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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/18/25 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 7-8, 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lindsay (US 20070152829) in view of Baud (US 20070215709)
Lindsay discloses
1. A tracking tag comprising:
beacon transmission circuitry including one or more batteries (Lindsay, par. 45, 76, 97);
a frame configured to hold the one or more batteries in place (frame is interpreted as the body of the label or card);
an adhesive arranged to secure the tracking tag to an object (par. 63); and
an activation mechanism including a thermal switch (par. 67) configured to:
activate the tracking tag subsequent to adhesion of the tracking tag to the object (Lindsay discloses a thermal button switch is disposed in a tag/card such that subsequent to adhesion, temperature change can open the circuit, par. 67, 97, which may cause the RFID tag to be activated to communicate data to a reader, par. 56; the tag is adhesively attached to the surface of the host container, par. 70; thus, the system is capable of being activated via the thermal button switch after the attachment); and
cause the beacon transmission circuitry to transmit beacon signals in order to enable tracking of the object (par. 56).
Lindsay is silent to wherein the thermal switch including a bimetal or two phase connection.
Baud discloses [0028] The block diagram of FIG. 1 illustrates an RFID system 100 including an RFID sensor 150 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. The system 100 includes an RFID interrogator 110 and RFID sensor 150 including RFID circuitry 120 and sensor 130. The RFID interrogator 110 includes a radio frequency (RF) source 114 and reader 112.
[0058] In some implementations, the physical condition may be temperature and the sensor elements may be selected to change from a first conductive state to a second conductive state based on exposure to a particular temperature. For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the sensor element 510 may be configured as a bimetal switch sensitive to temperature changes. In FIGS. 5A and 5B, conductor 514 is formed as a bimetal conductor that flexes at a switching temperature. Alternatively, both of the conductors 512, 514 of the sensor element 510 may include bimetal conductors. The sensor element 510 may be configured to be initially in a low conductivity state associated with a first logic level, with the bimetal switch initially open as illustrated in FIG. 5B, or may be configured to be initially in a high conductivity state associated with a second logic level, with the switch initially closed, as illustrated in FIG. 5A. Exposure to the switching temperature causes movement of the bimetal conductor 514 due to thermal expansion or contraction of the metal resulting in a conductivity state change. For example, if the sensor element 510 is initially in a low conductivity state, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, a decrease in temperature causes the bimetal conductor 514 to contract, and the sensor element 510 transitions to a high conductivity state, as illustrated in FIG. 5A. Alternatively, if initially in a high conductivity state, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, an increase in temperature causes the bimetal conductor 514 to expand, causing the sensor element 510 to transition to the state associated with low conductivity, as illustrated in FIG. 5B. Exposure to the temperature is represented as a change in the logic level output associated with the sensor element.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Baud by incorporating a desirable thermal sensor such as bimetal thermal sensor per design choice.
7.1, wherein the beacon transmission circuitry further includes a printed circuit board (Baud, par. 38).
8.1, wherein the beacon transmission circuitry is arranged on a backing (Baud, par. 38).
33.1, wherein the beacon transmission circuitry further includes an antenna, an integrated chip, and a capacitor (Lindsay, par. 78, 83., 85)
Claim(s) 2-3, 9, 11, 15, 17, 19, 34, 37-38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lindsay (US 20070152829 )/ Baud (US 20070215709) in view of Volkerink (US 20220027698)
Re claim 2.1, Lindsay is silent to wherein the tracking tag is an adhesive label to be affixed to the object.
Volkerink discloses a label comprising an adhesive layer 112, 114, 312 (par. 55).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Volkerink for attachment to the host objects.
3.2, further comprising: a polyester material 124 coupled to at least one of the beacon transmission circuitry or the activation mechanism (Volkerink Fig. 5, par. 55); and paper coupled to at least one of the beacon transmission circuitry, the activation mechanism, and the adhesive (Volkerink, Fig. 5, par. 60).
4.3, wherein the adhesive backing is a double-sided tape (Volkerink, Figs. 5-6).
9.8, wherein the backing sheet is a polyester material (Volkerink, par. 60).
11.1, wherein the one or more batteries includes a coin cell, prismatic, pouch, thin-film or screen-printed battery (Volkerink, par. 44, 48-49).
15.1, further comprising a top cover and a bottom cover to provide impact protection (Volkerink, par. 49-61).
