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 .
Claims 1-7, 15-33 are pending in the application.
Examiner’s Note: The examiner has cited particular passages including column and line numbers, paragraphs as designated numerically and/or figures as designated numerically in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claims, other passages, paragraphs and figures of any and all cited prior art references may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing an eventual response, to fully consider the context of the passages, paragraphs and figures as taught by the prior art and/or cited by the examiner while including in such consideration the cited prior art references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. MPEP 2141.02 VI: “PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS."
Response to Amendment and Arguments
Applicant amended independent claims 1, 15, and 21 to further specify:
determining, based on a state of the one or more types of applications during the operating state, an amount of power that the computing device uses in the operating state.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claims have been fully considered but moot in view of new ground of rejection.
Takahashi US Pub. No. 2017/0227608 is introduced in response to amend claims. Khawand, Constien, Barker, Welle, Fabregas as disclosed in previous office action are hereby incorporated by references to the extent applicable to the amended claims.
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.
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) 1-5, 21-25, 28, 30, 31, 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi US Pub. No. 2017/0227608 in view of Khawand.
Regarding claim 1, Takahashi teaches a method comprising:
determining, by a computing device [1 – Fig. 1], an operating state indicative of one or more types of applications [Fig. 9 – Music, Phone, Mail, Photo, Games, etc.] running on the computing device;
determining, based on a state [Phone call, Web browsing, Picture taking, Read/Write e-mail, etc.] of the one or more types of applications during the operating state, an amount of power [94 of fig. 3, etc.] that the computing device uses in the operating state [Fig. 3-6];
[0033] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a basic consumption amount of electric power. In FIG. 3, the basic consumption amount of the electric power of the mobile terminal device 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is illustrated. A basic consumption amount 90 may be a table to be referred to when a battery consumption amount is calculated in response to the type of an operation. The basic consumption amount 90 includes a type 92, a basic value 94, and an addition type 96. The type 92 is the type of an operation performed in the mobile terminal device 1, and, for example, “standby”, “telephone call”, “WEB”, “camera”, “mail”, or the like. The “standby” indicates a state where another operation is not performed when the mobile terminal device 1 has been turned on. The “telephone call” indicates a state where a telephone call is performed owing to the telephone function of the mobile terminal device 1. The “WEB” indicates a state where information is transmitted and received through the wireless circuit 5 and the antenna 7. The “camera” indicates a state where an image-capturing function is used. The “mail” indicates a state where the read/write or the like of an electronic mail is performed.
[0034] The basic value 94 indicates a current value consumed typically in the case of the state of the type 92. The addition type 96 indicates a standard by which a consumption current is added owing to a condition other than the type 92, the condition including, for example, a radio wave intensity, a device temperature, or the like. For example, a case where the addition type 96 is “α” may indicate a type where a current value is added depending on whether or not the mobile terminal device 1 is moving. A case where the addition type 96 is “β” may indicate a type where a current value is added in response to, for example, the radio wave intensity and the battery temperature. A case where the addition type 96 is “γ” may indicate a type where addition due to another factor is not performed. When an external environment such as the radio wave intensity or the device temperature, which relates to the type 92, is considered to be deteriorated, the battery consumption amount may be calculated owing to the addition type 96 so that battery consumption becomes large.
determining, based on a period of time the computing device is in the operating state and based on the amount of power, a power usage of the computing device;
[0041] The display 150 includes a title 152, a circular graph 154, a usage-time display unit 156, and an available time display unit 158. The title 152 indicates the content of the display 150. The circular graph 154 indicates the percentage of a battery consumption amount with respect to each operation type from the latest charging termination up to a current time or up to the start of the latest charging. The circular graph 154 indicates that a consumption amount due to a game is the largest and a consumption amount due to WEB browsing is the second largest.
