The automation of rule-processing is a merely directed to an abstract idea if it is the automation rather than the rule that improves a technological process. Here, for example, claims reciting the automation of fraud and misuse detection were found to be directed to an abstract idea because the rules employed, which merely looked at user transaction frequency, were the same kind of rules—even if expressed differently—as humans in analogous situations detecting fraud have asked for decades, if not centuries. “Although [the] claims require the use of a computer, it is this incorporation of a computer, not the claimed rule, that purportedly ‘improve[s] [the] existing technological process’ by allowing the automation of further tasks.” It may therefore be best to focus any rule-processing claims on the nature of the rules themselves rather than their automation.
Background / Facts: The patent being asserted here is directed to ways of detecting fraud and misuse by identifying unusual patterns in user access of sensitive data. The claimed systems and methods record audit log data concerning user access of digitally stored patient health information (PHI), analyze it against a rule, and provide a notification if the analysis detects misuse.
Issue(s): Whether the claims are patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
Holding(s): No. “While the claims here recite using one of a few possible rules to analyze the audit log data, … [the] claims merely implement an old practice in a new environment. [] The claimed rules ask whether accesses of PHI, as reflected in audit log data, are 1) ‘by a specific user,’ 2) ‘during a pre-determined time interval,’ or 3) ‘in excess of a specific volume.’ [] These are the same questions (though perhaps phrased with different words) that humans in analogous situations detecting fraud have asked for decades, if not centuries. Although [the] claims require the use of a computer, it is this incorporation of a computer, not the claimed rule, that purportedly ‘improve[s] [the] existing technological process’ by allowing the automation of further tasks.”