Bowne, Benjamin F. et al.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 1, 20202019001433 (P.T.A.B. May. 1, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 13/659,405 10/24/2012 Benjamin F. Bowne 16091.105016 5687 86528 7590 05/01/2020 Slayden Grubert Beard PLLC 401 Congress Avenue Suite 1650 Austin, TX 78701 EXAMINER SATANOVSKY, ALEXANDER ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2863 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/01/2020 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): dallen@sgbfirm.com patent@sgbfirm.com trosson@sgbfirm.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte BENJAMIN F. BOWNE, NICHOLAS R. BAKER, NICK U. CHRISTOPULOS, and BRYAN T. WILKERSON ____________ Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 Technology Center 2800 ____________ Before DONNA M. PRAISS, MICHELLE N. ANKENBRAND, and JEFFREY R. SNAY, Administrative Patent Judges. ANKENBRAND, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellant1 appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s decision finally rejecting claims 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, and 25–31.2 We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm-in-part. 1 Appellant is the Applicant, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, which, according to the Appeal Brief, is a real party in interest. Supplemental Appeal Brief, filed December 11, 2018 (“Appeal Br.”) 2. 2 Final Office Action, mailed January 3, 2018 (“Final Act.”). Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE A. Background The subject matter on appeal “relates generally to systems and methods for collecting and evaluating driving behavior data and/or driving environment data, automatically controlling the starting and stopping of such data collection, and using such collected data to calculate insurance premiums.” Specification, filed October 24, 2012 (“Spec.”) 2:10–13. According to the Specification, an automobile insurance provider “seeks to assess the risk level associated with a driver and price an insurance policy to protect against that risk.” Id. at 3:19–22. The Specification explains that “[i]n the industry today, driving behavior data for insurance rating purposes is collected by specialized devices that plug into vehicle data ports.” Id. at 3:27–28. “In accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure, a mobile device, such as a smartphone, is used to collect and transmit vehicle operation data, rather than a specialized device that plugs into a vehicle data port.” Id. at 5:2–4. According to the Specification, the invention may automatically detect that a wireless connection has been established between a mobile device and a vehicle and, in response to the detection, automatically start collection of vehicle operation data without interaction between the mobile device and a user. Id. at 5:19–24. The mobile device may also automatically stop collection of the vehicle operation data in response to the vehicle being turned off. Id. at 5:12–13. Of the appealed claims, claims 1, 12, and 22 are independent. Claim 1 is representative of the subject matter on appeal, and is reproduced below: Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 3 1. A mobile device comprising: at least one accelerometer and a GPS system provided in the mobile device; a processor; a memory; a Bluetooth enabled radio transmitter; and a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed on by the processor, perform the following steps: detect a wireless connection established between the mobile device and a vehicle having an engine by receiving a first indication from the Bluetooth enabled radio transmitter that it is connected to the vehicle; identify the vehicle by vehicle identification information in response to (a) the vehicle engine being started and (b) detecting the wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle, automatically start to collect vehicle operation data via the at least one accelerometer and a GPS system provided in the mobile device; continue to collect vehicle operation data via the at least one accelerometer and GPS system provided in the mobile device while the wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle is maintained; sense the orientation of the mobile device within the vehicle; store the collected and processed vehicle operation data in the memory; transmit the stored vehicle operation data from the mobile device to a server of a remote data storage system via a network; store additional data after transmitting the stored vehicle operation data; Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 4 automatically detect that the wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle has been disconnected by receiving a second indication from the Bluetooth enabled radio transmitter that it is no longer connected to the vehicle; and in response to detecting the disconnection of the wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle, automatically stop collecting vehicle operation data via the at least one accelerometer and GPS system provided in the mobile device and send any stored additional vehicle operation data not previously sent to the server; such that the