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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the drawings disclose unlabeled generic boxes. The unlabeled generic boxes shown in the drawings should be provided with descriptive text labels. Please see MPEP 608.02(b), ¶ 6.22. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-11 and 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HYDE et al. (US 2010/0078995 A1, hereinafter HYDE) in view of LEE et al. (US 2022/0311285 A1, hereinafter LEE).
Regarding claims 1 and 9 (Claim 1 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HYDE discloses a charging system for an enclosed space, the charging system comprising:
a sensor within the enclosed space (See Figs.4 and 5 and Par.67, discloses a detection unit 98 used to identify device location. Par.48 also discloses using a location device 14 to determine location of devices) and configured to detect a location of a portable electronic device within the enclosed space (See Par.62, discloses a location unit configured to interpret modulation and determine location of the power receiver) and a location of an object within the enclosed space (See Pars.74-76, disclose detecting a position of an object which impinge on the power beam from characteristics of a reflected signal);
multiple charging beam transmitters within the enclosed space (See Fig.5, Items#92 and 94 and Par.65, disclose two power beam units); and
a processor (See Fig5, Item#100 and Par.6 disclose a decision unit) configured to:
determine a path from one of the multiple charging beam transmitters to the portable electronic device that is not obstructed by the object (See Par.66, discloses selecting the power beam unit with the shortest unobstructed beam path to the receiver); and
operate the one of the multiple charging beam transmitters to transmit a charging beam along the path to the portable electronic device (See Par.70, discloses the system selects one of power beaming unit 92 and 94).
However, HYDE does not disclose the sensor is an ultra-wide band (UWB) sensor.
LEE discloses a wireless power transmission system comprising an ultra-wide band (UWB) sensor to detect the location of an electronic device in relation to a wireless power transmission device (See Figs.2A and 3 and Pars.49-50 and 59, disclose a first electronic device 200 which transmits a poll message using UWB at point 201 to second electronic device 210, the second electronic device then responds with a response which is received back at the first electronic device. The time between transmitting signal and receiving response (T1) and process time (T2) are used to determine the distance and direction of the second electronic device with respect to the first electronic device. Par.51 also discloses detecting the position of the second electronic device with respect to the first electronic device when the second electronic device is not UWB enabled i.e. a human walking into a room, using the time of flight).
HYDE and LEE are analogous art since they both deal with wireless charging.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed HYDE with the teachings of LEE by using a UWB sensor to detect the location of a portable electronic device and an object within an enclosed space for the benefit of providing an accurate location detection system with real-time tracking of the position of the electronic devices and objects in the enclosed space.
Regarding claims 2 and 10 (claim 2 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HYDE and LEE disclose the charging system of claim 1 as discussed above, However, HYDE and LEE as applied to claim 1 do not disclose further comprising a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with the portable electronic device.
LEE further discloses the charging system further comprising a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with the portable electronic device (See Fig.3, Item#310a and Par.61 and 64, disclose a second communication interface comprising Bluetooth, Zigbee, WIFI, NFC or any other communication).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed by HYDE and LEE as applied to claim 1 with the further teachings of LEE by adding a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with the portable electronic device for the benefit of improving the charging efficiency by exchanging data between the charger and the electronic device including orientation of the electronic device (See LEE, Par.64. Regarding claim 10, HYDE, Par.7 discloses initiating the broadcasting in response to a detected condition. Par.10 discloses receiving a request for power from the receiver i.e. communication. After which the detection is activated).
Regarding claims 3 and 11 (Claim 3 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HYDE and LEE disclose the charging system of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the location of the portable electronic device within the enclosed space is determined based on a time of flight of a sensing signal transmitted from the UWB sensor and received by the portable electronic device, a processing time of the portable electronic device, and a time of flight of a reply signal transmitted from the portable electronic device and received by the UWB sensor (See LEE, Figs.2A and 3 and Pars.49-50 and 59, disclose a first electronic device 200 which transmits a poll message using UWB at point 201 to second electronic device 210, the second electronic device then responds with a response which is received back at the first electronic device. The time between transmitting signal and receiving response (T1) and process time (T2) are used to determine the distance and direction of the second electronic device with respect to the first electronic device).
Regarding claim 4, HYDE and LEE disclose the charging system of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the location of the object within the enclosed space is determined based on a time of flight of a sensing signal from the UWB sensor to the object and a return signal, comprising a reflection of the sensing signal, back from the object to the UWB sensor (See HYDE, Par.67, discloses determining the location of the electronic device based on a modulated reflection of the broadcast signal. LEE also discloses using the flight time (T1-T2) to determine the distance between the first electronic device and the second electronic device [ Figs.2A and 3 and Pars.49-50 and 59]).
Regarding claims 7 and 13 (Claim 7 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HYDE and LEE disclose the charging system of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the UWB sensor is configured to transmit a sensing signal with a frequency that is different than a frequency of the charging beam (See HYDE, Par.49, discloses “receiver 18 may be configured to receive an electromagnetic or acoustic signal, which may not be of the same character or frequency as the signal broadcast by transmitter 16” and Par.66, discloses that power beam is generated at a requested frequency received from the power receiver which is different from that sent from the locating unit transmitter unit 16. Using different frequencies for detection/communication and charging is well known in the art for the benefit of avoiding interference between the detection and charging signals).
Regarding claims 8 and 14 (Claim 8 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HYDE and LEE disclose the charging system of claim 1 as discussed above, wherein the processor is further configured to:
operate the UWB sensor to detect a location of an additional portable electronic device within the enclosed space (See HYDE Par.14, disclose receiving a charging request from a plurality of locations. Par.17 also discloses supplying power to the plurality of power receiving devices. HYDE as modified by LEE uses UWB for locating the devices inside an enclosed area);
determine an additional path from an additional one of the multiple charging beam transmitters to the additional portable electronic device that is not obstructed by the object (See Par.65, discloses using a plurality of power beam transmitters, each is used to charge an electronic device. See Par.66, discloses selecting the power beam unit with the shortest unobstructed beam path to the receiver. This means that system selects the power beam transmitter with the shortest unobstructed path to each receiver);
and operate the additional one of the multiple charging beam transmitters to transmit an additional charging beam along the additional path to the additional portable electronic device (See HYDE Par.65, discloses using a plurality of power beam transmitters, each is used to charge an electronic device. This is interpreted to mean using an additional power beam transmitter to charge another electronic device that is detected in the enclosed space).
Claim(s) 5-6, 12 and 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HYDE in view of LEE and in further view of GLASS (US 2005/0048987 A1, hereinafter GLASS).
Regarding claims 5-6 and 12 (claim 5 is considered representative for limitation matching purposes), HYDE and LEE disclose the charging system of claim 1 as discussed above, However, HYDE and LEE do not disclose wherein the processor is further configured to generate, using the UWB sensor, a spatial model of the enclosed space.
GLASS discloses a system for detecting position of electronic devices in an enclosed space generating using UWB sensors a spatial model for the enclosed space (See Pars.6 and 23, disclose using UWB system to generate a 3-D representation of the devices in a space. Fig.1 discloses a system comprising a detection component 104 and a presentation component 106).
HYDE, LEE and GLASS are analogous art since they all deal with location detection systems.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed by HYDE and LEE with the teachings of GLASS by generating a spatial model for the enclosed space for the benefit of allowing the user to identify the location of all electronic devices receiving charging and the charging beam transmitters in an enclosed space.
Regarding claim 15, HYDE discloses a charging system for an enclosed space, the charging system comprising:
a sensor (See Figs.4 and 5 and Par.67, discloses a detection unit 98 used to identify device location. Par.48 also discloses using a location device 14 to determine location of devices) configured to transmit a sensing signal to a portable electronic device (See Par.62, discloses a location unit configured to interpret modulation and determine location of the power receiver. The location unit [Fig.1, Item#10 and Fig.5, Item#90] disclose a signal transmitting unit [Fig.1, Item#16 and Fig.5, Item#96] and a detector [Fig.1, Item#18 and Fig.5, Item#98 disclose a receiver for receiving a response signal in the form of a modulated signal) and an object within the enclosed space (See Pars.74-76, disclose detecting a position of an object which impinge on the power beam from characteristics of a reflected signal), receive a reply signal from the portable electronic device (See Par.60, discloses receiving a modulated signal from the electronic device), and receive a return signal from the object (See Par.53, discloses an impingement detector for detecting a reflected radiation from an object); and
a charging beam transmitter configured to, based on the location of the portable electronic device, transmit a charging beam to the portable electronic device (See Pars.66 and 70, discloses the system selects one of power beaming unit 92 and 94 with the shortest unobstructed path to charge the electronic device based on the detected electronic device location and the impingement location caused by the object and detected by the impingement detector).
However, HYDE does not disclose the sensor is an ultra-wide band (UWB) sensor.
LEE discloses a wireless power transmission system comprising an ultra-wide band (UWB) sensor to detect the location of an electronic device in relation to a wireless power transmission device (See Figs.2A and 3 and Pars.49-50 and 59, disclose a first electronic device 200 which transmits a poll message using UWB at point 201 to second electronic device 210, the second electronic device then responds with a response which is received back at the first electronic device. The time between transmitting signal and receiving response (T1) and process time (T2) are used to determine the distance and direction of the second electronic device with respect to the first electronic device. Par.51 also discloses detecting the position of the second electronic device with respect to the first electronic device when the second electronic device is not UWB enabled i.e. a human walking into a room, using the time of flight).
HYDE and LEE are analogous art since they both deal with wireless charging.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed HYDE with the teachings of LEE by using a UWB sensor to detect the location of a portable electronic device and an object within an enclosed space for the benefit of providing an accurate location detection system with real-time tracking of the position of the electronic devices and objects in the enclosed space.
However, HYDE and LEE do not disclose a processor configured to generate, using the return signal, a spatial model of the enclosed space and determine, using the reply signal, a location of the portable electronic device within the spatial model.
GLASS discloses a system for detecting position of electronic devices in an enclosed space generating using UWB sensors a spatial model for the enclosed space (See Pars.6 and 23, disclose using UWB system to generate a 3-D representation of the devices in a space. Fig.1 discloses a system comprising a detection component 104 and a presentation component 106).
HYDE, LEE and GLASS are analogous art since they all deal with location detection systems.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed by HYDE and LEE with the teachings of GLASS by generating a spatial model for the enclosed space and controlling charging based on the spatial model for the benefit of coordinating the charging of a plurality of electronic devices in an enclosed space by considering the full picture of the location of the plurality of electronic devices and objects in an enclosed space.
Regarding claim 16, HYDE, LEE and GLASS disclose the charging system of claim 15 as discussed above, further comprising a wireless transceiver configured to identify the portable electronic device, wherein the processor is configured to operate the UWB sensor in response to an identification of the portable electronic device (See HYDE, Par.7 discloses initiating the broadcasting in response to a detected condition. Par.10 discloses receiving a request for power from the receiver i.e. communication. After which the detection is activated).
Regarding claim 17, HYDE, LEE and GLASS disclose the charging system of claim 15, wherein: the spatial model is generated based on a time of flight of the sensing signal and the return signal (See HYDE, Par.67, discloses determining the location of the electronic device based on a modulated reflection of the broadcast signal, comprising a reflection of the sensing signal (See Pars.74-76, disclose detecting a position of an object which impinge on the power beam from characteristics of a reflected signal), and the location of the portable electronic device within the spatial model is determined based on a time of flight of the sensing signal, a processing time of the portable electronic device, and a time of flight of the reply signal (See LEE, Figs.2A and 3 and Pars.49-50 and 59, disclose determining a distance between a first device and a second device based on a time of flight of the first signal from the first device to the second device, processing time and the time of flight of the return signal (all those times add up to time T1 and processing time T2. HYDE as modified by LEE and GLASS, discloses a system which detects the location of electronic devices and objects in an enclosed space [HYDE] using UWB and time of flight of the signals [LEE] and the detected data is used to generate a spatial model [GLASS]).
Regarding claim 18, HYDE, LEE and GLASS disclose the charging system of claim 15 as discussed above, wherein the spatial model includes the location of the object (See GLASS, Pars.6 and 23, disclose using UWB system to generate a 3-D representation of the devices in a space. Fig.1 discloses a system comprising a detection component 104 and a presentation component 106. See GLASS Fig.4 and Par.49 disclose displaying devices WD1 and WD2 in the area. The devices are not restricted to transmitter or receiver devices). However, HYDE, LEE and GLASS do not explicitly disclose including locations of the charging beam transmitter.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention disclosed by HYDE, LEE and GLASS by displaying the location of the charging beam transmitter for the benefit of allowing the user to recognize the position of the electronic device in relationship to the charging beam transmitter for the benefit increasing the charging efficiency by allowing the user to make closer or to an unobstructed location.
Regarding claim 19, HYDE, LEE and GLASS disclose the charging system of claim 15, wherein the UWB sensor is configured to transmit the sensing signal with a frequency that is different than a frequency of the charging beam (See HYDE, Par.49, discloses “receiver 18 may be configured to receive an electromagnetic or acoustic signal, which may not be of the same character or frequency as the signal broadcast by transmitter 16” and Par.66, discloses that power beam is generated at a requested frequency received from the power receiver which is different from that sent from the locating unit transmitter unit 16. Using different frequencies for detection/communication and charging is well known in the art for the benefit of avoiding interference between the detection and charging signals).
Regarding claim 20, HYDE, LEE and GLASS disclose the charging system of claim 15 as discussed above, wherein:
the UWB sensor is further configured to receive an additional reply signal from an additional portable electronic device (See Par.14, disclose receiving a charging request from a plurality of locations. Par.17 also discloses supplying power to the plurality of power receiving devices. HYDE as modified by LEE uses UWB for locating the devices inside an enclosed area);
the processor is further configured to determine, using the additional reply signal, a location of the additional portable electronic device within the spatial model (See HYDE, Par.65, discloses using a plurality of power beam transmitters, each is used to charge an electronic device. See Par.66, discloses selecting the power beam unit with the shortest unobstructed beam path to the receiver. This means that system selects the power beam transmitter with the shortest unobstructed path to each receiver); and
an additional charging beam transmitter is configured to, based on the spatial model and the location of the additional portable electronic device, transmit an additional charging beam to the additional portable electronic device (See HYDE, Par.65, discloses using a plurality of power beam transmitters, each is used to charge an electronic device. This is interpreted to mean using an additional power beam transmitter to charge another electronic device that is detected in the enclosed space).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHMED H OMAR whose telephone number is (571)270-7165. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am -7:00 PM EST.
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/AHMED H OMAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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