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 arguments filed on 6/3/2026 have been entered and made of record.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6, filed 6/3/2026, with respect to claim objections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claim 16 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6, filed 6/3/2026, with respect to claim 19 and 35 U.S.C. 112b have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claim 19 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 16 and 23 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim 1 has been amended in subject matter and to depend from elected claim 16. Amended claim 1 is no longer subject to the restriction requirement.
Claim Interpretation
The examiner notes that paragraph 119 of the specification states “It is intended that the phrase "at least one of" as used herein be interpreted in the disjunctive sense. For example, the phrase "at least one of A and B" is intended to encompass A, B, or both A and B.” Claims are being interpreted in light of this statement.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Re claim 25 The specification fails to disclose wherein the transparent polymer overlay is secured to the component via a plurality of weld edges between the transparent polymer overlay and the component. The examiner is unable to find any mention of “weld edges”. The examiner only found one reference to “welded” in the specification in paragraph 95 “The alignment structure 1627 may be a physical and/or visual alignment tool, such as e.g., a single or multiple rows of dots, lines, or other welded or printed structures that connect the polymer overlay material 1640 to the front surface of the filer 1600”. There are no welded edges disclosed.
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.
Claim(s) 16 18 19 23, 24, 26, 29 31-34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bright US 4975735, Hine US 20120218446 and Medina III US 8,358826 .
Re claim 16 Bright discloses
An apparatus including a pocket comprising:
a component with four corners and four edges and having a pocket structure with an opening for receiving a sheet of material, (see abstract note see column 3 lines 15-40 and 55-65 note that a polypropylene film is attached to a backing and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket see figures 1-3 note the component form a rectangle with four edges and 4 corners )
the pocket structure formed of an at least partially transparent pocket panel coupled to the component, the pocket panel including (see abstract note see column 3 lines 15-40 and 55-65 note that a polypropylene film is attached to a backing and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket):
a transparent polymer overlay secured to the component along three of the four edges (see abstract note see column 3 lines 15-40 and 55-65 note that a polypropylene film is attached to a backing and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket)
and opening extending along portions of a first edge of along portions of a first edge of the component and permitting access to at least a portion of a sheet of material received in the pocket structure ( see column 3 55-65 note that a polypropylene film is attached to a backing and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket, note that this open side to create an opening which permits access to a document which is inserted);
and an indication area adjacent one of the four edges of the component (see figure 2 and column 3 lines 15-25 note that indicia may be placed “second part” i.e. the back sheet in multiple places including along the border and along part 13 as shown in figure 2)
Bright does not expressly disclose
a plurality of fiducial marks configured such that at least one of the plurality of fiducial marks is disposed in each corner of the transparent polymer overlay;
wherein the plurality of fiducial marks facilitate identification of a peripheral boundary of a scannable area, each of the plurality of fiducial marks comprising a machine-readable data matrix including encoded data.
Hine in a similar field of endeavor of document imaging discloses
a plurality of fiducial marks configured such that at least one of the plurality of fiducial marks is disposed in each corner of the transparent overlay ( See paragraph 38 and 74 “and the positioning symbols and orientation symbol may be printed on a transparent plastic sheet (PL), or seals, on which the positioning symbols and orientation symbol are printed, may be pasted thereon, so that the plastic sheet (PL) is placed on the memo paper (DOC) and the surface of the memo paper (DOC) is photographed in this state by the camera (CAM) through the plastic sheet” see also figure 7 note that positioning symbols are placed in each corner of the transparent sheet );
wherein the plurality of fiducial marks facilitate identification of a peripheral boundary of a scannable area (see paragraph 45 46 “ In this example, the first range (AR1) is recognized as a portion surrounded by the four positioning symbols (M1 to M4),” see also paragraph 9 “recognizing a predetermined area calculated based on the positioning symbols as a first range, extracting only image data existing in the first range to acquire this image data as extracted image data; and image data storage unit which stores the extracted image data acquired by the image acquisition unit” note that positioning symbols define the border of the of the area to be extracted ), each of the plurality of fiducial marks comprising a machine-readable data matrix including encoded data (see paragraph 21 note that “For the positioning symbol, positioning symbols the same as those used for QR code (trademark registration No. 4075066) may be used” see paragraph 43 ” a symbol code constituted by a multi-valued graphic according to the present invention, and is a square (emerging portion) which is filled and is enclosed by a ground color portion (non-emerging portion) of the white paper, is disposed inside a square bold line form (emerging portion)” note that the symbol codes may be QR codes which is machine readable data matrix see for example claim 32 in the present application.)
