DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 3/29/2024. Claim(s) 1-15 is/are pending and are examined.
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 .
Priority/Benefit
Applicant’s priority claim is hereby acknowledged of EP 23166066.3 03/31/2023, which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement PTO-1449
The Information Disclosure Statement(s) submitted by applicant on 7/19/2024 has/have been considered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR § 1.97. Form PTO-1449 signed and attached hereto.
Examiner’s Note – Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 are allowable. Claims 4-7 overcome the prior art and would otherwise be allowable if made to overcome the informalities listed below. Claims 11-15 also must overcome the informalities below. Claims 8-15 must overcome the 35 USC 101 rejection below.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 4-7 and 11-15 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:Claim 4-7 and 11-15:
Claim 4-7, and 11-15 objected to under 37 CFR 1.75(c) as being in improper form because a multiple dependent claim dependent upon other multiple dependents. See MPEP § 608.01(n). Correction is required.
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(s) 8-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. As per independent claim 8, “A secured model implemented by a neural network, the secured model comprising” is recited. Similarly, claim 15 recites “A system arranged to carry out the method of any one of claims 1 to 7”. Both claims lack any structure at all and it appears that one of ordinary skill in the art could interpret the claims as software per se. Such language points to software per se when there is no language in the claim or specification by which the claim elements can be made functional and statutory. Therefore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would interpret the limitations to mean merely computer executable functions, rendering the claimed model and system comprising merely executable functions, which is non-statutory. As such, claim(s) 8 and 15 is/are drawn to non-statutory subject matter. See MPEP § 2106.01.
Dependent claim(s) 9-14 does/do not remedy the deficiencies of parent claims and is/are therefore also directed to the non-statutory subject matter.
Conclusion
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Stephen T Gundry whose telephone number is (571) 270-0507. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM (EST).
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/STEPHEN T GUNDRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2435