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 .
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 1-9 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the first near-field communication link" in the third to last line of claim 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claims 2-9 are rejected the same because they depend upon claim 1.
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) 1-4 and 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ng (US 2015/0053760 A1) in view of Meadows (US 2004/0153477 A1), and further in view of Lu (US 2019/0294833 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ng discloses a system for identifying information associated with a pet, the system comprising: (A) one or more wireless communication devices each configured to be affixed to a corresponding one of one or more pets (Ng discloses a tag worn on the pet, and "other tags being worn by other pets," i.e., one or more tags on one or more pets (Ng ¶¶0004, 0007, 0020, 0026). The tag is typically attached to the pet's neck collar (¶0026));
(B) one or more databases having stored thereon (Ng discloses a remote server / cloud service storing all user data centrally, retrievable individually (Ng ¶0025)) information comprising:
1) one or more unique identifiers, where each of the one or more unique identifiers is associated with a corresponding one of the one or more wireless communication devices (Ng discloses each tag has a unique digital identification code ("uuid") distinguishing it among a plurality of tags (¶¶0004, 0020), which is sent to and stored at the remote server in association with the corresponding pet/owner record (¶¶0025, 0027));
2) pet information related to each of the one or more unique identifiers, the pet information comprising one or more of the following: images of the corresponding pet, contact information associated with the corresponding pet, environmental conditions associated with the corresponding pet, behavior of the corresponding pet, and medical history of the corresponding pet (Ng discloses the stored data expressly includes photographs of the pet and the owner's bibliographic/contact details together with the tag uuid (Ng ¶¶0024, 0025).);
(C) one or more processors (Ng discloses the remote server is a cloud server that executes instructions (Ng ¶0025) and the handheld device is an iOS/Android device running the user application (¶¶0019, 0023); a processor is present in each); and
(D) a non-transitory computer readable memory operatively connected to the one or more processors and having stored thereon machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (Ng discloses a cloud server that stores all user data centrally and executes instructions (Ng ¶0025) in cooperation with a "specifically designed and implemented user application" running on an iOS/Android handheld device (Ng ¶¶0019, 0023). A server and smartphone of the type Ng discloses necessarily include a processor operatively connected to a non-transitory memory storing the executable instructions; the processor–memory coupling is therefore inherent, and to whatever extent not express, would have been obvious as the conventional architecture for implementing Ng's system. Further, Lu (relied upon below) expressly teaches a processing device executing instructions maintained in non-transitory memory/firmware (Lu ¶¶0234–0236). The recited method steps are mapped at (D)(3) below; steps (D)(1)–(D)(2) are addressed in the Meadows discussion.), cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
3) sending, to a mobile device, a first response (Ng discloses the remote server sends the owner's contact information to the finder's handheld device (Ng ¶¶0007, 0029)), the step of sending comprising:
(i) accessing, from the one or more databases, pet information corresponding to the one of the one or more unique identifiers associated with the pet (Ng discloses upon identification of a pet, Ng's remote server accesses the stored record associated with that pet and its unique identifier (Ng ¶¶0007, 0011, 0029). In the combined system, the record reached via Meadows' nose-print match (limitation (D)(2), below) is the same owner/pet record that Ng accesses and returns by uuid; the accessed pet information therefore corresponds to the unique identifier associated with that pet.); and
(ii) sending at least some of the accessed pet information to the mobile device (Ng discloses the remote server returns the owner's contact information to the finder's handheld device, where it is displayed (Ng ¶¶0007, 0029)); wherein the one or more wireless communication devices are configured to communicate with other electronic devices by a near-field communication link (Ng's tag communicates by Bluetooth Low Energy (Ng ¶¶0005, 0019, 0020));
However, NG does not expressly disclose (D)(1) receiving a first request from a mobile device, the first request comprising a digital photograph of at least a portion of a face of a pet; (D)(2) identifying the pet based on the received digital photograph, the step of identifying comprising: (i) comparing the digital photograph to images of corresponding pets within the one or more databases; and (ii) identifying a match between the digital photograph and one of the images within the one or more databases so as to identify the pet as one of the pets associated with one of the one or more unique identifiers; and wherein the first near-field communication link is a link in a mesh communication network; and wherein the at least a portion of the face of the pet comprises a nose of the pet.
