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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/17/2025, 09/18/2025 and 07/19/2023 have been considered by the examiner and been placed of record in the file.
35 USC § 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 USC 112, 6th)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
Use of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim element is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph). The presumption that § 112(f) (pre-AIA § 112, sixth paragraph) is invoked is rebutted when the function is recited with sufficient structure, material, or acts within the claim itself to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim element is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph). The presumption that § 112(f) (pre-AIA § 112, sixth paragraph) is not invoked is rebutted when the claim element recites function but fails to recite sufficiently definite structure, material or acts to perform that function.
Claim elements in this application that use the word “means” (or “step for”) are presumed to invoke § 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Similarly, claim elements that do not use the word “means” (or “step for”) are presumed not to invoke § 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Claim limitations in claim 1 have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), sixth paragraph, because they use a generic placeholder “communication module” coupled with such functional language as “configured to perform” without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier.
Since these claim limitations invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), sixth paragraph, claim 1 is interpreted to cover the corresponding structures described in the specification that achieve the claimed functions, and equivalents thereof.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), sixth paragraph limitations: The communication module 190 may include one or more communication processors that are operable independently from the processor 120 (e.g., the application processor (AP))… as described in [0049].
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not wish to have the claim limitation treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), sixth paragraph, applicant may amend the claim so that it will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), sixth paragraph, or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), sixth paragraph.
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (KR20200001109A English Translation).
Claim 1. Lee et al. disclose An electronic device constituting a pair of sound output devices with a counterpart electronic device (FIG. 1,2 items 230-250 and FIG. 9 ), the electronic device comprising:
a communication module configured to perform communication with the counterpart electronic device via a wireless link (read as communication unit (610) [0082]);
at least one processor (read as control unit (630) [0082]); and
a memory (memory (620) [0082]) configured to store instructions (read as software modules or algorithms may be stored on a computer readable recording medium [0174]),
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor (read as computer-readable code or program instructions executable on the processor [0174]), cause the at least one processor to:
identify a first broadcast interval of a first advertisement packet (read as the first AP device can set the transmission period of the first BLE advertisement packet [0069] …first BLE advertisement packet and the second BLE advertisement packet are transmitted at a predetermined time interval [0091]) and a first timing offset for a reference broadcast time point based on first device information of the electronic device (read as considering various information such as the Wi-Fi channel status, network status, and the number of AP devices in the group [0073]. The various information includes information from first AP.) and second device information from the counterpart electronic device (read as the first AP device can receive a response message to identify the second AP device and simultaneously obtain information set regarding the transmission of the second BLE advertisement packet of the second AP device [0065]), and
broadcast the first advertisement packet by the first broadcast interval (read as first AP device can determine the transmission order of the first BLE advertisement packet and the second BLE advertisement packet [0074]. FIG. 8) from a time point according to the first timing offset (FIG. 8, advertisement packets with offset timing from each other) from the reference broadcast time point,
wherein the reference broadcast time point is a reference time point synchronized between the electronic device and the counterpart electronic device (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is
transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]), and
wherein the first timing offset causes a first broadcast time point of the first advertisement packet and a second broadcast time point of a second advertisement packet of the counterpart electronic device not to overlap with each other (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]. FIG.8, advertisement packet non-overlapping).
Lee et al. do not explicitly disclose: reference broadcast time point. However, Lee et al. disclose the idea of a first AP receive information about transmission cycle of advertisement packet cycle of other APs and decide on the order of transmission of advertisement packets. It also decides on the interval/length of packet (the transmission period of a BLE advertisement packet can be set to a multiple of 0.625ms between 20ms and 10.24s as specified in the BLE standard [0023]). Also, FIG. 8 shows the advertisement packets as transmitted from different AP. So, there is some type of reference in order to coordinate the different advertisement packets. Also, Lee et al. do not mention sound output devices. However, it is well known in the art that mobile phone (i.e. sound output devices) can be used as APs (US 2023/0034509 A1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the teaching of Lee et al. in order to realize all the limitations of the claimed invention namely the idea of allowing multiple devices to transmit, simultaneously, advertisement packets without interfering with each other.
Claim 2. The electronic device of claim 1, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:
identify a second broadcast interval of the second advertisement packet and a second timing offset from the reference broadcast time point based on the first device information and the second device information (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]. FIG.8, advertisement packet non-overlapping); and
transmit information including the second broadcast interval and the second timing offset to the counterpart electronic device (read as the first AP device can receive a response message to identify the second AP device and simultaneously obtain information set regarding the transmission of the second BLE advertisement packet of the second AP device [0065]).
