Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 19/301,062

GENERATING KEYS FOR SEMI-STRUCTURED DATA STORAGE IN RELATIONAL DATABASES

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Aug 15, 2025
Priority
Apr 02, 2024 — provisional 63/573,378 +2 more
Examiner
GORTAYO, DANGELINO N
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
ORACLE INTERNATIONAL Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
79%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 9m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 79% — above average
79%
Career Allowance Rate
614 granted / 781 resolved
+18.6% vs TC avg
Strong +30% interview lift
Without
With
+29.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
9 currently pending
Career history
786
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
10.8%
-29.2% vs TC avg
§103
52.4%
+12.4% vs TC avg
§102
20.0%
-20.0% vs TC avg
§112
10.2%
-29.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 781 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 2. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 3. Claims 1-20, filed on 8/15/2025, are pending in this office action. Priority 4. Applicant’s claim for the benefit of prior-filed application 18/987,968, now US Patent 12,688,186, filed 12/19/2024, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged. Information Disclosure Statement 5. Initialed and dated copy of Applicant’s IDS form 1449, filed 11/10/2025 and 6/8/2026, are attached to the instant Office Action. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 6. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 7. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wu et al. (US Publication 2020/0320091 A1) As per claim 1, Wu teaches A computer-implemented method comprising: (see Abstract) receiving a request to store a plurality of documents having a semi-structured data format into a target table of a relational database management system (DBMS); (paragraph 0033, 0039, 0043, 0279, incoming data objects in JSON format, interpreted as semi-structured data format, are stored in columnar-based relational databases in table structures) determining that a particular document in the plurality of documents fails to include an identifier data that uniquely identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents; (paragraph 0220, 0247, the system determines if data is not the same as a previously received value and not an existing object with the same identifier, paragraph 0336, a new columnar block can be written with the label path of the object) generating a particular unique identifier that identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents; (paragraph 0088, 0191, 0243, 0245, a label path and object ID is generated for incoming objects that uniquely identifies the object) storing each unique identifier of a plurality of identifiers of the plurality of documents into a primary key column of the target table of the relational DBMS, wherein the plurality of identifiers includes the newly generated particular unique identifier; (paragraph 0248, a key-value table stores the label path and object ID of objects to be represented in relational data structure, paragraph 0279, 0317, 0325, the relational table includes a primary key or partition and block key to identify objects) generating an index of the plurality of documents based on the primary key column of the target table that includes the particular unique identifier for the particular document. (paragraph 0166, 0359, an index of label paths for objects are generated) As per claim 2, Wu teaches converting the particular document into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases, thereby generating a particular encoded document; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) wherein converting the particular document into the particular encoded document includes: traversing the particular document to an identifier field for the particular document, (paragraph 0168, 0171, 0184, a node tree is traversed during converting JSON objects to relational implementation) and determining that the particular document fails to include the identifier data that uniquely identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents based, at least in part, on determining that the identifier field fails to exist in the particular document or contains no valid value. (paragraph 0170, 0171, 0176, node names and identifiers are utilized) As per claim 3, Wu teaches converting the particular document into the particular encoded document further includes allocating a particular memory space in the particular encoded document for the identifier data. (paragraph 0360, translated data distributed across plurality of partitions) As per claim 4, Wu teaches converting the particular document into the format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases is performed by a client driver of the relational DBMS. (paragraph 0347, 0351, client application) As per claim 5, Wu teaches converting the plurality of documents into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases, thereby generating a plurality of encoded documents; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) materializing each unique identifier of a plurality of encoded identifiers of the plurality of encoded documents into a corresponding primary key value of a corresponding row of the target table for a respective encoded document of the plurality of encoded documents. (paragraph 0317, 0336, indicate which label paths are primary key) As per claim 6, Wu teaches the format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases is a raw-based format. (paragraph 0292, raw data files) As per claim 7, Wu teaches the format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases is an OSON format. (paragraph 0184, binary blob in database s related to JSON objects) As per claim 8, Wu teaches the primary key column of the target table is configured to be invisible or immutable. (paragraph 0317, primary key associated with label paths) As per claim 9, Wu teaches converting the plurality of documents into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases, thereby generating a plurality of encoded documents; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) materializing each unique identifier of a plurality of encoded identifiers of the plurality of encoded documents into a corresponding primary key value in a memcomp-compatible format; (paragraph 0317, 0336, indicate which label paths are primary key) storing each encoded document of the plurality of encoded documents into a corresponding row of the target table in association with the corresponding primary key value for the corresponding row of the primary key column of the target table. (paragraph 0245, 0255, partitioning key associated with matrix of rows and columns) As per claim 10, Wu teaches receiving a plurality of encoded documents generated by converting the plurality of documents into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) determining that the particular document in the plurality of documents fails to include the identifier data that uniquely identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents at least by determining that a respective particular encoded document in the plurality of encoded documents contains blank allocated memory space for the identifier data. (paragraph 0220, 0247, determines if data is not the same as a previously received value and not