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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shukla et al. (US 10,924,343) in view of Tanaka et al. (US 2012/0237033).
Regarding claim 1, Shukla et al. disclose a method for connecting a plurality of devices for a wireless mesh communication network (Figure 2 and column 10 lines 58-65, mesh network 200 may include a set of mesh network nodes including communication devices that implement the functions of wireless mesh point stations (MP STA) 210A-210C, mesh access points (MAP) 220A-220F, and mesh portals (MPP) 230A-230K. In one embodiment, the wireless mesh network 200 may be compliant with IEEE802.11s protocol), the method comprising:
configuring a first device to become a leader device for the wireless mesh communication network (Column 3 lines 15-19, when a mesh network is first initiated (e.g., launched, started-up, etc.) one mesh node [first device] may be designated as a master mesh node [leader device] for a given communication channel by default (e.g., the first mesh node that boots up)), wherein the leader device manages the plurality of devices and the wireless mesh communication network (Column 2 lines 47-50, the master mesh node(s) can schedule coordinated and predefined actions on the other mesh nodes that are following the same master; Column 11 lines 65-67, that master mesh node can coordinate all channel change operations (or other actions) for the corresponding communication channel; Column 13, lines 3-4, Master node 306 manages communication channel 352 between mesh nodes 306 and 308);
configuring, at the first device, a second device to become a first node device by an onboarding process, wherein the second device becomes the first node device within the wireless mesh communication network of the leader device (Column 3 lines 19-22, As other mesh nodes [includes second device] are added to the network, those mesh nodes may receive beacons broadcast periodically by the current master mesh node for the shared communication channel ; Column 11 lines 23-30, Upon booting up, a network device may discover and join a mesh network operating in accordance the embodiments of the present disclosure (e.g., mesh network 100 of FIG. 1). Discovering available mesh networks may be performed by passive or active scanning. In the passive scanning mode, the network device records the information from any beacon frames that have been received on one or more radio channels. Beacon frames are periodically transmitted); and
sending and receiving data, at the first device, to and from the second device (Column 3 line 4 – Column 4 line 6, sending and receiving between master mesh node and dependent mesh nodes).
Shukla et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Tanaka et al.: creating, at the first device, a secure digital key for the second device to wirelessly communicate with the second device (Tanaka et al., Paragraphs 35-36, The parent node 101 is a node of the N-th class in the system 10. The parent node 101 connects a node 1040 in the network 103. The parent node 101G receives data (addressed to a child node 102) from the node 104C, and transfers the data to the child node 102. The child node 102 performs sending/receiving of data with the parent node 101. The child node 102 is a node of the lowest class (the (N+1)-th class) in the system 10; Figure 10 and paragraph 94, the parent node 3101 generates a parent-child key B (S1004); Paragraph 95, root node 310 encrypts the parent-child key B using a root key A, and sends an encrypted parent-child key B to the child node 3102 (S1006); Figure 18 and paragraph 129, the parent node 5101 generates a parent-child key B (S1806). Then, the parent node 5101 encrypts the parent-child key B using the public key F, and notifies an encrypted parent-child key b to the child node 5102 (S1807). When the child node 5102 receives the encrypted parent-child key B, the child node 5102 decrypts the encrypted parent-child key B using the secret key G, and acquires the parent-child key B).
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 Shukla et al. with the cited disclosure from Tanaka et al. in order to perform secure, encrypted communication in the wireless mesh network (Tanaka et al., Paragraph 39).
Regarding claim 7, Shukla et al. disclose configuring, at the first device, a third device to become a second node device by the onboarding process, wherein the third device becomes the second node device within the wireless mesh communication network of the leader device (Column 3 lines 19-22, As other mesh nodes [includes third device] are added to the network, those mesh nodes may receive beacons broadcast periodically by the current master mesh node for the shared communication channel ; Column 11 lines 23-30, Upon booting up, a network device may discover and join a mesh network operating in accordance the embodiments of the present disclosure (e.g., mesh network 100 of FIG. 1). Discovering available mesh networks may be performed by passive or active scanning. In the passive scanning mode, the network device records the information from any beacon frames that have been received on one or more radio channels. Beacon frames are periodically transmitted).
Regarding claim 8, Shukla et la. disclose wherein the first device wirelessly communicates with each of the second device and the third device within the wireless mesh communication network of the leader device (Column 3 line 4 – Column 4 line 6, sending and receiving between master mesh node and dependent mesh nodes; Figure 2 and column 10 lines 58-65, mesh network 200 may include a set of mesh network nodes including communication devices that implement the functions of wireless mesh point stations (MP STA) 210A-210C, mesh access points (MAP) 220A-220F, and mesh portals (MPP) 230A-230K. In one embodiment, the wireless mesh network 200 may be compliant with IEEE802.11s protocol),
wherein the second device and the third device wirelessly communicate with each other (Column 3 lines 15-56, Peer mesh nodes in the mesh network are direct neighboring mesh nodes that have no intervening mesh nodes between them and, thus, are only one hop away from each other), and
wherein the first device wirelessly communicates with the second device, either directly or through the third device (Column 3 line 4 – Column 4 line 6, sending and receiving between master mesh node and dependent mesh nodes; Figures 4A, 4B), and
wherein the first device wirelessly communicates with the third device, either directly or through the second device (Column 3 line 4 – Column 4 line 6, sending and receiving between master mesh node and dependent mesh nodes; Figures 4A, 4B).
Claim(s) 2 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Patil et al. (US 2013/0136033).
