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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 2 and 4-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dopfer et al (US 2015/0179013 A1) in view of Demmeler et al (US 2020/0140129 A1), further in view of Schmitz et al (US 2016/0217640 A1), further in view of Marquardt et al (US 2016/0253858 A1), further in view of Higgins et al (US 10,380,843 B2), further in view of Jones et al (US 9,141,876 B1) and further in view of Nakanishi et al (US 2018/0276933 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer teaches a system for processing output of at least one count sort machine (60), as illustrated in figures 1b, 1c and 2, and as mentioned at paragraph 35, comprising: at least one movement mechanism, i.e., robot (31), as mentioned at paragraph 40, and gripper (9), as illustrated in figures 1a, 1c, 2 and 3 and as mentioned at paragraphs 33, 35 and 36, for example; at least one data source, i.e., memory (5, 102), as mentioned in paragraph 36, fifth sentence, third sentence from the bottom and last sentence and paragraph 37, for example; and at least one controller, i.e., gripper controller (8), as illustrated in figure 3 and as mentioned at paragraph 36 and control unit (62), as mentioned at paragraph 43, that:
receives data from the at least one data source (5, 102) regarding cash box documents, as mentioned at paragraph 34, noting in particular the first and second sentences, provided to the at least one count sort machine, i.e., apparatus (60) for processing value documents/banknotes, as mentioned at paragraph 35.
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach at least one controller that determines a combination of the cash box documents for an output container using the data, noting the sensing of the separator cards; and
operates the at least one movement mechanism to move at least a portion of the cash box documents from the at least one count sort machine to the output container based on the combination.
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach, but Demmeler teaches at least one controller (27), as mentioned at paragraph 23, first sentence, i.e., “the apparatus has a control device which is adapted to link identification data of the value documents, with which the container has been filled by the filling station, with identification data of the container in a database”, and as mentioned at paragraph 45, that
determines a combination of the cash box documents for an output container using the data, noting the sensing of the separator cards, as mentioned at paragraph 45, first sentence, i.e., “apparatus 1 preferably has a control device 27 which is adapted to link identification data of the value documents 2, which were processed by the value document apparatus 30 and filled into the containers 3 at the filling station 40, with identification data of the respective containers 3 in a database (not shown)”; and
operates the at least one movement mechanism, i.e., the robot (41), as illustrated in figure 1, for example, to move at least a portion of the cash box documents from the at least one count sort machine (30) to the output container (3) based on the combination, as mentioned at paragraphs 23 and 45.
Regarding Claim 1, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided at least one controller that determines a combination of the cash box documents for an output container using the data, noting the sensing of the separator cards; and
operates the at least one movement mechanism to move at least a portion of the cash box documents from the at least one count sort machine to the output container in fulfillment of the combination, as taught by Demmeler, in Dopfer’s document processing system for the purpose adding a process and system for filling document containers to the system for receiving and processing document containers, thus enabling complete processing of value documents.
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach
wherein the combination is based on one or more of the following:
an aggregate value of documents;
an aggregate number of documents;
an aggregate number of a currency denominations; and
deposit requirements.
Regarding Claim 1, Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach, but Schmitz teaches
wherein the combination is based on one or more of the following:
an aggregate value of documents, as mentioned at paragraph 22, second sentence, i.e., “[u]pon accounting, a total value of the value documents of the deposit is established”;
an aggregate number of documents, noting that the aggregate value of documents is easily convertible into a count of the number of documents;
an aggregate number of a currency denomination(s), as mentioned at paragraph 22, last sentence, i.e., “in such a way that it brings to account the at least two sub-stacks of the value document number of each value-document type as established for each deposit”; and
deposit requirements, as mentioned at paragraph 23, second sentence, i.e., “the sorted-out reject value documents of different sub-stacks that belong to the same deposit and were inserted into the same value-document container or into different containers are sorted out into the same reject pocket”.
Regarding Claim 1, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided wherein the combination is based on one or more of the following:
an aggregate value of documents;
an aggregate number of documents;
an aggregate number of a currency denominations; and
deposit requirements, as taught by Schmitz, in Dopfer’s currency handling system, for the purpose of accounting and reconciling deposits processed by the system.
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach wherein said at least one data source further provides information regarding virtual ticket operations, including virtual tickets being reported as if physical tickets have been received by the cash box when said physical tickets have not been received by the cash box, to reconcile discrepancies between reported transactions, including virtual tickets, and physical tickets amongst the cash box documents.
