefore, claim 1 is indefinite. For purpose of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “upon receipt of a request, determining if the user is logged in: if so, retrieving internal information on the user; if not, retrieving external information on the user; parsing the internal or the external user information; determining a set of courses based on the parsed internal user information or the parsed external user information; displaying the set of courses and one or more informational elements for one or more courses based on the parsed internal user information or the parsed external user information.” Examiner suggests amending as such.
Claim 9 recites, “upon receipt of a request, determine if a user is logged in if so, retrieve internal information on the user; if not, retrieve external information on the user; parse the internal or external user information; determine a set of courses based on the parsed user information; display the set of courses and one or more informational elements for one or more courses based on the parsed user information.” It is unclear to which “the parsed user information” the underlined limitations are referring since the claim recites “retrieving internal information” or “retrieving external information”. Therefore, claim 9 is indefinite. For purpose of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “upon receipt of a request, determine if the user is logged in: if so, retrieve internal information on the user; if not, retrieve external information on the user; parsing the internal or external user information; determining a set of courses based on the parsed internal user information or the parsed external user information; displaying the set of courses and one or more informational elements for one or more courses based on the parsed internal user information or the parsed external user information.” Examiner suggests amending as such.
Claim 9 recites, “a processor which executes the computer readable instructions to provide a course registration module configured to:” It is unclear which element is “configured to”. Is the processor configured to or a course registration module configured to? Therefore, claim 9 is indefinite. For purpose of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “a processor which executes the computer readable instructions to provide a course registration module, the course registration module configured to:” Examiner suggests amending as such.
Claims 2-8 and 10-16 are also rejected based on their dependencies on claims 1 or 9.
Claim 2 recites, “wherein the retrieving internal user information comprises searching for at least one of enrolled program, courses taken, marks received, friend groups, member of a group or sub-group authorized to take the course.” It is unclear to which “the course” claim 2 is referring since claim 2 also recites “courses taken” and since claim 2 depends on claim 1 and claim 1 recites, “a set of courses” and “one or more courses”. Therefore, claim 2 is indefinite. For purpose of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “wherein the retrieving internal user information comprises searching for at least one of enrolled program, courses taken, marks received, friend groups, member of a group or sub-group authorized to take the one or more courses.” Examiner suggests amending as such.
Claim 10 is rejected for similar reasons.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1: Under step 1, claim 1 is directed to a method and claim 9 is directed to a system. Thus, claims 1 and 9 are directed to statutory categories of patentable subject matter.
Step 2A, Prong 1: The independent claims recite, “monitoring for a request to access a course registration system; upon receipt of a request, determining if a user is logged in if so, retrieving internal information on the user; if not, retrieving external information on the user; parsing the internal or external user information; determining a set of courses based on the parsed user information; displaying the set of courses and one or more informational elements for one or more courses based on the parsed user information; monitoring for a user selection from the displayed set of courses or one or more informational elements; and, upon receiving a user selection, processing the user selection.“ These limitations, except for the italicized portions, under their broadest reasonable interpretations, recite certain methods of organizing human activity. The claimed invention monitors for a request, determines if the user is logged in, retrieves user information, parses user information, determines a set of courses, displays the set of courses, monitors for the user selection and processes the user selection, which are marketing and sales activities and behaviors. The Examiner notes that although the claim limitations are summarized, the analysis regarding subject matter eligibility considers the entirety of the claim and all of the claim elements individually, as a whole, and in ordered combination.
Step 2A, Prong 2: This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements of “a course registration system”, “a memory“, “a processor”, and “a course registration module”. These additional elements are generic computing elements performing generic computer functions such that it amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a computer. Accordingly, these additional elements when considered individually or as a whole do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The independent claims are directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B: The claims do 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 course registration system”, “a memory“, “a processor”, and “a course registration module” are generic computing elements performing generic computer functions such that it amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a computer. Therefore, the independent claims are not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2-8 and 10-16, when analyzed as a whole, are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §101 because the additional recited limitations fail to establish that the claims are not directed to the same abstract idea of Independent Claims 1 and 9 without significantly more.
Claims 2 and 10 recite, “wherein the retrieving internal user information comprises searching for at least one of enrolled program, courses taken, marks received, friend groups, member of a group or sub-group authorized to take the course.” The searching step is part of the same abstract idea as the independent claims for the same reasons.
Claims 3 and 11 recite, “wherein the retrieving external user information comprises: determining if external user information was provided when the user accessed the course registration system; if so, searching social media based on the external user information for additional external user information; if not, displaying a predetermined set of courses and requesting external user information from the user.” The steps of determining, searching, and displaying are part of the same abstract idea as the independent claims for the same reasons.
Claims 4 and 12 recite, “further comprising, if the user is logged in, retrieving external information on the user.” The retrieving steps is part of the same abstract idea as the independent claims for the same reasons.
