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 Amendment
The Amendment filed on 1/15/2026 has been entered. Claims 6-25 remain pending in the application and rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 10-14 with respect to claims 6, 15 and 21 have been considered but are moot upon a further consideration and a new ground of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shao (US PGPub 2024/0146996).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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.
Claims 6-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shao (US PGPub 2024/0146996).
Regarding claims 6, 15 and 21, Shao teaches a first device (Shao, see figure 16B and paragraph 0149, a user interface for pairing a display apparatus with an external control device. Here, a display apparatus or a TV is a first device) comprising:
a display (Shao, see figure 16B, a display apparatus, that is a TV);
a speaker (Shao, see figure 16B, a display apparatus, that is a TV);
one or more processors (Shao, see figure 16B, a display apparatus, that is a TV); and
one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (Shao, see figure 16B, a display apparatus, that is a TV), cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining a device type of a second device within an environment of the first device (Shao, see paragraph 0152, when the Bluetooth system of the remote controller is not connected to the TV, the user presses the “Voice” key on the remote controller, and the TV detects that the remote controller is not connected according to Bluetooth protocol),
based at least in part on the device type, causing output of first data, wherein causing the output of the first data comprises one of: causing, via the speaker, output of first audio, or causing, via the display, output of one or more prompts associated with providing input to an input component of the second device (Shao, see figure 16B and paragraphs 0151-0152, the user interface is controlled to present prompt information for prompting the user to send the pairing instruction method according to the function instruction. The TV … will control the user interface to present the prompt information of “Please long pressing the “Menu” key on the remote controller for 5 seconds to pair and connect to the TV”, as shown in FIG. 16B),
receiving, via a network, second data associated with one of: second audio captured at the second device, or the input provided to the input component of the second device (Shao, see paragraph 0153, The user long presses the “Menu” key to send a broadcast packet to the TV, to trigger the pairing … process),
determining a similarity between the first data output by the first device and the second data representing the second audio or the input received via the network (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction), and
determining, based at least in part on the similarity satisfying a threshold similarity, to associate the first device and the second device (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction).
Regarding claim 7, Shao teaches the operations further comprising receiving, via the network, third data associated with third audio captured at the second device (Shao, see paragraph 0119, The user may also speak to the display apparatus 200 capable of providing a voice service, and then input a command to the display apparatus 200, for example, inputting a voice content of “open the Bluetooth setting page” and the like).
Regarding claim 8, Shao teaches wherein:
the first audio is associated with audio that is at or above 20 kilohertz (kHz) (Shao, see paragraph 0119, The user may also speak to the display apparatus 200 capable of providing a voice service, and then input a command to the display apparatus 200, for example, inputting a voice content of “open the Bluetooth setting page” and the like); and
the third audio is associated with audio that is below 20 kHz (Shao, see paragraph 0119, The user may also speak to the display apparatus 200 capable of providing a voice service, and then input a command to the display apparatus 200, for example, inputting a voice content of “open the Bluetooth setting page” and the like).
Regarding claims 9, 17 and 23, Shao teaches wherein the one or more prompts include at least one of:
a first indication associated with a first instance in time at which to provide the input to the input component;
a second indication associated with an amount of time to provide the input to the input component; or
a third indication associated with a second instance in time at which to release the input to the input component (Shao, see figure 16B and paragraphs 0151-0152, the user interface is controlled to present prompt information for prompting the user to send the pairing instruction method according to the function instruction. The TV … will control the user interface to present the prompt information of “Please long pressing the “Menu” key on the remote controller for 5 seconds to pair and connect to the TV”, as shown in FIG. 16B).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Shao teaches wherein the second device is connected to the network via power over ethernet (POE) (Shao, see figure 1, remote controller 100).
Regarding claim 11, Shao teaches wherein determining to associate the first device and the second device includes:
at least one of:
determining a first similarity between the first audio output by the first device and the second audio captured at the second device, or
determining a second similarity between the one or more prompts output on the first device and the input provided to the input component of the second device; and
determining that the first similarity or the second similarity is greater than the threshold similarity (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction).
Regarding claim 12, Shao teaches the operations further comprising:
receiving, via the network, third data associated with third audio captured at a third device in the environment (Shao, see paragraph 0153, The user long presses the “Menu” key to send a broadcast packet to the TV, to trigger the pairing … process), and
determining, based at least in part on the third data, to associate the first device and the third device (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction).
Regarding claim 13, Shao teaches the operations further comprising:
causing, via the display, output of one or more second prompts associated with providing second input to a second input component of a third device within the environment (Shao, see paragraph 0153, The user long presses the “Menu” key to send a broadcast packet to the TV, to trigger the pairing … process);
receiving, via the network, third data associated with the second input provided to the second input component of the third device (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction); and
determining, based at least in part on the third data, to associate the first device and the third device (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction).
Regarding claim 14, Shao teaches wherein:
the first audio includes at least one of:
a first device identifier of the first device,
a first IP address of the first device, or
a first media access control (MAC) address of the first device (Shao, see paragraph 0153, The user long presses the “Menu” key to send a broadcast packet to the TV, to trigger the pairing … process); and
the second data includes at least one of:
the first device identifier,
the first IP address,
the first MAC address,
a second device identifier of the second device,
a second IP address of the second device, or
a second MAC address of the second device (Shao, see paragraph 0153, The user long presses the “Menu” key to send a broadcast packet to the TV, to trigger the pairing … process).
Regarding claims 16 and 22, Shao teaches wherein one of:
the first data is output via a speaker of the first device and is associated with audio above 20 kilohertz (kHz);
the first data is output via a display of the first device and is associated with one or more prompts to provide the input to the input component; or
the first data is output via a radio of the first device and includes a device identifier of the first device (Shao, see figure 16B and paragraphs 0151-0152, the user interface is controlled to present prompt information for prompting the user to send the pairing instruction method according to the function instruction. The TV … will control the user interface to present the prompt information of “Please long pressing the “Menu” key on the remote controller for 5 seconds to pair and connect to the TV”, as shown in FIG. 16B).
Regarding claims 18 and 24, Shao teaches wherein the second data includes at least one of:
a first device identifier of the first device;
a first IP address of the first device;
a first media access control (MAC) address of the first device;
a second device identifier of the second device;
a second IP address of the second device; or
a second MAC address of the second device (Shao, see paragraph 0153, The user long presses the “Menu” key to send a broadcast packet to the TV, to trigger the pairing … process).
Regarding claims 19 and 25, Shao teaches wherein the similarity is a first similarity (Shao, see paragraph 0141, a preset duration threshold), and the method further comprising:
receiving, via the network, third data from a third device within the environment, the third data being associated with second audio captured at a second microphone of the third device or a second input provided to a second input component of the third device (Shao, see paragraph 0153, The user long presses the “Menu” key to send a broadcast packet to the TV, to trigger the pairing … process);
determining a second similarity between the first data and the third data (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction); and
determining, based at least in part on the second similarity, to pair the first device and the third device (Shao, see paragraph 0141, the user can normally press the MENU key to realize the menu display function in the TV user interface, and when the long pressing time exceeds a preset duration threshold, for example, long pressing the MENU key for more than 5 seconds, the instruction from the remote controller will be recognized by the TV as a pairing instruction).
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 CHONG G KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-0619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri @ 9am - 5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas R. Taylor can be reached at 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHONG G KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
/CHRISTOPHER B ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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