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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because of the new ground of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 18, the term "sufficient confidence" is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term "sufficient confidence" is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term is recited as fixing the second point in time from which the current latency of each of the two or more of the groups is measured, and the claim therefore leaves the boundary of the recited latency, and with it the scope of the limitation, dependent on an undefined degree of confidence.
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.
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.
Claims 1-10, 12-14 and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2022/0172622 A1 herein Bakhishev in view of US 9,602,377 B2 herein Agarwal and further in view of US 2019/0349309 A1 herein Bonig.
Claim 1 Bakhishev discloses a radio frequency system for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to an event detected by the radio frequency based sensing with a consistent latency or with a latency within a latency range around the consist latency (Title, System), the radio frequency system comprising:
multiple nodes grouped in multiple groups, each of the groups configured to perform radio frequency based in a respective sensing area of multiple sensing areas of the radio frequency system (0045; FIG. 1, a hub communicates bi- directionally with a first group of sensor nodes and a second group of sensor nodes, the sensor nodes are assigned into different groups, and a group may be further split into subgroups, each group or subgroup assigned a different periodic guaranteed time slot; 0124; 0136, at least two nodes monitor each of the zones with at least one indoor node and at least one outdoor node having different positions monitoring each zone; 0139, the exterior node monitors its loading zone using a camera, RF signals between nodes, and tracking);
performing radio frequency based sensing (0064; 0065; 0086, power level information for received RF communications is categorized against a baseline power level and one or more threshold power levels to determine a motion condition or an occupancy condition, and because RF measurements do not require line of sight, motion and presence are sensed through walls and other obstacles); and
reacting to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing (0054, a sensor detects a triggering event and transmits an alarm signal, and the hub determines an action based on receiving the alarm signal; 0073, at least one communication indicating detection of the event is generated and sent to the robot, and the robot is activated to investigate the event by moving to a position in proximity to the detected event; 0144, the method responds to the condition including communicating the condition to users, humans, machines, and the vehicle).
Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein the radio frequency system is configured for: determining a latency of two or more of the groups for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing, determining the consistent latency based on the determined latencies, and adapting at least one of the two or more of the groups by adjusting a radio frequency based sensing activity of the at least one of the two or more of the groups, adjusting a reaction activity of said at least one of the two or more of the groups, or both, such that the at least one of the two or more of the groups performs radio frequency based sensing and reacts to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing with the consistent latency or the latency within the latency range around the consistent latency.
Agarwal discloses determining a latency of two or more groups for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing (Col. 5: 1-12, the computing device measures the latency of data transmitted to a destination computing device; Col. 7: 40-52, the atency service analyzes the aggregated latency records to maintain an estimation of the latency between each computing device and the cell site to which it is connected and an estimation of the congestion at each cell site based on the quantity of computing devices currently connected to that cell site, so that a latency is maintained for each set of devices served by a common cell site; Col. 6: 1-25; FIG. 3, the latency is divided into a first portion between the device and the cell site, a second portion between the cell site and the access point, and a third portion between the access point and the destination). 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 Bakhishev to include determining a latency for eacl1 of tw or more sets of nodes served by a common node of the network from measurements aggregated across the nodes of that set, as taught by Agarwal, so as to enable the system to adjust its operations on the basis of the determined latency (Col. 2: 32-40).
Bakhishev in view of Agarwal may not explicitly disclose determining the consistent latency based on the determined latencies, and adapting at least one of the two or more of the groups by adjusting a radio frequency based sensing activity of the at least one of the two or more of the groups, adjusting a reaction activity of said at least one of the two or more of the groups, or both such that the at least one of the two or more of the groups performs radio frequency based sensing based and reacts to the events detected by the radio frequency based sensing with the consistent latency or the latency within the latency range around the consistent latency.
