Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/457,997

RANGE EXTENDER FOR HOME AUTOMATION NETWORK

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Aug 29, 2023
Examiner
PARK, JEONG S
Art Unit
2454
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Synaptics Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allow Rate
607 granted / 756 resolved
+22.3% vs TC avg
Strong +21% interview lift
Without
With
+21.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
35 currently pending
Career history
791
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
11.6%
-28.4% vs TC avg
§103
55.9%
+15.9% vs TC avg
§102
7.5%
-32.5% vs TC avg
§112
12.1%
-27.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 756 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION This communication is in response to Application No. 18/457,997 filed on 8/29/2023 . Claims 1- 20 have been examined. 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. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/20/2025 and 1/28/2026 is being considered by the examiner. 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. Claim s 1 , 10- 13 , and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bouvet et al. (hereinafter Bouvet )(US 2023/0188999) in view of Kruy et al. (hereinafter Kruy )(US 7,406,523) . Regarding claims 1 and 1 3 , Bouvet teaches as follows: A wireless communication device (interpreted as the detection device BX, see, figure 9) comprising: a processing system; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processing system (t he architecture of the detection device BX notably comprises a processor 7, a volatile memory 8, a non-volatile memory 9, a non-volatile flash memory 10 in one particular embodiment of the invention, together with communications means 11 , see, ¶ [0131] and figure 9) , causes the wireless communication device to: receive a first packet for a base station via a first link (interpreted as the link between T and BX during step E400)( the terminal T sends the sensitive datum MDP in cleartext to the new terminal CAM. The device BX then detects, during a step E400 , see, ¶ [0099] and figure 3); transmit the first packet to the base station (interpreted as the terminal PC in figure 3) via a second link (interpreted as the link between BX and PC during step E700)(the device implements a countermeasure step E700 which comprises a modification of the password MDP to a new password MDP′ and sends this new password MDP′ to the terminal PC as it is already connected to the device BX and considered as a trusted terminal, see, ¶ [0101] and figure 3) ; and receive confirmation of the first packet by the base station (during a step U600, the trusted terminal PC sends a confirmation of the presence of an attack on the sensitive datum MDP or a command to accept the connections of the terminals CAM and ATT . Assuming that, during the step U600, the terminal PC confirms the presence of an attack attempt, see, ¶ [0109] and figure 5). Bouvet does not teach the well-known connectionless communication between devices which automatically releasing the link after receiving or transmitting packets . Kruy teaches as follows: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an example of a connectionless protocol that is commonly used in Internet applications. Using a connectionless protocol, each time a message needs to be transferred between the client and the server, a connection is established, the message is transferred, and the connection is terminated (see, col. 1, lines 62-67); and o ne advantage to using a connectionless protocol is that the available server resources are more efficiently utilized. Essentially, server resources relating to client-server communications are consumed only when information needs to be transferred between the client and server (see, col. 2, lines 1-10). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bouvet with Kruy to include the well-known connectionless protocol and responding well-known acknowledgement message as taught by Kruy in order to efficiently utilize available communication resource. Regarding claim 10 , Bouvet in view of Kruy teaches similar limitations as presented above and Kruy further teaches the queue as follows: T he transaction manager maintains a queue for each transaction, which the transaction manager uses to sequence the transactions request. Each time the transaction manager receives a transaction request, the transaction manager examines the sequence indicator, and places the request in a queue location that corresponds to the sequence indicator (see, col. 13, lines 1-13) . Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bouvet with Kruy to include the transaction manager maintaining a queue for each transaction taught by Kruy in order to temporally store packets before establishing a transmitting link. Regarding claims 1 1 and 1 9 , Kruy teaches the connectionless protocol as presented above. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bouvet in view of Kruy to apply the connectionless protocol within multiple links such as incoming link and an outgoing link. Regarding claims 1 2 and 20 , Bouvet in view of Kruy teaches similar limitations as presented above in the rejections for claims 1 and 13 because the claimed limitation is just a reverse traffic. Therefore, they are rejected for similar reason as presented above. Claim s 2-9 and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bouvet et al. (hereinafter Bouvet )(US 2023/0188999) in view of Kruy et al. (hereinafter Kruy )(US 7,406,523), and further in view of Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee )(US 2012/0219008). Regarding claims 2 -4 , 9, 1 4 -16 , and 18, Bouvet teaches as follows: T he detection device according to the invention is an extender of coverage of a wireless communications network, for example a WiFi extender or a DECT ULE extender ( see, ¶ [0035]) ; and t he terminal T (equivalent to applicant’s portable device) is a telephone of the smartphone type able to communicate according to the WiFi and Bluetooth standards (see, ¶ [0079]). Bouvet in view of Kruy does not teach the home automation network (HAN). Lee teaches the well-known home automation network as follows: The Home Area Network ( HAN ) 100 (equivalent to applicant’s home automation network) includes a plurality of home appliances 120, 130 140, and 150 provided inside home and a gateway 110 connected to the plurality of home appliances 120, 130, 140, and 150 through a network backbone that is constructed inside home. In this configuration, the plurality of home appliances 120, 130, 140, and 150 are connected to an external network, such as the Internet, through the gateway 110 (see, ¶ [0042] and figure 1). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bouvet in view of Kruy with Lee to include the well-known home area network as taught by Lee in order to efficiently manage a plurality of home appliances. Regarding claims 5 -7 and 1 7 , Bouvet in view of Kruy teaches all limitations as presented above except for communicating registration information. Lee teaches as follows: I f the outdoor apparatus 200 makes a request for connection to the gateway 110 of the HAN 100 in the network system, and the gateway receives IP address information from the outdoor apparatus, the gateway requests the DDNS server 300 to provide URL information (equivalent to applicant’s registration information) , which corresponds to the received IP address information, and receives the requested URL information. If the received URL is a registered URL, the gateway 110 approves the request for the outdoor apparatus 200 to make a communication connection to the HAN 100. If the received URL is not a registered URL, the gateway 100 denies the request for the outdoor apparatus 200 to make a communication connection to the HAN 100 (see, ¶ [0052] and figure 1). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bouvet in view of Kruy with Lee to include communicating registration information as taught by Lee in order for efficient access control for the HAN. Regarding claim 8 , Bouvet in view of Kruy does not teach the HAN functional (FUN) messages. The examiner interpreted the HAN functional message as any operational status message or notification from monitored devices. Lee teaches as follows: A user may control the plurality of home appliances 120, 130, 140, and 150, and monitor the statuses of the home appliances 120, 130, 140, and 150 by use of the outdoor apparatus 200 (see, ¶ [0050] and figure 1). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bouvet in view of Kruy and Lee to include receiving messages or notifications for status of the monitored home appliances in order to efficiently monitor current status of monitored appliances. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT Jeong S Park whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-1597 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30 ET . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Glenton B Burgess can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-3949 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JEONG S PARK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454 March 2 1 , 2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 29, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+21.2%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 756 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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