Regarding claim 2, Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Patil et al.: turning on a switch on the first device for a first preset duration to configure the first device to become the leader device (Patil et al., Paragraph 20, in order to create a mesh network, a button [switch] (e.g. a physical button or a logical button displayed on a display screen) of a first (mesh-enabled) wireless device is actuated for at least a first predetermined duration (e.g., a "long press" of the button for three or more seconds, for five or more seconds, for twenty or more seconds, etc.); Paragraph 22, This particular actuation of the mesh networking button causes the wireless device to create a new mesh network using the pass-phrase. According to one embodiment of the invention, the Network ID is derived from one of the user defined parameters during initial setup of the device (e.g., the pass-phrase). For instance, the Network ID may be derived from the pass-phrase along with certain information from a media access control (MAC) address of the wireless device (e.g., a plurality of bits from the source MAC address such as the last four bits). After creation of the new mesh network, the wireless device runs a mesh/IP protocol to obtain an Internet Protocol (IP) address for itself).
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 the system of Shukla et al. and Tanaka et al. with the cited disclosure from Patil et al. in order to one-click connect/disconnect for devices in a mesh network (Patil et al., Title).
Regarding claim 3, Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not specifically disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Patil et al.: wherein the onboarding process comprises turning on the switch on the first device for a second preset duration to turn on the data communication channel of the first device, and placing the second device in a close proximity to the first device to configure the second device to become the first node device within the wireless mesh communication network of the leader device (Patil et al., Paragraph 23, in order to join an existing mesh network, the mesh networking button for the first (mesh-enabled) wireless device is actuated for a second predetermined duration (e.g., a "short press" of less than three seconds, less than five seconds, etc.). The short press of the mesh networking button may cause the first wireless device to perform a network discovery protocol in efforts to locate any mesh networks that are within its signaling vicinity [close proximity]…In particular, the first wireless device [second device] seeking to join the mesh network starts a process by broadcasting a request message, which that may be responded to by a second wireless device [first device] being part of an existing mesh network and has its mesh networking button [switch] actuated).
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 the system of Shukla et al. and Tanaka et al. with the cited disclosure from Patil et al. in order to one-click connect/disconnect for devices in a mesh network (Patil et al., Title).
Claim(s) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chen et al. (US 2016/0286629).
Regarding claim 4, Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Rajan et al.: wherein the first device has an internet connection (Chen et al., Paragraph 119, The, light units 206-N may be part of a single mesh network and the network may communicate with a CMS via the master light unit 206. The selection of which light units 206-N are adapted to be the slaves and which is adapted to be the master may be done according to various criteria, including optimal location for the master light unit 206 cell or satellite communication with the internet, and/or proximity to support and maintenance structure, for example).
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 the system of Shukla et al. and Tanaka et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen et al. in order to provide communication between a mesh and a central management system (Chen et al., Paragraphs 119-120).
Regarding claim 5, Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. disclose the claimed invention above but do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Chen et al.: wherein the first device and the second device are sensor devices (Chen et al., Paragraph 119, light units 206, light units 206-N may be part of a single mesh network and the network may communicate with a CMS via the master light unit 206. The selection of which light units 206-N are adapted to be the slaves and which is adapted to be the master; Paragraph 76, one or more of the light units 206-x may include sensors 226. Sensors 226 may be any sensor as further described herein, such as an infrared (IR)/air (ambient) temperature, light, motion/traffic sensors, etc).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention the system of Shukla et al. and Tanaka et al. with the cited disclosure from Chen et al. in order to collect time sensitive data related to various conditions associated with a given area that would impact advertising performance (Chen et al., Paragraph 12).
Regarding claim 6, Chen et al. disclose wherein each of the sensor devices is an environment condition monitoring device (Paragraph 12, The present invention makes use of the OLNs in and around cities and buildings to collect very precise traffic information. Furthermore, via sensors, it is possible to monitor the flow of people, and even distinguish the type of traffic (cars, bikes, pedestrians . . . ) as well as to measure environmental conditions, such as pollution, noise, or temperature).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Bodurka et al. (US 2020/0082937).
Regarding claim 9, Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. disclose the claimed invention above as well as wherein, when the first device, the second device and the third device wirelessly communicates with each other (Shukla et al., Column 3 line 4 – Column 4 line 6, sending and receiving between master mesh node and dependent mesh nodes; Figures 4A, 4B), each of the first device, the second device and the third device finds and communicates with a device within the closest distance (Shukla et al., Figures 4A, 4B, Column 14 line 25 – Column 15 line 65, mesh nodes communicating with direct peers),
wherein, when the second device is located closer to the third device than the first device, the third device wirelessly communicates with the first device via the second device (Shukla et al., Figure 4A, dependent node 402 [third device] receives action message from master node 408 [first device] via dependent node 404 [second device]).
Shukla et al. in view of Tanaka et al. do not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Bodurka et al.: wherein, when the second device is not available, the third device wirelessly communicates with the first device directly (Bodurka et al. Paragraph 63, the mesh network of the invention includes both fully connected mesh networks in which all nodes are able to communicate directly with all other nodes [direct communication with all other nodes indicates communication without having to use an intermediate node regardless of whether the intermediate node is available or unavailable], as well as partially connected mesh networks in which some nodes are only able to communicate with other nodes via one or more intermediary nodes and/or some nodes are temporarily unable to communicate with other nodes).
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 the system of Shukla et al. and Tanaka et al. to implement both a fully connected mesh network that allows direction communication with all other nodes (Bodurka et al., Paragraph 63).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OTIS L THOMPSON, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1953. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 7:00pm.
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
September 24, 2025