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 .
Applicant withdrawn claims 8-19 in the amendment filed on 05/19/2026.
The claims 1-7 are pending.
Election/Restriction
Claims 8-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II (claims 8-13) and Group III (claims 14-19), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/19/2026.
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.
Claim 1 is 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. The claim(s) recite(s) “determine a position of a predetermined time slot to be listened to according to a period of periodic partial sensing”, “determine a position of a time slot needed to be listened to according to a data transmission period of the electronic equipment”, and “determine a position of a time slot actually to be listened to according to the position of the predetermined time slot to be listened to and the position of the time slot needed to be listened to, so that the position of the time slot actually to be listened to includes the position of the predetermined time slot to be listened to and the position of the time slot needed to be listened to” which are abstract ideas similar to the concepts that have been identified as abstract by the courts, such as Mental processes or concepts performed in the human mind (see MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2)). Limitations directed to the abstract idea are determining a position of a time slot that can be done mentally by looking at the instructions. Therefore, the claim is directed to an abstract idea (Step 2A: YES).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements provide conventional computer functions that do not add meaningful limits to practicing the abstract idea.
Thus, taken alone, the additional element do not amount to significantly more than the above-identified judicial exception (the abstract idea).
The dependent claims 2-7 are rejected as being dependent of claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHEIKH T NDIAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-3914. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:30pm.
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/CHEIKH T NDIAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2447
8/17/2026
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