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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colby (US 2025/0092835) in view of Filtsch et al. (US 2020/0146624).
Referring to Claim 1, Colby teaches a Wi-Fi access point (AP), comprising a proportional-integral-derivate (PID) controller (see paragraph 66 which shows a Wi-Fi access point 304 connected to a controller 104 as shown in fig. 3 and paragraph 57 which shows the controller as a PID controller); and memory (see paragraph 40 which shows the controller with a memory) storing an application configured to receive radio frequency (RF) data from a plurality of user devices (see fig. 3 which shows AP 304 connected to user devices 306, 398, 310, and 312), and receiving updated RF data from the plurality of user devices, wherein the RF data is associated with respective Wi-Fi communication links between the plurality of user devices and the Wi-Fi AP (see paragraph 66 which shows the user device sending a command to change throttle response which is updated RF data to the AP 304 over a local Wi-Fi connection).
Colby does not teach determining a setpoint for the PID controller based on the RF data, wherein the PID controller is configured to control a motor to adjust a position of an antenna based on the setpoint. Filtsch teaches determining a setpoint for the PID controller based on the RF data, wherein the PID controller is configured to control a motor to adjust a position of an antenna based on the setpoint (see paragraph 66 which shows the PID controller of the device causing the antenna of the device rotating in a direction to optimize signal quality where the orientation the antenna is instructed to end up is the setpoint). 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 Filtsch to the device of Colby in order to better optimize received signal quality by better ensuring optimum communication of wireless signals.
Claims 8 and 14 have similar limitations as claim 1.
Referring to Claims 2 and 9, Filtsch also teaches when adjusting the position of the antenna changes a location of a radiation pattern of the antenna (see paragraph 32 which shows the antenna communications involving electromagnetic radiation further noting that changing an orientation of the antenna is known in the art to change a radiation pattern of the antenna).
Referring to Claims 5 and 12, Filtsch also teaches the RF data comprising at least one of a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or a signal to noise ratio (SNR) corresponding to the plurality of user devices (see paragraph 64 which shows the measuring of received signal strength).
Referring to Claim 16, Filtsch also teaches the motor disposed external to the Wi-Fi AP (see fig. 1D which shows device not part of a WiFi AP).
Claim(s) 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colby and Filtsch and further in view of Palayur et al. (US 2023/0232242).
Referring to Claims 3 and 10, Colby and Filtsch do not teach the RF data indicating which of the plurality of user devices are within the radiation pattern of the antenna and which are outside of the radiation pattern. Palayur teaches the RF data indicating which of the plurality of user devices are within the radiation pattern of the antenna and which are outside of the radiation pattern (see paragraph 63 which shows the determining the location of a user device which implies determining whether the device is within or outside of the radiation pattern). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Referring to Claims 4 and 11, Palayur also teaches wherein adjusting the position of the antenna moves the radiation pattern such that the radiation pattern covers more of the plurality of user devices (see paragraph 63 which shows the generation of radiation pattern based on the determinations relative to the incumbent systems/user devices and paragraphs 27 and 64 which shows the adjusting of the power and steer of the antennas in which a higher power implies a larger coverage of more devices). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Referring to Claims 6 and 13, Palayur also teaches wherein the RF data indicates locations of the plurality of user devices (see paragraph 63 which shows the determining the location of user devices 506A and 506B). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Referring to Claim 15, Palayur also teaches the motor disposed in the Wi-Fi AP (see paragraph 64 which shows steering of the antennas and paragraph 67 which shows calibration of antennas occurring on the WiFi AP). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Referring to Claim 17, Palayur also teches the antenna mounted to a side of the Wi-Fi AP (see antennas 403 on side of WiFi AP 402 in fig. 4). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Referring to Claim 18, Palayur also teaches the antenna and the Wi-Fi AP mounted to a common support (see antennas 403 on the WiFi AP 402 in fig. 4). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Referring to Claim 19, Palayur also teaches rotating the position of the antenna relative to the Wi-Fi AP (see paragraph 67 which shows calibration of antennas on the WiFi AP). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Referring to Claim 20, Filtsch teaches when adjusting the position of the antenna changing a location of a radiation pattern of the antenna (see paragraph 32 which shows the antenna communications involving electromagnetic radiation further noting that changing an orientation of the antenna is known in the art to change a radiation pattern of the antenna). Palayur teaches the RF data indicating which of the plurality of user devices are within the radiation pattern of the antenna and which are outside of the radiation pattern (see paragraph 63 which shows the determining the location of a user device which implies determining whether the device is within or outside of the radiation pattern). 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 Palayur to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to more efficiently make adjustments to WiFi devices to better ensure optimal signal strength.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colby and Filtsch and further in view of Narain et al. (US 2017/0082993).
Referring to Claim 7, Filtsch also teaches determining an updated setpoint for the PID controller based on the updated RF data, wherein the updated setpoint is different from the setpoint, and wherein the PID controller is configured to control the motor to adjust the position of the antenna based on the updated setpoint (see paragraph 64 which shows objects moving and altering orientation and the antennas adjusting accordingly). Narain teaches wherein the update RF data from the plurality of user devices is received after the plurality of user devices have moved to different locations in an environment (see fig. 6A and paragraph 36 which shows the user device 606 sending updated tag ID information to the AP 616 as described in paragraph 101 when the user device moves to a different location within the building). 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 Narain to the modified device of Colby and Filtsch in order to better accommodate a mobile user when moving to multiple environments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/EUGENE YUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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