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach, but Marquardt teaches wherein said at least one data source, i.e., memory with database, as mentioned at paragraphs 59, 69, last sentence, paragraph 74, last two sentences, paragraph 75, second and third sentences, paragraph 76, first sentence, paragraph 77, for example, further provides information regarding virtual ticket operations, including virtual tickets being reported as if physical tickets have been received by the cash box, when said physical tickets have not been received by the cash box, to reconcile discrepancies between reported transactions, including virtual tickets, and physical tickets (550), as illustrated at figure 5b, amongst the cash box documents, i.e., currency notes (500), as illustrated at figure 5a, and as illustrated at figure 8 and as mentioned at paragraphs 95-99, as seen as follows.
[0095] FIG. 8 shows a virtual separator reconciling process/rejection handling performed by reconciling device 301, sensors 302, and processing device 303. In step 801, transport mechanism 402 transports sheet N to reconciling device 301. In step 802, input mechanism 401 in reconciling device 301 receives one or more sheets N inserted by a person or machine. In some configurations, one or more of input mechanism 401 and transport mechanism 402 separates sheets N when the person or machine inserts a plurality of sheets. Transport mechanism 402 transports each sheet to either sensors 102 or sensors 302, depending on the configuration.
[0096] In step 803, sensors 302 detect anomaly information, which can include, for example, the reason that sheet N was rejected. For example, sensors 302 detect anomaly information 602 about currency note 600. In some configurations, sensors 302 detect reconciliation information, including accounting information and deposit information about the sheet. For example, sensors 302 detect reconciliation information 601 about currency note 600. In some configurations, sensors 302 detect characteristic information about sheet N, including: a serial number of sheet N and a value (e.g., denomination) of sheet N; a series of sheet N; physical attributes of sheet N; and the presence of other identifiers, such as magnetic strips, ink, bar codes or other recognition patterns, holograms, punch marks, and RFID circuits, or other marking mediums present on sheet N, including both visible marks and marks not visible to the human eye, including ultraviolet markings or infrared markings. Transport mechanism 402 transports each sheet to processing device 303.
[0097] In step 804, processing device 303 determines, based on the anomaly information detected by sensors 302, whether to reconcile an account associated with the accounting information about the sheet, detected by sensors 302. In step 805, processing device 303 associates the accounting information about the sheet with the account in response to determining that the account is to be reconciled.
[0098] In step 806, processing device 303 reconciles the account associated with the accounting information based on the deposit information about the sheet. In some configurations, processing device 303 is configured to reconcile the account associated with the accounting information based on the characteristic information about the sheet obtained by sensors 302, including for example the serial number or value of the sheet.
[0099] In some configurations, one or more of steps 801-806 comprises reading from a memory one or more of: the characteristic information about the sheet, including the serial number and value of the sheet; the anomaly information about the sheet, including the reason that the system rejected sheet N as anomalous; the accounting information about the sheet, including the account that the deposit was intended for; the deposit information about the sheet, including the number of sheets N deposited in the group of sheets N deposited; image data of an image of the sheet; and metadata of the image of the sheet. In some configurations, the information and data will be read from a database system. In some configurations, the information and data will be linked in the memory or database system such that processing device 303 can access one piece of information or data and know where in memory or the database system to find the linked accounting information, which can include an account number. Processing device 303 uses the information or data read from the memory or database system to reconcile the account.
Emphasis provided.
Regarding Claim 1, note that it has been held that omission of an element and its function in a combination where the remaining elements perform the same functions as before only involves routine skill in the art. See In re Karlson, 136 USPQ 184.
Regarding Claim 1, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided wherein said at least one data source further provides information regarding virtual ticket operations, including virtual tickets being reported as if physical tickets have been received by the cash box when said physical tickets have not been received by the cash box, to reconcile discrepancies between reported transactions, including virtual tickets, and physical tickets amongst the cash box documents, as taught by Marquardt, in Dopfer’s currency handling system, for the purpose of accounting and reconciling deposits processed by the system.
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach virtual tickets being reported as if physical tickets have been received by the cash box when said physical tickets have not been received by the cash box, to reconcile discrepancies between reported transactions, including virtual tickets, and physical tickets amongst the cash box documents.
Regarding Claim 1, Dopfer does not expressly teach, but Higgins teaches virtual tickets being reported as if physical tickets have been received by the cash box when said physical tickets have not been received by the cash box, to reconcile discrepancies between reported transactions, including virtual tickets, and physical tickets amongst the cash box documents, as mentioned in col. 7, lines 15-60, which states as follows.
