DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The Action is res e present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The Action is responsive to the Remarks filed 03/04/2026.
Please note claims 1-10, 12-17 and 19-22 are pending and stand rejected, in which claims 1, 15 and 20 are independent.
Foreign Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed China Patent Application No. CN201910370345.9, filed 05/06/2019, under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 05/07/2025 are compliant with 37 CFR 1.97(c) and therein have been considered. Its corresponding PTO-1449 have been electronically signed as attached.
Claim Interpretation
A “patent is invalid for indefiniteness if its claims, read in light of the specification delineating the patent, and the prosecution history, fail to inform, with reasonable certainty, those skilled in the art about the scope of the invention.” Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., 134 S.Ct. 2120, 2124, 110 USPQ2d 1688 (2014). The Office does not interpret claims when examining patent applications in the same manner as the courts. The Office construes claims by giving them their broadest reasonable interpretation during prosecution in an effort to establish a clear record of what the applicant intends to claim. See, MPEP 2173.02 (Determining Whether Claim Language is Definite). Such claim construction during prosecution may effectively result in a lower threshold for ambiguity than a court's determination. Id. However, Applicant has the ability to amend the claims during prosecution to ensure that the meaning of the language is clear and definite prior to issuance or provide a persuasive explanation (with evidence as necessary) that a person of ordinary skill in the art would not consider the claim language unclear. Id. (citing In re Buszard, 504 F.3d 1364, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (claims are given their broadest reasonable interpretation during prosecution “to facilitate sharpening and clarifying the claims at the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/04/2026 have been fully and respectfully considered. As per the Examiner’s responses, please refer to below discussions.
With respect to claims 1 (applicable to claims 11 and 20), the Applicant argued that Miller [reference] “”fails to disclose "generate an industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components" in amended claim 1.””, the Examiner respectfully submits that,
As cited, Miller teaches creating and modifying supply chain that arranges and links nodes into rooted tree. A tree is a form of graph, for example, by Wikipedia, “A tree is a specialized, restricted form of a graph that is hierarchical, connected, and acyclic (no loops), with exactly one path between any two nodes. Conversely, a graph is a general network structure that can have cycles, multiple paths between nodes, and may not be fully connected.”. The Examiner further respectfully submits that the supply chain as disclosed by Miller is an industry chain and the nodes of the supply chain tree reads on the components on the tree as a form graph.
Double Patenting Rejections
The Double Patenting Rejections is hereby held abeyance. The rejections will be presented when allowable subject matter is established and the rejections deems necessary.
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the "right to exclude" granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Omum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent 11580463 (issued 02/14/2023 to the parent application 16681943). Although the conflicting are not patentably distinct from each other because since the claims of the U.S. Patent 11580463 contain elements of the claims of the instant application, and as such, anticipate the claims of the instant application.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not all in fact been patented.
Patent 11580463 claims 1-20
Instant Application claims 1-20
1. A system for industry field analysis, comprising:
at least one non-transitory storage medium including a set of instructions; and
at least one processor in communication with the at least one non-transitory storage medium,
wherein when executing the set of instructions, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
acquire a key word related to an industry field;
determine a plurality of components in an industry chain of the industry field by
retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word related to the industry field;
construct one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain based on an industry data,
wherein at least one link of the one or more links includes a direction, the direction is determined based on a certain verb in a sentence that relates to the plurality of components from the information; and
generate an industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components, and the one or more links.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein to determine the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
determine one or more synonyms of the key word; and
determine the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word and the one or more synonyms of the key word.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one link of the one or more links includes a direction that indicates a direction of a flow of resources.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one component of the plurality of components includes one or more sub-components.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein to determine the plurality of components in the industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word related to the industry field, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
determine a key word group related to the industry field based on the key word; and
determine the plurality of components by retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word group of the industry field.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to: cause a visualized interface to display the industry chain graph.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
retrieve industry data corresponding to the industry field based on the key word related to the industry field from one or more information sources.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system to:
generate an indicator for providing industry data related to the one or more links.
7. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system to:
generate an indicator for providing industry data related to the plurality of components.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to:
cause a visualized interface to display one or more indicators representing the plurality of components in the industry chain graph;
in response to receiving a click of an indicator representing one of the plurality of components from a user terminal, provide a hyperlink directed to a page including industry data related to the component represented by the clicked indicator.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to:
generate a report related to the industry field based on the industry chain graph.
12. A method for industry field analysis, comprising:
acquiring a key word related to an industry field;
determining a plurality of components in an industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word related to the industry field;
construct one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain based on an industry data,
wherein at least one link of the one or more links includes a direction, the direction is determined based on a certain verb in a sentence that relates to the plurality of components from the information; and
generating an industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the plurality of components in the industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word related to the industry field includes:
determining a key word group related to the industry field based on the key word; and
determining the plurality of components by retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word group of the industry field.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word includes:
determining one or more synonyms of the key word; and
determining the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word and the one or more synonyms of the key word.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the generating the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links includes:
retrieving the industry data corresponding to the industry field based on the key word related to the industry field from one or more information sources.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the direction of the at least one link of the one or more links includes a direction that indicates a direction of a flow of resources.
17. The method of claim 15, further includes:
generate an indicator for providing industry data related to the one or more links or the plurality of components.
18. The method of claim 12, further includes:
causing a visualized interface to display one or more indicators representing the plurality of components in the industry chain graph;
in response to receiving a click of an indicator representing one of the plurality of components from a user terminal, providing a hyperlink directed to a page including industry data related to the component represented by the clicked indicator.
19. The method of claim 11, further includes:
generating a report related to the industry field based on the industry chain graph.
20. A non-transitory computer readable medium including a set of instructions for industry field analysis, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the set of instructions direct the at least one processor to effectuate a method, the method comprising:
acquiring a key word related to an industry field;
determining a plurality of components in an industry chain of the industry field by
retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word related to the industry field;
construct one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain based on an industry data, wherein at least one link of the one or more links includes a direction, the direction is determined based on a certain verb in a sentence that relates to the plurality of components from the information; and
generating an industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links.
1. A system for industry field analysis, comprising:
at least one non-transitory storage medium including a set of instructions; and
at least one processor in communication with the at least one non-transitory storage medium,
wherein when executing the set of instructions, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
acquire a key word related to an industry field;
determine a plurality of components in an industry chain of the industry field by
retrieving and analyzing one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field; and
generate an industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components,
wherein at least one component of the plurality of components includes one or more sub-components, the plurality of components are determined based on one or more information sources of the industry field or industry data, the one or more sub-components is determined based on the plurality of components and the industry data or the one or more information sources, and the one or more information sources include different weights based on publishers of the one or more information sources.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
construct one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain; and
generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein to construct the one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
construct the one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain based on industry data, the industry data includes one or more economic indexes relating to the industry field.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one link of the one or more links includes a direction, and the direction of the at least one link of the one or more links indicates a direction of a flow of resources.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
determine the direction of the at least one link based on a certain verb in a sentence of the one or more sentences that relates to the plurality of components; and
generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the direction of the at least one link of the one or more links.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein to determine the plurality of components in the industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing the one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
determine a key word group related to the industry field based on the key word; and
determine the plurality of components by retrieving and analyzing the one or more sentences related to the key word group of the industry field.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein to determine the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
determine one or more synonyms of the key word; and
determine the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word and the one or more synonyms of the key word.
8. The system of claim 3, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
retrieve the industry data corresponding to the industry field based on the key word related to the industry field from the one or more information sources.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system to:
generate an indicator for providing industry data related to the one or more links.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system to:
generate an indicator for providing industry data related to the plurality of components.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to:
cause a visualized interface to display the industry chain graph.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to:
cause a visualized interface to display one or more indicators representing the plurality of components in the industry chain graph;
in response to receiving a click of an indicator representing one of the plurality of components from a user terminal, provide a hyperlink directed to a page including industry data related to the component represented by the clicked indicator.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to:
generate a report related to the industry field based on the industry chain graph.
