DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception, an abstract idea, without significantly more.
Step 1:
The claims successfully fall within the statutory categories enumerated under 35 U.S.C. 101. Claim 1 is directed to a system, constituting a machine or apparatus. Claim 9 is directed to a computer-readable medium, constituting an article of manufacture. Claim 17 is directed to a computer-implemented method, constituting a process.
Step 2A: Judicial Exception (Abstract Idea)
The claims must be evaluated to determine whether their character as a whole is directed to a judicial exception, specifically an abstract idea. The core technological limitation shared across all independent claims (Claims 1, 9, 17) is the establishment of a logical "association between a plurality of dispensers each with a respective QR code and a plurality of digital dispenser assets" and the subsequent proxy response with a digital asset based on that QR code identity.
This underlying mechanism represents the abstract idea of organizing human activity and data routing—specifically, utilizing a reference index or routing map to locate and retrieve corresponding information (digital media assets) based on an input identifier (a QR code). The courts have consistently held that receiving data, routing it based on a pre-defined set of rules or a lookup index, and outputting the calculated result constitutes a fundamental, abstract mathematical or logical process. In cases such as Electric Power Group, LLC v. Alstom S.A., the Federal Circuit determined that collecting information, analyzing it, and displaying results is a fundamentally abstract idea. The concept of utilizing a proxy or a lookup table to resolve a static identifier to a dynamic resource is a well-understood, routine data management and administrative practice that existed long before the advent of computer networks (analogous to a human switchboard operator or a librarian cross-referencing an index card).
The physical nature of the "dispenser" recited in the claims does not sufficiently alter the fundamental data-processing character of the invention. The dispenser operates merely as an inert physical substrate upon which the printed matter (the static QR code) is affixed. The claims do not require the dispenser to digitally communicate with the proxy engine or alter its physical dispensing operations based on the QR scan; rather, the QR code acts solely as an informational marker. Therefore, under Step 2A Prong 1, the claims are directed to an abstract idea. Under Step 2A Prong 2, the claims fail to integrate this abstract idea into a practical application, as the routing map does not improve the functional dispensing capabilities of the machine itself.
Step 2B: Inventive Concept
Because the claims are directed to an abstract idea under Step 2A, the analysis proceeds to Step 2B to determine if the claim limitations, considered individually or as an ordered combination, add "significantly more" to the abstract idea, thereby transforming it into a patent-eligible application.
An exhaustive examination of the specification reveals that the hardware executing the proxy engine and routing map consists of wholly generic, off-the-shelf computer components operating in their conventional capacities. The specification explicitly discloses a standard computing device (104) comprising a generic processor (118), memory (122), data storage (124), and a standard communication subsystem (126) configured to utilize standard network protocols like Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or LTE. The scanning device (112) is described generically as a "mobile device, such as a phone or tablet, or a notebook computer" equipped with a standard camera.
The claims do not effect a technological improvement to the functioning of the computer itself, nor do they solve a complex technical problem inherent in computer networks, which would have provided an inventive concept under precedents such as Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp. Instead, the claims leverage conventional computing machinery operating in its standard capacity to perform the abstract idea of database indexing and data retrieval at a faster operational speed. Furthermore, editing the database to point the QR code to a different asset (as claimed in dependent claims 2, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 22, and 24) constitutes standard CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) functionality inherent to all conventional relational databases. The combination of generic scanners, generic servers, and generic database updates does not amount to an inventive concept. Therefore, the claims lack the requisite technological transformation sufficient to overcome the 35 U.S.C. 101 threshold and are rendered permanently ineligible.
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) 1-6, 9-14, and 17-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Williams (US 10367818 B2) in view of Ost (US 9334150 B1).
