DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-7 are pending in the present application. A preliminary amendment was filed 15 May 2025 claims 1-7 were amended.
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 15 May 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention. The claim recites an information generation device configured to collect device information of a same model, classify items collected, and calculate a value of the collected items. However, the disclosure does not appear to describe specific techniques used to implement the claimed features, such as a clustering algorithm, software or specific prediction model. See for example, page 10 paragraph 0021. The disclosure discusses a program module, however, does not describe which software applications may be used to implement invention.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to collecting device information, classifying information collected, and calculating a value for the classified items without significantly more.
The claim(s) recite(s), “An information generation device comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry configured to: collect device information of a same model; classify predetermined items of the collected device information into a qualitative variable and a quantitative variable; calculate a representative value for each of the classified items of the qualitative variable and the quantitative variable; and present the calculated representative value to a user.”
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because it is directed toward an abstract idea, mental process grouping. The claim(s) do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because it is directed toward conventional operations already presented in the technical field.
The claim is directed to an abstract idea with additional generic computer elements. The generically recited computer elements do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea because they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea on a computer. The claim is directed to mere data gathering steps and do not add a meaningful limitation to the method as they are insignificant extra-solution activity. The additional elements calculating a representative value for each classified item do not add significantly more because the disclosure does not describe a specific technique used to implement the claimed features. Limitations recited are associated with well-understood, routine, conventional computer functions as recognized by the court decisions listed in MPEP § 2106.05(d)
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Balaji et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0044150 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Balaji et al. teaches the following:
An information generation device [note: Abstract, a data collector ] comprising:
a memory [note: figure 13, memory ]; and
processing circuitry configured to [note: paragraph 0125, processor 1312 ]:
collect device information of a same model [note: paragraph 0023 automated classification, training, and task assignment to data collectors by processing input data received; paragraph 0025, data collector characteristics; paragraph 0038, device information of one or more devices may include device model, manufacturer information, specifications ];
classify predetermined items of the collected device information into a qualitative variable and a quantitative variable [note: paragraph 0035, classification model for grouping items ];
calculate a representative value for each of the classified items of the qualitative variable and the quantitative variable [note: paragraph 0043, “compares the characteristic score to a threshold value” to determine to provide user content ]; and
present the calculated representative value to a user [note: figure 6 (641) interface; also see paragraph 0048 device information; paragraph 0067-0068, classification system includes one or more ranking and scoring algorithms 444 to identify relevant content].
Claim 2: The information generation device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: group the items of the qualitative variable and the items of the quantitative variable on a basis of characteristics of respective values, and calculate the representative value for each group being grouped [note: paragraph 0048, classification system 140 classifies device information based on characteristics; paragraph 0043 scores may be implemented ].
Claim 3: The information generation device according to claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to select the group corresponding to a state of a user' s device and present to the user the representative value of the selected group [note: paragraph 0023, automated classification; paragraph 0031 training group; paragraphs 0038-0039 interface to receive selection (classification system groups elements) ].
Claim 4: The information generation device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to calculate the representative value of each item of the qualitative variable and the representative value of each item of the quantitative variable by different methods [note: paragraph 0107 ].
Claim 5: The information generation device according to claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to group the items of the qualitative variable and the items of the quantitative variable by different methods [note: paragraph 0048, 0067-0068 ].
The limitations of claims 6 and 7 parallel claim 1; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Note attached form PTO-892.
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/GRETA L ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2163
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