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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1, 3-7, 12-13 in the reply filed on 06/26/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The claim recites, inter alia, “A computer-readable storage medium storing …” After close inspection, the Examiner respectfully notes that the disclosure, as a whole, does not specifically identify what may be included as a computer readable storage medium and what is not to be included as a computer-readable storage medium.
An Examiner is obliged to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification during examination. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer-readable storage medium (also called machine readable medium and other such variations) typically covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media, particularly when the specification is silent. See MPEP 2111.01. When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal, per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter.
Therefore, given the silence of the disclosure and the broadest reasonable interpretation, the computer-readable storage medium of the claim may include transitory propagating signals. As a result, the claim pertains to non-statutory subject matter.
However, the Examiner respectfully submits a claim drawn to such a computer-readable medium that covers both transitory and non-transitory embodiments may be amended to narrow the claim to cover only statutory embodiments to avoid a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101 by adding the limitation “non-transitory” to the claim. Such an amendment would typically not raise the issue of new matter, even when the specification is silent because the broadest reasonable interpretation relies on the ordinary and customary meaning that includes signals per se. For additional information, please see the Patents’ Official Gazette notice published February 23, 2010 (1351 OG 212).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-7, 13 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the closest prior art of the record, either singularly or in combination, fails to teach or fairly suggest, in combination with all of the other elements claimed,
independent claim 1: “determining whether each of the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses is ready to transmit an analog image signal; simultaneously transmitting a transmission command signal to the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses when it is determined that each of the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses is ready to transmit an analog image signal; and receiving a plurality of analog image signals from the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses.” (claims 3-7 depends from claim 1)
independent claim 13: “determining whether each of the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses is ready to transmit an analog image signal; simultaneously transmitting a transmission command signal to the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses when it is determined that each of the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses is ready to transmit an analog image signal; and receiving a plurality of analog image signals from the plurality of analog image signal transmission apparatuses.”
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/NIGAR CHOWDHURY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484
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