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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
DETAILED ACTION
Claims status
Claims 1-21, 29, 31, 45 and 48 are pending as the applicant filed Preliminary Amendment on 03/11/2024.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
2. 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 1-21, 29, 31, 45 and 48 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.
Regarding claims 1-21, 29, 31, 45 and 48, the terms “bulk soil” “initial dataset” “minimum number of measurement” “minimum uncertainty” “actually“ “artificially increasing“ “a target uncertainty” are vague and a relative term that renders the claim indefinite. The terms “bulk soil” “initial dataset” “minimum number of measurement” “minimum uncertainty” “actually“ “artificially increasing“ “a target uncertainty” are not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably appraised of the scope of the invention. An artisan doing measuring and testing would not know at what point “bulk soil” “initial dataset” “minimum number of measurement” “minimum uncertainty” “actually“ “artificially increasing“ “a target uncertainty” within the scope of the claim had been accomplished because nothing within the disclosure establishes when a sufficient “bulk soil” “initial dataset” “minimum number of measurement” “minimum uncertainty” “actually“ “artificially increasing“ “a target uncertainty”
occur.
Note: In view of the PTO compact prosecution, the Examiner notes that due to the indefiniteness issues described above all consideration of the merits of the claims in view of prior art is as best understood.
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 1-21, 29, 31, 45 and 48 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.
Claim 1, Step 1 the claim is a process (or machine) (Yes),
Step 2A Prong One, does the claim recite an abstract idea? current claim related to a method of determining bulk soil carbon content in a geographic region, the method comprising: obtaining an initial dataset including at least one soil property related to bulk soil carbon content for the geographic region appears is an abstract idea of mental process (MPEP 2106.04(a)) or data gathering equivalent to mathematical concept or mathematical manipulation function (MPEP 2106.04 (a) (2) (concept need not be expressed in mathematical symbols, because "[w]ords used in a claim operating on data to solve a problem can serve the same purpose as a formula), (OR Mathematical Concepts and Mental Processes) Step 2A Prong One: Yes.
Step 2A Prong Two, is the claim directed to an abstract idea? In other words, does claim recite additional elements that integrate the Judicial Exception into a practical application? the additional elements of clustering a plurality of tiles corresponding to subdivided portions of the geographic region based at least in part on the at least one soil property to form strata are recited at a high level of generality and merely amount to a particular field of use (see MPEP 2106.05(h)) and/or insignificant post-solution activity (MPEP 2106.05(g)), this does not integrate the Judicial Exception into a practical application,
Step 2A Prong Two: NO.
Step 2B, Does the claim recite additional element that amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception? the additional elements of determining measurement locations within the strata to be sampled to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region appears to be field of use (See MPEP 2106.05(h) and MPEP 2106.05(f)) and/or merely amounts to insignificant extra-solution output of the results (see MPEP 2106.05(g)) and therefore fails to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or amount to significantly more. Step 2B: No. claim 1 not eligible.
Claim 16, Step 1 the claim is a process (or machine) (Yes),
Step 2A Prong One, does the claim recite an abstract idea? current claim related to a soil measurement planning system comprising: a processor configured to: obtain an initial dataset including at least one soil property related to bulk soil carbon content for the geographic region appears is an abstract idea of mental process (MPEP 2106.04(a)) or data gathering equivalent to mathematical concept or mathematical manipulation function (MPEP 2106.04 (a) (2) (concept need not be expressed in mathematical symbols, because "[w]ords used in a claim operating on data to solve a problem can serve the same purpose as a formula), (OR Mathematical Concepts and Mental Processes) Step 2A Prong One: Yes.
Step 2A Prong Two, is the claim directed to an abstract idea? In other words, does claim recite additional elements that integrate the Judicial Exception into a practical application? the additional elements of cluster a plurality of tiles corresponding to subdivided portions of the geographic region based at least in part on the at least one soil property to form strata are recited at a high level of generality and merely amount to a particular field of use (see MPEP 2106.05(h)) and/or insignificant post-solution activity (MPEP 2106.05(g)), this does not integrate the Judicial Exception into a practical application,
Step 2A Prong Two: NO.
