DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office action is in response to Applicant’s filing 07/25/2024. Claims 2-21 are pending. The effective filing date of the claimed invention is 10/04/2019.
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 (and similarly claims 12 and 19) recites “detect an event” in line 5, “detect an event” in line 8, and “the event” in line 11. The claims are rendered indefinite as it is unclear if the event in line 8 is the same event in line 5. Further, with “the event” in line 11, it is unclear which event Applicant is referring to be “the” as there are two events recited prior to this. The examiner recommends amending the claim to include a first event, a second event, a third event (for the another event), and so forth, and then refer to each event as e.g. “the first event.” See also claim 5, 13, 6, and 21, reciting “the event” and indefinite for the same reasons as above. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2-5, 7-13, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2017/0026070 to Hodroj (“Hydroj”) in view of CN204145574U to Pang Dong (“Dong”)1.
With regard to claims 2, 12, and 19, Hydroj discloses the claimed device, comprising: detect an event to extend at least a first portion of a substrate from an edge of a device (see e.g. [0010-11] activation of switch; edge of device is shown in Fig. 1, where the edge is the bottom portion of phone/case combo), the substrate comprising a first interface configured to communicate account information to perform transactions (see e.g. [0011] credit cards); detect an event to cause the first portion of the substrate to extend from a second portion the device (see e.g. Fig. 1, where the bottom edge of the device can be separated into many
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“portions” (shown in e.g. Fig. 4 with the line separations between the various portions of that edge) and thereby when the switch is activated, the card is released and extends from the different portions of Fig. 4, shown in e.g. Fig. 11); cause the substrate to extend from the second portion of the device based on the event (see Fig. 11, [0011-11]); detect another event (see e.g. [0093]); and cause retraction of the first portion of the substrate from the second portion of the device (see e.g. [0093] when card(s) is in the card support drawer, and the drawer is pushed back into the device, this satisfies the claimed retracting).
Hydroj does not disclose the following:
memory to store instructions; and circuitry coupled with the memory, the circuitry operable to execute the instructions to.
Dong teaches at e.g. [0007-9] [0015] [0021-22] that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mobile device art to include the ability to have a mobile device with memory/processor, that can control the extension and retraction of a card from said device upon receiving an electrical signal that indicates such action to be taken (Dong e.g. [0008] [0009] [0015] [0021-22]), where the advantage of said control from mobile device is that this allows automatic control of the card and makes it easier to access the internal card, and to reload said card after being used/removed. See Dong at e.g. [0009] [0007].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mobile device art before the effective filing date to modify the device of Hydroj with the ability to have a mobile device with memory/processor, that can control the extension and retraction of a card from said device upon receiving an electrical signal that indicates such action to be taken, as shown in Dong, where the advantage of said control from mobile device is that this allows automatic control of the card and makes it easier to access the internal card, and to reload said card after being used/removed. See Dong at e.g. [0009] [0007].
With regard to claims 3 and 15, Hydroj further discloses the edge of the device comprises at least one selected from the group of a top edge of the device and a bottom edge of the device (e.g. Fig. 1).
With regard to claims 4, 16, and 20, Hydroj further discloses where the extension from the second portion of the device (e.g. the substrate is coming out of the device, shown above) and the retraction from the second portion of the device are at different orientations (e.g. the substrate is being pushed back into the device, a different direction/orientation from being ejected out).
With regard to claims 5 and 13, Hydroj does not teach these limitations. However, Dong teaches e.g. where the event, and another event, is a communication received from mobile device (Dong [0009] [0021] [0022] the microprocessor controller of the mobile phone sends an electrical signal to the electric control module. The electric control module controls the card tray to slide out of the card slot according to the electrical signal, where the electric signal is the communication message from the mobile device). As for the another event, another button, or the same button, can be pressed twice for the detection of the another event, as this would also sent an electrical signal from the mobile device.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the mobile device art before the effective filing date to modify Hydroj to include such ability for the mobile device to communicate with the card controller so that as shown in Dong [0009] thereby realizing automatic control of the card tray sliding and facilitating the user to load and unload SIM cards.
With regard to claims 7 and 17, Hydroj further discloses the device comprises a housing, and the housing comprises a slot configured to receive the substrate (see e.g. Fig. 1, CS).
With regard to claims 8 and 18, Hydroj further discloses the device comprises a housing, and the housing comprises a recess portion configured to permit the card to retract or flip (see e.g. Fig. 1, CS).
Claims 6, 14, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hydroj, Dong, in further view of U.S. Pat. No. 10,163,107 to White et al. (“White”).
With regard to claims 6, 14, and 21, Hydroj and Dong do not teach claims 6 and 21. White teaches at e.g. abstract, col. 3, ln 1-30 etc. that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the transaction art to detect a failed attempt to perform transaction and perform action accordingly (e.g. col. 3, ln 1-30), where this is beneficial in that it can indicate fraud is occurring and assist in detecting such fraud. See White at e.g. col. 3 ln 49-60. For claim 14, White also teaches detection of completion of transaction at col. 5, ln. 5-20.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the payment art before the effective filing date to modify Hydroj/Dong to include such detection of failed attempt, as shown in White above, where this is beneficial in that it can indicate fraud is occurring and assist in detecting such fraud. See White at e.g. col. 3 ln 49-60.
Conclusion
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/PETER LUDWIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627
1 Dong is attached as translated by espacenet.