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 .
This action is responsive to applicant’s initial filing of 4/12/2024. Claims 1-15 are pending and rejected.
DETAILED ACTION
Priority
Applicant’s claim of priority to application EP23168066.1 filed 4/14/2023 in the EPO is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 13-15 are objected to as the preamble of a dependent claim should match the base
claim as to what the invention is.
Consider writing as an independent claim (re: cl 13) A system comprising: (then list the structural elements); the system configured to execute the steps: (then repeat the method steps in the current base claim 1).
Alternately, rewrite claims 13-15 as dependent claims with the preambles rewritten as in wherein the method is executed in a system comprising: (then keep the body of the claims).
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 1-15 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.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 1 recites the broad recitation “the unique industrial coordinates (5) of the object (4) to be identified are determined on the basis of the transmitted information” (L11-12), and the claim also recites “preferably the transmitted information are at least partially compared with industrial coordinates (5) of the industrial coordinate system (6) uniquely assigned to the respective objects “ (L12-15); which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
Also, claim 1 recites the broad recitation: “a plurality of or all hierarchy levels (8) correspond to a physical property” (L22-23) and the claim also recites: “preferably an installation location, a storage location, an operating mode, a clock, a machine type, a product and/or production information, of the object (4) assigned to the respective industrial coordinate” and the claim also further recites: “wherein preferably the industrial coordinate system (6) structures the industrial coordinates (5) in a tree-shaped structure.” (L26-27).
Claim 3 recites the broad recitation: “auxiliary information is transmitted” (L2) and the claim also recites: “preferably a location or a position, and when identifying the object (4), the identification, preferably one or the matching, takes place taking into account the auxiliary information.“ (L2-4).
Claim 4 recites the broad recitation: “acquiring the identifier” (L3) and the claim also recites: “preferably scanned”(L3-4). Also, claim 4 recites the broad recitation: “one or more goods to be picked” (L4) and the claim also recites: “wherein preferably in each case an industrial coordinate (5) of the respective good (9) to be picked and/or preferably in each case an industrial coordinate (5) of a respective electronic label (7) assigned to the good (9) to be picked is acquired” (L4-7).
Claim 5 recites the broad recitation: “acquiring a part identifier (13) of a good (9) to be stored” (L5), and the claim also recites: “preferably a part identifier (13) arranged on or at the good (9) to be stored” (L5-6).
Claim 13 recites the broad recitation: “a plurality of or all hierarchy levels (8) correspond to a physical property” (L5-6) and the claim also recites: “preferably an installation location, a storage location, an operating mode, a clock, a machine type, a product and/or production information, of the object (4) assigned to the respective industrial coordinate (5), wherein the system (100) is configured to carry out the method according to claim 1” (L6-10).
Further, the claim also recites: “wherein preferably the industrial coordinate system (6) structures the industrial coordinates (5) in a tree-shaped structure.”
Applicant recites “and at least one,”…. (CL1 L22). It is not apparent whether the scope pertains to at least one of any of the remaining elements following that comma in the entire the claim or some subset and if a subset and if a subset where that cutoff applies.
Applicant should properly delineate those cutoffs with the appropriate tiering of commas & semicolons. Similarly, Applicant recites “and at least one,”…. (CL13 L6). It is not apparent whether the scope pertains to at least one of any of the remaining elements following that comma in the entire the claim or some subset and if a subset and if a subset where that cutoff applies.
Applicant should properly delineate those cutoffs with the appropriate tiering of commas & semicolons.