collection of vehicle operation data via the at least one accelerometer and GPS system provided in the mobile device is automatically started and stopped upon connection and disconnection, respectively, of the wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle; process the collected vehicle operation data to calculate one or more driving behavior metrics; and transmit the one or more driving behavior metrics from the mobile device to a remote processing computer. Appeal Br. 21–22 (Claims App’x). B. The References Asahina US 2003/0061160 A1 Mar. 27, 2003 Hawkins US 2006/0184295 A1 Aug. 17, 2006 Berkobin US 2008/0255888 A1 Oct. 16, 2008 Sakai US 2011/0066310 A1 Mar. 17, 2011 Avery US 2011/0072880 A1 Mar. 31, 2011 Pudar US 2011/0301839 A1 Dec. 8, 2011 Breed US 2012/0028680 A1 Feb. 2, 2012 Nath US 2012/0235865 A1 Sept. 20, 2012 Matsuyama US 2012/0258702 A1 Oct. 11, 2012 Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 5 C. The Rejections The Examiner maintains the following rejections on appeal: 1. Claim 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C § 112, second paragraph, as indefinite; 2. Claims 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, and 25–29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to patent ineligible subject matter; 3. Claims 1–3, 9–13, 20–23, and 25–313 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, and Avery; 4. Claims 5, 16, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, Avery, and Sakai; 5. Claims 6 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, Avery, and Hawkins; and 6. Claims 7, 8, 18, 19, and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, Avery, and Nath. 3 The Examiner rejects claims 30 and 31 separately from the § 103(a) rejection for claims 1–3, 9–13, 20–23, and 25–29. However, like the rejection of claims 1–3, 9–13, 20–23, and 25–31, the rejections of claims 30 and 31 are over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, and Avery. Final Act. 21–23. Therefore, we treat claims 30 and 31 as included with claims 1–3, 9–13, 20–23, and 25–29 in the § 103(a) rejection over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, and Avery. Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 6 OPINION Indefiniteness Rejection The Examiner concludes that claim 30 is indefinite because the phrase “interrupt data collection when the mobile device is not oriented for data collection” is indefinite. Final Act. 2. Appellant filed an amendment to amend claim 30 after the Final Action. Amendment, dated March 1, 2018, 9–10. Subsequently, the Board administratively remanded the application to the Examiner to clarify whether the amendment had been entered. Order Remanding Appeal to Examiner, dated November 23, 2018. On November 30, 2018, the Examiner mailed a communication to Appellant confirming that the amendment was entered. Miscellaneous Communication to Applicant, dated November 23, 2018. As a result, Appellant filed a Supplemental Appeal Brief on December 11, 2018,4 that includes the correct language for claim 30 in the Claims Appendix, i.e., the language corresponding to the March 1, 2018 amendment. In view of the foregoing, claim 30 currently recites “wherein the tangible nontransitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed on by the processor, further perform the step of: interrupt data collection when the mobile device is not properly oriented for vehicle operation data collection.” Appeal Br. 28 (Claims App’x). The Examiner’s indefiniteness rejection, however, addresses only the prior language of claim 30, and does not explain why the current language of claim 30 is indefinite. Therefore, we do not sustain the 4 In this decision, we cite to Appellant’s Supplemental Appeal Brief, which we refer to as the Appeal Brief or Appeal Br. Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 7 Examiner’s rejection of claim 30 as indefinite under § 112, second paragraph. Subject Matter Eligibility Rejection After having considered the evidence presented in this Appeal and each of Appellant’s contentions, Appellant does not identify reversible error with respect to the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, and 25– 29. We affirm the Examiner’s rejection of those claims for the reasons expressed in the Final Action, the Answer, and explained below. A. Section 101 An invention is patent-eligible if it claims a “new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.” 35 U.S.C. § 101. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has long interpreted 35 U.S.C. § 101 to include implicit exceptions: “[l]aws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas” are not patentable. E.g., Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208, 216 (2014). In determining whether a claim falls within an excluded category, our inquiry focuses on the Court’s two-part framework, described in Mayo and Alice. Id. at 217–18 (citing Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012)). In accordance with that framework, we first determine what concept the claim is “directed to.” See Alice, 573 U.S. at 219 (“On their face, the claims before us are drawn to the concept of intermediated settlement, i.e., the use of a third party to mitigate settlement risk.”); see also Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. 