Bonig discloses determining the consistent latency based on the determined latencies (0087, the defined amount of time is derived from the transmission latencies of the plurality of message receivers; 0031, the standardized latency is set to the longest measured delay, or high water mark, of any path in the system, and statistical analysis is applied to determine the statistically longest latency path and the magnitude of that latency; 0032, alternatively the standardized latency is a fixed minimum computed from an average observed measured transit time, and the high watermark value is periodically recomputed from recent observed latency values; 0090, the defined amount of time is dynamically defined based on the magnitude of the computed amount of time as compared with other received messages); and
adapting at least one of the two or more of the groups by adjusting a radio frequency based sensing activity of the at least one of the two or more of the groups, adjusting a reaction activity of said at least one of the two or more of the groups (0040, the measured time is compared to the minimum latency and, if less, processing is deferred for a time period equal to the difference; 0082, the receiving message receiver determines the difference between the computed amount of time and the defined amount of time and defers processing for an amount of time equal to that difference between the computed amount of time and decine amount of time and defers processing for an amount of time equal to that difference; 0034, destination message is stored in buffers), or both such that the at least one of the two ore more groups performs radio frequency based sensing and reacts to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing and reacts to the event detected byu the radio frequency basd sensing with consistent latency or the latency within the latency range around the consistent latency ((this clause recites no structure and no operation beyond the adjusting positively recited immediately before it, and states only the result which that adjusting is intended to produce; a clause expressing the intended result of a positively recited step is not given patentable weight, MPEP 2111.04, Texas Instruments Inc. v. Int'/ Trade Comm'n, 988 F.2d 1165, 1172 (Fed. Cir. 1993), Minton v. Nat'/ Ass'n of Sec. Dealers, Inc., 336 F.3d 1373, 1381 (Fed. Cir. 2003)). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of a faster participant by the difference between its measured latency and that standardized latency, as taught by Bon1g, so as to equalize latency connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 3, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and in view of Bonig disclose the system of claim 2. Bakhishev disclose rebalancing wireless communication traffic in order to reduce wireless interference caused by the wireless communication traffic (0057-0060, shifting of different time delays, which leads to avoiding collisions); in order to reduce wireless interference caused by the wireless communication traffic (this clause states only the purpose for which the rebalancing is undertaken and recites no further act, and is accordingly not given patentable weight, MPEP 2111.04).
Claim 4, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein the radio frequency system is configured for: determining a minimal latency of a group with a highest latency of the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing, and determining the consistent latency, the latency range, or both based on the minimal latency.
Bonig discloses wherein the radio frequency system is configured for: determining a minimal latency of a group with a highest latency of the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing (0031, the path with the longest delay and the magnitude of that delay change over time, and statistical analysis is applied to determine the statistically longest latency path and the magnitude of that latency; 0032, the standardized latency is computed as the minimum observed latency with an adjustable floor set to a percentage of the observed latencies), and determining the consistent latency, the latency range, or both based on the minimal latency (0031, the standardized delay is set to that longest measured delay; 0087, the defined amount of time is derived from the transmission latencies of the plurality of message receivers). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of a faster participant by the difference between its measured latency and that standardized latency, as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 5, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein: the radio frequency system is configured for determining the consistent latency, the latency range, or both based on a current context.
Bonig discloses wherein: the radio frequency system is configured for determining the consistent latency, the latency range, or both based on a current context (0031, the information on the current times and latencies is obtained from current data resources such as traffic monitors and the standardized delay is periodically reevaluated based on current and historical conditions and adjusted as warranted; 0032, the high watermark is recomputed from the most recent observed latency values and is adjusted periodically based on congestion and volume so that the mark rises as traffic increases). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of a faster participant by the difference between its measured latency and that standardized latency, as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 6, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 5. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein the current context includes one or more of: a number of users in the multiple sensing areas of the radio frequency system experiencing the consistent latency.
Agarwal discloses wherein the current context includes one or more of: current group properties of one or more of the groups, a number of users in the multiple sensing areas of the radio frequency system experiencing the consistent latency (Col. 7: 25-35; Eq. 2, the congestion at each cell site is determined by summing the computing devices currently connected to thatcell site, and a high number of connected devices corresponds to an increased latency). 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 Bakhishev to include determining a latency for each of two or more sets of nodes served by a common node of the network from measurements aggregated across the nodes of that set, as taught by Agarwal, so as to enable the system to adjust its operations on the basis of the determined latency (Col. 2: 32-40).
Claim 7, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein: the radio frequency system is configured for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing such that the latency range, the consistent latency, or both stay below a respective threshold value over time.
