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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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.
Claim(s) [1-7, 9-18 and 20] is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 a (1) as being anticipated by Jere (US 20150319600 A1)] hereon after Jere.
Regarding claim 1, 10 and 16 Jere teaches a system for generating a wake-up advertisement to a remote device, the system comprising: [0006] According to a first aspect, there is provided a method that comprises transmitting a first advertisement packet indicating that an advertising device is scannable; receiving a scan request from at least one scanning device; determining, based on the received one or more scan requests, whether a corresponding one or more scanning device is an allowed for connection; transmitting a second advertisement packet indicating that said advertising device is connectable; receiving connection requests from the allowed at least one scanning device, computing device comprising: communications circuitry, including an advertisement initiation circuitry; one or more computer processors; one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media; and instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the stored instructions including instructions to: [0025] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a BLE module available on the market as a simplified block diagram. Central processing unit and memory means with application data are located in segment 200. A part of the link layer and physical layer are illustrated with reference 210. This segment 210 contains elements, such as radio registers, link layer engine, modulator-demodulator, receiving-transmitting means, frequency synthesizer, balancing-unbalancing unit (balun), antenna (ant), send one or more wake-up advertisements to one or more remote devices, [0006] According to a first aspect, there is provided a method that comprises transmitting a first advertisement packet indicating that an advertising device is scannable; receiving a scan request from at least one scanning device; determining, based on the received one or more scan requests, whether a corresponding one or more scanning device is an allowed for connection; transmitting a second advertisement packet indicating that said advertising device is connectable; receiving connection requests from the allowed at least one scanning device, wherein each of the one or more remote devices is a luminaire;[0036] Slave device may be a sensor or an actuator, such as a temperature sensor, heart rate sensor, light bulb, proximity sensor, etc. Master device can be any electronic device capable of collecting data, e.g. mobile phone, smart phone, personal digital assistant, personal computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, etc, receive a wake-up scan request from a responding remote device, [0038] FIG. 3b illustrates a situation, where device B (Host B) is sending advertising packets and device A (Host A) is scanning the packets. Host A and host B are a master device and a slave device respectively. LLA is a link layer of the master device, i.e. host A, and LLB is a link layer of the slave device, i.e. host B. From FIG. 3b it is realized that SCAN_REQ packet from host A as a response to an advertisement packet “Advet” from link layer LLB of host B is transmitted from link layer LLA of host A, wherein the responding remote device is constantly scanning for the one or more wake-up advertisements; [0026] the slave devices (or at that point “advertisers”) periodically, at pseudo-random intervals, pass advertisement packets which a master device (also known as scanner device, i.e. “scanner”) is scanning, and responsive to receiving the wake- up scan request from the responding remote device, connect to the responding remote device. [0047-0052] FIG. 5 illustrates a method according to an embodiment as a flowchart. The method according to an embodiment comprises steps for transmitting 510 a first advertisement packet indicating that an advertising device is scannable; receiving 520 a scan request from at least one scanning device; determining 530, based on the received one or more scan requests, whether a corresponding one or more scanning device is an allowed for connection; transmitting 540 a second advertisement packet indicating that said advertising device is connectable; receiving 550 connection requests only from the allowed at least one scanning device. A system to receive a wake-up advertisement from a computing device, [0036] Slave device may be a sensor or an actuator, such as a temperature sensor, heart rate sensor, light bulb, proximity sensor, system for initiating communication in a Personal Area Network (PAN) [0035] The CONNECT_REQ packet initiates the connection, i.e. creates a point-to-point connection between the devices.
Regarding claim 2, Jere teaches send a wake-up scan response to the responding remote device; [0034] When an advertising receives SCAN_REQ packet from a scanning device, the advertising device may give more information to the scanning device by SCAN_RSP packet. SCAN_RSP packet may contain information on the name of the advertising device and on the services the advertising device is able to provide and scan for one or more connection advertisements from the responding remote device [0026] The master is able to communicate with one or more slave devices—also simultaneously. To let the master know about the slave devices, the slave devices (or at that point “advertisers”) periodically, at pseudo-random intervals, pass advertisement packets which a master device (also known as scanner device, i.e. “scanner”) is scanning
Regarding claim 3 and 18, Jere teaches continue to send the one or more wake-up advertisements for a holdover period in an effort to wake up one or more additional remote devices, [0044] The present embodiment is illustrates in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates an advertising device 410 and scanner devices 420, 430, 440. The advertising device 410 advertises using ADV_SCAN_IND packet to gather information on scanner device 420, 430, 440. After enough data has been gathered, a list of allowed master devices is generated by the advertiser device wherein the holdover period is a predetermined length of time after receiving the wake-up scan request; [0044] After enough data has been gathered, a list of allowed master devices is generated by the advertiser device. A scanner device is entered to the list of allowed master devices, if e.g. RSSI is high enough, there exists a bond between the scanner device and the advertiser device and scan for one or more additional wake-up scan requests from one or more additional responding remote devices; [0044] The advertising device 410 advertises using ADV_SCAN_IND packet to gather information on scanner device 420, 430, 440 and responsive to receiving any additional wake-up scan requests from any responding additional remote devices, connect to any of the responding additional remote devices after expiration of the holdover period.[0046] The advertising device 410 accepts only those CONNECT_REQ packets that are originated from a scanner device belonging to the list of allowed device. According to an embodiment, the advertising device 410 accepts only such CONNECT_REQ packet that is received from a scanner device indicated in the ADV_DIRECT_IND packet.