593, 611 (2010) (“Claims 1 and 4 in petitioners’ application explain the basic concept of hedging, or protecting against risk.”). Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 8 Concepts the Court has determined are abstract ideas and, thus, patent ineligible, include certain methods of organizing human activity, such as fundamental economic practices (e.g., Alice, 573 U.S. at 219–20); mathematical formulas (e.g., Parker v. Flook, 437 U.S. 584, 594–95 (1978)); and mental processes (e.g., Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U.S. 63, 67 (1972)). Concepts the Court has determined are patent eligible include physical and chemical processes, such as “molding rubber products” (Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175, 191 (1981)); “tanning, dyeing, making water-proof cloth, vulcanizing India rubber, smelting ores” (id. at 182 n.7 (quoting Corning v. Burden, 56 U.S. 252, 267–68 (1853))); and manufacturing flour (Benson, 409 U.S. at 69 (citing Cochrane v. Deener, 94 U.S. 780, 785 (1876))). In Diehr, the claim at issue recited a mathematical formula, but the Court held that “[a] claim drawn to subject matter otherwise statutory does not become nonstatutory simply because it uses a mathematical formula.” Diehr, 450 U.S. at 176; see also id. at 191 (“We view respondents’ claims as nothing more than a process for molding rubber products and not as an attempt to patent a mathematical formula.”). Having said that, the Court also indicated that a claim “seeking patent protection for that formula in the abstract . . . is not accorded the protection of our patent laws, . . . and this principle cannot be circumvented by attempting to limit the use of the formula to a particular technological environment.” Id. (citing Benson and Flook); see, e.g., id. at 187 (“It is now commonplace that an application of a law of nature or mathematical formula to a known structure or process may well be deserving of patent protection.”). If the claim is “directed to” an abstract idea, we turn to the second part of the Alice and Mayo framework, where “we must examine the elements of Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 9 the claim to determine whether it contains an ‘inventive concept’ sufficient to ‘transform’ the claimed abstract idea into a patent-eligible application.” Alice, 573 U.S. at 221 (quotation marks omitted). “A claim that recites an abstract idea must include ‘additional features’ to ensure ‘that the [claim] is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the [abstract idea].’” Id. (quoting Mayo, 566 U.S. at 77). “[M]erely requir[ing] generic computer implementation[] fail[s] to transform that abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention.” Id. B. USPTO Section 101 Guidance In January 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) published revised guidance on the application of § 101. See 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. 50 (Jan. 7, 2019) (the “2019 Revised Guidance”).5 “All USPTO personnel are, as a matter of internal agency management, expected to follow the guidance.” Id. at 51; see also October 2019 Update at 1. Under the 2019 Revised Guidance and the October 2019 Update, we first look to whether the claim recites: (1) any judicial exceptions, including certain groupings of abstract ideas (i.e., mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activity such as a fundamental economic practice, or mental processes) (“Step 2A, Prong One”); and 5 In response to received public comments, the Office issued further guidance on October 17, 2019, clarifying the 2019 Revised Guidance. USPTO, October 2019 Update: Subject Matter Eligibility (the “October 2019 Update”) (available at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/peg_oct_2019_update.p df). Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 10 (2) additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application (see MPEP § 2106.05(a)–(c), (e)–(h) (9th ed. 2018)) (“Step 2A, Prong Two”).6 2019 Revised Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. at 52–55. Only if a claim (1) recites a judicial exception and (2) does not integrate that exception into a practical application, do we then look, under Step 2B, to whether the claim: (3) adds a specific limitation beyond the judicial exception that is not “well-understood, routine, [and] conventional” in the field (see MPEP § 2106.05(d)); or (4) simply appends well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry, specified at a high level of generality, to the judicial exception. See 2019 Revised Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. at 52–55. C. Analysis We now apply the 2019 Revised Guidance to the claims. Appellant argues the claims together. Appeal Br. 8–13. Therefore, we confine our discussion to claim 1, which we select as representative. Claims 2, 3, 5–13, 16–23, and 25–29 stand or fall with claim 1. 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(iv). 