Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Status
Claims 1-2, 4-10 and 36-37 and 39-46 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 1 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Allen (US 2008/0085502) in view of Gross (US 2005/0266388) in view of Abzarian (US 2009/0007219) in view of Calvert (US 2008/0254434) in view of Florance (US 2003/0064355).
Hereafter, above references will be entered as reference combination A.
Regarding claim 1, Allen discloses:
a) a plurality of computing devices for communicating with a plurality of users in an educational community;
Allen [0031] Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary data exchange system 1 comprising, in one embodiment, a host CMS system 2 including a host server 3 and a database 4, a client SIS system 5 including a client computer 6 and a database 7, with client SIS system 5 communicating with host system 2 through a network 10. System 1 further includes an administrator user computer 8 and student user computer 9 communicating with client SIS system 5 and/or host system 2 through network 10.
b) at least one server in communication with each of the plurality of computing devices, each server in communication with at least one data storage device configured to host a plurality of electronic portfolios, each electronic portfolio associated with one or more users of the plurality of users in the educational community; and
Allen [0031] Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary data exchange system 1 comprising, in one embodiment, a host CMS system 2 including a host server 3 and a database 4, a client SIS system 5 including a client computer 6 and a database 7, with client SIS system 5 communicating with host system 2 through a network 10. System 1 further includes an administrator user computer 8 and student user computer 9 communicating with client SIS system 5 and/or host system 2 through network 10.
c) wherein each server is configured such that one or more users may associate one or more digital items with each electronic portfolio, and the plurality of users may take actions on the digital items in each electronic portfolio depending on authorization criteria,
Allen discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Gross discloses:
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Gross claim 5, A method of creating and providing access to a student digital portfolio that aggregates and centralizes information about a student in a school for collaboration among school staff, comprising the steps of: receiving first student information from teachers of the student; storing the student information; receiving second student information from a student information system for the school; providing a digital drop box for the input by the student of student work; storing a student plan for the student created by the school staff; aggregating the first student information, the second student information, the student work and the student plan based upon identify of the student and schedule information relating to the student from the student information system; and providing access to the school staff to the aggregated information.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Gross for the purpose of providing information on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Gross’s analogous art from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, see below extract from the abstract:
A system and method is provided for the collection and automate dispatching of assignments and news from a teacher to their students and parents. This involves registering members and assigning them roles, scopes and groups based on scheduling and other data pulled from the school/district's database, capturing assignment data from the teacher or student assistant through a web form, constructing custom homepages and assignment messages for each student and parents, and transmitting those messages to the right parties.
wherein the authorization criteria comprises at least one global configuration profile associated with the plurality of electronic portfolios
Allen discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Abzarian discloses:
Abzarian [0056] If it is determined in block 708 that there are no global configuration options set, the process continues to block 710, wherein the group and network security policies are queried to determine whether they contain any per-profile configuration options that apply to the current profile of the computer system. Similar to the global configuration options, per-profile configuration options may be any suitable setting that controls security of a computer system. For example, if the computer system is operating according to the "public" profile, and a group/network security policy enables the "Shields Up" configuration option in the "public" profile, then the process 700 returns TRUE to indicate that some elements of a merged security policy are controlled by a group or network security policy and therefore may override settings of user and/or administrator security policies and prevent operations to make changes to the user and/or administrator security policies from being effective.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Abzarian for the purpose of indicating that some elements of a merged security policy are controlled by a group or network security policy and therefore may override settings of user and/or administrator security policies and prevent operations to make changes to the user and/or administrator security policies from being effective.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Abzarian’s analogous art which is reasonably pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor see [0055] If no connection security rules are found in block 706, the process continues to block 708, wherein the process determines whether the group or network security policy for the specified profile has set configuration options globally (i.e., for all profiles rather than the profile specified in block 702).
wherein the at least one server is configured to:
i) receive at least one tag associated with a digital item,
ii) identify the digital items in the plurality of electronic portfolios with associated tags that match the at least one tag, and
Allen discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Calvert discloses:
Calvert [0013] The method may further include searching, by the tutor application, for a second learning object having a third blended learning style of the second learning style and the first learning style. The method may present the second learning object to the student, the second learning object including a material in the first preferred learning style and the second non-preferred learning style. The second learning object may have associated meta tags indicating a mixed learning style of the first preferred learning style and the second non-preferred learning style. The first learning object may have an associated meta-tag indicating a primary learning style, and the tutor applications searching process includes searching for a matching meta-tag.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Calvert for providing a process to search for a matching meta-tag.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Calvert’s analogous art from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, see below:
[0002] This invention relates to learning management systems, particularly for systems including delivery of learning objects identified by meta tags and use of an intelligent tutor application with the learning management system.
iii) update collection of the digital items in a corresponding electronic portfolio by adding identified digital items.