Step 2B, Does the claim recite additional element that amount to significantly more than the Judicial exception? the additional elements of determine measurement locations within the strata to be sampled to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region appears to be field of use (See MPEP 2106.05(h) and MPEP 2106.05(f)) and/or merely amounts to insignificant extra-solution output of the results (see MPEP 2106.05(g)) and therefore fails to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or amount to significantly more. Step 2B: No. claim 16 not eligible.
Claim 2 related to actually determining the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 2 not eligible.
Claim 3 related to outputting the measurement locations to a user, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 3 not eligible.
Claim 4 related to storing the measurement locations on non-transitory computer readable memory, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 4 not eligible.
Claim 5 related to obtaining a target uncertainty for bulk soil carbon content; performing the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata, wherein each group includes a different number of strata; and for each group of strata, determining a minimum number of measurement locations to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region with an uncertainty within the target uncertainty; and identifying the group of strata with a smallest minimum number of measurement locations; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 5 not eligible.
Claim 6 related to obtaining a target number measurement locations; performing the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata, wherein each group includes a different number of strata; for each group of strata, determining a minimum uncertainty with which the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region can be determined using the target number of measurement locations; and identifying the group of strata with a smallest minimum uncertainty; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 6 not eligible.
Claim 7 related to using a Neyman allocation to identify an allocation of measurement locations between the strata, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 7 not eligible.
Claim 8 related to measuring bulk soil carbon content at one or more measurement locations of the set of measurement locations, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 8 not eligible.
Claim 9 related to determining values of the soil property for the plurality of tiles by determining a statistical distribution of the soil property from the dataset and randomly assigning the values of the soil property to the tiles based on the statistical distribution of the soil property, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 9 not eligible.
Claim 10 related to artificially increasing variance of the statistical distribution prior to assigning the values of the soil properties of the tiles, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 10 not eligible.
Claim 11 related to wherein the plurality of tiles is a first plurality of tiles, and the initial dataset includes the at least one soil property for a second plurality of tiles corresponding to subdivided portions of the geographic region, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 11 not eligible.
Claim 12 related to mapping the second plurality of tiles onto the first plurality of tiles, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 12 not eligible.
Claim 13 related to wherein the random assignment of values of the soil property to a tile of the first plurality of tiles is based on a statistical distribution of the soil property determined from one or more tiles of the second plurality of tiles that overlaps the tile of the first plurality, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 13 not eligible.
Claim 14 related to wherein the first plurality of tiles is a subdivision of the second plurality of tiles, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 14 not eligible.
Claim 15 related to wherein determining measurement locations within the strata includes determining measurement locations within each stratum of the strata, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 15 not eligible.
Claim 17 related to configured to output the measurement locations to a user, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 17 not eligible.
Claim 18 related to configured to store the sampling plan on non-transitory computer readable memory, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 18 not eligible.
Claim 19 related to :obtain a target uncertainty for bulk soil carbon content; perform the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata, wherein each group includes a different number of strata; for each group of strata, determine a minimum number of measurement locations to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region with a uncertainty within the target uncertainty; and identify the group of strata with the smallest minimum number of measurement locations; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 19 not eligible.
Claim 20 related to obtain a target number measurement locations; perform the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata, wherein each group includes a different number of strata; for each group of strata, determine a minimum uncertainty with which the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region can be determined using the target number of measurement locations; and identify a group of strata with the smallest minimum uncertainty; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 20 not eligible.
Claim 21 related to configured to use a Neyman allocation to identify an allocation of measurement locations between the strata, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 21 not eligible.
Claim 29 related to wherein the bulk soil carbon content is a bulk soil carbon density or a total soil carbon content, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 29 not eligible.
Claim 31 related to downloading the initial dataset from a remotely located server, recalling the initial dataset from non- transitory computer readable memory, or collecting and storing the initial dataset from preliminary measurements of the geographic region, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 31 not eligible.
Claim 45 related to wherein the set of measurement locations does not include measurement locations within a buffer zone extending around an outer boundary of the geographic region, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 45 not eligible.