1. Step 2A, Prong One — The Judicial Exception Under Step 2A, Prong One, of the 2019 Revised Guidance, we first look to whether claim 1 recites a judicial exception, including certain groupings of abstract ideas (i.e., mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activity such as a fundamental economic practice, or mental processes). 2019 Revised Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. at 52–54. 6 We perform this evaluation by (a) identifying whether there are any additional elements recited in the claim beyond the judicial exception, and (b) evaluating those additional elements individually and in combination to determine whether the claim as a whole integrates the exception into a practical application. See 2019 Revised Guidance - Section III(A)(2), 84 Fed. Reg. at 54–55. Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 11 The Examiner concludes that claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea. The Examiner finds, inter alia, that claim 1’s limitations beginning with “in response to (a). . .” and ending with “such that the collection of vehicle operation data. . .” are directed to mental processes. Final Act. 3. More particularly, the Examiner determines that these limitations involve processes of comparing data and processes of organizing information that one can perform with his or her mind. Id. Citing McRO, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games America, Inc., 837 F.3d 1299 (Fed. Cir. 2016), Appellant contends claim 1 is directed to a mobile device that collects vehicle operation data in a different way.7 Appeal Br. 11–13; Reply Br. 8–9. Specifically, Appellant asserts the invention of claim 1 is similar to the invention at issue in McRO because “[p]rior systems require the human vehicle operators to personally observe and record vehicle operation to subjectively identify notable driving events,” but “[t]he mobile device of the invention objectively identifies notable driving events via objective criteria,” which “is much different than what humans had previously done.” Appeal Br. 12 (citing Spec. ¶ 80 (describing how the data processing module may work in some embodiments)). Appellant’s arguments are unpersuasive. Here, claim 1 includes the limitations “in response to (a) the vehicle engine being started and (b) detecting the wireless connection between the mobile device and the 7 Appellant also argues that claim 1 is not directed to the abstract idea of determining insurance premiums because claim 1 does not recite this. Appeal Br. 8; Reply Br. 3–6. Although we agree with Appellant that claim 1 does not recite determining insurance premiums, Appellant’s argument does not identify a reversible error in the § 101 rejection because the Examiner identifies limitations of claim 1 that recite a judicial exception (i.e., mental processes). Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 12 vehicle, automatically start to collect vehicle operation data via the at least one accelerometer and a GPS system provided in the mobile device” and “continue to collect vehicle operation data via the at least one accelerometer and GPS system provided in the mobile device while the wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle is maintained.” Appeal Br. 21 (Claims App’x). Claim 1 also recites “store the collected and processed vehicle operation data in the memory” and “store additional data after transmitting the stored vehicle operation data.” Id. These limitations regard collecting and storing data. The Federal Circuit has concluded that abstract ideas include certain concepts of collecting data, recognizing certain data within the collected data set, and storing the data in memory. Content Extraction & Transmission LLC v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 776 F.3d 1343, 1347 (Fed. Cir. 2014). Such activities regard longstanding conduct that existed well before the advent of computers and mobile devices and a human could practically carry them out in his or her mind. See CyberSource Corp. v. Retail Decisions, Inc., 654 F.3d 1366, 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (“That purely mental processes can be unpatentable, even when performed by a computer, was precisely the holding of the Supreme Court in Gottschalk v. Benson.”). Similarly, the step of “sense the orientation of the mobile device within the vehicle” is an activity that a person is able to perform practically with his or her mind, such as by visually observing a vehicle and a mobile phone within the vehicle and mentally determining the orientation of the phone in relation to the vehicle. Appellant’s comparison of claim 1 to McRO fails to persuade us that claim 1 does not recite mental processes. In McRO, the Federal Circuit disagreed with a district court’s determination that claims were “drawn to Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 13 the [abstract] idea of automated rules-based use of morph targets and delta sets for lip-synchronized three-dimensional animation.” 837 F.3d at 1313 (quoting McRO, Inc. v. Sony Computer Entm’t Am., LLC, 55 F.Supp.3d 1214, 1226 (C.D. Cal. 2014)). Instead, the Federal Circuit determined that “the claims are limited to rules with specific characteristics.” Id. at 1313. More specifically, the Federal Circuit stated: [a]s the district court recognized during claim construction, “the claims themselves set out meaningful requirements for the first set of rules: they ‘define[ ] a morph weight set stream as a function of phoneme sequence and times associated with said phoneme sequence.’” Id. The Federal Circuit determined “[t]he specific, claimed features of these rules allow for the improvement realized by the invention.” Id. In contrast, Appellant’s claim 1 does not recite any rules with specific characteristics. Although rules of some general nature may be implicated within some of claim 1’s limitations (e.g., automatically stopping or starting the collection of vehicle operation data in view of the status of a wireless connection between the vehicle and mobile device), claim 1 does not recite rules with specific characteristics for those limitations. In view of the foregoing, several limitations of claim 1 reasonably involve mental processes, including observation, evaluation, and judgment. The 2019 Revised Guidance expressly recognizes mental processes as constituting an abstract idea. 84 Fed. Reg. at 52. Accordingly, claim 1 recites a judicial exception to patent-eligible subject matter under Step 2A, Prong One. Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 14 2. Step 2A, Prong Two — Integration into a Practical Application Under Step 2A, Prong 2 of the 2019 Revised Guidance and the October 2019 Update, we consider whether claim 1 as a whole integrates the judicial exception into a practical application of the exception. The October 2019 Update explains that “[a]n important consideration to evaluate when determining whether the claim as a whole integrates a judicial exception into a practical application is whether the claimed invention improves the functioning of a computer or other technology.” October 2019 Update, 12. Appellant contends the claimed invention amounts to something significantly more than an abstract idea under the Alice and Mayo framework because the claims solve a specific technological problem. Appeal Br. 8–9; Reply Br. 6–7. Specifically, Appellant asserts “the claims of the present invention are directed to solving the specific technological problem of collecting vehicle operation data via a mobile device only when the vehicle is actually being operated.” Appeal Br. 8. Appellant argues “collecting data while the vehicle is turned off or merely siting stationary merely overloads the memory of a mobile device with useless information” and “[c]laim 1 recites specific limitations to ensure the mobile device only collects vehicle data while the vehicle is operational.” Id. In support of these arguments, Appellant refers to limitations of claim 1 and paragraphs 8–10, 61, 62, 92, 108, 194, 205, 208, 212, and 215 of the Specification.8 As the October 2019 Update provides, to determine whether the claimed invention provides a technological improvement, we consider 8 The paragraphs of the original Specification are not numbered; the original Specification includes page and line numbers instead. Appellant’s citations appear to refer to the publication of the application, US 2013/0046510 A1, published February 21, 2013 (“Published Application”). Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 15 whether Appellant’s Specification “provides sufficient details such that one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the claimed invention as providing an improvement.” October 2019 Update, 12. If the Specification sets forth an improvement in technology, we then evaluate claim 1 “to ensure that the claim itself reflects the disclosed improvement.” Id. The passages of the Specification that Appellant cites generally discuss aspects of Appellant’s invention, such as the collection of vehicle operation data, automatically detecting establishment of a wireless connection between a mobile device and a vehicle, and automatically starting to collect the vehicle operation data in response to detecting the connection. See, e.g., Published Application ¶¶ 8–10, 108. These passages, however, do not identify a problem of collecting vehicle operation data via a mobile device only when the vehicle is actually being operated. Nor do the cited passages indicate achieving any improvement by not collecting data while a vehicle is turned off or is merely siting stationary so the memory of a mobile device is not overloaded with useless information, as Appellant argues. In other words, the cited passages of Appellant’s Specification do not provide sufficient details such that one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the claimed invention as providing the improvement asserted by Appellant. Instead, the Specification explains that an automobile insurance provider “seeks to assess the risk level associated with a driver and price an insurance policy to protect against that risk.” Spec at 3:19–22. “In the industry today, driving behavior data for insurance rating purposes is collected by specialized devices that plug into vehicle data ports.” Id. at 3:27–28. The Specification states that “[i]n accordance with the teachings of Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 16 the present disclosure, a mobile device, such as a smartphone, is used to collect and transmit vehicle operation data, rather than