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 .
Status of Claims:
Claims 1-3 and 5-21 are pending in Instant Application.
Examiner notes claims 3, 5, 7, and 9 were amended and 4 and 22-26 were canceled by preliminary amendment filed 01/14/2025.
Priority
Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s claim to priority benefits of Foreign Application No. CN202211161735.3 filed 09/22/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 01/15/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is being considered if signed and initialed by the Examiner.
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 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.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0165898).
As per claim 1, Weiss teaches an information processing method, wherein the method comprises:
obtaining group member change information of a first group (Weiss: paragraph 0059; the group manager 115 can maintain a group roster…paragraph 0060; the server 120 can communicate with the group manager 115 to verify each member's status. When it is verified that a user has left a group…paragraph 0123; receives activity data indicating a change with respect to a number of members of a group), wherein the first group is associated with a first object in a first system (Weiss: paragraph 0058 and fig. 1; the vault 109 can be associated with a user group 111), and the first system is a different system from a communication system where the first group is located (Weiss: paragraph 0059; The server 120 is in communication with a group manager 115 configured to manage collaborative sessions for individual groups 111 of users 107…paragraph 0063; the access to the data in the vault may be managed by a first entity…The process of determining if people are current members of a group, can be managed by a second entity…paragraph 0111; the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120); and
modifying a team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the group member change information (Weiss: paragraph 0111; a group manager 115 can maintain a membership roster 901 listing identities 113 of members of a group 111 of users. Users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group…the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120), wherein a user in the team member list has a first access permission to information of the first object in the first system (Weiss: paragraph 0060; he system 100 enables users of a group to share secret data with other members of the group. Access to the secret data stored on the server 120 is based on a user's membership status with a particular group associated with the secret data. Thus, as users join a particular group, the group members are able to gain access, e.g., read and/or write permissions, to the secret data that is stored in association with that group).
While Weiss does not explicitly use the specific term “different system,” Weiss teaches that the invention separates data storage and group membership determination into two distinct systems, each operated by a separate entity (Weiss: paragraph 0063; the techniques disclosed herein can separate the user authentication and access control into two unique processes and each process can be performed by two entities. For instance, the access to the data in the vault may be managed by a first entity, e.g., Google Drive, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud, Facebook Cloud, etc. The group vault service takes a dependency, and can benefit, from this trusted authentication service and trusts the verification from the authentication service regarding a requesting member to access the vault. The process of determining if people are current members of a group, can be managed by a second entity, e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.). Weiss further teaches that this second entity – group manager 115 – manages collaborative communication sessions for groups 111 of users (paragraph 0059), and separately communicates instances of, or updates to, a membership roster 901 to the server 120 (Weiss: paragraph 0111), which is the system associated with the vault 109 (first object).
Moreover, Weiss expressly identifies the motivation for this separation: rather than relying on a single integrated administrative system to manage both data storage and group membership, Weiss’s storage service communicates with an independently operated group management system, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, to automatically change access rights as users leave or join a group (Weiss: paragraph 0004). Weiss states that this architecture mitigate or eliminate the need for manual administrative tasks traditionally required to remove, add, or modify access permissions, by leveraging membership data provided by a separately-managed group manager (Weiss: paragraph 0004). It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the group membership tracking and communication session function (group manager 115) as a system separate from the vault storage system (server 120), because Weiss itself teaches that this separation using separate group management service and data storage service (e.g., cloud storage providers versus group communication platforms) is the very mechanism by which the invention achieves its stated benefits of reduced administrative burden and improved security compartmentalization against high attrition user groups (Weiss: paragraph 0001). This is no more than applying a technique Weiss expressly identifies as advantageous to achieve its expressly stated result. See MPEP 2143(I)(A).
