What is the difference between insignificant pre-solution and post-solution activity in patent claims?
In patent law, insignificant extra-solution activity can be categorized as either pre-solution or post-solution activity. The MPEP 2106.05(g) distinguishes between these two types:
- Insignificant pre-solution activity: Steps or actions taken before the main part of the invention, typically involving data gathering or preparation.
- Insignificant post-solution activity: Steps or actions taken after the main part of the invention, often involving outputting results or performing incidental operations.
The MPEP provides examples: “An example of pre-solution activity is a step of gathering data for use in a claimed process, e.g., a step of obtaining information about credit card transactions, which is recited as part of a claimed process of analyzing and manipulating the gathered information by a series of steps in order to detect whether the transactions were fraudulent.” In contrast, post-solution activity might include “printing or downloading generated menus” after the main computational process.
The key difference lies in when the activity occurs in relation to the core inventive concept. Pre-solution activities happen before, while post-solution activities happen after the main inventive steps. Both types, however, are considered when evaluating whether a claim integrates a judicial exception into a practical application or adds significantly more to the claim.
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