DETAILED ACTION
This is a Final Office Action in response to Claims on 11/03/2025. Claims 1-6, and 8-14 are pending. The effective filing date is 09/28/2020.
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 02/10/2023 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 1-2, 6, 8-11, and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0009986 A1 Yamashita et al. (hereinafter Yamashita) in view of US 2020/0065792 A1 Iizaka et al. (hereinafter Iizaka).
Regarding claim 1, Yamashita teaches a system comprising:
an information processing device (Yamashita [0030-0032] the product management device includes multiple different controllers and parts, and they are able to process information, and identify information and process purchase of the materials; Fig. 2 showcases the different elements to perform different tasks): and
a terminal device (Yamashita [0030-0032] the product management device includes multiple different controllers and parts, and they are able to process information, and identify information and process purchase of the materials; Fig. 2 showcases the different elements to perform different tasks), wherein the terminal device comprises:
a memory storing instructions and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions (Yamashita Claim 12, the system includes a memory to store instruction to be performed on a processor) to:
read product information indicating a product by an operation of a customer (Yamashita [0042] barcode reader to identify a product), position information of the terminal device as position information related to a position where the product information is read (Yamashita [0032] the position specifying part is able to specify the position of a product) and send the information processing device data including the product information and the position information (Yamashita [0039] the allocation status determination determines the product and shelf (position), and output the information):
the information processing device (Yamashita Abstract, allocation management device) comprises: a memory storing instructions (Yamashita [0090] computer readable storage medium, including memory; claim12); and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions (Yamashita [0090] processes are performed on computers; claim 12) to: receive from the terminal device the data including the product information (Yamashita [0032] purchase information acquisition, product information about a product selected by customer) and the position information (Yamashita [0032] when product information is acquired, it includes the location based on the mapping of the items); and register the position information and the product information in a database that manages position information for each product (Yamashita [0032] output part includes all information about the product).
Yamashita fails to explicitly disclose a terminal device installed to a shopping cart; and product information obtain by a beacon device in a store or a camera installed in the store.
Iizaka is in the field of information processing device (Iizaka Abstract, information processing device) and teaches a terminal device installed to a shopping cart (Iizaka [0016] information processing device attached to shopping cart; Fig. 1, see shopping cart with device attached); and product information obtain by a beacon device in a store or a camera installed in the store (Iizaka [0024] beacon terminal to identify location of customers within a store, associated with shelf and specific products; See Fig. 6-7). 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 device of Yamashita with the shopping cart and beacon device as taught in Iizaka. The motivation for doing so would be to use the location of a customer in a store to confirm their proximity to the product identified, and reduce the amount of false readings (Iizaka [0003-0005] having two reference, barcode and location, help confirm product and increase accuracy of identification).
Regarding claim 2, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: output the position information and the product information in association with each other when the position information is within an area associated to a category of the product indicated by the product information (Yamashita [0032-0033] the map information and store allocation management system uses the area the product is located to help determine what the product is; hypothetical: when a product is identified in a specific area (the shelf with past), it narrows down the list t different pastas).
Regarding claim 6, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: in a case where categories of a plurality of products acquired immediately before the product in the operation of the customer are the same and a category of the product indicated by the product information is the same as a category of the plurality of products, output the position information and the product information in association with each other (Yamashita [0052] the cameras make a determination based on the location within the store, ie, in the pasta aisle, and compare to the images captured of the product taken from the shelf, and if the information before the customer took the product (shelf category) matches the item identified then the match outputs the specific position and product information).
Regarding claim 8, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: to display the position information in association with the product information in a display device (Yamashita [0032] the output part is able to send a message to a display device with information about the allocation status of products).
