Prior art — US Patent 12238815

The patent US12238815B2, titled "Method and system for using a situational network," was filed on April 18, 2024, and published on February 25, 2025. Its earliest priority date is February 2, 2007. The invention generally describes a computer-implemented method and system for establishing and managing a situational network where a situation authority interacts with users, each having a personal information aggregator (PIA), to distribute and propagate information related to a specific event or situation.

A review of the "Prior art citations" for US12238815B2 on Google Patents reveals 22 cited documents. Upon examining the priority dates of these citations, it becomes apparent that many are U.S. patent applications that share the exact same priority date (February 2, 2007) as US12238815B2. These documents (e.g., US20080275811A1, US20080183570A1, US20090287707A1, etc.) are likely part of the same patent family (e.g., continuations, divisionals, or related applications by the same inventors/assignee) and therefore do not serve as anticipatory prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102 against the claims of US12238815B2, as they do not predate its effective priority date.

The most relevant prior art for anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102 among the listed citations is US7409440B2, as its earliest priority date (May 18, 2004) predates that of US12238815B2 (February 2, 2007).

Most Relevant Prior Art Citation for US12238815B2

1. US7409440B2

Full Citation: US7409440B2, Cona et al., "Method and system for providing context-aware information to a user in a social network environment", granted August 5, 2008.
Publication/Filing Date: Filed: August 5, 2005. Granted: August 5, 2008. Earliest Priority: May 18, 2004.
Brief Description: This patent describes a method and system for providing information to a user within a social network environment. The information is delivered based on the user's relationships with other network users, which can be defined across multiple dimensions (e.g., family, friendship, professional) and characterized by an affinity attribute. Information can be provided on-demand, pushed, or via ongoing subscription.
Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102:
- The independent claims of US12238815B2 (Claims 1, 12, 20) are directed to a "situational network" that is "established based on an occurrence of an event or situation," involves a "situation authority," and explicitly details the situation authority's role in "distributing," "receiving," and "propagating" information related to the event or situation. Each user in US12238815B2 also has a "personal information aggregator (PIA)."
- US7409440B2 describes a "social network environment" and "context-aware information," discussing relationships and affinity. However, it does not explicitly disclose the specific elements of a "situational network" dynamically established in response to an event or situation, nor the specialized role of a "situation authority" performing event-specific information management as defined in US12238815B2. While it discusses social networks and providing information, it does not appear to teach or suggest all elements of the independent claims of US12238815B2, particularly the core inventive concept of a network formed situationally and managed by an authority for event-specific information propagation. Therefore, US7409440B2 does not appear to fully anticipate any of the independent claims (1, 12, 20) of US12238815B2 based on its abstract and general description. A detailed claim-by-claim analysis would be required to definitively assess anticipation, but based on the provided summaries, it lacks key elements.

Non-Anticipatory Cited Documents (Share same priority date as US12238815B2)

The following documents are cited as prior art in US12238815B2 but share the same earliest priority date (February 2, 2007) as US12238815B2. As such, they are not considered anticipatory prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102 against the claims of US12238815B2, but rather represent related filings within the same patent family. Therefore, detailed anticipation analysis for these documents is not provided.

US20080275811A1 - System and method for managing personal information using a personal information aggregator
US20080275727A1 - Multi-dimensional personal information network
US20080183570A1 - System and method for using a situational network
US20090287707A1 - Method and system for displaying targeted advertisements in a social network
US20090209230A1 - System and method for providing information to multiple users based on affinity
US20090177531A1 - System and method for using a personal information aggregator and a social network in emergency situations
US20090144131A1 - Method and system for using an N-dimensional social network for disaster relief
US20090099885A1 - System and method for managing information with a personal information aggregator
US20090048866A1 - System and method for using a personal information aggregator to provide financial information
US20090030761A1 - System and method for forming a network based on affinity
US20090030737A1 - System and method for providing emergency information to users in a situational network
US20080281699A1 - System and method for displaying targeted advertisements in a social network
US20080275747A1 - System and method for forming a network based on affinity
US20080275746A1 - System and method for creating a projected view of an N-dimensional social network
US20080275726A1 - System and method for providing targeted advertisements in a situational network
US20080262886A1 - System and method for providing emergency information to users in a situational network
US20080262846A1 - System and method for providing common travel routes to users in a situational network
US20080262845A1 - System and method for managing the distribution of limited goods and services in a situational network
US20080262799A1 - System and method for providing information on commercial travel routes to users in a situational network
US20080262798A1 - System and method for a situational network for emergency situations
US20080262797A1 - System and method for a roll call or check-in feature in a situational network