DETAILED ACTION
This is a Final Office Action in response to the claims on 06/23/2026. Claims 1, 5, 7, 9-13, 18 and 20 are pending. The effective filing date is 06/20/18.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/11/2024, and 04/24/2026 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 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.
Claims 1, 5, 7, 9-3, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0284380 A1 Toedtli (hereinafter Toedtli) in view of US 2010/0147418 A1 Piana (hereinafter Piana).
Regarding claim 1, Toedtli teaches a polymeric container (Toedtli [0022]
receptacle may be plastic bottle) comprising:
a finish defining an opening (Toedtli [0126] receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A,
the receptacle has a top portion, with opening/lid);
a neck adjacent to the finish (Toedtli [0126] receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A,
the receptacle has a curved portion, neck, to attach lid);
a shoulder extending from the neck, the shoulder including a curved surface that
gradually tapers outward from the neck and away from a longitudinal axis of the
container (Toedtli [0126] receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A, the receptacle has
a location between the top opening and body portion is tapered);
a body, the shoulder is between the neck and the body (Toedtli [0126]
receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A, the receptacle has a body below the shoulder
and neck);
a base configured to support the container upright (Toedtli [0126] receptacle
has identifier; Fig. 4A, the receptacle has a bottom to keep container upright); and
the code is unique to the container, identifies the container, and is accessible over a
plurality of refilling cycles (Toedtli [0020] the machine readable marking
contains identification and other information; [0021] a machine readable
marking located on the outer surface of the receptacle; when a marking is laser etched onto a bottle it is not removed, and therefore is available throughout its
lifecycle); wherein:
the code identifies the container in a database including manufacturing information for
the container, filling information for the container, and field information for the container
(Toedtli [0009-0010] information in the marking can include specification of
the content, filling time, use of the content, content, manufacture and filler
information; [0004] filling process, production date, dosage; [0018]);
and
the filling information includes an original fill date, a number of refilling cycles
subsequent to the original fill date, refill dates of each one of the refill cycles, and
refilling locations of each one of the refill cycles (Toedtli [0009-0010] information
in the marking can include specification of the content, filling time, use of the
content, content, manufacture and filler information; [0004] filling process,
production date, dosage; [0018]; Under MPEP 2111.05 examiner must consider all claim limitations, however if the limitation is considered printed matter, there must be a determination whether this information is functional. Under MPEP 2111.05 the matter is to be considered printed matter if the claim it to the content of information, here the limitation is directly related to information contained within a code, and therefore is printed matter. Next, there needs to be a determination about whether that information has a functional relationship. When the information is used to merely convey a message, this is considered nonfunctional. There is no new feature of physical structure and no new relation when introducing the messaging, and therefore, the functional relationship exists.).
Toedtli fails to explicitly disclose the container is a refillable container and a code laser etched on the curved surface such that the code is curved to be both horizontally
convex and vertically convex.
Under MPEP 2111.04 the claim scope is not limited by claim language that suggests or makes optional, this non limiting language includes “wherein” statements. When the wherein clause gives meaning and purpose it is given patentable weight, however, when it simply expresses the intended result, it is not given weight. Here, the bottle is the claim, and its intended purpose to refill, but the refill ability of the bottle does not change its shape, or where codes are etched, and therefore its refill ability is a suggestion.
Piana is in the field of plastic containers (Piana Abstract, plastic containers) and teaches a code laser etched on the curved surface such that the code is curved to be both horizontally convex and vertically convex (Piana [0010] laser inscription etched marking onto wall of containers; Fig. 1, marking 7 on neck of the bottle, which is curved both horizontally and vertically; [0025] laser etched on neck of bottle). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the marking of Toedtli with the laser etching and location of the marking as taught by Piana. The motivation for doing so would be apply necessary marking to bottles that are cheap and easy to apply, while maintaining visibility (Piana [0001] various reason to imprint bottles; [0004-0005] easy and inexpensive to mark and review).
Regarding claim 5, modified Toedtli teaches the polymeric container of Claim 1, wherein
the code includes at least one of the following: a QR code; a data matrix code; an Aztec
code; a PDF417 code; a UPC/EAN code; a code 128; and a code 39 (Toedtli
[0053] the code may be QR, code 39, data matrix, Aztec).
Regarding claim 7, modified Toedtli teaches the polymeric container of Claim 1, wherein
the manufacturing information includes at least one of the following: manufacturing date,
manufacturing lot, manufacturing location, and production parameters (Toedtli
[0009-0010] information in the marking can include specification of the content,
filling time, use of the content, content, manufacture and filler information;
[0004] filling process, production date, dosage; [0018]).