Regarding claim 9, Yamashita teaches a position information provision method comprising:
by a terminal (Yamashita [0030-0032] the product management device includes multiple different controllers and parts, and they are able to process information, and identify information and process purchase of the materials; Fig. 2 showcases the different elements to perform different tasks):
reading product information indicating a product by an operation of a customer (Yamashita [0042] barcode reader to identify a product);
position information of the terminal device as position information related to a position where the product information is read (Yamashita [0032] the position specifying part is able to specify the position of a product); and
send, an information processing device, data including the product information and the position information (Yamashita [0039] the allocation status determination determines the product and shelf (position), and output the information), and
by the information processing device (Yamashita Abstract, allocation management device):
receiving from the terminal device the data including the product information (Yamashita [0032] purchase information acquisition, product information about a product selected by customer) and the position information (Yamashita [0032] when product information is acquired, it includes the location based on the mapping of the items); and registering the position information and the product information in a database that manages position information for each product (Yamashita [0032] output part includes all information about the product).
Yamashita fails to explicitly disclose a terminal device installed to a shopping cart; and product information obtain by a beacon device in a store or a camera installed in the store.
Iizaka teaches a terminal device installed to a shopping cart (Iizaka [0016] information processing device attached to shopping cart; Fig. 1, see shopping cart with device attached); and product information obtain by a beacon device in a store or a camera installed in the store (Iizaka [0024] beacon terminal to identify location of customers within a store, associated with shelf and specific products; See Fig. 6-7). 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 processing method of Yamashita with the shopping cart and beacon device as taught in Iizaka. The motivation for doing so would be to use the location of a customer in a store to confirm their proximity to the product identified, and reduce the amount of false readings (Iizaka [0003-0005] having two reference, barcode and location, help confirm product and increase accuracy of identification).
Regarding claim 10, Yamashita teaches a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium that records a program for causing a computer to execute operations comprising: receiving, from a terminal device, (Yamashita [0090] computer readable storage medium, including memory; claim12), data including product information (Yamashita [0032] purchase information acquisition, product information about a product selected by customer) and position information (Yamashita [0032] when product information is acquired, it includes the location based on the mapping of the items); and registering the position information and the product information in a database that manages position information for each product (Yamashita [0032] output part includes all information about the product).
Regarding claim 11, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the customer is an operation in which the customer registers the product in the terminal device (Yamashita [0042] the actions can also include a barcode scanning associated with a register to recognize products).
Regarding claim 13, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1, wherein output the position information in association with the product information (Yamashita [0032] output part includes all information about the product).
Regarding claim 14, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 13, wherein the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: output the position information as a location information of display of the product indicated by the product information in a store (Yamashita [0032] the output part is able to send a message to a display device with information about the allocation status of products).
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamashita, Iizaka and in further view of US 2020/0020112 A1 Buibas et al. (hereinafter Buibas).
Regarding claim 3, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1. Yamashita fails to explicitly disclose wherein the data further includes purchase quantity information indicating a purchase quantity of the product of the customer, and the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: in a case where there are two or more pieces of data including the same product information among the pieces of data acquired and respective pieces of position information included in the two or more pieces of data are different in a predetermined period, output the position information and the product information included in the data acquired by an operation of a customer whose purchase quantity is large.
Buibas is in the field of item tracking (Buibas Abstract, image tracking) and teaches wherein the data further includes purchase quantity information indicating a purchase quantity of the product of the customer, and the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: in a case where there are two or more pieces of data including the same product information among the pieces of data acquired and respective pieces of position information included in the two or more pieces of data are different in a predetermined period, output the position information and the product information included in the data acquired by an operation of a customer whose purchase quantity is large (Buibas [0049] the quantity of the products is also calculated; [0133] ). 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 individual identification of items in Yamashita with the ability to identify more than one of the same product and updating the total tally as taught by Buibas. The motivation for doing so would be to accurately represent the amount of products removed from the shelf with little to no errors (Buibas Abstract, volume analysis is able to rapidly identify product and quantity).
Regarding claim 4, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1. Yamashita fails to explicitly disclose wherein the data further includes purchase quantity information indicating a purchase quantity of the product of the customer, and the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: in a case where there are two or more pieces of data including the same product information among the pieces of data acquired and the pieces of position information included in the two or more pieces of data are different in a predetermined period, output the position information and the product information in which a cumulative total of the purchase quantities for the respective pieces of position information is large.
Buibas teaches wherein the data further includes purchase quantity information indicating a purchase quantity of the product of the customer, and the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: in a case where there are two or more pieces of data including the same product information among the pieces of data acquired and the pieces of position information included in the two or more pieces of data are different in a predetermined period, output the position information and the product information in which a cumulative total of the purchase quantities for the respective pieces of position information is large (Buibas [0049] the quantity of the products is also calculated; [0133] ). 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 individual identification of items in Yamashita with the ability to identify more than one of the same product and updating the total tally as taught by Buibas. The motivation for doing so would be to accurately represent the amount of products removed from the shelf with little to no errors (Buibas Abstract, volume analysis is able to rapidly identify product and quantity).
Regarding claim 5, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1. Yamashita fails to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: in a case where there are at least three or more pieces of the data acquired by and the pieces of position information included in the three or more pieces of the data are the same in a predetermined period, output the product information and the position information included in the data in which there are a plurality of categories of the same product among the pieces of data acquired.
Buibas teaches wherein the one or more processors of the information processing device is further configured to execute the instructions to: in a case where there are at least three or more pieces of the data acquired by and the pieces of position information included in the three or more pieces of the data are the same in a predetermined period, output the product information and the position information included in the data in which there are a plurality of categories of the same product among the pieces of data acquired (Buibas [0049] the quantity of the products is also calculated; [0133] ). 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 individual identification of items in Yamashita with the ability to identify more than one of the same product and updating the total tally as taught by Buibas. The motivation for doing so would be to accurately represent the amount of products removed from the shelf with little to no errors (Buibas Abstract, volume analysis is able to rapidly identify product and quantity).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamashita, Iizaka and in further view of US 2008/0238009 A1 Carpenter.
Regarding claim 12, Yamashita teaches the system according to claim 1. Yamashita fails to explicitly disclose wherein the operation of the customer is an operation in which the customer searches for the product using the terminal device. Carpenter is in the field of identify products (Carpenter Abstract, shopping cart with location and product scanning) and teaches wherein the operation of the customer is an operation in which the customer searches for the product using the terminal device (Carpenter [0196] a customer may enter a search, such as a letter, to find product within the store inventory, its location, and then add to the list of purchases). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify identification of products in Yamashita with the ability for a customer to manually add items through a search feature as taught in Carpenter. The motivation for doing so would be to locate specific items within a store in order to make the shopping experience faster (Carpenter [0196-0197] searching for items directs a customer to that item, when a customer can quickly locate items, they are more likely to purchase said item).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/03/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding 101, the amendments to the independent claims include adding a shopping cart with a beacon device, that has an interplay of information sent to determine its location within a store, and therefore the claims link a physical device (the shopping cart and terminal devices) with computer elements that communicate to determine the real world location of the shopping cart, and integrate the abstract idea of performing business practices with the computer elements, as you cannot find the real time position using the beacon and shopping carts and terminals in the mind. The communication between the elements showcase more the use of the elements as more than a tool to perform its generic purpose.
Regarding 102, Yamashita does not teach or suggest a terminal device installed to a shopping cart. Therefore, the 102 rejection is removed.
Regarding 103, teaches the combination of new prior art with previously presented Yamashita to teach the amended claim language. Yamashita is able to teach determine the position of an item based on the location of the person within the store, and new reference Iikaza is able to teach devices installed on a shopping cart, which communicates with beacons throughout the store, to teach positioning of the shopping cart to improve identification of he item. Therefore, the combination is able to teach the amended claims.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2008/0159634 A1 Sharma et al. teaches analyzing categories of products (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.
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/JESSICA E SULLIVAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3627
/FAHD A OBEID/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3627