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 .
Election/Restrictions
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-9, drawn to receiving a request message specifying a code, wherein the code is indicated by a matrix comprising black and white rectangular fields visibly displayed by a particular vehicle or fixed asset and transmitting a reply message indicating the particular wireless address, classified in H04W8/26.
II. Claims 10-16, drawn to observing, using a camera or sensor in or on the first vehicle, a matrix displayed by the second vehicle; determining a wireless address of the second vehicle; and transmitting a wireless message, according to the wireless address, to the second vehicle, classified in G08G1/017.
III. Claims 17-20, drawn to a camera configured to image a second matrix displayed by a second wireless entity; a processor configured to determine, according to the second matrix, a second code associated with the second wireless entity; and the processor further configured to determine, according to a blockchain, a second wireless address associated with the second code, classified in G08G1/161.
The inventions are independent or distinct, each from the other because: Inventions I, II, and III are unrelated. Inventions are unrelated if it can be shown that they are not disclosed as capable of use together and they have different designs, modes of operation, and effects (MPEP § 802.01 and § 806.06). In the instant case, the different inventions can have materially different design, mode of operation, function, or effect because they have different steps that accomplish different results. Furthermore, the inventions as claimed do not encompass overlapping subject matter and there is nothing of record to show them to be obvious variants.
Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all the inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because one or more of the following reasons apply: the inventions require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries).
Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of an invention to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected invention.
The election of an invention may be made with or without traverse. To reserve a right to petition, the election must be made with traverse. If the reply does not distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election shall be treated as an election without traverse. Traversal must be presented at the time of election in order to be considered timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are added after the election, Applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should Applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, Applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the Examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
During a telephone conversation with R. Kemp Massengill on 8/29/2025 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of group I, claims 1-9. Affirmation of this election must be made by Applicant in replying to this Office Action. Claims 10-20 are withdrawn from further consideration by the Examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. Applicant has not complied with one or more conditions for receiving the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) as follows:
The later-filed application must be an application for a patent for an invention which is also disclosed in the prior application (the parent or original nonprovisional application or provisional application). The disclosure of the invention in the parent application and in the later-filed application must be sufficient to comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, except for the best mode requirement. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 32 USPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
The disclosure of the prior-filed application, Application Nos. 63/243,437; 63/245,227; 63/246,000; 63/256,042; 63/260,814; 63/271,335; 63/272,352; 63/287,428; 63/288,237; 63/288,807; and 63/290,731, fail to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application.
Application Nos. 63/243,437; 63/245,227; 63/256,042; 63/260,814; 63/271,335; 63/272,352; 63/287,428; 63/288,237; and 63/288,807 fail to provide adequate support or enablement for at least the following limitations in Applicant’s claims.
In claim 1, non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed by a computing environment, cause a method to be performed, the method comprising:
a) maintaining, in further non-transitory computer-readable media, a tabulation of entries, each entry comprising an index value and a wireless address of a vehicle or a fixed asset;
b) receiving a request message specifying a code, wherein the code is indicated by a matrix comprising black and white rectangular fields visibly displayed by a particular vehicle or fixed asset;
c) determining a particular index value according to the code;
d) selecting a particular entry of the tabulation according to the particular index value;
e) determining a particular wireless address comprising the particular entry; and
f) transmitting a reply message indicating the particular wireless address.
In claim 2, wherein the reply message is transmitted according to 5G or 6G technologies.
In claim 3, the method further comprising:
a) determining that the request message indicates that the particular entry should be transmitted in entirety; and
b) transmitting, in the reply message, the particular entry in entirety.
In claim 4, the method further comprising:
a) determining that the request message indicates that only the particular wireless address should be transmitted; and
b) transmitting, in the reply message, the particular wireless address without transmitting other information, if any, comprising the particular entry.
