DETAILED ACTION
Amendment
1. Receipt is acknowledged of the amendment filed on November 24, 2025. Currently claims 1-11 remain in the examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claims 1 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2007/0133039 A1 to Yamada (hereinafter “Yamada”).
Regarding claims 1 and 8, Yamada discloses a wireless tag communication system 1 and an image forming apparatus 1 (see figure 1) comprising a processing apparatus 1 including a conveyance device that conveys a sheet along the conveying path (see paragraph 0044) wherein a sheet is provided with a wireless tag – a RFID tag 80 (see paragraphs 0045 and thereafter and figure 5); and IC reader/writer 81 reads from and write to the RFID tag 80 on a sheet (see paragraph 0050 and thereafter). The processor CPU 90 determines a predetermined time has elapsed, and executes the writing process (see paragraph 0127). Relying on figure 5, any area of the sheet can be a conveyance area. So, the tag 80 is surrounded by non-communication area.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 9-11 are allowed.
6. Claims 2-7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
7. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claims are directed at a wireless tag communication system, comprising:
a processing apparatus including a conveyance device that conveys a sheet provided with a wireless tag;
a tag communication device that performs detection processing of the wireless tag of the sheet conveyed by the conveyance device of the processing apparatus and writing processing of information on the wireless tag; and
a controller that causes the tag communication device to execute the writing processing after the conveyance device has started to convey the sheet and a predetermined waiting time has elapsed; and
wherein the predetermined waiting time is a time from when the conveyance is started until the detection processing is started.
Such a wireless tag communication system is neither disclosed nor suggested by the cited references. Examiner incorporated the limitation of claim 2 into claim 1 as an example, however, the limitations in other dependent claims (claims 3-7) are also allowable. The subject matter in claims 9-11 are also allowable.
Response to Arguments
8. Applicant's response including amended claims and arguments filed on November 24, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Please compare figure 5 of Yamada and figure 8(a)-(d) of the instant application. Although they are not identical, the IC chip is surrounded by non-communication area in all direction regardless of the sheet feeding direction. Accordingly, it is the Examiner’s position that the Yamade reference still reads on the amended limitation of claims 1 and 8. Accordingly, the rejection made in the previous Office Action is maintained, and this Office Action is made final.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ahshik Kim whose telephone number is (571)272-2393. The examiner can normally be reached between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday thru Friday. Examiner’s fax phone number is (571)273-2393.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Michael G. Lee, can be reached on (571)272-2398. The fax phone number for this Group is (571)273-8300.
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/AHSHIK KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
February 3, 2026