PTAB Decisions on Section 101
MAY 2019
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This section contains summaries of 46 May 2020 decisions of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) concerning 35 U.S.C. Section 101, which sets forth the four categories of patent-eligible subject matter: process, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter. 155 Section 101 decisions were issued in May.
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Ex Parte Robbins et al; 5/29/2020; TC 3600; Request for Rehearing; Real party in interest, Therap Services, LLC. The invention “relates to methods and system for acquiring and processing information collected from individuals having intellectual or cognitive disabilities, and for providing treatment, proof-of-service, and prevention of abuse and neglect based on that information.” Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Seetoh; 5/29/2020; TC 3600; The claimed invention related to a computer-implemented method for evaluating suitability of an applicant for a team and a system thereof. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Rajamani et al; 5/29/2020; TC 3600; Request for Rehearing; Real party in interest, IBM. The claimed subject matter related to “maintain[ing] right relationships with key decision making individuals.” Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Bhangoo; 5/28/2020; TC 3700; The claimed invention was directed to “a measurement device used to identify health risk factors in children and adults.” Section 101 rejections reversed because claims were indefinite under Section 112, first paragraph.
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Ex Parte Paul et al; 5/18/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, LocumsMart, LLC. The claimed invention “relates to automated methods and web-based systems for matching healthcare providers with healthcare organizations on a temporary basis.” Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Binder et al; 5/14/2020; TC 2400; Real party in interest, May Patents Ltd.; Request for Rehearing. The claimed invention was a control system used in connection with a building or vehicle, where the system used a server implementing gateway or control functionalities. To this end, the invention used sensors that provided information on environmental conditions and events, and actuators that either (1) effected or generated a physical phenomenon responsive to an electrical command, which could be an electrical signal (e.g., voltage or current), or (2) changed a device’s characteristic, such as its resistance or impedance. Request for Rehearing denied; thus Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Junger et al; 5/14/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, e2interactive, Inc. The claimed invention related to fraud prevention and recovery in the context of registering product transactions. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Aviv et al; 5/14/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Dynamic Logic Inc.; Request for Rehearing. The claims were directed to a tracking on-line advertisement exposure via mobile wireless device browsers. In particular, the invention generally related to systems and methods for gauging on-line advertisement campaign effectiveness. Request for Rehearing denied; thus Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Tristan et al; 5/13/2020; TC 2100; Real party in interest, Oracle International Corporation. The claimed invention related to sampling from a statistical model, and, more specifically, to sampling from a latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model using a partially-collapsed Gibbs sampler. The invention provided a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo algorithm based on a highly parallel partially-collapsed Gibbs sampler for estimating the parameters of an LDA topic model. According to the Specification, the invention exploited “massive amounts of parallelism by processing the algorithm on a highly-parallel architecture, such as a GPU,” to improve upon conventional algorithms. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Banerjee et al; 5/13/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Allstate Insurance Company. The claimed invention related to systems and methods for analyzing damage to an item for insurance purposes. In particular, A mobile device could transmit data (e.g., images, video, etc.) related to damage associated with an insured item to an enhanced claims processing server. The enhanced claims processing server could manage analysis of damage associated with the insured item and settlement of a claim related to the damage. The Board determined the Examiner, under Section 2B of the Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, had not provided the evidence required under Berkheimer that the recited virtual marker was not well-understood, routine, or conventional. Section 101 rejections REVERSED.
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Ex Parte Krueger et al; 5/13/2020; TC 3700; Real party in interest, Cardiac Pacemekers, Inc. The claims were directed to atrial fibrillation detection using ventricular rate variability. The Board determined that the Examiner’s analysis under Step 2B of the Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance was insufficient for the Appellant to respond or for the Board to review. Section 101 rejections REVERSED.
