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 .
Introduction
The following is a non-final Office action in response to Applicant’s RCE submission filed on 2/27/2026. Currently claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-18, 20-23 are pending and claims 1, 8, 15 are independent. Claims 1, 8, 15 have been amended from the previous claim set dated 9/4/2025. Claims 21-23 have been added and claims 5, 12, 19 have been cancelled.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/27/2026 has been entered.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. IN202341048931, filed on 7/20/2023
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/27/2026 appears to be in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS is being considered by the Examiner.
Response to Amendments
Applicant’s amendments are acknowledged and necessitated the new grounds of rejection in this Office Action. In light of the amendments the 35 USC § 101 rejections have been withdrawn. Specifically, the inclusion of the limitation “the managed room control device is configured to…execute a device- type-specific remedial action…at least one of: placing a lighting device into a dimmed suspension mode…; and powering off or suspending a display device…” This limitation controls the functionality of devices within the meeting room and overcomes the 101 rejection within the Step 2A (Prong 1) analysis.
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 1-4, 6-11, 13-18, 20-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Covell et al. (US 20220138634 A1) in view of Aaron (US 20060101020 A1) further in view of Marianko et al. (US 20160180259 A1)
Regarding claims 1, 8, 15 (Amended), Covell discloses a system (Covell ¶3 - A system, computer program product, and method are provided for reserving one or more meeting rooms, and, more specifically, for reserving one or more meeting rooms based on a determination of meeting confidentiality levels), comprising: at least one computing device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory; and machine-readable instructions stored in the memory that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one computing device to at least: identify meeting data for a meeting invitation (Covell ¶34 - The method further includes the meeting room reservation system analyzing the group meeting invitation), the meeting data comprising: a set of participants, a time slot, and meeting location data (Covell ¶35 - Once the group meeting invitation is drafted and submitted to the meeting room reservation system, the system uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the content of the invitations. Specifically, the NLP features analyze at least, without limitation, keywords in the subject line, the text in the body of the invitation, the agenda, any attachments, and other invitation attributes); provide the meeting data as input to a machine learning engine of a meeting security service to output data comprising at least one security label selected from a plurality of predefined security labels (Covell ¶36 - In at least one embodiment, the meeting room reservation system includes cognitive learning features that incorporate one or more learning algorithms and learning models to determine the pattern of the users' behavior and to enable the meeting room reservation system to predict the users' future behaviors with respect to meeting room selection based on their previous behavior. Accordingly, the behaviors of the users are used to assign rooms with the appropriate level of security); generate, based at least in part on the output data from the machine learning engine of the meeting security service, a meeting security recommendation comprising the at least one security label for the meeting invitation (Covell ¶76 - Specifically, the meeting room reservation system 120 analyzes 310 the group meeting invitation 142 to determine the privacy level required for the group meeting. For example, highly confidential financial details of the enterprise will likely require the highest level of privacy, while routine group informational meetings will likely require a lower level of privacy); transmit, to a client device, the meeting security recommendation comprising the at least one security label for the meeting invitation; and implement a meeting security action identified based at least in part on security recommendation feedback received from the client device (Covell ¶81 - In at least some embodiments, the meeting room reservation system 120 analyzes the behavior of the invitation sender and the invitees for the issued group meeting invitations as feedback into the cognitive learning features of the system. For example, and without limitation, the cognitive learning features evaluate if the invitation sender accepted or rejected the meeting room selection, and if rejected, did the invitation sender select a more, or less, secure room).
Covell lacks a managed room control device and one or more meeting room devices controlled by the managed room control device are at the meeting location; at least one security label specifying a security profile for the managed room control device; implementing the meeting security action includes applying the security profile specified by the at least one security label to the managed room control device, wherein the managed room control device controls operations of the meeting room devices based on the security profile.
