DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to original application filed on 05/29/2025.
Claims 1-16 are pending. Claims 1-16 are rejected.
Notice of 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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 05/29/2025 was filed prior to this Office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Examiner Notes/Objections
Claims 1 and 15-16 are objected to as “Search Engine Optimization” is defined for “SEO” later in the claims; it is recommended that it be defined earlier in the claims, as “SEO” is recited multiple times beforehand (such as in the preamble).
Claim 3 is objected to. While amendment of the claim language in the interest of clarity is recommended, given language such as “when a certain acquisition timing arrives” and “a previous acquisition timing,” most notably the former, the Examiner will interpret claim 3 as reciting the following:
“wherein when a certain acquisition timing arrives, the at least one processor is not configured to acquire the SEO information of the query,
wherein the SEO information ,
and the at least one processor is configured to acquire the SEO information of the query,
wherein the SEO information
Appropriate correction may be required.
Statutory Review under 35 USC § 101
Claims 1-14 are directed toward a system and have been reviewed.
Claims 1-14 appear to be statutory, as the system includes hardware (at least one processor).
Claim 15 is directed towards a method and has been reviewed.
Claim 15 appears to be statutory as the method is not directed to an abstract idea as per Step 2A, Prong One of the patent subject matter eligibility determination.
The method performs acquiring [or receiving] a query, acquiring [or receiving] a related classification, and acquiring [or receiving] SEO information, steps that are not being interpreted as an abstract idea at this time (such as mental processes or methods of organizing human activity).
This is also in light of p26 of the instant specification providing more detail on how the “acquir[ing] SEO information” step operates, as p26, lines 5-9 recites, “The SEO information is not stored somewhere in advance and therefore, generation of SEO information by the SEO information acquisition unit 503 corresponds to acquisition of the SEO information by the SEO information acquisition unit 503” and p26, lines 18-27 provide more examples of acquiring SEO information, such as “acquiring the related classification itself as the SEO information,” “embedding the related classification in the template of the SEO information prepared in advance,” or “acquiring a text generated by the generation AI as the SEO information.”
Claim 16 is directed toward an article of manufacture and has been reviewed.
Claim 16 appear to be statutory, as the article of manufacture excludes transitory signals.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0257209 (filed January 30, 2023; hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches:
An SEO information acquisition system comprising at least one processor configured to: (Wang ¶ 0104: the browse shelf page 910 includes a topic recommendation section 916 showing recommended topics 930 that are popular and related to the browse shelf category 940; Wang ¶ 0138: the steps of the methods can be embodied in hardware, in executable instructions executed by a processor (e.g., software), or a combination of the two)
acquire a query used for a search in a predetermined service; (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0092: the personalization unified service engine 602 may obtain from the web server 104 a query classification request 610 as a message 601 is sent from the user device 114 to the web server 104 ... The message 601 sent by the user using the user device 114 may indicate a search query input or selected by the user)
acquire a related classification, the related classification being a classification used for a search in the predetermined service and being the classification related to the query; and (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0094: The query classification engine 609 may generate a query classification 612 based on the ranked list of candidate categories, e.g. by selecting a plurality of top ranked categories based on the ranking. The personalization unified service engine 602 may receive the query classification 612 from the item recommendation generator 609 in a data format (e.g., message) acceptable by the web server 104. The personalization unified service engine 602 transmits the query classification 612 to web server 104)
acquire SEO information on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of a search result page corresponding to the query in the predetermined service, based on the related classification. (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0094: The web server 104 may recommend the query as a topic or a suggested query on a webpage including content related to the query classification 612; see also Wang FIG. 9, ¶ 0104: the browse shelf page 910 includes a topic recommendation section 916 showing recommended topics 930 that are popular and related to the browse shelf category 940, i.e. the “All Tortilla Chips.” Each of the recommended topics 930, once being selected by a user, can be used as a query to search for items on the website [according to ¶ 0026 lines 18-24 of the instant specification, the classification itself can be the SEO information])
Regarding claim 15, Wang teaches:
An SEO information acquisition method comprising: acquiring a query used for a search in a predetermined service; (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0092: the personalization unified service engine 602 may obtain from the web server 104 a query classification request 610 as a message 601 is sent from the user device 114 to the web server 104 ... The message 601 sent by the user using the user device 114 may indicate a search query input or selected by the user)
acquiring a related classification, the related classification being a classification used for a search in the predetermined service and being the classification related to the query; and (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0094: The query classification engine 609 may generate a query classification 612 based on the ranked list of candidate categories, e.g. by selecting a plurality of top ranked categories based on the ranking. The personalization unified service engine 602 may receive the query classification 612 from the item recommendation generator 609 in a data format (e.g., message) acceptable by the web server 104. The personalization unified service engine 602 transmits the query classification 612 to web server 104)
