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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claims 1-20 recite:
1. A method comprising:receiving one or more geospatial files for a geographical region;partitioning the geographical region into a plurality of polygons based on the one or more geospatial files, each of the plurality of polygons being associated with one or more of a plurality of taxing jurisdictions; andreceiving an entity data associated with an entity, the entity data comprising a first address for the entity and one or more tax attributes for the entity;determining a first set of geographical coordinates of the first address within the geographical region;plotting the first address in the geographical region based on the first set of geographical coordinates of the first address;determining at least one polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the first address plotted within the geographical region;determining at least one taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the at least one polygon;based on the at least one taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity,determining a first set of tax information for the entity; and presenting the first set of tax information for the entity,wherein the method is performed by at least one device including a hardware processor.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a respective portion of the geographical region associated with each of the plurality of taxing jurisdictions; anddetermining the plurality of polygons based on the plurality of taxing jurisdictions.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein two or more polygons of the plurality of polygons at least partially overlap;wherein a first polygon of the two or more polygons is associated with a first region type from a group of region types including a town, city, county, state or country; wherein a second polygon of the two or more polygons is associated with a second region type from the group of region types, the first region type being different from the second region type; wherein the first address is determined to be plotted in a first polygon corresponding to the first region type and a second polygon corresponding to the second region type; wherein the first set of tax information for the entity includes a first subset of tax information associated with the first region type based in part on the first polygon and a second subset of tax information associated with the second region type based in part on the second polygon.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein a first polygon and a second polygon of the plurality of polygons respectively comprise (a) a first set of addresses on a first side of a street and (b) a second set of addresses on a second side of the street, andwherein based on first address being on the first side of the street, the first address is included in the first polygon and not included in the second polygon.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining that the first address is associated with an entity on a particular day; anddetermining the plurality of polygons, associated with the plurality of taxing jurisdictions,based in part on the particular day.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining that the first address is associated with an entity during a particular time period;wherein the first set of tax information for the entity is determined based further in part on the particular time period.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of tax information for the entity comprises tax liabilities for the entity.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving an update to the entity data, the update comprising a second address for the entity; determining a second set of geographical coordinates of the second address within the geographical region; plotting the second address in the geographical region based on the second set of geographical coordinates of the second address; determining a second polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the second address plotted within the geographical region; determining a second taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the second polygon; based on the second taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity,determining a second set of tax information for the entity; and presenting the second set of tax information for the entity concurrently with presenting the first set of tax information for the entity.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first address corresponds to the entity for a first period of time, wherein the entity data further comprises a second address that is associated with the entity for a second period of time, and further comprising:determining a second set of geographical coordinates of the second address within the geographical region;plotting the second address in the geographical region based on the second set of geographical coordinates of the second address;determining a second polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the second address plotted within the geographical region;determining a second taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the second polygon;based on the second taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity,wherein the first set of tax information for the entity is based further on the second taxing jurisdiction.
10. One or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause performance of operations comprising:receiving one or more geospatial files for a geographical region; partitioning the geographical region into a plurality of polygons based on the one or more geospatial files, each of the plurality of polygons being associated with one or more of a plurality of taxing jurisdictions; and receiving an entity data associated with an entity, the entity data comprising a first address for the entity and one or more tax attributes for the entity; determining a first set of geographical coordinates of the first address within the geographical region; plotting the first address in the geographical region based on the first set of geographical coordinates of the first address; determining at least one polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the first address plotted within the geographical region; determining at least one taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the at least one polygon; based on the at least one taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity,determining a first set of tax information for the entity; and presenting the first set of tax information for the entity.
11. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:determining a respective portion of the geographical region associated with each of the plurality of taxing jurisdictions; anddetermining the plurality of polygons based on the plurality of taxing jurisdictions.
12. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein two or more polygons of the plurality of polygons at least partially overlap;wherein a first polygon of the two or more polygons is associated with a first region type from a group of region types including a town, city, county, state or country;wherein a second polygon of the two or more polygons is associated with a second region type from the group of region types, the first region type being different from the second region type;wherein the first address is determined to be plotted in a first polygon corresponding to the first region type and a second polygon corresponding to the second region type; wherein the first set of tax information for the entity includes a first subset of tax information associated with the first region type based in part on the first polygon and a second subset of tax information associated with the second region type based in part on the second polygon.
13. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein a first polygon and a second polygon of the plurality of polygons respectively comprise (a) a first set of addresses on a first side of a street and (b) a second set of addresses on a second side of the street, andwherein based on first address being on the first side of the street, the first address is included in the first polygon and not included in the second polygon.
14. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:determining that the first address is associated with an entity on a particular day; anddetermining the plurality of polygons, associated with the plurality of taxing jurisdictions,based in part on the particular day.
15. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:determining that the first address is associated with an entity during a particular time period;wherein the first set of tax information for the entity is determined based further in part on the particular time period.
16. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the first set of tax information for the entity comprises tax liabilities for the entity.
17. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:receiving an update to the entity data, the update comprising a second address for the entity; determining a second set of geographical coordinates of the second address within the geographical region; plotting the second address in the geographical region based on the second set of geographical coordinates of the second address; determining a second polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the second address plotted within the geographical region; determining a second taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the second polygon; based on the second taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity,determining a second set of tax information for the entity; and presenting the second set of tax information for the entity concurrently with presenting the first set of tax information for the entity.
18. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the first address corresponds to the entity for a first period of time, wherein the entity data further comprises a second address that is associated with the entity for a second period of time, andwherein the operations further comprise:determining a second set of geographical coordinates of the second address within the geographical region;plotting the second address in the geographical region based on the second set of geographical coordinates of the second address;determining a second polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the second address plotted within the geographical region;determining a second taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the second polygon;based on the second taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity,wherein the first set of tax information for the entity is based further on the second taxing jurisdiction.
19. A system comprising:one or more hardware processors;one or more non-transitory computer-readable media; and program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media which, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the system to:receiving one or more geospatial files for a geographical region;partition the geographical region into a plurality of polygons based on the one or more geospatial files, each of the plurality of polygons being associated with one or more of a plurality of taxing jurisdictions; andreceive an entity data associated with an entity, the entity data comprising a first address for the entity and one or more tax attributes for the entity;determine a first set of geographical coordinates of the first address within the geographical region;plot the first address in the geographical region based on the first set of geographical coordinates of the first address;determine at least one polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the first address plotted within the geographical region;determine at least one taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the at least one polygon;based on the at least one taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity, determine a first set of tax information for the entity; and present the first set of tax information for the entity.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the program instructions further cause the system to:determine a respective portion of the geographical region associated with each of the plurality of taxing jurisdictions; anddetermine the plurality of polygons based on the plurality of taxing jurisdictions.
All claims recite subject matter falling within one of the four categories of invention (Step 1).
But for the recitation of the underlined additional elements, claims 1-20 recite a mental process. A person is capable of evaluating a location in relation to reference information and determining what tax rates are associated with a particular location (Step 2A_1)
The additional elements comprise generic computer implementation (a hardware processor, device, system, non-transitory CRM, instruction) and presenting information.
The computer elements are recited at a high degree of generality such that they amount to mere instructions to implement an abstract idea, which per MPEP 2106.05(f) means they do not provide a practical application or significantly more. Presenting information constitutes data output, which per MPEP 2106.05(g) is extra-solution activity that does not provide a practical application or significantly more. Furthermore, presenting information does not provide significantly more because it is well-understood, routine and conventional. See OIP Techs., 788 F.3d at 1362-63, 115 USPQ2d at 1092-93.
(Step 2A_2, Step 2B).
Thus claims 1-20 are ineligible.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 10-16 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wells (US 10521477 B1) in view of Fishman (US 20130013471 A1)
Regarding claim 1,
1. A method comprising
receiving one or more geospatial files for a geographical region (column 5 45-60);
partitioning the geographical region into a plurality of polygons based on the one or more geospatial files, each of the plurality of polygons being associated with one or more of a plurality of taxing jurisdictions (column 6 1-20); and
receiving an entity data associated with an entity, the entity data comprising a first address for the entity (fig. 4 403)
determining a first set of geographical coordinates of the first address within the geographical region (fig. 4 406);
plotting the first address in the geographical region based on the first set of geographical coordinates of the first address (fig. 4 409);
determining at least one polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the first address plotted within the geographical region (fig. 4 413);
determining at least one taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the at least one polygon (fig. 4 416);
based on the at least one taxing jurisdiction
determining a first set of tax information for the entity (fig. 4 416 locale data column 11 29-30); and
returning
Wells fails to clearly disclose whether results are presented and the processing being based on received tax attributes of the entity.
However Fishman discloses tax lookup results being presented and the results being based on received tax attributes (fig. 8-10 sales tax or use tax attribute). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine this teaching with Wells by presenting results to on a client application. The motivation for the combination is efficient tax rate acquisition (paragraph 7).
