DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
Claims 1-22 have been examined in this application. This communication is the first action on the merits. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on October 23, 2024 has been acknowledged.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 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.
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 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Claim 1, and similarly claims 2-22, in view of the first prong of Step 2A, recites:
dynamic … indicator processing for skill set assessment …, comprising:
receiving a first assessment message on a ... indicator processing … from a skills assessment …,
the first assessment message including: skills set assessment results, a type of skill set assessed, a level of skill set completed, an expiration time and date for the type of skill set assessment completed and level of skill assessment completed, a unique identifier for a user who completed the skill set assessment and an identifier for the ...;
selecting a ... indicator on the ... indicator processing ... on the ... based on the type of type of skill set assessment completed included in the first assessment message;
selecting a first skill assessment indicator on the ... indicator processing ... on the ... for the ... indicator indicating the level of skill assessment completed included in the first assessment message;
creating a ... security identifier on the ... indicator processing ... including the selected ... indicator, the selected first skill assessment indicator, the type of skill set assessment indicator completed, the level of skill set assessment class completed, the expiration time and date for the type of skill set assessment completed and level of skill set assessment completed, the unique identifier for the user who completed the skill set assessment and the identifier for the ...;
creating from the ... indicator processing … entry … for the created ... security identifier including: the selected ... indicator, the selected first skill set assessment indicator, the skills set assessment results, the type of skill set assessment completed, the level of skill set assessment completed, the expiration time and date for the type of skill set assessment completed and the level skill set assessment completed, the unique identifier for the user who completed the skill set assessment and the identifier for the ...;
sending a secure [access] from … including the created ... security identifier to access the selected ... indicator with the selected first skill assessment indicator on the ...;
receiving a [access] selection message from the secure link …, the [access] selection message including the created ... security identifier;
conducting … query ... with the created ... security identifier received in the [access] selection message to obtain … entry including the created ... security identifier; and
sending securely from ... the selected ... indicator with the selected first skill assessment indicator to ...,
the selected ... indicator with the selected first skill assessment indicator indicating the type of skill set assessment completed and the level of skill set assessment completed by the user.
Further, claim 21, and similarly claims 18-19 & 22, additionally recites:
receiving a second assessment message … from the skills assessment …,
the second assessment message including the created ... security identifier, a new level of skill set assessment completed and a new skill set assessment results for the user
conducting a second … query … with the created ... security identifier from the second completion message to obtain the … entry including the created ... security identifier from the received second assessment message;
selecting a second ... indicator different from the first selected ... indicator … for the ... indicator indicating the new level of skill set assessment completed included in the second completion message;
updating from the … indicator processing … the … entry in … for … security identifier, the … entry including: new skill set assessment results, the selected ... indicator, the new selected second ... indicator, the new level of skill set assessment completed, the new expiration time and date for the type of skill set assessment completed and the level of skill set assessment completed, the unique identifier for the user who completed the skill set assessment and the identifier …;
sending securely … the second selected ... indicator …,
the selected second ... indicator indicating completion of the type of skill set assessment and the new level of skill set assessment completed by the user;
periodically checking … a plurality of expiration dates and times for a plurality of … entries for a plurality of skill set assessments …;
retrieving on … entries … including an expiration date and time for which a skill set assessment has expired;
selecting a unique expiration ... indicator … for the skill set assessment that have expired;
creating an expiration ... security identifier … comprising: the created ... security identifier for the user …, the selected expired ... indicator, the level of skill set assessment completed, the expiration time and date for the type of skill set assessment completed and the level of skill set assessment completed the unique identifier for the user who completed the skill set assessment and the identifier …;
updating …, the one or more retrieved … entries including: the created expiration ... security identifier, the created ... security identifier for the user …, the selected expiration ... indicator, the level of skill set assessment completed, the expiration time and date for the type of skill set assessment completed and the level of skill set assessment completed, the unique identifier for the user who completed the skill set assessment and the identifier …; and
sending securely … the created expiration ... security identifier with the selected expiration ... indicator …,
the selected expiration ... indicator indicating the level of skill set assessment completed has expired, and
the created expiration ... security identifier preventing tampering of the created expiration ... security identifier with the selected expiration ... indicator indicating the level of skill set assessment completed has expired.