Allen discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Florance discloses:
Florance [0024] Grade level classroom folders are provided to store digital camera images of student and/or classroom projects which may be imported into student portfolios. Teachers can also use these folders for future assignments to be imported into students' powerfolio behind the appropriate subject title. Staff and student portrait pictures may be imported into classroom projects or student portfolios.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Florance for the purpose of importing staff and student portrait pictures into classroom projects or student portfolios.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Florance’s analogous art from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, see below:
[abstract] A method of organizing and presenting information related to a student's academic career is provided which includes creating a series of folders and subfolders for organizing multimedia information chronologically and hierarchically for each student. The information may be presented in a variety of ways such as by academic subject matter spanning one or more years or by grade level.
Claim 2 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the authorization criteria further includes at least one permission profile associated with at least one of the digital items.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 4 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A in view of Rolfe (US 2005/0027841)
Reference combination A discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose wherein the plurality of users includes at least one user authorized to set at least one global configuration profile. However, Rolfe discloses:
Rolfe [0016] Furthermore, the remote user interface 12a permits a user to enter a plurality of global control and/or configuration commands to the remote-CLI 12, which global commands are simulcasted (e.g., broadcasted simultaneously to two or more network switches 14a, 14b or 14c) over the computer network 16 to the plurality of communication network switches 14a, 14b, 14c.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify reference combination A to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Rolfe for the purpose of permitting a user to enter a plurality of global control and/or configuration commands.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Rolfe’s analogous art which is reasonable pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor, i.e., entering a global control and/or configuration command.
Claim 5 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the authorization criteria includes at least one security profile associated with at least one role, each role including at least one of the plurality of users.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 6 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the digital items include at least one of artifacts, reflections, collections and presentations.
Gross claim 5, A method of creating and providing access to a student digital portfolio that aggregates and centralizes information about a student in a school for collaboration among school staff, comprising the steps of: receiving first student information from teachers of the student; storing the student information; receiving second student information from a student information system for the school; providing a digital drop box for the input by the student of student work; storing a student plan for the student created by the school staff; aggregating the first student information, the second student information, the student work and the student plan based upon identify of the student and schedule information relating to the student from the student information system; and providing access to the school staff to the aggregated information.
Claim 7 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the actions that may be taken include commenting on at least one of the digital items.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 8 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the actions that may be taken include assessing at least one of the digital items.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 9 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the actions that may be taken include at least one of reading, modifying, sharing, and creating at least one of the digital items.
Gross claim 5, A method of creating and providing access to a student digital portfolio that aggregates and centralizes information about a student in a school for collaboration among school staff, comprising the steps of: receiving first student information from teachers of the student; storing the student information; receiving second student information from a student information system for the school; providing a digital drop box for the input by the student of student work; storing a student plan for the student created by the school staff; aggregating the first student information, the second student information, the student work and the student plan based upon identify of the student and schedule information relating to the student from the student information system; and providing access to the school staff to the aggregated information.
Claim 10 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the authorization criteria include at least one permission-specific criterion.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 36 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Allen (US 2008/0085502) in view of Gross (US 2005/0266388) in view of Abzarian (US 2009/0007219) in view of Calvert (US 2008/0254434) in view of Florance (US 2003/0064355).
