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 .
Status of Claims
Due to communications filed 12/11/25, the following is a final office action. Claims 29, 32, 37-38, 41, 46 are amended. Claims 29-47 are pending in this application and are rejected as follows.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 29, 32-34, 41-44 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over B R Chethanet al (WO 2021083513 A1), and further in view of Wigder et al (US 20100121700 A1).
As per claim 29, B R Chethanet al discloses:
i.providing or establishing an evaluation system on the basis of pre-defined evaluation
variables, (The modified model of the product is associated with the design of the product which
satisfies the environmental sustainability threshold value. For example, the environmental sustainability
threshold value may be a pre-defined value in accordance with a sustainable environmental policy; With
the preferred embodiments of the disclosure, the environmental sustainability index of the product can
be computed during the design phase of the product and the environmental sustainability index of the
product can be quantified as a value. Once the design qualification metrics such as functionality,
performance, cost reliability and the environmental sustainability index meet the pre-defined
requirements, then the design(s) are generated and the product is developed. The pre-defined
requirements may include, for example, standard values for functionality, performance, cost, reliability,
and the environmental sustainability index);
which evaluation system is configured to assign a sustainability value to the product, the service,
the organization or the person to be evaluated, (Abstract: The simulation results comprises an
environmental sustainability index of the product. The method (400) comprises determining whether
the environmental sustainability index of the product satisfies an environmental sustainability threshold
value);
ii. quantifying, on the basis of the pre-defined evaluation variables, at least one of impacts on the environment and impacts affecting human conditions for the product, the service, the organization or the person to be evaluated, (*In general, various environmental impacts such as energy, water, climate change, human health and ecological toxicity, and other unknown emerging environmental risks are major challenges. With an intention to address these challenges, various environmental and sustainable
policies have been applied and/or considered by many companies to ensure that environmental impact
from their products are controlled; The one or more parameters are associated with at least one of
material, dimensions, engineering parameters, design parameters and geometric parameters of the
product. Further, the one or more parameters define environmental sustainability of the product based
on an impact of use of the product on the environment. For example, various parameters of the product
such as emissions, noise, waste or the like can be defined based on specific regional conditions. Thus,
the designers can define different requirements based on different regions, which allows the designers
to input the requirements related to material, manufacturing usage, transportation and after useful life
specific to different regions; The LCA engine 306 can be configured to evaluate the environmental and
human health burdens associated with the product by identifying energy, materials used and emissions
released into the environment, from raw material extraction to final product disposition);
wherein step ii. comprises - quantifying damaging environmental impacts on the environment and damaging impacts affecting human conditions for the product, the service, the organization or the person to be evaluated and - determining a conservation required to neutralize the damaging impacts or use of resources, (Advantageously, the proposed method and system can be used by the designers to generate design solutions from environmental perspective along with existing design practices. With inclusion of the parameters related to environmental sustainability of the product, the designers can evaluate the environmental and human health burdens associated with a product, process, or activity by identifying energy, materials used and emissions released into the environment, from raw material extraction to final product disposition; The simulation results comprises an environmental sustainability index of the product. The environmental sustainability index of the product can be quantified as a value. The method additionally comprises determining whether the environmental sustainability index of the product satisfies an environmental sustainability threshold value; With the preferred embodiments of the disclosure, the environmental sustainability index of the product can be computed during the design phase of the product and the environmental sustainability index of the product can be quantified as a value. Once the design qualification metrics such as functionality, performance, cost reliability and the environmental sustainability index meet the pre-defined requirements, then the design(s) are generated and the product is developed. The pre-defined requirements may include, for example, standard values for functionality, performance, cost, reliability, and the environmental sustainability index; In general,
various environmental impacts such as energy, water, climate change, human health and ecological
toxicity, and other unknown emerging environmental risks are major challenges. With an intention to
address these challenges, various environmental and sustainable policies have been applied and/or
considered by many companies to ensure that environmental impact from their products are controlled;
An environmental sustainability measurement of the product can be used to indicate the environmental
impacts of the product; The parameters defining the environmental sustainability of the product may
include energy consumption, potable water consumption, solid waste production, solid waste
production, resource conservation; Advantageously, the proposed method and system can be used by
the designers to generate design solutions from environmental perspective along with existing design
practices. With inclusion of the parameters related to environmental sustainability of the product, the
designers can evaluate the environmental and human health burdens associated with a product,
process, or activity by identifying energy, materials used and emissions released into the environment,
from raw material extraction to final product disposition. Therefore, the proposed method and system
can be used to generate sustainable designs which meets the environmental sustainability threshold.
