DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 submitted on 11/25/2024 are pending and have been examined.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of continuation-in-part (CIP) of Application No. 15/266,326, filed on 09/15/2016.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/25/2024, 11/25/2024, 03/26/2025, and 06/04/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more. The claims recite an abstract idea. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The claim(s) do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Step 1
Claims 1-16 are directed to a process, claims 17-19 are directed to a machine, and claim 20 is directed to an article of manufacture (see MPEP 2106.03).
Step 2A, Prong 1
Claim 1, taken as representative, recites at least the following limitations that recite an abstract idea:
a method, comprising: receiving origin location data and destination location data from at least a subset of the plurality of users, wherein the origin location data corresponds to geographic origins and the destination location data corresponds to geographic destinations;
determining a plurality of hubs based on the origin location data and the destination location data, wherein the plurality of hubs comprises one or more origin hubs determined based on the origin location data and one or more destination hubs determined based on the destination location data;
determining a plurality of hub routes based on the plurality of hubs, wherein a respective hub route corresponds to a geographic route from a location corresponding to a respective origin hub to a location corresponding to a respective destination hub;
generating one or more tutoring units based on at least tutoring attribute data, wherein the one or more tutoring units correspond to one or more tutoring services available for purchase from the plurality of users between the respective origin hub and the respective destination hub; and
providing a tutoring market platform to the plurality of users for trading the one or more tutoring units, comprising:
receiving market depth data from the plurality of users, wherein the market depth data comprises data indicating a plurality of bid prices and a plurality of offer prices for the one or more tutoring units; and
transmitting the market depth data to the plurality of users based on the plurality of hub routes.
The above limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas, enumerated in MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(II), in that it recites a commercial interaction. Claims 17 and 20 recites similar limitations as claim 1.
Thus, under Prong 1 of Step 2A, claims 1, 17, and 20 recite an abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong 2
Claim 1 includes the following additional elements that are bolded:
a method, comprising: receiving origin location data and destination location data from at least a subset of the plurality of users, wherein the origin location data corresponds to geographic origins and the destination location data corresponds to geographic destinations;
determining a plurality of virtual hubs based on the origin location data and the destination location data, wherein the plurality of virtual hubs comprises one or more origin virtual hubs determined based on the origin location data and one or more destination virtual hubs determined based on the destination location data;
determining a plurality of virtual hub routes based on the plurality of virtual hubs, wherein a respective virtual hub route corresponds to a geographic route from a location corresponding to a respective origin virtual hub to a location corresponding to a respective destination virtual hub;
generating one or more virtual tutoring units based on at least tutoring attribute data, wherein the one or more virtual tutoring units correspond to one or more virtual tutoring services available for purchase from the plurality of users between the respective origin virtual hub and the respective destination virtual hub; and
providing a virtual tutoring market platform to the plurality of users for trading the one or more virtual tutoring units, comprising:
receiving market depth data from the plurality of users, wherein the market depth data comprises data indicating a plurality of bid prices and a plurality of offer prices for the one or more virtual tutoring units; and
transmitting the market depth data to the plurality of users based on the plurality of virtual hub routes.
Claims 17 and 20 include the same additional elements as claim 1. In addition, claim 17 includes additional elements such as a computing system, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memory comprising program instructions executable by the one or more processors to. In addition, claim 20 includes additional elements such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to.
The additional elements recited in claims 1, 17, and 20 merely invoke such elements as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment of virtual hubs (see MPEP 2106.05(f) and MPEP 2106.05(h). These additional elements are described at a high level in Applicant’s specification without any meaningful detail about their structure or configuration (see Fig. 2 and ¶¶0070-0073).
As such, under Prong 2 of Step 2A, when considered both individually and as a whole, the additional elements do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application and, thus, claims 1, 17, and 20 are directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B
As noted above, while the recitation of the additional elements in independent claims 1, 17, and 20 are acknowledged, claims 1, 17, and 20 merely invoke such additional elements as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment (see MPEP 2106.05(f) and MPEP 2106.05(h)).
Even when considered as an ordered combination, the additional elements of claim 1, 17, and 20 do not add anything that is not already present when they are considered individually. Therefore, under Step 2B, there are no meaningful limitations in claims 1, 17, and 20 that transform the judicial exception into a patent eligible application such that the claims amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself (see MPEP 2106.05).
As such, independent claims 1, 17, and 20 are ineligible.
Dependent claims 2, 4-8, 10-12, and 19 when analyzed as a whole, are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 because they do not add “significantly more” to the abstract idea. More specifically, dependent claims 2, 4-8, 10-12, and 19 merely further define the abstract limitations of claims 1, 17, and 20 or provide further embellishments of the limitations recited in independent claims 1, 17, and 20. Claims 2, 4-8, 10-12, and 19 do not introduce any further additional elements. Thus, dependent claims 2, 4-8, 10-12, and 19 are ineligible.
Furthermore, it is noted that certain dependent claims recite additional elements supplemental to those recited in independent claims 1, 17, and 20: a network node topology (claim 3), digital representations (claim 9 and 18), satellite navigation systems (claim 13), wireless or wired communication network (claim 14), database server (claim 15), and computer device… one or more databases (claim 16). However, these elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they merely amount to using a computer to apply the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use and thus do not act to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application of the abstract idea. Additionally, the additional elements do not amount to significantly more because they merely amount to using a computer to apply the abstract idea and amount to no more than a general link of the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment.
