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 amendments, filed 2/17/2026, have been entered and made of record. Claims 13, 23, 25, 26, 30, and 31 have been amended. Claims 1-12, 20 and 21 have been cancelled. Claims 31-33 have been added. Claims 13-19 and 22-33 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments in the Remarks filed on 2/17/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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.
Choi in view of Ihlenburg and Grimminger
Claims 13-16, 19, 26, 30 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi(USPubN 2016/0267868) in view of Ihlenburg et al.(USPubN 2014/0218535; hereinafter Ihlenburg) further in view of Grimminger et al.(USPubN 2021/0164721; hereinafter Grimminger).
As per claim 13, Choi teaches an appliance ("the display device may be a smart home appliance having an image display function. The smart home appliance may include, for example, at least one of a TV, a DVD player, an audio player, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a vacuum cleaner, an oven, a microwave oven, a washing machine, an air freshener, a set-top box, a TV box (e.g., Samsung HomeSync™, Apple TV™, or Google TV™), game consoles, an electronic dictionary, an electronic key, a camcorder, or an electronic frame” in Para.[0058]), comprising: a household appliance including at least one sensor module including a camera sensor and at least gyro sensor; a controller; a cable set, and a connection; said controller connected to said at least one sensor module by said cable set, said cable set having at least one cable so as to supply power to said at least one sensor module and to transmit data(Para.[0186], [0188], [0189], Fig. 20, “a camera” in Para.[0057], “marine electronic equipment (e.g., a marine navigation device and a gyrocompass)” in Para.[0059]); and
a connection selected from the group consisting of: a flat panel display (FPD)-Link III-complaint connection(“The display panel 10 includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix and configured to display images in frame units … “ in Para.[0063]) and a serial interface connection(“The display driver circuit 20 may communicate with an external device via the interface. The interface may include, for example, an RGB interface, a CPU interface, a serial interface, a mobile display digital interface (MDDI), an inter integrated circuit (I2C) interface, a serial peripheral interface (SPI), a micro-controller unit (MCU) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI), an embedded displayport (eDP) interface, a D-subminiature (D-sub), an optical interface, or a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI)” in Para.[0082]), wherein said at least one sensor module is connected to said controller via said FPD-Link III-complaint connection or said serial interface connection, said connection containing a serializer being associated with said at least one sensor module and a deserializer being associated with said controller, said cable set connecting said serializer and said deserializer(“The electronic system 3000 includes an application processor 3110, an image sensor 3140, and a display device 3150. The display device 3150 may be the display device 1000” in Para.[0188], “A camera serial interface (CSI) host 3112 implemented in the application processor 3110 may serially communicate with a CSI device 3141 of the image sensor 3140 through a CSI. In this case, for example, an optical deserializer may be implemented in the CSI host 3112 and an optical serializer may be implemented in the CSI device 3141” in Para.[0189], “A display serial interface DSI host 3111 implemented in the application processor 3110 may serially communicate with a DSI device 3151 of the display 3150 through a DSI. In this case, for example, an optical serializer may be implemented in the DSI host 3111 and an optical deserializer may be implemented in the DSI device 3151” in Para.[0190], Fig. 20).
Choi is silent about a connection selected from the group consisting of: a flat panel display(FPD)-link III-complaint connection and a gigabit multimedia serial link (GMSL)-compliant connection, said at least gyro sensor detecting movement of a door of the household appliance and switching said serializer on or off to save energy.
Ihlenburg teaches a connection selected from the group consisting of: a flat panel display(FPD)-link III-complaint connection and a gigabit multimedia serial link (GMSL)-compliant connection(“the different transmission protocols or standards may comprise NTSC, PAL, SECAM, Ethernet, Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link (GMSL), FDP-Link I, FDP-Link II, FDP-Link III, Pixel Link, USB, CAN, LIN, Flexray, Devicenet, Interbus, Modbus, Profibus, ASI, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, VGA, HDMI, DVI, HDCP or other according the EIA/CEA-861 standard, or the like” in Para.[0058]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi with the above teachings of Ihlenburg in order to improve user experience.