Regarding claim 4, Jere does teach wherein the computing device scans for the one or more additional wake-up scan requests during the holdover period by interleaving the one or more wake-up advertisements with intervals of scanning. [0024] The link layer provides ultra-low power idle mode operation and device discovery (i.e. connection mode and advertising mode handling). The link layer is also in charge for packet transmission and responding. (BLE inherently requires the device to both transmit advertising packets and listen for incoming packets)
Regarding claim 5 and 13 Jere does teach wherein connect to the responding remote device uses a standard connection procedure for a Personal Area Network (PAN). [0003] Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) relates to Bluetooth wireless radio technology. It has been designed for low-power and low latency applications for wireless devices within short range. Today, BLE applications can be found from healthcare, fitness, security, smart energy, industrial automation and home entertainment.
Regarding claim 6 Jere does teach wherein the PAN is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and connect to the responding remote device uses a standard BLE connection procedure. [0032] If the advertiser sends either the ADV_IND or ADV_DIRECT_IND packets, a scanner desiring to exchange data with the advertiser can send a CONNECT_REQ packet. If the advertiser accepts the CONNECT_REQ packet, the devices become connected and the communication may be started. At this point, the advertiser becomes a slave and the scanner becomes a master.
Regarding claim 7 Jere does teach wherein the one or more wake-up advertisements include information about the system and a sender. 0034] When an advertising receives SCAN_REQ packet from a scanning device, the advertising device may give more information to the scanning device by SCAN_RSP packet. SCAN_RSP packet may contain information on the name of the advertising device and on the services the advertising device is able to provide.
Regarding claim 9, Jere does teach wherein the one or more wake-up advertisements include information about the system and a sender. 0034] When an advertising receives SCAN_REQ packet from a scanning device, the advertising device may give more information to the scanning device by SCAN_RSP packet. SCAN_RSP packet may contain information on the name of the advertising device and on the services the advertising device is able to provide.
Regarding claim 11, Jere does teach responsive to receiving the wake-up advertisement from the computing device, send a wake-up scan request to the computing device; [0042] According to an embodiment, the advertisement procedure is modified so that at first the advertising device advertises with ADV_SCAN_IND packet, which indicates that the advertiser is scannable but not connectable. The scanners send SCAN_REQ packets, which the advertiser uses for generating a list of allowed master devices for connection. The generated list is used as a whitelist for connections, responsive to receiving a wake-up scan response from the computing device, determine whether the wake-up advertisement and the wake-up scan response match a predetermined set of criteria; [0034] When an advertising receives SCAN_REQ packet from a scanning device, the advertising device may give more information to the scanning device by SCAN_RSP packet. SCAN_RSP packet may contain information on the name of the advertising device and on the services the advertising device is able to provide, and responsive to verifying that the wake-up advertisement and the scan response match the predetermined set of criteria, send a connection advertisement to the computing device [0039] Connection between the master device and the slave device can be formed by the master device sending CONNECT_REQ packet after the slave's advertisement packet. When the connection is opened, the slave device becomes aware with which device the connection is formed.
Regarding claim 12, Jere does teach one of that the wake-up advertisement is part of a correct system, [0044] the advertising device 410 advertises using ADV_SCAN_IND packet to gather information on scanner device 420, 430, 440. After enough data has been gathered, a list of allowed master devices is generated by the advertiser device, that the wake-up advertisement is sent as part of a correct PAN service, [0003] Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) relates to Bluetooth wireless radio technology. It has been designed for low-power and low latency applications for wireless devices within short range. Today, BLE applications can be found from healthcare, fitness, security, smart energy, industrial automation and home entertainment or that the wake-up advertisement corresponds to a same organization as the system [0044] A scanner device is entered to the list of allowed master devices, if e.g. RSSI is high enough, there exists a bond between the scanner device and the advertiser device (i.e. encryption info has been stored for the devices), if enough time is passed from previous connection or if a device is from certain manufacturer (3 upper bytes of the address).