Claim 48 related to non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform, its recites further data characterization and mathematical concepts that are part of the abstract idea, claim 48 not eligible.
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.
Claim(s) 1-21, 29, 31, 45 and 48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by . Segal et al. (US Patent 2022/0365061 A1, Date Published: Nov. 17, 2022)
Regarding claim 1:
Segal described a method of determining bulk soil carbon content in a geographic region, the method comprising (0004, amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) are estimated using those soil measurements , a plurality of soil sample locations within a land area are planned to be sampled):
obtaining an initial dataset including at least one soil property related to bulk soil carbon content for the geographic region (0004, soil attributes for at least some of the plurality of soil sample locations are measured);
clustering a plurality of tiles corresponding to subdivided portions of the geographic region based at least in part on the at least one soil property to form strata (0004, estimated is divided into a plurality of pre-strata, and within each pre-stratum a plurality of sample locations are chosen); and
determining measurement locations within the strata to be sampled to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region (0004, The plurality of post-strata are disjoint subsets of the population, using computer models that predict the change in soil organic carbon (SOC) and emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, using the soil measurements as inputs.).
Regarding claim 16:
Segal described a soil measurement planning system comprising (0004, soil measurements): a processor configured to: obtain an initial dataset including at least one soil property related to bulk soil carbon content for the geographic region (0004, soil measurements, by measuring the change in carbon stocks over time or by providing the soil measurement results to computer models that predict emissions using those measurements to initialize the computer models, 0074, Geographic boundarie);
cluster a plurality of tiles corresponding to subdivided portions of the geographic region based at least in part on the at least one soil property to form strata (0004, plurality of post-strata are disjoint subsets of the population); and
determine measurement locations within the strata to be sampled to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region (0004, The plurality of post-strata are disjoint subsets of the population, using computer models that predict the change in soil organic carbon (SOC) and emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, using the soil measurements as inputs.).
. Regarding claim 2, Segal further described actually determining the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region (0005, A total estimated emissions reduction of the population land area is determined based on the plurality of post-strata and the estimated emissions reduction of the land area in the post-strata.).
Regarding claim 3, Segal further described outputting the measurement locations to a user (0004, a plurality of soil sample locations within a land area are planned to be sampled,).
Regarding claim 4, Segal further described comprising storing the measurement locations on non-transitory computer readable memory (0004, soil measurement results to computer models that predict emissions using those measurements to initialize the computer models).
Regarding claim 5, Segal further described obtaining a target uncertainty for bulk soil carbon content; performing the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata (0004, A plurality of post-strata are determined based on the pre-stratum when the indicators of bias are above a predetermined threshold), wherein each group includes a different number of strata; and for each group of strata (0004, The plurality of post-strata are disjoint subsets of the population), determining a minimum number of measurement locations to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region with an uncertainty within the target uncertainty (0099, minimum post-strata sample size.); and identifying the group of strata with a smallest minimum number of measurement locations; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata (0099, a minimum of 25 field selections in each post-stratum.).
Regarding claim 6, Segal further described obtaining a target number measurement locations; performing the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata, wherein each group includes a different number of strata; for each group of strata (0004, A plurality of post-strata are determined based on the pre-stratum when the indicators of bias are above a predetermined threshold), determining a minimum uncertainty with which the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region can be determined using the target number of measurement locations (0099, minimum post-strata sample size.); and identifying the group of strata with a smallest minimum uncertainty; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata (0099, a minimum of 25 field selections in each post-stratum).
Regarding claim 7, Segal further described using a Neyman allocation to identify an allocation of measurement locations between the strata (0297, to optimize model performance).
Regarding claim 8, Segal further described measuring bulk soil carbon content at one or more measurement locations of the set of measurement locations (0298, different location x, y).
Regarding claim 9, Segal further described determining values of the soil property for the plurality of tiles by determining a statistical distribution of the soil property from the dataset and randomly assigning the values of the soil property to the tiles based on the statistical distribution of the soil property (007, value of an attribute among observed sample locations is determined).
