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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This communication is responsive to Amendment filed on 01/12/2026.
Claims 1-8, 10-12, 14-20 are pending in this application. Claims 1, 18 and 20 are independent claims. This Office Action is made Non-Final.
Examiner Notes
The prior art rejections below cite particular paragraphs, columns, and/or line numbers in the references for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art.
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 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.
Claims 1-8, 10-12, 14 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fabian et al. (“Fabian”, US PG-Pub. 2024/0303440 A1) in view of Wittke et al. (“Wittke”, US PG-Pub. 2022/0012299 A1).
Re-claim 1,
Fabian teaches a method for generating table field content, comprising:
in response to receiving an operation performed on a control button, displaying an interface configured to create a new field in a table based on configuring attributes of the new field and configuring prompt information, wherein the configuring attributes of the new field comprises configuring a field type of the new field, wherein the field type of the new field is selected from a plurality of types including text, single-choice, multiple-choice, date, and number, and wherein the configuring prompt information comprises setting at least one reference field for the prompt information (Figs. 9A-9C, [0104, 0107]. Fabian describes when user can select the “Add a column” suggestion, the system displays the task panel 910 for user configuring to create a new field and prompt information. For example , the new column or field “Years of Service” to be added can be configured with a “Date” field type supported the generation of the field content according to the prompt information and a reference field “Hire Date” data in column C of the Spreadsheet table to calculate the added column data by the suggested formula configuring for prompt information (i.e. prompt 912));
receiving the prompt information input for creating the new field in the table, wherein the prompt information comprises the at least one reference field, wherein the at least one reference field is a field in the table, and the prompt information is to be configured for creating the new field in the table (Figs. 6, 9B, [0092-0093, 0106, 0107]. Fabian describes a Copilot’s prompt is generated based on the natural language (NL) input from a user and at least a portion of the spreadsheet data including a dataset or reference of a particular aspect of the spreadsheet shown in blocks 601 and 603. For example, the prompt 912 shown in Fig. 9B to add a column “Years of Service” (as a new field in the table) with a reference field “Hire date” data in column C of the Spreadsheet table to calculate the added column data by the suggested formula);
generating, in response to receiving a content generation instruction for the new field, second content of at least one second cell corresponding to the new field based on first content of at least one first cell corresponding to the at least one reference field (Figs. 9C, 9D, [0107-0108]. Fabian describes the “Years of Service” column data are generated based on the prompt instruction of the prompt 912 having the formula that calculates the “Years of Service” data (as second content) referenced on the “Hire date” data (as first content)); and
presenting the second content in the at least one second cell corresponding to the new field (Figs. 9C, 9D, [0107-0108]. Fabian describes the generated “Years of Service” column data can be displayed and added to the table shown in Column H).
Fabian fails to teach:
displaying a field reference control configured to set the at least one reference field for the prompt information;
in response to receiving an operation performed on the reference field control, displaying a reference field setting interface comprising a list of fields available;
displaying the at least one reference field in the prompt information and setting the at least one reference field for the prompt information in response to selecting the at least one reference field from the list of fields via the reference field setting interface.
However, Wittke teaches:
displaying a field reference control configured to set the at least one reference field for the prompt information (Fig. 3A-3B, [0036]. Wittke describes the concept of displaying the control button to open a prompt string user interface (i.e. 308b text-editable field) and adding a parameter to the prompt string by displaying the “Add Parameter” 308a button configured to add parameters for the prompt information (i.e. URL string prompt));
in response to receiving an operation performed on the reference field control, displaying a reference field setting interface comprising a list of fields available (Figs. 3A-3B, [0037]. Wittke describes upon clicking the “Add Parameter” 308a button, displaying the drop-down list of parameters 316b for user to select);
displaying the at least one reference field in the prompt information and setting the at least one reference field for the prompt information in response to selecting the at least one reference field from the list of fields via the reference field setting interface (Figs. 3A-3C, [0037]. Wittke describes “…The administrator user may move their pointer 310b to the drop-down list and select an element in 316b, wherein upon such a selection being made the corresponding parameter is displayed in the text-editable field 308b …”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Copilot prompt configuration for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Fabian with filling reference parameter to the prompt string by drop-down menu selection teaching of Wittke to provide a convenient way to select a menu item without memorize the items need to be filled for an input prompt information.
