Patent decision

BL number

O/811/21

Concerning rights in

GB2016366.3

Hearing Officer

Mr B Buchanan

Decision date

2 November 2021

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Zebra Technologies Corporation

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977; section 1(1)(b); section 76(2)

Keywords

Added subject matter, Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a barcode reader which aims to improve the determination of which barcode, among a number of barcodes in a field of view, a user is intending to select. This is achieved by constantly capturing images of the barcodes in the field of view. Upon decoding and identifying two or more barcodes in the field of view, the aiming light is activated to enable a user to indicate a barcode of interest by shining the light pattern on the required barcode and a second image of the aiming light pattern is captured. The previously captured image of the barcodes in the field of view is then compared with the presently captured image of the location of the aiming light pattern to determine which barcode the user has selected to report.

The key to the invention is the capture of the barcodes in the field of view before activating and capturing the incidence of the aiming light. This means that the aiming light is only activated when two or more barcodes are decoded, which conserves resources and reduces distraction for the user.

The hearing officer considered whether the feature of decoding two barcodes in an image, included in amendments to the claims, was added matter and whether the claims defined an inventive step over the prior art. He followed Windsurfing/Pozzoli and determined that the claims were inventive and allowable. The application was remitted to the Examiner for processing and grant.

Full decision O/811/21 297Kb