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 .
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) 2-3, 5-6, 11, 22, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaqub (US 10726219) in view of Fabian (US 20030066537) in view of Shintani (JP 2016079590)
Yaqub discloses
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 (112A, 112B and associated antennas) located at least two different locations about the body, to generate sensor signals based on an oscillating electromagnetic field emitted from the card reader (130) (the EMF in Yaqub is inherently oscillating EMF; see Fabian “Like the interrogating field, the oscillating electromagnetic field produced by the marker during its ring-down period has a spatial distribution and vectorial orientation”; see Figs. 3-8, par. 39, 41, 44); 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 (c21 lines 30-55), 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 (c21:8-67).
Yaqub discloses that the sensor chips 112 responds to the reader’s interrogation by sending reply signals (c8: 1-10). Card 100 transmits a long-range signal responsive to receiving a signal from the first long-range external device 120A use the electromagnetic field of the instantiating signal to power the long-range signal (c19: 35-40, c29: 25-31). Similarly, card 100 transmits and receive short-range signals from antenna 134 of the merchant device using the designated frequency range (c9:15-37).
Yaqub is silent to the sensor detects a different magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field and generate a signal indicative of the magnitude of the oscillating electromagnetic field
Shintani discloses since communication in the LF band is performed at a short distance and stronger power than the UHF band, the LF band is less susceptible to radio wave interference than the UHF band (abstract). Thus, per Shintani, the communication signals in the LF band and long-range UHF band have different magnitudes.
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 Shintani to realize that the different power levels are provided for each communication band. It would have also been obvious that when the card sensors 112 sensing the interrogating signal from the POS reader, c21: 25-50, it would recognize the signal strength from the interrogation signal, and respond with a backscatter signal that is also indicative of a LF or UHF signal with corresponding characteristics such as strength level.
3.2, wherein the orientation indication signal indicates a position of the contacts or an antenna relative to the card reader (c21 lines 30-55).
5.2, wherein the sensors comprise a circuit responsive to a strength of the oscillating electromagnetic field (c21 lines 30-55).
6.2, 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 (c5 lines 1-39).
11.2, wherein the circuitry is further operable to generate an output via a light emitting diode, a vibrating motor, a speaker, or a combination thereof (c21 lines 15-55).
Re claim 22, 24, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 4, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaqub (US 10726219) Fabian (US 20030066537) Shintani (JP 2016079590) in view of Bang (US 20050246109 )
Re claim 4.2, 23, Yaqub is silent to wherein the sensors detect a polarity of the oscillating electromagnetic field.
Bang discloses [0023] Returning to FIG. 1, the input devices 112, 114 further include a processor 120, such as a signal processor, a multi-purpose processor, or a central processing unit (or CPU), configured to receive the signal from the sensor 116. The processor 120 is configured to receive the signal from the sensor to determine whether the change in inertia around the at least one axis 118 of the input device corresponds to a tapping of the input device 112, 114. As shown in FIG. 1D, the processor 120 can include an inertia change measuring unit 126 coupled to the sensor 116. The inertia change measuring unit 126 can be configured to determine whether a magnitude of an angular acceleration of the input device 112, 114 around the at least one axis 118 exceeds a threshold acceleration value over a limited duration. In one embodiment, for example, were the threshold value to be set to about 3 rad/s.sup.2 for about 0.1 seconds, the magnitudes of the angular accelerations shown in FIG. 4 would be determined to exceed the threshold value over the limited duration, indicating that the telephone 100 had been tapped. [0024] The processor 120 is also configured to identify a contacted region of the input device 112, 114 based on a direction of the change in inertia around the at least one axis 118 of the input device 112, 114 when the change in inertia corresponds to a tapping of the input device 112, 114. For example, the processor 120 can include a polarity determining unit 128, coupled to the inertia change measuring unit 126, configured to determine a polarity of the angular acceleration that exceeds the threshold acceleration value for the limited duration. The processor 120 can also include a position determining unit 130, coupled to the polarity determining unit 128, configured to identify a first region of the input device 112, 114 as the contacted region when the polarity of the angular acceleration is positive and a second region of the input device 112, 114 as the contacted region when the angular acceleration is negative.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Bang for the card’s processor to calculate parameters need to assess the its orientation.
Claim(s) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaqub (US 10726219) Fabian (US 20030066537) Shintani (JP 2016079590) in view of Brumbalow (US 20170361207)
Re claim 8.2, Yaqub is silent to wherein the sensor is an accelerometer and 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.
Brumbalow discloses a card 300 comprising accelerometers 152, gyroscopes 154, and a 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 (par. 30-31).
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 Brumbalow to detect card orientation by rotation determining direction and rotations in the x, y, and z axes in addition to re in place of the detection by the card’s antennas.
Re claims 9-10, see discussion regarding claims above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 12-14, 16, 18-21 is/are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not disclose the differently sensed oscillating EMF magnitudes by the card sensors being communicated to the application of the mobile device such that a result of the application causes an indication output by the card processing circuitry.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
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.
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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