The motivation to combine is “ With the foregoing in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide an imaging technology having high reproducibility of a document, without being influenced by a way of placing the document or a position of the camera, making image correction possible even if the paper color is similar to the table or a corner portion is damaged” (see paragraph 8) and “By disposing the positioning symbol on the transparent seal or creating the positioning symbol as the seal piece, an image can be corrected even if such an imaging object as a document and memorandum has no positioning symbols.” (see paragraph 25).
One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily added the position symbols of Hine to the polymer layer of Bright to reach the aforementioned advantage. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright and Hine to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Bright and Hine do not expressly disclose that the opening includes a cutout.
In a similar field of endeavor of document imaging Medina discloses the opening includes a cutout extending along portions of a first edge of the component and permitting access to at least a portion of a sheet of material received in the pocket structure. (see claim 4 lines 15-25 “Similarly, in space 306, flap 324 is affixed to sheet 300 along edge 326. Flap 324 has a notch 327. The notches 323 and 327 may assist the user of sheet 300 in handling the flaps to insert the check. Additionally, to the extent that the back of a check would be placed along flaps 320 and/or 324, the fact that flaps 320 and 324 do not extend all the way across the check may help to obtain a clear image of the endorsement on the back of the check” see also figure 3 element 327 note that the notch corresponds to a cut out) The motivation to combine is to make it easier to access the document, (See column 4 lines 15-30.) One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily aligned the cutout with the opening of Bright to allow easier access to the document. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright and Hine with Medina to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Re claim 18 Bright discloses wherein the component is one of a filer (the examiner notes that the broadest reasonable interpretation of the term filer is interpreted as “An apparatus for filing or holding papers.” Abstract note the element is an apparatus for holding papers), a binder, a folder (see abstract and figure 1 the examiner notes that the element also meet the definition of a folder), and a notebook.
Re claim 19 Bright Hine and Medina disclose the system apparatus of claim 16. Bright Further does not expressly disclose the sheet of material includes a plurality of indicators each corresponding with at least one of a plurality of subregions that are configured to be marked by a user. Hine discloses disclose the sheet of material includes a plurality of indicators each corresponding with at least one of a plurality of subregions that are configured to be marked by a user (see for example figure 3 note that the paper contains a series of lines correspond to indicators and the space between corresponding to sub regions which would be marked by a user see also paragraph 45 “a first area (AR1), where the user can draw handwritten characters, graphics, symbols and pictures”). The motivation to combine is “The image in the first range (AR1) is written as original image data.” One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily modified Bright with the teachings of Hine to create an area where the user could write handwritten characters. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright and Hine with Medina to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Re claim 32 Bright discloses wherein the machine-readable data matrix comprises at least one of an AprilTag and a QR code (see paragraph 21 note that “For the positioning symbol, positioning symbols the same as those used for QR code (trademark registration No. 4075066) may be used” note that the positioning symbols may be a QR code).
Re claim 33 Bright further discloses and indicia area across the top of the carrier (See figure 2) Bright does not expressly discloses wherein the indication area extends from a first inside corner of a first of the plurality of fiducial marks to a second inside corner of a second of the plurality of fiducial marks. Hine further discloses wherein the indication area extends from a first inside corner of a first of the plurality of fiducial marks to a second inside corner of a second of the plurality of fiducial marks (see figure 1 and figure 48 “A second range (AR2) may be recognized based on the relative positional relationship between the positioning symbol (M1) and the positioning symbol (M2)” note that ar2 may induce and indication such as a date and is disposed between inside corners of the fiducial marks across the top. The motivation to combine is “ With the foregoing in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide an imaging technology having high reproducibility of a document, without being influenced by a way of placing the document or a position of the camera, making image correction possible even if the paper color is similar to the table or a corner portion is damaged” (see paragraph 8) and “By disposing the positioning symbol on the transparent seal or creating the positioning symbol as the seal piece, an image can be corrected even if such an imaging object as a document and memorandum has no positioning symbols.” (see paragraph 25). One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily added the position symbols with the corresponding indication regions of Hine to the polymer layer of Bright to reach the aforementioned advantage. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright Hine and Medina to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Re claim 34 Bright further discloses wherein the indication area aligns with the opening of the component (see column 4 lines 12-26 “in FIG. 4 the same components as in the FIGS. 1 through 3 embodiment are denoted by the same reference numeral only with a "'" thereafter. The main difference between the document carrier 10' and document carrier 10 is that the pocket opening 17' is on the "side" rather than the "bottom" of the carrier 10'. That is, the pocket 17' opens at the extended portion 13' of the second part 12'.” ), wherein the opening is configured to allow the sheet of material to be slid underneath or within the pocket structure (see abstract note that a pocket has an open which allows the document to be inserted corresponding to the cut out). Medina further discloses wherein the opening includes a cutout (see claim 4 lines 15-25 “Similarly, in space 306, flap 324 is affixed to sheet 300 along edge 326. Flap 324 has a notch 327. The notches 323 and 327 may assist the user of sheet 300 in handling the flaps to insert the check. Additionally, to the extent that the back of a check would be placed along flaps 320 and/or 324, the fact that flaps 320 and 324 do not extend all the way across the check may help to obtain a clear image of the endorsement on the back of the check”)
Re claim 23 Bright discloses An apparatus comprising:
a component for retaining items, the component having a sheet of material forming a face; (see abstract note see column 3 lines 15-40 and 55-65 note that a polypropylene film is attached to a backing and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket see figures 1-3 note the component form a rectangle with four edges and 4 corners, the component corresponds to the backing element 12 which is called the second part in the reference)
a transparent polymer overlay disposed over a substantial portion of the face of the component, the transparent polymer overlay secured to the component along at least a substantial portion of three sides and an unsecured, fourth side of the transparent polymer overlay being unsecured to the component (see abstract note see column 3 lines 15-40 and 55-65 note that a polypropylene film element 11 is attached to a backing element 12 and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket see figures 1-3)
a pocket formed between the face of the component and the transparent polymer overlay (see abstract note see column 3 lines 15-40 and 55-65 note that a polypropylene film element 11 is attached to a backing element 12 and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket see figures 1-3);
a pocket entry disposed at the unsecured, fourth side of the transparent polymer overlay, the pocket entry permitting insertion of a sheet of material into the pocket( see column 3 55-65 note that a polypropylene film is attached to a backing and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket, note that this open side to create an opening which permits access to a document which is inserted);
Bright does not expressly disclose
a plurality of fiducial marks disposed on the transparent polymer overlay, one of the plurality of fiducial marks disposed in each corner of the component and each of the plurality of fiducial marks comprising a machine-readable data matrix including encoded data.
the pocket entry having a polymer overlay edge that is non-linear and forms a cutout,
Hine further discloses
a plurality of fiducial marks disposed on the transparent polymer overlay, one of the plurality of fiducial marks disposed in each corner of the component ( See paragraph 38 and 74 “and the positioning symbols and orientation symbol may be printed on a transparent plastic sheet (PL), or seals, on which the positioning symbols and orientation symbol are printed, may be pasted thereon, so that the plastic sheet (PL) is placed on the memo paper (DOC) and the surface of the memo paper (DOC) is photographed in this state by the camera (CAM) through the plastic sheet” see also figure 7 note that positioning symbols are placed in each corner of the transparent sheet ), each of the plurality of fiducial marks comprising a machine-readable data matrix including encoded data. (see paragraph 21 note that “For the positioning symbol, positioning symbols the same as those used for QR code (trademark registration No. 4075066) may be used” see paragraph 43 ” a symbol code constituted by a multi-valued graphic according to the present invention, and is a square (emerging portion) which is filled and is enclosed by a ground color portion (non-emerging portion) of the white paper, is disposed inside a square bold line form (emerging portion)” note that the symbol codes may be QR codes which is machine readable data matrix see for example claim 32 in the present application.)
The motivation to combine is “ With the foregoing in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide an imaging technology having high reproducibility of a document, without being influenced by a way of placing the document or a position of the camera, making image correction possible even if the paper color is similar to the table or a corner portion is damaged” (see paragraph 8) and “By disposing the positioning symbol on the transparent seal or creating the positioning symbol as the seal piece, an image can be corrected even if such an imaging object as a document and memorandum has no positioning symbols.” (see paragraph 25).
One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily added the position symbols of Hine to the polymer layer of Bright to reach the aforementioned advantage. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright and Hine to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Bright and Hine do not expressly disclose the pocket entry having a overlay edge that is non-linear and forms a cutout.
