DETAILED ACTION
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 .
The application of Pointeau for a “parcel locker bank system with banks of lockers with rear side access” filed on January 31, 2025 has been examined.
This application claims foreign priority based on the application EP24305183, filed on February 1, 2024 in European Office. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C 119(a) – (d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Claims 1-15 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the bank" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. “the bank” should be “the bank of lockers”.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the control unit" in line 16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. “the control unit” should be “a control unit”.
Referring to claims 2-8 are rejected as being dependent upon a rejected Claim 1 above.
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.
Claims 1, 3-9 and 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Thorp et al. (Pub. No. 2023/0115325).
Referring to Claim 1, Thorp et al. disclose a parcel locker bank system (10) (a dispatch system) for dispatching and collecting shipments by an agent, such as a carrier agent, as well as for dropping-off and picking-up of shipments by a user (page 2 paragraph 0013 to page 3 paragraph 0034; see Figures 1 to 16), the parcel locker bank system (10) including:
a bank of lockers (12) comprising a front side (16), a rear side (18), a control unit (32), a user interface (33) facing towards the front side of the bank (16), and several lockers extending each between said front side and said rear side of the bank and each configured to store a shipment, each locker (12) comprising a compartment (28) opened on the rear side of the bank (18), closed on the front side (16) of the bank by an individual electronically controlled door (36) (i.e. a dispatch system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention comprising a plurality of lockers 12. The plurality of lockers 12 form at least part of a barrier 14 to a fulfilment center having a front side 16 and a back side 18. The front side 16 of the barrier is accessible by a user such as a courier for the collection of goods. For the purpose of explanation of the present invention, the front side will be referred to as the collection side 16. The back side 18 of the barrier is configured for dispatch of the fulfilled orders into the lockers. For the purpose of the present invention, the back side or the rear side will be referred to as the dispatch side 18 for the dispatch of fulfilled orders into the lockers. An order is fulfilled when good or items specified in each order are retrieved or picked from inventory (which also may be referred to as stock storage) in the order fulfilment facility) (page 8 paragraph 0108 to page 9 paragraph 0112; page 13 paragraph 0147; see Figures 1 and 2),
a remote shipping system (62) (i.e. a control module) comprising a Parcel Handling application (i.e. software for control operation of the dispatch system 60) and communicating with the bank via a first long-distance communication network (74), and with a mobile device (72) of the agent via a second long-distance communication network (i.e. transmitter/receiver device) (i.e. The control module 62 controls the operation of the dispatch system and comprises one or more processors 64, a memory 66 (e.g. read only memory and random access memory) and a communication bus 68. The control module 62 is communicatively coupled to the access control module 32, one or more scanning devices 70 and one or more personal communication devices 72 of a user, e.g. smart phone, tablet, smart watch, laptop, etc., via a communication network 74 over a wired or wireless transmitter/receiver (not shown). The communication network 74, for example, can be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or any other type of network. The one or more processors 64 of the control module 62 can execute instructions stored in the ROM and/or RAM to at least partially provide the functionality of the dispatch system) (column 15 paragraphs 0155 to 0156; see Figures 5 and 6),
characterized in that the compartment (28) of each locker (12) is opened on the
rear side of the bank (18), the bank being designed to give access to its rear side only to
the agent while access to its front side (16) is given to both the user and the agent (i.e. each of the plurality of hatches or lockers has a first opening 24 at the collection side 16, a second opening 26 at the dispatch side 18 and an interior space 28 between the first opening 24 and the second opening 26 for the storage of goods or packaged goods) (page 9 paragraph 0109-0112;
see Figures 1, 2 and 14),
in that the control unit (62) is configured to open the doors (17) on the front side
of the bank (16) to allow dispatching, collecting, dropping-off and picking-up the
shipments (i.e. The access control module 32 can also comprise a guidance means operable by the access control module 32 to communicate a location of the one or more of the plurality of identified lockers allocated to customer or courier once the collection code is entered into the first input device. The guidance means can include an output device to display a visual/graphical guide showing one or more identified lockers allocated to a customer or courier or a textual guide to their allocated locker) (page 14 paragraph 0150; see Figures 1 to 6), and
the Parcel Handling application is configured to send data to the mobile
device (72) of the agent to guide him through the dispatching and collecting of shipments
from the rear side (16) and to receive data from the mobile device (72) of the agent to verify
that the agent has made no mistake in dispatching and collecting (i.e. the access control module 32, the location of the allocated locker can be communicated to the customer or courier via their personal communication device, e.g. mobile phone or smart phone. The communication to the personal communication device can be via either far field or near field wireless communication protocol such as at least one of Bluetooth, Zigbee and/or the like or Wi-Fi emitters. The access control module 32 may also comprise a virtual assistant such as a chatbot system, to indicate the location of a locker allocated to an order. The process of allocating a locker into which an operative can place the package (step 106 in FIG. 8) can be manual or automated. If the locker is manually allocated, the operative selects an available locker to allocate to the package. If the locker is automatically allocated, the control module 62 allocates a locker and instructs the operative to place the package in the locker) (page 14 paragraph 0150; page 15 paragraph 0155; page 18 paragraphs 0171-0173; see Figures 1-6 and 8-10).
