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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 11-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by USP 8,433,438 to Gorp et al.
Gorp et al. discloses apparatus having a computer system that includes (claim 1) a processor circuit 140 configured to execute instructions; a memory circuit communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and configured to store instructions and data (column 13, lines 45-50); a network interface circuit communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and configured to facilitate communication with external devices via a network (column 14, lines 21-25); a power port configured to receive electrical power from an external source to operate the apparatus, as all CPUs include; a display device communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and configured to present visual information to a user (column 14, lines 11-20); and a human input device communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and configured to receive input from a user to control operations of the apparatus (column 14, lines 13-16); (claims 2, 3, 19, 20) a computing device 140,160 configured to: communicate instructions with a plurality of inspection devices 100, 150; communicate inspection data with the plurality of inspection devices as all devices operate and communicate via a network; communicate status data with the plurality of inspection devices; store received inspection data; and communicate notification messages based, at least in part, on the inspection data (column 14, lines 38-52); (claim 4) the instructions include a power on instruction as all general purpose computing systems include; (claims 5, 16) the instructions include an inspector identification as broadly claimed, in that the system disclosed can identify each inspection device and the unique information collected from each inspection device (see table 5); (claims 6, 11) the instructions include a power off instruction as all computing systems have a power down function; (claim 7) the instructions include an update configuration instruction as broadly claimed (column 8, lines 56-62); (claim 8) the inspection data includes a sample quality characteristic (see Table 5, ‘Weight’); (claims 12, 13) the apparatus communicates via a wired communication protocol or a wireless communication protocol (column 13, line 65-column 14, line 5); (claim 14) the human input device is a touch screen (column 14, lines 16-19); (claim 15) include a power port and a communication port (column 14, lines 6-9); (claim 17) wherein the sorting data includes a number of samples sorted to a first category of a plurality of sorting categories (see Table 5, ‘Stream Units 1’); (claim 18) the sorting data includes a time stamp (see Table 5, ‘Finished Time’).
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) 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gorp et al. in view of USP 6,594,545 to Kakigi.
With regard to claims 9 and 10, the provision of error notifications and descriptions in control systems for sorting devices are notoriously well known in the art. Kakigi discloses a sorting device that sends error notifications to a user and descriptions of the error (column 31, lines 47-51). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide error notifications to the computing system of Gorp et al. such requiring the mere addition of a well known art technique for reporting an error in a process or system should one skilled in the art wish to provide notifications of errors within a sorting process as taught by Kakigi.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GENE O CRAWFORD whose telephone number is (571)272-6911. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thurs 6a-5p; Fri 6a-2p.
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, Joseph Thomas can be reached at 571-272-8004. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651
Prosecution Insights