Meadows, in the same field of lost-pet identification and recovery, teaches limitations (D)(1), (D)(2), and the "nose" limitation. Meadows discloses acquiring a close-up digital photograph of a dog's nose (Meadows ¶¶0011–0012, 0045), digitizing it and transmitting it over the Internet to a central database that stores noseprint images and photographs of registered pets together with owner data (Meadows ¶¶0015–0018, 0038–0039), and using pattern-recognition software to compare the noseprint of a found/stray dog against the noseprint images in the database, whereupon a match identifies the dog and the owner is notified (Meadows ¶¶0021, 0042, 0081, 0084–0085). This teaches (D)(1) a request comprising a digital photograph of a portion of a pet's face, (D)(2)(i)–(ii) comparing the photograph to images of corresponding pets in the database and identifying a match to identify the pet, and that the portion of the face comprises a nose. Meadows further teaches performing this identification to return a stray to its owner even when the collar tag is lost (Meadows ¶¶0043, 0080).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate Meadows' nose-print photograph-recognition identification into Ng's tag-and-server system because both references address the same problem of identifying and reuniting lost pets, and the combination merely adds a known biometric identification technique (Meadows) to a known tag/database system (Ng) to yield the predictable result of identifying a found pet even when its tag or collar is missing, removed, or unreadable — a benefit Meadows expressly identifies (Meadows ¶0043) — such that the combination is the use of prior-art elements according to their established functions to obtain predictable results with a reasonable expectation of success, and so that in the combined system the database record links the pet's enrolled nose image (Meadows) to the tag's unique identifier and owner information (Ng) and the nose-print match identifies the pet as the one associated with that unique identifier.
Ng in view of Meadows does not teach the first near-field communication link is a link in a mesh communication network. Ng teaches a crowd-sourced detection network of many handheld devices relaying detected codes to the server (Ng ¶¶0031–0032), but not a mesh in which the tag's own link is a link in the mesh network.
Lu teaches active wireless tags operating in a mesh communication network: a smart tag communicates with RF-enabled beacon nodes and "operates in a wireless network (e.g. a mesh)," with the tag's information "uploaded by the tag through the wireless mesh network" (Lu ¶¶0052–0054); the tags can "perform all of the functions of continuously-powered nodes in the main network…enabling the tags to function as a passively-powered secondary network, or extension of the continuously powered network" (Lu ¶0159), and the mesh functions as a range extender (Lu ¶0153). Lu thereby teaches that the wireless communication device's near-field communication link is a link in a mesh communication network.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to configure the wireless pet tags of Ng (as modified by Meadows) to communicate over a mesh communication network as taught by Lu because doing so applies a known networking arrangement to a known RF tag-location system to obtain its known and predictable benefit of extending communication range and coverage and thereby improving the likelihood of detecting a tagged pet over a wider area, such that the modification involves only routine integration of compatible wireless components with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 2, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the near-field communication link is a WiFi communication link (Lu teaches that the wireless tag may communicate via "one or more of: Bluetooth low energy (BLE), WiFi, VLC, Zigbee, or the like" (Lu ¶¶0169, 0237). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to implement the near-field link of the Ng/Meadows/Lu system as a WiFi link as taught by Lu, because Lu presents WiFi and BLE as art-recognized, functionally interchangeable wireless communication means for tag communication (Lu ¶¶0169, 0237), making this a simple substitution of one known wireless protocol for another to obtain the predictable result of tag-to-device communication, with a reasonable expectation of success.).
