Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/509,193

LARGE-SCALE ALARM DEPLOYMENT METHODS, APPARATUSES, AND DEVICES

Non-Final OA §101
Filed
Nov 14, 2023
Examiner
KESSLER, GREGORY AARON
Art Unit
2197
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Alipay (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 10m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allow Rate
714 granted / 818 resolved
+32.3% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
20 currently pending
Career history
838
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
20.1%
-19.9% vs TC avg
§103
43.0%
+3.0% vs TC avg
§102
13.4%
-26.6% vs TC avg
§112
11.8%
-28.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 818 resolved cases

Office Action

§101
DETAILED ACTION Claims 1-20 are presented for examination. 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention recites a judicial exception, is directed to that judicial exception, an abstract idea, as it has not been integrated into practical application and the claims further do not recite significantly more than the judicial exception. Examiner has evaluated the claims under the framework provided in the 2019 Patent Eligibility Guidance published in the Federal Register 01/07/2019 and has provided such analysis below. Step 1: Claims 1 -8 are directed to methods and fall within the statutory category of processes. Claims 9-16 are directed to non-transitory computer-readable media and fall within the statutory category of articles of manufacture. Claims 17-20 are directed to systems and fall within the statutory category of machines . Therefore, “Are the claims to a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter?” Yes. In order to evaluate the Step 2A inquiry “Is the claim directed to a law of nature, a natural phenomenon or an abstract idea?” we must determine, at Step 2A Prong 1, whether the claim recites a law of nature, a natural phenomenon or an abstract idea and further whether the claim recites additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Step 2A Prong 1: Clai ms 1 , 9, and 17 : The limitations of “ determining whether a first indicator… is a non-long-tail indicator or a long-tail indicator,” “scheduling a first task… by using a first time interval,” “performing alarm calculation,” “determining whether a second indicator… is the non-long-tail indicator or the long-tail indicator,” “performing aggregation processing… to obtain aggregated data,” “scheduling a second task… by using a second time interval…,” and “performing alarm calculation…,” as drafted, is a process that, but for the recitation of generic computing components, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind. For example, a person can use available data to make an initial determination about indicator type, in response to that determination sche dule a task in an appropriate time interval, perform alarm calculations, make a similar determination on a second indicator type, combine data together, schedule a second task, and perform further alarm calculations . Therefore, Yes , claim s 1 and 8 recite judicial exceptions. The claims have been identified to recite judicial exceptions, Step 2A Prong 2 will evaluate whether the claims are directed to the judicial exception. Step 2A Prong 2: Claims 1 , 9, and 17 : The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim s recite the following additional elements – “ a first task ,” “a second task, ” “a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions executable by a computer system,” “one or more computers, “ and “one or more computer memory devices…,” which are merely recitations of generic computing components and functions (see MPEP § 2106.05(b)) which do not integrate a judicial exception into practical application. Therefore, “Do the claims recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application? No , these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application and they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim is directed to an abstract idea. After having evaluating the inquires set forth in Steps 2A Prong 1 and 2, it has been concluded that claim s 1 , 9, and 17 not only recite a judicial exception but that the claim is directed to the judicial exception as the judicial exception has not been integrated into practical application. Step 2B: Claims 1 , 9, and 17 : The claims do not include additional elements, alone or in combination, that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements amount to no more than generic computing components which do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. Therefore, “Do the claims recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception? No , these additional elements, alone or in combination, do not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Having concluded analysis within the provided framework, Claims 1 , 9, and 17 do not recite patent eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101 . C laims 2- 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as non-statutory for at least the reasons stated above. The claims are dependent on Claim 1, but do not add any feature or subject matter that would solve the non-statutory deficiencies of Claim 1. Specifically, each claim simply clarifies details of the various claimed elements or adds further details of the mental processes in claim 1. Claims 2-7 do not add any steps or elements, when considered both individually and as a combination, that would convert claim 1 into patent-eligible subject matter. Similarly, claims 10 -1 6 and 18-20 also do not add any steps or elements, when considered both individually and as a combination, that would convert their independent claim into patent-eligible subject matter. Therefore, c laims 1 - 20 do not recite patent eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT Gregory Kessler whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-7762 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT M-Th 8:30 - 5, Alternate Fridays 8:30-4 . 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Bradley Teets can be reached on FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-3338 . 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. /GREGORY A KESSLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2197
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 14, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §101 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12602247
HANDOFF OF EXECUTING APPLICATION BETWEEN LOCAL AND CLOUD-BASED COMPUTING DEVICES
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12602272
CIRCUITRY FOR ROUTING AND DELAY CORRECTION IN A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL UNIT SYSTEM
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12591460
PARTITIONING RESPONSIVE TO PROCESSORS HAVING A DISPARATE NUMBER OF CORES
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12579003
TECHNIQUES FOR BALANCING WORKLOADS WHEN PARALLELIZING MULTIPLY-ACCUMULATE COMPUTATIONS
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Patent 12566638
CONTAINER RESOURCE AUTOSCALING BY CONTROL PLANE
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 03, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+7.4%)
2y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 818 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month