a specialized device that plugs into a vehicle data port.” Id. at 5:2–4. These passages suggest that Appellant’s invention is directed to using a mobile device instead of “specialized devices” to collect vehicle operation data, which can be used to assess a risk level associated with a driver and price an insurance policy. To the extent that humans previously performed this data collection, as Appellant argues, Appellant’s invention regards mere automation of a manual process via a general processor and other generic components (e.g., memory and Bluetooth® enabled radio transmitter) of a mobile device. “[M]ere automation of manual processes using generic computers does not constitute a patentable improvement in computer technology.” Credit Acceptance Corp. v. Westlake Servs., 859 F.3d 1044, 1055 (Fed. Cir. 2017). Furthermore, even if the Specification provided “sufficient details such that one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the claimed invention as providing an improvement,” claim 1 does not reflect the improvement Appellant asserts. As noted above, Appellant asserts the claimed invention solves a problem by “collecting vehicle operation data via a mobile device only when the vehicle is actually being operated” and avoiding data collection “while the vehicle is turned off or merely [sitting] stationary.” Appeal Br. 8. Claim 1 recites, for example, automatically starting to collect vehicle operation data in response to detecting a wireless connection between a mobile device and a vehicle and automatically stopping or starting the data collection when there is a disconnection or connection between the vehicle and mobile device. Claim 1, however, does not recite that the connection status (e.g., a disconnection) is a result of the Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 17 operation status of the vehicle, such as the vehicle merely sitting stationary. As a result, Appellant’s arguments do not persuade us that the invention of claim 1 provides an improvement that integrates the judicial exception into a practical application of the exception. Claim 1 further recites “detect a wireless connection established between the mobile device and a vehicle having an engine by receiving a first indication from the Bluetooth enabled radio transmitter that it is connected to the vehicle” and “identify the vehicle by vehicle identification information.” Appeal Br. 21 (Claims App’x). These limitations relate to data gathering the mobile device performs in claim 1 and, therefore, do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Insignificant data gathering steps “add nothing of practical significance to [an] underlying abstract idea.” Ultramercial, Inc. v. Hulu, LLC, 772 F.3d 709, 716 (Fed. Cir. 2014). Claim 1 also recites components of the mobile device: at least one accelerometer and a GPS system, a processor, a memory, a Bluetooth® enabled radio transmitter, and a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions for performing the steps that claim 1 recites. Appeal Br. 21 (Claims App’x). To the extent these limitations attempt to impose a meaningful limitation on the judicial exception by generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technological environment (e.g., a mobile device), the “prohibition against patenting abstract ideas ‘cannot be circumvented by attempting to limit the use of [the abstract idea] to a particular technological environment.’” Bilski, 561 U.S. at 610 (quoting Diehr, 450 U.S. at 191–92). Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 18 In sum, we find that claim 1 does not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Accordingly, claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea. 3. Step 2B — Inventive Concept Because claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea, we evaluate the additional elements of the claim, individually and in combination, to determine whether the claim provides an inventive concept (i.e., whether the additional elements amount to significantly more than the exception itself). See 2019 Revised Guidance, 84 Fed. Reg. at 56. The Examiner concludes, and we agree, that the claims do not contain any additional elements, individual or in combination, that amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. Final Act. 4–5. As we explain above, claim 1 contains the additional elements of at least one accelerometer and a GPS system, a processor, a memory, and a Bluetooth® enabled radio transmitter, “detect a wireless connection established between the mobile device and a vehicle having an engine by receiving a first indication from the Bluetooth enabled radio transmitter that it is connected to the vehicle” and “identify the vehicle by vehicle identification information.” When considered individually, the limitations “detect a wireless connection established between the mobile device and a vehicle having an engine by receiving a first indication from the Bluetooth enabled radio transmitter that it is connected to the vehicle” and “identify the vehicle by vehicle identification information” relate to routine data gathering, as discussed above, because the wireless connection is used by the mobile device to collect