As per claim 8, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the group member change information comprises: in response to determining that the group member change information indicates that a group member is removed (Weiss: paragraph 0123; receives activity data indicating a change with respect to a number of members of a group…paragraph 0125; the one or modules verifies the group membership…The group manager 115 can verify via a confirmation 122, a current list of members of a particular group), obtaining removed group member information from the group member change information (Weiss: paragraph 0111; Users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group…the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120…paragraph 0123; receives activity data indicating a change with respect to a number of members of a group); determining whether the removed group member information is in the team member list corresponding to the first object (Weiss: paragraph 0125; the one or modules verifies the group membership…The group manager 115 can verify via a confirmation 122, a current list of members of a particular group); and in response to the team member list including the team member corresponding to the removed group member information, removing, from the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system, the team member corresponding to the removed group member information, to complete the modification of the team member list (Weiss: paragraph 0111; Users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group…the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120).
As per claim 15, Weiss teaches an information processing method, comprising:
obtaining team member list change information corresponding to a first object in a first system (Weiss: paragraph 0059; the group manager 115 can maintain a group roster…paragraph 0060; the server 120 can communicate with the group manager 115 to verify each member's status. When it is verified that a user has left a group…paragraph 0111; a group manager 115 can maintain a membership roster 901 listing identities 113 of members of a group 111 of users. An individual membership roster 901 can list users who are participating in a communication session, such as a channel, chat session, meeting, or any other collaborative group activity used to exchange information. Users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group, such as a channel, a meeting, etc. In some configurations, the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120…paragraph 0123; receives activity data indicating a change with respect to a number of members of a group), wherein a user in the team member list has a first access permission to information of the first object in the first system (Weiss: paragraph 0060; the server 120 can communicate with the group manager 115 to verify each member's status. When it is verified that a user has left a group…Thus, as users join a particular group, the group members are able to gain access, e.g., read and/or write permissions, to the secret data that is stored in association with that group); and
changing a group member of a first group based on the team member list change information (Weiss: paragraph 0111; a group manager 115 can maintain a membership roster 901 listing identities 113 of members of a group 111 of users. Users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group…the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120), wherein a user in the team member list has a first access permission to information of the first object in the first system (Weiss: paragraph 0060; he system 100 enables users of a group to share secret data with other members of the group. Access to the secret data stored on the server 120 is based on a user's membership status with a particular group associated with the secret data. Thus, as users join a particular group, the group members are able to gain access, e.g., read and/or write permissions, to the secret data that is stored in association with that group), wherein the first group is associated with the first object in the first system (Weiss: paragraph 0058 and fig. 1; the vault 109 can be associated with a user group 111), and the first system is a different system from a communication system where the first group is located (Weiss: paragraph 0059; The server 120 is in communication with a group manager 115 configured to manage collaborative sessions for individual groups 111 of users 107…paragraph 0063; the access to the data in the vault may be managed by a first entity…The process of determining if people are current members of a group, can be managed by a second entity…paragraph 0111; the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120).
While Weiss does not explicitly use the specific term “different system,” Weiss teaches that the invention separates data storage and group membership determination into two distinct systems, each operated by a separate entity (Weiss: paragraph 0063; the techniques disclosed herein can separate the user authentication and access control into two unique processes and each process can be performed by two entities. For instance, the access to the data in the vault may be managed by a first entity, e.g., Google Drive, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud, Facebook Cloud, etc. The group vault service takes a dependency, and can benefit, from this trusted authentication service and trusts the verification from the authentication service regarding a requesting member to access the vault. The process of determining if people are current members of a group, can be managed by a second entity, e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.). Weiss further teaches that this second entity – group manager 115 – manages collaborative communication sessions for groups 111 of users (paragraph 0059), and separately communicates instances of, or updates to, a membership roster 901 to the server 120 (Weiss: paragraph 0111), which is the system associated with the vault 109 (first object).
Moreover, Weiss expressly identifies the motivation for this separation: rather than relying on a single integrated administrative system to manage both data storage and group membership, Weiss’s storage service communicates with an independently operated group management system, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, to automatically change access rights as users leave or join a group (Weiss: paragraph 0004). Weiss states that this architecture mitigate or eliminate the need for manual administrative tasks traditionally required to remove, add, or modify access permissions, by leveraging membership data provided by a separately-managed group manager (Weiss: paragraph 0004). It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the group membership tracking and communication session function (group manager 115) as a system separate from the vault storage system (server 120), because Weiss itself teaches that this separation using separate group management service and data storage service (e.g., cloud storage providers versus group communication platforms) is the very mechanism by which the invention achieves its stated benefits of reduced administrative burden and improved security compartmentalization against high attrition user groups (Weiss: paragraph 0001). This is no more than applying a technique Weiss expressly identifies as advantageous to achieve its expressly stated result. See MPEP 2143(I)(A).
