Ex Parte GARG et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardAug 28, 201813165989 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 28, 2018) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 13/165,989 06/22/2011 37945 7590 08/30/2018 DUKEW. YEE YEE AND AS SOCIA TES, P.C. P.O. BOX 802333 DALLAS, TX 75380 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ANKITGARG UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. IN9201 l 0088US 1 4960 EXAMINER QAYYUM, ZESHAN ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3685 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 08/30/2018 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): ptonotifs@yeeiplaw.com mgamez@yeeiplaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte ANKIT GARG, TAP AN K. NA YAK, ARITRA SEN, and AKSHAT VERMA Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 1 Technology Center 3600 Before JOHN A. JEFFERY, ERIC S. FRAHM, and JOHNNY A. KUMAR, Administrative Patent Judges. FRAHM, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner's final rejection of claims 19--21 and 26-33. Claims 1-18, 22-25, and 34--42 have been canceled. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ). We affirm the Examiner's rejections of (i) claims 19--21, 26-31, and 33 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to patent-ineligible subject matter; 1 As noted by Appellant in the Appeal Brief (App. Br. 2), the real party in interest is International Business Machines Corporation. This application is related to U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 13/410,941, filed March 2, 2012, which is also before the Board as Appeal No. 2017-004241. Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 and (ii) obviousness-type double patenting rejection of claim 19. We reverse the Examiner's rejection of claim 32 as being directed to patent- ineligible subject matter. Disclosed Invention and Illustrative Claim The disclosed invention relates a computer program product having computer usable program code for performing a method for server consolidation for the efficient use of computer server resources to reduce the total number of servers an organization requires. Spec. ,r 3. The disclosed and claimed computer program product instructs a data processor to perform consolidation and planning based on (i) licensing data including licensing costs, and (ii) application workload requirements for applications running computing resources of a set of servers. Spec. ,r,r 5, 6; Claim 19; Abstract. An optimal configuration of the applications executing on the servers is recommended based on the lowest calculated total cost, and then the applications are consolidated into the recommended configuration. Spec. ,r,r 5, 6; Claim 19. Sole independent claim 19, reproduced below with emphases added, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter: 19. A computer program product for handling media, the computer program product comprising: a computer usable non-transitory storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code configured to instruct a data processor to perform steps of: storing information [sic] a storage medium, wherein said information is for a set of applications running on a set of servers, said information comprising: (i) licensing data for the set of applications that includes licensing costs per application, (ii) application workload requirements for the set of applications running on the set of servers, and 2 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 (iii) records of computing resources of each of the set of servers; mapping the application workload requirements of the set of applications to the computing resources of the set of servers; determining dependencies for the set of applications running on the set of servers; identifying various arrangements to place the set of applications within different ones of the set of servers based on the licensing data, the application workload requirements and the records of computing resources; generating a plurality of configurations for the set of applications running on the set of servers, wherein said plurality of configurations comprises a first configuration and a second configuration, wherein different arrangements of the set of applications are placed within different ones of the set of servers in the first configuration and in the second configuration, wherein each of the plurality of configurations are generated: (i) to assure that the set of applications are placed within specific ones of the set of servers, and (ii) to assure that computing resources of each of the set of servers upon which the set of applications are placed satisfies application workload requirements of a server-subset of the set of applications that are placed within that server; calculating licensing costs for the first configuration and for the second configuration, wherein the licensing costs are determined for licenses associated with the set of applications and the dependencies; calculating operational costs for the first configuration and for the second configuration; calculating total costs for the first configuration and for the second configuration, including summing the licensing costs and the operating costs when calculating the total costs; recommending one of the first configuration and the second configuration depending on which configuration has a lower total cost in accordance with the calculations; providing results of the recommending to an authorized administrator as part of a programmatic action that consolidates the set of applications running on the set of servers; and 3 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 responsive to providing the results, consolidating the set of applications into the first configuration or the second configuration according to the results. REJECTIONS The Examiner made the following rejections, which are before us on appeal: (1) Claims 1-10 and 19-26 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C § 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter. Final Act. 7-10; Ans. 2-5. (2) Claim 19 stands rejected based on the judicially created doctrine of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting, over claim 1 of U.S. Patent Application No. 13/410,941, which has now published as Garg (US 2012/0331114 Al; published Dec. 27, 2012). 