Referring to Claim 3, Thorp et al. disclose the parcel locker bank system according to claim 1, wherein the Parcel Handling application is configured to disable access to the lockers from the front of the bank (16) for a dispatch by a carrier agent or for a drop-off by the user while a shipment is being dispatched in the locker from the rear of the bank (18) , and to disable access to the lockers from the front side of the bank for a collection of a shipment by a carrier agent while a shipment is being collected from the rear of the bank (i.e. each of the plurality of lockers 12 comprises at least one bi-directional roller shutter 30 that is moveable to position across either the first opening 24 or the second opening 26 to prevent or permit access to the interior space 28 of the locker either through the first opening 24 or the second opening 26 in a single operation, e.g. a single movement) (page 9 paragraphs 0111 and 0116; see Figures 1 and 2).
Referring to Claim 4, Thorp et al. disclose the parcel locker bank system according to claim 1, wherein a locker identifier is attached onto or next to the locker and an identification label of the shipment is attached to the shipment, the Parcel Handling application being configured to request and receive from the mobile device of the agent a capture of the identification label and of the locker identifier, to store the capture of the identification label of the shipment in a first memory space of the remote shipping system and store the locker identifier in a second memory space of the remote shipping system, and to associate the first memory space with the second memory space, the mobile device
of the agent comprising or being associated with a scanning component and is configured to use the scanning component for capturing identification labels and locker identifiers (page 15 paragraph 0156; page 16 paragraph 0161; page 22 paragraphs 0211-0215; see Figures 5 and 6).
Referring to Claim 5, Thorp et al. disclose the parcel locker bank system according to claim 1, wherein the Parcel Handling application is configured to generate an authorization code further to a dispatch of a shipment in the rear side of a locker of the bank, and send the authorization code to the control unit of the bank for storage in a local memory, the
control unit being configured to grant access to a user to said locker to pick-up the
shipment by comparing the authorization code stored in the local memory with credential provided by the user (i.e. the control module 62 registers the order and generates a collection code unique to the order 82. A request is made to make a home delivery to a courier and the collection code is communicated to the courier's personal device (transmitter/receiver device) 84. The courier is sent the delivery information which includes the customer's home address. The courier can track the status of the order as the identification of the locker and the identification of the fulfilled order are correlated to the collection code unique to the order. Once the order is fulfilled (see FIG. 8) and when collecting the order for delivery, the courier checks in by entering the collection code unique to the order into the first input device 86 at a terminal shared amongst the plurality of lockers) (page 17 paragraph 0163; see Figure 7).
Referring to Claim 6, Thorp et al. disclose the parcel locker bank system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile device (72) of the agent is configured to establish a communication with the remote shipping system (62) and the Parcel Handling application is configured to exchange in real time with the mobile device (72) of the agent through the first long-distance communication network (74) while shipments are being dispatched and/or collected from the rear side of the bank(16) (i.e. the control module 62 controls the operation of the dispatch system and comprises one or more processors 64, a memory 66 (e.g. read only memory and random access memory) and a communication bus 68. The control module 62 is communicatively coupled to the access control module 32, one or more scanning devices 70 and one or more personal communication devices 72 of a user, e.g. smart phone, tablet, smart watch, laptop, etc., via a communication network 74 over a wired or wireless transmitter/receiver (not shown). The communication network 74, for example, can be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or any other type of network. The one or more processors 64 of the control module 62 can execute instructions stored in the ROM and/or RAM to at least partially provide the functionality of the dispatch system described herein) (page 15 paragraph 0155; see Figures 5 and 6).
