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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Da Silva, et al. (WO 2018/08328, herein Da Silva).1 2 Regarding claims 1, 11 and 16, Da Silva teaches a communication device, method, and system comprising: a housing comprising an active surface (paragraph 0037: laptop); a processor associated with the housing (paragraph 0037: the laptop necessarily contains a processor); an NFC antenna array coupled to the processor and under the active surface of the housing (paragraph 0017), each NFC antenna in the NFC antenna array configured to detect a user device that is proximate to the NFC antenna, the user device comprising a user device NFC antenna and access data (paragraph 0017); and a non-transitory computer readable medium coupled to the processor, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code, executable by the processor (Fig. 1: the laptop necessarily contains a computer readable medium), the code configured to cause the processor to perform operations comprising, sequentially polling the NFC antennas in the NFC antenna array until the user device is detected by a first NFC antenna in the NFC antenna array (paragraph 0083); polling a first set of NFC antennas around the first NFC antenna (paragraph 0084); and determining an optimal NFC antenna for detecting the user device in the first set of polled NFC antennas (paragraph 0085). Regarding claims 2, 17 and 19, Da Silva teaches the active surface is a tabletop or a screen on a tablet computer, computer monitor, or laptop computer (paragraph 0037: laptop). Regarding claims 3 and 20, Da Silva teaches the user device is a card (paragraph 0104). Regarding claims 4 and 12-13, Da Silva teaches the operations further comprise: polling a second set of NFC antennas around the optimal NFC antenna (paragraph 0083: one or more devices are polled); determining that another antenna in the second set of NFC antennas produces a stronger signal than the optimal NFC antenna (paragraph 0084); and receiving, via the another antenna, the access data from the user device (paragraph 0085). Regarding claims 5 and 14, Da Silva teaches the NFC antenna array comprises a rectangular array of NFC antennas (Fig. 3). Regarding claim 6, Da Silva teaches the access data comprises a credential (paragraph 0104). Regarding claim 7, Da Silva teaches the NFC antenna array comprises a rectangular array of NFC antennas, and the NFC antennas are made from a transparent conductive material (paragraph 0017). Regarding claim 8, Da Silva teaches the user device is a phone and the communication device is a laptop computer (paragraph 0037). Regarding claim 9, Da Silva teaches sequentially polling comprises polling each NFC antenna in the NFC antenna array in a row by row or column by column manner (paragraph 0083). Regarding claims 10 and 15, Da Silva teaches transmitting, by the communication device, the access data to an external server for processing (paragraph 0037). Regarding claim 18, Da Silva teaches the active surface comprises a display surface of a display screen and the NFC antenna array is under the display screen surface (paragraph 0017).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW MIKELS whose telephone number is (571)270-5470. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday 7:30 AM ET - 5:00 PM ET, Friday 7:30 AM ET - 9:30 AM ET, the Examiner is on central time.3
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/MATTHEW MIKELS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
1 A copy of this reference is attached to this Office Action.
2 In addition to the cited portions of each reference, please see also the associated figures.
3 The Examiner can also be reached at matthew.mikels@uspto.gov.
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