DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 6-10 of the instant application are withdrawn in accordance with the applicant election to restriction requirement.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 03/25/2024, 07/17/2024, 11/18/2024 and 05/19/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 and 5-6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Ziv et al. (US-20230297793-A1) hereinafter Ziv.
Regarding Claim 1, Ziv discloses a system comprising: a tracking tag having circuitry configured to: operate the tracking tag in a normal operating mode for sending first beacon signals to enable the tracking of objects; and operate the tracking tag in a testing mode for sending second beacon signals to enable testing of the tracking tag (Ziv, fig. 6, par. 82; in S603, a test mode invocation pattern is transmitted by the tester, e.g., via its first antenna 201. This places a good wireless tag into testing mode … where each AdvEvent is made up of long beacons, one each being on channels 37, 38, and 39, respectively, e.g., via antenna 205), Examiner notes, Ziv inherently discloses the existence of a normal operating mode as the test mode needs to be induced by activating a new transmit pattern as observed in figure 6.
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Regarding Claim 5, Ziv further discloses the system of claim 1, further comprising: a reader including an antenna configured to receive one or more of the first beacon signals; and one or more computing devices having one or more processors and being in communication with the reader, the one or more computing devices being configured to: induce the tracking tag to generate the second beacon signals in the testing mode (Ziv, fig. 6, par. 48; the test mode is attempted to be invoked by having the tester, e.g. tester 200, transmit long beacons sequentially on CH37, CH38, and CH39 for a predefined period of time in an attempt to get the wireless tag being tested to enter test mode), and determine whether to mark the tracking tag to be discarded (Ziv, fig. 6, par. 59; so long as the tester receives the packets on CH39 in a timely manner, e.g., about 50 milliseconds, the wireless tag is considered to have passed the test. In the event no response is received, the wireless tag is considered to have failed and will be discarded).
Regarding Claim 6, Ziv further discloses the system of claim 5, further comprising a printer configured to mark the tracking tag to be discarded (Ziv, fig. 6, par. 86; If test result in S609 is YES, indicating that a valid response was timely received, control passes to S611 in which the wireless tag is declared to be good. Control then passes to S613 in which the wireless tag is slated for the next manufacturing phase. This may be achieved by marking a record for the wireless tag that is being tested in a memory of the tester. In addition, it is possible that the testing unit has printing capability and may print a visual indication of pass or failure on the wireless tag).
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 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ziv et al. (US-20230297793-A1) hereinafter Ziv in view of McAllister et al. (US-20100001848 -A1) hereinafter McAllister.
Regarding Claim 2, Ziv discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to use a first encryption key for encrypting payloads when operating in the normal operation mode and to use a second encryption key to encrypt payloads of the second beacon signals when operating in the testing mode, the first encryption key being different from the second encryption key (Ziv, par. 51; The beacons may or may not have information encoded on them. In one embodiment, the wireless tag may enter test mode simply by recognizing the frequency of a long beacon or the pattern of frequencies of long beacons without needing to obtain any information that may be encoded on any beacon).
Ziv does not explicitly disclose a system which encrypts payloads using at least two encryption keys, however, McAllister teaches a method to commissioning wireless RFID tags which uses at least two keys to encode the tag information prior to their deployment (McAllister, par. 70; a public key is stored on each RFID tag 121 within cartridge 120, 95, 41, 31, 25, or 12, and a private key is hidden within each tag encoder/applicator 123 that is intended to access or rewrite tag 121).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to combine Ziv’s method for testing wireless tags with McAllister teachings for commissioning RFID tags using at least two encryption keys to maintain the security integrity of the tags while being tested and in operation mode and enhance the speed of encryption during the testing phase.
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Ziv and McAllister further disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to use a first encryption key to generate an encrypted payload when operating the tracking tag in the testing mode (McAllister, par. 74; The algorithm can encrypt and decrypt blocks using secret keys), and wherein the circuitry is further configured to use the first encryption key to generate a second encrypted payload when operating the tracking tag in the normal operation mode (McAllister, par. 70; a public key is stored on each RFID tag 121 within cartridge 120, 95, 41, 31, 25, or 12, and a private key is hidden within each tag encoder/applicator 123 that is intended to access or rewrite tag 121).
Claims 4 and 13-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ziv et al. (US-20230297793-A1) hereinafter Ziv in view McAllister et al. (US-20100001848 -A1) hereinafter McAllister and further in view of Siann et al. (US-10841894-B1) hereinafter Siann.
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Ziv and McAllister further discloses the invention of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to use a first encryption key for encrypting payloads of the first beacon signals (McAllister, par. 70; a public key is stored on each RFID tag 121 within cartridge 120, 95, 41, 31, 25, or 12, and a private key is hidden within each tag encoder/applicator 123 that is intended to access or rewrite tag 121) when operating in the normal operation mode and not to encrypt payloads of the second beacon signals when operating in the testing mode (McAllister, par. 83; Tag encoder 10, 90, or 123 preferably do not encode any unsecured RFID tags).