Regarding claim 3, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more wireless communication devices comprises: a housing; an antenna; a wireless transceiver operatively connected to the antenna; one or more near-field communication chips configured to transmit and receive electronic data via the wireless transceiver; and a non-transitory computer readable memory disposed within the housing (Ng discloses a "self-contained radio transmitter" tag with a wireless transmission module, an onboard battery, and a stored uuid (Ng ¶¶0020–0021), thereby teaching a housing and an on-tag non-transitory memory, but does not expressly recite the antenna, transceiver, and near-field communication chip. Lu teaches the remaining tag hardware: a tag comprising an antenna (Lu ¶¶0156–0157), a radio frequency transceiver connected thereto (Lu ¶0165; claim 1), a near-field communication chip in the form of a system-on-chip with a 2.4 GHz BLE/WiFi radio (Lu ¶¶0156, 0169), and on-chip random access memory disposed within the tag (Lu ¶0156). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to implement Ng's self-contained wireless tag with Lu's antenna, RF transceiver, near-field communication chip, and on-chip memory in a housing, because these are conventional components employed for their established functions to realize the very BLE/WiFi communication Ng's tag already performs — a use of known hardware elements to obtain predictable results, with a reasonable expectation of success, particularly as Lu is already combined with Ng to provide the tag's wireless communication.).
Regarding claim 4, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 3, wherein each of the one or more wireless communication devices further comprise one or more sensor components configured to detect status of the wireless communication device (Lu teaches that the smart tag comprises one or more sensor components configured to detect status of the tag — e.g., a motion/shock sensor responsive to movements of the tag, as well as sensors that detect light, temperature, an electric/magnetic field, or moisture (Lu ¶¶0174, 0192–0199; claims 12–13). Detecting movement (or other such conditions) of the tag is detecting a "status of the wireless communication device" as claimed. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the tag of the Ng/Meadows/Lu system with Lu's sensor component(s) because Lu employs such a sensor for its established function of detecting a tag condition (e.g., movement) to trigger event-based reporting and thereby conserve tag power (Lu ¶¶0191, 0199) — a use of a known component to obtain a predictable result, with a reasonable expectation of success.).
Regarding claim 6, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 4, wherein the detected status is stored in the non-transitory computer-readable memory of the corresponding one or more wireless communication devices (Lu teaches that the detected status is stored in the tag's non-transitory memory. Specifically, Lu's tag includes on-chip random access memory (Lu ¶0156), and the tag's processing device, in response to the sensor detecting movement, sets and stores a "movement status flag" (together with the associated time) in the tag's volatile memory (Lu ¶¶0198, 0201); Lu further discloses that the tag may store its detected/measured information (e.g., RSSI and ID information) in memory and generate a report from it at a subsequent time (Lu ¶0183). Lu thereby teaches that the detected status is stored in the non-transitory computer-readable memory of the corresponding wireless communication device, as claimed. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to store the detected status in the tag's memory as taught by Lu in the tag of the Ng/Meadows/Lu system, because Lu stores such status locally for its established purpose of enabling deferred/event-based reporting and conserving tag power (Lu ¶¶0183, 0191) — a use of a known technique to obtain a predictable result, with a reasonable expectation of success.).
Regarding claim 7, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 3, wherein the one or more wireless communication devices further comprise: a battery configured to provide power to the wireless communication device (Ng discloses that the tag is a self-contained, battery-powered device powered by an onboard battery (e.g., a button cell) (Ng ¶¶0005, 0020).); and a lighting element configured to illuminate the wireless communication device (Ng discloses that the tag includes an indicator light (e.g., a built-in LED indicator light) configured to be activated wirelessly to catch the attention of a passerby and serve as a beacon to help spot the pet (Ng ¶¶0005, 0021, 0030).).
Regarding claim 8, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 6, further comprising a remote server (Ng discloses a remote server configured to store information corresponding to the pet wearing the tag, implemented as a cloud service where user data is stored centrally and retrieved individually via the handheld device (Ng ¶¶0004, 0025).).