acquiring SEO information on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of a search result page corresponding to the query in the predetermined service, based on the related classification. (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0094: The web server 104 may recommend the query as a topic or a suggested query on a webpage including content related to the query classification 612; see also Wang FIG. 9, ¶ 0104: the browse shelf page 910 includes a topic recommendation section 916 showing recommended topics 930 that are popular and related to the browse shelf category 940, i.e. the “All Tortilla Chips.” Each of the recommended topics 930, once being selected by a user, can be used as a query to search for items on the website [according to ¶ 0026 lines 18-24 of the instant specification, the classification itself can be the SEO information])
Regarding claim 16, Wang teaches:
A non-transitory computer readable information storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to: (Wang ¶ 0138: The disclosed methods may also be at least partially embodied in the form of tangible, non-transitory machine-readable storage media encoded with computer program code)
acquire a query used for a search in a predetermined service; (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0092: the personalization unified service engine 602 may obtain from the web server 104 a query classification request 610 as a message 601 is sent from the user device 114 to the web server 104 ... The message 601 sent by the user using the user device 114 may indicate a search query input or selected by the user)
acquire a related classification, the related classification being a classification used for a search in the predetermined service and being the classification related to the query; and (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0094: The query classification engine 609 may generate a query classification 612 based on the ranked list of candidate categories, e.g. by selecting a plurality of top ranked categories based on the ranking. The personalization unified service engine 602 may receive the query classification 612 from the item recommendation generator 609 in a data format (e.g., message) acceptable by the web server 104. The personalization unified service engine 602 transmits the query classification 612 to web server 104)
acquire SEO information on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of a search result page corresponding to the query in the predetermined service, based on the related classification. (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0094: The web server 104 may recommend the query as a topic or a suggested query on a webpage including content related to the query classification 612; see also Wang FIG. 9, ¶ 0104: the browse shelf page 910 includes a topic recommendation section 916 showing recommended topics 930 that are popular and related to the browse shelf category 940, i.e. the “All Tortilla Chips.” Each of the recommended topics 930, once being selected by a user, can be used as a query to search for items on the website [according to ¶ 0026 lines 18-24 of the instant specification, the classification itself can be the SEO information])
Regarding claim 2, Wang teaches:
acquire the query having a relatively large number of searches in the predetermined service. (Wang FIG. 9, ¶ 0104: the browse shelf page 910 includes a topic recommendation section 916 showing recommended topics 930 that are popular [shows relatively large number of searches] and related to the browse shelf category 940, i.e. the “All Tortilla Chips.” Each of the recommended topics 930, once being selected by a user, can be used as a query to search for items on the website; see acquisition in Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0092: the personalization unified service engine 602 may obtain from the web server 104 a query classification request 610 as a message 601 is sent from the user device 114 to the web server 104, and may execute the trained multi-task model 392 included in the machine learning model data 390. The message 601 sent by the user using the user device 114 may indicate a search query input or selected by the user)
Regarding claim 4, Wang teaches:
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: acquire action information on an action of a user after the user inputs the query, the user inputting the query in the predetermined service, and (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0093: the web server 104 transmits the query classification request 610 to the item recommendation computing device 102. The personalization unified service engine 602 receives the query classification request 610, and provide to the feature data generator 604 the user session data 320 and/or other data extracted from the database 116; see this in light of Wang FIG. 3, ¶ 0059-0060: the multi-task model computing device 102 may receive user session data 320 from the web server 104, and store the user session data 320 in the database 116. The user session data 320 may identify, for each user (e.g., customer), data related to that user's browsing session)
acquire the related classification based on the action information. (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0093-0094: The personalization unified service engine 602 receives the query classification request 610, and provide to the feature data generator 604 the user session data 320 and/or other data extracted from the database 116 ... The personalization unified service engine 602 may receive the query classification 612 from the item recommendation generator 609 in a data format (e.g., message) acceptable by the web server 104)
Regarding claim 5, Wang teaches:
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: acquire a score related to the query calculated by a search engine in the determined service, and acquire the related classification based on the score. (Wang FIG. 6, ¶ 0094: the query classification engine 609 may generate a ranked list of candidate categories for the query. The ranking of the candidate categories may be based on a confidence score representing a relevance between the query and other queries, e.g. based on a pair-wise distance between the query and other queries in the embedding space. The query classification engine 609 may generate a query classification 612 based on the ranked list of candidate categories, e.g. by selecting a plurality of top ranked categories based on the ranking)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Roe et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0088846 (hereinafter Roe).
