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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/01/25 has been entered.
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) 1-7, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Otero (US 20160246970) in view of Wahl (US 20220215216 )
Otero discloses
1. A secure card associated with an account of a cardholder, the secure card comprising:
a card face comprising imperceptible card indicia including at least a portion of at least one of an account number, a name, a card verification value, or an expiration date (par. 45-48); and
wherein the card face comprises an image 115S, wherein the imperceptible card indicia are encoded within the image (par. 31, 45-48)
Otero discloses decoding data is stored on an issuer server (Otero discloses that the mobile 620 sends a request for decoding algorithm to the server 660, the request includes a copy of hidden information previously provided to the user when receiving the card; par. 74, 82; an encryption key unique associated with the card and the stenographic image along with a decoding algorithm is provided by the card issuer (par. 75, 91, 101-102). Otero further discloses issuer authorizing computer 660 issues and manages card account similar to issuer server 760 keeps identity records for license authentication, par. 101, 116;
Otero is silent to a second portion is retrievable from the issuer server upon authentication, by an issuer, of the cardholder.
Wahl discloses a visual code can comprise one or more graphical visual elements (e.g., one or more pictorial and/or textual datagrams …; par. 53) which can be disposed on the same or different objects (par. 143). The first code (i.e. 1510-1) is disposed on a physical object (par. 138, 144) and the second code (i.e. 1510-2) may be a virtual code displayed on the user device prior to, during, or subsequent to capturing an image/video of the first code, which may require biometric authentication (par. 139). Wahl further discloses the different portions of the visual code can be decoded using, respectively, different first and second scanning systems such as the user device and a server (par. 71-72, 104, 144-148, 155, 165). The visual code, comprising first portion or second portion or both, can be scanned and decoded/deciphered by the user device application or can be sent to the control entity server for decoding and deciphering/decrypting (par. 104). The second portion of the visual code may be provided in an augmented reality environment associated with the user (or the user's proxy) (e.g., the user's profile in eMAR, pharmacy database, healthcare insurance database, etc.) (par. 54, 145). Such augmented reality environment of the user's personal device may be operatively in communication with a database of airlines or luggage courier services, such that the airlines or the luggage courier services may track and ensure that the luggage is retrieved by the owner (par. 165). Wahl further discloses a remote computer 1401 or server 1302 in communication with the scanner in the user’s electronic device configured to regulate, analyze, and process the visual code captured by the scanner (par. 179-185).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Wahl so that all re-constructable codes can be stored on a server for access and retrieval, thereby minimizing the burden to store them on a scanner.
Furthermore, as can be seen in Wahl, the user needs to activate the GUI 1504 and be authenticated by fingerprint and/or retina screening, which can be done after the user taking the image/video of the code (par. 139). Thus, based on the fact that the remote server/computer can control the process of taking the image and processing it and there is an expressed need for biometric authentication, it would have also been obvious to modify Wahl such that when an image/video data being sent to the remote server/computer, a biometric authentication being performed to ensure secure protection for the remote server/computer.
2.1, wherein the image comprises at least one of a pattern, a symbol, shape, number, or icon, or combinations thereof (Fig. 1).
3.2, further comprising a physical card (Otero, par. 21, 30).
4.3, wherein the image is an image print on the physical card (Otero, par. 30, 45).
5.1, wherein the card face is defined by a card surface; and wherein the image is disposed on the card surface (Otero, Fig. 1).
6.1, wherein the imperceptible card indicia are encrypted (Otero, par. 38, 75).
7.1, wherein the card shows an unencoded remainder of: the account number, the name, card verification value, or the expiration date (Otero, par. 51-53, 56+).
Re claims 15, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Otero (US 20160246970) Wahl (US 20220215216 ) in view of CN962 (CN 112101962 )
Re claim 16.15, wherein generating the image comprises: converting the card information into binary data. incorporating the binary data into image data associated with the image
CN962 discloses that encrypted data is converted into binary data which is then incorporated into an image
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of CN962 to further secure and provided protection for the user.
Claim(s) 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Otero (US 20160246970) Wahl (US 20220215216 ) CN962 (CN 112101962 ) in view of Dougharty (US 20140093070)
Re claim 17.16, Otero is silent to further comprising: encrypting the first portion of the card information prior to generating the image
Dougharty discloses user data is encrypted prior to forming an optical code comprising at least a first and a second codes 202-216 (Fig. 1-3, par. 32-36)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Dougharty so that the first code can be encrypted in cases where the first code is desirably protected by encryption.
Re claim 18-19.15, wherein the decoding data enable the user device to extract the card information from image data retrieved from the image (Dougharty, Fig. 1-3, par. 32-36)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of new ground of rejection.
Applicant argues that Wahl does not disclose that the second portion is retrievable from the issuer server. Applicant further argues that Wahl does not disclose that the card indica are encoded by the issuer server, the cardholder is authenticated by the issuer, and that the decoding data is transmitted from the issuer server.
However, upon further review, the combined teachings of Otero and Wahl can still meet the current claims as discussed above.
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876