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 Species I claims 1-7, and 16-20 in the reply filed on 07/16/26 is acknowledged. Claims 8-15 are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 16, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Le Henaff US 2018/0349695.
Regarding claim 1, Le Henaff discloses a system
comprising: an application server (see paragraph 0043 system and method for detecting the authenticity of a products by detecting a unique chaotic signature that should be intimately part of the product itself…the server processes the images to detect for each authentic product a unique authentic signature)
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comprising: one or more processors; and one or more tangible, non-transitory memories configured to communicate with the one or more processors (see paragraph 0019, memory device have non-transitory computer readable instructions for installing on a computing device)
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; and at least one of a registration device or a verification device connected to the application server, wherein the registration device comprises a registration scanner configured to read a chaotic structure of a material (see above paragraph 0043 where images of a chaotic identifying signature are stored in a database during a registration step), and wherein the verification device comprises a verification scanner configured to read the chaotic structure of the material (see above paragraph 0043 the user may take a picture of the product using an app installed on a portable device, interpreted as the verification device).
Claim 16 is similarly analyzed to claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, Le Henaff discloses the registration device comprises a scanner configured to read the chaotic structure of the material and a display to record the object data associated with the chaotic structure (see above paragraph 0043 and paragraph 0065 which discloses a display for the user).
Regarding claim 20, Le Henaff discloses receiving, by an application server, the chaotic structure data and the object data associated with the chaotic structure; and recording, by the application server, the chaotic structure data and the object data associated with the chaotic structure in an object database (see above paragraph 0043).
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.
Claims 2-7, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Le Henaff in view of Pappu et al. US 6,584,214 (hereinafter “Pappu”).
Regarding claim 2, as discussed above, Le Henaff discloses the invention of claim 1.
Le Henaff does not explicitly disclose wherein the chaotic structure is a three-dimensional structure.
Pappu discloses using three-dimensional characteristics of a complex physical structure to identify the structure (see col. 2 lines 34-49, where the complexity of the signature makes it extremely difficult to accurately refabricate)
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Le Henaff and Pappu are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of identifying an object.
Before the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Le Hanaff and Pappu to use three-dimensional characteristics as the chaotic structure. The motivation would be to make it extremely difficult to refabricate the structure thus improving reliability.
Regarding claim 3, Le Henaff discloses wherein at least one of the registration device or the verification device are configured to transmit the chaotic structure to the application server (see above copied paragraph 0043).
Regarding claim 4, Pappu discloses the material comprises a plastic polymer (see col. 3 lines 45-63 discussing using polymers to form the unique features).
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Regarding claim 5, Pappu discloses the material is a film, and the film is embedded in at least one object or card (col. 5 lines 49-55).
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Regarding claim 6, Le Henaff discloses the verification scanner or the registration scanner is at least one of a near-infrared scanner, a laser scanner, a light scanner or a camera (see paragraph 0049, good quality camera).
Regarding claim 7, Le Henaff discloses wherein the verification device is configured to receive a verification notification from the application server (see paragraph 0142, step 258 determines the authenticity of the given product based on the result of the search).
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Regarding claim 17, Le Henaff discloses transmitting, by a verification device, the chaotic structure data to an application server for verification;receiving, by the verification device, the object data associated with the chaotic structure data from the application server; anddisplaying, by the verification device, the object data associated with the chaotic structure data on a display of the verification device (see above paragraph 0042 and 0143).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Le Henaff.
Regarding claim 18, Le Henaff does not explicitly disclose that the chaotic structure comprises data of a place of origin, an owner, a latitude, a longitude, and an altitude, however it is well known that RFID devices can be used which can convey all this information and allow for tracking data regarding an object to which the RFID is attached to which the Examiner declares official notice. The motivation would be to be able to follow data points regarding the object.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the attached 892 notice of references cited.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN B STREGE whose telephone number is (571)272-7457. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 (PST).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chan Park can be reached at (571)272-7409. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN B STREGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2669
