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 .
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 1 recites a calculation step of calculating a phase change at each of points on a medium from a phase of a reflected signal generated by a pulse signal transmitted to the medium, at each of predetermined times; a phase connection step of performing phase connection processing, at each of the predetermined times, on the phase change at each of the points calculated in the calculation step; and a correction step of detecting an outlier using a phase change at each of the points at the same time at which the phase connection processing is performed in the phase connection step, and correcting the outlier, at each of the predetermined times which falls into the abstract idea grouping of mathematical concepts. Applicant’s filed specification, specifically paragraph [0060] recites the mathematical expression employed in the calculation step of calculating a phase change at each of points on a medium; paragraph [0067] details the calculative step when preforming the phase connection step; and, lastly, paragraphs [0073-0077] which details the statistical approach to the correction steps. Therefore, based on applicant’s filed specification, the examiner concluded the identified abstract idea falls into the abstract idea grouping of mathematical concepts.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because a medium merely links the abstract idea to a field of use; as neither the performance or result of the abstract improves or betters the medium. MPEP 2106.05(h)
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional element of the medium does not meaningfully limit the claim.
Claim 2 further defines the abstract idea falling into the abstract idea grouping of mathematical concepts without providing significantly more or integrating the abstract idea into a practical application; as the claim describes the calculative process in the phase connection step.
Claim 3 further defines the abstract idea falling into the abstract idea grouping of mathematical concepts, as a Hampel identifier process is a statistical method used to find and clean outliers in a data set. Therefore, the claim fails to provide significantly more or integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Claim 4 recites before the calculation step, a reference calculation step of calculating, for each of the points, a phase difference between two points, which are the point and a point a predetermined distance away from the point, as a reference phase difference, wherein in the calculation step, the phase difference between the two points is calculated for each of the points, and the phase change is calculated by subtracting the reference phase difference from the calculated phase difference which further defines the abstract idea falling into the abstract idea grouping of mathematical concepts without providing significantly more or integrating the abstract idea into a practical application.
Claim 5 further defines the additional element medium as being “an optical fiber, the pulse signal is an optical pulse signal, and the reflected signal is backscattered light originating from Rayleigh scattering in the optical fiber”. The additional recitation further defining the medium merely links the abstract idea to a field of use, as neither the result or performance of the abstract improves the optical fiber. Therefore, the claim fails to provide significantly more or integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. MPEP 2106.05(h)
Claim 6 recites calculates a phase change at each of points on a medium from a phase of a reflected signal generated by a pulse signal transmitted to the medium, at each of predetermined times; preforms phase connection processing, at each of the predetermined times, on the phase change at each of the points calculated in the calculation step; and detects an outlier using a phase change at each of the points at the same time at which the phase connection processing is performed in the phase connection step, and corrects the outlier, at each of the predetermined times which falls into the abstract idea grouping of mathematical concepts. Applicant’s filed specification, specifically paragraph [0060] recites the mathematical expression employed in the calculation step of calculating a phase change at each of points on a medium; paragraph [0067] details the calculative step when preforming the phase connection step; and, lastly, paragraphs [0073-0077] which details the statistical approach to the correction steps. Therefore, based on applicant’s filed specification, the examiner concluded the identified abstract idea falls into the abstract idea grouping of mathematical concepts.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because a medium merely links the abstract idea to a field of use; as neither the performance or result of the abstract improves or betters the medium. MPEP 2106.05(h)
Further, the various recited “units” merely read as generic computer elements tasked as tools to perform the identified abstract idea; as these generic computer elements are neither improved or bettered by the operation or result of the abstract idea. MPEP 2106.05(a)
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional element of the medium does not meaningfully limit the claim. Further, the units are merely acting as tools to perform the abstract. Therefore, neither in combination or alone, do the additional element amount to significantly more.
Claim 7 recites the additional elements of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for being implemented on a computer as the signal processing device. These additional elements amount to mere tools tasked to perform the identified abstract ideas without providing significantly more or integrating the abstract idea into a practical application. MPEP 2106.05(a)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 and 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoshifumi et al. (Frequency-division-multiplex techniques enabling both sampling rate enhancement and fading noise reduction in phase-OTDR vibration sensing).
With respect to claim 1, Yoshifumi et al. teaches a signal processing method comprising: a calculation step of calculating a phase change (as Yoshifuni et al. teaches using (2) on page 2, line 9) at each of points on a medium (i.e. optical fibre cable; 1. Background and objective) from a phase (as read in 2. Principle) of a reflected signal generated by a pulse signal (i.e. a pulse train) transmitted to the medium (optical fibre cable), at each of predetermined times; a phase connection step of performing phase connection processing, at each of the predetermined times, on the phase change at each of the points calculated in the calculation step (as Yoshifumi teaches on page 2 calculating the true phase change øvib from the time nt to nΔt from the new øi and ø(i’,i); and a correction step of detecting an outlier (i.e. a distortion term) using a phase change at each of the points at the same time at which the phase connection processing is performed in the phase connection step (via the time-averaging methods), and correcting the outlier, at each of the predetermined times (via the double averaging method to the frequency-averaged vectors).
With respect to claim 5, Yoshifumi et al. teaches the signal processing method wherein the medium is an optical fiber (as read in 1. Background and objectives section, page 1), the pulse signal is an optical pulse signal (i.e. n optical frequency-multiplexed pulse train; 1. Background and objectives section, page 1), and the reflected signal is backscattered light originating from Rayleigh scattering in the optical fiber (as the abstract describes "phase OTDR," which relies entirely on the Rayleigh backscattered light in the optical fiber to detect distributed vibrations and acoustic signals).
With respect to claim 5, Yoshifumi et al. teaches a signal processing device (as indirectly implied) comprising: a calculation unit (i.e. as indirectly implied) that calculates a phase change (as Yoshifumi et al. teaches using (2) on page 2, line 9) at each of points on a medium (i.e. optical fibre cable; 1. Background and objective) from a phase (as read in 2. Principle) of a reflected signal generated by a pulse signal (i.e. a pulse train) transmitted to the medium (optical fibre cable), at each of predetermined times; a phase connection unit (i.e. as indirectly implied) that preforms phase connection processing, at each of the predetermined times, on the phase change at each of the points calculated in the calculation step (as Yoshifumi teaches on page 2 calculating the true phase change øvib from the time nt to nΔt from the new øi and ø(i’,i); and a correction unit (as indirectly implied) that detects an outlier (i.e. a distortion term) using a phase change at each of the points at the same time at which the phase connection processing is performed in the phase connection step (via the time-averaging methods), and corrects the outlier, at each of the predetermined times (via the double averaging method to the frequency-averaged vectors).
With respect to claim 6, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (as indirectly taught for) storing a program (which preforms the algorithmic process disclosed in Yoshifumi et al.) for being implemented on a computer (as indirectly taught) as the signal processing device according to rejected claim 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cyr et al. (2014/0071436) which teaches an optical path determined from a predetermined function of the mean-square of a plurality of differences between polarization-analyzed optical power parameters corresponding to pairs of wavelengths mutually spaced about a midpoint wavelength by a small optical frequency difference.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW G MARINI whose telephone number is (571)272-2676. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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/MATTHEW G MARINI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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