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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-9 in the reply filed on 5/26/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 10-20 have been withdrawn and claims 1-9 are currently being examined in this reply.
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.
Claims 1–9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0217005 A1 to Drummond et al. (“Drummond”), in view of United States Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0281155 A1 to Cipollone et al. (“Cipollone”).
In regards to claim 1, Drummond discloses the following limitations:
A method, comprising: establishing a first session with a first integrated device of a media terminal having a first integrated device type; (see at least Drummond ¶ 0337 and FIG. 54 “a terminal director 290 is an applet that comprises a plurality of ATM objects 292 for sequencing ATM transactions. Each ATM device 298, such as a card reader or printer, has a corresponding ATM object 292 that is operative to monitor and control the operation of each ATM device 298”) See also FIG. 56 (“Service Provider interfaces,” “Device Services,” “Device Drivers,” and “ATM Hardware” including a “Cash Dispenser”).
establishing a second session with a second integrated device of the media terminal having a second integrated device type; (Drummond discloses a terminal having a plurality of transaction function devices, including two devices of similar type (e.g., a receipt printer 724 and a statement printer 726, or a cash dispenser and a coin dispenser, ¶ 0392), each device being monitored and controlled through a corresponding device control / device command server and device service (¶¶ 0402–0403), i.e., over its own session. see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0390 and 0394 “Many ATMs include transaction function devices with the ability to perform similar functions. For example, an ATM may include both a statement printer and a receipt printer.”; “a printer object is operative to communicate with both a receipt printer 724 and a statement printer 726”)
creating a third session with a transaction application of the media terminal; (see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0337 and 0338 and FIG. 54 “a terminal director 290 is an applet that comprises a plurality of ATM objects 292 for sequencing ATM transactions… The director manager 291 is operative to load and unload terminal directors 290 and helps to provide the programming path from the HTML pages 246 to terminal directors 290”)
receiving a command issued by the transaction application over the third session during processing of a transaction on the media terminal; (see at least Drummond ¶ 0337, 0393 and FIG. 56 “a plurality of ATM objects 292 for sequencing ATM transactions”)
issuing the command over the first session to the first integrated device for processing; (see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0401 and 0403 “Responsive to the information associated with rules, present devices, and device capabilities stored in the data store 720, the device interface layer 728 is operative to have each ATM object 712 communicate with a device 724 that includes the appropriate capabilities required by the ATM object.”; “the device type manager 744 routes messages to the correct device command server 752 responsive to the rule sets in the data store 748 which cause the device to be selected based on the hierarchy associated with the event and the capability of the device”)
obtaining at least one result associated with processing the command on the first integrated device over the first session; (see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0337 and 0346 “Each ATM device 298… has a corresponding ATM object 292 that is operative to monitor and control the operation of each ATM device 298”)
evaluating priorities associated with the first integrated device type and the second integrated device type based on the command; (see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0397 and 0403 “a rule set can be created and used by a printer object that includes a hierarchy and may specify for example that a receipt printer device is the default printer for receipts and a statement printer device is a fallback printer in cases where the receipt printer device is unavailable.”; “the device to be selected based on the hierarchy associated with the event and the capability of the device”)
selecting the first integrated device based on at least the evaluating; (see at least Drummond ¶ 0403 “the device type manager 744 routes messages to the correct device command server 752 responsive to the rule sets in the data store 748 which cause the device to be selected based on the hierarchy associated with the event and the capability of the device. The device type manager 744 is further responsive to a rule set and associated hierarchy to switch to the next appropriate device command server 752 if the health of one of the current devices 754 becomes inoperative”)
Drummond discloses that each ATM object monitors the operation of its corresponding device and reports the result of an operation back up through the device interface layer to the terminal director; Drummond further discloses synchronous “operation successful,” “operation failed,” “operation not available,” and “operation not supported” events that are returned to the requesting object (¶¶ 0346–0347), however does not appear to specifically disclose the following limitations:
and providing the at least one result to the transaction application over the third session
the Examiner provides Cipollone to teach the following limitations:
and providing the at least one result to the transaction application over the third session (Cipollone teaches the CEN/XFS service-provider architecture in which a control application (transaction application) issues XFS commands through an XFS manager API and service provider interface and in which each module of the terminal is interfaced through its own associated service provider over its own session Cipollone further teaches a service provider that presents a logical device rather than a single physical module. see at least Cipollone ¶¶ 0061 and 0062 “The service providers 38 communicate with the XFS manager 36 and also with the device drivers 35 associated with the modules.”; “The service providers 38 provide a high level of abstraction to allow the control application 20 to issue standard XFS commands to request functions and services. The service providers 38 translate these XFS commands for the particular device drivers 32, 35 used in the runtime platform 30. Each service provider 38 is typically associated with one module (such as a cash dispenser module)”)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the system and method as taught by Drummond, the CEN/XFS service-provider sessions and service-provider interface as taught by Cipollone 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.
