DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the above identified application filed on March 25, 2026. The application contains claims 1-22:
Claims 13 and 14 were previously cancelled
Claims 1, 2, 8-12, 15, 16, 19, and 22 are amended
Claims 1-12 and 15-22 are pending
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments and amendments filed on March 25, 2026 have been fully considered and the objections and rejections are updated accordingly.
Specification
In view of the amendments to the abstract, the objections to the specification are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
In view of the amendments to the claims, the 35 USC § 112 rejections to claims are updated to reflect the issues that still remain and claim 22 is objected to because of a typo introduced with the amendment. Please see below for details.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
The 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections to claims 12 and 16-22 for not falling within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter are maintained because Applicant made no attempt to make corrections.
Applicant’s amendments to the claims do not overcome the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections to claims 1, 8-12, 15, and 22 for being directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Applicant made no argument. The 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections to claims 1, 8-12, 15, and 22 for being directed to an abstract idea are updated and maintained.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 & 103
In response to Applicant’s main argument on page 3 of Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks Made in an Amendment that the new limitation “a license management module that serves as an interface with the license server(s)” claims “a three-tier logical/physical architecture”, which distinguishes the recited invention from the cited prior art BAI, which taught “a two-tier logical/physical architecture”, the examiner disagrees because “a license management module that serves as an interface with the license server(s)” does not reflect “a three-tier logical/physical architecture”. Such a distinction in architecture should be reflected in the claim language in terms of function, not mere play with words. Because all the functions recited in the independent claims are taught by BAI, they are taught by the prior art.
Please refer to the updated 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 rejections as set forth below for details.
Claim Objections
Claim 22 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 22, lines 4-5: there are two instances of “corresponding to the field”, one of which should be removed.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 11 is 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "determining a priority of a format corresponding to each category based on a ratio of a field of each of the at least one category in all fields in the license information" in lines 3-4. The underlined portion is incomprehensible. The specification does not provide additional information to help understand it either. Therefore, claim 11 is indefinite and rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
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 12 and 16-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claims 12 and 16-22 do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claimed invention is software per se.
Claim 12 recites an electronic device comprising “at least one processing unit” and “at least one memory”. The disclosure does not indicate that “at least one processing unit” or “at least one memory” is necessarily hardware. The broadest reasonable interpretation of these components in light of the specification (see [0075]-[0076]) includes computer instructions only, which make it software per se. Therefore, claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Dependent claims 16-22 do not add any structure to the claims and are likewise rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claims 1, 8-12, 15, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
The 2019 PEG guidance for subject matter eligibility is applied in the following analyses:
At Step 1
The inventions of claims 1, 8-12, 15, and 22 are directed to the statutory categories of a process (claims 1 and 8-11), a machine (claims 12 and 22), and a manufacture (claim 15). Thus, the claimed invention is directed to statutory subject matter.
The following analysis refers to representative claim 1, but the same analysis applies to independent claims 12 and 15, which recite similar limitations.
At Step 2A, Prong One
Claims 1, 12, and 15 each recite abstract ideas in the following limitations:
“sending a license query request to …, the license query request being used for obtaining license information on …; receiving the license information from the …, the license information being retrieved by the … from the …; extracting at least one information item of at least one category for a plurality of software features from the license information; and creating a license information base based on the at least one information item” are directed to the abstract idea of requesting information from somewhere, receiving the requested information, mentally processing the information, and using the receive information to create an information base of one’s own. The “extracting …” is recited at a high level of generality. The recitation of “a plurality of software features” does not prevent it from being performed in the human mind because when software features are simple and descriptive, evaluating them and extracting specific pieces of information can be practically performed in the human mind. Other than "a license management module serving as an interface with at least on license server" and "at least one license server" that generally link the limitations to computers, the “sending”, “receiving”, and “creating” steps recite a fundamental information gathering activity that has been regularly performed by humans. Therefore, these limitations may be characterized as Managing Personal Behavior or Relationships or Interactions Between People, see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) II. C.