Claims 2 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0165898) in view of Pai et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2023/0039480).
As per claim 2, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the group member change information comprises: sending a notification message in the first group based on the group member change information (Weiss: paragraph 0075; the server 120 determines if each requesting user is a member of the group by the use of a verification request 121…the group manager 115 responds by sending a confirmation 122 back to the server 120 indicating that the first user 107A (User 1) and the Nth user (User N) are still a member of the group (Group 1), and that the second user (User 2) is no longer a member of the group (Group 1)…paragraph 0076; the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request. The notification may indicate the user's status of the group).
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention operation feedback information.
However Pai teaches:
modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on operation feedback information for the notification message (Pai: Abstract: The computing device may send a request to confirm users in the subset are members of a network and update a membership list based on a reply received from the user…paragraph 0049; the system may, based on the reply received at step 335, add the subset to a membership list of the network. A membership list may have been stored and maintained in the system. Based on the reply, users who are in the subset but have not been added to the membership list may be added).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Pai with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been in order to facilitate detecting fraudulent messages (Pai: Abstract).
As per claim 16, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 15, wherein changing the group member of the first group based on the team member list change information comprises: sending a notification message in the first group based on the team member list change information (Weiss: paragraph 0075; the server 120 determines if each requesting user is a member of the group by the use of a verification request 121…the group manager 115 responds by sending a confirmation 122 back to the server 120 indicating that the first user 107A (User 1) and the Nth user (User N) are still a member of the group (Group 1), and that the second user (User 2) is no longer a member of the group (Group 1)…paragraph 0076; the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request. The notification may indicate the user's status of the group).
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention operation feedback information.
However Pai teaches:
changing the group member of the first group based on operation feedback information for the notification message; or sending a group member change instruction to a specified chat-bot in the first group based on the team member list change information, and executing, by the chat-bot, an operation of changing the group member of the first group (Pai: Abstract: The computing device may send a request to confirm users in the subset are members of a network and update a membership list based on a reply received from the user…paragraph 0049; the system may, based on the reply received at step 335, add the subset to a membership list of the network. A membership list may have been stored and maintained in the system. Based on the reply, users who are in the subset but have not been added to the membership list may be added).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Pai with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been in order to facilitate detecting fraudulent messages (Pai: Abstract).
Claims 3, 5-7, 9-10, 12-13, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0165898), in view of Pai et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2023/0039480), and further in view Allen et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0351903),
As per claim 3, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein: sending the notification message in the first group comprises: wherein the first user is a member of the first group (Weiss: paragraph 0075; the first user 107A (User 1) and the Nth user (User N) are still a member of the group (Group 1)) and an administrator of the team members corresponding to the first object (Weiss: paragraph 0114; if a user is a designated administrator for a group, that user and/or that user's corresponding device can be selected to update one or more keys); and the operation feedback information for the notification message comprises: operation feedback information of the first user for the notification message, or wherein: in response to the group member change information indicating that a group member is added, the notification message is a notification message of adding a team member; and/or in response to the group member change information indicating that a group member is removed, the notification message is a notification message of removing a team member (Weiss: paragraph 0076; the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request. The notification may indicate the user's status of the group…paragraph 0111; users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group, such as a channel, a meeting, etc. In some configurations, the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120).
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention sending, in the first group, the notification message that is visible only to a first user.
However Allen teaches:
sending, in the first group, the notification message that is visible only to a first user (Allen: paragraph 0042; If a receiver screenshots the content, text similar in style to the date text is dropped into a chat of the sender, right below the content as presented to each user in a group chat, indicating that a particular viewer has screenshotted it. This screenshot message is only visible to the sender of the content…Allen also teaches restricting visibility of a message within a group chat to fewer than all group members, see at least paragraph 0032; the private group chat 242B whisper messages are not only indented, but a title or whisper message header is also shown with information about recipients of the private message).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Allen with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been for improved data security (Allen: paragraph 0002).
