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 .
DETAILED ACTION
A request for continued examination (RCE) 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has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action mailed on 04/17/2025 ("04-17-25 Final OA") has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 08/18/2025 ("08-18-25 Submission") has been entered when the RCE was filed on 08/18/2025.
In the 08-18-25 Submission, the Applicant substantively amended the independent claim 1.
Currently, amended claims 1-22 are pending and are examined below.
Information Disclosure Statement
Two information disclosure statements submitted on 07/03/2025 ("07-03-25 IDS") and 11/11/2025 (“11-11-25 IDS”) are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the 07-03-25 IDS and the 11-11-25 IDS are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Despite the substantive amendment of adding “including at least one barcode” to the independent claim 1, Conticello still reads on the amended independent claim 1 in light of the pending indefiniteness issue, infra. The portable control system 120 and/or the functional module 110 of Conticello is capable of reading, rendering or displaying at least one barcode.
Despite the substantive amendment of adding “including at least one barcode” to the independent claim 1, Qaddoura still reads on the amended independent claim 1 in light of the pending indefiniteness issue, infra. The functional module of Qaddoura is capable of reading, rendering or displaying at least one barcode.
Substantive amendments to the independent claim 1 required further consideration and search, however. New grounds of rejections are provided below.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “wherein the portable control system is configured to receive signals from the functional module, including at least one barcode” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). None of the drawings show at least one barcode on the functional module or the portable control system. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation 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 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph:
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 1-22 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 pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Independent claim 1 fails to comply with the written description requirement, because a limitation of “wherein the portable control system is configured to receive signals from the functional module, including at least one barcode” is not supported by the original disclosure, because neither the portable control system nor the functional module includes at least one barcode.
Claims 2-18 are rejected, because they depend from the rejected independent claim 1.
Independent claim 19 is rejected, because it refers to the rejected independent claim 1.
Claims 20-22 are rejected, because they depend from the rejected independent claim 19.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Section 2173.02.I. of the MPEP provides the following guidance on how pre-issuance claims under examination are construed differently than patented claims:
Patented claims are not given the broadest reasonable interpretation during court proceedings involving infringement and validity, and can be interpreted based on a fully developed prosecution record. While "absolute precision is unattainable" in patented claims, the definiteness requirement "mandates clarity." Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., 527 U.S. __, 134 S. Ct. 2120, 2129, 110 USPQ2d 1688, 1693 (2014). A court will not find a patented claim indefinite unless the claim interpreted in light of the specification and the prosecution history fails to "inform those skilled in the art about the scope of the invention with reasonable certainty." Id. at 1689.
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The Office does not interpret claims when examining patent applications in the same manner as the courts. In re Packard, 751 F.3d 1307, 1312, 110 USPQ2d 1785, 1788 (Fed. Cir. 2014); In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054, 44 USPQ2d 1023, 1028 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321-22 (Fed. Cir. 1989). The Office construes claims by giving them their broadest reasonable interpretation during prosecution in an effort to establish a clear record of what the applicant intends to claim. Such claim construction during prosecution may effectively result in a lower threshold for ambiguity than a court's determination. Packard, 751 F.3d at 1323-24, 110 USPQ2d at 1796-97 (Plager, J., concurring). However, applicant has the ability to amend the claims during prosecution to ensure that the meaning of the language is clear and definite prior to issuance or provide a persuasive explanation (with evidence as necessary) that a person of ordinary skill in the art would not consider the claim language unclear. In re Buszard, 504 F.3d 1364, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2007)( claims are given their broadest reasonable interpretation during prosecution "to facilitate sharpening and clarifying the claims at the application stage"); see also In re Yamamoto, 740 F.2d 1569, 1571 (Fed. Cir. 1984); In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 322, 13 USPQ2d 1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989).
Here, the independent claim 1 is indefinite, because it is unclear what is meant in the limitation of “wherein the portable control system is configured to receive signals from the functional module, including at least one barcode” as the limitation is amendable to more than one claim construction. Does the portable control system include at least one barcode or does the functional module include at least one barcode?
Claims 2-18 are indefinite, because they depend from the indefinite independent claim 1.
Independent claim 19 is indefinite, because it refers to the indefinite independent claim 1.
Claims 20-22 are indefinite, because they depend from the indefinite independent claim 19.
A. Prior-art rejections based on Conticello
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-12, 15, 16, 19 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Conticello (previously-cited Pub. No. US 2009/0247299 A1 to Conticello).