(23) After connecting the mobile device to the kiosk, the kiosk prompts the player to deposit an amount of funds into the kiosk. In one such embodiment, the kiosk prompts the player to insert one or more bills into a bill acceptor of the kiosk. In another such embodiment, the kiosk additionally or alternatively prompts the player to deposit a physical ticket voucher (associated with an amount of funds) into the kiosk. In another such embodiment, the kiosk additionally or alternatively prompts the player to deposit a card associated with an external account, such as a credit card or debit card into the kiosk. In another such embodiment, the kiosk additionally or alternatively prompts the player to enter information associated with an external account, such as a credit card account, a PayPal? account, a Venmo? account, or a debit card account into the kiosk. In another such embodiment, the kiosk additionally or alternatively prompts the player to deposit an amount of funds into the kiosk using a mobile device electronic fund transfer, such using Apple Pay? or Android Pay?.
(24) In one embodiment, after a first amount of funds is accepted, such as after a first bill or unit of currency is accepted, by the kiosk, the kiosk and/or the mobile device application enable the player to transfer the deposited amount of funds (e.g., a “Load Phone Now” button) or continue to deposit additional amounts of funds with the kiosk. In another embodiment, for each amount of funds accepted by the kiosk, such as for each bill or unit of currency accepted by the kiosk, a virtual ticket voucher is created and deposited in the cashless wagering account.
(26) It should be appreciated that while the above example embodiments are described in relation to utilizing a mobile device to facilitate the transferring one or more amounts of money or units of currency from a kiosk to a cashless wagering account (and tracking the corresponding funding source of such amounts of money or units of currency), such example embodiments may also be used to transfer, either as an isolated transaction or as part of an operation mode of the EGM, one or more amounts of money or units of currency from an EGM to a cashless wagering account and/or from a gaming establishment interface, such as a casino desk, to a cashless wagering account.
Emphasis provided.
Therefore, all forms of currency are normalized into a common form of a virtual ticket voucher, which is construed to be a common digital form of cash.
Col. 9, line 42-Col. 10, line 57 mentions as follows.
(35) In certain embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in a gaming establishment retail account via an EGM. In certain embodiments, the system enables a player that has an amount of cash to utilize an EGM to convert the cash to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment retail account (which is subsequently utilized to purchase goods and/or services at the gaming establishment and/or transferred to a cashless wagering account as non-cashable credits for a subsequent transfer to an EGM utilizing a mobile device application). In other embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in a gaming establishment retail account via an EGM that accepts printed ticket vouchers (i.e., a bearer instrument redeemable for cash or game play on the EGM). In these embodiments, the system enables a player that has one or more printed ticket vouchers to utilize an EGM to convert the printed ticket voucher to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment retail account (which is subsequently utilized to purchase goods and/or services at the gaming establishment and/or transferred to a cashless wagering account as non-cashable credits for a subsequent transfer to an EGM utilizing a mobile device application). The system tracks such cash and printed ticket voucher fund deposits in association with the funding source of such deposits.
(36) In certain embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in a gaming establishment retail account via a gaming establishment interface, such as a casino desk. In certain embodiments, the system enables a player that has an amount of cash to utilize a gaming establishment interface, such as a casino desk to convert the cash to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment retail account (which is subsequently utilized to purchase goods and/or services at the gaming establishment and/or transferred to a cashless wagering account as non-cashable credits for a subsequent transfer to an EGM utilizing a mobile device application). In other embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in a gaming establishment retail account via a gaming establishment interface that accepts printed ticket vouchers. In these embodiments, the system enables a player that has one or more printed ticket vouchers to utilize a gaming establishment interface to convert the printed ticket voucher to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment retail account (which is subsequently utilized to purchase goods and/or services at the gaming establishment and/or transferred to a cashless wagering account as non-cashable credits for a subsequent transfer to an EGM utilizing a mobile device application). The system tracks such cash and printed ticket voucher fund deposits in association with the funding source of such deposits.
