DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 22, line 9, the recitation “musical tones for multiple data sets” is indefinite. It is unclear whether these “multiple data sets” are related to, or include, the previously recited “plurality of data sets” or “each data set”. Please clarify the correlation between data sets.
Claims 23 and 24 depend from, and therefore include, the rejected limitation outlined above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed inventions are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claims 1-7 recite determining, selecting and presenting data. These limitations of determining, selecting and presenting, are a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind and includes no the recitation of computer/processing components or presentation means. That is, nothing in the claim element precludes the step from practically being performed in the mind.
If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
The claims are directed to an abstract idea. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The claims are not patent eligible.
Claims 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite determining, selecting and presenting data.
These limitations, as drafted, are instructions that, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance or functionality of the limitations in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting “a computer implemented method”, nothing in the claim element precludes the step from practically being performed in the mind. For example, but for the “computer implemented” language, “determining” in the context of the claims encompass the user manually calculating or constructing elements.
If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites one additional element – computer implemented. The computer is recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component.
Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a computer amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claims are not patent eligible.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-21 are believed to be allowable.
After a thorough search and consideration of the prior art, no references could be found, which teach, or fairly suggest, alone or in combination, all the claimed elements of the present invention.
The closest prior art found at this time, are the references to Childs, Jr. et al. (WO 2004/012055 A2; 7,138,575; 7,511,213; 7,629,528), Mahadevan et al. (US 2022/0319525) and Goldstein et al. (US 2008/0046246).
Conclusion
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/CHRISTINA M SCHREIBER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837 02/27/2026