CTNF 19/231,347 CTNF 87264 DETAILED ACTION 12-151 AIA 26-51 12-51 Status of Claims This Action is in response to App. 19/231,347 filed 06/06/2025. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101 07-04-01 AIA 07-04 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 under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites the steps of collecting business information including time restrictions, determining who/where to distribute content based on collected information, and providing the information. The limitations, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers a commercial interaction of advertising, marketing, or sales activity but for the recitation of generic computer components. As currently claimed, the invention is directed towards targeting advertisements for particular businesses to particular consumers similar to Credit Acceptance Corp. v. Westlake Services, 859 F.3d 1044, 123 USPQ2d 1100 (Fed. Cir. 2017) and Affinity Labs of Tex. v. Amazon.com, 838 F.3d 1266, 1270, 120 USPQ2d 1210, 1213 (Fed. Cir. 2016). As currently claimed, the invention is further similar to Ultramercial as, although the invention recites a technical environment of electronic networks, and vehicles, the invention is still directed towards a commercial activity as discussed in MPEP 2106.04. As such, the claimed invention is directed towards the judicial exception of commercial interaction. The limitation of collecting information about a business, and determining a target vehicle, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting “server” or “controller”, nothing in the claim element precludes the step from practically being performed in the mind. For example, but for the “server” or “controller” language, “collecting” in the context of this claim encompasses a person reading information about businesses including available openings. Similarly, the limitation of determining a target vehicle, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of “server” or “controller”. For example, but for the “server” or “controller” language, “determining” in the context of this claim encompasses the user thinking about which vehicle has the target occupants. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites the additional elements of utilizing “server” or “controller” to perform the steps. The “server” or “controller” are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function of collecting/transmitting information over a network, and determining a device to send information to based on rules) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, this additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim is directed to an abstract idea. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a processor to perform the steps amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claim is not patent eligible. The dependent claims are further directed towards the judicial exception without significantly more. The dependent claims provide limitations on particular rules and conditions for the mental process/business practice (such as claims 2, 4, 7-8), additional limitations further defining generic computer components performing well-understood, routine and conventional functions of collecting, storing, and displaying information (such as claims 3, 10-11, 14), and additional abstract steps such as making mental/business decisions/calculations (such as claims 5, 6, 9, 12-13). These are still directed towards the judicial exception as ***these further define the abstract elements such as further defining the information and relationship between the information. They are not significantly more as they do not further integrate the judicial exception into a practical application and the additional element amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. The dependent claims is not patent eligible. Claims 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Although the preamble of the claims indicate that the claims are directed to a machine, and a machine is one of the statutory classes of invention, the claims do not define a machine as the claims do not recite any structural features. The claims currently recite “controller” and “communication unit”, which as defined in paragraph 0042 and 0061 respectively of the originally filed specification, as “may include” hardware components such as processors. Although the specification recites hardware components, the originally filed specification does not explicitly state the controller to be hardware, and thus the definition of “controller” and “communication unit” can be interpreted as being software. The claim language refers to software and software per se is not a statutory class of invention. For the reasons noted, the claims are rejected because they are not directed to statutory subject matter. The Examiner recommends amending the claim such that the controller explicitly recites a processor. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-4, 7-11, 14-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ritzer et al. (US 20230267504 A1) (hereafter Ritzer), in view of Cho et al. (US 20190268743 A1) (hereafter Cho) . As per claim 1: A method of providing information, the method comprising: collecting, by a server, information about a business, wherein the business seeks to provide an advertisement for a service including a time restriction; (See Ritzer ¶0143, “A first operation 1002 may include receiving information related to a plurality of offers (or events) provided by a plurality of entities (e.g., business owners, event managers). The information for each of the plurality of offers may include one or more of location rules, time rules, and offer details. The first operation 1002 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a module that is the same as or similar to information receiving module 908, in accordance with one or more implementations.” Ritzer discloses collecting and business information including marketing offers for services with particular time associated rules.) determining an advertisement target vehicle based on an occupant condition and a time condition provided in the collected information; and (See Ritzer ¶0101, “In some