At Step 2A, Prong Two
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claims recite the additional elements of:
“a license management module serving as an interface with at least on license server” and “at least one license server” may be characterized as generally linking the abstract idea to a technological area – computer technology in general, see MPEP 2106.05(h).
“an electronic device”, “at least one processing unit”, and “at least one memory” in claim 12, and “a processor” in claim 15 may be characterized as mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer or use a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea, see MPEP 2106.05(f).
Even when viewed in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the recited judicial exception into a practical application and the claim is directed to the judicial exception.
At Step 2B
Claims 1, 12, and 15 do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because as discussed above the additional elements constitute generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment and a high-level recitation of a generic computer components which represent mere instructions to apply on a computer.
As per MPEP 2106.05(II), at Step 2B the conclusions for these additional elements under MPEP §§ 2106.05(a) - (c), (e) (f) and (h) from Step 2A Prong Two are carried over and they do not provide significantly more. There are no additional elements from Step 2A Prong Two considered to be insignificant extra-solution activity per MPEP § 2106.05(g) that needs re-evaluation.
Therefore, claims 1, 12, and 15 are rejected under 35 USC 101 as being directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Dependent claims 8 and 22 each recite additional elements “determining at least one field in the license information; determining at least one format corresponding to at least one category; selecting, for each of the at least one field, a format corresponding to the field from the at least one format; and extracting information item from a corresponding position in the field based on the format corresponding to the field”. Determining fields in license information or formats corresponding to each category of information can be performed in the human mind. Selecting a suitable format for each field can be performed in the human mind as well. Extracting information based on the selected format is recited at a high level of generality and encompasses what can be practically performed in the human mind. These additional elements are still mentally performable.
Dependent claims 9-11 each recite additional elements similar to the “determining” and “selecting” steps recited in claim 8. Likewise, additional elements are still mentally performable.
Therefore, dependent claims 8-11 and 22 are also rejected under 35 USC 101 as being directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
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 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, 12, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by BAI et al. (CN103279696A).
With regard to claim 1,
BAI teaches
a method for creating a license information base (Page 1: Abstract), comprising:
sending a license query request to a license management module serving as an interface with at least one license server, the license query request being used for obtaining license information on the at least one license server (Page 3, lines 1-2, 32-33; Page 6, lines 24-35: Step S201: Send a request message for obtaining a license file to the server);
receiving the license information from the license management module, the license information being retrieved by the license management module from the at least one license server (Page 3, line 3, 34; Page 6, lines 36-38: Step S202: Receive a license file returned according to the above request message);
extracting at least one information item of at least one category for a plurality of software features from the license information (Page 7, lines 4-17: Step S205: Collect and save the license log file. Page 7, lines 10-17: items collected from the license log file include the host name, user name, the start time and end use of the license currently in use, the expiration time of the license currently in use, etc.); and
creating a license information base based on the at least one information item (Page 7, lines 1-3: after parsing the license file, design the fields of the database table based on the data in the license file and store the corresponding data in the MySQL database).
With regard to claim 2,
BAI teaches
the method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one category comprises the following categories for a plurality of electronic design automation (EDA) software features: a state of a license server, a state of a daemon, a total number of software features, an expiration of a software feature, a number of software features that are being used, a user who is using a software feature, and a usage time of a software feature that is being used (Page 7, lines 4-17: Step S205: Collect and save the license log file. Page 7, lines 10-17: items collected from the license log file include the host name, user name, the start time and end use of the license currently in use, the expiration time of the license currently in use, etc.).
