Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 26, 2026
Application No. 19/110,920

INFORMATION ANALYSIS METHOD, INFORMATION ANALYSIS SERVER, AND DIGITAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Mar 12, 2025
Priority
Oct 26, 2022 — JP 2022-171341 +1 more
Examiner
GEBRESENBET, DINKU W
Art Unit
2164
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Hitachi Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
71%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 10m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 71% — above average
71%
Career Allowance Rate
437 granted / 614 resolved
+16.2% vs TC avg
Strong +35% interview lift
Without
With
+34.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 5m
Avg Prosecution
11 currently pending
Career history
635
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
15.7%
-24.3% vs TC avg
§103
57.6%
+17.6% vs TC avg
§102
15.9%
-24.1% vs TC avg
§112
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 614 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Claims 1-11 are present and Claims 1-11 pending. Drawings The drawings received on 12 March 2025 are accepted by the Examiner. This Office Action is Non-Final. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on March 12, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner. Claims rejection 35 U.S.C. 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, 6-9 and 11 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chin et al. (US 20180157662 A1) in view of Nayak et al. (US 20190034451 A1) further in view of Griffin (US 20090319544 A1). Regarding claims 1, 6 and 11 Chin discloses an information analysis method for an information analysis server including a processor and a memory to analyze files used in a work terminal connected via a network, the information analysis method comprising: a first step, in which the information analysis server acquires files used in a plurality of phases of a work by phase and records the files to phase document information in association with locations of the files and the phases (see Chin paragraph [0135], document hosting system 902 can provide an efficient storage option for users that have large collections of digital content. For example, document hosting system 902 can store a collection of digital content on document hosting system 902, while the client device 906 only stores reduced-sized versions of the digital content); a second step, in which the information analysis server analyzes words included in each file and determines a file similar in words to be a relevant file to provide a relational link (see Chin paragraph [0039], the document hosting system 102 analyzes documents, files, and other data objects (e.g., folders, user profiles, and terms associated with the documents) to determine relationships between or among the documents and the other data objects; see Chin paragraph [0046], the document hosting system 102 can apply natural language processing to detect the contents of the corpus of documents and to identify keywords or keyphrases from within the contents of the corpus of documents. By using grammar rules and an electronic dictionary or thesaurus (or similar information), in some embodiments, the document hosting system 102 detects and differentiates between common terms, keywords or keyphrases, articles, prepositional phrases, and other grammatical constructs within a document or another data object); and a third step, in which the information analysis server records files used in each phase, …and relational links provided to the files to meta information (see Chin paragraph [0051], when performing an analysis of documents—the document hosting system 102 can identify relationships among the documents and other data objects. For example, during an analysis of user profiles, in some embodiments, the document hosting system 102 identifies that a couple of users are team members; have worked on or are assigned to the same project; are superior or subordinate to one or the other user; have collaborated on (or both contributed to) a folder, document, or project; or work from the same location, such as the same office or city. Based on the analysis of the user profiles, the document hosting system 102 can generate edges that respectively correspond to each of the identified relationships and connect user nodes within the object graph—including a team member edge, project edge, superior-to-subordinate edge, or document collaboration edge). Nayak expressly discloses locations of the files (see Nayak paragraph [0047], identifying the document may include identifying information associated with the document, such as metadata. Information associated with a document may include temporal information, such as information indicating a date, a time, or a date and time when the document was created (creation information), opened or viewed (access information), or modified (modification information). Information associated with a document may include user information, such as biographical information. Information associated with a document may include location information, such as physical or virtual location information. Information associated with a document may include contextual information, such as event or situation information. Information associated with a document may include relationship information, such as information indicating an organizational relationship, a contextual relationship, or an interpersonal relationship. Information associated with a document may include any other information relevant to the document). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Nayak into the method of Chin to have identifying locations of the files. Here, combining Nayak with Chin which are both related to data processing improves Chin by providing efficient method for collaboration on shared documents, (See Nayak paragraph [0003]). Griffin expressly discloses files …used in a plurality of phases of a work by phase and records the files to phase document information … and the phases (see Griffin paragraph [0289]-[0291],each document is a complex object having a document type object, a document class object, one or more document segment and sub-segment objects, and one or more business term objects, as can be seen in FIG. 6A. Each business term object may be associated with a business term class object. The document version object may have a work status attribute, a version status attribute, and a document priority attribute. [0290] The document object may be associated with a stage object, which itself may be associated with a project phase object, which itself may be associated with a project object. [0291] The document object further may be associated with a system object, which itself may be associated with a system type object. The document version object may still further be associated with a business process object and a business area). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Griffin into the method of Chin to have used in a plurality of phases of a work by phase and records the files to phase document information. Here, combining Griffin with Chin which are both related to data processing improves Chin by providing improved method for enterprise-wide data management and system integration, (See Griffin paragraph [0013]). Regarding claims 2 and 7, Chin discloses, wherein the second step includes calculating appearance frequencies of the words by file, calculating rates of match of predetermined high-ranked words in appearance frequency between files as similarities, and determining that two files are relevant to provide a relational link in a case where a similarity of the two files is higher than a predetermined first threshold value (see Chin paragraph [0073], the frequency of occurrences may represent the frequency of occurrences of a term within a document or documents' content or metadata compared to other terms, the frequency of occurrences of a term within the title of documents within a folder compared to other terms, the frequency of occurrences users have collaborated together (e.g., on a document, project, team) compared to collaboration with other users, the frequency of occurrences a user has edited the contents or metadata of a document or folder compared to edits of other documents or folders, or the frequency of occurrences a user has viewed the contents or metadata of a document or folder compared to views of another document or folder). Regarding claims 3 and 8, Nayak expressly discloses, wherein the second step includes determining that two files are relevant to provide a relational link as far as a similarity of the two files is higher than a predetermined second threshold value that is higher than the first threshold value even in a case where the two files are used in different phases (see Nayak paragraph [0050], The collaborative similarity may be identified based on one or more collaboration metrics, such as the content of a document (content information) or information associated with a document (metadata information), or based on a combination of collaboration metrics. Identifying a collaborative similarity may include using a threshold, such as a threshold based on a degree of similarity. In some implementations, identifying collaborative similarity may include weighting the metrics. For example, a relatively high threshold may be used for identifying a collaborative similarity based on content, a weight may be applied to the threshold to lower the threshold where the collaborative similarity is based on content similarity and one or a few points of metadata similarity, and a greater weight may be applied to lower the threshold further where the collaborative similarity is based on content similarity and several points of metadata similarity. In some implementations, identifying a collaborative similarity may be performed substantially concurrently with creation, access, or modification of a document). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Nayak into the method of Chin to have predetermined second threshold value that is higher than the first threshold value. Here, combining Nayak with Chin which are both related to data processing improves Chin by providing efficient method for collaboration on shared documents, (See Nayak paragraph [0003]). Regarding claims 4 and 9, Chin discloses, wherein the meta information includes file-level meta-information holding the relational links, …, and the appearance frequencies of words by file and phase-level meta-information holding the relational links, …, and the appearance frequencies of words by phase (see Chin paragraph [0039], the document hosting system 102 analyzes documents, files, and other data objects (e.g., folders, user profiles, and terms associated with the documents) to determine relationships between or among the documents and the other data objects; see Chin paragraph [0046], the document hosting system 102 can apply natural language processing to detect the contents of the corpus of documents and to identify keywords or keyphrases from within the contents of the corpus of documents. By using grammar rules and an electronic dictionary or thesaurus (or similar information), in some embodiments, the document hosting system 102 detects and differentiates between common terms, keywords or keyphrases, articles, prepositional phrases, and other grammatical constructs within a document or another data object). Nayak expressly discloses locations of the files (see Nayak paragraph [0047], identifying the document may include identifying information associated with the document, such as metadata. Information associated with a document may include temporal information, such as information indicating a date, a time, or a date and time when the document was created (creation information), opened or viewed (access information), or modified (modification information). Information associated with a document may include user information, such as biographical information. Information associated with a document may include location information, such as physical or virtual location information. Information associated with a document may include contextual information, such as event or situation information. Information associated with a document may include relationship information, such as information indicating an organizational relationship, a contextual relationship, or an interpersonal relationship. Information associated with a document may include any other information relevant to the document). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Nayak into the method of Chin to have identifying locations of the files. Here, combining Nayak with Chin which are both related to data processing improves Chin by providing efficient method for collaboration on shared documents, (See Nayak paragraph [0003]). Claims 5 and 10 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chin et al. (US 20180157662 A1) in view of Nayak et al. (US 20190034451 A1) further in view of Griffin (US 20090319544 A1) further in view of Zhang (CN 103324552 B). Regarding claims 5 and 10, Zhang expressly discloses generating … meta-information by aggregating or combining file level meta-information (see Zhang page 5, the small file information to the server, the server performs the same file detection, there are same files, registering the client to the file reference, there is no same file then interacts with the client is uploaded to the file server. the server terminal to classify the file, and according to the characteristics of the file, organizing and storing the meta information of the file, the file size and type, using different policies to be stored. when the server is idle, the server detecting the similar files of the file, the file is classified, the file combining the classified block-level de-emphasis technique). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Zhang into the method of Chin to have aggregating or combining file level meta-information. Here, combining Zhang with Chin which are both related to data processing improves Chin by providing efficient method for using the established metadata information library to inquire, so not only the metadata is very large, reducing search speed, (See Zhang page 2). Remarks The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Wade et al. (US 20190236102 A1) ystems and methods for differential document analysis and storage are provided. Specifically, the system can be configured to perform one or more differential analyses on a set of documents to detect and measure changes in language across entire sets of documents of a similar type, as well as changes in language in the specific objects (e.g., document sections, paragraphs, clauses) of the documents. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DINKU W GEBRESENBET whose telephone number is (571)270-1636. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:00AM-5:00PM. 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, Amy Ng can be reached on 571- 270-1698. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /DINKU W GEBRESENBET/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2164
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Prosecution Timeline

Mar 12, 2025
Application Filed
Oct 06, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
71%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+34.8%)
3y 5m (~1y 10m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 614 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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