2 Final Act. 10-12; Ans. 6-7. (3) Claims 19-21 and 26-33 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) for failing to comply with the written description requirement. Final 12-14; Ans. 7-9. This rejection has been withdrawn by the Examiner (Ans. 2; see also Advisory Action mailed Nov. 29, 2016; Reply Br. 2) and is, therefore, not before us on appeal. ISSUE Based on Appellants' arguments in the briefs (App. Br. 7-19; Reply Br. 2-7), the principal issue on appeal is whether or not the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1-10 and 19-26 under 35 U.S.C § 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter. 2 Appellants do not present specific arguments for claim 19, rejected based on the judicially created doctrine of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting, or otherwise rebut the Examiner's prima facie case in regards to the obviousness-type double patenting rejection of claim 19 (see App. Br. 19; Reply Br. 2). 4 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 ANALYSIS The Non-Statutory Subject Matter Rejection under 35 USC§ 101 Under 35 U.S.C. § 101, an invention is patent-eligible if it claims a "new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter." 35 U.S.C. § 101. The Supreme Court, however, has long interpreted§ 101 to include an implicit exception: "[l]aws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas" are not patentable. See, e.g., Alice Corp. Pty Ltd. v. CLS Bank lnt'l, 134 S. Ct. 2347, 2354 (2014). The Supreme Court, in Alice, reiterated the two-step framework previously set forth in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 132 S. Ct. 1289, 1300 (2012), "for distinguishing patents that claim laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas from those that claim patent-eligible applications of those concepts." Alice Corp., 134 S. Ct. at 2355. The first step in that analysis is to "determine whether the claims at issue are directed to one of those patent-ineligible concepts," id., e.g., to an abstract idea. For example, abstract ideas include, but are not limited to, fundamental economic practices, methods of organizing human activities, an idea of itself, and mathematical formulas or relationships. Id. at 2355-57. If the claims are not directed to a patent-ineligible concept, the inquiry ends. Otherwise, the inquiry proceeds to the second step where the elements of the claims are considered "individually and 'as an ordered combination"' to determine whether there are additional elements that "'transform the nature of the claim' into a patent-eligible application." Alice Corp., 134 S. Ct. at 2355 (quoting Mayo, 132 S. Ct. at 1297-98). For claims to pass muster, "at step two, an inventive concept must be evident in the 5 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 claims." RecogniCorp, LLC v. Nintendo Co., 855 F.3d 1322, 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2017). The Court acknowledged in Mayo, that "all inventions at some level embody, use, reflect, rest upon, or apply laws of nature, natural phenomena, or abstract ideas." Mayo, 132 S. Ct. at 1293. We, therefore, look to whether the claims focus on a specific means or method that improves the relevant technology or are instead directed to a result or effect that itself is the abstract idea and merely invoke generic processes and machinery. We have reviewed the Examiner's rejection in light of Appellants' arguments in the Appeal Brief. We agree with Appellants' contentions (App. Br. 17-18; Reply Br. 5---6) that the Examiner erred in rejecting claim 32 as being "merely directed to 'describing different configuration[s] and calculating a plurality of different type of costs"' (Reply Br. 5), because claim 32 positively recites "changing information technology infrastructures" for the configurations "using a consolidation tool" with a "graphical user interface" (see claim 32)(emphasis added), and the Examiner (Final Act. 9, ,r 19; Ans. 12) fails to sufficiently address these claim limitations. For the reasons that follow, as well as the reasons provided by the Examiner in the Final Rejection (Final Act. 7-10), and the Examiner's Answer (Ans. 2-5, 10-12), we are not persuaded by Appellants' arguments (App. Br. 7-18; Reply Br. 2---6) that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 19-21, 26-31, and 33 under 35 U.S.C. § 101. We do not find Appellants' arguments for the patent-eligibility of claims 19-21, 26-31, and 33 persuasive. Instead, we find the Examiner has provided adequate findings and reasoning to support a conclusion of patent-ineligibility, as well as a comprehensive response to Appellants' arguments supported by a preponderance of evidence. Ans. 10-12. As such, with regard to claims 19- 6 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 21, 26-31, and 33, we adopt the Examiner's findings and explanations provided therein (Final Act. 7-10; Ans. 2-5, 10-12), and provide the following for emphasis. Step One of Alice Regarding step one of Alice, Enfzsh held that the "directed to" inquiry asks not whether "the claims involve a patent-ineligible concept," but instead whether, "considered in light of the specification, ... 