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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 2 and 6-8 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 contains the trademark/trade names “NXP's Mifare, HID's iCLASS, LEGIC's platform, Sony's FeliCa”. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe NFC technology and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
Claim 6, line 3 recites “a dental treatment unit”, it is unclear if this is the dental treatment unit of claim 1 or an additional dental treatment unit. For the purpose of examination, the limitation is interpreted as the dental treatment unit of claim 1.
Claim 6, line 3 recites “an NFC reader”. It is unclear if this is the same NFC reader as disclosed in claim 1 or an additional NFC reader that is unrelated. For the purpose of examination, the limitation is interpreted as the same NFC reader as disclosed in claim 1.
Claim 6, line 5 recites “an NFC tag”. It is unclear if this is the same NFC tag as disclosed in claim 1 or an additional NFC tag that is unrelated. For the purpose of examination, the limitation is interpreted as the same NFC tag as disclosed in claim 1
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon (KR 20170006035 A) in view of St Louis et al (US 2018/0357384), Krickeberg et al (US 2018/0008052) and SIMONS et al (WO 2014/016718).
Regarding claim 1, Yoon discloses a dental treatment unit (figure 2) comprising:
a dentist board (treatment mechanism 140)
a scialytic lamp (lighting device 150)
a hydrogroup (see figure 2, the record management unit 120 which includes a sink and faucet)
a plurality of electronic boards connected through a BUS (par 85 discloses an equipment connection part 180 that pre connects to additional equipment, such as disclosed in par 86 observation devices such as tooth color discriminator, light curing and microbial activity monitors, figure 8 shows attached electronics to the connection part 180),
a patient’s chair (100) including a seat, a backrest (see figure 2 and par 90 discloses the components of the chair),
an NFC reader (target recognition unit 110) configured to automatically activate communication with at least one NFC tag (210) carried by a human operator (see figure 5 and par 59 discloses the tag being detected by the target recognition unit 110 when in proximity and the tag being held by a patient or medical staff; par 60 discloses the tag communicating with a near field communication), reader (110) being configured for registering a human operator carrying the tag at a first connection with the dental unit (par 59 discloses the identity of the owner being determined by the target recognition unit)
Yoon fails to disclose the dentist board having a graphical interface for interaction with a human operator, the seat being raisable/lowerable with respect to the ground, a backrest, and an arch arm allowing the backrest to assume a position substantially parallel to the ground a position substantially perpendicular to the ground, or all intermediate positions between the position substantially parallel to the ground and the position substantially perpendicular to the ground, the NFC tag being powered by the connection with the NFC reader only and reading the NFC tag is near to the NFC reader at a reading range less than 10 cm.
St Louis teaches a dentist board (delivery unit 30 with an electronic controller 34 and input controls 36) provided with a graphical interface (display 38/input controls 36) for interaction with a human operator (par 22), a patient chair (54) including a seat, a backrest and an arch arm allowing the backrest to assume a position substantially parallel to the ground, a position substantially perpendicular to the ground, or the intermediate positions between the position substantially parallel to the ground and the position substantially perpendicular to the ground (see figure 1, where the backrest is positioned at an angle between parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the ground).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon to have the dentist board having a graphical interface for interaction with a human operator, a backrest, and an arch arm allowing the backrest to assume a position substantially parallel to the ground a position substantially perpendicular to the ground, or all intermediate positions between the position substantially parallel to the ground and the position substantially perpendicular to the ground as taught by St Louis for the purpose of providing a controller for the dental unit and adjust the position of the chair during a dental procedure.
St Louis further teaches an NFC reader (short range transceiver 160, par 27 discloses this can be a NFC transceiver) is provided and configured to automatically activate communication with at least one NFC tag (within universal controller 100, short range transceiver 120 see par 23) carried by a human operator when a NFC tag is near to the NFC reader at a reading range less than 10 cm (see figure 1,4 and 6 where the controller is in close proximity to the delivery unit which has the short range transceiver and is capable of communication at any short distance including in contact with one another, as this is how short range communication operates).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, to modify Yoon to have the NFC tag communicate with the NFC reader at a reading range less than 10 cm as taught by St Louis for the purpose of providing secure access/reading of the card by limiting the reading and connection range.
Krickeberg et al teaches a patient chair with a seat (see figure 2) that is able to be raised and lowered with respect to the ground (par 40 discloses a table 52 which is adjustable by actuators in the vertical and horizontal directions) for the purpose of adjustably positioning the chair in a desired shape (par 44).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date to modify St Louis to have the seat of the patient’s chair being able to be raised/lowered with respect to the ground as disclosed by Krickeberg for the purpose of adjustably positioning the patient and chair into a desired shape or position.
