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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/06/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
112 rejection has been withdrawn based on the filed amendment.
Argument:
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. Claims would cover processing any amount transaction data. Including small volume. It would be easy to identify supply chain relationships based on records associated with low volume production. Especially if the supply chain nodes would only interact with each other. Furthermore, claim 1 especially does not include any limitations related to underlying processing, i.e. the underlying steps needed to determine things such as child companies/items. It is unreasonable to say the limitations are incapable of being performed in the human mind when the claims are results-oriented and essentially cover any way of making the recited determinations.
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. Per MPEP 2106.05(a): If it is asserted that the invention improves upon conventional functioning of a computer, or upon conventional technology or technological processes, a technical explanation as to how to implement the invention should be present in the specification.
Here there is no technical explanation, because any alleged difference in time/memory requirements is not due to a processing improvement, but rather a difference in processing requirements.
For example Pi can be approximated by either 1) 3+1/7 or 2) a truncation of various infinite series (for example
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Per MPEP 2106.05(f): Use of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks (e.g., to receive, store, or transmit data) or simply adding a general purpose computer or computer components after the fact to an abstract idea (e.g., a fundamental economic practice or mathematical equation) does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more. See Affinity Labs v. DirecTV, 838 F.3d 1253, 1262, 120 USPQ2d 1201, 1207 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (cellular telephone); TLI Communications LLC v. AV Auto, LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 613, 118 USPQ2d 1744, 1748 (Fed. Cir. 2016)
Computer elements as claimed are used in their ordinary capacity and therefore there is no practical application
Argument:
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. Excluding unrelated companies may be an improvement, but it is an improvement in the abstract idea. MPEP 2106.05(a) states: If it is asserted that the invention improves upon conventional functioning of a computer, or upon conventional technology or technological processes, a technical explanation as to how to implement the invention should be present in the specification.
Identifying supply chain relationships is within the realm of abstract ideas not technology. MPEP 2106.05(a) further states: However, it is important to keep in mind that an improvement in the abstract idea itself (e.g. a recited fundamental economic concept) is not an improvement in technology. For example, in Trading Technologies Int’l v. IBG, 921 F.3d 1084, 1093-94, 2019 USPQ2d 138290 (Fed. Cir. 2019)
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. Improvements in Desjardins are related to specific machine learning improvements. Machine learning is a technology. Instant claims are related to identifying supply chain relationships, which is within the realm of abstract ideas not technology. Instant claims computer resource requirements are independent of the computer components. There is no change to how the computer components operate, rather they are used in their ordinary capacity.
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. These limitations further limit the abstract idea and no not provide a practical application. Data processing that can be done mentally is an abstract idea. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2):
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The examiner disagrees. These limitations further limit the abstract idea and no not provide a practical application. Data processing that can be done mentally is an abstract idea. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2).
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. These limitations further limit the abstract idea and no not provide a practical application. Data processing that can be done mentally is an abstract idea. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2).
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. The display is used in its ordinary capacity. There is no specific technical change. These limitations relate to the content of the output.
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Response:
The examiner disagrees. These limitations further limit the abstract idea and no not provide a practical application. Data processing that can be done mentally is an abstract idea. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2). Instant claims are similar to Electric Power group in that they collect supply chain information, analyze it and display certain results of the collection and analysis.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-7, 9-21are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claims 1-7, 9-21 recite subject matter falling within one of the four categories of invention (Step 1).
Claims 1-7, 9-21 recite:
[Claim 1] A supply chain network creation apparatus, comprising: a bill of materials creation unit that creates a bill of materials based on a transaction history including information on an order-placing company, an order-accepting company, and items traded between the order-placing company and the order-accepting company; and a supply chain network creation unit that creates a supply chain network representing a transaction relationship between the order-placing company and the order-accepting company based on the bill of materials; and a display unit that displays the supply chain network created by the supply chain network creation unit, wherein the supply chain network is displayed with the order-placing company as a parent node, the order-accepting company as a child node, and the transaction relationship as an arc, thereby enabling a user to visualize a transaction relationships for a target item, wherein the supply chain network creation unit creates the supply chain network by deleting companies not included in the bill of materials, wherein the supply chain network creation unit creates the supply chain network by iteratively tracing the supply chain upstream from a target company and a target item, and wherein the iterative tracing comprises identifying child companies and child items from a parent company and a parent item, and repeating the identification for each identified child company and child item as a new parent company and parent item until no further child items can be identified.
