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
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.
Claims 1-18 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steury (US 6597970 B1) in view of Zhang (CN 103325016 A).
Steury teaches a dispensing system for items intended to be distributed and returned comprising:
a dispensing device (shown in Figure 1) configured:
to receive, hold, and electronically identify a plurality of electronically trackable items within the dispensing device (described in abstract, further it is commonly known that library books are electronically tracked for identifying status of book inventory);
to receive user identification data presented at the dispensing device by a user configured to notify the dispensing device of intended user access to the dispensing device for at least one electronically trackable item (described in abstract and column 1 lines 56-67);
to control user access of a user to the dispensing device to allow dispensing from the dispensing device of at least one electronically trackable item of the plurality of electronically trackable items (described in column 1 lines 56-67);
to electronically identify and store a dispensing record of at least one dispensed electronically trackable item of the plurality of electronically trackable items associated with the user identification data (described in column 1 lines 56-67 and column 2 lines 58-67);
and to transmit the dispensing record to a remote central electronically trackable item management system (shown in Figure 11 and described in column 10 lines 27-32, wherein limits would have to be recognized by the software via a record of rental);
a return device (shown in Figure 1, wherein ports 34 and 36 can be used for returning items as described in column 4 lines 44-52) configured:
to receive, electronically identify and store a return record of at least one returned electronically trackable item corresponding to the at least one dispensed electronically trackable item (described in abstract, further it is commonly known that library books are electronically tracked for identifying status of book inventory);
and to transmit the return record to the remote central electronically trackable item management system (described in column 2 lines 58-67, wherein monitoring returns would have to involve records of return);
an access control device configured to receive user presented identification data presented by the user at the dispensing device and to allow user access to the dispensing device based on receiving the user presented identification data (described in column 1 lines 56-67);
the remote central electronically trackable item management system configured:
to receive a plurality of dispensing records and a plurality of return records from at least one dispensing device and at least one return device, respectively (described in column 2 lines 58-67, wherein monitoring returns would have to involve records of return and monitoring receipts would have to involve records of dispensing);
to compile an unreturned record of at least one unreturned electronically trackable item and an associated user based on information in the user presented identification data presented by the user and collected at the dispensing device in the dispensing record (described in column 2 lines 58-67, wherein the receipts would be a form of record of an unreturned item),
Steury does not teach:
the unreturned record being calculated by taking a difference between the plurality of dispensing records and the plurality of return records;
and a report system, in communication with the remote central electronically trackable item management system, the report system configured,
at one of a predetermined time of day or a predetermined time period, to at least one of:
communicate the unreturned record via electronic communication;
and provide a web-based browser interface to view the unreturned record.
Zhang teaches a library management system comprising:
A reminding module configured:
an unreturned record being calculated by taking a difference between the plurality of dispensing records and the plurality of return records (described in Abstract, wherein the reminder of return would have to be through calculating a lack of return record compared against a dispensing record for the same item and user);
and a report system, in communication with the remote central electronically trackable item management system, the report system configured,
at one of a predetermined time of day or a predetermined time period, to at least one of:
communicate the unreturned record via electronic communication;
and provide a web-based browser interface to view the unreturned record (the report system, including the communication and interface, is described in the Abstract, wherein the email reminder sent is an electronic communication that would be in a web-based browser interface).
Regarding Claim 1, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the reminding module taught by Zhang to the dispensing system of Steury. This application would improve the dispensing system of Steury by providing users further information on the status of their loaned items with the goal of having the item returned within the allotted time of loan. One of ordinary skill in the art could apply the reminding module of Zhang to the dispensing system of Steury without undue experimentation. Further, the application of the reminding module of Zhang to the dispensing system of Steury would produce the predictable results of dispensing and restocking through return of trackable items intended to be loaned to users.
Regarding Claim 2, Steury further teaches wherein the access control device is further configured to verify the user presented identification data and to communicate, based on verifying the user presented identification data, an access status of a user access to the dispensing device, wherein the access status being one of an access grant status or an access deny status (described in column 2 lines 9-12, wherein the response and confirmation to user’s provided personal identification number (PIN) would have to mean granting access in response to a verified PIN and denying access in response to an unverified PIN, this is further affirmed in column 2 lines 58-67 by having a PIN verifier).
Regarding Claim 3, Steury further teaches wherein the user presented identification data includes at least one of unique user identification data, user room number data, user membership data, and user checkout date data (user identification data described in column 2 lines 9-12 and user checkout date data would have to be provided on receipts described in column 2 lines 58-67).