an existing object with the same identifier) As per claim 11, Wu teaches the semi-structured data format is a JSON format or an XML format. (paragraph 0038, 0039, 0040, JSON objects) As per claim 12, Wu teaches One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing a set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions includes instructions, which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause: (see Abstract) receiving a request to store a plurality of documents having a semi-structured data format into a target table of a relational database management system (DBMS); (paragraph 0033, 0039, 0043, 0279, incoming data objects in JSON format, interpreted as semi-structured data format, are stored in columnar-based relational databases in table structures) determining that a particular document in the plurality of documents fails to include an identifier data that uniquely identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents; (paragraph 0220, 0247, the system determines if data is not the same as a previously received value and not an existing object with the same identifier, paragraph 0336, a new columnar block can be written with the label path of the object) generating a particular unique identifier that identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents; (paragraph 0088, 0191, 0243, 0245, a label path and object ID is generated for incoming objects that uniquely identifies the object) storing each unique identifier of a plurality of identifiers of the plurality of documents into a primary key column of the target table of the relational DBMS, wherein the plurality of identifiers includes the newly generated particular unique identifier; (paragraph 0248, a key-value table stores the label path and object ID of objects to be represented in relational data structure, paragraph 0279, 0317, 0325, the relational table includes a primary key or partition and block key to identify objects) generating an index of the plurality of documents based on the primary key column of the target table that includes the particular unique identifier for the particular document. (paragraph 0166, 0359, an index of label paths for objects are generated) As per claim 13, Wu teaches the set of instructions further includes instructions, which, when executed by said one or more hardware processors, cause: converting the particular document into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases, thereby generating a particular encoded document; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) wherein converting the particular document into the particular encoded document includes: traversing the particular document to an identifier field for the particular document, (paragraph 0168, 0171, 0184, a node tree is traversed during converting JSON objects to relational implementation) and determining that the particular document fails to include the identifier data that uniquely identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents based, at least in part, on determining that the identifier field fails to exist in the particular document or contains no valid value. (paragraph 0170, 0171, 0176, node names and identifiers are utilized) As per claim 14, Wu teaches converting the particular document into the particular encoded document further includes allocating a particular memory space in the particular encoded document for the identifier data. (paragraph 0360, translated data distributed across plurality of partitions) As per claim 15, Wu teaches the set of instructions further includes instructions, which, when executed by said one or more hardware processors, cause: converting the plurality of documents into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases, thereby generating a plurality of encoded documents; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) materializing each unique identifier of a plurality of encoded identifiers of the plurality of encoded documents into a corresponding primary key value of a corresponding row of the target table(paragraph 0317, 0336, indicate which label paths are primary key) for a respective encoded document of the plurality of encoded documents. As per claim 16, Wu teaches the format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases is a raw-based format. (paragraph 0292, raw data files) As per claim 17, Wu teaches the format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases is an OSON format. (paragraph 0184, binary blob in database s related to JSON objects) As per claim 18, Wu teaches the set of instructions further includes instructions, which, when executed by said one or more hardware processors, cause: converting the plurality of documents into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases, thereby generating a plurality of encoded documents; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) materializing each unique identifier of a plurality of encoded identifiers of the plurality of encoded documents into a corresponding primary key value in a memcomp-compatible format; (paragraph 0317, 0336, indicate which label paths are primary key) storing each encoded document of the plurality of encoded documents into a corresponding row of the target table in association with the corresponding primary key value for the corresponding row of the primary key column of the target table. (paragraph 0245, 0255, partitioning key associated with matrix of rows and columns) As per claim 19, Wu teaches the set of instructions further includes instructions, which, when executed by said one or more hardware processors, cause: receiving a plurality of encoded documents generated by converting the plurality of documents into a format for storage of semi-structured documents in relational databases; (paragraph 0054, 0056, 0063, schemaless to relational representation conversion is performed on the JSON data) determining that the particular document in the plurality of documents fails to include the identifier data that uniquely identifies the particular document in the plurality of documents at least by determining that a respective particular encoded document in the plurality of encoded documents contains blank allocated memory space for the identifier data. (paragraph 0220, 0247, determines if data is not the same as a previously received value and not an existing object with the same identifier) As per claim 20, Wu teaches the semi-structured data format is a JSON format or an XML format. (paragraph 0038, 0039, 0040, JSON objects) Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Li (US Publication 2015/0026189 A1) Cao (US Publication 2017/0169061 A1) Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANGELINO N GORTAYO whose telephone number is (571)272-7204. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00am - 3:30pm. 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, Charles Rones can be reached at 571-272-4085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /DANGELINO N GORTAYO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2168
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Prosecution Timeline

Aug 15, 2025
Application Filed
Sep 02, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
79%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+29.6%)
2y 11m (~1y 9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 781 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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