Grimminger teaches said at least gyro sensor detecting movement of a door of the household appliance and switching said serializer on or off to save energy(“An inertial sensor in the form of a vibrating structure gyroscope 6 serving as rotational speed sensor and an inertial sensor in the form of an acceleration sensor 7 are installed in the door 4. The acceleration sensor 7 is installed, in particular, at a significant distance from the rotational axis 3 in order to be subjected to comparatively high acceleration forces. The vibrating structure gyroscope 6 and the acceleration sensor 7 may be configured as MEMS sensors but are not limited thereto” in Para.[0054], “The vibrating structure gyroscope 6 and the acceleration sensor 7 are connected and/or coupled, in particular by a wired connection, to an evaluation unit 8 for evaluating sensor data of the vibrating structure gyroscope 6 and the acceleration sensor 7. The evaluation unit 8 is designed to evaluate the measurement signals of the inertial sensors 6 and 7 in order to calculate a door opening angle α and to activate at least one action as a function of the door opening angle α” in Para.[0055], “the household appliance is a refrigeration appliance having a refrigerator with a refrigerating zone; at least one camera is configured to record images of said refrigerating zone; and said at least one camera is configured to be activated for recording one or more images upon reaching said door opening angle determined by said at least one inertial sensor” in Claim 25, The energy can be saved when the camera is deactivated.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi and Ihlenburg with the above teachings of Grimminger in order to improve saving energy.
As per claim 14, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi is silent about wherein said cable set has a single coaxial cable.
Ihlenburg teaches wherein said cable set has a single coaxial cable(Abs, Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi with the above teachings of Ihlenburg in order to improve user experience.
As per claim 15, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi is silent about wherein said cable set contains a twisted pair cable and at least one further cable so as to supply the power to said at least one sensor module.
Ihlenburg teaches wherein said cable set contains a twisted pair cable and at least one further cable so as to supply the power to said at least one sensor module(Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi with the above teachings of Ihlenburg in order to improve user experience.
As per claim 16, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi teaches wherein said serializer of said FPD-Link III-compliant connection or said GMSL-compliant connection is integrated into said at least one sensor module and said deserializer is integrated into said controller(Fig. 20).
As per claim 19, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi teaches wherein wherein: said at least one sensor is one of a plurality of sensors; and said controller has a data processing facility, said data processing facility and said sensor modules each have a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) that are connected to one another by a respective one said FPD-Link III-compliant connection or said GMSL-compliant connection (Para.[0187], Fig. 20).
As per claim 26, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi and Ihlenburg are silent about wherein the at least one sensor module is on a door of the household appliance, and the at least one cable of the cable set is a two-core cable.
Grimminger teaches wherein the at least one sensor module is on a door of the household appliance, and the at least one cable of the cable set is a two-core cable (Abs, Para.[0008], [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi and Ihlenburg with the above teachings of Grimminger in order to improve the anti-interference capability of the core conductors.
As per claim 30, Choi and Ihlenburg teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi and Ihlenburg are silent about wherein said at least one sensor module is on the door of the household appliance.
Grimminger teaches wherein said at least one sensor module is on the door of the household appliance(Para.[0054], [0056]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi and Ihlenburg with the above teachings of Grimminger in order to improve energy saving.
As per claim 32, Choi and Ihlenburg teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi and Ihlenburg are silent about wherein said at least one gyro sensor is configured to switch said serializer from an inactive state to an active state based on a result of the movement detection, and in the active state said controller being configured to communicate with said camera sensor via said FPD- Link Ill-compliant connection or said GMSL compliant connection.
Grimminger teaches wherein said at least one gyro sensor is configured to switch said serializer from an inactive state to an active state based on a result of the movement detection, and in the active state said controller being configured to communicate with said camera sensor via said FPD- Link Ill-compliant connection or said GMSL compliant connection(“This at least one action may comprise an activation of two cameras 9 which are also installed in the door 4 and which are arranged at different points on an inner face of the door 4 and which may record images of the refrigerating zone 2. In principle, just one, or more than two, cameras 9 may be present. In the case of a plurality of cameras 9 at least one camera may also be installed in the stationary body 10 of the refrigerator 1 (described above). In particular, the cameras 9 may be activated by means of the evaluation unit 8 in the case of the same and/or different door opening angles α. The cameras 9 may communicate with the evaluation unit 8 by a wireless or wired connection.” in Para.[0056], “the household appliance is a refrigeration appliance having a refrigerator with a refrigerating zone; at least one camera is configured to record images of said refrigerating zone; and said at least one camera is configured to be activated for recording one or more images upon reaching said door opening angle determined by said at least one inertial sensor” in Claim 25, When door is opened, the evaluation unit activate cameras to record and when door is closed, the evaluation unit deactivate cameras to stop record.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi and Ihlenburg with the above teachings of Grimminger in order to improve energy saving.
