101 Rejection Reference Database – Art Unit 3689
Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, or Cost/Price Determination
Examiner: Araque Jr, Gerardo
| Patent Assignee | Patent Application |
| IBM | 12/254,092 |
Workflow management in a global support organization
Patent Abstract
This application discloses a method in which a customer submitted support ticket would be analyzed to determine the appropriate support response to handle the issue. The incoming ticket would be analyzed to determine the level of expertise the issue would require as well as personnel recommendations based on their previous work history with other representatives.This case is pre-AIA and demonstrates the previous methods used to overcome 101 rejections by tying the method to an electronic device.Customer support involves multiple levels of support, where customer support personnel at higher levels have more experience and a higher cost associated with their services. A random assignment of support personnel to a problem, at lower levels, can lead to multiple call transfers, a customer being put “on hold”, ineffective resource utilization, and high service costs being billed to customers. Functionality can be implemented to assign a support person to resolve the customer’s problem based on a multi-dimensional dynamic social network database of resources (e.g., personnel experience, success rate, skill set, social network, etc.) which allows for efficient assignment of support personnel to a problem. Routing a customer call to the most appropriate support person at a given level before determining support personnel at higher levels can ensure optimization in terms of return on investment and resource utilization. Optimally selecting and assigning support personnel can also ensure customer satisfaction.
Reason for 101 Rejection | CTNF 7/8/2011
Claims held to abstract subject matter, applicants should refer to the machines that that claims are tied to. The claims appear to be directed at a general business practice of customer service because no machines are recited explicitly or implied in the claims.
Remarks on Overcoming the 101 Rejection | REM 10/5/2011
Established the use of an electronic device to demonstrate the application is directed towards statutory subject matter. They further amend their claims to only read to machine-readable storage medium demonstrating a meaningful limit on the non-statutory subject matter.
Examiner: Araque Jr, Gerardo
| Patent Assignee | Patent Application |
| IBM | 13/171,558 |
Migrating computing environment entitlement contracts between a seller and a buyer
Patent Abstract
Mechanisms are provided for migrating a computing environment entitlement contract (CEEC) from one computing resource to another. These mechanisms generate one or more CEEC data structures, each CEEC data structure defining terms of a business level agreement between a contracting party and a provider of the data processing system. A CEEC cohort is generated comprising a collection of CEECs having similar terms. The one or more CEEC data structures are associated with a computing resource cohort and a seller of a CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures and a buyer of the CEEC data structure, in the one or more CEEC data structures, is identified. The CEEC data structure is migrated from the seller to the buyer and workloads are executed in accordance with terms specified in the CEEC data structure at the buyer after migrating the CEEC data structure.
Reason for 101 Rejection | CTNF 6/11/2013
Rejections based on transitory signals are different from abstract ideas. Since this application had to do with computing environments the use of a signal within a tangible medium (computer-readable storage) it falls within the scope of 35 USC 101.
Remarks on Overcoming the 101 Rejection | APDR 2/16/2017
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that a transitory wave can be a computer readable medium. As such, since the specification has failed to exclude transitory signals as being mediums a rejection under 35 USC 101 has been provided.
Examiner: Araque Jr, Gerardo
| Patent Assignee | Patent Application |
| Amazon | 14/577,161 |
Approval service in a catalog service platform
Patent Abstract
A service provider system may implement an approval service that manages approval requests received from other services on behalf of a customer organization and its end users. An administrator in the organization may create approval templates that define voting strategies at multiple approval levels and associate them with particular requests (individually, or by product, portfolio, project, action, message topic, workflow, or request type). The administrator may create approval groups whose members are authorized to respond to particular requests. Each approval template (or approval level) may include a different voting strategy or be associated with a different approval group. The approval system may support pre-notification of subsequent approval levels, auto-escalation, or auto-expiration. The approval service may employ a notification service to manage actionable notification messages that include approval requests. Members of approval groups may retrieve requests and select from available actions (e.g., approve, deny, or request more information).
Reason for 101 Rejection | CTFR 12/10/2018
The examiner claims the application is directed at an abstract idea without significantly more. The application is determined to be relating to the managing of relationships or transactions between people.
Remarks on Overcoming the 101 Rejection | REM 4/10/2019
The applicant points out how the claims are directed towards computing resources and not the organization of human resources. Further explanation is given to how the system provides a meaningful feature beyond the general linking of the use of a judicial exception to a technological environment. The applicant demonstrates how the claims integrate the judicial exception into a limited practical application.
Examiner: Araque Jr, Gerardo
| Patent Assignee | Patent Application |
| Ricoh | 14/790,957 |
Virtual receptionist system
Patent Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing a synchronous communication session comprising a customer service session and a video conferencing session are provided. The customer service session is established by a distribution service in response to a request received from a cabinet application that is geographically remote from a virtual receptionist application. The request includes a computer identifier of the cabinet application that is then used by the virtual receptionist application to request a video conferencing session from a video conferencing service that is separate from the distribution service. During the synchronous communication session, the virtual receptionist can cause a display at the cabinet application to display a screen at the virtual receptionist application.
Reason for 101 Rejection | CTNF 11/20/2018
All independent claims are directed towards judicial exceptions so step 2b analysis must be performed. The method merely discloses a general purpose device that would perform conventional activities known in customer service not amounting to significantly more. Mr. Araque throws the entire book of possible 101 rejections in this case, very insightful to the full extent of possible references this examiner cites pre-2019.
Remarks on Overcoming the 101 Rejection | REM 2/20/2019
The claims apply the idea of a “customer service at a call center” in a meaningful way by reciting the judicial exception in the context of a particular technological environment of a virtual customer call distribution center. The invention integrates itself into a practical application since the invention is directed toward a specific configuration of devices and servers that allow for video conferencing between a customer and an agent on their respective devices after the system has performed specific operations to allow for it to facilitate the communication session.
Examiner: Araque Jr, Gerardo
| Patent Assignee | Patent Application |
| Bank of America | 14/950,764 |
Preventing restricted trades using physical documents
Patent Abstract
A system for preventing restricted transactions using physical trade documents includes a document intake machine comprising a document scanner and a data extractor. The document intake machine receives a physical trade document associated with a transaction of goods from an entity. The document scanner scans the physical trade document to create an electronic file. The data extractor identifies trade terms from the electronic file. A trade-executing machine receives the trade terms and compares them to a database of restricted trade terms. For each of the trade terms that match a restricted trade term, the trade executing machines identifies a confidence level associated with the trade term indicating a likelihood that the transaction of goods is a restricted transaction. If the confidence level is greater than a predetermined threshold, the trade executing machine flags the transaction of goods as a potential restricted transaction and communicates a notification message to the entity.
Reason for 101 Rejection | CTFR 12/19/2018
The claims are directed towards a judicial exception without significantly more. The fundamental economic principle and method of organizing human activity is not further expanded on to demonstrate a practical application.
Remarks on Overcoming the 101 Rejection | REM 5/1/2019
The claims are integrated into a practical application that provides a technological improvement by enabling computer systems to recognize and process non-uniform paper documents. The system is capable of identifying key information in documents and applying the learned location to future documents. This is demonstrated to be a technological improvement in the field of computer physical document processing.
Examiner: Fisher, Paul
| Patent Assignee | Patent Application |
| Amazon Technologies Inc | 13/033,378 |
Digital returns
Patent Abstract
When a user receives digital content from a host over a network, such as streaming media, the user typically desires to receive a certain quality of the digital content with few or no interruptions. Techniques may be used to store and monitor a quality of digital content, a quality of the transmission of the digital content that is transmitted to a client device of a user, and/or the quality of rendering of the digital content by the client device. The techniques may provide restitution to the user when the quality of the digital content, transmission, and/or rendering thereof fails to comply with predetermined threshold values.
Reason for 101 Rejection
The claims were rejected because they were directed towards managing a service level agreement, which is considered Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity. The rejection is supported by MPEP § 2106 which lists “a legal contractual agreement between two parties” as an example of claims that are not directed to one of the statutory categories. In the present application, stored parameters are compared to new metrics to determine options available to the consumer, which would also not be directed to one of the statutory categories.
Remarks on Overcoming the 101 Rejection
“The 101 rejection has been withdrawn as the claims are directed toward a computer centric form of monitoring quality of service and issuing restitution. The unique manner of monitoring client side activity ensures that the users are compensated if they do not receive the service quality they have been promised. Similar to Bascom and Enfish these limitations improve the functionality of the system and by applying the unique system on the client side to ensure quality.” -NOA 04/07/2017 page 3.
Examiner: Fisher, Paul
| Patent Assignee | Patent Application |
| Xerox Corp | 12/429,775 |
Method and system for managing service intervals for related components
Patent Abstract
A method and system for managing one or more high frequency service items associated with a device. A parent/child relationship between the high frequency service items can be defined to track replacement of components based on a service action related to a child component. A taxonomy of related service items and servicing functions can be specified in an XML document associated with the rendering system. The relationship between the high frequency service items can be indicated utilizing a related component indicator and a HFSI counter. A parent component can be replaced by a maintenance operator and an aggregate child component can be rebuilt by a service engineer in order to retain the component life thereby reducing down time and service costs.
Reason for 101 Rejection
The claims were rejected because the claims are directed toward managing the service of items, which is considered both a fundamental economic practice and a method of organizing human activity. Therefore, the claims do not recite “significantly more” than an abstract idea. Further, the claims do not recite additional elements beyond a generic computer to provide an improvement to the technical field beyond linking the abstract idea to the technological environment.
Remarks on Overcoming the 101 Rejection
“The 101 rejection has been withdrawn as the claims are directed toward a computer centric implementation of asset monitoring which results in active maintenance and the maximization of the monitored elements. Similar to Enfish these limitations improve over the field of remote maintenance monitoring by applying this unique combination of elements to maximize the utilization of the equipment.” -NOA 04-07-2017 page 2-3.
