DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/03/2025 has been entered and made of record.
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 Status
Claims 1, 14, and 18 are amended.
No new claim is/are added.
Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments (remark pages 7-12), filed on 07/03/2025, with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection below which better address the claimed invention as amended.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-5, 8-10 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sorrells et al. (US 20230088772 A1), hereinafter “Sorrells”, in view of Lee et al. (US 20190121407 A1), hereinafter “Lee”.
Regarding claim 1, Sorrells teaches ‘A device’ (Sorrells: [Title]: “AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTING CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT (CPE)”); ‘comprising: a processor’ (Sorrells: [0005]: “a processor”); ‘a memory that stores executable instructions’ (Sorrells: [0005]: “a memory configured to store instructions”);
‘when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
determining, in response to detecting an occurrence of a trigger condition, orientation adjustment information for a portion of a customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [0056]: “additional data may be gathered as to the signal strength obtained with various values of each of the locations/positions/orientations of the CPE (antenna) … a specific ML algorithm may be employed to adjust a position of the CPE and/or its antenna to make up for degrading signal quality or data speed. Such an algorithm may receive external conditions data (time, season, weather, obstructions, etc.) and predict a new position for the CPE and/or its antenna for improved signal strength, quality, or data speed. The algorithm may be automatically triggered by when the signal strength, quality, or data speed starts to weaken, and provide its conclusion (new position/configuration) to a controller to set the mechanical devices that adjust the position/location/configuration of the CPE and/or its antenna”);
‘initiating a transition from a first physical location of the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment to a second physical location of the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment, wherein the transition is based on the orientation adjustment information’ (discussed in element above). However, Sorrells fails to expressly teach thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment.
Sorrells does not expressly teach, but Lee in the same field of endeavor teaches ‘wherein the portion comprises a thermal shield portion’ (Lee: [FIG.9A]-[FIG.9C]; [0185]: “If the cooling fluid 210 accommodated in the inner space (S) defined by the circuit board 180 and the shield can 200 absorbs heat generated from the electronic device 220, the cooling fluid 210 has its temperature increased gradually. If the temperature of the cooling fluid 210 is increased, a heat exchange performance between the cooling fluid 210 and the electronic device 220 is reduced. The mobile terminal according to this embodiment is configured to maintain a cooling performance by the cooling fluid 210 through various shape changes of the shield can”, cooling fluid (the thermal shield portion));
‘wherein the transition comprises moving the thermal shield portion from the first physical location to the second physical location that is distinct from the first physical location’ (Lee: [FIG.9B]; [FIG.9C]: the cooling fluid (the thermal shield portion) move from physical location as in [FIG.9B] to physical location as in [FIG.9C], though the locations overlap but they are not the same (distinct)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lee’s teaching with that of Sorrells for the portion comprises a thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment, initiating a transition from a first physical location of the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment to a second physical location of the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment, and wherein the transition comprises moving the thermal shield portion from the first physical location to the second physical location that is distinct from the first physical location in order to maintain cooling performance of mobile device (CPE) by properly repositioning the cooling fluid through various shape changes of the heat shield can (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 2, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘wherein the orientation adjustment information is based on a model of an environment corresponding to the customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [0056]: “orientations of the CPE (antenna)”, “a mathematical model based on sample data … external conditions data (time, season, weather, obstructions, etc.)”, the orientation information is based on a model of an environment of CPE).
Regarding claim 3, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘wherein the orientation adjustment information is based on a condition of an environment experienced by the customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [0031]: “orientation of a CPE or its antenna for communication with the cellular base station may be adjusted to enhance signal quality in response to changes such as time of day, day of year, etc., as well as, changing obstructions such as weather conditions (rain or snow), foliage, and others”).
Regarding claim 4, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 3 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘wherein the condition is a thermal condition’ (Sorrells: [0055]: “Environmental parameters (to determine obstructions and degradation of line-of-sight) may include a temperature sensor”, the condition may include a thermal condition measured by the temperature sensor).
