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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 2/9/2026 and 5/8/2023 were in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to the application filed on 5/8/2023, wherein:
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite a system, program product, and method for calculating collision probabilities which is considered a judicial exception because it falls under Mental Processes such as collecting information, analyzing it, and displaying certain results of the collection and analysis. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application as discussed below and the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception as discussed below.
This rejection follows the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, 84 Fed Reg 4, January 7, 2019, pp. 50-57 (“2019 PEG”)(MPEP 2106).
Analysis
Step 1 (Statutory Categories) – 2019 PEG pg. 53 (See MPEP 2106.03)
Claims 1-20 are directed to the statutory category of a process, machine, or manufacture.
Step 2A, Prong 1 (Do the claims recite an abstract idea?) – 2019 PEG pg. 54 (See MPEP 2106.04(a)-(c))
For independent claims 1, 11, and 16, the claims recite an abstract idea of: calculating collision probabilities. The steps of independent claim 11 recite the abstract idea (in bold below) of: A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory includes a computer program product configured to perform operations for implementing an intelligent vehicle-collision simulation sandbox, the operations comprising: generating a current vehicle-collision-simulation sandbox comprising a current vehicle and at least one surrounding object; forming a single-object slice sandbox for the at least one surrounding object comprising an initial single-object slice for the at least one surrounding object based on the current vehicle-collision-simulation sandbox; generating multiple sequences of single-object slices for the at least one surrounding object to collide with the current vehicle based on the initial single-object slice for the at least one surrounding object; calculating, for each of the multiple sequences, a corresponding collision probability of the at least one surrounding object colliding with the current vehicle; generating a representative displacement trajectory of the at least one surrounding object with the current vehicle based on the multiple sequences; and displaying the corresponding calculated collision probabilities and the representative displacement trajectory of the at least one surrounding object to a user of the current vehicle. Independent claims 1 and 16 recite similar steps that recite the abstract idea. Independent claims 1, 11, and 16, as drafted, are a process that, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, covers Mental Processes, since they recite limitations that can practically be performed in the human mind, such as, observations, evaluations, judgments, and opinions. If the claim limitations, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, covers mental processes but for the recitation of additional elements including generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Other than reciting the abstract idea, the independent claims recite additional elements including generic computer components such as “a system comprising a processor and memory including computer program product, a vehicle collision simulation sandbox, and a computer program product comprising computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code executable by one or more computer processors”, and nothing in the claims precludes the steps from being performed as a method of organizing human activity. Accordingly, the independent claims recite an abstract idea.
Dependent claims 2-10, and 12-15, and 17-20 recite similar limitations as independent claims 1, 11, and 16; and when analyzed as a whole are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C 101 because the additional recited limitations only refine the abstract idea further. Other than reciting the abstract idea, the dependent claims recite similar additional elements including generic computer components as the independent claims, such as “the vehicle-collision-simulation sandbox, the system, a single-object-displacement sequence generator, and the computer program product”. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers commercial or legal interactions, but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas.
Step 2A, Prong 2 (Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application?) – 2019 PEG pg. 54 (See MPEP 2106.04(d)-(c))
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, independent claims 1, 11, and 16 only recite the additional elements of “a system comprising a processor and memory including computer program product, a vehicle collision simulation sandbox, and a computer program product comprising computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code executable by one or more computer processors”. A plain reading of the Figures and associated descriptions in the specification reveals that generic processors may be used to execute the claimed steps. The additional elements are recited at a high level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing generic computer functions) such that it amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (See MPEP 2106.05(f)) and limits the judicial exception to a particular environment (See MPEP 2106.05(h)). Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component and limiting the judicial exception to a particular environment doesn’t integrate the abstract idea into a practical application in Step 2A. 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. Hence, independent claims 1, 11, and 16 are directed to an abstract idea.
Dependent claims 2-10, and 12-15, and 17-20, recite similar additional elements as the independent claims including generic computer components, such as “the vehicle-collision-simulation sandbox, the system, a single-object-displacement sequence generator, and the computer program product”. The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional elements in the dependent claims are also recited at a high-level of generality such that it amounts to more no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Therefore, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they also do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Also, the claims do not affect an improvement to another technology or technical field; the claims do not amount to an improvement of the functioning of a computer system itself; the claims do not effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing; and the claims do not move beyond a general link of the use of an abstract idea to a particular technological environment.
Step 2B (Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception?) – 2019 PEG pg. 56 (See MPEP 2106.05)
Independent claims 1, 11, and 16 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 recited additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component (See MPEP 2106.05(f)) and limits the judicial exception to the particular environment of computers (See MPEP 2106.05(h)). The additional elements of the instant underlying process, when taken in combination, together do not offer substantially more than the sum of the function of the elements when each is taken alone. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept in Step 2B.
In addition, the dependent claims 2-10, and 12-15, and 17-20 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 elements of the dependent claims to perform the claimed limitations, amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component (See MPEP 2106.05(f)). Similar to the independent claims, mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. Also, for the same reasoning as the independent claims, the additional elements of the limitations of the dependent claims, when considered individually and as an ordered combination, together do not offer significantly more than the sum of the functions of the elements when each is taken alone and the dependent claims as a whole, do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. For these reasons, the dependent claims also are not patent eligible.
Subject Matter Overcoming 35 USC §102/§103
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101 set forth in this Office Action.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for subject matter of independent clams 1, 11, and 16 overcoming the prior art rejections under 35 USC §102/§103.
The closest prior art of record is US 12415545 to Gupta et al. (hereinafter referred to as Gupta), US 20230003533 to Ma et al. (hereinafter referred to as Ma), CN 109342765B to Yang (hereinafter referred to as Yang), JP 2016051465 to Sven et al. (hereinafter referred to as Sven et al.), and US 9566981 to Rebhan (hereinafter referred to as Rebhan). Allowable subject matter is indicated because none of the prior art of record, alone or in combination, appears to teach or fairly suggest or render obvious the combination set forth in independent claims 1, 11, and 16. For independent claim 11, the prior art of Gupta, Ma, Yang, Sven, and Rebhan specifically do not disclose: “generating a current vehicle-collision-simulation sandbox comprising a current vehicle and at least one surrounding object; forming a single-object slice sandbox for the at least one surrounding object comprising an initial single-object slice for the at least one surrounding object based on the current vehicle-collision-simulation sandbox; generating multiple sequences of single-object slices for the at least one surrounding object to collide with the current vehicle based on the initial single-object slice for the at least one surrounding object; calculating, for each of the multiple sequences, a corresponding collision probability of the at least one surrounding object colliding with the current vehicle; generating a representative displacement trajectory of the at least one surrounding object with the current vehicle based on the multiple sequences; and displaying the corresponding calculated collision probabilities and the representative displacement trajectory of the at least one surrounding object to a user of the current vehicle”. Similar reasoning and rationale apply to the other independent claims 1 and 16. Dependent claims 2-10, and 12-15, and 17-20 are allowable over the prior art by virtue of their dependency on an allowed claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gupta et al. (US 12415545) teaches methods and systems for collision control of moving vehicles surrounded by vehicles.
Ma et al. (US 20230003533) teaches fast collision free path generation by connecting c-slices through cell decomposition
Yang (CN 109342765B) teaches vehicle collision detection method comprising intercepting a time slice from time sequence data acquired by a sensor mounted on a vehicle.
Rebhan et al. (US 9566981) teaches a method and system for collision prediction using slices of output prediction information.
Caldwell et al. (US 20240092398) teaches techniques for determining a vehicle trajectory using a decision tree that causes a vehicle to navigate in an environment relative to one or more objects.
Sven et al. (JP 2016051465) teaches a predictive emergency automated driver assistance system (ADAS) configured to predict a trajectory of another traffic object to avoid a collision by generating discrete time-series fragments (slices) of the output prediction information.
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/PAUL S SCHWARZENBERG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3695 6/12/2026
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