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 .
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.
Claims 1-4,10-14,20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lu (US 2013/0134178).
Claim 1, Lu discloses a system comprising: a vending machine (fig.1) including a product delivery platform (40) operable to retrieve products from a shelf (12) and deposit products into an access port (24) for retrieval; an image capture device (44) operable to capture at least one image of an interior compartment of the vending machine; and a vending machine controller (50) coupled to at least one memory (52), wherein the vending machine controller is configured to receive, based on an image analysis of the at least one image, one or more instructions to update the at least one memory (fig.5; the memory inherently is updated).
Claim 2, Lu discloses wherein the image capture device (44) is mounted on the product delivery platform (40).
Claim 3, Lu discloses wherein the one or more instructions include at least one of: an instruction to update a vertical calibration or a horizontal calibration (para.0015-0016) of the product delivery platform (40); and an instruction to update product information of one or more products stored in the vending machine (para.0039).
Claim 4, Lu discloses wherein the instruction to update the product information of the one or more products is received in response to the image analysis of the at least one image indicating a change in product placement in the vending machine for at least one product of the one or more products (para.0039-0042; the change in placement of products inherently would be updated for the product locations).
Claim 10, Lu discloses the image capture device (44) is configured to transmit the at least one image to a remote device (54) configured to perform the image analysis (figs.10-12); and the vending machine controller (50) is configured to receive the one or more instructions to update the at least one memory from the remote device (54; since the product location data is stored in the database, the database inherently provides information for the controller to update memory and other functions).
Claim 11, Lu discloses a method comprising: capturing, by an image capture device (44), at least one image of an interior compartment of a vending machine, the vending machine including a product delivery platform (40) that retrieves products from a shelf (12) and deposits products into an access port (24) for retrieval; and receiving, by a vending machine controller (50) coupled to at least one memory (52), one or more instructions to update the at least one memory based on an image analysis of the at least one image (fig.5; the memory inherently is updated).
Claim 12, Lu discloses wherein the image capture device (44) is mounted on the product delivery platform (40).
Claim 13, Lu discloses wherein the one or more instructions include at least one of: an instruction to update a vertical calibration or a horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform (40; para.0015-0016); and an instruction to update product information of one or more products stored in the vending machine (para.0039).
Claim 14, Lu discloses receiving the instruction to update the product information of the one or more products in response to the image analysis of the at least one image indicating a change in product placement in the vending machine for at least one product of the one or more products (para.0039-0042; the change in placement of products inherently would be updated for the product locations).
Claim 20, Lu discloses transmitting, by the image capture device (44), the at least one image to a remote device (54) to perform the image analysis; and receiving, by the vending machine controller (50), the one or more instructions to update the at least one memory from the remote device (54; since the product location data is stored in the database, the database inherently provides information for the controller to update memory and other functions).
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 5,7-9,15,17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu (US 2013/0134178) in view of Hieb et al. (US 2008/0135574).
Claim 5, Lu does not disclose a plurality of product gates disposed on the shelf of the vending machine, and wherein the product information includes dispensing parameters for at least one of the plurality of product gates associated with the at least one product.
Hieb discloses a plurality of product gates (135) disposed on the shelf (120) of the vending machine, and wherein the product information (137) includes dispensing parameters for at least one of the plurality of product gates associated with the at least one product (para.0172). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with a plurality of product gates disposed on the shelf of the vending machine, and wherein the product information includes dispensing parameters for at least one of the plurality of product gates associated with the at least one product in order to further enhance the efficiency of the dispenser.
Claim 7, Lu does not disclose wherein the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is received in response to the image analysis of the at least one image indicating an offset of the product delivery platform from a home position of the product delivery platform.
Hieb discloses wherein the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform (30) is received in response to an offset of the product delivery platform (30) from a home position of the product delivery platform (para.0162-0164; checking whether element 30 is in the home position inherently means, if it’s not, element 30 would be corrected to the home position). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with wherein the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is received in response to the image analysis of the at least one image indicating an offset of the product delivery platform from a home position of the product delivery platform in order to have a more effective and efficient sensing element component for improving the product delivery.