Thus, environmentally sustainable products can be developed);
iii. assigning, on basis of the quantified impacts, a specific sustainability value to the product, the
service, the organization or the person to be evaluated, (The one or more parameters are associated
with at least one of material, dimensions, engineering parameters, design parameters and geometric
parameters of the product. Further, the one or more parameters define environmental sustainability of
the product based on an impact of use of the product on the environment. For example, various
parameters of the product such as emissions, noise, waste or the like can be defined based on specific
regional conditions. Thus, the designers can define different requirements based on different regions,
which allows the designers to input the requirements related to material, manufacturing usage,
transportation and after useful life specific to different regions. Thereby, the proposed method allows
the designers to specify different requirements for different regions. Thus, the proposed method and
system allows the designers to develop region specific designs. Additionally, the method comprises
generating one or more suggestions related to the one or more parameters based on the information
received from knowledge sources for generating the modified model the product, if the computed
environmental sustainability index of the product fails to satisfy the environmental sustainability
threshold value; The LCA is performed to assess environmental impacts associated with the stages of a
product's life from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use,
repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling. For example, the LCA engine 306 computes the
environmental sustainability index of the product (e.g., a bottle) is 0.4 when plastic is used as a material
for manufacturing the bottle. In another example, the LCA engine 306 computes the environmental
sustainability of the product is 0.8 when copper is used as a material for manufacturing the bottle. Thus,
the environmental sustainability of the product can be computed by the LCA engine 306 based on the
obtained parameters related to materials processing, manufacture, tribution, use, repair, and
maintenance);
wherein the conservation required to offset the impacts on the environment and impacts
affecting human conditions for the product, the service, the organization or the person to be evaluated
in step ii and applied in step iv. Is selected from at least one of the following groups- human condition conservation,-wildlife area conservation, - Watershed area conservation, - carbon sequestration, - soil and sediment conservation, - soil and surface water pH restoration, - dike protection of coastal areas at risk of fooding, (The parameters defining the environmental sustainability of the product may include energy consumption, potable water consumption, solid waste production, solid waste production, resource conservation, cleaning chemicals used, and the like and many other parameters related to carbon footprint, air acidification, eco-toxicity, human toxicity and others);
B R Chethanet al does not disclose:
iv. applying the conservation determined in step ii. to the product, the service, the organization or the person at the time of or immediately after a sale or financial transaction,
However, Wigder et al (US 20100121700 A1) discloses in: [0024] For example, embodiments of the present invention provide incentive for environmentally-conscious behavior, actions or activities, and shall include any method or system designed or intended: to encourage the reduction or sustainable use of natural resources (e.g., trees, water); to reduce or minimize resource use or actions that contribute to global warming (e.g., reduce fossil fuel consumption); to increase use of renewable resources or actions that lessen our global warming impact; [0045] The measuring device 110 may include any quantitative measuring apparatus, capable of monitoring an entity's usage or consumption of a resource, suitable for embodiments of the present invention; [0051] In further embodiments, particularly where the measuring device 110 is shared between the host 106 and a utility company or service provider, the reporting means may include a software application which effectively pulls data from the utility company or service provider. In some embodiments, the reporting means may comprise a direct data pull or "scraping" from a database hosted by the utility company. In another embodiment the reporting means may comprise reports or data files provided by the utility company to assist the host 106 in encouraging the users to engage in environmentally-conscious behavior; [0084] In another embodiment of the present invention, an entity 102 may be required to purchase a subscription to participate in one or more embodiments of the invention as described herein by paying a one-time or periodic subscription fee. The payment of such a fee may allow and entity to participate and, consequently, to obtain and/or redeem rewards); [0068] In another embodiment, the acceptable