Medina discloses in a similar field of endeavor of document imaging Medina III US 8,358826 discloses the pocket entry having a overlay edge that is non-linear and forms a cutout. (See claim 4 lines 15-25 “Similarly, in space 306, flap 324 is affixed to sheet 300 along edge 326. Flap 324 has a notch 327. The notches 323 and 327 may assist the user of sheet 300 in handling the flaps to insert the check. Additionally, to the extent that the back of a check would be placed along flaps 320 and/or 324, the fact that flaps 320 and 324 do not extend all the way across the check may help to obtain a clear image of the endorsement on the back of the check” see also figure 3 element 327 note that the notch corresponds to a cut out and makes the edge of the opening non-linear) The motivation to combine is to make it easier to access the document, (See column 4 lines 15-30.) One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily aligned the cutout with the opening of Bright to allow easier access to the document Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright and Hine with Medina to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Re claim 24 Bright discloses wherein the component is one of a filer (the examiner notes that the broadest reasonable interpretation of the term filer is interpreted as “An apparatus for filing or holding papers.” Abstract note the element is apparatus for holding papers), a binder, a folder (see abstract and figure 1 the examiner notes that the element also meet the definition of a folder), and a notebook.
Re claim 26 Bright further discloses wherein the pocket entry is disposed along a longitudinal side edge of the component (see figure 4 element 17 which defines the opening of the pocket which is on the side edge see column 4 lines 15 -25 note that the pocket is formed on the side).
Re claim 29 Bright and Hine further do not expressly disclose a slot disposed along a first longitudinal side edge of the component and the cutout being disposed along a second longitudinal side edge of the component.
Medina further discloses a slot disposed along a first longitudinal side edge of the component (see figure 4 and column 4 lines 30-50 “Flap 400 has a cutout 402 and a notch 404. Cutout 402 is shown as an ellipse, but could be any shape. Notch 404 is shown as extending slightly more than halfway across the flap, but could be of any length. Cutout 402 can be positioned in the place where a check endorsement is expected to be located when a check is placed in a sleeve that employs flap 400.” The slot corresponds to cut out 402) and the cutout being disposed along a second longitudinal side edge of the component (see figure 4 column 4 lines 30-50 “Flap 400 has a cutout 402 and a notch 404. Cutout 402 is shown as an ellipse, but could be any shape. Notch 404 is shown as extending slightly more than halfway across the flap, but could be of any length. Cutout 402 can be positioned in the place where a check endorsement is expected to be located when a check is placed in a sleeve that employs flap 400.” The cut-out corresponds to notch 404). The motivation to combine is “To the extent that the material of which flap 400 is made (e.g., plastic) may have certain reflective and/or luminescent properties, these properties may result in a bright "orb" when the image is scanned with certain types of lighting equipment, and this bright "orb" may interfere with scanning and detecting the endorsement. Leaving the area for the endorsement exposed through cutout 402 may avoid this type of lighting distortion” see column 4 lines 41-48). One of ordinary skill in the art could leave a slot open over important portions of the document of bright for the purposes avoiding a lighting distortion. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright and Hine with Medina to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Re claim 31 Bright discloses wherein the machine-readable data matrix comprises at least one of an AprilTag and a QR code (see paragraph 21 note that “For the positioning symbol, positioning symbols the same as those used for QR code (trademark registration No. 4075066) may be used” note that the positioning symbols may be a QR code).
Claim(s) 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bright US 4975735, Hine US 20120218446 and Medina III US 8,358826 in view of Ijspeert US 20010026353 A1.
Re claim 25 Bright further discloses wherein the transparent polymer overlay is secured to the component via a plurality adhered edges between the transparent polymer overlay and the component (see abstract note see column 3 lines 15-40 and 55-65 note that a polypropylene film element 11 is attached to a backing element 12 and attached on 3 sides to form a pocket see figures 1-3 see also column 3 lines 61-63 “the attaching means preferably comprises strips of adhesive 14, 15, 16 formed along three sides of the first part 11 (typically applied to the second part 12) with the fourth side of the part 11 remaining open”). Bright Hine and Medina do not expressly disclose attaching layers via welding. In a similar field of document holders Ijspeert discloses attaching layers via welding (paragraph 30 “The folder is realized by welding two layers of transparent plastic sheet together along a pattern formed by the peripheries of the leaves, leaving openings along some of the rims to form pockets for the introduction of the transparency and other papers, a method regularly used in the plastic industry.”). The motivation to combine is Bright discloses “other attachment means besides adhesive may be utilized, such as crimps in the sheet material, mechanical fasteners, and the like.” (See column 4 lines 10-15). One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily used other methods of forming the pocket as disclosed in Ijspeert based on the suggestion of Bright that other methods besides adhesive can be used. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright Hine and Medina with Ijspeert.