SIMONS teaches an NFC communication wherein the NFC tag is powered by the connection with the NFC reader only (page 19, lines 14-23 disclose a short range communication with a master/slave communication, where the tag or passive device only reacts to or is controlled by the active/reader device and therefore has no other powering other than by the communication between the tag and reader) for the purpose of having increased security and privacy due to the proximity and required engagement between the reader and tag (page 13, lines 31-32).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify St Louis to have NFC tag being powered by the connection with the NFC reader only as taught by SIMONS for the purpose of having increased security and privacy due to the proximity and required engagement between the reader and tag.
Regarding claim 3, Yoon further discloses the NFC tag carried by the human operator is housed in a bracelet worn by a human operator, in a smart watch, a badge carried in a pocket of a human operator or embedded in a cell phone or a smartwatch provided with a specific application (see figure 5 and par 59).
Regarding claim 5, Yoon further discloses with the NFC reader (110) is being housed inside an assistant board or inside the hydrogroup (see figure 5). St Louis further teaches an assistant’s board, (see figures 1 and 3 the delivery unit 30 which can be used as an assistant board, as seen in figure 1),for the reasons set forth above.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of St Louis et al, Krickeberg et al and SIMONS et al as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shimada et al (US 2016/0120718).
Regarding claim 2, Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS discloses the dental treatment unit according to claim 1, as set forth above, but fails to disclose a technology of the NFC is selected from the group consisting of NXP’s Mifare, HID’s iCLASS, LEWGIC’s platform, Sony’s FeliCa, and Open systems.
Shimada teaches NFC technology that is Sony’s FeliCa (par 90 discloses the NFC such as Felica) for the purpose of detecting an identification member at a specific position (par 90).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS to have the NFC technology is chosen from the group consisting of NXP’s Mifare, HID’s iCLASS, LEWGIC’s platform, Sony’s FeliCa, or Open systems as taught by Shimada for the purpose of detecting an identification of the tag at a specific position.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of St Louis, Krickeberg and SIMONS as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Usui (JP 2006000425)
Regarding claim 4, Yoon further discloses the NFC reader being in combination with the dentist board (par 96 discloses the medical device 140 being in various implementations with the target recognition unit 110, see figure 5), but Yoon/St Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS fail to disclose the NFC reader is housed inside the dentist board.
Usui teaches a reader (contact-type or non-contact-type panel 33b, see figure 3) housed within a dentist board (work table 33,see figure 3).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the claimed invention to rearrange the NFC reader of Yoon to be housed inside the dentist board as taught by Usai for the purpose of providing an easily reached reader for the operator.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of St. Louis, Krickeberg and SIMONS as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of .
Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS disclose the dental treatment unit of the method claim and as set forth above.
Yoon further discloses providing a dental treatment unit (figure 2) provided with an NFC reader connected to the BUS of the treatment unit;
providing at least an NFC tag that is readable by the NHC reader: bringing the NFC tagin proximity of the NFC reader on the dental treatment unit so as to establish contact between the NFC reader connected to the BUS of the dental treatment unit and the NFC tag;
at first connection, performing the registering of the NFC reader on the dental treatment by inserting a name of a dental operator carrying the NFC tag;
such that contact between the NFC reader and the NFC tag worn by the human operator allows the performance of one or more of the following operations:
stopping a stand-by or hygiene mode of the dental treatment unit; and/or
setting a series of working parameters of instruments provided on the dental treatment unit, and/or
connecting to a management software of the dental treatment unit, containing data and images of patients; and/or
when the dental treatment unit is provided with a module for voice commands, giving consent to the voice command by approaching the NFC;
and/or activating, through the NFC tag, optional modules/functionalities on the dental treatment unit.
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon in view of St. Louis, Krickeberg and SIMONS as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of KR 200357411 Y1, Kieval et al (WO 2022/238625) and Nyholm (US 2009/0162808).
Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS disclose the dental treatment unit of the method claim and as set forth above.
