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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/28/26 has been entered.
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 sector of the unique marker, wherein the first sector comprises a first area on the object (first sector interpreted as a region comprising a subset of elements within a superset; par. 130);
identifying a second sector of the unique marker, wherein the second sector comprises a second, distinct area on the object (i.e. another region/subset or the superset itself, par. 130; the superset can be a marker attached to the article, par. 25);
determining an integrity level for the object based on the first sector and the second sector, wherein determining the integrity level for the object comprises analyzing changes within and between the first and second sectors
(Gaathon967 discloses orientation information extracted from the object can indicate the relative spatial orientations of all the elements in the superset, and a subset of the orientation information indicating relative spatial orientations of the subset can be identified, par. 167; extracting the element information includes extracting topographical information from the object, where the topographical information indicates relative spatial topographies (e.g., relative sizes, relative shapes, etc.) of the respective elements of the object; par. 122; thus, the integrity level corresponds to relative or different spatial topologies of the elements within and between the subset sector and another subset sector or the superset sector, par. 130)
associating the integrity level with the unique marker of the object (par. 46-47, 122, 167, 128-130).
39.38, wherein the integrity level is determined based on a relationship of the first sector area of the unique marker to the second sector area of the unique marker (par. 122, 130, 167: first subset sector and another subset sector are within the superset sector).
40.39, wherein the relationship is based on relative size of the first sector to the second sector (par. 122, 128-130).
41.39, wherein the relationship is based on an orientation of at least one of the first or second sectors 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 sectors 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. 28, 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, 92-93, 144, 154).
46.38, comprising: outputting a location of a sector of compromised integrity in the first sector (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 sectors 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 sector 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 fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that does not disclose the claimed invention as currently amended.
However, upon further review, it is found that the cited prior art can still meet the current claims.
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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