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 .
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, 7, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because they are drawn to data/information only. Specifically, claim 1 only recites “A structure comprising: a first parameterized cell (Pcell) label generated based on a customer label corresponding to a customer design on a customer network and which comprises a real- time transaction validation for a smart contract on a blockchain network.” While “a structure” usually connotates either a machine or a composition of matter, in this case it is “a first parameterized cell (Pcell) label … which comprises a real-time transaction validation for a smart contract on a blockchain network.” As shown in Figure 1A, 14, and described in paragraph [0016], this is merely data/information containing a list of parameter names and values. As such the structure of claim 1 is a list of parameter names and values which is data/information only, and does not fall into at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter.
Dependent claims 7 and 8 do not rectify this problem and are rejected for the same reasons.
Dependent claim 2 further comprises an intellectual property (IP) tool configured to compare the first Pcell label with the second Pcell label to perform the real-time transaction validation of the first Pcell label. This makes the structure of claims 1 and 2 a machine which is a one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter. Incorporating claim 2 into claim 1 would therefore overcome the rejection of claim 1 above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 7, and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beckett, US Patent No. 11,334,697 B1 in view of Lau et al., US PGPUB No. 2021/0342822 A1.
In reference to claim 1, Beckett teaches a first parameterized cell (Pcell) label (Fig. 3D, 314D, column 20, lines 48-54, label) generated based on a customer label (Fig. 3D, 302D, column 19, lines 42-56, set of parameters) corresponding to a customer design (Column 20, line 1, electronic design) on a customer network (Column 29, lines 30-31, computer networks).
Beckett does not teach wherein the label comprises a real-time transaction validation for a smart contract on a blockchain network. Lau teaches a real-time transaction validation for a smart contract on a blockchain network for sensitive data (Paragraph [0055]). Accordingly, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to incorporate the teachings of Lau for real-time transaction validation for a smart contract on a blockchain network for sensitive data into the first parameterized cell (Pcell) label of Beckett because the label would be processed and accessible in such a manner that it is secure and is not needed to be stored in more than one location.
In reference to claim 7, the timing of the real-time transaction validation has no bearing of the structure of the first parameterized cell (Pcell) label and therefore carries no patentable weight. The first parameterized cell (Pcell) label of Beckett in view of Lau could be validated at any time including to prior to a final graphic design system (GDS) is provide to a client.
In reference to claim 8, Beckett teaches wherein the customer label comprises a list of parameter names and values uniquely defining a design instance (Column 19, line 57-column 20, line 13).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 9, and 10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Prior art of record does not teach or clearly suggest a structure comprising a first parameterized cell (Pcell) label generated based on a customer label corresponding to a customer design on a customer network and which comprises a real-time transaction validation for a smart contract on a blockchain network; a second Pcell label generated based on the customer design on the customer network; and an intellectual property (IP) tool configured to compare the first Pcell label with the second Pcell label to perform the real-time transaction validation of the first Pcell label.
Conclusion
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/B.B/Examiner, Art Unit 2851
/JACK CHIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2851