vehicle operation data from the vehicle. The “identify” step regards gathering vehicle identification information. Routine data-gathering Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 19 steps, however, are “insufficient . . . to constitute an inventive concept.” Solutran, Inc. v. Elavon, Inc., 931 F.3d 1161, 1169 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (citations omitted). Further, the claim recites these limitations at a high level of generality, as the Examiner finds. Final Act. 4–5. The limitations of at least one accelerometer and a GPS system, a processor, a memory, a Bluetooth® enabled radio transmitter, and a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium are also recited at a high level of generality. Id. The Specification does not indicate that these components are anything other than generic components performing generic functions. To the contrary, the Specification demonstrates the conventional nature of these elements. Spec. 11:9–19, 11:25–29, 12:1–10, 13:4–7. In addition, a generic computer processor does not transform an abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter. FairWarningIP, LLC v. Iatric Sys., Inc., 839 F.3d 1089, 1096 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (“the use of generic computer elements like a microprocessor or user interface do not alone transform an otherwise abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter”). The additional elements of claim 1 also do not indicate an inventive concept when viewed as an ordered combination. Citing Thales Visionix, Inc. v. United States, 850 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2017), Appellant argues “the claims of the present application are directed to handheld computing devices, blue-tooth transmitter, etc. for collecting vehicle operation data only when the vehicle is being operated” and, therefore, the claims are not directed to an abstract idea. Appeal Br. 9–10; Reply Br. 7–8. The claims at issue in Thales were directed to an unconventional arrangement of inertial sensors and calculations based on a different reference frame to reduce errors. 850 F.3d at 1348–49. Appellant does not explain which components Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 20 are arranged in an unconventional manner or how any of the generic components are operating in an unconventional manner, such as to achieve the improvement Appellant asserts. Therefore, the additional elements of claim 1, individually and in combination, fail to provide an inventive concept such that the claims recite “significantly more” than an abstract idea. In summary, we have carefully considered Appellant’s arguments but are not persuaded of reversible error in the Examiner’s § 101 rejection of claim 1. Therefore, we affirm the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, and 25–29. Obviousness Rejections A. Rejection of Claims 1–3, 9–13, 20–23, and 25–31 over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, and Avery The Examiner finds Breed discloses a mobile device comprising, inter alia, at least one of an accelerometer and a GPS system, automatically detecting that a data connection has been established between the mobile device and a vehicle, that the data connection is a wireless one via Bluetooth®, transmitting the collected vehicle operation data from the mobile device to a server of a remote data storage system via a network, processing the collected vehicle operational data to calculate one or more driving behavior metrics, and storing the collected and processed vehicle operation data and transmitting the stored operation data. Final Act. 7–9. The Examiner finds Breed does not disclose or suggest (1) automatically starting to collect vehicle operation data in response to the vehicle’s engine starting and the detection of a wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle, and (2) stopping collection of the vehicle operation data via the mobile device upon disconnection of the wireless Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 21 connection between the mobile device and the vehicle, as claim 1 recites. Id. at 9–10. As to those limitations, the Examiner finds: Asahina discloses that the collection of (time) data via the at least one sensor (communication timer 244, Fig.2) automatically starts and stops upon detection of connection and disconnection of the wireless connection between the mobile telephone MS 1, Fig.1 (mobile device) and the switching system 24, Figs.1 and 2 (vehicle). Id. at 11. The Examiner concludes it would have been obvious to modify Breed in view of Asahina to, “after the detection of the connection/disconnection status, correspondingly collect or stop collecting (time) data in order to accomplish an accurate billing” or: to just detect the disconnection of the wireless connection to automatically stop collecting vehicle operation data, since the vehicle operation data (acceleration, GPS data) would have no ability to be wirelessly transferred to a smartphone due to a (detected) absence of the wireless connection and, therefore, collecting these data would serve no purpose, wherein an automatic detection of the disconnection status of a wireless connection, accomplished