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 .
Status of the Claims
This is a non-final office action prepared in response to U.S. Patent Application 19/225,719, filed on June 2, 2025. This application is a continuation of U.S. Patent Application No. 17/944,412, filed on September 14, 2022, now U.S. Patent No. 12,333,559. Claims 1 - 20 are pending and have been examined.
Double Patenting Rejection
The non-statutory 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 non-statutory 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 non-statutory 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 USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-20 of the instant application are rejected on the ground of non-statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent 12,333,559 (the ‘559 patent). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other. Claim 1 from the instant application and claim 1 of the ‘559 patent each recite a digital lending platform operable by way of a set of executable instructions stored in a non-transient machine-readable medium, the platform comprising: a lead intake engine including a lead processing module for processing sales leads including enriching original data of at least a portion of incoming sales leads with complementary data to convert the portion of incoming sales leads into enriched sales leads, and scoring the enriched sales leads and any of the incoming sales leads not converted to the enriched sales leads with scores by a scoring algorithm; a phone system including a dialer for dialing phone numbers for the sales leads from one or more dialer tables of the phone system sorted in accordance with the scores of the sales leads by the lead intake engine; and a loan origination system for creating a sales-purposed record in a sales database for each sales lead using the original data, the complementary data, or a combination thereof up to at least a time of the dialer dialing a phone number associated with the record. The difference between the two inventions is that claim 1 of the ‘559 patent also recites the components of a processor, a network interface and a memory commutatively coupled to the processor, and, an artificial intelligence (AI) module employing a neural network that is configured to obtain and process fragmented data; and self-correct based on a reward feedback circuit for modifying one or more assigned weights with respect to the fragmented data; wherein an attribute-based router is configured to route phone calls using one or more attributes. In light of the absence of an artificial intelligence (AI) module and attribute-based router, Claim 1 of the instant application is effectively broader than claim 1 of the ‘559 patent. Anyone infringing claim 1 of the ‘559 patent would automatically be infringing Claim 1 of the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 101
35 U.S.C. §101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1 - 20 are rejected pursuant to 35 USC § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1 - Statutory Class
Claims 1 - 11 are directed to system. Claims 12 - 20 are directed to a method. Therefore, on its face, each of the claims is directed to a statutory class of invention.
Step 2A, Prong 1 – Abstract Idea
Claim 1 recites processing sales leads including enriching original data of at least a portion of incoming sales leads with complementary data to convert the portion of incoming sales leads into enriched sales leads, scoring the enriched sales leads and any of the incoming sales leads and creating a sales-purposed record for each sales lead using the original data, the complementary data, or a combination thereof. The abstract idea in Claim 1 recites processing, enriching, scoring and storing sales lead data which amounts to commercial interactions under Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity under MPEP 2106. Claim 12 recites the same abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong 2 – Practical Application
Claim 1 recites a non-transient machine-readable medium, a lead intake engine, a lead processing module, a phone system including a dialer and a loan origination system. The additional elements are recited at a high level of generality and are being used as tools to implement the abstract idea. They do not provide improvements to the functioning of a computer or to technology or a technical field. The claims do not invoke a particular machine as our guidance is clear that a generic computer is not the particular machine envisioned, they do not transform matter as they only manipulate data which is not matter. They amount to an instruction to “apply it” with a computer.
Step 2B – Significantly more
As set forth in the discussion in Step 2A, Prong 2, above, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality and are used as tools to implement the abstract idea. They do not provide improvements to the functioning of a computer or to technology or a technical field and do not add significantly more to the abstract idea.
