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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/23/25 has been entered.
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) 1-2, 4, 8-10, 14-16, 19-21, 23-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Volkerink (US 20210150159) in view of Goldberg (US 20230106564) and Atherton (US 20100230498)
Volkerink discloses
1. A wireless electronic tag, comprising: a top layer (cover 22) and a bottom layer (28), wherein the bottom layer is an adhesive layer (par. 40); and
a circuit having a wireless transmitter coupled to a battery 38 collectively enclosed between the top and bottom layers and operative to broadcast a signal (Fig. 3),
wherein the wireless transmitter is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmitter comprising 4.x and/or 5.x BLE tag technology (par. 60-62; Volkerink is silent 4.x or 5.x type of BLE; however this is well known as admitted; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the known teachings for reduced cost and readily availability), and wherein the signal is a location and/or tracking signal (abstract).
Volkerink is silent to an internal surface of the top layer is coupled to an internal surface of the bottom layer.
Goldberg discloses a layer comprising a BLE element being sandwiched between top and bottom layers 22’, 11’ via adhesive 24’ (Fig. 2, par. 85)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Goldberg to secure the electronic components between the top and bottom layers, thereby protecting them from external environment.
Volkerink is silent to the top and bottom layers are coupled at a hinge
Atherton discloses a tag comprising a communication RF tag 104, 107 sandwiched between at least two layers that are folded at a hinge 101 (Fig. 1-5)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Atherton so that the tag is more secured by the folded end.
2.1, wherein the signal includes a MAC address (par. 40, 62: RFID/BLE identifiers).
4.1, wherein the adhesive is water resistant (par. 41, 48-49: plastic cover, encapsulant 72).
8.1, further comprising an ON mechanism that couples the battery to the circuit, wherein actuation of the ON mechanism activates the circuit to broadcast the signal (par. 118-120).
9.8, wherein the ON mechanism is a one-time ON mechanism configured to activate the circuit indefinitely without turning off (Fig. 15, par. 118-120).
10.8, wherein the ON mechanism is or includes a switch, button, or pull tab (Fig. 15, par. 118-120).
14.1, wherein the tag is water resistant and/or waterproof (par. 41, 48-49).
15.1, wherein the tag is an asset and/or inventory tracking tag and the adhesive layer is configured to adhere to an asset and/or inventory to be tracked (see all Figs.).
Re claim 16, see discussion regarding claims above. Volkerink further discloses wherein the plurality of electronic tags is connected together by perforated edges that enable separation of each electronic tag individually from the strip (Fig. 15, par. 118-120)
19. The strip of electronic tags of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of electronic tags is an asset and/or inventory tracking tag with a peel layer removably covering the adhesive layer and configured for peel and stick application to the asset and/or inventory (par. 119).
Re claims 20-21, 23-25, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 3, 17, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Volkerink (US 20210150159)/Goldberg (US 20230106564)/ Atherton (US 20100230498), further in view of NPL (“Non-GPS positioning sensor network in social manufacturing” )
Re claim 3.1, Volkerink is silent to wherein the tag is a Nokia High Accuracy Indoor Positioning (HAIP) compatible tag and the broadcast signal includes information compatible with HAIP.
NPL discloses this feature is well known.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the known teachings for tracking the position even when it is indoors.
Re claims 17, 22, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 5-7, 18, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Volkerink (US 20210150159)/Goldberg (US 20230106564)/ Atherton (US 20100230498), further in view of Sengstaken (US 20150002274)
Re claim 5.1, Volkerink is silent to further comprising a light, wherein the light is a light emitting diode (LED) coupled to the circuit and viewable through the top layer and/or bottom layer.
Sengstaken discloses an asset tag 10 comprising a light, wherein the light is a light emitting diode (LED) coupled to the circuit and viewable through the top layer and/or bottom layer (par. 24).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Sengstaken to visually facilitate recognizing the tag and the asset.
6.5, wherein the circuit is configured to turn the light on in a blinking pattern while broadcasting the signal (Sengstaken, par. 46-55)
7.6, wherein the blinking pattern turns the light on and then off once every 1-10 seconds (Sengstaken, par. 46-55)
Re claims 18, 23, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Volkerink (US 20210150159)/ Goldberg (US 20230106564)/ Atherton (US 20100230498), further in view of Martin (US 20020036569)
Re claim 11.1, Volkerink is silent to further comprising an ON/OFF mechanism configured to selectively couple and decouple the battery to and from the circuit, respectively.
Martin discloses this feature is well known (par. 19, 96, 100).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Martin to conserve the battery.
12.1, wherein the circuit includes logic configured to determine a power level and/or state of the battery and the broadcasted signal comprises an indication of the power level and/or state of the battery (par. 135).
13.12, wherein the indication of the power level and/or state of the battery can be a low battery indication or state (par. 135).
Claim(s) 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Volkerink (US 20210150159)/ Goldberg (US 20230106564)/ Atherton (US 20100230498), further in view of Banks (US 20090092804)
Re claim 26-28, Volkerink is silent to wherein the internal surface of the top layer is coupled to the internal surface of the bottom layer by an adhesive on a perimeter of at least one of the top layer and the bottom layer, the adhesive spaced apart from a central portion of the at least one of the top layer and the bottom layer.
Banks discloses a wireless tag comprising two layers that are attached to each other by adhesives applied at a perimeter (Figs. 37, 57-58, par. 112, 124-126, 143)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Banks to minimize the use of adhesive thereby lowering the cost.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of new ground of rejection.
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876