SRI INT’L, INC. v. CISCO SYS., INC., decided March 20, 2019, Statutory Subject Matter

U.S. Patent Nos. 6,484,203 and 6,711,615 are directed to network intrusion detection (pages 2-3).   The claims directed to computer network monitoring are necessarily rooted in computer technology to solve a specific problem in the realm of computer networks (page 8).  The claims recite a plurality of network monitors that monitor for specific types of data and integrate the results into a report to identify hackers or intruders (pages 8-9).  The claims are focused on the improvement to the computer network, not analyzing data from multiple sources (pages 9-11). 

Hindsight: Claims directed to improving a computer network may be directed to statutory subject matter while claims directed to using computers to gather data may not be directed to statutory subject matter.  The problem and improvement should be focused on the computer network itself.