Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 27, 2026
Application No. 18/985,859

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING ERROR CORRECTION AND MANAGEMENT IN A MOBILE-BASED CROWDSOURCING PLATFORM

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Dec 18, 2024
Priority
Jul 07, 2015 — provisional 62/189,446 +5 more
Examiner
MUSTAFA, IMRAN K
Art Unit
3668
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Crowdcomfort Inc.
OA Round
2 (Final)
60%
Grant Probability
Moderate
3-4
OA Rounds
1y 9m
Est. Remaining
76%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 60% of resolved cases
60%
Career Allowance Rate
469 granted / 776 resolved
+8.4% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 7m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
822
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
9.7%
-30.3% vs TC avg
§103
62.5%
+22.5% vs TC avg
§102
18.2%
-21.8% vs TC avg
§112
9.4%
-30.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 776 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 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. Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kordari (US 2014/0278060) in view of Kreuzkamp (US 2014/0278638), and Barillaud (US 2016/0066142) As to claim 1 Kordari discloses a method for providing geolocation-based services by a server system configured to communicate with and exchange data with a plurality of mobile devices, the method comprising: receiving, by the server system, passive data from a mobile device, wherein the passive data is captured by one or more geolocation sensors of the mobile device (Paragraph 13 “An indoor location system may track the location of contributors in the building. As they walk through indoor spaces, a software application may automatically create a map based on data from motion sensors in navigation units associated with the contributors by both tracking the location of the contributors and also inferring building features such as hallways, stairways, and elevators based on the tracked contributors' motions as they move through a structure. With these techniques, the process of mapping buildings can be crowd sourced to a large number of contributors, making the indoor mapping process efficient and easy to scale up.”); analyzing, by the server system, the passive data to identify a location and/or movement of a user associated with the mobile device within an environment (Paragraph 13 “An indoor location system may track the location of contributors in the building. As they walk through indoor spaces, a software application may automatically create a map based on data from motion sensors in navigation units associated with the contributors by both tracking the location of the contributors and also inferring building features such as hallways, stairways, and elevators based on the tracked contributors' motions as they move through a structure. With these techniques, the process of mapping buildings can be crowd sourced to a large number of contributors, making the indoor mapping process efficient and easy to scale up.”); receiving, by the server system, direct user input data from the mobile device, wherein the direct user input data is associated with a requested service relating to the location and/or movement of the user within the environment(Paragraph 33 “The accuracy of the location estimate for each computer device may be improved by using inferred mapping corrections in combination with occasional user corrections entered through the computing device's interface, which would serve to improve the accuracy of location input to the mapping algorithms.”); correlating, by the server system, the direct user input data with the passive data to confirm the location and/or movement of the user within the environment(Paragraph 28 “One solution to the problems of scale in creation and maintenance of an accurate global database of indoor maps includes a combination of mobile mapping and crowd sourcing where many people can use an indoor location-enabled mobile device to contribute to the creation of indoor maps. The technical challenge in crowd sourcing includes developing the capability to merge and fuse data coming from many users to incrementally update a global map of indoor spaces.”); wherein said correlating includes detecting a potential discrepancy between the location and/or movement of the user determined using the passive data and the location and/or movement of the user determined using the direct user input data and correcting the potential discrepancy to produce a corrected user location and/or movement having an improved degree of certainty of the user's location and/or movement within the environment (Paragraph 33 “The accuracy of the location estimate for each computer device may be improved by using inferred mapping corrections in combination with occasional user corrections entered through the computing device's interface, which would serve to improve the accuracy of location input to the mapping algorithms. The generated maps may be stored in a database 110 that can be managed and distributed via the server 108, or through other resources, to enable other third party applications. This fusion of data may be automatic. However, the generated maps may be manually corrected or improved by contributors or authorized users to become more accurate.”); Kordari does not explicitly disclose conveying, by the server system, information regarding the requested service and the corrected user location and/or movement of the user to at least one of a building manager or another user Kreuzkamp teaches conveying, by the server system, information regarding the requested service and the corrected user location and/or movement of the user to at least one of a building manager or another user(Paragraph 39 “The mobile devices may communicate with a central server that transmits tasks, tracks progress, manages worker profiles, and the like. An Internet interface may also be provided that allows managers, supervisors, or the like to monitor projects and personnel status.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to modify Kordari to include the teachings of identifying users within a space for the purpose of managing the building maintenance tasks. Kordari does not explicitly disclose wherein the direct user input data is associated with a user requested service relating to the location and/or movement of the user within the environment. Barillaud teaches wherein the direct user input data is associated with a user requested service relating to the location and/or movement of the user within the environment (Paragraph 27 “In another example, routing of network traffic and communications can be modified. This can include directing certain requests to different services 120 depending upon physical location within one or more geo-fenced spaces. For instance, a user activates a mobile application on the smartphone that requests information and services from a remote server. The SDN controller can modify the wireless access service of the smartphone by directing these requests to the Internet Protocol (IP) address and port that corresponds to a particular server associated with the geo-fenced space and the user. As an example, the application could be a property service (e.g., for tenants, maintenance workers or inspectors) that allows messages, images or other information to be generated for property-related issues. The information can be automatically routed to the responsible party (building owner) based upon the geo-fenced space associated with the property. Thus, as an inspector moves from one building to the next, any issues can be automatically routed to the proper party. Similarly, information originating from services 120 (or space owners 122, 124) can be routed to devices based upon their physical location within a geo-fenced space”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to modify Kordari to include the teachings of a user requested service for the purpose of allowing the user to report issues with regard to the property. As to claim 2 Kordari discloses a method wherein the potential discrepancy is based on a level of correlation between the direct user input data and the passive data falling below a predetermined threshold (Paragraph 41) As to claim 3 Kordari discloses a method further comprising: prompting, by the server system, the user for the direct user input data via a user interface (UI) provided on the mobile device of the user, wherein the direct user input data comprises active user verification and confirmation of at least one of the user's location, the user's movement, and specific landmarks or objects within the user's vicinity within the environment (Paragraph 33). As to claim 4 Kreuzkamp teaches a method wherein the service relates to a building management issue, optionally wherein the building management issue includes at least one of a facility cleanliness issue, a user comfort issue, or a lighting issue (Paragraph 40). As to claim 5 Kordari discloses a method further comprising: maintaining, by the server system, a layout of the environment, wherein said correlating further comprises correlating the direct user input data with the passive data and the layout to confirm the location and/or movement of the user within the environment (Paragraph 28). As to claim 6 Kreuzkamp teaches a method further comprising: updating, by the server system, the layout of the environment based on the corrected user location and/or movement (Paragraph 47). As to claim 7 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 1. As to claim 8 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 2. As to claim 9 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 3. As to claim 10 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 4. As to claim 11 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 5. As to claim 12 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 6. As to claim 13 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 1. As to claim 14 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 2. As to claim 15 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 3. As to claim 16 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 4. As to claim 17 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 5. As to claim 18 the claim is interpreted and rejected as in claim 6. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-18 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. 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. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IMRAN K MUSTAFA whose telephone number is (571)270-1471. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-5. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James J Lee can be reached at 571-270-5965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. IMRAN K. MUSTAFA Primary Examiner Art Unit 3668 /IMRAN K MUSTAFA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668 10/9/2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 18, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jul 21, 2026
Response Filed
Oct 14, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
60%
Grant Probability
76%
With Interview (+15.9%)
3y 7m (~1y 9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 776 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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