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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6, Claim Objections, filed 05/06/2026, with respect to Claim 15 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of Claim 15 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-9, Claim Rejections, filed 05/06/2026, with respect to Claims 1, 4-5, 9-16, 18-19 and 21-23 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of Claims 1, 4-5, 9-16, 18-19 and 21-23 has been withdrawn. However, upon further review, examiner is making a new ground of rejection. This action in non-final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-5, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4, recites wherein the control circuitry is configured to: permit, when the control circuitry determines that the mobile device is in the location other than the quiet zone, the speaker to emit the audible sounds renders the claim indefinite because claim 1 last limitation recites inhibit, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in therefore it is unclear if the circuitry is inhibiting the mobile device speaker from making emitting audible sounds or permitting the mobile when the mobile device when located at the silent area.
Claim 5, recites wherein the control circuitry is configured to: permit, when the control circuitry determines that the mobile device is in a location other than the silent area, the speaker to emit the audible sounds renders the claim indefinite because claim 1 last limitation recites inhibit, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in the quiet zone therefore it is unclear if the circuitry is inhibiting the mobile device speaker from making emitting audible sounds or permitting the mobile when the mobile device when located at the quiet area.
Regarding Claim 18, which is similar in scope to claim 4, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-8, and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALMURAYH (US-20170134564-A1) in view of Cook (US-20110053572-A1) in further view of McClelland (US-20050170849-A1).
Regarding Claim 1, ALMURAYH discloses a mobile device comprising:
a transceiver configured to: wirelessly receive a short-range signal (paragraph [0021], Fig.1, "The smart mobile device in the quiet zone 105, such as a silent device 120…The smart mobile device can receive a signal from the quiet zone transceivers 110 when the smart mobile device moves into the quiet zone 105." and paragraph [0034], Fig.4:452, “The radio-based positioning system can receive signals, via the communication circuitry 452, from different base stations in a wireless network, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) or a wireless cellular network.” and paragraph [0059], "The wireless network can also be WiFi, Bluetooth, or any other wireless form of communication that is known. The quiet zone transceiver 110 can communicate to one or more remote computers, such as a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node." (i.e., The transceiver 110 can communicate with mobile devices such as WiFi, Bluetooth.));
memory (Fig.4:453, memory, paragraph [0047]) configured to:
store application settings comprising silent area information that identifies a geographic location (par.24, classroom) where a silent area (Fig.1:105, quiet zone) is established (paragraph [0021], “It should also be appreciated that the quiet zone 105 can be a plurality of quiet zones 105,” and paragraph [0023], Fig.1:105, "The remote device 305 can be the smart mobile device containing a downloaded smart phone application and/or an embedded system" and paragraph [0024], "In an exemplary embodiment, the quiet zone 105 can be a classroom, for example. The quiet zone 105 can include one or more quiet zone transceivers 110. One of the smart mobile devices moved into the quiet zone 105 can be the remote device 305." and paragraph [0025], "The remote device 305 can be a smart mobile device of a user wishing to create a quiet zone with a predetermined perimeter, thereby acting as a quiet zone transceiver 110, as shown in FIG. 3. Additionally, the remote device 305 can be an independent quiet zone transceiver 110," (i.e., The remote device 305 is one of the smart mobile devices 120, and it has an application to store settings on silent area.)),
and quiet zone information that identifies a geographic location where a quiet zone (par.21, quiet zone) is established (paragraph [0021], “It should also be appreciated that the quiet zone 105 can be a plurality of quiet zones 105, and each quiet zone 105 can be any predetermined area with any predetermined perimeter such that the one or more quiet zone transceivers 110 can provide suitable signal coverage throughout the quiet zone 105 as the quiet zone transceivers 110 are responsible for automatically changing the alert setting of the loud device 115 to the silent device 120 when the loud device 115 moves in the quiet zone 105.” (i.e., Examiner pointes to applicant specification paragraph 24, and 27 wherein discloses the quiet zone and the silent area are essentially the same thing as they both put the user device into silent when entering the zone, and the only distinguished feature of between them is the coverage area wherein the silent area is smaller than a quiet zone, however, ALMURAYH discloses the plurality of quiet zone can be different coverage sizes as disclosed in par.21.));
control circuitry (Fig.4:451, processor, paragraph [0047]).
