Final Rejection
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 .
DETAILED ACTION
The amendment filed 08/07/2026 has been entered. Claims 13-32 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments to the claims are sufficient to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112 (b) of claim 30. Accordingly, the rejection has been withdrawn.
Applicant' s arguments with respect to claim(s) 13 and all subsequent dependent claims have been considered but are moot in view of the references cited in the most current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 13 and 15-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niranjayan (US 11057751 B1) in view of Ewing (US 20190295390 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Niranjayan teaches a method, comprising: registering, by an application executing at a computer system in an inventory system, a tag identifier (first portal data 118(1)) received from a tag in an inventory environment with location data indicating a location of the tag ( the portal data 118 may include coordinates indicative of a location of the particular phased antenna array, an antenna identification number, and so forth) based on an audio attribute of an audio signal received from the tag. (Col.31, line 63-Col.32, line 8, Col.29, line 5-11, Col.22, lines 49-62, Claim 14)
Niranjayan also teaches initiating, by the application, a scan of the tag to obtain tag data from the tag and to receive the audio signal from the tag by transmitting a signal to the tag after registering the tag identifier with the location data of the tag. (Col.22, lines 49-62, Col.17, lines 36-53, Col.19, lines 7-10, Col.27, line 65-Col.28, line 24)
Niranjayan does not explicitly teach wherein the tag is coupled to or includes an audio emitting device that is configured to emit the audio signal to enable location determination of the tag and triggering, by the application, activation of the audio emitting device of the tag to emit an alert signal indicating whether a reader device is in a read range of the tag, wherein an audio attribute of the alert signal indicates whether the reader device is in the read range of the tag.
Ewing teaches wherein the tag is coupled to or includes an audio emitting device (emitter 26 to emit audible sound signals, infrared signals, visible light signals) that is configured to emit the audio signal to enable location determination of the tag. (Paragraphs 10-11, 35, 41)
Ewing also teaches triggering, by the application, activation of the audio emitting device of the tag (emitter 26) to emit an alert signal indicating whether a reader device is in a read range of the tag (alarm box 50 will direct tag 20 to emit and alert sound if positions of tag is in a potential theft parameter), wherein an audio attribute of the alert signal indicates whether the reader device is in the read range of the tag. (Paragraphs 50-54, Figs.5-7B)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date to have modified Niranjayan to incorporate wherein the tag is coupled to or includes an audio emitting device that is configured to emit the audio signal to enable location determination of the tag and triggering, by the application, activation of the audio emitting device of the tag to emit an alert signal indicating whether a reader device is in a read range of the tag, wherein an audio attribute of the alert signal indicates whether the reader device is in the read range of the tag in order to aid in the prevention of theft by continuously monitoring a location of a tag.
Regarding claim 15, Niranjayan teaches wherein registering, by the application, the tag identifier of the tag with the location data indicating the location of the tag comprises: initiating, by the application, a prior scan of the tag to read the tag identifier from the tag; receiving, by an audio detection device in the reader device, the audio signal from the audio emitting device of the tag; determining, by the application, the location data of the tag based on the audio attribute of the audio signal; comparing, by the application, the audio attribute of the audio signal received from the tag with a pre-stored audio attribute of a plurality of audio signals received from a plurality of different tags stored at a data store in the inventory system to determine the tag identifier corresponding to the audio attribute of the audio signal received from the tag; and storing, by the application, the tag identifier with the location data at the data store. (Col.31, lines 32-58)
Regarding claim 16, Niranjayan teaches wherein initiating, by the application, the scan of the tag comprises: transmitting, by the application, the signal to the tag; and receiving, by the application, the tag data from the tag, wherein the tag data comprises the tag identifier. (Col.27, lines 19-33)
Regarding claim 17, Niranjayan teaches determining, by the application, the location data based on a signal strength of a signal carrying the tag data received from the tag; and storing, by the application, the location data based on the signal strength in a data store in the inventory system. (Col.29, line 61-Col.30, line 47)
Regarding claim 18, Niranjayan teaches re-calibrating, by the application, the tag by periodically receiving and storing, by the application, updated audio attributes of the audio signal received from the tag, and receiving, by the application, the tag data from the tag. (Col.16, line 51-55, Col.28, lines 21-24)
