DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Receipt is acknowledged of an amendment to the claims of application #19244155 received on 4/23/2026. Claims 7, 11, 15 and 22-28 are cancelled. Claims 2 and 10 are amended. Claims 1, 3-6, 8-9, 12-14 and 16-21 are previously presented. Claims 1-6, 8-10, 12-14 and 16-21 are pending. All pending claims are considered and examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 5-6, 8, 17-19 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Looze et al. (US 9877602 B2; cited by Applicant IDS) in view of Levitan et al. (CA 2681684 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Looze discloses:
a body 100 for housing one or more internal components of the kiosk (col. 5, line 65 – col. 6, line 5);
a first display on the front side of a top portion of the kiosk (col. 7, lines 12-25 or col. 12, lines 33-53); and
a second display on the rear side of the top portion of the kiosk (col. 7, lines 12-25 or col. 12, lines 33-53);
wherein the second display is movable between a first position in which it is proximate a kiosk body and a second position in which it is spaced away from kiosk body (col. 7, lines 12-25).
Looze does not explicitly disclose wherein the kiosk is provided with at least two wheels for transporting the kiosk.
Levitan discloses (Fig. 1) a terminal comprising: Different user inputs can be provided and the video display screen 12 can also be a touch screen (page 4). The rear perspective view of Figure 2 shows caster wheels 40 and 42 provided at the base rear edge and a tilt handle 44 projecting from the rear portion of the game terminal. The handle 44 allows a user to tilt the terminal towards him and allows movement of the terminal using the castor wheels 40 and 42 (page 5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention to provide the kiosk display of Looze with the transport wheels of Levitan in order to assist in facilitating movement of the terminal (Levitan: page 5).
Regarding claim 3, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above and further teaches wherein the kiosk is an interactive kiosk (Looze: col. 12, lines 33-53 – touch screen).
Regarding claim 5, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above and further teaches wherein the second display is a touch display (Looze: col. 12, lines 33-53 – touch screen; in this case, the first display is the one in Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 6, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above and further teaches wherein the second display faces in a rearward direction of the kiosk (Looze: col. 7, lines 12-25 or col. 12, lines 33-53); and wherein the kiosk further comprises a base at a bottom portion of the kiosk body, and wherein the wheels of the kiosk are at a rear of the base (Levitan: Page 5, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 8, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 6 above and further teaches wherein the base of the kiosk is substantially flat (Levitan: Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 17, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above and further teaches wherein the kiosk further comprises one or more dispensing means (Looze: col. 12, lines 42-53).
Regarding claim 18, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 17 above and further teaches wherein the one or more dispensing means comprises one or more of: a boarding pass printer, a bag tag printer, and a receipt printer (Looze: col. 12, lines 42-53).
Regarding claim 19, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above and further teaches wherein the kiosk further comprises one or more of: a document scanner; payment means; a card reader (Looze: col. 5, lines 58-62); a near filed communication (NFC) reader; a barcode reader (Looze: col. 14, lines 56-64); a lighting device such as a light emitting diode (LED) (Looze: col. 16, lines 2-9; light emitting diode); and selection buttons (Looze: col. 6, lines 11-14).
Regarding claim 21, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above and further teaches wherein the kiosk body has a substantially constant cross sectional shape along a height of the kiosk body (Looze: Fig. 1; Levitan: Fig. 1).
Looze modified by Levitan as applied to claim 1 does not explicitly teach wherein the height of the kiosk body is at least six times greater than a width or depth of the kiosk body; and wherein the height of the kiosk is at least four times greater than the width and length of a base.
Levitan further teaches: This audio output system is provided between the intermediate portion 8 and the upper portion 10. This position is generally at the user's head height and as such provides effective audio output (Levitan: pg. 5, lines 8-11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the kiosk body of Looze modified by Levitan as applied to claim 1 with the kiosk body of Levitan, where the form factor approximates the size of an average user and would therefore be about a height of six times greater than a width or depth, in order to use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way.