'their character as a whole is directed to excluded subject matter."' Enfzsh, 822 F.3d at 1335. Regarding improvements to computer-related technology, the Court in Enfish held as follows: We do not read Alice to broadly hold that all improvements in computer-related technology are inherently abstract and, therefore, must be considered at step two. Indeed, some improvements in computer-related technology when appropriately claimed are undoubtedly not abstract, such as a chip architecture, an LED display, and the like. Nor do we think that claims directed to software, as opposed to hardware, are inherently abstract and therefore only properly analyzed at the second step of the Alice analysis. Software can make non- abstract improvements to computer technology just as hardware improvements can, and sometimes the improvements can be accomplished through either route. We thus see no reason to conclude that all claims directed to improvements in computer- related technology, including those directed to software, are abstract and necessarily analyzed at the second step of Alice, nor do we believe that Alice so directs. Therefore, we find it relevant to ask whether the claims are directed to an improvement to computer functionality versus being directed to an abstract idea, even at the first step of the Alice analysis. Enfish, 822 F.3d at 1335. Thus, we determine whether the claims "focus on a specific means or method that improves the relevant technology" or are "directed to a result or effect that itself is the abstract idea and merely invoke 7 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 generic processes and machinery." McRO, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games Am. Inc., 837 F.3d 1299, 1314 (Fed. Cir. 2016). The Federal Circuit has explained that, in determining whether claims are patent-eligible under Section 101, "the decisional mechanism courts now apply is to examine earlier cases in which a similar or parallel descriptive nature can be seen-what prior cases were about, and which way they were decided." Amdocs (Israel) Ltd. v. Openet Telecom, Inc., 841 F.3d 1288, 1294 (Fed. Cir. 2016). The Federal Circuit also noted in that decision that "examiners are to continue to determine if the claim recites (i.e., sets forth or describes) a concept that is similar to concepts previously found abstract by the courts." Id. at 1294 n.2. Here, in rejecting the claims under 35 U.S.C. § 101, the Examiner finds, and we agree, that claims 19--21, 26-31, and 33 are directed to calculating a cost for different configurations and recommending a configuration based on the lowest cost, which is a fundamental economic practice and a method of organizing human activity, therefore, an abstract idea. Final Act. 7-9; Ans. 2-5, 10-12. We agree with the Examiner's comparison (Final Act. 7-9, ,r 18; Ans. 3--4, ,r 4) of the claims in the instant case on appeal with the claims found ineligible in Alice Corp. Pty Ltd. v. CLS Bank lnt 'l, 134 S. Ct. 2347, 2354 (2014) (electronic methods and computer programs for financial-trading systems on which trades between two parties who are to exchange payment are settled by a third party) and Federal Home Loan Mortg. Corp., AKA Freddie Mac v. GrafflRoss Holdings LLP (Fed. Cir. 2015) (method of conducting electronic bond auctions) (hereinafter, "Freddie Mac"), which were directed to financial analyses. The instant claims on appeal are also directed to the performance of a financial analysis, albeit to recommend a 8 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 configuration having the lowest total cost, which is a combination of a fundamental economic practice and a method of organizing human activity. Appellants' argument (App. Br. 9--11) that the claims in Alice are not parallel in concept to those on appeal because they relate to intermediate settlement, and not licensing costs, misses the point. The claims in both Alice and the instant case on appeal are drawn to fundamental economic practices. And, Appellants' argument (id. at 12-13) that the Freddie Mac case is not precedential and, therefore, cannot serve as evidence of the presence of a fundamental economic practice which is patent-ineligible, is also unpersuasive. Freddie Mac also dealt with a fundamental economic practice, and still carries weight as evidence supporting the Examiner's findings, even if not as persuasive as a precedential decision may be. At least the following decisions from our reviewing court have found many types of fundamental commercial practices patent ineligible: OIP Technologies, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2015), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 701 (mem) (2015) (offer-based price optimization); buySafe, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 765 F.3d 1350 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (transaction guaranty); Personalized Media Communications, L.L.C. v. Amazon, Inc., 671 F. App'x. 777 (mem) (Fed. Cir. 2016) (receiving instructions for ordering); Macropoint, LLC v. Fourkites, Inc., 671 F. App'x 780 (mem) (Fed. Cir. 2016) (tracking