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 .
Status of Claims
This Nonfinal Office Action is in response to the RCE filed 03/30/2026. Claims 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, 16 and 17 are amended. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and considered herein.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/30/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-9 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 17 recite “wherein the logic engine automatically updates both (i) the physical storage location and (ii) the virtual storage location in response to the movement event to maintain a continuously synchronized digital twin of the inventory.” However, there is no description of maintaining a “continuously synchronized” “digital twin of the inventory” anywhere in the Specification. Neither “digital twin” or the words “synchronize” or “continuously” are found anywhere in the Specification. The dependent claims inherit the deficiencies of the independent claim. The claims are thus rejected under 112(a). Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-6, 8-11, 13 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over U.S. 8,244,603 B1 to Tang et al., hereinafter “Tang,” in view of U.S. 2014/0197237 A1 to Davis, hereinafter “Davis.”
Regarding claim 1, Tang discloses A method for inventory management, comprising: receiving inventory for storage at a physical storage location (See Tang at least at Col. 1, ln. 20-34; Col. 2, ln. 22-44 (“An integrated stowing and picking process may integrate some or all aspects of a stowing process, which generally includes conveying received units to inventory storage locations, with a picking process, which generally includes removing units from inventory storage locations.”); Col. 3, ln. 65 – Col. 4, ln. 31 (“[T]he materials handling facility may also include a process control component 100 configured to control one or more integrated stowing and picking processes.”); Figs. 1-6; automatically associating the inventory with an identifier and a virtual representation for a virtual environment utilizing a logic engine of a system and one or more scanners integrated with entries of the physical storage location and communicating with a system tracking the inventory (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 14 (“These identifiers may be specific to a particular item type (e.g., a particular model of a television) or specific to a particular unit of that item type (e.g., a particular unit of that television). Agent components may be configured to read (or "scan") these identifiers […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location.); Figs. 1-6); storing the inventory in a location of the physical storage location (See id. at least at Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 14 (The inventory model may be configured to indicate the inventory units within the materials handling facility as well as the respective locations of such units. These locations may be any location within the materials handling facility. In some embodiments, one or more unit locations may be a particular bin of a storage module. An example storage module might be a shelving unit and a particular bin might be a slot on one of the shelves of the shelving unit (e.g., each shelf might be subdivided into multiple bins using shelf dividers).”); automatically associating the inventory with the physical storage location and a virtual storage location associated with a virtual environment inventory (See id. at least at Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 14 (“Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location.); Figs. 1-6); automatically tracking in real-time the inventory throughout the physical storage location utilizing the one or more scanners integrated with the entries of physical storage location based on detected ingress and egress events at the entries inventory (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“These identifiers may be specific to a particular item type (e.g., a particular model of a television) or specific to a particular unit of that item type (e.g., a particular unit of that television). Agent components may be configured to read (or "scan") these identifiers utilizing various components including but not limited to optical scanners (e.g., to scan barcode identifiers) or radio frequency identifier (RFID) scanners […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location. [Ingress and egress]); Col. 8, ln. 24-64; Figs. 1, 2 (receiving incoming shipments and shipping outgoing shipments), 3-6); and automatically updating a system with inventory information including at least the identifier, status of the inventory, and the location for subsequent utilization, wherein the inventory information includes the virtual environment of the inventory presented by the system to one or more users including at least the virtual representation, status of the inventory, and the virtual storage location (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 14 (“[S]tow location recommender 140 may recommend or direct an agent to stow a unit in a particular inventory location. In one example, an agent may identify a unit by scanning the unit with an agent component 120 to determine an identifier associated with that unit or item (as described above). The agent component 120 may pass such identifier to stow location recommender 140, either directly or through control system 110. In response, stow location recommender 140 may provide an indication of an inventory location […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location.); Col. 8, ln. 24-64; Figs. 1, 2 (receiving incoming shipments and shipping outgoing shipments), 3-6); and wherein the logic engine automatically updates both (i) the physical storage location and (ii) the virtual storage location in response to the movement event to maintain a continuously synchronized digital twin of the inventory (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 14 (“[S]tow location recommender 140 may recommend or direct an agent to stow a unit in a particular inventory location. In one example, an agent may identify a unit by scanning the unit with an agent component 120 to determine an identifier associated with that unit or item (as described above). The agent component 120 may pass such identifier to stow location recommender 140, either directly or through control system 110. In response, stow location recommender 140 may provide an indication of an inventory location […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.” Digital twin concept is embodied by inventory model 150 and the virtual representations of physical storage locations and items); Figs. 1-6).
Tang discloses the concept of automatically detecting movement of inventory using scanners (Col. 6, Lines 15-26). However, Tang may not specifically describe but Davis teaches wherein the one or more scanners positioned at the entries of the physical storage location are configured to automatically detect each ingress and egress event of the inventory through the entries by detecting the inventory crossing a defined boundary at the entries to generate a movement event (See Davis at least at Paras. [0004], [0013], [0051]-[0056] (“The readable identifiers of merchandise returned to a supplier are wirelessly scanned upon leaving the premises, such as at a shipping/receiving department, to cause a quantity of each type of article identified for return to be subtracted from the quantity of the same type of article in the data base and also causing an entry to be made in the data base […] inventory security for situations such as those just mentioned by wirelessly scanning each incoming shipment at the point of entry to ascertain the exact quantity of each type of article in the shipment before the articles are allowed to pass to a storage space or customer area.”); Claims 6-9; Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang to incorporate the teachings of Davis and provide scanners positioned at locations of entry and detecting inventory. Davis is directed to a system for scanning an inventory within a premises. Incorporating the scanning of inventory as in Davis with the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve the scope and accessibility of inventory management.
Regarding claim 2, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Tang further discloses wherein the system includes one or more databases for storing the inventory information associated with the inventory, the one or more databases maintaining a time-sequenced history of movement events for each item of inventory (See Tang at least at Abstract; Col. 3, ln. 48-65 (“Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 14 (“In various embodiments, pick lists may be generated to maximize pick density (e.g., quantity of picks per unit of time or quantity of picks per unit of distance traveled by an agent). For instance, a pick list that instructs an agent to pick items that are relatively close to each other may provide a higher pick density than a pick list that instructs an agent to pick items that are located in locations of the materials handling facility that are separated by large distances and/or travel time […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store. In various embodiments, such a data store may be configured as a database, as one or more mass storage devices.”); Figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 3, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Tang further discloses sending a request for a status check of the inventory (See id. at least at Col. 3, ln. 30 – Col. 4, ln. 25 (“The conveyance receptacles may then be routed to particular destinations for the items contained within the receptacles in accordance with the requests (orders) currently being processed, e.g. to sorting stations, under direction of a control system (e.g., control system 110). A picked, packed and shipped order does not necessarily include all of the units ordered by the customer […] the control system and/or the process control component may be configured to communicate with one or more agent components 120, a pick list generator 130, a stow location recommender 140 and a data store including an inventory model 150,”); Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 14; Figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 4, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Tang further discloses automatically reordering inventory in response to the status check of the inventory (See id. at least at Col. 3, ln. 30 – Col. 4, ln. 25 (order fulfillment and status); Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 14; Col. 20, ln. 9-30 (“The methods described herein may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof, in different embodiments. In addition, the order of the blocks of the methods may be changed, and various elements may be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified, etc.”)).
Regarding claim 5, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Tang further discloses updating the system with a location of the inventory in response to the inventory being moved within the physical storage location as detected by the one or more scanners (See id. at least at Col. 9, ln. 27-35 (“These actions may be recorded by agent component 120 and provided to control system 110, which may update inventory model 150 to indicate that the location now includes the stowed unit.”); Col. 11, ln. 10-30; Col. 12, ln. 60 – Col. 13, ln. 60 (Updating inventory model); Figs. 1-6). While Davis teaches wherein the updating is performed without manual user input and is triggered by the detected ingress or egress event (See Davis at least at Paras. [0004], [0013], [0051]-[0056] (“The readable identifiers of merchandise returned to a supplier are wirelessly scanned upon leaving the premises, such as at a shipping/receiving department, to cause a quantity of each type of article identified for return to be subtracted from the quantity of the same type of article in the data base and also causing an entry to be made in the data base […] inventory security for situations such as those just mentioned by wirelessly scanning each incoming shipment at the point of entry to ascertain the exact quantity of each type of article in the shipment before the articles are allowed to pass to a storage space or customer area.”); Claims 6-9; Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang to incorporate the teachings of Davis and provide updating based on scanners detecting inventory. Davis is directed to a system for scanning an inventory within a premises. Incorporating the scanning of inventory as in Davis with the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve the overall inventory management techniques.