Dependent claims
Claims 2 and 13 (the lead processing module includes a deduplicating filter for removing duplicates of the sales leads, a validating module for validating loan inquiries of the sales leads, the original data of the incoming sales leads, or both, and a lead-enriching module for coordinating with third-party data-enriching providers to enrich the original data of the portion of incoming sales leads with the complementary data to convert the portion of incoming sales leads into the enriched sales leads), Claims 3 and 14 (the enriched sales leads are intermittently further enriched by third-party data-enriching providers by way of an application programming interface of a lead management system that is exposed to the third-party data-enriching providers, wherein any of the enriched sales leads further enriched by the third-party data-enriching providers are rescored by the scoring algorithm, and wherein the one or more dialer tables of the phone system are concomitantly sorted in accordance with the scores of the sales leads by the lead intake engine while the enriched sales leads are further enriched by the third-party data-enriching providers), Claim 4 (the lead management system is operable by way of a set of executable instructions stored in a non-transient machine-readable medium and comprises components of the lead intake engine, the phone system, and the loan origination system), Claim 5 (the lead management system is optimized for speed-to- contact with telecommunications regulatory compliance), Claims 6 and 15 (the complementary data is selected from Telephone Consumer Protection Act compliance data including phone type and subscriber information; subject property information including address, legal description, year built, or a combination thereof; borrower personal information including Social Security number, date of birth, age, ethnicity, race, gender, veteran status, disability status, education information, address history, marital status, dependent information, or a combination thereof; borrower employment information including employment history, income, or a combination thereof; and borrower financial information including credit rating, financial account information, asset information, value of one or more existing properties, equity in one or more existing properties, loan-to-value ratio, or a combination thereof), Claims 7 and 16 (the phone system includes a scripter for providing customized scripts to customer liaison representatives in a call center, the scripter configured to provide each customized script with one or more questions for each sales lead in accordance with the original data, the complementary data, or the combination thereof of the sales lead; an age of the sales lead; a campaign of the sales lead; or a combination thereof), Claims 8 and 17 (any answers provided by potential borrowers to the questions asked by the customer liaison representatives from the customized scripts are manually or automatically logged in the one or more dialer tables to enrich the original data of a different portion of the incoming sales leads and, thereby, convert the different portion of incoming sales leads into normalized sales leads, further enrich the enriched sales leads with the answers provided by the potential borrowers, or both, and wherein each normalized sales lead or enriched sales lead further enriched with the answers provided by the potential borrowers is rescored by the scoring algorithm up to at least a time of call transfer from a customer liaison representative to a licensed loan officer by way of the phone system), Claims 9 and 18 (each licensed loan officer of a plurality of licensed loan officers is assigned a unique phone number and one or more associated licensed loan officer attributes configured for attribute-based routing of phone calls by an automatic call distributor, the one or more attributes of the licensed loan officer selected from one or more licensing states, experience with one or more particular loan products, one or more languages spoken, and combinations thereof, and wherein call transfers from the customer liaison representatives to any available licensed loan officers are in accordance with matches between the one or more LLO attributes and the normalized sales leads or enriched sales leads further enriched with the answers provided by the potential borrowers), Claims 10 and 19 (further comprising: one or more enterprise marketing databases for storing marketing information including one or more points of interaction for each potential borrower having established at least one point of interaction with the digital lending platform, wherein the loan origination system is configured to request the marketing information and populate the sales-purposed record for each sales lead with the one or more points of interaction for each potential borrower) and Claims 11 and 20 (the sales database is configured with a configurable mask or a mask-enabling viewing tool to mask information not relevant to one or more sales strategies, information potentially detrimental to the one or more sales strategies, or a combination thereof) include additional elements (which are underlined above) that are generally described and are being used as tools to implement the abstract idea and/or further define and add specificity to the abstract idea. Thus, the dependent claims also fail to add significantly more to the abstract idea.
As such, Claims 1-20 are not patent eligible.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Mikurak, U.S. 2004/0064351 A1, (“Mikurak”), in view of Tivey et al., U.S. 2004/0143473 A1, (“Tivey”), in further view of Lynch et al., U.S. 2006/0155639 A1, (“Lynch”).
Claim 1:
Mikurak teaches:
A digital lending platform operable by way of a set of executable instructions stored in a non-transient machine-readable medium, the platform comprising: (See Mikurak, Par. 250 (This embodiment of the present invention includes a monitoring and control system in which communication occurs through a fully distributed digital telecommunications switch without a centralized routing and handling facility.), Pars. 522-23)
a lead intake engine including a lead processing module for processing sales leads including enriching original data of at least a portion of incoming sales leads with complementary data to convert the portion of incoming sales leads into enriched sales leads, and (See Mikurak, Par. 1150 (Another aspect of the electronic commerce component of the present invention has the purpose of capturing interest in a product, service, or promotion. The invention sends leads, notices, and advertisements to sales effectiveness systems where the leads are displayed or disseminated to users. A database of the leads may be kept and updated as desired.))
scoring the enriched sales leads and any of the incoming sales leads not converted to the enriched sales leads with scores by a scoring algorithm; (See Mikurak, Par. 2674 (Correlation algorithms use the profile information, history, and/or input preferences to construct a correlation group of users whose ratings are effective predictors for the new user. Prediction algorithms then use the ratings and profile information of the users to make predictions of the content they most likely will find interesting.))
