DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action (Notice of Allowance, mailed on April 2, 2026) has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Status of the Claims
3. This action is responsive to the following communication: an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed with a Request for Continued Examination (RCE), on May 28, 2026. Claims 1-17 are pending in the case; Claims 1 and 17 are independent claims. This action is made non-final.
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
4. The IDS submitted on May 28, 2026 was filed with an accompanying RCE. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to the IDS filed on May 28, 20206
5. The IDS filed on May 28, 2026 included the Extended European Search Report for EP App. No. 22833783.8; upon further consideration of that submission, Examiner is making 35 U.S.C. § 112 rejections, as further discussed below. Accordingly, this action is made non-final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
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.
6. Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement.
Independent Claim 1 (and similarly, independent Claim 17) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 1 recites “pre-processing the graph to produce a planar graph comprising a plurality of polygons; grouping the plurality of polygons to form a plurality of geofences, each of the plurality of geofences comprising a number of point of interests (POIs) which is within a pre-determined POI range, and each of the plurality of geofences having a road traversal length that is within a pre-determined length range,” but it is not clear what the intended interpretation is for “polygons” and “road traversal length,” as recited in the claim and as supported by the instant Specification. The instant Specification (as published in US 2024/0373232 A1) states that “a polygon may mean a closed polygonal chain (or polygonal circuit) formed by connecting a finite number of straight line segments, … [but] may also mean a closed circuit which has a zero area” (see Fig. 3, ¶¶ 0054, 0064), thus it would not appear that a skilled artisan would be able to determine how to properly interpret a “polygon” as recited in the claim. With respect to “a geofence having a road traversal length,” the instant Specification (¶ 0078) states that “A set of closed paths Φ may be generated by repeating traversing all edges of a plurality of polygons in the planar graph from both directions,” but it is not clear if this refers to a sum of all edges within a geofence, or the distance covered when actually traveling/traversing, such as vising a link/edge multiple times Dependent claims do not appear to cure the above-noted deficiencies of Claim 1, thus they are also rejected under the same rationale.
7. Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor regards as the invention.
Independent Claim 1 (and similarly, independent Claim 17) recites “pre-processing the graph to produce a planar graph comprising a plurality of polygons; grouping the plurality of polygons to form a plurality of geofences, each of the plurality of geofences comprising a number of point of interests (POIs) which is within a pre-determined POI range, and each of the plurality of geofences having a road traversal length that is within a pre-determined length range,” but it is not clear how these limitations are to be interpreted (see § 112(a) rejection, above). Dependent claims do not appear to cure the above-noted deficiencies of Claim 1, thus they are also rejected under the same rationale.
Potential Allowable Subject Matter
8. As indicated in the previous Office Action, the pending claims are not rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102 or § 103, and would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112 as set forth in this Office Action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DINO KUJUNDZIC whose telephone number is (571)270-5188. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am - 5pm.
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/DINO KUJUNDZIC/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3658
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