DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 6/12/25 is acknowledged.
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, 2, 8, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Joehren (US 11354556 B1) in view of Herron (US 20230157260 A1).
Re Claims 1 and 8: Joehren discloses
a label and an item comprising:
a top surface (fig 1a: 55) to retain printed content;
a bottom surface (fig 1a: 15) with a plurality of electrical lead contacts (fig 1a: 17) configured to receive an electrical power charge from an external power source (col 6 ll 54+: The communication/ charging station 60 provides the charging current for the batteries 25).
However, Joehren does not disclose that
a first microprocessor and a second microprocessor configured to receive identifier information from one or more antennas, wherein the first microprocessor receives provisioning data and forwards the provisioning data to the second microprocessor.
Herron however discloses that a first microprocessor (fig 1: 108) and a second microprocessor (fig 1: 112) configured to receive identifier information from one or more antennas (fig 3, p31: the NFC module 102 is programmed with the unique identifier.), wherein the first microprocessor receives provisioning data and forwards the provisioning data to the second microprocessor (fig 3: 308 p32: the Bluetooth module 104 transmits the unique identifier, Examiner: Unique identifier is necessarily forwarded from NFC controller to Bluetooth controller. The unique identifier can also be the provisioning data as the limitation, “provisioning data” can be broadly interpreted as any data associated with, helps with, and/or incorporated in the process of provisioning.).
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 Herron’s teaching in the label and item of Joehren for the purpose of implementing communication protocol, NFC and BLE, on a single label to take advantage of the cheaper and easier to implement infrastructure of a BLE-based tracking system (Herron: p2).
Re Claims 2 and 9: Joehren modified by Herron discloses the label of claim 1 and the item of claim 8, wherein the plurality of electrical lead contacts comprises one or more of a center tab, a ground tab and a positive voltage tab (fig 1b: 67).
Claim(s) 3-7 and 10-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Joehren (US 11354556 B1) modified by Herron (US 20230157260 A1) in view of Fjelstad (US 20080277151 A1).
Re Claims 3 and 10: Joehren modified by Herron discloses the label of claim 1 and the item of claim 8, wherein the plurality of electrical lead contacts are connected to a corresponding set of electrical lead contacts on an opposite side of the label (fig 1a & 2a: 17).
However, Joehren modified by Herron does not disclose that the electrical lead contacts are connected to a respective plurality of leads which traverse across an area between the top surface and the bottom surface.
Fjelstad however discloses that that contacts (fig 4: 436) are connected to a respective leads (fig 4: 430) which traverse across an area between the top surface and the bottom surface (p81-p82).
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 Fjelstad’s teaching in the label and the item of Joehren modified by Herron for the purpose of maintaining connection among components on the label, e.g. contacts on one side of the label and other contacts on another side of the label.
Re Claims 4 and 11: Joehren modified by Herron and Fjelstad discloses the label of claim 3 and the item of claim 10, wherein the label or item is connected to another label or item such that the plurality of electrical lead contacts are in contact with a respective plurality of electrical lead contacts on the another label or item (fig 2a: examiner: 17 of first label is connected to 17 of second label).
Re Claims 5 and 12: Joehren modified by Herron and Fjelstad discloses the label of claim 4 and the item of claim 11, wherein the label or item is connected to a further label or item such that the corresponding set of electrical lead contacts are in contact with a respective plurality of electrical lead contacts on the further label or item (fig 2a: examiner: 17 of second label is connected to 17 of further label or item).
Re Claim 6: Joehren modified by Herron and Fjelstad discloses the label of claim 5, wherein the label, the another label and the further label are fan-folded on top of one another (col 3 ll 7+: The carrier tape with mounted smart label substrates is placed on a reel or in a fanfold container.).
Re Claims 7 and 14: Joehren modified by Herron and Fjelstad discloses the label of claim 6 and the item of claim 13, wherein the label or item, the another label or item and the further label or item are configured to simultaneously receive the electrical power charge from one or more of the external power source or another power source (col 3 ll 7+: The reel or container is connected to a communications or power source to charge in the smart label device).
Re Claim 13: Joehren modified by Herron and Fjelstad discloses the item of claim 12, wherein the item, the another item and the further item are communicatively coupled to one another (col 3 ll 7+: The carrier tape with mounted smart label substrates is placed on a reel or in a fanfold container. The reel or container is connected to a communications or power source to charge in the smart label device).
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven S Paik can be reached at 5712722404. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAE W KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2876
/STEVEN S PAIK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2876