Claim(s) 27 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bright US 4975735, Hine US 20120218446 and Medina III US 8,358826 in view of Sapienza US 20020033595 A1.
Re claim 27 Bright Hine and Medina disclose the features of claim 27. Bright discloses the pocket entry is disposed along a edge the component (see column 3 lies 35-65 “the attaching means preferably comprises strips of adhesive 14, 15, 16 formed along three sides of the first part 11 (typically applied to the second part 12) with the fourth side of the part 11 remaining open, as illustrated by reference numeral 17 in FIGS. 2 and 3. One or more documents 19 (see FIG. 2) may then be readily inserted through the opening 17 into the pocket between the parts 11, 12”). Bright Hine and Medina do not expressly disclose wherein the pocket entry is disposed along a top. In a similar application of a pocket structure, Sapienza discloses wherein the pocket entry is disposed along a top (see paragraph 67 The pages 194 may include pockets 195, preferably open on a side thereof, such as top side 197). One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily replaced the side opening of Bright with a top opening as discloses in Sapienza and the results i.e. the document is inserted from the top instead of the side would have been predictable. The opening also serves the same function in both references of allowing access to the pocket. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright Hine and Medina with Sapienza.
Re claim 28 Bright and Hine further do not disclose further comprising a slot disposed along a longitudinal side edge of the component and the cutout being disposed along the top edge of the component.
Medina further discloses further comprising a slot disposed along a longitudinal side edge of the component (see figure 4 and column 4 lines 30-50 “Flap 400 has a cutout 402 and a notch 404. Cutout 402 is shown as an ellipse, but could be any shape. Notch 404 is shown as extending slightly more than halfway across the flap, but could be of any length. Cutout 402 can be positioned in the place where a check endorsement is expected to be located when a check is placed in a sleeve that employs flap 400.” The slot corresponds to cut out 402) and the cutout being disposed along a opening edge of the component (see figure 4 column 4 lines 30-50 “Flap 400 has a cutout 402 and a notch 404. Cutout 402 is shown as an ellipse, but could be any shape. Notch 404 is shown as extending slightly more than halfway across the flap, but could be of any length. Cutout 402 can be positioned in the place where a check endorsement is expected to be located when a check is placed in a sleeve that employs flap 400.” The cut-out corresponds to notch 404 which is disposed along the opening).
The motivation to combine is “To the extent that the material of which flap 400 is made (e.g., plastic) may have certain reflective and/or luminescent properties, these properties may result in a bright "orb" when the image is scanned with certain types of lighting equipment, and this bright "orb" may interfere with scanning and detecting the endorsement. Leaving the area for the endorsement exposed through cutout 402 may avoid this type of lighting distortion” see column 4 lines 41-48). One of ordinary skill in the art could leave a slot open over an important portion of the document of bright for the purposes avoiding a lighting distortion. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright and Hine with Medina to reach the aforementioned advantage.
Bright Hine and Medina do not expressly disclose wherein the pocket entry is disposed along a top. In a similar application of a pocket structure, Sapienza discloses wherein the pocket entry is disposed along a top (see paragraph 67 The pages 194 may include pockets 195, preferably open on a side thereof, such as top side 197). One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily replaced the side opening of Bright with a top opening as discloses in Sapienza and the results i.e. the document is inserted from the top instead of the side would have been predictable. The opening also serves the same function in both references of allowing access to the pocket. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright Hine and Medina with Sapienza.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bright US 4975735, Hine US 20120218446 and Medina III US 8,358826 in view of Kriegsfeld US 20210090372 A1.
Re claim 1 Bright Hine and Sedina disclose system for digitizing and extracting information from a sheet of material, the system comprising: the apparatus of claim 23. Bright further discloses a an optical sensor (see column 2 lines 3-14)
Bright furth does not expressly disclose a device including a processor, communication circuitry, a memory, the processor of the device operably coupled to the communication circuitry, the memory, and the optical sensor and configured to cause the optical sensor to scan the sheet, wherein the processor is further configured to detect a boundary of the sheet based at least in part on detection of the plurality of fiducial marks, and
wherein the processor is further configured to identify a marking within the cutout including information to be extracted and digitized in the form of a cropped image from the scan.
