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 .
Summary
This communication is a First Office Action Non-Final Rejection on the merits.
Claims 1 – 20 are currently pending and considered below.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an [AltContent: connector]abstract idea without significantly more.
[AltContent: connector]101 Analysis – Step 1
[AltContent: connector]Claim 1 is directed to a method that receive transportation data from a transportation providers and presenting the transportation location data in real time. Therefore, claim 1 is within at least one of the four statutory categories.
101 Analysis – Step 2A, Prong I
Regarding Prong I of the Step 2A analysis in the 2019 PEG, the claims are to be analyzed to determine whether they recite subject matter that falls within one of the follow groups of abstract ideas: a) mathematical concepts, b) certain methods of organizing human activity, and/or c) mental processes.
Independent claim 1 includes limitations that recite an abstract idea (emphasized below) and will be used as a representative claim for the remainder of the 101 rejection. Claim 1 recites:
A method comprising:
receiving, by an electronic device, a request for transit vehicle location information comprising a real-time location of a transit vehicle;
identifying, by the electronic device, one or more providers of the transit vehicle location information;
obtaining, by the electronic device, the transit vehicle location information from the one or more providers; and
presenting, by the electronic device, the transit vehicle location information comprising the real- time location of the transit vehicle.
The examiner submits that the foregoing bolded limitation(s) constitute a “mental process” because under its broadest reasonable interpretation, the claim covers performance of the limitation in the human mind. For example, “identifying, by the electronic device, one or more providers …” in the context of this claim encompasses a person looking at data collected and forming a simple judgement. Accordingly, the claim recites at least one abstract idea.
101 Analysis – Step 2A, Prong II
Regarding Prong II of the Step 2A analysis in the 2019 PEG, the claims are to be analyzed to determine whether the claim, as a whole, integrates the abstract into a practical application. As noted in the 2019 PEG, it must be determined whether any additional elements in the claim beyond the abstract idea integrate the exception into a practical application in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception. The courts have indicated that additional elements merely using a computer to implement an abstract idea, adding insignificant extra solution activity, or generally linking use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use do not integrate a judicial exception into a “practical application”
In the present case, the additional limitations beyond the above-noted abstract idea are as follows (where the underlined portions are the “additional limitations” while the bolded portions continue to represent the “abstract idea”)
A method comprising:
receiving, by an electronic device, a request for transit vehicle location information comprising a real-time location of a transit vehicle;
identifying, by the electronic device, one or more providers of the transit vehicle location information;
obtaining, by the electronic device, the transit vehicle location information from the one or more providers; and
presenting, by the electronic device, the transit vehicle location information comprising the real- time location of the transit vehicle.
For the following reason, the examiner submits that the above identified additional limitations do not integrate the above-noted abstract idea into a practical application.
Regarding the additional limitations of “receiving …,” and “obtaining … ,” the examiner submits that this limitations are insignificant extra-solution activities that merely use a computing device to perform the process. In particular, the “receiving …,” and “obtaining … ,” steps from the computing device is recited at a high level of generality (i.e. as a general means of gathering transit location data for use in the identifying step), and amounts to mere data gathering, which is a form of insignificant extra-solution activity.
The additional limitations of ”presenting …,” is merely displaying processed data which is a form of post-solution activity.
Thus, taken alone, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Further, looking at the additional limitation(s) as an ordered combination or as a whole, the limitation(s) add nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. For instance, there is no indication that the additional elements, when considered as a whole, reflect an improvement in the functioning of a computer or an improvement to another technology or technical field, apply or use the above-noted judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition, implement/use the above-noted judicial exception with a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, or apply or use the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is not more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (MPEP § 2106.05). Accordingly, the additional limitation does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
101 Analysis – Step 2B
Regarding Step 2B of the 2019 PEG, representative independent claim 1 does not include additional elements (considered both individually and as an ordered combination) that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons to those discussed above with respect to determining that the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of “receiving …,” and “obtaining … ,” amount to nothing more than applying the exception using a generic computer component. Generally applying an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. And as discussed above, the additional limitations of “receiving …,” and “obtaining … ,” the examiner submits that these limitations are insignificant extra-solution activities. Furthermore, the presenting …,” is merely displaying processed data which is a form of post-solution activity as determined by the Examiner (See above).
