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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 10, 12-15, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a(1) as being anticipated by Holweg et al. (US 2020/0076472).
Referring to Claim 1, Holweg teaches an electronic device, comprising:
a power supply configured to supply a power supply voltage (see paragraph 3 which shows a NFC chip with power supplied by another NFC device);
a controllable voltage converter circuit configured to generate a control voltage based on the power supply voltage (see paragraph 4 which shows induced voltage as a result of the power supply);
a near-field communication device comprising at least one antenna configured to emit an electromagnetic field having a power controllable by the control voltage (see paragraph 11 which shows the NFC chip able to transmit data from antenna 10 where paragraph 2 shows electromagnetic data exchange); and
a temperature measuring device configured to measure a temperature, wherein the controllable voltage converter circuit is configured to modify a value of the control voltage based on the measured temperature (see paragraph 11 which shows the temperature sensor measuring a temperature making the NFC device change the power of the transmitted signal based on the measured temperature which results in a change of the control voltage of the NFC chip).
Referring to Claim 14, Holweg teaches a method, comprising:
measuring a temperature of an electronic device, the electronic device including a battery and a controllable voltage converter circuit configured to generate a control voltage based on battery (see paragraph 11 which shows the temperature sensor measuring a temperature, paragraph 4 which shows induced voltage as a result of a power supply, and paragraph 3 which shows a NFC chip with power supplied by another NFC device where the other NFC device is shown to be a smartphone which is known in the art to have a battery);
adjusting the control voltage based on the measured temperature (see paragraph 11 which shows the NFC device changing the power of the transmitted signal based on the measured temperature which results in a change of the control voltage of the NFC chip); and of a near-field communication device comprising at least one antenna configured to emit an electromagnetic field having a power controllable by the control voltage (see paragraph 11 which shows the NFC chip able to transmit data from antenna 10 where paragraph 2 shows electromagnetic data exchange); and
emitting, by at least one antenna of a near-field communication device of the electronic device, an electromagnetic field based on the adjusted control voltage (see paragraph 2 which shows electromagnetic data exchange between NFC chip and NFC device).
Referring to Claim 19, Holweg teaches a method, comprising:
supplying, by a power supply of an electronic device, a power supply voltage (see paragraph 3 which shows a NFC chip with power supplied by another NFC device);
generating, by a controllable voltage converter circuit of the electronic device, a control voltage based on the power supply voltage (see paragraph 4 which shows induced voltage as a result of the power supply);
emitting, by a near-field communication antenna of the electronic device, an electromagnetic field having a power controllable by the control voltage (see paragraph 11 which shows the NFC chip able to transmit data from antenna 10 where paragraph 2 shows electromagnetic data exchange);
measuring a temperature of the electronic device; and modifying, by the controllable voltage converter circuit, the control voltage based on the measured temperature (see paragraph 11 which shows the temperature sensor measuring a temperature making the NFC device change the power of the transmitted signal based on the measured temperature which results in a change of the control voltage of the NFC chip).
Referring to Claims 2 and 15, Holweg also teaches the control voltage set based on the measured temperature (see paragraph 35 which shows temperature measured at NFC chip).
Referring to Claim 10, Holweg also teaches the temperature periodically measured during operation (see paragraph 36 which shows the device polled regularly/periodically for a temperature measurement).
Referring to Claim 12, Holweg also teaches the at least one antenna configured to emit the electromagnetic field after the value of the control voltage has been modified (see paragraph 31 which implies that data is electromagnetically emitted even after the transmission power is adjusted since the adjusted power ensures a more optimum connection).
Referring to Claim 13, Holweg also teaches the power supply as a battery (see paragraph 3 which shows the other NFC device supplying power shown to be a smartphone which is known in the art to have a battery).
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) 8, 9, 17, 18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holweg et al. (US 2020/0076472) in view of Williams et al. (US 7,698,578).
Referring to Claims 8 and 17, Holweg does not teach wherein, after an initial state, if the temperature is higher than a threshold temperature, the value of the control voltage is decreased. Williams teaches wherein, after an initial state, if the temperature is higher than a threshold temperature, the value of the control voltage is decreased (see col. 1, lines 59-64 which shows the transmit power reduced when the temperature rises above a threshold). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Williams to the device of Holweg in order to more efficiently prevent overheating of the device.
Referring to Claims 9 and 18, Williams also teaches wherein, after an initial state, if the temperature is lower than a threshold temperature, the value of the control voltage is increased (see col. 2, lines 9-13 which shows the transmit power increased when the temperature falls below the threshold). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Williams to the device of Holweg in order to more efficiently prevent overheating of the device.
Referring to Claim 20, Holweg does not teach comparing, after an initial state, the measured temperature to a threshold temperature; and decreasing the value of the control voltage in response to the measured temperature being greater than the threshold temperature, or increasing the value of the control voltage in response to the measured temperature being less than the threshold temperature. Williams teaches comparing, after an initial state, the measured temperature to a threshold temperature; and decreasing the value of the control voltage in response to the measured temperature being greater than the threshold temperature, or increasing the value of the control voltage in response to the measured temperature being less than the threshold temperature (see col. 1, lines 59-64 which shows the transmit power reduced when the temperature rises above a threshold and col. 2, lines 9-13 which shows the transmit power increased when the temperature falls below the threshold). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Williams to the device of Holweg in order to more efficiently prevent overheating of the device.
Claim(s) 3 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holweg in view of Nogueira-Nine (US 10,368,204).
Referring to Claims 3 and 16, Holweg does not teach the value of the control voltage selectively controlled based on a lookup table. Nogueira-Nine teaches the value of the control voltage selectively controlled based on a lookup table (see Claim 1 which shows the reference to a Lookup table in order to determine output power). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Nogueira-Nine to the device of Holweg in order to more efficiently allocate the optimum amount of power to operate the device.
Claim(s) 4-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holweg in view of Piccardi et al. (US 2020/0211661).
Referring to Claim 4, Holweg does not teach wherein at an initial state, the control voltage is set to a maximum value. Piccardi teaches wherein at an initial state, the control voltage is set to a maximum value (see paragraph 22 which shows a voltage set at a range with a maximum of 8V). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Piccardi to the device of Holweg in order to more efficiently conserve power.
Referring to Claim 5, Piccardi also teaches wherein the maximum value is approximately 8 V (see paragraph 22 which shows a voltage set at a range with a maximum of 8V).
Referring to Claim 6, Piccardi also teaches wherein at an initial state, the control voltage is set to a minimum value (see paragraph 22 which shows a voltage set at a range with a minimum of 5V). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Piccardi to the device of Holweg in order to more efficiently conserve power.
Referring to Claim 7, Piccardi also teaches wherein the minimum value is approximately 5 V (see paragraph 22 which shows a voltage set at a range with a minimum of 5V).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holweg in view of Artunduaga (US 2024/0315661).
Referring to Claim 11, Holweg does not teach the temperature measurement period in the range of 5s to 1m. Artunduaga teaches the temperature measurement period in the range of 5s to 1m (see paragraph 102 which shows the temperature measurement period of 30s which is in the range of 5s to 1m). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Artunduaga to the device of Holweg in order to more accurately determine how much power for the device to use.
Conclusion
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/EUGENE YUN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648