cases, the commerce platform/system, such as system 900 in FIG. 9, may access or receive one or more other applicable rules (e.g., a rule specifying that a user has to be near one or more other users and in the same geofenced area or zone, since the event is a group event; a rule specifying that a user has to meet a certain age criteria, for instance, at least 18 or 21 years old, less than 18 or 16 years old, to name a few. It should be noted that the marketplace/application associated with the disclosed commerce platform/system may allow an entity (e.g., event manager, business owner) to specify other rules in addition to, or in lieu, of the above, and the examples listed herein are not intended to be limiting.” See also Ritzer ¶0121, “By way of non-limiting example, the identification of at least one offer (or event) may be further based at least in part on one or more of velocity information for the user device, weather information, and traffic information. For instance, the system 900 may expand the area covered by the one or more zones based on determining that a user is driving instead of walking, since the former mode of transportation allows the user to cover longer distances in the same duration. In some circumstances, the system 900 may identify a larger number of events/offers to display to the user, i.e., when the user is in a faster mode of transport, as the geolocation information and associated timestamp may pass/satisfy the time and location rules for a greater number of events/offers.” Ritzer discloses the concept of targeting end-user devices based on the rules of the marketing material.) transferring the advertisement to the determined target vehicle to display the advertisement. (See Ritzer ¶0147, “A fifth operation 1010 may include displaying, on the user device, the one or more first information. The one or more first information may further include information provided by at least one entity of the plurality of entities. Fifth operation 1010 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a module that is the same as or similar to information display module 916, in accordance with one or more implementations.” Ritzer discloses transferring the advertisement to a user.) Although Ritzer discloses the above-enclosed invention, Ritzer fails to explicitly disclose the concept of the user/device to be associated with a vehicle. However Cho as shown, which talks about utilizing connected vehicles as an advertisement platform, teaches the concept of user/devices to be associated and targeted for advertisements. (See Cho ¶0151, “In an aspect of the present disclosure, the vehicle location includes current location information of a connected vehicle and/or destination location information. The advertiser location includes location information of one or more stores of an advertiser. The event location may include location information where an advertisement is to take place. The event location may include a spot near the one or more stores of the advertiser or a specific driving route of interest. The status of an advertisement in reproduction in the vehicle may include information on a type of advertisement, identification of the advertisement, and how much time is remaining for playing the advertisement, or the like. The vehicle profile may include information including vehicle type, model, make, color, size, etc. The advertiser profile may include information including advertiser preferences such as types of advertisements, durations, target audience, routes, rewards, or the like.” See also Cho ¶0133, “Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to recognize or detect, in cooperation with other software and/or hardware components, certain data relating to one or more occupants in the connected vehicle, including a driver as well as passengers. Further, the one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to determine certain traits of people, such as age, sex, preferences, etc. by processing images of the people inside the connected vehicle, for the purpose of reproducing one or more suitable advertisement contents on the internal displays and/or speakers of the connected vehicle based on the determined traits or characteristics of people.” Cho teaches the concept of identifying and targeting advertisements based on vehicle and occupant information.) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Cho with the invention of Ritzer. As shown, Ritzer discloses the concept of targeting offers to users for a time restricted event including accounting for location, travel time, and user profile/demographic. Cho further teaches the concept of targeting users associated with vehicles. Cho teaches this concept as vehicles are known devices for providing content and an additional channel/opportunity for serving content (See Cho ¶0004-¶0005). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Cho as Cho teaches it is well known for vehicles to be a device capable of serving targeted content in an IOT environment. As per claim 2: The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is based on a no-show situation. (See Ritzer ¶0062, “According to aspects of the disclosure, entities or businesses (e.g., event or sporting venues, restaurants, barbers, golf courses, venues hosting activities and classes, festivals or fairs, amusement parks, theaters, museums, and/or other entertainment venues looking to drive sales and/or engage additional customers in a shortened time-span, etc.) may utilize a commerce platform/system, such as system 900 in FIG. 9, to reach out to potential customers, such as user 105, if/when the business has expiring available capacity, in order to not only facilitate in higher sales/profits for the business, but also enable customers to avail of potentially last-minute offers/services. In some aspects, the commerce platform/system may help streamline local commerce by linking businesses with available capacity (e.g., available booking or reservation time-slots; extra tickets for a sporting or entertainment event; unsold slots for a class or activity; available tables during off-peak hours, at or near closing or opening time, to name a few non-limiting examples) with interested customers