[0049] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of battery-life state check. As illustrated in FIG. 11, when an operation used for battery-life state check has been detected in the S209, the arithmetic processing unit 3 defines, as the reference target time period of a battery consumption amount, a time period from the latest “charging termination” to a time point when the operation in the S209 has been performed, for example, like data 76 in the log 50. From the log 50 in the reference target time period, the arithmetic processing unit 3 acquires the log type 74 of an operation and the duration time of the operation in the log type 74 (S251). From the log 50, the arithmetic processing unit 3 acquires the addition value and the addition time of a current consumption amount corresponding to the acquired log type 74 (S252). Based on the log type 74, the duration time, and the addition value and the addition time of a current consumption amount, the arithmetic processing unit 3 calculates a current consumption amount with respect to each operation type (S253).
[0051] When having been judged to be moving, the arithmetic processing unit adds, to the basic value 94=“5 mA” of the “standby”, the addition value 104=“10 mA” at the time of the state 102=“move” in the moving state table 100 illustrated in FIG. 4, and hence, calculates a battery consumption amount per unit time in that state. The battery consumption amount is obtained by multiplying a time when a given state is continued by a consumption current at the given state. For example, when move in a standby state has been continued during a t1 time, the battery consumption amount=(5+10)×t1 (mAh) is calculated. When having been judged not to be moving, there is no addition value, and the battery consumption amount is calculated using the basic value 94.
[0052] For example, when the type 92 is the “telephone call” and the addition type 96 is the “β”, the arithmetic processing unit 3 refers to the reception power 66 and the battery temperature 60 at a time corresponding to the “telephone call” in the log 50. The arithmetic processing unit 3 refers to which of the electric field intensities 112 in the radio wave state table 110 illustrated in FIG. 5 the referred-to reception power 66 corresponds to, and adds the corresponding addition value 114 to the basic value 94. The arithmetic processing unit 3 refers to which of the temperatures 122 in the temperature addition value 120 illustrated in FIG. 6 the battery temperature 60 corresponds to, and adds the corresponding addition value 124. For example, when the reception power 66 is the “intense electric field” and a state where the battery temperature 60 corresponds to the “high temperature” has been continued during a t2 time, the battery consumption amount=(100+100+I3)×t2 (mAh) may be satisfied.
[0053] By calculating and adding the battery consumption amount with respect to each of all the operation types during that time period, in such a way as described above, the arithmetic processing unit 3 calculates the total consumption amount of the reference target time period (S254).
determining a storage capacity of a battery [Fig. 8; par. 0039];
determining, based on the power usage of the computing device and the storage capacity of the battery, a remaining power amount of the battery; and
[0005] According to one aspect of the embodiments, a communication terminal device includes: a wireless unit configured to transmit and receive a radio wave; an operating circuit configured to be used for operating the communication terminal device; a battery configured to supply electric power to the communication terminal device; a power supply circuit configured to control supply of electric power from the battery; and an arithmetic processing unit configured to detect an operation on the operating circuit and a duration time of the operation, detect an external environment of the communication terminal device through the wireless unit, and calculate a first remaining battery amount of the battery based on the operation, the duration time, and the external environment.
[0048] The arithmetic processing unit 3 judges whether or not a battery-life state check operation has been performed through the operating circuit 9 (S209). The battery-life state check operation may be an operation for causing a remaining battery amount and so forth to be calculated or an operation for causing processing for displaying, for example, the display example 150 to be executed.
[0053] By calculating and adding the battery consumption amount with respect to each of all the operation types during that time period, in such a way as described above, the arithmetic processing unit 3 calculates the total consumption amount of the reference target time period (S254). In the same way as the reference target time period, the arithmetic processing unit 3 calculates the available time of the mobile terminal device 1 when the mobile terminal device 1 has been used (S255). For example, the battery voltage 56 in the log 50 in FIG. 2A and the battery consumption amount data 140 illustrated in the FIG. 8 are referred to, and a time to elapse before the battery consumption amount reaches a given value is calculated. The given value may be a value preliminarily set in accordance with a battery capacity, for example, as a battery consumption amount where charging becomes desirable. The processing may return to FIG. 10.
Takahashi does not teach causing, based on the remaining power amount of the battery, a change in the operating state of the computing device.
