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 .
Request for Continued Examination
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/02/2026 has been entered.
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) & (a)(2) as being anticipated by Gettings et al. (US 2014/0279574 A1, hereinafter Get).
Regarding claims 1, 16 and 17, Get discloses an information providing system, method and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a process performed in an information providing system, the process comprising:
circuitry (see abstract); and
a memory storing computer-executable instructions (see para. 0056) that cause the circuitry to execute:
connecting, via a network, to a plurality of first managing systems (see fig. 1, element 100 and fig. 6, elements 100a-100b), each of the first managing systems including a sensor managing apparatus (see fig. 1, element 120), and a plurality of sensors connected to the sensor managing apparatus, the sensor managing apparatus configured to acquire each piece of measurement information from each of the plurality of sensors connected to the sensor managing apparatus, the plurality of sensors installed in a plurality of spaces; (see para. 0037, 0061,0064-0065, 0074 and figure 1, element 110 (environmental sensor or sensor array), Fig. 6, elements 100a and 100b);
receiving, from the sensor managing apparatus included in the each of the first managing systems, the each piece of measurement information of the plurality of sensors and identification information of the plurality of sensors (see para. 0037-0038);
acquiring specific information corresponding to the each piece of measurement information, from a storage in which the identification information of each of the plurality of sensors is associated with the specific information for specifying a resource (see para. 0024, 0056 and 0061);
generating environment information, based on the acquired specific information and a piece of measurement information of a sensor associated with the specific information (see para. 0024, 0056 and 0061); and
providing the generated environment information to a transmission destination (see para. 0043, 0046 and 0057).
Regarding claim 2, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring includes acquiring the specific information corresponding to the received measurement information, by connecting, via the network, to a second managing system including the storage (see para. 0010 and 0074 and fig. 6).
Regarding claim 3, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the generating includes generating the environment information with respect to the specified resource, in response to receiving an output request from the transmission destination (see para. 0077).
Regarding claim 4, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 3, wherein the output request includes information specifying the resource, and the generating includes generating the environment information with respect to the resource specified in the output request (see para. 0077-0078).
Regarding claim 5, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 3, wherein the generating includes generating the environment information according to an attribute of a user specified in the output request (see para. 0022 and 0057-0059).
Regarding claim 6, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the generating includes generating the environment information including a warning (i.e. danger alarm), in response to determining that the received measurement information satisfies a predetermined condition (see para. 0040).
Regarding claim 7, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the generating includes storing, in a predetermined storage destination, the environment information with respect to the specified resource, and the providing includes providing the environment information stored in the predetermined storage destination to the transmission destination that has made an output request, in response to determining that the output request is received from the transmission destination via a web browser (see para. 0018, 0057 and 0070).
Regarding claim 8, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further caused to execute: registering the specified resource, a timing of transmitting the environment information with respect to the specified resource (see para. 0020-0021), and the transmission destination to which the environment information with respect to the specified resource is to be transmitted, and wherein the generating includes generating, at the registered timing, the environment information with respect to the registered specified resource, and the providing includes transmitting, at the registered timing, the generated environment information to the registered transmission destination (see para. 0046, 0056, 0068).
Regarding claim 9, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 8, wherein the generating includes generating the environment information including a warning, in response to determining that the received measurement information satisfies a predetermined condition (see para. 0026), and the providing includes transmitting the generated environment information including the warning to the registered transmission destination (see para. 0040 and 0059).
Regarding claim 10, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 8, wherein the providing includes transmitting the environment information with respect to the registered specified resource, via an e-mail application or a messaging application (see para. 0057).
Regarding claim 11, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the receiving includes receiving reservation information of a resource from a third managing system configured to manage reservation of the resource, the reservation information including user information of the user and a usage time of using the resource by the user, and the providing includes determining a user in use of the resource based on the reservation information received from the third managing system, as-a determining the transmission based on user information of the determined user in use of the resource and transmitting the environment information to the determined transmission destination. (see para. 0010, 0055 and 0074 and fig. 6, a single remote communication device can function as a hub for at least one sensor device and/or connect and transmit data to and from multiple sensor systems 100 ).
Regarding claim 12, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 11, wherein the providing includes receiving transmission information associated with the user information of the user in use of the resource from a fourth managing system configured to manage transmission information of each user to use the resource, determining the transmission information received from the fourth managing system as the transmission destination, and transmitting the environment information to the determined transmission destination (see para. 0055, 0079, a single remote communication device can function as a hub for at least one sensor device and/or connect and transmit data to and from multiple sensor systems 100 ).
Regarding claim 13, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the resource includes at least one of a space or an object on which each of the plurality of sensors is installed (see para. 0040 and fig. 3 element 120, sensor installed in the processing circuits).
Regarding claim 14, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 13, wherein the space includes a space in an architectural structure or a space in a vehicle (see para. 0011 and 0037).
Regarding claim 15, Get discloses the information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the measurement information includes carbon dioxide concentration, a temperature, a humidity, an airflow, a dust amount, an odor, a sound volume, or an illuminance (see para. 0037).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/02/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Gettings does not teach or suggest that each managing system includes a sensor managing apparatus and a plurality of sensors connected to such a sensor managing apparatus.
In response the Examiner respectfully disagrees and points to the fact that Getting discloses these features (see above rejection and figure 1). Figure one discloses the sensor system 100 which incorporates an environmental sensor or a sensor array. Therefore each space that has a sensor system such as 400, has a plurality of sensors connected the managing apparatus (fig. 1, element 120). The system measures information from a plurality of sensors (i.e. an array) and can have multiple managing systems (see para. 0055 and figure 6, elements 100a-b).
Applicant argues that Gettings fails to teach or suggest receiving data from the sensors 100a and 100b together with identification information of each sensor, nor acquiring specific information for specifying a resource corresponding to such data based on identification information of each sensor.
In response the Examiner respectfully disagrees and points to the fact that Getting discloses these features (see above rejection). Getting discloses the display of each sensor readings (i.e. carbon monoxide, radon, smoke, dust etc.). Further, The signal processing circuitry 120 can normalize at least one signal from the environmental sensor array 110 and can convert at least one signal from the environmental sensor array 110 to a suitable output for a display 130. For example, the environmental sensor array 110 can generate a chemical level signal corresponding to a chemical level present in the air. The signal processing circuitry 120 can convert the chemical level signal to a signal that can be processed by a display device 130.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANUEL A RIVERA VARGAS whose telephone number is (571)270-7870. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00.
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/MANUEL A RIVERA VARGAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857