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 .
Claims Status
Claims 1-9 are pending for examination in this Office action.
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 5 recites, in substance, “acquiring geographic location and forest farm information about an area, including characteristics and distribution locations of trees in the area, and arranging monitoring and alarm devices in the area based on the geographic location and the forest farm information”; “inspecting and identifying flammable points and high heat areas in a forest farm to detect burning hazards”; “capturing temperature and humidity data in the forest farm to study and determine fire”; and “acquiring thermal imaging images of a fire scene, analyzing the thermal imaging images to determine a fire spread direction, and determining a burning duration and a final influence range of a fire based on analysis results of the thermal imaging images”.
Under its broadest reasonable interpretation, the claim recites the abstract idea of collecting geographic data about a forest, including type and how far apart the trees are, arranging monitoring and alarm devices based on the collected data, inspect area to determine flammable points, i.e. more density of trees, more leaves debris, fallen trees with dried wood etc., and determining a burning duration and range of influences based on thermal image analysis, which is a form of mathematical concepts and/or certain method of organizing human activity involving data collection, analysis, and reporting. See MPEP §§ 2106.04(a), 2106.04(d); Electric Power Group, LLC v. Alstom S.A., 830 F.3d 1350 (Fed. Cir. 2016).
The additional elements, including “acquiring thermal imaging images of a fire scene, analyzing the thermal imaging images to determine a fire spread direction, and determining a burning duration and a final influence range of a fire based on analysis results of the thermal imaging images” are recited at a high level of generality and merely use generic technology as tools to perform the abstract idea, rather than improving the functioning of warning and monitoring method for forest fire prevention since no specific indication the analysis and determination technique(s) being used, and therefore do not integrate the exception into a practical application. See MPEP §§ 2106.05(a)–(c), (e), (h). Further, the additional elements, individually and as an ordered combination, amount only to well-understood, routine, and conventional activities such as gathering data, analyzing data and outputting result(s) based in the gathered data, as reflected in the specification, and thus do not provide an inventive concept sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. See MPEP § 2106.05(d).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4 are allowable over prior art.
Claims 6-9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUHAMMAD ADNAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3705. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 10AM-6PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Lim can be reached at 571-270-1210. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MUHAMMAD ADNAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2688
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