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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants’ communication filed on 12/15/2025. In virtue of this communication, claims 24-43 are currently pending in the instant application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/15/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant argues in part stating that “By contrast, Kwon describes a fundamentally different architecture for managing relay functions in a Bluetooth mesh network. The core mechanism in Kwon involves nodes transmitting messages to neighboring nodes and then autonomously deciding whether to activate or deactivate their own relay functions based on messages received from those neighbors. This is a distributed, peer-to- peer decision-making model rather than a centralized, gateway-directed selection model…The decision about whether to enable the relay function is made by the first node itself, based on whether it receives indication messages from neighboring nodes. There is no involvement of a gateway node receiving a relay configuration request and making a selection decision…The decision about whether to enable the relay function is made by the first node itself, based on whether it receives indication messages from neighboring nodes. There is no involvement of a gateway node receiving a relay configuration request and making a selection decision.”
The Examining division respectfully disagrees. First it is noted that Kown teaches “The server device 120 may also be called a data service device, slave device, slave, server, conductor, host device, gateway, sensing device, monitoring device or first device. The client device 110 may also be called a master device, master, client, member, sensor device, sink device, collector, second device or third device.” (i.e. each node can be a gateway node, see par. 0058).
Next, Kwon shows “Referring to FIG. 12, if an neighboring node that performs a relay function is not present around a node, the node may enable the relay function of an neighboring node or may directly play the role of a relay node.” This is equated to the limitation “if the existing relay node is not in the neighboring Bluetooth nodes, broadcast a relay configuration request message to request the gateway node to select and configure the relay node from the neighboring Bluetooth nodes. Also shown in par. 0274 “If the first node does not receive a first response message from the neighboring nodes, it may be aware that there is no node playing the role of a relay node.” Par. 0277 and fig. 12 then show “Accordingly, the first node transmits a second request message for checking whether a relay function can be performed to neighboring nodes in order to enable the relay functions of nodes that belong to neighboring nodes and that are capable of performing their relay functions at step S12020.” Here a node transmits a broadcast request message to another node which as shown above is equated to the gateway node as each node can be a gateway. Par. 0294 then shows “If the first node receives second response messages from one or more of the neighboring nodes, it selects a specific node whose relay function is enabled to play the role of a relay node from the one or more neighboring nodes that have transmitted the second response messages at step S12030.” Here the first node (i.e. gateway) receives a request message (i.e. responses to second request message noting relay capability of neighboring nodes and then selects one). Therefore, the rejections are maintained at this time.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 24-28, 30-31, 33-37, 39-40 and 42--43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kwon (US 2017
Regarding Claim 34 Kwon teaches the limitations "A system comprising:
a gateway node; a relay node; and a first node implementing a Bluetooth protocol and configured to: (see abstract and fig. 1, 8 and par. 0002, 0058 showing gateway 120 and relay nodes using Bluetooth and “method and apparatus for configuring nodes performing a relay function for data transmission and reception”);
identify whether an existing relay node is in a set of neighboring Bluetooth nodes nearby the first node, perform data communication via the existing relay node if the existing relay node is identified; and (see fig. 1, 3, 6 showing use of relay node if they exist for performing Bt communication and par. 0014 “an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for checking whether neighboring nodes perform a relay function in a Bluetooth LE mesh network”);
if the existing relay node is not in the neighboring Bluetooth nodes, broadcast a relay configuration request message to request the gateway node to select and configure the relay node from the neighboring Bluetooth nodes" (see fig. 9 and par. 0203 and 0215-0216 “the first node enables or disables its relay function depending on whether an indication message (i.e., a first indication message) indicative of the enabling of at least one relay function is received from an neighboring node as a response to the message transmitted by the first node during the specific time (i.e., a first specific time) at step S9030 or S9040”).
Claims 24, 26 and 43 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 35 Kwon teaches the limitations "The system of claim 34, further the first node further configured to record the neighboring Bluetooth node as a relay node if a relay notification message sent by one of the neighboring Bluetooth nodes is received" (see abstract and par. 0017 “activating or deactivating the relay function depending on whether a first indication message to request the activation of the relay function is received or not” (i.e. in order to activate the relay node and communicate via the relay node to another node, it must be recorded. Also see par. 0098 where the message is stored).