Mikurak does not expressly disclose, however, Tivey teaches:
a phone system including a dialer for dialing phone numbers for the sales leads from one or more dialer tables of the phone system sorted in accordance with the scores of the sales leads by the lead intake engine; and (See Tivey, Par. 53 (Once at the regional office, for example, an automated assignment system, as described in detail below, is used to assign and distribute the leads to the agents automatically. That is, for example, each lead categorized as an `A` lead, i.e., a lead that has not been worked before, is scored using a set of rules and is assigned to an agent at the regional office. The assignment of the A-leads may use an agent's score. The release or distribution of the leads may be performed using what might be characterized as a web based lead system, also described in detail below. The systems and methods of the invention also provide for the processing of what is herein characterized as B-leads, i.e., leads that have been processed before, but that have been shelved for some reason. As used herein, the term "worked lead" or an agent "working a lead" or similar language means that an agent has been assigned to a sales lead, in order to try to secure a sale based on that lead, and that the agent has taken some steps to bring about such a sale, such as making calls to the person, researching the lead and/or setting up an appointment, for example.))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine with the teachings of Mikurak discussed above, automatic processing of sales leads, as taught by Tivey. Mikurak teaches a network based supply chain framework which includes processing sales leads. It would be obvious for Mikurak as part of his system to include an automated call system for contacting consumers so that there is a systematic mechanism of tracking activities and sales for a given lead. Since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, Mikurak’s network based supply chain framework and Tivey’s automatic processing of sales leads, and in the combination each element would have performed the same function it performed separately, one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Mikurak does not expressly disclose, however, Lynch teaches:
a loan origination system for creating a sales-purposed record in a sales database for each sales lead using the original data, the complementary data, or a combination thereof up to at least a time of the dialer dialing a phone number associated with the record. (See Lynch, Par. 28 (Computer 102 may have several interchanges, such as interfaces, for communicating with other entities. These interfaces include an internet interface 112 for communicating with customers 114 accessing DSS 100. Also, included is a network interface 116 allowing networked computers to access DSS 100. A network computer 118 may be located in a facility operated in conjunction with DSS 100, such that loan customers may access the system without having Internet access. The system may have a telephone interface 120, such that customers may dial into the system to access DSS 100. The system may have a customer service representative (CSR/BROKER) interface 122 so that salespeople 124 may access the system and utilize the automated processing of DSS system 100.), Par. 86 (This list may be displayed to customer 114, allowing customer 114 to select services as desired. Where the cross-sell information is presented to customer 114 via the Internet, a more robust version of the above process may generate products and/or services requests to providers chosen by customer 114 by hyperlink, for example, as well as by ordering through the offeror. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that certain reporting tools may be used in conjunction with the present invention, and, specifically, with the cross-sell aspects of the present invention. For example, the data generated in the process of the present invention may be used to generate sales leads for sale to third parties, and may allow for tracking of the results of, for example, advertising.))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine with the teachings of Mikurak discussed above, a loan origination system, as taught by Lynch. Mikurak teaches a network based supply chain framework which includes processing sales leads. It would be obvious for Mikurak as part of his system to include a system and method for transactions which includes loan origination and other related data and sales activity so as to generate multiple alternative loan proposals, each with a plurality of loan proposal factors, requested by a party. Since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, Mikurak’s network based supply chain framework and Lynch’s loan origination system, and in the combination each element would have performed the same function it performed separately, one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim 2:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 1 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the lead processing module includes a deduplicating filter for removing duplicates of the sales leads, a validating module for validating loan inquiries of the sales leads, the original data of the incoming sales leads, or both, and a lead-enriching module for coordinating with third-party data-enriching providers to enrich the original data of the portion of incoming sales leads with the complementary data to convert the portion of incoming sales leads into the enriched sales leads. (See Mikurak, Par, 216 (As an example, in an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, the Installation Management component, may include the following benefits to the service provider by looking at FIG. 4 in closer detail: faster time to site integration, rapid integration of acquisition, duplication reduction, procurement rationalization, transportation rationalization, and reduced inventories. In this illustrative embodiment, the Installation Management component may also include the following benefits to the manufacturer: duplication reduction, procurement rationalization, transportation rationalization, and reduced inventories.))
Claim 3:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 1 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the enriched sales leads are intermittently further enriched by third-party data-enriching providers by way of an application programming interface of a lead management system that is exposed to the third-party data-enriching providers, wherein any of the enriched sales leads further enriched by the third-party data-enriching providers are rescored by the scoring algorithm, and wherein the one or more dialer tables of the phone system are concomitantly sorted in accordance with the scores of the sales leads by the lead intake engine while the enriched sales leads are further enriched by the third-party data-enriching providers. (See Mikurak, Par. 9 (A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for a first business entity to provide a network-based supply chain framework for collaborative order management between at least a second and a third independent business entity, such as a service provider, vendor, reseller, manufacturer and the like. A request for an order is received over a network with an automated system, from at least a second business entity. The order is transmitted over a network, with an automated system, to at least the third business entity. Information is received from the, third business entity relating to a status of completion of the order by the third business entity using a network. The progress in completing the order is tracked based on the information received from the third business entity. Progress reports from the tracking are generated periodically; and transmitted to the second business entity using the network.), Par. 613 (automated call system), Par. 939 (ranking).))