freight); Wireless Media Innovations, LLC v. Maher Terminals, LLC, 636 F. Appx. 1014 (mem) (Fed. Cir. 2016) (monitoring shipping containers); America's Collectibles Network Inc. v. Jewelry Channel, Inc. USA, 672 F. App'x 997 (mem) (Fed. Cir. 2017) (conducting reverse auction by adjusting price and inventory); and Easy Web Innovations, LLC v. Twitter, Inc., No. 2016-2066, 2017 WL 1969492 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (receiving, authenticating, and publishing data). The Supreme Court 9 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 additionally guides that contractual relations constitute "a fundamental economic practice long prevalent in our system of commerce." Bilski v. Kappas, 561 U.S. 593, 611 (2010); see also Alice, 134 S. Ct. at 2356, 2357, as cited in buySAFE, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 765 F.3d 1350, 1354 (Fed. Cir. 2014). Applying this guidance here, we observe independent claims 1, 19, and 23 are directed to calculating costs for different configurations and selecting the configuration with the lowest total cost, taking into consideration licensing costs (i.e., a contractual relation). Further, merely combining several abstract ideas (such a method of organizing human activity in the field of servers and computing devices and a fundamental business practice) does not render the combination any less abstract. RecogniCorp, 855 F.3d at 1327 ("Adding one abstract idea ... to another abstract idea ... does not render the claim non-abstract."); see also FairWarning IP, LLC v. latric Sys., Inc., 839 F.3d 1089, 1094 (Fed. Cir. 2016) ( determining the pending claims were directed to a combination of abstract ideas). In this light, the recommendation of a configuration having the lowest total cost based on cost calculations and comparisons recited in the claims on appeal is "a fundamental economic practice long prevalent in our system of commerce" (Bilski, 561 U.S. at 611 ), combined with a method of organizing human activity (e.g., determining dependencies, generating configurations, recommending a configuration, and providing results). Thus, claim 19 is drawn to a combination of abstract ideas. Claims 20, 21, and 26-33 ultimately depend from claim 19, contain similar subject matter, and are similarly directed to a combination of abstract ideas. Because we determine that claims 19-21 and 26-33 are directed to a combination of abstract ideas, we proceed to step two of the Alice analysis. 10 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 Step Two of Alice Regarding step two of Alice, Appellants argue (App. Br. 15-16; Reply Br. 4) that the Examiner has not shown (i) the elements of claim 19 to be generic, well-known computer steps that merely carry out the abstract idea; and (ii) the combination of those elements to be standard/routine. We agree with the Examiner that claims 19-21, 26-31, and 33 do not include limitations that are "significantly more" than the abstract idea because the claims do not include an improvement to another technology or technical field, an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself, or meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of an abstract idea to a particular technological environment ( e.g., a computer program product having code for instructing a processor to store information about a set of servers using computing resources to run applications stored on a storage medium). Final Act. 5---6; Ans. 5, 12. We also agree with the Examiner that claims 19-21, 26-31, and 33 do not clearly recite any computer/machine to perform the method steps (Ans. 5, 12), and that the nominal recitations of servers and computing resources in claim 19 are directed to generic computer components having generic computer functionalities which are well-understood, routine, and conventional, as is supported by Appellants' description found at paragraph 16 of the Specification. Final Act. 9-1 O; Ans. 5, 12; see also Spec. ,r,r 11-14, 17 describing a computer program product. Furthermore, Appellants' Specification states that "computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer" (Spec. ,r 15). 11 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 Appellants also argue (App. Br. 16-18; Reply Br. 5---6) that dependent claims 27 and 29--33 recite "significantly more" than any alleged abstract idea(s). Specifically, Appellants contend the features of (i) claim 27 improve the overall consolidation process that takes into account mitigation costs and licensing costs variations (App. Br. 16; Reply Br. 5); (ii) claim 29 minimize the quantity of servers needed to handle the workload (App. Br. 16-17; Reply Br. 5); (iii) claim 30 take into account operational costs of using virtual machine (App. Br. 17); (iv) claim 31 take into account hardware- level, virtualization, and application level costs (App. Br. 17); (v) claim 32 operate to change information technology infrastructures for configurations using a consolidation tool and graphical user interface (App. Br. 17-18; Reply Br. 5---6); and (vi) claim 33 provide a tradeoff between licensing costs and complementary application workloads using a consolidation tool (App. Br. 18; Reply Br. 6). As discussed supra, we are persuaded by Appellants' contentions (App. Br. 17-18; Reply Br. 5---6) that the Examiner erred in rejecting claim 32 as being "merely directed to 'describing different configuration[s] and calculating a plurality of different type of costs"' (Reply Br. 5), because claim 32 positively recites "changing