DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07 July 2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-20 are pending in the present application. Claims 1, 7-8, 10-11, 17-18, and 20 were amended.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07 July 2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 1, the following limitation does not appear to be described as claimed. “receiving, by a processor, a request from a machine learning model for retrieval of data.” [see claim 1 lines 2-3]. Although various embodiments are described, the disclosure does not appear to describe that the request is from a machine learning model. Note support for requesting or requests can be found in the disclosure at paragraph 0177 and figure 52. The limitations of independent claims 11 and 20 parallel claim 1; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale. Claims 2-10, 12-19 are rejected based on dependency.
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.
Claims 1-20 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the following limitation is vague and/or not clear: “”a request from a machine learning model” [see claim 1, lines 2-3]. Although the disclosure teaches various embodiments, it does not appear to teach a request is from a machine learning model. Support for this feature can be found in the disclosure at figure 52 and paragraph 0177. Also, see paragraphs 0157-0158.
The limitations of independent claims 11 and 20 parallel claim 1; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale. Claims 2-10, 12-19 are rejected based on dependency.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07 July 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
ARGUMENT: Claims were rejected under 35 USC 112 for the limitation “data model”; the claim has been amended to read “data map”.
RESPONSE: Applicant’s amendment overcomes the rejection the rejection has been withdrawn; however a new rejection is cited, see Office Action above.
Conclusion
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/GRETA L ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2163