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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on February 9, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 1-3 in the Remarks, filed February 9, 2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-21 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Lee (US Publication 2024/0048979 A1).
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 (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 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 1-8, 13-17, and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US Publication 2022/0117011 A1) in view of Lee (US Publication 2024/0048979 A1).
Regarding to claims 1 and 13, Chen discloses a device 50 (fig. 21) configured to communicate wirelessly with an external device 60 (fig. 22), the device comprising: a host (fig. 17) configured to communicate with application software 52 executing on the device (page 9 paragraph 0176); and a link layer (fig. 17) configured to: determine updated parameters (performs calculation to obtain offset0) for the connection event (CE_LEN) according to an operation (page 7 paragraph 0134); transmit, responsive to the determining, a request (LL_CONNECTION_PARAM_REQ) characterizing the updated parameters for the connection event to a link layer of the external device (page 7 paragraph 0134); and send an indication (LE Connection Update Complete) to the host characterizing the updated parameters for the connection event, in which the link layer adjusts the parameters of the connection event between the device and the external device to reflect the updated parameters responsive to the sending (page 7 paragraph 0134).
Chen fails to teach for the link layer configured to initiate an operation to change parameters of a connection event between the device and an external device.
However, Lee disclose a link layer (fig. 4b; LL B), configured, initiate an operation to change parameters of a connection event between the device and an external device (page 5 paragraph 0100).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the link layer as taught by Lee into Chen's system for the link layer to voluntarily perform the initiation without a request by the host, thereby enable a fast connection setup.
Regarding to claims 2 and 14, Chen discloses the host and the link layer are integrated on an integrated circuit IC chip embedded in the device (page 10 paragraph 0190).
Regarding to claims 3 and 15, Chen discloses the host is implemented on a first integrated circuit IC chip embedded in the device and the link layer is implemented on a second IC chip embedded in the device (page 10 paragraph 0190).
Regarding to claims 4 and 16, Chen discloses the link layer implemented on the second IC chip further comprises a host controller interface HCI configured to manage communications between the host and the link layer (page 7 paragraph 0134).
Regarding to claim 5, Chen discloses the PHY of the device is a Bluetooth low energy BLE transceiver (page 3 paragraph 0055).
Regarding to claim 6, Chen discloses the PHY of the device is one of a wireless battery management (WBMS) transceiver and a sub-gigahertz GHz transceiver (page 3 paragraph 0055; Zigbee).
Regarding to claims 7 and 17, Chen discloses the link layer of the device is configured to receive a response (LL_CONNECTION_PARAM_RSP) to the update parameters of the request (page 7 paragraph 0134).
Regarding to claim 8, Chen discloses the link layer is configured to receive an acknowledgement (LL_CONNECTION_PARAM_RSP) of receipt of the update parameters of the request (page 7 paragraph 0134). Regarding to claim 19, Chen discloses a device 50 (fig. 21) comprising a computing platform 51 (page 9 paragraph 0177) for executing an application 52 configured to communicate with an application 62 executing on an external device 60 (fig. 22 page 9 paragraph 0183); a host (fig. 17) configured to communicate with application 52 executing on the device (page 9 paragraph 0176); and a link layer (fig. 17) configured to: transmit, responsive to an operation, a request (LL CONNECTION_PARAM_REQ) characterizing the updated parameters for the connection event to a link layer of the external device (page 7 paragraph 0134); and send updated parameters indication (LE Connection Update Complete) to the host characterizing the updated parameters for the connection event; and adjust the parameters of the connection event between the device and the external device to reflect the updated parameters responsive to the update parameters indication (page 7 paragraph 0134).
Chen fails to teach for the link layer configured to initiate an operation to change parameters of a connection event between the device and an external device.
However, Lee disclose a link layer (fig. 4b; LL B), configured, initiate an operation to change parameters of a connection event between the device and an external device (page 5 paragraph 0100).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the link layer as taught by Lee into Chen's system for the link layer to voluntarily perform the initiation without a request by the host, thereby enable a fast connection setup.
Regarding to claim 20, Chen discloses the PHY of the device is a Bluetooth low energy BLE transceiver (page 3 paragraph 0055).
Regarding to claim 21, Chen discloses all the limitations with respect claim 13, except for the operation does not include receiving a command from the host to update the parameters. However, Lee discloses for an operation to update parameters of a connection event that does not include receiving a command from the host (fig. 4b page 5 paragraph 0100). Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange the operation to update parameters of a connection event as taught by Lee into Chen's system for the link layer to voluntarily perform the operation without the need of a command from the host, thereby enable a fast connection setup.
Claim 9-12 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen in view of Lee and Ree (US Publication 2021/0037050 A1).
Regarding to claims 9-12 and 18, Chen and Lee combined disclose all the limitations with respect to claims 1 and 13, except for the updated parameters specify an early termination of the connection event between the device and the external device (claims 9 and 18); an extension of the connection event between the device and the external device for a duration of time (claim 10); a suspension of the connection event between the device and the external device for an interval of time (claim 11); and wherein the connection event between the device and the external device is resumed after the interval of time specified in the updated parameters (claim 12). However, Ree discloses a device 102 (fig. 1A) configured to communicate wirelessly comprising parameters specify an early termination (turn off command) of the connection event between the device and an external device (page 15 paragraph 0114); an extension of the connection event between the device and the external device for a duration of time (page 15 paragraph 0114); a suspension (PAUSE command) of the connection event between the device and the external device for an interval of time (page 15 paragraph 0114); and wherein the connection event between the device and the external device is resumed after the interval of time specified in the updated parameters (page 15 paragraph 0114). Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the parameters commands as taught by Ree into the combination of Chen and Lee's system to provide different communication controls between devices.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 22 is 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Duc T Duong whose telephone number is (571)272-3122. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 9am-6pm.
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/DUC T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467