Claims 5-7 and 12-15 are further limiting the one or more informational elements” or the additional information and part of the same abstract idea as the independent claims for the same reasons.
Claims 8 and 16 recite, “wherein the processing the user selection comprises at least one of: registering the user in a selected course; sending a communication seeking an approval from an approver; and providing an upload screen to allow the user to upload evidence of completion of a prerequisite.” The registering and sending steps part of the same abstract idea as the independent claims for the same reasons. The providing an upload screen is an additional element that does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application and is not significantly more than the abstract idea because providing an upload screen has been known since at least 2010 per Koskay Figure 10.
Therefore, claims 1-16 are not eligible.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
(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, 2, 4-6, 8-10, 12-14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Koskay (AU 2010/286921).
Regarding claims 1 and 9, Koskay teaches
1. A method for course registration, the method comprising ([0016]):
9. A system for course registration, the system comprising: a memory storing computer readable instructions; a processor which executes the computer readable instructions to provide a course registration module configured to ([0016], [0083], and [0087]):
monitoring for a request to access a course registration system by a user ([0016] "In one embodiment the present invention provides a computer-implemented method comprising: receiving by a computer a request to register for a CPE course." [0012] “education delivery and management system”);
upon receipt of a request, determining if the user is logged in ([0085] "For instance, using SSO, a user at system 108 may log onto and access, either directly or through PMS 104, primary education services system 125 by entering an authorized account login profile either recognized by application software running at computer 110 or at system 125. Preferably, the system 125 includes a user authentication system (UAS) that processes user login credentials and enables access to recognized, as authorized user accounts presented from system 108. The UAS, described further herein below, preferably uses a single-sign-on or similar process to coordinate authorization and access across the additional education services systems 134, which may be done using database structures and associations."):
if so, retrieving internal information on the user ([0087] "In addition, the Professional Resource software also includes a professional learning (education, training, and reporting) software component 224, which, for instance, when accessed by an authorized user, such as user system 108, presents a personalized learning web-page or portal directed to presenting a user interface or dashboard directed to the individual associated with the user account logged on." Since it present a personalized learning web-page, it is retrieving internal information about the logged user.);
if not, retrieving external information on the user ([00100] "In Fig. 8, illustrates an account creation screen 800 in which a user account for an individual, "Roy Martin," is created by inputting information in fields presented. Also included in this user interface screen are professional practice related fields 802 for "Area of Practice (specialty)", "Type of Training I'm Most Interested in", and"# of Years of Practice Experience." All of the information in these fields are external information that is being retrieve from the user. See also Fig.9.);
parsing the internal and/or external user information;
determining a set of courses based on the parsed user information;
displaying the set of courses and one or more informational elements for one or more courses based on the parsed user information ([00106] "Fig. 18 depicts a user interface screen 1800 associated with the Courses completed (not started) function 1014 of Fig. 10. A list 1802 of courses purchased but not started is presented with information about the course such as described hereinabove. Fig. 19 depicts a user interface screen 1900 associated with the Courses in progress function 1016 of Fig. 10. A list 1902 of courses purchased is presented to the user with a information concerning the score thus far achieved, expiration date for the course, number of attempts, and status with a link to retry the exam associated with successful completion of the course. The system generates a message1906 to the individual user, Roy Martin, indicating that after completion of the listed course the individual has an additional 20 hours of CPE to complete in order to meet minimum requirements for a jurisdiction, in this case New York State Board of Accountancy. The system further generates and presents via user screen 1900 a list 1904 of recommended additional courses, preferably at least enough to meet minimum requirements and derived from information maintained in the user profile and/or learning path, for the individual to consider in meeting his requirements." Fig. 18 shows "information elements" about the courses since it shows "Credit Hours", the "Delivery Format", and the "Level'. See also Fig. 19.);
monitoring for a user selection from the displayed set of courses or one or more informational elements; and, upon receiving a user selection, processing the user selection ([00101] "The "My CPE" homepage 1000 is presented upon login on the system or upon linking to the webpage via a professional resource application adapted to automatically, such as by way of an SSO process, enable access to this education services system and associated user interface. The personalized user interface screen 1000 includes tabs 1002, including My CPE 1004 and My Bookshelf 1006. The screen displays personalized content and links such as for My Curriculum 1008, My Courses 1010, My CPE Reporting 1020, and My Certificates 1022. User interface screen 1000 also displays Search functionality, including CPEFINDER 1024, CPE and training newsletters, and new CPE and training related offerings. Associated with My Courses 101 is My Schedule 1012 (see Fig. 15), Courses Purchased (not started) (see Fig. 18), Courses in Progress (online) (see Fig. 19), Courses complete (see Fig. 20), and MyExams." See also [00115] and [00122].).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Koskay teaches
wherein the retrieving internal user information comprises searching for at least one of enrolled program, courses taken, marks received, friend groups, member of a group or sub-group authorized to take the course (Fig. 25, "The year-by-year summaries may be expanded, 2504 and 2506, to reveal the particular courses taken and completed by the individual and the number of hours for which credit was received as well as additional information.").