Regarding claim 10, Segal further described artificially increasing variance of the statistical distribution prior to assigning the values of the soil properties of the tiles (0222, may be determined manually).
Regarding claim 11, Segal further described wherein the plurality of tiles is a first plurality of tiles, and the initial dataset includes the at least one soil property for a second plurality of tiles corresponding to subdivided portions of the geographic region (0082, section titled Statistical adjustment methods using predictions from Bayesian calibrated models).
Regarding claim 12, Segal further described mapping the second plurality of tiles onto the first plurality of tiles (0111, Maps showing the boundaries of all post-strata).
Regarding claim 13, Segal further described wherein the random assignment of values of the soil property to a tile of the first plurality of tiles is based on a statistical distribution of the soil property determined from one or more tiles of the second plurality of tiles that overlaps the tile of the first plurality (0119, the second stage a simple random sample with replacement).
Regarding claim 14, Segal further described wherein the first plurality of tiles is a subdivision of the second plurality of tiles (0126, division by n.sub.h is not necessary).
Regarding claim 15, Segal further described wherein determining measurement locations within the strata includes determining measurement locations within each stratum of the strata (0260, In some large projects with multiple strata, for example, any data processing or data analysis will have to be done using a computing node. In various embodiments, for a typical project, the monitoring of soil carbon stocks may require hundreds or thousands).
Regarding claim 17, Segal further described configured to output the measurement locations to a user (0004, a plurality of soil sample locations within a land area are planned to be sampled,).
Regarding claim 18, Segal further described configured to store the sampling plan on non-transitory computer readable memory (0004, soil measurement results to computer models that predict emissions using those measurements to initialize the computer models).
Regarding claim 19, Segal further described obtain a target uncertainty for bulk soil carbon content; perform the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata (0004, A plurality of post-strata are determined based on the pre-stratum when the indicators of bias are above a predetermined threshold), wherein each group includes a different number of strata (0004, The plurality of post-strata are disjoint subsets of the population); for each group of strata, determine a minimum number of measurement locations to determine the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region with a uncertainty within the target uncertainty (0099, minimum post-strata sample size.); and identify the group of strata with the smallest minimum number of measurement locations; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata (0099, a minimum of 25 field selections in each post-stratum.).
Regarding claim 20, Segal further described obtaining a target number measurement locations; performing the clustering step for a range of different numbers of strata to generate a plurality of groups of strata, wherein each group includes a different number of strata; for each group of strata (0004, A plurality of post-strata are determined based on the pre-stratum when the indicators of bias are above a predetermined threshold), determining a minimum uncertainty with which the bulk soil carbon content of the geographic region can be determined using the target number of measurement locations (0099, minimum post-strata sample size.); and identifying the group of strata with a smallest minimum uncertainty; wherein determining the measurement locations includes determining the measurement locations within the strata of the identified group of strata (0099, a minimum of 25 field selections in each post-stratum).
Regarding claim 21, Segal further described further configured to use a Neyman allocation to identify an allocation of measurement locations between the strata (0297, to optimize model performance).
Regarding claim 29, Segal further described wherein the bulk soil carbon content is a bulk soil carbon density (0263, bulk density,) or a total soil carbon content.
Regarding claim 31, Segal further described downloading the initial dataset from a remotely located server, recalling the initial dataset from non- transitory computer readable memory, or collecting and storing the initial dataset from preliminary measurements of the geographic region (0162, initial soil organic carbon concentration (% SOC)).
Regarding claim 45, Segal further described wherein the set of measurement locations does not include measurement locations within a buffer zone extending around an outer boundary of the geographic region (0227, buffer pool contribution may (or not) be applied based on regulatory standards.).
Regarding claim 48, Segal further described non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method (0244, use computer system/server).
Contact information
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tung Lau whose telephone number is (571)272-2274, email is Tungs.lau@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Tuesday-Friday 7:00 AM-5:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, TURNER SHELBY, can be reached on 571-272-6334. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TUNG S LAU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
Technology Center 2800
June 16, 2026
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