Prior art

The most relevant prior art for US patent 10936685, as identified from its own citation list, includes the following patents:

Cited by Examiner

1. US20090287763A1

   • Full Citation: US20090287763A1 (Kota Enterprise, Llc)
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority Date: 2008-05-15, Publication Date: 2009-11-19
   • Brief Description: Titled "Question server to facilitate communication between participants," this patent generally describes a question server system designed to facilitate communication between participants by handling questions and responses.
   • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): A detailed legal analysis is required to determine which specific claims of US10936685B2 are potentially anticipated by this reference. US20090287763A1's focus on a "question server to facilitate communication between participants" could be relevant to the general aspects of receiving user information, providing polling questions, receiving answers, and matching users as broadly described in claims 1, 2, and 3 of US10936685B2.

2. US20180330408A1

   • Full Citation: US20180330408A1 (Engine Media, Llc)
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority Date: 2017-05-15, Publication Date: 2018-11-15
   • Brief Description: Titled "Predictive analysis for controlling real-time advertising placement," this patent appears to relate to systems and methods for using predictive analysis to manage real-time advertising.
   • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): Determining anticipation for specific claims requires a direct comparison. Given its title, US20180330408A1's concepts of "real-time" processing and potentially "matching" for advertising could be broadly relevant to the real-time matching aspects of US10936685B2, particularly those related to displaying products, goods, or services.

Family Cites Families (Cited by Examiner)

1. US7130807B1

   • Full Citation: US7130807B1 (Accenture Llp)
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority Date: 1999-11-22, Publication Date: 2006-10-31
   • Brief Description: Titled "Technology sharing during demand and supply planning in a network-based supply chain environment," this patent describes systems for sharing technology within a supply chain.
   • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): Without a direct comparison, it's challenging to specify anticipated claims. This reference's focus on networking and information sharing within a supply chain, even though in a different domain (demand/supply planning), could potentially broadly cover foundational networking or data comparison techniques that might be considered generic to elements in claims 1, 2, or 3.

2. US8249943B2

   • Full Citation: US8249943B2 (Facebook, Inc.)
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority Date: 2007-05-31, Publication Date: 2012-08-21
   • Brief Description: Titled "Auction based polling," this patent relates to a system that uses an auction mechanism for polling.
   • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is directly related to "polling." Elements of US10936685B2 that involve "providing the user one or more polling questions" and "receiving and storing a selected answer for the one or more polling questions" (found in claims 1, 2, and 3) might find broad conceptual parallels in this patent. The "auction based" aspect distinguishes it, but the general concept of polling is highly relevant.

3. US10019722B2

   • Full Citation: US10019722B2 (Trinity Intel Media, Llc)
   • Publication/Filing Date: Priority Date: 2010-03-01, Publication Date: 2018-07-10
   • Brief Description: Titled "Poll-based networking system," this patent is explicitly a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/987,447, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10/019,722, and is a direct parent to US10936685B2.
   • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): As US10019722B2 is a direct parent patent in the same family, it is typically not considered anticipatory prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102 for the claims of US10936685B2, provided there is a valid priority claim. Instead, its content forms part of the ongoing disclosure from which US10936685B2 draws priority. It broadly covers a "poll-based networking system" that forms the foundation for the more specific claims of US10936685B2.

Note on Anticipation:
A definitive determination of whether a prior art reference anticipates a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 102 requires a detailed, claim-by-claim analysis, comparing every element of a claim to a single prior art reference. This technical patent analysis does not constitute a legal opinion on anticipation. The claims of US10936685B2 generally describe a poll-based networking and e-commerce system, a computer-implemented method, and a computer program product, featuring operations such as receiving user information, providing polling questions, comparing selected answers to generate a likelihood of match, and displaying results, particularly noting operations on a hand-held device and swipable list review.