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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/10/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The 112 rejections are withdrawn due to amendments, thank you.
Applicant argues,
The analysis provided for Example 40, Claim 1, of the Subject Matter Eligibility Examples (Analysis), states that "The claim recites the combination of additional elements of collecting at least one of network delay, packet loss, or jitter relating to the network traffic passing through the network appliance, and collecting additional Netflow protocol data relating to the network traffic when the collected network delay, packet loss, or jitter is greater than the predefined threshold."
Similarly, amended claim 1 recites "one or more processors executing iterations of a recursive graph traversal algorithm traversing one or more branches of a graph using memory access operations to evaluate one or more nodes of a plurality of nodes corresponding to a deep learning model for inclusion in one or more lists of one or more prunable parent nodes of one or more corresponding nodes of the graph," and "incorporating... the one or more prunable parent nodes of the first node that were determined during the first iteration into a list... wherein the traversing of the one or more branches is bypassed for the second iteration based at least on the one or more processors determining, using stored data corresponding to the first iteration, that the first iteration has occurred."
Remarks 13.
The difference is that Example 40 collects more data after a determination. Applicant’s claim 1 includes a node in a list when it determines to include a node into a list. Applicant’s claims don’t collect more data, or perform some other activity outside of the abstract idea of pruning a learning model. Therefore, the claims are not integrated into a practical application.
Applicant argues,
Similarly, amended claim 1 as a whole is directed to a particular improvement in generating pruning information for pruning deep learning models….amended claim 1 recites that "the traversing of the one or more branches is bypassed for the second iteration based at least on the one or more processors determining, using stored data corresponding to the first iteration, that the first iteration has occurred," thereby limiting collection of one or more additional prunable parent nodes and the corresponding "memory access operations to evaluate one or more nodes," which avoids excess memory traffic volume on the memory system and hindrance of memory and processing performance.
Finally, the Analysis notes that the "collected data can then be used to analyze the cause of the abnormal condition," which "provides a specific improvement over prior systems, resulting in improved network monitoring. The claim as a whole integrates the mental process into a practical application.”
Remarks 14.
MPEP 2106.05(f) states, “instruction to apply the abstract idea using a generic computer do not render an abstract idea eligible.” The claim is not an improvement to computers or a technological field because the alleged improvement is directed towards the abstract idea of pruning. Executing the algorithm on a computer is a “mere instruction to apply an exception”, even where the claimed algorithm is an alleged improvement over other algorithms.
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 an abstract idea of a mental concept and mathematical relationship without significantly more. The claims recite determining two lists related to nodes, generating pruning information from the lists and then pruning a learning model based on the pruning information. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because additional limitations directed to circuits, a computer and deploying the pruned model to a device merely link the abstract idea to computers. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional limitations are all directed to generic computer parts.
Conclusion
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/AUSTIN HICKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2142
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