(37) In certain embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in a gaming establishment retail account via a kiosk that accepts money. In certain embodiments, the system enables a player that has an amount of cash to utilize a kiosk to convert the cash to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment retail account (which is subsequently utilized to purchase goods and/or services at the gaming establishment and/or transferred to a cashless wagering account as non-cashable credits for a subsequent transfer to an EGM utilizing a mobile device application). In other embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in a gaming establishment retail account via a kiosk that accepts printed ticket vouchers. In these embodiments, the system enables a player that has one or more printed ticket vouchers to utilize a kiosk to convert the printed ticket voucher to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment retail account (which is subsequently utilized to purchase goods and/or services at the gaming establishment and/or transferred to a cashless wagering account as non-cashable credits for a subsequent transfer to an EGM utilizing a mobile device application). The system tracks such cash and printed ticket voucher fund deposits in association with the funding source of such deposits.
(38) In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment retail account is associated with funds associated with one or more virtual ticket vouchers. In certain embodiments, the system enables a player associated with an amount of virtual ticket vouchers (as described in more detail below) to utilize an EGM, a mobile device running an application, a kiosk and/or a gaming establishment interface to convert the virtual ticket vouchers to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment retail account. The system tracks such virtual ticket voucher fund deposits in association with the funding source of such deposits.
Emphasis provided.
Note that substantially, Higgins teaches that regardless of which form of cash is provided to the electronic gaming machine (EGM), such as virtual ticket vouchers, physical ticket vouchers, banknotes/currency, by card, for example, they are all converted into currency units and tracked for reconciliation and accounting purposes.
Regarding Claim 1, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided virtual tickets being reported as if physical tickets have been received by the cash box when said physical tickets have not been received by the cash box, to reconcile discrepancies between reported transactions, including virtual tickets, and physical tickets amongst the cash box documents, as taught by Higgins, in Dopfer’s currency handling system, for the purpose of normalizing various forms of cash into a common digital format so as to enable accounting and reconciling deposits processed by the system.
Note that since reconciling and accounting for physical tickets are performed in the same way as virtual tickets, i.e., as mentioned in paragraphs 97-99 of Marquardt, and noting that Higgins teaches accepting different and varying formats of cash and converting them into a normalizing digital format common to all forms of cash, and since Dopfer, Marquardt and Higgins teach apparatus’ with predictable structure and function, it would have been obvious to have processed virtual tickets with the omission of the physical printed sheet handling aspects as well as the sheet characteristics stored in memory, of the sheet required of a physical ticket as omission of the printed sheet would leave the digital tracking of the serial number, value and accounting information, including the deposit account, and linking of all of it to a user/s account accordingly in the database system and memory, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized the efficacy and synergy of the combination based upon the references' teachings as well as common sense, logic and reason.
Regarding Claim 1, Demmeler does not expressly teach
at least one drop processing system configured to at least generate one or more header and/or trailer cards using data from the at least one data source; and
at least one controller that:
operates the at least one movement mechanism to add the one or more header and/or trailer cards to cash box documents.
Regarding Claim 1, Demmeler does not expressly teach, but Jones teaches
at least one drop processing system, i.e., computer (150, 151), as illustrated in figure 2 and as mentioned at col. 15, line 58-col. 16, line 16 and col. 18, line 63-col. 19, line 58, configured to at least generate one or more header and/or trailer cards using data from the at least one data source, as mentioned at col. 18, line 63-col. 19, line 58, mentioning virtual deposit slips, header cards or trailer cards as well as printing these virtual documents, col. 56, lines 20-34, col. 64, line 51-col. 65, line 37, col. 65, line 41-col. 66, line 3 and col. 67, lines 30-54, as stated as follows.
(235) According to some embodiments, the transaction information 303 can include a financial institution account number field 303a, a declared deposit amount or a total deposit amount field 303b, a number of documents field 303c, a description of a type of financial transaction field 303d, a transaction identifier field 303e, an operator field (not shown), a personnel field or a combination thereof. According to some embodiments, an operator of the document processing system 100 inputs some or all of the transaction information 303 into the document processing system 100, which is configured to automatically populate and/or insert the inputted transaction information into the data file 301. According to some embodiments, the transaction information 303 forms a virtual deposit slip, a header card, a trailer card, or a combination thereof. According to some embodiments, the document processing system 100 can be configured to, and/or communicatively connected to a printer to, print the virtual deposit slip (and/or a header/trailer card) for forwarding with the physical documents associated with the deposit transaction to be deposited.
(279) In addition to providing store records corresponding to the documents 935, the data file 936 may also include other data, such as header data, that applies to the more than one store record. For example, header data may include the date and time stamp for the transaction, Store's financial institution account number, and the like. In general, by providing the transaction information as described previously, the generated data file 936 may act as a virtual deposit slip. Additionally or alternatively, a visually readable image of a preprinted deposit slip may be provided by the data file 936. Thus, according to some embodiments, the transaction information included in the data file 936 may be contained within and/or formatted as a virtual deposit slip and/or a visually readable image of a preprinted deposit slip associated with the deposit transaction between the Store and the Bank.
