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 Analysis - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-8 are ELIGIBLE under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is NOT directed a judicial exception.
Step 1 – Statutory Categories
As indicated in the preamble of the claim, the examiner finds the claim is directed to a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.(Claims 1-8 are machines). Accordingly, step 1 is satisfied.
Step 2A – Prong 1: was there a Judicial Exception Recited
Claim 1 is directed to components and design of a data processing device, such as a self-checkout Point of Sale terminal. A device or machine is not considered to fall under one of the categories of an abstract idea, such as: mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing human activity, and mental processes. As such, Claim 1 and its dependent claims are found to be eligible.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pat Pub 2011/0192900 “Terahara”, in view of an obviousness based on rearrangement of parts (See MPEP 2144.04(VI)(C)).
As per Claim 1, Terahara discloses a product sales data processing device, comprising:
a product placing portion provided for placing a product (Terahara: Fig. 1 and [0023] A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, a self-checkout apparatus A as the reading apparatus includes a bag supporting table 1 and a basket table 100 (product placing portion) disposed on one side of the bag supporting table 1.);
a scanner that is provided on a downstream side of the product placing portion in a movement direction of the product and that reads a symbol attached to the product removed from the product placing portion (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0044] The user interface terminal 7 has, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a display 50, a scanner 52, and a printer 53. The scanner 52 is disposed below the display 50. The printer 53 is disposed below the scanner 52. A touch panel 51 (FIG. 10) is stacked on a display screen 50a of the display 50.);
a bagging portion that is provided on a downstream side of the scanner in the movement direction of the product and that is provided for bagging the product whose symbol has been read by the scanner into a bag that has been set (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0043] The temporal placing table 5 is a table on which articles are temporarily placed. The temporal placing table 5 is a member separate from the bag supporting part 4. The temporal placing table 5 is disposed in front of the scanner 52 and on the side of the scanner 52 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). In addition, the temporal placing table 5 is disposed below the scanner 52 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The temporal placing table 5 is disposed at a position spaced from the placing part 20 in the plan view (see FIG. 3). The temporal placing table 5 has a placing surface 5a of which the upper surface is almost flat. On the placing surface 5a, an article of which the article code is read by the scanner 52 and which is not stored in the shopping bag 200 yet is temporarily placed. The temporal placing table 5 is provided with a fall preventing member 40. The fall preventing member 40 is in contact with the article placed on the placing surface 5a to prevent the article from falling down from the temporal placing table 5. The temporal placing table 5 is fixed to the bag supporting part 4. Specifically, the temporal placing table 5 is fixed to the supporting structure 33 of the bag supporting part 4 through the supporting member 41. Therefore, the placing part 20 supports the temporal placing part 5 through the supporting member 41 and the bag supporting part 4. Therefore, the placing part 20 receives the load of the article placed on the temporal placing table 5.);
an article placing portion including a placing portion provided for placing an article related to sale of the product on an upper surface, provided below an installation position of the scanner between the product placing portion and the bagging portion (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0043] The temporal placing table 5 is a table on which articles are temporarily placed. The temporal placing table 5 is a member separate from the bag supporting part 4. The temporal placing table 5 is disposed in front of the scanner 52 and on the side of the scanner 52 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). In addition, the temporal placing table 5 is disposed below the scanner 52 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The temporal placing table 5 is disposed at a position spaced from the placing part 20 in the plan view (see FIG. 3). The temporal placing table 5 has a placing surface 5a of which the upper surface is almost flat. On the placing surface 5a, an article of which the article code is read by the scanner 52 and which is not stored in the shopping bag 200 yet is temporarily placed. The temporal placing table 5 is provided with a fall preventing member 40. The fall preventing member 40 is in contact with the article placed on the placing surface 5a to prevent the article from falling down from the temporal placing table 5. The temporal placing table 5 is fixed to the bag supporting part 4. Specifically, the temporal placing table 5 is fixed to the supporting structure 33 of the bag supporting part 4 through the supporting member 41. Therefore, the placing part 20 supports the temporal placing part 5 through the supporting member 41 and the bag supporting part 4. Therefore, the placing part 20 receives the load of the article placed on the temporal placing table 5.); and
a regulating portion that regulates protrusion of the product placed on the product placing portion to the article placing portion (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 [0034] The supporting structure 33 has first struts 34, second struts 35, first beam materials 36, and second beam materials 37. The first struts 34 support the first hook part 30. The second struts 35 support the second hook part 32. The first and second beam materials 36 and 37 are caught between the first and second struts 34 and 35).
Slight adjustment of the positions of various elements is merely a matter of obvious design choice and not a matter of patentable difference. See MPEP 2144.04(VI)(C) - In reJapikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950) (Claims to a hydraulic power press which read on the prior art except with regard to the position of the starting switch were held unpatentable because shifting the position of the starting switch would not have modified the operation of the device.); In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553, 188 USPQ 7 (CCPA 1975) (the particular placement of a contact in a conductivity measuring device was held to be an obvious matter of design choice).
As per Claim 2, Terahara discloses a product sales data processing device according to claim 1, wherein the regulating portion is a stopper provided near a boundary between the product placing portion and the article placing portion (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 [0034]).
As per Claim 3, Terahara discloses a product sales data processing device according to claim 1, wherein the regulating portion is a protrusion provided on the article placing portion and protruding upward from the bagging portion and the product placing portion (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0034]).
As per Claim 4, Terahara discloses a product sales data processing device according to claim 1, wherein the article placing portion has a protruding shape in an upward direction (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0034]).
As per Claim 6, Terahara discloses a product sales data processing device according to claim 4, wherein the article placing portion has the protruding shape by providing, on an upper surface, a storage box that stores an article attached to the product, and the storage box is located below the scanner (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0026]).
As per Claim 7, Terahara discloses a product sales data processing device according to claim 1, wherein a display that displays information on a product whose symbol has been read by the scanner is provided above the bagging portion (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0063]).
As per Claim 8, Terahara discloses a product sales data processing device according to claim 7, wherein the display is provided on an upper portion of a pillar standing upward from a housing, the bagging portion being formed on an upper surface of the housing, and the scanner is attached to the pillar (Terahara: Figs. 1-5 and [0021]).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pat Pub 2011/0192900 “Terahara”, in view of an obviousness based on rearrangement of parts (See MPEP 2144.04(VI)(C)), in view of US Pat Pub 2013/0043307 “Hirono”.
As per Claim 5, Terahara fails to disclose but Hirono teaches a product sales data processing device according to claim 4, wherein the article placing portion has the protruding shape by placing, on an upper surface, a handheld scanner that reads the symbol, and the handheld scanner is located below the scanner (Hirono: Figs. 1-7 and [0026] The second photographing unit 225 is a portable handheld scanner which optically reads the commodity code that is printed on a commodity as a barcode.) .
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Terahara to include a handheld scanner as taught by Hirono, with the product sales processing device as taught by Terahara with the motivation to read a commodity code by photographing the code according to the customer's operation and to carry out a checkout processing using the code which is read out (Hirono: [0003]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REVA R MOORE whose telephone number is (571)270-7942. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 9:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fahd Obeid can be reached at 571-270-3324. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/REVA R MOORE/Examiner, Art Unit 3627
/PETER LUDWIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627