Re-claim 2,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 1, Fabian also teaches the method, wherein the generating, in response to receiving the content generation instruction for the new field, the second content of the second cell corresponding to the new field based on the first content of the first cell corresponding to the reference field, comprises:
generating a content generation request for generating the second content according to the content generation instruction, wherein the content generation request comprises information of first content; and calling a first model to generate the second content according to the content generation request (Figs. 3, 6, 9C, 9D, [0072-0073, 0107-0108]. Fabian describes the “Years of Service” column data are generated based on the prompt instruction of the prompt 912 having the formula that calculates the “Years of Service” data (as second content) referenced on the “Hire date” data (as first content). The Large Language Model (LLM) Service 330 is called to provide the prompt suggestion and calculated formula corresponding to user’s Natural Language (NL) input).
Re-claim 3,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 2, Fabian also teaches the method, wherein the generating the content generation request for generating the second content according to the content generation instruction comprises:
generating content generation requests respectively corresponding to a plurality of second cells corresponding to the new field, wherein a content generation request of each second cell comprises the first content of the corresponding first cell (Figs. 9C, 9D, [0107-0108]. Fabian describes the “Years of Service” column data are generated based on the prompt instruction of the prompt 912 having the formula that calculates the “Years of Service” data (as second content of second cell) referenced on the “Hire date” data (as first content of first cell)); and
the calling the first model to generate the second content according to the content generation request comprises: sending the content generation requests respectively corresponding to the plurality of second cells to the first model, and generating the second content corresponding to each second cell by the first model (Figs. 3, 6, 9C, 9D, [0072-0073, 0107-0108]. Fabian describes the “Years of Service” column data are generated based on the prompt instruction of the prompt 912 having the formula that calculates the “Years of Service” data (as second content) referenced on the “Hire date” data (as first content). The Large Language Model (LLM) Service 330 is called to provide the prompt suggestion and calculated formula corresponding to user’s Natural Language (NL) input).
Re-claim 4,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 3, Fabian also teaches the method, wherein the sending the content generation requests respectively corresponding to the plurality of second cells to the first model, and generating the second content corresponding to each second cell by the first model, comprises:
sending the content generation requests respectively corresponding to the plurality of second cells to the first model in parallel, and generating the second content corresponding to each second cell by the first model in parallel based on the content generation requests (Figs. 9C, 9D, [0107-0108]. Fabian describes the “Years of Service” column data are generated based on the prompt instruction of the prompt 912 having the formula that calculates the “Years of Service” data (as second content for each of second cells in parallel) referenced on the “Hire date” data (as first content of each of first cells in parallel)).
Re-claim 5,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 2, Fabian also teaches the method, further comprising:
in response to receiving a content update instruction for the new field, regenerating the content generation requests of the plurality of second cells corresponding to the new field, and calling the first model to process regenerated content generation requests to generate first updated content of the plurality of second cells; and updating the second content corresponding to each second cell with the first updated content (Figs. 3, 6, 9C, 9D, [0072-0073, 0107-0108]. Fabian describes the ordinary concept to one skill in the arts to regenerate the updated content for the same new field added column (i.e. “Years of Service”) if the prompt 912 is updated with the updated instruction (i.e. including an updated formula or update reference column data) that having similar limitations with the updated instruction in scope of claim 3; therefore, it is rejected under similar rationale).
Re-claim 6,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 5, Fabian also teaches the method, wherein the content update instruction is generated based on one of the following modes:
generating the content update instruction according to a received field content update operation executed by a user on the new field; and generating the content update instruction in response to meeting an automatic update condition, wherein the automatic update condition comprises one of: timing triggering, adding a new record to the table, changing table recorded content, and reaching a time indicated by a specified record (Figs. 3, 9C, 9D, [0071, 0078, 0079, 0087, 0103]. Fabian describes the concept of generating the content update instruction in response to meeting an automatic update condition. For example, the “Years of Service” data is calculated and updated by its formula relating the current date (as “timing triggering”), the “Hire date” reference data (as “changing table recorded content”), etc.).
Re-claim 7,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches in claim 2, claim 7 is a method claim having similar limitations in scope of claim 5 for the second updated content; therefore, it is rejected under similar rationale.
Re-claim 8,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches in claim 7, claim 8 is a method claim having similar limitations in scope of claim 6; therefore, it is rejected under similar rationale.
Re-claim 10,
Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 1, but Fabian fails to teach a method, further comprising: controlling the reference field setting interface to move along with a movement of a cursor.
However, Wittke teaches:
controlling the reference field setting interface to move along with a movement of a cursor (Fig. 3B, [0037]. Wittke describes the concept of selecting a drop-down parameters 316b by cursor 310b).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Copilot prompt configuration for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Fabian with filling reference parameter by drop-down menu selection teaching of Wittke to provide a convenient way to select a menu item without memorize the items need to be filled for an input prompt information.
Re-claim 11,
Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim1, but Fabian fails to teach a method, further comprising: displaying the at least one reference field in the prompt information after receiving user input via the reference field setting interface.
However, Wittke teaches:
displaying the at least one reference field in the prompt information after receiving user input via the reference field setting interface (Figs. 3A-3C, [0037]. Wittke describes “…The administrator user may move their pointer 310b to the drop-down list and select an element in 316b, wherein upon such a selection being made the corresponding parameter is displayed in the text-editable field 308b …”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Copilot prompt configuration for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Fabian with filling reference parameter by drop-down menu selection teaching of Wittke to provide a convenient way to select a menu item without memorize the items need to be filled for an input prompt information.
Re-claim 12,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 1, Fabian also teaches the method, further comprising: displaying a prompt information input interface in response to receiving a first preset configuration operation executed by a user on the target field of the table; and generating the prompt information corresponding to the target field according to a prompt information configuration operation received in the prompt information input interface (Figs. 6, 9B, [0092-0093, 0106]. Fabian describes a Copilot’s prompt is generated based on the natural language (NL) input from a user and at least a portion of the spreadsheet data including a dataset or reference of a particular aspect of the spreadsheet shown in blocks 601 and 603. For example, the prompt 912 shown in Fig. 9B to add a column “Years of Service” (as a target field) with reference target field “Hire date” data in column C of the Spreadsheet table to calculate the added column data by the suggested formula).
Re-claim 14,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 12, Fabian also teaches the method, wherein the target field is an existing field; and the displaying the prompt information input interface in response to receiving the first preset configuration operation executed by the user on the target field of the table comprises: displaying a field editing option according to a second preset operation executed for the existing field; receiving a selection operation executed on the field editing option, and displaying a prompt information configuration entry; and receiving a trigger operation executed on the prompt information configuration entry, and displaying the prompt information input interface (Figs. 6, 9B, [0092-0093, 0106]. Fabian describes a Copilot’s prompt is generated based on the natural language (NL) input from a user and at least a portion of the spreadsheet data including a dataset or reference of a particular aspect of the spreadsheet shown in blocks 601 and 603. For example, the prompt 912 shown in Fig. 9B to add a column “Years of Service” (as a target field) with reference target field “Hire date” data in column C of the Spreadsheet table to calculate the added column data by the suggested formula).
Re-claim 18,
Fabian teaches an electronic device, comprising a processor and a memory (Fig. 13, [0125]. Fabian describes the Computing System 1301 having a Processing System 1302 and a Storage System 1303), wherein the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions; and the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, to implement a method having similar limitations in scope of claim 1 taught by Fabian-Wittke; therefore, it is rejected under similar rationale.
Re-claim 19,
in addition to what Fabian-Wittke teaches the device in claim 18, claim 19 is the device claim having similar limitations in scope of claim 2; therefore, it is rejected under similar rationale.
Re-claim 20,
Claim 20 is the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim having similar limitations in scope of claim 1 taught by Fabian-Wittke; therefore, it is rejected under similar rationale.
Claims 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fabian in view of Wittke, and further in view of Sobhy Deraz (US PG-Pub. 2024/0303441 A1).
Re-claim 15,
Fabian-Wittke teaches the method in claim 12, but Fabian fails to teach a method, wherein the generating the prompt information corresponding to the existing field according to the prompt information configuration operation received in the prompt information input interface comprises:
using third content input in the prompt information input interface as the prompt information; or receiving fourth content input in a prompt information template provided by the prompt information input interface, and generating the prompt information according to fifth content provided by the prompt information template and the fourth content.
However, Sobhy Deraz teaches:
wherein the generating the prompt information corresponding to the existing field according to the prompt information configuration operation received in the prompt information input interface comprises:
using third content input in the prompt information input interface as the prompt information; or receiving fourth content input in a prompt information template provided by the prompt information input interface, and generating the prompt information according to fifth content provided by the prompt information template and the fourth content (Fig. 7A, [0092-0093]. Sobhy Deraz describes the concept of generating the prompt LLM output 771 according to the prompt information template 732 (as fifth content) and the received user inputs 722 (as fourth content)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the prompt configuration for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of modified Fabian with the task decomposition for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Sobhy Deraz to convert the unclear user Natural Language (NL) prompt to the clarified Large Language Model (LLM) prompt in order to perform more accurate task that user asking for.