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Ex Parte Jayachandran; 5/13/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, IBM. The Specification described identifying asset states, linking assets to blockchain transactions, and tracking assets in the blockchain, and more particularly keeping a record of asset changes and related information in the blockchain for reference and planning of transactions. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Hsiao et al; 5/12/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Google, LLC. The claimed invention was is directed to methods and systems for providing reports to a content provider that “specify conversion path performance measures that measure user interactions with content provided by the advertiser and that occurred prior to a conversion,” which are “a total quantity of interactions between the advertiser’s content and a user prior to the user performing an action that constitutes a conversion.” Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Sholes et al; 5/12/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Oracle International Corporation. The claimed invention combined an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application and a reporting tool. In particular, the invention employed dynamic field selection at an ERP application, where a user could make selections specifying a plurality of report parameters, and using an ERP query tool, queries were automatically generated based on the user’s inputs. Then, an engine queried the data based on the user defined query criteria, packaged the user selected fields with the data and generated the report output on the fly. The Board determined that each independent claim as a whole integrated the recited abstract idea into a practical application. Each claim did so because the limitations following the “identifying” limitation in each claim used the recited abstract idea in a meaningful way beyond generally linking its use to a particular technological environment to provide an improvement over prior systems. Section 101 rejections REVERSED.
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Ex Parte Rinzler; 5/12/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, 1Q, LLC. The claimed invention related “to electronic data collection systems and, more particularly, to a dynamic permission-based market polling and research system incorporating per-response member survey compensation, social media interfacing, and dynamic polling to produce desired demographic results with the minimum number of member requests.” Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Reynolds; 5/12/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Ericsson AB. The claimed invention tried to optimize the advertisements streamed over a network by streaming advertisements whose minimum bitrate threshold was within the network delivery bitrate. If the minimum bitrate threshold of the next advertisement in the manifest was within (i.e., at or below) the network delivery bitrate, the server streamed the next advertisement at the scheduled time as claimed. However, if the delivery bitrate was less than the minimum bitrate threshold of the next advertisement, the server attempted to identify a “replacement advertisement” whose minimum bitrate threshold was less than or equal to the delivery bitrate and then streamed a replacement advertisement if one was found because it worked better at the lower bitrate. Only if a suitable replacement advertisement was not found did the server stream the next advertisement at the lower delivery bitrate. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Erel et al; 5/12/2020; TC 2100; Real party in interest, Nice Ltd. The claimed subject matter related to reporting invalid recordings of interactions where records from an interaction exchange list were matched with records from a recorded interaction list to determine whether all listed interactions had operational recorded interactions. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Givens et al; 5/11/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, East Carolina University. The claimed invention was a telehearing system with systems, methods, and associated devices performing diagnostic hearing tests and which used a distributed, client-server architecture and the Internet to allow interaction between a test administration site and one or a plurality of remote patient sites. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Willard et al; 5/11/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Fannie Mae. The claimed invention related generally to computer analysis of real estate appraisal data, with special attention paid to identifying and evaluating data errors in appraisers’ property appraisals. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Amaitis et al; 5/11/2020; TC 3700; Real party in interest, CFPH, LLC. The claimed invention generally related to wagering. More specifically, the disclosure related to improving profits while maintaining current bettors’ interest and attracting new bettors by offering for purchase an option to cancel the wager in exchange for a refund amount. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Bisson et al; 5/11/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Value Connect Inc. The claimed invention related generally to “generating property appraisal reports.” The Preamble of claim 1 recited a system for generating electronic property appraisal reports, each property appraisal report providing an appraisal by an appraiser of a subject property, the subject property being a real property. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Lecocq; 5/11/2020; TC 2800; Real party in interest, PGS Geophysical AS. The claims were directed to an improvement in a process for monitoring a petroleum reservoir of a subterraneous formation (see, e.g., claim 1), a computer system used to perform the monitoring (see, e.g., claim 9), a nontransitory computer-readable medium having machine-readable instructions encoded thereon for enabling one or more processors of a computer system to perform the monitoring (see, e.g., claim 17), and a method for generating a geophysical data product (see, e.g., claim 25). The body of each independent claim recites steps of manipulating data sets (generating reconstructed monitor data sets, computing 4D difference data sets, and extracting 4D signal data). Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Nelson et al; 5/11/2020; TC 2800; Real party in interest, Oracle International Corporation. The invention was directed to systems and methods “that provide synchronization (syncing) or reconciliation of two types (two channels) of consumption data (e.g., measurements) derived from a same consumption meter (e.g., a ‘smart’ meter).” The Specification discloses that a consumption meter measures usage of a resource (e.g., electricity, natural gas, or water) by a customer of a utility. Typical consumption meters have two channels of consumption data (e.g., interval consumption data and register consumption data). According to the Specification, the two sources of consumption data can create problems for a utility because a consumer may complain if the two types of consumption data are too different, which increases consumer support costs and possibly causes regulatory issues. In view of this, the Specification discloses a process in which it is determined whether two types of consumption data are unsynchronized and, if so, the two types of consumption data are synchronized. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Lee et al; 5/11/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, SAS Institute Inc. The claimed invention was a way of transforming time series data to cluster data. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Bergqvist et al; 5/11/2020; TC 2400; Real party in interest, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson. The disclosed invention related to load balancing in a wireless communications network. The Preamble of claim 51 recited a method performed by a radio network node for load balancing in a wireless communications network, wherein the radio network node is configured to communicate with a wireless device supporting both normal coverage and extended coverage, wherein the radio network node and the wireless device are operating in the wireless communications network. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Balachandran; 5/11/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, ATS Tolling LLC. The claimed invention was a way of automating the processing of vehicular violations and, more particularly, automating the processing of vehicular violations involving vehicles operated, for example, by a fleet operator or a rental-car agency. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Fitzgerald et al; 5/11/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, YOUGETITBACK LIMITED. The claimed invention was a way of assessing and mitigating risk that involved installing a security application on a provided mobile device. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Mahon; 5/11/2020; TC 3700; Real party in interest, Full Color Gaming, LLC. The claimed invention related to games and more particularly to wagering games and methods of playing wagering games. The Preamble of claim 1 recited a method of executing a wagering game using non-standard playing cards. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Tang et al; 5/11/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Wayne Fueling Systems LLC. The Abstract described the invention as achieving fast and secure communication in a fueling environment payment system with systems and methods that validated an authentication request based on one or more pre-validated cryptographic keys. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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In Re Mahon; 5/11/2020; TC 3700; Real party in interest, Full Color Gaming, LLC. The claimed invention related to games and more particularly to wagering games and methods of playing wagering games. The Preamble of claim 1 recited a method of initiating execution of wagering event in a point count event using playing card symbols. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Chan et al; 5/8/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, IBM. The claimed invention related generally to generating a meeting agenda associated with a calendar application and a team planning tool. The Board concluded the record did not support the Examiner’s determination that the claims did not recite an improvement in a computer related technology. Section 101 rejections REVERSED.
