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
This application is a Continuation of 17/499,207 filed on 10/12/2021, now US Patent 11,785,103, which is a Continuation of 16/915,180 filed on 06/29/2020, now US Patent 11,165,876, which is a Continuation of 16/195,547 filed on 11/19/2018, now US Patent 10,708,366, which is a Continuation of 15/820,369 filed on 11/21/2017 now US Patent 10,148,773, which is a Continuation of 15/274,158 filed on 09/23/2016 now US Patent 9,866,643, which has a Provisional of 62/232,347 filed on 09/24/2015.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially createddoctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent theunjustified or improper timewise extension of the "right to exclude" granted by a patentand to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutoryobviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claimsare not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinctfrom the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipatedby, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir.1985); In re Van Omum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d)may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutorydouble patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown tobe commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result ofactivities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign aterminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, and 18 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory anticipation-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 5, 6, 8, 15, and 16 of U.S. Patent 9,866,643. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other. More specifically, the present application is a broader version of 9,866,643.
Please see the following table for the claim 14 analysis (and similarly applied to claims 1 and 7 (claim 1 of 9,866,643)):
18/452,840
9,866,643
Claim Interpretation
14. A method comprising:
receiving wireless connection information for wireless devices comprising beacons;
updating, based on the wireless connection information, one or more entries stored in a database;
receiving, via a first device of a user, one or more instructions to provide connection information to a second device; and
providing, based on the one or more instructions and the one or more entries, first wireless connection information for a first wireless beacon device to the second device.
15. A computer-implemented method for providing location services, comprising:
receiving beacon information from a beacon system through an application programming interface, the beacon information comprising connection information for a plurality of beacons;
updating a beacon entry stored in a database based on the received beacon information, the beacon entry including a beacon location, beacon connection information, and beacon metadata;
determining a confidence rating for the beacon entry based on at least one of attributes of the beacon entry or the beacon metadata;
receiving a beacon request from a user device through the application programming interface, the beacon request indicating a user location;
selecting a first beacon from the plurality of beacons based on the beacon entry, the beacon request, and confidence ratings of the beacons; and
providing selected beacon information to the user device for registering the first beacon with the user device, the selected beacon.
As can be seen with the side-by-side comparison, the present application is a broader version of 9,866,643. More specifically, there are minor word changes and the present application is missing the “determining step” and “selecting step”. It is further noted that the present application does not differentiate whether the “first device” and the “second device” are the same or different. As a result, the “first device” and the “second device” are being read as the same device. It is further noted that claim 8 of 9,866,643 teaches a “second user device”.
Please see the following table for the dependent claims:
18/452,840
9,866,643
Claim Interpretation
3. The beacon system of claim 2, wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting the first beacon from the set of devices based on a proximity of the first beacon to a location of the second user device.
5. The beacon registering device of claim 1, wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting a beacon based on proximities of beacon locations and a location of the user device.
No difference. This analysis is similarly applied to claims 9 and 16.
5. The beacon system of claim 2, wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting the first beacon from the set of devices based on a stored user preference associated with a user of the first user device.
6. The beacon registering device of claim 1, wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting a beacon having beacon metadata which satisfies user preferences associated with the beacon request.
No difference. This analysis is similarly applied to claims 11 and 18.
Claims 1, 7, and 14 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory anticipation-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 8, 15, and 19 of U.S. Patent 11,165,876. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other. More specifically, the present application is a broader version of 11,165,876.
Please see the following table for the claim 14 analysis (and similarly applied to claims 1 and 7 ((claim 1 of 11,165,876)):
18/452,840
11,165,876
Claim Interpretation
14. A method comprising:
receiving wireless connection information for wireless devices comprising beacons;
updating, based on the wireless connection information, one or more entries stored in a database;
receiving, via a first device of a user, one or more instructions to provide connection information to a second device; and
providing, based on the one or more instructions and the one or more entries, first wireless connection information for a first wireless beacon device to the second device.
15. A method for providing location services, the method comprising:
receiving beacon information comprising connection information for a plurality of beacons;
updating a beacon entry stored in a database based on the received beacon information;
receiving a beacon request from a first user device;
selecting a beacon from the plurality of beacons based on the beacon entry and the beacon request;
providing selected beacon information to the first user device for registering the selected beacon with the first user device, the selected beacon information including connection information for the selected beacon;
receiving from the first user device, a user message; and
providing content of the user message to a second user device in communication with at least one of the plurality of beacons.
As can be seen with the side-by-side comparison, the present application is a broader version of 11,165,876. More specifically, there are minor word changes and the present application is missing the second “receiving step” and the second “providing step”. It is further noted that the present application does not differentiate whether the “first device” and the “second device” are the same or different. As a result, the “first device” and the “second device” are being read as the same device. It is further noted that claims 8 and 19 of 11,165,876 teaches a “second user device”.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, and 17 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory anticipation-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 6, 15, and 17 of U.S. Patent 11,785,103. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other. More specifically, the present application is a broader version of 11,785,103.
