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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/19/2025 and 8/19/2025 was in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite “acquiring environmental information that is information relating to an installation environment of an air compressor; calculating a replacement cycle of a component that configures the air compressor, on a basis of the environmental information acquired; calculating a usage fee of the air compressor on a basis of the replacement cycle calculated; and outputting the calculated usage fee of the air compressor.”
The recited limitations above are a process that, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation done by a human but for the recitation of generic computer components under mental steps (human using pen and paper). That is nothing in the claim element precludes the steps from practically being performed in the mind. For example, “acquire”, “calculate”, “calculate”, and “output” in the context of this claim encompasses the user to manually determine a usage fee of an air compressor, and determining the best solution to be presented to a user.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims only recite the following additional elements- a “calculation device” to perform the above recited steps. The computer elements recited at a high-level of generality (generic computer elements performing a generic computer function of receiving information, identifying solutions and determining what should be presented to a user) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, the additional elements recited do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using the computer elements to perform the steps of claims 1 and 6 amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept.
The limitations of the dependent claims 2-5 further describe the identified abstract idea. The generic computer component of claims 2-5 (calculation device, display device) merely serve as the generic computer component and the functions performed by the generic computer components essentially amount to the abstract idea identified above. None of the dependent claims when taken separately in combination with each dependent claims parent claim overcome the above analysis and are therefore similarly rejected as being ineligible.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kametani (JP 2004084540).
As to claims 1 and 6, Kametani teaches a system and method comprising:
a calculation device configured to calculate a usage fee of an air compressor, (para 12)
wherein the calculation device is configured to acquire environmental information that is information relating to an installation environment of the air compressor,
calculate a replacement cycle of a component that configures the air compressor on a basis of the environmental information acquired, (para 23 and 36)
calculate a usage fee of the air compressor on a basis of the replacement cycle calculated, (para 23 and 36)
output the calculated usage fee of the air compressor. (para 36 and 38-39)
As to claim 2, Kametani teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Kametani further teaches:
wherein the calculation device acquires information that represents at least one of temperature, humidity, and an amount of dust/dirt regarding the installation environment, as the environmental information. (para 22, 36, 46 and 48)
As to claim 3, Kametani teaches all the limitations of claim 2 as discussed above.
Kametani further teaches:
wherein the calculation device acquires, as the environmental information, a value obtained by averaging at least one of the temperatures, the humidity, and the amount of dust/dirt regarding the installation environment, the temperature, the humidity, and the amount of dust/dirt being measured for every predetermined time. (para 48)
As to claim 4, Kametani teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Kametani further teaches:
wherein the calculation device is configured to calculate the replacement cycle of a filter as the component disposed on an upstream side of an intake port of a compressor main body of the air compressor, and acquires, as the environmental information, information that represents an amount of dust/dirt captured by the filter. (para 23 and 36-39)
As to claim 5, Kametani teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Kametani further teaches:
wherein the calculation device acquires the environmental information from the air compressor and outputs the calculated usage fee of the air compressor to the air compressor to thereby cause a display device of the air compressor to display the usage fee. (para 36-39)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZEINA ELCHANTI whose telephone number is (313)446-6561. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM-5:00 PM EST.
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/ZEINA ELCHANTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628