The combination of Ziv and McAllister does not explicitly disclose the signals encrypted to be beacon signals, however, Siann discloses a method for waking up RF tags from energy efficient hibernation to receive and send transmission using beacons from a detection point (Siann, abstract; If the tag is receiving a beacon, it will awaken, receive, phase-lock its clock based on when the beacon was expected) and a two way authentication method using encryption keys (Sian par. 8; two-way authentication between an RF tag and a DP for the sake of security … The tag may encrypt the first challenge using its encryption key, and transmit the encrypted challenge back to the DP).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to combine Ziv’s method for testing wireless tags with McAllister’s teachings for commissioning RFID tags using at least two encryption keys with Siann’s method for waking RF tags from energy efficient hibernation to enhance the encryption security during the testing and operation phases and further use Siann’s methods to enhance the battery consumption of RF tags during operation.
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Ziv, McAllister and Siann further teach the system of claim 5, wherein the circuitry is further configured to encrypt a payload of the first beacon signal (Siann, abstract; If the tag is receiving a beacon, it will awaken, receive, phase-lock its clock based on when the beacon was expected) using a first encryption key, and the one or more computing devices are further configured to: access a plurality of pre-stored encrypted payloads for the tracking tag (McAllister, par. 44; ReDo (i.e. encoding the previous tag data payload into the next available tag)); and compare the encrypted payload to the plurality of pre-stored encrypted payloads, and to determine whether to mark the tracking tag to be discarded further based on the comparison (McAllister, par. 44; indexing to the next tag, confirming a process step to a process controller, discarding a tag to the take-up roll, turning on or off wireless communications, reading or verifying the data within a tag located outside of the material flow from source roll to take-up roll), Examiner notes, in addition, Ziv states the tag is to be discarded if it fails to pass the test (Ziv pars. 86-87) and Siann further teaches the comparison of data from the first encryption packet/challenge to the second to authenticate (Siann par. 43).
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Ziv, McAllister and Siann further teach the system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to mark the tracking tag to be discarded (Ziv, pars. 86-87; This may be achieved by marking a record for the wireless tag that is being tested in a memory of the tester. In addition, it is possible that the testing unit has printing capability and may print a visual indication of pass or failure on the wireless tag itself as appropriate and if such is desired) based on whether the encrypted payload matches one of the plurality of pre-stored encrypted payloads (McAllister, par 53; Preferred embodiments of tag encoder 10, 90, and 123 verify that each tag is locked and requires a prescribed level of security in order to write to it).
Regarding Claim 15, the combination of Ziv, McAllister and Siann further teach the system of claim 13, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to generate the plurality of pre-stored encrypted payloads prior to inducing the tracking tag (McAllister, par. 70; Unique passwords are preferably generated by reading information from the tag and processing that information through an encryption engine to generate the required password. In a preferred embodiment, a public key is stored on each RFID tag 121 within cartridge 120, 95, 41, 31, 25, or 12, and a private key is hidden within each tag encoder/applicator 123 that is intended to access or rewrite tag 121. A preferred encoder/applicator 123 embodiment uses one private key for each authorized tag supplier).
Regarding Claim 16, the combination of Ziv, McAllister and Siann further teach the system of claim 5, wherein the circuitry is configured to use a first encryption key for encrypting payloads when operating in the normal operation mode and to use a second encryption key to encrypt payloads of the second beacon signals when operating in the testing mode, the first encryption key being different from the second encryption key (McAllister, par. 70; a public key is stored on each RFID tag 121 within cartridge 120, 95, 41, 31, 25, or 12, and a private key is hidden within each tag encoder/applicator 123 that is intended to access or rewrite tag 121), and the one or more computing devices are further configured to: decrypt the encrypted payload using the second encryption key; and validate information of the decrypted payload (McAllister, par. 74; The algorithm can encrypt and decrypt blocks using secret keys), and to determine whether to mark the tracking tag to be discarded further based on the validation (Ziv, pars. 86-87; This may be achieved by marking a record for the wireless tag that is being tested in a memory of the tester. In addition, it is possible that the testing unit has printing capability and may print a visual indication of pass or failure on the wireless tag itself as appropriate and if such is desired).
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of Ziv, McAllister and Siann further teach the system of claim 5, wherein the circuitry is configured to use a first encryption key for encrypting payloads of the first beacon signals when operating in the normal operation mode (McAllister, par. 70; a public key is stored on each RFID tag 121 within cartridge 120, 95, 41, 31, 25, or 12, and a private key is hidden within each tag encoder/applicator 123 that is intended to access or rewrite tag 121), and not to encrypt payloads of the second beacon signals when operating in the testing mode (Ziv, par. 51; the wireless tag may enter test mode simply by recognizing the frequency of a long beacon or the pattern of frequencies of long beacons without needing to obtain any information that may be encoded on any beacon), and the one or more computing devices are further configured to validate information of an unencrypted payload of the second beacon signals (McAllister, par. 72; RFID interrogators like interrogator 124 is preferably used to read both data payload 112 and asset code 111 to authenticate tag 110), and to determine whether to mark the tracking tag to be discarded further based on the validation (Ziv, pars. 86-87; This may be achieved by marking a record for the wireless tag that is being tested in a memory of the tester. In addition, it is possible that the testing unit has printing capability and may print a visual indication of pass or failure on the wireless tag itself as appropriate and if such is desired).
Claims 12 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ziv et al. (US-20230297793-A1) hereinafter Ziv in view of Ikawa et al. (US-20220188530-A1) hereinafter Ikawa.
Regarding Claim 12, Ziv further discloses the system of claim 5, wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to induce the tracking tag further by using an activation unit including hardware that engages with a circuit that extends beyond a perimeter of the tracking tag in order to engage the testing mode (Ziv, fig. 3, par. 83; in S605, the trigger signal is transmitted from the tester to the wireless tag, e.g., via its second antenna. For example, the wireless tag may be brought with range of antenna 205 of tester 200 (FIG. 3). This may be performed after the wireless tag has moved into range of antenna 205 or by having antenna 205 brought within range of the wireless tag), and wherein the computing devices are further configured to remove a portion of the circuit that extends beyond a perimeter after engaging the testing mode (Ziv. Par. 48; the test mode is attempted to be invoked by having the tester, e.g. tester 200, transmit long beacons sequentially on CH37, CH38, and CH39 for a predefined period of time in an attempt to get the wireless tag being tested to enter test mode. The predefined time may depend on various factors that influence how likely the wireless tag is to receive the long beacons and enter into test mode, such as the distance of the wireless tag at the point they are being tested from the antenna of the tester) Examiner notes, see also par. 67.
Ziv does not explicitly disclose the removal of a portion of the circuit after engaging the testing mode, however, Ikawa discloses an electronic tag writing system used in a production line where the system is configure to cut a tag at a predetermined boundary (Ikawa, par. 116; In the case of supplying an electronic tag 10 that does not have the adhesive surface 11, a tag supply unit 20 that sequentially forms and supplies the electronic tag 10 by cutting or punching a strip-shaped material in which a unit portion to be the electronic tag 10 is repeatedly continuous at a boundary of each unit portion can be used).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Ziv’s method for testing wireless tags with Ikawa’s RFID tag writing system to automate the tag testing and enhance the speed of testing in a production line and implement the cutting of the RFID tags to be discarded or kept in a quality control line.
Regarding Claim 18, the combination of Ziv and Ikawa further discloses the system of claim 5, further comprising a plurality of tracking tags (Ziv, par. 49; wireless tags may be put into test mode by a first set of one or more antennas at a first location and then moved to a second location where a second set of one or more antennas provide the trigger and receive the wireless tag response) arranged on a roll with the tracking tag (Ikawa, figure 13, par. 167; tag supply unit 20 that is used in a state of being equipped with an electronic tag roll 23R. A continuous strip-shaped electronic tag sheet 15 is wound around the electronic tag roll 23R in a roll shape, and the electronic tag sheet 15 includes the electronic tag 10 that is repetitively stuck in a continuous direction of a continuous strip-shaped release sheet 16 with predetermined intervals. The electronic tag roll 23R is rotatably supported to a rotating shaft).
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Regarding Claim 19, the combination of Ziv and Ikawa further teach the system of claim 18, further comprising a conveyor (Ikawa, fig. 11, par. 163; in the case of performing detection by the individual information sensor 71 while conveying the objects 50 by the conveyor 30), a first spooling device on which the roll is arranged and a second spooling device on which a second roll is arranged, and one or more control units configured to rotate the first spooling device and the second spooling device at a desired rate of speed (Ikawa, par. 161; It is preferable that the conveyor 30 continuously performs conveyance at a constant speed, but can also be intermittently driven) to move the tracking tag from the roll to the second roll and enable testing of the tracking tag (Ikawa, figure 13, par. 167; A continuous strip-shaped electronic tag sheet 15 is wound around the electronic tag roll 23R in a roll shape, and the electronic tag sheet 15 includes the electronic tag 10 that is repetitively stuck in a continuous direction of a continuous strip-shaped release sheet 16 with predetermined intervals) Examiner notes, see also Ziv, par. 65.
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Regarding Claim 20, the combination of Ziv and Ikawa further teach the system of claim 19, wherein the reader is positioned to receive the first beacon signal when the tracking tag is between the roll and the second roll (Ikawa, figs 15 and 24, par. 186; the conveyor 30 is driven by the control unit 90, and detection and imaging by the individual information sensor 71 and the imaging device 72 are initiated. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 15, the robot 40 receives the electronic tag 10 from the tag supply unit 20, moves the electronic tag 10 to a position where writing by the writing device 60 is possible).
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It is noted that any citations to specific pages, columns, lines or figures in the prior art
references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered limiting in any way. A
reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably
suggested to a person of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES whose telephone number is (571)272-5792. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday 0730 - 1730.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen Pan can be reached at (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MRCM/Examiner, Art Unit 2649 /YUWEN PAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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