Fig. 1 of Conticello has been provided to support the rejection below:
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Regarding independent claim 1, Conticello teaches a workwear unit 100 (para [0010] - "FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a wearable computing system 100.") for at least one of detecting, documenting, analyzing, monitoring or teaching processes, having a portable control system 120 (para [0010] - "As shown, the system 100 may include a wearable peripheral device, such as ring scanner 110, coupled to a computing device, such as MU 120..."; para [0014] - "The MU 120 may be described as any one of a variety of wearable mobile computers, such as, but not limited to...a glove...-mounted MU..."), at least one functional module 110 (para [0012] - "...the peripheral device (e.g., the ring scanner 110) may include one or more input components for controlling the user's navigation on the computing device. The input device may include a trigger 115 and a joystick 116. Further and/or alternative exemplary input components (not shown) may include, but are not limited to, buttons, switches, directional keys, trackballs, as well as depressible joysticks/trackballs, etc..") which is connected with the portable control system 120 and which comprises at least one sensor module 221, 222, 223 (para [0015] - "FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a peripheral device 200 (e.g., a data acquisition device such as the ring scanner 110) according to the present invention. According to one embodiment, the peripheral device 200 may include a barcode scanning arrangement 221 coupled to a triggering arrangement 222 and a joystick 223."), and having at least a glove (para [0014] - "a glove..., mounted MU...") configured to be worn on a hand and fastens the functional module 110 to a user's body,
wherein the functional module 110 comprises a sensor module 221, 222, 223 which has a barcode scanner 221 (para [0015] - "a barcode scanning arrangement 221"),
wherein the portable control system 120 is configured to receive signals from the functional module 110 (para [0010] - "While the ring scanner 110 may communicated with to the MU 120 via a corded connection (e.g, via cord 125), it should be noted that the communication may be wireless...For example, the ring scanner 110 and MU 120 may utilize localized wireless communication between such as a personal area network ("PAN") (e.g., Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc."), including at least one barcode (to be read, rendered or displayed by the portable control system 120 and/or the barcode scanner 221 of the functional module 110. This claim construction was made in light of the indefiniteness issue present in the amended independent claim 1.) and to determine therefrom an activity of the user of the workwear unit (para [0016] - "As will be described in greater detail, the joystick 223 may allow the user to browse, scroll, or otherwise navigate between the selections of a menu item, an icon, at tab, a line of text, or any other area within the display 122 of the MU 120."; para [0025] - "The illustration merely serves as examples of any number of operations and functionalities for optimizing the scrolling and selection activity on the display 22 through the use of an input interface on the peripheral device 200."; see also para [0030]).
Regarding claim 2, Conticello teaches the functional module 110 that is connected with the control system 120 via a radio signal (para [0010] - "While the ring scanner 110 may communicated with to the MU 120 via a corded connection (e.g, via cord 125), it should be noted that the communication may be wireless...For example, the ring scanner 110 and MU 120 may utilize localized wireless communication between such as a personal area network ("PAN") (e.g., Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.").
Regarding claim 3, Conticello teaches the radio signal that is Bluetooth (para [0010]).
Regarding claim 4, Conticello teaches the portable control system 120 that is configured to acquire information (e.g., a selection input signal from the trigger arrangement 222 when the user decides to depress the depressible button of the trigger arrangement 222.) of the sensor module 221, 222, 223 and determine the activity of the user using the acquired information (para [0016] - "The trigger arrangement 222 may include a depressible button for selectively activating the scanning arrangement 221...In addition, the button of the triggering arrangement 222 may allow for the user to select an item displayed on a GUI of the display 122 of the MU 120."; para [0023] - "As described above, the selection may be additional input signal, such as a selection input signal, received from...the triggering arrangement 222."; para [0024] - "In step 340, the method 300 may activate the selected item. In other words, the processor of the MU 120 may execute the application associated with the icon selected by the user.").
Regarding claim 5, Conticello teaches the portable control system 120 that is configured to detect or monitor processes which include manual activity (e.g., the act of selecting by the user who decides to depress the depressible button of the trigger arrangement 222.) by the user of the workwear unit.
Regarding claim 6, Conticello teaches the portable control system 221 that is configured to determine a spatial position of the user or of the hand of the user by use of at least one anchor point (barcode).
Regarding claim 7, Conticello teaches scanning of a particular barcode that is an anchor point.
Regarding claim 8, Conticello teaches the functional module 110 that comprises a RFID reader (para [0011] - "However those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention may be implemented with any type of automatic identification system (e.g., radio frequency identification ("RFID") readers, smart card readers, proximity card readers, etc.).").