Thus, dependent claims 3, 9, 13-16, and 18 are ineligible.
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, 3-7, 10, 13, 15-17, 19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bernstein et al. (US 10,977,751 B1) in view of Verchere et al. (US 7,127,415 B1).
Regarding Claim 1, Bernstein et al., hereinafter, Bernstein, discloses a method, comprising: receiving origin location data and destination location data from at least a subset of the plurality of users, wherein the origin location data corresponds to geographic origins and the destination location data corresponds to geographic destinations (Fig. 2; Col. 14, lines 29-34[GPS information received from each merchant device, address information associated with each merchant account, other location information received from the merchant devices, or through any of various other techniques] in view of Col. 16, lines 42-49[the buyer indicate the desired delivery location 126. The buyer application 134 may send this information to the service computing device 102. In some cases, the delivery location 126 may be the current location of the buyer device 132, which may be determined at least in part by one or more location sensors, such as a GPS receiver]; Examiner notes that the delivery location is comparable to the origin location data and the merchant address is comparable to the destination location data);
determining a plurality of virtual hubs based on the origin location data and the destination location data, wherein the plurality of virtual hubs comprises one or more origin virtual hubs determined based on the origin location data and one or more destination virtual hubs determined based on the destination location data (Figs. 2-3; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]; Examiner notes that merchants having pickup locations within a threshold distance and buyer delivery locations having a threshold distance are comparable to a plurality of virtual hubs based on destination and origin location data respectively);
determining a plurality of virtual hub routes based on the plurality of virtual hubs, wherein a respective virtual hub route corresponds to a geographic route from a location corresponding to a respective origin virtual hub to a location corresponding to a respective destination virtual hub (Figs. 2-3[showing examples of a route]; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]);
one or more virtual units based on at least attribute data, wherein the one or more virtual units correspond to one or more virtual services available for purchase from the plurality of users between the respective origin virtual hub and the respective destination virtual hub (Fig. 1[showing transaction between users]; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.] in view of Col. 3, lines 28-34[In some cases, the service provider may use clustering techniques to determine a group of merchants who have pickup locations that are within a threshold distance of each other. As one example, the threshold distance may be determined based on a courier being able to pick up items at multiple merchant locations within a short period of time, such as less than 5 minutes]; Examiner notes that online items available for selection by a buyer are comparable to the one or more virtual units); and
providing a virtual market platform to the plurality of users for the one or more virtual units, comprising (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]):
receiving market depth data from the plurality of users, wherein the market depth data comprises data indicating a plurality of prices and a plurality of offer prices for the one or more virtual units (Fig. 5; Col. 17, lines 35-40[the combined ordering module 150 may receive the past order information 148 including merchant historic information 502, buyer historic information 504, and courier historic information 506.] in view of Col. 27, lines 23-28[data stored by the computer-readable media 904 may include item information 912 that includes information about the items offered by the merchant, which may include images of the items, descriptions of the items, prices of the items, preparation times for the items, and so forth]); and
transmitting the market depth data to the plurality of users based on the plurality of virtual hub routes (Figs. 1 and 5; Col. 10, line 32 to Col. 11, line 4[When a group of merchants for combined ordering has been identified, the combined ordering module 150 may send item information 156 to the buyer application 134 to indicate that items from the merchants in the combined ordering group may be combined in a single order, such as without incurring additional delivery charges, or the like. The buyer application 134 may receive the item information 156, and may present this information to the buyer in a GUI with an indication that combined ordering is available for the merchants in the identified group.] in view of Col. 18, lines 9-11[Further, the merchant historic information 502 may include information about the merchant groups 514 that have been identified for combined ordering in the past]).
Although Bernstein discloses virtual units available for purchase for a plurality of users, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose generating tutoring units based on tutoring data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units comprising bid pricing for tutoring units.
However, Verchere et al., hereinafter, Verchere, teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and bidding pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 3, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses further comprising: generating one or more layers for one or more user interfaces of the plurality of users, wherein the one or more layers correspond to a network node topology for the virtual market platform (Figs. 2-3; Col. 13, lines 58-64[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202.]; Examiner notes that the merchant groups are comparable to a network node topology for the market platform).
Although Bernstein discloses a network node topology for a market platform, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose a tutoring market platform.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 4, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 3, Bernstein discloses wherein: the one or more user interfaces comprise one or more navigational user interfaces; and the one or more layers comprise at least one or more of: buttons, icons, settings, tables, or menus (Fig. 10; Col. 7, lines 35-42[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120. For example, the buyer application 134 may present one or more GUIs on a display for enabling the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 for an order.] in view of Col. 29, lines 55-60[The I/O devices 1008 may include speakers, a microphone, a camera, and various user controls (e.g., buttons, a joystick, a keyboard, a keypad, etc.), a haptic output device, and so forth]).
Regarding Claim 5, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 4, Bernstein discloses wherein the one or more layers are superimposed or integrated on the one or more user interfaces (Fig. 10; Col. 7, lines 35-42[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120. For example, the buyer application 134 may present one or more GUIs on a display for enabling the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 for an order.] in view of Col. 29, lines 55-60[The I/O devices 1008 may include speakers, a microphone, a camera, and various user controls (e.g., buttons, a joystick, a keyboard, a keypad, etc.), a haptic output device, and so forth]).