Regarding claim 3, Wang teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 above but does not expressly disclose:
wherein when a certain acquisition timing arrives, the at least one processor is not configured to acquire the SEO information of the query[,] the SEO information of which is acquired at least at a previous acquisition timing and is configured to acquire the SEO information of the query[,] the SEO information of which is not acquired at least at the previous acquisition time.
However, Roe addresses this by teaching:
wherein when a certain acquisition timing arrives, the at least one processor is not configured to acquire the SEO information of the query[,] the SEO information of which is acquired at least at a previous acquisition timing… (Roe ¶ 0002-0003: The text may be analyzed, such as by parsing, string matching and/or spidering the website, to find one or more universal keywords. Links, number of images and/or images may also be analyzed to determine universal keywords. All of the related keywords associated with the found universal keywords may be determined, but those related keywords already incorporated into the website are preferably excluded; see also Roe FIG. 3, ¶ 0026-0028: determine whether or not the related keyword 303 should be incorporated into the website 103)
and is configured to acquire the SEO information of the query[,] the SEO information of which is not acquired at least at the previous acquisition time. (Roe FIG. 3, ¶ 0026-0028: One or more related keywords 303 may be incorporated into a website 103 to improve the website's 103 SEO … When a universal keyword 302 is found in the website 103, one or more of the related keywords 303 associated with the universal keyword 302 may be displayed to a website builder 105 (related keywords 303 that are already incorporated into the website 103 are preferably not shown to the website builder 105) to determine whether or not the related keyword 303 should be incorporated into the website 103)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the functioning of the query topic determination of Wang with the functioning of the keyword extraction of Roe.
In addition, both of the references (Wang and Roe) disclose features that are directed to analogous art, and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as query suggestion techniques.
Motivation to do so would also be the teaching, suggestion, or motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement improved SEO for any number of websites as seen in Roe ¶ 0020.
Claims 6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Smith et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0273291 (filed February 15, 2023; hereinafter Smith).
Regarding claim 6, Wang teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 above but does not expressly disclose:
the at least one processor is configured to try to acquire the related classification based on each of a plurality of conditions having a priority order, and when the at least one processor acquires a plurality of the related classifications, the at least one processor is configured to try to acquire at least one of the related classifications used for acquiring the SEO information from among the plurality of related classifications, based on the priority order of each of the plurality of conditions.
However, Smith teaches:
the at least one processor is configured to try to acquire the related classification based on each of a plurality of conditions having a priority order, and when the at least one processor acquires a plurality of the related classifications, the at least one processor is configured to try to acquire at least one of the related classifications used for acquiring the SEO information from among the plurality of related classifications, based on the priority order of each of the plurality of conditions. (Smith ¶ 0110: prompt generation subsystem 302 determines a seed and outputs a generated prompt 304 based on the seed … prompt generation subsystem 302 extracts a trending or highly popular skill description from a social network and uses the extracted skill description as a seed for the generated prompt 304; see then Smith ¶ 0111: a skill name or a related phrase associated with a skill name is used as a seed ... to determine currently popular skills or topics, a generative language model is used to generate a set of terms, e.g., keywords, skills, or topics, the search engine optimization system 290 is used to determine the currently most popular terms in the set of terms, and then only the most popular terms as determined by the search engine optimization system 290 are used to generate prompts for document titles or documents)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the functioning of the query topic determination of Wang with the functioning of the keyword and topic generation of Smith.
In addition, both of the references (Wang and Smith) disclose features that are directed to analogous art, and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as query suggestion techniques.
Motivation to do so would be to improve the functioning of Wang ranking topics with the ability in similar reference Smith also ranking keywords or topics but with the addition of generating prompts based on the keywords or topics for document titles or documents.
Motivation to do so would also be the teaching, suggestion, or motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement improved generative language model technologies as seen in Smith ¶ 0039.
