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 .
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fortunato et al. US 2018/0072555.
Fortunato discloses a beverage dispensing system, comprising:
(Re claim 1) “a point-of-sale device” (120 figure 2). “an application programming interface, wherein the point-of-sale device is configured to send a customer order to the application programming interface” (‘app’ para 0071). “a server, wherein the application programming interface is configured to send the customer order to the server and the server is configured to review the customer order for at least one target item, and wherein the server is configured to generate a QR code corresponding to the at least one target item” (‘beverage’, ‘QR code’ para 0040, 0041, ‘server’ para 0035). “a code display device configured to display the QR code.” (140 figure 2, 34,22 figure 4).
Fortunato disclose transmitting or printing a QR code at the POS, the QR code to be presented by a customer device to a dispenser. Fortunato also discloses displaying a QR code at the dispenser and using a customer device to copy the QR code for later use (Para 0053).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art that the POS could include a code display device in the form of a display screen so that a customer’s device can copy a QR code because it already uses a similar system to transmit QR codes and would have been an obvious choice for transmitting a QR code from the POS to the customer device.
(Re claim 2) “the at least one target item is a beverage” (‘beverage’ para 0040).
(Re claim 3) “the server comprises a database configured to store the QR code” (‘server’ para 0035, 48A figure 3)
(Re claim 4) “a customer device configured to scan the QR code displayed on the code display device whereby the QR code is transferred from the code display device to the customer device” (120, 140 figure 2, ‘smart phone’ para 0039, 0057).
(Re claim 5) “the customer device comprises an application configured to scan the QR code displayed on the code display device whereby the QR code is transferred from the code display device to the customer device” (‘smart phone’, ‘app’ para 0039, 0057).
(Re claim 6) “the application is configured to store the QR code” (‘smart phone’, ‘app’ para 0039, 0057, ‘stored’ para 0034).
(Re claim 7) “a code scanning device configured to scan the QR code from the customer device whereby the QR code is transferred from the customer device to the code scanning device, wherein the code scanning device is configured the send the QR code to the application programming interface and wherein the application programming interface is configured to send the QR code to the server, and wherein the server is configured to review the QR code to determine if the QR code is valid” (‘server’ para 0035, 48A figure, ‘interpret a … code’ para 0048).
(Re claim 8) “a beverage dispensing machine in communication with the server, wherein the server is configured to send command signals to the beverage dispensing machine upon validating the QR code” (48A, 48B figure 3, 130 figure 2).
(Re claim 9) “the beverage dispensing machine is configured to dispense a beverage” (para 0037, figure 13).
(Re claim 10) “the QR code comprises a time restriction” (‘time interval’ para 0042).
(Re claim 11) “the QR code comprises a use restriction” (‘maximum dispense amount’ para 0054).
Fortunato discloses a method of dispensing a beverage, comprising:
(Re claim 12) “sending a customer order to an application programming interface from a point-of-sale device” (‘app’ para 0071). “sending the customer order to a server from the application programming interface; reviewing the customer order for at least one target item; generating a QR code, wherein the QR code corresponds to the at least one target item” (‘beverage’, ‘QR code’ para 0040, 0041, ‘server’ para 0035). “displaying the QR code with a code display device” (140 figure 2, 34,22 figure 4).
Fortunato disclose transmitting or printing a QR code at the POS, the QR code to be presented by a customer device to a dispenser. Fortunato also discloses displaying a QR code at the dispenser and using a customer device to copy the QR code for later use (Para 0053).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art that the POS could include a code display device in the form of a display screen so that a customer’s device can copy a QR code because it already uses a similar system to transmit QR codes and would have been an obvious choice for transmitting a QR code from the POS to the customer device.
(Re claim 13) “wherein the at least one target item is a beverage” (‘beverage’ para 0040).
(Re claim 14) “scanning the QR code displayed on the code display device with a customer device; and transferring the QR code from the code display device to the customer device” (120, 140 figure 2, ‘smart phone’ para 0039, 0057).
(Re claim 15) “storing the QR code on an application of the customer device” (‘smart phone’, ‘app’ para 0039, 0057, ‘stored’ para 0034).
(Re claim 16) “displaying the QR code on the customer device; scanning the QR code displayed on the customer device with a code scanning device; and transferring the QR code from the customer device to the code scanning device” (‘server’ para 0035, 48A figure 2,3, ‘interpret a … code’ para 0048).
(Re claim 17) “the code scanning device is in communication with the application programming interface, further comprising: sending the QR code from the code scanning device to the application programming interface; sending the QR code to the server; and reviewing the QR code to determine if the QR code is valid” (‘server’ para 0035, 48A figure, ‘interpret a … code’ para 0048).
(Re claim 18) “the server is in communication with a beverage dispensing machine, further comprising; the server sending command signals to the beverage dispensing machine” (48A, 48B figure 3, 130 figure 2).
(Re claim 19) “dispensing a beverage from the beverage dispensing machine” (para 0037, figure 13).
(Re claim 20) “the step of reviewing the QR code to determine if the QR code is valid comprises reviewing the QR code to determine if there are any enforceable restrictions” (maximum dispense amount’ para 0054. ‘time interval’ para 0042).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2017/0196110 discloses embedding limitations for beverage dispensing in a QR code as well as dispensers, POS and servers in communication with each other.
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TIMOTHY R. WAGGONER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3655 B
/TIMOTHY R WAGGONER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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