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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/13/26 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Due to communications filed 4/13/26, the following is a non-final office action. Claims 8-11 are new. Claims 1-11 are pending in this application and are rejected as follows.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6-7, 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SAKON (JP
2017182326 A), and further in view of CAI (CN 109902463 A).
As per claim 1, SAKON discloses:
at least one memory storing one or more instructions; and at least one processor configured to
execute the one or more instructions to, (The present invention relates to a qualification authentication
system using a mobile terminal, a qualification authentication tool (apparatus), and a qualification
authentication method, obtain a face image of a user using a facility); [Obvious with a mobile terminal,
which is merely a computer, where a computer needs a memory with instructions and processor in
order to be able to process any type of information];
identify the user through face authentication using a face image of the user and an image stored in
advance; obtain a pre-registration information of the identified user; perform a check-in process for the
facility based on the pre-registered information, (Sakon: "(Pre-registration process) Three specific
examples will be described with reference to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B as a pre-registration procedure when
authenticating a person to be authenticated with a mobile terminal." In FIG. 5A, a purchaser who has
purchased a credential such as a ticket takes a picture of his / her face at the time of purchase (or after
purchase) (S1), and this face information and ticket information (ticket number, The registration is
completed by transferring the purchase store information and the purchase date) to the designated
server (S2). The face may be photographed using a camera installed at a purchase place or using a
smartphone owned by the purchaser. At this time, personal information such as the name, date of birth,
and age of the purchaser (that is, the qualification holder) and biometric information such as a signature
and voiceprint (here, the autograph is regarded as a part of the biometric information) You can also
register at the same time. When such registration is completed, the registered face owner is stored in
the server as a valid qualification holder. For example, when a ticket is purchased for gifts, a registration
number or a server address may be separately acquired as important information (S4) and registered
with the user himself / herself (S5).);
register the face image as a face image of a user who is allowed to use the facility, when the
user is determined to be allowed to use the facility, (Therefore, as an authentication method that does
not require a password, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, a specialized authentication
organization is installed, and a face photograph of the person registered in advance in the portable
terminal of the store from this authentication organization is obtained; The present invention functions
effectively in an implementation environment as shown in FIG. FIG. 1 assumes a situation in which a
facility user uses a facility in a facility that can be used only by a person having a predetermined ticket;
The transmitted face information and ticket number (qualification) are stored as qualification holder
information in the registration database (registration DB) of the server device. Thus, the ticket purchaser
(facility user) is registered in the server device 7 as the qualified user 1.);
obtain a face image of a user in the facility, (More specifically, in order for the user 1 to apply for
the use of the facility, the point standing in front of the staff is the actual authentication place. At that
point, the clerk shoots the face of the user 1 with the mobile terminal 13 and authenticate whether or
not the user 1 in front of the user has a legitimate qualification to use the ticket. Note that this
authentication is not authentication of whether or not the user who has the ticket is the person himself
/ herself, but whether or not the user who has applied for the ticket has a valid use qualification for the
ticket provided at the ticket store 11);
permit the user to use the facility by matching the face image of the user obtained in the facility
with the face image of the user who is allowed to use the facility, (SAKON (JP 2017182326 A):
SOLUTION: "...and a collation unit that implements processing of collating the face information
transmitted from the register DB server with the shot face image within the terminal. As a result of the
collation processing in the collation unit, when the face information and the face image coincide with
each other and the information about the qualification is judged valid, the authenticated person is
authenticated to be the legitimate proprietary of the qualification, and a right to be granted by the
qualification is given to the authenticated person"; ALSO SEE: (Application to unattended
authentication): "The tool main body of FIG. 13 is installed at the entrance of the restricted area. The
user wears the mobile terminal 13 on this tool (S32), and photographs his / her face with the camera 15
of the terminal (S33). In addition, when confirmation of the user is required at the time of use, such as
signing the signature information input unit 33 of the tool main body 30, speaking a predetermined
word, touching the fingerprint sensor, etc. Confirmation information is input (S34). After that, the
authentication tool collates the captured face image and the input confirmation information with the
registered face information and confirmation information (S35), and if they match, the door is
unlocked);
SAKON does not disclose the following:
perform the check-in process for an unidentified user who cannot be identified by the face
authentication, using a reservation number or a reservation code, and output information for confirming
whether face image registration is possible for the unidentified user performed the check-in process;
and register the face image of the unidentified user as the face image of the user performed the check-
in process when the unidentified user responds that the face image is acceptable for registration.