Regarding claim 6, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Tang further discloses tracking the inventory as moved throughout the system (See id. at least at Abstract; Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 25; Figs. 1-6); accessing the inventory information (See id.); receiving a request for the inventory (See id. at least at Col. 3, ln. 30-65; Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 25; Figs. 1-6); retrieving the inventory utilizing the inventory information (See id.); and updating the system based on movements and actions associated with the inventory (See id. at least at Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 25 (“[A]s units move from one location to another within the materials handling facility (e.g., on a conveyance mechanism or cart), automated devices, such as optical or RFID scanners controlled by a computer system, may electronically obtain identifiers of units during such movement (e.g., by scanning an optical identifier or RFID tag).”); Col. 9, ln. 27-35 (“These actions may be recorded by agent component 120 and provided to control system 110, which may update inventory model 150 to indicate that the location now includes the stowed unit.”); Figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 8, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and Tang further discloses wherein the one or more scanners determine a physical status of the inventory (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 15 – Col. 5, ln. 18 (scanning for identifiers associated with a unit or item, physical stow location, etc.); Col. 14, ln. 16-50 (physical characteristics)).
Regarding claim 9, Tang as modified by Davis and Bauer discloses all the limitations of claim 8. The references may not specifically describe but Abraham teaches providing the virtual environment that mirrors the inventory in real time in the physical storage location for managing the inventory wherein the virtual environment is automatically refreshed in response to each movement event detected at the entries of the physical storage location. (See Tang at least at Abstract; Col. 5, ln. 19 – Col. 6, ln. 25; Col. 9, ln. 27-35 (Inventory Model 150 updated when stowed units change location); Figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 10, Tang discloses A system for performing inventory management, comprising: one or more scanners for automatically determining locations of inventory (See Tang at least at Col. 1, ln. 20-34; Col. 2, ln. 22-44 (“An integrated stowing and picking process may integrate some or all aspects of a stowing process, which generally includes conveying received units to inventory storage locations, with a picking process, which generally includes removing units from inventory storage locations.”); Col. 3, ln. 65 – Col. 4, ln. 53 (“[T]he materials handling facility may also include a process control component 100 configured to control one or more integrated stowing and picking processes […] components may be configured to read (or "scan") these identifiers utilizing various components including but not limited to optical scanners (e.g., to scan barcode identifiers) or radio frequency identifier (RFID) scanners.”); Figs. 1-6) ; and one or more servers associate unique identifiers and the locations with the inventory, and determine a status of the inventory, wherein the one or more servers automatically present a virtual environment of the inventory to one or more users including at least a virtual representations of the inventory and virtual locations associated with the physical storage location for all inventory, wherein the one or more scanners automatically track the inventory in real-time through the physical storage location (See id. at least at Abstract; Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“These identifiers may be specific to a particular item type (e.g., a particular model of a television) or specific to a particular unit of that item type (e.g., a particular unit of that television). Agent components may be configured to read (or "scan") these identifiers […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location […] control system 110 may in various embodiments track the location of a given unit throughout that unit's entire lifecycle in the materials handling facility (e.g., from receiving 80 to shipping 70). In some cases, the above-described tracking of units may be performed by an inventory management module.”); Claim 15; Figs. 1-6); utilizing the one or more scanners for updating the virtual environment, and wherein the one or more servers automatically generate and store a movement record for each ingress and egress event (See id. at least at Abstract; Col. 2, ln. 22-44 (“[A] stowing process, which generally includes conveying received units to inventory storage locations, with a picking process, which generally includes removing units from inventory storage locations. Examples of stowing processes and picking process are described in more detail below.” Ingress and egress are recorded); Col. 4, ln. 1 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location […] control system 110 may in various embodiments track the location of a given unit throughout that unit's entire lifecycle in the materials handling facility (e.g., from receiving 80 to shipping 70). In some cases, the above-described tracking of units may be performed by an inventory management module.”); Claim 15; Figs. 1-6 (receiving items into inventory and preparing items for shipment)).
