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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is issued in response to Applicants amendment filed April 15, 2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending. No claim is added and none cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 8-13, 15-18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (U.S. Patent Application No. 2016/0162532) in view of Sehra (U.S. Patent Application No. 2024/0020292), further in view of Grelle (U.S. Patent Application No. 2025/0307536).
Regarding Claim 1, Zhang discloses a computer-implemented method comprising:
generating a policy to control digital activity of a plurality of client devices using a first third-party source and a second third-party source (par [0041], Zhang – conflict detection rules and agents are implemented to catch content sources providing conflicting data/content… potential conflicts can be resolved based on the defined rules… par [0031], Zhang - the content may be any type of textual information, graphics, documents, pictures, videos, aggregated information from other sources, or related to a specific application, good, service);
receiving a plurality of source-specific data items from the first third-party source and the second third-party source, the plurality of source-specific data items comprising data representing digital activity of the plurality of client devices using the first third-party source and the second third-party source (par [0031-0032], Zhang – receive content from various content sources. The content may be any type of textual information, graphics, documents, pictures, videos, aggregated information from other sources, or related to a specific application, good, service… each portion of content may be received from a different source, or may be received from the same source. The content sources may include content from various departments of a corporation or from different third party companies);
generating, from the plurality of source-specific data items, a plurality of unified data items by utilizing a source-specific data structures to a unified data structure (par [0032], [0051], Zhang - Each portion of content may be merged with the other received portions of content by the content merging module of computer system. The aggregated representation generating module of computer system may then generate the aggregated representation that is displayed… par [0054]);
detecting a violation of the policy by a client device of the plurality of client devices (par [0041], Zhang - for instance, a developer may set a rating of application for all ages. If an external agency provides age rating images based on a mature rating for the app, the system will detect the discrepancy and take proper actions to reconcile the conflict); and
sending a notification to an administrator device about the policy violation for the client device (par [0041], [0053], Zhang - define the conflict reconciliation rules and implement agents to automatically resolve conflicts or notify users for manual intervention).
While Zhang teaches merging and aggregating the content into a unified structure. However, Zhang is not as detailed with respect to mapping the data from data sources and indicating a request.
On the other hand, Sehra discloses mapping the data from data sources (par [0015], [0093], Sehra - the AI-based data harmonization model may perform an AI-based data profiling to detect data patterns and automatically generate potential rules that can be used to check data quality. The harmonization model may also perform automated data mapping to map fields of a data source to fields of a target dataset.) and indicating a request (par [0094-0095], Sehra – send a query to the system for the data harmonization model to produce a resolution to the query).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Sehra’s automated data harmonization technique into Zhang’s digital content aggregation system. A skilled artisan would have been motivated to combine in order to better organize, analyze, and relate structured data that are stored in multiple separate data sources.
While Zhang teaches sending a notification about a policy violation; however, Zhang is not as detailed with respect to the notification providing an exception to the policy.
On the other hand, Grelle discloses providing an exception to the policy (par [0046], Grelle - procedures for monitoring the policy and requesting exceptions or reporting violations of the policy… par [0015]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Grelle’s policies using AI technique into Zhang’s digital content aggregation system. A skilled artisan would have been motivated to combine in order to ensure compliance with regulations and proceed in a way that management intends. As a result, providing an improved system for rationalizing and reconciling policies as needed.