Claim 4:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 3 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the lead management system is operable by way of a set of executable instructions stored in a non-transient machine-readable medium and comprises components of the lead intake engine, the phone system, and the loan origination system. (See Mikurak, Par. 250 (This embodiment of the present invention includes a monitoring and control system in which communication occurs through a fully distributed digital telecommunications switch without a centralized routing and handling facility.), Par. 522 (Computer programs (also called computer control logic) are stored in main memory 2804 and/or the secondary memory 2806. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system 2800 to perform the functions of the present invention as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor 2801 to perform the functions of the present invention. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system 2800.), Par. 523 (Another embodiment is directed to a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having control logic (computer software) stored therein. The control logic, when executed by the processor 2801, causes the processor 2801 to perform the functions as described herein.))
Claim 5:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 4 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the lead management system is optimized for speed-to- contact with telecommunications regulatory compliance. (See Mikurak, Par. 250 (This embodiment of the present invention includes a monitoring and control system in which communication occurs through a fully distributed digital telecommunications switch without a centralized routing and handling facility.), Par. 522 (Computer programs (also called computer control logic) are stored in main memory 2804 and/or the secondary memory 2806. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system 2800 to perform the functions of the present invention as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor 2801 to perform the functions of the present invention. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system 2800.), Par. 523 (Another embodiment is directed to a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having control logic (computer software) stored therein. The control logic, when executed by the processor 2801, causes the processor 2801 to perform the functions as described herein.))
Claim 6:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 1 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the complementary data is selected from Telephone Consumer Protection Act compliance data including phone type and subscriber information; subject property information including address, legal description, year built, or a combination thereof; borrower personal information including Social Security number, date of birth, age, ethnicity, race, gender, veteran status, disability status, education information, address history, marital status, dependent information, or a combination thereof; borrower employment information including employment history, income, or a combination thereof; and borrower financial information including credit rating, financial account information, asset information, value of one or more existing properties, equity in one or more existing properties, loan-to-value ratio, or a combination thereof. (See Mikurak, Par. 2561 (Each personalization technique may require a different set of attributes from the user's profile. The information needed to deliver a `Site Controlled Contextual Inferences` will be very different than the information needed for `pre-filled forms.` Site Controlled Contextual Inferences Content Filtering requires the creation of rules and the necessary user information that satisfy the rules or `Contextual Inferences`. (The information required to satisfy a rule is referred to as Personalization Matching Factors (PMFs) and will be discussed in more detail in the Matching Logic component.) For instance, the rule may be based on gender, age, purchase history or customer demographics. On the other hand, the information that is used to Pre-Fill forms may be a different set of user profile attributes. For example, this might be name, address, shipping information and payment information. Another personalization technique may use the same set of user information or may require another subset of user data.))
Claim 7:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 1 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the phone system includes a scripter for providing customized scripts to customer liaison representatives in a call center, the scripter configured to provide each customized script with one or more questions for each sales lead in accordance with the original data, the complementary data, or the combination thereof of the sales lead; an age of the sales lead; a campaign of the sales lead; or a combination thereof. (See Mikurak, Par. 707 (immediately takes corrective and/or informative actions such as sending a page, logging a help desk ticket, sending an electronic mail message, or calling a resolution script.))
Claim 8:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 7 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
any answers provided by potential borrowers to the questions asked by the customer liaison representatives from the customized scripts are manually or automatically logged in the one or more dialer tables to enrich the original data of a different portion of the incoming sales leads and, thereby, convert the different portion of incoming sales leads into normalized sales leads, further enrich the enriched sales leads with the answers provided by the potential borrowers, or both, and wherein each normalized sales lead or enriched sales lead further enriched with the answers provided by the potential borrowers is rescored by the scoring algorithm up to at least a time of call transfer from a customer liaison representative to a licensed loan officer by way of the phone system. (See Mubarak, Par. 707 (immediately takes corrective and/or informative actions such as sending a page, logging a help desk ticket, sending an electronic mail message, or calling a resolution script.), Par. 776 (The pertinent answers are then immediately provided to the sponsor/vendor. The Internet Entry Server then "hot-links" the customer to the sponsor/vendor's Internet domain or Home Page for a mandatory "guided tour" where the user is exposed to any current product promotion by the sponsor/vendor and can download promotional coupons, product information, etc. After this mandatory guided tour is completed, the customer is allowed to enter queries for help in installing or using the sponsor/vendor's product. As an optional promotional service, upon termination of the on-line help session, access to other information on the Internet can be provided. Once the "free" on-line help service time or time period is up, the Internet Entry Server prompts the user with one or more of a plurality of options for extending the availability of on-line help. For example, the user can be prompted to enter a credit card number to which on-line help charges can be charged; he or she can be given the opportunity to answer additional survey information in return for additional "free" on-line help; or a 900 subscriber paid telephone access number can be provided through which additional on-line help will be billed via the normal telephone company 900 billing cycles.), Par. 1217 (ranking).))
Claim 9:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 8 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
each licensed loan officer of a plurality of licensed loan officers is assigned a unique phone number and one or more associated licensed loan officer attributes configured for attribute-based routing of phone calls by an automatic call distributor, the one or more attributes of the licensed loan officer selected from one or more licensing states, experience with one or more particular loan products, one or more languages spoken, and combinations thereof, and wherein call transfers from the customer liaison representatives to any available licensed loan officers are in accordance with matches between the one or more LLO attributes and the normalized sales leads or enriched sales leads further enriched with the answers provided by the potential borrowers. (See Mikurak, Par. 228 (In an aspect of the present invention, the information of the manufacturer may include information relating to the availability of the manufacturer offerings. In such an aspect, the service provider may be notified of the availability of the manufacturer offerings that match the service installation information.), Par. 507 (There is also a need to match all of the call records associated with a specific telephone call. For example, for proper billing and cost control, it is necessary for the billing center to match the originating switch's call record to the terminating switch's call record. Also, for troubleshooting and security purposes, it may be necessary to trace a specific telephone call through the network with ease in order to isolate problem areas.))
Claim 10:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 1 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
one or more enterprise marketing databases for storing marketing information including one or more points of interaction for each potential borrower having established at least one point of interaction with the digital lending platform, wherein the loan origination system is configured to request the marketing information and populate the sales-purposed record for each sales lead with the one or more points of interaction for each potential borrower. (See Mikurak, Par. 794 (Finally, in a managing step 5208, the network is managed based on the future behavior of the network. Data mining involves the development of tools that analyze large databases to extract useful information from them. As an application of data mining, customer purchasing patterns may be derived from a large customer transaction database by analyzing its transaction records. Such purchasing habits can provide invaluable marketing information. For example, retailers can create more effective store displays and more effective control inventory than otherwise would be possible if they know consumer purchase patterns. As a further example, catalog companies can conduct more effective mass mailings if they know that, given that a consumer has purchased a first item, the same consumer can be expected, with some degree of probability, to purchase a particular second item within a defined time period after the first purchase.), Par. 2504 (Using the Opportunity matrix given below, the opportunities where personalization typically delivers the most value in within the Interact domain. This area consists of opportunities where the organization is interacting with the user or the user is attempting to engage in a dialog. The publishing slice and Knowledge Management aspects of the Interact slice are the areas which are typically the secondary areas of personalization opportunity with the transact slice being last.), Par. 2516 (Integration with marketing databases - To be more than a novelty, personalization will require tight integration with marketing databases. This presents a serious integration challenge, and may necessitate the creation of an enterprise wide strategy for the collection, normalization and analysis of customer data.))
Claim 11:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 1 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the sales database is configured with a configurable mask or a mask-enabling viewing tool to mask information not relevant to one or more sales strategies, information potentially detrimental to the one or more sales strategies, or a combination thereof. (See Mikurak, Par. 2215 (Encrypted repository content can be decrypted, for example in a secure WAF sub-system, fingerprint information can be inserted, and then the content can be re-encrypted for transmission. Embedding identification information of the intended recipient user and/or WAF installation into content as it leaves, for example, an Internet repository, would provide important information that would identify or assist in identifying any party that managed to compromise the security of a WAF installation or the delivered content. If a party produces an authorized clear form copy of WAF controlled content, including making unauthorized copies of an authorized clear form copy, fingerprint information would point back to that individual and/or his or her WAF installation. Such hidden information will act as a strong disincentive that should dissuade a substantial portion of potential content "pirates" from stealing other parties electronic information.))
Claim 12:
Mikurak teaches:
A method for a non-transitory computer-readable medium including executable instructions that, when executed on a server host by one or more processors, cause the server host to instantiate at least a portion of a lead management system configured to perform a plurality of steps, comprising: (See Mikurak, Par. 250 (This embodiment of the present invention includes a monitoring and control system in which communication occurs through a fully distributed digital telecommunications switch without a centralized routing and handling facility.), Pars. 522-23)
processing sales leads with a lead processing module of a lead intake engine including enriching original data of at least a portion of incoming sales leads with complementary data to convert the portion of incoming sales leads into enriched sales leads, and (See Mikurak, Par. 1150 (Another aspect of the electronic commerce component of the present invention has the purpose of capturing interest in a product, service, or promotion. The invention sends leads, notices, and advertisements to sales effectiveness systems where the leads are displayed or disseminated to users. A database of the leads may be kept and updated as desired.))
