DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of the Claims
This is in response to a letter for a patent filed 03 August 2025 in which claims 1-5 were presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDSs) submitted on 03 August 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the Examiner. A copy of the PTO-1449 is attached hereto.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because in FIG. 4, [200], “BROKER SERVE” should be “BROKER SERVER.”. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “critical time range” in claims 2 and 5 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “critical time range” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
It is unclear what standard determines what is a “critical time range.” For the purpose of examination, the Examiner will interpret the claim to mean The desired check-in time of the user.
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention recites an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1
Claims 1-3 are directed to a method (i.e., a process); and Claims 4-5 are directed to a system (i.e., a machine). Therefore, Claims 1-5 all fall within the one of the four statutory categories of invention.
Step 2A Prong 1
Independent claim 1 substantially recites:
selecting [ ] a reservation requiring room assignment;
selecting [ ] an assignable room based on reservation information corresponding to the selected reservation;
assigning [ ] a room corresponding to the selected reservation;
transmitting [ ] room assignment completion to a user when the room is successfully assigned; and
transmitting [ ] room assignment failure and failure information to the user when the room is not assigned.
The limitations as a whole recite a method or organizing human activity; and the aforementioned limitations as drafted, are processes that, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, may be interpreted as at least “Managing Personal Behavior or Relationships or Interactions Between People” which includes social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions and/or “Commercial Interactions” which includes agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations.
Independent claim 4 substantially recites:
[ ] receive and store at least one real-time reservation information from a broker, receive and store room status, select a reservation requiring room assignment, select an assignable room, assign the room, and transmit room assignment results to a user terminal;
[ ] collect and transmit at least one real-time reservation information to the reservation management;
[ ] collect and transmit real-time room status to the reservation management; and
[ ] receive at least one of room assignment completion, room assignment failure, and failure information from the reservation management server.
The limitations as a whole recite a method or organizing human activity; and the aforementioned limitations as drafted, are processes that, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, may be interpreted as at least “Managing Personal Behavior or Relationships or Interactions Between People” which includes social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions and/or “Commercial Interactions” which includes agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations.
Step 2A Prong 2
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, claim 1 recites the additional elements: “a reservation management server” and “a user terminal” to perform the “selecting,” “selecting,” “assigning,” “transmitting,” and “transmitting” steps.; claim 4 recites the additional elements: “an automatic room assignment system,” “a reservation management server,” “a broker server,” “a room control server,” and “a user terminal” to perform the “receive and store,” “receive and store,” “select,” “select,” “assign,” and “transmit”; “collect and transmit;” “collect and transmit;” and “receive” steps.
The claimed computer components in the steps of claims 1 and 4 are recited at a high-level of generality and are merely invoked as a tool to perform the abstract idea (i.e., “a reservation management server” and “a user terminal” in claim 1 performing generic computer functions of ““selecting,” “selecting,” “assigning,” transmitting,” and “transmitting”; and “an automatic room assignment system,” “a reservation management server,” “a broker server,” “a room control server,” and “a user terminal” in claim 4, performing generic computer functions of “receive and store,” “receive and store,” “select,” “select,” “assign,” and “transmit”; “collect and transmit;” “collect and transmit;” and “receive”) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Each of the additional limitations is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using the generic computer components (i.e., “a reservation management server” and “a user terminal” in claim 1; and “an automatic room assignment system,” “a reservation management server,” “a broker server,” “a room control server,” and “a user terminal” in claim 4). The combination of these additional elements is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component (i.e., “a reservation management server” and “a user terminal” in claim 1; and “an automatic room assignment system,” “a reservation management server,” “a broker server,” “a room control server,” and “a user terminal” in claim 4). Accordingly, even in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Thus, the claims are not patent eligible.
Further, in regards to the “reservation manager server,” the “transmitting” and “transmitting” limitation in claim 1; and in regards to the “reservation manager server,” “the broker server,” “room control server,” and “the user terminal,” “receive and store,” “receive and store,” “transmit”; “collect and transmit;” “collect and transmit;” and “receive” in claim 4, are just mere data gathering, and also are characterized as transmitting or receiving data over a network which are also recited at a high level or generality, and merely automates the “transmitting” and “transmitting”; and “receive and store,” “receive and store,” “transmit”; “collect and transmit;” “collect and transmit;” and “receive” steps.
Step 2B
The independent claims do 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 the (“reservation management server” and “user terminal” in claim 1 to perform the “selecting,” “selecting,” “assigning,” transmitting,” and “transmitting”; and the additional element of using the “reservation manager server,” “the broker server,” “room control server,” and “the user terminal,” in claim 4 to perform the “receive and store,” “receive and store,” “select,” “select,” “assign,” and “transmit”; “collect and transmit;” “collect and transmit;” and “receive” steps amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Thus, even when viewed as a whole, nothing in the claims add significantly more (i.e. inventive concept) to the abstract idea. The claims are patent ineligible.
As per dependent claim 2, the recitations “receiving and storing at least one real-time reservation information…”; “determining whether room assignment is required among the received real-time reservation information”; “analyzing reservation information of an unassigned reservation if room assignment is required, and determining whether the scheduled check-in time is within a critical time range”; “selecting the reservation as a target reservation if the check-in time is within the critical range and extracting room classification information from the reservation”; and “transmitting the reservation information and the room classification information to a room assignment management of the reservation management” are further directed to a method of organizing human activity and/or a mental process as described in claims 1 and 9, respectively. Therefore, this judicial exception is not meaningfully integrated into a practical application, or significantly more than the abstract idea. Further, the recitations of “a sales information database,” “a broker server,” “a room reservation decision unit,” and “a room assignment management unit” are other computer components recited at a high-level of generality and is merely invoked as a tool to perform the abstract idea. Similar to claim 1, the recitation does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea, or significantly more than the abstract idea.
As per dependent claim 3, the recitations, “receiving and storing, real-time room status from a room control”; “determining whether a room matching the room classification information received, based on the real-time room status”; “determining whether at least one room is currently reservable among the matched rooms”; and “selecting a room based on a room selection algorithm if at least one reservable room is available” are further directed to a method of organizing human activity and/or a mental process as described in claims 1 and 9, respectively. Therefore, this judicial exception is not meaningfully integrated into a practical application, or significantly more than the abstract idea. Further, the recitations of “a room information database,” “a room control server,” and “a room assignment management unit” are other computer components recited at a high-level of generality and is merely invoked as a tool to perform the abstract idea. Similar to claim 1, the recitation does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea, or significantly more than the abstract idea.
As per dependent claim 5, the recitations, “determine whether room assignment is required based on received reservation information, analyze reservation information of unassigned reservations, determine whether the scheduled check-in time is within a critical time range, select the reservation as a target reservation, extract room classification information from the reservation, and transmit the reservation information and the room classification information, and determine whether a room matching the room classification information exists based on real-time room status, determine whether such a room is reservable, and select a room based on a room selection algorithm” are further directed to a method of organizing human activity and/or a mental process as described in claim 5. Therefore, this judicial exception is not meaningfully integrated into a practical application, or significantly more than the abstract idea. Further, the recitations of “a room reservation decision unit” and “a room assignment management unit” are other computer components recited at a high-level of generality and is merely invoked as a tool to perform the abstract idea. Similar to claim 4, the recitation does not provide a practical application of the abstract idea, or significantly more than the abstract idea.
Dependent Claims 2-3 and 5 have been given the full two part analysis including analyzing the additional limitations both individually and in combination. Dependent Claims 2-3 and 5, when analyzed individually, and in combination, are also held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101. The dependent claims fail to establish that the claims do not recite an abstract idea because the additional recited limitations of the dependent claims merely further narrow the abstract idea of the independent claims. The dependent claims recite no additional elements that would integrate the judicial exception into a practical application or amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Simply implementing the abstract idea on generic computer components is not a practical application of the judicial exception and does not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The claims are not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US PG Pub. 20190156440 A1) in view of Carbonell et al. (US PG Pub. 20170147950 A1) and Lee Jun Gyu et al. (KR 20250031913 A).