Regarding claim 9, Conticello teaches at least one of the functional module 110 that comprises at least one peripheral device 115 or 116 (para [0012] - "...the peripheral device (e.g., the ring scanner 110) may include one or more input components for controlling the user's navigation on the computing device. The input device may include a trigger 115 and a joystick 116.") or the glove has a seat (para [0017] - "Accordingly, the attaching arrangement 224 may include a fastening component such as...Velcro." The loop part of the Velcro would correspond to the claimed seat as the loop part provides a base to which the hook part of the Velcro engages or sits.) for the sensor module 221, 222, 223.
Regarding claim 10, Conticello teaches at least one of the peripheral device 115 or 116 is integrated into the glove (para [0014] - "The MU 120 may be described as any one of a variety of wearable mobile computers, such as, but not limited to...a glove...-mounted MU...").
Regarding claim 11, Conticello teaches the peripheral device 115 or 116 that has a (electrical) contact point via which a connection with the portable control system 120 is permitted.
Regarding claim 12, Conticello teaches the peripheral device 115 or 116 that has an electrical release 125 (para [0010] - "via cord 125").
Regarding claim 15, Conticello teaches in that the seat (para [0017] - "Accordingly, the attaching arrangement 224 may include a fastening component such as...Velcro." The loop part of the Velcro would correspond to the claimed seat as the loop part provides a base to which the hook part of the Velcro engages or sits.) is a guide, in which the sensor module 110 can be pushed in and out (The loop part of the Velcro allows for the sensor module 110 to be pushed in and out of the loop part of the Velcro.).
Regarding claim 16, Conticello teaches the sensor module 221, 222, 223 that can be fastened to the glove by means of the seat (para [0017] - "Accordingly, the attaching arrangement 224 may include a fastening component such as...Velcro." The loop part of the Velcro would correspond to the claimed seat as the loop part provides a base to which the hook part of the Velcro engages or sits.).
Regarding independent claim 19, Conticello teaches a method of detecting, documenting, analyzing, monitoring or teaching processes which comprises a manual operation (e.g., the act of selecting by the user who decides to depress the depressible button of the trigger arrangement 222.), the method comprising the steps of:
a) collection information (when the depressible button has been depressed) of the sensor module 221, 222, 223 of the workwear unit according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), and
b) determining the activity of the user of the workwear unit based on the collected information (para [0016] - "In addition, the button of the triggering arrangement 222 may allow for the user to select an item displayed on a GUI of the display 122 of the MU 120."; para [0025] - "The illustration merely serves as examples of any number of operations and functionalities for optimizing the scrolling and selection activity on the display 22 through the use of an input interface on the peripheral device 200."; see also para [0030]).
Regarding claim 22, Conticello teaches the determined activity of the user is checked for plausibility (Has the depressible button been pushed) and a signal is output (When the depressible button has been pushed, the user may be allowed to select an item displayed on a GUI of the display 122 of the MU 120.) for the user based on a result of the check.
B. Prior-art rejections based on Qaddoura
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claims 1, 4-7 and 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Qaddoura (previously-cited Patent No. US 9,235,742 B1 to Qaddoura et al.).
