DETAILED ACTION
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) 1-5, 7, 9-11, 14, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaeger (US 20190095773 A1) in view of Choi Hoon (KR 101315913 B1).
Re Claim 1: Jaeger discloses
Flexible protected electronic tag (fig 5a: 1) for application on a product, the flexible protected electronic tag comprising:
a radio frequency identification circuit with an antenna (fig 5a: 40 & 50);
a flexible circuit layer (fig 5a: 20, p40: wraparound label), having a product side configured to be attached to the product (fig 5a: 60) and a top side arranged opposite to the product side, wherein the flexible circuit layer comprises the radio frequency identification circuit; and
a spacer element (fig 5a: 30) arranged laterally next to the radio frequency identification circuit and extending from the top side of the flexible circuit layer vertically beyond the radio frequency identification circuit, thereby forming an air gap between the top of the spacer element and the top of the radio frequency identification circuit.
However, Jaeger does not disclose that the flexible circuit layer comprises a plurality of precuts arranged around the radio frequency identification circuit, which extend through the flexible circuit layer.
Choi Hoon however discloses that the flexible circuit layer comprises a plurality of precuts arranged around the radio frequency identification circuit (figs 1 & 3), which extend through the flexible circuit layer.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate Choi Hoon’s teaching in the tag of Jaeger for the purpose of prevent counterfeiting (Choi Hoon: anti-counterfeiting).
Re Claim 2: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, wherein the radio frequency identification circuit is arranged on the flexible circuit layer (fig 5a: 40 & 50), or wherein the radio frequency identification circuit is at least partially arranged within the flexible circuit layer.
Re Claim 3: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, wherein the flexible protected electronic tag comprises a plurality of spacer elements (fig 5a: 30) extending from the top side of the flexible circuit layer.
Re Claim 4: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of spacer elements are distributed evenly around the radio frequency identification circuit (fig 6 & 7b).
Re Claim 5: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, wherein the flexible protected electronic tag comprises a flexible spacer element layer (p58: The structure elements may have a certain compressibility, p64: thin platelets of plastic, rubber, caoutchouc or cork), which is glued onto the flexible circuit layer (p62: by means of an adhesive-application process), thereby forming the spacer element.
Re Claim 7: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, wherein the spacer element extends at least partially inwards towards the top of the radio frequency identification circuit, thereby forming a cavity, which comprises the air gap (figs 4b & 5a).
Re Claim 9: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, further comprising a product adhesion layer arranged on the product side of the flexible circuit layer and configured to attach the flexible protected electronic tag to the product (figs 4b & 5a: 60).
Re Claim 10: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, further comprising a spacer adhesion layer (figs 4b: 70, p62: by means of an adhesive-application process) arranged between the spacer element and the flexible circuit layer and configured to attach the spacer element to the flexible circuit layer.
Re Claim 11: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, further comprising a pressure relieve valve, which is configured to enable air exchange in and out of the air gap (Choi Hoon: figs 1 & 3: 11a-11d, 12a-12i).
Re Claim 14: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses a packaging (Choi Hoon: figs 4 & 5, examiner: bottle) for a consumer product (Choi Hoon: abst: wine) comprising the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1.=
Re Claim 15: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses a consumer product (Choi Hoon: abst: wine, examiner: wine bottle is a packaging but is also integral part of the product) comprising the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1 (Choi Hoon: figs 4 & 5).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaeger (US 20190095773 A1) modified by Choi Hoon (KR 101315913 B1) in view of LEE JAE WON (KR 102199392 B1).
Re Claim 6: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 5, wherein the flexible spacer element layer has a ring symmetrical shape and is arranged coaxially with respect to the flexible circuit layer (fig 7b).
However, Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon does not disclose that the flexible circuit layer has a ring cylindrical shape.
LEE JAE WON however discloses that the flexible circuit layer has a ring cylindrical shape (an electronic tag layer or an electronic tag including a coil and an RF chip included in the electronic tag layer may be positioned on the front surface of the card, may have a circular shape,).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate LEE JAE WON’s teaching in the tag of Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon for the benefit of directional insensitivity (circular polarization) for better read reliability.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaeger (US 20190095773 A1) modified by Choi Hoon (KR 101315913 B1) in view of Matsumura (US 20150060554 A1).
Re Claim 8: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, wherein the spacer element is made of a deformable material (p58: The structure elements may have a certain compressibility, p64: thin platelets of plastic, rubber, caoutchouc or cork), that the air gap between the top of the spacer element and the top of the radio frequency identification circuit is not fully compressed when the load engages on the spacer element (p39: prevent the at least one second foil course 42 from being pressed onto the region B41 of the first foil course 41).
However, Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon does not disclose that the vertical extension of the spacer element is selected in dependence of a predefined load expected to engage on the spacer element.
Matsumura however discloses that the vertical extension of the spacer element is selected in dependence of a predefined load expected to engage on the spacer element (p258: in a case where pressure is exerted to the RFID tag 200A from the object 500 (see FIG. 4A) or the object 500A (see FIG. 7), the sidewall parts 232-235 may be set with a predetermined size, strength, or the like, so that the object 500 or 500A contacts the sidewall parts 232-235 but does not contact the bottom part 131).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate Matsumura’s teaching in the tag of Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon for the purpose of protecting the tag against the expected likely load.
Claim(s) 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaeger (US 20190095773 A1) modified by Choi Hoon (KR 101315913 B1) in view of KUECHENTHAL (WO 2021099353 A1).
Re Claim 12: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 1, further comprising a cover layer arranged on the top of the spacer element (figs 4b & 5a: 40), and configured to cover at least partially the spacer element and the air gap.
However, Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon does not disclose cover layer arranged on the top of an element via a cover adhesion layer.
KUECHENTHAL however discloses cover layer arranged on the top of an element via a cover adhesion layer (fig 2: 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinarily skill in the art to incorporate KUECHENTHAL’s teaching in the tag of Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon for the purpose of protecting the tag layer.
Re Claim 13: Jaeger modified by Choi Hoon and KUECHENTHAL discloses the flexible protected electronic tag according to claim 12, wherein the cover layer comprises at least one hole, which is configured to enable air exchange in and out of the air gap (Choi Hoon: figs 1 & 3: 11a-11d, 12a-12i).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAE W KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-5971. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM.
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/TAE W KIM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2876
/THIEN M LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876