in the vicinity of the event/offer.” Ritzer ¶0003, “Businesses, such as business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses, often have capacity to accommodate extra customers. In some cases, this may simply be due to customers canceling their booking/appointment, e.g., on the day of, or a couple hours ahead of their appointment. In other cases, a venue (e.g., a sporting venue, a concert venue) may have unsold tickets that are available for purchase before the start of the event. Alternatively, a business may have “slow” and “busy” time periods, for instance, restaurants may be relatively busy during lunch and/or dinner hours but slow in the hours in between. Similarly, customers may also need a last-minute appointment/booking, for instance, for a haircut, a car wash, a dinner reservation, etc.” Ritzer discloses the marketing material to be based on cancellations and availability.) As per claim 3: The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the information includes: receiving, by the server, the information about the business as an input from a terminal of the business, wherein the input is based on preset business information items. (See Ritzer fig. 6 and ¶0071, “In other cases, the commerce platform may provide two variants of the application/marketplace, one for customers (e.g., user 105 in FIG. 1, user(s) 605-a-d in FIG. 6) and one for event managers (e.g., event managers 615-a-d in FIG. 6). In either case, the business owner/event managers may access the application from a user device (e.g., UE 610-e in FIG. 6).” Ritzer discloses receiving information from terminals of the business.) As per claim 4: The method of claim 1, wherein the occupant condition includes at least one of an age bracket for occupants in a vehicle or a number of occupants. (See Cho ¶0133, “Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to recognize or detect, in cooperation with other software and/or hardware components, certain data relating to one or more occupants in the connected vehicle, including a driver as well as passengers. Further, the one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to determine certain traits of people, such as age, sex, preferences, etc. by processing images of the people inside the connected vehicle, for the purpose of reproducing one or more suitable advertisement contents on the internal displays and/or speakers of the connected vehicle based on the determined traits or characteristics of people.” Cho teaches the concept of determining vehicle occupant conditions including occupant age.) As per claim 7: The method of claim 1, wherein the time condition includes the time restriction and an estimated time of arrival of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is provided to communicate with the server. (See Ritzer ¶0121, “By way of non-limiting example, the identification of at least one offer (or event) may be further based at least in part on one or more of velocity information for the user device, weather information, and traffic information. For instance, the system 900 may expand the area covered by the one or more zones based on determining that a user is driving instead of walking, since the former mode of transportation allows the user to cover longer distances in the same duration. In some circumstances, the system 900 may identify a larger number of events/offers to display to the user, i.e., when the user is in a faster mode of transport, as the geolocation information and associated timestamp may pass/satisfy the time and location rules for a greater number of events/offers.” Ritzer discloses the concept of time conditions including accounting for an arrival time.) As per claim 8: The method of claim 7, wherein determining the advertisement target vehicle includes: determining urgency of the advertisement based on the time restriction and a preset time reference. (See Ritzer ¶0072, “In some examples, users may dynamically view different events/offers in a different prioritization (e.g., different order or ranking) based on the users' distance to the event/offer location (e.g., events or offers that are located closer to a user may be ranked higher) and/or time remaining (e.g., events or offers expiring sooner may be ranked higher).” Ritzer discloses prioritizing particular content based on time restriction and reach time.) As per claim 9: The method of claim 8, wherein determining the advertisement target vehicle includes: determining a discount rate for the service based on the urgency of the advertisement. (See Ritzer ¶0077, “It is further contemplated that the commerce platform may dynamically vary the price and discount (if any) for an event or offer based on market conditions (e.g., demand, number of users within a zone, number of users within ‘X’ miles of the event or offer location, amount of time remaining before event or offer expires, to name a few). As an example, the commerce platform may increase the price when the demand for an event/offer is high and lower the price when the demand is low. In some examples, the business or entity may be able to enable or disable dynamic pricing, for instance, through the mobile/web application associated with the commerce platform.” Ritzer discloses the concept of determining discounts based on a plurality of factors including urgency.) As per claim 10: The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the advertisement includes: transferring the advertisement to the vehicle such that the advertisement is displayed in the form of a brand pin on an information output device of the vehicle. (See Ritzer fig. 2 and ¶0078, “Turning now to FIG. 2, which illustrates an example of a user interface (UI) 200 displayed on a UE 210, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The UI 200 comprises a map 299, where the map 299 is similar or substantially similar to the map 100 described in relation to FIG. 1. The UI 200 may be associated with the application or marketplace (e.g., online marketplace) provided by the commerce platform (e.g., server 605 in FIG. 6, system 900 in FIG. 9) of the present disclosure. The UE 210 may implement one or more aspects of the UE 110 previously described in relation to FIG. 1. While