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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 03/12/2026 has been entered. Claims 2-3 have been cancelled. Claims 16-19 have been added. Claims 1 and 4-15 have been amended. Claims 1 and 4-19 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6, filed 03/12/2026, with respect to the claim objections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7, filed 03/12/2026, with respect to 101 rejections have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
Examiner notes the claims are still ineligible because the thrust of the claims are directed toward the data with the non-transitory computer readable media acting as merely a carrier of that data.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8-10, filed 03/12/2026, with respect to the 103 rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive.
Examiner concurs the presented prior art fails to disclose or suggest the amended claim language. An updated search did not result in a reference that would, individually or in combination with the presented prior art, disclose the language of the independent claims. The prior art fails to disclose providing part-position identifying information as part of information related to other pieces of moving image data in the claimed accessory information.
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 1 and 4-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The four eligible categories of invention include: (1) process which is an act, or a series of acts or steps, (2) machine which is an concrete thing, consisting of parts, or of certain devices and combination of devices, (3) manufacture which is an article produced from raw or prepared materials by giving to these materials new forms, qualities, properties, or combinations, whether by hand labor or by machinery, and (4) composition of matter which is all compositions of two or more substances and all composite articles, whether they be the results of chemical union, or of mechanical mixture, or whether they be gases, fluids, powders or solids, see MPEP 2106(I).
Claims directed toward purely data such as alphanumeric data, image data, video data or music data are not directed toward a process since the data by itself does not perform any steps or acts. And, the claims are not directed toward machine, manufacture or composition of matter because those categories require a tangible object which is not satisfied by pure data. Furthermore, even if the data is placed on a non-transitory computer readable media (i.e. manufacture) the claims would still be ineligible because the thrust of the claims are directed toward the data with the non-transitory computer readable media acting as merely a carrier of that data.
Regarding claim 1, the claim is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter since the claims are directed toward image data file which is not any of the four eligible categories of invention. Dependent claims 4-12 fall together accordingly.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-18 are allowed. Claims 1 and 4-12 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection, set forth in this Office action.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Singfield et al. US 2004/0215659 A1 discloses separate storage of image files
Camara et al. US 2004/0001631 A1 discloses metadata stored separately from an image file with which it is associated with
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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STEFAN GADOMSKI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2485
/STEFAN GADOMSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485