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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Azizi et al., WO 2018/125686 A2.
Regarding claim 1, Azizi discloses A communications system (Fig. 1, par. 0020; an exemplary depiction of communication network 100) comprising: a plurality of nodes distributed within a geographical area, each of the plurality of nodes being in communication with one or more of the other of the plurality of nodes to collectively form at least a partially-connected wireless mesh network (par. 0021; terminal devices 106-110 may be configured according to a mesh or multi-hop network and may communicate with terminal device 104 via one or more other terminal devices.); and each of the plurality of nodes having: a node processor (Fig. 3, par. 0019; controller 308); a battery (Fig. 3, par. 0058; terminal device 200 is battery-powered); a connection to a power source (par. 0275; Power supply 1618 may be an electrical power source that provides power to the various electrical components of terminal device 1502.); a short-range transceiver for short-range communications between nodes of the plurality of nodes (par. 0032; a resourceful other terminal device relaying discovery or control information via low power short range communication, such as Bluetooth or 802.15.4 Low Energy (LE), to a proximate terminal device.); and a long-range transceiver for long-range communication with a long-range network (Fig. 16, par. 0085; Network access node 210 may receive external data via backhaul interface 612, which may include connections to other network access nodes, internet networks, and/or an underlying core network supporting the radio access network provided by network access node 210 (such as, for example, an LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC)).); and in which each of the plurality of nodes are configured to dynamically assign and use one or more of the plurality of nodes as a border router (par. 0612; the radio access network may be configured, either at a network access node or at an 'edge' computing device, to assume keepalive responsibilities (e.g., connection continuity services) for terminal devices to help ensure that data connections are maintained without being closed.).
Regarding claims 2 and 30, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 1 and 29. Azizi also discloses in which the plurality of nodes comprise one or more gateway routers (par. 0023).
Regarding claim 3, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 2. Azizi also discloses in which the one or more gateway routers are characterized by superiority relative to the other of the plurality of nodes, of one or more of battery performance, long-range link quality, power source capacity, power source permanence, and a wired connection to the long-range network (par. 0025).
Regarding claims 4 and 30, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 2 and 29. Azizi also discloses in which: in a first mode, each of the plurality of nodes assign and use one or more gateway routers as the border router in preference to the other of the plurality of nodes (par. 0125); and in a second mode, each of the plurality of nodes assign and use another of the plurality of nodes as a border router when a ranking of the gateway router drops below a predetermined threshold or a ranking of the another of the plurality of nodes (par. 0339).
Regarding claims 5 and 31, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 1 and 30. Azizi also discloses in which each of the plurality of nodes are configured to dynamically assign a border router for the node based on rankings dynamically assigned to each of the plurality of nodes (par. 0055).
Regarding claims 6 and 32, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 5 and 31. Azizi also discloses in which a ranking of each node is based on one or more of the following performance characteristics: a battery capacity, battery performance, available charging capacity, long- range link quality, microcontroller unit (MCU) utilization, number of other nodes in communication range with the node, number of other nearby candidate border routers, distance to the nearest suitable candidate border router, long-range network load, and short-range bandwidth (par. 01206-01209).
Regarding claims 7 and 33, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 6 and 32. Azizi also discloses in which the ranking of each node is based on at least battery capacity, available charging capacity, and long-range link quality (par. 0974).
Regarding claims 8 and 34, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 6 and 32. Azizi also discloses in which each of the plurality of nodes are configured to broadcast, to other of the plurality of nodes, performance characteristics of the node at periodic intervals or as a result of a change in performance characteristics (par. 0116).
Regarding claims 9 and 35, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 7 and 30. Azizi also discloses in which each of the plurality of nodes are configured to self-rank and broadcast a self-ranking for the node to other of the plurality of nodes (par. 0804).
Regarding claims 10 and 36, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 9 and 30. Azizi also discloses in which each of the plurality of nodes are configured to dynamically assign and use one or more of the plurality of nodes as a border router based on the rankings provided by each of the plurality of nodes and a short-range link quality to each of the plurality of nodes (par. 0851).