[Claim 2] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bill of materials creation unit creates the bill of materials for items procured by the order-placing company from multiple order-accepting companies based on the transaction history.
[Claim 3] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: an item categorization unit that, based on an item classification table in which items are defined in two or more classification tiers, estimates tiers in the item classification table and classifications for each tier for items being traded from the transaction history, wherein the bill of materials creation unit creates the bill of materials based on classification items estimated by the item categorization unit.
[Claim 4] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the item categorization unit determines a similarity between an item name of a first tier, which is a most detailed tier in the item classification table, and an item being traded, and classifies the item being traded under an item name of a second tier, which contains a largest number of similar items of the first tier and which is one level above the first tier.
[Claim 5] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the item categorization unit, when there is no item that is similar to the first tier, classifies the item being traded by successively increasing the tier.
[Claim 6] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply chain network creation unit creates supply chain network information representing a relationship among the order-placing company, the order-accepting company, and the items handled by the order-accepting company based on the transaction history, and creates the supply chain network based on the supply chain network information.
[Claim 7] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the supply chain network creation unit creates the supply chain network information in addition to transaction relationship information including buyer companies and supplier companies.
[Claim 9] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply chain network creation unit creates the supply chain network by deleting companies not included in the bill of materials for each tier when considering the tier relationship of the order-placing company and the order-accepting company.
[Claim 10] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays a company name and an item name corresponding to each node near that node when displaying the supply chain network.
[Claim 11] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the supply chain network creation unit creates the display information by changing a method of displaying at least one of either the arc or the node depending on at least one of either accuracy of the transaction relationship or newness at a time when the transaction history was created.
[Claim 12] The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bill of materials creation unit creates a character string inquiring about materials to be used in producing the item, and creates the bill of materials using generative AI or a search engine based on the character string.
[Claim 13] A supply chain network creation method, wherein a processor executes a program recorded in a memory to: create a bill of materials based on a transaction history including information on an order-placing company, an order-accepting company, and items traded between the order-placing company and the order-accepting company; and create a supply chain network representing a transaction relationship between the order-placing company and the order-accepting company based on the bill of materials; and displaying the supply chain network on a display unit, wherein the supply chain network is displayed with the order-placing company as a parent node, the order-accepting company as a child node, and the transaction relationship as an arc, thereby enabling a user to visualize transaction relationships for a target item, and wherein creating the supply chain network comprises deleting companies not included in the bill of materials, and wherein creating the supply chain network comprises iteratively tracing the supply chain upstream from a target company and a target item, and wherein the iterative tracing comprises identifying child companies and child items from a parent co mpany and a parent item, and repeating the identification for each identified child company and child item as a new parent company and parent item until no further child items can be identified.
[Claim 14] A non-transitory CRM storing a program that causes a computer to realize: a function of creating a bill of materials based on a transaction history including information on an order-placing company, an order-accepting company, and items traded between the order-placing company and the order-accepting company; and a function of creating a supply chain network representing a transaction relationship between the order-placing company and the order-accepting company based on the bill of materials; and a function of displaying the supply chain network on a display unit, wherein the supply chain network is displayed with the order-placing company as a parent node, the order-accepting company as a child node, and the transaction relationship as an arc, thereby enabling a user to visualize transaction relationships for a target item, and wherein the function of creating the supply chain network comprises deleting companies not included in the bill of materials, wherein the function of creating the supply chain network comprises iteratively tracing the supply chain upstream from a target company and a target item, and wherein the iterative tracing comprises identifying child companies and child items from a parent company and a parent item, and repeating the identification for each identified child company and child item as a new parent company and parent item until no further child items can be identified.
15. The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an item categorization unit that calculates a similarity between a classification name and an item name using at least one of a Levenshtein distance or a Jaro-Winkler distance, wherein the item categorization unit classifies items based on product code information using a tiered classification system in which items are classified into large classification, middle classification, small classification, and fine classification based on serial numbers of a product code.