As per claim 1, Wang et al. discloses an automatic room assignment method based on real-time room sales information and room status information, comprising:
selecting, by a reservation management server, a reservation requiring room assignment (Wang et al.: claim 4 the intermediate computer processor is further configured to, in response to the successful transaction, decrease a temporary available room amount and/or deactivate availability of a to-be-assigned room that is recorded in the room inventory record when the room reservation event comprises a room reservation request that instructs to reserve the to-be-assigned room);
selecting, by the reservation management server, an assignable room based on reservation information corresponding to the selected reservation (Wang et al.: claim 14 decrease a temporary available room amount or deactivate availability of a to-be-assigned room that is recorded in the room inventory record when the room reservation event comprises a room reservation request that instructs to reserve the to-be-assigned).
Wang et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Carbonell et al. discloses:
assigning, by the reservation management server, a room corresponding to the selected reservation (Carbonell et al.: [0056] In block 335, the system may assign a particular meeting room to the reservation. In one arrangement, the assignment of a specific meeting room to the reservation may be performed immediately following setting the status of the reservation to confirmed… The system may assign a specific meeting room to the reservation based upon a determination of which meeting room (e.g., the attributes thereof) most closely matches the parameters specified by the reservation);
transmitting, by the reservation management server, room assignment completion to a user terminal when the room is successfully assigned (Carbonell et al.: [0059] In block 340, the system may send a notification of the meeting room assignment. For example, the system may set the status of the reservation to “meeting room assigned” and send the notification indicating the status change. The system may send notification to the requestor specifying the particular meeting room that has been assigned to the reservation); (Carbonell et al.: [0028] In one aspect, notification engine 220 may send notifications for reservation status changes. For example, as a reservation moves through various status changes such as accepted, confirmed, waiting list, room assigned, etc., notification engine 220 may send updates to the requestor and/or any attendees that wish to be notified); and
transmitting, by the reservation management server, room assignment failure and failure information to the user terminal when the room is not assigned (Carbonell et al.: [0028] In one aspect, notification engine 220 may send notifications for reservation status changes. For example, as a reservation moves through various status changes such as accepted, confirmed, waiting list, room assigned, etc., notification engine 220 may send updates to the requestor and/or any attendees that wish to be notified). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Wang et al. to include the assigning rooms and providing notification as taught by Carbonell et al. in order to inform the requestor of the status of the reservation and/or assignment (Carbonell et al.: [0028]).
Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. does not explicitly disclose real-time sales, however, Lee Jun Gyu et al. discloses a real-time sales information (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Abstract). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. to include the real-time sales information as taught by Lee Jun Gyu et al. in order to update the list of rooms available for reservation (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).
As per claim 2, Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. and Lee Jun Gyu et al. discloses the method of claim 1. Wang et al. further discloses:
wherein selecting a reservation requiring room assignment comprises: (Wang et al.: claim 4 the intermediate computer processor is further configured to, in response to the successful transaction, decrease a temporary available room amount and/or deactivate availability of a to-be-assigned room that is recorded in the room inventory record when the room reservation event comprises a room reservation request that instructs to reserve the to-be-assigned room) comprises:
Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Lee Gyu et al. discloses:
receiving and storing, by a sales information database of the reservation management server, at least one real-time reservation information from a broker server (Lee Gyu et al.: page 4, 4th paragraph, The brokerage server (300) receives the changed sales information according to the execution of the control script from the sales control server (200) and can change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. Among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a lodging reservation agency site can receive the changed sales information and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. In addition, among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a computer network that manages the lodging facility site can receive the changed sales information, and the site manager can identify the content and directly assign a room by drag and drop and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold); and (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 3; 7th paragraph, The sales information receiving unit (220) can store the received real-time sales information in the storage unit (250)), also see (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).
