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
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 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) 38-61 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Gaathon967 (WO 2017155967)
Gaathon967 discloses
38. A method, comprising:
receiving an object having a unique marker (103a) comprising a distribution of elements;
scanning the unique marker of the object and extracting orientation information from the unique marker, the orientation information indicating relative-spatial orientations of the respective elements with respect to one another (Fig. 1B, 12-15);
performing integrity verification of the object based on the extracted orientation information, wherein performing the integrity verification comprises:
identifying a first area of the unique marker (i.e. a subset within a superset);
identifying a second area of the unique marker (i.e. another subset or the superset itself);
determining an integrity level for the object based on the first area and the second area (par. 42-43, 117-120, 128-130: each subset is a unique code that comprises elements with unique orientations, size, shape, distance, and respond to a stimulus of specific frequency, polarization, etc.; each element including within a subset has at least location orientation relative to the rest of elements within the global coordinate system of the object); and
associating the integrity level with the unique marker of the object (par. 39, 42-43, 128-130).
39.38, wherein the integrity level is determined based on a relationship of the first area of the unique marker to the second area of the unique marker (par. 39, 42-43, 117-120, 130: properties of all elements in the superset are extracted; a subset of element is selected to generate a unique code; each element in the subset has a relationship with another in the superset in terms of i.e. distance, location, orientation, frequency response, … as seen in at least Figs. 1-3).
40.39, wherein the relationship is based on relative size of the first area to the second area (par. 128-130).
41.39, wherein the relationship is based on an orientation of at least one of the first or second areas of the unique marker (see discussion regarding claim 38-39 above).
42.39, wherein the relationship is based on misalignment between the first and second areas of the unique marker (each element in a subset can be mapped relative to the superset and host material, each element is relative to another element in terms of at least separation distance and orientation; i.e. par. 35-36, 39, 42-43, 117-120, 128-130).
43.38, wherein the integrity level is determined based on differential analysis comparison to one or more previous scans of the unique marker (par. 45-47).
44.38, wherein the integrity level is determined based on one or more thresholds (par. 44, 50, 58).
45.38, comprising: flagging the object for inspection based on the integrity level associated with the unique marker (par. 42-43, 128-130, 83, 144, 154).
46.38, comprising: outputting a location of an area of compromised integrity in the first area (Fig. 14, par. 76, 88, 91, 122: deformation of the object causes properties of elements including location to change, which can be extracted via scanning).
47.38, comprising: generating a unique code for the object based on the orientation information (par. 126-130, 171).
48.38, comprising: identifying at least one of the first or second areas of the unique marker based on the relative spatial orientations of the respective elements (par. 87)
49.38, wherein the unique marker is hidden or not visible to the naked eye (par. 32).
50.38, wherein the first area includes evidence of compromised integrity (par. 38-39, 42-43, 76, 88, 91).
51.50, wherein evidence of compromised integrity includes evidence of one or more of the following: environmental stress, removal of elements, replacement of elements, shifting of elements, destruction of elements, mechanical stress, mechanical wear, deformation, article use, or article activation (par. 76, 88, 91).
52.38, comprising: scanning the unique marker of the object at different points in a chain of custody and extracting orientation information from the unique marker at each scan; for each scan of the object at different points, performing integrity verification of the object based on the extracted orientation information for the respective scan; and determining, based on the performed integrity verification, a point in the chain of custody where tamper occurred (Fig. 14, par. 76, 85, 88, 91).
53.38, wherein the unique marker is formed on a surface of the object (Fig. 1).
54.38, wherein the unique marker is formed on a seal, sticker, film, or wrap on the object (Fig. 1).
Re claims 55-61, see discussion regarding claims above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of new ground of rejection.
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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