DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/12/2026 has been entered.
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, 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, 8, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385), and further in view of Smith et al. (US 20140015857).
Regarding claim 1, Poluri discloses An electronic device for generating an augmented load center (Poluri, “[0001] the present disclosure relates to methods and systems for using augmented reality to assist an installer in installing and wiring devices within a building management system. [0026] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative system 10 that may be used to assist a user in installing and wiring any of a number of different electronic devices within a Building Management System (BMS)”), the electronic device comprising: a processor; a display unit coupled to the processor (Poluri, “[0028] The mobile device 14 may be a portable device such as a laptop computer, a tablet and/or a virtual reality headset. The mobile device 14 may in some cases be a smartphone, sometimes with virtual reality capabilities. In any event, the mobile device 14 has communication capabilities including networking block 18 (such as Bluetooth, WiFi or Cellular) so that the mobile device 14 is able to communicate with the remote server 12 via the networking block 18. The mobile device 14 also has a display 22 and a camera 20”); and
a storage unit accessible by the processor, the storage unit storing computer-readable instructions thereon that, when executed by the processor (Poluri, “[0040] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing an illustrative method 72 that may be carried out by one or more processors of a server (such as the remote server 12) executing executable instructions that may be stored on a non-transient, computer-readable medium”), cause the processor to:
obtain a digital image of a load center having a device installed in the load center; process the digital image of the load center to recognize individual device (Poluri, “[0028] The camera 20, for example, may be used by the user to take a picture of a particular electronic device and upload the picture to the remote server 12 so that the remote server 12 can correctly identify the particular electronic device (e.g. from the many other electronic devices of the BMS). [0033] The image may be transmitted to the remote server 12 so that the remote server 12 can process the image in order to identify the other electronic device, as indicated at block 40”);
process each recognized device in the digital image to extract an identifier for the recognized device (Poluri, “[0028] In some cases, the particular electronic device may include a sticker or other label that provides a QR code or other code that the remote server 12 can easily identify. [0030] Identifying the electronic device may be as simple as reading a bar code, a QR code or other identifiable code such as an alphanumeric identifier provided on a sticker or label on the electronic device”); and
display on the display unit an augmented image of the load center based on the digital image, showing the device in the load center, the augmented image overlaying each device with the identifier for the device (Poluri, fig.13, “[0028] The superimposed information may include text identifying a particular terminal, a description or a picture of the appropriately colored wire that should be connected to a particular terminal, a setting for a particular switch or parameter, and the like. [0049] This may, for example, include superimposing images or text over the displayed image on the mobile device 14, sometimes in an Augmented Reality Mode. [0031] the currently displayed live-image of the electronic device may instead be a live image of the electronic device as currently being captured by the camera 20 of the mobile device. [0053] The screen 170 also includes additional information 180 superimposed on the image, which informs the user that the terminal 176a is the Modbus RTU− terminal and the terminal 176b is the Modbus RTU+ terminal”).
On the other hand, Poluri fails to explicitly disclose but Thornton discloses the load center is an electrical distribution panel, and circuit protection devices located within slots in the electrical distribution panel (Thornton, “[0014] Numerous aspects of the construction of the inventive smart load center panel provide advantages in this application. These include: [0015] A dielectric chassis insulates components from the panel housing, and defines slots for holding and electrically isolating individual circuit boards, breakers, and other components; [0017] provisioning breaker stabs on individual circuit boards facilitates interposing a relay between each breaker stab and two (or more) sources of power; the circuit boards may additionally contain other electrical components”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Thornton and Poluri. That is, applying the augmented reality method of Poluri to the smart load center panel with breakers, relay, and other electrical components of Thornton. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to provide the novel and nonobvious mechanical aspects of a smart load center panel (Thornton, [0013]) with improved AR visualization.