Regarding Claim 6, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 3, Bernstein discloses further comprising: receiving transaction input data from a user of the plurality of users based on at least one of the one or more layers, wherein the transaction input data comprises data indicating an acceptance by the user of a respective price or a respective offer price for a respective virtual unit (Fig. 10; Col. 7, lines 35-42[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120. For example, the buyer application 134 may present one or more GUIs on a display for enabling the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 for an order.] in view of Col. 27, lines 23-28[data stored by the computer-readable media 904 may include item information 912 that includes information about the items offered by the merchant, which may include images of the items, descriptions of the items, prices of the items, preparation times for the items, and so forth]; Examiner notes selecting items to purchase is comparable to input data indicating an acceptance by a user of an offer price).
Although Bernstein discloses a user placing an order for an item, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose a bid price and a virtual tutoring unit.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 7, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 6, Bernstein discloses wherein the transaction input data is transmitted by a selection or a manipulation of at least one of the one or more layers for the one or more user interfaces of the plurality of users (Fig. 10; Col. 7, lines 35-42[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120. For example, the buyer application 134 may present one or more GUIs on a display for enabling the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 for an order.] in view of Col. 29, lines 55-60[The I/O devices 1008 may include speakers, a microphone, a camera, and various user controls (e.g., buttons, a joystick, a keyboard, a keypad, etc.), a haptic output device, and so forth]).
Regarding Claim 10, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses wherein the respective virtual hub route comprises one or more additional locations along the geographic route, wherein the one or more additional locations correspond to one or more additional virtual hubs (Figs. 2-3; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]; Examiner notes that the pickup locations are comparable to additional locations corresponding to additional virtual hubs).
Regarding Claim 13, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses further comprising: tracking the origin location data and the destination location data in real-time from respective satellite navigation systems of at least the subset of the plurality of users (Figs. 9-11; Col. 4, lines 38-44[Further, through the interaction of the plurality of computing devices, mobile devices, and location sensors, implementations herein are able to determine the locations of merchants and/or track the movement of couriers throughout a service region over time, and can use this information to assist in predicting courier travel times, such as to various delivery locations.]).
Regarding Claim 15, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses further comprising: storing virtual hub location data corresponding to the one or more origin virtual hubs and the one or more destination virtual hubs on a first database server (Fig. 1[databases]; Col. 10, lines 16-27[The order processing module 140 may store information associated with each order as past order information 148. For instance the past order information 148 may include a day of the week, date, and time of day at which each order is received from the respective buyer 110. The past order information 148 may further include, for each order: merchant identifying information; buyer identifying information; items ordered; the pickup location 124; the handoff location 123, the delivery location 126; preparation time for each item in the order; location of the first courier 120(1) when the first courier received the order; location of the second courier 120(2)]); and
storing the virtual market platform on a second database server (Fig. 1[databases]; Col. 10, lines 16-27[The order processing module 140 may store information associated with each order as past order information 148. For instance the past order information 148 may include a day of the week, date, and time of day at which each order is received from the respective buyer 110. The past order information 148 may further include, for each order: merchant identifying information; buyer identifying information; items ordered; the pickup location 124; the handoff location 123, the delivery location 126; preparation time for each item in the order; location of the first courier 120(1) when the first courier received the order; location of the second courier 120(2)]).
Although Bernstein discloses a market platform, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose a virtual tutoring market platform.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 16, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses wherein: the one or more virtual units are by one or more computer devices (Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]); and
the one or more computer devices are configured to: combine the attribute data as one or more data objects (Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.] in view of Col. 10, line 60 to Col. 11, line 5[When a group of merchants for combined ordering has been identified, the combined ordering module 150 may send item information 156 to the buyer application 134 to indicate that items from the merchants in the combined ordering group may be combined in a single order, such as without incurring additional delivery charges, or the like. The buyer application 134 may receive the item information 156, and may present this information to the buyer in a GUI with an indication that combined ordering is available for the merchants in the identified group.]); and
store the one or more data objects in one or more databases of the one or more computing devices, wherein each of the one or more data objects corresponds to a respective virtual unit of the one or more virtual units (Fig. 1[databases]; Col. 27, lines 20-30[In addition, the computer-readable media 904 may also store data, data structures and the like, that are used by the functional components. For example, data stored by the computer-readable media 904 may include item information 912 that includes information about the items offered by the merchant, which may include images of the items, descriptions of the items, prices of the items, preparation times for the items, and so forth]).