Fig. 2B and 2C of Qaddoura have been provided to support the rejections below:
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Regarding independent claim 1, Qaddoura teaches a workwear unit 200 (col. 9, ln 44-63 - "The system 200 includes a combined computing device 232 and scanning device 240 mounted to a glove 260...worn about a right hand 20 of a user 230. The scanning device 240 includes an optical reader 241..."; col. 9, ln 64 -col. 10, ln 18 - "The optical reader 241 may be pointed to directed, by motion of the hand 20, to place a marking (e.g., codes, text, numbers, symbols, trademarks, shapes, outlines or figures) within a field of view of the optical reader 241.") for at least one of detecting, documenting, analyzing, monitoring or teaching processes, having a portable control system 232, at least one functional module 240 which is connected with the portable control system 232 and which comprises at least one sensor module 241, and having at least a glove 260 configured to be worn on a hand 20 and fastens the functional module 240 to a user's body 230,
wherein the functional module 240 comprises a sensor module 240 (col. 9, ln 44-63 - "The scanning device 240 includes an optical reader 241..."; col. 8, ln 38-50 - "The optical reader 141 may be include any form of image capturing device, such as a camera, scanner or other device for identifying markings such as codes, text, numbers, symbols, trademarks, shapes, outlines or figures of any breadth, width or density, and generating an electrical output corresponding the captured markings. The optical reader 141 may transfer the electrical output to the computing device 132 or another system component via the network 150, where the electrical output may be decoded and interpreted, and subsequently utilized in one or more applications, such as to acknowledge or register an item with which the markings are associated. Additionally, the optical reader 141 may be adapted to capture images about any axis and in any plane.") which has a barcode scanner 241 (see Fig. 2C),
wherein the portable control system 232 is configured to receive signals from the functional module 240, including at least one barcode (to be read, rendered or displayed by the portable control system 232 and/or the functional module 240. This claim construction was made in light of the indefiniteness issue present in the amended independent claim 1.), and to determine therefrom an activity of the user of the workwear unit 200 (col. 10, ln 63 - col. 11, ln 10 - "Referring to FIG. 2B, the scanning device 240 is shown mounted to the hand 20 of the user 230, having navigational instructions displayed on the display 242. The user 230 may thus view and follow the instructions shown on the display 242 of FIG. 2B, or other instructions, during the performance of one or more activities."; col. 13, ln 34-53 - "The scanning devices 440 of the present disclosure may further determine an orientation of the scanning device 440 and/or the display screen 442, as well as an orientation of any faces, facial features or heads recognized therein, in order to determine whether the faces, facial features or heads are oriented within a field of view of the camera 441, or is facing toward the field of view of the camera 441, which corresponds to a field of view of the display screen 442 when the camera 441 is mounted to or associated with a front face of the scanning device 440, as is shown in FIG. 4A. The capturing or analysis of the video imagery may be triggered by any manual or automatic means, including in response to a signal from a motion detector, a light sensor or any other computer-based monitoring system.").
Regarding claim 4, Qaddoura teaches the portable control system 232 that is configured to acquire information (location info) of the sensor module 240 and determine the activity of the user using the acquire information (see Fig. 2B) (or, the scanning device 440 senses the orientation of any face which orients the display screen 442 as disclosed in col. 13, ln 34-53).
Regarding claim 5, Qaddoura teaches the portable control system 232 that is configured to at least one of detect or monitor which includes manual activity by the user (ambulatory movement as per Fig. 2B or the orienting of a face of a user.) by the user 230 of the workwear unit.
Regarding claim 6, Qaddoura teaches the portable control system 232 that is configured to determine a spatial position (see Fig. 2B or the orienting of a face of a user) of the hand 20 of the user 230 by use of at least one anchor point (spatial location of the user 230 as shown in Fig. 2B or the bar code info as shown in Fig. 2C).
Regarding claim 7, Qaddoura teaches scanning of a particular barcode is an anchor point (When a barcode is scanned as shown in Fig. 2C, it is more likely than not the computing device retains location information of the user which would allow the user to make use of the navigational directions as shown in Fig. 2B.).
Regarding independent claim 19, Qaddoura teaches a method of at least one of detecting, documenting, analyzing, monitoring or teaching processes which comprise a manual operation, the method comprising the steps of:
a) collecting information (e.g., location info as shown in Fig. 2B or bar code scan shown in Fig. 2C) of the sensor module 240 of the workwear unit according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), and
b) determining the activity (moving or scanning) of the user 230 of the workwear unit 200 based on the collection information (see Fig. 2B and Fig. 2C).
Regarding claim 20, Qaddoura teaches a spatial position of the user 230 or of the hand 20 of the user 230 is determined by use of at least one anchor point (spatial location of the user 230 as shown in Fig. 2B or the bar code info as shown in Fig. 2C).
Regarding claim 21, Qaddoura teaches scanning of a particular barcode is an anchor point (see Fig. 2C).
Regarding claim 22, Qaddoura teaches the determined activity of the user is checked for plausibility (of the location or the fidelity of the bar code scan) and a signal is output for the user based on a result of the check (see Fig. 2B or Fig. 2C).
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 13 is rejected to for depending on a rejected base claim 1 and rejected intervening claims 9 and 11, but would be allowable if it is rewritten in independent form to include all of the limitations of the base claim 1 and the intervening claims 9 and 11, or the base claim 1 is amended to include all of the limitations of claim 13 and the intervening claims 9 and 11; and the pending 35 U.S.C. 112(a) and 112(b) rejections are successfully traversed.
Claims 14, 17 and 18 are allowable for depending on the allowable claim 13.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL JUNG whose telephone number is (408) 918-7554. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 A.M. to 7 P.M.
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/MICHAEL JUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817 11 December 2025