However, ALMURAYH does not explicitly or not relied upon disclose a position sensor configured to: wirelessly receive a navigation signal; a speaker configured to emit audible sounds; and process, when the position sensor receives the navigation signal, the quiet zone information and the navigation signal to determine whether or not the mobile device is in the quiet zone; and process, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in a location other than the quiet zone, the silent area information and the short-range signal to determine whether or not the mobile device is in the silent area; and inhibit, in response to determination that the mobile device is in the quiet zone or the silent area, the speaker from emitting audible sounds.
Cook discloses a position sensor configured to: wirelessly receive a navigation signal (paragraph [0029], "Referring to FIG. 2, disclosed is a functional block diagram of a typical cell phone 102 as depicted in FIG. 1." and paragraph [0036], Fig.2:236, "In one embodiment, a navigation module 236 is coupled to the processor 220. The navigation module comprises a variety of components configured to enable the cell phone 102 to determine and to display its present geographical location by communicating with a one or more location determination networks, such as, for example, a global navigation satellite system like the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS)." (i.e., communicating with GPS.));
memory configured to: store application settings comprising quiet zone information (par.42, a plurality of quiet mode conditions for various…location) that identifies a geographic location where a quiet zone (par.38, quiet location or quiet zone) is established (paragraph [0035], Fig.2:234 "A quiet mode controller 234 is also coupled to the processor 220. The quiet mode controller 234 provides the functional capability to allow a user to designate specific dates and times as "quiet times." When so designated, the quiet mode controller 234 will automatically change the notification mode of operation of the cell phone 102 to a quiet mode of operation. The quiet mode controller 234 also provides the functional capability for the user to define or customize the actions the cell phone 102 will automatically take when the cell phone 102 enters into a "quiet mode" of operation." and paragraph [0038], "…the quiet mode controller 234 provides the functional capability to allow a physical location to identify itself as a "quiet location" or a "quiet zone."" and (Cook, paragraph [0042], “the quiet mode controller 234 may be configured to identify a plurality of quiet mode conditions to permit the user to quickly set the desired conditions for various scheduled or location based events the user might encounter…” (i.e., The mobile device has a controller to store settings and obtains signal such as GPS to determine the location is a quiet zone. Examiner reading “quiet zone” is the same as “silent area” as disclosed in applicant specification par.24 and 27, and the difference is quiet zone is determined by navigation signal, and silent area is determined by short-range signals.));
and control circuitry configured to: process, when the position sensor receives the navigation signal, the quiet zone information and the navigation signal to determine whether or not the mobile device is in the quiet zone (paragraph [0038], “When the cell phone 102 receives the quiet zone notification, the quiet mode controller 234 automatically changes the notification mode of operation of the cell phone 102 to a quiet mode of operation.” and paragraph [0048], Fig.3, "The cell phone will then receive notification, or alternatively, determine based on its geographical coordinates, that it is located in the quiet zone location 302 directly by the signal the cell phone 102 receives from global navigation satellite system 308 as an additional piece of information that is transmitted to the cell phone 102 when the cell phone enters or exits a quiet zone location 302." and paragraph [0050], Fig.3, " the proprietor of the quiet zone location 302 registers the quiet zone location 302 with the operator of the global navigation satellite system 308, whereby notice that the cell phone 102 has entered into the quiet zone location 302 is provided to the cell phone 102 from the global navigation satellite system 308." (i.e., the user devices communicate with the global navigation satellite system 308 to process whether or not the cell phone 102 is in the quiet zone and its process since it would change the notification mode.)).
ALMURAYH and Cook are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified ALMURAYH to implement GPS as it provides flexibility to quiet mode in any location based on the geographical location received from a GPS (Cook, paragraph [0042], “the quiet mode controller 234 may be configured to identify a plurality of quiet mode conditions to permit the user to quickly set the desired conditions for various scheduled or location based events the user might encounter. For example, the quiet mode controller 234 may be configured to recognize an airplane quiet mode profile, a meeting quiet mode profile, a night time quiet mode profile, a concert quiet mode profile, a religious services quiet mode, a hospital quiet mode profile, a moving car quiet mode profile, etc. Each profile may be custom tailored by the user of the cell phone 102 to take the appropriate action based on the circumstances.”).
However, ALMURAYH in view of Cook do not explicitly disclose or was not relied upon process, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in a location other than the quiet zone, the silent area information and the short-range signal to determine whether or not the mobile device is in the silent area; and inhibit, in response to determination that the mobile device is in the quiet zone or the silent area, the speaker from emitting audible sounds.