In claim 5, the method further comprising:
a) receiving, from the particular vehicle or fixed asset, a change message, the change message specifying the code and providing additional or changed information;
b) determining a particular index according to the code;
c) determining a particular entry according to the particular index; and
d) revising the particular entry according to the additional or changed information.
In claim 6, the method further comprising:
a) receiving a joining message from a new vehicle or fixed asset, wherein the new vehicle or fixed asset is not associated with any entry in the tabulation;
b) determining that the joining message specifies a wireless address of the new vehicle or fixed asset, and requests that a new entry be added to the tabulation;
c) generating the new entry in the tabulation, the new entry comprising the wireless address of the new vehicle or fixed asset;
d) determining a new index value, and associating the new entry with the new index value;
e) generating a new code according to the new index value; and
f) transmitting a welcome message to the new vehicle or fixed asset, the welcome message indicating the new code.
In claim 7, wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates a frequency and a bandwidth; and
b) the new entry further comprises the frequency and the bandwidth.
In claim 8, wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates an MCS (modulation and coding scheme); and
b) the new entry further comprises the MCS.
In claim 9, wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset; and
b) the new entry further comprises the one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset.
Application Nos. 63/246,000 and 63/290,731 fail to provide adequate support or enablement for at least the following limitations in Applicant’s claims.
In claim 1, non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed by a computing environment, cause a method to be performed, the method comprising:
a) maintaining, in further non-transitory computer-readable media, a tabulation of entries, each entry comprising an index value and a wireless address of a vehicle or a fixed asset;
In claim 6, the method further comprising:
a) receiving a joining message from a new vehicle or fixed asset, wherein the new vehicle or fixed asset is not associated with any entry in the tabulation;
b) determining that the joining message specifies a wireless address of the new vehicle or fixed asset, and requests that a new entry be added to the tabulation;
c) generating the new entry in the tabulation, the new entry comprising the wireless address of the new vehicle or fixed asset;
d) determining a new index value, and associating the new entry with the new index value;
e) generating a new code according to the new index value; and
f) transmitting a welcome message to the new vehicle or fixed asset, the welcome message indicating the new code.
In claim 7, wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates a frequency and a bandwidth; and
b) the new entry further comprises the frequency and the bandwidth.
In claim 8, wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates an MCS (modulation and coding scheme); and
b) the new entry further comprises the MCS.
In claim 9, wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset; and
b) the new entry further comprises the one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 11/29/2023 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Claim Objections
Claims 7-9 are objected to because of the following informalities: for each of the claims, there is no antecedent basis for “the joining message” and “the new entry”. It appears that claims 7-9 may have been intended to be dependent on claim 6 instead of claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the Examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the Examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3, and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiles et al. (U.S. Patent No. 6,363,423 B1) (hereinafter Chiles) in view of Li et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0141521 A1) (hereinafter Li).