FIG. 2 depicts the UE 210 as a smartphone, this is not intended to be limiting. Other types of UEs are contemplated in different embodiments, some non-limiting examples of which include a laptop, a tablet computer, and a NetBook. The UE 210 may include a geolocation module (e.g., GPS chip). In some cases, the geolocation module of the UE 210 may provide one or more of user location information and velocity information to the commerce platform (e.g., geolocation information receiving module 910 of system 900 in FIG. 9) in real-time or substantially real-time, which enables the commerce platform to dynamically (1) identify one or more events/offers for displaying to the user, (2) alter geofenced areas or zones, e.g., based on the obtained velocity information, and/or (3) alter time rules, such as a cut-off time for when the user associated with UE 210 has to be within a particular geofenced area or zone associated with an event/offer, to name a few non-limiting examples.” Ritzer discloses providing a map interface including a marker for the event/business.) As per claim 11: The method of claim 10, wherein the brand pin includes at least one of a location of the business or a discount rate of the business. (See Ritzer fig. 2 and ¶0078, “Turning now to FIG. 2, which illustrates an example of a user interface (UI) 200 displayed on a UE 210, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The UI 200 comprises a map 299, where the map 299 is similar or substantially similar to the map 100 described in relation to FIG. 1. The UI 200 may be associated with the application or marketplace (e.g., online marketplace) provided by the commerce platform (e.g., server 605 in FIG. 6, system 900 in FIG. 9) of the present disclosure. The UE 210 may implement one or more aspects of the UE 110 previously described in relation to FIG. 1. While FIG. 2 depicts the UE 210 as a smartphone, this is not intended to be limiting. Other types of UEs are contemplated in different embodiments, some non-limiting examples of which include a laptop, a tablet computer, and a NetBook. The UE 210 may include a geolocation module (e.g., GPS chip). In some cases, the geolocation module of the UE 210 may provide one or more of user location information and velocity information to the commerce platform (e.g., geolocation information receiving module 910 of system 900 in FIG. 9) in real-time or substantially real-time, which enables the commerce platform to dynamically (1) identify one or more events/offers for displaying to the user, (2) alter geofenced areas or zones, e.g., based on the obtained velocity information, and/or (3) alter time rules, such as a cut-off time for when the user associated with UE 210 has to be within a particular geofenced area or zone associated with an event/offer, to name a few non-limiting examples.” Ritzer discloses providing a map interface including a marker for the event/business.) As per claim 14: The method of claim 1, the method further comprising: collecting and storing a response of an occupant to the advertisement. (See Ritzer ¶0107, “Further, offer DB 614 may store information related to event offers, such as: a list of users/customers 605 who have purchased an event offer via the system 600, pricing information for the event, discounts (if any) available to users/customers 605, number of event offers (e.g., tickets, tables for reservation, reservation or booking slots, etc.) still available for purchase or booking, to name a few non-limiting examples. In some embodiments, one or more of the DB s may be optional. Alternatively, a single DB may be used in lieu of two or more separate DBs (e.g., event DB 613 and offer DB 614 may be combined into a single events/offers DB).” Ritzer discloses collecting and tracking occupant response.) As per claim 15: A server comprising: a controller that (See Ritzer ¶0007, “In some examples, the commerce platform may comprise (or may be implemented using) a computing platform. The commerce platform may comprise one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions to effectuate one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, the commerce platform is embodied in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the commerce platform (also referred to as system) may include one or more servers, computing platforms or user equipment(s) (UEs), databases, transceivers (i.e., transmitters and/or receivers), amongst other components for performing the operations of one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.” Ritzer discloses a computer platform executing stored instructions and communicating with remote devices.) collects information about a business that seeks an advertisement for a service including a time restriction and (See Ritzer ¶0143, “A first operation 1002 may include receiving information related to a plurality of offers (or events) provided by a plurality of entities (e.g., business owners, event managers). The information for each of the plurality of offers may include one or more of location rules, time rules, and offer details. The first operation 1002 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a module that is the same as or similar to information receiving module 908, in accordance with one or more implementations.” Ritzer discloses collecting and business information including marketing offers for services with particular time associated rules.) determines an advertisement target vehicle based on an occupant condition and a time condition provided in the collected information; and (See Ritzer ¶0101, “In some cases, the commerce platform/system, such as system 900 in FIG. 9, may access or receive one or more other applicable rules (e.g., a rule specifying that a user has to be near one or more other users and in the same geofenced area or zone, since the event is a group event; a rule specifying that a user has to meet a certain age criteria, for instance, at least 18 or 21 years old, less than 18 or 16 years old, to name a few. It should be noted that the marketplace/application associated with the disclosed commerce platform/system may allow an entity (e.g., event manager, business owner) to specify other rules in addition to, or in