Re Claim 1: Williams discloses
a QR code proxy system (fig 2: 204, col 1 ll 52: a QUICK RESPONSE CODE (QR CODE)), the system comprising:
a content routing map (fig 2: 230) to establish an association between a plurality of objects each with a respective QR code and a plurality of digital object assets (col 6 ll 18: The machine-readable storage medium (or storage media) 228 can store link control instructions 230, a link-payoff database 232, and an administrative user identifier database 234. The link-payoff database 232 associates machine-readable links with corresponding payoff content. col 2 ll 1: In some implementations, “content” assigned to a machine-readable link may be any suitable type of information that may be accessed (e.g. retrieved, viewed, etc.) over a network, such as video data, audio data, image data, a web page, a uniform resource identifier (URI) (such as a uniform resource locator (URL)) for web content);
a proxy engine (examiner: The processor 226 executing the link resolver 230-2 in Williams acts as the proxy engine.) to: (ii) respond with one or more digital object assets based on the association established by the content routing map (col 4 ll 67+: the linking system sends (at 124) payoff content of the machine-readable link to the computing device, for viewing or other use at the computing device.).
However, Williams does not disclose that objects are dispensers and the step to determine an identity of an object of the plurality of objects based on a QR code.
Ost however discloses that objects are dispensers and the step to determine an identity of an object of the plurality of objects based on a QR code (figs 8-11 and 14, col 7 ll 18: a customer using the mobile application (132) scans the QR code disposed upon the container (133), whereupon the mobile application extracts the unique pre-set ID of the container from the QR code (12).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate Ost’s teaching in the system of Williams. It’s a simple substitution of one known scanning environment (generic objects) with another known scanning environment (dispensers) to yield predictable dynamic digital content delivery at a dispensing station (MPEP 2143).
Re Claim 2: Williams modified by Ost discloses the QR code proxy system of claim 1, wherein the proxy engine is to edit associations between one or more of the plurality of dispensers and one or more of the plurality of digital dispenser assets by changing associations between one or more QR codes and one or more digital dispenser assets (Williams: "A link producer may dynamically vary the payoff content associated with a given machine-readable link... For example, during a first time interval, the link producer can specify that first advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link. In a second time interval, the link producer can specify that different advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link.". "The link producer can change the payoff content of the machine-readable link, or the link producer can delete and insert a new payoff content for the machine-readable link.").
Re Claim 3: Williams modified by Ost discloses the QR code proxy system of claim 1, wherein the content routing map comprises a table that is indexed based on the plurality of QR codes (Williams: "The link-payoff database 232 associates machine-readable links with corresponding payoff content.", examiner: While the term "table that is indexed" is not strictly used in the text, MPEP 2144.03 applies. It is a fundamental, well-known principle of computer science that relational databases (such as the link-payoff database of Williams or the inventory manager of Ost) utilize indexed tables utilizing unique identifiers (primary keys) to rapidly retrieve associated data. A database mapping QR links to content inherently comprises an indexed table.).
Re Claims 4, 12, and 20: Williams modified by Ost discloses the QR code proxy system of claim 1, the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 9, and the method of claim 17, wherein each QR code embeds a global identifier that uniquely identifies an object of the plurality of objects (Ost: "The containers are 'smart' cups (11); shown in FIG. 1, each having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag (13) and a Quick Response (QR) code (12), the RFID tag (13) and QR code are configured to encode a unique pre-set ID, which identifies the cup."). It is already established that simple substitution of one known scanning environment (generic objects) with another known scanning environment (dispensers in Ost) can be made to yield predictable results.
Re Claim 5, 13, and 21: Williams modified by Ost discloses the QR code proxy system of claim 4, the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 12, the method of claim 20, wherein the global identifier comprises one or more of: (i) a unique alphanumeric sequence; or (ii) a serial number of a dispenser (Ost: "The smartcup code may comprise information (54) such as the vendor code, liquid category code, cup size code, cup unique number, and reserved code.". "The tags also have anti-collision identification protocols... individually numbered giving the system the ability to individually track each cup in the system and encode it within the QR code data shown in (12) of FIG. 1.".).
Re Claim 6: Williams modified by Ost discloses the QR code proxy system of claim 1, wherein the proxy engine is to respond with a different digital dispenser asset based on one or more changes to the content routing map (Williams: "In a second time interval, the link producer can specify that different advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link. In this manner, the link producer does not have to acquire different machine-readable links for different payoff content...".).
Re Claims 9 and 17: Williams discloses one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to being executed, cause a computing device to and a computer-implemented method comprising, using one or more computing devices:
establish an association between a plurality of objects each with a respective QR code and a plurality of digital dispenser assets (col 6 ll 18: The machine-readable storage medium (or storage media) 228 can store link control instructions 230, a link-payoff database 232, and an administrative user identifier database 234. The link-payoff database 232 associates machine-readable links with corresponding payoff content. col 2 ll 1: In some implementations, “content” assigned to a machine-readable link may be any suitable type of information that may be accessed (e.g. retrieved, viewed, etc.) over a network, such as video data, audio data, image data, a web page, a uniform resource identifier (URI) (such as a uniform resource locator (URL)) for web content);
respond with one or more digital object assets based on the association established by the content routing map (col 4 ll 67+: the linking system sends (at 124) payoff content of the machine-readable link to the computing device, for viewing or other use at the computing device.).
However, Williams does not disclose that objects are dispensers and the step to determine an identity of a dispenser of the plurality of dispensers based on a QR code.
Ost however discloses that objects are dispensers and the step to determine an identity of a dispenser of the plurality of dispensers based on a QR code (figs 8-11 and 14, col 7 ll 18: a customer using the mobile application (132) scans the QR code disposed upon the container (133), whereupon the mobile application extracts the unique pre-set ID of the container from the QR code (12).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate Ost’s teaching in the media and the method of Williams. It’s a simple substitution of one known scanning environment (generic objects) with another known scanning environment (dispensers) to yield predictable dynamic digital content delivery at a dispensing station (MPEP 2143).
Re Claim 10: Williams modified by Ost discloses the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 9, further comprising one or more instructions to change the association between a plurality of dispensers and the plurality of digital dispenser assets by editing associations between one or more QR codes and one or more digital dispenser assets (Williams: "A link producer may dynamically vary the payoff content associated with a given machine-readable link... For example, during a first time interval, the link producer can specify that first advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link. In a second time interval, the link producer can specify that different advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link.". "The link producer can change the payoff content of the machine-readable link, or the link producer can delete and insert a new payoff content for the machine-readable link.").
Re Claims 11 and 19: Williams modified by Ost discloses the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 9 and the method of claim 17, wherein the association between the plurality of dispensers and the plurality of digital dispenser assets comprises a table that is indexed based on the plurality of QR codes (Williams: "The link-payoff database 232 associates machine-readable links with corresponding payoff content.", examiner: While the term "table that is indexed" is not strictly used in the text, MPEP 2144.03 applies. It is a fundamental, well-known principle of computer science that relational databases (such as the link-payoff database of Williams or the inventory manager of Ost) utilize indexed tables utilizing unique identifiers (primary keys) to rapidly retrieve associated data. A database mapping QR links to content inherently comprises an indexed table.).
Re Claims 14 and 22: Williams modified by Ost discloses the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 9, further comprising one or more instructions to and the method of claim 17, further comprising respond with a different digital dispenser asset based on one or more changes to the association between the plurality of dispensers and the plurality of digital dispenser assets (Williams: "In a second time interval, the link producer can specify that different advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link. In this manner, the link producer does not have to acquire different machine-readable links for different payoff content...".)
Re Claim 18: Williams modified by Ost discloses the discloses the method of claim 17, further comprising changing the association between a plurality of dispensers and the plurality of digital dispenser assets comprising editing associations between one or more of the plurality of dispensers and one or more of the plurality of digital dispenser assets by editing associations between one or more QR codes and one or more digital dispenser assets (Williams: "A link producer may dynamically vary the payoff content associated with a given machine-readable link... For example, during a first time interval, the link producer can specify that first advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link. In a second time interval, the link producer can specify that different advertising content is to be associated with the given machine-readable link.". "The link producer can change the payoff content of the machine-readable link, or the link producer can delete and insert a new payoff content for the machine-readable link.").
Claim(s) 7, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Williams (US 10367818 B2) modified by Ost (US 9334150 B1) in view of Fried (US 20130179156 A1).
