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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 11-7-2024 and 3-9-2026 are acknowledged by the examiner.
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 13-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. 2021/149933 by Chang et al, hereinafter Chang (as cited as prior art by Applicant in IDS filed on 3-9-2026).
Regarding claims 1, 14, and 19: Chang discloses:
a method, comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
a system, comprising: a memory subsystem storing instructions; and processing circuitry configured to execute the instructions to:
obtaining, by a contact center server (Fig. 3, 304; i.e. computer system) during a contact center engagement (i.e. using a chat messaging interface to exchange messages with a live agent operator of the computer system; a case) (paragraphs: 0050, 0075), a response (i.e. data) to a user prompt (i.e. input queries) received from a user device (i.e. client device) (paragraphs: 0061, 0080; Figure 5), the response comprising natural language data (i.e. text based messages) and a workflow (i.e. recommendation process) (paragraph: 0080; Figure 5);
determining, by the contact center server and based on activity of the user device associated with the workflow, to connect the user device to an agent device (i.e. transfer the case from one customer service agent to another agent) (paragraph: 0080);
generating, using a transformer engine (i.e. prediction module; Fig. 1, 103) of the contact center server, a summary of the contact center engagement (i.e. recommended summary notes; summary field), the summary comprising a summarization of the natural language data and a representation of user interaction with the workflow (i.e. summarize the previous agent’s interaction with the customer to facilitate the new agent understanding the current status and resuming interaction with the customer) (paragraphs: 0075, 0080-0081); and
transmitting, by the contact center server in response to determining to connect the user device to the agent device, the summary for display at the agent device in conjunction with a request for the agent device to connect to the contact center engagement (i.e. summarize the previous agent’s interaction with the customer to facilitate the new agent understanding the current status and resuming interaction with the customer) (paragraphs: 0075, 0080-0081).
Regarding claim 2, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the agent device is different from a device that generated the response (paragraphs: 0050, 0072, 0080).
Regarding claim 3, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: tracking, by the contact center server, the activity of the user device associated with the workflow (paragraphs: 0050, 0080).
Regarding claim 4, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the response comprises: obtaining, by the contact center server, the response from an initial agent device different from the agent device (paragraphs: 0050, 0080).
Regarding claim 5, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the response comprises: obtaining the response from a virtual agent engine of the contact center server (paragraphs: 0050, 0080).
Regarding claim 6, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the natural language data comprises at least one of text or speech (paragraphs: 0074-0076).
Regarding claim 7, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein determining to connect the user device to the agent device comprises: determining, by the contact center server, to connect the user device to the agent device based on at least one of a request from the user device or a determination, by the contact center server, to connect to the agent device (paragraph: 0080).
Regarding claim 8, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the summarization of the natural language data comprises a natural language text summary, wherein the representation of the user interaction with the workflow comprises a graphical representation of user progress through the workflow, the method further comprising: generating, by the contact center server, the graphical representation using the transformer engine and based on a specified format for the graphical representation (paragraphs: 0082, 0096).
Regarding claim 13, Chang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the contact center server comprises a server farm including multiple machines (paragraph: 0048).
Regarding claim 15, Chang discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, the operations further comprising: tracking, by the contact center server, the activity of the user device during the contact center engagement (paragraphs: 0050, 0072, 0080).
Regarding claim 16, Chang discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein obtaining the response comprises: obtaining, by the contact center server, the response from at least one of an initial agent device different from the agent device or a virtual agent engine of the contact center server (paragraphs: 0050, 0080).
Regarding claim 17, Chang discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the natural language data comprises at least one of natural language text or natural language speech (paragraphs: 0074-0076).
Regarding claim 18, Chang discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein determining to connect the user device to the agent device comprises: determining, by the contact center server, to connect the user device to the agent device based on a request from the user device (paragraph: 0080).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-12 and 20are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 Form. Also, please see:
U.S. Pat. No. 11,314,790 by Paiuk discloses obtaining during a contact center engagement a response to a user prompt received from a user device comprising a workflow
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LISA HASHEM whose telephone number is 571-272-7542. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday and Thursday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fan Tsang can be reached on 571-272-7547.
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/LISA HASHEM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2653
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