DETAILED ACTION
This communication is a Non-Final Rejection Office Action in response to the submission filed on 1/27/2026 in Application 18/873,152.
Claims 1-7 have been amended. Claims 9 and 10 are new.
Claims 1-10 are now presented.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 1/27/2026, with respect to the prior art rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The prior art rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant's remaining arguments filed have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding the rejection under 101, the Applicant argues “Applicant respectfully submits that amended claim 1 recites a practical application of any alleged abstract concept, including production management. In particular, amended claim 1 specifies that "an avatar corresponding to each worker that is changed according to a change of the acquisition point for each worker as each worker incrementally performs completion of the task and the counting process incrementally counts the completion number of the task." Accordingly, the Specification describes the technical effect of "increasing the motivation of the worker who repeatedly performs the same tasks" (Specification at 7). Because "the worker can change the avatar 5 by completing the tasks ... an increase in productivity can be expected" (Specification at 15).”
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The display of an avatar (or representation a person) that changes based on a change in acquisition points amounts to a mere display of information. Displaying information amounts to insignificant post solution activity in step 2A prong 2. Further, this does not amount to a technical improvement in user interfaces. As such, the claimed display of information does not provide an inventive concept.
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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
When considering subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. 101, in step 1 it must be determined whether the claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention, i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. If the claim does fall within one of the statutory categories, in step 2A prong 1 it must then be determined whether the claim is recite a judicial exception (i.e., law of nature, natural phenomenon, and abstract idea). If the claim recites a judicial exception, under step 2A prong 2 it must additionally be determined whether the recites additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. If a claim does not integrate the Abstract idea into a practical application, under step 2B it must then be determined if the claim provides an inventive concept.
In the Instant case Claims 1-6, 9-10 are directed toward a production management system. Claim 7 is directed toward a production management method. Claim 8 is directed toward a program for production management. As such, each of the Claims is directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention.
MPEP 2106.04 II. A. explains that in step 2A prong 1 Examiners are to determine whether a claim recites a judicial exception. MPEP 2106.04(a) explains that:
To facilitate examination, the Office has set forth an approach to identifying abstract ideas that distills the relevant case law into enumerated groupings of abstract ideas. The enumerated groupings are firmly rooted in Supreme Court precedent as well as Federal Circuit decisions interpreting that precedent, as is explained in MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2). This approach represents a shift from the former case-comparison approach that required examiners to rely on individual judicial cases when determining whether a claim recites an abstract idea. By grouping the abstract ideas, the examiners’ focus has been shifted from relying on individual cases to generally applying the wide body of case law spanning all technologies and claim types.
The enumerated groupings of abstract ideas are defined as:
1) Mathematical concepts – mathematical relationships, mathematical formulas or equations, mathematical calculations (see MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection I);
2) Certain methods of organizing human activity – fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk); commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations); managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) (see MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection II); and
3) Mental processes – concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion) (see MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III).
As per step 2A prong 1 of the eligibility analysis, claim 1 is directed to the abstract idea of production management which falls into the abstract idea categories of certain methods of organizing human activity and mental processes.
The elements of Claim 1 that represent the Abstract idea include:
a counting process of counting a completion number of the task performed by each worker received by the reception process;
a coefficient correction process generating a coefficient for each worker based on the attribute information for each worker and the environmental information relating to the work location of each worker;
a calculation process of obtaining an acquisition point for each worker by multiplying, with respect to the counted completion number of the task performed by each worker and the coefficient for each worker;
outputting an avatar corresponding to each worker that is changed according to a change of the acquisition point for each worker as each worker incrementally performs completion of the task and the counting process incrementally counts the completion number of the task;
a competition promotion process of, in the display process, simultaneously displaying avatars of the plurality of workers and applying a special visual effect or decoration to an avatar of each worker based on the acquisition point for each worker.
MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) II. states:
The phrase "methods of organizing human activity" is used to describe concepts relating to:
fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk);
commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations); and
managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people, (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions).
The Supreme Court has identified a number of concepts falling within the "certain methods of organizing human activity" grouping as abstract ideas. In particular, in Alice, the Court concluded that the use of a third party to mediate settlement risk is a ‘‘fundamental economic practice’’ and thus an abstract idea. 573 U.S. at 219–20, 110 USPQ2d at 1982. In addition, the Court in Alice described the concept of risk hedging identified as an abstract idea in Bilski as ‘‘a method of organizing human activity’’. Id. Previously, in Bilski, the Court concluded that hedging is a ‘‘fundamental economic practice’’ and therefore an abstract idea. 561 U.S. at 611–612, 95 USPQ2d at 1010.
In the instant case, the limitations of counting a completion number of the task performed by each worker received by the reception process; a coefficient correction process of acquiring attribute information relating to each worker and environmental information relating to a work location of each worker, and generating a coefficient for each worker based on the attribute information for each worker and the environmental information relating to the work location of each worker; a calculation process of obtaining an acquisition point for each worker by multiplying, with respect to the counted completion number of the task performed by each worker and the coefficient for each worker; a process of generating, an avatar corresponding to each worker that is changed according to a change of the acquisition point for each worker as each worker incrementally performs completion of the task and the counting process incrementally counts the completion number of the task; a competition promotion process of, in the display process, simultaneously displaying avatars of the plurality of workers and applying a special visual effect or decoration to an avatar of each worker based on the acquisition point for each worker are directed to managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people which is abstract.
MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) states:
The courts consider a mental process (thinking) that "can be performed in the human mind, or by a human using a pen and paper" to be an abstract idea. CyberSource Corp. v. Retail Decisions, Inc., 654 F.3d 1366, 1372, 99 USPQ2d 1690, 1695 (Fed. Cir. 2011). As the Federal Circuit explained, "methods which can be performed mentally, or which are the equivalent of human mental work, are unpatentable abstract ideas the ‘basic tools of scientific and technological work’ that are open to all.’" 654 F.3d at 1371, 99 USPQ2d at 1694 (citing Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U.S. 63, 175 USPQ 673 (1972)). See also Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs. Inc., 566 U.S. 66, 71, 101 USPQ2d 1961, 1965 (2012) ("‘[M]ental processes[] and abstract intellectual concepts are not patentable, as they are the basic tools of scientific and technological work’" (quoting Benson, 409 U.S. at 67, 175 USPQ at 675)); Parker v. Flook, 437 U.S. 584, 589, 198 USPQ 193, 197 (1978) (same).
Accordingly, the "mental processes" abstract idea grouping is defined as concepts performed in the human mind, and examples of mental processes include observations, evaluations, judgments, and opinions
In the instant case, the limitations of a counting process of counting a completion number of the task performed by each worker received by the reception process; a coefficient correction process of generating a coefficient for each worker based on the attribute information for each worker and the environmental information relating to the work location of each worker; a calculation process of obtaining an acquisition point for each worker by multiplying, with respect to the counted completion number of the task performed by each worker and the coefficient for each worker under their broadest reasonable interpretation, cover performance of the limitations in the mind.
Under step 2A prong 2 the examiner must then determine if the recited abstract idea is integrated into a practical application. MPEP 2106.04 states:
Limitations the courts have found indicative that an additional element (or combination of elements) may have integrated the exception into a practical application include:
• An improvement in the functioning of a computer, or an improvement to other technology or technical field, as discussed in MPEP §§ 2106.04(d)(1) and 2106.05(a);
• Applying or using a judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.04(d)(2);
• Implementing a judicial exception with, or using a judicial exception in conjunction with, a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(b);
• Effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(c); and
• Applying or using the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(e)
The courts have also identified limitations that did not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application:
• Merely reciting the words "apply it" (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely including instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(f);
• Adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(g); and
• Generally linking the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(h).