scoring the enriched sales leads and any of the incoming sales leads not converted to the enriched sales leads with scores by a scoring algorithm; (See Mikurak, Par. 2674 (Correlation algorithms use the profile information, history, and/or input preferences to construct a correlation group of users whose ratings are effective predictors for the new user. Prediction algorithms then use the ratings and profile information of the users to make predictions of the content they most likely will find interesting.))
wherein components of the lead intake engine, the phone system, and the loan origination system form the lead management system optimized for speed-to- contact with telecommunications regulatory compliance. (See Mikurak, Par. 209 (The components may include some or all of an installation management component 208, a demand and supply component 210, an order management component 212, a network asset management component 214, a maintenance and service component 216, a procurement and recovered inventory component 218, and/or a distribution and logistics component 220.), Par. 220 (FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart for a process 300 for affording a network-based supply chain framework in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Installation of a service is managed utilizing a network in operation 302. Demand and supply of manufacturer offerings are planned utilizing the network in operation 304 and orders for the manufacturer offerings are also managed utilizing the network in operation 306. The network is also utilized to manage network assets including providing maintenance and service for the network assets utilizing the network (see operations 308 and 310).))
Mikurak does not expressly disclose, however, Tivey teaches:
sorting one or more dialer tables of a phone system in accordance with the scores of the sales leads by the lead intake engine; dialing phone numbers for the sales leads from the one or more dialer tables with a dialer of the phone system; and (See Tivey, Par. 53 (Once at the regional office, for example, an automated assignment system, as described in detail below, is used to assign and distribute the leads to the agents automatically. That is, for example, each lead categorized as an `A` lead, i.e., a lead that has not been worked before, is scored using a set of rules and is assigned to an agent at the regional office. The assignment of the A-leads may use an agent's score. The release or distribution of the leads may be performed using what might be characterized as a web based lead system, also described in detail below. The systems and methods of the invention also provide for the processing of what is herein characterized as B-leads, i.e., leads that have been processed before, but that have been shelved for some reason. As used herein, the term "worked lead" or an agent "working a lead" or similar language means that an agent has been assigned to a sales lead, in order to try to secure a sale based on that lead, and that the agent has taken some steps to bring about such a sale, such as making calls to the person, researching the lead and/or setting up an appointment, for example.))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine with the teachings of Mikurak discussed above, automatic processing of sales leads, as taught by Tivey. Mikurak teaches a network based supply chain framework which includes processing sales leads. It would be obvious for Mikurak as part of his system to include an automated call system for contacting consumers so that there is a systematic mechanism of tracking activities and sales for a given lead. Since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, Mikurak’s network based supply chain framework and Tivey’s automatic processing of sales leads, and in the combination each element would have performed the same function it performed separately, one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Mikurak does not expressly disclose, however, Lynch teaches:
creating a sales-purposed record in a sales database of the loan origination system for each sales lead using the original data, the complementary data, or a combination thereof up to at least a time of the dialer dialing a phone number associated with the record; (See Lynch, Par. 28 (Computer 102 may have several interchanges, such as interfaces, for communicating with other entities. These interfaces include an internet interface 112 for communicating with customers 114 accessing DSS 100. Also, included is a network interface 116 allowing networked computers to access DSS 100. A network computer 118 may be located in a facility operated in conjunction with DSS 100, such that loan customers may access the system without having Internet access. The system may have a telephone interface 120, such that customers may dial into the system to access DSS 100. The system may have a customer service representative (CSR/BROKER) interface 122 so that salespeople 124 may access the system and utilize the automated processing of DSS system 100.), Par. 86 (This list may be displayed to customer 114, allowing customer 114 to select services as desired. Where the cross-sell information is presented to customer 114 via the Internet, a more robust version of the above process may generate products and/or services requests to providers chosen by customer 114 by hyperlink, for example, as well as by ordering through the offeror. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that certain reporting tools may be used in conjunction with the present invention, and, specifically, with the cross-sell aspects of the present invention. For example, the data generated in the process of the present invention may be used to generate sales leads for sale to third parties, and may allow for tracking of the results of, for example, advertising.))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine with the teachings of Mikurak discussed above, a loan origination system, as taught by Lynch. Mikurak teaches a network based supply chain framework which includes processing sales leads. It would be obvious for Mikurak as part of his system to include a system and method for transactions which includes loan origination and other related data and sales activity so as to generate multiple alternative loan proposals, each with a plurality of loan proposal factors, requested by a party. Since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, Mikurak’s network based supply chain framework and Lynch’s loan origination system, and in the combination each element would have performed the same function it performed separately, one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim 13:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 12 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
removing duplicates of the sales leads with a deduplicating filter of the lead processing module; validating loan inquiries of the sales leads, the original data of the incoming sales leads, or both with a validating module of the lead processing module; and enriching the original data of the portion of incoming sales leads with the complementary data to convert the portion of incoming sales leads into the enriched sales leads by way of a lead-enriching module configured to coordinate with third-party data-enriching providers. (See Mikurak, Par, 216 (As an example, in an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, the Installation Management component, may include the following benefits to the service provider by looking at FIG. 4 in closer detail: faster time to site integration, rapid integration of acquisition, duplication reduction, procurement rationalization, transportation rationalization, and reduced inventories. In this illustrative embodiment, the Installation Management component may also include the following benefits to the manufacturer: duplication reduction, procurement rationalization, transportation rationalization, and reduced inventories.))