As per claim 5, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 3, wherein sending the notification message in the first group based on the group member change information comprises: in response to the group member change information indicating that a group member is added, obtaining added group member information from the group member change information (Weiss: paragraph 0111; a group manager 115 can maintain a membership roster 901 listing identities 113 of members of a group 111 of users…Users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group); determining whether the added group member information is in the team member list corresponding to the first object (Pai: paragraph 0049; the system may, based on the reply received at step 335, add the subset to a membership list of the network. A membership list may have been stored and maintained in the system. Based on the reply, users who are in the subset but have not been added to the membership list may be added); and in response to the team member list not including the added group member information, generating the notification message of adding a team member and sending the notification message of adding a team member in the first group, wherein the notification message of adding a team member comprises the added group member information (Weiss: paragraph 0132; FIG. 19B illustrates aspects of a process for adding a person to the user group 111. In this example, in response to detecting that a user has been added, the group manager 115 sends membership data 155 indicating new members of the user group 111…FIG. 19C, the membership data 155 indicates that the first user, User 1, is a current member of the group 111, Group 1. In addition, the membership data 165 indicates that the second user is a new member of the group).
The same motivation to combine as the independent claim applies here.
As per claim 6, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 5, wherein the notification message of adding a team member comprises: the added group member information and a role selection control, wherein the role selection control comprises at least one candidate role information (Weiss: paragraph 0065; Individual records may also indicate specific permissions and roles for each User ID…paragraph 0067; The permissions may indicate a level of access or roles for each user, e.g., administrator rights versus regular user rights. The permissions may also indicate specific access rights…paragraph 0133; an administrator of the group, such as the first user 107A, can allow new users to join the group. In such embodiments, an administrator can add identities of new users and also define one or more permissions); and modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information for the notification message comprises: determining that the operation feedback information for the notification message comprises at least one target role information selected by the first user for the added group member information through the role selection control, wherein the target role information is any of the at least one candidate role information (Weiss: paragraph 0114; a single client device or a selected group of client devices can be selected to update one or more keys. The selection of devices used for updating one or more keys can be based on roles or permissions for each member, activity of a particular client device and/or hardware capabilities of a particular client device. For instance, if a user is a designated administrator for a group, that user and/or that user's corresponding device can be selected to update one or more keys. In some configurations, client devices can communicate with one another on a peer-to-peer basis and/or with the server to determine which device is to update one or more keys); and adding the added group member information to the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system as new team member information, and assigning the at least one target role information to the new team member information, wherein different roles of the team members correspond to different permissions of the first object (Weiss: paragraph 0108; the program module 623 receives a confirmation from the group manager 115 indicating a membership status of one or more users. In one illustrative example, a confirmation can include a Group ID and a membership status of at least one User ID, e.g., that the first user 107A is current member, or that the first user 107A is not a current member. The confirmation can also include one or more permissions for each user. For instance, a confirmation (also referred to herein as a group confirmation 122) can include a User ID and indicate whether that user ID is associated with read and/or write permissions. The confirmation can also describe roles or other attributes associated with individual User IDs).
As per claim 7, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 3, wherein a determination process of the notification message of removing the team member comprises: in response to determining that the group member change information indicates that a group member is removed (Weiss: paragraph 0123; receives activity data indicating a change with respect to a number of members of a group…paragraph 0125; the one or modules verifies the group membership…The group manager 115 can verify via a confirmation 122, a current list of members of a particular group), obtaining removed group member information from the group member change information (Weiss: paragraph 0111; Users can be added or removed from a particular roster by joining or leaving a group…the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120…paragraph 0123; receives activity data indicating a change with respect to a number of members of a group); determining whether the removed group member information is in the team member list corresponding to the first object (Weiss: paragraph 0125; the one or modules verifies the group membership…The group manager 115 can verify via a confirmation 122, a current list of members of a particular group); and in response to the team member list including a team member corresponding to the removed group member information, generating a notification message of removing the team member (Weiss: paragraph 0132; The membership data 155 can also indicate people who have been dropped from a group 111. In addition, the membership data 155 can also indicate permission changes with respect to members of the user group 111).