Choi in view of Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer
Claims 17, 23-25, 31 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi(USPubN 2016/0267868) in view of Ihlenburg et al.(USPubN 2014/0218535; hereinafter Ihlenburg) further in view of Grimminger et al.(USPubN 2021/0164721; hereinafter Grimminger) further in view of Breuer et al.(USPubN 2020/0413000; hereinafter Breuer).
As per claim 17, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi teaches wherein via said FPD-Link III-complaint connection or said GMSL-compliant connection: sensor data is transmitted from said at least one sensor module to said controller; and said at least one sensor module is supplied with electrical energy(Para.[0189], Fig. 1).
Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger are silent about further data is transmitted at least from said controller to said at least one sensor module.
Breuer teaches further data is transmitted at least from said controller to said at least one sensor module(Para.[0038]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger with the above teachings of Breuer in order to improve the features of the camera.
As per claim 23, the limitations in the claim 23 has been discussed in the rejection claims 13 and 17 and rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 24, the limitations in the claim 24 has been discussed in the rejection claim 19 and rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 25, the limitations in the claim 25 has been discussed in the rejection claim 26 and rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 31, Choi, Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer teach all of limitation of claim 23.
Choi, Ihlenburg and Breuer are silent about wherein said at least one sensor module is on the door of the household appliance.
Grimminger teaches wherein said at least one sensor module is on the door of the household appliance(Para.[0054], [0056]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg and Breuer with the above teachings of Grimminger in order to improve saveing energy.
As per claim 33, Choi and Ihlenburg and Breuer teach all of limitation of claim 23.
Choi, Ihlenburg and Breuer are silent about wherein said at least one gyro sensor is configured to switch said serializer from an inactive state to an active state based on a result of the movement detection, and in the active state said controller being configured to communicate with said camera sensor via said FPD- Link Ill-compliant connection or said GMSL compliant connection.
Grimminger teaches wherein said at least one gyro sensor is configured to switch said serializer from an inactive state to an active state based on a result of the movement detection, and in the active state said controller being configured to communicate with said camera sensor via said FPD- Link Ill-compliant connection or said GMSL compliant connection(“This at least one action may comprise an activation of two cameras 9 which are also installed in the door 4 and which are arranged at different points on an inner face of the door 4 and which may record images of the refrigerating zone 2. In principle, just one, or more than two, cameras 9 may be present. In the case of a plurality of cameras 9 at least one camera may also be installed in the stationary body 10 of the refrigerator 1 (described above). In particular, the cameras 9 may be activated by means of the evaluation unit 8 in the case of the same and/or different door opening angles α. The cameras 9 may communicate with the evaluation unit 8 by a wireless or wired connection.” in Para.[0056], “the household appliance is a refrigeration appliance having a refrigerator with a refrigerating zone; at least one camera is configured to record images of said refrigerating zone; and said at least one camera is configured to be activated for recording one or more images upon reaching said door opening angle determined by said at least one inertial sensor” in Claim 25, When door is opened, the evaluation unit activate cameras to record and when door is closed, the evaluation unit deactivate cameras to stop record.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg and Breuer with the above teachings of Grimminger in order to improve energy saving.
Choi in view of Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Ho
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi(USPubN 2016/0267868) in view of Ihlenburg et al.(USPubN 2014/0218535; hereinafter Ihlenburg) further in view of Grimminger et al.(USPubN 2021/0164721; hereinafter Grimminger) further in view of Ho et al.(USPubN 2014/0098234; hereinafter Ho).
As per claim 18, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger are silent about further comprising: a plurality of deserializers, said deserializer being part of one of said plurality of deserializers; and a plurality of sensor modules connected to said plurality of deserializers, said at least one sensor module being one of said plurality of sensor modules; said controller including a switch and a data processing facility having an interface with multiple connections; said switch connected to said plurality of deserializers; and said switch configured to alternately switch different groups of said plurality of deserializers to said multiple connections of said interface.
Ho teaches further comprising: a plurality of deserializers, said deserializer being part of one of said plurality of deserializers; and a plurality of sensor modules connected to said plurality of deserializers, said at least one sensor module being one of said plurality of sensor modules; said controller including a switch and a data processing facility having an interface with multiple connections; said switch connected to said plurality of deserializers; and said switch configured to alternately switch different groups of said plurality of deserializers to said multiple connections of said interface(Para.[0027], [0028]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger with the above teachings of Ho in order to improve the features of the appliance.