Regarding claim 9, modified Toedtli teaches the polymeric container of Claim 1, wherein
the field information includes at least one of the following: date, location, orbit,
appearance, and promotional campaigns (Toedtli [0009-0010] information in
the marking can include specification of the content, filling time, use of the
content, content, manufacture and filler information; [0004] filling process,
production date, dosage; [0018]).
Regarding claim 10, Toedtli teaches a system for tracking containers (Toedtli
[0022] receptacle may be plastic bottle), the system comprising:
a container (Toedtli [0022] receptacle may be plastic bottle), the container
including:
a finish defining an opening (Toedtli [0126] receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A,
the receptacle has a top portion, with opening/lid);
a neck adjacent to the finish (Toedtli [0126] receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A,
the receptacle has a curved portion, neck, to attach lid);
a shoulder extending from the neck, the shoulder including a curved surface that
gradually tapers outward from the neck and away from a longitudinal axis of the
container (Toedtli [0126] receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A, the receptacle has
a location between the top opening and body portion is tapered);
a body, the shoulder is between the neck and the body (Toedtli [0126]
receptacle has identifier; Fig. 4A, the receptacle has a body below the shoulder
and neck);
a base configured to support the container upright (Toedtli [0126] receptacle
has identifier; Fig. 4A, the receptacle has a bottom to keep container upright); and
a code etched on the curved surface (Toedtli [0021] marking the machine readable codes include printing or laser inscription; Fig. 4A, code is etched on a bottle, which is curved),
the code is unique to the container, identifies the container, and is accessible over a
plurality of refilling cycles (Toedtli [0020] the machine readable marking
contains identification and other information; [0021] a machine readable
marking located on the outer surface of the receptacle; when a marking is laser
etched onto a bottle it is not removed, and therefore is available throughout its
lifecycle);
wherein the code identifies the container in a database including manufacturing
information for the container, filling information for the container, and field information
for the container, the filling information includes: an original fill date, a number of refilling
cycles subsequent to the original fill date, refill dates of each one or the refill cycles, and
refilling locations of each one of the refill cycles (Toedtli [0009-0010] information in the marking can include specification of the content, filling time, use of the
content, content, manufacture and filler information; [0004] filling process,
production date, dosage; [0018]; Under MPEP 2111.05 examiner must consider all claim limitations, however if the limitation is considered printed matter, there must be a determination whether this information is functional. Under MPEP 2111.05 the matter is to be considered printed matter if the claim it to the content of information, here the limitation is directly related to information contained within a code, and therefore is printed matter. Next, there needs to be a determination about whether that information has a functional relationship. When the information is used to merely convey a message, this is considered nonfunctional. There is no new feature of physical structure and no new relation when introducing the messaging, and therefore, the functional relationship exists.);
a first belt (Toedtli [0126] readout device transport the receptacle between
two belts; Fig. 4A);
a second belt spaced apart from the first belt a distance sufficient for both the first belt
and the second belt to contact the container when the container is arranged between
the first belt and the second belt (Toedtli [0126] readout device transport the
receptacle between two belts; Fig. 4A); and
a camera arranged along a first side of the first belt and the second belt, the camera is
positioned above the container and angled downward towards the shoulder to read the
code off of the container as the first belt and the second belt convey the container along
a distance (Toedtli [0127-0128] readout device with optical detector, using a
camera, to read the barcode; Fig. 4A; [0127] illumination may be provided at
an incline from above OR the front; the image may show a horizontal camera, but
[0127] describes an angular view of the bottles);
and at least one reflector arranged along a second side of the first belt and the second
belt, the second side is opposite to the first side where the camera is arranged, the at least one reflector configured to direct a light beam generated by the camera to the
code to read the code off the container to allow the code to be read regardless of
whether the code is facing the first side or the second side (Toedtli [0058] the
device includes an illumination device that may be reflective, and shine a light at
the container to read the marking no matter the angle of the marking to the
camera);
wherein the first belt and the second belt are configured to be operated by a controller
to move at different speeds to rotate the container such that as the container passes the
camera the code faces the camera and is visible to the camera (Toedtli [0047]
actuators may be used to align and rotate the receptacle; [0072] rotation in
front of optical detector; [0035] actuator is used with coordinate system to
move the receptacle, and can have different speeds for different arms to rotate).
Toedtli fails to explicitly disclose the container is a refillable container and a code laser etched on the curved surface such that the code is curved to be both horizontally
convex and vertically convex.
Under MPEP 2111.04 the claim scope is not limited by claim language that suggests or makes optional, this non limiting language includes “wherein” statements. When the wherein clause gives meaning and purpose it is given patentable weight, however, when it simply expresses the intended result, it is not given weight. Here, the bottle is the claim, and its intended purpose to refill, but the refill ability of the bottle does not change its shape, or where codes are etched, and therefore its refill ability is a suggestion.
Piana teaches a code laser etched on the curved surface such that the code is curved to be both horizontally convex and vertically convex. (Piana [0010] laser inscription etched marking onto wall of containers; Fig. 1, marking 7 on neck of the bottle, which is curved both horizontally and vertically; [0025] laser etched on neck of bottle). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the marking of Toedtli with the laser etching and location of the marking as taught by Piana. The motivation for doing so would be apply necessary marking to bottles that are cheap and easy to apply, while maintaining visibility (Piana [0001] various reason to imprint bottles; [0004-0005] easy and inexpensive to mark and review).
Regarding claim 11, modified Toedtli teaches the system of Claim 10, wherein the first
belt and the second belt are operated by the controller to move at different speeds or in
different directions to rotate the container such that as the container passes the camera
the code faces the camera and is visible to the camera (Toedtli [0047] actuators
may be used to align and rotate the receptacle; [0072] rotation in front of
optical detector; [0035] actuator is used with coordinate system to move the
receptacle, and can have different speeds for different arms to rotate).
Regarding claim 12, modified Toedtli teaches the system of Claim 10, wherein the
camera is a first camera with the option for more cameras (Toedtli [0025] the
optical detection contains at least one camera). Toedtli fails to explicitly disclose the
system further comprises a second camera; and wherein the system includes no more
than two cameras. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the
time the invention was filed to modify the teaching of one or more cameras of Toedtli,
which suggests that more than one camera may be used, with only one additional
camera of the instant invention. Under MPEP 2144.04(VI)(b) that mere duplication of
parts has no patentable significant unless a new and unexpected result is produced.
The limitation of only 2 cameras, compared to multiple camera, would not be patentably
distinguishable.
Regarding claim 13, modified Toedtli teaches the system of Claim 10, wherein the code
includes at least one of the following: a QR code; a data matrix code; an Aztec code; a
PDF417 code; a UPC/EAN code; a code 128; and a code 39 (Toedtli [0053] the
code may be QR, code 39, data matrix, Aztec).
Regarding claim 18, modified Toedtli teaches the system of Claim 10, wherein the
manufacturing information includes at least one of the following: manufacturing date,
manufacturing lot, manufacturing location, and production parameters (Toedtli
[0009-0010] information in the marking can include specification of the content,
filling time, use of the content, content, manufacture and filler information;
[0004] filling process, production date, dosage; [0018]).
Regarding claim 20, modified Toedtli teaches the system of Claim 10, wherein the filling
information includes at least one of the following: date, location, orbit, appearance, and promotional campaigns (Toedtli [0009-0010] information in the marking can
include specification of the content, filling time, use of the content, content,
manufacture and filler information; [0004] filling process, production date,
dosage; [0018]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant arguments relates to the claimed amendments that specifically cite that the code is curved horizontally convex and vertically convex. There is no use of the word “convex” in the specification to give any details to the extent of how convex the code must be in order to meet the claim limitations, and therefore, examiner is relying on Fig. 1 of the instant application to determine the meaning of the word convex in regards to this application.
Therefore, when Piana is shown in Fig 1. as etching a code on the neck of the bottle, the exact location showcased in the instant application Fig 1, which showcases how Piana is able to teach that the code can be etched horizontally convex and vertically convex.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 10,585,107 B2 Sinnema et al. teaches moving vessels (Abstract);
US 10,775,396 B2 Gemperle et al. teaches handling samples (Abstract);
US 9,600,982 B2 MacIntosh teaches identification of items using downward facing cameras (Abstract);
US 11,741,733 B2 Filler et al. teaches identifying images using cameras (Abstract);
US 10,776,729 B2 Smith et al. teaches tracking containers (Abstract);
US 11,741,733 B2 Filler et al. teaches tracking items through their lifecycle (Abstract).
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA E SULLIVAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9501. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th; 9:00 AM-5PM EST.
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/JESSICA E SULLIVAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3627
/FAHD A OBEID/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3627
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