However, CAI (CN 109902463 A) discloses "the human face image collecting module collects the human face information will be sent in to face image analyzing module, the human face image analysis module for analyzing the received human face image, and analyzing the data in the human face image comparing module to compare; i.e. directly jumps to the information inquiring module"; "SS4: when M I is greater than the preset value, judging that the comparison is not passed, entering the secondary verification mode"; ALSO SEE claim 3 of CAI: "the mentioned one kind of based on immigrants consultative service platform login system, wherein the face recognition by the face image comparison module for comparing the portrait information is not passed, the secondary verification module will send out prompting, prompting the user to input password using the password login module to perform password login authentication when the secondary verification fails, the user can login to verify code through the reserved phone number."; ALSO SEE Claim 2 of CAL, “the user needs to set the login account number and login password, and writes the phone number information, and the registration module will record the time information input by the user account and the password, the user also needs to be uploaded three face picture of the user when registering”. In CAL, the when the user initially registers, the login account number and login password are set, along with the upload of three face pictures. Therefore, it would be obvious to register the face image when the unidentified user responds that the face image is acceptable for registration since the unidentified user’s face images are already initially uploaded by the unidentified user earlier in the process, and are already deemed acceptable for the registration by the user .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to
include the above limitations as taught by CAI, et al in the systems of XU ET AL, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would
have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 2, SAKON discloses:
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to assign and register a services
available in the facility to the user who is determined to be allowed to use the facility, (More specifically,
in order for the user 1 to apply for the use of the facility, the point standing in front of the staff is the
actual authentication place. At that point, the clerk shoots the face of the user 1 with the mobile
terminal 13 and authenticates whether or not the user 1 in front of the user has a legitimate
qualification to use the ticket. Note that this authentication is not authentication of whether or not the
user who has the ticket is the person himself / herself, but whether or not the user who has applied for
the ticket has a valid use qualification for the ticket provided at the ticket store 11);
As per claim 6, this claim recites limitations similar to those of independent claim 1, and is
rejected for similar reasons.
As per claim 7, this claim recites limitations similar to those of independent claim 1, and is
rejected for similar reasons.
As per claim 9, SAKON does not disclose the following:
output a message to the user to input reservation information of the user in response to a determination that the face image of the user does not match the image stored in advance, and not output the message in response to a determination that the face image of the user matches the face image stored in advance.
However, Claim 3 of CAI discloses: "the mentioned one kind of based on immigrants consultative service platform login system, wherein the face recognition by the face image comparison module for comparing the portrait information is not passed, the secondary verification module will send out prompting, prompting the user to input password using the password login module to perform password login authentication when the secondary verification fails,
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to
include the above limitations as taught by CAI, et al in the systems of XU ET AL, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 10, SAKON does not disclose:
wherein the reservation information is for determining whether or not the user has a reservation for the facility.
However, CAI discloses: (Abstract: the invention can by face recognition authentication (to the registration system) to better improve the safety of the system)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to
include the above limitations as taught by CAI, et al in the systems of XU ET AL, since the claimed
invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would
have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 11, SAKON discloses:
wherein the reservation information includes at least one of the reservation number, a membership ID, a name of a guest, a gender of the guest, an accommodation date, a number of guests, an accommodation charge, a scheduled room number, and a user's e-mail address, (SAKON: “The facility user pays a ticket (qualification) necessary for use (T1) and purchases it at the ticket store (qualification provider) 11 (T2). The user who purchased the ticket photographs his / her face with a portable terminal with a camera function, and transmits the photographed face along with the ticket number to the server device 7 designated by the qualified provider 11 via a communication line (T3). The transmitted face information and ticket number (qualification) are stored as qualification holder information in the registration database (registration DB) of the server device”.).
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SAKON (JP
2017182326 A), and further in view of CAI (CN 109902463 A), and further in view of XU ET AL (CN
110443923 A).
As per claim 3, SAKON discloses:
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
perform a check-in procedure for the facility when the user is determined to be the user who is
allowed to use the facility, (In addition, when confirmation of the user is required at the time of use,
such as signing the signature information input unit 33 of the tool main body 30, speaking a
predetermined word, touching the fingerprint sensor, etc. Confirmation information is input (S34));
SAKON does not disclose: assign and register a room which can be entered by the user who is
determined to be allowed to use the facility when performing the check-in procedure.
However, XU et al discloses: "SO-O: the hotel room reservation stage, the user app or hotel
reservation website on the subscription, the user such as the camera of mobile phone or computer
through a personal terminal device receiving photo upload face image with identity document image,
hotel management system, server such as the image geometric normalization, grey scale normalization,
size normalization, noise and illumination equalization after pre-treating, human face information
extracted feature vector of the human face image in the face feature vector information and identity of
certificate photo. and analyzing the similarity of the two so as to face identification comparison
according to characteristics, such as similarity can confirm they match up to 70% or 75%.
step S1-2: when the guest in the hotel reservation system such as with a reservation and has complete
subscription information (e.g., including complete face image and document image), registration check-
in guests only need help on the foreground terminal device collects the current human face image by
face detecting identifying module extracts the face image characteristic information and reservation
system stored in the human face image information in the face database for comparison according to
the similarity judging whether it is the same human face. human face image if the subscription
information in the human face image matching the current obtained through the configured room and
granted by the system based on the access right of the face, at the same time the human face
information of the current acquisition associated with the subscription information stored in the face
database, and associated with the room information of the distribution"
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by XU et al in the systems of SAKON, since the claimed invention
is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have
performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 4, SAKON does not disclose: wherein the at least one processor is configured to
assign and register the services available in the facility based on a reservation information previously
registered in correspondence with the face of the user who is determined to be allowed to use the
facility.