Regarding Claim 4, Steury further teaches wherein the dispensing record includes unique trackable item identification data, dispensing time data and at least one of user ID data, a user room number and a user membership number (receipts like those described in column 2 lines 58-67 and column 6 lines 4-15 are paper copies of the dispensing/return records and are commonly known to use item identification data and user ID data when communicating record of what was rented, loaned or sold to whom, column 7 lines 15-30 describe communicating drive signals to the motors in a manner that reduces dispensing time, this would only be verifiable if there was a track on dispensing time associated with each item dispensed).
Regarding Claim 5, Steury further teaches wherein the return record includes unique trackable item identification data, return time data and at least one of return unit identification data, and facility identification data (described in column 2 lines 58-67 and column 6 lines 4-15, wherein commonly known information that is detailed on receipts, or paper copies of dispensing/return records, include the item that was returned, the date and time of performed transaction and the location the return transaction was performed, or facility identification data).
Regarding Claim 6, Steury further teaches wherein the dispensing device is further configured to receive user identification data, wherein the user identification data includes at least one of unique user identification data, user room number data, user membership data, and user checkout date data (personal, or unique, identification numbers described in column 2 lines 9-12).
Regarding Claim 7, Steury further teaches wherein the dispensing device is further configured to verify the user identification data to one of allow or deny access to the dispensing device for retrieval of at least one electronically trackable item from the plurality of electronically trackable items (described in column 2 lines 9-12, wherein the response and confirmation to user’s provided personal identification number (PIN) would have to mean granting access in response to a verified PIN and denying access in response to an unverified PIN, this is further affirmed in column 2 lines 58-67 by having a PIN verifier).
Regarding Claim 8, Steury further teaches wherein the remote central electronically trackable item management system is further configured to receive user identification data, wherein the user identification data includes at least one of unique user identification data, user room number data, user membership data, and user checkout date data (personal, or unique, identification numbers described in column 2 lines 9-12).
Regarding Claim 9, Steury does not explicitly teach wherein the dispensing device is further configured to receive membership information data from a membership management system. However, the Abstract describes monitoring of identification data entered by a member and column 2 lines 58-67 describes a PIN verifier for entered identification data. In order to both monitor and verify entered member identification, the most ideal circumstance would be check the entered data against an existing database containing all registered member information, or a membership management system. Therefore, Steury implicitly teaches wherein the dispensing device is further configured to receive membership information data from a membership management system.
Regarding Claim 10, Steury further teaches wherein the dispensing device is further configured to verify, based on the membership information data, the user identification data to one of allow or deny access to the dispensing device for retrieval of at least one electronically trackable item from the plurality of electronically trackable items (verification described in column 2 lines 58-67).
Regarding Claim 11, Steury further teaches wherein the dispensing device is further configured to transmit the dispensing record to a local device independent from the remote central electronically trackable item management system to create a local dispensing record. Column 2 lines 58-67 describes sending administrative reports to a central station for maintaining inventory supply. It would have been obvious to incorporate dispensing records into the administrative reports in order to maximize the available information the central station can obtain for better tracking of inventory supply. For example, if increased frequency of purchases and/or rentals of a certain item are occurring at a certain location, the central station can supply an extra amount of the certain item to ensure the location does not deplete supply of it.
Regarding Claim 12, Steury does not teach wherein the remote central electronically trackable item management system is further configured to receive the local dispensing record. However, it would have been further obvious to enable the item management system to receive a copy of the local dispensing record. This would be for the purpose of providing an inventory supplier a consolidated inventory and transaction report directly from the individual locations of the dispensing system of Steury.
Regarding Claim 13, Steury further teaches wherein the return device is further configured to transmit the returning record to a local device independent from the remote central electronically trackable item management system to create a local dispensing record. Column 2 lines 58-67 describes sending administrative reports to a central station for maintaining inventory supply. It would have been obvious to incorporate dispensing records into the administrative reports in order to maximize the available information the central station can obtain for better tracking of inventory supply. For example, if increased frequency of non-returns of a certain item are occurring at a certain location, the central station can supply an extra amount of the certain item to ensure the location does not deplete supply of it.
Regarding Claim 14, Steury does not teach wherein the remote central electronically trackable item management system is further configured to receive the local returning record. However, it would have been further obvious to enable the item management system to receive a copy of the local returning record. This would be for the purpose of providing an inventory supplier a consolidated inventory and transaction report directly from the individual locations of the dispensing system of Steury.
