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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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/14/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea and does not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application or amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Regarding claim 1
Step 1: The claim recites a method; therefore, it falls into the statutory category of processes.
Step 2A Prong 1: The claim recites multiple mental processes, as explained below. The claim recites, inter alia:
“…providing, by a serving party to each data party of a plurality of data parties, global model parameters of a service model and a mapping relationship between the data party and N parameter groups obtained by dividing the global model parameters; updating, by each data party, a local service model by using the global model parameters to obtain an updated local service model; further updating, by each data party, the updated local service model based on local service data to obtain a new local service model; and uploading, by each data party to the serving party, model parameters in a parameter group corresponding to the data party; and fusing, by the serving party for each parameter group, the model parameters to update the global model parameters.”
This limitation is directed to the abstract idea of a mental process (concepts performed in the human mind, including observation and evaluation [see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) III. C.]).
Step 2A Prong 2: This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical. In particular, the claim only recites additional elements that are mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. See MPEP 2106.05(f). The additional element of “A computer-implemented method for jointly updating a service model, wherein a plurality of data parties jointly train the service model based on privacy protection with assistance of a serving party, and the computer-implemented method comprises:”, as drafted, is reciting generic computer components. The generic computer components in these steps are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic computer component performing a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, this additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim is directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B: The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into practical application, the additional element of using generic computer components to perform the abstract idea amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. Thus, the claim is not patent eligible.
Regarding claim 2
Step 1: The claim recites a method; therefore, it falls into the statutory category of processes.
Step 2A Prong 1:
“wherein the further updating, by each data party, the updated local service model based on local service data to obtain a new local service model comprises: detecting, by each data party, a current phase transition indicator by using the local service data after updating the local service model by using the global model parameters; entering, by a data party whose phase transition indicator satisfies a full update stop condition, a local update phase; and updating, by the data party entering the local update phase, model parameters in a parameter group corresponding to the data party.”
This limitation is directed to the abstract idea of a mental process (concepts performed in the human mind, including observation and evaluation [see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) III. C.]).
Thus, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application [see MPEP 2106.05(d) I.], failing Step 2A Prong 2. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under step 2B.
Regarding claim 3
Step 1: The claim recites a method; therefore, it falls into the statutory category of processes.
Step 2A Prong 1:
“wherein the phase transition indicator is model performance of the updated local service model, and the stop condition is that the model performance satisfies a predetermined value.”
This limitation is directed to the abstract idea of a mental process (concepts performed in the human mind, including observation and evaluation [see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) III. C.]).
Thus, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application [see MPEP 2106.05(d) I.], failing Step 2A Prong 2. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under step 2B.
Regarding claim 4
Step 1: The claim recites a method; therefore, it falls into the statutory category of processes.
Step 2A Prong 1: The claim recites multiple mental processes, as explained below. The claim recites, inter alia:
“wherein the mapping relationship is determined by operations comprising: dividing the plurality of data parties into M groups; and determining mapping relationships between the M groups of data parties and the N parameter groups, wherein a single group of data parties corresponds to at least one parameter group, and a single parameter group corresponds to at least one group of data parties.”
This limitation is directed to the abstract idea of a mental process (concepts performed in the human mind, including observation and evaluation [see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) III. C.]).
Thus, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application [see MPEP 2106.05(d) I.], failing Step 2A Prong 2. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under step 2B.
Regarding claim 5
Step 1: The claim recites a method; therefore, it falls into the statutory category of processes.
Step 2A Prong 1: The claim recites multiple mental processes, as explained below. The claim recites, inter alia:
“wherein the dividing the plurality of data parties into M groups comprises: dividing the plurality of data parties into M groups such that quantities of service data held by the groups of data parties are consistent.”
This limitation is directed to the abstract idea of a mental process (concepts performed in the human mind, including observation and evaluation [see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) III. C.]).
Thus, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application [see MPEP 2106.05(d) I.], failing Step 2A Prong 2. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under step 2B.
Regarding claim 6
Step 1: The claim recites a method; therefore, it falls into the statutory category of processes.
Step 2A Prong 1: The claim recites multiple mental processes, as explained below. The claim recites, inter alia:
“wherein the dividing the plurality of data parties into M groups comprises: dividing the plurality of data parties into M groups such that a quantity of service data held by a single data party is positively correlated with a quantity of model parameters comprised in a corresponding parameter group.”
This limitation is directed to the abstract idea of a mental process (concepts performed in the human mind, including observation and evaluation [see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) III. C.]).
Thus, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application [see MPEP 2106.05(d) I.], failing Step 2A Prong 2. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under step 2B.
Regarding claim 7
Step 1: The claim recites a method; therefore, it falls into the statutory category of processes.
Step 2A Prong 1: The claim recites multiple mental processes, as explained below. The claim recites, inter alia:
“wherein the fusing, by the serving party for each parameter group, the model parameters to update the global model parameters comprises: fusing, by the serving party for each parameter group, the model parameters to update the global model parameters in at least one of the following manners: performing weighted averaging, taking a minimum value, or taking a median.”
This limitation is directed to the abstract idea of a mental process (concepts performed in the human mind, including observation and evaluation [see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) III. C.]).
Thus, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application [see MPEP 2106.05(d) I.], failing Step 2A Prong 2. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception under step 2B.
Regarding claims 8-12 and 13-17
Claims 8-12 recites analogous limitations to claims 1-7 and therefore is rejected on the same ground as claims 1-7.
Conclusion
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/VAN C MANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2126
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