16. The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply chain network creation unit creates the supply chain network by deleting companies not included in the bill of materials for each tier when considering a tier relationship of the order- placing company and the order-accepting company, thereby reducing time and memory required for company group extraction processing.
17. The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the supply chain network using different line types including at least one of a solid line, a broken line, or a dotted line to indicate accuracy of a transaction relationship.
18. The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage unit that stores supply chain network information including parent companies, child companies, child items, product codes of child items, and accuracy and freshness of the network, wherein the storage unit stores the supply chain network information that is updated during the iterative tracing of the supply chain, and wherein the supply chain network information stored in the storage unit is used to narrow down transaction relationships by deleting records of companies and items not related to the target item.
19. The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an item categorization unit that classifies items based on product code information using a tiered classification system in which items are classified into large classification, middle classification, small classification, and fine classification based on serial numbers of a product code, wherein the item categorization unit assigns a tier number to each classification name based on the product code, and wherein the tier number is used to determine accuracy of the transaction relationship in the supply chain network.
20. The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an input unit that receives a processing command including a company name and an item for which the supply chain network is to be created, wherein the processing command initiates the iterative tracing of the supply chain upstream from the company name and the item, and wherein the supply chain network creation unit reads information related to the processing command from company information, transaction history, and transaction relationship information stored in a storage unit.
21. The supply chain network creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the supply chain network with a visual indicator representing freshness, wherein the freshness is calculated based on a period from a delivery date stored in supply chain network information to a time that processing is executed, wherein the visual indicator is displayed for each arc connecting a parent node and a child node in the supply chain network, and wherein the display unit changes a method of displaying the arc based on the freshness to indicate reliability of whether or not there is a transaction relationship.
Claims 1-7, 9-21 but for the recitation of the underlined additional elements, claims 1-7, 9-21 recite steps that can be performed mentally. Specifically the claims recite steps whereby transaction history is analyzed and used to create bill of material information and supply chain network information. A person is mentally capable of performing the claimed analysis and identifying bills of material and supply chain relationships.
Thus claims 1-7 and 9-21 recite a mental process (Step 2A_1).
The recited additional elements include:
1) Computer-related implementation
A) supply chain network creation apparatus (Claim 1+)
B) various units (Claim 1+)
C) Processor, program, memory (Claim 13, 14).
2) Use of generative AI or search engine (Claim 12)
3) display unit
4) input unit
The elements related to a computer-related implementation are recited at a high degree of generality such that they amount to mere instructions to implement an abstract idea which per MPEP 2106.05(f) means they do not provide a practical application or significantly more.
Regarding the use of generative AI and/or search engines, these limitations amount to extra-solution activity because they perform necessary data gathering/output, which per MPEP 2106.05(g) means they do not provide a practical application or significantly more. They additionally do not provide significantly more because search engines and generative AI are conventional technologies (see Hu US 20250111162 A1 paragraph 12).
The use of a display unit amount to data output, which per MPEP 2106.05(g) would be considered extra-solution activity that does not provide a practical application or significantly more. Furthermore, a display unit does not provide significantly more because display of information is well-understood routine and conventional. See MPEP 2106.05(d) citing OIP Techs., 788 F.3d at 1362-63, 115 USPQ2d at 1092-93.
The use of an input unit amounts to data gathering, which per MPEP 2106.05(g) would be considered extra-solution activity that does not provide a practical application or significantly more. Furthermore, an input unit does not provide significantly more because gathering data is well-understood routine and conventional. See MPEP 2106.05(d) citing OIP Techs., 788 F.3d at 1362-63, 115 USPQ2d at 1092-93.
Per the above the additional elements do not provide a practical application or significantly more (Step 2A_2 and Step 2B) and claims 1-7, 9-21 are ineligible.
Prior Art Status
Claims 1-7, 9-21 are considered to distinguish over the cited art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. LI (CN 115760280 A) discloses a system for determination supply chain information. Hertz (US 20180082183 A1) discloses a system to identify supply chain relationships. Yuan (US 20150178645 A1) discloses a system to identify
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN A MITCHELL whose telephone number is (571)270-3117. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ryan Zeender can be reached at 571-272-6790. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHAN A MITCHELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627
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