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 2 and 22 (and their respective dependents 3-21 and 23-27) is 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 claims are drawn to a controller comprising executable/programmed instructions. A computational program per se is abstract instructions. Therefore, an executable instructions is not a physical thing (product) nor process as they are not “acts” being performed. As such these claims are not directed to one of the statutory categories of invention (See MPEP 2106.01), but are directed to nonstatutory functional descriptive material. Specifically, claim 1 recites “computing device comprises a processor and a memory with instructions” using an analytic computational program. Use of a computing device with a processor and memory is not the same as “tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium or computing device”, and broadly includes signals. The specification does not specifically define the “computer-readable medium” as only encompassing a physical device.
Conclusion
Samec (20170000341) is being cited herein to show a reference that discloses similar features to that of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES JONES whose telephone number is (571)270-1278. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pinping Sun can be reached on (571) 270-1284. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES C. JONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
