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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/1/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/1/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant’s amendment does not change the scope of the claims because it does not change how “the values” are collected or how they are analyzed. Stating that the values “represent” a RAN KPI for active uplink users in a cellular radio system does not change the actual content of the values. The fact that the “values” my represent a number of users does not change the fact that the technical nature of the values is not defined and the technical nature of the results and how they “enable deployment modifications” is not defined.
After reviewing amendments in view the prior art, the applicant’s determining steps (iii) and (iv) where not suggested by the analysis shown in U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2012/0053995 by D’Albis and U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2017/0208121 by Granshaw. See 4/11/2025 Final Rejection. The Examiner notes that the applicant’s claims do not do anything with these determinations but they are still required to be performed as part of the claims.
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 1-10 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) mathematical concepts including mathematical calculations that perform statistical analysis of generic data sets. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the applicant has not disclosed any specific functions that relate to any particular type of data and the statistical analysis only identifies statistical anomalies that are completely independent of the content of the data itself. Page 5, lines 15-18 of the disclosure make it clear that the scope of the invention is not tied to any particular cellular radio technology which is evident from page 6, lines 4-18. Page 6, lines 23-25 reference how the invention applies to “future radio access technologies”. The data that is analyzed it not described in any technical manner other than by stating the values may be indicative of KPI, such as active uplink users. There is no description of what “indicative of” actually means and those of ordinary skill recognize that KPIs could cover any data set related to the operation of any type of cellular radio network. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because although the claims “obtain values” and “provide a result” this is only disclosed as obtaining generic values from a generic cellular device and as a presentation of the statistical analysis but they do not provide a particular solution for altering the actual state of any of the myriad types of networks disclosed. Page 6, line 26-page 7, line 10 describe that any architecture can be used to implement the statistical analysis of the invention and Figure 8 and its corresponding disclosure shown that any generic computer can be used. The final wherein clause of the claim does not provide a practical application based on the result because the applicant does not define “a deployment modification” or how one would be executed. The disclosure merely states that the generic results disclosed by the applicant could be used for determining a deployment modification but any technology describing what that would mean is absent from and beyond the scope of the applicant’s original disclosure. Because all of the claims are directed towards statistical analysis and not any particular computing technology and do not provide a specific result to improve the function of any particular technology, the claims are viewed to cover the judicial exception of an abstract idea without significantly more.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS B BLAIR whose telephone number is (571)272-3893. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/DOUGLAS B BLAIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454