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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 April 21, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks 7-10, filed on April 21, 2026, with respect to rejection of claims 1, 2, 4-12 and 14-20 under 35 USC§ 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 USC§ 103 rejection of claims 1, 2, 4-12 and 14-20 has been withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 2, 4-12, 14-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites, “Tx power”, in line 15. For clarity, it is suggested to fully described acronym when reciting for the first time in the claim.
Claim 11 recites, “Tx power”, in line 13. For clarity, it is suggested to fully described acronym when reciting for the first time in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-12 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Amended claims 1 and 11 recites “…in response to the pairing mode operation command being not received, perform an automatic connection attempt based on broadcasting an initial message including the universal key…”. This limitation introduces new matter because the original specification does not provide support for broadcasting a message containing a universal key when the pairing mode operation command is not received.
The specification describes generating and broadcasting a first message including a universal key in response to receiving a pairing-mode operation command (see [0062], [0079] and Figs. 3. 8) . In contrast when the pairing mode operation command is not received, the specification separately describes an automatic connection operation involving a previously pared device and subsequently generating/broadcasting a second message including an account key after an automatic connection attempt period has elapse (e.g. [0105], [0110], [0120]-[0123] and Figs. 8-9).
A shown above, the originally filed disclosure does not reasonably convey possession of performing the automatic connection attempt base on broadcasting an initial message including the universal key when the pairing mode operation command is not received. Applicant has amended the claim to recite a configuration not possessed by the inventor at the time of filing.
Claims 2, 4-9, 10,12 and 14-20 are rejected as being dependent of rejected claims.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-12 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 11, recites the limitation “generate a message based on whether the pairing mode operation command is received” in line 6. “in response to the pairing mode operation command being not received, perform an automatic connection attempt based on broadcasting an initial message including the universal key, and generate the message to include an account key…” in lines 11-14.
It is unclear whether “the message” containing the account key refers back to the originally introduced “a message”, refers to the newly introduced “initial message”, or is intended to be an entirely separate second message. Because the claim introduces multiple messages without proper antecedent basis or clear naming conventions (e.g. a first message, a second message), the scope of the claim cannot be reasonably determined.
Consequently, the final limitation reciting “wherein the message further includes information on a Tx power” is indefinite, as a person of ordinary skill in the art cannot determine which specific message is required to contain the Tx power information.
Claims 2, 4-9, 10,12 and 14-20 are rejected as being dependent of rejected claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AWET A HAILE whose telephone number is (571)270-3114. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM EST.
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/AWET HAILE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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