Regarding claim 19, Niranjayan teaches registering, by the application, a second tag identifier received from a second tag in the inventory environment with the location data indicating the location of the tag based on a rule, wherein the rule indicates that location data for all tags in an area including the location of the tag and a signal strength-based location of the second tag is to be set to the location data of the tag. (Col.16, line 47-Col.17, line 13)
Regarding claim 20, Niranjayan teaches wherein the audio attribute is at least one of a volume, a pitch, a tone, or a duration of the audio signal. (Col.17, lines 36-60)
Regarding claim 21, Niranjayan teaches wherein a physical obstruction is present in the inventory environment between a camera communicatively coupled to the computer system and the tag, wherein the camera is incapable of capturing an image depicting a visual attribute of the tag due to the physical obstruction, and wherein the tag comprises the visual attribute. (Col.9, lines 2-9, Col.10, lines 4-13, Col.11, lines 5-10, Col.17, lines 54-60, Figs.2, 5)
Regarding claim 22, Niranjayan teaches determining, by the application, RSSI-based location data for the tag based on a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a signal received from the tag; and updating, by the application, the location data from the RSSI-based location data to audio-based location data determined using the audio attribute of the audio signal. (Col.17, lines 54-60, Col.28, lines 61-65, Col.29, line 61-Col.30, line 5)
Regarding claim 23, Niranjayan teaches wherein the tag comprises a visual attribute, wherein the visual attribute comprises at least one of an arrangement of one or more LEDs, a color of one or more LEDs when lit, a brightness of one or more LEDs when lit, or a QR code printed on the tag. (Col.19, lines 44-64, Col.21, lines 12-18)
Regarding claim 24, Niranjayan teaches wherein registering the tag identifier comprises scanning the tag according to a predefined schedule that indicates time intervals for individually scanning a plurality of tags in the inventory environment. (Col.21, lines 55-57)
Regarding claim 25, Niranjayan teaches wherein the predefined schedule indicates a frequency at which a reader device and an audio detection device are to communicate with different tags. (Col.28, line 51-52)
Regarding claim 26, Niranjayan teaches wherein the location data comprises three dimensional coordinates of the tag. (Col.12, line 12-15, Col.18, lines 24-26)
Regarding claim 27, Niranjayan teaches storing, by the application at a data store, the tag identifier in association with pre-stored audio attributes of the tag prior to the tag entering the inventory environment. (Col.16, lines 47-55, Col.25, lines 1-7)
Regarding claim 28, Niranjayan teaches receiving, by an audio detection device, audio signals from three different audio emitting devices; and determining, by the application using a classification model system, the location data based on trilateration using the audio signals from the three different audio emitting devices. (Col.19, lines 44-64, Col.21, lines 1-19)
Regarding claim 29, Niranjayan teaches wherein the audio detection device is a microphone configured to detect the audio signal when the audio detection device is within an audio zone of the tag, and wherein the audio zone is different from a field of view of a camera. (Col.6, lines 2-5, Col.18, lines 23-33, Col.18, line 63-Col.19, line 10)
Regarding claim 30, Niranjayan teaches determining, by the application, RSSI-based location data for a second tag in the inventory environment based on a signal strength of a signal received from the second tag; and updating, by the application, the RSSI-based location data of the second tag to be the location data of the tag when the second tag and the tag are both located within a defined area. (Col.29, line 61-Col.30, line 19, Claim 13)
Regarding claim 31, Niranjayan teaches wherein the alert signal emitted by the audio emitting device comprises different audio attributes indicating different proximity states, wherein: a first audio attribute indicates the reader device is outside the read range and too far from the tag; the audio attribute indicates the reader device is within an optimal read range of the tag; and a third audio attribute indicates the reader device is outside the read range and too close to the tag. (Col.12, line 17-Col.13, line 34, Fig.3)
Regarding claim 32, Niranjayan teaches re-calibrating, by the application, the tag by periodically: receiving updated audio attributes of audio signals from the audio emitting device; receiving updated tag data from the tag; and updating stored data associated with the tag based on the updated audio attributes and the updated tag data. (Col.16, line 47-Col.17, line 13)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 14 is 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
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 ABDALLAH ABULABAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4755. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:00am-3:00pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Isam Alsomiri can be reached at 571-272-6970. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDALLAH ABULABAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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