Regarding claim 14, Jere does teach receive a connection scan request from the computing device; [0033] Instead of the CONNECT_REQ, the scanner device may also respond with SCAN_REQ, which is a request for further information from the advertiser. This can be send as a response to ADV_IND or ADV_SCAN_IND advertising packets, and send a connection scan response to the computing device [0034] When an advertising receives SCAN_REQ packet from a scanning device, the advertising device may give more information to the scanning device by SCAN_RSP packet.
Regarding claim 15, Jere does teach wherein the wake-up scan request and the connection scan request use a specialized scan request packet; [0033] the scanner device may also respond with SCAN_REQ, which is a request for further information from the advertiser.
Regarding claim 17, Jere does teach responsive to receiving the one or more connection advertisements from the responding remote device, send a connection scan request to the responding remote device; [0033] Instead of the CONNECT_REQ, the scanner device may also respond with SCAN_REQ, which is a request for further information from the advertiser. This can be send as a response to ADV_IND or ADV_SCAN_IND advertising packets and receive a connection scan response from the responding remote device. [0034] When an advertising receives SCAN_REQ packet from a scanning device, the advertising device may give more information to the scanning device by SCAN_RSP packet. SCAN_RSP packet may contain information on the name of the advertising device and on the services the advertising device is able to provide.
Regarding claim 15, Jere does teach continue to send the one or more wake-up advertisements for a holdover period in an effort to wake up one or more additional remote devices, wherein the holdover period is a predetermined length of time after receiving the wake-up scan request; [0042] the advertising device advertises with ADV_SCAN_IND packet, which indicates that the advertiser is scannable but not connectable. The scanners send SCAN_REQ packets, which the advertiser uses for generating a list of allowed master devices for connection and scan for the one or more additional wake-up scan requests from one or more additional responding remote devices during the holdover period; [0044] The present embodiment is illustrates in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates an advertising device 410 and scanner devices 420, 430, 440. The advertising device 410 advertises using ADV_SCAN_IND packet to gather information on scanner device 420, 430, 440. After enough data has been gathered, a list of allowed master devices is generated by the advertiser device.
Regarding claim 20, Jere does teach wherein the one or more wake-up advertisements use a specialized advertisement packet [0042] The generated list is used as a whitelist for connections. After having generated the white list, the advertiser device advertises with a new advertisement packet, this time with ADV_IND packet indicating that the advertiser is connectable, and the wake-up scan request and the connection scan request use a specialized scan request packet, [0033] Instead of the CONNECT_REQ, the scanner device may also respond with SCAN_REQ, which is a request for further information from the advertiser. This can be send as a response to ADV_IND or ADV_SCAN_IND advertising packets.
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 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.
Claim [8 and 19] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Jere in view of Jain (US 20190317606 A1).
In regards to claims 8, and 19 Jere teach the limitation of parent claims.
Jere do not teach receiving an indication from a user indicating a particular device of the responding remote device or any of the one or more responding additional remote devices; and the instruction to connect is further responsive to at least one of the responding remote device or any of the responding additional remote devices corresponding to the particular device.
However, Jain teach wherein responsive to receiving the one or more connection advertisements from the responding remote device, connect to the responding remote device further comprises one or more of the following program instructions, stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, to: receive an indication from a user indicating a particular device of the one or more remote devices; [0062] In a non-limiting illustrative example, a device 810 interacting with multiple users can engage them in the popular game of “rock, paper, scissors”. Players (e.g., users 1, 2 and 3) are positioned around the device 810 and each initiate the device a wake-up phrase such as, but not limited to, “Alexa” and “Ok Google.” and connect to the particular device of the one or more remote devices. [0062] In response, device 810 uses voice recognition techniques to recognize each user 1, 2 and 3 from their voice sample (e.g., 880_1, 880_2 and 880_3) and maps the users 1, 2 and 3 to their location (e.g., direction relative to the device 810) using beam-forming algorithms (such as time-delay, active, Frost, etc.). Voice recognition techniques can include using speech features extracted from individual user voices to train a multi-class classifier (e.g., machine learning).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Jere and Jain before him or her, to modify the method of Jere to include the user indication as taught by Jain.
The motivation to do so would be improved user engagement (0062 by Jain).
Claim [21-23] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Jere in view of Nam (US 20180206188 A1).
In regards to claims 21-23 Jere teach the limitation of parent claims.
Jere do not teach wherein the luminaire is a streetlight.
However, Nam does teach wherein the luminaire is a streetlight; [0037] an internet of things (IoT) device (e.g., an electric bulb, various sensors, a sprinkler device, a fire alarm, a thermostat, a streetlight, a toaster, an exerciser, a hot water tank, a heater, a boiler, etc.) or the like.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Jere and Nam before him or her, to modify the method of Jere to include the street light device as taught by Nam.
The motivation to do so would be improved scanning efficiency (0062 by Nam).
Response to Argument
Applicant’s arguments filed on 02/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new rejection stated above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEHAB A ALAWDI whose telephone number is (571)270-3203. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/SHEHAB A ALAWDI/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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