lieu, of the above, and the examples listed herein are not intended to be limiting.” See also Ritzer ¶0121, “By way of non-limiting example, the identification of at least one offer (or event) may be further based at least in part on one or more of velocity information for the user device, weather information, and traffic information. For instance, the system 900 may expand the area covered by the one or more zones based on determining that a user is driving instead of walking, since the former mode of transportation allows the user to cover longer distances in the same duration. In some circumstances, the system 900 may identify a larger number of events/offers to display to the user, i.e., when the user is in a faster mode of transport, as the geolocation information and associated timestamp may pass/satisfy the time and location rules for a greater number of events/offers.” Ritzer discloses the concept of targeting end-user devices based on the rules of the marketing material.) a communication unit through which the advertisement is transferred to the determined advertisement target vehicle and the advertisement target vehicle displays the advertisement. (See Ritzer ¶0147, “A fifth operation 1010 may include displaying, on the user device, the one or more first information. The one or more first information may further include information provided by at least one entity of the plurality of entities. Fifth operation 1010 may be performed by one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructions including a module that is the same as or similar to information display module 916, in accordance with one or more implementations.” Ritzer discloses transferring the advertisement to a user.) Although Ritzer discloses the above-enclosed invention, Ritzer fails to explicitly disclose the concept of the user/device to be associated with a vehicle. However Cho as shown, which talks about utilizing connected vehicles as an advertisement platform, teaches the concept of user/devices to be associated and targeted for advertisements. (See Cho ¶0151, “In an aspect of the present disclosure, the vehicle location includes current location information of a connected vehicle and/or destination location information. The advertiser location includes location information of one or more stores of an advertiser. The event location may include location information where an advertisement is to take place. The event location may include a spot near the one or more stores of the advertiser or a specific driving route of interest. The status of an advertisement in reproduction in the vehicle may include information on a type of advertisement, identification of the advertisement, and how much time is remaining for playing the advertisement, or the like. The vehicle profile may include information including vehicle type, model, make, color, size, etc. The advertiser profile may include information including advertiser preferences such as types of advertisements, durations, target audience, routes, rewards, or the like.” See also Cho ¶0133, “Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to recognize or detect, in cooperation with other software and/or hardware components, certain data relating to one or more occupants in the connected vehicle, including a driver as well as passengers. Further, the one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to determine certain traits of people, such as age, sex, preferences, etc. by processing images of the people inside the connected vehicle, for the purpose of reproducing one or more suitable advertisement contents on the internal displays and/or speakers of the connected vehicle based on the determined traits or characteristics of people.” Cho teaches the concept of identifying and targeting advertisements based on vehicle and occupant information.) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Cho with the invention of Ritzer. As shown, Ritzer discloses the concept of targeting offers to users for a time restricted event including accounting for location, travel time, and user profile/demographic. Cho further teaches the concept of targeting users associated with vehicles. Cho teaches this concept as vehicles are known devices for providing content and an additional channel/opportunity for serving content (See Cho ¶0004-¶0005). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Cho as Cho teaches it is well known for vehicles to be a device capable of serving targeted content in an IOT environment. As per claim 16: The server of claim 15, wherein the advertisement for the service is based on a no-show situation. (See Ritzer ¶0062, “According to aspects of the disclosure, entities or businesses (e.g., event or sporting venues, restaurants, barbers, golf courses, venues hosting activities and classes, festivals or fairs, amusement parks, theaters, museums, and/or other entertainment venues looking to drive sales and/or engage additional customers in a shortened time-span, etc.) may utilize a commerce platform/system, such as system 900 in FIG. 9, to reach out to potential customers, such as user 105, if/when the business has expiring available capacity, in order to not only facilitate in higher sales/profits for the business, but also enable customers to avail of potentially last-minute offers/services. In some aspects, the commerce platform/system may help streamline local commerce by linking businesses with available capacity (e.g., available booking or reservation time-slots; extra tickets for a sporting or entertainment event; unsold slots for a class or activity; available tables during off-peak hours, at or near closing or opening time, to name a few non-limiting examples) with interested customers in the vicinity of the event/offer.” Ritzer ¶0003, “Businesses, such as business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses, often have capacity to accommodate extra customers. In some cases, this may simply be due to customers canceling their booking/appointment, e.g., on the day of, or a couple hours ahead of their appointment. In other cases, a venue (e.g., a sporting venue, a concert venue) may have unsold tickets that are available for purchase before the start of the event. Alternatively, a business may have “slow” and “busy” time periods, for instance, restaurants may be relatively busy during lunch and/or dinner hours but slow in the hours in between. Similarly, customers may also need a last-minute appointment/booking, for instance, for a haircut, a car wash, a dinner reservation, etc.” Ritzer discloses the marketing material to be based on cancellations and availability.) As per claim 17: The server of claim 15, wherein the occupant condition includes at least one of an age bracket for occupants in a vehicle or a number of occupants. (See Cho ¶0133, “Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to recognize or detect, in cooperation with other software and/or hardware components, certain data relating to one or more occupants in the connected vehicle, including a driver as well as passengers. Further, the one or more internal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to determine certain traits of people, such as age, sex, preferences, etc. by processing images of the people inside the connected vehicle, for the purpose of reproducing one or more suitable advertisement contents on the internal displays and/or speakers of the connected vehicle based on the determined traits or characteristics of people.” Cho teaches the concept of determining vehicle occupant conditions including occupant age.) As per claim 18: The server of claim 15, wherein the time condition includes the time restriction and an estimated time of arrival of the vehicle that is provided to communicate with the server. (See Ritzer ¶0121, “By way of non-limiting example, the identification of at least one offer (or event) may be further based at least in part on one or more of velocity information for the user device, weather information, and traffic information. For instance, the system 900 may expand the area covered by the one or more zones based on determining that a user is driving instead of walking, since the former mode of transportation allows the user to cover longer distances in the same duration. In some circumstances, the system 900 may identify a larger number of events/offers to display to the user, i.e., when the user is in a faster mode of transport, as the geolocation information and associated timestamp may pass/satisfy the time and location rules for a greater number of events/offers.” Ritzer discloses the concept of time conditions including accounting for an arrival time.) As per claim 20: The server of claim 15, wherein the controller collects and stores a response of an occupant in a vehicle to the advertisement. (See Ritzer ¶0107, “Further, offer DB 614 may store information related to event offers, such as: a list of users/customers 605 who have purchased an event offer via the system 600, pricing information for the event, discounts (if any) available to users/customers 605, number of event offers (e.g., tickets, tables for reservation, reservation or booking slots, etc.) still available for purchase or booking, to name a few non-limiting examples. In some embodiments, one or more of the DB s may be optional. Alternatively, a single DB may be used in lieu of two or more separate DBs (e.g., event DB 613 and offer DB 614 may be combined into a single events/offers DB).” Ritzer discloses collecting and tracking occupant response.) 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ritzer et al. (US 20230267504 A1) (hereafter Ritzer), in view of Cho et al. (US 20190268743 A1) (hereafter Cho), in view of Shlomot (US 20130060642 A1) (hereafter Shlomot) . As per claim 5: Although the combination of Ritzer and Cho discloses the above-enclosed invention, the combination fails to explicitly disclose how the age of vehicle occupants are determined. However Shlomot as shown, which talks about targeted advertising to vehicle occupants, teaches the concept of collecting vehicle occupant information to determine occupant characteristics. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the advertisement target vehicle includes: determining an age bracket for the occupants based on information about whether a buggy seat is mounted in the vehicle, weights of occupants, and measurement data obtained from an internal camera and a microphone within the vehicle, wherein the information, the weights, and the measurement data is received by the server from the vehicle. (See Shlomot ¶0020, “In another example, during day time the identification characteristics of a passenger in the car such as age, gender or ethnic background may be extracted by examining body and facial parameters, which may consist of estimated height and weight, hair style and color, skin texture and tone, lips structuring and coloring, as well as by examining the clothes the passengers are wearing. During night time the number of passengers in the cars and other identification characteristics of any passenger in any car may be estimated using infrared imaging. Items in the car, such as child seats, sport gear or technical gadgets or any other items in any car may be identified by matching their structural features to a pre-stored database of structural features of such items. In yet another example, any pet traveling in any car may be identified and its species and breed may be determined by analyzing the pet size, shape, color or facial features.” Shlomot teaches the concept of obtaining imaging information to identify seat configuration, weight, and measurement information to profile the users. See also Ritzer ¶0157, “Examples of an input device(s) 833 include, but are not limited to, an alpha-numeric input device (e.g., a keyboard), a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or touchpad), a touchpad, a joystick, a gamepad, an audio input device (e.g., a microphone, a voice response system, etc.), an optical scanner, a video or still image capture device (e.g., a camera), and any combinations thereof.” Ritzer further discloses the concept of collecting information using microphone for audio.) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Shlomot with the combination of Ritzer and Cho. As shown, the combination discloses the concept of profiling vehicle occupants for targeting content including age of occupants. Shlomot further teaches the concept of determining characteristics of the vehicle occupants including utilizing visual information to further profile the occupants including utilizing visual elements. Shlomot teaches this concept to further extract occupant information dynamically including additional information gained from images of the vehicle (See Shlomot ¶0020-¶0022). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Shlomot to further profile the occupants of the vehicle . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ritzer et al. (US 20230267504 A1) (hereafter Ritzer), in view of Cho et al. (US 20190268743 A1) (hereafter Cho), in view of Sakurada et al. (US 20200098007 A1) (hereafter Sakurada) . As per claim 6: Although the combination of Ritzer and Cho discloses the above-enclosed invention including the concept of targeting content based on vehicle occupants, the combination fails to explicitly disclose the concept of determining a number of occupants based on a plurality of vehicles in a group. However Sakurada as shown, which talks about targeted vehicle advertising, teaches the concept of determining a number of occupants based on grouped vehicles. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the advertisement target vehicle includes: determining the number of occupants based on whether a plurality of vehicles, provided to communicate with the server, drive in groups. (See Sakurada ¶0127, “When the advertisement target vehicles 20 are sorted into a plurality of groups, advertising information to be displayed is selected for each of the groups on a group-by-group basis. Then, the advertising information to be selected may be one having the highest degree of matching (e.g. the largest number of matching occupants), or a plurality of pieces of advertising information may be selected with prioritization according to the degree of matching. When a plurality of pieces of advertising information are selected, the advertising information selected for the group that leaves the route of travel of the advertisement displaying vehicle 10 earlier (e.g. a group of vehicles whose destination is Nagoya) may be displayed earlier, and the advertising information selected for the group that leaves the route of travel of the advertisement displaying vehicle 10 later (e.g. a group of vehicles whose destination is Kyoto) may be displayed later.” Sakurada teaches the concept of determining a number of occupants based on a group of vehicles.) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Sakurada with the combination of Ritzer and Cho. As shown, the combination discloses the concept of targeting time sensitive event content to vehicle occupants. Sakurada further teaches the concept of targeting content to vehicles including identifying groups of vehicles and determining the number of occupants within the group. Sakurada teaches this concept to further optimize the targeting of content to multiple users simultaneously (See Sakurada ¶0126-¶0127). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Sakurada to further optimally target multiple occupants . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 12-13, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ritzer et al. (US 20230267504 A1) (hereafter Ritzer), in view of Cho et al. (US 20190268743 A1) (hereafter Cho), in view of Pyhalammi et al. (US 20080010130 A1 (hereafter Pyhalammi) . As per claim 12: Although the combination of Ritzer and Cho discloses the above-enclosed invention, the combination fails to explicitly disclose the determination of a price for the advertisement. However Pyhalammi as shown, which talks abouts advertisement auction and pricing, teaches the concept of determining a price for advertisements. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising: determining a unit price of the advertisement. (See Pyhalammi ¶0067, “Further, in step 1110, the advertisement information is used to segment the user population to determine the potential market permeation of the advertisement. In other words, one or more users of the user population that may have interest are identified. Interest level may be determined based on the user profile of each user. The preliminary cost may then be adjusted based on the number of users that may receive the advertisement in step 1115. For example, a first premium may be added to the cost if between 300 and 500 users will be targeted and a second premium may be applied to the cost if 501 or more users are projected to receive the advertisement. The cost may also be adjusted based on prices being charged for comparable ads targeting the same segment of users. Alternatively or additionally, the cost may be adjusted to maximize the revenue from a given advertisement based on parameters such as a click-through rate and a cost of click. Historical information may be collected and stored to estimate the click-through rate based on various words used in an advertisement. For example, a higher click-through rate may be estimated for the word "books" than for the word "dictionary." Based on the cost of click and the estimated click-through, a preferred cost may be calculated to maximize total revenue.” Pyhalammi teaches the concept of determining pricing for distributing targeted advertisements.) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Pyhalammi with the combination of Ritzer and Cho. As shown, the combination discloses the concept of targeting content to vehicle occupants. Pyhalammi further teaches the concept of determining pricing for targeted advertisements including additional charges. Pyhalammi teaches this concept to further allow for premium charges based on number and quality of advertisement distribution (See Pyhalammi ¶0066-¶0067). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have utilized the teachings of Pyhalammi to enable different levels of targeting based on different goals of the businesses. As per claim 13: The method of claim 12, the method further comprising:2 determining whether the unit price of the advertisement is increased by applying an extra charge. (See Pyhalammi ¶0067, “Further, in step 1110, the advertisement information is used to segment the user population to determine the potential market permeation of the advertisement. In other words, one or more users of the user population that may have interest are identified. Interest level may be determined based on the user profile of each user. The preliminary cost may then be adjusted based on the number of users that may receive the advertisement in step 1115. For example, a first premium may be added to the cost if between 300 and 500 users will be targeted and a second premium may be applied to the cost if 501 or more users are projected to receive the advertisement. The cost may also be adjusted based on prices being charged for comparable ads targeting the same segment of users. Alternatively or additionally, the cost may be adjusted to maximize the revenue from a given advertisement based on parameters such as a click-through rate and a cost of click. Historical information may be collected and stored to estimate the click-through rate based on various words used in an advertisement. For example, a higher click-through rate may be estimated for the word "books" than for the word "dictionary." Based on the cost of click and the estimated click-through, a preferred cost may be calculated to maximize total revenue.” Pyhalammi teaches the concept of determining pricing for distributing targeted advertisements including additional charges.) As per claim 19: Although the combination of Ritzer and Cho discloses the above-enclosed invention, the combination fails to explicitly disclose the determination of a price for the advertisement. However Pyhalammi as shown, which talks abouts advertisement auction and pricing, teaches the concept of determining a price for advertisements. The server of claim 15, wherein the controller determines a unit price of the advertisement. (See Pyhalammi ¶0067, “Further, in step 1110, the advertisement information is used to segment the user population to determine the potential market permeation of the advertisement. In other words, one or more users of the user population that may have interest are identified. Interest level may be determined based on the user profile of each user. The preliminary cost may then be adjusted based on the number of users that may receive the advertisement in step 1115. For example, a first premium may be added to the cost if between 300 and 500 users will be targeted and a second premium may be applied to the cost if 501 or more users are projected to receive the advertisement. The cost may also be adjusted based on prices being charged for comparable ads targeting the same segment of users. Alternatively or additionally, the cost may be adjusted to maximize the revenue from a given advertisement based on parameters such as a click-through rate and a cost of click. Historical information may be collected and stored to estimate the click-through rate based on various words used in an advertisement. For example, a higher click-through rate may be estimated for the word "books" than for the word "dictionary." Based on the cost of click and the estimated click-through, a preferred cost may be calculated to maximize total revenue.” Pyhalammi teaches the concept of determining pricing for distributing targeted advertisements.) Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have utilized the teachings of Pyhalammi with the combination of Ritzer and Cho. As shown, the combination discloses the concept of targeting content to vehicle occupants. Pyhalammi further teaches the concept of determining pricing for targeted advertisements including additional charges. Pyhalammi teaches this concept to further allow for premium charges based on number and quality of advertisement distribution (See Pyhalammi ¶0066-¶0067). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have utilized the teachings of Pyhalammi to enable different levels of targeting based on different goals of the businesses . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shealy et al. (US 20200272952 A1), which talks about managing time restricted event tickets including prediction of no-show. Hengerer et al. (US 20180218338 A1), which talks about managing appointments including targeted communication during a no-show. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VINCENT M CAO whose telephone number is (571)270-5598. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 11-7. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ILANA SPAR can be reached at (571) 270-7537. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /VINCENT M CAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 2 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 3 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 4 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 5 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 6 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 7 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 8 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 9 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 10 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 11 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 12 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 13 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 14 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 15 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 16 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 17 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 18 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 19 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 20 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 21 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 22 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 24 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 26 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 27 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 28 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 29 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 30 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 31 Art Unit: 3622 Application/Control Number: 19/231,347 Page 32 Art Unit: 3622
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