15. A method for industry field analysis, comprising:
acquiring a key word related to an industry field;
determining a plurality of components in an industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field; and
generating an industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components,
wherein at least one component of the plurality of components includes one or more sub-components, the plurality of components are determined based on one or more information sources of the industry field or industry data, the one or more sub-components is determined based on the plurality of components and the industry data or the one or more information sources, and the one or more information sources include different weights based on publishers of the one or more information sources.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the generating the industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components includes: constructing one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain; and
generating the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining the plurality of components in the industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing the one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field includes:
determining a key word group related to the industry field based on the key word; and
determining the plurality of components by retrieving and analyzing the one or more sentences related to the key word group of the industry field.
19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
causing a visualized interface to display one or more indicators representing the plurality of components in the industry chain graph; and
in response to receiving a click of an indicator representing one of the plurality of components from a user terminal, providing a hyperlink directed to a page including industry data related to the component represented by the clicked indicator.
20. A non-transitory computer readable medium including a set of instructions for industry field analysis, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the set of instructions direct the at least one processor to effectuate a method, the method comprising:
acquiring a key word related to an industry field;
determining a plurality of components in an industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field; and
generating an industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components,
wherein at least one component of the plurality of components includes one or more sub-components, the plurality of components are determined based on one or more information sources of the industry field or industry data, the one or more sub-components is determined based on the plurality of components and the industry data or the one or more information sources, and the one or more information sources include different weights based on publishers of the one or more information sources.
21. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system further to:
determine a report template based on the industry field and one or more condition values related to the report, wherein the report template includes one or more data query sections and one or more conclusion sections;
acquire report data based on the one or more data query sections of the report template from the industry chain graph;
generate one or more conclusions based on the report data; and
generate the report based on the report template, the report data, and the one or more conclusions.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the one or more conclusions is determined based on:
a trend of a business indicator within the industry chain over a period of time; and
a comparison between a plurality of business indicators within the industry chain across a same time period.
“Omission of element and its function in combination is obvious expedient if the remaining elements perform same functions as before.” See In re Karlson (CCPA) 136 USPQ 184, decide Jan 16, 1963, Appl. No. 6857, U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of - 35 USC § 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 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 non-obviousness.
For application naming joint inventors, in considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-4, 12-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 USC § 103 as being unpatentable over
Miller et al.: “FORECASTING SUPPLY CHAIN COMPONENTS”, (U.S. Patent US 9721295 B1, DATE PUBLISHED 2017-08-01 and DATE FILED 2012-03-26, hereafter “Miller"), in view of
DINGERDISSEN et al.: “DYNAMIC CHEMICAL NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD ACCOUNTING FOR INTERRELATED GLOBAL PROCESSING VARIABLES”, (United States Patent Application Publication US 20190180210 A1, DATE PUBLISHED 2019-06-13 and DATE FILED 2017-12-11, hereafter “DINGERDISSEN").
As per claim 1, Miller teaches a system for industry field analysis, comprising:
at least one non-transitory storage medium including a set of instructions (See col. 10, lines 53-54, software or code can be embodied in any non-transitory computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system such as, for example, a processor 503 in a computer system); and
at least one processor in communication with the at least one non-transitory storage medium (See col. 9, lines 1-2, stored in the memory 506 are both data and several components that are executable by the processor),
wherein when executing the set of instructions, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system ( See col. 10, lines 57-60, statements including instructions and declarations that can be fetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by the instruction execution system) to:
acquire a key word related to an industry field (See col. 11, lines 29-32, obtaining order data that expresses an order for an item and comprises at least one supply chain identifier associated with the order. The supply chain teaches the industry field and supply chain identifier teaches the key);
determine a plurality of components in an industry chain of the industry field by retrieving [one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field] (See col. 3, lines 42-49, the order data relating to placed orders order may including identifiers, item identifiers, supply chain identifiers, selected options, quantities, shipping methods, payment status, destination address(es), order status, item status, supply chain component status, and so on. Here placed order teaches the sentence retrieved and the listed components of the order data of the supply chain teaches the components of the order data determined) and
analyzing one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field (See col.4, lines 50-58, Once a supply chain is defined, the finished product of the supply chain may be made available as an item 133. Merchants may choose to permit others to view some or all of the detail of a supply chain associated with an item 133, or the merchant may choose to restrict all information associated with the supply chain. In some embodiments, a merchant may assign permissions for the supply chain to select users and/or groups that control visibility of portions and details of the supply chain. Here the activities of viewing the supply chain item, restricting the supply chain information, assigning permissions to users of the supply chain and controlling visibility of portions and details of the supply chain reads on analysis involved for the supply chain item, supply chain information, users of the supply chain, portions and details of the supply chain reads on the sentences of the supply chain related to the supply chain identifiers); and
generate an industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components (See Fig. 1, col. 2, lines 46-53 and col. 8, lines 1-7, the supply chain engine 123 may employ supply chain data, order data, user data, and/or other data from the data store to support creation and modification of supply chains associated with an order by users, and the supply chain engine 123 may arrange and link each of the nodes according to the arrangement of the corresponding components of the supply chain within the supply chain data 136 (FIG. 1). The result of the arrangement is a tree whose root is the final product of the supply chain and the branches form a temporal sequence of components of the final product. Here the node and links of the supply chain interface are arranged into a rooted tree within the interface. Here the arranged rooted supply chain tree teaches the supply chain graph, industry chain graph.).
Miller does not explicitly teach wherein at least one component of the plurality of components includes one or more sub-components.
However, DINGERDISSEN teaches wherein at least one component of the plurality of components includes one or more sub-components (See [0068], production and/or business planning/forecasting preferably include cost calculation, and the cost calculation component includes subcomponents cost of investment, cost of capital, and/or overall cost of production.).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the Applicant’s application was filed to combine DINGERDISSEN’s teaching with Miller because DINGERDISSEN is dedicated to forecasting production and business in the global chemical industry and Miller is dedicated to generating an interface for communication of one supply chain associated with an order that comprises forecast completion times for components of the supply chain, and the combined teaching of Miller and DINGERDISSEN references would have enabled Miller’s system to forecast production and business in time for avoiding problems along the supply chains for the products until the products fail to arrive on time.
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN further teaches the following:
the plurality of components are determined based on one or more information sources of the industry field or industry data (See DINGERDISSEN: [0069], the demand component includes several aspects in addition to the current demand for a product or service. On a high level it represents the global usage or consumption of a particular material when considered overall in the global chemical industry.),
the one or more sub-components is determined based on the plurality of components and the industry data or the one or more information sources (See DINGERDISSEN: [0069], the cost calculation component includes several subcomponents including the cost of investment, cost of capital, and/or overall cost of production (may be inclusive of a series of variable and fixed costs such as energy, depreciation, feedstocks, cost of labor, and the like). Preferably a profit calculation or profit variable is included in the overall cost calculation component. The purpose of the profit calculation is to provide help determine whether a particular chemical process), and
the one or more information sources include different weights based on publishers of the one or more information sources (See DINGERDISSEN: [0077], the internal variables are commonly calculated from data that is directly related to process data (at a manufacturing, inventory or supply level), market data (from internal sales, observed sales or market intelligence) and supply chain factors such as trading cost and taxes which are observed directly from participants in particular markets. Other internal data may be obtained from consultants or experts and/or from governmental or industry organizations such as the American Chemical Conference. Likewise, economic data from sources such as the World Bank may be used as a basis for variables such as GDP growth, inflation and energy prices.).
As per claim 2, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 1, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based at least on the plurality of components, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
construct one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain (See Miller: Abstract, each link connects two of the nodes and indicates a relationship between the corresponding components of the at least one supply chain); and
generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links (See Miller: col. 8, lines 1-7, the supply chain engine 123 may arrange and link each of the nodes according to the arrangement of the corresponding components of the supply chain within the supply chain data 136 (FIG. 1). The result of the arrangement is a tree whose root is the final product of the supply chain and the branches form a temporal sequence of components of the final product.).
As per claim 3, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 2, wherein to construct the one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
construct the one or more links between the plurality of components in the industry chain based on industry data, the industry data includes one or more economic indexes relating to the industry field (See Miller: col. 4, lines 38-49, The supply chain comprises a representation of the components of a finished product and the steps needed to assemble those components into the finished product. In some embodiments, the steps of a supply chain may depend upon a price associated with one or more components of the supply chain. The supply chain may be described in varying degrees of detail, but may include, for example, input materials, location of production, proposed completion time for production, production capacity, specifications of the product, delivery methods/restrictions, identifier for the supply chain, and/or other data as can be appreciated. Here prices of input materials, location of production, proposed completion time for production, production capacity, specifications of the product, delivery methods/restrictions, identifier for the supply chain, and/or other data as can be appreciated teaches the economic indexes relating to the supply chain).
As per claim 4, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 3, wherein at least one link of the one or more links includes a direction, and the direction of the at least one link of the one or more links indicates a direction of a flow of resources (See Miller: Fig. 2 and col., lines , the nodes 203a-i, identified by identifier of corresponding name, representing components of a supply chain, the transportation nodes may further display the origination and destination of the shipment, and links 212 may be used between each pair of nodes 203a-i to illustrate a temporal relationship and hierarchy among the nodes 203a-i. The various nodes 203a-i are collectively linked preserving the relationship and hierarchy among the nodes 203a-i to form a rooted tree, with the finished product of the supply chain being designated as the root node 215. As depicted in Fig. 2, each is arrow-directed indicating the flow of components, the nodes or the resource).
As per claim 12, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to: cause a visualized interface to display the industry chain graph (See Miller: Fig. 2 and col. 6, lines 9-11, the implementation of user-interface displaying the status of supply chain(s) associated with an order.).
As per claim 13, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to:
cause a visualized interface to display one or more indicators representing the plurality of components in the industry chain graph (See Miller: Fig. 2, col. 4, lines 28-30 and col. 6, lines 12-13, a user may wish to visualize the forecast and/or the current activity of one or more supply 30 chains associated with an item 133 from an order, and the nodes 203a Brake Assembly teaches indicator representing a component of a supply chain);
in response to receiving a click of an indicator representing one of the plurality of components from a user terminal, provide a hyperlink directed to a page including industry data related to the component represented by the clicked indicator (See Miller: col. 6, lines 30-35, the user-interface may be customized to show particular information for a node, and display additional information about a node if requested by a user. The request may be in the form of input received from a mouse click, from hovering a pointer over the node, and/or other input methods).
As per claim 14, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct the system further to: generate a report related to the industry field based on the industry chain graph (See Miller: col. 6, lines 64-67 and col. 7, lines 26-28, the user-interface 169 includes a zoom function 224 to support generating more generalized or more detailed views of the supply chain(s) associated with the order and a zoom indicator 303 may be used to show the user the level of detail currently used to display the supply chain(s). Here displaying a view of a generated supply chain teaches a report of the supply chain generated).
As per claims 15-16 and 19, the claims recite the methods for industry field analysis, comprising the steps of the operations performed by the systems as recited in claims 1-2 and 13, respectively, above and as rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN.
Therefore, claims 15-16 and 19 are rejected along the same rationale that rejected claims 1-2 and 13, respectively.
As per claim 20, the claim recites a non-transitory computer readable medium including a set of instructions for industry field analysis, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the set of instructions direct the at least one processor to (See Miller: col. 10, lines 53-60, software or code can be embodied in any non-transitory computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system such as, for example, a processor 503 in a computer system and statements including instructions and declarations that can be fetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by the instruction execution system) effectuate a method, the method comprising the steps of the operations performed by the system as recited in claim 1 above and as rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN.
Therefore, claim 20 is rejected along the same rationale that rejected claim 1.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, as applied to claims 1-4, 12-16 and 19-20 above, and further in view of
Jacobsen et al.: “CREATION, EDITING AND NAVIGATION OF DIAGRAMS”, (U.S. Patent Application Publication US 20120154283 A1, filed 2010-12-17; and published 2012-06-21, hereafter “Jacobsen").
