DETAILED ACTION
Non-Final Rejection
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 statement (IDS) submitted on 12/20/2023 and 03/18/2024 were filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. In particular, claims are directed to a judicial exception (abstract idea) without significantly more.
When considering subject matter eligibility launder 35 U.S.C. 101, it must be determined whether the claim is directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention, i.e., process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. If the claim does fall within one of the statutory categories, it must then be determined whether the claim is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., law of nature, natural phenomenon, and abstract idea), and if so, it must additionally be determined whether the claim is a patent-eligible application of the exception. If an abstract idea is present in the claim, any element or combination of elements in the claim must be sufficient to ensure that the claim amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Examples of abstract ideas include mental processes; certain methods of organizing human activities; and mathematical relationships/formulas. Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, et al., 573 U.S. ____ (2014).
Analysis has been updated based on the new 2019 Patent Eligibility Guidance (2019 PEG).
Claims 1, 18-19 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 18 (exemplary) recites a tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein.
The claim is directed to a manufacture, which is a statutory category of invention.
The claim is then analyzed to determine whether it is directed to a judicial exception. The claim recites a manufacture that comprises the limitations of:
accessing a set of nominal shot points corresponding to a set of sources to be used during a portion of the survey;
determining a set of dither values, each dither value in the set specifying a difference between one of the nominal shot points and an actual shot point to be produced by the set of sources during the survey;
wherein determining the set of dither values comprises satisfying one or more constraints chosen from the group consisting of: an absolute dither difference constraint, a non-duplication constraint, and a standard deviation constraint;
wherein each of the one or more constraints is based on differences between dither values corresponding to consecutive ones of the nominal shot points, wherein each such difference comprises a dither difference, such that:
satisfying the absolute dither difference constraint comprises ensuring that each dither difference corresponding to the set of dither values is greater than a threshold dither difference;
satisfying the non-duplication constraint comprises ensuring that, for a given set of discrete ranges of dither difference values, at most a threshold number of dither differences corresponding to the set of dither values falls within any one of the ranges;
satisfying the standard deviation constraint comprises ensuring that the standard deviation of dither differences corresponding to the set of dither values is greater than a threshold standard deviation.
The claimed process simply describes series of steps for a manufacture, based on accessing, determining, and satisfying. These limitations set forth a judicial exception, because this is simply the organization and comparison of data which can be performed with pen and paper and is an idea of itself. These limitations, as drafted, are a manufacture that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitations activities that falls within the enumerated group of “mental processes” in the 2019 PEG.
Next, the claim is analyzed to determine if it is integrated into a practical application. The claim recites additional limitations of using a source, a non-transitory computer-readable medium and a computing device to perform the steps. The computing device in the steps is recited at a high level of generality, i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function of processing data. The computing device is a general-purpose processor (see para [0087, 0088 and 0089] of the specification) that performs general-purpose functions of accessing, determining, and satisfying data. The recitation of the claimed limitations amounts to mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computing device. This generic computing device limitation is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer component. Also, these limitations are an attempt to limit the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim is directed to the abstract idea.
Next, the claim is analyzed to determine if there are additional claim limitations that individually, or as an ordered combination, ensure that the claim amounts to significantly more than the abstract ideas (whether claim provides inventive concept). As discussed above, the recitation of the claimed limitations amounts to mere instructions to implement the abstract idea and have additional elements present in the claims of a source, a non-transitory computer-readable medium and a computing device. These additional limitations of a source, a non-transitory computer-readable medium and a computing device are mere generic implantations of storing and compiling/organizing data which can be performed by pen and paper and falls under enumerated group of “mental processes” and do not transform the claimed subject matter into a patent-eligible application. As such, there is no inventive concept sufficient to transform the claimed subject matter into a patent-eligible application. The same analysis applies here, i.e., mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot integrate a judicial exception into a practical application at or provide an inventive concept.
Viewing the limitations as an ordered combination does not add anything further than looking at the limitations individually. When viewed either individually, or as an ordered combination, the additional limitations do not amount to a claim as a whole that is significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Therefore, the claim does not amount to significantly more than the recited abstract idea. Therefore, the claim is not patent eligible.
The analysis above applies to all statutory categories of invention including claims 1, 18-19 and 21.
Furthermore, the dependent claims 2-17, 20 and 22-29 do not resolve the issues raised in the independent claims. The dependent claims do not add limitations that meaningfully limit the abstract idea. The dependent claims do not impart patent eligibility to the abstract idea of the independent claims. Therefore, none of the dependent claims alone or as an ordered combination add limitations that qualify as integrating the abstract idea into a practical application.
Lastly, dependent claims include the additional elements of geophysical sensors and one sail line however these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application and are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements are simply steps performed by a generic computer of organizing and comparing data as discussed with respect to the independent claims above. The claim merely amounts to the application or instructions to apply the abstract idea.
Accordingly, claims 1-29 are rejected as ineligible for patenting under 35 U.S.C. 101 based upon the same analysis.
The instant claims are rejected under 35 USC 101 in view of The Decision in Alice Corporation Ply. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, et al. in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that the patent claims in Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, el al. ("Alice Corp. ") are not patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Winnett (WO 2016009270 A1), which is directed to determining source activation moments within each of a series of source firing time interval using Golomb ruler sequences or a non-linear inversion.
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/ABDALLAH ABULABAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645