Claim(s) 4 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Looze modified by Levitan in view of Rahemtulla (US 6487068 B1).
Regarding claim 4, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 3 above but does not explicitly disclose wherein the kiosk further comprises a control unit configured to modify an output of the first display based on user input to the second display.
Rahemtulla teaches (Fig. 4) computer displays comprising: By mounting the screen on the outside surface, the display is easily viewed by third parties. The PC may be mounted on a counter top, in which case the embodiment of FIGS. 3 & 4 is especially useful for touchscreen EPOS (electronic point of sale). In either configuration the display may be used as an interactive customer display system. Embodiments of the invention may be used in environments such as hotel rooms in which case terminals may be pole or wall mounted to give combined TV/PC/Internet touchscreen facilities. Alternatively, the display may be used as a customer service screen (col. 3, lines 22-32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the first display of Looze modified by Levitan as a display for third parties while the other display is for customer interaction as taught by Rahemtulla in order to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 13, Looze modified by Levitan and Rahemtulla teaches the apparatus of claim 4 above and further teaches wherein the kiosk further comprises a front facing camera (Looze: col. 16, lines 17-19 - counter module 100 or an equipment module 200, may comprise a camera for photographing a passenger).
Claim(s) 2, 9-10 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Looze modified by Levitan in view of Lanier (US 7626569 B2).
Regarding claim 2, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above but does not explicitly teach wherein when the second display is in the second position, the second display is at a distance of between 200 millimetres and 300 millimetres from the kiosk body.
Lanier teaches (Fig. 1) a movable audio/video communication interface system comprising: FIG. 10 shows how the display assembly 1002 on the end of the robotic arm 1004 is automatically moved or swiveled 1006 to maintain the head in a desired center of the viewing/sensing range rather than by moving the arm (col. 6, lines 20-23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the second display of Looze modified by Levitan as mounted on a movable arm as taught by Lanier, where the movement is expected to accommodate a range of height of users heads and would therefore be expected to have a total range of two feet and thus a radial arm length of about one foot, in order to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results of allowing users to assert a preferred interface.
Regarding claim 9, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 6 above but does not explicitly teach wherein the kiosk body extends at an angle relative to a ground, such that, in use, the top portion of the kiosk body is closer to a passenger than the bottom portion of the kiosk body.
Lanier teaches (Fig. 1) a movable audio/video communication interface system comprising: Each system includes a computer 108 connected to a computer controlled robotics arm 110. The arm 110 is a conventional robotics arm that has multiple degrees of freedom (with effectively 6 degrees of freedom in the end attachment) allowing the display to tilt, swivel, move up, down, away, toward, right, left, etc. The arm also includes the conventional feedback systems that indicate the position and attitude of the arm so that the direction that the display is "facing" is known. The arm 110 holds a visual display 112, such as a flat panel display, to which are attached (an array of) audio speakers 114, visual sensors 116, illumination sources 118 such as LEDs, and an audio sensor 120, such as a microphone array allowing sound direction to be determined (Lanier: col. 4, lines 1-14). FIG. 10 shows how the display assembly 1002 on the end of the robotic arm 1004 is automatically moved or swiveled 1006 to maintain the head in a desired center of the viewing/sensing range rather than by moving the arm (col. 6, lines 20-23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the second display of Looze modified by Levitan as mounted on a movable arm as taught by Lanier, which will position the display (and therefore the top portion of the kiosk) closer to the user and also therefore makes the kiosk generally angled, in order to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results of allowing users to assert a preferred interface.
Regarding claim 10, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 1 above and further teaches wherein a centre of gravity of the kiosk is in a bottom half of the kiosk (Looze: Fig. 12).
Looze modified by Levitan does not explicitly disclose wherein the second display is connected to an upper portion of the kiosk body by an articulated arm.