Claims 1-22, in view of the claim limitations, recite the abstract idea of receiving a first assessment message including skill assessment information regarding skill assessments completed by users, selecting indicators based on the type of skill and level of skill of the skill assessment, creating a security identifier including the selected indicators and the skill assessment information, creating an record entry including the selected indicators and skill assessment information from the security identifier, sending information to access the selected indicators, receiving a selection message including the security identifier, conducting a query with the security identifier to obtain the record entry including the security identifier, and sending the selected indicators including the skill assessment information regarding skill assessments completed by the user. Further, in view of the claim limitations, claims 21 & 22 recite the additional abstract ide of receiving a second assessment message including the security identifier and a new skill assessment skill level and skill assessment results completed by the user, querying the records to obtain the record entry including the security identifier, selecting a second indicator indicating the new skill level, updating the record entry for the security identifier including the new skill level and results, sending a the second indicator indicating the type of skill and new skill level completed by the user, periodically checking for expiration of the record entries for the skill assessments, retrieving entries for skill assessments that have expired, selecting an expiration indicator for the expired skill assessment, creating an expiration security identifier including the security identifier and skill assessment information, updating the retrieved entries including the expiration security identifiers, the security identifiers, and the skill assessment information, and sending the expiration security identifier to indicate the skill level of the skill assessment has expired, and preventing tampering with the expiration security identifier indicating the skill level has expired.
As a whole, in view of the claim limitations, but for the computer components and systems performing the claimed functions, the claim limitations discussed above manage the personal human behavior of humans completing skill assessments by recording skill assessments completed by users, providing access to information regarding the skill assessments completed by users, updating new skill assessments completed by users, tracking and providing indicator of skill assessments completed by users that have expired, and thus, the claims recite a certain method of organizing human activity.
Further, as a whole, in view of the claim limitations, but for the computer components and systems performing the claimed functions, the broadest reasonable interpretation of these elements of the recited claim could all be reasonably interpreted as a human making observations regarding information and entries regarding skill assessments and skill assessment indicators, a human making decisions to select and create indictors, a human creating records mentally and/or with pen and paper including the skill assessment information and indicators, a human sending and receiving a message to access information from the records manually and/or with pen and paper, a human evaluating the records to search and access the information including the skill assessment information, outputting the accessed skill assessment information, a human sending and receiving a message with a new skill level and skill assessment manually and/or with pen and paper, a human updating the record entries to include the new skill level and skill assessments mentally and/or with pen and paper, a human evaluating and observing to check for and retrieve record entries with skill assessments that have expired, a human updating the record entries to include an expiration indicator mentally and/or with pen and paper, and a human sending an expiration security indicator that cannot be changed with the expiration indicator indicating the skill level has expired manually and/or with pen and paper; therefore, the claims recite mental processes.
Further, with respect to the dependent claims, aside from the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea addressed below under the second prong of Step 2A and 2B, the limitations of dependent claims 2-20 recite similar further abstract limitations to those discussed above that narrow the abstract idea recited in the independent claims because, aside from the generic computer components and systems performing the claimed functions, the limitations of claims manage personal human behavior and recite mental processes that can be practically performed mentally by observing, evaluating, and judging information mentally and/or with a pen and paper.
Accordingly, since the claims recite mental processes and a certain method of organizing human activity, the claims recite an abstract idea under the first prong of Step 2A.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application under the second prong of Step 2A. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea of “[a] method for … digital … systems, comprising,” “on a server digital indicator processing application on a server network device with one or more processors,” “digital,” “application on a network device with one or more processors via a communications network,” “the network device,” “the server network device” “the server digital indicator processing application,” “the skills assessment application, “via the communications network,” “database,” “link,” “to the network device via the communications network for display on the network device” in claim 1, and similarly in claims 21 and 22, “the network device, includes, but is not limited to, a domain name, network address, telephone number, MAC number, serial number, International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), Mobile Identification Number (MIN), Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID) associated with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, SIM card identifier, or a combination thereof” in claim 4, “a hash code, a message digest code, an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, or an encrypted user identifier comprising: the selected digital indicator, the selected first skill assessment indicator, the type of skill set assessment class completed, the level of skill set assessment class completed, the unique identifier for the user who completed the skill set assessment class and the identifier for the network device” in claim 7, “the database entry includes one or more cloud storage objects stored in one more cloud databases or a blockchain entry in a blockchain” in claim 8, “the network device include one or more wireless communications interfaces comprising: cellular telephone, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.15.4 (ZigBee), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Aware, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), ETSI High Performance Radio Metropolitan Area Network (HIPERMAN), Near Field Communications (NFC), Machine-to-Machine (M2M), 802.15.1 (BLUETOOTH), infra data association (IrDA), wireless communications interfaces” in claim 11, “the network device includes one or more of: cell phones, laptop computers, tablet computers, smart phones, personal digital/data