Khawand teaches another method for monitoring the power consumption used in performance of a plurality of tasks by a mobile communication device and determining the amount of power that remains in a battery [par. 0003]. Specifically, Khawand teaches causing, based on the remaining power amount of the battery, a change in the operating state of the computing device.
[0005] In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes a battery, a processor, and memory configured to maintain instructions that are executable on the processor to monitor an amount of power that remains in the battery and if the amount of power drops below a threshold level that is set to enable a telephone call, restrict telephone calls from being performed that are directed at a non-emergency telephone number.
[READ further paragraph 0044-0048]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Takahashi with the step of causing, based on the remaining power amount of the battery, a change in the operating state of the computing device of Khawand. The motivation for doing so would has been to conserve battery power and preserve critical device functionality. Such modification merely applies Khawand known battery-based task restriction technique to the batter-monitoring method of Takahashi to achieve the predictable result of extending usable battery life and prioritizing essential operations. Specifically, in the case of emergency operation.
Regarding claim 2, Takahashi and Khawand both teach the operating state of the computing device comprises at least one of a sleep state, an awake state, a transmit state, or a receive state [See fig. 2B, par. 0033 of Takahashi and par. 0020, 0030 of Khawand].
Regarding claim 3, Takahashi teaches determining, based on one or more characteristics of the battery, the storage capacity of the battery, wherein the one or more characteristics of the battery comprises at least one of a voltage, a resistance, a current, or a temperature [par. 0039 - The arithmetic processing unit 3 detects the voltage of the battery 15, and calculates a battery capacity at the time of the termination of charging].
Regarding claim 4, Takahashi teaches power usage of the computing device is determined without physically measuring the power usage of the computing device [SEE fig. 11].
Regarding claim 5, Takahashi [fig. 1 and 12] and Khawand [fig. 1] both teach computing device comprises at least one of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE) device, or a security device.
Regarding claims 21-25, they are directed to a system to implement the method of steps as set forth in claims 1-5. Therefore, they are rejected on the same basis as set forth hereinabove.
Regarding claim 28, Takahashi teaches the one or more types of applications comprise one or more of a content streaming application, a data processing application, a transmission application, or a sensor application [SEE fig. 9].
Regarding claim 30, SEE claim 28.
Regarding claims 31, 33, Takahashi teaches the state is associated with a current draw of the one or more types of applications [SEE fig. 90].
Claim(s) 6, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi/Khawand as applied to claim 1 or 21 above, and further in view of Welle.
Regarding claim 6, Takahashi teaches sending, to a network device [Server 275 – fig. 12], the power usage of the computing device; and receiving, from the network device, the storage capacity of the battery [par. 0064]. Takahashi/Khawand does not teach sending, to a network device one or more characteristics of the battery.
Welle teaches another method for calculating the storage capacity of a battery where the calculation is done in the cloud (network device). Specifically, Welled teaches sending, to a network device, the power usage of the computing device and one or more characteristics of the battery; and receiving, from the network device, the storage capacity of the battery [SEE par. 0007-0008, 0054-0056].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Takahashi/Khawand with the step of sending, to a network device one or more characteristics of the battery of Welle. The motivation for doing so would has been to enables more accurate determination or calculation of the battery’s storage capacity. In power management systems, providing additional battery-specific parameters would further help to improve computational precision and reduce estimation error.
Regarding claim 26, See discussion in claim 6.
Claims 7, 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi/Khawand as applied to claim 1 or 21 above, and further in view of Fabregas.
Regarding claim 7, Takahashi/Khawand does not teach determining, based on one or more characteristics of the battery, an identity of the battery; and determining, based on the identity of the battery, the storage capacity of the battery.
Fabregas teaches a method for determining the kind of battery. Specifically, Fabregas teaches determining, based on one or more characteristics of the battery, an identity of the battery; and determining, based on the identity of the battery, the storage capacity of the battery [SEE par. 0017, 0018].