Please see the following table for the claim 14 analysis (and similarly applied to claims 1 and 7 (claim 1 of 11,785,103)):
18/452,840
11,785,103
Claim Interpretation
14. A method comprising: receiving wireless connection information for wireless devices comprising beacons;
updating, based on the wireless connection information, one or more entries stored in a database;
receiving, via a first device of a user, one or more instructions to provide connection information to a second device; and
providing, based on the one or more instructions and the one or more entries, first wireless connection information for a first wireless beacon device to the second device.
17. A method comprising: receiving beacon information comprising connection information for a plurality of beacons;
updating a beacon entry stored in a database based on the received beacon information;
receiving, from a first user device, instructions to provide beacon information to a second user device;
selecting a beacon from the plurality of beacons based on the received instructions and the beacon entry; and
providing selected beacon information to the second user device for registering the selected beacon with the second user device, the selected beacon information including connection information for the selected beacon.
As can be seen with the side-by-side comparison, the present application is a broader version of 11,785,103. More specifically, there are minor word changes and the present application is missing the “selecting step”.
Please see the following table for the dependent claims:
18/452,840
11,785,103
Claim Interpretation
3. The beacon system of claim 2, wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting the first beacon from the set of devices based on a proximity of the first beacon to a location of the second user device.
6. The beacon device of claim 1, wherein selecting the beacon comprises selecting the beacon based on a proximity of the beacon to a location of the second user device.
No difference. This analysis is similarly applied to claims 9 and 16.
4. The beacon system of claim 2, wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting the first beacon from the set of devices based on a ranking of the first beacon.
15. The beacon device of claim 8, wherein the content of the user message comprises a ranking of the selected beacon.
No difference. This analysis is similarly applied to claims 10 and 17.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wuellner et al. (US PGPUB 2015/0208337 A1, hereinafter Wuellner).
Consider claim 1. Wuellner discloses a beacon system (fig. 2, paragraph 39, read as access point recommendation system. It is further noted that Wuellner’s access point is a read as a beacon because access points transmit beacons and based on the way in which applicant is reciting beacon in the claims) comprising:
non-transitory memory storing instructions (paragraph 49, read as machine-readable medium (also referred to as a computer-readable medium) stores one or more sets of instructions); and
one or more processors programmed to execute the instructions to perform operations (paragraph 49, read as instructions also resides, completely or at least partially, within the main memory and/or within the processor during execution thereof by the computer system) comprising:
receiving wireless connection information for a plurality of beacons (fig. 4, paragraphs 24, 37, 40, read as receiving access point reports from a number of different reporting systems, where the access point report may include characteristics of the access point or any other information associated with the access point including information about the access point and the connection to a network, the name of the access point, a location for the access point, a signal strength associated with the access point, the connection type (e.g., 802.11 b/g/n), an average bandwidth as measured by other users, and the security protocols used by the access points (e.g., Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) or Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)));
updating, based on the wireless connection information, one or more entries stored in a database (fig. 4, paragraphs 24, 41, read as store the information in the access point report in a database using the access point identifier as a key);
receiving, via a first user device, one or more instructions to provide beacon information to a second user device (paragraph 42, read as the user transmits a request for access point recommendations to the access point recommendation system. It is noted that the claims do not distinguish the “first user device” being different from the “second user device”. As a result, the examiner is interpretating the “first user device” and the “second user device” as the same device); and
providing, based on the one or more instructions the first user device and the one or more entries of the database, first wireless connection information for a first beacon to the second user device, the first wireless connection information enabling the second user device to register with the first beacon (fig. 4, paragraph 42, read as providing one or more access point recommendation to a client system based on the prioritization of the access points such that the access point recommendation allows the client system to connect to an available access point).
Consider claim 2 and as applied to claim 1. Wuellner discloses wherein providing the first wireless connection information comprises: determining a set of devices, comprising the plurality of beacons, based on the updated one or more entries and one or more other entries comprising connection information; selecting the first beacon from the set of devices; and providing, based on the selection of the first beacon, the first wireless connection information for the first beacon to the second user device (paragraphs 42, 44).
Consider claim 3 and as applied to claim 2. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting the first beacon from the set of devices based on a proximity of the first beacon to a location of the second user device (paragraph 44).
Consider claim 4 and as applied to claim 2. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting the first beacon from the set of devices based on a ranking of the first beacon (paragraph 31).
Consider claim 5 and as applied to claim 2. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first beacon comprises selecting the first beacon from the set of devices based on a stored user preference associated with a user of the first user device (paragraphs 23, 24).
Consider claim 6 and as applied to claim 1. Wuellner discloses wherein the first wireless connection information comprises security information that enables the second user device to connect to the first beacon (paragraphs 29, 37).
