Docket No.: 31440/46751
`
`(PATENT)
`
`IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`In re Patent Application of:
`Kenneth F. Schoening et al.
`
`Application No.: 13/857,616
`
`Confirmation No.: 8818
`
`Filed: April 5, 2013
`
`Art Unit: 2876
`
`For: A RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION
`SYSTEM FOR TRACKING AND MANAGING
`MATERIALS IN A MANUFACTURING
`PROCESS
`
`Examiner: A. N. Trail
`
`AMENDMENT TO NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION DATED AUGUST 2, 2013
`AND APPLICANT INTERVIEW SUMMARY
`
`MS Amendment
`Commissioner for Patents
`P.O. Box 1450
`
`Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
`
`Dear Madam:
`
`INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
`
`In response to the Office Action dated August 2, 2013, please amend the aboVe—identified
`
`U.S. patent application as follows:
`
`Amendments to the Claims are reflected in the listing of claims which begins on page 2
`
`of this paper.
`
`Remarks/Arguments begin on page 11 of this paper.
`
`RFC - Exhibit 1012
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`AMENDMENTS TO THE CLAIMS
`
`1.
`
`(Currently Amended) An inventory tracking system for use in tracking placement
`
`of physical items within an inventory tracking region, comprising:
`
`a radio frequency tag detection system including[[;]];
`
`a plurality of radio frequency antennas disposed in a spaced apart manner within
`
`‘ch_e [[an]] inventory tracking region; and
`
`a detection controller coupled to the plurality of radio frequency antennas, the
`
`detection controller including a beam— steering control system that controls the operation
`
`of each of the radio frequency antennas, wherein one of the plurality of radio frequency
`
`antennas uses a beam to scan a portion of the inventory tracking region [[and]] to detect a
`
`current physical location of one or more eaeh—ef—a—nu1=n-ber—ef radio frequency tags
`
`disposed in a scanned portion of the inventory tracking region, wherein the current
`
`physical location corresponds to a position defined by two coordinate units in a multi-
`
`dimensional coordinate system and the value of each of the two coordinate units is
`
`determined by the one of the plurality of radio frequency antennas, and wherein the
`
`detection controller generates indications of the detected radio frequency tags and the
`
`current physical locations of the detected radio frequency tags in the scanned portion
`
`within the inventory tracking region; and
`
`a tracking system coupled to the radio frequency tag detection system to receive the
`
`indications of the detected radio frequency tags and the current detected physical locations [[for]]
`
`o_f the detected radio frequency tags in the scanned portion within the inventory tracking region,
`
`the tracking system including[[;]];
`
`a memory for storing inventory item information for each of a plurality of
`
`inventory items, the inventory item information for each of the plurality of inventory
`
`items including an inventory item radio frequency tag identifier, inventory item
`
`identification information defining the identity of the inventory item, and an indication of
`
`the current physical location of the inventory item within the inventory tracking region;
`
`and
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`an access system that accesses the memory and provides at least a subset of the
`
`inventory item information for one or more of the inventory items to a user for
`
`determining the current physical location of the one or more of the inventory items within
`
`the inventory tracking region,
`
`wherein the tracking system updates the indication of the current physical location of at
`
`least one particular inventory item within the inventory tracking region as stored in the memory
`
`for the at least one particular inventory item based on the indication of the current physical
`
`location of the detected radio frequency tag for at the least one particular inventory item as
`
`produced by the detection controller.
`
`2.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 1, wherein the subset of
`
`inventory item information includes the indication of the current physical location of the one or
`
`more of the inventory items within the inventory tracking region.
`
`3.
`
`(Canceled).
`
`4.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 2, wherein the tracking system
`
`stores, for each of the plurality of inventory items, inventory item identification information
`
`including two or more defining characteristics of the inventory item.
`
`5.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 2, wherein the inventory item
`
`identification information for the at least one of the inventory items includes a type of material
`
`associated with the inventory item, a source of the inventory item, or an amount of material
`
`associated with the inventory item.
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`6.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 2, wherein the access system
`
`includes a user display system that graphically displays the current physical location of the one
`
`or more of the inventory items based on the indication of the current physical location of the one
`
`or more of inventory items.
`
`7.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 6, wherein the user display
`
`system displays the current physical location of the one or more of the inventory items in a
`
`graphical manner juxtaposed with an indication of at least a portion of the inventory region.
`
`8.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 6, wherein the user display
`
`system graphically displays the current physical location of the one or more of the inventory
`
`items by displaying an indication of a two dimensional geographical location of the one or more
`
`of the inventory items within the inventory tracking region.
`
`9.
`
`(Canceled).