As per claim 9, the modified Weiss teaches the method according claim 2, wherein the method further comprises, after the modification of the team member list is completed based on a modification result of the team member list (Weiss: paragraph 0076; the server 120 responds to the confirmation 122 by allowing the communication of encrypted data to be sent to the first user 107A and the Nth user 107N, while restricting access to the second user 107B…the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request).
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention sending, in the first group, a team member change result notification message that is visible only to the first user.
However Allen teaches:
sending, in the first group, a team member change result notification message that is visible only to the first user (Allen: paragraph 0042; If a receiver screenshots the content, text similar in style to the date text is dropped into a chat of the sender, right below the content as presented to each user in a group chat, indicating that a particular viewer has screenshotted it. This screenshot message is only visible to the sender of the content…Allen also teaches restricting visibility of a message within a group chat to fewer than all group members, see at least paragraph 0032; the private group chat 242B whisper messages are not only indented, but a title or whisper message header is also shown with information about recipients of the private message).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Allen with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been for improved data security (Allen: paragraph 0002).
As per claim 10, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein the team member change result notification message comprises at least one of: a team member adding success message, a team member adding failure message, a team member removing success message, or a team member removing failure message (Weiss: paragraph 0076; the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request. The notification may indicate the user's status of the group, or provide a message indicating that the requested data is not available).
As per claim 12, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 10, wherein the team member adding failure message comprises at least one of: the team member adding failure message obtained in response to determining that the added group member information is not in the first group; the team member adding failure message obtained in response to determining that no target role information is selected for the added group member information; the team member adding failure message obtained in response to determining that the added group member information is already in the selected target role information; the team member adding failure message obtained in response to determining that the added group member information is operated by an administrator other than the first user in administrators of team members corresponding to the first object; the team member adding failure message obtained in response to determining that the added group member information cannot be added to the team member list corresponding to the first object; and the team member adding failure message obtained in response to determining that the first user operating the added group member information has no administrator permission (Weiss: paragraph 0132; the server 120 can also determine if the user sending the membership data 155 has appropriate administrative rights to add users to the vault. The server can deny any action based on the membership data 155 if a user associated with the membership data 155 does not have the appropriate permissions).
As per claim 13, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 10, wherein the team member removing failure message comprises at least one of: the team member removing failure message obtained in response to determining that role information corresponding to the removed group member information is not in the team member list corresponding to the first object; and the team member removing failure message obtained in response to determining that the removed group member information cannot be removed from the team member list corresponding to the first object (Weiss: paragraph 0132; the server 120 can also determine if the user sending the membership data 155 has appropriate administrative rights to add users to the vault. The server can deny any action based on the membership data 155 if a user associated with the membership data 155 does not have the appropriate permissions).
As per claim 17, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 16, wherein sending the notification message in the first group comprises: sending the notification message to a first user in the first group (Weiss: paragraph 0075; the first user 107A (User 1) and the Nth user (User N) are still a member of the group (Group 1)), wherein the first user is an administrator of a group member of the first group and the first group (Weiss: paragraph 0114; if a user is a designated administrator for a group, that user and/or that user's corresponding device can be selected to update one or more keys); and the operation feedback information for the notification message comprises: operation feedback information of the first user for the notification message (Pai: Abstract: The computing device may send a request to confirm users in the subset are members of a network and update a membership list based on a reply received from the user…paragraph 0049; the system may, based on the reply received at step 335, add the subset to a membership list of the network. A membership list may have been stored and maintained in the system. Based on the reply, users who are in the subset but have not been added to the membership list may be added).
The same motivation to combine as the independent claim applies here.
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention that the notification message is visible only to a first user.