Claim 3. The electronic device of claim 2, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, are further configured to cause the at least one processor to identify a broadcast frequency between the first advertisement packet and the second advertisement packet (read as the transmission period of a BLE advertisement packet can be set to a multiple of 0.625ms between 20ms and 10.24s as specified in the BLE standard…and the transmission cycle of BLE advertisement packets may be set differently for each AP device [0023]) based on the first device information and the second device information (read as the first AP device can receive a response message to identify the second AP device and simultaneously obtain information set regarding the transmission of the second BLE advertisement packet of the second AP device [0065]).
Claim 4. The electronic device of claim 3, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the broadcast frequency is identified based on a charged amount of a battery of the electronic device included in the first device information and a charged amount of a battery of the counterpart electronic device included in the second device information (read as the first AP device can set the BLE advertisement packet transmission cycle by taking into account the power consumption of the first AP device and the second AP device [0034]).
Claim 5. The electronic device of claim 1, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, are further configured to cause the at least one processor to:
identify a distance between the electronic device and the counterpart electronic device based on the first device information and the second device information (read as The terminal can calculate the distance between the terminal and each of the multiple AP devices based on the calculated BLE received power and the path loss model [0136]); and
broadcast the first advertisement packet based on the identified distance exceeding a specified distance (read as the first AP device (1301) sets the transmission cycle of BLE advertisement packets for each of the first AP device (1301), the second AP device (1302) [0157]).
Claim 6. The electronic device of claim 1, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, are further configured to:
cause the at least one processor to transmit the first device information to the counterpart electronic device based on at least a change in the first device information (read as the first AP device can set the BLE advertisement packet transmission cycle by taking into account the power consumption of the first AP device and the second AP device [0034]); and
receive the second device information from the counterpart electronic device (read as If the BLE advertisement packet transmission cycle is set to a short value, the power consumed by the AP device for transmitting BLE advertisement packets may increase [0034]. The power consumed by the AP changes and the related information needs to be updated.).
Claim 7. The electronic device of claim 1, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the first timing offset is set so as to make a first time interval between the first broadcast time point and the second broadcast time point immediately before the first broadcast time point equal to a second time interval between the first broadcast time point and the second broadcast time point immediately after the first broadcast time point (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]. FIG.8, advertisement packet with timing offset).
Claim 8. The electronic device of claim 1, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, are further configured to cause the at least one processor to identify transmission intensity of the first advertisement packet based on a charged amount of a battery of the electronic device included in the first device information (read as calculating a throughput of each of the plurality of AP devices based on information about each of the plurality of AP devices [0026]. The throughput is related to power consumption.).
Claim 9. Lee et al. disclose A method (FIG. 1-14) for operating an electronic device constituting a pair of sound output devices with a counterpart electronic device (FIG. 1,2 items 230-250 and FIG. 9 ), the method comprising:
identifying a first broadcast interval of a first advertisement packet (read as the first AP device can set the transmission period of the first BLE advertisement packet [0069] … first BLE advertisement packet and the second BLE advertisement packet are transmitted at a predetermined time interval [0091]) and a first timing offset for a reference broadcast time point based on first device information of the electronic device (read as considering various information such as the Wi-Fi channel status, network status, and the number of AP devices in the group [0073]. The various information includes information from first AP.) and second device information from the counterpart electronic device (read as the first AP device can receive a response message to identify the second AP device and simultaneously obtain information set regarding the transmission of the second BLE advertisement packet of the second AP device [0065]); and
broadcasting the first advertisement packet at the first broadcast interval (read as first AP device can determine the transmission order of the first BLE advertisement packet and the second BLE advertisement packet [0074]. FIG. 8) from a time point according to the first timing offset from the reference broadcast time point (FIG. 8, advertisement packets with offset timing from each other),
wherein the reference broadcast time point is a reference time point synchronized between the electronic device and the counterpart electronic device (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]), and
wherein the first timing offset causes a first broadcast time point of the first advertisement packet and a second broadcast time point of a second advertisement packet of the counterpart electronic device not to overlap with each other (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]. FIG.8, advertisement packet non-overlapping).