(316) According to some embodiments, documents to be deposited are processed by a document imaging device 44 and the document imaging device 44 has an electronic deposit slip program running on a resident processor and populates some of the fields of an electronic deposit slip with the data determined from the processing of documents (e.g., currency bills, checks, physical deposit slips) on the document imaging device, e.g., the total value of currency bills processed, a denominational breakdown of the bills by denomination, extracted serial numbers of processed bills, and/or full or snippet images of processed bills and/or information about processed checks (e.g., the total value and/or individual breakdown of individual check values, full or snippet images of checks)--see e.g., the data and images contained in data file 301 discussed above in connection with FIG. 8E. Furthermore, according to some embodiments, the document imaging device has a user interface that permits an operator of the currency processing device to enter other relevant data such as the total value and/or denominational breakdown of coins to be deposited and/or the total value and/or individual breakdown of checks to be deposited. See e.g., deposit slips shown in FIGS. 10D and 10E. According to some embodiments, the document imaging device is communicatively coupled to other devices such as coin sorters or check processing devices and electronically receives relevant information about the coins and/or checks to be included in a deposit from such other devices and populates the appropriate fields in an electronic deposit slip. According to some embodiments, customer ID information, routing information, and account information may be extracted from a physical deposit slip, header card, or trailer card included with the stack of documents being processed such as in a deposit mode. Likewise, transactional ID information, customer ID information, routing information, and account information may be entered via the document imaging device interface and/or received electronically from another electronic device communicatively coupled to the document imaging device. According to some embodiment, some data may be stored in a memory of the document imaging device and used repeatedly to populate relevant fields in electronic deposit slips for multiple deposit transactions. For example, if a document imaging device is located in a store such as ABC STORE #63, the relevant customer ID, e.g., "ABC Store #63" (see field 1010c of FIG. 10C), routing ID, e.g., "789471967" (see field 1040c of FIG. 10C), and account ID, e.g., "1237300" (see field 1030c of FIG. 10C) may be stored in a memory in the document imaging device (or some other computer communicatively coupled to the document imaging device) and used repeatedly to populate appropriate fields an electronic deposit slips (and/or in the creation of data records and/or data files) each time the document imaging device is operated in a particular mode such as a deposit mode.
(318) FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary bank customer location 1101 such as, for example, a retail store location such as store R1 shown in FIG. 7 or location R1 shown in FIG. 9A. A person 1190 such as a store manager is preparing documents to be transferred to a bank and/or as part of a remote electronic deposit transaction as discussed above in connection with FIG. 9A. According in some embodiments, the person 1190 uses a document processing device 11-11 to count and otherwise process documents to be deposited in a deposit transaction as described above. For example, if the device 11-11 is a currency bill denominating device 33, a stack of currency bills of a single denomination or of mixed denominations to be deposited is placed into the input receptacle of the device 11-11 and the device processes the bills determines the total value of the currency bills and/or a breakdown of the bills by denomination. If the device 11-11 is a document imaging device 44, the device may be used to process checks and/or deposit slips and/or header and/or trailer cards in addition to currency bills. For example, according to some embodiments a stack of documents to be deposited in a deposit transaction comprises a physical deposit slip, one or more checks and one or more currency bills. The stack of documents to be deposited is placed into the input receptacle of the device 11-11 and the device processes the documents and determines the total value of the currency bills and/or a breakdown of the bills by denomination, the total value of checks and/or a breakdown of the value of each check. The device 11-11 obtains an image of the checks and deposit slip and/or the currency bills as discussed above.
(326) According to some embodiments, the printer 1154 prints one or more bar codes on the deposit slip or header or trailer or container cards. The bar code(s) can encode and/or be associated with any data pertinent to the deposit transaction, such as, for example, a customer ID, an account number, an amount of deposit, a customer name, a customer address, a declared amount, totals of currency deposited, totals of currency being deposited by denomination, total checks being deposited, etc. According to some embodiments, the printer 1154 prints one or more bar codes on stickers which are then affixed to outside of transit container (e.g., bag B). According to some embodiments, the bar coded data is sent to the bank electronically (such as via network 1120, 920) and is associated with deposit transaction (e.g., a database stores data linking or associating the bar coded data to the deposit transaction ID). Upon receipt of physical deposit by the bank, the bar code is scanned (e.g., via a bar code gun or by running the barcoded document through a device 11). A bank device (e.g., a computer 1352, 1552 running vault software) coupled to the bar code reader (e.g., via a network 1320, 1520), then pulls up declared deposit information or electronic deposit slip data previously received. For example, according to some embodiments, a bar code has been affixed to the outside of the transit container (e.g., bag B) and it may be scanned even before the container has been opened.