McClelland discloses process, when the control circuitry determines in response to a determination that the mobile device is in a location other than the quiet zone, the silent area information and the short-range signal to determine whether or not the mobile device is in the silent area (paragraph [0019], Fig.1, "As the person moves from one location to another, the portable device 140 can enter and exit different silent zones. For example, the portable device 140 can enter a first silent zone 114, exit the first silent zone, enter a second silent zone 118 and exit the second silent zone 118. The portable device 140 has an audible alarm (e.g., a ring tone) that is disabled or enabled by the silent zone signal 130 as the device 140 enters and exits, respectively, the silent zones." (i.e., ALMURAYH discloses a plurality of quiet zones and these zones can be either be the quiet zone or the silent area since the only distinction is between them is the coverage area. McClelland disclose when the user is a location other than the quiet zone or to put into another words “a second silent zone” then the portable device portable device changes the ring tone to back to silent. Examiner pointes to applicant specification paragraph 27 wherein discloses the "silent area" and "quiet zone" and with broadest reasonable interpretation the zone or area are functionally the same thing.));
and inhibit, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in the quiet zone or the silent area, the speaker from emitting audible sounds (paragraph [0019], Fig.1, "The portable device 140 has an audible alarm (e.g., a ring tone) that is disabled or enabled by the silent zone signal 130 as the device 140 enters and exits, respectively, the silent zones." (i.e., prohibit the UE when entering the plurality of zones which can either be silent zone or quiet zone.)).
ALMURAYH in view of Cook and McClelland are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified ALMURAYH to implement the system of McClelland as McClelland describes of reducing costs, part count, and size requirement by combining various components to perform the functionality of putting the portable device to silent (McClelland, paragraph [0051], “It is noted that various components can be combined or integrated into a single component to reduce costs, part count, and size requirements. For example, when the silent signal is transmitted at a frequency that is close to the frequency of normal cellular telephone transmissions, a single antenna and analog front end may be employed. Similarly, the silent zone format converter and the cellular telephone format converter the may be combined into a single functional unit or component.”).
Regarding Claim 4, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland discloses all the limitations as claim [[3]]1.
ALMURAYH further discloses wherein the control circuitry is configured to: permit, when the control circuitry determines that the mobile device is in the location other than the quiet zone, the speaker to emit the audible sounds (paragraph [0075], Fig.8:S825, "If it is determined that the smart mobile device has not been moved into the quiet zone 105, then it can be determined in S825 if the current alert setting of the mobile device is the same as the initial alert setting." and paragraph [0076], Fig.8:S825, "If, in S825, it is determined that the current alert setting is the same as the initial alert setting stored in S805, the process can end. However, if the current alert setting is determined to be different than the initial alert setting stored in S805, then the initial alert setting can be restored in S830." and paragraph [0077], "the current alert setting is the silent alert setting, and the silent alert setting can be changed to the initial alert setting stored in S805 (the loud alert setting) when the smart mobile device is moved out of the quiet zone 105." (i.e., Examiner points to Fig.8 wherein the user is not located in the quiet zone S810 to S825 the user device alert setting is kept on the user preference such as letting the speaker to emit sounds.)).
Regarding Claim 5, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland discloses all the limitations as claim [[3]]1.
Cook further discloses permit, when the control circuitry determines that the mobile device is in a location other than the silent area, the speaker to emit the audible sounds (paragraph [0035], “When so designated, the quiet mode controller 234 will automatically change the notification mode of operation of the cell phone 102 to a quiet mode of operation… For example, the user may desire to have the cell phone completely silenced while operating in quiet mode.” and paragraph [0044], “…the quiet mode controller 234 will automatically configure the cell phone 102 to operate in the quiet mode (upon entering the quiet zone) or to operate in normal mode (upon exiting the quiet zone).” (i.e., Examiner reading par.44 normal mode allows the user device to notification sounds e.g., audible sounds.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 16, which is similar in scope to claim 1, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 18, which is similar in scope to claim 4, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 19, which is similar in scope to claim 1, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Westerinen discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium (paragraph [0059], “The circuitry includes control circuitry 412 that can include one or more microprocessors, and storage or memory 410 (e.g., non-volatile memory such as ROM and volatile memory such as RAM) which stores processor-readable code which is executed by one or more processors of the control circuitry 412 to implement the functionality described herein.”).
Claim(s) 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALMURAYH (US-20170134564-A1) in view of Cook (US-20110053572-A1) in view of McClelland (US-20050170849-A1) in further view of Westerinen (US-20100317371-A1).
