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 .
Specification
Specification objection: Not sure what is meant by paragraph 0050 (published, 0045 as DAV./submitted) – [0050] “Preferably, the sum of the lengths of time for which the wake-up signals SR are transmitted is less than or equal to the length of time for which a wake-up signal of the prior art is transmitted, for example 40ms, so as not to increase the electrical energy consumption of the transmission device 10 while ensuring that the wake-up signal SR will be received by the receiving antenna over one of the reference time intervals IRF1, IRF2, IRF3.” Unclear as to what is meant by “a wake-up signal of the prior art”. Does it mean “a wake-up signal of 40ms”.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 9 objected to because of the following informality:
Add a colon (:) to separate preamble from body of claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 101 because the claimed “A computer program product” doesn’t recite a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and therefore encompasses transitory signals, which are non-statutory subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Applicant may overcome this rejection by amending the claim to recite a “non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” storing the program instructions.
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) 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over King et al. (US 2007/0103271) in view of Thomson et al. (US 2011/0317600) in further view of Jain et al. (US 2020/0005566).
Regarding claim 1, King teaches a method for communicating between a portable transmission device and an electronic control unit of a motor vehicle (Paragraph [0014] describes communication between portable fob and transmitter and vehicle mounted RKE module 20 (electronic control unit)),
King teaches said transmission device being configured to transmit signals referred to as “wake-up” signals to said electronic control unit (Fig. 2A, Paragraph [0016] describes wakeup signals transmitted to vehicle),
King teaches the electronic control unit being coupled to a receiving antenna and being configured to supply power to said receiving antenna periodically during a time interval referred to as a “reception” time interval in order to be able to receive at least one portion of a wake-up signal transmitted by the transmission device (Paragraphs [0009]; [0015] describes periodic power supply to receiver during monitoring/reception periods),
King teaches the duration of a supply period for the receiving antenna being defined as being the length of time between two starting times of two consecutive reception time intervals (Fig. 3B Paragraphs [0009] shows cycle period from one monitoring period 45 to the next encompassing sleep period or defines cycle period as the time from start of one monitoring period to start of the next (supply period concept)),
King teaches the method comprising transmission, by the transmission device, of a plurality of wake-up signals over a plurality of consecutive time intervals referred to as “reference” time intervals (Paragraph [0022] describes multiple blocks (plurality of wakeup signals), block interval 41 (reference time intervals), and blocks transmitted consecutively),
King doesn’t teach the duration of each reference time interval being equal to the duration of the supply period
Jain teaches the duration of each reference time interval being equal to the duration of the supply period (Paragraph [0043]; [0083]-[0084] describes that the combined transmissions from the portable device across multiple cycles are designed to ensure the vehicle-side nodes successfully receive at least one message per cycle, so it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill to size the aggregate transmission windows to guarantee at least one successful reception per supply period)
King teaches and each reference time interval being divided into a series of consecutive time slots (Paragraph [0023] describes preamble (reference interval) is divided into consecutive segments, bytes 50= time slots),
King teaches at least one wake-up signal of the plurality of wake-up signals being transmitted in each reference time interval (Paragraph [0023] describes multiple bytes (wake-up signals) transmitted within each preamble block (reference interval)),
King doesn’t teach in a time slot that is different from the time slots of the other wake-up signals of the plurality of wake-up signals,
Thomson teaches in a time slot that is different from the time slots of the other wake-up signals of the plurality of wake-up signals (Paragraph [0027] describes transmitting frames (with different multicast addresses) at different time position within the listening period, ensuring they occupy different time slots),
King teaches and such that the sum of the transmission time intervals of each of the wake-up signals of the plurality of wake-up signals is at least equal to the supply period (Paragraph [0023] describes the sum of all the byte periods (transmission time of one wake-up signal component) or the preamble length (50 ms) must be at least equal to the monitoring period (50 ms) to guarantee detection).
King and Thomson are all considered analogous to the claimed invention, as they pertain to the same filed of wireless remote control systems for vehicles employing power saving techniques in receiver circuits through intermittent monitoring and wake-up signal protocols.
Therefore, 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 method of King remote keyless entry with time slotted preamble and Thomson Wi-Fi or cellular dual mode power saving with method of Jain selecting a subset of nodes for TWR, while all in-range nodes can contribute TDoA timing to reduce message traffic at the portable device and allows longer sleep intervals, improving power efficiency (Paragraphs [0046]).
Regarding claim 2, King in view of Thomson and Jain, King teaches wherein the duration of the time slots is identical (Paragraph [0023] describes that time slot duration are identical).
Regarding claim 3, King in view of Thomson and Jain, King teaches wherein the length of time for which a wake-up signal is transmitted is less than or equal to 20 ms (Paragraph [0023] describes each wake-up signal (preamble byte) has a byte period of 2 ms (2 ms < 20 ms)).