16.15, wherein the top cover and the bottom cover comprise polycarbonate (Volkerink, par. 49-61).
17.1, thickness/size has been recognized as obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04
19.1, further comprising a removable sheet arranged on the adhesive in order to protect the adhesive prior to application of the tracking tag to an object (Volkerink, Fig. 6C, par. 69).
34.1, wherein the tracking tag is arranged on a roll with a plurality of tracking tags (Volkerink, Fig. 1).
Re claim 37, see discussion regarding claims above.
38.37, wherein the heat applied to the tracking tag is from at least one of a label printing process or a focused laser source (although silent to heat from printing process or laser source; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made that the combined prior art teachings would be capable of performing the functions of activating and transmission responsive to the heat).
43.1, wherein the tracking tag is arranged accordion style with a plurality of tracking tags (Volkerink, Fig. 1-2: labels arranged on a roll or sheet with a cut line between them; it would have also been obvious to arrange them on a stacked roll in such a way that the cut lines being the fold lines; this would make the separation/ tearing of individual tag for attachment on an object easier).
44.1, further comprising a polyurethane material at least partially coupled to the beacon transmission circuitry or the activation mechanism (Volkerink, par. 60: although silent to polyurethane, it would have also been obvious to extend Volkerink’s teachings to polyurethane since Volkerink also discloses other plastic or flexible polymers may be used for similar purpose).
45.44, wherein the polyurethane material functions as a gasket (Volkerink, par. 59: polymer 124 is used to prevent liquid or water from intrusion).
Re claim 54-56, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lindsay (US 20070152829) / Baud (US 20070215709) in view of Nelson (US 20060147792)
Re claim 22, Lindsay is silent to wherein the activation mechanism further includes a conductive adhesive to form a bond between the one or more batteries and a copper tape once the tracking tag has been activated
Nelson teaches this feature is well known (par. 47-52).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Nelson to enhance the connection with the battery.
Claim(s) 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lindsay (US 20070152829)/ Baud (US 20070215709)
Re claim 27.1, Lindsay is silent to Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
Howerver, Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) has been publicly available since 1957 and is configured or designed to perform the same task of relaying and switching (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_controlled_rectifier). As can be seen, a substitution for a SCR would have been an obvious extension of Volkerink’s teachings.
Claim(s) 31, 57 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lindsay (US 20070152829)/Baud (US 20070215709) in view of Miller (US 20070023512)
Re claim 31.1, Lindsay is silent to a light configured to flash when the tracking tag is activated.
Miller discloses the RFID tag is activated and the embedded LED on the RFID tag begins to blink, thus directing the user to the proper medication storage location (par. 31, 32)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Miller to inform the user that the tag has been activated.
Re claim 57, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lindsay (US 20070152829)/Baud (US 20070215709) in view of Cooper (US 20170220074)
Re claim 32.1, Lindsay is silent to foam gasket
Cooper teaches this feature is well known. Cooper teaches a frame 110 of foam that can have a shape with multiple areas or compartment for housing component parts (Figs. 3-4)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Cooper for protection of the components, with characteristics of foam material.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 36, 42, 46-53 is/are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not disclose all limitations as detailed in claim 36
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive
Applicant argues that Baud does not teach, or even suggest, using a bimetal connection to activate a tracking tag and cause beacon transmission circuitry of that tracking tag to transmit beacon signals in order to enable tracking of an object as claimed
It is respectfully submitted that the primary reference Lindsay teaches, as discussed above, that the closing or opening of a sensor switch may activate the RFID circuit to communicate data to a reader; par. 56. Baud, in Fig. 5, par. 58, cures Lindsay’s deficiency in lacking the bimetal thermal sensor switch.
In response to applicant's argument that the examiner's conclusion of obviousness is based upon improper hindsight reasoning, it must be recognized that any judgment on obviousness is in a sense necessarily a reconstruction based upon hindsight reasoning. But so long as it takes into account only knowledge which was within the level of ordinary skill at the time the claimed invention was made, and does not include knowledge gleaned only from the applicant's disclosure, such a reconstruction is proper. See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 170 USPQ 209 (CCPA 1971). In this case, Lindsay teaches the sensor may be temperature sensor (par. 67, 107). Thus, combining with Baud would have yielded a predictable result as permitted by KSR.
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876