Agarwal discloses wherein: the radio frequency system is configured for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing (Col. 8: 8-15, operations of the applications executing on the first computing device are adjusted based on the calculated latency estimation, and some operations are postponed or some applications suspended where the latency estimation exceeds a pre-defined threshold) such that the latency range, the consistent latency, or both stay below a respective threshold value over time (this clause recites no further act and states only the result which the recited performing and reacting is intended to produce, and is accordingly not given patentable weight, MPEP 2111.04). 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 Bakhishev to include determining a latency for each of two or more sets of nodes served by a common node of the network from measurements aggregated across the nodes of that set, as taught by Agarwal, so as to enable the system to adjust its operations on the basis of the determined latency (Col. 2: 32-40).
Claim 8, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev discloses wherein the two or more groups have different group properties including one or more of: a different number of nodes (0045; FIG. 1, the first group comprises three sensor nodes and the second group comprises five sensor nodes, and the second group is further split into a first subgroup of two nodes and a second subgroup of three nodes), different capabilities of one or more nodes, different current free processing power, and different current load.
Claim 9, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein: the latency range is between 0s and 0.2 s.
Bonig discloses wherein: the latency range is between 0s and 0.2 s (0096, in the worked example the standardized latency applied to all messages is 10 milliseconds and the adjustments applied to the individual messages range from 6 to 9 milliseconds; 0032, the high watermark begins at a predefined value of 1 millisecond). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of a faster participant by the difference between its measured latency and that standardized latency, as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 10, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein: adjusting the reaction activity of said at least one of the two or more of the groups comprises adding a delay before performing an action in reaction to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing.
Bonig discloses wherein: adjusting the reaction activity of said at least one of the two or more of the groups comprises adding a delay before performing an action in reaction to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing (0040, if the transit time is less than the minimum latency the forwarding is delayed or processing is otherwise deferred for a time period equal to the difference, and if it equals or exceeds the minimum latency the message is processed without delay; 0082, processing by the transaction processor is deferred by buffering for an amount of time equal to the determined difference; 0095, the delay is implemented as a buffer which stores the message for the requisite amount of time). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of a faster participant by the difference between its measured latency and that standardized latency, as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 12, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Bakhishev discloses a method for performing radio frequency based sensing and reacting to an event detected by the radio frequency based sensing with a consistent latency or a latency within a latency range around the consistent latency in a radio frequency system comprising multiple nodes grouped in multiple groups, each of the groups configured for performing radio frequency based sensing in a respective sensing area of multiple sensing areas of the radio frequency system, comprising the steps (Title, Method), and comprising: adapting at least one of the two or more of the groups by adjusting a radio frequency based sensing activity of said at least one of the two or more of the groups, adjusting a reaction activity of said at least one of the two or more of the groups, or both, such that the at least one of the two or more of the groups performs radio frequency based sensing and reacts to the event detected by the radio frequency based sensing with the consistent latency or the latency within the latency range around the consistent latency (the affirmative step is the adjusting recited immediately before this clause; the clause adds no further act and states only the result of that step, and is accordingly not given patentable weight, MPEP 2111.04).
Claim 13, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the method according to claim 12 comprising one or more of the steps: Bakhishev discloses rebalancing wireless communication traffic (0057; 0059; 0060, the hub instructs the colliding nodes to shift their respective transmit and receive windows by different time delays, and the process is repeated until all collisions are avoided) in order to reduce wireless interference caused by the wireless communication traffic for optimizing the latency of the one or more groups with latency equal to or above the consistent latency (this clause states only the purpose for which the rebalancing is undertaken and recites no further act, and is accordingly not givenpatentable weight, MPEP 2111.04).
Claim 14, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 12. Bakhishev discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium (0114; 0119, a computer program is stored in a computer readable storage medium, and one or more processing units communicate with one or more machine-accessible non- transitory mediums) having stored there on a computer program (0120, the medium stores one or more sets of instructions embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein, including network services software, a communications module, and applications) for performing the method according to claim 12, when run on a processor (0116, the controller circuit includes memory or is coupled to memory that stores instructions which are executed by processing logic of the controller circuit for controlling operations of the sensor node). Claim 16, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to determine the consistent latency as one of: a highest latency among the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups, or an average of the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups.