Further, a conclusion that an additional element is insignificant extra-solution activity in Step 2A should be re-evaluated in Step 2B to determine if they are more than what is well- understood, routine, conventional activity in the field. The additional limitations of “receiving …,” “obtaining … ,” and “presenting …,” are well-understood, routine, and conventional activities because the background recites that data is transmitted and received by a generally available communication means, and the display is a generically available mobile device display. MPEP 2106.05(d)(II), and the cases cited therein, including Intellectual Ventures I, LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F.3d 1307, 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2016), TLI Communications LLC v. AV Auto. LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 610 (Fed. Cir. 2016), and OIP Techs., Inc., v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2015), indicate that mere communication of data over a network is a well‐understood, routine, and conventional function when it is claimed in a merely generic manner.
Dependent claims 2 – 8 do not recite any further limitations that cause the claims to be patent eligible. Rather, the limitations of dependent claims are directed toward additional aspects of the judicial exception and/or well-understood, routine and conventional additional elements that do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Therefore, dependent claims 2 – 8 are not patent eligible under the same rationale as provided for in the rejection of claim 1.
Therefore, claims 1 – 8 are ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §101.
Claims 9 – 20 recites same or substantially similar limitations as claims 1 – 8. Therefore claims 9 – 20 are rejected under same rationales.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park (US 2008/0030379 A1).
As per claim 1, Park teaches limitations of:
receiving, by an electronic device, a request for transit vehicle location information comprising a real-time location of a transit vehicle (See at least paragraph 81 and figure 12; FIG. 12 illustrates examples of displaying various public transportation information to a user according to the present invention. If the user requests public transportation information via the input device 9 while the received public transportation information is stored in the aforementioned manner, the terminal 200 displays a menu for allowing the user to select available public transportation information on the LCD panel 7 as shown in FIG. 12 (S131). If the user selects a bus route search from the displayed menu, the terminal 200 provides an input window through which the user can input a required route number. If a bus route is inputted (S132), the control engine 5 searches the memory 4 for information on each of the bus stops located on the selected bus route stored as shown in FIG. 11A and displays the name of each of the bus stops together with the route ID on the screen (S133). When displaying the route ID, the terminal 200 may perform an additional operation of appending symbols or text to the route ID for helping the user notice the route ID more easily. For example, if the route ID is B504, text `Trunk` is appended to the route ID and `Trunk[B]504` is displayed on the screen. The terms of `Branch` and `Intercity` may be displayed respectively in connection with alphabets `G` and `R` preceding the line number instead of those alphabets. The control engine 5 reads traveling time between bus stops from the information table shown in FIG. 11A and displays the traveling time between the bus stop names (1301) on the screen of the terminal.);
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identifying, by the electronic device, one or more providers of the transit vehicle location information (See at least paragraph 37 – 38 and 46; FIG. 1 is a brief schematic diagram of a network through which public transportation information (e.g., bus service information) is provided in accordance with the present invention. A transportation information providing server (or other device) 100, which collects public transportation information from several sources such as operator input or other servers via a network 101, reconstructs and transmits wirelessly the public transportation information so that users of a portable public transportation information receiving terminal 200 (hereinafter referred to as the terminal) can receive the information. The public transportation means (e.g., bus, train, metro, subway, etc.) on which the public transportation information is provided transmits information on the position thereof to a bus transportation information collecting securer (not illustrated) or other types of servers via a different network on a regular basis. The bus transportation information collecting server transmits the collected information to the transportation information providing server 100. It is possible that the transportation information providing server 100 also plays the role of the bus information collecting server. Although the bus information is discussed herein, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to other transportation means, e.g., train, metro, subway, etc. The bus route descriptor 511 comprises sequential section information 522 (bus route description component with an ID of 0x01) for describing the bus route and bus location information 521 (bus route description component with an ID of 0x00) for describing the current position of each bus running on the route. The bus location information 521, which has the syntax shown in FIG. 6B, includes a current bus position 531 (bus location component with an ID of 0x00) for each bus. The current bus position 531, which has the syntax shown in FIG. 6C, comprises a bus ID 531a and a bus position 531b, which has the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 7A and indicates the current position of the bus.);