determining, by a room reservation decision unit of the reservation management server, whether room assignment is required among the received real-time reservation information (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 7, 1st paragraph, Referring to Fig. 4, this is a screen where you can check the room inventory information among the computer screens that manage the accommodation facility site among the brokerage servers (300)… When new reservation information appears at the bottom (405), the site manager can identify the corresponding content and directly assign rooms by dragging and dropping and change the sales status of the currently sold room product. Or, rooms can be automatically assigned and the sales status of the currently sold room product can be changed according to the changed sales information controlled by the RPA script of the sales control server (200));
analyzing reservation information of an unassigned reservation if room assignment is required, and determining whether the scheduled check-in time is within a critical time range (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: page 4, 1st full paragraph, In one embodiment, if the control script content includes August 18, 1 night stay, 2 people, check-in at 3 PM, and check-out at 11 AM, the control handler unit (240) can access a server among the intermediary servers (300) that is linked to a computer network that manages the accommodation facility site, select one of the 2-person rooms that are empty on August 18, and automatically assign the room);
selecting the reservation as a target reservation if the check-in time is within the critical range and extracting room classification information from the reservation (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: page 4, 1st full paragraph, In one embodiment, if the control script content includes August 18, 1 night stay, 2 people, check-in at 3 PM, and check-out at 11 AM, the control handler unit (240) can access a server among the intermediary servers (300) that is linked to a computer network that manages the accommodation facility site, select one of the 2-person rooms that are empty on August 18, and automatically assign the room); and
transmitting the reservation information and the room classification information to a room assignment management unit of the reservation management server (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: page 4, 1st full paragraph, In one embodiment, if the control script content includes August 18, 1 night stay, 2 people, check-in at 3 PM, and check-out at 11 AM, the control handler unit (240) can access a server among the intermediary servers (300) that is linked to a computer network that manages the accommodation facility site, select one of the 2-person rooms that are empty on August 18, and automatically assign the room). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. to include the assignments/reservations as taught by Lee Jun Gyu et al. in order to update the list of rooms available for reservation (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US PG Pub. 20190156440 A1) in view of Carbonell et al. (US PG Pub. 20170147950 A1) and Lee Jun Gyu et al. (KR 20250031913 A) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Livnat et al. (US PG Pub. 20190272509 A1).
As per claim 3, Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. and Lee Jun Gyu et al. discloses the method of claim 1. Wang et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Carbonell et al. discloses:
wherein selecting an assignable room based on reservation information comprises:
receiving and storing, by a room information database of the reservation management server, Carbonell et al.: Waiting list rules 245 may also specify the time period for the delay, e.g., 24 hours before the requested meeting start time, before a reservation is confirmed, but not yet assigned. In this manner, the confirmation of the reservation may be delayed dynamically in that the amount of delay may be determined in real time according to the value of the courtesy score of the requestor and the particular rules in effect at the time of evaluation; also see [0098]);
determining, by a room assignment management unit of the reservation management server, whether a room matching the room classification information received from the room reservation decision unit exists, based on the Carbonell et al.: [0053] In block 315, the system may determine whether any meeting rooms are available. If so, method 300 may continue to block 320. If not, method 300 may continue to block 345. For example, the system may determine whether any meeting rooms, with attributes, match the parameters specified in the reservation. Meeting rooms with attributes matching parameters in the reservation if not already assigned to a reservation are considered available for purposes of the request).
determining whether at least one room is currently reservable among the matched rooms (Carbonell et al.: [0053] In block 315, the system may determine whether any meeting rooms are available. If so, method 300 may continue to block 320. If not, method 300 may continue to block 345. For example, the system may determine whether any meeting rooms, with attributes, match the parameters specified in the reservation. Meeting rooms with attributes matching parameters in the reservation if not already assigned to a reservation are considered available for purposes of the request); and
selecting a room based on a room selection Carbonell et al.: [0003] The reservation may be selectively confirmed according to the courtesy score and the availability of the meeting rooms); and.(Carbonell et al.:. [0054] Proceeding to block 320 in the case where a meeting room is available, the system may determine whether the requestor is eligible for confirmation. If so, method 300 may continue to block 325. If not, method 300 may continue to block 345. In one arrangement, the system may determine whether a requestor is eligible for confirmation according to the courtesy score of the requestor. For example, the system may compare the courtesy score of the requestor with a threshold. When the courtesy score is higher than the threshold, the system determines that the requestor is eligible for confirmation. When the courtesy score is not higher than the threshold, the system determines that the requestor is not eligible for confirmation. In one aspect, the threshold may be specified within the utilization rules described with reference to FIG. 2). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Wang et al. to include the assigning rooms and providing notification as taught by Carbonell et al. in order to inform the requestor of the status of the reservation/assignment (Carbonell et al.: [0028]).
Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Lee Jun Gyu et al. discloses a real-time status (Page 7, 1st paragraph, The currently operating rooms are displayed at the top (401), so that the accommodation facility site manager can check real-time vacancies, accommodations, waiting rooms, expiration of use, and cleaning at a glance. In the interruption, you can check the current status of each room owned by the accommodation facility (403), and at the bottom, when you receive changed sales information from the sales control server (200) through the network, you can check the reservation information including at least one of new room reservation, room reservation cancellation, and change of check-in time (405)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. to include the real-time status as taught by Lee Jun Gyu et al. in order to update the list of rooms available for reservation (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).
Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. and Lee Jun Gyu et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Livnat et al. discloses a room selection algorithm (Livnat et al.: [0032],[0035] Furthermore, the system can utilize rating algorithms to calculate the optimal resource allocation based on current requests for the future time, and offer the user an estimate of the likelihood of meeting his/her requirements. In addition, the system may offer alternatives, based on current and historical data, that have higher probability of meeting the user's requirements)], and [0035] real time status). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. and Lee Jun Gyu et al. to include the algorithm to select rooms based on requirements for real-time assignment/re-allocation of office space and equipment resources based on real-time dynamically-changing needs of participants (Livnat et al. [0041]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee Jun Gyu et al. (KR 20250031913 A) in view of Carbonell et al. (US PG Pub. 20170147950 A1).
As per claim 4, Lee Jun Gyu et al. discloses an automatic room assignment system based on real-time room sales information and room status information, comprising:
a reservation management server configured to receive and store at least one real-time reservation information from a broker server (Lee Gyu et al.: page 4, 4th paragraph, The brokerage server (300) receives the changed sales information according to the execution of the control script from the sales control server (200) and can change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. Among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a lodging reservation agency site can receive the changed sales information and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. In addition, among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a computer network that manages the lodging facility site can receive the changed sales information, and the site manager can identify the content and directly assign a room by drag and drop and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold); and (Page 3; 7th paragraph, The sales information receiving unit (220) can store the received real-time sales information in the storage unit (250)), also see (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).
receive and store room status from a room control server(Lee Gyu et al.: page 4, 4th paragraph, The brokerage server (300) receives the changed sales information according to the execution of the control script from the sales control server (200) and can change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. Among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a lodging reservation agency site can receive the changed sales information and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. In addition, among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a computer network that manages the lodging facility site can receive the changed sales information, and the site manager can identify the content and directly assign a room by drag and drop and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold); and (Page 3; 7th paragraph, The sales information receiving unit (220) can store the received real-time sales information in the storage unit (250)), also see (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).
select a reservation requiring room assignment (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 7, 1st paragraph, Referring to Fig. 4, this is a screen where you can check the room inventory information among the computer screens that manage the accommodation facility site among the brokerage servers (300)… When new reservation information appears at the bottom (405), the site manager can identify the corresponding content and directly assign rooms by dragging and dropping and change the sales status of the currently sold room product. Or, rooms can be automatically assigned and the sales status of the currently sold room product can be changed according to the changed sales information controlled by the RPA script of the sales control server (200));
select an assignable room, assign the room, and Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 7, 1st paragraph, Referring to Fig. 4, this is a screen where you can check the room inventory information among the computer screens that manage the accommodation facility site among the brokerage servers (300)… When new reservation information appears at the bottom (405), the site manager can identify the corresponding content and directly assign rooms by dragging and dropping and change the sales status of the currently sold room product. Or, rooms can be automatically assigned and the sales status of the currently sold room product can be changed according to the changed sales information controlled by the RPA script of the sales control server (200));
the broker server configured to collect and transmit at least one real-time reservation information to the reservation management server (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: page 4, 4th paragraph, The brokerage server (300) receives the changed sales information according to the execution of the control script from the sales control server (200) and can change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. Among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a lodging reservation agency site can receive the changed sales information and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold. In addition, among the brokerage servers (300), a server connected to a computer network that manages the lodging facility site can receive the changed sales information, and the site manager can identify the content and directly assign a room by drag and drop and change the sales status of the room product currently being sold); and (Page 3; 7th paragraph, The sales information receiving unit (220) can store the received real-time sales information in the storage unit (250)), also see (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).;
the room control server configured to collect and transmit real-time room status to the reservation management server (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 7, 1st paragraph, The currently operating rooms are displayed at the top (401), so that the accommodation facility site manager can check real-time vacancies, accommodations, waiting rooms, expiration of use, and cleaning at a glance. In the interruption, you can check the current status of each room owned by the accommodation facility (403), and at the bottom, when you receive changed sales information from the sales control server (200) through the network, you can check the reservation information including at least one of new room reservation, room reservation cancellation, and change of check-in time (405)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Wang et al. in view of Carbonell et al. to include the real-time status as taught by Lee Jun Gyu et al. in order to update the list of rooms available for reservation (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 2, 1st paragraph, Technical Field).