Lanier teaches (Fig. 1) a movable audio/video communication interface system comprising: Each system includes a computer 108 connected to a computer controlled robotics arm 110. The arm 110 is a conventional robotics arm that has multiple degrees of freedom (with effectively 6 degrees of freedom in the end attachment) allowing the display to tilt, swivel, move up, down, away, toward, right, left, etc. The arm also includes the conventional feedback systems that indicate the position and attitude of the arm so that the direction that the display is "facing" is known. The arm 110 holds a visual display 112, such as a flat panel display, to which are attached (an array of) audio speakers 114, visual sensors 116, illumination sources 118 such as LEDs, and an audio sensor 120, such as a microphone array allowing sound direction to be determined (Lanier: col. 4, lines 1-14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the second display of Looze modified by Levitan as mounted on a movable arm as taught by Lanier in order to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results of allowing users to assert a preferred interface.
Regarding claim 12, Looze modified by Levitan and Lanier teaches the apparatus of claim 10 above and further teaches wherein the articulated arm has at least two degrees of freedom, preferably the articulated arm has at least three degrees of freedom, most preferably the articulated arm has four degrees of freedom (Lanier: col. 4, lines 1-14).
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Looze modified by Levitan in view of Wei et al. (US 20230299574 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 14 above and further teaches wherein the kiosk body defines an internal compartment and wherein the kiosk further comprises a power supply unit disposed in a bottom portion of the internal compartment of the kiosk body (Looze: col. 11, lines 3-12).
Looze modified by Levitan does not explicitly disclose: wherein the kiosk complies with a Static Stability Test (8.6.2.2) and/or a Relocation Stability Test (8.6.3) and/or a Glass Slide Test (8.6.4) and/or a Horizontal Force Test (8.6.5) of IEC 62368-1:2014 (2nd edition).
Wei teaches a power supply device comprising: the power supply device complies with an overload test of IEC 62368-1:2018 of international safety standards (claim 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the power supply of Looze modified by Levitan in a manner that satisfies IEC 62368 as taught by Wei and meeting other additional standards outlined in order to apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 16 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Looze modified by Levitan in view of Crowley et al. (US 20080012699 A1).
Regarding claim 16, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 14 above but does not explicitly disclose wherein a control unit is configured to extract data from photographic or video imagery captured by a camera to verify an identity of a passenger.
Crowley teaches (Fig. 1) a passenger screening system comprising: a facial image recognition system and/or a voice recognition system in order to verify the identity of the passenger (¶32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the identification and airport check-in kiosk of Looze modified by Levitan with the facial image recognition of Crowley as an addition means of identification as a use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way.
Regarding claim 20, Looze modified by Levitan teaches the apparatus of claim 19 above but does not explicitly disclose wherein the lighting device comprises one or more light sources for illuminating a face of a passenger.
Crowley teaches: The exemplary iris scan device 44 also includes a light imaging apparatus 48 to generate an image of the iris and/or pupil (¶31). A facial image recognition system and/or a voice recognition system in order to verify the identity of the passenger (¶32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the identification and airport check-in kiosk of Looze modified by Levitan with the facial image recognition of Crowley as an addition means of identification, utilizing the known lighting devices, as a use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to Applicant’s argument that “Looze fails to show or suggest a kiosk with both a first display and a second display” and “Looze is silent as to a single kiosk with two displays facing in opposite directions”, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. While the written description of Looze describes “two counter modules 1100 and 1102 positioned in a back-to-back configuration” (col. 7, lines 12-13), such description does not preclude equating both counter modules as a single kiosk structure, wherein this kiosk has two displays facing in opposite directions (see rejection). Therefore, the structure disclosed by Looze meets the limitations of the claims and the rejection of claim 1 is maintained.
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “providing such a second display, an operator is able to interact with the kiosk simultaneously with a passenger who is interacting with the kiosk at the first display”) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Since Applicant’s arguments regarding claims 2-6, 8-10, 12-14, and 16-21 depend on arguments for claim 1, the rejections for claims 2-6, 8-10, 12-14, and 16-21 are also maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/TOAN C LY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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