Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 17/989,257

COOPERATIVE NETWORK DEVICES

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Nov 17, 2022
Examiner
WHITAKER, JUSTIN MICHAEL
Art Unit
2415
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Silicon Laboratories Inc.
OA Round
4 (Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
5-6
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allowance Rate
13 granted / 19 resolved
+10.4% vs TC avg
Strong +22% interview lift
Without
With
+21.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
64
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.7%
-39.3% vs TC avg
§103
75.6%
+35.6% vs TC avg
§102
13.3%
-26.7% vs TC avg
§112
10.4%
-29.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 19 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Response to Amendment Applicant’s amendment filed on 04/30/2026 has been entered. No independent claims have been amended. No dependent claims have been amended. No claims have been cancelled. No claims are new and have been entered. Claims 1, 4-10, and 13-22 are still pending in this application. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/30/2026 on pages 6-7 of applicant’s remark regarding Claims 1 and 10. The applicant argues that Chen fails to teach Wi-Fi/internet connectivity, control, or compute, and instead teach sensor data and ¶0077 of Chen does not teach the data, but, the structure of the invention. However, the Capabilities Catalog from Fig. 3: 320 is further described in ¶0044-¶0045, which describes having the IoT device’s capabilities on file and respond to API calls to initiate data transfers, which, in combination with the structure of Chen in ¶0077 showing the device contains the wireless communication systems. This shows that the API calls and data transfers are taught by meeting the claim language of “Wi-Fi connectivity”. The applicant’s arguments have been fully considered, but are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/30/2026 on page 8 of applicant’s remark regarding Claims 19 and 21. The applicant argues that Guberman fails to teach a resource ledger containing compute, and instead references how queries can be made. However, using the rationale of a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain a predictable result, as defined by 2143.I of the MPEP, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand to combine the selection process of Guberman with the data storage system of Chen. The applicant’s arguments have been fully considered, but are not persuasive. 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. Claim(s) 1, 4-10, and 13-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guberman (Pub. No.: US 20190268310 A1, hereafter “Guberman”) in view of Chen (Pub. No.: US 20190028349 A1, hereafter “Chen”). Regarding Claim 1 and Claim 10 Guberman teaches a Method and Network Comprising A method of sharing resources (Guberman Fig. 1: 34-1-34-N) among network devices in a wireless network (Guberman Fig. 1: 10), the method comprising: querying the network resource ledger (Guberman ¶0198: subsequently enabled to request shared data) by a first network device, the first network device in need of a resource (Guberman ¶0197: sharing sensor data; Guberman teaches requesting shared data via a member of a trusted group of computing devices to share sensor data); transmitting a packet from the first network device to the neighboring network device requesting access to the resource (Guberman Fig. 11B: 460; Guberman teaches sending the data to another device); and receiving a second packet from the neighboring device granting access to the resource (Guberman Fig. 11B: 462; Guberman teaches the other device gaining access to the data). Guberman does not explicitly teach creating a network resource ledger, the network resource ledger listing all resources that are available for sharing and an identity of a device possessing each resource wherein the network resource ledger comprises a list of all available resources, a class of resource and their current status and wherein the class of resource is one or more of compute, wi-fi/ethernet connectivity or control; identifying a neighboring network device having the resource; However, Chen teaches creating a network resource ledger (Chen Fig. 3: 320) the network resource ledger listing all resources that are available for sharing (Chen ¶0045: capabilities catalog) and an identity of a device possessing each resource (Chen ¶0045: unique capability identifier) wherein the network resource ledger (Chen Fig. 3: 320) comprises a list of all available resources (Chen ¶0045: each capability), a class of resource (Chen ¶0045: capability) and their current status (Chen ¶0045: data can include battery life) and wherein the class of resource (Chen ¶0045: capability) is one or more of compute (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), wi-fi/ethernet (Chen ¶0077: wired communications) connectivity (Chen ¶0045: API calls to initiate IoT data transfers) or control (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Chen teaches a resource ledger containing all available capability, including a unique identifier, and one of those ledgers includes a method for connectivity to the IoT device through a wired communication system); identifying a neighboring network device (Chen ¶0054: resource manager can map resources) having the resource (Chen ¶0044: map data fields from IoT devices; Chen teaches identifying resources from multiple network devices); It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Guberman by way of Chen, to have an element that teaches a resource ledger containing all available capability, including a unique identifier, and one of those ledgers includes a method for connectivity to the IoT device as well as identifying resources from multiple network devices, as taught by Chen in Fig. 3, and ¶0045-¶0053, to reduce power consumption, have a larger number of devices, shorter bursts of transmissions, device tampering detection, and advanced device authentication. Claim 10 differs by the following limitation, which is also taught by the prior art, a plurality of network devices, each network device comprising: network interface (Guberman Fig. 1: 28-1, 14-4, 18-1-N); a processing unit (Guberman: ¶0207; processor); and a memory device, containing instructions (Guberman: ¶0207: memory; Guberman teaches a memory with instructions), Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 13 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 1. Chen further teaches wherein each resource has a sharing model (Chen ¶0066: sharing a device model; Chen teaches implementing sharing data). It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Guberman by way of Chen, to share data, as taught by Chen in ¶0066, to reduce power consumption, have a larger number of devices, shorter bursts of transmissions, device tampering detection, and advanced device authentication. Regarding Claim 5 and Claim 14 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 4. Chen further teaches wherein the sharing model is 1:1 (Chen ¶0066: OMA Lightweight M2M, e.g. an IoT direct API), 1:many (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim) or 1:many (time sliced access) (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim; Chen teaches selecting a type of sharing model, such as a direct access API). It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Guberman by way of Chen, to directly share data, as taught by Chen in ¶0066, to reduce power consumption, have a larger number of devices, shorter bursts of transmissions, device tampering detection, and advanced device authentication. Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 15 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 1. Chen further teaches wherein the network resource ledger is a two stage table (Chen ¶0037: table), wherein a first table lists classes of resource (Chen ¶0037: data) and an associated pointer (Chen ¶0037: registration) to a second table (Chen ¶0038: data model layer), and wherein the second table provides a list of devices having a resource of that class (Chen ¶0038: assemble models in parameters; Chen teaches having multiple tables with the associated data and references). It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Guberman by way of Chen, to hold the relevant data and the associated references, as taught by Chen in ¶0037-¶0038, to reduce power consumption, have a larger number of devices, shorter bursts of transmissions, device tampering detection, and advanced device authentication. Regarding Claim 7 and Claim 16 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 1. Chen further teaches wherein each network device constructs a device resource ledger (Chen ¶0036: stores data in a repository), based on resources available in the network device and publicizes its respective device resource ledger (Chen ¶0035: adaptor receives raw data from IoT devices), and the network resource ledger is compiled based on all of the device resource ledgers (Chen ¶0036: adaptor collects and stores IoT data; Chen teaches generating a repository from data from IoT devices). It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Guberman by way of Chen, to hold the data from IoT devices, as taught by Chen in ¶0035-¶0036, to reduce power consumption, have a larger number of devices, shorter bursts of transmissions, device tampering detection, and advanced device authentication. Regarding Claim 8 and Claim 17 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 1. Chen further teaches wherein the first network device uses the resource (Chen ¶0039: data access layer) and subsequently transmits a packet to the neighboring network device relinquishing access to the resource (Chen ¶0039: control access; Chen teaches using the data access layer to control different data models). It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Guberman by way of Chen, to access different data layers with different data models, as taught by Chen in ¶0039, to reduce power consumption, have a larger number of devices, shorter bursts of transmissions, device tampering detection, and advanced device authentication. Regarding Claim 9 and Claim 18 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 1. Chen further teaches wherein the first network device uses one or more factors to select the neighboring network device (Chen ¶0044: selected capability designations), wherein the one or more factors are reliability (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), highest availability (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), bandwidth (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), quality of service (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), CPU speed (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), memory storage (Not given patentable weight due to non-selective option in the claim), or proximity (Chen ¶0045: latitude and longitude; Chen teaches a capacity designator with latitude and longitude). It would have been obvious for one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Guberman by way of Chen, to allow access to latitude and longitude data, as taught by Chen in ¶0045, to reduce power consumption, have a larger number of devices, shorter bursts of transmissions, device tampering detection, and advanced device authentication. Regarding Claim 19 and Claim 21 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 1. Guberman further teaches Wherein the class of resource comprises compute (Guberman ¶0149: device parameters can be queried to the for a Boolean query for the device parameters). Regarding Claim 20 and Claim 22 Guberman in view of Chen teaches the Method and Network as explained above in Claim 1. Guberman further teaches Wherein the class of resource comprises control (Guberman ¶0037: parameters include one or more control information). 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 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 JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER whose telephone number is (703)756-4763. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7:30am - 4:00pm. 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, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on (571) 270-1215. 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. /JUSTIN MICHAEL WHITAKER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415 /Sudesh M. Patidar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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Prosecution Timeline

Show 2 earlier events
Jul 07, 2025
Response Filed
Sep 05, 2025
Final Rejection mailed — §103
Oct 27, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Nov 24, 2025
Request for Continued Examination
Dec 05, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 06, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Apr 30, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 23, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

5-6
Expected OA Rounds
68%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+21.8%)
3y 3m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 19 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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