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Ex Parte Unser et al; 5/8/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Mastercard International Inc. The claims involved selecting a payment card product to process a purchase transaction. According to some embodiments, operations may be performed to automatically leverage different payment card products to maximize the cardholder value for the card product holder during a purchase transaction. Embodiments provide for the cardholder to use a single card with a single proxy account number for any of their preferred cards that allows them to use a persistent account number (proxy account number) despite constantly changing the cards they use. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Contreras et al; 5/8/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, IBM. The claims involved a method to implement a question answering system that operated for performing a duration-based operation. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Pearson; 5/8/2020; TC 2100; Real party in interest, Harman International Industries, Incorporated. The claimed invention related generally to media content playback. The Preamble of claim 1 recited a media apparatus for mapping a plurality of media files across multiple media sources. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Gibson et al; 5/8/2020; TC 3600. The claims involved route planning systems, methods, and devices, and more particularly utilizing the purpose of a trip to refine user preferences when selecting between multiple possible routes. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Burks et al; 5/8/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, USAA. The claimed invention related to financial management modules that provide automated teller machine (ATM) functionality. In one embodiment, a system receiving a user-initiated request for a transaction and identifying a device to perform the transaction is described. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Upadhyaya; 5/8/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Oracle International Corporation. The claims were directed to a computerized system and method for controlling electronic distribution of compensation. The Specification explains that providing compensation to employees in a corporation with global reach is a complex task. Because different countries have different norms for distributing compensation and laws, a single rule that governs the whole corporation is not flexible enough. Further, the Specification explains the complexity of tiers of management hierarchies where upper level management may prefer blanket policies affecting employees in different localities. Thus, the Specification describes a holistic view of maintaining compensation that incorporates a global approval rule, but allows local rules affecting compensation for local groups to provide flexibility. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Salmon et al; 5/8/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Visa International Service Association. The claimed invention related to the processing of loyalty benefits, such as points or miles, awarded in loyalty programs. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Sands et al; 5/7/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. The claimed invention was an apparatus and methods for delivery of health care that collected subjective and objective measures of patient health and treatment, analyzed them (e.g., correlated them with one another, with prior such information and/or with norms) and reported them to aid in on-going patient diagnosis and treatment (both on acute and chronic bases), as well as to aid physicians, nurses and other caregivers in decision support, monitoring treatment compliance, facilitating regulatory compliance, billing, and so forth. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Ocko; 5/7/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Zynga Inc. The claimed invention is directed to apparatuses, methods, and systems for user online behavior monitoring. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Anbalagan et al; 5/7/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Amazon Technologies, Inc. The claimed invention related to architectures and techniques in which digital items, such as electronic books (or “eBooks”), could be loaned and borrowed. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Chronowski et al; 5/7/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Ford Global Technologies, LLC. The claimed invention generally related to a method and apparatus for event data recording (EDR) activation and logging. The Preamble of claim 9 recited comparing sensor data, wirelessly received from a vehicle, to predetermined sensor thresholds determined based on data gathered from vehicles in which event data recording (EDR) previously occurred. Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Motogi et al; 5/6/2020; TC 3700; Real party in interest, Nihon Kohden Corporation. The disclosed subject matter “relates to a sympathetic skin response measuring apparatus which can adequately perform a sympathetic skin response (SSR) measurement.” Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Unser et al; 5/6/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, MasterCard International Incorporated. The claimed invention concerned “recommending a merchant type for a candidate merchant location or a merchant location for a candidate merchant type, based on transaction data associated with at least one known merchant.” Section 101 rejections affirmed.
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Ex Parte Branets et al; 5/6/2020; TC 2100; Real party in interest, Exxon Mobile Upstream Research Company. The claimed invention related generally to the field of hydrocarbon operations, such as prospecting or reservoir management and, more particularly, to reservoir modeling and simulation. Specifically, the disclosure related to a method for optimal construction of a conceptual three-dimensional (3D) grid that was adapted to a subsurface domain’s discontinuities, where the grid could be used for reservoir simulation studies in reservoir exploration, development or production stages, as well as for representing a geologic model description of a reservoir structure and material properties. More specifically, the grid could carry a model of material properties, such as rock and fluid properties, of a reservoir or could be used for numerical discretization of partial differential equations, such as fluid flow or wave propagation. The Board said that even if the claims recited an abstract idea (e.g., mathematics or a mental process), the claims recited additional steps/elements that integrated the judicial exception into a practical application, and were, therefore, directed to patent-eligible subject matter. Section 101 rejections REVERSED.
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Ex Parte Butsch et al; 5/4/2020; TC 3600; Real party in interest, Syn-Tech Systems, Inc. The patent application concerned “a system allowing a user to automate payment for a dispensing operation with a hand-held communication device such as a smart phone.” In a footnote, the Board said if prosecution continued, it left it to the Examiner to determine whether the claim passed muster under §101 in accordance with the Revised Guidance or was instead directed to, for example, certain methods of organizing human activity such as commercial interactions.
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