With regard to claim 12,
BAI teaches
an electronic device (Page 1: Abstract), comprising:
at least one processing unit (all computer systems have at least one processing unit and at least one memory);
at least one memory (all computer systems have at least one processing unit and at least one memory), the at least one memory being coupled to the at least one processing unit and storing instructions executable by the at least one processing unit, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processing unit, cause the electronic device to perform actions, the actions comprising:
sending a license query request to a license management module serving as an interface with at least one license server, the license query request being used for obtaining license information on the at least one license server (Page 3, lines 1-2, 32-33; Page 6, lines 24-35: Step S201: Send a request message for obtaining a license file to the server);
receiving the license information from the license management module, the license information being retrieved by the license management module from the at least one license server (Page 3, line 3, 34; Page 6, lines 36-38: Step S202: Receive a license file returned according to the above request message);
extracting at least one information item of at least one category for a plurality of software features from the license information (Page 7, lines 4-17: Step S205: Collect and save the license log file. Page 7, lines 10-17: items collected from the license log file include the host name, user name, the start time and end use of the license currently in use, the expiration time of the license currently in use, etc.); and
creating a license information base based on the at least one information item (Page 7, lines 1-3: after parsing the license file, design the fields of the database table based on the data in the license file and store the corresponding data in the MySQL database).
With regard to claim 15,
BAI teaches
a computer program product having a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, wherein when the program is executed by a processor (all computer systems have a processor), the processor is caused to:
send a license query request to a license management module serving as an interface with at least one license server, the license query request being used for obtaining license information on the at least one license server (Page 3, lines 1-2, 32-33; Page 6, lines 24-35: Step S201: Send a request message for obtaining a license file to the server);
receive the license information from the license management module, the license information being retrieved by the license management module from the at least one license server (Page 3, line 3, 34; Page 6, lines 36-38: Step S202: Receive a license file returned according to the above request message);
extract at least one information item of at least one category for a plurality of software features from the license information (Page 7, lines 4-17: Step S205: Collect and save the license log file. Page 7, lines 10-17: items collected from the license log file include the host name, user name, the start time and end use of the license currently in use, the expiration time of the license currently in use, etc.); and
create a license information base based on the at least one information item (Page 7, lines 1-3: after parsing the license file, design the fields of the database table based on the data in the license file and store the corresponding data in the MySQL database).
With regard to claim 16,
BAI teaches
the electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the at least one category comprises the following categories for a plurality of electronic design automation (EDA) software features: a state of a license server, a state of a daemon, a total number of software features, an expiration of a software feature, a number of software features that are being used, a user who is using a software feature, and a usage time of a software feature that is being used (Page 7, lines 4-17: Step S205: Collect and save the license log file. Page 7, lines 10-17: items collected from the license log file include the host name, user name, the start time and end use of the license currently in use, the expiration time of the license currently in use, etc.).
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 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.
Claims 3, 4, 7, 17, 18, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BAI et al. (CN103279696A), in view of Coley et al. (US 20050273436 A1).
With regard to claim 3,
As discussed in claim 2, BAI teaches all the limitations therein.
BAI does not teach
the method according to claim 2, further comprising:
determining, in response to receiving a query request for a first information item in the license information base, at least one EDA software feature associated with the first information item; retrieving a set of information items associated with the at least one EDA software feature from the license information base; and presenting the set of information items.
Coley teaches
the method according to claim 2, further comprising:
determining, in response to receiving a query request for a first information item in the license information base, at least one EDA software feature associated with the first information item; retrieving a set of information items associated with the at least one EDA software feature from the license information base; and presenting the set of information items (Abstract: receive a license validity inquiry request from a client module, query the database to determine whether a valid license exists for the client software application, and responsive to the query, and send a response message to the client module responsive to the query. Even though EDA software is not explicitly taught here, on the one hand, EDA is taught by the primary reference as discussed above; on the other hand, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the teaching applies to all kinds of software including EDA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified BAI to incorporate the teachings of Coley to determine, in response to receiving a query request for a first information item in the license information base, at least one EDA software feature associated with the first information item, retrieve a set of information items associated with the at least one EDA software feature from the license information base, and present the set of information items. Doing so would allow software use to be monitored in an automated fashion, without user input, and moreover, permit a software provider to transparently control the use of licensed software as taught by Coley ([0017]).
With regard to claim 4,
As discussed regarding claim 3, BAI and Coley teach all the limitations therein.