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Koskay teaches
further comprising, if the user is logged in, retrieving external information on the user (Fig. 10 "click here to upload certificates from other vendors" [retrieving external information on the user after the user is logged in since Fig. 10 is labeled "Welcome, Roy M. Martin, Jr.").
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Koskay teaches
wherein the one or more informational elements comprise at least one of: a first informational element for a course that can be registered without further information ([00122] "Upon a user selecting a displayed course link, the system may either direct the user interface to a new screen representing the course selected or may open a new, separate window related to the selected course for further action by the user, e.g., registering for the course." Since the user can register for the course, the registration can be done without further information.); and
a second informational element for a course that requires additional information before registration ([00151] "The detail description of the course displayed includes a narrative explaining topics covered by the course, objectives of the course, any prerequisites of the course, whether the course qualifies for credits, and other related information as shown in the Figure 47 example.").
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Koskay teaches
wherein the additional information comprises at least one of: an approval from an approver; evidence of completion of a pre-requisite; and evidence of an achieved skill level ([00106] "The system generates a message1906 to the individual user, Roy Martin, indicating that after completion of the listed course [evidence of achieved skill level] the individual has an additional 20 hours of CPE to complete in order to meet minimum requirements for a jurisdiction, in this case New York State Board of Accountancy. The system further generates and presents via user screen 1900 a list 1904 of recommended additional courses, preferably at least enough to meet minimum requirements and derived from information maintained in the user profile and/or learning path, for the individual to consider in meeting his requirements.").
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Koskay teaches
wherein the processing the user selection comprises at least one of: registering the user in a selected course ([00106] "Fig. 18 depicts a user interface screen 1800 associated with the Courses completed (not started) function 1014 of Fig. 10. A list 1802 of courses purchased but not started [registering the user in the selected course] is presented with information about the course such as described hereinabove."); sending a communication seeking an approval from an approver; and providing an upload screen to allow the user to upload evidence of completion of a prerequisite.
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 3, 7, 11, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koskay (AU 2010/286921), in view of Maipady (US 2015/0220880).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Koskay teaches
wherein the retrieving external user information comprises: determining if external user information was provided when the user accessed the course registration system ([0088] "UAS 304 may include a pre-validation [determine if external user information was provided] process to determine the specifics of a particular user's or student's system subscription.");
if not, displaying a predetermined set of courses and requesting external user information from the user ([0083 and [0087]).
Koskay does not specifically teach
if so, searching social media based on the external user information for additional external user information.
However, Maipady teaches
if so, searching social media based on the external user information for additional external user information ([0038] "Also as shown, recommendation service 112 may use social trend analyzer 114B to determine social trend characteristics of enrollment items. For example, more friends of candidate student 100 may be taking one course instead of another course. As another example, friends who took the course may have been more successful, in terms of employment rate or salary, than friends who did not take the course.").
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the course registration system of Koskay by adding if so, searching social media based on the external user information for additional external user information, as taught by Maipady, since Koskay and Maipady are analogous art, and in order for the user to select courses for which friends have been more successful in terms of employment rate or salary (Maipady, [0038]).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Koskay discusses career paths but not specifically
wherein the one or more informational elements further comprise at least one of: friends of the user who have taken the course;
careers available to those that take the course; and
salary ranges for the careers.
However, Maipady teaches
wherein the one or more informational elements further comprise at least one of: friends of the user who have taken the course ([0038] "As another example, friends who took the course may have been more successful, in terms of employment rate or salary, than friends who did not take the course.");
careers available to those that take the course; and salary ranges for the careers (Fig. 4 "software developers with java skills are expected to make 5% more salary with 10% better job placement than software developers with assembly skills").
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the course registration system of Koskay by adding wherein the one or more informational elements further comprise at least one of: friends of the user who have taken the course; careers available to those that take the course; and salary ranges for the careers, as taught by Maipady, since Koskay and Maipady are analogous art, and in order for the user to select courses for which friends have been more successful in terms of employment rate or salary (Maipady, [0038]).
Relevant Prior Art
Lacy (US 6016335) discusses registering for courses, displays course prerequisites and how to enroll in the course, advisor approval for particular courses, assuring that co-requisite and prerequisite requirements are met.
Zhou (US 20190295186) discusses an independent course selection system which is able to collect course information comprising: the capacity of the selected course, the number of the users who are waiting for space, provide a table of the trend as the predictions of the possible enrolment capacity number from the institutions. Zhou also discusses that recommendations are based on students who have taken the course before.
Conclusion
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/MARIE P BRADY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3622