Bonig discloses wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to determine the consistent latency as one of: a highest latency among the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups (0031, the standardized delay is set to the longest measured delay, or high water mark, of any network path in the system, and statistical analysis is applied to determine the statistically longest latency path and the magnitude of that latency), the highest latency among the determined latencies minus the latency range, or an average of the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups (0032, the standardized latency comprises a fixed minimum transit time computed from an average observed measured transit time, and the adjustable floor is set to a percentage of the average or median of the observed latencies). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of a faster participant by the difference between its measured latency and that standardized latency, as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 17, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to determine the latency of each of the two or more of the groups as a sum of (i) a radio frequency based sensing latency that corresponds to a duration between an occurrence of the event in the respective sensing area and detection of the event by the respective group, and (ii) a reaction latency that corresponds to a duration between detecting the event and performing an action in reaction to the detected event by the respective group.
Agarwal discloses wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to determine the latency of each of the two or more of the groups as a sum of (i) a radio frequency based sensing latency that corresponds to a duration between an occurrence of the event in the respective sensing area and detection of the event by the respective group, and (ii) a reaction latency that corresponds to a duration between detecting the event and performing an action in reaction to the detected event by the respective group (Col. 6: 1-25; FIG. 3; Eq. 1, the latency experienced along a connection is divided into successive portions, a first between the device and the cell site, a second between the cell site and the access point, and a third between the access point and the destination, and the portions are combined into a single estimation; Col. 10: 1-6, the calculated estimation is the sum of the first, second and third latency values; Col. 10: 33-40, the first latency value is subtracted from the determined end-to-end latency to obtain the second latency value). 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 Bakhishev to include determining a latency for each of two or more sets of nodes served by a common node of the network from measurements aggregated across the nodes of that set, as taught by Agarwal, so as to enable the system to adjust its operations on the basis of the determined latency (Col. 2: 32-40).
Claim 18, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev discloses wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to determine a current latency of each of the two or more of the groups based on a time series of radio frequency messages exchanged within the respective group (0051; 0052, in an example wireless network multiple nodes communicate with a central hub and with each other at regular periods, RSSI values are measured and recorded over time, and any node that senses an RF signal from within the network logs the associated RSSI value together with the source of the signal's origin; 0047, the sensor nodes communicate bi-directionally with each other over communications 161-166, 173 and 183 to provide the mesh-like functionality; 0055, RF communications are transmitted every 30 to 90 seconds and are monitored and analyzed every 1 to 10 seconds to determine a power level for the received communications at a given time), the current latency being determined based on a difference between a first point in time at which an indication of the event is first observable in the time series (0075; 0076; FIG. 5B, the plot of signal strength versus time is divided into a first portion holding values similar to the baseline and a second portion holding values statistically lower than the first, the boundary between them marking where a human passes between the two nodes; 0082; 0089, the same division into first, second and third portions is drawn for each node pair whose plot carries a perturbation) and a second point in time at which the event is detected with sufficient confidence by the respective group (0064; 0065, the processing logic determines whether the received RF communications can be categorized as having a baseline power level indicating no occupancy or motion or one or more threshold power levels indicating a motion condition or an occupancy condition, and determines on that basis whether motion or occupancy occurs within the environment; 0066, instantaneous RSSI values are compared with threshold RSSI values to determine whether the baseline condition or the threshold power level condition occurs; this term is a relative term and is treated as set out in the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) above).
Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose determining the current latency based on a difference between the first point in time and the second point in time.
Bonig discloses determining the current latency based on a difference between the first point in time and the second point in time (0033; 0034, a timestamp is injected into the message for when the message was first seen, and the destination extracts that timestamp and uses it together with its own timer functionality; 0096, each message carries an arrival time and a process time and the adjustment applied to it is the difference between them). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of faster participant as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 19, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev discloses wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to perform radio frequency based sensing for two or more sensing applications concurrently (0035; 0038, the signal strength information obtained by the wireless network is used for security systems, for operation and control of building lighting and heating and cooling systems, and to guide-the operation of an indoor robot; 0090, the same RSSI information facilitates controlling the operation of a home security system, controlling the operation of lighting, heating or cooling, and dispatching an autonomous cleaning robot; 0120, the medium stores network services software, a communications module, and applications including home or building security and robot applications; 0063, the operations of FIG. 48 occur simultaneously with the operations of FIG. 4A or independently from them; 0138; 0139, an interior node monitors an interior region for product, materials, pallets, machines and users while an exterior node monitors the loading zone for vehicles, users and objects, and image data, RF signal data and tracking data from the indoor node and the outdoor node are utilized in combination). Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose determining a respective consistent latency for each of the two or more sensing applications.