Re-claim 16,
Fabian-Wittke-Sobhy Deraz teaches the method in claim 15, but Fabian fails to teach a method, further comprising:
displaying a prompt information template list on the prompt information input interface, and displaying a prompt information template content interface according to a selection operation executed by the user on the prompt information template in the prompt information template list, wherein the prompt information template content interface comprises corresponding fifth content; and hiding the prompt information template list in response to receiving a fourth content editing operation executed by the user on the prompt information template content interface.
However, Sobhy Deraz teaches:
displaying a prompt information template list on the prompt information input interface, and displaying a prompt information template content interface according to a selection operation executed by the user on the prompt information template in the prompt information template list, wherein the prompt information template content interface comprises corresponding fifth content; and hiding the prompt information template list in response to receiving a fourth content editing operation executed by the user on the prompt information template content interface (Fig. 7A, [0092-0093]. Sobhy Deraz describes the concept of generating the prompt LLM output 771 according to the prompt information template 732 (as fifth content) and the received user inputs 722 (as fourth content)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the prompt configuration for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Fabian with the task decomposition for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Sobhy Deraz to convert the unclear user Natural Language (NL) prompt to the clarified Large Language Model (LLM) prompt in order to perform more accurate task that user asking for.
Re-claim 17,
Fabian-Wittke-Sobhy Deraz teaches the method in claim 16, but Fabian fails to teach a method, further comprising: redisplaying the prompt information template list in response to detecting that the fourth content is completely deleted.
However, Sobhy Deraz teaches:
redisplaying the prompt information template list in response to detecting that the fourth content is completely deleted (Fig. 7A, [0092-0093]. Sobhy Deraz describes the concept of generating the prompt LLM output 771 according to the prompt information template 732 (as fifth content) and the received user inputs 722 (as fourth content)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the prompt configuration for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Fabian with the task decomposition for LLM integration in spreadsheet environment teaching of Sobhy Deraz to convert the unclear user Natural Language (NL) prompt to the clarified Large Language Model (LLM) prompt in order to perform more accurate task that user asking for.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 03/23/2026 for the RCE on 04/27/2026 with respect to amended claims 1, 18 and 20 have been considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on pages 9-10 regarding amended claims 1, 18 and 20 that Fabian fails to teach the further clarified limitation that claims “wherein the field type of the new field is selected from a plurality of types including text, single-choice, multiple-choice, date, and number”.
Examiner respectfully submit that the instant patent application’s specification states in paragraph [0161] “The field types supporting the generation of the field content according to the prompt information include text, single-choice, multiple-choice, date and number. That is, when the field type is the above-mentioned type, it supports the generation of the field content according to the prompt information. The prompt information can be set for the field of the above-mentioned type.” That indicates that the list of field types supporting the generation of the field content according to the prompt information and Fabian’s cited field type “Date” supporting the generation of the field content “Year of Service” according to the prompt 912. Therefore, Fabian teaches the argument feature by the supported instant patent application specification paragraph [0161].
Applicant argues on pages 10-12 regarding amended claims 1, 18 and 20 that Wittke fails to teach the claimed feature “displaying a field reference control configured to set the at least one reference field for the prompt information, wherein the at least one reference field is a field in the table, and the prompt information is to be configured for creating the new field in the table; in response to receiving an operation performed on the reference field control, displaying a reference field setting interface comprising a list of fields available; displaying the at least one reference field in the prompt information and setting the at least one reference field for the prompt information in response to selecting the at least one reference field from the list of fields via the reference field setting interface”.
Examiner respectfully submit that Fabian teaches the feature “wherein the at least one reference field is a field in the table, and the prompt information is to be configured for creating the new field in the table” by the prompt 912 shown in Fig. 9B to add a column “Years of Service” (as a new field in the table) with a reference field “Hire date” data in column C of the Spreadsheet table to calculate the added column data by the suggested formula (See Fabian’s Figs. 6, 9B, [0092-0093, 0106, 0107]); and Wittke teaches the concept of displaying the control button to open a prompt string user interface (i.e. 308b text-editable field) and adding a parameter to the prompt string by displaying the “Add Parameter” 308a button configured to add parameters for the prompt information (i.e. URL string prompt). Wittke also teaches upon clicking the “Add Parameter” 308a button, displaying the drop-down list of parameters 316b for user to select. Wittke also teaches upon selecting a parameter from the list of parameters 316b by pointer 310b, displaying the selected parameter (i.e. utm_term) in the URL string prompt (See Wittke’s Figs. 3A-3C, [0036-0037]). Therefore, Fabian in view of Wittke teaches the argument feature.
Conclusion
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/TUAN S NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2179
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