DETAILED ACTION
Summary
This Office Action is responsive to amendments filed 01/21/2026.
Claims 1-5, 8-12, 15, 17-19, and 22-26 have been amended. Claims 1-28 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 12-13, filed 01/21/2026, with respect to the prior art have been fully considered and are persuasive. The prior art rejection of claims 1-28 has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 2, 10, 22, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 2, 10, 22, and 24 were each amended to recite the new limitation “wherein the admin user is not a creator or an owner of the MR code”. There is insufficient support for this limitation in the specification and is considered to be an introduction of new matter. Nothing in the disclosure explicitly states or suggests that the admin user is not a creator or owner of the MR code. While the specification clearly describes what the admin-user can do, such as in paragraphs [0048]-[0051], nothing indicates that the admin user is not a creator or owner of the MR code. Applicant points to paragraphs [0036] [0047] and [0084] as supporting the admin user not being the creator or owner of the code, however the examiner disagrees with the Applicant’s assertion that the paragraphs support the amended limitations. In particular, paragraphs [0047] [0084]-[0085] detail a user’s interaction with the QR code management app, where the user may create a QR code. However, the disclosure does not exclude the admin-user from creating/owning the QR code.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-9, 11-21, 23, and 25-28 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding independent claim 1:
The prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest, either singularly or in combination thereof, a method for managing machine-readable (MR) code processing on a mobile device, the method comprising:
Obtaining a data string derived from an MR code that is associated with a pre-determined output, the MR code selected by a non-admin user operating the mobile device;
Determining whether the data string was previously assigned from the predetermined output to a custom output by the non-admin user, wherein the permission to access the custom output is granted to the non-admin user by an admin user;
In response to determining that the data string was previously assigned to the custom output that the non-admin user has the permission to access, providing the non-admin user with the custom output and an option to reassign the data string to a different custom output that the non-admin user has the permission to access; and
In response to determining that the data string was not previously assigned to any custom output, prompting the non-admin user to associate the data string with one or more custom outputs that the non-admin user has the permission to access.
Independent claims 9, 15, and 23 are allowed for substantially the same reasons as claim 1.
Claims 3-8, 11-14, 16-21, and 25-28 depend from claims 1, 9, 15, and 23, respectively, and are therefore allowed.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
KHIEU, WO 2024/194700, teaches a method for using scannable identifiers, such as QR codes, providing users with access to data depending upon prior authentication. An initializing user may configure read and edit access for end users [0019]-[0025].
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA A GUDORF whose telephone number is (571)270-7607. If the Examiner cannot be reached by telephone, she can be reached through the following e-mail address: laura.gudorf@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 6:00-4:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone and e-mail are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Lee can be reached on (571)272-2398. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAURA A GUDORF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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