Referring to Claim 7, Thorp et al. disclose the parcel locker bank system according to claim 1, wherein the bank (12) comprises at least one standard locker (22) equipped with an electronically controlled door (17) attached on the front side of the bank (16) and closed by a rear panel (15) on the rear side of the bank (18), the standard locker (22) being used for dispatching, collecting, dropping-off and picking-up shipments only from the front side of the bank (16), the Parcel Handling application being configured to always allow access to the standard locker (22) from the front side of the bank while shipments are being dispatched and or collected from the rear side of the bank (i.e. when a collection code is input into the local user interface 80, the one or more processors 76 of the access control module 32 is instructed to compare the collection code with collection codes stored in the memory 78. In an event that the collection code corresponds with a collection code stored in the memory 78, the one or more processors 76 is instructed to retrieve the corresponding identification of the locker and/or identification of the one or more packaging of the order stored in the memory 78 and execute the guiding means to guide the user to their allocated locker) (page 15 paragraph 0157; see Figures 1, 5 and 12).
Referring to Claim 8, Thorp et al. disclose the parcel locker bank system according to claim 1, wherein the bank (100, 700) comprises:
-a rear-loading column with at least one locker opened on the rear side of the bank (i.e. the bi-directional roller shutter 30 prevents an unauthorized user of the lockers from pilfering the contents of the locker. The arrows shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b) show the direction of movement of the bi-directional roller shutter 30 across the first opening 24 at the collection side 16 and the second opening 26 across the dispatch side 18) (page 9 paragraph 0112; see Figures 2 and 14-15),
-a rear-loading control column including the control unit and the user interface and at least one locker opened on the rear side of the bank (i.e. entry into the interior space 28 of the lockers 12 is controlled by a locking mechanism (not shown) which in turn is controlled by an access control module 32 comprising an access control processor and a machine readable media such as a barcode or QR code scanner) (page 9 paragraph 0112; see Figures 2 and 14-15), and
-a standard column with at least one standard locker closed on the rear side of the bank by a rear panel (i.e. each of the plurality of lockers may comprise a single interior door 15 and a single exterior door 17. That is, each individual locker in the plurality of lockers may have its own individual interior door and its own individual exterior door, and each interior or exterior door provides access to one locker. The interior door 15 provides access to the rear side or dispatch side 18 of the locker from the inside of the fulfilment center 34, and the exterior door 17 provides access to the front side or collection side 16 of the locker from the outside of the fulfilment center 34) (page 11 paragraph 0131; see Figures 14-15),
the rear side of the bank of lockers being closed by at least one rear-side door, said rear-side door having dimensions allowing to close at least two lockers on the rear side of the bank (i.e. two or more of the plurality of lockers may be grouped into a sub-group of lockers 13. The sub-group of lockers 13 may comprise two or more lockers such that the exterior door and/or the interior door is a single door shared by the sub-group of the two or more lockers) (page 11 paragraphs 0132-0135; see Figures 14-15).
Referring to Claims 9 and 11-13, Thorp et al. disclose a method using a parcel locker bank for dispatching, collecting, dropping-off and picking-up shipments, although different in scope from the claims 1 and 3-5, the claims 9 and 11-13 contains similar limitations in that the claims 1 and 3-5 already addressed above therefore claims 9 and 11-13 are also rejected for the same reasons given with respect to claims 1 and 3-5.
Referring to Claim 14, Thorp et al. disclose the method according to claim 9, further comprising: choosing to collect from the rear side of the bank a first shipment from the locker using the mobile device as a local interface for the remote shipping system, and
- picking-up from the front side of the bank a second shipment of the parcel locker bank while collecting the first shipment from the rear side of the parcel locker bank, and
- disabling access from the front of the parcel locker bank to the locker
for a collection by an agent during a collection of a shipment from the rear side of the
parcel locker bank (i.e. subsequent to entering the collection code, the access control module 32 is triggered to execute the guiding means to direct the courier to the locker allocated to the order 88. At the allocated locker, the courier is instructed to enter the collection code or at least a portion of the collection code to complete entry of the collection code into the second input device 90. In an event that the collection code matches or completes a pattern, the access control module is instructed to unlock the locking mechanism, whereupon the courier is able to move the bi-directional roller shutter to the second position and collect the package from the allocated locker 92. The order is confirmed as collected 94 when the bi-directional roller shutter moves to the first position across the first opening to close entry into the locker at the collection side and thus, exposing the second opening 26 for the dispatch of another order. Closure of the bi-directional roller shutter can be done manually by the courier or automatically through a motorized system as discussed above. This then frees up the locker for another delivery) (page 17 paragraph 0164; see Figure 7).
Referring to Claim 15, Thorp et al. disclose the method according to claim 13, further comprising: selecting a carrier within a list of carriers displayed on the mobile
device and stored in the remote shipping system,
- displaying on the mobile device a list of shipments to collect stored in
the remote shipping system and corresponding to the selected carrier,
- capturing an identification label of the shipment to be collected,
- or alternatively capturing a locker identifier,
- removing the shipment from the locker, and
- stopping displaying the shipment in the list of shipments for collection
on the mobile device (i.e. the operative registers the one or more packages unique to an order by scanning the identification code on the label using, e.g. a hand held scanner 104. Once registered, e.g. scanned, the fulfilled order is transported to the plurality of lockers where the operative allocates a locker to receive the order 106. Where orders are due to be collected by the same courier, the orders can be grouped into adjacent or neighbouring lockers so making collection of the orders easier. Equally, where the orders are destined to a person with a disability such as being confined to a wheelchair, the operative allocates one or more lockers at a level that is easily accessible by the person. The operative in the fulfilment center places the identified package into the allocated locker 108 through the second opening 26 and registers the allocated locker by scanning an identification of the allocated locker, e.g. a label identifying the locker 110. As with the identification of the packages, each of the plurality of lockers bear an identification code in the form of a barcode, a QR code or a RFID tag. The order of the steps 108 and 110 can be reversed depending on whether the operative places the packaging into a locker 108 first and secondly, scans the label on the locker allocated the packaging 110 or scans the label on the locker 110 first and secondly places the packaging into the locker 108) (page 17 paragraph 0165; see Figures 7 and 8).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thorp et al. (Pub. No. 2023/0115325) as applied to claims 1 and 9 in view of Deutsch et al. (Pub. No. 2021/0012279).
Referring to Claims 2 and 10, Thorp et al. disclose the parcel locker bank system according to claims 1 and 9, however, Thorp et al. did not explicitly disclose wherein the Parcel Handling application is configured for the dispatch or the collection of a first shipment on the rear side of the bank during a pick-up of a second shipment from the front side of the parcel locker bank.
In the same field of endeavor of a parcel dispatching system, Deutsch et al. teach that wherein the Parcel Handling application is configured for the dispatch or the collection of a first shipment on the rear side of the bank during a pick-up of a second shipment from the front side of the parcel locker bank (i.e. the server 30 comprises a server synchronization record 330, which may be updated with a server synchronization record entry 232, comprising the sequence number 58 and the piece ID 42 based on the receipt of a synchronization e-token 60. In the illustrated embodiment, a user e-token 50 comprising the following values is received by the service point 20: Sequence number 58=xx and the piece ID 42=yy) (page 12 paragraphs 0179 to 0188; see Figures 1 to 4) in order to guide the courier of the pick-up and delivery event.
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for the server to create identification code within the parcel locker system for a pick-up the parcel and appoint to the received parcel data to the server for distribution and allocation of parcels taught by Deutsch et al. in the dispatch system for fulfilling an order of items using the bank of lockers of Thorp et al. because having the server to create identification code within the parcel locker system for a pick-up the parcel and appoint to the received parcel data to the server would provide an efficient and reliable manner in the distribution and allocating parcels.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to the enclosed PTO-892 for details.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAM V NGUYEN whose telephone number is 571-272-3061. Fax number is (571) 273-3061. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM-5:00PM Monday to Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Quan-Zhen Wang can be reached on 571-272-3114. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications.
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/NAM V NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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