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
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 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, 5, 6, 8-11, 15, 16, 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hillyard et al., US2015/0304843 A1, and further in view of Chiu et al., US2014/0019496 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Hillyard teaches A file transfer method (par. 0032; methods for short range wireless data transfers), wherein the method is applied to a transmitter (Fig. 1, par. 0042; the device 104a-n (i.e., transmitter)), and the method comprises: obtaining, by the transmitter, at least one to-be-transferred file (par. 0011; a device receives credentials includes defining a file transfer control message to put transferred data to the accessory device.), wherein the to-be-transferred file is a file to be sent to a receiver that establishes a near-field communication connection to the transmitter (par. 0092; A Bluetooth low energy connection is then established between the device 104a-n and the accessory 102 (at 430).); sending, by the transmitter, the to-be-transferred file to the receiver (par. 0092; The unique identifier and key associated with the identifier is used to authenticate the accessory 102 (at 440) using the earlier received credentials. The authentication then allows for access to additional features, such as data transfers (at 450), or additional features.).
Hillyard fails to teach the following recited limitations. However, Chiu teaches in response to a file transfer being interrupted, determining, by the transmitter, whether at least one file of the interrupted file transfer that has not completed transfer has changed (par. 0066; As shown in Step 113, during the process of transferring the split-files, the transmitting-end electronic device 10 detects and determines whether or not the transmission of the primary data transmission interface has been interrupted. For instance, the transmitting-end electronic device 10 may activate a transmission interface monitor program to detect whether or not the data transfer rate of the primary data transmission interface is lower than a predetermined value, wherein the predetermined value may be configured (i.e., implied as being changed) according to the standard data transfer rate of the primary data transmission interface.); and in response to a determination that the at least one file of the interrupted file transfer that has not completed transfer is unchanged, resuming, by the transmitter, the transfer from a breakpoint at which the file transfer is interrupted (par. 0052; When the transmission interface monitor program 19 detects that the transmission of the primary data transmission interface (e.g., transmission interface 31a) has been interrupted (e.g., the transmitting-end electronic device 10 has not received the verification message in corresponding to the process of transferring the split-files or the transmission progress message from the receiving-end electronic device 20, the first process unit drives the transmission interface monitor program 19 detecting all other existing transmission interfaces (i.e., transmission interfaces 31b-31n) between the transmitting-end electronic device 10 and the receiving-end electronic device 20 and selecting one transmission interface therein accordingly to be the secondary data transmission interface so as to resume the split-files transferring process.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Hillyard’s teachings with Chiu’s teachings in order to regulate data transfer between a transmitting-end electronic device and a receiving-end electronic device by effectively reducing data transmission time (Chiu, par. 0010).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Hillyard and Chiu teach all the limitations recited in claims 1 and 11. Hillyard further teaches wherein sending, by the transmitter, the to-be-transferred file to the receiver comprises: copying, by the transmitter, the to-be-transferred file to a first buffer (par. 0054; ATT defines protocol messages for finding, reading, and writing attributes. The attributes are stored in a database in an ATT server.); and sending, by the transmitter, the to-be-transferred file in the first buffer to the receiver (par. 0092; The unique identifier and key associated with the identifier is used to authenticate (i.e., the authenticated identifier is sent to) the accessory 102 (at 440) using the earlier received credentials.).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Hillyard and Chiu teach all the limitations recited in claims 1 and 11. Chiu further teaches wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the transmitter, a capability query request message to the receiver (par. 0053; The transmitting-end electronic device 10 may send a request (e.g., sending a data transmission interface activation acknowledge signal) to the receiving-end electronic device 20.); and receiving, by the transmitter, a resumable transfer capability acknowledgment message from the receiver, wherein the resumable transfer capability acknowledgment message indicates that the receiver has a capability of supporting resumable transfer (par. 0058; if the primary data transmission interface has been interrupted prior to the completion of the split-files, the receiving-end electronic device 20 may retain the temporary folder string the split-files and wait until the transmitting-end electronic device resuming the process of transferring the split-files.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Hillyard’s teachings with Chiu’s teachings in order to regulate data transfer between a transmitting-end electronic device and a receiving-end electronic device by effectively reducing data transmission time (Chiu, par. 0010).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Hillyard and Chiu teach all the limitations recited in claims 1 and 11. Chiu further teaches wherein the transmitter comprises a file list of the to-be-transferred file, and the method further comprises: when the to-be-transferred file is changed, identifying, by the transmitter in the file list, change information about the to-be-transferred file (par. 0056; The file combination program 25 combines or integrates the received split-files stored in the temporary folder using file recombination technique while the receive file generation program 27 correspondingly generates a receive file.); and determining, by the transmitter, whether at least one file of the interrupted file transfer that has not completed transfer has changed comprises: in response to file transfer being interrupted, determining, by the transmitter based on the file list, whether at least one file of the interrupted file transfer that has not completed transfer has changed (par. 0056; The receive file is the same as the file to be transferred.