Applicant is cojoining elements with “and/or” (CL1 L19, CL1 L 24, CL4 L6, CL4 L11, CL 4 L13, CL5 L16, CL6 L 3, CL6 L5, CL9 L3, CL11 L3, CL12 L3, CL12L4, CL12L6, CL12L7, CL13 L 6). The claim scope is ambiguous whether applicant is conjoining with an “AND” or an “OR”. The recitation “one or more of” or “at least one of” are more clear.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claims 1-3 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Marquette (EP3651091), with citations per the machine translation, which discloses all the claimed elements including:
(re: cl 1) A method for managing a storage system, a goods system and/or a production system, comprising: - acquiring an identifier (2) with a mobile data acquisition device (3), wherein the mobile data acquisition device (3) acquires information stored in the identifier (¶87-“. A user may pass the user interface 116, for example, a cellular radio with camera functionality”...”Software can capture the barcodes or QR codes on the storage goods 102 or storage areas and assign these two-dimensional coordinates. By appropriate data processing of the captured image data, a set of three-dimensional spatial coordinates for the storage goods 102 and the associated storage areas 104 can then be determined and stored in a database.“);
transmitting the information to a management system (1) connected to the mobile data acquisition device (3) for data exchange (¶91-“ a QR code can be captured using a scan function of the portable user interface 116 as an example of a storage area identification device 106 or a storage goods identification device 108” ; ¶77-“ The detection device 114 communicates via a wireless communication interface 121 in this exemplary embodiment with a wireless communication interface 123 of the processor 122 in this exemplary embodiment.” ¶79-“During operation of the warehouse management system 100”);
identifying at least one object (4) of a plurality of objects by the management system (1), wherein a unique industrial coordinate (5) of an industrial coordinate system (6) is assigned to each object (4) (¶64-“ The data record in the database indicates for each of the storage goods 102 and for each of the storage areas 104 correlated with a respective storage goods 102, which storage goods 102 is positioned at which storage area 104. Preferably, the determination device 110 for determining the data set is even designed in such a way that the data set for each of the storage goods 102 is indicative of in which sub-region 111 of a respective storage region 104 the respective storage goods 102 is positioned. In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 1, each sub-region 111 can correspond to a compartment in an associated storage region 104 (i.e. on an associated shelf). On the basis of the example of FIG. 1, it is thus possible to query in the database for each of the storage goods 102 not only in which shelf and thus in which storage region 104 the respective storage goods 102 are arranged, but also at which location within the associated storage region 104, i.e. in which sub-region 111, the respective storage goods 102 are positioned. According to FIG. 1, each of the shelves is divided into four compartments, each compartment receiving an associated storage item 102. Thus, for a specific storage item 102, not only the associated shelf but also the associated compartment-as an example of a sub-area 111-of the shelf can be determined from the database”) and,
during the identification, the unique industrial coordinates (5) of the object (4) to be identified are determined on the basis of the transmitted information, preferably the transmitted information are at least partially compared with industrial coordinates (5) of the industrial coordinate system (6) uniquely assigned to the respective objects (4) (¶87-“ First of all, two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates can be assigned to the individual objects, that is to say to the warehouse goods 102 and the warehouse areas 104. A user may pass the user interface 116, for example, a cellular radio with camera functionality, past the inventory management system 100. Software can capture the barcodes or QR codes on the storage goods 102 or storage areas and assign these two-dimensional coordinates. By appropriate data processing of the captured image data, a set of three-dimensional spatial coordinates for the storage goods 102 and the associated storage areas 104 can then be determined and stored in a database.“);
creating an instruction on the basis of the identified object (4), the industrial coordinates (5) thereof and/or the transmitted information, and transmitting the instruction from the management system (1) to the mobile data acquisition device (3), the identified object (4) and/or to an external device connected to the management system (1) for data exchange (¶96-“In FIG. 9, the information can be recognized as augmented reality field 145 as to which quantity of storage goods 102 are contained in the associated storage area 104 at a specific point in time.”; ¶97-“In FIG. 10, the augmented reality field 145 there shows a battery level of a dashboard button which can be pressed for the re-ordering of storage goods 102 which are assigned to a storage area 104.”; ¶98-“In FIG. 11, a user-related price for the re-ordering of a storage item 102 is displayed as augmented reality field 145. For this purpose, a database can be used to look up which prices a user assigned to the portable user interface 116 receives for the delivery of specific stored goods 102“; ¶18-“ By means of a simple database query, the position and the storage area of the storage goods can be determined and, for example, a robot can be controlled for transporting the identified and queried storage goods to a further processing location.“);
and wherein the industrial coordinates (5) comprise at least one hierarchy level (8) and at least one, a plurality of or all hierarchy levels (8) correspond to a physical property, preferably an installation location, a storage location, an operating mode, a clock, a machine type, a product and/or production information, of the object (4) assigned to the respective industrial coordinate (5), wherein preferably the industrial coordinate system (6) structures the industrial coordinates (5) in a tree-shaped structure (¶88-“FIG. 5 shows a logical hierarchy of storage areas 104 and associated storage goods 102 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5 shows, by way of example, a hierarchical data structure which assigns individual storage goods 102 (screw, dowel, tool) to the storage areas 104 of different hierarchical levels (carriage or shelf compartment).
(re: cl 2) in which the identifier (2) is acquired by a handheld scanner or by a functional glove (¶46-“The storage goods coordinate scanner can have a camera or consist thereof, for example. For example, photographic detection of the storage area with the storage goods can be carried out with the aid of an optical camera. According to an exemplary embodiment, a user may guide a camera of a smartphone or other portable device past the storage area (e.g., a shelf). However, such a camera can also be guided and started on a robot arm“; ¶31-“ By including elements of augmented reality in the display of storage goods and/or storage areas, a human user can be directed particularly intuitively to manage the storage. For example, a portable display device, for example a handheld device such as a smartphone, can be used for this purpose.”).
(re: cl 3) in which, when transmitting the information, auxiliary information is transmitted, preferably a location or a position, and when identifying the object (4), the identification, preferably one or the matching, takes place taking into account the auxiliary information (¶95-“that the date of the last order is specified or which quantity was ordered last.”; ¶98-“For this purpose, a database can be used to look up which prices a user assigned to the portable user interface 116 receives for the delivery of specific stored goods 102.).
(re: cl 10) in which: - when acquiring the identifier (2) the mobile data acquisition device (3) wirelessly acquires the identification data, wherein the identification data are automatically acquired by the mobile data acquisition device (3) if a distance between identifier (2) and mobile data acquisition distance is less than a minimum distance (¶25-“ transponder reading device must be brought beforehand into a readability distance from the associated storage area identification device or storage goods identification device”).
(re: cl 11) in which the mobile data acquisition device (3) is attached to a transport unit (10) (¶74-“. For example, a robot traveling the camera(s) of the sensing device 114” with ¶76-“ The capture device 114 formed with a movable and pivotable camera records the images of the rack and identifies the storage areas 104 on the basis of the storage area identification devices 106 and the storage goods 102 on the basis of the storage goods identification devices 108. Furthermore, the positions of the storage areas 104 and the storage goods 102 are identified, for example, on the basis of the camera images”) and the identifier (2) is attached to an object to be transported (¶22-“transponders) which are attached to the storage goods to be identified and intrinsic properties of the storage goods for the identification thereof) itself. An intrinsic storage goods identification device can thus be an intrinsic property of the storage goods itself, which can be detected by sensors and enables identification thereof”), and wherein the creation of the instruction comprises determining a storage location, parking location and/or destination location of the object to be transported (¶18-“By means of a simple database query, the position and the storage area of the storage goods can be determined and, for example, a robot can be controlled for transporting the identified and queried storage goods to a further processing location.”).
(re: cl 12) in which the industrial coordinate (5) assigned to the object to be transported does not comprise the storage location, parking location and/or destination location before the acquisition of the identifier (2), the transmission of the information and/or the determination of the instruction (¶79-“ The determination device 110 can determine three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates for each of the storage goods 102 and for each of the storage areas 104 on the basis of the storage area identification devices 106 and storage goods identification devices 108 detected and store the correlation of the storage areas 104 with the storage goods 102 contained therein and the position information thereof“- the determination device determines the coordinates after goods are identified);
and wherein the management system (1) changes the industrial coordinate (5) linked to the object after the acquisition of the identifier (2) and/or the transmission of the information and/or the determination of the instruction such that it comprises the storage location, parking location and/or destination location (¶79-“ The determination device 110 can determine three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates for each of the storage goods 102 and for each of the storage areas 104 on the basis of the storage area identification devices 106 and storage goods identification devices 108 detected and store the correlation of the storage areas 104 with the storage goods 102 contained therein and the position information thereof.“).