Claim 8, Lu does not disclose wherein the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is provided to correct the offset from the home position.
Hieb discloses wherein the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform (30) is provided to correct the offset from the home position (para.0162-0164; checking whether element 30 is in the home position inherently means, if it’s not, element 30 would be corrected to the home position). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with wherein the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is provided to correct the offset from the home position in order to have a more effective and efficient sensing element component for improving the product delivery.
Claim 9, Lu does not disclose wherein the home position of the product delivery platform is determined based on the image analysis of the at least one image indicating a change in position of the product delivery platform in relation to other objects in the vending machine.
Hieb does not disclose wherein the home position of the product delivery platform (30) is determined based on a change in position of the product delivery platform (30) in relation to other objects in the vending machine (para.0162-0164; checking whether element 30 is in the home position in relation to other objects in the vending machine inherently means, if it’s not, element 30 would be corrected to the home position). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with wherein the home position of the product delivery platform is determined based on the image analysis of the at least one image indicating a change in position of the product delivery platform in relation to other objects in the vending machine in order to have a more effective and efficient sensing element component for improving the product delivery.
Claim 15, Lu does not disclose wherein the vending machine further includes a plurality of product gates disposed on the shelf of the vending machine, and wherein the product information includes dispensing parameters for at least one of the plurality of product gates associated with the at least one product.
Hieb discloses a plurality of product gates (135) disposed on the shelf (120) of the vending machine, and wherein the product information (137) includes dispensing parameters for at least one of the plurality of product gates associated with the at least one product (para.0172). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with wherein the vending machine further includes a plurality of product gates disposed on the shelf of the vending machine, and wherein the product information includes dispensing parameters for at least one of the plurality of product gates associated with the at least one product in order to further enhance the efficiency of the dispenser.
Claim 17, Lu does not disclose wherein receiving the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is received in response to the image analysis of the at least one image indicating an offset of the product delivery platform from a home position of the product delivery platform.
Hieb discloses wherein the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform (30) is received in response to an offset of the product delivery platform (30) from a home position of the product delivery platform (para.0162-0164; checking whether element 30 is in the home position inherently means, if it’s not, element 30 would be corrected to the home position). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with wherein receiving the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is received in response to the image analysis of the at least one image indicating an offset of the product delivery platform from a home position of the product delivery platform in order to have a more effective and efficient sensing element component for improving the product delivery.
Claim 18, Lu does not disclose providing the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is provided to correct the offset from the home position.
Hieb discloses providing the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform (30) is provided to correct the offset from the home position (para.0162-0164; checking whether element 30 is in the home position inherently means, if it’s not, element 30 would be corrected to the home position). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with providing the instruction to update the vertical calibration or the horizontal calibration of the product delivery platform is provided to correct the offset from the home position in order to have a more effective and efficient sensing element component for improving the product delivery. (Original) The method of Claim 18, further comprising determining the home position
Claim 19, Lu does not disclose determining the home position of the product delivery platform based on the image analysis of the at least one image indicating a change in position of the product delivery platform in relation to other objects in the vending machine.
Hieb does not disclose determining the home position of the product delivery platform (30) is determined based on a change in position of the product delivery platform (30) in relation to other objects in the vending machine (para.0162-0164; checking whether element 30 is in the home position in relation to other objects in the vending machine inherently means, if it’s not, element 30 would be corrected to the home position). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Lu with determining the home position of the product delivery platform based on the image analysis of the at least one image indicating a change in position of the product delivery platform in relation to other objects in the vending machine in order to have a more effective and efficient sensing element component for improving the product delivery.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6,16 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: US 8392019 US 20220245985 US 20220139147.
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/AYODEJI T OJOFEITIMI/Examiner, Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651