DETAILED ACTION
This is a Final Office Action in response to the Amendment filed 11/10/2025.
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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 4-22 are currently pending in the application and have been examined.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 11/10/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Claim Rejections 35 U.S.C. § 101:
Applicant submits on pages 11-14 of the remarks that the pending claims are not directed to a judicial exception and, even if they were, are integrated into a practical application, and are significantly more than any such judicial exception. Examiner respectfully disagrees, according to the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (PEG), if a claim limitation covers observations or evaluations then it falls within the “mental process” grouping of abstract ideas. The Examiner notes that the present claims do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application in a matter that imposes meaningful limit to the judicial exception. Lastly, Examiner notes that when determining whether a claim recites significantly more in Step 2B the analysis takes into consideration whether the claim effects a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing. Transformation and reduction of an article ‘to a different state or thing’ is the clue to patentability of a process claim that does not include particular machines." Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593, 658, 95 USPQ2d 1001, 1007 (2010) (quoting Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U.S. 63, 70, 175 USPQ 673, 676 (1972)). See MPEP 2106.05(c). Furthermore, the additional elements recited in the claims are merely reciting the use of a generic computer to perform generic computer functions of storing and transmitting data. These generic computer functions do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application and do not recite significantly more than the judicial exception.
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, 4-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
When considering subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. 101, it must be determined whether the claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention, i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. If the claim does fall within one of the statutory categories, it must then be determined whether the claim is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., law of nature, natural phenomenon, and abstract idea), and if so, it must additionally be determined whether the claim is a patent-eligible application of the exception. If an abstract idea is present in the claim, any element or combination of elements in the claim must be sufficient to ensure that the claim amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Step 1: Independent claims 1 (system), 13 (system), and 19 (system) and dependent claims 4-12, 14-18, 20-22, fall within at least one of the four statutory categories of 35 U.S.C. 101: (i) process; (ii) machine; (iii) manufacture; or (iv) composition of matter. Claims 1, 4-22 are directed to a system (i.e. machine).
Step 2A Prong 1: The claims are directed to receive criteria; retrieve, based on the criteria, candidate data; generate… potential leads according to the criteria and the candidate data, ranking the potential leads according to a score generated via an algorithm; receive timing data and preference data; determine… a visit category for each potential lead from a plurality of visit categories, the plurality of visit categories comprising an appointment visit and an unscheduled visit; receive timing data and preference data; generate… a plan based on the potential leads, the timing data, the determined visit category, and the preference data, the plan comprising: appointment times for each selected potential lead categorized with an appointment visit category; and a reserved block of time for each selected potential lead categorized with an unscheduled visit category, the reserved block of time comprising a predetermined duration to visit the selected potential lead during a non-peak time; store the plan…; receiving additional data… and updating… the plan based on the additional data; dynamically train the first machine learning model based on the received timing data, preference data, additional data, and updates to the plan; and using the trained first machine learning model, ranking future potential leads by generating modified scores via the algorithm. (See PEG 2019 and MPEP 2106.05). If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation covers an observation or evaluation, then it falls under the “mental process” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
In addition, dependent claims 4-12, 14-18, 20-22 further narrow the abstract idea and do not serve to confer subject matter eligibility to the claims since they are directed to abstract ideas.