BAI further teaches
the method according to claim 3, wherein retrieving the set of information items from the license information base comprises:
sending, in response to receiving the query request for the first information item, a second license query request to the license management module; receiving second license information in response to the second license query request; updating information in the license information base based on the second license information; and retrieving the set of information items from the updated license information base (Page 5, lines 20-45; Page 6, lines 1-13: Step S11: Scan the license log file every fixed time. Step S13: Find out the newly added data in the license log file. Step S14: Update the newly added data in the license log file to the license log file database to be available for queries).
With regard to claim 7,
As discussed regarding claim 3, BAI and Coley teach all the limitations therein.
BAI further teaches
the method according to claim 3, wherein presenting the set of information items comprises:
comparing, in response to determining that a third information item of the set of information items includes an expiration of a software feature or a usage time of a software feature that is being used, the third information item with a corresponding time threshold; and presenting, based on a comparison result of the third information item and the corresponding time threshold, the third information item in a manner associated with the comparison result (Page 8, lines 15-27: Step S212: determine whether the remaining usage time of the license is less than the predetermined time. Step S213: generate a prompt message to remind the user that the license is about to expire).
With regard to claim 17,
As discussed in claim 16, BAI teaches all the limitations therein.
BAI does not teach
the electronic device according to claim 16, further comprising:
determining, in response to receiving a query request for a first information item in the license information base, at least one EDA software feature associated with the first information item; retrieving a set of information items associated with the at least one EDA software feature from the license information base; and presenting the set of information items.
Coley teaches
the electronic device according to claim 16, further comprising:
determining, in response to receiving a query request for a first information item in the license information base, at least one EDA software feature associated with the first information item; retrieving a set of information items associated with the at least one EDA software feature from the license information base; and presenting the set of information items (Abstract: receive a license validity inquiry request from a client module, query the database to determine whether a valid license exists for the client software application, and responsive to the query, and send a response message to the client module responsive to the query. Even though EDA software is not explicitly taught here, on the one hand, EDA is taught by the primary reference as discussed above; on the other hand, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the teaching applies to all kinds of software including EDA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified BAI to incorporate the teachings of Coley to determine, in response to receiving a query request for a first information item in the license information base, at least one EDA software feature associated with the first information item, retrieve a set of information items associated with the at least one EDA software feature from the license information base, and present the set of information items. Doing so would allow software use to be monitored in an automated fashion, without user input, and moreover, permit a software provider to transparently control the use of licensed software as taught by Coley ([0017]).
With regard to claim 18,
As discussed regarding claim 17, BAI and Coley teach all the limitations therein.
BAI further teaches
the electronic device according to claim 17, wherein retrieving the set of information items from the license information base comprises:
sending, in response to receiving the query request for the first information item, a second license query request to the license management module; receiving second license information in response to the second license query request; updating information in the license information base based on the second license information; and retrieving the set of information items from the updated license information base (Page 5, lines 20-45; Page 6, lines 1-13: Step S11: Scan the license log file every fixed time. Step S13: Find out the newly added data in the license log file. Step S14: Update the newly added data in the license log file to the license log file database to be available for queries).
With regard to claim 21,
As discussed regarding claim 17, BAI and Coley teach all the limitations therein.
BAI further teaches
the electronic device according to claim 17, wherein presenting the set of information items comprises:
comparing, in response to determining that a third information item of the set of information items includes an expiration of a software feature or a usage time of a software feature that is being used, the third information item with a corresponding time threshold; and presenting, based on a comparison result of the third information item and the corresponding time threshold, the third information item in a manner associated with the comparison result (Page 8, lines 15-27: Step S212: determine whether the remaining usage time of the license is less than the predetermined time. Step S213: generate a prompt message to remind the user that the license is about to expire).
Claims 5, 6, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BAI et al. (CN103279696A), in view of Coley et al. (US 20050273436 A1), and in further view of Stein et al. (US 20190325351 A1).
With regard to claim 5,
As discussed regarding claim 4, BAI and Coley teach all the limitations therein.
BAI and Coley do not teach
the method according to claim 4, wherein updating the information in the license information base comprises:
setting, in response to determining that a value of a second information item in the license information base is missing from the second license information, the value of the second information item to a preset value.
Stein teaches
the method according to claim 4, wherein updating the information in the license information base comprises:
setting, in response to determining that a value of a second information item in the license information base is missing from the second license information, the value of the second information item to a preset value (Fig. 3; [0063]: an entity key that lacks a feature value in one or both data sets 334-336 may be assigned a default value (e.g., 0 for a numeric feature) and/or a “missing” value).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified BAI and Coley to incorporate the teachings of Stein to set, in response to determining that a value of a second information item in the license information base is missing from the second license information, the value of the second information item to a preset value. Doing so would allow record-level comparisons 322 and/or distribution-level comparisons 324 to be defined and/or performed using the entity key instead of omitting the entity key from record-level comparisons 322 and/or distribution-level comparisons 324 as taught by Stein ([0063]).
With regard to claim 6,
As discussed regarding claim 5, BAI and Coley and Stein teach all the limitations therein.
Stein further teaches
the method according to claim 5, wherein presenting the set of information items comprises:
presenting, in response to determining that the value of the second information item is the preset value, the second information item in a manner different from that of the first information item ([0063]-[0064]: visualize comparison results with missing values set to “missing”).
With regard to claim 19,
As discussed regarding claim 18, BAI and Coley teach all the limitations therein.
BAI and Coley do not teach
the electronic device according to claim 18, wherein updating the information in the license information base comprises:
setting, in response to determining that a value of a second information item in the license information base is missing from the second license information, the value of the second information item to a preset value.
Stein teaches
the electronic device according to claim 18, wherein updating the information in the license information base comprises:
setting, in response to determining that a value of a second information item in the license information base is missing from the second license information, the value of the second information item to a preset value (Fig. 3; [0063]: an entity key that lacks a feature value in one or both data sets 334-336 may be assigned a default value (e.g., 0 for a numeric feature) and/or a “missing” value).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified BAI and Coley to incorporate the teachings of Stein to set, in response to determining that a value of a second information item in the license information base is missing from the second license information, the value of the second information item to a preset value. Doing so would allow record-level comparisons 322 and/or distribution-level comparisons 324 to be defined and/or performed using the entity key instead of omitting the entity key from record-level comparisons 322 and/or distribution-level comparisons 324 as taught by Stein ([0063]).
With regard to claim 20,
As discussed regarding claim 19, BAI and Coley and Stein teach all the limitations therein.
Stein further teaches
the electronic device according to claim 19, wherein presenting the set of information items comprises:
presenting, in response to determining that the value of the second information item is the preset value, the second information item in a manner different from that of the first information item ([0063]-[0064]: visualize comparison results with missing values set to “missing”).
Claims 8-11 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over BAI et al. (CN103279696A), in view of Gligan et al. (US 12154358 B2).
With regard to claim 8,
As discussed in claim 1, BAI teaches all the limitations therein.
BAI does not teach
the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
determining at least one field in the license information; determining at least one format corresponding to at least one category; selecting, for each of the at least one field, a format corresponding to the field from the at least one format; and extracting information item from a corresponding position in the field based on the format corresponding to the field.
Gligan teaches
the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
determining at least one field in the license information; determining at least one format corresponding to at least one category; selecting, for each of the at least one field, a format corresponding to the field from the at least one format; and extracting information item from a corresponding position in the field based on the format corresponding to the field (Claim 1: identify fields from the identified document type from the layout-based classification, identify a document type using the plurality of templates by using an acceptance criteria based on minimum confidence thresholds for ones of the plurality of templates using at least one classifier configured to employ layout-based classification, and extract data from the document using the defined plurality of fields identified from the identified document type from the layout-based classification, the field processing including a minimum confidence threshold based on the minimum confidence threshold for the ones of the plurality of templates).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified BAI to incorporate the teachings of Gligan to determine at least one field in the license information, determine at least one format corresponding to the at least one category, select, for each of the at least one field, a target format corresponding to the field from the at least one format, and extract the information item from a corresponding position in the field based on the target format. Doing so would include a set of templates for identifying the document type (classification) and extracting data from the documents. The templates can be configured, i.e., by the user, by defining the fields to be extracted and the position of the field on the document as taught by Gligan (Col. 2, lines 8-18).
