DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the amendment filed on 05/22/2026.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on 05/22/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 5, 7 and 8 have been amended. No claims have been canceled. Claims 10 – 15 have been added. Claims 1 – 15 are still pending in this application, with claims 1 and 8 being independent.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10, 11 and 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 10 recites the following
a handling assistance system, comprising a processor configured to execute operations comprising: generating a speech speed recognition text based on speech recognition on voice data in a call handling of customer, wherein the handling assistance system communicably connects to a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal is used by a first user who is in charge of the call handling, and the second terminal is used by a second user who assists the first user with the call handling; generating, based on the speech recognition text, a summary text in response to receiving an assistance request for the call handling from the first terminal, wherein the summary text represents a summary of the speech recognition text; [[and]] receiving an assistance request for the call handling from the first terminal; and transmitting the summary text to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to display an assistance requesting notification and output a predetermined notification sound, wherein the assistance requesting notification comprises the summary texts wherein causing the second terminal to display further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request as an assistance requesting notification, wherein the assistance request further comprises at least one selected from a reason for the assistance request, a call reason, and whether the call handling is inbound or outbound identified, and wherein the display further comprises a control button enabling the second terminal to access additional information of the customer, wherein the transmitting the summary text further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request prior to causing the second terminal to display the summary text.
It has been determined that the prior art fails to teach or suggest in reasonable combinations the limitations recited in claim 10, particularly: wherein the transmitting the summary text further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request prior to causing the second terminal to display the summary text.
Claim 11 recites the following
a handling assistance system, comprising a processor configured to execute operations comprising: generating a speech speed recognition text based on speech recognition on voice data in a call handling of customer, wherein the handling assistance system communicably connects to a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal is used by a first user who is in charge of the call handling, and the second terminal is used by a second user who assists the first user with the call handling; generating, based on the speech recognition text, a summary text in response to receiving an assistance request for the call handling from the first terminal, wherein the summary text represents a summary of the speech recognition text; [[and]] receiving an assistance request for the call handling from the first terminal; and transmitting the summary text to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to display an assistance requesting notification and output a predetermined notification sound, wherein the assistance requesting notification comprises the summary texts wherein causing the second terminal to display further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request as an assistance requesting notification, wherein the assistance request further comprises at least one selected from a reason for the assistance request, a call reason, and whether the call handling is inbound or outbound identified, and wherein the display further comprises a control button enabling the second terminal to access additional information of the customer, wherein the transmitting the summary text further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request subsequent to causing the second terminal to display the summary text.
It has been determined that the prior art fails to teach or suggest in reasonable combinations the limitations recited in claim 11, particularly: wherein the transmitting the summary text further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request subsequent to causing the second terminal to display the summary text.
Claim 15 recites the following
a handling assistance system, comprising a processor configured to execute operations comprising: generating a speech speed recognition text based on speech recognition on voice data in a call handling of customer, wherein the handling assistance system communicably connects to a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal is used by a first user who is in charge of the call handling, and the second terminal is used by a second user who assists the first user with the call handling; generating, based on the speech recognition text, a summary text in response to receiving an assistance request for the call handling from the first terminal, wherein the summary text represents a summary of the speech recognition text; [[and]] receiving an assistance request for the call handling from the first terminal; and transmitting the summary text to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to display an assistance requesting notification and output a predetermined notification sound, wherein the assistance requesting notification comprises the summary texts wherein causing the second terminal to display further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request as an assistance requesting notification, wherein the assistance request further comprises at least one selected from a reason for the assistance request, a call reason, and whether the call handling is inbound or outbound identified, and wherein the display further comprises a control button enabling the second terminal to access additional information of the customer, wherein the causing the second terminal to display the assistance requesting notification on a frontmost window of windows displayed on the second terminal, and wherein the frontmost window comprises a first button that displays details of the reason and a second button to forward the assistance request a third user.
It has been determined that the prior art fails to teach or suggest in reasonable combinations the limitations recited in claim 15, particularly: wherein the causing the second terminal to display the assistance requesting notification on a frontmost window of windows displayed on the second terminal, and wherein the frontmost window comprises a first button that displays details of the reason and a second button to forward the assistance request a third user.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 8 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”).