Although Bernstein discloses attribute data for one or more objects and storing objects in databases, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose tutoring units that are generated and the tutoring data, wherein each data objects correspond to a tutoring unit of the tutoring units.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 17, Bernstein discloses a computing system, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memory comprising program instructions executable by the one or more processors to (Fig. 8; Col. 24, line 55 to Col. 25, line 25[In the illustrated example, each service computing device 102 may include one or more processors 802, one or more computer-readable media 804, and one or more communication interfaces 806… The computer-readable media 804 may include volatile and nonvolatile memory and/or removable and non-removable media implemented in any type of technology for storage of information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.]):
receive origin location data and destination location data from at least a subset of the plurality of users, wherein the origin location data corresponds to geographic origins and the destination location data corresponds to geographic destinations (Fig. 2; Col. 14, lines 29-34[GPS information received from each merchant device, address information associated with each merchant account, other location information received from the merchant devices, or through any of various other techniques] in view of Col. 16, lines 42-49[the buyer indicate the desired delivery location 126. The buyer application 134 may send this information to the service computing device 102. In some cases, the delivery location 126 may be the current location of the buyer device 132, which may be determined at least in part by one or more location sensors, such as a GPS receiver]; Examiner notes that the delivery location is comparable to the origin location data and the merchant address is comparable to the destination location data);
determine a plurality of virtual hubs based on the origin location data and the destination location data, wherein the plurality of virtual hubs comprises one or more origin virtual hubs determined based on the origin location data and one or more destination virtual hubs determined based on the destination location data (Figs. 2-3; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]; Examiner notes that merchants having pickup locations within a threshold distance and buyer delivery locations having a threshold distance are comparable to a plurality of virtual hubs based on destination and origin location data respectively);
determine a plurality of virtual hub routes based on the plurality of virtual hubs, wherein a respective virtual hub route corresponds to a geographic route from a location corresponding to a respective origin virtual hub to a location corresponding to a respective destination virtual hub (Figs. 2-3[showing examples of a route]; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]);
one or more virtual units based on at least attribute data, wherein the one or more virtual units correspond to one or more virtual services available for purchase from the plurality of users between the respective origin virtual hub and the respective destination virtual hub (Fig. 1[showing transaction between users]; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.] in view of Col. 3, lines 28-34[In some cases, the service provider may use clustering techniques to determine a group of merchants who have pickup locations that are within a threshold distance of each other. As one example, the threshold distance may be determined based on a courier being able to pick up items at multiple merchant locations within a short period of time, such as less than 5 minutes]; Examiner notes that online items available for selection by a buyer are comparable to the one or more virtual units); and
provide a virtual market platform to the plurality of users for the one or more virtual units (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]), comprising:
receive market depth data from the plurality of users, wherein the market depth data comprises data indicating a plurality of prices and a plurality of offer prices for the one or more virtual units (Fig. 5; Col. 17, lines 35-40[the combined ordering module 150 may receive the past order information 148 including merchant historic information 502, buyer historic information 504, and courier historic information 506.] in view of Col. 27, lines 23-28[data stored by the computer-readable media 904 may include item information 912 that includes information about the items offered by the merchant, which may include images of the items, descriptions of the items, prices of the items, preparation times for the items, and so forth]); and
transmit the market depth data to the plurality of users based on the plurality of virtual hub routes (Figs. 1 and 5; Col. 10, line 32 to Col. 11, line 4[When a group of merchants for combined ordering has been identified, the combined ordering module 150 may send item information 156 to the buyer application 134 to indicate that items from the merchants in the combined ordering group may be combined in a single order, such as without incurring additional delivery charges, or the like. The buyer application 134 may receive the item information 156, and may present this information to the buyer in a GUI with an indication that combined ordering is available for the merchants in the identified group.] in view of Col. 18, lines 9-11[Further, the merchant historic information 502 may include information about the merchant groups 514 that have been identified for combined ordering in the past]).
Although Bernstein discloses virtual units available for purchase for a plurality of users, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose generate tutoring units based on tutoring data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units comprising bid pricing for tutoring units.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The system of Verchere is applicable to the system of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 19, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the computing system of claim 17, Bernstein discloses wherein: the one or more virtual services available for purchase comprise one or more services (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]), and
the market depth data is at least one of: configured to be displayed as a graphical layer of one or more layers for one or more user interfaces of the plurality of users, or configured to be displayed in a graphical list view corresponding to the one or more layers for the one or more user interfaces (Figs. 1 and 5; Col. 10, line 32 to Col. 11, line 4[When a group of merchants for combined ordering has been identified, the combined ordering module 150 may send item information 156 to the buyer application 134 to indicate that items from the merchants in the combined ordering group may be combined in a single order, such as without incurring additional delivery charges, or the like. The buyer application 134 may receive the item information 156, and may present this information to the buyer in a GUI with an indication that combined ordering is available for the merchants in the identified group.]).
Although Bernstein discloses receiving data corresponding to the users and displaying market information, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose the virtual tutoring services comprising tutoring services relating to calculus, derivatives, continuity, vectors, polar coordinates, integrals, differential equations, linear algebra, English, French, literature, algorithms, functions, limits, Java, Python, patent law, resumes, physics, or combinations thereof.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data and tutoring services related to literature (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The system of Verchere is applicable to the system of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 20, Bernstein discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to (Fig. 8; Col. 24, line 55 to Col. 25, line 25[In the illustrated example, each service computing device 102 may include one or more processors 802, one or more computer-readable media 804, and one or more communication interfaces 806… The computer-readable media 804 may include volatile and nonvolatile memory and/or removable and non-removable media implemented in any type of technology for storage of information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.]):
