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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-17 in the reply filed on 11/25/25 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim 10 is 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 10 is directed to an apparatus (“[t]he accessory of claim 9”) and a method steps of using that apparatus (“remains in communication…is mechanically decoupled from the body”) and is thereby indefinite. See MPEP 2173.05(p).
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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claims 1-17 are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite a mental process that can be performed by a human being.
In regard to Claims 1 and 11, the following limitations can be performed as a mental process by a human being in terms of claiming collecting data, analyzing that data, and providing outputs based on that analysis which has been held by the CAFC to be an abstract idea in decisions such as, e.g., Electric Power Group, University of Florida Research Foundation, and Yousician v Ubisoft (non-precedential); recite a method of organizing human activity in terms of claiming the teaching/training/evaluation of a human subject’s which has been identified by MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(II) as being a method of organizing human activity; claim mathematical concepts as outlined at MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(I); claim the rules of a game which has been identified by the CAFC as being an abstract ides in decisions such as, e.g., Savvy Dog Systems v. Pennsylvania Coin (non-precedential; 2023-1073; 3/21/24), in terms of the Applicant claiming:
[a method] comprising:
[…];
[…] perform[ing] at least one supporting action […];
[…] effect[ing] movement […] and
[…] receiv[ing] [a] command to engage […].
In regard to the dependent claims, they also claim an abstract idea to the extent that they merely claim further limitations that likewise could be performed as a mental process by a human being, a method of organizing human activity, mathematical concepts, the rules of a game, and/or claim training/employing a machine learning algorithm in a particular environment.
Furthermore, this judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because to the extent that additional elements are claimed either alone or in combination such as, e.g., a body defining an interior, an accessory mechanism, a movement mechanism, a communications module, a process, and a non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions embodying Applicant’s abstract idea, these are merely claimed to add insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (e.g., data gathering), to embody the abstract idea on a general purpose computer, and/or do no more than generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use. In this regard, see MPEP 2106.04(d)(I) in regard to “courts have also identified limitations that did not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application…”
Furthermore, the claims do not include additional elements that taken individually, and also taken as an ordered combination, are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because to the extent that, e.g., a body defining an interior, an accessory mechanism, a movement mechanism, a communications module, a processor, and a non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions embodying Applicant’s abstract idea, these are well-understood, routine, and conventional elements and are claimed for the well-understood, routine, and conventional functions of collecting and processing data and/or providing an analysis/outputs based on that processing. To the extent that an apparatus is claimed as an additional element said apparatus fails to qualify as a “particular machine” to the extent that it is claimed generally, merely implements the steps of Applicant’s claimed method, and is claimed merely for purposes of extra-solution activity or field of use. See MPEP 2106.05(b). As evidence that these additional elements are well-understood, routine, and conventional, Applicant’s specification discloses the support for these elements in a manner that indicates that the additional elements are sufficiently well-known that the specification does not need to describe the particulars of such additional elements to satisfy 35 U.S.C. § 112(a). See, e.g., F1 in Applicant’s PGPUB and text regarding same.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 11-12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by PGPUB US 20140297067 A1 by Malay (“Malay”).
In regard to Claim 1, Malay teaches an accessory for a mobile computing device, the accessory comprising:
a body defining an interior configured to secure a mobile computing device;
(see, e.g., F1, 102);
an accessory mechanism coupled to the body and configured to perform at least one supporting action for the mobile computing device; and
(see, e.g., F1, 60, 62);
a communications module configured to receive an electronic command to engage the accessory mechanism
(see, e.g., F2A, 108).
In regard to Claims 2, 3, and 5, Malay teaches limitations. See, e.g., F1, 60 and 62.
In regard to Claims 11-12 and 14, Malay teaches limitations. See rejections of Claims 1-2 and 5 made supra.
Claims 1-4 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by PGPUB US 20160325640 A1 by Craven (“Craven”).
In regard to Claim 1, Craven teaches an accessory for a mobile computing device, the accessory comprising:
a body defining an interior configured to secure a mobile computing device;
(see, e.g., p4 regarding docking port);
an accessory mechanism coupled to the body and configured to perform at least one supporting action for the mobile computing device; and
(see, e.g., F1, 107);
a communications module configured to receive an electronic command to engage the accessory mechanism
(see, e.g., F1, 135).
In regard to Claims 2-4, Craven teaches limitations. See, e.g., F1, 107 and p5.
In regard to Claims 11-13, Craven teaches limitations. See rejections of Claims 1-2 and 5 made supra.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, 11-13, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by PGPUB US 20150031459 A1 by Kim (“Kim”).
In regard to Claim 1, Kim teaches an accessory for a mobile computing device, the accessory comprising:
a body defining an interior configured to secure a mobile computing device;
(see, e.g., F6, 111);
an accessory mechanism coupled to the body and configured to perform at least one supporting action for the mobile computing device; and
(see, e.g., F6, 120);
a communications module configured to receive an electronic command to engage the accessory mechanism
(see, e.g., F1, 102).
In regard to Claims 2-4, Kim teaches limitations. See, e.g., p50.
In regard to Claims 6-8, Kim teaches limitations. See, e.g., p35 and p44.
In regard to Claim 9, Kim teaches limitations. See, e.g., p37.
In regard to Claims 11-13 and 15-16, Craven teaches limitations. See rejections of Claims 1-3 and 8-9 made supra.
In regard to Claim 17, Craven teaches limitations. See, e.g., p34.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is listed in the attached PTO-Form 892 and is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Mike Grant whose telephone number is 571-270-1545. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., except on the first Friday of each bi-week.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's Supervisory Primary Examiner, Peter Vasat can be reached at 571-270-7625. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL C GRANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715