Lee et al. do not explicitly disclose: reference broadcast time point. However, Lee et al. disclose the idea of a first AP receive information about transmission cycle of advertisement packet cycle of other APs and decide on the order of transmission of advertisement packets. It also decides on the interval/length of packet (the transmission period of a BLE advertisement packet can be set to a multiple of 0.625ms between 20ms and 10.24s as specified in the BLE standard [0023]). Also, FIG. 8 shows the advertisement packets as transmitted from different AP. So, there is some type of reference in order to coordinate the different advertisement packets. Also, Lee et al. do not mention sound output devices. However, it is well known in the art that mobile phone (i.e. sound output devices) can be used as Aps (US 2023/0034509 A1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was filed, to use the teaching of Lee et al. in order to realize all the limitations of the claimed invention namely the idea of allowing multiple devices to transmit, simultaneously, advertisement packets without interfering with each other.
Claim 10. The method of claim 9, Lee et al. disclose,
further comprising:
identifying a second broadcast interval of the second advertisement packet and a second timing offset from the reference broadcast time point based on the first device information and the second device information (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]. FIG.8, advertisement packet non-overlapping); and
transmitting information including the second broadcast interval and the second timing offset to the counterpart electronic device (read as the first AP device can receive a response message to identify the second AP device and simultaneously obtain information set regarding the transmission of the second BLE advertisement packet of the second AP device [0065]).
Claim 11. The method of claim 10, Lee et al. disclose,
further comprising:
identifying a broadcast frequency between the first advertisement packet and the second advertisement packet (read as the transmission period of a BLE advertisement packet can be set to a multiple of 0.625ms between 20ms and 10.24s as specified in the BLE standard…and the transmission cycle of BLE advertisement packets may be set differently for each AP device [0023]) based on the first device information and the second device information (read as the first AP device can receive a response message to identify the second AP device and simultaneously obtain information set regarding the transmission of the second BLE advertisement packet of the second AP device [0065]).
Claim 12. The method of claim 11, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the broadcast frequency is identified based on a charged amount of a battery of the electronic device included in the first device information and a charged amount of a battery of the counterpart electronic device included in the second device information (read as the first AP device can set the BLE advertisement packet transmission cycle by taking into account the power consumption of the first AP device and the second AP device [0034]).
Claim 13. The method of claim 9, Lee et al. disclose,
further comprising:
identifying a distance between the electronic device and the counterpart electronic device based on the first device information and the second device information (read as The terminal can calculate the distance between the terminal and each of the multiple AP devices based on the calculated BLE received power and the path loss model [0136]),
wherein the broadcasting of the first advertisement packet further includes broadcasting the first advertisement packet based on the identified distance exceeding a specified distance (read as the first AP device (1301) sets the transmission cycle of BLE advertisement packets for each of the first AP device (1301), the second AP device (1302) [0157]).
Claim 14. The method of claim 9, Lee et al. disclose,
further comprising:
transmitting the first device information to the counterpart electronic device based on at least a change in the first device information (read as the first AP device can set the BLE advertisement packet transmission cycle by taking into account the power consumption of the first AP device and the second AP device [0034]); and
receiving the second device information from the counterpart electronic device (read as If the BLE advertisement packet transmission cycle is set to a short value, the power consumed by the AP device for transmitting BLE advertisement packets may increase [0034]. The power consumed by the AP changes and the related information needs to be updated.).
Claim 15. The method of claim 9, Lee et al. disclose,
wherein the first timing offset is set so as to make a first time interval between the first broadcast time point and the second broadcast time point immediately before the first broadcast time point equal to a second time interval between the first broadcast time point and the second broadcast time point immediately after the first broadcast time point (read as if the first AP device determines that the first BLE advertisement packet is transmitted before the second BLE advertisement packet, the first AP device may first determine the transmission timing of the first BLE advertisement packet within a prior set transmission cycle [0054]. FIG.8, advertisement packet with timing offset).
Claim 16. The method of claim 9, Lee et al. disclose,
further comprising:
identifying transmission intensity of the first advertisement packet based on a charged amount of a battery of the electronic device included in the first device information (read as calculating a throughput of each of the plurality of AP devices based on information about each of the plurality of AP devices [0026]. The throughput is related to power consumption.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to PTO-892.
Additional prior art include in PTO-892 disclose ideas related to coordinating transmitting advertisement packets among devices. In this regard, Viswanadham (US 9179254 B1) disclose advertisement packets from multiple devices. Also Zhang et al. (US 2013/0301420 A1) disclose the idea of synchronizing transmission of multiple advertisement packets. In addition, Agarwal et al. (US 2020/0037157 A1) disclose the idea of two devices synchronizing Bluetooth communication between them.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED RACHEDINE whose telephone number is (571)272-9249. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette J. Parker can be reached at (571)270-3647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MOHAMMED . RACHEDINE
Examiner
Art Unit 2649
/MOHAMMED RACHEDINE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646