receive origin location data and destination location data from at least a subset of the plurality of users, wherein the origin location data corresponds to geographic origins and the destination location data corresponds to geographic destinations (Fig. 2; Col. 14, lines 29-34[GPS information received from each merchant device, address information associated with each merchant account, other location information received from the merchant devices, or through any of various other techniques] in view of Col. 16, lines 42-49[the buyer indicate the desired delivery location 126. The buyer application 134 may send this information to the service computing device 102. In some cases, the delivery location 126 may be the current location of the buyer device 132, which may be determined at least in part by one or more location sensors, such as a GPS receiver]; Examiner notes that the delivery location is comparable to the origin location data and the merchant address is comparable to the destination location data);
determine a plurality of virtual hubs based on the origin location data and the destination location data, wherein the plurality of virtual hubs comprises one or more origin virtual hubs determined based on the origin location data and one or more destination virtual hubs determined based on the destination location data (Figs. 2-3; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]; Examiner notes that merchants having pickup locations within a threshold distance and buyer delivery locations having a threshold distance are comparable to a plurality of virtual hubs based on destination and origin location data respectively);
determine a plurality of virtual hub routes based on the plurality of virtual hubs, wherein a respective virtual hub route corresponds to a geographic route from a location corresponding to a respective origin virtual hub to a location corresponding to a respective destination virtual hub (Figs. 2-3[showing examples of a route]; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]);
one or more virtual units based on at least attribute data, wherein the one or more virtual units correspond to one or more virtual services available for purchase from the plurality of users between the respective origin virtual hub and the respective destination virtual hub (Fig. 1[showing transaction between users]; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.] in view of Col. 3, lines 28-34[In some cases, the service provider may use clustering techniques to determine a group of merchants who have pickup locations that are within a threshold distance of each other. As one example, the threshold distance may be determined based on a courier being able to pick up items at multiple merchant locations within a short period of time, such as less than 5 minutes]; Examiner notes that online items available for selection by a buyer are comparable to the one or more virtual units); and
provide a virtual market platform to the plurality of users for the one or more virtual units, comprising (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]):
receive market depth data from the plurality of users, wherein the market depth data comprises data indicating a plurality of prices and a plurality of offer prices for the one or more virtual units (Fig. 5; Col. 17, lines 35-40[the combined ordering module 150 may receive the past order information 148 including merchant historic information 502, buyer historic information 504, and courier historic information 506.] in view of Col. 27, lines 23-28[data stored by the computer-readable media 904 may include item information 912 that includes information about the items offered by the merchant, which may include images of the items, descriptions of the items, prices of the items, preparation times for the items, and so forth]); and
transmit the market depth data to the plurality of users based on the plurality of virtual hub routes (Figs. 1 and 5; Col. 10, line 32 to Col. 11, line 4[When a group of merchants for combined ordering has been identified, the combined ordering module 150 may send item information 156 to the buyer application 134 to indicate that items from the merchants in the combined ordering group may be combined in a single order, such as without incurring additional delivery charges, or the like. The buyer application 134 may receive the item information 156, and may present this information to the buyer in a GUI with an indication that combined ordering is available for the merchants in the identified group.] in view of Col. 18, lines 9-11[Further, the merchant historic information 502 may include information about the merchant groups 514 that have been identified for combined ordering in the past]).
Although Bernstein discloses virtual units available for purchase for a plurality of users, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose generate tutoring units based on tutoring data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units comprising bid pricing for tutoring units.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The system of Verchere is applicable to the system of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Claim(s) 2 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bernstein in view of Verchere in view of Shah et al. (US 2010/0100402 A1).
Regarding Claim 2, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses further comprising: receiving the attribute data from one or more of the plurality of users (Fig. 4; Col. 17, lines 10-25[To place an order, the buyer may select the name or the representation of one or more of the items, such as by tapping on a particular item representation or by tapping on an area of the display 402 associated with the particular item. The buyer may then subsequently be presented with a pop-up window, a separate GUI, or the like (not shown in FIG. 4), asking the buyer to select or confirm a delivery time interval and price for the selected item(s). Accordingly, the buyer may select any of the available items to be delivered. The service computing device may receive the buyer's selection and send order information about the buyer's selection to the merchant device(s) of the corresponding merchant(s)]),
wherein the attribute data corresponds to one or more attributes of the one or more virtual services available for purchase (Fig. 4; Col. 17, lines 10-25[To place an order, the buyer may select the name or the representation of one or more of the items, such as by tapping on a particular item representation or by tapping on an area of the display 402 associated with the particular item. The buyer may then subsequently be presented with a pop-up window, a separate GUI, or the like (not shown in FIG. 4), asking the buyer to select or confirm a delivery time interval and price for the selected item(s). Accordingly, the buyer may select any of the available items to be delivered. The service computing device may receive the buyer's selection and send order information about the buyer's selection to the merchant device(s) of the corresponding merchant(s)]), and
wherein the one or more attributes for a respective virtual service available for purchase comprise an specification for the respective virtual service available for purchase, a specification for the respective virtual service available for purchase, or combinations thereof (Figs. 1 and 4; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.] in view of Col. 17, lines 10-25).
Although Bernstein discloses attribute data of items, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose receiving tutoring data wherein the tutoring data corresponds to tutoring services for purchase.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Although Bernstein discloses services available for purchase, Bernstein in view of Verchere does not explicitly teach virtual tutoring service for purchase comprising an emissions specification for the tutoring service, a pollution reduction specification for the tutoring service.
However, Shah et al., hereinafter, Shah teaches emission specification for a service and pollution reduction specification (¶0055[the environmental impact of a product and/or service is determined based on defined parameters including, but not limited to, the average gas or other airborne emissions associated with the production, use, or disposal, of the product and/or service. In one embodiment, the average gas or other airborne emissions associated with the production, use, or disposal, of the product and/or service is determined by any one of the following: a governmental agency; a multi-national regulatory agency; a private environmental watch-dog agency; a private consumer watch-dog agency; an academic institution and/or agency; or any other public and/or private authority capable of determining the average emissions associated with the production, use, or disposal, of the product and/or service.]).
The method of Shah is applicable to the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are all targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as taught by Bernstein in view of Verchere to include emission and pollution reduction specification as taught by Shah. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere in order to quantify the environmental impact of various human activities and to mitigate the negative environmental impact of these human activities (¶0001).
