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 regarding the 103 rejection have been considered and they are moot because they do not apply to the new references.
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.
Claims 21-22, 25, 28-30, 32, 35-37, 42-43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wikman (US 8190773) in view of Ginwalla (US 20200393970) further in view of Gao (CN 104456966).
Regarding claim 30 (similarly to 21, 36), Wikman discloses a system for monitoring and managing a facility, the system comprising:
a battery powered end point device (fig. 4, client device 120, which can be a mobile or stationary, fig. 2, battery powered);
a remote device including a first electronic processor (fig. 4, a web server); and a universal gateway device including a second electronic processor (fig. 4, gateway 140) configured to:
receive, from the end point device via a first communication protocol, a set of data (fig. 4, col. 2, 2nd para., col. 3, last two para., a gateway transparently delivers requests received from client devices on the Internet to a web server via a HTTP protocol; the gateway communicates with the client using the port or protocol connecting to the client device, steps 520, 525),
provide the set of data to the remote device (fig. 4, col. 2, 2nd para., col. 3, last two para., a gateway transparently delivers requests from client devices on the Internet to a web server via the HTTP protocol; the gateway communicates with the remote using the port/protocol connecting to the server, step 535),
receive, from the remote device, a replyfig, 4, col. 2, 2nd para., col. 3, last two para., the gateway delivers replies received from the mobile web server via the HTTP protocol to the client that initiated the request; the gateway communicates with the remote using the port/protocol connecting to the server/remote; step 545); and
provide, via the first communication protocol, the reply fig, 4, col. 2, 2nd para., col. 4, 1st para., the gateway delivers replies from the mobile web server to the client that initiated the request via the HTTP protocol; the gateway communicates with the client using the port/protocol connecting to the client, step 550),
wherein the first electronic processor is configured to:
receive, via the first communication protocol, the set of data from the universal gateway device (fig. 4, col. 2, 2nd para., col. 4, first para., a gateway transparently delivers requests from client devices on the Internet to a web server via the HTTP protocol; the gateway communicates with the remote using the port/protocol connecting to the server/remote),
provide the reply (fig. 4, col. 4, 1st para., the gateway server 140 delivers the request over the connection that was opened by the web server via the HTTP protocol. The web server 110 will then return a reply over the same connection or first communication protocol; the gateway communicates with the remote using the protocol connecting to the server/remote).
Wikman does not explicitly disclose wherein the first end point device maintains a backlog of data packets comprising the first set of data until the universal gateway device is available to receive the data packets.
Ginwalla disclose wherein the first end point device maintains a backlog of data packets comprising the first set of data until the universal gateway device is available to receive the data packets (Ginwalla, [0040-42], may produce data outputs and buffer them in the second memory 130 until the receiver 60 is ready to read that data; the second memory 130 may serve as a transit buffer that can temporarily store the decompressed data).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging messages between the client, gateway and the remote devices as given by Wikman with the teachings of buffering data before transmission given by Ginwalla. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce overall resource (Ginwalla, [0040]).
Wikman and Ginwalla do not explicitly disclose the first endpoint is associated with a fixture,
the set of data received from the first endpoint is related to an operation of the fixture,
receive, via a user device, a user interaction;
the message from the remote device/server is a control command for controlling the operation of the fixture,
wherein the first electronic processor is configured to: determine the control command based on the set of data, data, usage data or pattern data, and a user interaction, and wherein the usage data or pattern data is determined from the first set of data.