Before the effective filing data of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Takahashi/Khawand with the steps of determining, based on one or more characteristics of the battery, an identity of the battery; and determining, based on the identity of the battery, the storage capacity of the battery of Fabregas. The motivation for doing so would has been to accurately determine the remaining power amount of the battery since, as suggested by Fabregas [Para. 0005], the battery may have been replaced with a different kind of battery from the old battery.
Regarding claim 27, See discussion in claim 7.
Claim(s) 15-18, 29, 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi US Pub. No. 2017/0227608 in view of Khawand and Welle.
Regarding claim 15, Takahashi teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by a first computing device [Server 275], a period of time that a second computing device [Mobile Terminal 1] is in an operating state indicative of one or more types of applications running on the second computing device [par. 0064];
determining, based on a state of the one or more types of applications during the operating state, an amount of power that the second computing device uses in the operating state [par. 0033-0034];
determining, based on the period of time that the second computing device is in the operating state and based on the amount of power, a power usage of the second computing device [par. 0041, 0050-0053];
determining a storage capacity of a battery [Fig. 8; par. 0039]
determining, based on the power usage of the second computing device and the storage capacity of a battery par. 0005, 0048, 0053]
[0064] The server 275 acquires, from the mobile terminal device 1 through the wireless unit 8 and the base station 280, the log 50 stored in the memory 19 in the mobile terminal device 1, for example, in the S206 in FIG. 10, and stores the log 50 in a storage unit in the server 275. The basic consumption amount 90, the moving state table 100, the temperature addition value 120, the battery consumption amount data 140, and so forth may be preliminarily stored in the storage unit. When performing the battery-life state check, the mobile terminal device 1 requests the server 275 to check, through the wireless unit 8. For example, in substantially the same way as the method illustrated in FIG. 11, based on a request, the server 275 checks a battery life, and transmits a result to the mobile terminal device 1. In the mobile terminal device 1, the received result is presented. By such processing as described above, substantially the same advantageous effect as the above-mentioned remaining battery amount presentation method may be obtained.
Takahashi does not teach determining an identity of a battery associated with the second computing device and causing, based on the remaining power amount of the battery, a change in the operating state of the second computing device.
Khawand teaches another method for monitoring the power consumption used in performance of a plurality of tasks by a mobile communication device and determining the amount of power that remains in a battery [par. 0003]. Specifically, Khawand teaches causing, based on the remaining power amount of the battery, a change in the operating state of the computing device.
[0005] In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes a battery, a processor, and memory configured to maintain instructions that are executable on the processor to monitor an amount of power that remains in the battery and if the amount of power drops below a threshold level that is set to enable a telephone call, restrict telephone calls from being performed that are directed at a non-emergency telephone number.
[READ further paragraph 0044-0048]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Takahashi with the step of causing, based on the remaining power amount of the battery, a change in the operating state of the computing device of Khawand. The motivation for doing so would has been to conserve battery power and preserve critical device functionality. Such modification merely applies Khawand known battery-based task restriction technique to the batter-monitoring method of Takahashi to achieve the predictable result of extending usable battery life and prioritizing essential operations. Specifically, in the case of emergency operation.
Welle teaches a battery-operated level measuring device with a remaining life determination device which provides information from which a minimum value of the remaining battery life can be calculated. This calculation of the remaining battery life can be done in the measuring device or cloud. Specifically, Welle teaches determining an identity of a battery associated with the second computing device and determining, based on the identity of the battery, a remaining power amount of the battery.
[0021] According to another embodiment of the invention, the battery-operated level measuring device has a data memory in which information about the type and capacity of the battery used is stored.
[0022] According to a further embodiment of the invention, the remaining life determination device is arranged to include the number of measurements performed by the level measuring device, the number of measured value display events and/or measured value transmissions to the external receiver, the amount of charge taken from the battery, the voltage of the battery and/or the current date, the current time and/or the information on the type and capacity of the ‘battery in the information provided or to take it into account when calculating the minimum value of the remaining battery life.
[0049] Further information that can already be stored in the memory at the factory is the type and capacity of the battery on which the calculation of the remaining battery life also depends.
