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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 6/12/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of the claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. 102 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 Munir et al. U.S. PGPub 2019/0392356.
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) 1-3, 5-9, 11, 12, 14-19 and 21-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verteletskyi et al. U.S. PGPub 2019/0172165 (hereinafter “Verteletskyi”) in view of Munir et al. U.S. PGPub 2019/0392356 (hereinafter “Munir”).
Regarding claims 1, 8, 17, 24 and 25, Verteletskyi discloses a computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a workspace booking request (e.g. reservation request/space assignment request), the workspace booking request specifying a temperature preference (e.g. ¶49, 77 and 89, desired temperature), a time period (e.g. ¶34, 77 and 89, reserved time/requested time/specified time), and a set of equipment requirements (e.g. necessary/required devices/furniture/resources) (e.g. ¶32-33, 49, 77 and 89); assigning, according to the temperature preference and the set of equipment requirements, for the time period, a workspace (e.g. ¶32-33, 49, 51, 77 and 89); and adjusting, using a building management system (e.g. control module, HVAC system), during the time period, an ambient temperature of the workspace, the adjusting resulting in the ambient temperature matching, within a threshold amount, the temperature preference (e.g. ¶32-33, 48, 61, 94 and 105). Verteletskyi discloses assigning the workspace with a space that best matches requested parameters (e.g. ¶77-78 and 89), wherein one of the requested parameters is temperature for the space), which would minimize any required adjustments to achieve the desired parameters. Verteletskyi does not explicitly disclose the workspace selected using an anticipated workspace temperature for the time period and a building usage pattern.
Munir explicitly discloses assigning a workspace using an anticipated workspace temperature for the time period (e.g. forecasted temperature) and a building usage pattern (e.g. occupancy pattern) (e.g. ¶16, 19, 21, 46-48 and 62-63).
At the time the invention was filed, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to assign a workspace using additional factors such as an anticipated workspace temperature and building usage pattern. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this in order to provide an occupant with a workspace that is likely to be available and can come closest to the desired temperature at the particular time period in the future.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify Verteletskyi with Munir to obtain the invention as specified in claims 1-3, 5-9, 11, 12, 14-19 and 21-25.
Regarding claims 2, 11 and 18, Verteletskyi discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the temperature preference is extracted from a user profile (e.g. occupant profile), the user profile determined from a plurality of past workspace booking requests of a user (e.g. ¶32).
Regarding claims 3, 12 and 19, Verteletskyi discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning, according to the temperature preference, for the time period, a second workspace (e.g. designated/other spaces), the second workspace assigned based on proximity to the workspace (e.g. ¶32).
Regarding claims 5, 14 and 21, Verteletskyi discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning, according to a fourth temperature preference, for the time period, a fourth workspace, the fourth workspace assigned based on an anticipated ambient temperature of the fourth workspace during the time period (e.g. ¶57-58).
Regarding claims 6, 15 and 22, Verteletskyi discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning, according to a fifth temperature preference, for the time period, a fifth workspace, the fifth workspace assigned to group a plurality of building occupants into an occupied portion of a building (e.g. ¶101-105).
Regarding claims 7, 16 and 23, Verteletskyi discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the fifth workspace is assigned using a building usage pattern (e.g. usage pattern, usage/location history) (e.g. ¶34, 55, 86 and 102).
Regarding claim 9, Verteletskyi discloses the computer program product of claim 8, wherein the stored program instructions are stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system, and wherein the stored program instructions are transferred over a network from a remote data processing system (e.g. ¶20-28; Fig. 1).
Regarding claims 24 and 25, Verteletskyi discloses a computing environment comprising: a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. ¶20-28; Fig. 1); at least one data processing system included in the configurable computing resources, the at least one data processing system comprising a processor unit and a data storage unit (e.g. ¶20-28; Fig. 1); a service delivery model to deliver on-demand access to the shared pool of resources (e.g. ¶20-28; Fig. 1); a metering capability to measure a service delivered via the service delivery model (e.g. ¶20-28; Fig. 1); and program instructions collectively stored on one or more computer readable storage media (e.g. ¶20-28; Fig. 1).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verteletskyi and Munir as applied to the claims above, and further in view of Salnikow CN-110073378-A (hereinafter “Salnikow”).
Regarding claim 10, Verteletskyi discloses the computer program product of claim 8, wherein the stored program instructions are stored in a computer readable storage device in a server data processing system (e.g. cloud computing environment), and wherein the stored program instructions are downloaded in response to a request over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer readable storage device associated with the remote data processing system (e.g. ¶18-28; Fig. 1), further comprising: program instructions to meter use of the program instructions associated with the request (e.g. ¶32-33, 49, 77 and 89). Verteletskyi discloses generating HVAC costs (e.g. ¶64 and 101), but does not explicitly discloses generating an invoice based on the metered use.
Salnikow discloses a system for booking spaces generating an invoice based on metered use (e.g. pg. 14, “the reservation server 102 is further able to generate invoice and the invoice is sent to the user device”).
At the time the invention was filed, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to generate an invoice of the HVAC costs. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this to provide the user a detailed document showing the cost of booking the space.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify Verteletskyi and Munir with Salnikow to obtain the invention as specified in claim 10.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES R KASENGE whose telephone number is (571)272-3743. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30am to 4pm EST.
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CK
August 25, 2026
/CHARLES R KASENGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116
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