Regarding Claim 11, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses wherein a respective virtual service available for purchase corresponds to a respective virtual service (Fig. 1; Co. 3, lines 28-34[In some cases, the service provider may use clustering techniques to determine a group of merchants who have pickup locations that are within a threshold distance of each other. As one example, the threshold distance may be determined based on a courier being able to pick up items at multiple merchant locations within a short period of time, such as less than 5 minutes] in view of Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]), and
wherein use of the respective virtual service (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]).
Although Bernstein discloses services that are available for purchase on a platform, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose a tutoring service for purchase corresponding to a virtual tutoring service.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Although Bernstein discloses services that are available for purchase on a platform, Bernstein in view of Verchere does not explicitly teach wherein the use of the tutoring service is associated with an emissions reduction, a pollution reduction, or combinations thereof.
However, Shah teaches emission specification for a service and pollution reduction specification (¶0055[the environmental impact of a product and/or service is determined based on defined parameters including, but not limited to, the average gas or other airborne emissions associated with the production, use, or disposal, of the product and/or service. In one embodiment, the average gas or other airborne emissions associated with the production, use, or disposal, of the product and/or service is determined by any one of the following: a governmental agency; a multi-national regulatory agency; a private environmental watch-dog agency; a private consumer watch-dog agency; an academic institution and/or agency; or any other public and/or private authority capable of determining the average emissions associated with the production, use, or disposal, of the product and/or service.]).
The method of Shah is applicable to the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are all targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as taught by Bernstein in view of Verchere to include emission and pollution reduction specification as taught by Shah. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere in order to quantify the environmental impact of various human activities and to mitigate the negative environmental impact of these human activities (¶0001).
Claim(s) 8 /are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bernstein in view of Verchere in view of Isaacson et al. (US 2016/0379298 A1).
Regarding Claim 8, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses wherein: transmitting the market depth data comprises: receiving data corresponding to the plurality of users (Fig. 5; Col. 17, lines 35-40[the combined ordering module 150 may receive the past order information 148 including merchant historic information 502, buyer historic information 504, and courier historic information 506.] in view of Col. 27, lines 23-28[data stored by the computer-readable media 904 may include item information 912 that includes information about the items offered by the merchant, which may include images of the items, descriptions of the items, prices of the items, preparation times for the items, and so forth]), and
transmitting the market depth data to the plurality of users based on at least the data (Figs. 1 and 5; Col. 10, line 32 to Col. 11, line 4[When a group of merchants for combined ordering has been identified, the combined ordering module 150 may send item information 156 to the buyer application 134 to indicate that items from the merchants in the combined ordering group may be combined in a single order, such as without incurring additional delivery charges, or the like. The buyer application 134 may receive the item information 156, and may present this information to the buyer in a GUI with an indication that combined ordering is available for the merchants in the identified group.]);
the one or more virtual services available for purchase comprise one or more services (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]);
the market depth data is at least one of: configured to be displayed as a graphical layer of the one or more layers for the one or more user interfaces, or configured to be displayed in a graphical list view corresponding to the one or more layers for the one or more user interfaces; or combinations thereof (Figs. 1 and 5; Col. 10, line 32 to Col. 11, line 4[When a group of merchants for combined ordering has been identified, the combined ordering module 150 may send item information 156 to the buyer application 134 to indicate that items from the merchants in the combined ordering group may be combined in a single order, such as without incurring additional delivery charges, or the like. The buyer application 134 may receive the item information 156, and may present this information to the buyer in a GUI with an indication that combined ordering is available for the merchants in the identified group.]).
Although Bernstein discloses receiving data corresponding to the users and displaying market information, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose the virtual tutoring services comprising tutoring services relating to calculus, derivatives, continuity, vectors, polar coordinates, integrals, differential equations, linear algebra, English, French, literature, algorithms, functions, limits, Java, Python, patent law, resumes, physics, or combinations thereof.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data and tutoring services related to literature (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Although Bernstein discloses receiving data corresponding to the users and displaying market information, Bernstein in view of Verchere does not explicitly teach receiving blockchain, transmitting based on the blockchain data.
However, Isaacson et al., hereinafter, Isaacson, teaches receiving and transmitting blockchain data (¶0290[It is noted that any of the APIs or financial transactions disclosed herein could be implemented through blockchain technology. Thus, any communication between a buyer and a seller or products could be implemented through a contract on a blockchain and payment could be submitted through user addresses according to blockchain technology. For example, a smart contract programmed and implemented on a blockchain could receive and implement items in the transactions.]).
The method of Isaacson is applicable to the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as taught by Bernstein in view of Verchere to include blockchain data as taught by Isaacson. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere in order to improve the purchasing experience of users on the Internet (¶0012).
Claim(s) 9, 12, 14, and 18 /are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bernstein in view of Verchere in view of Greenshields et al. (US 2004/0225514 A1).
Regarding Claim 9, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses wherein: the attribute data provides substitutability units of the one or more virtual units, wherein the attribute data comprises data corresponding to type, purchase price, availability, location, or combinations thereof (Fig. 4; Col. 17, lines 10-25[To place an order, the buyer may select the name or the representation of one or more of the items, such as by tapping on a particular item representation or by tapping on an area of the display 402 associated with the particular item. The buyer may then subsequently be presented with a pop-up window, a separate GUI, or the like (not shown in FIG. 4), asking the buyer to select or confirm a delivery time interval and price for the selected item(s). Accordingly, the buyer may select any of the available items to be delivered. The service computing device may receive the buyer's selection and send order information about the buyer's selection to the merchant device(s) of the corresponding merchant(s)]),
the one or more virtual units correspond to respective digital representations (Col. 16, lines 20-31[The GUI 400 may further present information related to each merchant and a representative item offered by each merchant, such as a popular item. Thus, in this example, the GUI 400 includes the name of a first merchant 406, i.e., the Tex-Mex Restaurant along with the name and price of a representative item 408, i.e., the California Burrito, and an image 410 of the representative item. The GUI 400 further includes the name of a second merchant 412, i.e., the Burger Restaurant along with the name and price of a representative item 414, i.e., the Cheeseburger with Fries, and an image 416 of the representative item]).