In regards to claims 2 and 3, Drummond discloses the following limitations:
wherein establishing the first session further includes processing a first service provider associated with a first interface to the first integrated device during first interactions of the first session; wherein establishing the second session further includes processing a second service provider associated with a second interface to the second integrated device during second interactions of the second session. (Drummond depicts a plurality of “Service Provider interfaces,” each associated with a respective device service and device driver for a respective device of the “ATM Hardware,” such that interactions with a first device are processed through a first service provider interface and interactions with a second, different device are processed through a second service provider interface. see at least Drummond ¶ 0337 and FIG. 56 “Service Provider interfaces… Device Services… Device Drivers”)
In regards to claim 4, Drummond discloses the following limitations:
wherein creating further includes providing a third interface as a third service provider to the transaction application. (see at least Drummond ¶ 0066 and FIGS. 58–59 “an ODS layer for providing an interface between a modified J/XFS kernel and a WOSA/XFS Manager”)
In regards to claim 5, Drummond teaches the following limitations:
wherein evaluating further includes determining over the first session or over the second session that the first integrated device or the second integrated device is unable to process the command. (see at least Drummond ¶ 0403 and ¶¶ 0346–0347 “The device type manager 744 is further responsive to a rule set and associated hierarchy to switch to the next appropriate device command server 752 if the health of one of the current devices 754 becomes inoperative.”; “an operation not available event… indicates that a device is temporarily unavailable… The operation not supported event… indicates that a device is not supported on the ATM”)
In regards to claim 6, Drummond teaches the following limitations:
wherein evaluating further includes obtaining a first status for the first integrated device over the first session and obtaining a second status for the second integrated device over the second session. (see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0395 and 0398 “The is-present method 714 is operative to determine if the desired type of device is present in the ATM… the exemplary ATM objects are operative to determine the capabilities of the ATM objects and configure the operation of the ATM responsive to the determined capabilities.”; “The configuration program is further operative to store in the data store 720 specific capabilities such as features or characteristics that are associated with each device. The results of the is-present method 714 can be determined by querying the data store 720 for the corresponding type of device and/or feature of the device”)
In regards to claim 7, Drummond teaches the following limitations:
wherein obtaining further includes determining from the second status that the second integrated device is unable to process the command and determining from the first status that the first integrated device is capable of processing the command. (see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0397 and 0403 “a statement printer device is a fallback printer in cases where the receipt printer device is unavailable.”; “the device to be selected based on the hierarchy associated with the event and the capability of the device. The device type manager 744 is further responsive to a rule set and associated hierarchy to switch to the next appropriate device command server 752 if the health of one of the current devices 754 becomes inoperative”)
In regards to claim 8, Drummond teaches the following limitations:
wherein determining further includes reporting to the transaction application that the command is capable of being processed based on the first status. (see at least Drummond ¶¶ 0346–0347 and FIG. 56 “an operation successful event… an operation failed event… an operation not available event… an operation not supported event”)
In regards to claim 9, Drummond discloses the following limitations:
wherein issuing further includes managing the first integrated device over the first session and the second integrated device over the second session (see at least Drummond ¶ 0394 “each ATM object further includes a plurality of methods or functions related to the capabilities of the underlying devices 724 and 726. These methods include an is-present method 714, a use rule method 716, and a select type method 718… a printer object is operative to communicate with both a receipt printer 724 and a statement printer 726”)
Drummond does not appear to specifically disclose the following limitations:
as a single logical device that is accessible to the transaction application over the third session.
the Examiner provides Cipollone to teach the following limitations:
as a single logical device that is accessible to the transaction application over the third session. (Cipollone teaches that a service provider may be associated with a logical device rather than a single physical module and may be presented to the application through the XFS manager service provider interface. See at least Cipollone ¶¶ 0060 and 0062, “one of the service providers 38c is associated with vendor dependent mode (which is a logical device)”).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the system and method as taught by Drummond, the transaction application as a single logical device over a service-provider session, as taught by Cipollone 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH M MUTSCHLER whose telephone number is (313)446-6603. The examiner can normally be reached 0600-1430.
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/JOSEPH M MUTSCHLER/Examiner, Art Unit 3627
/A. Hunter Wilder/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627
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