DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is with regard to the most recent papers filed 5/29/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-15, 17-18, and 20-22 have been considered but are moot based on the new ground of rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendment, where Dragontrail is cited as teaching the additional details provided in the amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-15, 17-18, and 20-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2017/0329820 (Park) in view of “What are WeChat Mini Programs and How Can Travel Brands Use Them?”, posted at <https://www.dragontrail.com/resources/blog/what-are-wechat-mini-programs-and-how-can-travel-brands-use-them> on January 13, 2017 (Dragontrail) and US 2021/0257110 (Barkol).
With regard to claim 1, Park discloses a method implemented in an application server, wherein the method comprises:
receiving a first query request message from a message terminal, wherein the first query request message comprises query information that describes a message app needed by a user corresponding to the message terminal (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3. A system is provided that allows a query to be received from a user, interpreted by the system to identify an app that may then be downloaded by a user.); and
obtaining information about the message app in response to the first query request message (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3); and
sending a first query response message to the message terminal (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3. A response is sent to recommend the app.),
wherein the first query response message comprises the information about the rich media message app (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3).
Park fails to disclose, but Dragontrail teaches that the app is a miniapp, and the rich message miniapp uses a rich media message client in the rich media message terminal as a host client (Dragontrail: Pages 1-3. Dragontrail describes the use of mini programs within WeChat that allows for different functions of applications to be utilized with less overhead.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to utilize miniapps to provide a lightweight application that can be run on a wider variety of machines without requiring cumbersome setup steps and less overhead (Dragontale: Pages 1-2).
Park fails to teach, but Barkol teaches that the “message,” as addressed above with regard to Park, is rich media message (Barkol: Paragraphs [0004] and [0025]. Rich media messages are provided as a possible form of communication to interact with a virtual assistant, which when combined with Park, would allow for the use of such rich media messages in the communications, making the server, the app, and the terminal a rich media message server, rich media message app (or miniapp when Dragontrail is applied to Park), and a rich media message terminal.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to utilize rich media messaging to provide better support for higher quality content and real-time capabilities in the messages.
With regard to claim 2, Park in view of Dragontrail teaches sending a second query request message to a miniapp management server, wherein the second query request message comprises the query information; and further obtaining the information by receiving, by the rich media message application server, a second query response message from the miniapp management server, wherein the second query response message comprises the information about the rich media message miniapp (Park: Figure 3 and Paragraph [0070]. The content is retrieved, meaning that a request (query) is sent to get the information, then the information is retrieved to present to the user device.).
With regard to claim 3, Park in view of Dragontrail and Barkol teaches that obtaining the information comprises locally obtaining the information about the rich media message miniapp based on the query information (Park: Paragraphs [0037] to [0038] and Figure 1. The server computer may refer to a single server computer that would perform the different functions as well as storing the content.).
With regard to claim 4, Park fails to teach, but knowledge possessed by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing teaches that before obtaining the information about the rich media message miniapp, the method further comprises determining, by the rich media message application server, to allow the user to use the rich media message miniapp (More specifically, Official Notice is taken that the restricting of content to be provided to a user based on certain criteria, such as payments (whether a subscription model or a one-time-payment associated with a user account) was well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing.). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to restrict the responses indicating an app such that a user would be provided content that the user is allowed to access to ensure that the system can be monetized, such that the user is only provided with services that the user has paid for.
With regard to claim 5, Park fails to teach, but knowledge possessed by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing teaches determining to allow the user to use the rich media message miniapp based on at least one of subscription information of the user and/or information about an operator to which the user belongs (More specifically, as addressed with regard to claim 4, above, Official Notice is taken that the restricting of content to be provided to a user based on certain criteria, such as payments (whether a subscription model or a one-time-payment associated with a user account) was well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing.). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to restrict the responses indicating an app such that a user would be provided content that the user is allowed to access to ensure that the system can be monetized, such that the user is only provided with services that the user has paid for.
With regard to claim 6, Park in view of Dragontrail and Barkol teaches that the query information comprises at least one of the following or a keyword comprised in at least one of the following: a name of the rich media message miniapp, a type of the rich media message miniapp, a name of a provider of the rich media message miniapp, a service content description of the rich media message miniapp, a function description of the rich media message miniapp, a language supported by a rich media message client in the rich media message terminal, or a version of the rich media message client in the rich media message terminal (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3. At least a keyword or description of the rich media miniapp would be used to retrive the content, where only one item from the listing of alternatives would be required to teach the instant claim, as a whole.).
With regard to claim 7, Park in view of Dragontrail and Barkol teaches the information about the rich media message miniapp comprises a download address of the rich media message miniapp (Park: Paragraph [0046]).
With regard to claim 8, the instant claim is within the scope of claim 7, and is rejected for similar reasons (as claim 8 provides a listing of alternatives, one of which is the same as the subject matter of claim 7).
With regard to claim 9, Park in view of Dragontrail and Barkol that the rich media message application server is a messaging as a platform (MaaP} or a chatbot platform (Park: Paragraph [0054]. A virtual assistant that receives prompts and provides responses is considered to be a type of chatbot in as much detail as required by the instant claim.).
With regard to claim 10, Park in view of Dragontrail and Barkol teaches receiving the first query request message through a chatbot directory query interface; and further sending the first query response message through the chatbot directory query interface (Park: Paragraph [0054]. The message interface used to exchange messages would be a “chatbot directory query interface” in as much detail as required by the instant claim, as the interface provides access to the information (directory) of the virtual assistant (chatbot).).
With regard to claim 11, Park in view of Dragontrail and Barkol teaches wherein the first query request message further comprises indication information that instructs the rich media message application server to provide the information about the rich media message miniapp based on the query information (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3).
With regard to claims 12-15 and 17-18, the instant claims are similar to claims 12, 6-8, and 10-11, respectively, and are rejected for similar reasons (It is noted that claims 12-15 and 17-18 are from the perspective of the terminal, where Park, as applied to claim 1, above, teaches the downloading and running of the rich media message miniapp by the terminal (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3).).
With regard to claims 20 and 22, the instant claims are similar to claims 12 and 17, respectively, and are rejected for similar reasons.
With regard to claim 21, Park in view of Dragontrail and Barkol teaches a rich media message client that is a host client of the rich media message miniapp (Park: Paragraphs [0034] and [0091] and Figure 3. The miniapp in the combination can be downloaded to be run on the client.).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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SCOTT B. CHRISTENSEN
Examiner
Art Unit 2444
/SCOTT B CHRISTENSEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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