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 WO 2011124078 A1 (Li), in view of ETSI TS 102 613 V7.0.0 (ETSI).
Regarding Claims 1, 8 and 15:
A near field communication (NFC) controller for a circuit having a first Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) and a second UICC, the NFC controller comprising a control circuit configured to: receive a low-power mode indicator from a main processor of the circuit, the low-power mode indicator designating an operation of the first UICC in a low-power operating mode, the second UICC being powered OFF when the first UICC is in the low-power operating mode; transmit the low-power mode indicator to the first UICC, the transmitting causing an auxiliary processor of the first UICC to retrieve a configuration indicator from an auxiliary memory of the first UICC, the first UICC using the configuration indicator to switch a single wire protocol (SWP) link for operating the first UICC in the low-power operating mode; and communicate, in the low-power operating mode, with the first UICC, wherein the first UICC is powered by the NFC controller in the low-power operating mode (Li: Fig. 1, a system configuration that supports contactless apps through a secure element 101 and sim 109; Fig. 2, secure element is integrated into SWP SIM through SWIO interface, and controlled through a contactless controller; Figs. 3-4 illustrate configurations of a single contactless controller interfaces with multiple secure element/SIMs through a switching configuration, e.g., in Figs. 7a-b and description of 7a; “for a contactless communication terminal, its working state can be divided into three situations, including a normal working mode, a low power mode (such as a sleep state), and a shutdown mode” through switches as illustrated in Figs. 7a-b and controlled through SWIOs).
Li does not teach explicitly on interactions between contactless controller and SIM. However, ETSI teaches (ETSI: 4.-5., SWP/UICC configurations; 6.2. and 8.4.; 11., contactless controller supports NFC operation mode, RF protocol and etc.).
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 Li with interactions between contactless controller and SIM as further taught by ETSI. The advantage of doing so is to leverage industrial standard(s) to enhance product features and ensure market compatibility.
Regarding Claim 2, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to exchange communication between the circuit and an external contactless device using an antenna (Li: Figs. 3-4).
Regarding Claims 3 and 10, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 2, wherein power provided by the antenna is used to power the NFC controller in the low-power operating mode (ETSI: 4.-5., SWP/UICC configurations; 6.2. and 8.4.; 11., contactless controller supports NFC operation mode, RF protocol and etc., Li: Figs. 3-4).
Regarding Claims 4 and 9, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to store the configuration indicator in the auxiliary memory in a full-power operating mode of the circuit (Li: Fig. 1, e.g., “The security chip 101 processes the data storage and security management tasks of the smart card application”).
Regarding Claim 5, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 1, wherein the NFC controller provides a voltage to the first UICC in the low-power operating mode (Li: Figs. 3-4).
Regarding Claims 6 and 12 and 19, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 1, wherein the first UICC and the second UICC conform to a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard (ETSI: 4.- 5.).
Regarding Claim 7, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is further configured to: designate an operation of the second UICC in the low-power operating mode; and exchange NFC communications with the second UICC (Li: Figs. 3-4 and 7a-b).
Regarding Claim 11, Li as modified further teaches:
The UICC of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to communicate with the NFC controller using a communication link having a switch that selectively links the UICC with the NFC controller (Li: Figs. 3-4 and 7a-b).
Regarding Claim 12, Li as modified further teaches:
The UICC of claim 8, wherein the UICC conforms to a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard.
Regarding Claim 13, Li as modified further teaches:
The UICC of claim 8, wherein the UICC is a first UICC, the device further comprising a second UICC, and wherein the second UICC is activated in response to de-activating the first UICC (Figs. 3-4 and 7a-b).
Regarding Claim 14, Li as modified further teaches:
The UICC of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a signal from a main processor of the device, the signal de-activating the UICC in the low-power operating mode (Li: Figs. 3-4 and 7a-b, where a control signal originated from a host controller or contactless controller is design choice).
Regarding Claim 16, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 15, wherein the control circuit is further configured to generate the control signal based on a determination of whether the NFC controller is to communicate with the first UICC or the second UICC via the SWP communications link (Li: Figs. 3-4 and 7a-b).
Regarding Claim 17, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 15, wherein the control circuit is further configured to: enable the SWP communications link between the NFC controller and the first UICC based on the control signal; and disable the SWP communications link between the NFC controller and the second UICC based on the control signal (Li: Figs. 3-4 and 7a-b).
Regarding Claim 18, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 15, wherein the SWP communications link between the NFC controller and the first UICC comprises an SWP communications channel between the NFC controller and a subscriber identification module (SIM) card (Li: Figs. 1-4 and 7a-b).
Regarding Claim 20, Li as modified further teaches:
The NFC controller of claim 15, wherein the SWP port, the control circuit, the control port, and the switch are integrated within a single element (Li: e.g., 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