While Tang teaches the scanners for updating a virtual environment, it may not specifically describe but Davis teaches the one or more scanners are integrated at entries within the locations of a physical storage location (See Davis at least at Paras. [0004], [0013], [0051]-[0056] (“The readable identifiers of merchandise returned to a supplier are wirelessly scanned upon leaving the premises, such as at a shipping/receiving department, to cause a quantity of each type of article identified for return to be subtracted from the quantity of the same type of article in the data base and also causing an entry to be made in the data base […] inventory security for situations such as those just mentioned by wirelessly scanning each incoming shipment at the point of entry to ascertain the exact quantity of each type of article in the shipment before the articles are allowed to pass to a storage space or customer area.”); Claims 6-9; Fig. 1); and updating based exclusively on detected ingress and egress events at the entries of the physical storage location (See id.); wherein the one or more scanners positioned at the entries of the physical storage location are configured to automatically detect each ingress and egress event of the inventory through the entries by detecting the inventory crossing a defined boundary at the entries (See id. at least at Paras. [0004], [0013], [0051]-[0056] (“The readable identifiers of merchandise returned to a supplier are wirelessly scanned upon leaving the premises, such as at a shipping/receiving department, to cause a quantity of each type of article identified for return to be subtracted from the quantity of the same type of article in the data base and also causing an entry to be made in the data base […] inventory security for situations such as those just mentioned by wirelessly scanning each incoming shipment at the point of entry to ascertain the exact quantity of each type of article in the shipment before the articles are allowed to pass to a storage space or customer area.”); Claims 6-9; Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang to incorporate the teachings of Davis and provide updating based on scanners detecting inventory at a boundary. Davis is directed to a system for scanning an inventory within a premises. Incorporating the scanning of inventory as in Davis with the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve managing inventory coming and going.
Regarding claim 11, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 10 and Tang further discloses wherein the one or more servers provide a virtual environment for managing the inventory in response to the status of the inventory (See Tang at least at Col. 4, ln. 1 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] In various embodiments, control system 110 (including process control component 100) may track inventory based on input from one or more of agent component(s) 120 […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location […] control system 110 may in various embodiments track the location of a given unit throughout that unit's entire lifecycle in the materials handling facility); Claim 15; Figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 13, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 10 and Tang further discloses wherein the one or more servers indicate a status of each item of the inventory at the physical storage location and for the virtual environment (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 1 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] In various embodiments, control system 110 (including process control component 100) may track inventory based on input from one or more of agent component(s) 120 […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.)”); Claim 15; Figs. 1-6).
Regarding claim 16, claim 16 recites substantially the same limitations as included in independent claim 10, and is rejected under the same grounds of rejection and for the same reasoning as applied to claim 10, above.
Regarding claim 17, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 16 and Tang further discloses wherein the logic engine generates a virtual environment modeling the inventory within the physical storage location (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“These identifiers may be specific to a particular item type (e.g., a particular model of a television) or specific to a particular unit of that item type (e.g., a particular unit of that television). Agent components may be configured to read (or "scan") these identifiers utilizing various components including but not limited to optical scanners (e.g., to scan barcode identifiers) or radio frequency identifier (RFID) scanners […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location. [Ingress and egress]); Col. 8, ln. 24-64; Figs. 1, 2 (receiving incoming shipments and shipping outgoing shipments), 3-6); wherein the logic engine maintains a persistent digital twin record for each item of inventory and automatically reconciles discrepancies between detected physical movements and the virtual environment (See id. at least at Abstract; Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location. [Ingress and egress]); Col. 8, ln. 24-64; Figs. 1, 2 (receiving incoming shipments and shipping outgoing shipments), 3-6. There is no mention of a digital twin anywhere in the Specification. It is interpreted merely as a virtual record or representation of physical storage/inventory as throughout the rejection.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang and Davis to incorporate the teachings of DeLuca and provide a digital twin for physical assets. DeLuca is directed to operating history and digital twin template for a set of physical assets. Incorporating the digital twins for physical assets as in DeLuca with the scanning of inventory as in Davis and the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve inventory management and tracking physical assets in a virtual environment.
Regarding claim 18, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 16 and Tang further discloses wherein the logic engine is a logistics platform executed to manage the inventory within the physical storage location (See id. at least at Col. 4, ln. 32 – Col. 6, ln. 26 (“These identifiers may be specific to a particular item type (e.g., a particular model of a television) or specific to a particular unit of that item type (e.g., a particular unit of that television). Agent components may be configured to read (or "scan") these identifiers utilizing various components including but not limited to optical scanners (e.g., to scan barcode identifiers) or radio frequency identifier (RFID) scanners […] Inventory model 150 may include a virtual representation of inventory of the materials handling facility stored within memory of a data store […] the control system may determine or infer the location from which a unit is removed based on the unit's last known location as recorded by the control system in inventory model 150.) For example, such scanning may include obtaining an identifier via an optical scanner (e.g., bar code scanner) or RFID scanner. In response, the control system may generate a stored data record (e.g., a record in inventory model 150) indicating the unit has left the corresponding location. A similar process may be performed when placing the unit at its new location. [Ingress and egress]); Col. 8, ln. 24-64; Figs. 1, 2 (receiving incoming shipments and shipping outgoing shipments), 3-6).
