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 .
1. Claims 1-10 are pending. Claims 11-20 are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
2. In light of the amendments to the claims, the claim objection to claim 10 is withdrawn.
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.
3. Claim(s) 1-3 and 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nhu et al. US 2016/0174022 hereafter Nhu (as cited in the IDS dated 06/10/2022) in view of WO 2018/063603 (as cited in the IDS dated 06/10/2022) hereafter ‘3603 in view of Pirch et al, US 2020/0314651 hereafter Pirch.
As for claim 1, Nhu discloses:
A Bluetooth-enabled access control system for enabling selective entrance and use of resources and spaces based on a presence device (Nhu, [0001] A hardware/software system with cloud services and related methods are disclosed that keep track of when and how long a person, tagged with a device that advertises its presence via a wireless signal, such as Bluetooth-low-energy (BLE) module emitting a beacon signal, is in the proximity of certain products, structures or services. The system and method can also track some activities (or lack of activities) of the individual while being at the location.) according to an access security policy (Nhu, [0044], Data on the Cloud server can be accessed and queried by users having the requisite security or password.), the system comprising:
an access point gateway (Nhu, [0079], [0085], One or more gateways 210 in a cloud database) comprising:
at least one access control module (Nhu, [0018], [0072], A repeater. The repeater 150 can embody a standalone box or a housing having two or more distinct circuitries or modules: an IR transmitter 152 programmed to transmit a unique ID associated to a particular room or location and a BLE discover module 154 to receive BLE signal from the WAD, the dispenser, or other BLE devices); and
an access point module configured to discover (Nhu, [0072], The BLE discover module 154 in the repeater is programmed to scan for Beacon signals transmitted by the WAD), monitor (Nhu, [0043], [0044], A BLE Mesh-monitoring module embodied in a gateway)…presence devices in electronic communication with the at least one access control module (Nhu, [0018], [0036], [0065]-[0066], The sensor devices/wearable advertising devices (WAD) in communication with the repeater. The Examiner interprets the sensor devices/wearable advertising devices (WAD) to correspond to the presence devices.)
Nhu does not explicitly disclose the presence device is a connectionless device…balance a communications load of connectionless presence devices.
However, ‘3603 discloses the presence device is a connectionless device (‘3603, [0053], [0065], A connectionless sensor device)…balance a communications load of connectionless presence devices (‘3603, [0023], [0060], [0062], Load balancing sensor data from a plurality of sensor devices. The Examiner interprets the sensor devices to correspond to connectionless presence devices).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nhu with ‘3603 to provide improved communication performance.
The combination of a Nhu and ‘3603 does not explicitly disclose wherein each of the plurality of access point gateways is configured to interact with and make access control decisions for the respective connectionless presence devices, the access control decisions indicating whether a user associated with an associated connectionless presence device is authorized to access a facility; and wherein each of the plurality of access point gateways is provisioned with a list comprising only the respective connectionless presence devices.
However, Pirch discloses wherein each of the plurality of access point gateways is configured to interact with and make access control decisions for the respective connectionless presence devices (Fig. 3, 310, 320, 330, [0051], [0023], readers obtain credentials from key devices (e.g., a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip in a card, a fob, or a personal electronic device such as a mobile phone). [0042] The readers perform preliminary authentication of the credentials. The readers include a white list to make an immediate decision about tracking a key device. The Examiner interprets readers/actuators to correspond to the plurality of access point gateways, and the key devices to correspond to the respective connectionless presence devices), the access control decisions indicating whether a user associated with an associated connectionless presence device is authorized to access a facility ([0072] The preliminary authentication may be performed using whitelists. The whitelists may have conditional factors, such as a time condition. For example, a building/facility may restrict access during the night and thus from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM a whitelist is used that only includes security and maintenance.); and wherein each of the plurality of access point gateways is provisioned with a list comprising only the respective connectionless presence devices. ([0042], The readers perform preliminary authentication of the credentials. The readers include a white list to make an immediate decision about tracking a key device. The Examiner interprets a white list to correspond to a list comprising only the respective connectionless presence devices)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the combination of the teachings of Nhu and ‘3603 with wherein each of the plurality of access point gateways is configured to interact with and make access control decisions for the respective connectionless presence devices, the access control decisions indicating whether a user associated with an associated connectionless presence device is authorized to access a facility; and wherein each of the plurality of access point gateways is provisioned with a list comprising only the respective connectionless presence devices as taught by Pirch to provide increased accuracy and precision, and reduce latency and computational time (Pirch, [0028])
As for claim 2, Nhu does not explicitly disclose the access point module comprises: an access card state data store; and a load balancer configured to communicate with the at least one access control module and the access card data store.