Regarding Claim 15, Steury further teaches a dispensing method for purchasable, loanable or rentable items comprising:
reading user presented identification data from a user key device presented at a dispensing device configured to dispensing at least one electronically trackable item (described in abstract and column 1 lines 56-67);
allowing, based on the user presented identification data, user access to the dispensing device (described in column 2 lines 58-67 via a PIN verifier) by:
reading at least one electronically trackable item and generating and storing a first dispensing record of the at least one electronically trackable item (described in abstract, column 1 lines 56-67 and column 2 lines 58-67, further it is commonly known that library books are electronically tracked for identifying status of book inventory);
reading an interior portion of the dispensing device of any remaining electronically trackable items and generating and storing a second dispensing record including any remaining electronically trackable items (column 7 lines 15-30 describes continuously tracking inventory condition and data meaning there is a record of current inventory status);
While Steury does teach:
unlocking a controllable lock on an opening on the dispensing device;
determining the opening on the dispensing device is returned to a closed position and locking the opening based on determining the opening is in the closed position (all described in column 6 lines 16-21 wherein in order to reengage the disengaged lock, the opening would need to be in the closed position);
They do not teach the lock being applied to the exact openings that are the dispensing ports (34, 36). However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the same kind of controllable lock that Steury teaches to the dispensing ports. This would be for the purpose of preventing possible theft of items within the dispensing device and access to the interior of the dispensing device outside of operating hours.
Steury does not teach:
determining at least one dispensed electronically trackable item by calculating a difference between the first dispensing record and the second dispensing record;
creating a third dispensing record including the at least one dispensed electronically trackable item and information from the user presented identification data;
and transmitting the third dispensing record to a central electronically trackable item management system.
Zhang teaches a library management reminder method comprising:
determining at least one dispensed electronically trackable item by calculating a difference between the first dispensing record and the second dispensing record (described in Abstract, wherein the reminder of return would have to be through calculating a lack of return record compared against a dispensing record for the same item and user);
creating a third dispensing record including the at least one dispensed electronically trackable item and information from the user presented identification data;
and transmitting the third dispensing record to a central electronically trackable item management system (wherein the third dispensing record is in the form of an email reminder sent to the user, described in the Abstract).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the reminding method taught by Zhang to the dispensing method of Steury. This application would improve the dispensing method of Steury by providing users further information on the status of their loaned items with the goal of having the item returned within the allotted time of loan. One of ordinary skill in the art could apply the reminding method of Zhang to the dispensing method of Steury without undue experimentation. Further, the application of the reminding method of Zhang to the dispensing method of Steury would produce the predictable results of dispensing and restocking through return of trackable items intended to be loaned to users.
Regarding Claim 16, Steury further teaches wherein the user presented identification data includes at least one of user ID data, membership number data, user room number data, and checkout date data (receipts like those described in column 2 lines 58-67 and column 6 lines 4-15 are paper copies of the dispensing/return records and are commonly known to use item identification data and user ID data when communicating record of what was rented, loaned or sold to whom).
Regarding Claim 17, Steury further teaches:
receiving user identification data at an access control device on the dispensing device before reading the user presented identification data from the user key device;
verifying the user presented identification data from the user key device with the user identification data;
and transmitting an access control signal from the access control device, wherein the access control signal is configured to one of restrict user access or allow user access to the dispensing device based on verifying the user presented identification data (all described in column 2 lines 9-12, wherein the response and confirmation to user’s provided personal identification number (PIN) would have to mean granting access in response to a verified PIN and denying access in response to an unverified PIN, column 2 lines 58-67 further describes having a PIN verifier which functionally grants or denies access in response to verified or unverified PINs).
Regarding Claim 18, Zhang further teaches wherein transmitting the third dispensing record is based on at least one of: determining the opening on the dispensing device is returned to the closed position; a predetermined time of day; a predetermined period of time; and a retrieval of the third dispensing record from the dispensing device (the abstract describes the dispensing record identifying when the returning time of the borrowed item is approached, meaning it is based on a predetermined time of day and/or a predetermined period of time). It would have been further obvious to incorporate this when applying the reminding method of Zhang to the dispensing method of Steury to provide a proper reminder of returning a dispensed item to a user and ensuring the loaned item is returned on time.
Regarding Claim 21, Steury further teaches a method of generating and transmitting an inventory report for an electronically trackable item management system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a dispensing device configured to dispensing an electronically trackable item, a dispensing report including a plurality of dispensing records each identifying at least one dispensed electronically trackable item, an associated user identifier information, and a dispensing time of the at least one dispensed electronically trackable item (column 6 lines 4-15 describes providing receipts, or paper copies of dispensing records that includes pending due dates and information regarding the loan, which would have to include user identifier information and information of the dispensed item, column 8 lines 1-8 describes a UPC reader that confirms the return of loaned items placed within the interior which confirms that the items are electronically trackable);
receiving, from a return device configured to receive an electronically trackable item, a return report including a plurality of return records each identifying at least one returned electronically trackable item and a return time of the at least one returned electronically trackable item (column 8 lines 1-8 describes a UPC reader that confirms the return of loaned items placed within the interior which would then report that the item is returned to the software);
creating a master inventory report by merging the plurality of dispensing records and the plurality of return records (column 2 lines 58-67 and column 7 lines 15-30 describes continuously tracking inventory condition and data meaning there is a record of current inventory status, the best mode to do this would be tracking the dispensed and returned items through the reports generated).