Claim 25 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 36 Kwon teaches the limitations "The system of claim 34, the gateway node further configured to:
receive the relay configuration request message, wherein the relay configuration request message comprises a propagation path having an end node, intermediate nodes, and the gateway node arranged in sequence; (see fig. 1 and 7 and par. 0132 “The mesh transport 46 defines an encryption and authentication function for the end-to-end transmission of a mesh” (i.e. propagation path);
select the relay node from the intermediate nodes of the propagation path according to a preset selection condition; and (see par. 0098 showing preset conditions);
send a relay enable request to the relay node, wherein the relay enable request comprises address information of the end node" (see par. 0132 “The mesh transport 46 defines an encryption and authentication function for the end-to-end transmission of a mesh” and par. 0098 “The destination of the message is the edge node's unicast address, a broadcast address or group address to which the edge node belongs.”).
Claim 27 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 37 Kwon teaches the limitations "The system of claim 36, wherein the preset selection condition comprises a condition selected from the group consisting of:
selecting a Bluetooth node provided with a long-term power supply; (see par. 0102 “A relay node is usually a device that draws main power, which is always awake and transmits received data for other nodes.”);
selecting a Bluetooth node that has high signal strength relative to that of a requesting Bluetooth node compared with other Bluetooth nodes;
selecting a Bluetooth node having a longer online duration compared with other Bluetooth nodes; or (see par. 0102 showing always awake relay node selection (i.e. longer online duration));
selecting a Bluetooth node at which the relay configuration request message arrives earlier compared with other Bluetooth nodes" (alternative met).
Claim 28 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 39 Kwon teaches the limitations "The system of claim 34, the relay node further configured to:
] receive the relay configuration request message; (par. 0017);
if a relay function is enabled, add address information of a local node to the relay configuration request message, and broadcast the relay configuration request message; and (see par. 0019 “the specific neighboring node is a neighboring node that first transmitted the second message. the first message includes an address of the neighboring node”);
if the relay function is not enabled, add the address information of the local node to only a relay configuration request message that has not been forwarded, and broadcast the relay configuration request message that has not been forwarded" (see par. 0095j “Each node has a message cache for recently received messages. If a received message is already in the message cache, it is not relayed any longer.”).
Claim 30 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 40 Kwon teaches the limitations "The system of claim 39, the relay node further configured to:
enable the relay function according to a relay enable request, (see par. 0343-0344, user can select icon for enabling relay) wherein the relay enable request comprises address information of an end node (see fig. 5 packet format) ; and record the end node in a local node list; and sending a relay notification message to the end node" (see par. 0132 “The mesh transport 46 defines an encryption and authentication function for the end-to-end transmission of a mesh.”).
Claim 31 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 42 Kwon teaches the limitations "The system of claim 40, the relay node further configured to: if a network connection fails, disable the relay function, and broadcast, by the relay node, a relay configuration request message to a neighboring Bluetooth node" (see par. 0020-0021 “the first node may deactivate the relay function when the first indication message is not received within the first specific time” and “ the method may further include transmitting a first request message for checking whether or not to activate the relay function to the plurality of neighboring nodes when a message is not received from the plurality of neighboring nodes within a second specific time.”).
Claim 33 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 29, 32, 38 and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon as applied to their respective parent claims above, and further in view of Jose et al. (Us 2014/0018002 A1).
Regarding Claim 38 Kwon teaches the system of claim 36, but does not explicitly disclose “the gateway node further configured to if it is found that the relay node of the end node has changed, send a child node list update message to the relay node."
In the same field of endeavor Jose discloses an apparatus and method for providing a Bluetooth infrastructure. A master of a network for providing the Bluetooth infrastructure connects with at least one device via bidirectional Bluetooth communication. A hub of the network connects between the at least one device and the master via the bidirectional Bluetooth communication. (see abstract). FIG. 8 illustrates a sequence diagram for updating the network, according to embodiments as disclosed herein. The updating network procedure is usually used to update, remove, or add devices from or into the network. Master 200 can either determine on its own or as per network operator's instruction to remove or add a device. The removal of a device from the network is initiated by master 200 by sending (801) a remove request to the hub 203. Hub 203, on receiving a remove request, sends (802) an un-pair message to the sensor 204 which is out of range from the master 200. Then the hub 203, after un-pairing the sensor 204, updates its node list. Then the hub 203 sends (803) the remove response to the master 200 (see par. 0050) Sensors update their status to respective hubs and the hub reports the status of all reporting sensors to all immediate hubs in the network, indicating these sensors are active in the network (par. 0032).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to delete changed end nodes and update child node lists as taught by Jose in the system of Kwon, in order to allow for faster data transfer (see par. 0004 of Jose).
Claim 29, 32 and 41 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
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 extension fee 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 DAVID BILODEAU whose telephone number is (571)270-3192. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00am-4:00pm Eastern Standard Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wesley Kim can be reached at (571) 272-7867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/David Bilodeau/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648