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 § 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.
Claim 1 line 5: it is unclear as to whether the wherein clause is intended to claim
wherein the control and display module implemented on a single microcontroller comprises a pay-as-you-go controller, one or more inbuilt digital displays, and one or more communication modules.
or
wherein the control and display module comprises:
a pay-as-you-go controller,
one or more inbuilt digital displays, and
one or more communication modules implemented on a single microcontroller.
Claim 1 line 11: it is unclear what is meant by “authenticate the received at least of the pay-as-you-go token and the one or more pay-as-you-go user credentials”. For examination purposes, it is interpreted as “authenticate the received at least one of the pay-as-you-go token and the one or more pay-as-you-go user credentials”
Dependent claim(s) is/are also rejected for inheriting the flaws from the parent claim(s).
Claims 12-13 are dependent on a rejected claim.
Clarifications are respectfully requested.
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) 1-3, 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richards (US 20040008582 ) in view of Olson (US 20130111936 )
Richards discloses
1. A tamper-proof refrigerator comprising:
a compressor (Richards discloses appliance 10 but is silent to a compressor; however, appliances are well known to include refrigerator which commonly to include compressor; Olson, par. 3, 22; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to extend the teachings Richards so that refrigerators can be rented to those need them); and
a control and display module (20, Fig. 1-3) connected to the compressor, and enabled with a pay-as-you-go feature,
wherein the control and display module comprises a pay-as-you-go controller, one or more inbuilt digital displays (23), and one or more communication modules implemented on a single microcontroller, and
wherein the control and display module is configured to:
receive at least one of a pay-as-you-go token and one or more pay-as-you-go user credentials (par. 13, 17-19, 33)
authenticate the received at least [one] of the pay-as-you-go token and the one or more pay-as-you-go user credentials (Summary, par. 33: password or code);
obtain a subscription status related to the pay-as-you-go feature of the user from a pay-as-you-go server; and (par. 13, 18: code sent from an internet server to reset the timer, which implies that the rental subscription status is active)
operate the compressor only when both authentication is successful and the subscription status is determined to be valid (par. 33: electricity is on if the code is received; Richards is silent to both authentication; however, Richards also mentions that the code is downloaded to a credit card that is inserted into the appliance; par. 13, 27; beside Richards, Olson also teaches a fridge can have readers for reading tokens or credentials as a magnetic, or RFID card; Olson, par. 50; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to extend the teachings of Richards such that the password as token and payment as credentials can be accepted at the appliance)
2.1, wherein the control and display module is hardcoded with a unique identification (ID), and is paired with the refrigerator, wherein the control and display module comprises (Richards teaches Internet connection and radio frequency connection; par. 13; which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to require at least an ID, i.e. Internet address, device ID, or MAC address for the communication)
3.1, wherein the control and display module is configured to enable communication between the refrigerator and at least one of the pay-as-you-go server, and one or more user devices using the one or more communication modules (par. 13)
6.1, wherein the subscription status of the pay-as-you-go feature comprises one or more of: time left on a user's subscription, and time used by the user on the user's subscription, and wherein the control and display module receives the subscription status of the pay-as-you-go feature of the user from the pay-as-you-go server, and wherein the time refers to number of days left, wherein the control and display module is configured to enable communication between the refrigerator and at least one of the pay-as-you-go server and one or more user devices using the one or more communication modules (par. 13: the unit comprises transmitter and receiver to obtain the code from the Internet server; the code serves as a status as being subscribed to the rental service).
7.1, wherein the control and display module is configured to: monitor the subscription status of the pay-as-you-go feature of the user; send a failure notification to the user through the one or more inbuilt digital displays, if the subscription status of the pay-as-you-go feature of the user is determined to be not valid (par. 21-22: the display has count down timer, thus a zero would imply a failure in that the rental period has expired).
Claim(s) 5, 8, 12-13 s/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richards (US 20040008582 ) Olson (US 20130111936 ) in view of Gerhards (US 20170264950)
Re claim 5.1, Richards discloses the control and display module is configured to provide instructions to a compressor controller to stop operations of the refrigerator and send a failure notification to the user using at least one of the inbuilt digital displays (i.e. par. 13, 17-19, 33)
Richards is silent to send to one or more user devices via the one or more communication modules, if the authentication fails
Gerhards discloses a user mobile can login a monitoring system associated with appliance 180 and receivers 130 to control appliances and receive status (par. 24, 64, 71, 74).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Gerhards to conveniently control and receive data from the refrigerator and the control display module regarding the fridge’s status. It would have also been obvious when the authentication fails, i.e. when the user attempts the code the subsequent time; Richards, par. 28; the user can be notified via the mobile so that it can be used as a reminder for the user to pay for another code to reset the timer.
Re claim 8, 12-13, 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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