Regarding Claim 9, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland discloses all the limitations as claim 1.
However, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland do not disclose wherein the control circuitry is configured to: compare, when processing the quiet zone information and the navigation signal, the quiet zone information with position information that identifies a geographic position of the mobile device.
Westerinen discloses wherein the control circuitry is configured to: compare, when processing the quiet zone information (par.98, location are looked up) and the navigation signal (par.98, GPS), the quiet zone information with position information that identifies a geographic position of the mobile device (paragraph [0082], “the ringer can be automatically silenced several minutes before the meeting start time.” and paragraph [0098], Fig.11, “For GPS and GSM applications, the signal may include identifying information of the satellite or antenna and its location, in addition to timing information. If an EM signal is sensed at decision step 1104, an identifier is obtained and/or a location is determined from the sensed signal…At step 1120, user interface (UI) settings based on location are looked up, and at step 1122, the UI settings are automatically implemented.” (i.e., the UE receives the signal from the GPS obtains position information and compares with quiet zone information or in this case UI settings of the location.)).
ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland and Westerinen are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified ALMURAYH to implement the method of Westerinen as that would enable the user device to adjust any UI setting depending on the location and the settings can be automatically adjusted based on the user habit thus makes it convenient for the user (Westerinen, paragraph [0035], “After learning the user's habits, the mobile device can automatically modify its settings based on a user profile, time of day, and location, for instance. This allows the mobile device to automatically change its behavior throughout the day at different locations, without user intervention.” and paragraph [0110], Fig.14d, “FIG. 14d depicts a UI of a mobile device which informs a user of details of a current UI profile. The screen 1410 provides details of the "home" profile, including ring tone: personal, ringer on, vibrate off and forwarding off. The user may decide that one or more of the UI settings should be changed and can make such a change using appropriate UI menus.”).
Regarding Claim 10, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in view of McClelland in further view of Westerinen discloses all the limitations as claim 9.
Westerinen further discloses wherein the control circuitry is configured to: obtain, when the position sensor receives the navigation signal, the position information from the navigation signal (paragraph [0098], Fig.11, “For GPS and GSM applications, the signal may include identifying information of the satellite or antenna and its location, in addition to timing information. If an EM signal is sensed at decision step 1104, an identifier is obtained and/or a location is determined from the sensed signal…” (i.e., the UE obtains location from the EM signal from GPS.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 11, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in view of McClelland in further view of Westerinen discloses all the limitations as claim 9.
Westerinen further discloses wherein the control circuitry is configured to: determine, when the quiet zone information comprises the position information, that the mobile device is in the quiet zone (paragraph [0098], Fig.11, “If an EM signal is sensed at decision step 1104, an identifier is obtained and/or a location is determined from the sensed signal…At step 1120, user interface (UI) settings based on location are looked up, and at step 1122, the UI settings are automatically implemented.” (i.e., The quiet zone information is a list of location with UI settings and when the location matches with the one that is calculated from the EM signal then it would apply the UI settings and in combination with ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland that setting could be muting notification because it’s a quiet zone.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 12, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland discloses all the limitations as claim 1.
However, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland do not explicitly disclose wherein the control circuitry is configured to: compare, when processing the silent area information and the short-range signal, the silent area information with an identifier that uniquely identifies the short-range signal.
Westerinen discloses wherein the control circuitry is configured to: compare, when processing the silent area information and the short-range signal, the silent area information (par.98, location are looked up) with an identifier (par.98, SSID) that uniquely identifies the short-range signal (paragraph [0091], “For example, Wi-Fi signal identifier can be an SSID, in one possible implementation.” and paragraph [0098], Fig.11, "If a signal is present, the signal can be decoded to obtain identifying information such as an SSID…If an EM signal is sensed at decision step 1104, an identifier is obtained and/or a location is determined from the sensed signal…At step 1120, user interface (UI) settings based on location are looked up, and at step 1122, the UI settings are automatically implemented." and paragraph [0003], "For example, when the user visits the coffee shop a subsequent time, the mobile device can automatically configure itself with the ringer in the silent mode." (i.e., User device is receiving a signal and decoding the signal to determine the location is associated particular signal and causing the UE to change user setting such as silencing the user device.)).
ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland and Westerinen are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified ALMURAYH to implement the method of Westerinen as that would enable the user device to adjust any UI setting depending on the location and the settings can be automatically adjusted based on the user habit thus makes it convenient for the user (Westerinen, paragraph [0035], “After learning the user's habits, the mobile device can automatically modify its settings based on a user profile, time of day, and location, for instance. This allows the mobile device to automatically change its behavior throughout the day at different locations, without user intervention.” and paragraph [0110], Fig.14d, “FIG. 14d depicts a UI of a mobile device which informs a user of details of a current UI profile. The screen 1410 provides details of the "home" profile, including ring tone: personal, ringer on, vibrate off and forwarding off. The user may decide that one or more of the UI settings should be changed and can make such a change using appropriate UI menus.”).
Regarding Claim 13, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in view of McClelland in further view of Westerinen discloses all the limitations as claim 12.
Westerinen further discloses wherein the control circuitry is configured to: extract, when the transceiver receives the short-range signal, the identifier from the short-range signal (paragraph [0091], “For example, when a POS terminal at a retail store communicates an IRDA signal, the signal will include an identifier of the retail store, such as "Sears, store #100, Chicago, Ill." An RF beacon is a surveyed device and will similarly include an identifier which is cross referenced to a location in a database by an administrator who configures the beacon and assigns the location. An example database entry is: Beacon_ID=12345, location=office conference room.” and paragraph [0098], Fig.11, "If a signal is present, the signal can be decoded to obtain identifying information such as an SSID…If an EM signal is sensed at decision step 1104, an identifier is obtained and/or a location is determined from the sensed signal…At step 1120, user interface (UI) settings based on location are looked up, and at step 1122, the UI settings are automatically implemented." (i.e., The UE extracts the SSID from the transceiver.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 14, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in view of McClelland in further view of Westerinen discloses all the limitations as claim 12.
Westerinen further discloses wherein the control circuitry is configured to: determine, when the silent area information comprises the identifier, that the mobile device is in the silent area (paragraph [0091], “For example, when a POS terminal at a retail store communicates an IRDA signal, the signal will include an identifier of the retail store, such as "Sears, store #100, Chicago, Ill." An RF beacon is a surveyed device and will similarly include an identifier which is cross referenced to a location in a database by an administrator who configures the beacon and assigns the location. An example database entry is: Beacon_ID=12345, location=office conference room.” and paragraph [0098], Fig.11, "At decision step 1106, location-identifying information is obtained from the sensed signal…At step 1120, user interface (UI) settings based on location are looked up, and at step 1122, the UI settings are automatically implemented." (i.e., In combination with ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland in further view of McClelland discloses the user device to silent the mobile terminal when the identifier of the signal matches the location such as the silent area information.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 15, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in view of McClelland in further view of Westerinen discloses all the limitations as claim 12.
However, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland do not explicitly disclose further comprising: a graphical interface to receive, manually from a user of the mobile device, the application settings.
Westerinen further discloses further comprising: a graphical user interface to receive, manually from a user of the mobile device, the application settings (paragraph [0109], Fig.14c, "FIG. 14c depicts a UI of a mobile device which informs a user of a current UI profile. As mentioned, it can be helpful to inform the user which location is currently sensed to serve as a confirmation to the user that appropriate UI settings are being automatically implemented based on the location, to allow the user to override the automatic UI settings, or to manually correct the label." and paragraph [0110], Fig.14d, "FIG. 14d depicts a UI of a mobile device which informs a user of details of a current UI profile. The screen 1410 provides details of the "home" profile, including ring tone: personal, ringer on, vibrate off and forwarding off. The user may decide that one or more of the UI settings should be changed and can make such a change using appropriate UI menus." (i.e., A UI that the user can change the application settings.)).
ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland and Westerinen are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified ALMURAYH to implement the GUI as that would enable the user device to adjust any UI setting depending on the location and the settings can be automatically adjusted based on the user habit thus makes it convenient for the user (Westerinen, paragraph [0035], “After learning the user's habits, the mobile device can automatically modify its settings based on a user profile, time of day, and location, for instance. This allows the mobile device to automatically change its behavior throughout the day at different locations, without user intervention.” and paragraph [0110], Fig.14d, “FIG. 14d depicts a UI of a mobile device which informs a user of details of a current UI profile. The screen 1410 provides details of the "home" profile, including ring tone: personal, ringer on, vibrate off and forwarding off. The user may decide that one or more of the UI settings should be changed and can make such a change using appropriate UI menus.”).
