Kanakasabha Kailasam et al.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardAug 2, 201914258755 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Aug. 2, 2019) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE 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 APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 14/258,755 04/22/2014 KANAKASABHA KAILASAM 27098.203050 1031 46169 7590 08/02/2019 SHOOK, HARDY & BACON L.L.P. (Cerner Corporation) Intellectual Property Department 2555 GRAND BOULEVARD KANSAS CITY, MO 64108-2613 EXAMINER LE, LINH GIANG ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3686 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 08/02/2019 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): BPARKERSON@SHB.COM IPRCDKT@SHB.COM docketing.shb@clarivate.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________________ Ex parte KANAKASABHA KAILASAM, BETH McCAULEY, CANDACE HALL, and BRIAN DOUGAN1 ____________________ Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 Technology Center 3600 ____________________ Before ROBERT E. NAPPI, JASON J. CHUNG, and JOYCE CRAIG, Administrative Patent Judges. CRAIG, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) of the final rejection of claims 1–4, 10–12, and 17–19, which are all claims pending in the application. Final Act. 2. Appellants have canceled claims 5–9, 13–16, and 20. Id. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm. 1 According to Appellants, the real party in interest is Cerner Innovation, Inc. App. Br. 3. Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Invention Appellants’ disclosed embodiments and claimed invention relate to assisting hospitals in identifying diagnoses that impact payments for rendered services and ensuring the diagnoses are supported. Spec. ¶ 2. Exemplary Claim Claim 1, reproduced below, is representative of the subject matter on appeal: 1. One or more computer storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising: identifying a diagnosis in patient data for a patient that impacts payment for medical services rendered for the patient; determining one or more clinical indicators required to support the diagnosis; determining that the patient data does not include a first clinical indicator required to support the diagnosis; identifying a clinical action required to obtain data for the first clinical indicator; generating a notice indicating that the patient data for the patient does not include the first clinical indicator required to support the diagnosis, the notice including a link to access a user interface to place a clinical order for the clinical action to obtain data for the first clinical indicator; providing the notice to a clinician; receiving updated patent data that includes additional data for the first clinical data obtained via the clinical action ordered using the link in the notice; determining the updated patient data includes the one or more clinical indicators required to support the diagnosis; and Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 3 responsive to determining the updated patient data includes the one or more clinical indicators required to support the diagnosis, submitting billing data that includes information identifying the diagnosis and data for the one or more clinical indicators required to support the diagnosis. Rejection on Appeal Claims 1–4, 10–12, and 17–19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to patent-ineligible subject matter. Final Act. 2–8. PRINCIPLES OF LAW “Whether a claim is drawn to patent-eligible subject matter is an issue of law that we review de novo.” SiRF Tech., Inc. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 601 F.3d 1319, 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2010). An invention is patent-eligible if it claims a “new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.” 35 U.S.C. § 101.2 However, the Supreme Court has long interpreted 35 U.S.C. § 101 to include implicit exceptions: “‘[L]aws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas’ are not patentable.” Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 566 U.S. 66, 70 (2012) (brackets in original) (quoting Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175, 185 (1981)). In determining whether a claim falls within an excluded category, we are guided by the Supreme Court’s two-step framework, described in Mayo and Alice. Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208, 217–18 (2014) (citing Mayo, 566 U.S. at 75–77). In accordance with that 2 This threshold analysis of whether a claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention, i.e., a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, is referred to as “Step 1” in the patent-eligibility inquiry under § 101. Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 4 framework, we first determine what concept the claim is “directed to.” See Alice, 573 U.S. at 219 (“On their face, the claims before us are drawn to the concept of intermediated settlement, i.e., the use of a third party to mitigate settlement risk.”); see also Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593, 611 (2010) (“Claims 1 and 4 in petitioners’ application explain the basic concept of hedging, or protecting against risk . . . .”). Concepts determined to be abstract ideas, and, thus, patent ineligible, include certain methods of organizing human activity, such as fundamental economic practices (Alice, 573 U.S. at 219–20; Bilski, 561 U.S. at 611); mathematical formulas (Parker v. Flook, 437 U.S. 584, 594–95 (1978)); and mental processes (Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U.S. 63, 69 (1972)). Concepts determined to be patent eligible include physical and chemical processes, such as “molding rubber products” (Diehr, 450 U.S. at 191); “tanning, dyeing, making water-proof cloth, vulcanizing India rubber, smelting ores” (id. at 182 n.7 (quoting Corning v. Burden, 56 U.S. (15 How.) 252, 267–68 (1854))); and manufacturing flour (Benson, 409 U.S. at 69 (citing Cochrane v. Deener, 94 U.S. 780, 785 (1876))). In Diehr, the claim at issue recited a mathematical formula, but the Supreme Court held “[a] claim drawn to subject matter otherwise statutory does not become nonstatutory simply because it uses a mathematical formula.” Diehr, 450 U.S. at 187; see also id. at 191 (“We view respondents’ claims as nothing more than a process for molding rubber products and not as an attempt to patent a mathematical formula.”). Having said that, the Supreme Court also indicated that a claim “seeking patent protection for that formula in the abstract . . . is not accorded the protection of our patent laws, . . . and this principle cannot be circumvented by Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 5 attempting to limit the use of the formula to a particular technological environment.” Id. (citing Benson and Flook); see, e.g., id. at 187 (“It is now commonplace that an application of a law of nature or mathematical formula to a known structure or process may well be deserving of patent protection.”). Abstract ideas may include, but are not limited to, fundamental economic practices, methods of organizing human activities, and mathematical formulas or relationships. Alice, 573 U.S. at 217–21. Under this guidance, we must, therefore, ensure at step one that we articulate what the claims are directed to with enough specificity to ensure the step one inquiry is meaningful. Id. at 217 (“[W]e tread carefully in construing this exclusionary principle lest it swallow all of patent law.”). If the claim is “directed to” an abstract idea, we turn to the second step of the Alice and Mayo framework, where “we must examine the elements of the claim to determine whether it contains an ‘“inventive concept”’ sufficient to ‘transform’ the claimed abstract idea into a patent-eligible application.” Alice, 573 U.S. at 221 (internal citation omitted). “A claim that recites an abstract idea must include ‘additional features’ to ensure ‘that the [claim] is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the [abstract idea].’” Id. (alterations in original) (quoting Mayo, 566 U.S. at 77). “[M]erely requir[ing] generic computer implementation[] fail[s] to transform that abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention.” Id. The PTO recently published revised guidance in the Federal Register concerning the application of § 101. 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. 50 (Jan. 7, 2019) (hereinafter Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 6 “Revised Guidance”) (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-01- 07/pdf/2018-28282.pdf). Under the Revised Guidance, we first look to whether the claim recites: (1) any judicial exceptions, including certain groupings of abstract ideas (i.e., mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activity such as a fundamental economic practice, or mental processes);3 and (2) additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application (see MANUAL OF PATENT EXAMINING PROCEDURE (“MPEP”) §§ 2106.05(a)–(c), (e)–(h) (9th ed., Rev. 08.2017, Jan. 2018)).4 Only if a claim (1) recites a judicial exception and (2) does not integrate that exception into a practical application, do we then look to whether the claim: (3) adds a specific limitation beyond the judicial exception that are not “well-understood, routine, conventional” in the field (see MPEP § 2106.05(d)); or (4) simply appends well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry, specified at a high level of generality, to the judicial exception.5 See Revised Guidance. ANALYSIS Based on Appellants’ arguments (App. Br. 6–20) and our discretion under 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(iv), we decide the appeal of the patent- 3 Referred to as “Revised Step 2A, Prong 1” in the Revised Guidance (hereinafter “Step 2A(i)”). 4 Referred to as “Revised Step 2A, Prong 2” in the Revised Guidance (hereinafter “Step 2A(ii)”). 5 Items (3) and (4) continue to be collectively referred to as “Step 2B” of the Supreme Court’s two-step framework, described in Mayo and Alice. Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 7 ineligible subject matter rejection of claims 1–4, 10–12, and 17–19 on the basis of representative claim 1. Step 1 Claim 1, as a computer-readable medium (manufacture) claim, recites one of the enumerated categories of eligible subject matter in 35 U.S.C. § 101. Therefore, the issue before us is whether it is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more. Step 2A(i): Does the Claim Recite a Judicial Exception? The Examiner determined that claim 1 is directed to the abstract idea of “identifying diagnoses that impact payments for rendered services and ensuring diagnoses,” which the Examiner concluded was an idea of itself and a certain method of organizing human activities. Final Act. 3–5. We evaluate whether claim 1 recites an abstract idea based upon the Revised Guidance. We conduct our review for abstractness de novo. Claim 1 recites, in pertinent part: identifying a diagnosis in patient data for a patient that impacts payment for medical services rendered for the patient; determining one or more clinical indicators required to support the diagnosis; determining that the patient data does not include a first clinical indicator required to support the diagnosis; identifying a clinical action required to obtain data for the first clinical indicator; Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 8 . . . determining the updated patient data includes the one or more clinical indicators required to support the diagnosis; . . . . Claims App’x. We determine that these limitations of claim 1, identified by the Examiner (Final Act. 3), recite mental processes that may be performed in the human mind, and that may also practicably be performed by pen and paper.6 The type of recited activity, i.e., identifying and determining patient information as recited in the limitations above, for example, includes longstanding conduct that existed well before the advent of computers and the Internet, and could be carried out by a human with pen and paper. See CyberSource Corp. v. Retail Decisions, Inc., 654 F.3d 1366, 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (“That purely mental processes can be unpatentable, even when performed by a computer, was precisely the holding of the Supreme Court in Gottschalk v. Benson.”). We also determine that claim 1 recites certain methods of organizing human activity because the claim is directed to commercial interactions at hospitals. Among those certain methods of organizing human activity listed in the Revised Guidance are commercial or legal interactions. We agree 6 Our reviewing court recognizes that “[a]n abstract idea can generally be described at different levels of abstraction.” Apple, Inc. v. Ameranth, Inc., 842 F.3d 1229, 1240 (Fed. Cir. 2016). That need not and, in this case does not, “impact the patentability analysis.” Id. at 1241. Moreover, merely combining several abstract ideas does not render the combination any less abstract. RecogniCorp, LLC v. Nintendo Co., 855 F.3d 1322, 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (“Adding one abstract idea (math) to another abstract idea . . . does not render the claim non-abstract.”); see also FairWarning IP, LLC v. Iatric Sys., Inc., 839 F.3d 1089, 1093–94 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (determining the pending claims were directed to a combination of abstract ideas). Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 9 with the Examiner that “the pending claims describe a process used in many business entities of applying business rules to check and ensure the accuracy of data.” Final Act. 5. In particular, we agree with the Examiner that the pending claims teach the long prevalent practice of human auditors auditing patient health data with a list of relevant characteristics that could be kept in the auditor’s head or written on paper. The court also discusses in Intellectual Ventures[7] that mailrooms receive correspondence and apply business rules defining actions to be taken based on the application of those business rules. Much in the same way, the pending claims describe a process used in many business entities of applying business rules to check and ensure the accuracy of data. In the pending case it is determined if there exists clinical indicators to support a diagnosis. Final Act. 4–5. Thus, under Step 2A(i), we agree with the Examiner that claim 1 recites a judicial exception of mental processes and certain methods of organizing human activity and, thus, an abstract idea. Step 2A(ii): Judicial Exception Integrated into a Practical Application? If the claims are directed to a patent-ineligible concept, as we conclude above, we proceed to the “practical application” Step 2A(ii) in which we determine whether the recited judicial exception is integrated into a practical application of that exception by: (a) identifying whether there are any additional elements recited in the claim beyond the judicial exception(s); and (b) evaluating those additional elements individually and in combination to determine whether they integrate the exception into a practical application. 7 Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2015). Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 10 We find each of the limitations of claim 1 recites abstract ideas as identified in Step 2A(i), supra, and none of the limitations integrates the mental processes into a practical application. The claim as a whole merely uses instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer or, alternatively, merely uses a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea. The limitations that do not define the mental processes (i.e., “additional elements”) do not improve the function of a computer or to another technical field. Instead, they involve insignificant extra-solution activity that merely makes use of computer technology. The additional elements recited in claim 1 include “[o]ne or more computer storage media,” “computing devices,” and the “generating,” “providing,” receiving,” and “submitting” steps. The recited computer storage media and computing devices are generic computer devices that are insufficient to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Final Act. 5 (citing Spec. ¶ 18); see also Spec. ¶ 20. Instructing one to “apply” an abstract idea and reciting no more than generic computer elements performing generic computer tasks does not make an abstract idea patent eligible. See Alice, 573 U.S. at 225–26 (holding patent ineligible claims that “amount to nothing significantly more than an instruction to apply the abstract idea . . . using some unspecified, generic computer” and in which “each step does no more than require a generic computer to perform generic computer functions” (internal quotation marks, citation omitted)). The recited steps of “generating” and “providing” a notice, “receiving” updated patient data, and “submitting” billing data amount to insignificant post-solution activity and, thus, cannot transform the claimed abstract idea into a patent-eligible application. See Bilski, 561 U.S. at Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 11 610–11 (explaining that the prohibition against patenting an ineligible concept, such as an abstract idea, “‘cannot be circumvented by attempting to limit the use of the [abstract idea] . . . to a particular technological environment’ or adding ‘insignificant post-solution activity”’) (internal citations omitted). Claim 1 does not recite any particulars as to how the notice is generated or provided, how the updated data is received, or how the billing data is submitted. These are conventional processing functions that courts have routinely found insignificant to transform an abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention. See, e.g., Elec. Power Grp., LLC v. Alstom S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1354–55 (Fed. Cir. 2016). As such, the claims amount to nothing significantly more than an instruction to implement the abstract idea on a generic computer—which is not enough to transform an abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention. See Alice, 573 U.S. at 226. Appellants argue that the claims are directed to an inventive concept that provides “a technology-based solution to a technological problem to affect an improvement in a technology field.” App. Br. 15. Appellants argue that, “[a]s in DDR, the features of the claims are necessarily rooted in technology and provide an improvement to a technological process.” Appellants further argue that, “[a]s in Bascom, the patent application ‘describes how its particular arrangement of elements is a technical improvement over prior art ways.’” Id. at 17. Appellants’ argument that claim 1 is similar to the claims in DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., 773 F.3d 1245, 1257 (Fed. Cir. 2014), is not persuasive. See App. Br. 14–17. In DDR, the court determined that the claims at issue were necessarily rooted in computer technology in order to address the Internet-centric problem of how to provide user access to Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 12 computer-implemented applications over the Internet. DDR, 773 F.3d at 1257. In contrast, the additional elements of claim 1 are not necessarily rooted in computer technology, because the recited features could also occur outside the context of computer technology. Appellants’ arguments based on BASCOM Global Internet Services, Inc. v. AT&T Mobility LLC, 827 F.3d 1341, 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2016), are also not persuasive. See App. Br. 15–17. In BASCOM, the claims were directed to the inventive concept of providing customizable Internet-content filtering which, under Step 2 of the Alice analysis, was found to transform the abstract idea of filtering content into a patent-eligible invention. Although the underlying idea of filtering Internet content was deemed abstract, under step 2 of the Alice analysis, the claims carved out a specific location for the filtering system, namely a remote Internet service provider (ISP) server, and required the filtering system to give users the ability to customize filtering for their individual network accounts. Here, there is insufficient evidence of record to substantiate the assertion that the claims recite non-conventional and non-generic arrangement of known, conventional elements, as in BASCOM. Moreover, we find no analogy between Appellants’ claimed automated survey and the Internet content filtering claims in BASCOM. Thus, on this record, Appellants have not shown eligibility under the guidance of the MPEP section 2106.05(a) (“Improvements to the Functioning of a Computer or to Any Other Technology or Technical Field”) or section 2106.05(e) (“Other Meaningful Limitations”). Nor do Appellants advance any arguments in the Brief(s) that are directed to the Bilski machine-or-transformation test, which would only be applicable to the Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 13 method (process) claims on appeal. See MPEP §§ 2106.05(b) (Particular Machine) and 2106.05(c) (Particular Transformation). Therefore, we conclude the abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application, and, thus, the claim is directed to the judicial exception. Step 2B – “Inventive Concept” or “Significantly More” If the claims are directed to a patent-ineligible concept, as we conclude above, we proceed to the “inventive concept” step. For Step 2B we must “look with more specificity at what the claim elements add, in order to determine ‘whether they identify an “inventive concept” in the application of the ineligible subject matter’ to which the claim is directed.” Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC v. DIRECTV, LLC, 838 F.3d 1253, 1258 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (quoting Elec. Power Grp., 830 F.3d at 1353). In applying step two of the Alice analysis, our reviewing court guides we must “determine whether the claims do significantly more than simply describe [the] . . . abstract method” and, thus, transform the abstract idea into patentable subject matter. Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC, 772 F.3d 709, 715 (Fed. Cir. 2014). We look to see whether there are any “additional features” in the claims that constitute an “inventive concept,” thereby rendering the claims eligible for patenting even if they are directed to an abstract idea. Alice, 573 U.S. at 221 (internal quotation marks, citation omitted). Those “additional features” must be more than “well-understood, routine, conventional activity.” Mayo, 566 U.S. at 79. Evaluating representative claim 1 under step 2 of the Alice analysis, we conclude it lacks an inventive concept that transforms the abstract mental processes into a patent-eligible application of that abstract idea. Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 14 The Examiner found that the “generating,” “providing,” receiving,” and “submitting” steps in claim 1 are generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine, and conventional activities previously known to the health care data analysis industry. Final Act. 6. The Examiner also found that the recited computer storage media and computing devices in claim 1 are generic computer structure that serves to perform generic computer functions that serve to merely link the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Id. The Examiner’s findings are supported by the Specification, which describes: 1) “computer storage media” includes, without limitation, volatile and nonvolatile media, as well as removable and nonremovable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Spec. ¶ 21. 2) “computing device” includes a server. Spec. ¶ 20. 3) the present invention is operational with numerous general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations, and provides examples of suitable well- known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations. Spec. ¶ 18. The generic computing devices described in the Specification are well-understood, routine, and conventional, at least because the Specification describes the computers in a manner that indicates they are sufficiently well-known that the Specification does not need to describe the particulars of such additional elements to satisfy 35 U.S.C. § 112(a). See Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 15 Berkheimer Memo § III.A.1.8,9 Appellants argue that claim 1 includes elements that are not well-understood, routine, and conventional “as evidenced by the absence of any prior art rejections.” App. Br. 17. In response, we note the Supreme Court emphasizes, “[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.” Diehr, 450 U.S. at 188–89. Our reviewing court further guides that “[e]ligibility and novelty are separate inquiries.” Two-Way Media Ltd. v. Comcast Cable Commc’ns, LLC, 874 F.3d 1329, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2017); see also Affinity Labs of Tex., LLC v. DIRECTV, LLC, 838 F.3d 1253, 1263 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (holding that “[e]ven assuming” that a particular claimed feature was novel does not “avoid the problem of abstractness”). For these reasons, we sustain the Examiner’s § 101 rejection of independent claims 1 and grouped claims 2–4, 10–12, and 17–19, not argued separately, and which fall therewith. 8 Robert W. Bahr, Changes in Examination Procedure Pertaining to Subject Matter Eligibility, Recent Subject Matter Eligibility Decision (Berkheimer v. HP, Inc.) (Apr. 19, 2018) (USPTO) (available at https://www.uspto.gov/ sites/default/files/documents/memo-berkheimer-20180419.PDF) (explaining that a specification that describes additional elements “in a manner that indicates that the additional elements are sufficiently well-known that the specification does not need to describe the particulars of such additional elements to satisfy 35 U.S.C. § 112(a)” can show that the elements are well understood, routine, and conventional) (id. at 3). 9 Claim terms are to be given their broadest reasonable interpretation, as understood by those of ordinary skill in the art and taking into account whatever enlightenment may be had from the Specification. In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054 (Fed. Cir. 1997). Appeal 2018-003952 Application 14/258,755 16 DECISION We affirm the Examiner’s decision rejecting claims 1–4, 10–12, and 17–19. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). See 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(f). AFFIRMED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation