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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in JP 2023-163078 on 26 September 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the JP 2023-163078 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Amendment in Response to Non-Final Office Action under 37 CFR 1.111 (“Response”) filed 16 January 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1, 9 and 15 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of United States Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0059589 A1 to Gonvalves et al. (“Goncalves”).
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.
Claims 1, 3, 5-9, 11-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0227908 A1 to Urushibata et al. (“Urushibata”) in view of United States Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0307881 to Naito (“Naito”) and United States Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0059589 A1 to Gonvalves et al. (“Goncalves”).
As per claims 1, 9 and 15, the claimed subject matter that is met by Urushibata includes:
a sales registration apparatus for a sales registration system, the apparatus comprising (Urushibata: Figs. 4-6):
a first interface for connecting to an image recognition apparatus (Urushibata: Fig. 5, 202);
a second interface for connecting to a point-of-sale terminal (Urushibata: Fig. 5, 206);
an imaging unit for capturing an image of an item being registered in a sales transaction (Urushibata: Fig. 5, 10); and
a control unit configured to (Urushibata: Fig. 5, 210 or Fig. 6, 41):
receive captured images from the imaging unit (Urushibata: ¶ 0063),
image recognition apparatus (Urushibata: ¶¶ 0024 and 0056)
receive a transaction completed signal from the point-of-sale terminal (Urushibata: ¶ 0068), and
upon receiving the transaction completed signal, cause the imaging unit to stop capturing images and stop transmitting captured images to the image recognition apparatus (Urushibata: ¶ 0068).
Urushibata fails to specifically teach 1. determine whether an encoded commodity code is depicted in a captured image from the imaging unit, decode the encoded commodity code depicted in the captured image, 2.) transmit the captured images to the image recognition apparatus and 3.) receive a commodity code from the image recognition apparatus corresponding to a commodity recognized by the image recognition apparatus as depicted in one or more captured images transmitted to the image recognition apparatus, compare the decoded encoded commodity code to the received commodity code from the image recognition apparatus and output a merged result commodity code to the point-sale-terminal based on the comparison. The Examiner provides Naito to teach and disclose claimed features 1 and 2.
The claimed subject matter that is met by Naito includes:
determine whether an encoded commodity code is depicted in a captured image from the imaging unit (Naito: ¶¶ 0003 and 0019),
decode the encoded commodity code depicted in the captured image (Naito: ¶¶ 0003 and 0019)
transmit the captured images to the image recognition apparatus (Naito: ¶¶ 0003, 0019-0020 and 0033 Fig. 4, 61)
Urushibata teaches an apparatus and system for sales registration. Naito teaches a comparable apparatus and system for sales registration that was improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Naito offers the embodiment of determine whether an encoded commodity code is depicted in a captured image from the imaging unit, decode the encoded commodity code depicted in the captured image and transmit the captured images to the image recognition apparatus. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the adaptation of the specific decoding and transmission steps as disclosed by Naito to the transmissions as taught by Urushibata for the predicted result of improved apparatuses and systems for sales registration. No additional findings are seen to be necessary.
Urushibata and Naito fail to specifically teach 3.) receive a commodity code from the image recognition apparatus corresponding to a commodity recognized by the image recognition apparatus as depicted in one or more captured images transmitted to the image recognition apparatus, compare the decoded encoded commodity code to the received commodity code from the image recognition apparatus and output a merged result commodity code to the point-sale-terminal based on the comparison. The Examiner provides Goncalves to teach and disclose claimed feature 3.
The claimed subject matter that is met by Goncalves includes:
receive a commodity code from the image recognition apparatus corresponding to a commodity recognized by the image recognition apparatus as depicted in one or more captured images transmitted to the image recognition apparatus, compare the decoded encoded commodity code to the received commodity code from the image recognition apparatus and output a merged result commodity code to the point-sale-terminal based on the comparison (Goncalves: ¶¶ 0007, 0059, 0071-0072 and 0080)
Urushibata and Naito teach apparatuses and systems for sales registration. Goncalves teaches a comparable apparatus and system for sales registration that was improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Naito offers the embodiment of receive a commodity code from the image recognition apparatus corresponding to a commodity recognized by the image recognition apparatus as depicted in one or more captured images transmitted to the image recognition apparatus, compare the decoded encoded commodity code to the received commodity code from the image recognition apparatus and output a merged result commodity code to the point-sale-terminal based on the comparison. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the adaptation of the commodity code comparison step as disclosed by Goncalves to the apparatuses and systems for sales registration as taught by Urushibata and Naito for the predicted result of improved apparatuses and systems for sales registration. No additional findings are seen to be necessary.
As per claims 3 and 17, the claimed subject matter that is met by Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves includes:
wherein the control unit is further configured to: output the decoded encoded commodity code to the image recognition apparatus in association with the captured image (Naito: ¶¶ 0003, 0019-0020 and 0033 Fig. 4, 61 and Goncalves: ¶¶ 0071-0072 and 0080).
The motivation for combining the teachings of Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves are discussed in the rejection of claims 1 and 15, and are incorporated herein.
As per claims 5 and 11, the claimed subject matter that is met by Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves includes:
wherein the imaging unit is mounted in the point-of-sale terminal (Urushibata: Fig. 1, 12).
The motivation for combining the teachings of Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves are discussed in the rejection of claims 1 and 9, and are incorporated herein.
As per claims 6, 12 and 18, the claimed subject matter that is met by Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves includes:
wherein the control unit is further configured to: receive a non-object detection signal from the image recognition apparatus, and upon receiving the non-object detection signal, cause the imaging unit to stop capturing images and stop transmitting captured images to the image recognition apparatus (Urushibata: ¶ 0068 and Naito: ¶ 0068).
The motivation for combining the teachings of Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves are discussed in the rejection of claims 1, 9 and 15, and are incorporated herein.
As per claims 7, 13 and 19, the claimed subject matter that is met by Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves includes:
wherein the imaging unit includes an illumination source, and the control unit is further configured to: upon receiving the non-object detection signal, cause the illumination source to turn off (Naito: ¶¶ 0004, 0050-0052 and 0068).
The motivation for combining the teachings of Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves are discussed in the rejection of claims 1, 9 and 15, and are incorporated herein.
As per claims 8, 14 and 20, the claimed subject matter that is met by Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves includes:
wherein the imaging unit includes an illumination source, and the control unit is further configured to: upon receiving the transaction completed signal, cause the illumination source to turn off (Naito: ¶¶ 0004, 0050-0052 and 0067-0068).
The motivation for combining the teachings of Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves are discussed in the rejection of claims 1, 9 and 15, and are incorporated herein.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Urushibata in view of Naito and Goncalves as applied in claim 1, and further in view of United States Patent No. 9,361,502 B2 to Goren et al. (“Goren”).
As per claim 4, Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves fail to specifically teach wherein the imaging unit comprises a charge-coupled device. The Examiner provides Goren to teach and disclose this claimed feature.
The claimed subject matter that is met by Goren includes:
wherein the imaging unit comprises a charge-coupled device (Goren: ¶¶ column 2, lines 8-23 and column 3, lines 7-26)
Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves teach apparatuses and systems for sales registration. Takasu teaches a comparable apparatus and system for sales registration that was improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Takasu offers the embodiment of wherein the imaging unit comprises a charge-coupled device. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the adaptation of the charge-coupled device as disclosed by Takasu to image capturing devices as taught by Urushibata, Naito and Goncalves for the predicted result of improved apparatuses and systems for sales registration. No additional findings are seen to be necessary.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hunter Wilder whose telephone number is (571)270-7948. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30AM-5:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Florian Zeender can be reached at (571)272-6790. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/A. Hunter Wilder/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627