Before the effective filing data of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Takahashi with the step of determining an identity of a battery associated with the second computing device and determining, based on the identity of the battery, a remaining power amount of the battery of Welle. The motivation for doing so would has been to accurately determine the remaining power amount of the battery based on the type of battery.
Regarding claim 16, Takahashi and Khawand both teach the operating state of the second computing device comprises at least one of a sleep state, an awake state, a transmit state, or a receive state [See fig. 2B, par. 0033 of Takahashi and par. 0020, 0030 of Khawand].
Regarding claim 17, Takahashi/Khawand in view of Welle teaches receiving one or more characteristics of the battery; and determining, based on the one or more characteristics of the battery, the identity of the battery, wherein the one or more characteristics of the battery comprises at least one of a voltage, a resistance, a current, or a temperature [SEE par. 0007-0008, 0054-0056].
Regarding claim 18, Takahashi [fig. 1 and 12] and Khawand [fig. 1] both teach computing device comprises at least one of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE) device, or a security device.
Regarding claim 29, Takahashi teaches the one or more types of applications comprise one or more of a content streaming application, a data processing application, a transmission application, or a sensor application [SEE fig. 9].
Regarding claim 32, Takahashi teaches the state is associated with a current draw of the one or more types of applications [SEE fig. 90].
Claim(s) 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi/Khawand/Welle as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Fabregas.
Regarding claim 19, Takahashi/Khawand/Welle teaches information that can already be stored in the memory at the factory is the type and capacity of the battery on which the calculation of the remaining battery life also depends. Khawand/Constien/Welle does not teach determining, based on the identity of the battery, a storage capacity of the battery.
Fabregas teaches a method for determining the kind of battery. Specifically, Fabregas teaches determining, based on the identity of the battery, a storage capacity of the battery.
0017] The controller 12 uses the sensor signals 30, 34, 38 to obtain a set of battery parameters of the battery 28. From the set of battery parameters obtained, the controller 12 compares the set of battery parameters to predetermined sets of known battery parameters that can be stored in memory 18. The sets of known battery parameters stored in memory 18 respectively correspond to known kinds of batteries. For instance, one set of known battery parameters corresponds to a known first kind of battery while a second set of known battery parameters corresponds to a known second kind of battery. Each of the known batteries is of a different kind having a type and a nominal capacity. For instance, a first known battery may be a WET type of battery having a first nominal capacity while a second known battery is an AGM type of battery having a second nominal capacity. The known battery parameters can be used to identify a particular kind of battery. Based on comparing the parameters corresponding to the battery 28 and the known parameters stored in memory 18, the controller 12 determines the kind of the battery 28 in the vehicle 14. In other words, the controller 12 determines the kind of battery that the battery 28 operates like under different operating conditions.
[0018] From the kind of battery determined, the controller 12 determines one or more characteristics for the battery 28. For example, the controller 12 can determine a type of battery and a nominal capacity for the battery 28. The type of battery may be of the absorbed glass matt (AGM) type or the wet cell (WET) type. The nominal capacity of the battery 28 generally refers to an amount of electric charge that the battery 28 can store or the average electric capacity of the battery 28. In addition, once the controller 12 determines the kind of the battery 28, the controller 12 may determine the battery 28 to have other characteristics that are associated with the kind of the battery 28. The other characteristics can be nominal values that are defined by a manufacture and stored in memory 18.
Before the effective filing data of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Takahashi/Khawand/Welle with the step of determining, based on the identity of the battery, a storage capacity of the battery of Fabregas. The motivation for doing so would has been to accurately determine the remaining power amount of the battery since, as suggested by Fabregas [Para. 0005], the battery may have been replaced with a different kind of battery from the old factory battery.
Regarding claim 20, Fabregas teaches the identity of the battery indicates a maximum potential storage capacity of the battery [see Para. 0018 - The nominal capacity of the battery 28 generally refers to an amount of electric charge that the battery 28 can store].
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VINCENT HUY TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7210. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00-4:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini S Shah can be reached at 571-272-2279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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VINCENT H TRAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2115
/VINCENT H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
Prosecution Insights