As per claim 5, concerning “the system of claim 4, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to: determine the direction of the at least one link based on a certain verb in a sentence of the one or more sentences that relates to the plurality of components”, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches “the system of claim 4, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to: determine the direction of the at least one link” (See Miller Fig. 2 and col. 6, lines 43-46, the various nodes 203a-i are collectively linked preserving the relationship and hierarchy among the nodes 203a-i to form a rooted tree, with the finished product of the supply chain being designated as the root node 215. Here the nodes are collectively linked for preserving the relationship and hierarchy to form a tree and the finished product being designated as ending node teaches the direction of the links ending at the root node.).
However, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN does not explicitly teach the determining of the direction of the at least one link “based on a certain verb in a sentence of the one or more sentences that relates to the plurality of components”.
On the other hand, Jacobsen teaches the determining of the direction of the at least one link “based on a certain verb in a sentence of the one or more sentences that relates to the plurality of components” (See [0003] and [0049], user interfaces include graphical user interfaces, text command line based user interface, function key or hot key user interfaces, and the like, and the type of element and relationship gets created is derived from the direction of the command, the node from which the gesture began, and/or user preference and/or recent activity among others. Here the text command line reads on the line as sentence and command suggests an action comprising a verb).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the Applicant's application was filed to combine the teaching of Jacobsen with Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN reference because Miller is dedicated to generating an interface for communication of at least one supply chain associated with an order, DINGERDISSEN is dedicated to forecasting production and business in the global chemical industry and Jacobsen is dedicated to displaying to a user a representation of spatially structured data, and the combined teaching would have enabled Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN to enhance the view of a supply chain by visualized presentation for allowing user to better comprehend the flow of the supply chain.
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, and further in view Jacobsen further teaches the system of claim 4, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the direction of the at least one link of the one or more links (See Miller: Figs. 3-4, col. 7, lines 49-51, the supply chain engine calculates a forecast completion time for components of the supply chain(s) associated with the current order, adds nodes representing the various components of the supply chain(s). Portions of the supply chain(s) including, for example, various components, information about the components, and/or other data and arranges and links each of the nodes according to the arrangement of the corresponding components of the supply chain within the supply chain data).
Claims 8-10, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, as applied to claims 1-4, 12-16 and 19-20 above, and further in view of
Ma; Moses T.: "METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY USING A BLOCKCHAIN", (U.S. Patent U.S. Patent Application Publication US 20180285996 Al, filed 2018-04-02; and published 2018-10-04, hereafter "Ma").
As per claim 8, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 3, wherein to generate the industry chain graph related to the industry field based on the plurality of components and the one or more links, as described above when making rejections to claim 1.
However, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN does not explicitly teach the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to: retrieve the industry data corresponding to the industry field based on the key word related to the industry field from one or more information sources.
On the other hand, Ma teaches retrieving the industry data corresponding to the industry field based on the key word related to the industry field from one or more information sources (See [0019], receiving data having a number of content fields which describe intellectual property; receiving search term(s) for querying received intellectual property; collecting data describing intellectual property having matching search terms; determining which content fields of intellectual property having matching search terms to return to the searcher based on status and reputation of searcher; and providing determined content fields of matching intellectual property to searcher).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the Applicant's application was filed to combine the teaching of Ma with Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, and further in view Jacobsen reference because Miller is dedicated to generating an interface for communication of at least one supply chain associated with an order, and Jacobsen is dedicated to displaying to a user a representation of spatially structured data, DINGERDISSEN is dedicated to forecasting production and business in the global chemical industry and Ma is dedicated to processing intellectual property data, rights and transactions, specifically relate to blockchain technology and the combined teaching would have enabled Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, and further in view Ma for accessing, developing and maintaining a decentralized database through a peer-to-peer network, to preserve the original state of data input.