Hine discloses a device including a processor, communication circuitry, a memory, the processor of the device operably coupled to the communication circuitry, the memory, and the optical sensor (see paragraph 55 “The smartphone (MP) encloses a central processing unit (CPU) along with a main memory (MM), a memory unit (MEM) connected via a bus (BUS), a communication interface (TIF), the camera (CAM), the button (BTN), a touch panel display where a touch panel (TPN) and a display (DISP) are integrated” note that device includes a CPU [processor] memory and camera which are connected via a communication bus) and configured to cause the optical sensor to scan the sheet (see paragraph 60 “the camera (CAM) function is activated, a memo paper (DOC), which is an imaging object, is photographed” note that the processor activates the camera to capture the image),
wherein the processor (see paragraph 59 “According to the present embodiment, capturing an image of the memo paper (DOC) and image processing thereof are implemented by the central processing unit (CPU) reading an image processing application program (APL) of the memory unit (MEM) via the bus (BUS) and the main memory (MM), and sequentially executing the program. This processing will now be described based on the processing flow in FIG. 6”) is further configured to detect a boundary of the sheet based at least in part on detection of the plurality of fiducial marks, (See paragraph 65 “When all four positioning symbols (M1 to M4) are determined, the four virtual lines connecting the edges of the four positioning symbols are set, and the portion enclosed by the virtual lines in the image is extracted as a first range “see paragraph 45 46 “ In this example, the first range (AR1) is recognized as a portion surrounded by the four positioning symbols (M1 to M4),” see also paragraph 9 “recognizing a predetermined area calculated based on the positioning symbols as a first range, extracting only image data existing in the first range to acquire this image data as extracted image data; and image data storage unit which stores the extracted image data acquired by the image acquisition unit” note that positioning symbols define the border of the of the area to be extracted). The motivation to combine is “With the foregoing in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide an imaging technology having high reproducibility of a document, without being influenced by a way of placing the document or a position of the camera, making image correction possible” see paragraph 8. One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily combined the teachings of Hine with Bright to facilitate capture of the document without influence of the position of the camera. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright Hine and Medina.
Bright and Hine do not expressly disclose wherein the processor is further configured to identify a marking within the cutout including information to be extracted and digitized in the form of a cropped image from the scan.
Medina discloses a marking within the cutout (see column 4 lines 15-30 “Flap 324 has a notch 327. The notches 323 and 327 may assist the user of sheet 300 in handling the flaps to insert the check. Additionally, to the extent that the back of a check would be placed along flaps 320 and/or 324, the fact that flaps 320 and 324 do not extend all the way across the check may help to obtain a clear image of the endorsement on the back of the check” note that the cut out portion does not extend all the way so that an endorsement region within the cut out). The motivation to combine is (see column 4 lines 15-30 “Flap 324 has a notch 327. The notches 323 and 327 may assist the user of sheet 300 in handling the flaps to insert the check. Additionally, to the extent that the back of a check would be placed along flaps 320 and/or 324, the fact that flaps 320 and 324 do not extend all the way across the check may help to obtain a clear image of the endorsement on the back of the check”). One of ordinary skill in the art could have modified Bright and Meding to have a cut out region which exposes a portion of the document to avoid optical interference. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright Hine and Medina.
Bright Hine and Medina do not expressly disclose Identify a marking including information to be extracted and digitized in the form of a cropped image from the scan. Kriegsfeld discloses Identify a marking including information to be extracted and digitized in the form of a cropped image from the scan. (see paragraph 43 and 44 note that an endorsement region similar to that of the cut out area of Medina is identified as ROI and a sub image [i.e. cropped image] containing only the ROI is determined and transmitted or analyzed.) The motivation to combine is to streamline the process by sending only the relevant ROIs that need to be tested. One of ordinary skill in the art could have easily modified the teaching of Bright Hine and Medina to crop an endorsement region. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Bright Hine and Medina with Kriegsfeld.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 17 and 30 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.
Re claim 17 Medina discloses the indication area is a slot extending in a longitudinal direction parallel to one of the four edges of the component (See figure 3 element 420.) The prior art of record does not expressly disclose wherein the indication area is a slot extending in a longitudinal direction parallel to one of the four edges of the component and wherein the slot includes a plurality of openings with a bridge portion between each of the plurality of openings to anchor the transparent polymer overlay.
Re claim 30 Medina discloses a slot (See figure 3 element 420.) the prior art of record does not disclose the slot further comprises a plurality of openings in the transparent polymer overlay with a bridge portion between each of the plurality of openings to anchor the transparent polymer overlay
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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/SEAN T MOTSINGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2673
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