via an automatic device (control device) as described by Matsuyama, would be a necessary step to implement the stoppage of the automatic data collection from the vehicle such the acceleration or GPS data. Id. at 13–14. Appellant argues that “Asahina addresses the problem of tracking cell phone usage so that the user can be charged for cell phone ‘minutes’ of use even when the cell phone is disconnected from the cell tower but data is still being transmitted.” Appeal Br. 26. Thus, “Asahina has nothing to do with ‘in response to detecting the disconnection of the wireless connection between the mobile device and the vehicle, automatically stop collecting Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 22 vehicle operation data via the at least one accelerometer and GPS system provided in the mobile device’ as claimed in Claim 1.” Id. at 17. Appellant’s arguments are persuasive. Breed is directed to enabling interaction with a vehicle by coupling a smartphone to the vehicle and transferring data between the smartphone and the vehicle to enable a number of operations. Breed, at [57]. Breed discloses that the data transfer may be via Bluetooth® or an equivalent protocol. Id. ¶ 458. Asahina is directed to providing appropriate timing control and billing information even when a connection between a mobile telephone and a wireless section has been released. Asahina ¶¶ 2, 4, 18. In other words, Asahina regards connections between a mobile device and a cellular system, not wireless connections (e.g., Bluetooth® connection) between a mobile device and a vehicle. In response to Appellant’s arguments, the Examiner states “[t]he important fact in establishing a rationale to combine the references is a disclosed ability in Asahina to automatically start/stop wireless collection of data regardless of the reason of such actions.” Ans. 9. Therefore, the Examiner explains, “it is not necessary for the prior art to have the same or similar utility as in the claimed invention.” Id. at 10. The Examiner further cites the rationales set forth in the Final Office Action for why it would have been obvious to modify Breed in view of Asahina. Id. The Examiner’s explanations, however, do not sufficiently articulate why one of ordinary skill in the art would have modified Breed’s Bluetooth® connection between a smartphone and a vehicle in view of Asahina’s teachings, which regard connections between a mobile device and a cellular system and providing accurate billing in view of such connections. Therefore, Appellant identifies Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 23 a reversible error in the Examiner’s § 103(a) rejection of claim 1 over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, and Avery, and we reverse that rejection. The Examiner relies on the analysis for claim 1 in rejecting independent claims 12 and 22. Final Act. 17 (for claim 12, “[t]he claim is rejected analogously to the rejection of [c]laim 1”), 18 (same for claim 22). We reverse the Examiner’s rejections of those claims for the same reasons that we reverse the Examiner’s rejection of claim 1. The Examiner’s rejections of claims 2, 3, 9–11, 13, 20, 21, 23, and 25–31 do not remedy the deficiencies we identify with regard to the rejection of claim 1. Therefore, we also reverse the Examiner’s rejection of claims 2, 3, 9–11, 13, 20, 21, 23, and 25–31. B. Rejections of Claims 5–8, 16–19, 25, and 26 The Examiner does not rely on Sakai, Hawkins, or Nath to remedy the deficiencies we identify with regard to the § 103 rejection over Breed in view of Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, and Avery. Therefore, we do not sustain the § 103 rejections of claims 5–8, 16–19, 25, and 26 for the same reasons as those discussed above with regard to the § 103 rejection over Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, and Avery. CONCLUSION The Examiner’s rejection of claim 30 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph is reversed, the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, and 25–29 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 is affirmed, and the Examiner’s rejections of claims 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, and 25–31 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) are reversed. Appeal 2019-001433 Application 13/659,405 24 DECISION SUMMARY In summary: Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § Reference(s)/Basis Affirmed Reversed 30 112 Indefiniteness 30 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, 25– 29 101 Eligibility 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, 25– 29 1–3, 9–13, 20–23, 25– 31 103(a) Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, Avery 1–3, 9–13, 20–23, 25–31 5, 16, 25 103(a) Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, Avery, Sakai 5, 16, 25 6, 17 103(a) Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, Avery, Hawkins 6, 17 7, 8, 18, 19, 26 103(a) Breed, Matsuyama, Asahina, Berkobin, Pudar, Avery, Nath 7, 8, 18, 19, 26 Overall Outcome 1–3, 5–13, 16–23, 25– 29 30, 31 TIME PERIOD FOR RESPONSE No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). AFFIRMED-IN-PART Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation