NICE LTD.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardNov 6, 20202020001544 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 6, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 15/274,267 09/23/2016 Omer ABRAMOVICI P-80200-US1 8486 49443 7590 11/06/2020 Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz LLP 1500 Broadway 12th Floor New York, NY 10036 EXAMINER MINOR, AYANNA YVETTE ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3624 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 11/06/2020 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): Arch-USPTO@PearlCohen.com USPTO@PearlCohen.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte OMER ABRAMOVICI, IFTACH SMITH, and CHARLES WILLIAM GULLEDGE Appeal 2020-001544 Application 15/274,267 Technology Center 3600 ____________ Before MURRIEL E. CRAWFORD, ANTON W. FETTING, and ROBERT J. SILVERMAN, Administrative Patent Judges. SILVERMAN, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), the Appellant1 appeals from the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 1, 2, 5–9, 11–13, and 15–21. An Oral Hearing was held on October 8, 2020. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We AFFIRM IN PART. 1 We use the word “Appellant” to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42. The Appellant identifies the real party in interest as NICE LTD. Appeal Br. 1. Appeal 2020-001544 Application 15/274,267 2 ILLUSTRATIVE CLAIM 1. A system for analyzing performance data comprising: - a work force management server operating one or more processors and outputting data to a work force management database comprising a memory to store performance data; - a real-time server providing information collected about individual workers to the work force management server, at least some of the information produced by processor-executed applications operating on agent workstations; - a voice of customer server providing customer satisfaction data to the work force management server; - a service layer executing one or more processors to receive a request for a schedule, and place the request in a queue; and - a scheduler operating one or more data processors configured to: - retrieve the request from the queue; - receive from the work force management database performance data relating to the performance of one or more individual workers; - analyze the performance data to identify one or more workers as a leader, wherein a leader is a worker whose presence in a group of the individual workers results in an improvement in overall performance of said group, a worker being a leader if an aggregate value of one or more performance indicators for a criterion over workers in a pool during time periods when the worker was present, minus an aggregate value of the one or more performance indicators for the criterion over workers in the pool during time periods when the worker was not present, is greater than a threshold; and - based on the identification of one or more workers as a leader automatically create a schedule of work periods based on one or more skills attributed to one or more workers, such that for each schedule work Appeal 2020-001544 Application 15/274,267 3 period, a leader is included in the work period with the aim of increasing performance of workers assigned to the work period. REFERENCES The prior art relied upon by the Examiner is: Name Reference Date Grasso et al. (“Grasso” herein) US 2013/0142322 A1 June 6, 2013 Umamaheswaran et al. (“Umamaheswaran” herein) US 8,566,133 B2 Oct. 22, 2013 te Booij et al. (“Booij” herein) US 2018/0034966 A1 Feb. 1, 2018 REJECTIONS I. Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. II. Claims 1, 2, 5–9, 11–13, and 15–20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Booij and Grasso. III. Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Booij, Grasso, and Umamaheswaran. FINDINGS OF FACT The findings of fact relied upon, which are supported by a preponderance of the evidence, appear in the following Analysis. Appeal 2020-001544 Application 15/274,267 4 ANALYSIS Indefiniteness The Appellant states that rejection of claim 20, under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), “is not being appealed.” Appeal Br. 4. Accordingly, we summarily sustain the rejection of claim 20, under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b). Obviousness In part, independent claim 1 recites a technique for determining whether a “worker” is a “leader,” by differentiating “an aggregate value of one or more performance indicators for a criterion over workers in a pool during time periods when the worker was present” and “an aggregate value of the one or more performance indicators for the criterion over workers in the pool during time periods when the worker was not present.” The Examiner (Final Act. 11–12) finds that Booij teaches the measurement of performance metrics for groups of workers, based upon various factors, including “the composition of a team,” which “can affect the performance, stress levels, and happiness of its members, and the performance of the team as a whole” (Booij ¶ 59). Further, according to Booij, “[d]isruptive agents or neighbors can significantly hurt the productivity of nearby agents, while expert agents can often boost the productivity of their neighbors.” Id. In addition, “the compositions of the resource groups themselves (e.g., the agents and other resources assigned to a resource group), can have an impact on overall contact center performance.” Id.; see also id. ¶ 83 (“[T]he performance of the agent . . . may be worse due to . . . factors such as . . . the team composition, or a very localized problem (e.g., an unpleasant neighbor).”) Appeal 2020-001544 Application 15/274,267 5 However, the Examiner acknowledges that Booij does not teach claim 1’s limitations that recite comparing the performance of the claimed “workers in the pool,” when a particular “worker” was present and when that particular “worker” was absent. Final Act. 11. The Examiner relies upon Grasso for these features. Id. at 11–12 (citing Grasso ¶¶ 39, 90, 99, 102); see also Ans. 5–8. But, as the Appellant argues (see Appeal Br. 6–8, 10–11; Reply Br. 4– 5), Grasso’s disclosure of the effect of an individual’s impact, with regard to the performance of others, describes such phenomena as one-on-one interactions — rather than the claimed effect on a group (the recited “workers in the pool”). For example, according to Grasso, “an agent with strong topic expertise tutors another agent with initially weaker expertise on that topic,” whereby “[i]f the second agent shows significantly increased expertise over time, this provides evidence that the first agent did a good tutoring job.” Grasso ¶ 90. See also id. ¶ 102 (“[I]t can be useful to organize pairs of complementary agents in such a way that the stronger agent tutors and informs the weaker one.”) In addition to the absence of any identified disclosure, in Grasso, of any consideration of the relationship between an individual and the group (i.e., the claimed “workers in the pool”) — both with and without the individual in question — Grasso’s “helping agent” (id. ¶ 90), “tutoring agent” (id. ¶ 99), or agents possessing “a strong level of expertise” (id. ¶ 102), are pre-identified. Thus, Grasso contradicts the operation of the claimed subject matter, whereby quantitative analysis reveals the “worker” to be “leader.” By contrast, the Specification explains that a “leader” would not necessarily be manifest, prior to such analysis: Appeal 2020-001544 Application 15/274,267 6 A leader need not be an individual whose own performance is exceptional. According to some embodiments of the invention, provided that the presence of one individual has an effect on the performance on the other individuals then that one individual may be identified as a leader. The individual may not have been identified as a leader in the traditional sense and it may not be outwardly apparent that he or she has any effect on team performance. Spec. 2, ll. 9–14. In view of the foregoing, we are persuaded of error in the rejection of independent claim 1. The same analysis applies to independent claims 11 and 19, which include limitations substantially identical to those discussed above. Accordingly, we do not sustain the rejection of independent claims 1, 11, and 19, and respective dependent claims 2, 5–9, 12, 13, 15–18, 20, and 21, under 35 U.S.C. § 103. CONCLUSION In summary: Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § Reference(s)/Basis Affirmed Reversed 20 112(b) Indefiniteness 20 1, 2, 5–9, 11–13, 15–20 103 Booij, Grasso 1, 2, 5–9, 11–13, 15–20 21 103 Booij, Grasso, Umamaheswaran 21 Overall Outcome 20 1, 2, 5–9, 11–13, 15–19, 21 Appeal 2020-001544 Application 15/274,267 7 TIME PERIOD FOR RESPONSE No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). See 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). AFFIRMED IN PART Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation