DETAILED ACTION
The Amendment filed 1/16/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yanai et al. (JP H11349114 A) in view of Chavez et al. (US 10,549,928). Yanai discloses a data collection method implemented by one or more processors (10) connected to a sorting machine sorting articles to different sorting destinations (see “Field of the Invention”), the method comprising: acquiring, by the one or more processors, an identification code (6) of an article from a reader (6) provided on the sorting machine for identifying the article being loaded into the sorting machine; acquiring, by the one or more processors, after the article has been read by the reader, image data of the article identified by the identification code from a camera (16), at the time when the article identified by the identification code enters angles of view of the camera; and storing, by the one or more processors, the acquired image data so as to be associated with the acquired identification code. The camera is disposed on a downstream side of the reader in the sorting machine (see Fig. 1). Yanai discloses all the limitations of the claims, but it does not disclose a plurality of cameras that are attached so as to image the same article at different angles. Rather, Yanai discloses utilizing only one camera. However, Chavez discloses a similar method which includes utilizing a plurality of cameras (114, 1126) that are attached so as to image the same article at different angles (see Fig. 1) for the purpose of ensuring that an article is properly identified. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the applicant’s invention to modify Yanai by utilizing a plurality of cameras that are attached so as to image the same article at different angles, as disclosed by Chavez, for the purpose of ensuring that an article is properly identified.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-11 and 13-16 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 17 and 18 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's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 PATRICK HEWEY MACKEY whose telephone number is (571)272-6916. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 9-5.
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/PATRICK H MACKEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653