DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20140029434 A1 (Griffin), in view of Nourildean, S.W., 2020. ZigBee-Based wireless sensor network topologies using one and multiple coordinators. Periodicals of Engineering and Natural Sciences (PEN), 8(3), pp.1625-1640. (Nortildean) and in further view of US 20050223119 A1 (Keys).
Regarding Claims 1, 11 and 13:
A personal area network system, comprising: a first processing system, comprising: a memory comprising computer-executable instructions; a first communication adapter; a processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the processing system to: instantiate a plurality of network coordinators; instantiate a plurality of short-range networks (SRNs), each SRN of the plurality of SRNs being associated with a unique network coordinator of the plurality network coordinators; associate a remote device with a first SRN of the plurality of SRNs, wherein the remote device is not in wireless communication with the processing system; transmit data to the remote device via the first communication adapter and the first SRN; and receive data from the remote device via the first communication adapter and the first SRN; and a second processing system, comprising: a second communication adapter; and a network coordinator device operatively coupled to the second communication adapter and configured to coordinate one of the SRNs (Wang: Figs. 2-6A-B, a system configuration that comprises multiple PANs each with its own PAN coordinator, i.e., SRNs and each SRN being associated with a unique network coordinator, where system communications (data and/or control) are managed through the network coordinator, i.e., the processing system, and each PAN coordinator for respective PAN; the system also comprises FFD and RFD devices, where RFDs are remote devices that are not in wireless communication with the processing system; the communication among different PANs are either PAN to PAN directly or PAN to Network Coordinator to 2nd PAN; Figs. 7-11, communication methods among network components; It is noted that using adapter to expand electronic device network capabilities are known practice in the field; Nortildean further illustrates various system configurations for single PAN and multiple PANs that includes, Star, Mesh and Cluster in Fig. 2, communication routings in Figs. 3-4, multi-coordinator system in Figs. 6-7, and system is implemented based on Zigbee standard).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Wang with various PAN system configurations as further taught by Nortildean. The advantage of doing so is to enable multiple routing configurations to adapt to different power, performance, and reliability requirements.
Wang does not teach explicitly on a hybrid system configuration. However, Keys teaches (Keys: Figs. 4a-d, various system extended from host device through RHC (Remote Host Controller), e.g., par. 15, for PAN, BT, Wi-Fi, and etc., either through USB or non-USB connection).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Wang with extended wireless network with as further taught by Keys. The advantage of doing so is to provide a system configurations to extend conventional USB controllers and remove limited distance of USB applications (Keys: Background)..
Regarding Claims 2 and 14, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the processing system to determine, for a data packet, which SRN of the plurality of SRNs with which to transmit the data packet (Nortildean: 1.6., either table based or address based, e.g., tree routing).
Regarding Claims 3 and 15, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the processing system to maintain a database identifying relationships between a plurality of remote devices and the plurality of SRNs (Nortildean: 1.6., either table based or address based, e.g., tree routing).
Regarding Claims 4 and 16, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein the first SRN comprises a ZigBee® network (Nortildean: e.g., Fig. 2).
Regarding Claims 5 and 17, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein the communication adapter is configured to extend a universal serial bus (USB) over Ethernet (Keys: Figs. 4a-d, various system extended from host device through RHC (Remote Host Controller), e.g., par. 15, for PAN, BT, Wi-Fi, and etc., either through USB or non-USB connection).
Regarding Claims 6 and 18, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein the plurality of network coordinators are mounted to the processing system via universal serial bus (USB) (Keys: Figs. 4a-d, various system extended from host device through RHC (Remote Host Controller), e.g., par. 15, for PAN, BT, Wi-Fi, and etc., either through USB or non-USB connection).
Regarding Claims 7 and 19, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein at least one network coordinator of the plurality of network coordinators is mounted to the processing system via universal serial bus (USB) (Keys: Figs. 4a-d, various system extended from host device through RHC (Remote Host Controller), e.g., par. 15, for PAN, BT, Wi-Fi, and etc., either through USB or non-USB connection).
Regarding Claims 8 and 20, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein at least one network coordinator of the plurality of network coordinators is implemented as a software module within the memory (e.g., Keys: Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 9, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein the data transmitted to the remote device comprises control instructions for a charging station (It is noted that remote charging station or devices are known RFDs or FFD in the field).
Regarding Claim 10, Wang as modified further teaches:
The processing system of Claim 1, wherein the data received from the remote device comprises status information for a charging station (It is noted that remote charging station or devices are known RFDs or FFD in the field, where status info can be obtained by host devices).
Regarding Claim 12, Wang as modified further teaches:
The personal area network system of Claim 11, wherein the network coordinator device comprises a USB ZigBee® device (Nortildean: Fig. 2).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHITONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571) 270-1936. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:30am - 5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen Pan can be reached on 571-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHITONG CHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649