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 Objections
2. Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Re claim 16, line 2: replace, “reader” with --reader.--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
3. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
4. Claim 6 recite the limitations, “the secure” and “the software”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
5. Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01.
Claim 16 recites, “a system to review and verification…” This is unclear. The system either performs verification or the system verifies.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan et al (2022/0108092), hereinafter Wan in view of Connell, II et al (2015/0336274), hereinafter Connell and in further view of Williams et al (2022/0019970), hereinafter Williams.
With respect to claim 1, Wan teaches in paragraph 0036, a drone (mobile agent 110) with a wireless sender and receiver that receives data from items which that are tagged with unique RFID identification tags in a set area (a relay circuit 811 relays signals from the RFID tags to the RFID reader 150 and relays signals from the RFID reader 150 to one or more RFID tags within a range of the relay circuit 811.) Paragraph 0036 discloses the drone being a flying drone. Paragraph 0037 discloses the drone 110 with the wireless sender/receiver, saving that data onto a secure and proprietary database in non-transitory memory (the RFID reader 150 and agent control system 151 communicate with a host computer 152. The host computer 152 may maintain or otherwise access a database). Also see paragraphs 0077-0078. Lastly, with respect to claim 1, Wan teaches in paragraph 0002, attaching an RFID tag to any objects to be tracked by a reader including objects in a warehouse, library, hospital, or retail store. Paragraph 0040 discloses, the drone having a microprocessor to analyze and store the data onto a secure and proprietary database in non-transitory memory. Also see figures 8 and 9A-9C. Lastly, with respect to claim 1, Wan teaches in paragraphs 0046 and 0079 receiving data of the tags being at a specified date and time.
Wan’s teachings above fail to specifically teach the tagged items being specifically IT assets and data bearing devices.
With respect to claim 1, Connell teaches in paragraph 0003 a solution for keeping track of the location of IT assets in data centers and large organizations is to use RFID tags on the IT assets. Paragraph 0056 further teaches using a mobile robot 130 identifying an RFID tag affixed to an IT asset. Connell also teaches in paragraph 0003, that manually reading the affixed RFID tags is error-prone and time consuming.
In view of Connell’s teachings, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use Wan’s drone inventory system for the management of IT assets and data bearing devices as is taught by Connell. Wan discloses using the drone to manage any type of item and Connell teaches the need to track IT assets, therefore one would be motivated to use the drone to track IT assets in order to quickly and accurately track the IT assets.
Wan’s teachings in combination with the teachings of Connell are discussed above. The combination however fails to specifically teach the device where the drone has a hover means.
With respect to claim 1, Williams discloses in paragraph 0124, having a drone fly to a certain location in a warehouse, take off, land, fly to another item in the list of items stored in the data storage system, hover, scan an item, otherwise collect data about an item, a shelf, or the warehouse.
In view of Williams’ teachings, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have the flying drone taught by Wan in combination with Connell, have the ability hover as is taught by Williams. One would be motivated to have the drone hover in order to scan items in a specific location, as is taught by Williams.
8. Claims 6, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wan in combination with Connell and Williams and in further view of Medina et al (2019/0325379), hereinafter Medina.
Wan’s teachings in combination with the teachings of Connell and Williams are discussed above with respect to claim 6. The combination however fails to specifically teach with respect to claim 6, 14, and 16, reviewing and verifying by assigned personal, the information provided by inventory system.
With respect to claims 6, 14, and 16, Medina discloses in paragraph 0068, asking a human employee in the facility to physically verify the results of the inventory information within the facility and report the results to the database, which may perform a comparison.
In view of Medina’s teachings, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use include Medina’s review and verification step to the Wan/Connell/Williams’ inventory system. One would be motivated to include extra verification in order to confirm the results obtained from the drone inventory analysis.
Response to Arguments
9. Applicant argues the response filed November 24, 2025, that prior art does not teach doing the reading at a specified date and time. This limitation is non-limiting. Whenever the reader performs the reading is the specified date and time. Additionally, Wan teaches in paragraphs 0046 and 0079 receiving data of the tags being at a specified date and time.
Conclusion
10. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Allyson N. Trail whose telephone number is (571) 272-2406. The examiner can normally be reached between the hours of 7:30AM to 4:00PM Monday thru Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael G. Lee, can be reached on (571) 272-2398. The fax phone number for this Group is (571) 273-8300.
Communications via Internet e-mail regarding this application, other than those under 35 U.S.C. 132 or which otherwise require a signature, may be used by the applicant and should be addressed to [allyson.trail@uspto.gov].
All Internet e-mail communications will be made of record in the application file. PTO employees do not engage in Internet communications where there exists a possibility that sensitive information could be identified or exchanged unless the record includes a properly signed express waiver of the confidentiality requirements of 35 U.S.C. 122. This is more clearly set forth in the Interim Internet Usage Policy published in the Official Gazette of the Patent and Trademark on February 25, 1997 at 1195 OG 89.
/ALLYSON N TRAIL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
June 12, 2026
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