Regarding claims 11 and 37, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 10 and 30. Azizi also discloses in which: there are a plurality of border routers available for a node; and the plurality of nodes are configured to failover to other of the plurality of border routers when a first of the plurality of border routers is instructed, and fails, to send a long-range transmission through the long-range network (par. 01199).
Regarding claims 12 and 38, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claims 11 and 37. Azizi also discloses in which, in the event of a border router being instructed, and failing, to send data through the long-range network, one or more of the plurality of nodes storing and subsequently re-attempting to send or instruct the sending of the data (par. 0379).
Regarding claim 13, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the power source of one or more of the plurality of nodes comprises a low-watt power source (par. 0379).
Regarding claim 14, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the power source has an average energy production capacity of 15 W/hr or less daily (par. 0277).
Regarding claim 15, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the power source comprises a solar panel (par. 01297).
Regarding claim 16, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which each of the plurality of nodes comprises a housing and is mounted above-ground on a pole (par. 01402).
Regarding claim 17, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the long-range wireless network comprises one or more of the internet, a cellular network, and a satellite network (par. 0085).
Regarding claim 18, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the geographical area comprises a transport corridor (par. 0655).
Regarding claim 19, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 18. Azizi also discloses in which the transport corridor comprises a railway track for a train (par. 0649).
Regarding claim 20, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 19. Azizi also discloses in which the plurality of nodes are configured to maintain a train on the railway track in continuous communication with the long-range wireless network (par. 0649).
Regarding claim 21, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the geographical area comprises a remote geographical area with portions or the entirety of which being out of contact with a cellular network other than via one or more border routers (par. 0125).
Regarding claim 22, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the long-range transceiver comprises one or more of: a cellular transceiver, a satellite transceiver, a broadcast radio transceiver, and a microwave transceiver (par. 01346).
Regarding claim 23, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the short-range transceiver comprises one or more of a low frequency radio transceiver, an infrared transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a Wi-Fi transceiver, and a mesh network transceiver (par. 0029).
Regarding claim 24, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses in which the short-range transceiver comprises a low frequency 2.4 GHz or 915 MHz wireless radio transceiver (par. 0012).
Regarding claim 25, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses further comprising a back-end system comprising a server processor connected to receive and transmit communications from and to, respectively, the plurality of nodes via the long-range network (par. 0020).
Regarding claim 26, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 25. Azizi also discloses in which the server processor is connected to serve and relay communications information from the plurality of nodes to third parties via the long-range network (par. 0022).
Regarding claim 27, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 1. Azizi also discloses further comprising a plurality of sensors connected to provide information to the plurality of nodes (par. 0306).
Regarding claim 28, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 27. Azizi also discloses in which the plurality of sensors are configured to sense and provide information on one or more of motion, temperature, vibration, tilt, rail or corridor integrity, seismic activity, humidity, water levels, weather, flooding, proximity, obstacle, wildlife, sound and visual elements (par. 0534).
Regarding claim 29, Azizi discloses A method comprising: using a plurality of nodes to communicate with each other in a partially-connected mesh network (par. 0021; terminal devices 106-110 may be configured according to a mesh or multi-hop network and may communicate with terminal device 104 via one or more other terminal devices.) and dynamically assign one or more of the plurality of nodes as a border router, in which the plurality of nodes are distributed within a geographical area (par. 0612; the radio access network may be configured, either at a network access node or at an 'edge' computing device, to assume keepalive responsibilities (e.g., connection continuity services) for terminal devices to help ensure that data connections are maintained without being closed.); and using the border router to relay communications from the plurality of nodes through the long-range network (par. 0021; terminal devices such as terminal devices 106- 110 may rely on a forwarding link provided by terminal device 104, where terminal device 104 may act as a gateway or relay between terminal devices 106-110 and network access node 120.).
Regarding claim 39, Azizi discloses all the limitations in claim 29. Azizi also discloses further comprising transmitting a message off-network through the long-range network via a border router (par. 0605).
Conclusion
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/AYODEJI O AYOTUNDE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649