Regarding claim 13, Wang teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 above but does not expressly disclose:
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: cause a generation AI to generate a template related to the SEO information, the template corresponding to the classification, and acquire the SEO information based on the template corresponding to the related classification.
However, Smith addresses this by teaching:
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: cause a generation AI to generate a template related to the SEO information, the template corresponding to the classification, and (Smith FIG. 3, ¶ 0111: to determine currently popular skills or topics, a generative language model is used to generate a set of terms, e.g., keywords, skills, or topics, the search engine optimization system 290 is used to determine the currently most popular terms in the set of terms, and then only the most popular terms as determined by the search engine optimization system 290 are used to generate prompts for document titles or documents)
acquire the SEO information based on the template corresponding to the related classification. (Smith FIG. 8, ¶ 0180-0181: The topics 806 that are ultimately provided to title prompt generator 808 include keywords that have been machine-generated by the first generative language model 804 based on an initial seed that have not been filtered out by the search engine optimization system and have not been filtered out by any of the filtering mechanisms ... given an initial seed of “data science,” topic generator 802 outputs a list of keywords or topics determined by first generative language model 804 to be related to the initial seed, such as “machine learning,” “statistics,” “neural networks,” “big data,” etc.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the functioning of the query topic determination of Wang with the functioning of the keyword and topic generation of Smith.
In addition, both of the references (Wang and Smith) disclose features that are directed to analogous art, and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as query suggestion techniques.
Motivation to do so would be to improve the functioning of Wang ranking topics with the ability in similar reference Smith also ranking keywords or topics but with the addition of generating prompts based on the keywords or topics for document titles or documents.
Motivation to do so would also be the teaching, suggestion, or motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement improved generative language model technologies as seen in Smith ¶ 0039.
Regarding claim 14, Wang in view of Smith teaches all the features with respect to claim 13 above including:
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: generate the template including a first portion generated by the generation AI and a second portion not generated by the generation AI, and (Smith FIG. 4, ¶ 0140: Prompt templates stored in template data store 285 can include initial templates and engineered templates. An initial template includes a template that is created manually, or in a semi-automated or automated way by, for example, prompt engineers or users of the online system, without any system-generated feedback. An engineered template includes an initial template that has been created or modified, either manually or in a semi-automated or automated way, based on feedback such as prompt feedback 416)
acquire the SEO information by embedding the related classification in the second portion. (Smith FIG. 4, ¶ 0145: Feedback processor 414 formulates prompt feedback 416 based on, for example, various combinations of pre-publication feedback 310 and/or post-publication feedback 416. An example of prompt feedback is a score, a label, or a rating, where the score, label or rating is applied to a prompt pair by a scoring model, a classification model, or a human reviewer)
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Nolte et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0387533 (hereinafter Nolte).
Regarding claim 7, Wang teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 above but does not expressly disclose:
the classification has a hierarchical structure, and when the at least one processor is configured to acquire a plurality of the related classifications belonging to the classification on an upper hierarchy which is common among the plurality of related classifications, the at least one processor is configured to acquire the classification on the upper hierarchy as the related classification used for acquisition of the SEO information.
However, Nolte addresses this by teaching:
the classification has a hierarchical structure, and (Nolte FIGs. 16, ¶ 0091: The keyword list 266 is ordered according to the hierarchical data structure 120, with the most general keyword, “Animal” at the top of the keyword list 266, and the most specific term “New World Deer” at the bottom of the keyword list 266)
when the at least one processor is configured to acquire a plurality of the related classifications belonging to the classification on an upper hierarchy which is common among the plurality of related classifications, (Nolte FIGs. 16, ¶ 0089-0091: The keyworder 260 includes an input box 262, a related terms box 264, a keyword list 266, view selectors 267a and 267b, an add button 268, an arrow button 269, a primary keyword designator 270, and a secondary keyword designator 272 ... The keyword drop-down menu 274 presented to the user may be arranged, for example, in alphabetical order or according to frequency of use)
the at least one processor is configured to acquire the classification on the upper hierarchy as the related classification used for acquisition of the SEO information. (Nolte ¶ 0090-0092: keywords associated with the image of the deer 163 are shown in the keyword list 266. The keyword list 266 is ordered according to the hierarchical data structure 120, with the most general keyword, “Animal” at the top of the keyword list 266, and the most specific term “New World Deer” at the bottom of the keyword list 266 ... Alternatively, the order of the keyword list 266 may be determined automatically using a numerical score for each keyword ... the numerical scores may be updated dynamically, based on search engine optimization (SEO) information received from an Internet search engine such as, for example, Google™, Yahoo™ Bing™ YouTube™ and the like [shows involvement of SEO in this passage] ... Numerical scores may be supplied to a user to assist the user in choosing the most relevant keywords [shows acquisition of the SEO information] to add to the taxonomy, or to enter when searching the archive)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the functioning of the query category ranking of Wang with the functioning of the keyword ranking of Nolte.
