The Revised Guidelines at the PTAB - where the rubber hits the road.

Another case where integrating into a practical application saves the day for the applicant.

Appeal2018-002465 Application 14/604,577. Claim 1 is listed below:

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Once again, the revised guidelines, as applied by the PTAB, are key to the decision - The PTAB summarizes the point here:

POS1.jpg

Even though the claimed features recited beyond the abstract idea of processing a customer order in a restaurant (wireless mobile computing device, cloud-accessible data center, restaurant chain POS system, and integrated customer interface module) are recited at a high level of generality and described generically in the specification, the PTAB nevertheless confirms that “our inquiry cannot end there.” The reason is because the “Specification details … the shortcomings associated with the available mobile applications for ordering food, drinks, and other items, which are not integrated with the restaurant POS systems. The present invention addresses these shortcombings by providing a customer interface system, including a cloud-accessible data center, which is configured to communicate data between the POS system and the user’s wireless mobile computering device.” In this way, the technical feature of the cloud-accessible data center to act as an intermediate between the restaurant enables integration of the mobile application on the user device with the POS system thus reducing the need for multiple applications.

Thus, just as in previous posts, the technical problem/solution, in the specification, enables the abstract idea to be integrated into a practical application, resulting in eligible subject matter for patent protection.