Yoon further discloses providing a dental treatment unit (figure 2) provided with an NFC reader(target recognition unit 110)
providing at least an NFC tag (210) that is readable by the NHC reader (see figure 5 and par 59 discloses the tag being detected by the target recognition unit 110 when in proximity and the tag being held by a patient or medical staff);
bringing the NFC tag (210) in proximity of the NFC reader on the dental treatment unit so as to establish contact between the NFC reader and the NFC tag (par 60 discloses the tag communicating with a near field communication, wherein an NFC communication is less than 10 cm);
Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS fails to disclose the NFC reader connected to the BUS of the dental treatment unit and the NFC tag, at first connection, performing the registering of the NFC reader on the dental treatment by inserting a name of a dental operator carrying the NFC tag;
such that contact between the NFC reader and the NFC tag worn by the human operator allows the performance of one or more of the following operations:
stopping a stand-by or hygiene mode of the dental treatment unit; and/or
setting a series of working parameters of instruments provided on the dental treatment unit, and/or
connecting to a management software of the dental treatment unit, containing data and images of patients; and/or
when the dental treatment unit is provided with a module for voice commands, giving consent to the voice command by approaching the NFC;
and/or activating, through the NFC tag, optional modules/functionalities on the dental treatment unit.
KR 200357411 Y1 teaches a card reader that is connected to a dental treatment unit BUS (par 41 discloses the card reader 90 is connected to an input device/computer by using a USB port or any other communication port by wireless means and par 48 discloses the card readers attachment to a unit chair).
Yoon discloses the NFC reader can be additionally connected to the dental treatment unit as needed (par 96), as such it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of filing to modify Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS to have the card reader connect to the dental treatment BUS, by USB as taught by KR 200357411 Y1 for the purpose of providing patient information to the computer or dental treatment unit.
Kivela teaches at first connection, performing the registration of a NFC reader on the dental treatment unit by inserting the name of a dental operator carrying a NFC tag (par 37-39 discloses that the connection between the dental care unit and the user device 230 requires the registration of the device by a dental care unit, the connection/pairing may be done every time there is a connection or when the user or patient changes, the means of connecting is determined by a user or user ID and the input is disclosed as being manually typed and par 40 discloses the wireless communication can be NFC) for the purpose of communicating between a dental care unit and a network and providing appropriate access to an identified user (par 16).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS/ KR 200357411 Y1 to have at first connection, performing the registration of the NFC reader on the dental treatment unit by inserting the name of a dental operator carrying the NFC tag as taught by Kivela for the purpose of establishing the proper and appropriate access to a specific user.
Nyholm teaches contact between the NFC reader (wireless transmitter or transmitter receiver WL (31) and a tag which is worn by a human operator (user interface 1 and 2d-2e and 3; which includes a transmitter-receiver of a wireless link WL 14; par 15 discloses a contact being a wireless communication that is unidirectional and enable data transfer; and the user interface 1 being a wearable device as disclosed in figure 3) allowing the performance of setting a series of working parameters of the different instruments provided on the dental treatment unit and/or activating, through the NFC tag, optional modules/functionalities on the dental treatment unit (par 21 discloses the user interface allowing for the operation of different instruments in a dental unit, examples provided being the rotation speed of the micromotor of a dental instrument or the operation of the direction of the instrument) for the purpose of providing a hygienic and ergonomic user interface in a dental care operation (par 4-5).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of applicant’s invention to modify Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS/ KR 200357411 Y1/Kivela to include contact between the NFC reader and the NFC tag worn by a human operator allows the performance of one or more of the following operations: stopping a stand-by or hygiene mode of the dental treatment unit; and/or setting a series of working parameters of the different instruments provided on the dental treatment unit, and/or connecting to a management software of the dental treatment unit, containing data and images of patients; and/or when the dental treatment unit is provided with a module for voice commands, giving consent to the voice command by approaching the NFC; and/or activating, through the NFC tag, optional modules/functionalities on the dental treatment unit as taught by Nyholm for the purpose of enabling an automatic and hygienic operation of the dental tools of the dental treatment unit.
Regarding claim 7, Yoon/St. Louis/Krickeberg/SIMONS/ KR 200357411 Y1/Kivela/Nyholm disclose the claimed invention as set forth above in claim 6. Nyholm further teaches wherein the NFC tag is carried by a service technician (see figure 3, where the interface 1 is carried by the operator) , through the contact between the reader and NFC tag, the technician is allowed to act on the firmware/software of the dental treatment unit by downloading and uploading files ( par 23 discloses the arrangement, logging and sending of files relating to the patient after communication between the device of 2/3 and the user interface 1) for the reasons set forth above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: See office action mailed 12/17/2025 for detailed reason for allowance.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-7 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the combination of reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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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/S.N.B./Examiner, Art Unit 3772
/HEIDI M EIDE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3772
6/10/2026
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