Re Claim 7: Williams modified by Ost discloses the QR code proxy system of claim 1, wherein the content routing map is to establish one or more metadata parameters to organize the plurality of digital dispenser assets (Williams: "the at least one factor is selected from among any or some combination of the following: a location of the computing device 202... historical data associated with usage... information about characteristics of the computing device 202... and information about the link consumer.").
However, Williams modified by Ost does not disclose that the content routing map includes one or more of: (i) a first level metadata parameter corresponding to a product specific digital dispenser asset; (ii) a second level metadata parameter corresponding to a product family digital dispenser asset; or (iii) a third level metadata parameter corresponding to a company specific digital dispenser asset.
Fried however disclose that the content routing map includes one or more of: (i) a first level metadata parameter corresponding to a product specific digital dispenser asset; (ii) a second level metadata parameter corresponding to a product family digital dispenser asset; or (iii) a third level metadata parameter corresponding to a company specific digital dispenser asset (Fried: "Such consumer data may have information embedded therein such as routing tags, consumer preference tags, product tags, or other attributes that may be useful in processing customer service-specific data... The QR data proxy 200 is used to parse, inject, and format consumer-specific data based on information supplied by templates that are pre-defined in the QR database 115.".).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate Fried’s teaching in the system of Williams modified by Ost for the purpose of achieving the predictable result of systematically organizing large repositories of corporate digital assets. Structuring database metadata hierarchically based on corporate organizational levels is a routine implementation of the abstract "product tags" taught by Fried.
Re Claims 8, 16 and 24: Williams modified by Ost and Fried discloses the QR code proxy system of claim 7, wherein the proxy engine is to, the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 15, further comprising one or more instructions to, and the method of claim 23, further comprising change the association between a QR code and one of (1) a product specific digital dispenser asset; (2) a product family digital dispenser asset; or (3) a company specific digital dispenser asset by editing one or more entries regarding the QR code in the content routing map (Williams: "The link producer can change the payoff content of the machine-readable link, or the link producer can delete and insert a new payoff content for the machine-readable link.". Fried: "The enterprise can thus configure conditional rules to determine what action should be taken based on the receipt of a particular QR code scan... These rules can be designed to accommodate a variety of business environments and can be flexibly adjusted over time as needed.".).
Re Claims 15 and 23: Williams modified by Ost discloses the one or more non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 9, further comprising one or more instructions to and the method of claim 17, further comprising establish one or more metadata parameters to organize of the plurality of digital dispenser assets (Williams: "the at least one factor is selected from among any or some combination of the following: a location of the computing device 202... historical data associated with usage... information about characteristics of the computing device 202... and information about the link consumer.").
However, Williams modified by Ost does not disclose that the one or more metadata parameters includes one or more of: (i) a first level metadata parameter corresponding to a product specific digital dispenser asset; (ii) a second level metadata parameter corresponding to a product family digital dispenser asset; or (iii) a third level metadata parameter corresponding to a company specific digital dispenser asset.
Fried however disclose that the one or more metadata parameters includes one or more of: (i) a first level metadata parameter corresponding to a product specific digital dispenser asset; (ii) a second level metadata parameter corresponding to a product family digital dispenser asset; or (iii) a third level metadata parameter corresponding to a company specific digital dispenser asset (Fried: "Such consumer data may have information embedded therein such as routing tags, consumer preference tags, product tags, or other attributes that may be useful in processing customer service-specific data... The QR data proxy 200 is used to parse, inject, and format consumer-specific data based on information supplied by templates that are pre-defined in the QR database 115.".).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate Fried’s teaching in the media and the method of Williams modified by Ost for the purpose of achieving the predictable result of systematically organizing large repositories of corporate digital assets. Structuring database metadata hierarchically based on corporate organizational levels is a routine implementation of the abstract "product tags" taught by Fried.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claims are rejected based on combinations of Williams (US 10367818 B2), Ost (US 9334150 B1), and Fried (US 20130179156 A1). Non-finality is being maintained due to new grounds of rejection NOT necessitated by the amendment.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAE W KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-5971. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven S Paik can be reached at 5712722404. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAE W KIM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2876
/THIEN M LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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