DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (specifically, an abstract idea) without significantly more.
As per the 2019 Patent Eligibility Guidance, claim(s) 1-20 are eligible as per the Step 1 (statutory) analysis.
However, as per the Step 2A Prong One (abstract idea, law of nature or natural phenomenon) analysis, the claimed invention in claim(s) 1-20 is directed to a judicial exception (specifically, an abstract idea); this is because independent claims 1, 11 and 20 recite receiving data and making a trained model using the received data, thereby manipulating the received data, all of which fall under a sub-category of abstract ideas, namely mental processes.
Further, claims 2 and 12 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
Further, claims 3 and 13 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
Further, claims 4 and 14 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
Further, claims 5 and 15 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
Further, claims 6 and 16 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
Further, claims 7 and 17 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
Further, claims 8 and 18 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
Further, claims 10 and 19 receive further details regarding training the model, and thus is still restricted to mental processes.
As per the Step 2A Prong Two (practical application) analysis, this judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because claim(s) 1-20 simply recite data gathering and manipulation which are not incorporated into any such practical application which applies the gathered and manipulated data, i.e. each of claim 1-20 simply recite training a model.
As per the Step 2B (significantly more) analysis, claim(s) 1-20 does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the claims only recite functional units where the functions (of gather and manipulating data) are related to one another, without the recitation of any non-generic hardware that incorporates such data gathering and manipulation.
It is noted that any citations to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Saad M. Kabir whose telephone number is 571-270-0608 (direct fax number is 571-270-9933). The examiner can normally be reached on Mondays to Fridays 9am to 5pm EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mohammad Ali can be reached on 571-272-4105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAAD M KABIR/
Examiner, Art Unit 2119
/MOHAMMAD ALI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2119
Prosecution Insights