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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants’ communication filed on 12/01/2023. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-18 are currently pending in the instant application.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: There is a repeated claim 9 that should be claim 11. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2015/029 6460 A1).
Regarding Claim 7 Lee teaches the limitations "A computing device comprising: (see abstract and fig. 1);
a memory configured to store a power level for radio frequency transmission, the power level corresponding to a mapping between an accessory context of the computing device and a relative anatomical location of the computing device; (see fig. 6, par. 0117 and 0121-0123 and “The control module 330 may adjust the transmission power of the first communication module 310 or the second communication module 320 on the basis of the transmission power data table stored in the memory 350. The data table is described below with reference to FIG. 6.” “..each of the first case 610 to the Nth case 630 is based on conditions such as the contact state between the electronic device 300 and the human body (e.g., a simple grip state, a face contact state, a partial human body (e.g., a knee) contact state, or the like) or a distance between the electronic device 300 and the human body, so that an appropriate case for a situation may be selected to adjust the transmission power of the first communication module 310 or the second communication module 320 by the control module 330); Here each case is a contact state equated to the relative anatomical location, mapped with power levels and accessory context which is equated to the first or second communication being used (e.g. 802.11a (see par. 0125-0126));
a communications interface including a radio transmitter; (see fig. 1 (160));
a processor interconnected with the memory and the communications interface, the processor configured to: (see fig. 1 (120) connected to memory 130 and communication interface 160);
obtain input data representing a context of the computing device; (see par. 0103, where location can be also inferred from context information of mic on or off);
determine, from the input data, the accessory context of the computing device; (see par. 0012 “a sensor configured to detect a human body, a processor configured to detect whether the electronic device is adjacent to the human body on the basis of a result of detection of the sensor…”);
determine the relative anatomical location of the computing device;
select the power level based on the accessory context of the computing device and the relative anatomical location of the computing device; and instruct the radio transmitter to operate according to the selected power level" (see par. 0098-0099, “… the contact state between the electronic device 300 and the human body may be detected by the sensor 340. For example, the sensor 340 may detect the contact state using at least one of the sensors included in the sensor module 240 of FIG. 2 (e.g., the gesture sensor 240A, the grip sensor 240F, the proximity sensor 240G, the biometric sensor 2401, the temperature/humidity sensor 240J or the fingerprint sensor), the touch panel 252, or the camera module 291…For example, the control module 330 may differently adjust the transmission power for a case where the user has a telephone conversation using a speaker (e.g., the speaker 282 of FIG. 2) of the electronic device 300 (i.e., in a speaker phone mode) while placing the electronic device 300 on a table in comparison to a case where the user has a telephone conversation using a receiver (e.g., the receiver 284 of FIG. 2) of the electronic device 300 while holding the electronic device 300 closely to the user's head, ear, or face.” Also see fig. 10).
Claims 1 and 13 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 8 Lee teaches the limitations "The computing device of claim 7, wherein, to determine the relative anatomical location, the processor is configured to infer the relative anatomical location from the accessory context" (see par. 0012 “a sensor configured to detect a human body, a processor configured to detect whether the electronic device is adjacent to the human body on the basis of a result of detection of the sensor” and par. 0103, where location (i.e. adjacent to user’s mouth or ear) is also inferred from context information (i.e. activated mic or earphone).
Claims 2 and 14 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed
Regarding Claim 9 Lee teaches the limitations "The computing device of claim 7, wherein, when the relative anatomical location cannot be inferred from the accessory context, the processor is configured to determine the relative anatomical location based on one or more of
audio path data of the computing device;
gyroscopic measurements from a gyroscopic sensor of the computing device;
capacitance measurements from a capacitive sensor of the computing device; and
proximity sensor measurements from a proximity sensor of the computing device” (see par. 0066 “The sensor module 240 may measure physical quantity or detect an operation state of the electronic device 200 so as to convert measured or detected information into an electrical signal. The sensor module 240 may include, for example, at least one of a gesture sensor 240A, a gyro sensor 240B, an atmospheric pressure sensor 240C, a magnetic sensor 240D, an acceleration sensor 240E, a grip sensor 240F, a proximity sensor 240G, a color sensor 240H (e.g., a red/green/blue (RGB) sensor), a biometric sensor 2401, a temperature/humidity sensor 240J, an illumination sensor 240K, or an ultraviolet (UV) sensor 240M. Additionally or alternatively, the sensor module 240 may include, for example, (not shown) an olfactory sensor (E-nose sensor), an electromyography (EMG) sensor, an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, an iris recognition sensor, or a fingerprint sensor. The sensor module 240 may further include a control circuit for controlling at least one sensor included therein.” Also see par. 0098 showing location determined from sensor measurements).
Claims 3 and 15 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed
Regarding Claim 10 Lee teaches the limitations "The computing device of claim 9, wherein to determine the relative anatomical location based on gyroscopic measurements, the processor is configured to: obtain respective movement measurements along x-, y- and z- axes; compute a respective speed along each of the x-, y- and z- axes; compute an overall speed of the computing device by combining the respective speed along each of the x-, y- and z- axes; and when the overall speed of the computing device is below a predefined threshold, determine that the relative anatomical location is stand-alone from an operator" (see par. 0066 and fig. 2 showing gyroscopic sensor taking measurements and since Lee teaches the location is determined from proximity sensors then claim 10 has been met as Claim 10 further limits an alternate parent claim, i.e. if the reference teaches audio, capacitance or proximity based measurements, claim 10 is met).
Claims 4 and 16 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed
Regarding the second Claim 9 (should be 11) Lee teaches the limitations "The computing device of claim 7, wherein the input data comprises one or more of
an accessory identifier received from an accessory paired with the computing device; (teaches an alternate)
a magnetic field measurement from a Hall sensor; (teaches an alternate)
a proximity sensor measurement from a proximity sensor; and (see par. 0066 “a proximity sensor 240G”).
user input identifying a type of accessory " (teaches an alternate).
Claims 5 and 17 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed
Regarding Claim 12 Lee teaches the limitations "The computing device of claim 7, wherein to select the power level, the processor is configured to define the power level based on the relative anatomical location and modify the power level based on the accessory context " (see par. 0094 “The preset threshold value or the specified ranges may be changed according to a characteristic of the first communication module 310 or the second communication module 320.”).
Claims 6 and 18 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID BILODEAU whose telephone number is (571)270-3192. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00am-4:00pm Eastern Standard Time. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, Applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wesley Kim can be reached at (571) 272-7867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/David Bilodeau/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648