Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
This action is in response to the communication filed on April 21, 2025.
Claims 1-20 are examined and are pending.
Double Patenting
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 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 Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); 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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12306857. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they are substantially similar in scope and use the same limitations. Especially, the U.S. Patent No. 12306857 discloses more details in query term analyzation and criterion. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to realize that claims 1-20 of the instant application is fully disclosed by the U.S. Patent No. 12306857.
The following table shows the claims in Instant Application that are rejected by corresponding claim(s) in U.S. Patent No. 12306857.
Instant Application: 19/184,935
Patent: 12306857
1. A method, comprising: receiving a search query containing query terms; contemporaneously processing the search query on content stored in a content repository and performing an impact analysis on the search query, wherein performing the impact analysis comprises: generating one or more modified search queries, each of the one or more modified search queries generated by deleting a query term from, adding a new query term to, or changing a keyword criterion in the search query; and determining a number of hits in an inverted index for each of the one or more modified search queries; and providing a query term analytics report indicating the number of hits for each of the one or more modified search queries.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the impact analysis further includes determining a number of hits responsive to a keyword or keyword criterion being excluded from or included in a modified search query.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: tracking a count of hits for each of the query terms in the search query using in-memory counters.
4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: updating a compressed bitset corresponding to the count.
5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: accumulating statistics on processing the search query using in-memory counters, wherein the query term analytics report is generated using the statistics thus accumulated.
6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: communicating the query term analytics report to a user device for presentation on the user device.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content comprises a document or an electronic message.
8. A system, comprising: a processor; a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and translatable by the processor for: receiving a search query containing query terms; contemporaneously processing the search query on content stored in a content repository and performing an impact analysis on the search query, wherein performing the impact analysis comprises: generating one or more modified search queries, each of the one or more modified search queries generated by deleting a query term from, adding a new query term to, or changing a keyword criterion in the search query; and determining a number of hits in an inverted index for each of the one or more modified search queries; and providing a query term analytics report indicating the number of hits for each of the one or more modified search queries.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the impact analysis further includes determining a number of hits responsive to a keyword or keyword criterion being excluded from or included in a modified search query.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: tracking a count of hits for each of the query terms in the search query using in-memory counters.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: updating a compressed bitset corresponding to the count.
12. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: accumulating statistics on processing the search query using in-memory counters, wherein the query term analytics report is generated using the statistics thus accumulated.
13. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: communicating the query term analytics report to a user device for presentation on the user device.
14. The system of claim 8, wherein the content comprises a document or an electronic message.
15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions translatable by a processor for: receiving a search query containing query terms; contemporaneously processing the search query on content stored in a content repository and performing an impact analysis on the search query, wherein performing the impact analysis comprises: generating one or more modified search queries, each of the one or more modified search queries generated by deleting a query term from, adding a new query term to, or changing a keyword criterion in the search query; and determining a number of hits in an inverted index for each of the one or more modified search queries; and providing a query term analytics report indicating the number of hits for each of the one or more modified search queries.
16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the impact analysis further includes determining a number of hits responsive to a keyword or keyword criterion being excluded from or included in a modified search query.
17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: tracking a count of hits for each of the query terms in the search query using in-memory counters.
18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: updating a compressed bitset corresponding to the count.
19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: accumulating statistics on processing the search query using in-memory counters, wherein the query term analytics report is generated using the statistics thus accumulated.
20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further translatable by the processor for: communicating the query term analytics report to a user device for presentation on the user device.
1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a query term analytics system from a user device, a search query containing query terms and keyword criteria, wherein the keyword criteria specify a location within content to be searched, the query term analytics system having a processor, a query processing engine executing on the processor, a computer memory communicatively connected to the query processing engine, counters in the computer memory, and a query term analytics report generator; processing, by the query processing engine, the search query against content stored in a content repository; contemporaneously with the processing and as the search query is being run against the content stored in the content repository, performing, by the query processing engine, a query term analysis by performing an impact analysis on the search query, wherein performing the impact analysis comprises: modifying the search query by removing and adding at least one of a respective query term and keyword criteria of the search query, thereby generating one or more modified search queries, comprising keywords corresponding to the respective query terms in the modified search queries; determining, during the execution of the search query, a number of hits in the inverted index for the keywords of each modified search query based on the keyword criteria of the corresponding modified search query, the query term analysis producing query term analytics including the number of hits on the keywords during execution of the search query; providing, by the query processing engine to the query term analytics report generator, the query term analytics on the keywords and keyword criteria in the modified search queries, wherein the query term analytics are provided without further selection from the user device; generating, by the query term analytics report generator based on the query term analytics, a query term analytics report describing the query term analytics for the modified search queries; and returning the search query results of the search query against the content stored in the content repository.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein impact analysis includes determining a number of hits responsive to the query term, the keyword, or the keyword criteria being excluded from or included in the search query.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the query term analysis includes keeping track of the query terms in the search query using the counters in the memory and leveraging the inverted index of the content stored in the content repository.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein keeping track of the query terms in the search query includes updating a compressed bitset to indicate whether the content has a particular query term, a particular keyword, or particular keyword criteria.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the query term analysis includes accumulating statistics using the counters in the computer memory as a query term in the search query is being processed and wherein the query term analytics report is generated using the statistics thus accumulated.