Lee Jun Gyu et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Carbonell et al. discloses:
transmit room assignment results to a user terminal (Carbonell et al.: [0059] In block 340, the system may send a notification of the meeting room assignment. For example, the system may set the status of the reservation to “meeting room assigned” and send the notification indicating the status change. The system may send notification to the requestor specifying the particular meeting room that has been assigned to the reservation); (Carbonell et al.: [0028] In one aspect, notification engine 220 may send notifications for reservation status changes. For example, as a reservation moves through various status changes such as accepted, confirmed, waiting list, room assigned, etc., notification engine 220 may send updates to the requestor and/or any attendees that wish to be notified).
the user terminal configured to receive at least one of room assignment completion, room assignment failure, and failure information from the reservation management server. (Carbonell et al.: [0028] In one aspect, notification engine 220 may send notifications for reservation status changes. For example, as a reservation moves through various status changes such as accepted, confirmed, waiting list, room assigned, etc., notification engine 220 may send updates to the requestor and/or any attendees that wish to be notified). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Lee Jun Gyu et al. to include the assigning rooms and providing notification as taught by Carbonell et al. in order to inform the requestor of the status of the reservation and/or assignment (Carbonell et al.: [0028]).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee Jun Gyu et al. (KR 20250031913 A) in view of Carbonell et al. (US PG Pub. 20170147950 A1) as applied to claim 4 in further view of Wang et al. (US PG Pub. 20190156440 A1) and Livnat e al. (US PG Pub. 20190272509 A1).
As per claim 5, Lee Jun Gyu et al. in view of Carbonell et al. discloses the system of claim 4. Lee Jun Gyu et al. further discloses:
determine whether the scheduled check-in time is within a critical time range (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: page 4, 1st full paragraph, In one embodiment, if the control script content includes August 18, 1 night stay, 2 people, check-in at 3 PM, and check-out at 11 AM, the control handler unit (240) can access a server among the intermediary servers (300) that is linked to a computer network that manages the accommodation facility site, select one of the 2-person rooms that are empty on August 18, and automatically assign the room),
select the reservation as a target reservation (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: page 4, 1st full paragraph, In one embodiment, if the control script content includes August 18, 1 night stay, 2 people, check-in at 3 PM, and check-out at 11 AM, the control handler unit (240) can access a server among the intermediary servers (300) that is linked to a computer network that manages the accommodation facility site, select one of the 2-person rooms that are empty on August 18, and automatically assign the room),
extract room classification information from the reservation (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: Page 7, 1st paragraph, Referring to Fig. 4, this is a screen where you can check the room inventory information among the computer screens that manage the accommodation facility site among the brokerage servers (300)… When new reservation information appears at the bottom (405), the site manager can identify the corresponding content and directly assign rooms by dragging and dropping and change the sales status of the currently sold room product. Or, rooms can be automatically assigned and the sales status of the currently sold room product can be changed according to the changed sales information controlled by the RPA script of the sales control server (200)); and
transmit the reservation information and the room classification information to the room assignment management unit (Lee Jun Gyu et al.: page 4, 1st full paragraph, In one embodiment, if the control script content includes August 18, 1 night stay, 2 people, check-in at 3 PM, and check-out at 11 AM, the control handler unit (240) can access a server among the intermediary servers (300) that is linked to a computer network that manages the accommodation facility site, select one of the 2-person rooms that are empty on August 18, and automatically assign the room).