Regarding claim 5, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 3 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘wherein the condition is a radio frequency signal attenuation condition’ (Sorrells: [0022]: “conditions that may degrade signal quality”).
Regarding claim 8, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘the transition of all of the customer premises equipment to the second orientation’ (Sorrells: [FIG.4A]; [0050]: “The CPE 410 may be moved along the track 402 (location adjustment)”, adjust the orientation of the entire CPE).
Regarding claim 9, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘the transition of less than all of the customer premises equipment to the second orientation’ (Sorrells: [0051]: “position adjustment is performed on the antenna through the gimbal”, only adjust the antenna of CPE).
Regarding claim 10, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘a first transition of all of the customer premises equipment to a third orientation and a second transition of the portion less than all of the customer premises equipment to a fourth orientation’ (Sorrells: [FIG.4A]-[FIG.4F]; [0051]: “the location adjustment is performed on the CPE, while position adjustment is performed on the antenna through the gimbal”, adjust location of CPE and then position of antenna).
Regarding claim 12, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘an antenna portion of the customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [0051]: “position adjustment is performed on the antenna through the gimbal”).
Regarding claim 13, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘initiating an exploratory reorienting of the portion of the customer premises equipment enabling collection of information that is employed to update a model of an environment corresponding to the customer premises equipment, the exploratory reorienting resulting in an updated model of the environment corresponding to the customer premises equipment, wherein the trigger condition is detected based on the updated model of the environment’ (Sorrells: [FIG.2]; [FIG.3A]-[FIG.3B]; [FIG.4A]-[FIG.4F]; [0056]: “a mathematical model based on sample data (training data) … The algorithm may be automatically triggered by when the signal strength, quality, or data speed starts to weaken, and provide its conclusion (new position/configuration) to a controller”; [0031]: “location and/or position/orientation of a CPE or its antenna for communication with the cellular base station may be adjusted to enhance signal quality in response to changes such as time of day, day of year, etc., as well as, changing obstructions such as weather conditions (rain or snow), foliage, and others. A control system may learn how to adjust the location/position and perform the adjustment automatically resulting in consistent enhanced signal quality”; the environment of CPE may be explored to collect training data to update the model and adjust trigger condition accordingly).
Regarding claim 14, Sorrells teaches ‘A method’ (Sorrells: [0004]: “a method for adjustment of a customer premises equipment (CPE)”); ‘comprising:
receiving, by a system comprising a processor, condition information corresponding to a condition of an environment in which customer premises equipment is situated’ (Sorrells: [0004]: “by the controller … receiving information associated with one or more environmental parameters; and correlating the adjusted one or more of the position or the location of the CPE with the information associated with the one or more environmental parameters”);
‘determining, by the system, that an occurrence of a trigger condition has taken place based on analysis of the condition information’ (Sorrells: [0004]: “determining, at a controller, a signal quality of communication between the CPE and a cellular base station”, may determine based on signal quality condition);
‘determining, by the system and in response to the occurrence of the trigger condition, orientation adjustment information for a portion of the customer premises equipment based on the condition information’ (Sorrells: [0064]: “determine an adjustment to a position and/or location of the CPE or its antenna to enhance the signal quality”; [0049]: “fine-tuning for the position and orientation of the antenna planarly or spatially”, may determine to adjust based on signal quality condition);
‘automating, by the system, orienting the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment based on the orientation adjustment information’ (Sorrells: [FIG.8]; [00072]: “automatic adjustment of CPE position/location … information associated with or determine signal quality”). However, Sorrells fails to expressly teach thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment.