In the instant case, this judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, Claim 1 recites the additional elements of:
A production management system comprising:
a computer system including at least one processor and a memory, the at least one processor being configured to execute:
a reception process of receiving, based on information acquired from a sensor that detects a deliverable indicating completion of a task performed by each worker among a plurality of workers, a completion of the task;
acquiring, from the memory, attribute information relating to each worker and environmental information relating to a work location of each worker,
a display device
However, the computer elements (at least one processor and a memory, the at least one processor being configured to execute the abstract idea) are recited at a high level of generality and given the broadest reasonable interpretation are simply generic computers performing generic computer functions. Generic computers performing generic computer functions, alone, do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea and mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer.
Further, the receipt of sensor data amounts to receiving and retrieving information e.g., mere data gathering is considered insignificant extra-solution activity (see MPEP 2106.05(g).
Further, displaying avatars of a plurality of workers and applying a special visual effect or decoration to an avatar is considered mere data output which is also considered insignificant extra-solution activity (see MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Further, the additional elements of displaying an avatar, which is to be changed in accordance with the acquisition point is recited broadly and amounts to insignificant post solution activity.
Viewing the generic computer in combination with the receiving and displaying data and the broadly recited use of metadata does not add anything further than looking at the limitations individually. When viewed either individually, or as an ordered combination, the additional limitations do not amount to a claim as a whole that is significantly more than the abstract idea.
In step 2B, the examiner must determine whether the claim adds a specific limitation other than what is well-understood, routine, conventional activity in the field - see MPEP 2106.05(d).
As discussed with respect to Step 2A Prong Two, the additional element of the processor in the claim amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. The same analysis applies here in 2B, i.e., mere instructions to apply an exception on a generic computer cannot integrate a judicial exception into a practical application at Step 2A or provide an inventive concept in Step 2B.
Further, nothing in the specification indicates that the receipt or retrieval of information and the output of information is anything other than conventional. Further, MPEP 2106.05(d) states “Receiving or transmitting data over a network, e.g., using the Internet to gather data, Symantec, 838 F.3d at 1321, 120 USPQ2d at 1362 (utilizing an intermediary computer to forward information); TLI Communications LLC v. AV Auto. LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 610, 118 USPQ2d 1744, 1745 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (using a telephone for image transmission); OIP Techs., Inc., v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359, 1363, 115 USPQ2d 1090, 1093 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (sending messages over a network); buySAFE, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 765 F.3d 1350, 1355, 112 USPQ2d 1093, 1096 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (computer receives and sends information over a network); but see DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., 773 F.3d 1245, 1258, 113 USPQ2d 1097, 1106 (Fed. Cir. 2014) ("Unlike the claims in Ultramercial, the claims at issue here specify how interactions with the Internet are manipulated to yield a desired result‐‐a result that overrides the routine and conventional sequence of events ordinarily triggered by the click of a hyperlink."” Further, MPEP 2106.05(d) also states that creating output data has been identified as conventional (see Return Mail, Inc. v. U.S. Postal Service, -- F.3d --, -- USPQ2d --, slip op. at 32 (Fed. Cir. August 28, 2017)).
Further, the Examiner takes official notice that the claimed display is well-known and conventional and does not represent an inventive concept.
Further Claims 2-6, 9-10 further limit the abstract ideas already rejected in claim 1, and the display already rejected in claim 1, but fail to remedy the deficiencies of the parent claim as they do not impose any limitations that amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Accordingly, the Examiner concludes that there are no meaningful limitations in claims 1-6, 9, 10 that transform the judicial exception into a patent eligible application such that the claim amounts to significantly more than the judicial exception itself.
The analysis above applies to all statutory categories of invention. As such, the presentment of claim 1 otherwise styled as a method or computer program product, for example, would be subject to the same analysis. Therefore, Claims 7, 8 are rejected for the same rational that applied to claim 1.
Conclusion
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/DEIRDRE D HATCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3625