Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/873,731

DATA PROCESSING ALGORITHM EVALUATION DEVICE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Dec 11, 2024
Priority
Jul 14, 2022 — JP 2022-113347 +1 more
Examiner
LUU, THANH X
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
The University of Tokyo
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
78%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
8m
Est. Remaining
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 78% — above average
78%
Career Allowance Rate
1079 granted / 1380 resolved
+18.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+10.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
1399
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.9%
-39.1% vs TC avg
§103
42.5%
+2.5% vs TC avg
§102
26.8%
-13.2% vs TC avg
§112
19.1%
-20.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1380 resolved cases

Office Action

§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 . 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, 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abbeloos et al. (EP 4235214) in view of Elogeel et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2023/0230361). Regarding claims 1-3, Abbeloos et al. disclose (Figs.) a data processing algorithm evaluation device comprising: a data storage unit (inherently point cloud data is stored) configured to store optical ranging data (LIDAR point cloud data; Fig. 7, clear input) detected from a vehicle; a data generating unit configured to acquire and interpret target data (“Target”; Fig. 7, objects), upon receiving an input of disturbance information representing disturbance (e.g. snow particles) for the target data, from the optical ranging data stored in the data storage unit, and to generate composite data (“snowy LIDAR data”; Fig. 7, augmented output) in which the target data is reflected with the disturbance by editing the target data based on the interpretation. Abbeloos et al. also disclose (Figs. 3A-3B; Equations 8-10) a distance of an object (Rj), calculating a strength of disturbance (power of snow) having been affected by the distanced based on the acquired distance to generate the composite data; a distance and intensity to the object, and (Fig. 3A) the optical ranging data is a 2D data as claimed. Abbeloos et al. further disclose (Fig. 8B, 8C) comparing detection results, but Abbeloos et al. do not specifically disclose a data processing unit configured to evaluate performance of a data processing algorithm for determining situation of the vehicle, based on the generated composite data. Elogeel et al. teach (Fig. 2) in a AV system, a data processing unit (inherent to process the steps) configured to evaluate performance (250; [0038]-[0039] test the model) of a data processing algorithm for determining situation of a vehicle ([0039] driving data) based on a dataset. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing of the invention to provide performance evaluation in the apparatus of Abbeloos et al. in view of Elogeel et al. to gauge the effectiveness of the data for further feedback to enhance training or operation of the device as taught, known and predictable. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 5-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THANH LUU whose telephone number is (571)272-2441. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5:30PM. 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, Georgia Epps can be reached at 571-272-2328. 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. /THANH LUU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 11, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 02, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §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
78%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+10.2%)
2y 5m (~8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1380 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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