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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Independent claims 1, 8, and 15 recite “determining re-consumption of the content”, however, the independent claims also establish antecedent basis for “first content” and “second content”. It is unclear as to whether “the content” refers to the “first content” or “second content”. The dependent claims are further rendered indefinite, as amended, to define “the content” without clarifying the “first content” or “second content”. The Examiner further notes that claims 1, 8, and 15 define an intentionality score, however, the claims do not define a nexus between the intentionality score and the step of determining the negative attention pattern. Additionally, the claims do not define a nexus between the first and second timings and the intentionality score, e.g. how the score is determined based on the first and second timings. The claims, as currently presented, is interpreted as determining an intentionality score based on first and second timings, and determining a negative attention pattern if the second timing indicates consumption of the second content.
Claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 are further rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, because of their dependencies on claims 1, 8, or 15, respectively.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest related prior art to the Applicant’s claimed invention is Basu et al. (U.S. 11,550,690 B1). Basu discloses a system for providing recommendations based on monitoring user inputs when interacting with a digital design system (see Basu, Fig. 1, Col. 3, Lines 37-45). The system of Basu determines the amount of time a user has been interacting with the digital design system by using a time/counters (see Basu, Col. 4, Lines 6-15) wherein prolonged usage could be negative to the user’s health (see Basu, Col. 4, Lines 48-67 through Col. 5, Lines 1-4). Basu further generates a notification to include recommendations determined by a health monitor (see Basu, Col. 5, Lines 13-21). Basu, however, does not disclose the step of determining an “intentionality score”, which is a novel feature of the present invention, wherein the intentionality score is defined as a first timing associated with first content to measure an intentionality of a user. Basu further does not disclose the step of determining a negative attention pattern based on a second timing of a second content that is different from the intentionally consumed first content and the step of determining re-consumption of the content within the monitoring time period. It would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of filing, to modify Basu to include all of the claim limitations, as amended, without using improper hindsight reasoning. The Examiner notes, however, that the allowable subject matter of claims 1-20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth above, and the allowable subject matter requires all of the limitations of the claims, as currently amended.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 JAMES J YANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5170. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30am-6:00p M-F.
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, BRIAN ZIMMERMAN can be reached at (571) 272-3059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES J YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686
