DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The Information Disclosure Statement filed 1 May 2025 has been fully considered by Examiner. An annotated copy is included herewith.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-4, 6, 11-13, 15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mamy Randriamihaja (US-2023/0281391).
Regarding claim 1: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses a system (fig 2 and [0141] of Mamy Randriamihaja) comprising: a memory device (fig 2(230) and [0144] of Mamy Randriamihaja); and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the memory device (fig 2(202) and [0143] of Mamy Randriamihaja), to: generate, for a computing application having a plurality of entities, a reference grid comprising a first cell associated with a first entity of the plurality of entities (fig 5 and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – reference grid 500 with first cell 502 with values and connections for a plurality of biomedical entities and relationships), the first cell comprising: a plurality of values jointly indicating (i) presence or absence of entities along a plurality of directions of the reference grid associated with the first cell (fig 5(504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – edges along directions between nodes show the presence of absence of various categories by the presence or absence of each type of indication), and (ii) a degree of association of the first entity with one or more entities present along one or more directions of the plurality of directions (fig 5(502,504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – size of node 502, length and thickness of edge 504, and other possible indications show the degree of association between nodes); store the reference grid in the memory device (fig 2(224), fig 6, fig 7(712,714), [0144], and [0203]-[0204] of Mamy Randriamihaja – data storage 224 used to store data, which would include the grid of nodes and connections); and execute one or more operations of the computing application using the stored reference grid (fig 6, fig 7(716,718,720), and [0205]-[0206] of Mamy Randriamihaja – stored grid can be used to execute operations based in part on user input selection).
Regarding claim 2: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the system of claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein the plurality of values comprises at least one of: a first association value indicating presence of an association of the first cell with a second cell of the reference grid (fig 5(504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – various visual characteristics of the edge 504 can be modified to show the values of different types of relationships between nodes 502), the second cell associated with a second entity of the plurality of entities and sharing at least one of a side or a corner with the first cell (fig 5 and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – each node/cell 502 has multiple entities/characteristics with corresponding values and share edges with other nodes/cells 502), or a second association value indicating absence of the association of the first cell with a second cell of the reference grid (fig 5 and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – lack of edge 504 between nodes 502 denotes an absence of association between the nodes 502).
Regarding claim 3: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the system of claim 1 (as rejected above), wherein to generate the reference grid, the one or more processing units are to use a graph representation of the computing application (fig 5 and [0175] of Mamy Randriamihaja – reference grid generated as knowledge graph), wherein the graph representation comprises: a plurality of nodes, each node of the plurality of nodes associated with a respective entity of the plurality of entities of the computing application (fig 4, fig 5(502), and [0176]-[0177] of Mamy Randriamihaja), and a plurality of nodal connections, each nodal connection of the plurality of nodal connections representing an association between a subset of the plurality of nodes (fig 4, fig 5(504), and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja).
Regarding claim 4: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the system of claim 3 (as rejected above), wherein the plurality of nodes and the plurality of nodal connections are specified using at least one of: a hash map, an adjacency list, or an adjacency matrix ([0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – “While an edge 504 may represent an adjacent relationship between two nodes 502, a transitive relationship may be formed by the indirect connection of two nodes 502.”; can be considered as either adjacency list (direct connections) or adjacency matrix (direct and indirect connections)).
Regarding claim 6: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the system of claim 3 (as rejected above), wherein to execute the one or more operations of the application, the one or more processing units are to: access the stored reference grid; and restore, using the reference grid, the graph representation of the computing application (fig 7 (714-720) and [0203]-[0205] of Mamy Randriamihaja – the generated reference grid (knowledge graph) stored in memory is accessed by user input and used to restore/recreate the graph representations of information and relationships).
Regarding claim 11: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses a method comprising: generating, using a processing device (fig 2 and [0141]-[0145] of Mamy Randriamihaja) and for a computing application having a plurality of entities, a reference grid comprising a first cell associated with a first entity of the plurality of entities (fig 5 and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – reference grid 500 with first cell 502 with values and connections for a plurality of biomedical entities and relationships), the first cell comprising: a plurality of values jointly indicating (i) presence or absence of entities along a plurality of directions of the reference grid associated with the first cell (fig 5(504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – edges along directions between nodes show the presence of absence of various categories by the presence or absence of each type of indication), and (ii) a degree of association of the first entity with one or more entities present along one or more directions of the plurality of directions (fig 5(502,504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – size of node 502, length and thickness of edge 504, and other possible indications show the degree of association between nodes); storing the reference grid in a memory device communicatively coupled to the processing device (fig 2(224), fig 6, fig 7(712,714), [0143]-[0144], and [0203]-[0204] of Mamy Randriamihaja – data storage 224 used to store data, which would include the grid of nodes and connections); and executing one or more operations of the computing application using the stored reference grid (fig 6, fig 7(716,718,720), and [0205]-[0206] of Mamy Randriamihaja – stored grid can be used to execute operations based in part on user input selection).
Regarding claim 12: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the method of claim 11 (as rejected above), wherein the plurality of values comprises at least one of: a first association value indicating presence of an association of the first cell with a second cell of the reference grid (fig 5(504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – various visual characteristics of the edge 504 can be modified to show the values of different types of relationships between nodes 502), the second cell associated with a second entity of the plurality of entities and sharing at least one of a side or a corner with the first cell (fig 5 and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – each node/cell 502 has multiple entities/characteristics with corresponding values and share edges with other nodes/cells 502), or a second association value indicating absence of the association of the first cell with a second cell of the reference grid (fig 5 and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – lack of edge 504 between nodes 502 denotes an absence of association between the nodes 502).
Regarding claim 13: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the method of claim 11 (as rejected above), wherein generating the reference grid comprises using a graph representation of the computing application (fig 5 and [0175] of Mamy Randriamihaja – reference grid generated as knowledge graph), wherein the graph representation comprises: a plurality of nodes, at least one node of the plurality of nodes being associated with a respective entity of the plurality of entities of the computing application (fig 4, fig 5(502), and [0176]-[0177] of Mamy Randriamihaja), and a plurality of nodal connections, at least one nodal connection of the plurality of nodal connections representing an association between a subset of the plurality of nodes (fig 4, fig 5(504), and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja).
Regarding claim 15: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the method of claim 13 (as rejected above), wherein executing the one or more operations of the application comprises: accessing the stored reference grid; and restoring, using the reference grid, the graph representation of the computing application (fig 7 (714-720) and [0203]-[0205] of Mamy Randriamihaja – the generated reference grid (knowledge graph) stored in memory is accessed by user input and used to restore/recreate the graph representations of information and relationships).
Regarding claim 20: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instruction thereon that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device (fig 2(230) and [0143]-[0145] of Mamy Randriamihaja) to: generate, for a computing application having a plurality of entities, a reference grid comprising a first cell associated with a first entity of the plurality of entities (fig 5 and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – reference grid 500 with first cell 502 with values and connections for a plurality of biomedical entities and relationships), the first cell comprising: a plurality of values jointly indicating (i) presence or absence of entities along a plurality of directions of the reference grid associated with the first cell (fig 5(504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – edges along directions between nodes show the presence of absence of various categories by the presence or absence of each type of indication), and (ii) a degree of association of the first entity with one or more entities present along one or more directions of the plurality of directions (fig 5(502,504) and [0184] of Mamy Randriamihaja – size of node 502, length and thickness of edge 504, and other possible indications show the degree of association between nodes); store the reference grid in a memory device communicatively coupled to the processing device (fig 2(224), fig 6, fig 7(712,714), [0143]-[0144], and [0203]-[0204] of Mamy Randriamihaja – data storage 224 used to store data, which would include the grid of nodes and connections); and execute one or more operations of the computing application using the stored reference grid (fig 6, fig 7(716,718,720), and [0205]-[0206] of Mamy Randriamihaja – stored grid can be used to execute operations based in part on user input selection).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
The factual inquiries 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.
7. Claims 5 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mamy Randriamihaja (US-2023/0281391) in view of Love (US-9,787,705).
Regarding claim 5: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the system of claim 3 (as rejected above). Mamy Randriamihaja does not disclose wherein to generate the reference grid, the one or more processing units are further to: select a dimensionality of the reference grid based on at least one of: a number of nodes of the plurality of nodes of the graph representation, or a number of nodal connections of the graph representation.
Love discloses wherein to generate the reference grid, the one or more processing units are further to: select a dimensionality of the reference grid based on at least one of: a number of nodes of the plurality of nodes of the graph representation, or a number of nodal connections of the graph representation (fig 4; column 7, lines 1-10; column 14, lines 38-46; and column 16, lines 23-30 of Love – can be reduced to lower number of dimensions to simplify the data when the number of nodes and/or connections allow for dimensional reduction).
Mamy Randriamihaja and Love are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely processing of information contained using nodes and connections. Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to generate the reference grid by selecting a dimensionality of the reference grid based on at least one of: a number of nodes of the plurality of nodes of the graph representation, or a number of nodal connections of the graph representation, as taught by Love. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce the needed memory and processing power, thus providing greater computational efficiency. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Mamy Randriamihaja according to the relied-upon teachings of Love to obtain the invention as specified in claim 5.
Regarding claim 14: Mamy Randriamihaja discloses the method of claim 13 (as rejected above). Mamy Randriamihaja does not disclose wherein generating the reference grid further comprises: selecting a dimensionality of the reference grid based on at least one of: a number of the plurality of nodes of the graph representation, or a number of nodal connections of the graph representation.
Love discloses wherein generating the reference grid further comprises: selecting a dimensionality of the reference grid based on at least one of: a number of the plurality of nodes of the graph representation, or a number of nodal connections of the graph representation (fig 4; column 7, lines 1-10; column 14, lines 38-46; and column 16, lines 23-30 of Love – can be reduced to lower number of dimensions to simplify the data when the number of nodes and/or connections allow for dimensional reduction).
Mamy Randriamihaja and Love are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely processing of information contained using nodes and connections. Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to generate the reference grid by selecting a dimensionality of the reference grid based on at least one of: a number of nodes of the plurality of nodes of the graph representation, or a number of nodal connections of the graph representation, as taught by Love. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce the needed memory and processing power, thus providing greater computational efficiency. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Mamy Randriamihaja according to the relied-upon teachings of Love to obtain the invention as specified in claim 14.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 7-10 and 16-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
A. Gonzalez-Aguirre, US-2021/0213617-A1, which teaches point cloud data processing based on data nodes and connections.
B. Timmons, US-11,023,421-B1, which teaches processing massive collections of data using nodes and edges.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James A Thompson whose telephone number is (571)272-7441. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alicia Harrington can be reached at 571-272-2330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES A THOMPSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2615
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