DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
01. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
02. The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed on 06/24/2025 has been considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Priority
03. Applicant’s claim for domestic priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) is acknowledged.
Drawings
04. The drawings were received on 06/24/2025. These drawings are accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
05. 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.
06. Claims 14 – 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
As per claims 14 – 17, the claims recite “one or more computer-readable media”. In view of the Applicant’s disclosure, specification paragraph [0439], the “computer-readable media” is not limited to tangible embodiments, instead being defined as including intangible embodiments. The specification does differentiate between different types of media, e.g. non-transitory computer-readable storage media, computer-readable storage media, computer-readable media, and does state that “computer-readable media” does not include “signals or carrier waves”. However, the claimed “computer-readable media” could still be transitory. Additionally, the claimed “one or more hardware processors”, are not part of the actual medium, as they are a defined as only being used for execution. As such, the claims are not limited to statutory subject matter and are therefore non-statutory.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
07. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
08. 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 of this title, 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.
09. Claims 1 – 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen et al. (US Patent 10,546,001), hereinafter “Nguyen”, in view of Yen et al. (US PGPub 2019/0377827), hereinafter “Yen”
Consider claim 1, Nguyen discloses a computer-implemented method of data retrieval for a received text input, within a copilot, from a microservice supporting an application programming interface ("API"), (column 9 lines 15 – 31, a distributed data framework is utilized that includes APIs that provide machine-learning functions and the processing of queries), the method comprising:
for each query in a group of queries conforming to the API, generating a measure of likeness of semantic content between the respective query and the received text input (column 13 lines 5 – 21, query templates are stored that are each associated with a query intent, such that when an incoming query is received, it is compared to the query templates based on the intent. Figures 4G and 4H further explain that this intent can be the semantics of the query and query templates. Column 9 lines 15 – 31 additionally shows that APIs are used for the processing of the queries and utilization of the query templates);
identifying one or more queries from the group of queries based on the respective measures of likeness of semantic content (column 30 lines 34 – 65, column 32 lines 24 – 44, metrics are determined for the queries and query templates, which can include a confidence metric of how similar a query template is for the incoming query);
executing each of the one or more identified queries at the [microservice] on a live repository, wherein updates to the live repository are automatically available to the microservice as the updates occur (column 9 lines 50 – 64, column 28, lines 26 – 43, after the query template has been selected, that query can subsequently be executed, wherein the data storage can be modified or changed, which allows for the data to be immediately available based on those changes);
formulating and transmitting a response to the received text input, based on data retrieved by the one or more executed queries (column 9 lines 50 – 64, results of the query execution are generated and provided to the user).
However, Nguyen does not specifically disclose microservices.
In the same field of endeavor, Yen discloses a method comprising:
a/the microservice (paragraphs [0043], [0047], [0051], [0054], a microservice that supports an application programming interface is utilized for a query processing framework).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the microservice architecture taught by Yen into the query processing based on query intent taught by Nguyen for the purpose of allowing enhanced scalability and technological freedom by supporting and utilizing microservices within the querying based on semantics.
Consider claim 2, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the identified one or more queries are Structured Query Language ("SQL") queries (column 9 lines 15 – 31, SQL queries are supported).
Consider claim 3, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the group of queries is a library of all possible fully-qualified queries conforming to the API (column 12 lines 27 – 50, a query template store is used to store the query templates).
Consider claim 4, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the group of queries is a library of all possible query templates conforming to the API (column 12 line 51 – column 13 line 4, the query template store is used to store all of the query templates that are utilized).
Consider claim 5, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the group of queries is independent of the received text input (column 13 lines 41 – 62, the query templates are designed and stored without necessitation of an incoming query being submitted).
Consider claim 6, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the one or more identified queries is one query having a highest measure among the generated measures of likeness of semantic content (column 30 lines 34 – 65, the queries are assigned a confidence in order to determine the query template with the highest one).