Regarding claim 2, Wells discloses:
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a respective portion of the geographical region associated with each of the plurality of taxing jurisdictions; and determining the plurality of polygons based on the plurality of taxing jurisdictions (column 6 1-20).
Regarding claim 3, Wells discloses:
3. The method of claim 1, wherein two or more polygons of the plurality of polygons at least partially overlap;wherein a first polygon of the two or more polygons is associated with a first region type from a group of region types including a town, city, county, state or country (column 6 1-20); wherein a second polygon of the two or more polygons is associated with a second region type from the group of region types, the first region type being different from the second region type (column 6 1-20); wherein the first address is determined to be plotted in a first polygon corresponding to the first region type and a second polygon corresponding to the second region type (fig. 4 413); wherein the first set of tax information for the entity includes a first subset of tax information associated with the first region type based in part on the first polygon and a second subset of tax information associated with the second region type based in part on the second polygon (column 3 1-35).
Regarding claim 4, Wells as modified fails to disclose the additional subject matter of claim 4. Wells does disclose bounding boxes per city, state, etc (column 1 40-55). However the examiner takes official notice that it was well known in the art at the time of invention to have roads server as borders between jurisidictions (for example “State Line Avenue” in Texarkana TX/AR, “State Line Road” in Kansas City, “State Street” in Bristol TN/VA). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine those teachings with Wells as modified by having bounding boxes for different sides of the street as appropriate. The motivation for the combination is to support communities with unique borders.
Regarding claim 5, Wells as modified fails to disclose the additional subject matter of claim 5. However the examiner takes official notice that annexations are known to take effect on particular dates. Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine this teaching with Wells as modified by modifying tax rates when a location changes jurisdiction. The motivation for the combination is legal compliance.
Regarding claim 6, Wells as modified fails to disclose the additional subject matter of claim 6. However the examiner takes official notice that annexations are known to take effect on particular dates. Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine this teaching with Wells as modified by modifying tax rates when a location changes jurisdiction. The motivation for the combination is legal compliance.
Regarding claim 7, Wells as modified discloses:
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of tax information for the entity comprises tax liabilities for the entity (column 3 20-35).
Claims 10-16, 19 and 20 are rejected for the same reasons as claims 1-7, 1 and 2 and see fig. 5 regarding computer-based implementation.
Claim(s) 8, 9, 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wells (US 10521477 B1) in view of Fishman (US 20130013471 A1) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Davidson (US 20130031029 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Wells as modified fails to disclose and Davidson discloses:
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving an update to the entity data (fig. 5 change location), the update comprising a second address for the entity (fig. 5 vehicle location); determining a second set of geographical coordinates of the second address within the geographical region (fig. 5 510); plotting the second address in the geographical region based on the second set of geographical coordinates of the second address (fig. 5 515); determining a second polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the second address plotted within the geographical region (fig. 5 515); determining a second taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the second polygon (fig. 5 545); based on the second taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity,determining a second set of tax information for the entity (fig. 5 545); and presenting the second set of tax information for the entity concurrently with presenting the first set of tax information for the entity (fig. 7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine this teaching with Wells as modified. The motivation for the combination is more efficient tax determination (paragraph 2).
Regarding claim 9, Wells as modified fails to disclose and Davidson discloses:
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first address corresponds to the entity for a first period of time, wherein the entity data further comprises a second address that is associated with the entity for a second period of time (fig. 5 moving vehicle traveling through different jurisdictions), and further comprising:determining a second set of geographical coordinates of the second address within the geographical region (fig. 5 510);plotting the second address in the geographical region based on the second set of geographical coordinates of the second address (fig. 5 515);determining a second polygon of the plurality of polygons that includes the second address plotted within the geographical region (fig. 5 515);determining a second taxing jurisdiction corresponding to the second polygon;based on the second taxing jurisdiction and the one or more tax attributes of the entity (fig. 5 545) ,wherein the first set of tax information for the entity is based further on the second taxing jurisdiction (fig. 5 545). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine this teaching with Wells as modified. The motivation for the combination is more efficient tax determination (paragraph 2).
Claims 17 and 18 are rejected for the same reasons as above, but applied to claim 10.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. McNeel (US 20170132603 A1) discloses using location information to determine tax rates.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN A MITCHELL whose telephone number is (571)270-3117. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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, Ryan Zeender can be reached at 571-272-6790. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHAN A MITCHELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627
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