Lee Jun Gyu et al. does not further disclose, however, Carbonell et al. discloses:
the room assignment management unit is configured to determine whether a room matching the room classification information exists based on real-time room status (Carbonell et al.: [0053] In block 315, the system may determine whether any meeting rooms are available. If so, method 300 may continue to block 320. If not, method 300 may continue to block 345. For example, the system may determine whether any meeting rooms, with attributes, match the parameters specified in the reservation. Meeting rooms with attributes matching parameters in the reservation if not already assigned to a reservation are considered available for purposes of the request), and
determine whether such a room is reservable (Carbonell et al.: [0003] The reservation may be selectively confirmed according to the courtesy score and the availability of the meeting rooms); and.(Carbonell et al.:. [0054] Proceeding to block 320 in the case where a meeting room is available, the system may determine whether the requestor is eligible for confirmation. If so, method 300 may continue to block 325. If not, method 300 may continue to block 345. In one arrangement, the system may determine whether a requestor is eligible for confirmation according to the courtesy score of the requestor. For example, the system may compare the courtesy score of the requestor with a threshold. When the courtesy score is higher than the threshold, the system determines that the requestor is eligible for confirmation. When the courtesy score is not higher than the threshold, the system determines that the requestor is not eligible for confirmation. In one aspect, the threshold may be specified within the utilization rules described with reference to FIG. 2). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Lee Jun Gyu et al. to include the reserving/assigning rooms as taught by Carbonell et al. in order to inform the requestor of the status of the reservation/assignment (Carbonell et al.: [0028]).
Lee Jun Gyu et al. in view of Carbonell et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Wang et al. discloses:
wherein the reservation management server comprises a room reservation decision unit and a room assignment management unit (Wang et al.: claim 4 the intermediate computer processor is further configured to, in response to the successful transaction, decrease a temporary available room amount and/or deactivate availability of a to-be-assigned room that is recorded in the room inventory record when the room reservation event comprises a room reservation request that instructs to reserve the to-be-assigned room);
wherein the room reservation decision unit is configured to determine whether room assignment is required based on received reservation information (Wang et al.: claim 4 the intermediate computer processor is further configured to, in response to the successful transaction, decrease a temporary available room amount and/or deactivate availability of a to-be-assigned room that is recorded in the room inventory record when the room reservation event comprises a room reservation request that instructs to reserve the to-be-assigned room); also see claim 14);
analyze reservation information of unassigned reservations (Wang et al.: claim 4 the intermediate computer processor is further configured to, in response to the successful transaction, decrease a temporary available room amount and/or deactivate availability of a to-be-assigned room that is recorded in the room inventory record when the room reservation event comprises a room reservation request that instructs to reserve the to-be-assigned room). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Lee Jun Gyu et al. in view of Carbonell et al. to include the reserving/assigning rooms as taught by Wang et al. in order to decrease a local available room amount and/or deactivate availability of the to-be-assigned room recorded in the copy of the room inventory record when the room reservation event comprises the room reservation request (Wang et al.: Claim 4).
Lee Jun Gyu et al. in view of Carbonell et al. and Wang et al. does not explicitly disclose, however, Livnat et al. discloses:
select a room based on a room selection algorithm (Livnat et al.: [0032],[0035] Furthermore, the system can utilize rating algorithms to calculate the optimal resource allocation based on current requests for the future time, and offer the user an estimate of the likelihood of meeting his/her requirements. In addition, the system may offer alternatives, based on current and historical data, that have higher probability of meeting the user's requirements)], and [0035] real time status). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Lee Jun Gyu et al. in view of Carbonell et al. and Wang et al. to include the algorithm to select rooms based on requirements for real-time assignment/re-allocation of office space and equipment resources based on real-time dynamically-changing needs of participants (Livnat et al. [0041]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
1) Indrajit Chaudhury, “Room Division Management”, 12 April 2011, roomdivisionmanagement.blogspot.com, 15 pages discloses a reservation is an important front office function because a majority of hotel guests make reservations in advance of their stay, and the reservations process often involves the important first contact between the guest and the hotel. An effective reservations process depends on set procedures for handling requests, updating information, and generating confirmations; and processing reservations involves matching room requests with room availability; recording, confirming, and maintaining reservations; and producing management reports.
2) Loch et al. (US PG Pub. 20220092084 A1) discloses computer-implemented management of bookings for transportation services in the travel and accommodation industries for efficient allocations of inventory via various online travel/accommodation reseller portals and agencies or Channels.
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/F.A.N/Examiner, Art Unit 3628
/SHANNON S CAMPBELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3628
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