However Allen teaches:
the notification message is visible only to a first user (Allen: paragraph 0042; If a receiver screenshots the content, text similar in style to the date text is dropped into a chat of the sender, right below the content as presented to each user in a group chat, indicating that a particular viewer has screenshotted it. This screenshot message is only visible to the sender of the content…Allen also teaches restricting visibility of a message within a group chat to fewer than all group members, see at least paragraph 0032; the private group chat 242B whisper messages are not only indented, but a title or whisper message header is also shown with information about recipients of the private message).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Allen with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been for improved data security (Allen: paragraph 0002).
As per claim 18, Weiss teaches an information processing method, comprising:
obtaining a notification message determined based on group member change information of a first group (Weiss: paragraph 0059; the group manager 115 can maintain a group roster…paragraph 0060; the server 120 can communicate with the group manager 115 to verify each member's status. When it is verified that a user has left a group…paragraph 0123; receives activity data indicating a change with respect to a number of members of a group), wherein the first group is associated with a first object in a first system (Weiss: paragraph 0058 and fig. 1; the vault 109 can be associated with a user group 111), and the first system is a different system from a communication system where the first group is located (Weiss: paragraph 0059; The server 120 is in communication with a group manager 115 configured to manage collaborative sessions for individual groups 111 of users 107…paragraph 0063; the access to the data in the vault may be managed by a first entity…The process of determining if people are current members of a group, can be managed by a second entity…paragraph 0111; the group manager 115 can communicate an instance of a membership roster 901 or updates to a membership roster 901 to the server 120);
sending the notification message to the first group (Weiss: paragraph 0075; the server 120 determines if each requesting user is a member of the group by the use of a verification request 121…the group manager 115 responds by sending a confirmation 122 back to the server 120 indicating that the first user 107A (User 1) and the Nth user (User N) are still a member of the group (Group 1), and that the second user (User 2) is no longer a member of the group (Group 1)…paragraph 0076; the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request. The notification may indicate the user's status of the group), and the first user is an administrator of a group member of the first group and a team member corresponding to the first object (Weiss: paragraph 0114; if a user is a designated administrator for a group, that user and/or that user's corresponding device can be selected to update one or more keys).
While Weiss does not explicitly use the specific term “different system,” Weiss teaches that the invention separates data storage and group membership determination into two distinct systems, each operated by a separate entity (Weiss: paragraph 0063; the techniques disclosed herein can separate the user authentication and access control into two unique processes and each process can be performed by two entities. For instance, the access to the data in the vault may be managed by a first entity, e.g., Google Drive, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud, Facebook Cloud, etc. The group vault service takes a dependency, and can benefit, from this trusted authentication service and trusts the verification from the authentication service regarding a requesting member to access the vault. The process of determining if people are current members of a group, can be managed by a second entity, e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.). Weiss further teaches that this second entity – group manager 115 – manages collaborative communication sessions for groups 111 of users (paragraph 0059), and separately communicates instances of, or updates to, a membership roster 901 to the server 120 (Weiss: paragraph 0111), which is the system associated with the vault 109 (first object).
Moreover, Weiss expressly identifies the motivation for this separation: rather than relying on a single integrated administrative system to manage both data storage and group membership, Weiss’s storage service communicates with an independently operated group management system, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, to automatically change access rights as users leave or join a group (Weiss: paragraph 0004). Weiss states that this architecture mitigate or eliminate the need for manual administrative tasks traditionally required to remove, add, or modify access permissions, by leveraging membership data provided by a separately-managed group manager (Weiss: paragraph 0004). It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the group membership tracking and communication session function (group manager 115) as a system separate from the vault storage system (server 120), because Weiss itself teaches that this separation using separate group management service and data storage service (e.g., cloud storage providers versus group communication platforms) is the very mechanism by which the invention achieves its stated benefits of reduced administrative burden and improved security compartmentalization against high attrition user groups (Weiss: paragraph 0001). This is no more than applying a technique Weiss expressly identifies as advantageous to achieve its expressly stated result. See MPEP 2143(I)(A).
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention operation feedback information.