Hereafter, above references will be entered as reference combination A.
a) identifying a plurality of users in an educational community;
Allen [0077] Once a given threshold is met, the CMS system creates or provisions a new course section. (step 304) If the threshold is established as a function of waitlisted enrollees, the CMS system automatically enrolls the waitlisted students in the new course section. (step 306) The CMS system may provide notifications of new courses to an institution's SIS system through an API which may further initiate a sequence of automated steps to associate additional student information with course section information. (step 308)
b) providing a plurality of computing devices for communicating with the plurality of users
in the educational community;
Allen [0031] Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary data exchange system 1 comprising, in one embodiment, a host CMS system 2 including a host server 3 and a database 4, a client SIS system 5 including a client computer 6 and a database 7, with client SIS system 5 communicating with host system 2 through a network 10. System 1 further includes an administrator user computer 8 and student user computer 9 communicating with client SIS system 5 and/or host system 2 through network 10.
c) providing at least one server in communication with each of the plurality of computing devices, each server having at least one data storage device coupled thereto and configured to host a plurality of electronic portfolios, each electronic portfolio associated with one or more users of the plurality of users in the educational community; and
Allen [0031] Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary data exchange system 1 comprising, in one embodiment, a host CMS system 2 including a host server 3 and a database 4, a client SIS system 5 including a client computer 6 and a database 7, with client SIS system 5 communicating with host system 2 through a network 10. System 1 further includes an administrator user computer 8 and student user computer 9 communicating with client SIS system 5 and/or host system 2 through network 10.
d) wherein each server is configured such that one or more users may associate one or more digital items with each electronic portfolio, and the plurality of users may take actions on the digital items in each electronic portfolio depending on authorization criteria,
Allen discloses the elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Gross discloses:
Gross claim 5, A method of creating and providing access to a student digital portfolio that aggregates and centralizes information about a student in a school for collaboration among school staff, comprising the steps of: receiving first student information from teachers of the student; storing the student information; receiving second student information from a student information system for the school; providing a digital drop box for the input by the student of student work; storing a student plan for the student created by the school staff; aggregating the first student information, the second student information, the student work and the student plan based upon identify of the student and schedule information relating to the student from the student information system; and providing access to the school staff to the aggregated information.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Gross for the purpose of providing information on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Gross’s analogous art from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, see below extract from the abstract:
A system and method is provided for the collection and automate dispatching of assignments and news from a teacher to their students and parents. This involves registering members and assigning them roles, scopes and groups based on scheduling and other data pulled from the school/district's database, capturing assignment data from the teacher or student assistant through a web form, constructing custom homepages and assignment messages for each student and parents, and transmitting those messages to the right parties.
wherein the authorization criteria comprises at least one global configuration profile associated with the plurality of electronic devices.
Allen discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Abzarian discloses:
Abzarian [0056] If it is determined in block 708 that there are no global configuration options set, the process continues to block 710, wherein the group and network security policies are queried to determine whether they contain any per-profile configuration options that apply to the current profile of the computer system. Similar to the global configuration options, per-profile configuration options may be any suitable setting that controls security of a computer system. For example, if the computer system is operating according to the "public" profile, and a group/network security policy enables the "Shields Up" configuration option in the "public" profile, then the process 700 returns TRUE to indicate that some elements of a merged security policy are controlled by a group or network security policy and therefore may override settings of user and/or administrator security policies and prevent operations to make changes to the user and/or administrator security policies from being effective.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Abzarian for the purpose of indicating that some elements of a merged security policy are controlled by a group or network security policy and therefore may override settings of user and/or administrator security policies and prevent operations to make changes to the user and/or administrator security policies from being effective.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Abzarian’s analogous art which is reasonably pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor see [0055] If no connection security rules are found in block 706, the process continues to block 708, wherein the process determines whether the group or network security policy for the specified profile has set configuration options globally (i.e., for all profiles rather than the profile specified in block 702).
wherein the at least on server is configured to:
i) receive at least one tag associated with a digital item,
ii) identify the digital items in the plurality of electronic portfolios with associated tags that match the at least one tag, and
Allen discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Calvert discloses:
Calvert [0013] The method may further include searching, by the tutor application, for a second learning object having a third blended learning style of the second learning style and the first learning style. The method may present the second learning object to the student, the second learning object including a material in the first preferred learning style and the second non-preferred learning style. The second learning object may have associated meta tags indicating a mixed learning style of the first preferred learning style and the second non-preferred learning style. The first learning object may have an associated meta-tag indicating a primary learning style, and the tutor applications searching process includes searching for a matching meta-tag.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Calvert for providing a process to search for a matching meta-tag.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Calvert’s analogous art from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, see below:
[0002] This invention relates to learning management systems, particularly for systems including delivery of learning objects identified by meta tags and use of an intelligent tutor application with the learning management system.
iii) update a collection of the digital items in a corresponding electronic portfolio by adding an identified digital item.
