DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 21 - 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claims 21 - 25 are drawn to a machine-readable medium including instructions, where the machine-readable medium can be transitory, i.e., is not explicitly limited as disclosed as only being non-transitory computer readable media; therefore, fails to fall within a statutory category of invention. Applicant should note that adding “non-transitory” to the claims to limit the claimed machine-readable medium to being statutory would be acceptable to overcome the above rejection.
A claim directed to a machine-readable medium storing machine-executable instructions is non-statutory, where the machine-readable medium can be a signal, a carrier wave, or a data structure, per se, which are non-statutory as noted, infra.
A claim directed to a signal, a carrier wave, or a data structure, per se, is non-
statutory because it is not:
A process, or
A machine, or
A manufacture, or
A composition of matter.
For purposes of examination and to expedite prosecution, the Examiner will consider Claims 21 - 25 as reciting a “non-transitory” machine-readable medium with respect to the prior art of record.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1, 3 – 5, 13 – 14, and 21 – 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jacobsen et al. (United States Patent Application Publication US 2011/0084900 A1), hereinafter referenced as Jacobsen.
Regarding Claim 1, Jacobsen discloses “A portable device, comprising: a memory configured to store instructions for controlling states of the portable device when connected with a wireless display device; and a processor circuitry, which when configured by the instructions, is operable to: initiate an establishment of a wireless connection between the portable device and the wireless display device for the portable device to cast output to the wireless display device” (Figures 3, 4, 6, and Paragraphs [0026] [0028], and [0074] (Notice in Figure 4 that a portable device 225 (notice that host 225 is shown as portable in Figure 3) is provided with memory 460, RAM 450, and ROM 455 to store instructions for controlling states (Paragraph [0077]) when connected with a wireless display device 100 (Logic of connectivity shown in Figure 6). Also, processor circuitry CPU 445 in portable device 225 initiates a wireless connection with wireless display device 100 as shown in Figure 6 according to the processing of stored instructions to cast video and audio output to wireless display device 100 (Figure 6, Steps 620, 645, 655, 660, and 665).)), “receive an indication of a user absent event, the user absent event triggered by human presence sensing circuitry of the wireless display device” (Figure 6, Step 675 (Notice that portable host device 225 receives an indication of a user absent event at Step 675 when a process is complete, where said event is triggered by absence of human interaction with the sensing controls of wireless display device 100 (Paragraph [0092]).), “determine whether an exception exists; and control a state of the portable device to lock, resume, or disconnect the portable device based on whether the exception exists” (Figure 6, Steps 675, 677, and 680 (Notice that when an exception of yes to the decision of whether the process is complete exists, the portable device 225 is controlled to end at step 680, which disconnects the portable device 225 connectivity to the wireless display device 100 based on the said exception. Notice that Claim 1 is met with respect to at least the alternative “or” condition.)).
Regarding Claim 3, Jacobsen discloses everything claimed as applied above (See Claim 1). In addition, Jacobsen discloses “wherein the wireless display device comprises a smart television, a monitor screen, or a desktop computer” (Paragraph [0063] (Notice that wireless display device 100 may be configure achieve the functionality of a smart television. Notice that Claim 3 is met with respect to the at least alternative “or” condition.)).
Regarding Claim 4, Jacobsen discloses everything claimed as applied above (See Claim 1). In addition, Jacobsen discloses “wherein the indication of the user absent event is transmitted to the portable device from the wireless display device over a backchannel wireless connection” (Figure 6, Steps 635 and 620 (Notice that void/no-void of user interaction indicating a user absent event is transmitted via an established bi-directional data path over the backchannel Bluetooth connection.))
Regarding Claim 5, Jacobsen discloses everything claimed as applied above (See Claim 1). In addition, Jacobsen discloses “wherein the user absent event is triggered by the human presence sensing circuitry when no one is detected for longer than a threshold period” (Paragraph [0092] (Notice that user absent event is triggered by the sensing circuitry in wireless display 100 when no input is detected for longer than a zero threshold period.)).
Regarding Claim 13, Jacobsen discloses everything claimed as applied above (See Claim 1). In addition, Jacobsen discloses “wherein the exception comprises receiving an indication of a user present event” (Figure 6, Steps 675, 677 (Notice that the exception of yes (process complete) comprises receiving an indication of not-present user present event.)).
Regarding Claim 14, Jacobsen discloses everything claimed as applied above (See Claim 13). In addition, Jacobsen discloses “wherein the user present event is detected by the human presence sensing circuitry in the wireless display device” (Figure 6 and Paragraph [0092] (Notice that the user present event of not-present is detected by the void of contact with the sensing circuitry in the wireless display device 100.)).
Regarding Claim 21, Jacobsen discloses “At least one [non-transitory] machine-readable medium including instructions for controlling states of a portable device when connected with a wireless display device, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to: initiate an establishment of a wireless connection between the portable device and the wireless display device for the portable device to cast output to the wireless display device; receive an indication of a user absent event, the user absent event triggered by human presence sensing circuitry of the wireless display device; determine whether an exception exists; and control a state of the portable device to lock, resume, or disconnect the portable device based on whether the exception exists” (Please refer back to the rejection of Claim 1 and notice the portable host device 225 of Jacobsen carries out the operations of Claim 21 via the non-transitory machine-readable medium provided by at least one of memory 460, RAM 450, and ROM 455.))
Regarding Claim 22, Jacobsen discloses everything claimed as applied above (See Claim 21). In addition, Jacobsen discloses “wherein the exception comprises receiving an indication of a user present event” (Figure 6, Steps 675, 677 (Notice that the exception of yes (process complete) comprises receiving an indication of not-present user present event.)).
Regarding Claim 23, Jacobsen discloses everything claimed as applied above (See Claim 22). In addition, Jacobsen discloses “wherein the user present event is detected by the human presence sensing circuitry in the wireless display device” (Figure 6 and Paragraph [0092] (Notice that the user present event of not-present is detected by the void of contact with the sensing circuitry in the wireless display device 100.)).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 6 – 12, 15 – 20, and 24 - 25 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Note that Claims 24 – 25 also require that the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection made of record above be overcome to place each of Claims 24 and 25 in full condition for allowance.
In the prior art of record, it has been shown to provide for the limitations of Claim 1 from which Claims 2, 6 – 12, and 15 – 20 are dependent. However, it has not been shown in the prior art of record to provide for the limitations of Claims 2, 6 – 12, and 15 – 20 in combination with those of Claim 1 while observing each separate chain of claim dependency. Also, it has been shown to provide for the limitations of Claim 21 from which Claims 24 – 25 are dependent. However, it has not been shown in the prior art of record to provide for the limitations of Claims 24 and 25 in combination with those of Claim 21 while observing each separate chain of claim dependency.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN M BUTCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-5575. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday from 6:30 AM to 3:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Ke Xiao, can be reached at (571) 272 - 7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN M BUTCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627
January 23, 2026