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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding the applicant’s arguments beginning on page 9 of Remarks, the applicant argues that Showronek does not disclose the limitations of amended independent claim 15. Specifically, the applicant argues “Showronek’s device stores two categories of data: (1) consumer account data
(financial account information, loyalty account information) and (2) medical data (patient medical histories, medical conditions, allergy information, medication information, patient information, physician information). See Showronek " [0032]-[0033]. All of this data concerns information about the device holder/patient-not information about radio signals detected in the RFID chip's environment. The "updatable" information referenced by the Office Action describes how device holders can enter or update medical data stored on the device. Specifically, Showronek teaches that "one or more parties" may "enter, update, delete, or otherwise alter the medical data stored thereon" through data entry transactions conducted at terminals. See id. 1 [0025]. Showronek explains that "a device holder, a sales clerk, a terminal operator, enters or updates medical data into a transaction terminal for storing in a memory of a contactless transaction device." Id. 1 [0091]; see also " [0056]-[0057], [0090]-[0098],
Fig. 6 (blocks 605-625). In the interest of advancing prosecution, claim 15 has been amended herein to
clarify that the transmitted information is "about detected radio signals collected from a radio environment of the RFID chip." Skowronek's user-initiated data entry process/"updatable" information is clearly different from the RFID chip detecting radio signals present in its surrounding environment and collecting and transmitting information about those detected radio signals. Showronek does not disclose radio signal detection much less collecting information about said radio signals. Instead, as discussed above, Showronek merely discloses that the stored data concerns the device holder's medical
conditions, allergies, medications, account information, etc. See id. at "IT [0022], [0032],
[0033]. Accordingly, Showronek does not disclose an application stored in a non-transitory memory of an RFID chip that, when executed by a processor of the RFID chip transmits information about detected radio signals collected from a radio environment of the RFID chip to the reader in the second frequency band, as claimed.” The examiner respectfully disagrees.
As discussed by the applicant, Showronek discloses where financial data and medical data are updatable by a user. Amended claim 15 recites “transmits information about detected radio signals collected from a radio environment of the RFID chip to the reader in the second frequency band”. Information “about detected radio signals collected from a radio environment of the RFID chip” is generally broad and reads on query/request signals received at the passive contactless transaction device 102. As noted above, Showronek discloses transmitting updated financial/medical data. Therefore, the claim limitation “transmits information about detected radio signals collected from a radio environment of the RFID chip to the reader in the second frequency band” is met by transmitting updated financial data to a POS terminal device after receiving a query/request signal from the POS terminal device. The previous grounds of rejection are maintained.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 15, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Showronek
(US PgPub 2010/0102123).
Regarding claim 15, Showronek discloses a radio frequency identity (RFID) chip (Figure 1,
Element 102), comprising: a processor (Paragraph 0027 where the transaction device is integrated into a processor based device); a radio transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor (Paragraph 0028 where the RFID deice includes a transmitter and receiver); a non-transitory memory that stores a first identity and a second identity (Paragraphs 0028-0029 where the microchip includes both generic and unique information related to a user); and an application stored in the non-transitory memory that, when executed by the processor: receives a first radio signal in a first frequency band, in response to receiving the first radio signal, transmits the first identity in the first frequency band (Figure 1 and Paragraphs 0028, 0029, 0048, 0049 and 0054 where generic medical information is transmitted at a first frequency range), receives a second radio signal in a second frequency band from a reader, in response to receiving the second radio signal, transmits the second identity in the second frequency band by the application (Figure 1 and Paragraphs 0028, 0029, 0032, 0038, 0040, 0048, 0049, 0052 and 0054 where unique financial information is transmitted at a second frequency range), and transmits information about detected radio signals collected from a radio environment of the RFID chip to the reader in the second frequency band (Figure 1 and Paragraphs 0028, 0029, 0032, 0038, 0040, 0048, 0049, 0052 and 0054 where the generic and unique information of the microchip are updatable. Updated financial information is transmitted in response to a query/request in an additional transmitting step).
Regarding claim 18, Showronek discloses wherein the application further authenticates the reader before transmitting the second identity and the information collected from the radio environment (Paragraphs 0035 and 0053 where public/private keys are used to authenticate a reader).
Regarding claim 19, Showronek discloses wherein authenticating the reader comprises comparing an authentication key stored in the RFID chip to an authentication key provided by the reader (Paragraphs 0035 and 0053 where public/private keys are used to authenticate a reader).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16, 17 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would
be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any
intervening claims.
Claims 1-14 are allowed as indicated in the Office action dated 10/16/2025.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 THOMAS D ALUNKAL whose telephone number is (571)270-1127. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5PM.
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/THOMAS D ALUNKAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686