Regarding claim 9, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the one of the one or more wireless communication devices, from the remote server, a second request (Lu discloses a back-end server (mesh server/controller) that issues commands to and polls the network nodes for information gathered from their sensors and for their operational state (Lu ¶¶0107, 0139), and that control of the tag modules is managed through the network (Lu ¶0213); Lu's tags are such nodes (Lu ¶0159). The server's poll/command received by the tag is the recited second request from the remote server.); and
sending, in response to the second request, from the one of the one or more wireless communications devices, to the remote server, the detected status of the one of the one or more wireless communication devices (Lu discloses that, in the awake mode, the tag measures and reports its detected information — e.g., sensor data such as temperature, movement, and RSSI/node information — to the back-end server, the report including the detected status together with a tag identifier (Lu ¶¶0179, 0183, 0188).),
for storage in the one or more databases as associated with the corresponding unique identifier of the one of the one or more wireless communication devices (Lu discloses that the back-end server tracks and stores the reported tag data keyed to the tag's identifier (Lu ¶¶0172, 0188), i.e., the detected status is stored in the database as associated with the corresponding unique identifier of the tag. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to configure the tag of the Ng/Meadows/Lu system to receive a request/poll from the remote server and, in response, send its detected status to the remote server for storage in association with the tag's unique identifier, as taught by Lu, because Lu performs these steps for the established and predictable purpose of centrally collecting, tracking, and monitoring tag/asset status and location data at the back-end server (Lu ¶¶0107, 0172) — a use of known techniques to obtain a predictable result, with a reasonable expectation of success.).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ng (US 2015/0053760 A1) in view of Meadows (US 2004/0153477 A1) and Lu (US 2019/0294833 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Milnes (US 2008/0061990 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu discloses the system of claim 4, wherein the one or more sensor components comprise: an accelerometer configured to measure an acceleration status of the wireless communication device (Lu discloses an accelerometer built into the tag to detect tag acceleration above a threshold (Lu ¶0192).); and a temperature sensor configured to determine an ambient temperature status of the wireless communication device (Lu discloses the tag's sensors detecting temperature, the tag reporting temperature among the sensed conditions of its environment (Lu ¶¶0188, 0212–0213).). However, Ng in view of Meadows and Lu does not expressly disclose a global positioning module configured to determine a geographic location status of the wireless communication device.
Milnes discloses a pet locator adapted for attachment to the pet's collar (Milnes ¶0019) that includes a logic module in connection with a wireless module and a GPS module, the GPS module being in communication with a GPS antenna such that "the GPS module 24 and GPS antenna 26 receive signals from a global positioning satellite system 28 to calculate the location of [the locator]" (Milnes ¶0021; see also ¶0025, a location query activating the GPS module to determine the location of the pet locator). Milnes thereby teaches a global positioning module configured to determine the geographic location status of the wireless communication device.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the tag of the Ng/Meadows/Lu system with an onboard GPS module and antenna as taught by Milnes, in order to directly determine the pet's geographic location and thereby enable a lost pet to be located outdoors and over wide areas — a known component used for its established and predictable function of geolocation, with a reasonable expectation of success, and consistent with the system's existing purpose of locating lost pets (Ng ¶¶0003–0004; Milnes ¶¶0007, 0009) and with Lu's existing tag-location functionality (Lu ¶¶0188, 0192). To the extent Ng remarks that GPS on a pet can be comparatively expensive and power-consuming (Ng ¶0003), that statement expresses a general design preference based on a cost/power trade-off and does not criticize, discredit, or teach away from the operability of pet-worn GPS; Milnes confirms that a pet-worn GPS locator is operable and well known and even addresses the power concern by powering the GPS module only when a location query is received (Milnes ¶0025), and one of ordinary skill would have accepted any recognized trade-off in exchange for the benefit of direct, satellite-based geolocation of the pet.
Conclusion
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/RAJSHEED O BLACK-CHILDRESS/Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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