Allen discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose above limitation. However, Florance discloses:
Florance [0024] Grade level classroom folders are provided to store digital camera images of student and/or classroom projects which may be imported into student portfolios. Teachers can also use these folders for future assignments to be imported into students' powerfolio behind the appropriate subject title. Staff and student portrait pictures may be imported into classroom projects or student portfolios.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Florance for the purpose of importing staff and student portrait pictures into classroom projects or student portfolios.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Florance’s analogous art from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, see below:
[abstract] A method of organizing and presenting information related to a student's academic career is provided which includes creating a series of folders and subfolders for organizing multimedia information chronologically and hierarchically for each student. The information may be presented in a variety of ways such as by academic subject matter spanning one or more years or by grade level.
Regarding claim 37, reference combination A discloses wherein the authorization criteria includes at least one permission profile associated with at least one of the digital items.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 39 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A in view of Rolfe (US 2005/0027841)
Reference combination A discloses elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose wherein the plurality of users includes at least one user authorized to set at least one global configuration profile. However, Rolfe discloses:
Rolfe [0016] Furthermore, the remote user interface 12a permits a user to enter a plurality of global control and/or configuration commands to the remote-CLI 12, which global commands are simulcasted (e.g., broadcasted simultaneously to two or more network switches 14a, 14b or 14c) over the computer network 16 to the plurality of communication network switches 14a, 14b, 14c.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify reference combination A to obtain above limitation based on the teachings of Rolfe for the purpose of permitting a user to enter a plurality of global control and/or configuration commands.
Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to look to Rolfe’s analogous art which is reasonable pertinent to the problem faced by the inventor, i.e., entering a global control and/or configuration command.
Claim 40 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the authorization criteria includes at least one security profile associated with at least one role, each role including at least one of the plurality of users.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 41 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the digital items include at least one of artifacts, reflections, collections and presentations.
Gross claim 5, A method of creating and providing access to a student digital portfolio that aggregates and centralizes information about a student in a school for collaboration among school staff, comprising the steps of: receiving first student information from teachers of the student; storing the student information; receiving second student information from a student information system for the school; providing a digital drop box for the input by the student of student work; storing a student plan for the student created by the school staff; aggregating the first student information, the second student information, the student work and the student plan based upon identify of the student and schedule information relating to the student from the student information system; and providing access to the school staff to the aggregated information.
Claim 42 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the actions that may be taken include commenting on at least one of the digital items.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 43 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the actions that may be taken include assessing at least one of the digital items.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 44 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the actions that may be taken include at least one of reading, modifying, sharing, and creating at least one of the digital items.
Gross claim 5, A method of creating and providing access to a student digital portfolio that aggregates and centralizes information about a student in a school for collaboration among school staff, comprising the steps of: receiving first student information from teachers of the student; storing the student information; receiving second student information from a student information system for the school; providing a digital drop box for the input by the student of student work; storing a student plan for the student created by the school staff; aggregating the first student information, the second student information, the student work and the student plan based upon identify of the student and schedule information relating to the student from the student information system; and providing access to the school staff to the aggregated information.
Claim 45 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A
Reference combination A discloses wherein the authorization criteria include at least one permission-specific criterion.
Gross abstract, Finally, a system and method for creating student digital portfolios. This involves aggregating information already published to the system along with grades and attendance information pulled from the SIS, student work submitted through digital dropboxes, plans and comments from teachers and staff, membership data, and school participation data as expressed through membership and messaging through the system. This information is available on a single web page accessed through directories, rosters and special groups by school and district staff.
Claim 46 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over reference combination A in view of Higgins (US 2010/0161600).
Reference combination A discloses the elements of the claimed invention as noted but does not disclose wherein the permission-specific criteria include enrollment data for the plurality of users. However, Higgins discloses:
Higgins claim 13. The method of claim 10 wherein if the query in the enrolling step returns data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services that is sensitive user data, the user is prompted to give permission to the enrolling step to retrieve the sensitive user data.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify reference combination A to obtain above limitation for the purpose of enrolling a user for sensitive services.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2, 4-10 and 36-46 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
In the previous Office action claims 3,4,38 and 39 were indicated allowable. However, Abzarion and Rolfe were found after new search and consideration.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ETIENNE PIERRE LEROUX whose telephone number is (571)272-4022. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
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/ETIENNE P LEROUX/Primary Examiner of Art Unit 2161