Gao discloses the first endpoint is associated with a fixture (Gao, fig.1, the mobile device is related to using the water heater or fixture. Note, as illustrated in fig.1, the router or gateway can be also placed between the server and the mobile device),
the set of data received from the first endpoint is related to an operation of the fixture (Gao, [0068-69], the set of data includes time and day of using the water heater),
receive, via a user device, a user interaction (Gao, [0083], fig. 5, S21, server respectively receives the set data of the usage data and the environmental temperature information sent by a mobile terminal of the user);
the message from the remote device/server is a control command for controlling the operation of the fixture (Gao, [0070][0074], performing validity analysis and send back result to the mobile terminal; the server sends remind for the user to use hot water as soon as possible. Note, as illustrated in fig.1, the router or gateway can be also placed between the server and the mobile device),
wherein the first electronic processor is configured to: determine the control command based on the set of data, data, usage data or pattern data, and a user interaction, and wherein the usage data or pattern data is determined from the first set of data (Gao, [0070][0083-86], fig. 5, performing validity analysis and send back result to the mobile terminal; Here, the analysis is to combine/bind related basic parameters of water heater 10, heating performance parameters and data from user such as starting time, shut-down time, hot water temperature, based on the analysis results, at the starting time (learned from the user data), sends command to the initiate the heating, and the shut-down time, sends a command to stop heating so that energy can be saved. Here, the server or controller generates control instructions based on the setting data provided by the user or interaction with the user. That is, the control instructions are made based on (1) the setting data received from the user (which is related to the operation of the fixture), (2) the user interaction (the user provides the setting data) and (3) the pattern data included in the setting data).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging messages between the client, gateway and the remote devices as given by Wikman with the teachings of controlling a water heating system given by Gao. Note, as illustrated in fig.1 of Gao, the router or gateway (taught by Wikman) can be also placed between the server and the mobile device of the heating system taught by Gao. The motivation for doing so would have been to effectively control the operation of the water heating system to save energy (Gao, Abstract).
Claims 22 and 37 are rejected same as claim 30 noting that Wikman and Gao disclose the gateway may communicate with multiple clients (Wikman, col. 4, 1st para., col. 2, ln 57-63, the connectivity may include long range connections; short range connections or various connections; telephone lines, cables, power lines, the like; the gateway server 140 looks at each message arriving from various client devices 120 to the well-known port and uses the content in order to deduce for which server the message is intended).
Regarding claim 25 (similarly to 32), Wikman and Gao disclose the universal gateway device of claim 21, wherein the first communication protocol is a long range (LoRa) communication protocol (Wikman, col. 2, ln 57-63, the connectivity may include long range connections; short range connections or various connections).
Regarding claim 28, Wikman and Gao disclose the universal gateway device of claim 21, wherein the universal gateway device is associated with a facility (Wikman, fig. 4, Gao, fig. 4, here the gateway taught in Wikman can be inserted between the server and the client in fig. 4 taught by Gao, the combined system is related to the water heating system).
Regarding claim 29, Wikman and Gao disclose the universal gateway device of claim 21, wherein the first fixture is a water management solution (Gao, fig. 4). The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 30.
Regarding claim 35, Wikman and Gao disclose the system of claim 30, wherein the fixture comprises a faucet, a flushometer, a flush valve, a handwashing system, a water service line monitor, a backflow preventer, a floor drain, a hand dryer, a pressure sensor, a water use sensor, a flow sensor, a valve sensor, a lavatory, a toilet, a urinal, a water closet, a bottle and glass filler, a drain, a drinking water fountain, an air or room quality sensor, a leak detection sensor, an occupancy detection sensor, or a resource dispenser (Gao, [0051][0084], fig. 1, water heater, a showering system). It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options. The motivation of the combination is same as in claim 30.
Regarding claims 42, 43, Wikman and Gao disclose the system of claim 21, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to:
process the set of data for transmission from the universal gateway device to the remote device; and process the control command for transmission from the universal gateway device to the end point device (Wikman, claim 12, receiving data from the gateway, sending replay to the gateway, etc., the data must be processed after receiving or before sending out).
Claim 41 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wikman, Ginwalla and Gao further in view of Petri (US 20210288944).
Regarding claim 41, Wikman, Ginwalla and Gao disclose the method of claim 30,
Wikman and Gao do not explicitly disclose wherein the universal gateway device including a second electronic processor is further configured to: decrypt encrypted fixture data; and analyze the decrypted fixture data to determine fixture analytics, trends, and patterns.
Petri discloses the universal gateway device including a second electronic processor is further configured to: decrypt encrypted fixture data; and analyze the decrypted fixture data to determine fixture analytics, trends, and patterns (Petri, [0038], to use the session key to decrypt content of encrypted messages transmitted between the first computing device and the second computing device via the apparatus, and to analyze said decrypted content)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchange water heating system messages as given by Wikman and Gao with the teachings of encrypting packets given by Petri. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a system in which analysis of message content at a middlebox can be performed for an encrypted communication channel (Petri, [0004]).
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 ZHENSHENG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1985. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm.
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/ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474