Consider claim 7, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the one or more identified queries comprises those queries in the group of queries having respective measures of likeness of semantic content which are greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold (column 31 lines 30 – 44, a threshold is determined in order to query templates to provide or execute).
Consider claim 8, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the group of queries is a subset of a library of all possible queries conforming to the API, or a subset of a library of all possible query templates conforming to the API, and wherein the generating is terminated when the generated measures of likeness of semantic content satisfy a predetermined criterion (column 12 lines 27 – column 13 line 4, the query template store is used to store all of the query templates that are utilized, such that the purpose of the query template store is to provide the query templates only when they are needed).
Consider claim 9, and as applied to claim 1 above, Yen discloses a method comprising:
based on evaluation of the retrieved data, selecting a destination among at least a core microservice and a client interface; transmitting the response toward the selected destination (paragraphs [0051], [0054], the microservices are used in order to obtain and transfer the data that is obtained from a source).
Consider claim 10, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
casting the retrieved data into text (column 9 lines 50 – 65, the results of the query execution can be presented as textual data).
Consider claim 11, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the response comprises: a database record, a chart, an audio clip, or an image (column 9 lines 50 – 65, the results of the query execution can be presented as a chart).
Consider claim 12, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
the live repository comprises: a Structured Query Language ("SQL") database, a no-SQL database, an email repository, a messaging repository, or a learning management store (column 9 lines 15 – 31, SQL queries are supported).
Consider claim 13, and as applied to claim 1 above, Nguyen discloses a method comprising:
each query in the group of queries employs: an application layer protocol which is File Transfer Protocol ("FTP"), Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP"), Internet Message Access Protocol ("IMAP"), Network File System ("NFS"), Post Office Protocol ("POP"), or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol ("SMTP"); or a messaging protocol which is Advanced Message Queuing Protocol ("AMQP"), Constrained Application Protocol ("CoAP"), Data Distribution Service ("DDS"), Internet Relay Chat ("IRC"), Message Queuing Telemetry Transport ("MQTT"), Rich Communication Services ("RCS"), or Extensible Messaging and Presentation Protocol ("XMPP") (column 10 lines 8 – 22, different types of architectures are used, such as HTML).
Claim 14 recites the same embodiments found in claim 1, except that a media is claimed instead of a method, and has therefore been rejected under the same rational, which is provided above.
Consider claim 15, and as applied to claim 14 above, Yen discloses a media comprising:
the instructions and the microservice are part of a copilot and the response is transmitted toward a core microservice of the copilot (paragraphs [0051], [0054], the microservices are used in order to obtain and transfer the data that is obtained from a source).
Consider claim 16, and as applied to claim 14 above, Yen discloses a media comprising:
using the updates to the live repository to perform incremental fine-tuning training on the core microservice (paragraphs [0043], [0047], [0051], [0054], a microservices can be developed and updated to support additional processing).
Consider claim 17, and as applied to claim 14 above, Yen discloses a media comprising:
the received input comprises audio or image data (column 9 lines 50 – 65, the results of the query execution can be presented as a chart).
Allowable Subject Matter
10. Claims 18 – 20 have been examined and deemed allowable over the prior art of record.
Reasons for the Indication of Allowable Subject Matter
11. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The primary reason for allowance of claims 18 – 20 in the instant application is because the prior arts of record do not teach or suggest multiple microservices that are used in order to provide the functionality of providing query templates for a input query based on the likeness of semantic content. The prior art of record including the disclosures above neither anticipates nor renders obvious the above recited combination.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Relevant Prior Art Directed to State of Art
12. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xu et al. (US PGPub 2025/0200032) discloses a method of searching for data by using natural language processing, whereby a query submitted is translated and is performed on a database. This includes processing the query that is communicated via an API to a microservice that can generate additional data, such as a category search query.
Conclusion
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Christopher Raab whose telephone number is (571) 270-1090. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm.
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, Ajay Bhatia can be reached on (571) 272-3906. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free) or 703-305-3028.
/CHRISTOPHER J RAAB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2156
May 16, 2026
Prosecution Insights