(re: cl 13) A system (100) comprising a mobile data acquisition device (3) (¶108-“ a QR code can be captured using a scan function of the portable user interface 116 as an example of a storage area identification device 106 or a storage goods identification device 108” ; ¶87-“. Software can capture the barcodes or QR codes on the storage goods 102 or storage areas and assign these two-dimensional coordinates. By appropriate data processing of the captured image data, a set of three-dimensional spatial coordinates for the storage goods 102 and the associated storage areas 104 can then be determined and stored in a database.“);
a management system (1), (¶79 During operation of the warehouse management system 100,)
and a plurality of objects (¶87-“ two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates can be assigned to the individual objects,”),
wherein an industrial coordinate (5) is assigned to each object (4) (¶87-“ two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates can be assigned to the individual objects,”),
which are structured with an industrial coordinate system (6), wherein the industrial coordinates (5) comprise at least one hierarchy level (8) and at least one, a plurality of or all hierarchy levels (8) correspond to a physical property, preferably an installation location, a storage location (¶88-“ FIG. 5 shows a logical hierarchy of storage areas 104 and associated storage goods 102 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5 shows, by way of example, a hierarchical data structure which assigns individual storage goods 102 (screw, dowel, tool) to the storage areas 104 of different hierarchical levels (carriage or shelf compartment).“),
an operating mode (¶79-“ During operation of the warehouse management system 100),
a clock (¶64-processor #122-processor inherently has a clock),
a machine type (12-type of machine component, ¶63-“ storage goods 102, for example tools, are arranged on the storage regions 104. Each of the stored goods 102 is provided with an associated stored goods identification device 108. More precisely, a storage goods identification device 108 is adhesively bonded to each of the storage goods 102 and is therefore positioned on an associated one of the storage goods 102.”; ¶48-identifies type of good; ¶49-identifies associated tools with good such as drill, disc grinder, screwdriver),
a product and/or production information, of the object (4) assigned to the respective industrial coordinate (5), wherein the system (100) is configured to carry out the method according to claim 1. (¶91-“First, a QR code can be captured using a scan function of the portable user interface 116 as an example of a storage area identification device 106 or a storage goods identification device 108 (see the left illustration). The information contained therein can then be used to display to a user an associated storage area 104 with storage goods 102 (see second illustration from the left”; ¶94-“ Augmented reality information 145 is overlaid, which after the storage goods 102 have been assigned to the assigned storage areas 104 can be found by database matching by means of the determination device 110 and can be presented to the user on the display device 137 of the portable user interface 116 in such a way that the information is superimposed on the associated storage goods 102 or storage area 104.”; ¶96-“In FIG. 9, the information can be recognized as augmented reality field 145 as to which quantity of storage goods 102 are contained in the associated storage area 104 at a specific point in time.”; ¶11-“record an inventory of inventory items at or in inventory areas that exists at a specific point in time and can determine corresponding position information and assignment information of inventory items and inventory areas”).
(re: cl 14) wherein at least two, a plurality of or all of the industrial coordinates (5) have at least one common hierarchy level (Plural 102 & 108 at same level Fig 3 & 4).
(re: cl 15) wherein at least two, a plurality of or all of the industrial coordinates (5) have the same number of hierarchy levels (8) (Middle columns fig. 3 & 4 same number of hierarchical coordinate levels).
