Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/779,995

LEARNING ROAD CONDITION REPRESENTATION FOR ACTIVE ROAD NOISE CANCELLATION

Non-Final OA §101
Filed
Jul 22, 2024
Examiner
CHIN, VIVIAN C
Art Unit
2695
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Analog Devices, Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
6%
Grant Probability
At Risk
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 1m
To Grant
18%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants only 6% of cases
6%
Career Allow Rate
4 granted / 65 resolved
-55.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+11.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 1m
Avg Prosecution
14 currently pending
Career history
79
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.8%
-35.2% vs TC avg
§103
47.6%
+7.6% vs TC avg
§102
28.6%
-11.4% vs TC avg
§112
15.6%
-24.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 65 resolved cases

Office Action

§101
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 . Status of Claims Claims 1-21 are pending. 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 17-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Claims 17-21 are not to a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. In the state of the art, transitory signals are commonplace as a medium for transmitting computer instructions and thus, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary and given a broadest reasonable interpretation, the scope of a “machine-readable storage medium” covers transitory machine-readable medium such as a signal per se. A transitory signal does not fall within the definition of a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matters. The phrase “a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium” is suggested. Reasons for Allowable Subject Matter Regarding claim 1, none of the closest prior art of record, alone or in combination , teaches a method to provide active noise cancellation, the method comprising a step of “receiving a set of reference signals representing a current reference condition for a vehicle, the set of reference signals being defined in m dimension” in combination with the steps of “compressing the set of reference signals to a latent space vector being defined in n dimensions, wherein m is greater than n; matching the latent space vector to a cluster group stored in a database, the cluster group representing a previously encountered reference condition; retrieving configuration properties associated with the matched cluster group; and generating an anti-noise signal based on the retrieved configuration properties”. Independent claim 9 recites a system performs similar steps as recited in method claim 1 and thus is allowable for the similar reasons as those of method claim 1. Dependent claims 2-8 and 10-16 are allowable for at least the same reasons as their base claims 1 and 9 respectively due to virtue of their dependencies. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Supervisory Patent Examiner VIVIAN CHIN whose telephone number is (571)272-7848. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9am--5pm. 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. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /VIVIAN C CHIN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 22, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 14, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §101 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12512084
SOUND DEVICE, PROGRAM, AND CONTROL METHOD
2y 5m to grant Granted Dec 30, 2025
Patent 12424241
METHOD FOR SEPARATING TARGET SOUND SOURCE FROM MIXED SOUND SOURCE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE THEREOF
2y 5m to grant Granted Sep 23, 2025
Patent null
DIRECTIONAL AUDIO SIGNAL PROCESSING USING AN OVERSAMPLED FILTERBANK
Granted
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DEVICE AND METHOD
Granted
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
6%
Grant Probability
18%
With Interview (+11.5%)
2y 1m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 65 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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