6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: providing the query term analytics report to the user device for presentation on the user device.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content comprises a document or an electronic message.
8. A query term analytics system, comprising: a processor; a computer memory; and stored instructions translatable by the processor for: receiving, from a user device, a search query containing query terms and keyword criteria, wherein the keyword criteria specify a location within content to be searched; processing the search query against content stored in a content repository; contemporaneously with the processing and as the search query is being run against the content stored in the content repository, performing a query term analysis by performing an impact analysis on the search query, wherein performing the impact analysis comprises: modifying the search query by removing and adding at least one of a respective query term and keyword criteria of the search query, thereby generating one or more modified search queries, comprising keywords corresponding to the respective query terms in the modified search queries; determining, during the execution of the search query, a number of hits in the inverted index for the keywords of each modified search query based on the keyword criteria of the corresponding modified search query, the query term analysis producing query term analytics including the number of hits on the keywords during execution of the search query; generating, based on the query term analytics, a query term analytics report describing the query term analytics for the modified search queries; and returning the search query results of the search query against the content stored in the content repository.
9. The query term analytics system of claim 8, wherein the impact analysis includes determining a number of hits responsive to the query term, the keyword, or the keyword criteria being excluded from or included in the search query.
10. The query term analytics system of claim 8, wherein performing the query term analysis includes keeping track of the query terms in the search query using the counters in the memory and leveraging the inverted index of the content stored in the content repository.
11. The query term analytics system of claim 10, wherein keeping track of the query terms in the search query includes updating a compressed bitset to indicate whether the content has a particular query term, a particular keyword, or particular keyword criteria.
12. The query term analytics system of claim 8, wherein performing the query term analysis includes accumulating statistics using the counters in the computer memory as a query term in the search query is being processed and wherein the query term analytics report is generated using the statistics thus accumulated.
13. The query term analytics system of claim 8, wherein the stored instructions are further translatable by the processor for: providing the query term analytics report to the user device for presentation on the user device.
14. The query term analytics system of claim 8, wherein the content comprises a document or an electronic message.
15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions translatable by a processor of a query term analytics system for: receiving, from a from a user device, a search query containing query terms and keyword criteria, wherein the keyword criteria specify a location within content to be searched, the query term analytics system having a processor, a query processing engine executing on the processor, a computer memory communicatively connected to the query processing engine, counters in the computer memory, and a query term analytics report generator; processing, by the query processing engine, the search query against content stored in a content repository; contemporaneously with the processing and as the search query is being run against the content stored in the content repository, performing, by the query processing engine, a query term analysis by performing an impact analysis on the search query, wherein performing the impact analysis comprises: modifying the search query by removing and adding at least one of a respective query term and keyword criteria of the search query, thereby generating one or more modified search queries, comprising keywords corresponding to the respective query terms in the modified search queries; determining, during the execution of the search query, a number of hits in the inverted index for the keywords of each modified search query based on the keyword criteria of the corresponding modified search query, the query term analysis producing query term analytics including the number of hits on the keywords during execution of the search query; providing the query term analytics on the keywords and keyword criteria in the modified search queries, wherein the query term analytics are provided without further selection from the user device; generating, by the query term analytics report generator based on the query term analytics, a query term analytics report describing the query term analytics for the modified search queries; and returning the search query results of the search query against the content stored in the content repository.
16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the impact analysis includes determining a number of hits responsive to the query term, the keyword, or the keyword criteria being excluded from or included in the search query.
17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein performing the query term analysis includes keeping track of the query terms in the search query using the counters in the memory and leveraging the inverted index of the content stored in the content repository.
18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein keeping track of the query terms in the search query includes updating a compressed bitset to indicate whether the content has a particular query term, a particular keyword, or particular keyword criteria.
19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein performing the query term analysis includes accumulating statistics using the counters in the computer memory as a query term in the search query is being processed and wherein the query term analytics report is generated using the statistics thus accumulated.