In addition, both of the references (Wang and Nolte) disclose features that are directed to analogous art, and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as keyword ranking techniques.
Motivation to do so would be to improve the functioning of Wang ranking topics with the ability in similar reference Nolte also ranking keywords but with the improvement of utilizing automatic or dynamic determination of rankings.
Motivation to do so would also be the teaching, suggestion, or motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to organize and classify media in a manner that eliminates spelling errors, reduces ambiguity, creates consistency, and improves accessibility of content for subsequent retrieval as seen in Nolte ¶ 0008.
Claims 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Avritch et al., U.S. Patent No. 9,515,941 (published August 20, 2013; hereinafter Avritch).
Regarding claim 8, Wang teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 above but does not expressly disclose:
acquire an appropriate combination as a combination of a genre related to a search target in the predetermined service and at least one of an attribute and an attribute value related to the search target, as the related classification.
However, Avritch addresses this by teaching:
acquire an appropriate combination as a combination of a genre related to a search target in the predetermined service and at least one of an attribute and an attribute value related to the search target, as the related classification. (Avritch FIG. 3, col. 6, lines 31-36: The selection procedure begins at 150 whereby the properties and attributes of a specific placeholder to be populated are presented as inputs [shows acquisition as the related classification]; see then Avritch col. 6, line 49-col. 7, line 28: the content database available to the system for populating placeholders [again shows acquisition as the related classification] ... The content selection process at step 153 begins searching the database at the lowest tier (125 through 128) hoping to find content which very closely targets the business specialty of the current website. In a given business market, for example, dentistry, specialization or submarkets might include braces, dentures and tooth whitening [shows genre related to a search target in the predetermined service]; see at least one of an attribute and an attribute value in Avritch FIG. 4, col. 7, lines 29-40: This sample represents text copy which is intended to fill a visible placeholder on the home page of a dentistry website which is promoting cosmetic dentistry ... The text phrases in 160 also contain additional placeholders to be filled in during the personalization process at step 109 in FIG. 1)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the functioning of the query topic suggestions of Wang with the functioning of the placeholder population of Avritch.
In addition, both of the references (Wang and Avritch) disclose features that are directed to analogous art, and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as textual suggestion techniques.
Motivation to do so would be to improve the functioning of Wang performing textual suggestion with the ability in similar reference Avritch also performing textual suggestion but with the improved ability to derive desired information from databases.
Motivation to do so would also be the teaching, suggestion, or motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide search engine optimization in addition to web hosting and the generation of a unique website as seen in Avritch col. 13, line 55-col. 14, line 3.
Regarding claim 9, Wang teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 above but does not expressly disclose:
acquire the classification appropriate as a combination with the query, as the related classification.
However, Avritch addresses this by teaching:
acquire the classification appropriate as a combination with the query, as the related classification. (Avritch FIG. 7, col. 8, lines 13-23: FIG. 7 illustrates placeholders for several pieces of invisible content which are important for search engine optimization and the business listings displayed by search engines ... Item 222 is personalized to contain targeted search keywords indicating the subject matter and business markets promoted by the website)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the functioning of the query topic suggestions of Wang with the functioning of the placeholder population of Avritch.
In addition, both of the references (Wang and Avritch) disclose features that are directed to analogous art, and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as textual suggestion techniques.
Motivation to do so would be to improve the functioning of Wang performing textual suggestion with the ability in similar reference Avritch also performing textual suggestion but with the improved ability to derive desired information from databases.
Motivation to do so would also be the teaching, suggestion, or motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide search engine optimization in addition to web hosting and the generation of a unique website as seen in Avritch col. 13, line 55-col. 14, line 3.