Regarding claim 1, Chiles discloses a non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed by a computing environment, cause a method to be performed (Figure 2 and column 7, lines 27-31 disclose a Web server 150 having a Practical Extraction and Report Language (PERL) script 164. Column 7, lines 39-58 disclose the HTTP server 170 receives the serial number and invokes the PERL script 164 to search the MAC address list 68 for the serial number to retrieve the MAC address that corresponds to the serial number. Since Chiles discloses a Web server having a script that may be invoked to search a list, the Chiles’s Web server inherently includes a non-transitory computer-readable media and a computing environment), the method comprising:
a) maintaining, in further non-transitory computer-readable media, a tabulation of entries, each entry comprising an index value and a wireless address of a vehicle or a fixed asset (Figure 1 and column 6, lines 24-51 disclose the network adapter card 30 includes a non-volatile memory 36 for storing programs and data for communications functions performed on the network adapter card 30. The non-volatile memory 36 may include any non-volatile memory device, such as, a flash memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, etc. The non-volatile memory 36 may store a MAC address that may be assigned to the network adapter card 30. The remote server 50 includes a MAC address list 60 in which MAC addresses are stored for network adapter cards 30 identified by a device identifier, such as a serial number);
b) receiving a request message specifying a code (Column 7, lines 39-58 disclose the user invokes the communications application 11, which is preferably a Web viewer, or Browser. The user enters or selects an HTTP Universal Resource Locator (URL) that has been designated by the Web server 150 provider to invoke the HTML Web page 180. The HTML web page 180 includes a query for the device identifier of the network adapter card 30);
c) determining a particular index value according to the code (Column 7, lines 15- 19 and 47-53 disclose the remote server 50 retrieves the MAC address corresponding to the device identifier from the MAC address list 60. The user enters the device identifier, which is preferably the serial number assigned to the network adapter card 30. The HTTP server 170 receives the serial number and invokes the PERL script 164 to search the MAC address list 68 for the serial number to retrieve the MAC address that corresponds to the serial number);
d) selecting a particular entry of the tabulation according to the particular index value (Column 7, lines 15- 19 and 47-53 disclose the remote server 50 retrieves the MAC address corresponding to the device identifier from the MAC address list 60. The user enters the device identifier, which is preferably the serial number assigned to the network adapter card 30. The HTTP server 170 receives the serial number and invokes the PERL script 164 to search the MAC address list 68 for the serial number to retrieve the MAC address that corresponds to the serial number);
e) determining a particular wireless address comprising the particular entry (Column 7, lines 15- 19 and 47-53 disclose the remote server 50 retrieves the MAC address corresponding to the device identifier from the MAC address list 60. The user enters the device identifier, which is preferably the serial number assigned to the network adapter card 30. The HTTP server 170 receives the serial number and invokes the PERL script 164 to search the MAC address list 68 for the serial number to retrieve the MAC address that corresponds to the serial number); and
f) transmitting a reply message indicating the particular wireless address (Column 7, lines 59-62 disclose the PERL script 164 stores the MAC address found in the MAC address list 68 in a saved MAC address file 168. The saved MAC address file 168 is assigned a file name sent to the HTML Web page 180 for display to the user).
Chiles does not explicitly disclose wherein the code is indicated by a matrix comprising black and white rectangular fields visibly displayed by a particular vehicle or fixed asset.
In analogous art, Li discloses wherein the code is indicated by a matrix comprising black and white rectangular fields visibly displayed by a particular vehicle or fixed asset (Paragraph 0017 discloses the burning platform scans a bar code of the network card 106 to get a serial number of the network card 106).
It 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 to incorporate a barcode on a network card providing a serial number of the card, as described in Li, with a serial number if a network adapter card, as described in Chiles, because doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Combining a barcode on a network card providing a serial number of the card of Li with a serial number if a network adapter card of Chiles was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Li.
Therefore, it 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 to combine the teachings of Chiles and Li to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Regarding claim 3, as applied to claim 1 above, Chiles, as modified by Li, further discloses a) determining that the request message indicates that the particular entry should be transmitted in entirety (Column 7, lines 59-62 disclose the PERL script 164 stores the MAC address found in the MAC address list 68 in a saved MAC address file 168. The saved MAC address file 168 is assigned a file name sent to the HTML Web page 180 for display to the user); and
b) transmitting, in the reply message, the particular entry in entirety (Column 7, lines 59-62 disclose the PERL script 164 stores the MAC address found in the MAC address list 68 in a saved MAC address file 168. The saved MAC address file 168 is assigned a file name sent to the HTML Web page 180 for display to the user).