Regarding claim 4, King in view of Thomson and Jain, Thomson teaches wherein one or two wake-up signals are transmitted per reference time interval (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, Paragraph [0027] describes each wakeup frame represents a single wakeup signal transmitted during its respective time interval).
Regarding claim 5, King in view of Thomson and Jain, King teaches wherein the duration of the supply period for the receiving antenna is of the order of 100 ms (Paragraph [0022] describes the receiver must be capable of receiving during each block interval, blocks are transmitted at 100 ms intervals, and receiver cycles (monitoring and sleep) must complete within timeframe to catch each block. Therefore, supply period = 100 ms).
Regarding claim 7, King in view of Thomson and Jain, King teaches wherein the wake-up signals are encoded using a Manchester coding (Paragraph [0016]; [0019]; [0023] describes Manchester coding for wakeup signals in an RKE).
Regarding claim 8, King in view of Thomson and Jain, Thomson teaches comprising a set of program code instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure the one or more processors to carry out a method as claimed in claim 1 (Paragraphs [0033]-[0034] describes computer system executing instructions and processor executes sequences of instructions from memory).
Regarding claim 9, King in view of Thomson and Jain, King teaches a transmission device for a motor vehicle, said vehicle comprising an electronic control unit and a receiving antenna coupled to said electronic control unit (Paragraphs [0022] and Fig. 1 describes transmission device for a motor vehicle),
King teaches the electronic control unit being configured to supply power to said receiving antenna periodically during a time interval referred to as a “reception” time interval in order to be able to receive at least one portion of a signal referred to as a “wake-up” signal transmitted by the transmission device (Paragraphs [0009]; [0015] describes periodic power supply to receiver during monitoring/reception periods),
King teaches the duration of a supply period for the receiving antenna being defined as being the length of time between two starting times of two consecutive reception time intervals (Fig. 3B Paragraphs [0009] shows cycle period from one monitoring period 45 to the next encompassing sleep period or defines cycle period as the time from start of one monitoring period to start of the next (supply period concept)),
King teaches said transmission device being configured to transmit a plurality of wake-up signals to the electronic control unit over a plurality of consecutive time intervals referred to as “reference” time intervals (Paragraph [0022] describes multiple blocks (plurality of wakeup signals), block interval 41 (reference time intervals), and blocks transmitted consecutively),
King doesn’t teach the duration of each reference time interval being equal to the duration of the supply period
Jain teaches the duration of each reference time interval being equal to the duration of the supply period (Paragraph [0043]; [0083]-[0084] describes that the combined transmissions from the portable device across multiple cycles are designed to ensure the vehicle-side nodes successfully receive at least one message per cycle, so it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill to size the aggregate transmission windows to guarantee at least one successful reception per supply period)
King teaches and each reference time interval being divided into a series of consecutive time slots (Paragraph [0023] describes preamble (reference interval) is divided into consecutive segments, bytes 50= time slots),
King teaches at least one wake-up signal of the plurality of wake-up signals being transmitted in each reference time interval (Paragraph [0023] describes multiple bytes (wake-up signals) transmitted within each preamble block (reference interval)),
King doesn’t teach in a time slot that is different from the time slots of the other wake-up signals of the plurality of wake-up signals,
Thomson teaches in a time slot that is different from the time slots of the other wake-up signals of the plurality of wake-up signals (Paragraph [0027] describes transmitting frames (with different multicast addresses) at different time position within the listening period, ensuring they occupy different time slots),
King teaches and such that the sum of the transmission time intervals of each of the wake-up signals of the plurality of wake-up signals is at least equal to the supply period (Paragraph [0023] describes the sum of all the byte periods (transmission time of one wake-up signal component) or the preamble length (50 ms) must be at least equal to the monitoring period (50 ms) to guarantee detection).
Regarding claim 10, King in view of Thomson and Jain, King teaches a communication system comprising a transmission device as claimed in claim 9 and a motor vehicle, said vehicle comprising an electronic control unit and a receiving antenna coupled to said electronic control unit (Paragraphs [0022] and Fig. 1 describes transmission device for a motor vehicle),
the electronic control unit being configured to supply power to said receiving antenna periodically during a time interval referred to as a “reception” time interval in order to be able to receive at least one portion of a signal referred to as a “wake-up” signal transmitted by the transmission device (Paragraphs [0009]; [0015] describes periodic power supply to receiver during monitoring/reception periods),
the duration of a supply period for the receiving antenna being defined as being the length of time between two starting times of two consecutive reception time intervals (Fig. 3BParagraphs [0009] shows cycle period from one monitoring period 45 to the next encompassing sleep period or defines cycle period as the time from start of one monitoring period to start of the next (supply period concept)).
Claim 6 is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 3 respectively.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEHERET WOLDEGEBREAL KIDANE whose telephone number is (571)270-3642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F8:30-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached at 571-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Chandrahas B Patel/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/M.W.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2464
Prosecution Insights