Aaron, from the same field of endeavor, teaches a managed room control device and one or more meeting room devices controlled by the managed room control device are at the meeting location (Aaron ¶18 - The system 100 further includes a security controller 120 that is operatively associated with the scheduler 110 and with a plurality of security devices associated with the conference room 10. These security devices may include, for example, an access control device, e.g., a keypad 12, and sensors located in the room 10, such as a motion detector 16); at least one security label specifying a security profile for the managed room control device; implementing the meeting security action includes applying the security profile specified by the at least one security label to the managed room control device, wherein the managed room control device controls operations of the meeting room devices based on the security profile (Aaron ¶21 - As shown in FIG. 4, security configurations can be selectively associated with shared resource reservations such that, for example, different levels of security may be provided depending on the nature of the meeting, the parties present, and the like. For example, referring to FIG. 4, a user request for a reservation of a shared resource may be accepted (block 410), and a reservation may be established responsive to the request (block 420). A security configuration may be associated with the reservation (block 430). For example, concurrent with and/or subsequent to making the reservation request, the user may make a request for a predetermined security profile, e.g., "low," "intermediate" or "high." The system may responsively associate the security profile with the reservation such that security devices, such as access control devices, sensors, and the like, are used in conformance with the predetermined profile).
It would be obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Applicant’s claimed invention to modify the meeting room management methodology/system of Covell by including the room scheduling techniques of Aaron because Aaron discloses “improved management of shared resources may be achieved by marrying a reservation-based scheduling system with security functions that are adaptive to the reservations created by the scheduling system (Aaron ¶16)”. Additionally, Covell further details “method for reserving one or more meeting rooms (Covell ABS)” so it would be obvious to consider including the additional room scheduling techniques that Aaron discloses because it would augment the system of Covell by including security considerations.
Covell further lacks the managed room control device is configured to monitor to detect a set of conditions in the meeting location based on the security profile and execute a device- type-specific remedial action on the one or more meeting room devices based on both the detected set of conditions and a device type of a corresponding one of the meeting room devices, wherein the device-type-specific remedial action comprises at least one of: placing a lighting device into a dimmed suspension mode when the device type of the meeting room device is the lighting device; and powering off or suspending a display device when the device type of the meeting room device is the display device.
Marianko, from the same field of endeavor, teaches the managed room control device is configured to monitor to detect a set of conditions in the meeting location based on the security profile and execute a device- type-specific remedial action on the one or more meeting room devices based on both the detected set of conditions and a device type of a corresponding one of the meeting room devices, wherein the device-type-specific remedial action comprises at least one of: placing a lighting device into a dimmed suspension mode when the device type of the meeting room device is the lighting device; and powering off or suspending a display device when the device type of the meeting room device is the display device (Marianko ¶339 - The software engines 20 also include a control engine 56. In general, the control engine 56 may be leveraged in association with one or more included software engines 20 and data available in data storage area 115 to send at least one command 175 to control the associated preset resources 135…The at least one command 175 may also include a command to display and power on/off or dim the lighting system device 71…The at least one command 175 includes a command to power on/off the video projector 16).
It would be obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Applicant’s claimed invention to modify the meeting room management methodology/system of Covell by including the room reservation techniques of Marianko because Marianko discloses “The user 170 is able to schedule a room globally and monitor, control, and report conference room resources. The present disclosure provides an efficient point-and-click interface and a simple “at-a-glance” view of the entire control system network. Delivering both real-time personal computer (PC) and web-based clients, the present disclosure allows facility managers, users, media directors and information technology (IT) specialists to have real-time control and cross-platform accessibility (Marianko ¶305)”. Additionally, Covell further details “method for reserving one or more meeting rooms (Covell ABS)” so it would be obvious to consider including the additional room reservation techniques that Marianko discloses because it would make the system of Covell more efficient enabling a system-wide view of all conference rooms.
Regarding claims 2, 9, 16, Covell in view of Aaron further in view of Marianko discloses the meeting invitation is associated with at least one of: an in-person meeting, and a network conferencing meeting (Covell ABS - Embodiments relate to a system, program product, and method for reserving one or more meeting rooms {i.e. in person}).
Regarding claims 3, 10, 17, Covell in view of Aaron further in view of Marianko discloses meeting data further comprises at least one of: a meeting topic, a user-selected security label, an attachment, and a network link (Covell ¶35 - Once the group meeting invitation is drafted and submitted to the meeting room reservation system, the system uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the content of the invitations. Specifically, the NLP features analyze at least, without limitation, keywords in the subject line, the text in the body of the invitation, the agenda, any attachments, and other invitation attributes).