Regarding claim 4, as applied to claim 1 above, Chiles, as modified by Li, further discloses a) determining that the request message indicates that only the particular wireless address should be transmitted (Column 7, lines 15- 19 and 47-53 disclose the remote server 50 retrieves the MAC address corresponding to the device identifier from the MAC address list 60. The user enters the device identifier, which is preferably the serial number assigned to the network adapter card 30. The HTTP server 170 receives the serial number and invokes the PERL script 164 to search the MAC address list 68 for the serial number to retrieve the MAC address that corresponds to the serial number); and
b) transmitting, in the reply message, the particular wireless address without transmitting other information, if any, comprising the particular entry (Column 7, lines 59-62 disclose the PERL script 164 stores the MAC address found in the MAC address list 68 in a saved MAC address file 168. The saved MAC address file 168 is assigned a file name sent to the HTML Web page 180 for display to the user).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiles in view of Li as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lauer et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0028548 A1) (hereinafter Lauer).
Regarding claim 2, as applied to claim 1 above, Chiles, as modified by Li, discloses the claimed invention except explicitly disclosing wherein the reply message is transmitted according to 5G or 6G technologies.
In analogous art, Lauer discloses wherein the reply message is transmitted according to 5G or 6G technologies (Figure 2 and paragraph 0049 disclose Data network system 200 may include a web server 202 connected to a client device 204 through a communication network 206, which may include communication links using technologies such as Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, 5G, code division multiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Web server 202 may serve web pages, as well as other content, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML, and so forth. A user may send a request to web server 202 to upload and/or retrieve information (e.g., web content, images, videos, posts, etc.) hosted on web server 202).
It 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 to incorporate using 5G to communicate with a web server, as described in Lauer, with communicating with a web server, as described in Chiles, as modified by Li, because doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Combining using 5G to communicate with a web server of Lauer with communicating with a web server of Chiles, as modified by Li, was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lauer.
Therefore, it 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 to combine the teachings of Chiles, Li, and Lauer to obtain the invention as specified in claim 2.
Claims 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiles in view of Li as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Forrester (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0102676 A1) (hereinafter Forrester).
Regarding claim 7, as applied to claim 1 above, Chiles, as modified by Li, discloses the claimed invention except explicitly disclosing wherein: a) the joining message further indicates a frequency and a bandwidth; and b) the new entry further comprises the frequency and the bandwidth.
In analogous art, Forrester discloses wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates a frequency and a bandwidth (Figure 2 and paragraph 0026 disclose programming within server 20a generates the join request. (The load balancing program 30 can periodically broadcast to the available servers the identities of the existing clusters, or the administrator can learn the identities of the existing clusters by manually checking the configuration of the load balancer 30.) After the join request is created, it is sent to the join function 40 within load balancing program 30 within firewall 22 (step 50). The join request includes a pass phrase (i.e. a sophisticated pass word) of the server, an identity (for example, a group identity) of a cluster that the server wants to join, a load threshold for the server, a time-out for the server, a “hello interval” for the server, a desired load balancing algorithm for the cluster and optionally, other user definable parameters for the server or cluster. Paragraph 0021 discloses identity (IP address) of each server in the cluster. Since the claim is directed only to the joining message indicating information and the new entry including the information and does not specific information is not relied upon by any step of the method, the specific information is considered as merely non-functional descriptive material and do not carry patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 and 2112.01(III)); and
b) the new entry further comprises the frequency and the bandwidth (Figure 2 and paragraph 0026 disclose join function 40 determines if the load balancing algorithm specified in the join request is the same as that listed in the existing configuration file 36 (decision 85). If so, then join function 40 adds server 20a to the named cluster, i.e. will add the IP address of server 20 to a list of servers in the named cluster (step 86). Paragraph 0021 discloses identity (IP address) of each server in the cluster. Since the claim is directed only to the joining message indicating information and the new entry including the information and does not specific information is not relied upon by any step of the method, the specific information is considered as merely non-functional descriptive material and do not carry patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 and 2112.01(III)).
It 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 to incorporate a join request including information which is added to a list, as described in Forrester, with an address list, as described in Chiles, as modified by Li, because doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Combining a join request including information which is added to a list of Forrester with an address list of Chiles, as modified by Li, was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Forrester.
Therefore, it 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 to combine the teachings of Chiles, Li, and Forrester to obtain the invention as specified in claim 7.
