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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because it fails to be limited to embodiments which fall within a statutory category.
Claim 16 recites, “A computer readable storage medium…stores a computer program…”
Specification (US 18671150), recites, as follows:
Page 10…the storage medium may be a USB flash drive, a removable hard disc, a read-only memory (ROM), a diskette, or a compact disc, and other computer-readable storage media that can store program codes...
Applicant has provided antecedent basis for the claim terminology “computer readable storage medium”. Applicant has provided intrinsic evidence of embodiment for the term as “computer-readable storage media that can store program codes”. Since the applicant fails to inclusively and specifically provide antecedent basis to limit the specific statutory embodiments, “computer readable storage medium” belongs to the intrinsic non-statutory embodiments such as carrier signal, radio wave, light wave, and transmission medium/media.
Note that signal claims are not directed to a process since they do not cover an act or series of acts. No part of the signal is a mechanical “device” or “part”. A propagating electromagnetic signal is not a “machine” as that term is used in § 101. Signals, standing alone, are not “manufacture[s]” under the meaning of that term in § 101. A signal comprising a fluctuation in electric potential or in electromagnetic fields is not a “chemical union,” nor a gas, fluid, power, or solid. Signals are not “composition[s] of matter”. Thus, a transitory, propagating signal is not a “process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter”. Those four categories define the explicit scope and reach of subject matter patentable under 35 U.S.C. § 101; thus, such a signal cannot be patentable subject matter, (see In re Nuijten, 500 F. 3d 1356 n.7 (Fed, Cir 2007).
In view of the above analysis, claim 16 is ineligible for patent protection as failing to be limited to embodiments which fall within a statutory category.
Claims 17-20 are also rejected since they depend on the rejected claim set forth above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-20 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.
Claims 1, 6, and 16 recite the limitation “an initial value and an overflow value of a counter corresponding to each phase in the output phase set” in lines 3-4, 5-6, and 4-5 respectively. It is unclear whether the word “corresponding” means that there is a single initial value, overflow value, and counter corresponding to each phase or there are N single values, overflow values, and counters for N phases. For examining purposes, the examiner will interpret the claims as best understood.
Claims 1, 6, and 16 recite the limitation “each phase value” in lines 13, 15, and 14 respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 2-5, 7-15, and 17-20 is also rejected since they are dependent upon rejected claims 1, 6, and 16 respectively, as set forth above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Al-Stouhi et al. US 2019/0069051 A1 – System and Method for Synchronized Vehicle Sensor Data Acquisition Processing Using Vehicular Communication
Zhang et al. US 2020/00644847 A1 – Trigger Logic to Trigger Sensors of an Autonomous Driving Vehicle for Capturing Data
Pang et al. US 2022/0069818 A1 – Phase Detection Method and Apparatus, Storage Medium and Electronic Apparatus
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN T VAN ROIE whose telephone number is (571)270-0308. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian N Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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