Regarding claim 10, Wang in view of Avritch teaches all the features with respect to claim 9 above including:
acquire a genre related to a search target in the predetermined service, the genre being appropriate as a combination with the query, as the related classification. (Avritch FIG. 3, col. 6, lines 31-36: The selection procedure begins at 150 whereby the properties and attributes of a specific placeholder to be populated are presented as inputs [shows acquisition as the related classification]; see then Avritch col. 6, line 49-col. 7, line 28: the content database available to the system for populating placeholders [again shows acquisition as the related classification] ... The content selection process at step 153 begins searching the database at the lowest tier (125 through 128) hoping to find content which very closely targets the business specialty of the current website. In a given business market, for example, dentistry, specialization or submarkets might include braces, dentures and tooth whitening [shows genre related to a search target in the predetermined service]; see 'the query' as claimed in Avritch FIG. 7, col. 8, lines 13-23: FIG. 7 illustrates placeholders for several pieces of invisible content which are important for search engine optimization and the business listings displayed by search engines ... Item 222 is personalized to contain targeted search keywords indicating the subject matter and business markets promoted by the website)
Regarding claim 11, Wang in view of Avritch teaches all the features with respect to claim 9 above including:
acquire at least one of an attribute and an attribute value related to a search target in the predetermined service, the at least one of the attribute and the attribute value being appropriate as a combination with the query, as the related classification. (Avritch FIG. 3, col. 6, lines 31-36: The selection procedure begins at 150 whereby the properties and attributes of a specific placeholder to be populated are presented as inputs [shows acquisition as the related classification]; see at least one of an attribute and an attribute value in Avritch FIG. 4, col. 7, lines 29-40: This sample represents text copy which is intended to fill a visible placeholder on the home page of a dentistry website which is promoting cosmetic dentistry ... The text phrases in 160 also contain additional placeholders to be filled in during the personalization process at step 109 in FIG. 1; see 'the query' as claimed in Avritch FIG. 7, col. 8, lines 13-23: FIG. 7 illustrates placeholders for several pieces of invisible content which are important for search engine optimization and the business listings displayed by search engines ... Item 222 is personalized to contain targeted search keywords indicating the subject matter and business markets promoted by the website)
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Barron et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0089197 (hereinafter Barron).
Regarding claim 12, Wang teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 above but does not expressly disclose:
wherein when the classification related to a search target in the predetermined service is included in the query, the at least one processor is configured to acquire the classification included in the query as the related classification without acquiring another classification as the related classification.
However, Barron addresses this by teaching:
wherein when the classification related to a search target in the predetermined service is included in the query, the at least one processor is configured to acquire the classification included in the query as the related classification without acquiring another classification as the related classification. (Barron ¶ 0015: the intent may be determined with respect to the natural language search phrase being directed toward products, support, or content classifications … if a user wishes to locate help with respect to repairing a bicycle tire and begins to type the phrase “How do I fix a bike”, a natural language classification process is continuously executed with respect to the search query resulting in an intent of “support” being determined to be closely correlated within a ground truth for the domain. ... Examples of the detected patterns may include, inter alia, the following phrases: “how do I”, “I fix”, “a bike”, etc. such that all lend of the aforementioned detected patterns provide evidence with respect to the detected intent of “support”; see also Barron FIG. 3B, ¶ 0020: User interface 300b comprises a results field 302b comprising search query results for the phrase “best electronics screwdriver”. In response, system 100 presents results specifying a top semantic intent “research” comprising a 96% confidence level)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the functioning of the query suggestion of Wang with the functioning of the query intention determination of Barron.
In addition, both of the references (Wang and Barron) disclose features that are directed to analogous art, and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as keyword ranking techniques.
Motivation to do so would be to improve the functioning of Wang determining the classification for a query with the ability in similar reference Barron also determining the classification for a query but with the improvement of its natural language processing and classifying techniques.
Motivation to do so would also be the teaching, suggestion, or motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to improve search accuracy to generate more relevant results as seen in Barron ¶ 0012.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Grieselhuber et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0071767; see Grieselhuber FIG. 3 and ¶ 0006, "classifying each of a plurality of websites using at least one of a plurality of classifications, acquiring data associated with the plurality of websites, and analyzing the data to achieve a result that may then be used to model or optimize the effectiveness of the SEO initiatives and/or SEA campaigns," relevant to at least the independent claim limitations involving acquiring a related classification and acquiring SEO information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEDIDIAH P FERRER whose telephone number is (571)270-7695. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 12:00pm-8:00pm.
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/J.P.F/Examiner, Art Unit 2153 February 24, 2026
/KAVITA STANLEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2153