DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This action is in response to the application No. 18/990,684,073 filed on 12/20/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
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 § 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 abstract idea of a mental process without significantly more.
Independent claims 1, 10, and 19 (although not verbatim, but contains the same concept) recite the following:
An autonomous vehicle comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors to perform instructions for processing imagery captured by the autonomous vehicle using a machine-learned model, the machine-learned model comprising a plurality of layers, wherein the instructions comprise:
obtaining, by a gather layer, a plurality of non-sparse blocks from a sparse data source;
generating, by the gather layer, an input tensor based on the plurality of non-sparse blocks;
performing, by one or more convolutional layers, one or more convolutions on the input tensor to generate an output tensor that contains a plurality of non-sparse output blocks; and
scattering, by a scatter layer, the plurality of non-sparse output blocks of the output tensor back to the sparse data source.
The aforementioned bolded steps have been determined to be an abstract idea of a mental process that gathers information about a vehicle’s surroundings and performs steps to gather and analyze data pertaining to sparse/non-sparse blocks of data from the obtained information, ultimately to send a final data back to the data source which is similar to the concepts deemed by the courts to be abstract such as collecting, analyzing, and displaying available data in Electric Power Group.
Each of the steps can be performed in the mental realm or by using pen and paper to, in the broadest sense, to gather and manipulate sensor data about the vehicle in order to generate meaningful output data that contains non-sparse output blocks to better serve for vehicle control maneuvers.
Regarding Prong II of the Step 2A analysis, the claims are to be analyzed to determine whether the claims, as a whole, integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. It must be determined whether any additional elements in the claim beyond the abstract idea integrate the exception in to a practical application in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception. The claims do contain the additional elements of a non-transitory computer readable media, sensors, an autonomous vehicle, and a neural network with a gather layer, convolutional layers, and a scatter layer. However, each of the additional elements are claimed at such a high generality that they merely function as tools to apply the abstract idea, or more particularly, as insignificant extra-solution activity.
The courts have determined 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 do not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application. For at least the reasons above, the additional elements, in combination with the abstract idea of itself, are not integrated into a practical application.
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 technological field. The additional limitation(s) do/does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
For at least the reasons above, the additional elements, in combination with the abstract idea of itself, are not integrated into a practical application.
The claims do not include additional elements, considered both individually or as an ordered combination, that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons as those discussed above with respect to determining that the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Furthermore, dependent claims 2-9, 11-18, and 20 do not recite and further limitations that cause the claims to be patent eligible. The limitations of the dependent claims are directed towards additional aspects of the judicial exception and/or well-understood, routine, and convention additional elements that do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application.
Therefore, claims 1-20 are ineligible under §101.
Allowable Subject Matter
While claims 1-20 are currently rejected under §101 as being directed to an abstract idea of itself, the subject matter of claims 1-20 would otherwise be allowable if the outstanding 101 rejection were overcome by way of persuasive argument or claim amendment.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS P INGRAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7864. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6 ET.
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/Thomas Ingram/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668