Steury does not teach:
generating an unreturned inventory report by removing dispensing records in the plurality of dispensing records from the master inventory report having matching electronically trackable item identifiers to return records in the plurality of return records in the master inventory report;
associating at least one unreturned electronically trackable item and the associated user identifier information in the unreturned inventory report;
and transmitting the unreturned inventory report based on one of a predetermined time of day or a predetermined period of time.
Zhang teaches a method of reminding of unreturned items comprising:
generating an unreturned inventory report by removing dispensing records in the plurality of dispensing records from the master inventory report having matching electronically trackable item identifiers to return records in the plurality of return records in the master inventory report (described in Abstract, wherein the reminder of return would have to be through calculating a lack of return record compared against a dispensing record for the same item and user, the matching of records would have to be performed in order to confirm that an item was unreturned);
associating at least one unreturned electronically trackable item and the associated user identifier information in the unreturned inventory report;
and transmitting the unreturned inventory report based on one of a predetermined time of day or a predetermined period of time (both described in the Abstract wherein the notification of an unreturned item would be associated with user identifier information in order to communicate the unreturned record to the user via email).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the reminding method taught by Zhang to the dispensing method of Steury. This application would improve the dispensing method of Steury by providing users further information on the status of their loaned items with the goal of having the item returned within the allotted time of loan. One of ordinary skill in the art could apply the reminding method of Zhang to the dispensing method of Steury without undue experimentation. Further, the application of the reminding method of Zhang to the dispensing method of Steury would produce the predictable results of dispensing and restocking through return of trackable items intended to be loaned to users.
Claims 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steury (US 6597970 B1) in view of view of Clark (US 20160180628 A1).
A method preparing and transmitting a return record for an electronically trackable item, the method comprising:
reading at least one electronically trackable item in an interior portion of a return device configured to receive and store a plurality of electronically trackable items, and generating and storing a first return record (column 8 lines 1-8 describes a UPC reader that confirms the return of loaned items placed within the interior, the reader would then report to the software that the item has been returned);
generating and storing a second return record including all electronically trackable items (column 7 lines 15-30 describes continuously tracking inventory condition and data meaning there is a record of current inventory status);
determining at least one return electronically trackable item by calculating a difference between the first return record and the second return record (confirmation of the return described in column 8 lines 1-8 would mean having to compare the item being returned against the inventory that is known by the system);
Steury further teaches records reporting time of transactions (column 6 lines 4-15 describes providing receipts, or paper copies of transaction records that includes pending due dates and information regarding the loan, it is common for receipts to report even the exact time of transaction);
Steury does not teach:
determining an opening on the return device is returned to a closed position;
reading, based on determining the opening is returned to the closed position, the interior portion of the return device for all electronically trackable items and generating and storing a second return record including all electronically trackable items;
creating a third return record including the at least one return electronically trackable item and a time corresponding to when the opening on the return device is returned to the closed position
and transmitting the third return record to a central electronically trackable item management system.
Clark teaches a canister distribution method using automated doors comprising:
determining an opening on the return device is returned to a closed position;
reading, based on determining the opening is returned to the closed position, the interior portion of the return device for all electronically trackable items and generating and storing a record including all electronically trackable items;
(described in paragraph 0063 and 0064 of Clark, wherein the canisters utilized by the method of Clark are known to commonly have barcodes for the purpose of sale transactions and the report includes modification or cancelling the canister transaction)
Regarding Claim 19, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the automated door operation taught by Clark to the dispensing doors in the method of Steury. The result would enable the method of Steury to have a third return record of when the dispensing doors would open and close during return transactions for the purpose of providing additional security to inventory being returned by preventing items from being falsely returned. One of ordinary skill in the art could apply operating of doors taught by Clark to the method of Steury without undue experimentation. Further, the application of the operating of doors of Clark to the method of Steury would produce the predictable results of recording return transactions of electronically trackable items.
Regarding Claim 20, Steury further teaches generating records having a predetermined time of day (column 6 lines 4-15). The application of the operation of doors of Clark to the method of Steury would further give the method of Steury to have the third return record incorporate at least one of: determining the opening on the return device is returned to the closed position; a predetermined time of day; a predetermined period of time; and a retrieval of the third return record from the return device. This would be for the purpose of confirming that the item was properly returned and return operation can continue as normal.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Shipman (US 12469095 B1) for a device/method that tracks and reports dispensing of electronically trackable items.
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/M.T.P./Examiner, Art Unit 3655
/JACOB S. SCOTT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3655