DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3 would be allowable if (#1) rewritten to overcome all pending objection(s) and all pending rejection(s) set forth in this Office action; and (#2) rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Priority Status
Foreign priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d) is acknowledged.
Status of Claims
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are examined in this office 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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Judicial Exception 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(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea without significantly more. (See MPEP § 2106.)
STEP 1 of the eligibility analysis asks: Is the claim to a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter?
Yes for Claim(s) 1-5.
STEP 2A PRONG ONE asks does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon?
Yes, because Claim(s) 1 recite(s) the following limitation(s):
“store, … , an information index related to log data collected by a vehicle and a storage destination of the log data associated with the information index” – (This/These step(s) is/are considered collecting information, analyzing it, and displaying certain results of the collection and analysis and/or collecting and comparing known information. See MPEP § 2106.04 (a)(2).)
STEP 2A PRONG TWO asks does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application?
No, Claim(s) 1 recite(s) the following limitation(s):
“refer to the storage unit to extract a first storage based on the information index, the first storage being a storage destination of first log data that is the log data to be acquired” – (This/These step(s) is/are considered Electronic recordkeeping and/or Selecting a particular data source or type of data to be manipulated. See MPEP § 2106.05(d) Well-Understood, Routine, Conventional Activity and/or MPEP § 2106.05(g) Insignificant Extra-Solution Activity.); and
“request the first log data to a device…” – (This/These step(s) is/are considered Receiving or transmitting data over a network. See MPEP § 2106.05(d) Well-Understood, Routine, Conventional Activity.)
The above limitations are recited at a high level of generality, i.e., as generic computer functions of collecting and/or processing data. These generic limitations are no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer hardware components (e.g., “control unit” and “storage unit”). Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. As a result, Claim(s) 1 is/are directed to the abstract idea.
Additionally, The Examiner refers to The Berkheimer Memorandum1 for submitting more evidence into the prosecution regarding what subject matter is/are well known in the technology. The Berkheimer Memorandum specifies The Examiner shall show one or more of the follow items:
“A citation to an express statement in the specification or to a statement made by an applicant during prosecution that demonstrates the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s).” See Section III (A) (1).
“A citation to one or more of the court decisions discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(d)(II) as noting the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s).” See Section III (A) (2).
“A citation to a publication that demonstrates the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s).” See Section III (A) (3).
“A statement that the examiner is taking official notice of the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s).” See Section III (A) (4).
In this particular case, The Examiner provides “A citation to a publication that demonstrates the well-understood, routine, conventional nature of the additional element(s)” as required by Section III:
“It is well known in the art to provide a vehicle display screen located within the vehicle.” (US 20130224721 A1)
“Client-Server and network communication is well-known in the art of computers and networking.” (US 20050021745 A1, [0052])
“The electronic control unit 23 comprises a microprocessor including a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an A/D converter, and an input/output interface, all not shown, but well-known in the art.” (US 4741163)
“As is well-known in the art, software is stored on a computer-readable storage medium (including compact disc, computer diskette, and computer memory, etc.) with code, or instructions, which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a process or task.” (US 20120226548 A1, [0020])
“Conventionally, an in-vehicle microphone device mounted on a vehicle interior, for example, a vehicle interior ceiling, is widely known.” (JP 2016105557 A)
STEP 2B asks: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception?
No for Claim(s) 1. As discussed with respect to Step 2A Prong Two, the additional elements in the claims amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. The same analysis applies here in 2B, i.e., mere instructions to apply an exception using generic computer components cannot integrate a judicial exception into a practical application at Step 2A or provide an inventive concept in Step 2B. Therefore, Claim(s) 1 is/are ineligible.
Dependent Claim(s) 2-5 are also ineligible because they do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
In summary, Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
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(s) 1-2 and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over US 20210099307 A1 (“Rolf”) and further in view of US 20030004938 A1 (“Lawder”).
As to Claim 1, Rolf discloses An information processing device (e.g., “Computer system 900”; see at least Fig. 9 with associated text) comprising
a control unit (see at least [0122]-[0123]), the control unit being configured to
store, in a storage unit (e.g., “memory 904”), an information index (e.g., “indexes 831” from Fig. 8) related to log data (e.g., “probe data”) collected by a vehicle (e.g., “vehicle 113” from Fig. 1) and a storage destination (e.g., “geographic database 109” from Fig. 8) of the log data associated with the information index (see at least Fig. 1-9 with associated text),
refer to the storage unit to extract a first storage based on the information index, the first storage being a storage destination of first log data that is the log data to be acquired (see at least Fig. 1-9 with associated text; in particular, [0110]), and
request the first log data to a device (e.g., “mobile terminal 1101” from Fig. 11) including the first storage (see at least Fig. 1-9 with associated text; in particular, Fig. 2, 7A and 11), wherein
the information index includes information indicating a position where the log data was collected (see at least Fig. 1-9 with associated text), and
the information indicating the position where the log data was collected includes a bit string (see at least Fig. 1-9 with associated text; in particular, [0033]-[0034], [0047]).
Rolf does not directly disclose represented by a bit string based on a space-filling curve.
However, Lawder teaches represented by a bit string based on a space-filling curve (see at least Title, Abstract, Fig. 5 with associated text). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art BEFORE the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rolf’s invention by incorporating a capability of partitioning and indexing multi-dimensional data that maps the data to one-dimensional values according to a sequence as taught by Lawder in order to store data compactly while enabling it to be selectively retrieved, or `queried`, flexibly and efficiently (see at least [0009]).
As to Claim 2, Rolf discloses wherein the information indicating the position where the log data was collected includes a bit string (see at least Fig. 1-9 with associated text; in particular, [0033]-[0034], [0047]).
Rolf does not directly disclose represented by a bit string based on a Hilbert curve or a Z-order curve.
However, Lawder teaches represented by a bit string based on a Hilbert curve (see at least Title, Abstract, Fig. 5 with associated text) or (Only one option is required to satisfy an “or” limitation.) a Z-order curve. (Same motivation and rationale to combine as Claim 1)
As to Claim 4, Rolf discloses wherein the information index further includes at least one of (Only one option is required to satisfy an “at least one of” limitation.) the following pieces of information as a parameter included in a condition for designating the first log data:
a travel speed of the vehicle (see at least [0043] and Table 1),
information indicating whether a vehicle safety event that is an event related to a traveling state of the vehicle has occurred (see at least [0088]), and
a log level indicating a level of importance of a content represented by the log data.
As to Claim 5, Rolf discloses wherein the control unit is configured to
store, in the storage unit, a vehicle identification number as information indicating the storage destination of the log data, the vehicle identification number being a parameter included in a condition for designating the first log data (see at least Fig. 1-9 with associated text; in particular, [0044]).
Written Authorization Required for Internet Communication
MPEP § 502.03 II, “Without a written authorization by applicant in place, the USPTO will not respond via email to any Internet correspondence which contains information subject to the confidentiality requirement as set forth in 35 U.S.C. 122. A paper copy of such correspondence and response will be placed in the appropriate patent application by the examiner. Except for correspondence that only sets up an interview time, all correspondence between the Office and the applicant including applicant's representative must be placed in the appropriate patent application. If an email contains any information beyond scheduling an interview, such as an interview agenda, it must be placed in the application. The written authorization may be submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system, mail, or fax. It cannot be submitted by email.”
Contact Information
Primary Examiner Calvin Cheung’s contact information is listed at the bottom, and he is best reached MONDAY-THURSDAY, 0700-1700 ET. If attempts to reach the primary by telephone are unsuccessful, the primary’s supervisor, ERIN PIATESKI, is available at telephone number (571) 270-7429.
Applicants are encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice for scheduling an examiner interview that will be performed over telephone or video conferencing (using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool).
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/CALVIN CHEUNG/
Direct Office Number (571) 270-7041
Email and Fax send to Calvin.Cheung@USPTO.GOV
1 See https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/memo-berkheimer-20180419.PDF