20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the stored instructions are further translatable by the processor for: providing the query term analytics report to the user device for presentation on the user device.
“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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Dettinger et al (US 2004/0068488 A1), in view of Whitman et al (US 2013/0262471 A1).
As per claim 1, Dettinger discloses:
- a method, comprising (Abstract, line 1-6, a method for a query analysis),
- receiving a search query containing query terms (Fig. 3, item 302, Para [0040] – [0043], search query with query term is received),
- contemporaneously processing the search query on content stored in a content repository and performing an impact analysis on the search query, wherein performing the impact analysis comprises (Fig. 3, item 320, Para [0008], [0039] – [0043]), different type of analysis of different query term and/or criterion (i.e., contemporaneous process of the search query) and see the impact of different type of query term and/or criterion on the search result),
- generating one or more modified search queries, each of the one or more modified search queries generated by deleting a query term from, adding a new query term to, or changing a keyword criterion in the search query (Fig. 3, item 310, 316, Fig. 4-6, Para [0014], [0023], [0043], generating modified query by adding or removing query term or changing the criteria of the query with different Boolean operation),
- determining a number of hits (Fig. 4-5, Para [0048], total number of items in a result for each time query is modified by adding or removing query term or changing the criteria of the query),
- and providing a query term analytics report indicating the number of hits for each of the one or more modified search queries (Fig. 6, Para [0050], a matrix style representation showing the result (i.e., query analysis report) indicating total number of hits with different query term and criterion),
Dettinger does not explicitly disclose an inverter index. However, in the same field of endeavor Whitman in an analogous art discloses an inverter index (Para [0005], [0030], [0053], Fig. 4, inverted index to map query term in a document).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate an inverted index as taught by Whitman as the means to process and analyze the impact of a query term change or modified criteria in Dettinger, (Dettinger, Fig. 4-6, Whitman, Para [0005]). Dettinger and Whitman are analogous prior art since they both deal with the impact of query term modification and analysis. A person of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make aforementioned modification to determine the positive or negative impact of query result by providing different query criterion and different query term. This is because one aspect of Dettinger invention is to understand the greatest impact of a query different query term and criteria as described in at least Para [0008]. An inverted index is part of this query term analysis. However, Dettinger doesn’t specify any particular manner in which an inverted index is used to count the number of hit or returned result. This would have lead one of the ordinary skill in the art to seek and recognize the processing of query term analysis in an inverted index in Whitman. Whitman describes how their inverted index bridged the information stored in an inverted index and relation database efficiently as described at least in Para [0026], as desired by Dettinger.
As per claim 2, rejection of claim 1 is incorporated, and further Dettinger discloses:
- wherein the impact analysis further includes determining a number of hits responsive to a keyword or keyword criterion being excluded from or included in a modified search query (Fig. 4-6, Fig. 3, item 308, Para [0011], [0042] – [0043], different result with different query criteria and different modified query).
As per claim 3, rejection of claim 1 is incorporated and further Dettinger discloses:
- tracking a count of hits for each of the query terms in the search query using in-memory counters (Para [0035], [0039], in memory application 140 keeps tack of total result of different query criterion and different query term).
As per claim 4, rejection of claim 3 is incorporated and further Whitman discloses:
- updating a compressed bitset corresponding to the count (Para [0026], efficient representation (i.e., compressed bitset) are updated in the bitset database, Para [0015]).
As per claim 5, rejection of claim 1 is incorporated, and further Dettinger discloses:
- accumulating statistics on processing the search query using in-memory counters, wherein the query term analytics report is generated using the statistics thus accumulated (Fig. 5, Para [0033], different query analysis statistics for different query terms are accumulated as report in Fig. 6).
As per claim 6, rejection of claim 1 is incorporated, and further Whitman discloses:
- communicating the query term analytics report to a user device for presentation on the user device (Fig. 6, Para [0050], user interface screen 600 showing query analysis report) on the user device.
As per claim 7, rejection of claim 1 is incorporated, and further Whitman discloses:
- wherein the content comprises a document or an electronic message (Para [0005], [0030] – [0032], [0059], mapping contents in a document).
As per claim 8-14,
Claims 8-14 are system claims corresponding to method claims 1-7 respectively and rejected under the same reason set forth to the rejection of claim 1-7 above.
As per claim 15-20,
Claims 15-20 are computer program product claims corresponding to method claims 1-6 respectively and rejected under the same reason set forth to the rejection of claims 1-6 above.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED R UDDIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3138. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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/MOHAMMED R UDDIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2161 /MOHAMMED R UDDIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2161