Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 19/013,945

Processing Multi-Party Conversations

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jan 08, 2025
Priority
Dec 21, 2018 — continuation of 11/062,704 +2 more
Examiner
WOO, STELLA L
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Cerner Innovation Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
93%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
823 granted / 1032 resolved
+19.7% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+13.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
1043
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
§103
42.1%
+2.1% vs TC avg
§102
26.5%
-13.5% vs TC avg
§112
11.9%
-28.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1032 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 § 102 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kahn et al. (US 2024/0095544 A1, “Kahn”). As to claims 1, 13, 20, Kahn discloses a method, comprising: receiving, from a computing device, a dialogue data query (assistant system 140 receives a user request from client system 130, para. 0052; user query is parsed to identify intent and subject/slott, para. 0061); executing the dialogue data query against a structured dataset comprising a set of dialogue segments and a set of structured links corresponding to the set of dialogue segments (assistant system 140 may access a prior user query and corresponding prior responses, the prior responses including intents and slots, para. 0077), wherein executing the dialogue data query comprises: identifying, in the structured dataset, a first structured link associating a target concept corresponding to a first dialogue segment with a dialogue goal corresponding to the first dialogue segment (para. 0077), and based on the first structured link, generating a query response comprising at least one of: the target concept, or the dialogue goal (a first response may be from prior user inputs, para. 0072, a previous conversation, para. 0078; each response including an intent and slot, para. 0077); transmitting the query response to the computing device in response to the dialogue data query (assistant system 140 generates a response for presentation to the user, para. 0080); wherein the method is performed by at least one device including a hardware processor (computer system 1100, para. 0110-0119). As to claim 2, Kahn discloses: wherein the dialogue goal comprises a purpose for a communication between a plurality of entities that is related to the target concept, the dialogue goal having been determined at least in part by applying a predictive model to the first dialogue segment (an intent is identified by NLU module 220, which may comprise a recurrent neural network grammar model, para. 0039, a machine learning model, para. 0053). As to claim 3, Kahn discloses: wherein the target concept comprises terminology associated with a knowledge domain, the terminology of the target concept having been determined based on a weight indicating a relevancy of the first dialogue segment to the terminology associated with the knowledge domain (subject/slot may be determined using a semantic information aggregator 230 which provides ontology data associated with a plurality of predefined domains, para. 0039). As to claims 4, 14, Kahn discloses: wherein executing the dialogue data query further comprises: determining that the first dialogue segment satisfies a query criterion of the dialogue data query; based on determining that the first dialogue segment satisfies the query criterion, identifying the first structured link corresponding to the first dialogue segment (historical data associated with the identified intents and slots, para. 0072). As to claims 5, 15, Kahn discloses: wherein executing the dialogue data query further comprises: retrieving the dialogue goal based on the first structured link; generating the query response, wherein the query response comprises the dialogue goal (para. 0072, 0077). As to claims 6, 16, Kahn discloses: wherein executing the dialogue data query further comprises: retrieving the target concept based on the first structured link; generating the query response, wherein the query response comprises the target concept (para. 0072, 0077). As to claims 7, 17, Kahn discloses: based on the first structured link, identifying an extracted concept, wherein the first structured link associates the extracted concept with at least one of: the dialogue goal, or the target concept, the extracted concept having been determined from the target concept based on a semantic scheme (relevant concepts are selected, para. 0045). As to claim 8, Kahn discloses: wherein the extracted concept comprises at least one of: a confirmation of the target concept, a validation of the target concept, a negation of the target concept, a denial of the target concept, a qualification of the target concept, or a quantification of the target concept (coherence of relevant concepts provides verification, para. 0045). As to claims 9, 18, Kahn discloses: wherein executing the dialogue data query further comprises: determining that the target concept satisfies a query criterion of the dialogue data query; based on determining that the target concept satisfies the query criterion, identifying the first structured link corresponding to the first dialogue segment; retrieving the dialogue goal based on the first structured link; generating the query response, wherein the query response comprises the dialogue goal (para. 0048-0049, 0053-0057). As to claims 10, 19, Kahn discloses: wherein executing the dialogue data query further comprises: determining that the dialogue goal satisfies a query criterion of the dialogue data query; based on determining that the dialogue goal satisfies the query criterion, identifying the first structured link corresponding to the first dialogue segment; retrieving the target concept based on the first structured link; generating the query response, wherein the query response comprises the target concept (para. 0048-0049, 0053-0057). As to claim 11, Kahn discloses: wherein generating the query response comprises refraining from including the first dialogue segment in the query response (an object may be excluded from search results, para. 0102). As to claim 12, Kahn discloses: wherein the first dialogue segment comprises communication between a first entity and a second entity, the communication comprising a first utterance corresponding to the first entity and a second utterance corresponding to the second entity, and wherein the dialogue goal comprises an underlying purpose for the communication (dialog between user and assistant (Fig. 7). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yuan et al. (US 2020/0005117 A1) teach extracting structured data from user conversation inputs by labeling intent and constraints for segments of prior conversation data. Krishnaswamy et al. (US 2020/0142958 A1) teach generating conversation history from structured and unstructured information. Havens et al. (US 2019/0340201 A1) teach generated structured data from unstructured inputs regarding user queries within a domain. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Stella L Woo whose telephone number is (571)272-7512. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 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, Ahmad Matar can be reached at 571-272-7488. 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. STELLA L. WOO Primary Examiner Art Unit 2693 /Stella L. Woo/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 08, 2025
Application Filed
Sep 18, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
93%
With Interview (+13.3%)
2y 7m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1032 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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