Although Bernstein discloses virtual units available for purchase, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose tutoring attribute between first and second virtual tutoring units, tutoring units, wherein the tutoring attribute comprises data corresponding to tutoring type, tutoring availability, tutoring location, the one or more virtual tutoring units.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data and tutoring services related to literature (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Although Bernstein discloses digital representations, Bernstein in view of Verchere does not explicitly teach representations of one or more forward contract virtual tutoring unit securities, the one or more forward virtual contract tutoring securities comprise one or more cost of cover specifications, one or more liquidated damages specifications, one or more force majeure specifications, or combinations thereof.
However, Greenshields et al., hereinafter, Greenshields, teaches forward contract securities comprising force majeure specifications and liquidated damages specifications (¶0030[In this case, the method may include establishing a second contract to supply power between a power supplier and the first business entity, wherein the second contract obligates the power supplier to pay liquidated damages when the threshold amount of required power is not supplied by the power supplier over the specified time frame.] and ¶0055[If either party (the "claiming party") to the revised PPA (i.e., the SPV 56 or the power distributor 52) is prevented by a force majeure event from performing its obligations under the revised PPA, the claiming party may be excused from performance of its obligations]).
The method of Greenshields is applicable to the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are all targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as taught by Bernstein in view of Verchere to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Greenshields. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere in order to monetize a contract to supply a commodity from a supplier to a recipient (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 12, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the method of claim 1, Bernstein discloses wherein: providing the virtual market platform comprises providing the virtual market platform for the one or more virtual units based on the plurality of virtual hub routes and the attribute data (Figs. 2-3; Col. 13, line 57 to Col. 14, line 3[FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of determining merchant groups for combined ordering according to some implementations. In this example, the combined ordering module 150 may determine a combined ordering group 202 of merchants 114 having pickup locations 124 within a threshold distance of the pickup locations 124 of other merchants 114 within the group 202. For instance, for a plurality of merchants 124(1)-124(6), the service computing device 102 may determine the distance between the pickup locations 124(1)-124(6), as indicated by arrows 204, and may select particular merchants to include within the combined ordering group 202 based on the distances being less than the threshold distance.] in view of Col. 13, lines 40-45[If the buyer delivery locations 126 are within a threshold proximity of each other, a single second courier 120(2) may pick up the first item and the second item from the handoff location 123, and may deliver the items to the first delivery location and the second delivery location, respectively.]),
the one or more virtual units are configured for commoditized (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]), and
a respective virtual unit for a respective user represents a respective virtual unit (Fig. 1; Col. 7, lines 35-40[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120.]).
Although Bernstein discloses providing a virtual market platform and hub routes, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose providing a tutoring platform comprising providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units based on the tutoring attribute data wherein the tutoring units are configured for trading, a tutoring unit.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data, wherein tutoring units correspond to tutoring services available for purchase, providing a tutoring market platform for trading tutoring units and pricing for tutoring units (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The method of Verchere is applicable to the method of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Although Bernstein discloses providing a virtual market platform and hub routes, Bernstein in view of Verchere does not explicitly teach a fungible forward contract for a tutoring unit.
However, Greenshields teaches forward contract securities comprising force majeure specifications and liquidated damages specifications (¶0030[In this case, the method may include establishing a second contract to supply power between a power supplier and the first business entity, wherein the second contract obligates the power supplier to pay liquidated damages when the threshold amount of required power is not supplied by the power supplier over the specified time frame.] and ¶0055[If either party (the "claiming party") to the revised PPA (i.e., the SPV 56 or the power distributor 52) is prevented by a force majeure event from performing its obligations under the revised PPA, the claiming party may be excused from performance of its obligations]).
The method of Greenshields is applicable to the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are all targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as taught by Bernstein in view of Verchere to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Greenshields. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the method of Bernstein in view of Verchere in order to monetize a contract to supply a commodity from a supplier to a recipient (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 14, Bernstein in view of Verchere in view of Greenshields teaches the method of claim 9, Bernstein discloses further comprising: receiving real-time updates for the origin location data and the destination location data from the at least the subset of the plurality of users over a wireless or wired communication network (Figs. 1 and 9-11; Col. 4, lines 38-44[Further, through the interaction of the plurality of computing devices, mobile devices, and location sensors, implementations herein are able to determine the locations of merchants and/or track the movement of couriers throughout a service region over time, and can use this information to assist in predicting courier travel times, such as to various delivery locations.] in view of Col. 8, lines 63-65[Accordingly, the one or more networks 106 may include both wired and/or wireless communication technologies]),
wherein the origin location data corresponds to real-time geographic origins and the destination location data corresponds to real-time geographic destinations (Figs. 1 and 9-11; Col. 4, lines 38-44[Further, through the interaction of the plurality of computing devices, mobile devices, and location sensors, implementations herein are able to determine the locations of merchants and/or track the movement of couriers throughout a service region over time, and can use this information to assist in predicting courier travel times, such as to various delivery locations.] in view of Col. 8, lines 63-65[Accordingly, the one or more networks 106 may include both wired and/or wireless communication technologies]).