However, XU et al discloses: Step S1-2: when the guest in the hotel reservation system such as
with a reservation and has complete subscription information (e.g., including complete face image and
document image), registration check-in guests only need help on the foreground terminal device collects
the current human face image by face detecting identifying module extracts the face image
characteristic information and reservation system stored in the human face image information in the
face database for comparison according to the similarity judging whether it is the same human face.
human face image if the subscription information in the human face image matching the current
obtained through the configured room and granted by the system based on the access right of the face,
at the same time the human face information of the current acquisition associated with the subscription
information stored in the face database, and associated with the room information of the distribution.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by XU et al in the systems of SAKON, since the claimed invention
is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have
performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SAKON (JP 2017182326 A), and further in view of CAI (CN 109902463 A), and further in view of TABATA (JP 2019046124 A).
As per claim 5, SAKON does not disclose:
Wherein the facility is an accommodation; and the at least one processor is configured to permit
at least one of use of a room and a facility of the accommodation, use of an item available in the
accommodation, and participation in an event held in the accommodation.
However TABATA (JP 2019046124 A) discloses: (In addition, the following situations can be
considered for accommodation facilities. In the situation where multiple card keys are issued for the
same guest room, if the guest loses one of the card keys, the guest informs the employee that he / she
has lost the card key and issues a new card key. Payment for various charges generated afterwards, such
as room service. The employee can confirm the current card key usage status by referring to the card
key management output screen. In addition to the current counting form, the number of issued sheets
and the number of collected sheets may be totaled by time series (daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly,
etc.). It is also possible to calculate the collection rate of each guest by counting the number of issued
sheets and the number of collected sheets for each guest. Based on the collection rate in a
predetermined period, it is also possible to give bonuses such as prizes and points to the guest. In
accommodation facilities, the number of card keys in stock is usually limited. For example, the total
number of stocks owned by the accommodation facility (total number of card keys lent to guests and
card keys not rented to guests) is calculated using an aggregation process, and the number of stocks is
less than a predetermined number. In such a case, the management computer 3 may notify the
employee and prompt the customer to arrange for a card key (such as an order from a vendor); It should
be noted that bonuses for guests based on the collection rate or the number of collected sheets may be
given not only based on the totaling result of such a totaling process but also for one stay. For example,
in the checkout process, all card keys have been collected, or can be used at the accommodation facility
or the affiliated accommodation facility on condition that the card key has been collected at a
predetermined collection rate or higher. It is good also as giving a point. Depending on the
accommodation facility, advance payment (deposit) may be made for lending the card key. In this case,
returning the deposit is equivalent to giving a bonus).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to
include the above limitations as taught by TABATA in the systems of SAKON, since the claimed invention
is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have
performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have
recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 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.
Response to Arguments
Examiner acknowledges her inadvertent citing of the Pan reference, and has updated the Office Action to cite the correct reference, CAI (CN 109902463 A).
Applicant's arguments filed 4/13/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that prior art fails to disclose "perform the check-in process for an unidentified user who cannot be identified by the face authentication...and register the face image of the unidentified user as the face image of the user performed the check-in process when the unidentified user responds that the face image is acceptable for registration.". However, Examiner respectfully disagrees. As shown above in the Office action, claim 3 of CAI discloses: "wherein the face recognition by the face image comparison module for comparing the portrait information is not passed, the secondary verification module will send out prompting, prompting the user to input password using the password login module to perform password login authentication when the secondary verification fails, the user can login to verify code through the reserved phone number” (check-in process of present invention). Furthermore, CAI discloses in Claim 2 of CAL, that “the user needs to set the login account number and login password, and writes the phone number information, and the registration module will record the time information input by the user account and the password, the user also needs to be uploaded three face picture of the user when registering”. In CAL, the when the user initially registers, the login account number and login password are set, along with the upload of three face pictures. Therefore, it would be obvious to register the face image when the unidentified user responds that the face image is acceptable for registration since the unidentified user’s face images are already initially uploaded by the unidentified user earlier in the process, and are already deemed acceptable for the registration by the user.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Akiba Robinson whose telephone number is 571-272-6734 and email is Akiba.Robinsonboyce@USPTO.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 6:30am-4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Nathan Uber can be reached on 571-270-3923. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is (703) 305-3900.
April 30, 2026
/AKIBA K ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628
Prosecution Insights