In 1996 the PTO issued the Examination Guidelines for Computer-Related Inventions (Guidelines). Following issuance of the Guidelines, the PTO prepared and published training materials illustrating how to apply them.

Recently the PTO determined that additional training materials were needed to address how to apply the Guidelines in the areas of business, artificial intelligence and mathematical processing applications. Each of these three areas has shown a high growth rate and increased examining complexity. Five examples were prepared to illustrate how to apply the Guidelines in these areas.

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