DETAILED ACTION
Acknowledgments
This is a Non-Final Office Action addresses U.S. Application No. 19/240,818. Based upon a review of the instant application, the actual filing date of the instant application is June 17, 2025. Since the instant application was filed after September 16, 2012, the statutory provisions of the America Invents Act ("AIA ") will govern this proceeding.
The instant application is a reissue application of U.S. Patent No. 11,689,435 (“the ‘435 Patent”). The ‘435 Patent matured from U.S. Patent Application 16/914,957, filed June 29, 2020 (“the ‘957 Application”). The ‘957 Application was a continuation application of U.S. Patent Application No. 16/386,868, filed April 17, 2019, which was a continuation of U.S. Patent Application No. 14/814,625, filed July 31, 2015. The ‘957 Application also claims the benefit of priority to U.S. provisional application 62/031,712 filed on July 31, 2014.
Since the instant application has an effective filing date that is on or after March 16, 2013, the instant application is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant is reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.178(b), to timely apprise the Office of any prior or concurrent proceeding in which the ‘435 Patent is or was involved. These proceedings would include any trial before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, interferences, reissues, reexaminations, supplemental examinations, and litigation.
Applicant is further reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.56, to timely apprise the Office of any information which is material to patentability of the claims under consideration in this reissue application.
These obligations rest with each individual associated with the filing and prosecution of this application for reissue. See also MPEP §§ 1404, 1442.01 and 1442.04.
Reissue Applications
The reissue oath/declaration filed with this application is defective (see 37 CFR 1.175 and MPEP § 1414) because of the following:
The reissue declaration indicates that the instant reissue application intends to broaden the claims of the original patent, however the declaration does not specifically identify a claim the application intends to broaden. MPEP 1414(II), recites in part,
“For an application filed on or after September 16, 2012 that seeks to enlarge the scope of the claims of the patent, the reissue oath or declaration must also identify a claim that the application seeks to broaden in the identification of the error that is relied upon to support the reissue application. A general statement, e.g., that all claims are broadened, is not sufficient to satisfy this requirement. In specifically identifying the error as required by 37 CFR 1.175(a), it is sufficient that the reissue oath/declaration identify the claim being broadened and a single word, phrase, or expression in the specification or in an original claim, and how it renders the original patent wholly or partly inoperative or invalid. The corresponding corrective action which has been taken to correct the original patent need not be identified in the oath/declaration. If the initial reissue oath/declaration "states at least one error" in the original patent, and, in addition, recites the specific corrective action taken in the reissue application, the oath/declaration would be considered acceptable, even though the corrective action statement is not required.”
35 USC § 251 Rejections – Defective Declaration
Claims 1-25 are rejected as being based upon a defective reissue declaration under 35 U.S.C. 251 as set forth above. See 37 CFR 1.175.
The nature of the defect(s) in the declaration is set forth in the discussion above in this Office action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-25 are free from prior art rejections, however are rejected under 35 USC § 251 for being based on a defective reissue declaration.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record taken alone or in combination limiting access of at least one of a first user and a second user to a zone when the total activity aggregate of all instances that belong to the first user exceeds a threshold, as required by the independent claims 1 and 11. The Examiner notes that a zone is described in the specification in figure 4 as comprising a plurality of tenants (i.e. users) and a plurality of instances, wherein each tenant access of one of a plurality of applications creates an instance. (See also ‘435 Patent at 22-35:11).
U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0121626 to Shepard is newly cited herein. Shepard is cited as disclosing monitoring user activity of applications and aggregating the activity information at a collection location. Shepard however is not seen as teaching or suggesting the limitation stated above and is being cited as relevant background information.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0121626 to Shepard is cited for the reasons stated above.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERON J SORRELL whose telephone number is (571)272-4160. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-6PM EST.
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, Michael Fuelling can be reached at 571-270-1367. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Signed:
/ERON J SORRELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
Conferees: /JOSEPH R POKRZYWA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
/M.F/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3992
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