DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed January 15th, 2026.
Claims 27-46 are currently pending. Claims 27-32, 40-41, 43, and 46 are currently amended.
The present application is a 371 National Stage entry of International Application no. PCT/FI2021/050536, filed on July 20th, 2021, which claims priority to the United Kingdom of Great Britan and Northern Ireland application no. GB2011855.0, filed on July 30st, 2020.
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 § 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.
Claims 27-46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pandey et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication no. 2021/0153124, hereinafter Pandey) in view of Brown et al (U.S. Patent no. 11,442,521, hereinafter Brown).
With respect to claims 27, 43, and 46, Pandey discloses an apparatus, method, and non-transitory computer readable medium (paragraph [0040]) comprising:
at least one processor (paragraph [0040]); and
at least one memory including computer program code (paragraph [0040]) that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
receive one or more monitoring requests (paragraph [0043], a device usage patter monitored over the plurality of time segments);
determine one or more device actions to be performed to fulfill the received one or more monitoring requests (paragraph [0054], a set of actions are performed on the electronic device based on the monitoring);
determine one or more device configurations for the one or more monitoring requests (paragraph [0053], power saving mode), wherein the determining of one or more device configurations further comprises;
assign the one or more determined device actions to one or more devices from a plurality of available devices (paragraph [0056], set of actions include determining an action to be performed on the electronic device);
determine a device resource usage rate for the determined one or more device configurations (paragraph [0055], power consumption rate); and
determine a schedule of device configuration usage based, at least in part, on the determined device resource usage rate or rates and available device resources (paragraph [0099], determines an action to be performed at a further time segment of the time period based on the event schedule).
But Pandey does not disclose wherein the one or more monitoring requests comprises a request received from one or more applications for use of one or more device resources to perform one or more tasks or actions.
However Brown discloses wherein the one or more monitoring requests (column 11, lines 47-59, monitoring the sensors; column 21, lines 8-15, SPDs requesting communication) comprises a request received from one or more applications (column 12, lines 5-16, power management procedures 232 manage the power consumption of the user input/output devices 216) for use of one or more device resources to perform one or more tasks or actions (column 12, lines 5-16, initiating any appropriate action based on that input).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the method for power management of electronic devices of Pandey with the predictive power management in a wireless sensor network using scheduling data of Brown. The motivation to combine being to improve the power consumption efficiency of wireless sensors. The power consumption efficiency of the wireless sensors being improved by employing a plurality of operational modes based on scheduling data (abstract: Brown).
With respect to claims 28 and 44, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claims 27 and 43, Pandey further discloses wherein the device resource usage rate comprises an energy usage rate and the available device resources comprises an amount of energy available to the devices of the one or more device configurations (paragraph [0054], detecting current available power).
With respect to claims 29 and 4, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claims 27 and 44, Pandey further discloses wherein the receiving of the one or more monitoring requests further comprises receiving a plurality of monitoring requests (paragraph [0043], a device usage patter monitored over the plurality of time segments).
With respect to claim 30, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the determining the one or more device actions further comprises determining one or more sensing actions (paragraph [0054], a set of actions are performed on the electronic device based on the monitoring) and/or determine one or more processing actions to be performed (paragraph [0056], set of actions include determining an action to be performed on the electronic device).
With respect to claim 31, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the determining of the one or more device configurations further comprises determining one or more available sensors configured for use in fulfilling the one or more monitoring requests (paragraph [0075], lines 1-15, a sensor polling duration).
With respect to claim 32, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the determining of the schedule of the device configuration usage further comprises at least one of:
optimizing use of available device resources (paragraph [0073]);
balancing running times for the received at least one monitoring request (paragraph [0063], time segments based on power consumption data associated with the electronic device); and
prioritizing a running time of at least one received monitoring request (paragraph [0063], power consumption category).
With respect to claim 33, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the at least one memory further comprises computer program code that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: control one or more device of a device configuration to fulfill a received monitoring request at a scheduled time, based, at least in part, on the determined schedule of the device configuration usage (paragraph [0099], determines an action to be performed at a further time segment of the time period based on the event schedule).
With respect to claim 34, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the at least one memory further comprises computer program code that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
determine a change in the plurality of available devices (paragraph [0080], determine an action to be performed on the electronic device); and
update the schedule of the device configuration usage based, at least in part, on the determined change in the plurality of available devices (paragraph [0093], share the power consumption data updated with at least one further electronic device).
With respect to claim 35, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 34, Pandey further discloses wherein the change in the plurality of available devices comprises addition of at least one available sensor and/or removal of at least one available sensor (paragraph [0054], a set of actions are performed on the electronic device based on the monitoring).
With respect to claim 36, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the at least one memory further comprises computer program code that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
determine a change in the available device resources (paragraph [0080], determine an action to be performed on the electronic device); and
update the schedule of the device configuration usage based, at least in part, on the determined change in the available device resources (paragraph [0093], share the power consumption data updated with at least one further electronic device).
With respect to claim 37, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 36, Pandey further discloses wherein the change in the available device resources comprises at least one of the available devices being charged (paragraph [0063], charging/discharging state).
With respect to claim 38, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the schedule of the device configuration usage comprises a scheduled change from a first device configuration for a monitoring request to a second, different device configuration for the monitoring request (paragraph [0093], share the power consumption data updated with at least one further electronic device).
With respect to claim 39, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the at least one memory further comprises computer program code that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
determine that at least one of the monitoring requests is removed (paragraph [0080], determine an action to be performed on the electronic device); and
update the schedule of the device configuration usage based, at least in part, on the remaining monitoring request or requests (paragraph [0093], share the power consumption data updated with at least one further electronic device).
With respect to claim 40, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein the determining of the schedule of the device configuration usage further comprises determining a degree of competition for available devices and/or sensors of the available devices for the determined device configurations (paragraph [0073]); and determining the schedule of the device configuration usage based, at least in part, on the determined degree of the competition (paragraph [0093], share the power consumption data updated with at least one further electronic device).
With respect to claim 41, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 40, Pandey further discloses wherein the determining of the degree of the competition for available devices and/or sensors of available devices further comprises (paragraph [0073]) determining the number of device configurations that involve the available devices and/or the sensors of available devices, and determining the amount of the energy available to the available devices and/or sensors of available devices (paragraph [0093], share the power consumption data updated with at least one further electronic device).
With respect to claim 42, the combination of Pandey and Brown discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 27, Pandey further discloses wherein at least some of the plurality of available devices are interrelated and/or interdependent (paragraph [0083], at least one further device).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 27-46 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Byun Patent no. 11,924,701
Dowlatkhah Patent no. 10,645,080
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BLAKE J RUBIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3802. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 571-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
3/5/26
/BLAKE J RUBIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457