Claim 14:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 12 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
intermittently further enriching already enriched sales leads by way of third-party data-enriching providers and an application programming interface of the lead management system exposed to the third-party data-enriching providers; rescoring by the scoring algorithm any of the already enriched sales leads further enriched by the third-party data-enriching providers; and concomitantly sorting the one or more dialer tables of the phone system in accordance with the scores of the sales leads by the lead intake engine while the already enriched sales leads are further enriched by the third-party data-enriching providers. (See Mikurak, Par. 9 (A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for a first business entity to provide a network-based supply chain framework for collaborative order management between at least a second and a third independent business entity, such as a service provider, vendor, reseller, manufacturer and the like. A request for an order is received over a network with an automated system, from at least a second business entity. The order is transmitted over a network, with an automated system, to at least the third business entity. Information is received from the, third business entity relating to a status of completion of the order by the third business entity using a network. The progress in completing the order is tracked based on the information received from the third business entity. Progress reports from the tracking are generated periodically; and transmitted to the second business entity using the network.), Par. 613 (automated call system), Par. 939 (ranking).))
Claim 15:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 12 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the complementary data is selected from Telephone Consumer Protection Act compliance data including phone type and subscriber information; subject property information including address, legal description, year built, or a combination thereof; borrower personal information including Social Security number, date of birth, age, ethnicity, race, gender, veteran status, disability status, education information, address history, marital status, dependent information, or a combination thereof; borrower employment information including employment history, income, or a combination thereof; and borrower financial information including credit rating, financial account information, asset information, value of one or more existing properties, equity in one or more existing properties, loan-to-value ratio, or a combination thereof. (See Mikurak, Par. 2561 (Each personalization technique may require a different set of attributes from the user's profile. The information needed to deliver a `Site Controlled Contextual Inferences` will be very different than the information needed for `pre-filled forms.` Site Controlled Contextual Inferences Content Filtering requires the creation of rules and the necessary user information that satisfy the rules or `Contextual Inferences`. (The information required to satisfy a rule is referred to as Personalization Matching Factors (PMFs) and will be discussed in more detail in the Matching Logic component.) For instance, the rule may be based on gender, age, purchase history or customer demographics. On the other hand, the information that is used to Pre-Fill forms may be a different set of user profile attributes. For example, this might be name, address, shipping information and payment information. Another personalization technique may use the same set of user information or may require another subset of user data.))
Claim 16:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 12 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
the plurality of steps further comprises providing customized scripts with a scripter of the phone system to customer liaison representatives in a call center, wherein each customized script includes one or more questions for each sales lead in accordance with the original data, the complementary data, or the combination thereof for the sales lead, an age of the sales lead, a campaign of the sales lead, or a combination thereof. (See Mikurak, Par. 707 (immediately takes corrective and/or informative actions such as sending a page, logging a help desk ticket, sending an electronic mail message, or calling a resolution script.))
Claim 17:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 16 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
manually or automatically logging in the one or more dialer tables any answers provided by potential borrowers to the questions asked by the customer liaison representatives from the customized scripts to enrich the original data of a different portion of the incoming sales leads and, thereby, convert the different portion of incoming sales leads into normalized sales leads, further enrich the enriched sales leads with the answers provided by the potential borrowers, or both; and rescoring by the scoring algorithm each normalized sales lead or enriched sales lead further enriched with the answers provided by the potential borrowers, wherein the rescoring is up to at least a time of call transfer from a customer liaison representative to a licensed loan officer by way of the phone system. (See Mubarak, Par. 707 (immediately takes corrective and/or informative actions such as sending a page, logging a help desk ticket, sending an electronic mail message, or calling a resolution script.), Par. 776 (The pertinent answers are then immediately provided to the sponsor/vendor. The Internet Entry Server then "hot-links" the customer to the sponsor/vendor's Internet domain or Home Page for a mandatory "guided tour" where the user is exposed to any current product promotion by the sponsor/vendor and can download promotional coupons, product information, etc. After this mandatory guided tour is completed, the customer is allowed to enter queries for help in installing or using the sponsor/vendor's product. As an optional promotional service, upon termination of the on-line help session, access to other information on the Internet can be provided. Once the "free" on-line help service time or time period is up, the Internet Entry Server prompts the user with one or more of a plurality of options for extending the availability of on-line help. For example, the user can be prompted to enter a credit card number to which on-line help charges can be charged; he or she can be given the opportunity to answer additional survey information in return for additional "free" on-line help; or a 900 subscriber paid telephone access number can be provided through which additional on-line help will be billed via the normal telephone company 900 billing cycles.), Par. 1217 (ranking).))
Claim 18:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 17 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
assigning to each licensed loan officer of a plurality of licensed loan officers a unique phone number and one or more associated licensed loan officer attributes configured for attribute-based routing of phone calls by an automatic call distributor, the one or more attributes of the licensed loan officer selected from one or more licensing states, experience with one or more particular loan products, one or more languages spoken, and combinations thereof, wherein call transfers from customer liaison representatives to any available licensed loan officers are in accordance with matches between the one or more licensed loan officer attributes and the normalized sales leads or enriched sales leads further enriched with the answers provided by the potential borrowers. (See Mikurak, Par. 228 (In an aspect of the present invention, the information of the manufacturer may include information relating to the availability of the manufacturer offerings. In such an aspect, the service provider may be notified of the availability of the manufacturer offerings that match the service installation information.), Par. 507 (There is also a need to match all of the call records associated with a specific telephone call. For example, for proper billing and cost control, it is necessary for the billing center to match the originating switch's call record to the terminating switch's call record. Also, for troubleshooting and security purposes, it may be necessary to trace a specific telephone call through the network with ease in order to isolate problem areas.))
Claim 19:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 12 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
storing marketing information in one or more enterprise marketing databases, the marketing information including one or more points of interaction for each potential borrower having established at least one point of interaction with the lead management system; requesting the marketing information from the one or more enterprise marketing databases by the loan origination system; and populating the sales-purposed record for each sales lead with the one or more points of interaction for each potential borrower. (See Mikurak, Par. 794 (Finally, in a managing step 5208, the network is managed based on the future behavior of the network. Data mining involves the development of tools that analyze large databases to extract useful information from them. As an application of data mining, customer purchasing patterns may be derived from a large customer transaction database by analyzing its transaction records. Such purchasing habits can provide invaluable marketing information. For example, retailers can create more effective store displays and more effective control inventory than otherwise would be possible if they know consumer purchase patterns. As a further example, catalog companies can conduct more effective mass mailings if they know that, given that a consumer has purchased a first item, the same consumer can be expected, with some degree of probability, to purchase a particular second item within a defined time period after the first purchase.), Par. 2504 (Using the Opportunity matrix given below, the opportunities where personalization typically delivers the most value in within the Interact domain. This area consists of opportunities where the organization is interacting with the user or the user is attempting to engage in a dialog. The publishing slice and Knowledge Management aspects of the Interact slice are the areas which are typically the secondary areas of personalization opportunity with the transact slice being last.), Par. 2516 (Integration with marketing databases - To be more than a novelty, personalization will require tight integration with marketing databases. This presents a serious integration challenge, and may necessitate the creation of an enterprise wide strategy for the collection, normalization and analysis of customer data.))
Claim 20:
Mikurak, Tivey and Lynch teach each and every element in Claim 12 above.
Mikurak further teaches:
masking with a configurable mask or a mask-enabling viewing tool information not relevant to one or more sales strategies, information potentially detrimental to the one or more sales strategies, or a combination thereof in the sales database. (See Mikurak, Par. 2215 (Encrypted repository content can be decrypted, for example in a secure WAF sub-system, fingerprint information can be inserted, and then the content can be re-encrypted for transmission. Embedding identification information of the intended recipient user and/or WAF installation into content as it leaves, for example, an Internet repository, would provide important information that would identify or assist in identifying any party that managed to compromise the security of a WAF installation or the delivered content. If a party produces an authorized clear form copy of WAF controlled content, including making unauthorized copies of an authorized clear form copy, fingerprint information would point back to that individual and/or his or her WAF installation. Such hidden information will act as a strong disincentive that should dissuade a substantial portion of potential content "pirates" from stealing other parties electronic information.))
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEORGE PROIOS whose telephone number is (571)272-4573. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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/GEORGE N. PROIOS/Examiner, Art Unit 3694
/BENNETT M SIGMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3694
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