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Hillyard’s teachings with Chiu’s teachings in order to regulate data transfer between a transmitting-end electronic device and a receiving-end electronic device by effectively reducing data transmission time (Chiu, par. 0010).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Hillyard and Chiu teach all the limitations recited in claims 1 and 11. Hillyard further teaches wherein the near-field communication connection between the transmitter and the receiver comprises a Bluetooth connection, a Wi-Fi connection, a Zigbee connection, an infrared connection, or a USB connection (par. 0010; Bluetooth low energy connection).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Hillyard and Chiu teach all the limitations recited in claims 1 and 11. Chiu further teaches further comprises: receiving, by the transmitter, an operation of deleting a third file, wherein the third file is the at least one file of the interrupted file transfer that has not completed transfer (par. 0059; he first processing unit of the transmitting-end electronic device 10 may delete the split-files and the recording file 17 stored in the first memory unit of the transmitting-end electronic device 10 upon receiving the transmission completion message.); and displaying, by the transmitter, a first prompt message, wherein the first prompt message prompts that the third file is being shared (par. 0071; The transmitting-end electronic device 10 may send a verification message (i.e., the verification message is displayed on the screen of electronic device 10 as led by one of ordinary skill in the art.) to the receiving-end electronic device 20 to request a response regarding whether or not the receiving-end electronic device 20 has finished the process of receiving all the split-files in corresponding to the file to be transferred.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Hillyard’s teachings with Chiu’s teachings in order to regulate data transfer between a transmitting-end electronic device and a receiving-end electronic device by effectively reducing data transmission time (Chiu, par. 0010).
Regarding claim 11, Hillyard teaches An electronic device (Fig. 1, par. 0042; the device 104a-n (i.e., transmitter)), comprising: a processor (par. 0041; The device 104a-n may include mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets. It is implied that the mobile device will have a processor that executes program as led by one of ordinary skill in the art.); a memory coupled to the processor with a computer program stored thereon, wherein, when the computer program is executed by the processor (par. 0041; The device 104a-n may include mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets. It is implied that the mobile device will have a memory that stores program to be executed by a processor as led by one of ordinary skill in the art.), the electronic device is enabled to perform: obtaining, by a transmitter, at least one to-be-transferred file (par. 0011; a device receives credentials includes defining a file transfer control message to put transferred data to the accessory device.), wherein the to-be-transferred file is a file to be sent to a receiver that establishes a near-field communication connection to the transmitter (par. 0092; A Bluetooth low energy connection is then established between the device 104a-n and the accessory 102 (at 430).), sending, by the transmitter, the to-be-transferred file to the receiver (par. 0092; The unique identifier and key associated with the identifier is used to authenticate the accessory 102 (at 440) using the earlier received credentials. The authentication then allows for access to additional features, such as data transfers (at 450), or additional features.).
Hillyard fails to teach the following recited limitations. However, Chiu teaches in response to a file transfer being interrupted, determining, by the transmitter, whether at least one file of the interrupted file transfer that has not completed transfer has changed (par. 0066; As shown in Step 113, during the process of transferring the split-files, the transmitting-end electronic device 10 detects and determines whether or not the transmission of the primary data transmission interface has been interrupted. For instance, the transmitting-end electronic device 10 may activate a transmission interface monitor program to detect whether or not the data transfer rate of the primary data transmission interface is lower than a predetermined value, wherein the predetermined value may be configured (i.e., implied as being changed) according to the standard data transfer rate of the primary data transmission interface.); and in response to a determination that the at least one file of the interrupted file transfer that has not completed transfer is unchanged, resuming, by the transmitter, the transfer from a breakpoint at which the file transfer is interrupted (par. 0052; When the transmission interface monitor program 19 detects that the transmission of the primary data transmission interface (e.g., transmission interface 31a) has been interrupted (e.g., the transmitting-end electronic device 10 has not received the verification message in corresponding to the process of transferring the split-files or the transmission progress message from the receiving-end electronic device 20, the first process unit drives the transmission interface monitor program 19 detecting all other existing transmission interfaces (i.e., transmission interfaces 31b-31n) between the transmitting-end electronic device 10 and the receiving-end electronic device 20 and selecting one transmission interface therein accordingly to be the secondary data transmission interface so as to resume the split-files transferring process.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Hillyard’s teachings with Chiu’s teachings in order to regulate data transfer between a transmitting-end electronic device and a receiving-end electronic device by effectively reducing data transmission time (Chiu, par. 0010).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 7, 12-14 and 17 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The claim limitations of claims 2, 7, 12 and 17 should be incorporated into independent claims 1 and 11 because none of the references taken alone or in combination provide the motivation to teach or suggest the claimed limitations.
Conclusion
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/AYODEJI O AYOTUNDE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649