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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
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Claims 2-14, 16, 18-24 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12118535. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because although the claims of Patent’535 do not recite that each of the sensors to detect a different magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field and generate a signal indicative of the magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field, the Patent recites that “each sensor of the set of sensors to detect a different magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field and generate a signal indicative of the magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field … a processor coupled to the set of sensors, wherein the processor is operable to: determine, based on the magnitudes of the generated signals and the different locations of the set of sensors”. Since the location of the sensors are different and different magnitudes of the oscillating electromagnetic field are sensed, the current claim limitations are considered obvious over the Patent535.
For instance, the following table show similarities between the versions of claims.
Current claims
Patent’535
2. A contactless card, comprising: a body of the contactless card, the body comprising contacts or an antenna at a first location for communications with a card reader; sensors located at least two different locations about the body, to generate sensor signals based on an oscillating electromagnetic field emitted from the card reader, each of the sensors to detect a different magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field and generate a signal indicative of the magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field; and circuitry coupled to the sensors, wherein the circuitry is operable to: determine, based on magnitudes of the generated signals and the different locations of the sensors, an orientation of the contacts or the antenna with respect to the card reader, and generate an orientation indication signal to indicate a movement of the contactless card to adjust the orientation of the contacts or the antenna with respect to the card reader.
3. The contactless card of claim 2, wherein the orientation indication signal indicates a position of the contacts or an antenna relative to the card reader.
4. The contactless card of claim 2, wherein the sensors detect a polarity of the oscillating electromagnetic field.
5. The contactless card of claim 2, wherein the sensors comprise a circuit responsive to a strength of the oscillating electromagnetic field.
6. The contactless card of claim 2, wherein the circuitry is further operable to determine that the orientation of the contacts or the antenna is unaligned with the oscillating electromagnetic field and to vibrate the contactless card.
7. The contactless card of claim 2, further comprising an accelerometer.
8. The contactless card of claim 7, wherein the circuitry is operable to: evaluate a magnitude and a polarity based on the sensor signals for an X-axis, a Y-axis, and a Z-axis; determine the orientation of the contacts or the antenna with respect to the card reader in the X-axis, the Y-axis and the Z-axis based on the magnitude and the polarity.
9. The contactless card of claim 2, further comprising a combination of a gyroscope and an accelerometer.
10. The contactless card of claim 9, wherein the circuitry is operable to: evaluate a magnitude and a polarity based on the sensor signals for an X-axis, a Y-axis, and a Z-axis; evaluate an angular velocity signal relative to a rotation of the contactless card; determine the orientation of the contactless card in the X-axis, the Y-axis and the Z-axis based on the magnitude, the polarity, and the angular velocity signal.
11. The contactless card of claim 2, wherein the circuitry is further operable to generate an output via a light emitting diode, a vibrating motor, a speaker, or a combination thereof.
12. A contactless card, comprising: a body of the contactless card comprising a communication interface, processing circuitry, and sensors at different locations about the body, the communication interface to communicate with an application of a mobile device; the sensors to generate sensor signals based on detection of an electromagnetic field from a card reader at each of the different locations about the body; the processing circuitry operable to: communicate indications of the sensor signals for each of the different locations to the application of the mobile device; receive a result from the application; and output a haptic indication, an audio indication, a visual indication, or a combination thereof, indicating a movement of the contactless card based on the result.
13. The contactless card of claim 12, wherein the contactless card further comprises: a power supply operable to provide electrical power to at least the sensors.
14. The contactless card of claim 12, wherein the communication interface is operable to communicate via a wireless communication protocol.
15. The contactless card of claim 14, wherein the communication interface is a wireless communication transceiver operable to communicate via the wireless communication protocol.
16. The contactless card of claim 12, wherein the sensors comprise circuits responsive to a strength and a polarity of the electromagnetic field.
18. The contactless card of claim 12, wherein the movement adjusts an orientation of the contactless card towards a chosen orientation of the contactless card, wherein the chosen orientation locates a chip component of the contactless card closest to the card reader.
19. The contactless card of claim 12, further operable to: transmit, to the application, a number of individual data values output by the sensors; receive the result, wherein the result comprises a direction, a distance and an angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field; and actuate one or more outputs to indicate the direction, the distance, and the angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field.
20. The contactless card of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to: determine data values based on the sensor signals; receive the result, wherein the result comprises a direction, a distance, and an angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field; andactuate a haptic device to produce the haptic indication to indicate the direction, the distance, and the angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field.
21. The contactless card of claim 20, further operable to actuate one or more light emitting diodes to produce an indication of the direction, the distance, and the angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field.
22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer- readable storage medium including instructions, which are comprised in an application, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: determine, based on magnitudes of signals generated by sensors at different locations about a body of a contactless card, an orientation of contacts or an antenna with respect to a card reader, each of the sensors to detect a different magnitude indicative of a magnitude of an oscillating electromagnetic field from the card reader and generate a different one of the signals based on detection of the oscillating electromagnetic field; and generate an orientation indication signal to indicate a movement of the contactless card to adjust the orientation of the contacts or the antenna with respect to the card reader.
23. The contactless card of claim 22, wherein the orientation indication signal indicates a position of the contacts or an antenna relative to the card reader, wherein the sensors detect a polarity of the oscillating electromagnetic field.
