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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 3 and 5-6 are pending in this Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed in the amendment filed 09/15/2025, have been fully considered but they are moot in view of new grounds of rejections. The reasons are set forth below.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The formal drawings received on 10/26/2022 have been entered.
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(s) 1 and 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeda (US 20220053055) in view of Ito (US 20170176917).
Claims 1, 6. Maeda teaches:
A management device coupled to a device, – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (The device list may further includes information pertaining to terminal 50 connected to home gateway 20.)
the management device comprising: – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (The device list may further includes information pertaining to terminal 50 connected to home gateway 20.)
a device communication unit that communicates with the device; – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (Home gateway 20 includes receiver 100, initial device list generator 110, unregistered device detector 120, classifier 130, appliance message determiner 140, forwarding determiner 150, transmitter 160, and device list holder 200. Note that home gateway 20 and terminal 50 may communicate by having a server (not shown) connected to Internet 10 and having home gateway 20 and terminal 50 communicate with the server via Internet 10. Terminal 50 may be connected to home gateway 20 directly and view the states of electric lock 40, air conditioner 41, and lighting 42, or receive notifications from home gateway 20.)
a device controller that generates a device list in which the device is registered, and – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (Initial device list generator 110 of home gateway 20 searches for devices connected to home network 11 and registers devices which have been found in the device list. Initial device list generator 110 performs processing for generating a device list.)
acquires device information from the device registered in the device list; and – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (In the device list, whether the device only transmits, only receives, or both transmits and receives control messages for controlling appliances may be registered, and a detailed type such as whether the appliance is an electric lock, an air conditioner, lighting, a controller, or the like may be registered. Classifier 130 of home gateway 20 generates the device list by transmitting, to each of the plurality of devices, a determination message for determining whether or not each of the plurality of devices is an appliance, and generates the device list on the basis of response messages responding to the determination messages.)
a storage that stores the generated device list, – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (Device list holder 200 holds information pertaining to the plurality of devices connected to home network 11 in list format as the device list.)
wherein the device list is generated and stored based on a detection that a sequence in which the management device shifts from a first state to a second state is started, and – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (Initial device list generator 110 of home gateway 20 generates the device list when home gateway 20 is started up, and the devices are classified as “appliances” or “non-appliances”. Device list holder 200 holds information pertaining to the plurality of devices connected to home network 11 in list format as the device list.)
Maeda does not explicitly teach:
the first state is a power-saving state where power consumed by the management device is lower than that in the second state.
However, Ito teaches:
the first state is a power-saving state where power consumed by the management device is lower than that in the second state. – in paragraphs [0008]-[0251] (The transition to the sleep state Q2 enables needless power consumption to be suppressed. The MFP makes a transition to a sleep state (power saving state) where power is stopped being supplied to some processing circuits and the like based on, for example, a request to reduce power consumption, when a certain period of non-operation passes in the working state.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Maeda with Ito to include the first state is a power-saving state where power consumed by the management device is lower than that in the second state, as taught by Ito, in paragraphs [0003]-[0037], to provide a technique where a device makes a transition to a sleep state (power saving state) where power is stopped being supplied to some processing circuits and the like based on, for example, a request to reduce power consumption, when a certain period of non-operation passes in the working state.
Claim 5. The management device according to claim 1 – refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Maeda teaches:
further comprising: a network communication unit communicating with an external management device via a communication network, – in paragraphs [0008]-[0258] (Terminal 50 is a device connected to Internet 10 over a mobile phone network (wireless). Initial device list generator 110 requests classifier 130 to classify the devices registered in device list holder 200, and classifier 130 executes the classification processing (S1002).)
wherein the device controller acquires the device information from the device registered in the device list, based on an instruction received via the network communication unit. – in paragraphs (In the device list, whether the device only transmits, only receives, or both transmits and receives control messages for controlling appliances may be registered, and a detailed type such as whether the appliance is an electric lock, an air conditioner, lighting, a controller, or the like may be registered. Classifier 130 of home gateway 20 generates the device list by transmitting, to each of the plurality of devices, a determination message for determining whether or not each of the plurality of devices is an appliance, and generates the device list on the basis of response messages responding to the determination messages.)
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeda (US 20220053055) in view of Ito (US 20170176917), and further in view of Shimmura (US 20080215714).
Claim 3. The management device according to claim 1 – refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Combination of Maeda and Ito does not explicitly teach:
wherein the device controller deletes the device list stored in the storage when the management device shifts from the second state to the first state.
However, Shimmura teaches:
wherein the device controller deletes the device list stored in the storage when the management device shifts from the second state to the first state. – in paragraph [0010] (Allowing the first server which is to shift from the operating state into the standby state, to delete the given predetermined address.)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Maeda and Ito with Shimmura to include wherein the device controller deletes the device list stored in the storage when the management device shifts from the second state to the first state, as taught by Shimmura, in paragraph [0008], to allow the first server to send a system switching notification to the second server in case of redundancy switching at which the first server is to shift from the operating state into a standby state.
Conclusion
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 MUHAMMAD RAZA whose telephone number is (571)272-7734. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M..
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/MUHAMMAD RAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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