Regarding Claim 18, Bernstein in view of Verchere teaches the computing system of claim 17, Bernstein discloses wherein the one or more memory comprising program instructions executable by the one or more processors to: receive transaction input data from a user of the plurality of users based on at least one or more layers, wherein the transaction input data comprises data indicating an acceptance by the user of a respective price or a respective offer price for a respective virtual unit (Fig. 10; Col. 7, lines 35-42[The buyer application 134 may enable the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 to purchase from one or more of the merchants 114 to be delivered to the buyer 110 by one or more of the couriers 120. For example, the buyer application 134 may present one or more GUIs on a display for enabling the buyer 110 to select one or more of the items 118 for an order.] in view of Col. 27, lines 23-28[data stored by the computer-readable media 904 may include item information 912 that includes information about the items offered by the merchant, which may include images of the items, descriptions of the items, prices of the items, preparation times for the items, and so forth]; Examiner notes selecting items to purchase is comparable to input data indicating an acceptance by a user of an offer price);
wherein the attribute data provides substitutability units of the one or more virtual units, wherein the attribute data comprises data corresponding to type, purchase price, availability, location, or combinations thereof (Fig. 4; Col. 17, lines 10-25[To place an order, the buyer may select the name or the representation of one or more of the items, such as by tapping on a particular item representation or by tapping on an area of the display 402 associated with the particular item. The buyer may then subsequently be presented with a pop-up window, a separate GUI, or the like (not shown in FIG. 4), asking the buyer to select or confirm a delivery time interval and price for the selected item(s). Accordingly, the buyer may select any of the available items to be delivered. The service computing device may receive the buyer's selection and send order information about the buyer's selection to the merchant device(s) of the corresponding merchant(s)]),
wherein the one or more virtual units correspond to respective digital representations (Col. 16, lines 20-31[The GUI 400 may further present information related to each merchant and a representative item offered by each merchant, such as a popular item. Thus, in this example, the GUI 400 includes the name of a first merchant 406, i.e., the Tex-Mex Restaurant along with the name and price of a representative item 408, i.e., the California Burrito, and an image 410 of the representative item. The GUI 400 further includes the name of a second merchant 412, i.e., the Burger Restaurant along with the name and price of a representative item 414, i.e., the Cheeseburger with Fries, and an image 416 of the representative item]).
Although Bernstein discloses virtual units available for purchase, Bernstein does not explicitly disclose a bid price for a tutoring unit, tutoring attribute between first and second virtual tutoring units, tutoring units, wherein the tutoring attribute comprises data corresponding to tutoring type, tutoring availability, tutoring location, the one or more virtual tutoring units.
However, Verchere teaches generating tutoring units based on data and tutoring services related to literature (Fig. 2; Col. 3, lines 60-65[The present invention provides media partners the ability to resell educational materials, literature and conference information and sell space for industry-relevant advertising], Col. 6, lines 40-50[Bidding Module 3030 may provide services such as posting price bids on products or imprinting orders; editing or withdrawing bids before terms are accepted; quality control on bids; sending automatic email notices to vendors on being awarded the order; and other related services.], Col. 6, lines 65-67[In addition, design services on web-sites may be provided for customers, resellers or vendors to include artwork recommendations, creation and retouching.] in view of Abstract[A method and system allows users to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process.]).
The system of Verchere is applicable to the system of Bernstein as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are both targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as disclosed by Bernstein to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Verchere. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system of Bernstein in order to purchase branded promotional products over the Internet through a central, real-time exchange process (Abstract).
Although Bernstein discloses digital representations, Bernstein in view of Verchere does not explicitly teach representations of one or more forward contract virtual tutoring unit securities, wherein the one or more forward virtual contract tutoring securities comprise one or more cost of cover specifications, one or more liquidated damages specifications, one or more force majeure specifications, or combinations thereof.
However, Greenshields teaches forward contract securities comprising force majeure specifications and liquidated damages specifications (¶0030[In this case, the method may include establishing a second contract to supply power between a power supplier and the first business entity, wherein the second contract obligates the power supplier to pay liquidated damages when the threshold amount of required power is not supplied by the power supplier over the specified time frame.] and ¶0055[If either party (the "claiming party") to the revised PPA (i.e., the SPV 56 or the power distributor 52) is prevented by a force majeure event from performing its obligations under the revised PPA, the claiming party may be excused from performance of its obligations]).
The system of Greenshields is applicable to the system of Bernstein in view of Verchere as they share characteristics and capabilities, namely, they are all targeted to purchasing items online. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the virtual units available for sale as taught by Bernstein in view of Verchere to include tutoring units and trading tutoring units as taught by Greenshields. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to expand the system of Bernstein in view of Verchere in order to monetize a contract to supply a commodity from a supplier to a recipient (Abstract).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Snyder (US 2004/0115596 A1) discloses automatically producing a schedule of classes for an educational institution having a plurality of teachers, a plurality of students, and a curriculum.
“A Topic-Based Recommender System for Electronic Marketplace Platforms” discloses a topic-based recommender system that exploits the latent semantics in the item descriptions in order to support the activities of buyers and sellers in auction electronic marketplaces.
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/AHOORA LADONI/Examiner, Art Unit 3689
/MARISSA THEIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3689
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