DETAILED ACTION
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 16-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1 – the claims recite at least one step or act, and therefore the claim is to a process, which is one of the statutory categories of invention.
Step 2A, Prong One – A claim recites a judicial exception when the judicial exception is set forth or described in the claim.
The broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims is that the claimed steps fall within in the mental process groupings of abstract ideas because they cover concepts performed in the human mind, including observation, evaluation, judgment, and opinion. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III. The claims can be practically performed in the human mind, with or without the use of a physical aid such as pen and paper, and therefore falls within the mental processes grouping. Claims can recite a mental process even if they are claimed as being performed on a computer. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III(B) and (C).
The limitations of transmitting, by a first node, first routing updates via a routing protocol to at least a second node, wherein the first routing updates include an indication of one or more SRv6 operational modes supported by the first node, the one or more SRv6 operational modes are one of a Reduced mode or a Non-Reduced mode; receiving, by the first node, second routing updates from the second node, wherein the second routing updates include an indication of one or more SRv6 operational modes supported by the second node; and determining, by the first node, a negotiated SRv6 operational mode to use with the second node, based on the indication of the SRv6 operational modes supported by the second node are under their broadest reasonable interpretations mental steps that can be performed with a physical aid such as pen and paper. The recitation of a node in a segment routing version 6 network to perform the steps in claims 16-35 amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component.
Step 2A, Prong Two – This part of the eligibility analysis evaluates whether the claim as a whole integrates the recited judicial exception into a practical application of the exception or whether the claim is directed to the judicial exception. This evaluation is performed by (1) identifying whether there are any additional elements recited in the claim beyond the judicial exception, and (2) evaluating those additional elements individually and in combination to determine whether the claim as a whole integrates the exception into a practical application. See MPEP 2106.04(d). Claims 16-35 perform the claim limitations using a “node in a segment routing version 6 network”, merely indicating a field of use or technological environment in which the judicial exception is performed. Although the additional element “node” limits the identified judicial exceptions, this type of limitation merely confines the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment and thus fails to add an inventive concept to the claims. See MPEP 2106.05(h), Ex Parte Desjardins, Appeal No. 2024-000567 (PTAB September 26, 2025, Appeals Review Panel Decision) (precedential). In this case, the node does not confer a technological improvement to a technical problem, especially as to improvements to computer components or the computer system.
As discussed in Step 2A, Prong Two above, the recitations of the claim limitations are recited at a high level of generality. These elements amount to receiving or transmitting and analyzing data over a network, and are well-understood, routine, conventional activity. See MPEP 2106.05(d), subsection II.
Even when considered in combination, the additional elements represent mere instructions to implement an abstract idea or other exception on a computer and insignificant extra-solution activity, which do not provide an inventive concept.
Therefore claims 16-35 are rejected as being directed to mental processes, which amount to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Narasimhan et al. US 20240291755
Narasimhan et al. US 12,177,121
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Jeffrey R. Swearingen
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2445
/Jeffrey R Swearingen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