consumption standard may provide as entity-specific, that is, each entity's usage is compared against its usage from a similar previous time period or compared against its usage from a previous time period and adjusted for temperature and moisture level changes and other factors that affect resource use differences. For example, if an entity 102 utilized YYY kWh of energy during the month of July in year one, the acceptable consumption standard for the entity 102 in July in year two may be 90% of YYY kWh. In a similar example, if the entity 102 utilizes about ZZZ CFs of water during the first quarter of the year (i.e., January-March), the acceptable consumption standard may be 95% of ZZZ CFs for the second quarter of the year (i.e., April-June). [0073] In yet another embodiment of the present invention, rewards may be allocated to an entity for purchasing a resource-saving products (e.g., water-saving toilets, flow-reducing showerheads, energy-efficient air conditioning and heating units, front-loading washing machines, energy-efficient light bulbs, etc.). Furthermore, rewards may be distributed to an entity for performing resource-conserving repairs and home improvements (e.g., adding insulation, replacing furnace fueled with oil heat with one that burns natural gas) and services (e.g., hire plumber to fix leaky toilet, etc) or enlist a company or individual to do the same. [0075] However, if an entity's actual resource consumption measurement reveals the entity's resource usage has increased rather than decreased, the entity may receive no rewards, fewer rewards, or negative rewards (e.g., rewards removed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include the above limitations as taught by Wigder et al in the systems of B R Chethanet al, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 32, Chethanet al discloses:
wherein in step ii, for the product, the service, the organization or the person to be evaluated, the
conservation determined in step ii. is automatically applied with regard to the price of the product, the
service, the organization or the person, (Further, the generated design also satisfies the pre-defined
requirements in terms of functionality, performance, cost and reliability along with the environmental
sustainability threshold. Method steps performed by the processing unit 201 to achieve the above
functionality are described in greater detail in Figure 4. The storage unit 203 may be a non-transitory
storage medium which stores a product environmental database 102. The product environmental
database 102 stores a plurality of environmental sustainability indicators corresponding to a sustainable
environmental policy. The environmental sustainability indicators may include several parameters
indicating energy consumption, potable water consumption, solid waste production, social commitment,
resource conservation)
As per claim 33, Chethanet al discloses:
wherein the evaluation variables are organized and stored in a metrics database, (The LCA engine 306
can be configured to simulate the model of the product (i.e., by performing life cycle assessment, LCA)
with respect to the environmental sustainability of the product with the parameters obtained from the
product environmental database 102... For example, the knowledge sources 308 include knowledge
graphs, historical data, unstructured data, expert knowledge related to designs and the like. The
knowledge graph may include domain specific knowledge about various designs of the product and
relationships between design qualification metrics of the product).
As per claim 34, Chethanet al discloses:
wherein the evaluation variables are measured in terms of allowance values, current damage values,
historic damage values, and conservation values, (The environmental sustainability indicators may
include several parameters indicating energy consumption, potable water consumption, solid waste
production, social commitment, resource conservation).
As per claim 38, this claim discloses limitations similar to those disclosed for independent claim 29, and
is therefore rejected for similar reasons.
As per claim 41, please see the rejection for claim 32.
As per claim 42, please see the rejection for claim 33.
As per claim 43, please see the rejection for claim 34.
As per claim 44, please see the rejection for claim 29.
Claim(s) 30, 31, 35, 36, 37, 39-40, 45-47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over B R Chethan et al (WO 2021083513 A1), and further in view of Wigder et al (US 20100121700 A1), and further in view of ZIK (US 20120173444 A1).
As per claim 30, B R Chethan et al does not disclose the following:
wherein step il. comprises measuring the pre-defined evaluation variables for at least one of -
cultivated area use, biodiversity change, -climate change, - fresh water use and conservation, -human
conditions, human reproduction, soil and sediment use and conservation, soil and surface water
acidification and/or pH change, coastal area use and conservation, infectious disease prevention and
mitigation, and atmospheric ozone layer damage and conservation.
However, ZIK (US 20120173444 A1) discloses: [0672] Water may be an unevenly distributed
abundant resource. Some regions, for example, in California and Arizona suffer from water scarcity,
while others such as Massachusetts and New York are relatively rich with fresh water. Accordingly the
assignment of Energy Points to water varies locally; [0673] The energy used to supply fresh water may
be typically in the form of electricity, may be as follows: EP III - WATER = phi. 38 H OC WB [ $ ] WR [ $ /
1000 gal ] LWF [ 1000 gal / kWh ] ##EQU00039##; [0674] Where WB may be the monthly water bill. WR
may be the local water rate in and LWF may be the Local Water Factor representing the amount of
energy used for generating 1000 gallons of fresh water.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by ZIK in the systems of Chethanet al, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would
have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 31, Chethanet al does not disclose:
wherein in step il the quantification of impacts is based on three types of environmental supply
chain steps, namely, - individual supply chain steps for quantifying the impacts of persons, - product
supply chain steps for quantifying the impacts of manufactured products and rendered services, and -
rating supply chains steps for estimating location based impacts and the impacts of labor, products and
services not evaluated previously.
However, ZIK discloses: [0670] Energy in its various forms: Gasoline, Electricity and Natural gas
may be sold as a commodity. One does not expect any feature except low cost and reliability of supply.
Embodiments of the invention extend the Energy Points system to rate the plurality of other commodity
products such as water, wastewater and waste disposal; [0688] The key factors in determining food
Energy Points are the composition of food, such as percentage of energy intensive food items (e.g. beef
and shrimps) in the diet and `food-miles` e.g. local sourcing VS. remote supply.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by ZIK in the systems of Chethanet al, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would
have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 35, Chethanet al does not disclose: wherein the method runs computer-
implemented.
However, ZIK discloses: [0147] Reference is made to FIGS. 1 and 2, which are each a simplified
schematic illustration of one of many computer-implemented embodiments of the sustainability
management system.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by ZIK in the systems of Chethanet al, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would
have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 36, Chethanet al does not disclose: wherein the method allows for comparison of
sustainability values of products, services, persons and organizations of the same kind or different kinds.
However, ZIK discloses: The LCA results analyzer 310 can be configured to analyze the LCA
results received from the LCA engine 306. In an embodiment, the LCA results analyzer 310 can be
configured determine whether the generated design satisfies the environmental sustainability threshold
value by comparing the computed environmental sustainability index with the environmental
sustainability threshold value.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by ZIK in the systems of Chethanet al, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would
have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 37, Chethanet al does not disclose:
wherein the method allows for assigning a commercial price, value or salary to the persons, product, the
organization or the service to be evaluated.
However, ZIK discloses: [0116] In accordance with an embodiment, a user of the sustainability
management system may provide a quantity associated with the consumed resource, such as the cost of
a resource in monetary units appearing in a utility bill. Additionally, the quantity associated with the
consumed resource may be air miles (e.g., distance travelled using commercial airlines) or car miles, for
example.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by ZIK in the systems of Chethanet al, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would
have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 39, please see the rejection for claim 30.
As per claim 40, please see the rejection for claim 31.
As per claim 45, please see the rejection for claim 36.
As per claim 46, please see the rejection for claim 37.
As per claim 47, please see the rejection for claim 38.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see arguments/remarks, filed 12/11/25, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 29, 32-34, 41-44 under 35 U.S.C. 102 as being anticipated by B R Chethanet al (WO 2021083513 A1), have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made Under 35 USC 103 further in view of Wigder et al (US 20100121700 A1). Similarly, claims 30, 31, 35, 36, 37, 39-40, 45-47 is/are now rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over B R Chethanet al (WO 2021083513 A1), and further in view of Wigder et al (US 20100121700 A1), and further in view of ZIK (US 20120173444 A1).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Akiba Robinson whose telephone number is 571-272-6734 and email is Akiba.Robinsonboyce@USPTO.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 6:30am-4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Nathan Uber can be reached on 571-270-3923. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is (703) 305-3900.
March 10, 2026
/AKIBA K ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628