DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the original application filed on 11/05/2024. Claims 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, 18, and 35 were amended, claims 19-34 and 36-40 were cancelled, and claim 41 was newly added in the preliminary amendments filed on 11/05/2024. Claims 1-18, 35, and 41 are pending.
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 .
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 1-18, 35, and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to a judicial exception without significantly more.
Regarding claims 1-18, 35, and 41, the claims are determined to be directed to an abstract idea of calculating data based upon consideration of all of the relevant factors with respect to the claim as a whole. The claims disclose using information and algorithm for calculating data but do not recite any steps beyond the calculating of data. Without steps describing further use of the calculated data or specific regarding the whole process, the claims only amount to the abstract idea of calculating data. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because simply utilizing variety of information for data for calculation without reciting specifics does not constitute adding steps or features beyond the abstract idea of calculating data. The involvement of machine with the steps is merely nominally, insignificantly, or tangentially related to the performance of the steps. Without reciting additional elements beyond the abstract idea of calculating data, the claims do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6, 10, 11, 15, 18, and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (US 2022/0083374 A1, hereinafter “Li”).
Regarding claim 1 (and similarly claims 11 and 35), Li discloses:
A method for communication, applied to a first node, the method comprising:
sending first information to a first platform, wherein the first information is used for joint calculation by the first node and at least one second node, or used for calculation by the at least one second node, and the first information comprises relevant information required by the calculation (sending computation request including target data providing party and computation engine required for computation task, Li: [0038]-[0041]).
Regarding claim 6, Li teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Li further discloses:
wherein the first information comprises at least one of: algorithm information required by the calculation; an identifier (ID) of the at least one second node; or ID of the first node (target data providing party and computation engine required for computation task, Li: [0039]-[0041]).
Regarding claim 10, Li teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Li further discloses:
accessing to the first platform (accessing task processing platform, Li: [0039]-[0041]).
Regarding claims 15 and 18, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claims 6 and 10. Therefore, claims 15 and 18 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claims 6 and 10 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: Cheng et al. (US 2023/0078061 A1: Model Training Method and Apparatus for Federated Learning, Device, and Storage Medium) and Florissi et al. (US 2019/0188046 A1: Blockchain Integration for Scalable Distributed Computations).
In the case of amendments, applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIL H. LEE whose telephone number is 571-272-3408. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 9am-6pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian J. Gillis can be reached on 571-272-7952. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GIL H. LEE/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446
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