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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. This action is in response to the application filed 1/18/2023.
2. Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending in the application.
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.
3. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because they are directed to non-statutory subject matter.
As to claim 1:
Step 1:
Claim 1 is directed to a computer-implemented method comprising steps, and is therefore directed to a process, which is one of the four statutory categories.
Step 2A, Prong One:
Claim 1 recites the limitations:
…accessing a data ecosystem for an analytical chemistry system;
receiving, at an event bridge in the data ecosystem, an event from an application connected to the data ecosystem.
These limitations can be performed in the human mind through observation, evaluation, judgement and opinion, with the aid of pen and paper, and are therefore reciting a mental process.
Accordingly, claim 1 recites a judicial exception (i.e., an abstract idea).
Step 2A, Prong Two:
The additional elements recited in claim 1 include:
generating a notification of the event; and
transmitting the notification across a plurality of different delivery channels to a user who has subscribed to receive a notification of the event.
These limitations recited is mere instructions to implement the limitations which can be performed in the human mind, i.e., the judicial exception, which is not indicative of integration into a practical application. Furthermore, these limitations recited amounts to insignificant extra solution activity of necessary data outputting, as it is merely outputting the result of the judicial exception, which is not indicative of integration into a practical application.
Step 2B:
Regarding the additional elements, they are reciting generic computing components perform the steps which can be performed in the human mind, which is mere instructions to apply the exception. The courts have found adding mere instructions to apply the exception is not enough to amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exception. These limitations are insignificant extra-solution activities which amount to necessary data outputting.
Further, the additional element: transmitting the notification … to a user who has subscribed to receive a notification…, is a well-understood, routine, and conventional activity. Adding insignificant extra-solution activity and well-understood, routine and conventional activity is not enough to amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exception. The combination of these additional elements amounts to a system comprising steps which can be performed mentally implemented by generic computing components, and comprising a step of insignificant extra-solution and well-understood, routine and conventional activity. Therefore, the additional elements, when considered individually and in combination, fail to add an inventive concept to the claim.
Claim 1 as a whole does not amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exceptions and the claim is not eligible.
As to claim 2, it is a dependent claim of claim 1, and therefore inherits the same judicial exception recited in claim 1. Further, claim 2 recites: the event is one or more of: a new audit log entry, a completion of an asynchronous operation, an error or a warning associated with the asynchronous operation, an acquisition event, a file upload, a file conversion, or a workflow-related operation, which can be performed in the human mind through observation, evaluation, judgement and opinion, with the aid of pen and paper, and are therefore reciting a mental process. Accordingly, for the same reasons presented with respect to claim 1, the additional element is not indicative of integration into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exceptions. Thus, claim 2 is not eligible.
As to claim 3, it is a dependent claim of claim 1, and therefore inherits the same judicial exception recited in claim 1. Claim 3 recites: the plurality of different channels comprise at least two of: a simple messaging service channel, an email channel, a web browser channel, and an application programming interface (API) channel, which can be performed in the human mind through observation, evaluation, judgement and opinion, with the aid of pen and paper, and are therefore reciting a mental process. Accordingly, for the same reasons presented with respect to claim 1, the additional element is not indicative of integration into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exceptions. Thus, claim 3 is not eligible.
As to claim 4, it is a dependent claim of claim 1, and therefore inherits the same judicial exception recited in claim 1. Further, claim 4 recites: the application is a first application and the event is received at a time that a second application different from the first application is active, which can be performed in the human mind through observation, evaluation, judgement and opinion, with the aid of pen and paper, and are therefore reciting a mental process. Accordingly, for the same reasons presented with respect to claim 1, the additional element is not indicative of integration into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exceptions. Thus, claim 4 is not eligible.
As to claim 5, it is a dependent claim of claim 1, and therefore inherits the same judicial exception recited in claim 1. Further, claim 5 recites: a notification service retrieves a copy of the event from a notifications queue in communication with the event bridge, transforms the event into the notification, and transmits the notification on the plurality of channels, which can be performed in the human mind through observation, evaluation, judgement and opinion, with the aid of pen and paper, and are therefore reciting a mental process. Accordingly, for the same reasons presented with respect to claim 1, the additional element is not indicative of integration into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exceptions. Thus, claim 5 is not eligible.
As to claim 6, it is a dependent claim of claims 1 and 5, and therefore inherits the same judicial exception recited in those claims. Claim 6 recites: the event bridge is in communication with one or more of: a device service configured to generate events describing a state of a laboratory analytical instrument in the analytical chemistry system; a laboratory monitoring service configured to generate events in response to a creation, editing, or removal of a subscription in the data ecosystem; or a compliance service configured to generate events in response to a change in an assignment of a user of the data ecosystem to a team, or the assignment of one or more rights to the team, which can be performed in the human mind through observation, evaluation, judgement and opinion, with the aid of pen and paper, and are therefore reciting a mental process. Accordingly, for the same reasons presented with respect to claims 1 and 5, the additional element is not indicative of integration into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exceptions. Thus, claim 6 is not eligible.
As to claim 7, it is a dependent claim of claim 1, and therefore inherits the same judicial exception recited in claim 1. Further, claim 7 recites: adding an entry corresponding to the event to an audit log maintained by the data ecosystem, which can be performed in the human mind through observation, evaluation, judgement and opinion, with the aid of pen and paper, and are therefore reciting a mental process. Accordingly, for the same reasons presented with respect to claim 1, the additional element is not indicative of integration into a practical application, nor do they amount to significantly more than the recited judicial exceptions. Thus, claim 7 is not eligible.
As to claims 8-14, they recite substantially the same limitations as those recited in claims 1-7, respectively. Thus, for the same reasons presented with respect to claims 1-7, claims 8-14 are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more and are not eligible.
As to claims 15-20, they recite substantially the same limitations as those recited in claims 1-6, respectively. Thus, for the same reasons presented with respect to claims 1-6, claims 15-20 are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more and are not eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
4. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cohn U.S Publication No. 2014/0032694.
As to claim 1, Cohn teaches a computer-implemented method comprising:
accessing a data ecosystem (…providing notification to users of the data system regarding the occurrence of events within the system…, paragraph 0024 pages 3-4) for an analytical chemistry system (…The instruments 20a-20n may be scientific instruments such as liquid chromatography systems, supercritical fluid chromatography systems, capillary electrophoresis, gas chromatography systems, mass spectrometers, and other instrumentation types…, paragraph 0021 page 3);
receiving, at an event bridge in the data ecosystem, an event from an application connected to the data ecosystem (…The event notification techniques herein within the data system may be used in connection with notification related to the instruments integrated for use with the data system as well as security and administration of the computerized systems(s) of the data system (e.g., client and/or server systems and software applications thereon such as a data system described below to facilitate instrument communication, diagnostics, control, and data acquisition that may occur in connection with those instruments)…, paragraph 0023 page 3);
generating a notification of the event (…providing notification to users of the data system regarding the occurrence of events within the system…, paragraph 0024 pages 3-4); and
transmitting the notification across a plurality of different delivery channels (…The step of providing notification may include providing a notification icon to the user when logged into the data system, said notification icon visually indicating a highest severity level associated with an unread event notification message sent to the user. The notification icon may be associated with any of an audio indicator distinguishing said highest severity level from other severity levels of events and a notification message indicating a total number of read and unread messages sent to the user…, paragraph 0007 pages 1-2; …The user may also elect to have event notifications sent to an external email application by selecting the appropriate boxes in column 516 email. In the 30 example 500, the user has selected all entries of column 514 and subscribes to receive in the user's inbox of the data system notifications for all severity levels of all categories. The user has not selected to have such notifications sent to an external email account and system (e.g., no boxes in column 516 are checked). However, as a variation to the foregoing, in addition to having all entries in column 514 checked, the user may also select 504 to have the event notifications of the processing and reporting category having the alert severity level also sent to an external email system and account for the user. The particular email account may be specified using another interface (not illustrated). Element 510 illustrates the event notification messages in the Acquisition category. In one embodiment, the system may provide the user with subscription options to send event notifications only to the inbox of the data system, only to the external email account, or both the external email account and inbox of the data system…, paragraphs 0040-0041 pages 6-7) to a user who has subscribed to receive a notification of the event (…use of subscription information in connection with the event log…, paragraph 0043 page 7).
As to claim 2, Cohn further teaches the event is one or more of: a new audit log entry, a completion of an asynchronous operation, an error or a warning associated with the asynchronous operation, an acquisition event, a file upload, a file conversion, or a workflow-related operation (…Each of the plurality of event occurrences may correspond to an action occurring in connection with any of: one of the instruments controlled by the data system, data managed by the data system, security of the data system, an account of the data system, administration of the data system, creation or modification of a method controlling operating parameters of one of the instruments, creation or modification of a method that performs subsequent analysis of data 30 acquired using one of the instruments, and creation or modification of a calibration curve. The method may also include recording each of the plurality of event occurrences in an event log, said event log including an entry for each of said plurality of event occurrences. The event notification subscription criteria may include one or more categories of event notification messages to which said user is subscribing, and, for each of said one or more categories, may identify one or more of said severity levels. The severity levels may be predefined severity levels including an alert level, a warning level and an information level. The alert level may indicate the highest of the predefined severity levels and the information level may indicate the lowest of the predefined severity levels…, paragraph 0007 pages 1-2).
As to claim 3, Cohn further teaches the plurality of different channels comprise at least two of: a simple messaging service channel, an email channel, a web browser channel, and an application programming interface (API) channel (…providing an event browser to view events in said event log. The event browser may display the events in the event log in accordance with sorting criteria and filtering criteria..., paragraph 0007 pages 1-2; …The user may also elect to have event notifications sent to an external email application by selecting the appropriate boxes in column 516 email. In the 30 example 500, the user has selected all entries of column 514 and subscribes to receive in the user's inbox of the data system notifications for all severity levels of all categories. The user has not selected to have such notifications sent to an external email account and system (e.g., no boxes in column 516 are checked). However, as a variation to the foregoing, in addition to having all entries in column 514 checked, the user may also select 504 to have the event notifications of the processing and reporting category having the alert severity level also sent to an external email system and account for the user. The particular email account may be specified using another interface (not illustrated). Element 510 illustrates the event notification messages in the Acquisition category. In one embodiment, the system may provide the user with subscription options to send event notifications only to the inbox of the data system, only to the external email account, or both the external email account and inbox of the data system…, paragraphs 0040-0041 pages 6-7).
As to claim 4, Cohn further teaches the application is a first application and the event is received at a time that a second application different from the first application is active (…The event notification techniques herein within the data system may be used in connection with notification related to the instruments integrated for use with the data system as well as security and administration of the computerized systems(s) of the data system (e.g., client and/or server systems and software applications thereon such as a data system described below to facilitate instrument communication, diagnostics, control, and data acquisition that may occur in connection with those instruments)…, paragraph 0023 page 3).
As to claim 5, Cohn further teaches a notification service retrieves a copy of the event from a notifications queue in communication with the event bridge, transforms the event into the notification, and transmits the notification on the plurality of channels (…recording each of the plurality of event occurrences in an event log, said event log including an entry for each of said plurality of event occurrences. The event notification subscription criteria may include one or more categories of event notification messages to which said user is subscribing, and, for each of said one or more categories, may identify one or more of said severity levels. The severity levels may be predefined severity levels including an alert level, a warning level and an information level. The alert level may indicate the highest of the predefined severity levels and the information level may indicate the lowest of the predefined severity levels. The event notification subscription criteria may identify first criteria in connection with event notifications sent to a user internally within the data system and second criteria in connection with event notifications sent to an electronic mail account and system external to the data system…, paragraph 0007 pages 1-2).
As to claim 6, Cohn further teaches the event bridge is in communication with one or more of:
a device service configured to generate events describing a state of a laboratory analytical instrument in the analytical chemistry system (…acquisition events may include notifications regarding state of the instrument (e.g., when the instrument starts, has a component failure, is low on solvent, and the like)…, paragraph 0034 page 5);
a laboratory monitoring service configured to generate events in response to a creation, editing, or removal of a subscription in the data ecosystem; or
a compliance service configured to generate events in response to a change in an assignment of a user of the data ecosystem to a team, or the assignment of one or more rights to the team (…Each of the plurality of event occurrences may correspond to an action occurring in connection with any of: one of the instruments controlled by the data system, data managed by the data system, security of the data system, an account of the data system, administration of the data system, creation or modification of a method controlling operating parameters of one of the instruments, creation or modification of a method that performs subsequent analysis of data 30 acquired using one of the instruments, and creation or modification of a calibration curve. The method may also include recording each of the plurality of event occurrences in an event log, said event log including an entry for each of said plurality of event occurrences. The event notification subscription criteria may include one or more categories of event notification messages to which said user is subscribing, and, for each of said one or more categories, may identify one or more of said severity levels. The severity levels may be predefined severity levels including an alert level, a warning level and an information level. The alert level may indicate the highest of the predefined severity levels and the information level may indicate the lowest of the predefined severity levels…, paragraph 0007 pages 1-2).
As to claim 7, Cohn further teaches adding an entry corresponding to the event to an audit log maintained by the data ecosystem (…recording each of the plurality of event occurrences in an event log, said event log including an entry for each of said plurality of event occurrences. The event notification subscription criteria may include one or more categories of event notification messages to which said user is subscribing, and, for each of said one or more categories, may identify one or more of said severity levels. The severity levels may be predefined severity levels including an alert level, a warning level and an information level. The alert level may indicate the highest of the predefined severity levels and the information level may indicate the lowest of the predefined severity levels. The event notification subscription criteria may identify first criteria in connection with event notifications sent to a user internally within the data system and second criteria in connection with event notifications sent to an electronic mail account and system external to the data system…, paragraph 0007 pages 1-2).
As to claims 8-14, note the discussions of claims 1-7 above, respectively.
As to claims 15-20, note the discussions of claims 1-6 above, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S Patent No. 10,897,645 discloses navigating through activity information using a media guidance application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Andy Ho whose telephone number is (571) 272-3762. A voice mail service is also available for this number. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Kevin Young can be reached on (571) 270-3180.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2100.
Any response to this action should be mailed to:
Commissioner for Patents
P.O Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Or fax to:
AFTER-FINAL faxes must be signed and sent to (571) 273 - 8300.
OFFICAL faxes must be signed and sent to (571) 273 - 8300.
NON OFFICAL faxes should not be signed, please send to (571) 273 – 3762
/Andy Ho/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2194