Sorrells does not expressly teach, but Lee teaches ‘wherein the portion comprises a thermal shield portion’ (Lee: [FIG.9A]-[FIG.9C]; [0185]: “If the cooling fluid 210 accommodated in the inner space (S) defined by the circuit board 180 and the shield can 200 absorbs heat generated from the electronic device 220, the cooling fluid 210 has its temperature increased gradually. If the temperature of the cooling fluid 210 is increased, a heat exchange performance between the cooling fluid 210 and the electronic device 220 is reduced. The mobile terminal according to this embodiment is configured to maintain a cooling performance by the cooling fluid 210 through various shape changes of the shield can”, cooling fluid (the thermal shield portion));
‘wherein the orienting comprises moving the thermal shield portion from a first physical location to a second physical location that is distinct from the first physical location’ (Lee: [FIG.9B]; [FIG.9C]: the cooling fluid (the thermal shield portion) move from physical location as in [FIG.9B] to physical location as in [FIG.9C], though the locations overlap but they are not the same (distinct)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lee’s teaching with that of Sorrells for the portion comprises a thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment, and automating, by the system, orienting the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment based on the orientation adjustment, wherein the orienting comprises moving the thermal shield portion from a first physical location to a second physical location that is distinct from the first physical location in order to maintain cooling performance of mobile device (CPE) by properly repositioning the cooling fluid through various shape changes of the heat shield can (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 15, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the method of claim 14 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘an updateable model of the environment of the customer premises equipment, and wherein the updateable model is updatable based on an interrogation of the environment by the customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [0056]: “a mathematical model based on sample data (training data) … an algorithm may receive external conditions data (time, season, weather, obstructions, etc.) and predict a new position for the CPE and/or its antenna for improved signal strength, quality, or data speed. The algorithm may be automatically triggered by when the signal strength, quality, or data speed starts to weaken, and provide its conclusion (new position/configuration) to a controller to set the mechanical devices that adjust the position/location/configuration of the CPE and/or its antenna”, updateable model based on conditions data of environment of CPE).
Regarding claim 16, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the method of claim 14 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘changing an orientation of all portions of the customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [FIG.4A]; [0050]: “The CPE 410 may be moved along the track 402 (location adjustment)”, may change the orientation of the entire CPE).
Regarding claim 17, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the method of claim 14 (discussed above).
Combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches ‘additively changing a first orientation of the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment and changing a second orientation of all portions of the customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [FIG.4A]-[FIG.4F]; [0051]: “the location adjustment is performed on the CPE, while position adjustment is performed on the antenna through the gimbal”, may adjust location of CPE and then position of antenna. Lee: [0185]: “The mobile terminal according to this embodiment is configured to maintain a cooling performance by the cooling fluid 210 through various shape changes of the shield can”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lee’s teaching of adjustable heat shield with that of Sorrells in order to maintain cooling performance of mobile device by properly repositioning the cooling fluid through various shape changes of the heat shield (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 18, Sorrells teaches ‘A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions’ (Sorrells: [0005]: “a memory configured to store instructions”; ‘when executed by a processor’ (this is implied); ‘facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
in response to receiving condition information corresponding to a condition of an environment applicable to a customer premises equipment, determining that a trigger criterion has been satisfied based on the condition information’ (Sorrells: [0004]: “receiving information associated with one or more environmental parameters; and correlating the adjusted one or more of the position or the location of the CPE with the information associated with the one or more environmental parameters”, “determining, at a controller, a signal quality of communication between the CPE and a cellular base station”, signal quality is the trigger condition);
‘in response to the determining that the trigger criterion has been satisfied, determining orientation adjustment information for a portion of the customer premises equipment based on the condition information’ (Sorrells: [0064]: “determine an adjustment to a position and/or location of the CPE or its antenna to enhance the signal quality”; [0049]: “fine-tuning for the position and orientation of the antenna planarly or spatially”);
‘causing reorientation of the portion of the customer premises equipment based on the orientation adjustment information’ (Sorrells: [FIG.8]; [00072]: “automatic adjustment of CPE position/location … information associated with or determine signal quality”). However, Sorrells fails to expressly teach thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment.