Emphasis provided.
Regarding Claim 1, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided at least one drop processing system configured to at least generate one or more header and/or trailer cards using data from the at least one data source, as taught by Jones, in Dopfer’s currency handling system, for the purpose of tracking various forms of cash which comprise the deposit being processed by the system.
Regarding Claim 1, Demmeler does not expressly teach, but Nakanishi teaches at least one controller, i.e., controller (540) as illustrated at figure 1 and as mentioned at paragraphs 42-46, that:
operates the at least one movement mechanism, i.e., robot (CR), robot arm (52) and hand (54), as illustrated in figures 2, 7 and 9, to add the one or more header and/or trailer cards, i.e., batch card B, to cash box documents, as mentioned at paragraphs 42-46, 60, 68 and 113, which states as follows.
[0042] The controller 540 transmits a process completion signal to the robot device 530 through the communication module 519, and notifies that a predetermined unit of paper sheets C are arranged and stacked. The process completion signal transmitted by the controller 540 may be transmitted at the time of completing a predetermined unit of processes, or may be transmitted in the middle of processes.
[0043] For example, the controller 540 is realized by causing a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to execute a program (software). In addition, the controller 540 to be described below may be realized by an LSI (Large scale Integration) of a computer or hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or may be realized by combination of software and hardware.
[0044] The controller 540 interlocks and controls the paper sheet processing apparatus 500 and the robot device 530. The controller 540 may be configured by a PC (Personal Computer), or may be configured integrally to the controller of the paper sheet processing apparatus 500.
[0045] The robot device 530 comprises the robot arm 531, the dolly 532, and a communication module 534. When receiving the process completion signal through the communication module 534, the robot device 530 performs a process in which the rejected banknote D and the batch card B are taken out of the rejecting port 517. The robot device 530 is controlled in operation by the controller 540 based on a recognition result of the image captured by the camera 535. While one robot device is exemplified, a plurality of the robot devices 530 may be provided. The respective robot devices 530 may be assigned with roles such as feeding the paper sheet bundle G to the supply device 511, and taking the rejected banknote D and the batch card B out of the rejecting port 517.
[0046] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement relation between the paper sheet processing system 1 and the storage shelf 550. The storage shelf 550 is disposed to face the paper sheet processing apparatus 500 for example. The robot device 530 is disposed between the storage shelf 550 and the paper sheet processing apparatus 500. The robot arm 531 takes a bundle of rejected banknotes D together with the batch card B. Then, the robot arm 531 stores the bundle of rejected banknotes D and the batch card B in the storage shelf 550.
[0060] Each of the storage sections RA to RF stores one patch of banknote bundles G and a batch card B which are processing targets. The banknote bundle G includes a plurality of stacked banknotes C. The batch card B is disposed to be overlapped with one end of the banknote bundle G. Information on the banknote bundle G, for example, a barcode indicating number of sheets and kind is printed On the batch card B. The banknote bundle G including the batch card B is stored in the storage section and located between the pair of clamp plates 76a and 76b for example. With this configuration, the banknote bundle G and the batch card B are held at a predetermined storage position in a state where both ends in the longitudinal direction are clamped between the clamp plates 76a and 76b. Further, in each storage section, in a state where the banknote bundle G and the batch card B are stored in a predetermined storage position, a space SA is defined on both sides of the banknote bundle G and the batch card B such that the fingers 56 of the processing robot CR can be inserted into the spaces SA.
[0068] In the main module 10, a plurality of take-out ports (stacking ports) 111a are formed in the lower portion of the side wall of the housing 10A to take out the stacked banknotes. In the center of the side wall, a plurality of take-out ports (rejecting ports) 111b are provided to take out the stacked banknotes of damaged or rejected banknotes. Further, a window 113 is formed in the center of the side wall. The window 113 is provided at a position facing an operation panel (display) DP of the main module 10. The operation panel DP is configured by a display panel and a touch panel. The operation panel DP can be operated through the window 113. The operation panel DP can be viewed through the window 113.
[0113] The processing robot CR moves closer to the paper sheet processing apparatus (processing target), and detects the position of the take-out port (rejecting port) 111b. (processing target) by the electronic eye (the camera 85). Subsequently, the processing robot CR inserts the hand 54 to the take-out port 111b. by the robot arm 52, and holds the rejected banknote and the batch card B by the hand 54. Further, the processing robot CR takes the hand 54 out of the take-out port 111b by the robot arm 52, and collects the rejected banknote and the batch card B.
Emphasis provided.
Regarding Claim 1, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided at least one controller that:
operates the at least one movement mechanism to add the one or more header and/or trailer cards to cash box documents, as taught by Nakanishi, in Dopfer’s currency handling system, for the purpose of moving header and trailer cards from the document processor/count sort machine (100a) to documents stored within the cash box.
Regarding Claim 2, Demmeler teaches wherein the at least one movement mechanism, i.e., transport device (8), as illustrated in figure 1, includes a conveyor, noting that the abstract mentions “a transport device which is adapted to convey the container removed from the container stack...”, noting that paragraph 39 mentions “the filled container 3 is set down again on the transport element 8 by the lifting element 9 and is conveyed by the latter to a closing device 10”.
Regarding Claim 4, Demmeler teaches wherein the at least one controller moves the portion of the cash box documents after the portion of the cash box documents is banded, as mentioned at paragraph 5, i.e., “the value documents output in the output pocket…can be present there as loose value documents or in the form of banded value document stacks”. See also paragraphs 2, 25, 26 and 39.
Regarding Claim 5, Dopfer teaches wherein the combination includes: a first number of a first currency denomination, i.e., the first batch of documents associated with a first separator document/element (101); and
a second number of a second currency denomination, i.e., a second batch of documents associated with a second separator document (101), noting the separator element locations x1, x2, x3, as mentioned at second sentence, paragraph 37, for example.
Regarding Claim 6, Dopfer teaches wherein the combination is associated with an aggregate currency value, as mentioned at paragraph 34, i.e., the first two sentences, which state “the container 100 has a data carrier 102, e.g., an RFID transponder, in which information items about the value documents 1 contained in the container are stored” and “[t]hese comprise e.g. information items about the depositor of the respective value document stack and, where applicable, about the number or total value of the value documents”.
Regarding Claim 7, Dopfer teaches wherein the at least one controller (8, 62) communicates the combination to at least one machine readable storage medium (102) associated with the output container (100), as mentioned at paragraphs 34-37.
Regarding Claim 8, Dopfer teaches a system for processing output of at least one count sort machine (60), comprising: at least one movement mechanism, i.e., robot (31) and gripper (9);
at least one sensor, i.e., mechanical sensor (2) or image sensor, as mentioned at second to last sentence; and at least one controller (8, 62) that:
uses data regarding cash box documents provided to the at least one count sort machine to determine a combination of the cash box documents for an output container using the data, as mentioned at paragraph 38, last five sentences;
uses the at least one sensor, i.e., mechanical sensor (2) or image sensor, to identify at least a portion of the cash box documents output by the at least one count sort machine, as mentioned at paragraph 38; and
Demmler teaches operates/operating the at least one movement mechanism (41, 42) to move the portion of the cash box documents from the at least one count sort machine to the output container in fulfillment of the combination, as mentioned at paragraphs 44 and 45, for example, and
Schmitz teaches
wherein the combination is based on one or more of the following:
an aggregate value of documents, as mentioned at paragraph 22, second sentence, i.e., “[u]pon accounting, a total value of the value documents of the deposit is established”;
an aggregate number of documents, noting that the aggregate value of documents is easily convertible into a count of the number of documents;
an aggregate number of a currency denomination(s), as mentioned at paragraph 22, last sentence, i.e., “in such a way that it brings to account the at least two sub-stacks of the value document number of each value-document type as established for each deposit”; and
deposit requirements, as mentioned at paragraph 23, second sentence, i.e., “the sorted-out reject value documents of different sub-stacks that belong to the same deposit and were inserted into the same value-document container or into different containers are sorted out into the same reject pocket”.
Regarding Claim 8, Marquardt further teaches that the system uses information regarding virtual ticket operations, including virtual tickets being reported as if physical tickets have been received by the cash box, to reconcile discrepancies between reported transactions, including virtual tickets, and physical tickets (550) amongst the cash box documents (500), as mentioned at paragraphs 95-99, for example.