`
`10.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 1, wherein the access system
`
`includes an auditory system that generates auditory signals based on the current physical location
`
`of one or more of the inventory items.
`
`11.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 1, wherein the access system
`
`includes a visual system that generates lighted signals based on the current physical location of
`
`one or more of the inventory items.
`
`12.
`
`(Canceled).
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`13.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 1, further including an
`
`inventory control system that receives the current physical location of at least one of the
`
`inventory items from the access system and determines if the one of the plurality of inventory
`
`items is in a desired location.
`
`14.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 13, wherein the inventory
`
`control system compares the current physical location of the at least one of the inventory items to
`
`a desired location of the at least one of the inventory items as defined by a job identifier
`
`associated with a job that uses the at least one of the inventory items.
`
`15.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 14, wherein the inventory
`
`control system produces a warning signal when the location of the at least one of the inventory
`
`items associated with the job identifier is not at the desired location for the inventory item for the
`
`job defined by the job identifier when running the job.
`
`16.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 14, wherein the desired
`
`location is associated with a location of the at least one of the inventory items within a
`
`manufacturing process during execution of the manufacturing process during the job.
`
`17.
`
`(Original) The inventory tracking system of claim 14, wherein the inventory
`
`control system detects movement of the at least one of the inventory items based on the job
`
`identifier and compares movement of the inventory item with a desired movement of the
`
`inventory item as specified by the job identifier.
`
`18.
`
`(Currently Amended) A method of tracking inventory within an inventory region,
`
`comprising:
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`periodically scanning the inventory region with one or more radio frequency antennas
`
`using a beam steering scanning technique, wherein one of the one or more radio frequency
`
`antennas scans a portion of the inventory region to detect one or more radio frequency tags
`
`disposed in a scanned portion of [[in]] the inventory region, each of the radio frequency tags
`
`being associated with an inventory item;
`
`determining a current physical location for [[each of]] the one or more detected radio
`
`frequency tags in the scanned portion within the inventory region based on the detection of the
`
`one or more radio frequency tags within a scan, wherein the current physical location
`
`corresponds to a position defined by two coordinate units in a multi—dimensional coordinate
`
`system and the value of each of the two coordinate units is determined by the one of the one or
`
`more radio frequency antennas, and wherein the current physical location for [[each of]] the one
`
`or more detected radio frequency tags is resolved to a region less than the coverage area of fly
`
`o_f the radio frequency antennas;
`
`storing, in a computer readable memory, for each of the detected radio frequency tags,
`
`inventory item information, wherein the inventory item information for a radio frequency tag
`
`includes an inventory item radio frequency tag identifier, inventory item identification
`
`information defining the identity of the inventory item, and current physical location information
`
`for the inventory item;
`
`updating the current physical location information of at least one inventory item within
`
`the inventory traeleing region as stored in the computer readable memory based the determined
`
`current physical location of the detected radio frequency tag for the at the least one inventory
`
`item as determined during one or more scans; and
`
`accessing the stored inventory item information to determine the current physical location
`
`of the one or more of the set of inventory items within the inventory region.
`
`19.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 18, further including
`
`storing, as part of the inventory item identification information, an amount of material associated
`
`with the inventory item.
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`20.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 18, further including
`
`displaying the physical location of the one or more of the inventory items within the inventory
`
`region on a display device.
`
`21.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 20, wherein displaying the
`
`physical location of the one or more of the inventory items includes graphically displaying an
`
`indication of the current physical location of the one or more of the inventory items on a user
`
`display device juxtaposed on an indication of at least a portion of the inventory region.
`
`22.
`
`(Currently Amended) The method of tracking inventory of claim 20, wherein
`
`displaying the current physical location of the one or more of the inventory items includes
`
`displaying at least a portion of the inventory item identification information along with an
`
`indication of the current physical location of one or more of the inventory items on a user display
`
`device.
`
`23.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 18, further including
`
`generating a visual alarm signal based on current physical location of one or more of the
`
`inventory items.
`
`24.
`
`(Canceled).
`
`25.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 18, further including using
`
`the physical location of one of the inventory items as stored in the memory to determine if the
`
`one of the inventory items is in a desired location as defined by a job identifier.
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`26.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 18, including using the
`
`physical location of one of the inventory items as stored in the memory to detect movement of
`
`the one of the inventory items within the inventory region and determining if the detected
`
`movement of the one of the inventory items is a desired movement based on a job identifier.
`
`27.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 18, further including
`
`enabling or disabling the operation of a portion of a manufacturing process based on the physical
`
`location of one of the inventory items.
`
`28.
`
`(Currently Amended) A method of tracking inventory within an inventory region,
`
`comprising:
`
`periodically scanning the inventory region with one or more radio frequency antennas
`
`using a beam steering scanning technique, wherein one of the one or more radio frequency
`
`antennas scans a portion of the inventory region to detect one or more radio
`
`frequency tags disposed in a scanned portion of [[in]] the inventory region, each of the radio
`
`frequency tags being associated with a different inventory item;
`
`determining a current physical location for [[each of]] the one or more detected radio
`
`frequency tags in the scanned portion within the inventory region based on the detection of the
`
`one or more radio frequency tags within a scan, wherein the current physical location
`
`corresponds to a position defined by two coordinate units in a multi—dimensional coordinate
`
`system and the value of each of the two coordinate units is determined by the one of the one or
`
`more radio frequency antennas, and wherein the current physical location [[for each]] of the one
`
`or more detected radio frequency tags is resolved to a region less than the coverage area of fly
`
`o_f the radio frequency antennas;
`
`storing inventory item information in a computer readable memory for each the different
`
`inventory items, the inventory item information for a particular inventory item including a radio
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`frequency tag identifier, inventory item identification information defining the identity of the
`
`inventory item, and current physical location information for the inventory item;
`
`updating the current physical location information of each of the inventory items within
`
`the inventory traelein-g region as stored in the computer readable memory based on the
`
`determined current physical location of the detected radio frequency tag for the inventory items
`
`as determined during one or more scans; and
`
`enabling access to the stored inventory item information for each of the inventory items
`
`to determine the current physical location of the inventory items within the inventory region.
`
`29.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 28, further including
`
`displaying the physical location of a multiplicity of the inventory items within the inventory
`
`region on a display device.
`
`30.
`
`(Original) The method of tracking inventory of claim 29, wherein displaying the
`
`physical location of the multiplicity of the inventory items includes graphically displaying an
`
`indication of the current physical location of the multiplicity of inventory items on a user display
`
`device juxtaposed on an indication of at least a portion of the inventory region.
`
`31.
`
`(New) The inventory tracking system of claim 1, wherein the position defined by
`
`the two coordinate units in the multi—dimensional coordinate system corresponds to an exact
`
`position.
`
`32.
`
`(New) The inventory tracking system of claim 1, wherein the position defined by
`
`the two coordinate units in the multi—dimensional coordinate system corresponds to a range of
`
`positions between two numerical values.
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`33.
`
`(New) The method of tracking inventory of claim 18, wherein the position
`
`defined by the two coordinate units in the multi—dimensional coordinate system corresponds to
`
`an exact position.
`
`34.
`
`(New) The method of tracking inventory of claim 28, wherein the position
`
`defined by the two coordinate units in the multi—dimensional coordinate system corresponds to a
`
`range of positions between two numerical Values.
`
`10
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`REMARKS
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`Claims 1-30 were pending in this application. By way of this amendment, claims 1, 18
`
`and 28 are amended. Claims 3, 9, 12 and 24 are hereby canceled, and claims 31-34 are added.
`
`No new matter has been added. As a result, claims 1, 2, 4-8, 10, 11, 13-23 and 25-34 are
`
`currently pending in this application with the total number of claims remaining at thirty.
`
`Accordingly, no additional fees are due and the amendment does not remove this application
`
`from Track I priority examination status.
`
`Applicants’ Interview Summary
`
`On October 23, 2013, the Applicants’ representatives, Roger A. Heppermann (below
`
`signed attorney) and Zie Kyle Yie (who is not registered before the PTO) conducted a telephonic
`
`interview with Examiner Trail. During the interview, proposed claim amendments very similar
`
`to those made herein to claim 1 were discussed. Examiner Trail appeared to indicate that these
`
`amendments would overcome the prior art rejections. No exhibits were shown and no
`
`demonstration was performed. Applicants would like to thank Examiner Trail for her time and
`
`consideration in granting and conducting the interview and for her most helpful comments
`
`during the interview.
`
`Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. §102
`
`Claims 1-9, 12-14, 16, 18-22, 24, 25 and 28-30 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(e) as
`
`allegedly anticipated by Subramanian, U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2013/0049925 (“Subramanian”).
`
`Applicants respectfully traverse this rejection for the reasons provided below.
`
`Claim 1 is amended and now recites, inter alia, “the detection controller including a
`
`beam-steering control system that controls the operation of each of the radio frequency antennas,
`
`wherein one of the plurality of radio frequency antennas uses a beam to scan a portion of the
`
`inventory tracking region to detect a current physical location of one or more radio frequency
`
`tags disposed in a scanned portion of the inventory tracking region, wherein the current physical
`
`location corresponds to a position defined by two coordinate units in a multi-dimensional
`
`11
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`coordinate system and the value of each of the two coordinate units is determined by the one of
`
`the plurality of radio frequency antennas.”
`
`Claims 18 and 28 are similarly amended to recite, inter alia, “periodically scanning the
`
`inventory region with one or more radio frequency antennas using a beam steering scanning
`
`technique, wherein one of the one or more radio frequency antennas scans a portion of the
`
`inventory region” and “wherein the current physical location corresponds to a position defined
`
`by two coordinate units in a multi—dimensional coordinate system and the value of each of the
`
`two coordinate units is determined by the one of the one or more radio frequency antennas.”
`
`Support for the amendments is found, for example, in paragraph [0051] of the specification.
`
`Subramanian does not disclose or suggest at least these elements.
`
`Subramanian discloses a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader system that
`
`uses one or more mechanically steered directional antennas to detect RFID tags disposed within
`
`a controlled area. However, when using a single directional antenna, the RFID tag reader system
`
`is only capable of determining the directional position of a detected RFID tag. In other words,
`
`when the single directional antenna receives a response signal from the detected RFID tag, the
`
`RFID tag reader system can only distinguish or identify the general direction or angle from
`
`which the response signal originated from. In order for the RFID tag reader system to determine
`
`a precise physical location of the RFID tag (e. g., a direction and a distance or some other two
`
`dimensional range or position of the RFID tag), multiple directional antennas are needed to
`
`perform triangulation calculations (see paragraph [0051] of Subramanian).
`
`By contrast, in the present application, only one radio frequency antenna is needed to
`
`detect the physical location of an RFID tag in two dimensions. In particular, the one radio
`
`frequency antenna uses a beam to scan a portion of a region to detect a current physical location
`
`of a radio frequency tag disposed within the region. The current physical location corresponds to
`
`a position defined by two coordinate units in a multi—dimensional coordinate system (e. g., a
`
`direction and a distance, two distances or ranges of distances in orthogonal axes, etc.) and the
`
`value (e. g., a single value or a range of values) of each of the two coordinate units is determined
`
`by the one radio frequency antenna.
`
`Accordingly, because Subramanian does not disclose or suggest each and every element
`
`of amended claims 1, 18 and 27, Subramanian does not anticipate claims 1, 18 and 27.
`12
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`As to claims 2-9, 13, 14, 16, 19-22, 25 and 29-30, these claims depend from claims 1, 18
`
`and 28 and therefore recite all the elements of claims 1, 18 and 28. At least for the same reasons
`
`as claims 1, 18 and 28, Subramanian does not anticipate these dependent claims.
`
`Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. §103
`
`Claims 10, 11, 15, 17, 23 and 26 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103(a) as allegedly
`
`unpatentable over Subramanian in View of Takaku et al., U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2007/0046439
`
`(“Takaku”). Applicants respectfully traverse this rejection.
`
`Similarly, Takaku does not disclose or suggest a system that uses one radio frequency
`
`antenna to determine the physical location of an RFID tag in a two dimensional coordinate
`
`system, nor has the Examiner cited Takaku for this purpose. Therefore, a combination of
`
`Subramanian and Takaku would not have the capability of detecting the physical location of an
`
`RFID tag in a two dimensional coordinate system by using only one radio frequency antenna.
`
`As a result, no combination of Subramanian and Takaku can render any of claims 10, 11, 15, 17,
`
`23 and 26 obvious. Accordingly, claims 10, 11, 15, 17, 23 and 26 are patentable over
`
`Subramanian in View of Takaku.
`
`13
`
`

`
`Application No. 1 3/857,616
`Amendment dated October 28, 2013
`Reply to Office Action of August 2, 2013
`
`Docket No. : 3 1440/4675 1
`
`CONCLUSION
`
`Applicants respectfully submit that all pending claims are in condition for allowance for
`
`the reasons provided above. Although Applicants believe that no fees or petitions are due, the
`
`Commissioner is hereby authorized to charge any fees or credit any overpayments to Deposit
`
`Account No. 13-2855. Should the Examiner wish to discuss the foregoing, or any matter of
`
`form, in an effort to advance this application towards allowance, the Examiner is urged to
`
`telephone the undersigned at the indicated number.
`
`Dated: October 28, 2013
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`/Roger A. Heppermann #37,641/
`By:
`Roger A. Hepperrnann
`Registration No.: 37,641
`MARSHALL, GERSTEIN & BORUN LLP
`233 S. Wacker Drive
`
`6300 Willis Tower
`
`Chicago, Illinois 60606-6357
`(312) 474-6300
`
`Attorney for Applicants
`
`14