However, ‘3603 discloses the access point module comprises: an access card state data store (‘3603, Fig. 8, [0060], [0077], The memory 804); and a load balancer (‘3603, [0060], [0065], Performing load balancing using the processor and memory) configured to communicate with the at least one access control module and the access card data store (‘3603, Fig. 8, [0060], [0077], The processor 802 communicating with the memory 804).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nhu with ‘3603 to provide improved communication performance.
As for claim 3, Nhu discloses:
The access point module comprises: a discovery module (Nhu, [0018], [0072], A The BLE discover module 154 in the repeater is programmed to scan for Beacon signals transmitted by the WAD. The repeater 150 can embody a standalone box or a housing having two or more distinct circuitries or modules: an IR transmitter 152 programmed to transmit a unique ID associated to a particular room or location and a BLE discover module 154 to receive BLE signal from the WAD, the dispenser, or other BLE devices.); and a Bluetooth connection monitoring module (Nhu, [0072], [0074], [0078], The BLE module).
As for claim 7, Nhu discloses:
The access point module further comprises a personalized identity data store (Nhu, [0079], The system architecture 200 further includes a remote server or a cloud server 220 that stores tracked data sent by the one or more gateways 210 in a cloud database and permits queries from personnel, administrators, and/or other authorized users of the stored data, such as the patient's family members.)
As for claim 8, Nhu discloses:
A plurality of access point gateways (Nhu, [0042], A platform having one or more BLE advertising devices and one or more Wi-Fi/BLE enabled gateways for interacting with the BLE advertising devices).
4. Claim(s) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nhu et al. US 2016/0174022 hereafter Nhu in view of WO 2018/063603 in view of Pirch et al, US 2020/0314651 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ortiz, US 2011/0191840 hereafter Ortiz.
As for claim 4, Nhu discloses presence device (Nhu, [0066], [0071], The presence/proximity device. Nhu, [0018], [0036], [0065]-[0066], The sensor devices/wearable advertising devices (WAD) in communication with the repeater. The Examiner interprets the sensor devices/wearable advertising devices (WAD) to correspond to the connectionless presence devices.) and ‘3603 discloses the presence device is a connectionless device (‘3603, [0053], [0065], A connectionless sensor device)
The combination of Nhu and ‘3603 does not explicitly disclose the access point module comprises a biometric verification module configured to verify at least one biometric parameter related to a device.
However, Ortiz discloses the access point module comprises a biometric verification module configured to verify at least one biometric parameter related to a device (Ortiz, Fig. 4, Fig. 7, Fig. 15, Fig. 16, FIG. 19, [0140]-[0141], Biometric authentication point 1910 can be, for example, a point of sale (POS) equipped with a biometric reader, which can randomly challenge a user to input biometric data for authentication purposes).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the combination of the teachings of Nhu and ‘3603 with Ortiz to provide an improved biometric authentication (Ortiz, [0025]).
As for claim 5, Nhu discloses a biometric input device, wherein the biometric verification module is further configured to communicate electronically with the biometric input device.
The combination of Nhu and ‘3603 does not explicitly disclose a biometric input device, wherein the biometric verification module is further configured to communicate electronically with the biometric input device.
