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 .
Introduction
The following is a final Office action in response to Applicant’s submission filed on 3/2/2026. Currently claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-20 are pending and claims 1, 11, and 20 are independent. Claims 1, 11, 12, 20 have been amended from the previous claim set dated 11/5/2025. No claims have been added and claims 5, 15 are newly cancelled.
Response to Amendments
Applicant’s amendments are acknowledged and necessitated the new grounds of rejection in this Office Action
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 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea), specifically an abstract idea, without significantly more. With respect to claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-20, following the guidance contained within MPEP 2106, the inquiry for patent eligibility follows two steps: Step 1: Does the claimed invention fall within one of the four statutory categories of invention? Step 2A (Prong 1): Is the claim “directed to” an abstract idea? Step 2A (Prong 2): Is the claim integrated into a practical application? Step 2B: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to “significantly more” than the abstract idea?
In accordance with these steps, the Examiner finds the following:
Step 1: Claim 1 and its dependent claims (claims 2-4, 6-8, 10) are directed to a statutory category, namely a method. Claim 11 and its dependent claims (claims 12-14, 16-19) are directed to a statutory category, namely a system/machine. Claim 20 is directed to a statutory category, namely an article of manufacture.
Step 2A (Prong 1): Claims 1, 11, and 20, which are substantially similar claims to one another, are directed to the abstract idea of “Mental Processes”, or more particularly, “Concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion) (See MPEP 2106).” In this application that refers to using a computer system to manage and organize a person’s tasks. To clarify this further, the Applicant’s disclosed invention is a conceptual system meant to perform the same function a person does when making a list of things to do. The abstract elements of claims 1, 11, and 20, recite in part “Identify tasks…Determine priority of tasks…Identify requirements…Output task priority…Determine whether has applications…Change priority …”. Dependent claims 2-4, 6-8, 10, 12-14, 16-19 add to the abstract idea the following limitations which recite in part “Identify urgency…Use historical data…Identify device attributes…Identify application requirements…Identify task contents…Recommend another device…Base priorities on preferences…”. All of these additional limitations, however, only serve to further limit the abstract idea, and hence are nonetheless directed towards fundamentally the same abstract idea as independent claims 1, 11, and 20.
Step 2A (Prong 2): Independent claims 1, 11, and 20, which are substantially similar claims to one another, do not contain additional elements, either considered individually or in combination, that effectively integrate the exception into a practical application of the exception. These claims do include the limitation that recites in part “Task priority system…Information handling device…Processors…Memory…Computer readable storage…ML model…Virtual storage device…Information handling device…” which limits the claims to a networked/computer based environment, but this is insufficient with respect to integration into a practical application because it is merely applying the abstract idea to a general computer (See MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Additionally, dependent claims 2-4, 6-8, 10, 12-14, 16-19 do not include any additional elements to conduct a further Step 2A (Prong 2) analysis.
Step 2B: Independent claims 1, 11, and 20, which are substantially similar claims to one another, include additional elements, when considered both individually and as an ordered combination, which are insufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The additional elements of these claims recite in part “Task priority system…Information handling device…Processors…Memory…Computer readable storage… ML model…Virtual storage device…Information handling device…”. These items are not significantly more because these are merely the software and/or hardware components used to implement the abstract idea (manage and organize a person’s tasks) on a general purpose computer (See MPEP 2106.05(f)). This is exemplified in the Applicant’s specification in [0023] – “One or more processors 222 comprise internal arithmetic units, registers, cache memory, busses, I/O ports, etc., as is well known in the art.”
Additionally, dependent claims 2-4, 6-8, 10, 12-14, 16-19 do not include any additional elements to conduct a further 2B analysis.
Accordingly, whether taken individually or as an ordered combination claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-14, 16-20 are rejected under 35 USC § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception, an abstract idea, without significantly more.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/2/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive and/or are moot in light of the new rejections addressed above.
Regarding the arguments related to the 35 USC § 101 rejections, as addressed above according to the USPTO guidance for 35 USC § 101 rejections outlined within MPEP 2106, the Examiner maintains that the claimed invention is an abstract idea, without significantly more, and not integrated into a practical application.
The Applicant first argues as to how the claimed invention is further integrated into a practical application by addressing the prioritization aspect of the claimed invention. While this prioritization aspect might be an improvement to the process of performing tasks, and as such, have practical applicability, this practical applicability is not synonymous with USPTO guidance. Specifically, the claimed invention needs have significant additional elements as to where the claimed invention is effectively integrated into those additional elements. As identified above, the additional elements (Task priority system…Information handling device…Processors…Memory…Computer readable storage…ML model…Virtual storage device…Information handling device) merely limit the claimed invention to a network/computer environment and this is insufficient with respect to integration into a practical application (See MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Applicant next argues that the claims are patent eligible because they do not fall into one of the enumerated buckets for abstract ideas – specifically that the claims cannot be performed in the human mind. Examiner does not find this persuasive because the claims are interpreted as a method for prioritizing tasks for a person to do. This is a mental process which is performed regularly by people. The inclusion of a ML model does not fundamentally change what is being claimed because the ML model (in addition to the other computer elements) are merely the software/hardware used to implement the abstract idea on a computer.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael R Koester whose telephone number is (313)446-4837. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8:00AM-5:00 PM EST.
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/MICHAEL R KOESTER/Examiner, Art Unit 3624
/Jerry O'Connor/Supervisory Patent Examiner,Group Art Unit 3624