Regarding claim 8, as applied to claim 1 above, Chiles, as modified by Li, discloses the claimed invention except explicitly disclosing wherein: a) the joining message further indicates an MCS (modulation and coding scheme); and b) the new entry further comprises the MCS.
In analogous art, Forrester discloses wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates an MCS (modulation and coding scheme) (Figure 2 and paragraph 0026 disclose programming within server 20a generates the join request. (The load balancing program 30 can periodically broadcast to the available servers the identities of the existing clusters, or the administrator can learn the identities of the existing clusters by manually checking the configuration of the load balancer 30.) After the join request is created, it is sent to the join function 40 within load balancing program 30 within firewall 22 (step 50). The join request includes a pass phrase (i.e. a sophisticated pass word) of the server, an identity (for example, a group identity) of a cluster that the server wants to join, a load threshold for the server, a time-out for the server, a “hello interval” for the server, a desired load balancing algorithm for the cluster and optionally, other user definable parameters for the server or cluster. Paragraph 0021 discloses identity (IP address) of each server in the cluster. Since the claim is directed only to the joining message indicating information and the new entry including the information and does not specific information is not relied upon by any step of the method, the specific information is considered as merely non-functional descriptive material and do not carry patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 and 2112.01(III)); and
b) the new entry further comprises the MCS (Figure 2 and paragraph 0026 disclose join function 40 determines if the load balancing algorithm specified in the join request is the same as that listed in the existing configuration file 36 (decision 85). If so, then join function 40 adds server 20a to the named cluster, i.e. will add the IP address of server 20 to a list of servers in the named cluster (step 86). Paragraph 0021 discloses identity (IP address) of each server in the cluster. Since the claim is directed only to the joining message indicating information and the new entry including the information and does not specific information is not relied upon by any step of the method, the specific information is considered as merely non-functional descriptive material and do not carry patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 and 2112.01(III)).
It 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 to incorporate a join request including information which is added to a list, as described in Forrester, with an address list, as described in Chiles, as modified by Li, because doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Combining a join request including information which is added to a list of Forrester with an address list of Chiles, as modified by Li, was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Forrester.
Therefore, it 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 to combine the teachings of Chiles, Li, and Forrester to obtain the invention as specified in claim 8.
Regarding claim 9, as applied to claim 1 above, Chiles, as modified by Li, discloses the claimed invention except explicitly disclosing wherein: a) the joining message further indicates one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset; and b) the new entry further comprises the one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset.
In analogous art, Forrester discloses wherein:
a) the joining message further indicates one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset (Figure 2 and paragraph 0026 disclose programming within server 20a generates the join request. (The load balancing program 30 can periodically broadcast to the available servers the identities of the existing clusters, or the administrator can learn the identities of the existing clusters by manually checking the configuration of the load balancer 30.) After the join request is created, it is sent to the join function 40 within load balancing program 30 within firewall 22 (step 50). The join request includes a pass phrase (i.e. a sophisticated pass word) of the server, an identity (for example, a group identity) of a cluster that the server wants to join, a load threshold for the server, a time-out for the server, a “hello interval” for the server, a desired load balancing algorithm for the cluster and optionally, other user definable parameters for the server or cluster. Paragraph 0021 discloses identity (IP address) of each server in the cluster. Since the claim is directed only to the joining message indicating information and the new entry including the information and does not specific information is not relied upon by any step of the method, the specific information is considered as merely non-functional descriptive material and do not carry patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 and 2112.01(III)); and
b) the new entry further comprises the one or more capabilities or limitations of the new vehicle or fixed asset (Figure 2 and paragraph 0026 disclose join function 40 determines if the load balancing algorithm specified in the join request is the same as that listed in the existing configuration file 36 (decision 85). If so, then join function 40 adds server 20a to the named cluster, i.e. will add the IP address of server 20 to a list of servers in the named cluster (step 86). Paragraph 0021 discloses identity (IP address) of each server in the cluster. Since the claim is directed only to the joining message indicating information and the new entry including the information and does not specific information is not relied upon by any step of the method, the specific information is considered as merely non-functional descriptive material and do not carry patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 and 2112.01(III)).
It 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 to incorporate a join request including information which is added to a list, as described in Forrester, with an address list, as described in Chiles, as modified by Li, because doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Combining a join request including information which is added to a list of Forrester with an address list of Chiles, as modified by Li, was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Forrester.
Therefore, it 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 to combine the teachings of Chiles, Li, and Forrester to obtain the invention as specified in claim 9.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 6 are 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Considering claim 5, the best prior art found during the prosecution of the present application, Chiles and Li, fails to disclose, teach, or suggest the limitations of a) receiving, from the particular vehicle or fixed asset, a change message, the change message specifying the code and providing additional or changed information; b) determining a particular index according to the code; c) determining a particular entry according to the particular index; and d) revising the particular entry according to the additional or changed information in combination with and in the context of all of the other limitations in claim 5.
Considering claim 6, the best prior art found during the prosecution of the present application, Chiles and Li, fails to disclose, teach, or suggest the limitations of a) receiving a joining message from a new vehicle or fixed asset, wherein the new vehicle or fixed asset is not associated with any entry in the tabulation; b) determining that the joining message specifies a wireless address of the new vehicle or fixed asset, and requests that a new entry be added to the tabulation; c) generating the new entry in the tabulation, the new entry comprising the wireless address of the new vehicle or fixed asset; d) determining a new index value, and associating the new entry with the new index value; e) generating a new code according to the new index value; and f) transmitting a welcome message to the new vehicle or fixed asset, the welcome message indicating the new code in combination with and in the context of all of the other limitations in claim 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure.
Komai (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0035459 A1) discloses data output device and information-gathering system using the same;
Phillipps (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0114176 A1) discloses barcode identification of wireless terminals;
Schofield et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0212829 A1) discloses system, device, and method for managing communication services in an optical communication system;
Zara et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0015957 A1) discloses method to map an inventory management system to a configuration management system;
Hisasue et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0162936 A1) discloses material control system;
Boyd et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0243837 A1) discloses method and apparatus for l3-aware switching in an ethernet passive optical network;
Na et al. (U.S. Patent No. 7,152,119 B2) discloses apparatus and method for allocating IP addresses to network interface card;
Rai (U.S. Patent No. 7,159,034 B1) discloses system broadcasting ARP request from a server using a different IP address to balance incoming traffic load from clients via different network interface cards;
Sheynman et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0123166 A1) discloses system, method and apparatus for pre-pairing Bluetooth enabled devices;
Ma (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0107131 A1) discloses method and system for initialization configuration of managed device;
Hsieh (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0231526 A1) discloses access point device and monitor system using the access point device;
Dunbar et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0014387 A1) discloses virtual layer 2 and mechanism to make it scalable;
Xiong et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0014386 A1) discloses delegate gateways and proxy for target hosts in large layer 2 and address resolution with duplicated internet protocol addresses;
Lu et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0170492 A1) discloses communication method and system for a novel network;
Gukal et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0093910 A1) discloses dynamic security mechanisms;
Guo et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0124055 A1) discloses ethernet security system and method;
Koizumi et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0084313 A1) discloses terminal apparatus, communication system, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program;
Altman (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0114616 A1) discloses device, system, and method of wireless multiple-link vehicular communication;
Amico (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0027509 A1) discloses data privacy and security in vehicles;
Gant et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0165113 A1) discloses virtual entry system;
Zuniga et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0240064 A1) discloses vehicle-sharing system and method for accessing a vehicle from such a system; and
Eom et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0193614 A1) discloses mobile terminal and product registration method thereof.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to MARK G. PANNELL whose telephone number is (303) 297-4245. The Examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 3:00 pm (Mountain Time).
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/Mark G. Pannell/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642