Choi in view of Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Larson
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi(USPubN 2016/0267868) in view of Ihlenburg et al.(USPubN 2014/0218535; hereinafter Ihlenburg) further in view of Grimminger et al.(USPubN 2021/0164721; hereinafter Grimminger) further in view of Larson(USPubN 2021/0199365).
As per claim 22, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger are silent about wherein the household appliance is a refrigeration appliance having at least one refrigeration chamber and said at least one sensor module is provided so as to monitor said at least one refrigeration chamber.
Larson teaches wherein the household appliance is a refrigeration appliance having at least one refrigeration chamber and said at least one sensor module is provided so as to monitor said at least one refrigeration chamber(Para.[0041]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger with the above teachings of Larson in order to improve the features of the appliance.
Choi in view of Ihlenburg, Grimminger, Breuer and Ho
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi(USPubN 2016/0267868) in view of Ihlenburg et al.(USPubN 2014/0218535; hereinafter Ihlenburg) further in view of Grimminger et al.(USPubN 2021/0164721; hereinafter Grimminger) further in view of Breuer et al.(USPubN 2020/0413000; hereinafter Breuer) further in view of Ho et al.(USPubN 2014/0098234; hereinafter Ho).
As per claim 27, Choi, Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer teach all of limitation of claim 23.
Choi, Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer are silent about further comprising: providing the controller with a switch and a data processing facility having an interface with multiple connections; connecting the switch to a plurality of deserializers and to multiple connections of the interface; connecting a plurality of sensor modules to the plurality of deserializers; and with the switch, alternately switching different groups of the plurality of deserializers to the multiple connections of the interface; wherein the deserializer is one of the plurality of deserializers, and the sensor module is one of the plurality of sensor modules.
Ho teaches further comprising: providing the controller with a switch and a data processing facility having an interface with multiple connections; connecting the switch to a plurality of deserializers and to multiple connections of the interface; connecting a plurality of sensor modules to the plurality of deserializers; and with the switch, alternately switching different groups of the plurality of deserializers to the multiple connections of the interface; wherein the deserializer is one of the plurality of deserializers, and the sensor module is one of the plurality of sensor modules (Para.[0027], [0028]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer with the above teachings of Ho in order to improve the features of the appliance.
Choi in view of Ihlenburg, Grimminger, Breuer and Yuan
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi(USPubN 2016/0267868) in view of Ihlenburg et al.(USPubN 2014/0218535; hereinafter Ihlenburg) further in view of Grimminger et al.(USPubN 2021/0164721; hereinafter Grimminger) further in view of Breuer et al.(USPubN 2020/0413000; hereinafter Breuer) further in view of Yuan et al.(USPubN 2021/0303526; hereinafter Yuan).
As per claim 28, Choi, Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer teach all of limitation of claim 23.
Choi, Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer are silent about wherein the deserializer and the serializer are integrated into one cable.
Yuan teaches wherein the deserializer and the serializer are integrated into one cable(“the smart cable may include a Serializer/Deserializer (SERDES) based multiplexer that selects one of the dual ToRs as active or primary” in Para.[0012]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Breuer with the above teachings of Yuan in order to improve efficiencies with respect to a wide range of computing resource.
Choi in view of Ihlenburg, Grimminger and Yuan
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi(USPubN 2016/0267868) in view of Ihlenburg et al.(USPubN 2014/0218535; hereinafter Ihlenburg) further in view of Grimminger et al.(USPubN 2021/0164721; hereinafter Grimminger) further in view of Yuan et al.(USPubN 2021/0303526; hereinafter Yuan).
As per claim 29, Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger teach all of limitation of claim 13.
Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger are silent about wherein the deserializer and the serializer are integrated into one cable.
Yuan teaches wherein the deserializer and the serializer are integrated into one cable(“the smart cable may include a Serializer/Deserializer (SERDES) based multiplexer that selects one of the dual ToRs as active or primary” in Para.[0012]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings Choi, Ihlenburg and Grimminger with the above teachings of Yuan in order to improve efficiencies with respect to a wide range of computing resource.
Conclusion
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/SUNGHYOUN PARK/Examiner, Art Unit 2484