However Pai teaches:
receiving operation feedback information of the first user for the notification message, and sending the operation feedback information to the first system, for the first system to modify a team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information (Pai: Abstract: The computing device may send a request to confirm users in the subset are members of a network and update a membership list based on a reply received from the user…paragraph 0049; the system may, based on the reply received at step 335, add the subset to a membership list of the network. A membership list may have been stored and maintained in the system. Based on the reply, users who are in the subset but have not been added to the membership list may be added).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Pai with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been in order to facilitate detecting fraudulent messages (Pai: Abstract).
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention wherein the notification message is visible only to a first user in the first group.
However Allen teaches:
wherein the notification message is visible only to a first user in the first group (Allen: paragraph 0042; If a receiver screenshots the content, text similar in style to the date text is dropped into a chat of the sender, right below the content as presented to each user in a group chat, indicating that a particular viewer has screenshotted it. This screenshot message is only visible to the sender of the content…Allen also teaches restricting visibility of a message within a group chat to fewer than all group members, see at least paragraph 0032; the private group chat 242B whisper messages are not only indented, but a title or whisper message header is also shown with information about recipients of the private message).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Allen with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been for improved data security (Allen: paragraph 0002).
Regarding claim 19, it is substantially similar to claim 6, and is rejected in the same manner, the same arts and reasoning applying.
As per claim 20, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 18, wherein the method further comprises, after the operation feedback information is sent to the first system: receiving a team member change result notification message sent by the first system (Weiss: paragraph 0075; the server 120 determines if each requesting user is a member of the group by the use of a verification request 121…the group manager 115 responds by sending a confirmation 122 back to the server 120 indicating that the first user 107A (User 1) and the Nth user (User N) are still a member of the group (Group 1), and that the second user (User 2) is no longer a member of the group (Group 1)…paragraph 0076; the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request. The notification may indicate the user's status of the group), and sending the team member change result notification message to the first group (Weiss: paragraph 0059; The server 120 is in communication with a group manager 115 configured to manage collaborative sessions for individual groups 111 of users 107…paragraph 0076; the server 120 may send a notification to the client, such as the second client 110B, where the notification can indicate a status of the access request. The notification may indicate the user's status of the group), wherein the team member change result notification message is visible only to the first user in the first group (Allen: paragraph 0042; If a receiver screenshots the content, text similar in style to the date text is dropped into a chat of the sender, right below the content as presented to each user in a group chat, indicating that a particular viewer has screenshotted it. This screenshot message is only visible to the sender of the content…Allen also teaches restricting visibility of a message within a group chat to fewer than all group members, see at least paragraph 0032; the private group chat 242B whisper messages are not only indented, but a title or whisper message header is also shown with information about recipients of the private message), and the team member change result notification message is obtained by the first system modifying a team member list of the first object associated with the first group based on the operation feedback information (Pai: Abstract: The computing device may send a request to confirm users in the subset are members of a network and update a membership list based on a reply received from the user…paragraph 0049; the system may, based on the reply received at step 335, add the subset to a membership list of the network. A membership list may have been stored and maintained in the system. Based on the reply, users who are in the subset but have not been added to the membership list may be added).
The same motivation to combine as the independent claim applies here.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0165898), in view of Pai et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2023/0039480), in view of Allen et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0351903), and further in view of Timmons et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0359998).
As per claim 11, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 10. However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention wherein, determining the team member change result notification message comprises: in response to a team member adding failure message or a team member removing failure message, carrying a contact entry of a system administrator and/or a contact entry of a feedback group in the team member change result notification message.
However Timmons teaches:
wherein, determining the team member change result notification message comprises: in response to a team member adding failure message or a team member removing failure message, carrying a contact entry of a system administrator and/or a contact entry of a feedback group in the team member change result notification message (Timmons: paragraph 0051; the new user cannot be added to the channel and an error message is produced and displayed to the administrator (or existing channel member) attempting to add the new user to the identified channel…paragraph 0029; Communicatively coupled to identity provider server 164 is identity provider data store 166. Identity provider data store 166 stores identity data used for whitelisted-groups access control. Identity provider data store 166 may additionally store other data used in providing identity services, including user identity data, user authentication data, user group data, user permission data and user contact data. As with channel data store 162, identity provider data store 166 may be directly connected to identity provider server 164 or may be connected via any form of network and may be replicated and/or sharded across the network for performance and/or reliability).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Timmons with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been for limiting access to private channels via group membership (Timmons: paragraph 0001).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0165898) in view of Pai et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2023/0039480), and further in view of Kim et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0367495).
