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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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; or
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claims 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Han et al. (US 20200128620 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Han discloses a control method for a wireless smart wearable device (e.g., 211 of Fig. 3), performed by a terminal device (e.g., 201 of Fig. 3) and comprising: receiving a control instruction for the wireless smart wearable device from a preset control interface (UI 410 of Fig. 4A) of the terminal device, determining a target device (e.g., 212 of Fig. 3) connected with the wireless smart wearable device (para. 0130, 0132: “when a user input to a single item (e.g., the TV selection UI 418) in the list 415 is received, the first electronic device 201 may transmit information about the connection to the currently connected electronic device (e.g., the first external electronic device 211 of FIG. 3), to an electronic device (e.g., the second external electronic device 212 of FIG. 3) corresponding to the item”); and transmitting, according to the control instruction, corresponding control information to the target device (para. 0129: “the first electronic device 201 may transmit the connection information associated with the communication connection between the first electronic device 201 and the first external electronic device 211, to the second external electronic device 212 and/or the fourth external electronic device 314”), so as to instruct the target device (212) to control the wireless smart wearable device (211) according to the control information (para. 0135: “the second external electronic device 212 and/or the fourth external electronic device 314 may estimate the channel between the first electronic device 201 and the first external electronic device 211 using the received connection information and may listen to the communication using the estimated channel”; para. 0137, 0147)
Regarding claim 2, Han discloses: wherein transmitting, according to the control instruction, corresponding control information to the target device comprises: in response to determining that the target device (212 of Fig. 3) is another terminal device, forming the control information corresponding to the control instruction in an application corresponding to the preset control interface, and transmitting the control information to the target device (para. 0136, 0139).
Regarding claim 4, Han discloses: wherein receiving the control instruction of the wireless smart wearable device from the preset control interface of the terminal device comprises: receiving the control instruction on a control interface of the wireless smart wearable device, the control interface comprising an interface corresponding to an icon corresponding to the wireless smart wearable device on the preset control interface (see Figs. 4a and 4c and related text).
Regarding claim 5, Han discloses a control method for a wireless smart wearable device (211 of Fig. 3), performed by a target device (212 of Fig. 3) and comprising: receiving control information for controlling the wireless smart wearable device, and controlling the wireless smart wearable device according to the control information (see discussion of claim 1 above).
Regarding claim 6, Han discloses: wherein controlling the wireless smart wearable device according to the control information comprises: generating a corresponding adjustment instruction according to the control information and a control protocol (para. 0046, 0079, 0092) supported by the wireless smart wearable device, and adjusting the wireless smart wearable device (211 of Fig. 3) according to the adjustment instruction (para. 0079, 0135, 0181).
Regarding claim 8, Han discloses a control apparatus for a wireless smart wearable device, comprising: a processor, and a memory configured to store an instruction executable by the processor (Fig. 1), wherein the processor is configured to: receive a control instruction for the wireless smart wearable device from a preset control interface of a terminal device; determine a target device connected with the wireless smart wearable device; and transmit, according to the control instruction, corresponding control information to the target device, so as to instruct the target device to control the wireless smart wearable device according to the control information (see discussion for claims 1 and 5 above).
Regarding claim 9, Han discloses the claimed invention (see discussion for claim 2 above).
Regarding claim 11, Han discloses the claimed invention (see discussion for claim 4 above).
Regarding claim 12, Han discloses the claimed invention (see discussion for claim 8 above).
Regarding claim 13, Han discloses the claimed invention (see discussion for claim 6 above).
Regarding claim 15, Han discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein when an instruction in the storage medium is executed by a processor of an apparatus, the apparatus is caused to execute the control method for a wireless smart wearable device according to claim 1 (para. 0037).
Regarding claims 16 and 18-20, Han discloses the claimed invention (see discussion for claim 1-4, 5-6 and 15 above).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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 of this title, 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.
5. Claims 3, 10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han et al. in view of Chan et al. (WO 2022055415 A1).
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, Han is silent on: wherein determining the target device connected with the wireless smart wearable device comprises: determining the target device (212 of Fig. 3) connected with the wireless smart wearable device according to a media access control (MAC) address of the wireless smart wearable device.
Chan discloses methods and devices for facilitating the seamless handover of wireless communications between paired wireless devices, comprising: determining a target device (e.g., 120 of Fig. 1) connected with a wireless smart wearable device (e.g., 110 of Fig. 1) according to a media access control (MAC) address of the wireless smart wearable device (para. 0012-0013, 0019: an app on smartphone to control headphones, the smartphone receives from them the MAC address of a further device previously paired with the headphones such as TV or CD player and then the smartphone selects a target device and reports it to the headphones so they connect to the device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Chan’s teaching of determining the target device connected with the wireless smart wearable device according to a MAC address of the wireless smart wearable device into the system of Han to arrive the claimed invention, as an intended use of well-known technique of MAC addressing. The skilled person would conceive and apply such modification, in view of Chan, without needing inventive skill but depending on practical considerations and according to the dictates of the circumstances, since it has been held that the mere application of a known technique to a specific instance by those skilled in the art would have been obvious.
6. Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han et al.
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Han discloses: wherein the control protocol comprises an audio protocol (para. 0046).
Han is silent on: said audio protocol is a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) protocol.
Examiner takes official notice that an audio protocol such as a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) protocol is well known in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply such well-known MIDI protocol into the Han’s audio protocol to arrive the claimed invention. It has been held that the mere application of a known technique to a specific instance by those skilled in the art would have been obvious.
Contact Information
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANCHUN QIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5981. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5:30PM EST M-F.
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/JIANCHUN QIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837