Sorrells does not expressly teach, but Lee teaches ‘wherein the portion comprises a thermal shield portion’ (Lee: [FIG.9A]-[FIG.9C]; [0185]: “If the cooling fluid 210 accommodated in the inner space (S) defined by the circuit board 180 and the shield can 200 absorbs heat generated from the electronic device 220, the cooling fluid 210 has its temperature increased gradually. If the temperature of the cooling fluid 210 is increased, a heat exchange performance between the cooling fluid 210 and the electronic device 220 is reduced. The mobile terminal according to this embodiment is configured to maintain a cooling performance by the cooling fluid 210 through various shape changes of the shield can”, cooling fluid (the thermal shield portion));
‘wherein the reorientation comprises moving the thermal shield portion from a first physical location to a second physical location that is distinct from the first physical location’ (Lee: [FIG.9B]; [FIG.9C]: the cooling fluid (the thermal shield portion) move from physical location as in [FIG.9B] to physical location as in [FIG.9C], though the locations overlap but they are not the same (distinct)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lee’s teaching with that of Sorrells for the portion comprises a thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment, and causing a reorientation of the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment based on the orientation adjustment information, wherein the reorientation comprises moving the thermal shield portion from a first physical location to a second physical location that is distinct from the first physical location in order to maintain cooling performance of mobile device by properly repositioning the cooling fluid through various shape changes of the heat shield can (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 19, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘changing an orientation of the entire customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [FIG.4A]: “The CPE 410 may be moved along the track 402 (location adjustment)”, may adjust the orientation of the entire CPE).
Regarding claim 20, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 (discussed above).
Combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches ‘changing a first orientation of the thermal shield portion of the customer premises equipment and concurrently changing a second orientation of the entire customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [FIG.4A]-[FIG.4F]; [0051]: “the location adjustment is performed on the CPE, while position adjustment is performed on the antenna through the gimbal”, may adjust location of CPE and position of antenna. Lee: [0185]: “The mobile terminal according to this embodiment is configured to maintain a cooling performance by the cooling fluid 210 through various shape changes of the shield can”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lee’s teaching of adjustable heat shield with that of Sorrells in order to maintain cooling performance of mobile device by properly repositioning the cooling fluid through various shape changes of the heat shield (see reference quotes in element above).
Claims 6-7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Sorrells and Lee, in view of Clymer et al. (US 20100188304 A1), hereinafter “Clymer”.
Regarding claim 6, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 3 (discussed above).
Combination of Sorrells and Lee does not expressly teach, but Clymer in the same field of endeavor teaches ‘wherein the condition is a radio frequency signal interference condition’ (Clymer: [0212]: “polarization diversity to keep the signals from interfering”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Clymer’s teaching with that of combination of Sorrells and Lee in order to keep the CPE from signal interference (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 7, combination of Sorrells, Lee and Clymer teaches the device of claim 6 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘wherein the condition is a customer placement condition corresponding to a placement of the customer premises equipment by a customer’ (Sorrells: [0056]: “the CPE may be configured by a human (consumer or expert), and baseline data for the expected signal strength may be obtained”, CPE may be placed by a customer).
Regarding claim 11, combination of Sorrells and Lee teaches the device of claim 1 (discussed above).
Sorrells teaches ‘a change in a degree of freedom of the portion of the customer premises equipment’ (Sorrells: [0049]: “A set of three gimbals … set a three-dimensional position for the object (CPE or antenna) mounted on the gimbal assembly. Multiple mechanical options may be employed with varying numbers of degrees of freedom possible”).
Combination of Sorrells and Lee does not expressly teach, but Clymer teaches ‘wherein the degree of freedom is selected from a group of degrees of freedom comprising roll, pitch, yaw, x-axis skew, y-axis skew, or z-axis skew’ (Clymer: [0212]: “a polarization skew between the antenna array 106 and the signal source … the pitch, roll, yaw”, with a three-dimensional position, it may have x-axis skew, y-axis skew and z-axis skew).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Clymer’s teaching with that of combination of Sorrells and Lee in order to achieve the freedom to choose the position and orientation of CPE (see reference quotes in element above).
Conclusion
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/G.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2462
/YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462