As per claim 14, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 2.
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention wherein the method further comprises, before modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information for the notification message: in response to receiving an addition message of an added group member rejoining the first group after receiving an exit message of the added group member exiting the first group, generating a new notification message, and sending the new notification message in the first group; and modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information for the notification message comprises: modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information for the notification message and/or the new notification message.
However Kim teaches:
wherein the method further comprises, before modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information for the notification message: in response to receiving an addition message of an added group member rejoining the first group after receiving an exit message of the added group member exiting the first group, generating a new notification message, and sending the new notification message in the first group; and modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information for the notification message comprises: modifying the team member list corresponding to the first object in the first system based on the operation feedback information for the notification message and/or the new notification message (Kim: fig. 10 and paragraph 0138; notifying a first user that a second user has joined a group…paragraph 0081; a group member has the option to exit the group. Any user may decide to mute the group or leave the group. Opt-in and opt-out of a group can be configured by an administrator to comply with various rules and regulations. In some embodiments, when a user leaves or exits a group, the user is added to an opt-out list such that message to the group are not delivered to the user. Suppose the user later re-joins the group).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Kim with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been in order to facilitate group conversation within a messaging/discussion board (Kim: paragraph 0003).
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0165898), in view of Pai et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2023/0039480), in view of Allen et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0351903), in view of Timmons et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0359998), and further in view of Bhatt et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2019/0158434).
As per claim 21, the modified Weiss teaches the method according to claim 20.
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention determining that the team member change result notification message comprises: a team member adding failure message or a team member removing failure message, and carrying a contact entry of a system administrator and/or a contact entry of a feedback group in the team member change result notification message.
However Timmons teaches:
determining that the team member change result notification message comprises: a team member adding failure message or a team member removing failure message, and carrying a contact entry of a system administrator and/or a contact entry of a feedback group in the team member change result notification message (Timmons: paragraph 0051; the new user cannot be added to the channel and an error message is produced and displayed to the administrator (or existing channel member) attempting to add the new user to the identified channel…paragraph 0029; Communicatively coupled to identity provider server 164 is identity provider data store 166. Identity provider data store 166 stores identity data used for whitelisted-groups access control. Identity provider data store 166 may additionally store other data used in providing identity services, including user identity data, user authentication data, user group data, user permission data and user contact data. As with channel data store 162, identity provider data store 166 may be directly connected to identity provider server 164 or may be connected via any form of network and may be replicated and/or sharded across the network for performance and/or reliability).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Timmons with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been for limiting access to private channels via group membership (Timmons: paragraph 0001).
However the modified Weiss does not explicitly mention displaying a chat window.
However Bhatt teaches:
displaying a chat window with the system administrator in response to the contact entry of the system administrator being triggered; and/or displaying a chat window with the feedback group in response to the contact entry of the feedback group being triggered (Bhatt: paragraph 0071; display a chat window in which a customer service representative may enter text to send to a customer, and user device 102 may display a chat window in which the customer may enter text to respond to the customer service representative…system 100 may automatically enable a connection between a customer service representative and the customer upon determining that one or more previous attempts at delivering and attempting to get a customer to engage with a message have failed).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings as in Bhatt with the teachings as in the modified Weiss. The motivation for doing so would have been for providing systems for electronically connecting a customer service representative with a customer in response to detecting delivery failure or the absence of read receipts for previously sent messages (Bhatt: paragraph 0002).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KARINA J. GARCIA-CHING whose telephone number is (571)270-7159. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Wednesday (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM).
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/KARINA J GARCIA-CHING/Examiner, Art Unit 2449
/VIVEK SRIVASTAVA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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