obtaining, by the electronic device, the transit vehicle location information from the one or more providers (See at least paragraph 77 – 80; he control engine 5 constructs a route-based information table as shown in FIG. 11A in the memory 4 if the data received from the TPEG-BSI decoder 3 is route-based information, i.e., information decoded from the application status container with an ID of 0x80. If the data received from the TPEG-BSI decoder 3 is bus-stop-based information, i.e., information decoded from the application status container with an ID of 0x81, the control engine 5 constructs a bus-stop-based information table as shown in FIG. 11B in the memory 4. FIGS. 11A and 11B are simple examples and therefore the tables may further include additional information not illustrated in the figures (e.g., a bus service name, a bus ID, distance of a section, or additional information transmitted from the transportation information providing server 100). The information on nearby subway stations or bus stops accessible for transfer is also constructed by the control engine 5 for each bus stop as another table as shown in FIG. 11C. In FIGS. 11A, 11B, and 11C, the bus stop name is used as the bus stop ID but this is only an example for explanation and the code assigned to each bus stop, i.e., bus stop ID or sequential stop ID can be actually stored. When showing the information to the user, the terminal 200 reads the bus stop name stored in a memory installed in the terminal 200 or the name associated with the ID number received from the transportation information providing server 100 and displays the name. Instead of constructing separate information tables shown in FIGS. 11A, 11B, and 11C, the control engine 5 may construct an integrated information table for storing the route based information, bus-stop based information, and connected information. The public transportation information stored as shown in FIGS. 11A, 41B, and 11C is updated each time new information is received from the transportation information providing server 100. Instead of storing all data received from the TPEG BSI decoder 3, the control engine 5 may selectively store only data regarding bus stops near the current position identified by the GPS module 8 (e.g., bus stops located within a circle of a radius of 1 Km). The terminal 200 is likely to have a limitation in the memory size and the scheme of storing information selectively improves the efficiency of memory use.); and
presenting, by the electronic device, the transit vehicle location information comprising the real- time location of the transit vehicle (See at least paragraph 81 and figure 12).
As per claim 2, Park teaches limitations of: wherein the one or more providers include at least one external vendor that provides tracking information for the transit vehicle (See at least paragraph 37 – 38).
As per claim 3, Park teaches limitations of: wherein the one or more providers include a plurality of providers, wherein obtaining the transit vehicle location information from the one or more providers comprises obtaining the transit vehicle location information from the plurality of providers (See at least paragraph 37 – 38).
As per claim 4, Park teaches limitations of: wherein obtaining the transit vehicle location information from the one or more providers comprises:
periodically receiving updated transit vehicle location information from the one or more providers, the updated transit vehicle location information comprising updated real-time location of the transit vehicle (See at least paragraph 79); and
presenting the updated transit vehicle location information comprising the updated real-time location of the transit vehicle (See at least paragraph 81).
As per claim 5, Park teaches limitations of:
formatting the transit vehicle location information, wherein formatting the transit vehicle location information includes one of filtering, cleaning, or modifying the transit vehicle location information in order to convert the transit vehicle location information into a format usable by an application executing on the electronic device (See at least paragraph 13 – 14 and 81).
As per claim 6, Park teaches limitations of:
wherein presenting the transit vehicle location information comprises presenting schedule information and route information relating to the transit vehicle (See at least figure 12).
As per claim 7, Park teaches limitations of:
wherein the operations of the method are performed by an application executing on the electronic device, the method further comprising:
presenting, by the application, graphical representations of the schedule information and route information (See at least figure 12).
As per claim 8, Park teaches limitations of:
wherein the transit vehicle comprises one of: a bus or a train associated with a public transportation system (See at least abstract).
Regarding claims 9 – 20:
Claims 9 – 20 are rejected using the same rationale, mutatis mutandis, applied to claims 1 – 8 above, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Liu et al. (US 2014/0372904 A1) discloses system and method for communicating transportation events.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IG T AN whose telephone number is (571)270-5110. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 10:00AM- 4:00PM.
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, Aniss Chad can be reached at (571) 270-3832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IG T AN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662
IG T AN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3662