Appendix B.docx

This file is an appendix containing current-state workflow tables documenting the existing processes for biological sequence searching and prior art analysis at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Table B-1 outlines the ten-step sequence search workflow, beginning with confirming searchable sequence listings and proceeding through case file review, identification of search-relevant sequence features, search path selection, search strategy development, search submission, status monitoring, results retrieval, results review, and application of results in examination. The workflow involves multiple systems and tools including PE2E-DAV, SLIC, ABSS (Automated Biological Sequence Search), STIC-EIC, and NCBI BLAST, with examiners and STIC-EIC personnel serving as primary actors. Key challenges identified include manual interpretation requirements, high manual burden in search strategy generation, tool selection dependencies on examiner experience, large and fragmented result files, and time-intensive alignment reviews.

Table B-2 describes the ABSS result review workflow comprising eight steps: organizing result files by database and query, reviewing summary tables to identify highest-level hits, assessing alignment displays for sequence feature correspondence, identifying duplicate records, linking hits to source references, comparing results across files, prioritizing references based on claim scope, and preparing outputs for examination use. Primary burdens and risks throughout this workflow include file fragmentation across databases, difficulty triaging large numbers of hits, labor-intensive alignment review processes, duplicate-heavy outputs, manual and time-consuming tracing from hits to underlying references, and the absence of automated ranking by legal relevance. These workflows serve as the baseline for the related RFI seeking next-generation biosequence search solutions utilizing Super Intelligence-assisted capabilities to improve efficiency and quality in patent examination.