As per claim 9, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN and further in view of Ma teaches the system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system to: generate an indicator for providing industry data related to the one or more links (See Miller: Fig. 2, col. 4, lines 28-30 and col. 6, lines 12-13, a user may wish to visualize the forecast and/or the current activity of one or more supply 30 chains associated with an item 133 from an order, and the nodes 203a Brake Assembly teaches indicator representing a component of a supply chain).
As per claim 10, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN and further in view of Ma teaches the system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system to: generate an indicator for providing industry data related to the plurality of components (See Miller: Fig. 2, col. 4, lines 28-30 and col. 6, lines 12-13, a user may wish to visualize the forecast and/or the current activity of one or more supply 30 chains associated with an item 133 from an order, and the nodes 203a Brake Assembly teaches indicator representing a component of a supply chain).
Claims 6-7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, as applied to claims 1-4, 12-16 and 19-20 above, and further in view of
Holsman; Ian: “EVALUATING SUPPLY OF ELECTRONIC CONTENT RELATING TO KEYWORDS”, (U.S. Patent US 8799297 B2, filed 2011-03-21; and published 2014-08-05, hereafter “Holsman").
As per claim 6, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN teaches the system of claim 1, wherein to determine the plurality of components in the industry chain of the industry field by retrieving and analyzing the one or more sentences related to the key word related to the industry field, as described above in claim 1 rejection.
However, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN does not explicitly teach the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to: determine a key word group related to the industry field based on the key word.
On the other hand, Holsman teaches the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to: determine a key word group related to the industry field based on the key word (See col. 20, lines 60-61, grouping similar keywords into a keyword group for analysis).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the Applicant’s application was filed to combine the teaching of Holsman with Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN reference because Miller is dedicated to generating an interface for communication of at least one supply chain associated with an order, DINGERDISSEN is dedicated to forecasting production and business in the global chemical industry and Holsman is dedicated to evaluating the supply of content on an electronic network pertaining to one or more keywords, and the combined teaching would have enabled Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN to improve data retrieval by grouping keywords for data query and/or request and storing in database for repeated usage.
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, and further in view Holsman further teaches:
determine the plurality of components by retrieving and analyzing the one or more sentences related to the key word group of the industry field (See Holsman: col. 21, lines 1-11, selecting a keyword (e.g., "refinance") from a predetermined list of keywords, and may use one or more methods to identify a group of keywords that are similar to the selected keyword. Such methods may include, for example, keyword "stemming." For instance, in the case of the keyword "refinance," content management system 102 may identify a group of keywords that includes "refinancing," "refinanced," and "refinance. Here the data components retrieved by using keywords similar to the selected one also reads on the components by retrieving and analyzing information related to the key word group of the industry field).
As per claim 7, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, and further in view Holsman teaches the system of claim 6, wherein to determine the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to:
determine one or more synonyms of the key word (See Holsman: col. 21, lines 1-11, identify one or more synonyms of the selected keyword as being in the keyword group); and
determine the key word group related to the industry field based on the key word and the one or more synonyms of the key word (See Holsman: col. 21, lines 1-11, grouping similar keywords into a keyword group for analysis and identifying one or more synonyms of the selected keyword as being in the keyword group).
As per claim 17, the claim recites the methods for industry field analysis, comprising the steps of the operations performed by the systems as recited in claim 6 above and as rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, and further in view Holsman.
Therefore, claim 17 is rejected along the same rationale that rejected claim 6.
Claims 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, as applied to claims 1-4, 12-16 and 19-20 above, and further in view of
Matter, Bruce Edward: "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING NEGOTIATED TRANSACTIONS", (U.S. Patent U.S. Patent Application Publication US 20040163050 Al, Date Published 2004-08-19; and Date Filed 2003-11-21, hereafter "Matter").
As per claim 21, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN does not explicitly teach the system of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system further to:
determine a report template based on the industry field and one or more condition values related to the report.
However, Matter teaches the system of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to direct the system further to:
determine a report template based on the industry field and one or more condition values related to the report (See Fig. 9 and [0085]-[0089], creating and editing of report templates that relate to the Master Matrices, and the Master Matrix include fields for category and industry. The Cat field and the Industry field allow the user to include additional cross-references to permit further indexing of the Clause. The Select Business Rule field allows the user to associate a Business Rule with the Clause at the time the Clause is being added to the system. The Legal Approval field allows the user to flag whether an authorized attorney has reviewed the Clause for inclusion within the system as indexed.).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the Applicant’s application was filed to combine the teaching of Matter with Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN reference because Miller is dedicated to generating an interface for communication of at least one supply chain associated with an order, DINGERDISSEN is dedicated to forecasting production and business in the global chemical industry and Matter is dedicated to managing negotiated transactions and document preparation over a network, and the combined teaching would have enabled Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN to manages all types of information retrieved on the basis of enterprise-wide and real-time.
Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN, and further in view Matter further teaches:
wherein the report template includes one or more data query sections and one or more conclusion sections (See Matter: Fig. 13 and [0104], the user may formulate a search query in the "Formulate Search Query" field. When satisfied with the form of query, the user may select Run Query and the system will perform an automated login sequence that would connect to the selected service. Once connected, the query would be uploaded to the online service and executed.);
acquire report data based on the one or more data query sections of the report template from the industry chain graph (See Matter: Fig. 13 and [0104], the user may formulate a search query in the "Formulate Search Query" field. When satisfied with the form of query, the user may select Run Query and the system will perform an automated login sequence that would connect to the selected service. Once connected, the query would be uploaded to the online service and executed. );
generate one or more conclusions based on the report data (See Matter: Fig. 30B and [0139], report printout that may be generated using stored information; and r reports could be generated manually by users or they could be generated automatically after a specified period of time (i.e. monthly), or they could be generated based on pre-set values that if met or exceeded would trigger the generation of the report that could also be automatically emailed to specified users as an alert); and
generate the report based on the report template, the report data, and the one or more conclusions (See Matter: Figs. 9 and 30B, [0085]-[0089] and [0139], creating and editing of report templates that relate to the Master Matrices, and the Master Matrix include fields for category and industry. The Cat field and the Industry field allow the user to include additional cross-references to permit further indexing of the Clause. The Select Business Rule field allows the user to associate a Business Rule with the Clause at the time the Clause is being added to the system. The Legal Approval field allows the user to flag whether an authorized attorney has reviewed the Clause for inclusion within the system as indexed; and report printout that may be generated using stored information; and r reports could be generated manually by users or they could be generated automatically after a specified period of time (i.e. monthly), or they could be generated based on pre-set values that if met or exceeded would trigger the generation of the report that could also be automatically emailed to specified users as an alert).
As per claim 21, Miller in view of DINGERDISSEN and further ion view of Matter teaches the system of claim 21 , wherein the one or more conclusions is determined based on:
a trend of a business indicator within the industry chain over a period of time (See Matter: [0138], negotiating trends/tactics may be identified faster on a macro-level. Likewise, a counter-measure to any given tactic may be adopted and implemented throughout any given peer group using the system by making changes to the clause at the Master Matrices level and adding new business rules or other annotations to the particular clause that is the subject of such tactic.); and
a comparison between a plurality of business indicators within the industry chain across a same time period (See DINGERDISSEN: [0008], business planning for future growth is a common business practice in the chemical and related industries; and Matter: [0096], the Cat field and the Industry field allow the user to include additional cross-references to permit further indexing of the Business Rule.).
Related Prior Arts
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure can be found in the PTO-892 Notice of Reference Cited.
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 extension fee 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.
Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. SEE MPEP 2141.02 [R-5] VI. PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS: A prior art reference must be considered in its entirety, i.e., as a whole, including portions that would lead away from the claimed invention. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 220 USPQ 303 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984) In re Fulton, 391 F.3d 1195, 1201, 73 USPQ2d 1141, 1146 (Fed. Cir. 2004). >See also MPEP §2123.
In the case of amending the Claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KUEN S LU whose telephone number is (571)272-4114. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 8-19, Mid-Flex 2 hours.
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, Mr. Aleksandr Kerzhner can be reached on 571-270-1760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
KUEN S LU /Kuen S Lu/
Art Unit 2156
Primary Patent Examiner
March 20, 2026