Claim(s) 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALMURAYH (US-20170134564-A1) in view of Cook (US-20110053572-A1) in further view of McClelland (US-20050170849-A1) in further view of QUAN (CN-105847567-A).
Regarding Claim 21, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland discloses all the limitations as claim 1.
ALMURAYH discloses wherein the control circuitry is further configured to permit, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in the quiet zone or the silent area, the speaker to emit audible sounds (paragraph [0084], Fig.9, “In S910, the smart mobile device can transmit information to the remote device 305. The information can include user data 412 such as the name, phone number, MAC address, location, and the like associated with the smart mobile device attempting to override the silent alert setting. For example, the smart mobile device can attempt to override the silent alert setting if the user of the smart mobile device is expecting an important/emergency communication.” (i.e., ALMURAYH discloses the user device can allow to emit noise for an emergency even if the user device is located in the silent area or the quiet zone.)).
However, ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland do not explicitly disclose or was not relied upon wherein the memory is further configured to store a call frequency setting that identifies a number of times the mobile device can receive a call from a predetermined telephone number in the quiet zone or the silent area, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to permit, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in the quiet zone or the silent area and the call frequency setting is met for the predetermined telephone number, the speaker to emit audible sounds.
QUAN discloses wherein the memory is further configured to store a call frequency setting that identifies a number of times the mobile device can receive a call from a predetermined telephone number in the quiet zone or the silent area (page 4, paragraph 8, Fig.1, “S12. times of a certain incoming telephone number record in preset time is not connected.” and page 4, paragraph 10 “S21. judging whether is not the switched on time exceeds the preset time threshold. if so, entering step S22, if not, repeating step S21. Specifically, the predetermined time threshold can be set according to the need of the user, for example, can be set to be 3 times. if in preset time (e.g. 10 minutes), the same call-in phone number under the condition of not connected can be repeatedly dialling the preset number threshold value, the telephone incoming call wants to communicate with user party is very urgent.” And page 4, paragraph 11, “S22. inquiring important telephone of the calling telephone number belongs to the preset telephone number included in…” (i.e., QUAN discloses of determining the number of times the same call-in phone number tried to call the user, and its being store as there is a preset time and preset threshold that is being counted in order to go through performed the method disclosed in QUAN. ALMURAYH discloses of a call being received in the silent or quiet zone.)),
and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to permit, in response to a determination that the mobile device is in the quiet zone or the silent area and the call frequency setting is met for the predetermined telephone number, the speaker to emit audible sounds (page 4, paragraph 10, Fig.1, “S21. judging whether is not the switched on time exceeds the preset time threshold. if so, entering step S22, if not, repeating step S21. Specifically, the predetermined time threshold can be set according to the need of the user, for example, can be set to be 3 times. if in preset time (e.g. 10 minutes),” and page 4, paragraph 12, “S3. the incoming call prompt from the silent or vibration mode to ring mode.” and page 4, paragraph 13, “incoming call prompting method in this embodiment, the silent or vibration mode recording a certain incoming telephone number in preset time is not switched on times, if not switched on time exceeds the preset time threshold. further inquires whether the incoming telephone number included in important telephone group belongs to the pre-set telephone number, if it belongs to, the calling prompt of silent or vibration mode to the ringing mode prompting the user to answer the call,” (i.e., when the preset number of calls is met the user device is switched from silent to ring mode.)).
ALMURAYH in view of Cook in further view of McClelland and QUAN are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified ALMURAYH to implement the system of QUAN as it would allow the user to be notified of an important call such as an emergency situation when the user phone is in silence mode but only for important calls while mainting silent mode for other types of calls thus enabling flexibility (QUAN, page 3, paragraph 8, “certain incoming telephone number record in preset time is not switched on times in the silent or vibration mode, if not switched on time exceeds the preset time threshold. further inquires whether the incoming telephone number included in important telephone group belongs to the pre-set telephone number, if it belongs to, the calling prompt of silent or vibration mode to the ringing mode prompting the user to answer the call, and in important telephone set comprises telephone number, even if the preset time is not accessing time exceeds the preset time threshold, it does not do any processing. ensuring the user is not any nuisance call interruption condition, also can effectively avoid important calls are missed.”).
Regarding Claim 22, which is similar in scope to claim 21, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 23, which is similar in scope to claim 21, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
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ERKIN S. ABDULLAEV
Examiner
Art Unit 2648
/ERKIN ABDULLAEV/Examiner, Art Unit 2648
/WESLEY L KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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