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DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to the Application filed on September 10, 2024.
Claims 1 - 6, 8 - 20 are pending and have been examined.
Claim 1 is independent.
Claim 7 is cancelled.
Foreign priority: May 30, 2024
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 .
Drawings
The drawings filed on September 10, 2024 have been accepted and considered by the Examiner.
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 9, 16 - 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Regarding Claim 9,
Claim 9 recites “A non-volatile computer-readable storage medium...”
The broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of machine-readable media can encompass non-statutory transitory forms of signal transmission, such as a propagating electrical or electromagnetic signal per se. See in re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 84 USPQ2d 1495 (Fed.Cir. 2007). When the BRI encompasses transitory forms of signal transmission, a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 as failing to claim statutory subject matter would be appropriate. In the Specification, the phrase computer readable storage medium “may include data signals propagated in the baseband or as part of the carrier wave”. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), “computer readable storage medium” covers forms of transitory propagating signals per se, and therefore would not be patent-eligible.
Claims 16 – 20 which depends upon claim 9 also recite “non-volatile computer-readable storage medium…” and are rejected following the same rationale.
It is recommended to amend Claims 9, 16 - 20 to read “non-transitory” computer-readable storage medium.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Regarding Claim 10,
Claim 10 is directed to a computer program claimed in the absence of any underlying medium or other system, but a computer program is not a method, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. The claim thus falls outside the four statutory categories of 35 U.S.C. 101 and is therefore non-statutory. If the specification includes written description support, this rejection could be overcome by claiming the invention as being stored in a nontransitory computer readable medium; however, see MPEP 2111.05 for a discussion of functional and nonfunctional descriptive material as related to computer readable media.
Reasons for Allowance and Subject Matter to be Novel and Nonobvious
Claims 1-6, 8 and 11-15 are allowed.
Claims 9, 10 and 16-20 would be allowable if amended to overcome the rejection under 101.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance for claims 1-6, 8 and 11-15 as well as subject matter to be novel and nonobvious for claims 9, 10 and 16-20:
Regarding independent Claim 1, Applicant discloses question and answer tracing based on “question information entered by a user, generating question and answer information corresponding to the question information, wherein the question and answer information includes a unit question and answer information sequence, each unit question and answer information corresponds to a matching value vector, each matching value in the matching value vector corresponds to matching object information, the matching object information includes a matching object and reference source information corresponding to the matching object, the reference source information includes a reference source identifier and position information of the matching object in the reference source corresponding to the reference source identifier, and various matching values in the matching value vector are arranged in a descending order; displaying the question and answer information in a preset position corresponding to the question information in a question and answer window; in response to detecting a selection operation applied to any question and answer content in the question and answer information, determining at least one unit question and answer information included in the question and answer content as a target unit question and answer information sequence, wherein the question and answer content includes at least one unit question and answer information; for each target unit question and answer information in the target unit question and answer information sequence, determining various matching object information corresponding to the target unit question and answer information as a matching object information set; based on various reference source information included in various matching object information sets obtained, dividing the various matching object information sets into matching object information group sets, wherein, various matching object information in each matching object information group corresponds to the same reference source identifier; determining a target matching object information group; displaying a reference source corresponding to the target matching object information group in a traceability window corresponding to the question and answer window, wherein, the reference source corresponds to a reference source identifier corresponding to the target matching object information group, and in the displayed reference source, various matching objects included in the target matching object information group are highlighted.”
Closest Prior Art
Wang et al. (CN120929559A), hereinafter referred to as Wang, discloses question and answer tracing by “determining the target answer matched with the target question” with a “metadata management unit is used for managing metadata related to various data and text segments, such as source, creation date, author information and so on, which is important for maintaining transparency and traceability of the system.” (Wang, Par. n0129, Par. n0130).
Zheng et al. (CN117312518A), hereinafter referred to as Zheng, discloses question and answer tracing by “traceability source device” that “will query the source information of each questioning keyword from the database after receiving the request, and generating the traceability result of each questioning keyword after determining the knowledge field of the questioning keyword based on the source information of each questioning keyword. wherein the source information comprises one or more of article information and naming person information.” (Zheng, Par. n0098).
Chen et al. (CN118095267A), hereinafter referred to as Chen, discloses question and answer tracing for “tracing the source of answers using a language model based on vector matching” and “utilizing a vector space model to analyze and compare the output of the language model with key elements in the user’s question, enabling users not only to obtain answers but also to understand how these answers were derived from their questions.” (Chen, Par. n0001, Par. n0007)
Jablokov et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2023/0205824), hereinafter referred to as Jablokov, discloses question and answer mapping (i.e., the claimed “tracing”) using “query data representative of a question relating to source content of one or more source documents, and cause a search of a data repository maintaining data portions relating to the one or more source documents to determine a set of multiple matches between the query data and the data portions maintained at the data repository” and “mapping (i.e., the claimed “tracing”) from the source documents to searchable resultant objects (resultant transformed) documents.” (Jablokov, Par. 0027, Par. 0044)
However, the prior art of record, fails to teach, alone or in a combination, among other things, “question information entered by a user, generating question and answer information corresponding to the question information, wherein the question and answer information includes a unit question and answer information sequence, each unit question and answer information corresponds to a matching value vector, each matching value in the matching value vector corresponds to matching object information, the matching object information includes a matching object and reference source information corresponding to the matching object, the reference source information includes a reference source identifier and position information of the matching object in the reference source corresponding to the reference source identifier, and various matching values in the matching value vector are arranged in a descending order; displaying the question and answer information in a preset position corresponding to the question information in a question and answer window; in response to detecting a selection operation applied to any question and answer content in the question and answer information, determining at least one unit question and answer information included in the question and answer content as a target unit question and answer information sequence, wherein the question and answer content includes at least one unit question and answer information; for each target unit question and answer information in the target unit question and answer information sequence, determining various matching object information corresponding to the target unit question and answer information as a matching object information set; based on various reference source information included in various matching object information sets obtained, dividing the various matching object information sets into matching object information group sets, wherein, various matching object information in each matching object information group corresponds to the same reference source identifier; determining a target matching object information group; displaying a reference source corresponding to the target matching object information group in a traceability window corresponding to the question and answer window, wherein, the reference source corresponds to a reference source identifier corresponding to the target matching object information group, and in the displayed reference source, various matching objects included in the target matching object information group are highlighted.” as recited in independent claim 1.
Regarding dependent Claims 2 - 6, 8 – 20, disclose subject matter to be novel and nonobvious by virtue of their dependency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nakazawa et al., (U.S. Patent Application 2008/0195378) teaches question and answer matching.
Eggert et al., (EP4530882A1) teaches matching vectors for question and answer matching.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUNICE LEE whose telephone number is 571-272-1886. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Bhavesh Mehta can be reached on 571-272-7453. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EUNICE LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2656
/BHAVESH M MEHTA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2656
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