DETAILED ACTION
Final 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 .
Claims 6-7, 10-12, 14-18 are pending.
Claims 6-7, 10-12, 14-18 are rejected below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 6-7, 10-12, 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bebak (U.S. PG Pub. 2023/0142117).
As to claims 6 and 12, Bebak teaches a product identification and tracking system, the system comprising: an identification system including a plurality of image stations at different stages in a manufacturing environment[0063]; a tracking system including a product flow controller (PFC) that tracks a plurality of instances of a given product at the different stages of production[0063, 0073]; an interface unit coupled between the identification system and the tracking system[0076], the interface unit including: an input/output configured and adapted to be coupled to at least one of the tracking system or the identification system[0075](fig. 11); a memory configured to store instructions; and a processor disposed in communication with said memory, wherein said processor upon execution of the instructions is configured to: receive a trigger command from a tracking system the PFC as a product moves past one of the image stations[0073]; send a read command the identification system to activate the image station to capture a product image[0073]; receive a respective identifier based on a unique digital fingerprint of the product image for a specific instance of the given product from the identification system[0071, 0084]; package the respective identifier into a packaged identifier in a format readable by the tracking system[0068]; and send the packaged identifier to the tracking system[0063, 0073, 0074]; wherein as the specific instance of the given product is built through the stages of production the identifier initially assigned to the instance of the given product is consistently assigned to that instance of the given product[0018, 0025].
As to claim 7, Bebak teaches wherein the identification system is a distributed identification system, having at least a portion of the identification system stored in the interface unit[0074].
As to claim 10, Bebak teaches wherein the respective identifier is an alpha- numeric identifier in the form of a meta-data message packet[0070].
As to claim 11, Bebak teaches wherein the respective identifier is a stored identifier within the identification system[0073-0074].
As to claim 7, Bebak teaches retrieving the respective identifier from a storage with the identification system based on the image[0070].
As to claims 15 and 17, Bebak teaches wherein the interface system includes an edge Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) interface engine positioned at each stage in the manufacturing environment[0074].
As to claims 16 and 18, Bebak teaches wherein the edge IIoT interface engine is configured to emulate a bar code scanning device, wherein the format is a barcode scan read data packet[0071, 0074].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6 of the response, filed 3-23-26, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 6 and 12 under 35 USC 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Bebak.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN L LAUGHLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-1042. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mohammad Ali can be reached at 571-272-4105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHAN L LAUGHLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119
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