Regarding Claim 8, see the rejection of Claim 1, above.
Regarding Claim 9, Dopfer teaches wherein the at least one sensor (2) comprises a camera, i.e., an imaging sensor, as mentioned at paragraph 38, last two sentences.
Regarding Claim 10, official notice is taken that it would have been obvious to have provided an optical character recognition unit in Dopfer’s system so that the at least one controller identifies the portion of the cash box documents using optical character recognition performed on at least one image of the portion of the cash box documents obtained via the camera, as an alternative to a barcode reader that reads the identification off the container, as mentioned at paragraph 16.
Regarding Claim 10, note that since Applicant has not addressed the taking of official notice in the Remarks received 9/8/21, the taking of official notice with regard to Claim 10 is considered to be accepted fact.
Regarding Claim 11, Dopfer teaches wherein the at least one controller (8, 62) identifies the portion of the cash box documents by identifying at least one currency denomination associated with the portion of the cash box documents, noting the separator elements (x1, x2, x3) are identified by the controller and denote the denomination/currency of the value documents, as mentioned at paragraphs 34-38, for example.
Regarding Claim 12, Demmeler teaches wherein the at least one controller identifies the portion of the cash box documents by identifying at least one serial number associated with the portion of the cash box documents, at paragraph 45, which states “[f]or this purpose, the control device 27 is connected to the value-document processing apparatus 30 via a suitable data connection (wireless or wired), via which the identification data, for example serial numbers or an identification of the depositor of the respective value document stack or the of deposit of the respective value document stack, of the value documents 2 output in the output pocket 31 are transmitted to the control device 27”.
Regarding Claim 13, Demmeler teaches wherein the at least one controller identifies the portion of the cash box documents by identifying at least one security feature associated with the portion of the cash box documents, noting that a serial number, as mentioned at paragraph 45, is considered to be a security document.
Regarding Claim 14, official notice is taken that wherein the at least one security feature includes at least one of: an infrared strip; or an ultraviolet strip are common security features and common alternatives to serial numbers on value documents.
Regarding Claim 14, note that since Applicant has not addressed the taking of official notice in the Remarks received 9/8/21, the taking of official notice with regard to Claim 14 is considered to be accepted fact.
Regarding Claim 15, see rejection of Claims 1 and 8, above.
Regarding Claim 16, Demmeler teaches wherein the at least one controller uses at least one locking mechanism to lock the output container after the output container contains the combination, as mentioned at paragraphs 13, 14 and 55.
Regarding Claim 17, official notice is taken that it would have been obvious to have the at least one controller identifies the portion of the cash box documents by determining which of a number of output ports of the at least one count sort machine output the portion of the cash box documents.
Regarding Claim 17, note that since Applicant has not addressed the taking of official notice in the Remarks received 9/8/21, the taking of official notice with regard to Claim 17 is considered to be accepted fact.
Regarding Claim 18, see rejection of Claim 13, above.
Regarding Claim 19, Demmeler teaches wherein the at least one machine readable element comprises at least one barcode. See the rejection of Claim 10, above, noting that official notice regarding this subject matter was not rebutted and is now taken as fact.
Regarding Claim 20, see rejection of Claim 6, above.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dopfer et al (US 2015/0179013 A1) in view of Demmeler et al (US 2020/0140129 A1), further in view of Schmitz et al (US 2016/0217640 A1), further in view of Marquardt et al (US 2016/0253858 A1), further in view of Higgins et al (US 10,380,843 B2), further in view of Jones et al (US 9,141,876 B1), further in view of Nakanishi et al (US 2018/0276933 A1) and further in view of Kobayashi (US 2017/0246745 A1).
Regarding Claim 3, Dopfer teaches the system as described above.
Regarding Claim 3, Dopfer does not expressly teach wherein the at least one movement mechanism includes a linear robot.
Regarding Claim 3, Dopfer does not expressly teach, but Kobayashi teaches a linear robot as an alternative to a single arm robot, as mentioned at paragraph 52.
Regarding Claim 3, before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided wherein the at least one movement mechanism includes a linear robot, as taught by Kobayashi, in Dopfer’s system in place of a single arm robot, as an alternative robot type depending upon the space and location requirements of the robot with respect to the output location of the banknotes and the containers.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant is encouraged to contact the Examiner should there be any questions about this rejection or in an endeavor to explore potential amendments or potential allowable subject matter.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JEFFREY A SHAPIRO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619
June 19, 2026
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