Bonig discloses determining a respective consistent latency for each of the two or more sensing applications (0031, a standardized delay is decided upon for the entire network, or alternatively different portions of the network have specific standardized delays applied to them, so that more than one standardized latency is maintained at one time and each governs the portion to which it is applied). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and Bonig to include applying a specific standardized latency to each portion of the system rather than a single latency across the whole of it, as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 20 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to determine a minimal latency of a group having a highest latency among the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups by iteratively adapting a configuration of said group having the highest latency until a stop condition is fulfilled, and wherein the radio frequency system is configured to determine the consistent latency, the latency range, or both based on the determined minimal latency.
Bonig discloses wherein: the radio frequency system is further configured to determine a minimal latency of a group having a highest latency among the determined latencies of the two or more of the groups by iteratively adapting a configuration of said group having the highest latency until a stop condition is fulfilled (0032, a sliding scale is implemented in which the high watermark begins at a predefined value and increases whenever a set percentage of messages has exceeded 150 percent of that value the exceeding value becoming the new value, and the watermark is moved back down if the inverse occurs), and wherein the radio frequency system is configured to determine the consistent latency, the latency range, or both based on the determined minimal latency (0031, the standardized delay is set to the longest measured delay and is periodically reevaluated and adjusted as warranted; 0087, the defined amount of time is derived from the transmission latencies of the plurality of message receivers). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal to include deriving a single standardized latency from the measured latencies of the plurality of participants and deferring the responsive action of a faster participant by the difference between its measured latency and that standardized latency, as taught by Bonig, so as to equalize latency across all of the connections in the interests of determinism and fairness (0029).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig and further in view of US 2004/0024820 A1 herein Ozzie.
Claim 11, Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and further in view of Bonig discloses the radio frequency system according to claim 1. Bakhishev may not explicitly disclose wherein the radio frequency system is configured for: providing a latency criticality ranking of one or more events which are to be detected by the two or more groups by performing radio frequency based sensing, and determining the consistent latency, the latency range, or both based on the latency criticality ranking.
Ozzie discloses wherein the radio frequency system is configured for: providing a latency criticality ranking of one or more events which are to be detected by the two or more groups by performing radio frequency based sensing (0017; 0121, a data change request priority scheme uses request sequence number and dependency information, and where two requests collide the order in which they are executed is fixed by the ranking assigned to their originators; 0134, priority is alternatively assigned according to the nature of the change requested, such as delete paragraph or add chapter, or according to the location of the change in the data, such as change document title or change document summary, so that requests of one nature are ranked ahead of requests of another, 0135, requests are executed in clusters where they are related to a certain part of the data or to a certain type of change so that they are all made at about the same time), and determining the consistent latency, the latency range, or1mth based on the latency criticality ranking (0135, alternative priority strategies are provided depending on activity, some activities taking one basis for awarding priority and others another depending on the significance of data consistency for the particular activity, and real-time activities such as chat rooms forgo roll-back and remaking of changes in order to lower response time since order of execution matters less for them; 0136, requests delayed by more than a predetermined value are discarded to avoid thrashing). 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 Bakhishev in view of Agarwal and Bonig to include ranking requests by the nature of the request and selecting the order and strategy of processing from that ranking, as taught by Ozzie, so as to constrain average latency in processing (0119).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20150338510 A1 – A sensor such as a presence sensor for use in a lighting system or other system that adapts to information from a plurality of active presence sensors. If transmissions from the active sensors are uncoordinated, the overall detection performance may be adversely impacted (e.g. due to potential cross-interference), which may make sensing over the detection coverage area defined by a single presence sensor (or the like) become unreliable. The disclosure presents protocols for coordinating transmissions in active sensing systems. The invention may be applied to various active modalities (e.g. ultrasound, RF), for example that find applications in indoor and outdoor lighting controls.
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 Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm.
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, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571) 272-3988. 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.
/Mehmood B. Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2419
Prosecution Insights