24. The contactless card of claim 22, wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine that the orientation of the contacts or the antenna is unaligned with the oscillating electromagnetic field and to vibrate the contactless card
1. A contactless card, comprising: a body of the contactless card, the body comprising a first location, wherein contacts or an antenna for communications with a card reader reside at the first location; a set of sensors located at different locations about the body, operable to generate signals while in close proximity to a source of an oscillating electromagnetic field of the card reader, each sensor of the set of sensors to detect a different magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field and generate a signal indicative of the magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field; a card orientation indicator circuitry operable to output an indication of an orientation of the contactless card; and a processor coupled to the set of sensors, wherein the processor is operable to: determine, based on the magnitudes of the generated signals and the different locations of the set of sensors, the orientation of the contacts or the antenna for communications with respect to the card reader, generate an orientation signal based on a determination of the orientation, output the orientation signal to the card orientation indicator circuitry, wherein the card orientation indicator circuitry is operable to; in response to the received orientation signal, generate an orientation indication signal to indicate a movement of the contactless card to adjust the orientation of the contacts or the antenna for communications with respect to the card reader.
2. The contactless card of claim 1, wherein the orientation indication signal of the contactless card indicates a position of the contacts or an antenna for communications relative to the card reader.
3. The contactless card of claim 1, wherein the set of sensors detect a polarity of the oscillating electromagnetic field.
4. The contactless card of claim 1, wherein each sensor comprises a circuit responsive to a strength of the oscillating electromagnetic field.
5. The contactless card of claim 1, further comprising: a card orientation indicator device operable to respond to the orientation signal, wherein the card orientation indicator device is a vibrational device that is operable to vibrate the contactless card when the orientation signal indicates that the determined orientation of the contactless card is unaligned with the oscillating electromagnetic field.
6. The contactless card of claim 1, further comprising an accelerometer.
7. The contactless card of claim 6, wherein the processor is operable to: evaluate a magnitude and a polarity of an X-axis signal, a magnitude and a polarity of a Y-axis signal and a magnitude and a polarity of a Z-axis signal; determine the orientation of the contactless card in an X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis based on the magnitude and the polarity of the X-axis signal, the magnitude and the polarity of the Y-axis signal, and the magnitude and the polarity of the Z-axis signal.
8. The contactless card of claim 1, further comprising a combination of a gyroscope and an accelerometer.
9. The contactless card of claim 8, wherein the processor is operable to: evaluate an X-axis magnitude and an X-axis polarity of an X-axis signal, a Y-axis magnitude and a Y-axis polarity of a Y-axis signal and a Z-axis magnitude and a Z-axis polarity of a Z-axis signal; evaluate an angular velocity signal relative to a rotation of the contactless card based on the X-axis signal, the Y-axis signal, and the Z-axis signal; determine the orientation of the contactless card in an X-axis, Y-axis and in a Z-axis based on the X-axis magnitude and the X-axis polarity of the X-axis signal, the Y-axis magnitude and the Y-axis polarity of the Y-axis signal, the Z-axis magnitude and the Z-axis polarity of the Z-axis signal and the angular velocity signal.
10. The contactless card of claim 1, further comprising: a card orientation indicator device operable to generate an output in response to the orientation signal, wherein the card orientation indicator device is at least one of a light emitting diode, a vibrating motor, a speaker, or a combination thereof.
11. A contactless card, comprising: a body of the contactless card including a communication interface, processing circuitry, and a set of sensors distributed across different locations about the body, the communication interface to communicate with an application of a mobile device; the set of sensors to generate field signals related to distances between a card reader and each of the different locations about the body of the contactless card, the field signals indicative of a magnitude of an electromagnetic field at each of the different locations about the body: the processing circuitry to communicate magnitudes for each of the different locations to the application of the mobile device; the processing circuitry to receive a result from the application; and the processing circuitry to output a haptic indication, an audio indication, a visual indication or a combination, directing movement of the contactless card in a particular direction based on the result.
12. The contactless card of claim 11, wherein the contactless card further comprises: a power supply operable to provide electrical power to at least the set of sensors.
13. The contactless card of claim 11, wherein the communication interface is operable to communicate via a wireless communication protocol.
14. The contactless card of claim 13, wherein the communication interface is a wireless communication transceiver operable to communicate via the wireless communication protocol.
15. The contactless card of claim 11, wherein: the set of sensors includes a number of circuits responsive to a strength and a polarity of an electromagnetic field produced by the card reader.
16. The contactless card of claim 15, wherein each of the field signals indicate a polarity.
17. The contactless card of claim 11, wherein a chosen orientation of the contactless card is one in which a chip component of the contactless card is closest to the card reader.
18. The contactless card of claim 11, further operable to: transmit, to the application, a number of individual data values output by the set of sensors; receive the result, wherein the result comprises a direction, a distance and an angle of the contactless card with respect to an oscillating electromagnetic field output by the card reader; and actuate one or more outputs to indicate the direction, the distance, and the angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field output by the card reader.
19. The contactless card of claim 11, operable to: determine a number of individual data values output by the set of sensors; receive the result, wherein the result comprises a direction, a distance, and an angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field output by the card reader; and actuate a haptic device to produce the haptic indication to indicate the direction, the distance, and the angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field output by the card reader.
20. The contactless card of claim 11, further operable to: actuate one or more light emitting diodes to produce an indication of the direction, the distance, and an angle of the contactless card with respect to the electromagnetic field output by the card reader.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 THIEN T. MAI whose telephone number is (571)272-8283. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 8-5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner' s supervisor, Steve S. Paik can be reached at (571)272-2404. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Thien T Mai/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2887