information technology infrastructures" for the configurations "using a consolidation tool" with a "graphical user interface" (see claim 32). In addition, Appellants' Specification supports our finding with regard to claim 32, because paragraph 28 describes re-arranging physical resources and reconfiguring an IT environment 110. However, we are not persuaded by Appellants' arguments with regard to claims 19-21, 26-31, and 33. Although claims recite multiple cost calculations for different configurations of computing resources of a servers running applications (i.e., 12 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 computer operations), they do not go beyond conventional computer operations or cost calculations. Specifically, claim 27 merely recites calculating migration costs; claims 29--31 and 33 merely determine/calculate different costs, and could be performed by a human using pen and paper; and claim 33 recites generating a proposed change using a consolidation tool without actually changing any configuration unlike claim 32's recitation of "changing information technology infrastructures." Appellants' argument (Reply Br. 4--5; Reply Br. 5 n.3) that no reference anticipates the claims on appeal and, therefore, the claims have not been shown to contain only routine/conventional elements (and are thus patent eligible), is unpersuasive because "[ t ]he 'novelty' of any element or steps in a process, or even of the process itself, is of no relevance in determining whether the subject matter of a claim falls within the § 101 categories of possibly patentable subject matter." Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175, 188-89 (1981). As a result, we are not persuaded that the operations in claims 19-21, 26-31, and 33 are an improvement to any technology as opposed to an improvement to a fundamental economic practice and/or method of organizing human activity. Considering the claims elements individually and as an ordered combination, claims 19-21, 26-31, and 33 do no more than simply instruct the practitioner to implement the abstract idea on a generic computer or processer. Id. at 2359; Dealertrack, Inc. v. Huber, 674 F.3d 1315, 1333-34 (Fed. Cir. 2012) ("Simply adding a 'computer aided' limitation to a claim covering an abstract concept, without more, is insufficient to render [a] claim patent eligible."). 13 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 Preemption Lastly, we are not persuaded by Appellants' conclusory arguments that the claims do not preempt others from the whole field identified by the Examiner of financial analysis, e.g., based on software costs. App. Br. 11- 12; Reply Br. 2-3. Preemption is not a separate test, but is inherently addressed within the Alice framework. See Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc. v. Sequenom, Inc., 788 F.3d 1371, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2015) ("While preemption may signal patent ineligible subject matter, the absence of complete preemption does not demonstrate patent eligibility."); Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC, 722 F.3d 1335, 1346 (Fed. Cir. 2013) ("[T]he Supreme Court has stated that, even if a claim does not wholly pre-empt an abstract idea, it still will not be limited meaningfully if it contains only insignificant or token pre- or post-solution activity-such as identifying a relevant audience, a category of use, field of use, or technological environment.") (Citations omitted), vacated and remanded, WildTangent, Inc. v. Ultramercial LLC, 134 S. Ct. 2870 (2014) (remanding for consideration in light of Alice, 134 S. Ct. 2347). Therefore, we are not persuaded by Appellants' arguments regarding the absence of complete preemption. Summary Accordingly, we sustain the Examiner's rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101 of independent claim 19, as well as dependent claims 20, 21, 26-31, and 33. And, we do not sustain the Examiner's rejection under U.S.C. § 101 of dependent claim 32. 14 Appeal2017-008639 Application 13/165,989 CONCLUSIONS (1) The Examiner did (a) not err in rejecting claims 19--21, 26-31, and 3 3; and (b) erred in rejecting claim 3 2, under 3 5 U.S. C § 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter. (2) Appellants have not shown the Examiner erred in rejecting claim 19 based on the judicially created doctrine of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting, over claim 1 of U.S. Patent Application No. 13/410,941, which published as Garg (US 2012/0331114 Al; published Dec. 27, 2012). 3 DECISION For the above reasons, the Examiner's decision rejecting (i) claims 19--21, 26-31, and 33 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to patent- ineligible subject matter; and (ii) claim 19 based on the judicially created doctrine of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting is affirmed pro forma. And, the Examiner's decision rejecting claim 32 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to patent-ineligible subject matter is reversed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(l )(iv). AFFIRMED-IN-PART 3 Because Appellants do not present specific arguments for claim 19, rejected based on the judicially created doctrine of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting (see generally App. Br. 19; Reply Br. 2), no issue is presented by Appellants as to this rejection, and we summarily sustain the provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejection of claim 19. 15 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation