Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/212,491

DECOUPLED OPTIMIZATION OF MODELS DURING PRETRAINING

Non-Final OA §101
Filed
Jun 21, 2023
Examiner
DESROSIERS, EVANS
Art Unit
2491
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 2m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allow Rate
853 granted / 1031 resolved
+24.7% vs TC avg
Strong +23% interview lift
Without
With
+23.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 2m
Avg Prosecution
22 currently pending
Career history
1053
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
10.0%
-30.0% vs TC avg
§103
51.4%
+11.4% vs TC avg
§102
14.7%
-25.3% vs TC avg
§112
8.4%
-31.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1031 resolved cases

Office Action

§101
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 This communication is in response to the application filed on 06/21/2023 in which Claims 1-20 are presented for examination. Drawings The applicant’s drawings submitted on 06/21/2023 are acceptable for examination purposes. 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 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Claim 20 recites a “computer readable medium…” However, the usage of the phrase “computer readable medium” is broad enough to include both “non-transitory" and “transitory” (moving electrons, etc) media. The specification does not clearly limit the utilization of a non-transitory computer readable medium and, thus does not constitute functional descriptive material. Therefore, when the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter. See In re Nuijten, 500 F. 3d 1346, 1356-57 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (transitory embodiments are not directed to statutory subject matter). The Examiner suggests that the Applicant replace the term “computer-readable medium” with the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” to the medium as recited in the claim(s) in order to properly render the claim(s) in statutory form in view of their broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the originally filed specification. Applicant is suggested to review page 4 of the and Interim Examination Instructions for Evaluating Subject Matter Eligibility Under 35 U.S.C. § 101, Aug. 24, 2009, under section II. Subsection (c), which describes a “non-transitory computer readable medium” being patent-eligible subject matter. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1-19 are allowable Raisons for Allowable Subject Matter The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record (KIM US Patent application 20240169249 A1 which describes “ generating a first sequence for training a first model, wherein the first sequence includes a masked element related to an exercise for predicting the score of the user; inputting the first sequence to the first model to train the first model; and inputting a second sequence to a second model predicted by the first model on the basis of the first sequence to train the second model, wherein the second model is trained through comparison between the first sequence and a third sequence predicted through the second model on the basis of the second sequence” and Zhou Publication 20210019564 A1 that discloses “ matching model is established based on a product of the first machine learning model and a transpose of the second machine learning model; optimizing the first machine learning model and the second machine learning model by cross entropy, to obtain a first loss function; obtaining a second loss function” Both prior arts along or in combination do not teach, or suggest the claimed limitations of (in combination with all other features in the claim), “obtaining first sequences of first values; masking one or more of the first values in the first sequences to obtain masked first sequences having one or more of the first values and one or more masked values; using a first machine learning model, determining first predictions of the one or more masked values in the masked first sequences; replacing the one or more masked values with the first predictions to obtain second sequences of second values; using a second machine learning model, determining second predictions of whether the second values were present in the first sequences or replaced by different values predicted by the first machine learning model; and performing separate optimization of the first machine learning model and the second machine learning model, the first machine learning model being optimized based at least on the first predictions and the second machine learning model being optimized based at least on the second predictions.”, as claimed in claim 1, in conjunction with remaining claims provisions. Claims 2-12, 14-19 are allowable over the prior art made of record, because they are recited the claimed that contain similar limitations as claims 1 and 13. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EVANS DESROSIERS whose telephone number is (571)270-5438. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 8:00 am - 5:30 pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William Korzuch can be reached at (571)272-7589. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /EVANS DESROSIERS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2491
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 21, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 03, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §101 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+23.0%)
3y 2m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1031 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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