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 .
In response to the petition conference held on 9/8/2026, the restriction issued on 10/27/2025 is withdrawn and a new non-final rejection is being issued. As a result, all pending claims are included for further prosecution.
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.
Claim(s) 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rangel et al. (GB 2545137) in view of Ruha (US 7319385) and Abrahamsson et al. (WO 2013/068873).
Regarding to claims 16, 19-20:
Rangel discloses a mobile device (FIG. 1: Device 26) comprising:
a measurement module comprising a gas sensing device (FIG. 1: Sensors 29, 29’, 29”. Page 1, lines 15-20: The sensor arranged to sense environment parameters such as the level of components in the atmosphere (such as CO2, O2, O3, and other contaminants));
a communication module (FIG. 1, elements 40, 40’, 40”: The communication interface comprises a wired/wireless interface such Bluetooth RTM (page 5, lines 15-18 and page 20, lines 1-6)) configured for receiving information about a further concentration measurement of a target gas sensed by a further device (FIG. 1: Devices 28 or 30), the information about the further concentration measurement comprising an indication of a concentration minimum/range determined by the further device within a time interval, an indication of a further calibrated measurement value of the concentration of the target gas determined by the further device, or an indication of further measurement information obtained by the further device (page 10, line 20-26: The second sensor data from a selected sensor indicates the level of an environmental parameter); and
a calibration module coupled with the measurement module and the communication module, the calibration module comprising a signal calibration unit configured to apply a calibration model to measurement information from the measurement module, wherein the calibration module is configured for revising the calibration information by scaling one or more parameters of the calibration information based on the indication of the concentration range or revising the calibration information comprising using the indication of the minimum concentration for revising a baseline value comprised in the calibration information, the baseline value being indicative of a constant calibration offset between a measurement value of the measurement information and the calibrated measurement value (FIG. 2, step 52: The first sensor data reads on the claimed measurement information. The second sensor data (56) reads on the claimed further concentration measurement. Page 21, lines 25-20: The revised, updated, calibration takes account of the first calibration data and also the second sensor data. Page 7, lines 4-27: The calibration is used for correcting systematic bias error, such as a zero error or offset. Beside, adjusting the data weight for the measured data for the purpose of calibration reads on the claimed scaling one or more parameters).
Rangel however does not teach wherein the communication module of the device is configured for receiving information about a further concentration measurement of the target gas from the further device, and wherein the calibration module is in the same mobile device as the measurement module and the communication module (Regarding to claims 17-18, 20).
Ruha discloses an operating of two or more mobile devices in an interactive session, wherein each mobile device is provided with one or more sensors (Abstract and FIG. 4 shows two mobile devices, and wherein during the interactive session, the data captured by the sensors of a mobile device is send via a wireless connection to the other mobile devices (Abstract). In other words, the mobile device is configured to receive sensing data captured (or measurement information obtained by the other device, in other words) and sent from another mobile device.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rangel’s system to configure the mobile devices so that they can share the sensing data directly to each other by short range radio according to the Bluetooth standard as disclosed Ruha (column 6, lines 25-31).
Abrahamsson et al. discloses a mobile device comprising a communication module comprising short-range and long-range transceivers (FIG. 2, elements 20, 22), a measurement module having one or more sensors for providing sensing data (FIG. 2, elements 18), and a calibration module for calculating a calibration value to utilize in calibrating one or more the sensors in the remote devices, or in or more other devices (FIG. 2, element 12 and page 7, lines 18-20 and Abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the mobile device in Rangel’s system to also include the calibration module calibration module for calculating a calibration value to utilize in calibrating one or more the sensors in the remote devices, or in or more other devices as disclosed by Abrahamsson et al. (Abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 are allowed over prior art.
Regarding to claim 1: The primary reasons for the indication of the allowability of the claim is the inclusions therein, in combination as currently claimed, of the limitation that revising the calibration information by using the received information about the further concentration measurement in dependence on whether the inferred distance is below a threshold, wherein the inferred distance is a distance between the device and the further device by evaluating a signal strength of a signal received from the further device via a direct wireless communication path is neither disclosed nor taught by the cited prior art of record, alone or in combination.
Claims 2-15 are allowed because they depend directly/indirectly on claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/27/2026 regarding to claims 16 and 19 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Please see the rejection above for newly citations and explanation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAM S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2151.
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/LAM S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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