Consider claim 7. Wuellner discloses or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors (paragraph 49, read as machine-readable medium (also referred to as a computer-readable medium) stores one or more sets of instructions that resides, completely or at least partially, within the main memory and/or within the processor during execution thereof by the computer system. It is further noted that Wuellner’s access point is a read as a beacon because access points transmit beacons and based on the way in which applicant is reciting beacon in the claims), cause operations comprising:
receiving wireless connection information for wireless devices comprising beacons (fig. 4, paragraphs 24, 37, 40, read as receiving access point reports from a number of different reporting systems, where the access point report may include characteristics of the access point or any other information associated with the access point including information about the access point and the connection to a network, the name of the access point, a location for the access point, a signal strength associated with the access point, the connection type (e.g., 802.11 b/g/n), an average bandwidth as measured by other users, and the security protocols used by the access points (e.g., Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) or Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)));
updating, based on the wireless connection information, one or more entries stored in a database (fig. 4, paragraphs 24, 41, read as store the information in the access point report in a database using the access point identifier as a key);
receiving, via a first user device, one or more instructions to provide connection information to a second user device (paragraph 42, read as the user transmits a request for access point recommendations to the access point recommendation system. It is noted that the claims do not distinguish the “first user device” being different from the “second user device”. As a result, the examiner is interpretating the “first user device” and the “second user device” as the same device); and
providing, based on the one or more instructions and the one or more entries, first wireless connection information for a first wireless beacon device to the second user device.
Consider claim 8 and as applied to claim 7. Wuellner discloses wherein providing the first wireless connection information comprises: determining a set of devices, comprising the wireless devices, based on the updated one or more entries and one or more other entries comprising connection information; selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices; and providing, based on the selection of the first wireless beacon device, the first wireless connection information for the first wireless beacon device to the second user device (paragraphs 42, 44).
Consider claim 9 and as applied to claim 8. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first wireless beacon device comprises selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices based on a proximity of the first wireless beacon device to a location of the second user device (paragraph 44).
Consider claim 10 and as applied to claim 8. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first wireless beacon device comprises selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices based on a ranking of the first wireless beacon device (paragraph 31).
Consider claim 11 and as applied to claim 8. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first wireless beacon device comprises selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices based on a stored user preference associated with a user of the first user device (paragraphs 23, 24).
Consider claim 12 and as applied to claim 7. Wuellner discloses wherein the first wireless connection information comprises security information that enables the second user device to connect to the first wireless beacon device (paragraphs 29, 37).
Consider claim 13 and as applied to claim 7. Wuellner discloses wherein the first wireless beacon device comprises a first wireless transmitter for a first wireless protocol and a second wireless transmitter for a second wireless protocol different from the first wireless protocol (paragraph 37).
Consider claim 14. Wuellner discloses a method (fig. 4, paragraph 39. It is further noted that Wuellner’s access point is a read as a beacon because access points transmit beacons and based on the way in which applicant is reciting beacon in the claims) comprising:
receiving wireless connection information for wireless devices comprising beacons (fig. 4, paragraphs 24, 37, 40, read as receiving access point reports from a number of different reporting systems, where the access point report may include characteristics of the access point or any other information associated with the access point including information about the access point and the connection to a network, the name of the access point, a location for the access point, a signal strength associated with the access point, the connection type (e.g., 802.11 b/g/n), an average bandwidth as measured by other users, and the security protocols used by the access points (e.g., Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) or Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)));
updating, based on the wireless connection information, one or more entries stored in a database (fig. 4, paragraphs 24, 41, read as store the information in the access point report in a database using the access point identifier as a key);
receiving, via a first device of a user, one or more instructions to provide connection information to a second device (paragraph 42, read as the user transmits a request for access point recommendations to the access point recommendation system. It is noted that the claims do not distinguish the “first user device” being different from the “second user device”. As a result, the examiner is interpretating the “first user device” and the “second user device” as the same device); and
providing, based on the one or more instructions and the one or more entries, first wireless connection information for a first wireless beacon device to the second device (fig. 4, paragraph 42, read as providing one or more access point recommendation to a client system based on the prioritization of the access points such that the access point recommendation allows the client system to connect to an available access point).
Consider claim 15 and as applied to claim 14. Wuellner discloses wherein providing the first wireless connection information comprises: determining a set of devices, comprising the wireless devices, based on the updated one or more entries and one or more other entries comprising connection information; selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices; and providing, based on the selection of the first wireless beacon device, the first wireless connection information for the first wireless beacon device to the second device (paragraphs 42, 44).
Consider claim 16 and as applied to claim 15. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first wireless beacon device comprises selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices based on a proximity of the first wireless beacon device to a location of the second device (paragraph 44).
Consider claim 17 and as applied to claim 15. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first wireless beacon device comprises selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices based on a ranking of the first wireless beacon device (paragraph 31).
Consider claim 18 and as applied to claim 15. Wuellner discloses wherein selecting the first wireless beacon device comprises selecting the first wireless beacon device from the set of devices based on a stored user preference associated with the user (paragraphs 23, 24).
Consider claim 19 and as applied to claim 14. Wuellner discloses wherein the first wireless connection information comprises security information that enables the second device to connect to the first wireless beacon device (paragraphs 29, 37).
Consider claim 20 and as applied to claim 14. Wuellner discloses wherein the first wireless beacon device comprises a first wireless transmitter for a first wireless protocol and a second wireless transmitter for a second wireless protocol different from the first wireless protocol (paragraph 37).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER M BRANDT whose telephone number is (571)270-1098. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Addy can be reached at 571-272-7795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER M BRANDT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645