Claims 7, 12, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Tang, in view of Davis and further in view of in view of U.S. 2003/0216969 A1 to Bauer et al., hereinafter “Bauer.”
Regarding claim 7, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 4. The references may not specifically describe but Bauer teaches verifying that a party associated with the request is authorized to request the inventory, wherein the retrieving is performed only if the party is verified (See Bauer at least at Abstract; Paras. [0079], [0089]-[0090], [0141], [0224]; Claim 1; Figs. 1, 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang and Davis to incorporate the teachings of Bauer and provide inventory authorization. Bauer is directed to an inventory management system. Incorporating the inventory management system of Bauer with the scanning of inventory as in Davis and the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would benefit inventory management and access.
Regarding claim 12, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 10. The references may not specifically describe but Bauer teaches wherein the system generates one or more alerts for used, removed, or damaged inventory (See Bauer at least at Paras. [0119]-[0120], [0217]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang and Davis to incorporate the teachings of Bauer and provide alerts related to inventory. Bauer is directed to an inventory management system. Incorporating the inventory management system of Bauer with the scanning of inventory as in Davis and the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve inventory management and assessment.
Regarding claim 14, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 13. The references may not specifically describe but Bauer teaches wherein the one or more servers automatically reorder a portion of the inventory in response to the status of each item of the inventory (See id. at least at Paras. [0089], [0119]-[0120]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang and Davis to incorporate the teachings of Bauer and provide reordering of inventory in response to certain status. Bauer is directed to an inventory management system. Incorporating the inventory management system of Bauer with the scanning of inventory as in Davis and the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve inventory management and assessment.
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 recites substantially the same limitations as included in claim 14, and is rejected under the same grounds of rejection and for the same reasoning as applied to claim 14, above.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Tang, in view of Davis and further in view of U.S. 2016/0364681 A1 to Andrus, hereinafter “Andrus.”
Regarding claim 15, Tang as modified by Davis discloses all the limitations of claim 10. The references may not specifically describe but but Andrus teaches wherein the one or more servers determine whether a user or device is authorized to access the inventory, and wherein the one or more servers grant access for the user or device to move the inventory without setting off an alarm (See Andrus at least at Para. [0048]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang and Davis to incorporate the teachings of Andrus and provide a granting authorization for moving inventory. Andrus is directed to an inventory system and method. Incorporating the inventory system and metho as in Andrus with the scanning of inventory as in Davis and the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve inventory management and security.
Claims 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Tang, in view of Davis and further in view of U.S. 2013/0231775 A1 to Jefferies et al., hereinafter “Jefferies.”
Regarding claim 19, Tang as modified by Davis teaches all the limitations of claim 16. The references may not specifically describe but Jefferies teaches wherein the logic engine sets off an alarm in response to an unauthorized user or device accessing the inventory (See Jefferies at least at Para. [0061]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the disclosure of Tang and Davis to incorporate the teachings of Jefferies and provide an alarm for an unauthorized use. Jefferies is directed to systems and methods for dispensing beneficial products. Incorporating the authorized dispensing as in Jefferies with the scanning of inventory as in Davis and the system for integrating stowing and shipping in an inventory facility as in Tang would improve inventory management and security.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s remarks filed March 30, 2026 have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive. The following explains why:
Applicant’s arguments pertaining to prior art rejections are not persuasive. The claims have been addressed with regard to the 35 U.S.C. §103 rejection discussed above. The arguments pertaining to prior art references at Pages 10-14 of the Applicant’s Remarks are not persuasive. The arguments at Pages 10-14 are moot in light of at least new references Tang and Davis, as discussed above. As such, it is submitted that the cited prior art, including those identified by Applicant, in the same field of endeavor, i.e., analysis of inventory storage, management, scanning and tracking, teaches and/or suggests all of the limitations of the pending claims under a broad and reasonable interpretation thereof.
Conclusion
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/WILLIAM T. MONTICELLO/Examiner, Art Unit 3682
/FONYA M LONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3682
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