Regarding claims 4, 11, 18, Covell in view of Aaron further in view of Marianko discloses the meeting security recommendation further comprises a modification to meeting data comprising at least one of: the set of participants, the time slot, and the meeting location data (Covell ¶40 - Furthermore, in at least some embodiments, the meeting room reservation system includes sufficient flexibility to change the scheduled room and notify the attendees if either of the list of attendees, the inventory of IoT devices in the scheduled room, or the subject matter of the meeting changes such that the calculated sensitivity levels change).
Regarding claims 6, 13, Covell in view of Aaron further in view of Marianko discloses the meeting security action comprises implementing the recommended meeting data modification (Covell ¶40 - Furthermore, in at least some embodiments, the meeting room reservation system includes sufficient flexibility to change the scheduled room and notify the attendees if either of the list of attendees, the inventory of IoT devices in the scheduled room, or the subject matter of the meeting changes such that the calculated sensitivity levels change).
Regarding claims 7, 14, 20, Covell in view of Aaron further in view of Marianko discloses the meeting security action comprises an action mapped to the at least one security label generated by the machine learning engine of the meeting security service (Covell ¶38 - The meeting room reservation system optimizes the meeting room selection based on the sensitivity level of the meeting and the current IoT privacy risk score associated with each meeting room, both determined as described herein. In at least some of the embodiments, the meeting room reservation system prioritizes the more sensitive meetings, i.e. most meetings with a high sensitivity level, and at least a portion of the medium sensitivity level and can re-assign rooms as necessary, i.e., change the meeting location of a less sensitive meeting assigned to an extremely secure room, when a more sensitive meeting for the extremely secure room is created).
Regarding claims 21, 22, 23 (New), Covell in view of Aaron further in view of Marianko discloses a system (Covell ¶3 - A system, computer program product, and method are provided for reserving one or more meeting rooms, and, more specifically, for reserving one or more meeting rooms based on a determination of meeting confidentiality levels).
Marianko further teaches the managed room control device executes a managed control application configured to enforce a security policy that specifies the remedial action to be performed in response to detecting the set of conditions occurring in the meeting location, and wherein the remedial action places at least one meeting room device into a suspension mode that is determined based on the device type associated with the meeting room device (Marianko ¶339 - The software engines 20 also include a control engine 56. In general, the control engine 56 may be leveraged in association with one or more included software engines 20 and data available in data storage area 115 to send at least one command 175 to control the associated preset resources 135…The at least one command 175 includes a command to power on/off the video projector 16).
It would be obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Applicant’s claimed invention to modify the meeting room management methodology/system of Covell by including the room reservation techniques of Marianko because Marianko discloses “The user 170 is able to schedule a room globally and monitor, control, and report conference room resources. The present disclosure provides an efficient point-and-click interface and a simple “at-a-glance” view of the entire control system network. Delivering both real-time personal computer (PC) and web-based clients, the present disclosure allows facility managers, users, media directors and information technology (IT) specialists to have real-time control and cross-platform accessibility (Marianko ¶305)”. Additionally, Covell further details “method for reserving one or more meeting rooms (Covell ABS)” so it would be obvious to consider including the additional room reservation techniques that Marianko discloses because it would make the system of Covell more efficient enabling a system-wide view of all conference rooms.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/27/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive and/or are moot in light of the new rejections addressed above.
Regarding the arguments related to the 35 USC § 101 rejections, as addressed above and in light of the amendments, the 35 USC § 101 rejections have been withdrawn. Specifically, the inclusion of the limitation “the managed room control device is configured to…execute a device- type-specific remedial action…at least one of: placing a lighting device into a dimmed suspension mode…; and powering off or suspending a display device…” This limitation controls the functionality of devices within the meeting room and overcomes the 101 rejection within the Step 2A (Prong 1) analysis.
Regarding the 35 USC § 103 rejections on the previous Office action, Applicant amended the independent claims to further limit the claims with respect to controlling the dimming of lights and powering off of devices. In light of this amendment, Examiner agrees that the previously cited reference did not clearly teach this, however the amendment necessitated further search and consideration. As a result of this further search and consideration, prior art was found that does teach these limitations (Marianko as discussed above). As such, Applicant’s arguments (with respect to the independent claims and their respective dependent claims) are unpersuasive.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael R Koester whose telephone number is (313)446-4837. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8:00AM-5:00 PM EST.
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/MICHAEL R KOESTER/Examiner, Art Unit 3624
/Jerry O'Connor/Supervisory Patent Examiner,Group Art Unit 3624