As per Step 2A - Prong 2 of the subject matter eligibility analysis, this judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim recites additional elements: a system, processors, graphical user interface, user device, memory machine learning model. These additional element in both steps are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic device performing a generic computer function of receiving and storing data) such that these elements amount no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Examiner looks to Applicant’s specification in at least figures 1-3 and related text and [0039-0043] to understand that the invention may be implemented in a generic environment that “According to some embodiments, the user device 302 and web server 310, as depicted in FIG. 3 and described below, may have a similar structure and components that are similar to those described with respect to trip planning system 220 shown in FIG. 2. As shown, the trip planning system 220 may include a processor 210, an input/output (I/O) device 270, a memory 230 containing an operating system (OS) 240 and a program 250. In certain example implementations, the trip planning system 220 may be a single server or may be configured as a distributed computer system including multiple servers or computers that interoperate to perform one or more of the processes and functionalities associated with the disclosed embodiments. In some embodiments trip planning system 220 may be one or more servers from a serverless or scaling server system. In some embodiments, the trip planning system 220 may further include a peripheral interface, a transceiver, a mobile network interface in communication with the processor 210, a bus configured to facilitate communication between the various components of the trip planning system 220, and a power source configured to power one or more components of the trip planning system 220. A peripheral interface, for example, may include the hardware, firmware and/or software that enable(s) communication with various peripheral devices, such as media drives (e.g., magnetic disk, solid state, or optical disk drives), other processing devices, or any other input source used in connection with the disclosed technology. In some embodiments, a peripheral interface may include a serial port, a parallel port, a general-purpose input and output (GPIO) port, a game port, a universal serial bus (USB), a micro-USB port, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port, a video port, an audio port, a BluetoothTM port, a near-field communication(NFC) port, another like communication interface, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, a transceiver may be configured to communicate with compatible devices and ID tags when they are within a predetermined range. A transceiver may be compatible with one or more of: radio-frequency identification (RFID), near-field communication (NFC), BluetoothTM, low-energy BluetoothTM (BLE), WiFiTM, ZigBeeTM, ambient backscatter communications (ABC) protocols or similar technologies. A mobile network interface may provide access to a cellular network, the Internet, or another wide-area or local area network. In some embodiments, a mobile network interface may include hardware, firmware, and/or software that allow(s) the processor(s) 210 to communicate with other devices via wired or wireless networks, whether local or wide area, private or public, as known in the art. A power source may be configured to provide an appropriate alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) to power components.” Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they are mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer.
As per Step 2B of the subject matter eligibility analysis, the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The additional elements are mere instructions to apply the abstract idea on a computer. When considered individually, these claim elements only contribute generic recitations of technical elements to the claims. It is readily apparent, for example, that the claim is not directed to any specific improvements of these elements and the invention is not directed to a technical improvement. When the claims are considered individually and as a whole, the additional elements noted above, appear to merely apply the abstract concept to a technical environment in a very general sense – i.e. a generic computer receives information from another generic computer, processes the information and then sends information back. In addition, when taken as an ordered combination, the ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present as when the elements are taken individually. Their collective functions merely provide generic computer implementation. Therefore, when viewed as a whole, these additional claim elements do not provide meaningful limitations to transform the abstract idea into a practical application of the abstract idea or that amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. The most significant elements of the claims, that is the elements that really outline the inventive elements of the claims, are set forth in the elements identified as an abstract idea. The fact that the generic computing devices are facilitating the abstract concept is not enough to confer statutory subject matter eligibility. Next, when the “machine learning” is evaluated as an additional element, this feature is recited at a high level of generality and encompasses well-understood, routine, and conventional prior art activity. See, e.g., Balsiger et al., US 2012/0054642, noting in paragraph [0077] that “Machine learning is well known to those skilled in the art.” See also, Djordjevic et al. US 2013/0018651, noting in paragraph [0019] that “As known in the art, a generative model can be used in machine learning to model observed data directly.” See also, Bauer et al., US 2017/0147941, noting at paragraph [0002] that “Problems of understanding the behavior or decisions made by machine learning models have been recognized in the conventional art and various techniques have been developed to provide solutions.” Accordingly, the use of machine learning to generate a learning model does not add significantly more to the claims.
The dependent claims further refine the abstract idea and do not provide a meaningful linking to the judicial exception. Rather, these claims offer further descriptive limitations of elements found in the independent claims and addressed above – such as by describing the nature and content of the data that is received/sent. While these descriptive elements may provide further helpful context for the claimed invention these elements do not serve to confer subject matter eligibility to the invention since their individual and combined significance is still not significantly more than the abstract concepts at the core of the claimed invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-22 are allowable over prior art but have other pending rejections as indicated above.
The claims would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) set forth in this Office Action.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANCIS Z SANTIAGO-MERCED whose telephone number is (571)270-5562. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am-4:30pm EST.
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/FRANCIS Z. SANTIAGO MERCED/Examiner, Art Unit 3625
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