For claim 1, Mellow discloses a handling assistance system (Abstract), comprising components configured to perform operations comprising: generating a speech recognition text based onmessages and/or notes ([0021] [0024] [0025]); and transmitting the messages/notes to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to display the messages and/or notes (Fig.3C; [0026]), wherein causing the second terminal to display further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request as an assistance requesting notification (Fig. 3C; [0026]), wherein the assistance request further comprises at least one selected from a reason for the assistance request (“Customer wishes to escalate to Supervisor”, “Problem escalated to Engineering assigned to John Doe Ticket Number 22222”, Fig.3C; [0026]), a call reason (“System Crashed @7:20 am.”, Fig.3C; [0026]), and whether the call handling is inbound or outbound identified (Callers telephone, 602-555-111, appears in the display as indication of inbound call, Fig.3C, [0020] [0026]), and wherein the display further comprises a control button enabling the second terminal to access additional information of the customer (A link to a trouble ticket, Ticket Number 22222, is accessed by clicking on a displayed link which accompanies the assistance request. The trouble ticket comprises additional customer information, [0025] [0026]).
Yet, Mellow fails to teach: the components comprise a processor configured to execute the operations; and the messages and/or notes are a summary text which represents a summary of the speech recognition text.
However, Ellison discloses a system for assisting customer service agents (Abstract), comprising the following: a voice call between a customer and an agent is automatically transcribed in real-time with speech to text technology ([0018] [0026]); a call summary including call facts is automatically drafted based on the transcription ([0018] [0055]); and operations performed by the system are performed by a processor executing instructions ([0067] [0068] [0070]; claim 11).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve Mellow’s invention in the same way that Ellison’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of enhancing the functionality of a call handling system by further automating the process of generating annotations, information and appendages to be transmitted to a call recipient/agent handling a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]) (Ellison, [0016]): the messages and/or notes further comprise a call summary which represents automatically drafted summary of a transcription of a voice call between a caller/customer and the recipient/agent; and the system further comprises a processor configured to execute the operations.
For claim 8, Mellow discloses a computer implemented method for assisting a call handling by a call handling assistance system (Abstract), comprising: generating a speech recognition text based ona second user (engineer at extension 3000) who assists the first user with the call handling ([0026]); generating, based on the speech recognition text ([0097] [0144]), messages and/or notes ([0021] [0024] [0025]); and transmitting the messages/notes to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to display the messages and/or notes (Fig.3C; [0026]), wherein causing the second terminal to display further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request as an assistance requesting notification (Fig. 3C; [0026]), wherein the assistance request further comprises at least one selected from a reason for the assistance request (“Customer wishes to escalate to Supervisor”, “Problem escalated to Engineering assigned to John Doe Ticket Number 22222”, Fig.3C; [0026]), a call reason (“System Crashed @7:20 am.”, Fig.3C; [0026]), and whether the call handling is inbound or outbound identified (Callers telephone, 602-555-111, appears in the display as indication of inbound call, Fig.3C, [0020] [0026]), and wherein the display further comprises a control button enabling the second terminal to access additional information of the customer (A link to a trouble ticket, Ticket Number 22222, is accessed by clicking on a displayed link which accompanies the assistance request. The trouble ticket comprises additional customer information, [0025] [0026]).
Yet, Mellow fails to teach: the messages and/or notes are a summary text which represents a summary of the speech recognition text.
However, Ellison discloses a system for assisting customer service agents (Abstract), comprising the following: a voice call between a customer and an agent is automatically transcribed in real-time with speech to text technology ([0018] [0026]); and a call summary including call facts is automatically drafted based on the transcription ([0018] [0055]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve Mellow’s invention in the same way that Ellison’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of enhancing the functionality of a call handling system by further automating the process of generating annotations, information and appendages to be transmitted to a call recipient/agent handling a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]) (Ellison, [0016]): the messages and/or notes further comprise a call summary which represents automatically drafted summary of a transcription of a voice call between a caller/customer and the recipient/agent.
For claim 9, Mellow discloses a computer implemented method for assisting a call handling by a call handling assistance system (Abstract) comprising: generating a speech recognition text based onhandling ([0026]); generating, based on the speech recognition text ([0097] [0144]), messages and/or notes ([0021] [0024] [0025]); and transmitting the messages/notes to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to display the messages and/or notes (Fig.3C; [0026]), wherein causing the second terminal to display further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance request as an assistance requesting notification (Fig. 3C; [0026]), wherein the assistance request further comprises at least one selected from a reason for the assistance request (“Customer wishes to escalate to Supervisor”, “Problem escalated to Engineering assigned to John Doe Ticket Number 22222”, Fig.3C; [0026]), a call reason (“System Crashed @7:20 am.”, Fig.3C; [0026]), and whether the call handling is inbound or outbound identified (Callers telephone, 602-555-111, appears in the display as indication of inbound call, Fig.3C, [0020] [0026]), and wherein the display further comprises a control button enabling the second terminal to access additional information of the customer (A link to a trouble ticket, Ticket Number 22222, is accessed by clicking on a displayed link which accompanies the assistance request. The trouble ticket comprises additional customer information, [0025] [0026]).
Yet, Mellow fails to teach: a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the computer implemented method; and the messages and/or notes are a summary text which represents a summary of the speech recognition text.
However, Ellison discloses a system for assisting customer service agents (Abstract), comprising the following: a voice call between a customer and an agent is automatically transcribed in real-time with speech to text technology ([0018] [0026]); a call summary including call facts is automatically drafted based on the transcription ([0018] [0055]); and operations performed by the system are performed by executing, by a computer, a program stored on a non-transitory computer readable recording medium (memory) ([0067] [0068] [0070]; claim 11).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve Mellow’s invention in the same way that Ellison’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of enhancing the functionality of a call handling system by further automating the process of generating annotations, information and appendages to be transmitted to a call recipient/agent handling a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]) (Ellison, [0016]): the messages and/or notes further comprise a call summary which represents automatically drafted summary of a transcription of a voice call between a caller/customer and the recipient/agent; and the computer-implemented method is performed based on executing, by a computer, a program stored on a non-transitory computer readable recording medium.
For claim 12, Mellow further discloses, wherein the processor is further configured to execute operations comprising: transmitting the assistance request to the second terminal (Mellow, [0023 -0026]).
Claim(s) 2 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”) and further in view of Flockhart et al. (US 2014/0079209) (”Flockhart”).
For claim 2, the combination of Mellow and Ellison further discloses, wherein the processor is configured to further execute: identifying at least one selected from the reason for the assistance request, the call reason in the call handling, and whether the call handling is inbound or outbound based on the speech recognition text (Mellow, [0019 – 0022] [0025]) (Ellison, [0018] [0026]),wherein the transmitting further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance requesting notification (Mellow, [0024] [0026]).
Yet, the combination of Mellow and Ellison fails to teach outputting a notification sound.
However, Flockhart discloses a system and method for pushing notifications to agents in a contact center (Abstract), comprising the following: configuring a notification that comprises both audible data and visual data which describes the nature of a work item associated with the notification ([0015] [0055]); and providing the notification to an agent in response to other agents requiring assistance (Fig.3, 308, 312, 316, 324; [0015] [0060 -0062]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow and Ellison in the same way that Flockhart’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of improving the efficiency of handling contacts in a service center (Flockhart, [0004] [0005]): the assistance requesting notification further comprises both visual data and audible data.
For claim 5, the combination of Mellow and Edison further discloses wherein the transmitting further comprises causing the second terminal to display the assistance requesting notification on a frontmost window of windows displayed on the second terminal (Mellow, Fig.3B and Fig.3C; [0024] [0026]).
Yet, the combination of Mellow and Ellison fails to output a notification sound.
However, Flockhart discloses a system and method for pushing notifications to agents in a contact center (Abstract), comprising the following: configuring a notification that comprises both audible data and visual data which describes the nature of a work item associated with the notification ([0015] [0055]); and providing the notification to an agent in response to other agents requiring assistance (Fig.3, 308, 312, 316, 324; [0015] [0060 -0062]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow and Ellison in the same way that Flockhart’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of improving the efficiency of handling contacts in a service center (Flockhart, [0004] [0005]): the assistance requesting notification further comprises both visual data and audible data.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”) and further in view of Manzanillo (US 11,637,923).
For claim 3, the combination of Mellow and Ellison fails to teach the following: wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the speech recognition text to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to further display the speech recognition text in response to receiving from the second terminal, a request for displaying details information for the assistance requesting notification.
However, Manzanillo discloses a call notification system and method (Abstract), comprising the following: a received call is converted into text via a speech-to-text converter (column 4 lines 34 – column 5 line 55); a notification (Fig.2C, 260A) comprising the text (Fig.2C, 262) and a summary of the text (Fig.2C, 261) is transmitted to an endpoint (column 6 lines 44 – column 7 line 20); and the text is displayed in response to receiving a request (selection of link) for displaying details information for the notification (Fig.2C, 260B; column 7 lines 20 – 25).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow and Ellison in the same way that Manzanillo’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of reducing the time/resources in handling a call by the call handling system by simultaneously transmitting call related annotations, information and appendages with a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]): the assistance requesting notification further comprises a link (Mellow, data appended to the notification can be links which can be opened via point and click, [0025] [0026]) to the speech recognition text which comprises details of the customers call; and the transmitting further comprises transmitting text, e.g. the speech recognition text, to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to further display the text, e.g. speech recognition text, in response to receiving from the second terminal, a request for displaying details information for the assistance requesting notification.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”) and further in view of Oracle Contact Center Anywhere: Interaction Manager (“Oracle Contact Center”).
For claim 4, the combination of Mellow and Ellison fails to teach the following: wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting past call handing information to the second terminal to cause the second terminal to further display the past call handling information regarding a same customer as the customer in the call handling in a list form, in response to receiving from the second terminal, a request for displaying details information for the assistance requesting notification.
However, Oracle Contact Center discloses a system and method for providing a unified support interface in a contact center operation (“Unified Interface Manages All Agent Interactions”), comprising the following: transmitting past call handling information (customer interaction history) to a terminal to cause the terminal to further display the past call handling information regarding a same customer as the customer in the call handling (active call) in a list form (Figure A workgroup call in the Interaction Manager’s agent interface, Figure Contact Center Anywhere allows agents to view a customer’s entire history with your company, in chronological order across all media channels; Keep Track of Customer Interaction History), in response to receiving from the terminal, a request for displaying details information for an interactive agent interface (Clicking on the interaction information/contact history label tags causes a list of a customer’s entire history to be displayed in chronological order., Figure A workgroup call in the Interaction Manager’s agent interface, Figure Contact Center Anywhere allows agents to view a customer’s entire history with your company, in chronological order across all media channels; Keep Track of Customer Interaction History).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow and Ellison in the same way that the invention disclosed by Oracle Contact Center has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of reducing the time/resources in handling a call by the call handling system by simultaneously transmitting call related annotations, information and appendages with a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]): the transmitting further comprises transmitting past call handing information to a terminal, e.g. the second terminal, to cause the second terminal to further display the past call handling information regarding a same customer as the customer in the call handling in a list form, in response to receiving from the second terminal, a request for displaying details information for an interactive agent interface, e.g. the assistance requesting notification (Mellow, Data can be appended to the notification. The data is accessed by via links which are opened via point and click, [0025] [0026]).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”) and further in view of Langley at al. (US 11,068,904) (“Langley”).
For claim 6, the combination of Mellow and Ellison fails to teach, wherein the transmitting further comprises forwarding from the second terminal, a request for forwarding the assistance requesting notification.
However, Langley discloses a system and method for providing performance information related to a customer service representative (Abstract), comprising the following: an assistance requesting notification including a summary (conversation summary, Fig.7, 710; column 9 lines 20 - 53) is transmitted to a second terminal (An interaction transfer screen comprising a conversation summary is sent to a second CSR, Fig.4, 402 – 412; column 8 lines 20 - column 9 line 40) in response to receiving from the second terminal, a request for forwarding the assistance requesting notification ( A transfer button is selected by the second customer service representative to transfer the call. - “Next, at step 412, integrated desktop 192 presents customer's information along with the conversation summary generated at step 406 to the second representative, Referring now to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 illustrates at least a portion of an interaction transfer screen 700 presented to at least the second customer service representative during an interaction transfer. It is noted that in some embodiments, interaction transfer screen 700 may be automatically provided by integrated desktop 192 to both of the involved customer service representatives upon selection of the call transfer option… Additionally, interaction transfer screen 700 may include a button (not shown in FIG. 7) to transfer the interaction yet to another party within the company”, column 9 lines 30 - column 10 line 11).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow and Ellison in the same way that Langley’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of enhancing the functionality of a call handling system by further automating the process of generating annotations, information and appendages to be transmitted to a call recipient/agent handling a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]) (Ellison, [0016]): the assistance requesting notification is forwarded to a second terminal different from the second terminal in response to receiving a request from the second terminal.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”) and further in view Langley at al. (US 11,068,904) (“Langley”) and further in view of .of Flockhart et al. (US 2014/0079209) (”Flockhart”).
For claim 7, the combination of Mellow, Ellison and Langley further discloses wherein the transmitting further comprises causing the another second terminal to display the assistance request notification, which is a target of forwarding (Mellow, [0024] [0026]) (Langley, column 9 lines 30 - column 10 line 11).
Yet, the combination of Mellow, Ellison and Langley fails to output a notification sound.
However, Flockhart discloses a system and method for pushing notifications to agents in a contact center (Abstract), comprising the following: configuring a notification that comprises both audible data and visual data which describes the nature of a work item associated with the notification ([0015] [0055]); and providing the notification to an agent in response to other agents requiring assistance (Fig.3, 308, 312, 316, 324; [0015] [0060 -0062]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow Ellison and Langley in the same way that Flockhart’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of improving the efficiency of handling contacts in a service center (Flockhart, [0004] [0005]): the assistance requesting notification further comprises both visual data and audible data.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”) and further in view of Toner et al. (US 20090323912) (“Toner”).
For claim 13, the combination of Mellow and Ellison fails to teach, wherein the additional information represents a call history of the customer.
However, Toner discloses a system and method for providing information to a user of a telephone about another party on a telephone (Abstract), wherein a call dashboard comprises a button (tab) (Fig.6A, 614a-614n) which provides additional call history information of a calling party/customer when selected ([0020 – 0022] [0029 – 0031] [0034]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow and Ellison in the same way that Toner’s invention has been improved to achieve the following, predictable results for the purpose of enhancing the functionality of a call handling system by further automating the process of generating annotations, information and appendages to be transmitted/provided and displayed to a call recipient/agent handling a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]) (Ellison, [0016]): the assistance request notification further comprises a button to access additional information (Mellow, Data can be appended to the notification. The data is accessed by via selection elements, [0025] [0026]) comprising a call history of the customer.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mellow (US 2006/0146998) in view of Ellison et al. (US 2021/0350385) (“Ellison”) and further in view of Colleran et al. (US 6,005,575) (“Colleran”),
For claim 14, the combination of Mellow and Ellison fails to teach, wherein the causing the second terminal to display the assistance requesting notification on a frontmost window of windows displayed on the second terminal.
However, Colleran discloses a system and method for foreground window determination (Abstract), comprising the following: a terminal device comprises multiple windows, wherein an application can be run in either a frontmost (foreground) or background window (column 1 lines 12 – 55; column 5 lines 25 - 60); and the application can be run in a frontmost window based on initialization of a process associated with application (column 6 lines 14 – 35; column 7 line 55 – column 8 line 40).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of applicant’s filing to improve the invention disclosed by the combination of Mellow and Ellison in the same way that Colleran’s invention has been improved to achieve the following predictable results following, predictable results for the purpose of enhancing the functionality of a call handling system by further automating the process of generating annotations, information and appendages to be transmitted/provided and displayed to a call recipient/agent handling a transferred call (Mellow, [0001 – 0003]) (Ellison, [0016]): the second terminal comprises a window based operating system and ; multiple applications; users interaction with the applications via windows displayed on the second terminal; and the assistance requesting notification is a thread in a process running on the second terminal, wherein receipt of the assistance requesting notification causes the assistance requesting notification to be displayed on any window, including on a frontmost window.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 05/22/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection. Applicant’s amendments filed on 05/22/2026 changed the scope of claimed invention. Thus, further search and consideration of the claims were required.
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 SONIA L GAY whose telephone number is (571)270-1951. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9-5 ET.
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/SONIA L GAY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2657
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