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 .
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).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-16 of U.S. Patent No. 11700904 and claims 1-19 of U.S. Patent No. 12171302. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the patents’ claims and applicant’s claims recite similar limitations.
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) 1-13 and 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guard et al. (US 20200253320) in view of Suzuki et al. (US 20150326028).
As to claim 1, Guard et al.’s figures 27 and 28 show a footwear system comprising: at least a first sensorized insole (100 on the left shoe) comprising a first insole bulk (see figures 2-22), wherein the first insole bulk comprises a first foot-facing upper surface, at least a first sensor (see figures 2-22) embedded in the first insole bulk for measuring a parameter of a user’s first foot, at least a first battery (290 in figure 2) embedded in the first insole bulk for providing energy to the first sensor, and at least a first wireless charging receiver pod (330 or 202) embedded in the first insole bulk for wirelessly receiving energy and providing energy to the first battery, and a charger (310) for providing energy to the first wireless charging receiver pod, the charger comprising a first cable (between 320 and 341) for connecting to an energy source, and at least a first wireless charging transmitter pod (320) electrically connected to the first cable. Guard et al.’s figures fail to the detail structure of the wireless power transmitter and receiver circuits. However, Suzuki et al.’s figures show a precise wireless power charging circuit. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use Suzuki et al.’s wireless power charging circuit for Guard et al.’s wireless power transmitter and receiver circuits for the purpose of providing more precise charging voltage. Therefore, the modified Guard et al.’s figures shows that the first wireless charging receiver pod comprises a first receiver coil (Suzuki’s 220) that is spaced from the first foot-facing upper surface by a first spacing; the first wireless charging transmitter pod comprises a first transmitter coil (Suzuki’s 120) for receiving energy from the first cable and wirelessly transmitting energy to the first wireless charging receiver pod through the first insole bulk; wherein the first wireless charging transmitter pod is positionable against the first foot-facing upper surface and is magnetically held in proximity to the first wireless charging receiver pod to wirelessly provide energy to the first wireless charging receiver pod through the first insole bulk; and wherein the first wireless charging transmitter pod is configured to detect the first spacing (by Suzuki’s 163-165. Transmission efficiency and coupling coefficient are inverse proportional to the distance between power transmitter and receiver, see ¶008 of US 201702201130 and ¶0109 of US 20160181870 for supporting evidences) and emit an electromagnetic field of a frequency that is tuned to the first spacing.
As to claim 2, detecting the presence of receiver device is well known in the art. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to further include the step of detecting the presence receiver device in the modified Guard et al.’s figures for the purpose of saving power consumption. Therefore, the modified Guard et al.’s figures further show that the first wireless charging transmitter pod is configured to first detect a presence of the first receiver coil, and then detect the first spacing.
As to claim 3, the modified Guard et al.’s figures show that the first wireless charging transmitter pod is configured to detect the first spacing by wirelessly emitting a series of stimulation pulses (by 120) to the first receiver coil and wirelessly receiving a series of response pulses back (via 243) from the first receiver coil.
As to claim 4, it is seen as an obvious design preference to configure the first spacing to be between about 1 mm and about 18 mm to ensure optimum performance, see MPEP 2144.05.
As to claim 5, the modified Guard et al.’s figures show that the footwear system further comprises a second sensorized insole (right shoe), wherein the second sensorized insole has a second insole bulk having a second foot-facing upper surface, at least a second sensor embedded in the second insole bulk for measuring a parameter of a user’s second foot, at least a second battery embedded in the second insole bulk for providing energy to the second sensor, and at least a second wireless charging receiver pod embedded in the second insole bulk for wirelessly receiving energy and providing energy to the second battery, wherein the second wireless charging receiver pod comprises a second receiver coil that is spaced from the second foot-facing upper surface by a second spacing; the charger further comprises at least a second wireless charging transmitter pod electrically connected to a second cable, wherein the second wireless charging transmitter pod comprises a second transmitter coil for receiving energy from the energy source and for wirelessly transmitting energy to the second wireless charging receiver pod through the second insole bulk; the second wireless charging transmitter pod is positionable against the second foot-facing upper surface and magnetically held in proximity to the first wireless charging receiver pod to wirelessly provide energy to the second wireless charging receiver pod through the second insole bulk; and the second wireless charging transmitter pod is configured to detect the second spacing and emit an electromagnetic field of a frequency that is tuned to the second spacing (the same recited elements in claim 1 are applied in the right shoe).
As to claim 6, the modified Guard et al.’s figures show that the first wireless charging transmitter pod is further positionable against the second foot-facing upper surface and magnetically held in proximity to the second wireless charging receiver pod to wirelessly provide energy to the second wireless charging receiver pod through the second insole bulk; and the first wireless charging transmitter pod is further configured to detect the second spacing and emit an electromagnetic field of a frequency that is tuned to the second spacing (since the shoes comprise identical components, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use the first transmitter to provide power to the second receiver and use the second transmitter to provide power to the first receiver for the purpose of saving time and providing more convenient for user).
As to claim 7, the modified Guard et al.’s figures show that the second wireless charging transmitter pod is further positionable against the first foot-facing upper surface and magnetically held in proximity to the first wireless charging receiver pod to wirelessly provide energy to the first wireless charging receiver pod through the first insole bulk; and the second wireless charging transmitter pod is further configured to detect the first spacing and emit an electromagnetic field of a frequency that is tuned to the first spacing (see the rejection of claim 6).
As to claim 8, since the coils can be positioned anywhere within the shoes, selecting the first spacing to be different from the second spacing is seen as an obvious design preference to ensure optimum performance, MPEP 2144.05.
As to claim 9, the modified Guard et al.’s figures show that the first sensorized insole and the second sensorized insole are a left insole and a right insole, respectively, of a pair of insoles for a given user.
As to claim 10, the modified Guard et al.’s figures show that the first wireless charging transmitter pod is configured to emit a first electromagnetic field and to dither the first electromagnetic field; and the second wireless charging transmitter pod is configured to emit a second electromagnetic field and to dither the second electromagnetic field.
As to claim 11, the power transmitters can be placed asynchronously or synchronously in the shoes. Therefore, placing the transmitters asynchronously in the shoes is seen as user intended use. The modified Guard et al.’s figures show that the first transmitter pod and second transmitter pod are configured to dither asynchronously (when the transmitters are placed in the shoes asynchronously).
Claims 12, 13 and 15-20 recite similar limitations in claims above. Therefore, they are rejected for the same reasons.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guard et al. (US 20200253320) in view of Suzuki et al. (US 20150326028) and Schmid (US 2020032915).
As to claim 14, Guard et al.’s ¶0029 teaches that “the insole includes a custom made”. Schmid et al.’s figure 7 shows the process for custom making insole. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to custom made Guard et al.’s insoles for the purpose of optimizing footwear support. Therefore, the modified Guard et al.’s figures shows that prior step a., custom manufacturing the first sensorized insole for a user by assessing the user’s foot (Schmid’s steps 7-1 – 7-3) and custom fashioning the first insole bulk (Schmid’s step 7-4 – 7-9) based the assessment, wherein the first spacing that is at least partially determined by the assessment.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANH-QUAN TRA whose telephone number is (571)272-1755. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri from 8:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrea Lindgren Baltzell can be reached at 571-272-5918. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QUAN TRA/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2843