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) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marquette in view of Teiman (US2011/301994) wherein Marquette teaches the elements previously discussed and Teiman teaches any elements Marguette lacks including:
(re: cl 4) in which the method can preferably be used for picking goods by means of pick-by-light, wherein: - when acquiring the identifier (2), an order slip is acquired, preferably scanned, which comprises one or more goods to be picked, wherein preferably in each case an industrial coordinate (5) of the respective good (9) to be picked and/or preferably in each case an industrial coordinate (5) of a respective electronic label (7) assigned to the good (9) to be picked is acquired (¶8-“ in a pick-to-light system, an operator will scan a bar-coded label attached to a box. A digital display located in front of the pick bin will inform the operator of the item and quantity that they need to pick. Companies typically use pick-to-light systems for their top selling products”…”The pick instructions are sent via RF from the company's ERP or order management software. The system allows operators to perform pick operations without looking at a computer screen or deal with paper pick-tickets.”);
when identifying an electronic label (7) arranged on or at the goods to be picked is identified as an object (4) to be identified; and - when creating the instruction, an instruction which instructs the identified electronic label (7) to light up and/or to flash is created, and the instruction is transmitted to the identified electronic label, wherein the identified electronic label (7) lights up and/or flashes after the transmission (¶8-a pick-to-light system, an operator will scan a bar-coded label attached to a box. “The pick instructions are sent via RF from the company's ERP or order management software. The system allows operators to perform pick operations without looking at a computer screen or deal with paper pick-tickets.”).
It 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, for Marquette to picking goods by means of pick-by-light, wherein: - when acquiring the identifier (2), an order slip is acquired, preferably scanned, which comprises one or more goods to be picked, wherein preferably in each case an industrial coordinate (5) of the respective good (9) to be picked and/or preferably in each case an industrial coordinate (5) of a respective electronic label (7) assigned to the good (9) to be picked is acquired as Electronically lighting the specific item to be picked can simplify and ease the pickers’ task without looking at a computer screen or paper ticket as taught by Teiman.
It 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, for Marquette to after the transmission of the instruction the electronic label (7) lights up and/or flashes as to direct where the good in front of the placer needs go without looking at a computer screen or deal with paper pick-tickets as taught by Teiman.
Teiman teaches any elements Marguette lacks including:
(re: cl 5) in which the method can preferably be used for storage by means of put-to-light, wherein at least one industrial coordinate (5) is assigned to the industrial coordinate system (6) according to a method comprising acquiring a part identifier (13) of a good (9) to be stored, preferably a part identifier (13) arranged on or at the good (9) to be stored, with a or the mobile data acquisition device (3), wherein part identification data of the part identifier (13) are acquired (¶26-“The picker will scan the bar code ID of the item at the pick-up site,”);
transmitting the part identification data to the management system (1) connected to the mobile data acquisition device (3) for data exchange (¶23-wireless transmitting (26-“place the item into the job tote 5 affixed with the active alert device 4.1, and scan the bar code ID 18 affixed to the active alert device 4.1 in order to communicate with the interface software 30 and host software 32 that the correct job item is in the correct tote”);
acquiring an electronic label (7) with the mobile data acquisition device (3), wherein label identification data of the electronic label (7) are acquired (¶27-“ The computer 24 will instruct the RF transmitter 20 to activate the appropriate alert device 4 according to the alert ID number 16. This instructs the picker where to place the next pickup item.”);
transmitting the label identification data to the management system (1) connected to the mobile data acquisition device (3) for data exchange (¶27-“The host software 32 includes references to the bar code IDs 18 for all inventory and job totes 5. The host software 32 is typically stored in a database on the server. The interface software 30 is added to the server or computer and includes the alert ID numbers 16. The interface software 30 associates the alert IDs with bar code IDs located in the host software database. Once this association is made, any information called up by the host software regarding an identified bar code ID will be mirrored in the interface software. “…“The computer 24 will instruct the RF transmitter 20 to activate the appropriate alert device 4 according to the alert ID number 16. This instructs the picker where to place the next pickup item.”);
creating an industrial coordinate (5), which is assigned to the electronic label (7) and/or the product (9), with the management system (1) (¶35-“The picker will drop the totes off at a consolidation zone at 80. Each job order may include a number of different totes, which is why the totes were associated with a particular job ID early in the process. A worker at the consolidation zone will activate all totes associated with job `x` at 82, wherein `x` is a job number. The alert devices affixed to the totes associated with job `x` will light up, allowing the worker to consolidate these totes at 84. These totes will be loaded onto a single pallet for shipping.”).
It 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, for Marquette to assign a destination coordinate by scanning the good as a scan of the good will identify that the correct good as intended is being directed to its proper place as taught by Teiman..