With regard to claim 9,
As discussed in claim 8, BAI and Gligan teach all the limitations therein.
Gligan further teaches
the method according to claim 8, wherein selecting the format corresponding to the field comprises:
selecting a first format from the at least one format; determining a first matching degree between the first format and the field; and selecting, in response to the first matching degree being greater than a predetermined matching degree threshold, the first format as the format corresponding to the field (Claim 1: identify a document type using the plurality of templates by using an acceptance criteria based on minimum confidence thresholds for ones of the plurality of templates using at least one classifier configured to employ layout-based classification, and extract data from the document using the defined plurality of fields identified from the identified document type from the layout-based classification, the field processing including a minimum confidence threshold based on the minimum confidence threshold for the ones of the plurality of templates, wherein minimum confidence thresholds indicate “greater than a predetermined matching degree threshold”).
With regard to claim 10,
As discussed in claim 9, BAI and Gligan teach all the limitations therein.
Gligan further teaches
the method according to claim 9, wherein selecting the format corresponding to the field further comprises:
determining, in response to the first matching degree being less than the predetermined matching degree threshold, a second matching degree between a second format of the at least one format and the field; and selecting, in response to the second matching degree being greater than the predetermined matching degree threshold, the second format as the format corresponding to the field (Claim 1: the minimum confidence thresholds as discussed in the parent claim inherently teach this limitation: templates not meeting the minimum confidence threshold are passed and subsequent templates meeting the threshold will be selected).
With regard to claim 11,
As discussed in claim 9, BAI and Gligan teach all the limitations therein.
Gligan further teaches
the method according to claim 9, wherein selecting the first format comprises:
determining a priority of a format corresponding to each category based on a ratio of a field of each of the at least one category in all fields in the license information; and selecting, from the at least one format, a format with a highest priority as the first format (Col. 11, lines 36-41: for a given document type, multiple templates can be created; find the best suitable template to use for data extraction. The element “ratio of a field of each of the at least one category in all fields in the license information” is indefinite).
With regard to claim 22,
As discussed in claim 12, BAI teaches all the limitations therein.
BAI does not teach
the electronic device according to claim 12, further comprising:
determining at least one field in the license information; determining at least one format corresponding to at least one category; selecting, for each of the at least one field, a format corresponding to the field corresponding to the field from the at least one format; and extracting information item from a corresponding position in the field based on the format corresponding to the field.
Gligan teaches
the electronic device according to claim 12, further comprising:
determining at least one field in the license information; determining at least one format corresponding to at least one category; selecting, for each of the at least one field, a format corresponding to the field corresponding to the field from the at least one format; and extracting information item from a corresponding position in the field based on the format corresponding to the field (Claim 1: identify fields from the identified document type from the layout-based classification, identify a document type using the plurality of templates by using an acceptance criteria based on minimum confidence thresholds for ones of the plurality of templates using at least one classifier configured to employ layout-based classification, and extract data from the document using the defined plurality of fields identified from the identified document type from the layout-based classification, the field processing including a minimum confidence threshold based on the minimum confidence threshold for the ones of the plurality of templates).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified BAI to incorporate the teachings of Gligan to determine at least one field in the license information, determine at least one format corresponding to the at least one category, select, for each of the at least one field, a target format corresponding to the field from the at least one format, and extract the information item from a corresponding position in the field based on the target format. Doing so would include a set of templates for identifying the document type (classification) and extracting data from the documents. The templates can be configured, i.e., by the user, by defining the fields to be extracted and the position of the field on the document as taught by Gligan (Col. 2, lines 8-18).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XIAOQIN HU whose telephone number is (571)272-1792. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:00am-3:30pm.
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/XIAOQIN HU/Examiner, Art Unit 2168
/CHARLES RONES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2168
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