However, Ortiz discloses a biometric input device, wherein the biometric verification module is further configured to communicate electronically with the biometric input device (Ortiz, Fig. 19, [0140]-[0142], The tag reader communicates electronically with the biometric authentication point).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the combination of the teachings of Nhu and ‘3603 with Ortiz to provide an improved biometric authentication (Ortiz, [0025]).
As for claim 6, Nhu discloses the biometric input device comprises at least one input device selected from the group consisting of: a camera; a fingerprint scanner; an iris scanner; and a palm print scanner.
The combination of Nhu and ‘3603 does not explicitly disclose the biometric input device comprises at least one input device selected from the group consisting of: a camera; a fingerprint scanner; an iris scanner; and a palm print scanner.
Ortiz discloses the biometric input device comprises at least one input device selected from the group consisting of: a camera (Ortiz, [0082], [0084], The camera); a fingerprint scanner (Ortiz, [0012], The finger print scanner); an iris scanner (Ortiz, [0081], The iris scanner); and a palm print scanner (Ortiz, [0084], [0103], The palm scanner).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the combination of the teachings of Nhu and ‘3603 with Ortiz to provide an improved biometric authentication (Ortiz, [0025]).
5. Claim(s) 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nhu et al. US 2016/0174022 hereafter Nhu in view of WO 2018/063603 in view of Pirch et al, US 2020/0314651 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ham, US 2020/0084520 hereafter Ham.
As for claim 9, the combination of Nhu and ‘3603 does not explicitly disclose one of the plurality of access point gateways is a master access point gateway configured to interact with and make access control decisions for all of the connectionless presence devices.
However, ‘4520 discloses one of the plurality of access point gateways is a master access point gateway configured to interact with and make access control decisions for all of the connectionless presence devices ([0031]-[0032], The gateway 104 detects that the underground nodes are awake, it initiates a unique polling routine that collects data from all the sensor nodes 102 via the master sensor nodes 106. Once data are collected, the gateway 104 instructs all the underground nodes (sensor nodes 102 and master sensor nodes 106) to enter sleep mode.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the combination of the teachings of Nhu and ‘3603 with ‘4520 to provide improved sensor network communications.
As for claim 10, Nhu does not explicitly disclose the remainder of the plurality of access point gateways other than the master access point gateway are: configured to interact with and make access control decisions for a subset of the connectionless presence devices, the subset being enrolled and authorized by the master access point gateway; and provisioned with a list comprising only the subset of the connectionless presence devices, wherein each of the remainder of the plurality of access point gateways is configured to only interact with the subset of the connectionless presence devices on the list.
However, ‘3603 discloses the remainder of the plurality of access point gateways other than the master access point gateway are: configured to interact with and make access control decisions for a subset of the connectionless presence devices, the subset being enrolled and authorized by the master access point gateway (‘3603, [0050], [0054], [0058]-[0066], The GWs that are separate from the coordinating function make decisions for the set of sensors that the GW owns which is authorized by the coordinating function); and provisioned with a list comprising only the subset of the connectionless presence devices, wherein each of the remainder of the plurality of access point gateways is configured to only interact with the subset of the connectionless presence devices on the list (‘3603, [0050], [0054], [0058]-[0066], The GW is provisioned with a set/list of sensors is owned by the particular GW. The GW interacts with the sensors that are “owned” and not with the sensors that are “not owned”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nhu with ‘3603 to provide improved communication performance.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: US 2021/0400485 [0049] the one or more Wi-Fi access points are identified by determining Wi-Fi access points that are in the coverage area of the cellular base station ID or Paging ID using the Wi-Fi access point association table of database module 208 and the one or more Wi-Fi access points are triggered to add corresponding entries to their MAC address Whitelist. When the cellular location of the cellular device is changed, previous whitelists of the one or more Wi-Fi access points are updated and new whitelists are created when new Wi-Fi access points are identified.
7. 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.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENEE HOLLAND whose telephone number is (571)270-7196. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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, IAN MOORE can be reached at (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
JENEE HOLLAND
Examiner
Art Unit 2469
/JENEE HOLLAND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469