DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Acknowledgements
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Applicant provided Information Disclosure Statements.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
35 USC 101
Applicant's arguments filed 3/30/2026 with respect to 35 USC 101 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The rejection is maintained.
Applicant argues on page 9-10 that the claims are not directed to a method of organizing human activity
Examiner Respectfully Disagrees.
The claims recite generating a recommendation and generating a task with respect to the recommendation. This clearly teaches task management. The claims also state collecting personal data of a user by way of tracking technology (i.e. managing personal behavior). The claims also recite displaying data such as a data structure. Applicant’s specification also states interaction between different organizations, vendors, customers and business partners (See para 0130-0131). These interactions are clearly commercial legal interactions. These make the claims fall in the abstract idea grouping of certain methods of organizing human activity (sales activity, fundamental economic principles or practices; legal interactions, business relations, interactions between people, and managing personal behavior).
Applicant argues on page 9
Rather, currently amended claim 1 recites that the task comprises instructions to modify the computer code of the mobile application to alter operation of the SDK with respect to collection of the personal data.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
The amendment is merely describing the task, but there is no active step of modifying the computer code. This limitation is vague and can be done by a user looking at a sheet of code and modifying it. The user can then manually indicate that the task is done as seen in para 0242 of Applicant’s specification.
Applicant argues on page 9
Likewise, the amended claims do not recite "managing personal behavior." The Office appears to equate collection of personal data with management of a person's behavior. See Office Action, p. 3 ("The claims also state collecting personal data of a user by way of tracking technology (i.e. managing personal behavior)"). But the claims do not regulate, instruct, or influence the conduct of any user. Rather, the claims detect a tracking technology implemented via an SDK by analyzing computer code and identifying associated code segments. In other
words, the claims are directed to how software operates with respect to personal data collection, not to how any human behaves.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Collecting personal data by way of tracking still falls in the abstract idea grouping of certain methods of organizing human activity. The sub-grouping “managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people” include social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions. An example of a claim reciting managing personal behavior is Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363, 115 USPQ2d 1636 (Fed. Cir. 2015). The Federal Circuit determined that the claims were directed to the abstract idea of “tracking financial transactions to determine whether they exceed a pre-set spending limit (i.e., budgeting)”, which “is not meaningfully different from the ideas found to be abstract in other cases before the Supreme Court and our court involving methods of organizing human activity.” 792 F.3d. at 1367-68, 115 USPQ2d at 1640. This clearly shows that tracking personal data of a user would fall in certain methods of organizing human activity.
Applicant argues on page 11
The amended claims also no longer merely recite a generic "report" in the sense
suggested by the Office Action. See Office Action, p. 3 ("The claims also recite displaying a report. The report is with respect to the tasks. Applicant's specification also states interaction between different organizations, vendors, customers and business partners"). Claim 1 recites generating output comprising a data structure stored in association with the mobile application, where the data structure identifies the tracking technology and the one or more code segments associated with the SDK. See currently amended claim 1. That output is a machine-associated technical artifact tied to code-level analysis, not a business record or legal/commercial interaction.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
The claim limitation is still broad since a report can still be considered a data structure. Generating data is mere data manipulation and does not make the claims patent eligible. In addition, the screen is merely an additional element that is used to display information to the user.
Applicant argues on page 12
In applying these considerations outlined in the MPEP to the present claims, it is clear that the pending claims, as a whole, are also directed to a particular improvement of data privacy in mobile applications. Similar to the claims of Finjan, the pending claims impose a meaningful limit on the alleged judicial exception of a mental process and/or a method of organizing human activity. The pending claims recite a particular improvement to data privacy in mobile applications. Similar to how the claims of Finjan provide improvements to the security of user data through virus scanning, the pending claims improve data privacy in mobile applications. Accordingly, the pending claims impose a meaningful limit on the alleged judicial exception and provide a specific improvement over prior systems, resulting in improved data privacy in mobile applications. Thus, the claims are subject matter eligible under Prong Two of Step 2A of the § 101 analysis.
Examiner respectfully Disagrees.
The claims are not solving a technical problem but a business problem. The problem of retrieving data and using that data to asses a risk. Retrieving data, determining a risk, providing an audit schedule, and displaying data are all abstract idea steps. (See para 0002 in Applicant’s steps). The claims also recite the business processes of generating a recommendation/task. In contrast, a technical problem and solution is seen in the court case of McRO. The patents in McRO were an improvement on 3-D animation wherein the prior art comprised that "for each keyframe, the artist would look at the screen and, relying on her judgment, manipulate the character model until it looked right — a visual and subjective process." Thus, the patents in McRO aimed to automate a 3-D animator's tasks, specifically, determining when to set keyframes and setting those keyframes. In addition, the claims are not analogous to Finjan. Finjan provided actual functions that are being carried out by the computer such as attaching a downloadable security profile to a downloadable. The instant application does not positively recite the computer actively modifying computer code, but merely states a task and describes the task.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more than the judicial exception itself.
Regarding Step 1 of the Subject Matter Eligibility Test for Products and Processes (MPEP 2106.03), claims 1-20 are directed to non-transitory computer-readable medium, system, and method.
Regarding step 2A-1, Claims 1-20 recite a Judicial Exception. Exemplary independent claim 1 and similarly claims 7 and 14 recite the limitations of
monitoring a storage location of a… application; determining that a new version of the…application has been stored in the storage location based on a detection of a change to the …code…analyzing…code for the…application …to collect personal data of a user of the… application; detecting…technology… generating… a recommendation…generating a task… generating a data structure …
These limitations, as drafted, are a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation cover concepts that include generating recommendations/tasks which corresponds to task management. The claims also state collecting personal data of a user by way of tracking technology (i.e. managing personal behavior). Applicant’s specification also states interaction between different organizations, vendors, customers and business partners (See para 0130-0131). These make the claims fall in the abstract idea grouping of certain methods of organizing human activity (sales activity, fundamental economic principles or practices; business relations, interactions between people).
The claims also recite limitations that would fall in the abstract idea grouping of a mental process (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion) such as generating, monitoring, determining, and analyzing data. These are mere data manipulation steps that do not require a computer. For example, a user is able to make determinations as well as determine and analyze data without the use of a computer. A user is also able to generate data that corresponds to a data structure.
It is clear the limitations recite these abstract idea groupings, but for the recitations of generic computer components. The mere nominal recitations of generic computer components does not take the limitations out of the mental process and certain methods of organizing human activity grouping.
Regarding step 2A-2- This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application, and the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
The claim recites the additional elements of uploading the mobile application from the storage location, providing, by the one or more processing devices, display on a display screen, non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code, processing devices, mobile application, computer code, mobile device, online mobile application marketplace, and software development kit.
These components are recited at a high level of generality, and merely automate the steps. Each of the additional limitations is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. The combination of these additional elements is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer components or software. Accordingly, even in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Further, the claims do not provide for recite any improvements to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field; applying or using a judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition; applying the judicial exception with, or by use of, a particular machine; effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing; or applying or using the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception.
The dependent claims have the same deficiencies as their parent claims as being directed towards an abstract idea, as the dependent claims merely narrow the scope of their parent claims. For example, the dependent claims further describe what the recommendation is. In addition, the dependent claims further recite what the storage location is. In addition, the dependent claims further recite what the tracking technology is such as detecting location of a mobile user.
Regarding step 2B the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because claim 1 recites
Non-transitory computer-readable medium, program code, processing devices, providing, by the one or more processing devices, display on a display screen, computer code, software development kit, and uploading the mobile application from the storage location.
Claim 3, 10, 17 recites mobile device
Claim 5, 13, and 20 recites online mobile application marketplace
Claim 7 recites system, Non-transitory computer-readable medium, processing device, computer code, mobile application, display screen,
Claim 14 recites computing hardware, computer code, mobile application, software development kit, display screen
When looking at these additional elements individually, the additional elements are purely functional and generic the Applicant specification states a general-purpose computer in para 0124.
When looking at the additional elements in combination, the Applicant’s specification merely states a general-purpose computer as seen in para 0124. The computer components add nothing that is not already present when the steps are considered separately. See MPEP 2106.05
Looking at these limitations as an ordered combination and individually adds nothing additional that is sufficient to amount to significantly more than the recited abstract idea because they simply provide instructions to use generic computer components, recitations of generic computer structure to perform generic computer functions that are used to "apply" the recited abstract idea. Thus, the elements of the claims, considered both individually and as an ordered combination, are not sufficient to ensure that the claim as a whole amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Since there are no limitations in these claims that transform the exception into a patent eligible application such that these claims amount to significantly more than the exception itself, claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Morley (US20160162275A1) Discloses an Application (“App”) Checker identifies and isolates incompatible applications on a mobile device during a software platform update.
Barday (20170287034) Discloses (1) presenting a threshold privacy assessment that includes a first set of privacy-related questions for a privacy campaign (2) receiving respective answers to the first set of questions; (3) using this initial set of answers to calculate an initial privacy risk score for the privacy campaign; (4) determining whether the privacy risk score exceeds the threshold privacy risk value; (5) in response to the privacy risk score exceeding the threshold privacy risk value, providing one or more supplemental questions to the user to facilitate the completion of a full privacy impact assessment. In some embodiments, in response to determining that the privacy risk score does not exceed the threshold privacy risk value, the systems and methods provide an indication that the particular privacy campaign is a relatively low privacy campaign.
LaFever (20150128285) Discloses various systems, computer-readable media, and computer-implemented methods for providing improved data privacy, anonymity and security by enabling subjects to which data pertains to remain "dynamically anonymous," i.e., anonymous for as long as is desired--and to the extent that is desired--are disclosed herein.
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/MUSTAFA IQBAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3625
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