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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-10 have been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Independent Claims 1, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims are in a statutory category of invention. However, the claims recite providing a administer page; receiving a request for opening an open study room from the academy and generating the open study room by being matched to identification information of the academy; exposing the open study room generated by the academy terminal when a student terminal accesses, accepting an entry request when the student terminal requests to enter to the open webcam study room, providing content of other students who have already entered in the open study room, and providing content of the other students; and recording the study time of the student based on a time period when the student accesses the open study room and engages in study activities, and transmitting the recorded study time to the academy. This is considered in the Abstract Idea grouping of certain methods of organizing human activity - advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claim is directed to an abstract idea with additional generic computer elements. The additional elements are considered an academy terminal, webcam study room, a server, transmitting the shooted video to terminals, video, shooting a video, shooting a video of the student using the accessed student terminal. These are considered generic. The video chat and video recording and video capabilities are claimed in a generic way. The generically recited computer elements do not add a practical application or meaningful limitation to the abstract idea because they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea on a computer.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The additional limitations only perform well-understood, routine, conventional computer functions as recognized by the court decisions listed in MPEP § 2106.05(d). Also, the additional hardware elements are: (i) mere instructions to implement the idea on a computer, and/or (ii) recitation of generic computer structure that serves to perform generic computer functions. Viewed separately or as a whole, these additional claim elements do not provide meaningful limitations to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claims amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. The claim does not provide significantly more than the identified abstract idea, in that there is no improvement to another technology or technical field, no improvement to the functioning of a computer, no application with, or by use of a particular machine, no transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, no specific limitation other than what is well-understood, routing and conventional in the field, no unconventional step that confines the claim to a particular useful application, or meaningful limitations that amount to more than generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Dependent claims 2-9 are not considered directed to any additional non-abstract claim elements. Claim 5 uses pixel but this is considered a generic use of pixels. Claims 6-8 uses generic machine learning and unspecific machine learning steps. Rather, these claims offer further descriptive limitations of elements found in the independent claims and addressed above. While these descriptive elements may provide further helpful description for the claimed invention, these elements do not confer subject matter eligibility to the invention since their individual and combined significance is still not more than the abstract concepts identified in the claimed invention. Hence, these dependent claims are also rejected under 101.
Please see the 35 USC 101 section at the Examination Guidance and Training Materials page on the USPTO website.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4, 6, 7, 9,10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fieldman (20200126437).
Claim 1, 10. Fieldman discloses a method for providing a webcam study management service for private educational institute by a server, the method comprising:
providing a administer page to an academy terminal (Figs. 1, 5);
receiving a request for opening an open webcam study room from the academy terminal and generating the open webcam study room by being matched to identification information of the academy terminal ([52, 54, 56]; also see video chatrooms and video conferences at [968, 221]; see device unique key at [239] and user IP address at [278, 335, 494] also see variety of clients at Fig. 2 and [852, 857] and see enabling the client to engage in the functions at [862] and see user identification and authentication module at [905, 876], see “[0949] In one implementation, the Authentication/Validation Component(s) may be adapted to determine and/or authenticate the identity of the current user or client system.”);
exposing the open webcam study room generated by the academy terminal when a student terminal accesses the server, accepting an entry request when the student terminal requests to enter to the open webcam study room, providing videos of other students who have already entered in the open webcam study room, shooting a video of the student using the accessed student terminal, and transmitting the shooted video to terminals of the other students ([52, 54, 56]; also see video chatrooms and video conferences at [968, 221]).
Fieldman does not explicitly disclose recording the study activities of the student based on a time period when the student terminal accesses the open webcam study room and engages in study activities, and transmitting the recorded study activities to the academy terminal (see points for participating in study activities over particular time period at [302]; see time period at [77]; see user awards for participating including tracking participating and number of posts and watched number of videos , etc [335-389] and Tracking point award events [433]; see “[430]… to award different incremental values of additional Karma points (e.g., +100, +200, +500) to one or more student users for facilitating and encouraging learning and user participation.”; see “[0183] time range (e.g. lifetime vs. monthly points)”). Fieldman does not explicitly disclose recording the study time or that the activity of the student is study time amount. However, Fieldman discloses allocating awards based on perceived effort [0080] and time based criteria of particular users and transaction history of particular users (“[0932] time-based criteria [0933] identity of user(s) [0934] user profile information [0935] transaction history information”) and also log and history log of users (“[0955] Log Component(s) (e.g., 510) which, for example, may be operable to generate and manage transactions history logs,”) and that the student checks in and out [193, 195, 196] and also that there are clocks and time tracking (see clocks and time marks at Fig. 7). And, Fieldman 14/216,688 is incorporated by reference at [1] and the PG Pub of 14/216,688 is 20140322692. And, Fieldman 20140322692 states “[63]… By way of example, karma points may be earned when a student directs a peer to a correct learning resource, guides a peer to a correct question on a wall, or otherwise provides an incentive or encouragement to another party to spend more time on the online learning site.”. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Fieldman’s incentives to spend more time on the learning site to Fieldman’s checking in/out, logs, use of clocks, use of time periods in order to track study time. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better award use and participation (Fieldman “[430]…to award … points … to one or more student users for facilitating and encouraging learning and user participation”).
In further regards to claim 10, Fieldman further discloses a device, a memory, a processor (Figs. 1-3).
Claim 2. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein, in the providing of the administer page, an account for accessing the administer page is issued, the account includes a administer account and an observer account (see presenter and observe at [600]), the administer account has authority to view a study record related to study hours of students registered in the academy (see prior art rejection above for awards and time), the observer account is accessible to the open webcam study room generated by the academy terminal and allows viewing videos of all student terminals in the open webcam study room, and existence of the academy terminal is not exposed to all student terminals (see administrator and monitored at [77, 80]; see ), and the administer account and the observer account are integrated into a single account (see presenter and observe at [600]; also see video chatrooms and video conferences at [968, 221]).
Claim 3. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 2, wherein, in the recording of the study time, by accessing the administer account, cumulative study times of the student terminal, the open webcam study room status of the academy, and study record information for each student terminal can be viewed on the administer page, the server stores a data about access time of the student terminal to the open webcam study room, a study time and a break time measured by a study record timer, the data is provided to the academy terminal to be viewed with the administer account when there is a request from the academy terminal, and a study record for each period of the student terminal and an opening history of the open webcam study room are provided to the academy terminal (see citations above with obviousness statement on time and also the citations on awards and check in/out and cumulative points over different time periods).
Claim 4. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 3, wherein, in the exposing of the open webcam study room, the accepting of the entry request, the providing of the videos, the shooting of the video, and the transmitting of the video, when the student terminal accesses the server, the identification information of the academy terminal that is previously stored is recognized by being matched to the student terminal, identification information of the open webcam study room generated by the academy terminal is transmitted to the student terminal such that the open webcam study room is exposed to the student terminal, the student terminal accesses the open webcam study room generated by an academy to which the student is registered or accesses any other open webcam study room ([52, 54, 56]), and performs study by using the study record timer, the study record timer measures a study start time and a study end time of the student and sets break time alarm (see time and checkin and log in citations above). Fieldman does not explictly disclose change values of image pixels received from the student terminal are checked in real time, and when the change values of the image pixels are zero for a preset time or longer, the student is determined to be away from their seat and not studying, and an alarm message is provided to the student terminal. However, Fieldman discloses check in/out and available/do not disturb status [193, 196] and that students get distracted [192] and blocking distractions [195] and messaging [966, 967] and Fieldman ‘692 discloses notifying students of study habits and study situation. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Fieldman’s messaging and notices to students to Fieldman’s preventing distractions and Fieldman’s student status. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better encourage participation (as Fieldman at [430] states).
Claim 6. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the exposing of the open webcam study room, the accepting of the entry request, the providing of the videos, the shooting of the video, and the transmitting of the video includes: when the student terminal enters the open webcam study room and has a question about study while performing the study, opening a chatting window set in one region of a screen of the open webcam study room and inputting a question (also see video chatrooms and video conferences at [968, 221]). Fieldman does not explicitly disclose classifying, by the server, items of the question through a pre-trained question classification model; determining, based on the classification value, which model among multiple artificial intelligence learning models should receive the question, and inputting the question to the determined model and outputting an answer; and transmitting an output answer to the student terminal ,the items are included in one subject studied by the student terminal, and the multiple artificial intelligence learning models are trained with learning data comprising different question data and answer data in pairs according to the items. However, Fieldman discloses questions [56] and classifying different topics (see topic at [93, 94, 98]) and automated filtering and automated monitoring [76, 77] and using artificial intelligence capabilities in the plural [771]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Fieldman’s using AI capabilities to Fieldman’s questions and classifying topics so that AI can capabilities/models can assist with questions and topics. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better address questions.
Claim 7. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the student terminal shows rankings of preset items ([166]). Fieldman does not explicitly disclose wherein a pre-set artificial intelligence model analyzes the study record. However, Fieldman discloses using artificial intelligence capabilities in the plural [771]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Fieldman’s using AI capabilities to Fieldman’s ranking and points so that AI can capabilities/models can assist with rankings. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better rank.
Claim 9. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein, when the student terminal is matched to multiple academy terminals and each of the multiple academy terminals has the administer account, even when the student terminal accesses the open webcam study room generated by one of the multiple academy terminals and performs study, a record of the study time performed by the student terminal is also provided to accounts of other academy terminals (see time in above citations; see ranking and leaderboard at [166]; see video chatrooms and video conferences at [968, 221]).
Claims 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fieldman (20200126437) in view of Liang (20130002552).
Claim 5. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 4, wherein, in the exposing of the open webcam study room, the accepting of the entry request, the providing of the videos, the shooting of the video, and the transmitting of the video, when the student terminal enters the open webcam study room, the student is determined to be away from their seat and not studying, when the student is determined to be away from their seat for the preset time or longer, a current time and a previously stored class timetable of the student terminal are compared to each other, and whether the current time is included in any class time range of the class timetable of the student terminal is checked, and when the current time is included in the class time range, the student terminal is determined to be participating in a class (see Fieldman discloses allocating awards based on perceived effort [0080] and time based criteria of particular users and transaction history of particular users “[0932] time-based criteria [0933] identity of user(s) [0934] user profile information [0935] transaction history information” and also log and history log of users “[0955] Log Component(s) (e.g., 510) which, for example, may be operable to generate and manage transactions history logs,” and that the student checks in and out and status [193, 195, 196] and also that there are clocks and time tracking, see clocks and time marks at Fig. 7, and blocking distractions [195] and also Fieldman ‘692 at [63] shows encouraging time use). Fieldman does not explicitly disclose the change values of the video pixels are monitored in real time, when the change values of the video pixels remain at zero for a preset time or longer. However, Liang discloses checking an idle status based on pixel status of a screen (Abstract, [15, 19]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Liang’s checking idle status to Fieldman’s user status and tracking and awarding user study participation and avoiding distractions. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better encourage study and avoiding distractions.
Claims 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fieldman (20200126437) in view of Ho (20150194065) in view of Official Notice.
Claim 8. Fieldman further discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the system: collects study data for each student terminal, including a study record, a study time period, a study time for each subject, an average score of subjects solved during self-study time, and study concentration, derives self-study efficiency of the student terminal by referring to subject scores of test results executed for each pre-set period, tracks and identifies the study record by monitoring the time when the student terminal accesses the server, opens the open webcam study room, and closes it, estimates the study time for each subject based on subject information directly input by the student terminal or by extracting text from a test paper image captured by the student terminal's camera, identifies the average score of subjects solved during self-study time based on scores obtained when the student terminal accesses the open webcam study room (see score at [284, 285]; see time citations above). Fieldman does not explicitly disclose an AI model doing the above or solves subject- specific problems provided through the server, and performs training using a model based on at least one of RNN, LSTM, and CNN, by setting the study data and monthly mock test scores for each subject of the corresponding student terminal as input values and by setting the self-study efficiency of the student terminal as an output value. However, Fieldman discloses providing answers [56] and automated filtering and automated monitoring [76, 77]. And, Fieldman discloses using artificial intelligence capabilities in the plural [771]. And, Examiner takes Official Notice that RNN, LSTM, CNN are common and well known AI techniques before Applicant’s priority date. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Fieldman’s using AI capabilities and adding common AI techniques to Fieldman’s score and rankings so that AI and common AI techniques can assist with scores and efficiency encouragement. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better rank and encourage participation.
Fieldman does not explicitly disclose determines the study concentration by detecting instances of the student dozing off or sleeping face down, as captured by the camera. However, Fieldman discloses check in/out and available/do not disturb status [193, 196] and that students get distracted [192] and blocking distractions [195]. And, Ho discloses tracking eyes and eyes being covered and concentration related to studying [115, 116, 124]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Ho’s tracking eyes to indicate student status to Friedman’s indicating student status and blocking distractions. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better indicate status and encourage students.
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
a) Note Global Dossier on this case;
b) Ho and Nohria discloses webcams and students;
c) Liang, Saund disclose idle status and pixel.
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/ARTHUR DURAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3622 1/26/2026