Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/785,536

INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Jul 26, 2024
Priority
Dec 01, 2023 — JP 2023-203924
Examiner
FEREJA, SAMUEL D
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Toyota Motor Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
75%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
5m
Est. Remaining
85%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 75% — above average
75%
Career Allowance Rate
484 granted / 647 resolved
+14.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+10.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
31 currently pending
Career history
698
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.2%
-35.8% vs TC avg
§103
69.4%
+29.4% vs TC avg
§102
12.0%
-28.0% vs TC avg
§112
8.7%
-31.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 647 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 07/01/206 & 07/26/2024. The submission are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR § 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-3 & 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (2) as being anticipated by Herrin et al. (US 20200169408, hereinafter Herrin). Regarding Claim 1, Herrin discloses a first distributed network that implements a first distributed ledger, wherein a first transaction is stored in the first distributed ledger, the first transaction being a transaction about relevance information indicating relevance between one learned model and either or both of learning data and a first source code that are used for learning of the one learned model ([0001], [0011] - [0015], [0024], [0047] - [0050], [0071], FIG. l, FIG.5, an information system comprising a distributed network (corresponding to the "first distributed network" in the present application) for realizing a first distributed ledger (first distributed ledger) which is a block chain, wherein in the first distributed ledger, one AI model is stored in an entry, and items such as a model code (corresponding to the "first source code'' in the present application) such as a preprocessing code, a preprocessing parameter, and a source code, a model parameter, and metadata of the AI model are stored in a single entry or separate entries linked so as to be identified later in the same manner) PNG media_image1.png 284 554 media_image1.png Greyscale Regarding Claim 2, Herrin discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the first transaction includes first information about the one learned model and either or both of second information about the learning data and third information about the first source code (In addition, the inventions according to Claims 2, 3, and 5 of the present application are also different from the invention described in Herrin Document merely in the meaning (content) of the information stored in the distributed ledger, and the difference does not change the structure, function, etc. of the information processing system at all, and therefore, it can be said that the inventions according to Claims 2, 3, and 5 of the present application are also the same as the invention described in Herrin Document). Regarding Claim 3, Herrin discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the following transactions is further stored in the first distributed ledger: a second transaction about the one learned model, a third transaction about the learning data, and a fourth transaction about the first source code (In addition, the inventions according to Claims 2, 3, and 5 of the present application are also different from the invention described in Herrin Document merely in the meaning (content) of the information stored in the distributed ledger, and the difference does not change the structure, function, etc. of the information processing system at all, and therefore, it can be said that the inventions according to Claims 2, 3, and 5 of the present application are also the same as the invention described in Herrin Document). Regarding Claim 5, Herrin discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the relevance information further indicates relevance between the one learned model and a second source code for performing inference using the one learned model (In addition, the inventions according to Claims 2, 3, and 5 of the present application are also different from the invention described in Herrin Document merely in the meaning (content) of the information stored in the distributed ledger, and the difference does not change the structure, function, etc. of the information processing system at all, and therefore, it can be said that the inventions according to Claims 2, 3, and 5 of the present application are also the same as the invention described in Herrin Document). 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 of this title, 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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herrin et al. (US 20200169408, hereinafter Herrin) Regarding Claim 4, Herrin discloses the information processing system according to claim 1. From the description in paragraph [0048] of Herrin Document, it is also understood that the model code corresponding to the model can be stored in an entry different from the entry in which the model is stored, and considering that paragraph [0015] also mentions that a second blockchain, which is a distributed ledger different from the first distributed ledger, is provided, it can be said that a person skilled in the art who has read the description in Herrin Document could have easily conceived of storing the entry storing the model code corresponding to the model (corresponding to the "fourth transaction related to the first source code" in the present application) in another distributed ledger (corresponding to the "second distributed ledger" in the present application) realized by a distributed network (corresponding to the "second distributed network" in the present application) different from the network that realizes the first distributed ledger. Thus, it can be said that the invention according to Claim 4 (“ further comprising a second distributed network that implements a second distributed ledger different from the first distributed ledger, wherein at least one of the following transactions is stored in the second distributed ledger: a second transaction about the one learned model, a third transaction about the learning data, and a fourth transaction about the first source code”) of the present application could have been easily conceived by a person skilled in the art from the invention described in Herrin Document. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings claim 4 as taught by Herrin Document since in the invention described in Herrin Document, it is added that it is not a matter that requires difficulty for a person skilled in the art to adopt information about a trained model or information about learning data as the content of the information stored in a distributed ledger different from the first distributed ledger. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel D Fereja whose telephone number is (469)295-9243. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM-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. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DAVID CZEKAJ can be reached at (571) 272-7327. 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. /SAMUEL D FEREJA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 26, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 01, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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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
75%
Grant Probability
85%
With Interview (+10.5%)
2y 7m (~5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 647 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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