assistants (PDA), portable game consoles, wearable network devices, or Internet of Things (IoT), network devices” in claim 12, “the communications network further includes: a cloud communications network, one or more cloud server network devices, one or more cloud databases; one or more cloud storage objects in the one or more cloud databases; and a cloud computing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), including a cloud software infrastructure service, a cloud platform as a Service (PaaS) including a cloud software platform service and one or more cloud Software as a Services (SaaS), including a specific SaaS, for dynamic digital indicator processing services for skill set assessment systems, wherein the one or more cloud storage objects include Representational state transfer (REST), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or Application Programming Interface (API) objects” in claim 13, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) application and one or more selected AI methods” in claim 15, “an e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), Rich Communication Suite (RCS), Direct Message (DM), Instant Message (IM), social media, network protocol or telephony” in claim 16, and in addition to the above similar limitations recited in claim 1, “non-transitory computer readable having stored therein a plurality of instructions for causing one or more processors to execute the steps” in claim 21, and “system for … digital … systems, comprising, in combination: one or more network devices each with one or more processors; one or more server network devices each with one or more processors; one or more databases; a communications network; the one or more processors on the one or more network devices and the one or more server network devices including a plurality of instructions” and “Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods” in claim 22; however, individually and when viewed as an ordered combination, and pursuant to the broadest reasonable interpretation, each of the additional elements are computing elements recited at high level of generality implementing the abstract idea on a computer (i.e. apply it), and thus, are no more than applying the abstract idea with generic computer components. In addition, these elements merely generally link the abstract idea to a field of use/technological environment, namely a generic computing environment sending generic commands to generic devices. Moreover, aside from the aforementioned additional elements, the remaining elements of dependent claims 2-20 do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because these claims merely recite further limitations that provide no more than simply narrowing the recited abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under Step 2B. As noted above, the aforementioned additional elements beyond the recited abstract idea, as an order combination, are no more than mere instructions to implement the idea using generic computer components (i.e., apply it), and further, generally link the abstract idea to a field of use, namely a generic computing environment sending generic commands to generic devices, which is not sufficient to amount to significantly more than an abstract idea; therefore, the additional elements are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than an abstract idea. Additionally, as an ordered combination, these elements, including the receiving and sending, amount to generic computer components performing repetitive calculations and receiving or transmitting data over a network, which, as held by the courts, are well-understood, routine, and conventional. See MPEP 2106.05(d); July 2015 Update, p. 7. Moreover, aside from the aforementioned additional elements, the remaining elements of dependent claims 2-20 do not transform the recited abstract idea into a patent eligible invention because these claims merely recite further limitations that provide no more than simply narrowing the recited abstract idea.
Looking at these limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing additional that is sufficient to amount to significantly more than the recited abstract idea because they simply provide instructions to use a generic arrangement of generic computer components and recitations of generic computer structure that perform well-understood, routine, and conventional computer functions that are used to “apply” the recited abstract idea. Thus, the elements of the claims, considered both individually and as an ordered combination, are not sufficient to ensure that the claims as a whole amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Since there are no limitations in these claims that transform the exception into a patent eligible application such that these claims amount to significantly more than the exception itself, claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Allowable Subject Matter
While the claims are rejected pursuant to 35 USC 101 for the reasons above, they are novel and non-obvious in view of prior art and would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the 35 USC 101 rejections.
Examiner submits Hoobin (AU 2016206269 A1), hereinafter Hoobin, Frischmann (US 11587190 B1), hereinafter Frischmann, and Wang, et al., (US 20230091248 A1), hereinafter Wang are the closest prior
Hoobin discloses a system for handling a competency-based certificate that provides user interface of the system may be configured to prompt a user to provide an electronic copy of the competency-based certificate and sending a link that grants the recipient with public access to view a particular passport comprising qualifications of skills a user wanted to send (Abstract, pp. 12, 32);
Frischmann discloses a system and method for creating a standardized format for the display of skills information that can be accessed from a URL found from an online search engine, or embedded on a web page or mobile application (Abstract, cl. 2, ln. 22-30); and
Wang discloses techniques for assigning users to swarms based on skill and generating recommendations for increasing skill proficiency including skill objects comprising various IDs regarding the skill that can be used to look up skill objects in a database. Abstract, [0154]-[0155].
While the above references teach some of the individual elements of the limitations of independent claims 1, 21, & 22 when the individual elements are viewed in isolation, since of the since the specific combination of claim elements recited in claims 1, 21, & 22 cannot be found in the cited prior art and can only be found as recited in Applicant’s Specification, any combination of the cited references and/or additional references(s) to teach all the claim elements, including the aforementioned features not taught by the cited prior art, would be the result of impermissible hindsight reconstruction. Accordingly, any combination of Hoobin, Frischmann, and Wang, and/or any other additional reference(s), would be improper to teach the claimed invention. Therefore, claims 1-22 are novel and non-obvious in view of 35 USC 102 and 35 USC 103.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES A GUILIANO whose telephone number is (571)272-9859. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.
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CHARLES GUILIANO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3623
/CHARLES GUILIANO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3623