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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
This office acknowledges receipt of the following item(s) from the applicant:
Information Disclosure Statement(s) (IDS) filed on 04 March 2024 and 10 January 2025. The references have been considered.
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 11 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim is drawn to a "recording medium storing a program". The specification does not explicitly exclude the claimed invention being a signal per se. (see the 112 rejection below as it is not clear and apparent to the Examiner that there is support of non-transitory portion of the claim) The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer program product covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media, particularly when the specification is silent (see MPEP 2111.01). It is not explicitly evident from the specification that the computer program product is non-transitory as it does not appear to be limited to non-transitory tangible media. Because the broadest reasonable interpretation covers a signal per se, a rejection under 35 USC 101 is appropriate as covering non-statutory subject matter. See 351 OG 212, Feb 23 2010.
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 the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
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 of carrying out his invention.
Claims 11 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) 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, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The limitation “non-transitory recording medium” added in the preliminary amendment is not supported by the specification and is therefore considered to be new matter. The specification does not limit the type of medium that can be used and the term non-transitory is never used, therefore the term is considered to be new matter. The claim could possibly be corrected by referring to the storage device 905 that is implicitly non-transitory.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 9, 10, 11, 16 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seko et al. (Seko, JP2021174013) in view of Zenichi et al. (Zenichi, JP2018205006) and Seong et al. (Seong, KR20160114871).
Referring to Claim 1, Seko teaches a memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform ([0090]): acquiring measurement data of a displacement amount of an earth's surface ([0012]), and acquire information indicating a feature of the earth's surface at a point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured; classifying ([0079]) the feature of the earth's surface at the point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured based on the information indicating the feature of the earth's surface; and displaying (Fig. 1 #7 and associated text) the displacement amount of the earth's surface together with map data; see [0011-0088], but does not explicitly disclose nor limit measured based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observation data or displaying a symbol representing a classification of the feature of the earth's surface linked to the measurement data.
However, Seko teaches the use of a Radar Distance Measurement Device but is silent to the type or the use of an SAR. Zenichi teaches the use of SAR measurements for ground movement observations; [0019].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seko with the SAR as taught by Zenichi as SAR has been shown to predictably reduce noise errors from the measurements.
Further, Seong teaches displaying a symbol representing a classification of the feature of the earth's surface linked to the measurement data; (see S170 and “…the disaster information map standard model generation system further checks other disaster information in the evacuation area determined from the plurality of disaster information maps, and matches other disaster information symbols to the location corresponding to the other disaster information in the disaster area (S170).”)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seko as modified by Zenichi with the display symbols as taught by Seong so as a way to predictably enhance the visibility, usability, and information accessibility of disaster information by unifying the range, layout, and symbols of the disaster information.
Referring to Claims 5, 16 and 20, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform: displaying a symbol representing the feature of the earth's surface together with the map data; See citation of Seong above.
Referring to Claim 9, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to perform: measuring the displacement amount of the earth's surface based on the SAR observation data, acquiring the measurement data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface from the measurement means; see citations of Zenichi.
Referring to Claim 10, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach acquiring measurement data of a displacement amount of an earth's surface measured based on SAR observation data, and acquiring information indicating a feature of the earth's surface at a point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured; classifying the feature of the earth's surface at the point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured based on the information indicating the feature of the earth's surface; and displaying a symbol representing a classification of the feature of the earth's surface linked to the measurement data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface together with map data; see the citations and rationale of Claim 1 as this claim is the method equivalent.
Referring to Claim 11, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach non-transitory recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform: acquiring measurement data of a displacement amount of an earth's surface measured based on SAR observation data, and acquiring information indicating a feature of the earth's surface at a point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured; classifying the feature of the earth's surface at the point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured based on the information indicating the feature of the earth's surface; and displaying a symbol representing a classification of the feature of the earth's surface linked to the measurement data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface together with map data; see the citations and rationale of Claim 1 as this claim is the method equivalent.
Claim(s) 2, 13 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong as applied to claims 1, 10 and 11 above, and further in view of Tian et al. (Tian, CN110208879).
Referring to Claims 2, 13 and 17, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions, but does not explicitly disclose nor limit it from being able to perform: acquiring information indicating a magnitude of relevance between time-series data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface and time-series data of a temperature at the point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured.
However, Tian teaches acquiring information indicating a magnitude of relevance between time-series data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface and time-series data of a temperature at the point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured; [0037-0062].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong with the time-series data as taught by Tian so as to accurately predict ground displacement in areas with temperature swings.
Claim(s) 3, 14 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong as applied to claims 1, 10 and 11 above, and further in view of Gao et al. (Gao, CN113281742).
Referring to Claims 3, 14, and 18, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions, but does not explicitly disclose nor limit it from being able to perform: acquiring information indicating a magnitude of relevance between time-series observation data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface and time-series data of a precipitation amount at the point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured.
However, Gao teaches acquiring information indicating a magnitude of relevance between time-series observation data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface and time-series data of a precipitation amount at the point where the displacement amount of the earth's surface is measured; [0047-0057].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong with the precipitation observation as taught by Gao so as to predictably monitor the rainfall threshold that would trigger a landslide.
Claim(s) 4, 15 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong as applied to claims 1, 10 and 11 above, and further in view of He et al. (He, CN113251914).
Referring to Claims 4, 15 and 19, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions, but does not explicitly disclose nor limit it from being able to perform: acquiring information indicating a difference between the measurement data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface and prediction data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface.
However, He teaches acquiring information indicating a difference between the measurement data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface and prediction data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface; [0024-0033] note that the paragraphs in the machine translation are slightly jumbled.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong as taught by He so as to predictably determine the timing of a future ground deformation using SAR technology.
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong as applied to claims 1, 10 and 11 above, and further in view of Hiroshi et al. (Hiroshi, JP2015108888).
Referring to Claim 6, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong teach the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions, but does not explicitly disclose nor limit it from being able to perform: causing a user to select one or more conditions associated to the feature of the earth's surface, displaying a symbol representing the feature of the earth's surface associated to the selected condition together with the map data.
However, Hiroshi teaches causing a user to select one or more conditions associated to the feature of the earth's surface, displaying a symbol representing the feature of the earth's surface associated to the selected condition together with the map data; [0022-0072].
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong with the slope monitoring and color designations as taught by Hiroshi so as to predictably monitor and provide collapse risk information based on the change of slope measurement and display highlight risk areas.
Referring to Claim 7, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong and Hiroshi teach displaying multicolored map data indicating a magnitude of the difference between the measurement data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface and the prediction data of the displacement amount of the earth's surface; see citations of Hiroshi.
Referring to Claim 8, Seko as modified by Zenichi and Seong and Hiroshi teach displaying option buttons for switching between a first screen on which the symbol and the map data are displayed and a second screen on which the multicolored map is displayed, and the information providing device further comprises screen switching means configured to perform switching between the first screen and the second screen based on an input operation on the option buttons; this is considered and obvious design choice as it is well known in the art to switch between displays using a button to check information.
Conclusion
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/WHITNEY MOORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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