It 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, for Marquette to transmit the part identification to the management system data exchange as having a verified identification of the good will let the management system identify where that item is best sent to the correct destination as taught by Teiman.
It 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, for Marquette to acquire an electronic label as an electronic label will let the management system interactively verify identity and select the next destination as taught by Teiman.
It 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, for Marquette to transmit the label identification to the management system as sending the electronic label identification will let the management system interactively verify identity and select matching optimal destination to the next item as taught by Teiman.
It 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, for Marquette to link an industrial coordinate to the label and product as to best get the item to the optimally selected destination by the management system and optimal consolidation as taught by Teiman.
Teiman teaches any elements Marguette lacks including:
(re: cl 6) in which after the creation of the industrial coordinate (5) an instruction is transmitted from the management system (1) to the electronic label (7), which instructs the electronic label (7) to light up and/or to flash, and after the transmission of the instruction the electronic label (7) lights up and/or flashes (¶30-“ The status may include such options as "on," "off," "glow," or "warn." Each status may refer to a different light pattern or alert function installed in the alert device.”; ¶24-“The computer 24 will indicate which alert ID should be active, and the transmitter will transmit this information wireless to the appropriate alert device 4, which will then activate its LED lights 8 to identify where to place the next picked item.”; ¶23-“the alert device 4 will activate the LED lights 8, indicating the appropriate job tote 5 to be filled. The display 14 may include a physical identification of the alert ID number 16 or other important information.”).
It 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, for Marquette to after the transmission of the instruction the electronic label (7) lights up and/or flashes as to direct where the good in front of the placer needs to go for the job to be filled as taught by Teiman.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marquette in view of Teiman in further view of Fantana et al. (US2013158678) wherein Marquette teaches the elements previously discussed and Fantana et al. teaches any elements Marquette lacks including:
(re: cl 7) in which the electronic label (7) is attached to the product (9) (¶31-“The tags or labels for identification purposes being mentioned before and being fixed to the respective equipment or to the respective person can, for example, be passive RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags or labels as common and barcodes (1D, 2D) as well as NFC-(near field communication) tags, active RFID-tags, wireless sensor node or hybrid tags or labels which can include electronically stored data and information as visually displayable information.”).
It 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, for Marquette to attach the electronic label to the product as for remotely and automatically managing an article with a communication device attached (abstract; ¶9) as taught by Fantana et al..
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marquette in view of Teiman, in further view of Feldman et al. (US10101732) wherein Marquette teaches the elements previously discussed and Feldman et al. teaches any elements Maquette lacks including:
(re: cl 8) in which the electronic label (7) is scanned, and the mobile data acquisition device (3) transmits an “put-to-light” acknowledgement to the management system (1) (c2 L 49-52-“ the generation of an “operation confirmed” service reply (or event) message is triggered by the control hardware of the put-to-light system”- put to light confirm back to management system, c2 L 52-54-“This service reply message is communicated back to the management control system to indicate that the requested service or operation was completed.).
It 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, for Marquette to scan the electronic label with the mobile data acquisition device and transmits a “put-to-light” acknowledgement to the management system as to verify the label has been lit and read by the transport device so as to query the management system as to where to take the good as taught by Fantana et al..
Marquette further teaches;
(re: cl 9) in which after the transmission of the acknowledgement the management system (1) changes or deletes an industrial coordinate (5) linked to the acknowledgement, and/or newly creates an industrial coordinate (5) and links it to the acknowledgement (¶79-“ The determination device 110 can determine three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates for each of the storage goods 102 and for each of the storage areas 104 on the basis of the storage area identification devices 106 and storage goods identification devices 108 detected and store the correlation of the storage areas 104 with the storage goods 102 contained therein and the position information thereof.”-store the new coordinates after moving the item there).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL E BUTLER whose telephone number is (571)272-6937.
The examiner can normally be reached on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jacob Scott can be reached on 571-270-3415. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/M.E.B/ Examiner, Art Unit 3655
/JACOB S. SCOTT/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3655
Prosecution Insights