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Zhang in view of Sehra, further in view of Grelle, disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of source-specific data items comprises an indication of digital activity corresponding to the plurality of client devices comprising at least one of copying, downloading, viewing, sharing, or creating a public link (par [0031-0032], Zhang - content may be any type of textual information, graphics, documents, pictures, videos, aggregated information from other sources, or related to a specific application, good, service).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Zhang in view of Sehra, further in view of Grelle, disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein utilizing the translation layer that maps the source-specific data structures to the unified data structure comprises:
mapping a first source-specific data structure of the first third-party source to the unified data structure by referencing a first specification that indicates a naming convention of the first source-specific data structure corresponds to a first unified naming convention of the unified data structure; and mapping a second source-specific data structure of the second third-party source to the unified data structure by referencing a second specification that indicates a naming convention of the second source-specific data structure corresponds to a second unified naming convention of the unified data structure (Abstract; par [0078-0080], [0089-0091], Sehra – harmonization module is used to aggregate and analyze data from a plurality of data sources into a format that is compatible for combining the data from the plurality of sources ; wherein the sources can be third-party sources… normalizing values from different data sources helps to attribute to the unified harmonized data structure and naming convention… also see par [0031-0036]).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Zhang in view of Sehra, further in view of Grelle, disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a subset of unified data items from the plurality of unified data items by:
receiving a request from the administrator device, the request comprising a query relating to a first type of digital activity and a second type of digital activity for a first client device of the plurality of client devices (par [0031-0032], Zhang – receive content from various content sources. The content may be any type of textual information, graphics, documents, pictures, videos, aggregated information from other sources, or related to a specific application, good, service… each portion of content may be received from a different source, or may be received from the same source. The content sources may include content from various departments of a corporation or from different third party companies… par [0094-0095], Sehra – send a query to the system for the data harmonization model to produce a resolution to the query); and
identifying the subset of unified data items comprising source-specific data items for the first type of digital activity and the second type of digital activity for the first client device, wherein the first type of digital activity and the second type of digital activity for the first client device are performed on both the first third-party source and the second third-party source (Fig.1; par [0031-0032], [0044-0046], Zhang – identifying portions of content that are aggregated to one application or to multiple applications… accessing the portions of content, wherein the accessed portions of content are to be presented in a user interface. Merging the accessed portions of content into an aggregated representation which is displayable in the user interface).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Zhang in view of Sehra, further in view of Grelle, disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying, based on a request from the administrator device, a subset of unified data items from the plurality of unified data items by processing the request using the unified data structure, the subset of unified data items being based on source-specific data items from both the first third-party source and the second third-party source (Fig.1; par [0031-0032], [0044-0046], Zhang – identifying portions of content that are aggregated to one application or to multiple applications… accessing the portions of content, wherein the accessed portions of content are to be presented in a user interface. Merging the accessed portions of content into an aggregated representation which is displayable in the user interface); and
providing the subset of unified data items to the administrator device (par [0037-0038], [0046], Zhang - merging the accessed portions of content into an aggregated representation which is displayable in the user interface).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Zhang in view of Sehra, further in view of Grelle, disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing a subset of unified data items to the administrator device by: generating, utilizing a large language model, a summary of the subset of unified data items from both the first third-party source and the second third-party source; and providing the summary of the subset of unified data items to the administrator device (par [0051], Zhang – general overview of the aggregated representation along with the different portions of data… par [0060], Sehra – Deep Learning).
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Zhang in view of Sehra, further in view of Grelle, disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: monitoring the plurality of unified data items from the plurality of client devices to determine that a client device accessed a third third-party source; comparing the third third-party source to a database of approved third-party sources; and in response to determining that the third third-party source is not an approved third-party source, sending a notification to the administrator device (par [0053], Zhang).
Claims 10-13 and 15 contain similar subject matter as claims 1-4 and 8 above; and are rejected under the same rationale.
Claims 16-18 and 20 contain similar subject matter as claims 1-3 and 8 above; and are rejected under the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7, 14, and 19 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: generating a policy to control digital activity of the plurality of client devices using the first third-party source and the second third-party source; detecting that digital activity of a client device from the plurality of client devices violated the policy on the first third-party source by analyzing the plurality of unified data items from the plurality of client devices; causing the first third-party source to enforce the policy by reversing the digital activity of the client device; and sending a notification to the client device regarding the violation of the policy.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Points of Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHELCIE L DAYE whose telephone number is (571) 272-3891. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:30-4:00pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Apu Mofiz can be reached on 571-272-4080. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Chelcie Daye
Patent Examiner
Technology Center 2100
June 25, 2026
/CHELCIE L DAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2161
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