On the other hand, Poluri in view of Thornton fails to explicitly disclose but Smith
discloses assign a slot number to each recognized circuit protection device based on a location of the recognized circuit protection device in the digital image (Smith, “[0054] In the example shown in FIG. 5, the picture 154 of the rack 102 with the associated overlay 156 visually arranged and aligned on the picture 154 of the rack 102 as specified by the technician is also displayed (in the "PHOTO VIEW" window shown in FIG. 5) along with the views of the model 158. Also, identifier information and location information captured using the smartphone 114 is displayed. In this way, a user can refer to the picture 154 and the other displayed information while building and editing the model 158 for the rack 102. The overlay 156 that is displayed over the picture 154 of the rack 102 includes markings that define the various slots 104 and slot numbers for each slot 104. [0057] the picture of the rack, the alignment of the overlay on the picture of the rack, the identifier information, and the location information are associated with one another”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Smith into the combination of Thornton and Poluri, to include all imitations of claim 1. That is, adding the overlay of slot numbers of Smith to the augmented reality method of Poluri and Thornton. The motivation/ suggestion would have been to provide a more convenient and accurate manner and may capture additional information (for example, a picture of the rack 102 and the equipment 106 installed in the rack 102) that may be useful. (Thornton, [0013]) with improved AR visualization (Smith, [0050]).
Regarding claim 5, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith discloses The electronic device of claim 1, wherein recognized circuit protection device has been disclosed.
Poluri further discloses wherein the computer-readable instructions cause the processor to extract the identifier for the recognized device by reading a coded identifier for the recognized device, the coded identifier including a barcode or a QR (Quick Response) code (Poluri, “[0028] the particular electronic device may include a sticker or other label that provides a QR code or other code that the remote server 12 can easily identify. [0030] Identifying the electronic device may be as simple as reading a bar code, a QR code or other identifiable code such as an alphanumeric identifier provided on a sticker or label on the electronic device. [0040] processing the received first image includes discerning a unique identifier that is included within the received first image. The unique identifier may, for example, include a bar code or a QR code displayed on the electronic device or an alphanumeric identifier on the electronic device”).
Regarding claim(s) 8, 12, they are interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 1, 5, respectively.
Claim(s) 15, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385), and further in view of Smith et al. (US 20140015857) and ABBONDANZIO et al. (US 20170033839).
Regarding claim 15, it recites similar limitations as claim 1, except that it further recites an external system, the external system hosting at least one of an installation and commissioning resource and/or an energy usage monitoring resource;
an electrical distribution panel having circuit protection devices installed therein, the circuit protection devices located within slots in the electrical distribution panel, the circuit protection devices communicatively coupled to the external system; and
an electronic device communicatively coupled to the external system, the electronic device configured to access at least one of the installation and commissioning resource and/or the energy usage monitoring resource,
communicate the augmented image of the electrical distribution panel and the identifier for each circuit protection device to the at least one of the installation and commissioning resource and/or the energy usage monitoring resource.
Poluri further discloses an external system, the external system hosting at least one of an installation and commissioning resource and/or an energy usage monitoring resource (, “Poluri, [0033] the remote server 12 may download installation instructions for the other electronic device to the mobile device 14 such that the mobile device 14 can superimpose the installation instructions on an image of the other electronic device”);
the devices communicatively coupled to the external system (Poluri, “[0027] The information describing how each of the electronic devices within a BMS are to be connected and wired may be entered into the engineering tool 16 as part of designing the BMS. The engineering tool 16 may upload this information to the remote server 12 such that the mobile device 14 may receive the information needed for a user to install and wire at least some of the electronic devices of the BMS in the building”); and
an electronic device communicatively coupled to the external system, the electronic device configured to access at least one of the installation and commissioning resource and/or the energy usage monitoring resource (Poluri, fig.1, “[0028] the mobile device 14 has communication capabilities including networking block 18 (such as Bluetooth, WiFi or Cellular) so that the mobile device 14 is able to communicate with the remote server 12 via the networking block 18. The mobile device 14 also has a display 22 and a camera 20, each of which will be used in guiding a user in installing and wiring any of a number of different electronic devices of the BMS. [0030] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing an illustrative method 24 of using a mobile device (such as the mobile device 14) to assist in installing and connecting an electronic device of a BMS, the electronic device mountable to a structure and including one or more wiring terminals connectable to one or more different wires”).
On the other hand, Poluri in view of Smith fails to explicitly disclose but Thornton discloses an electrical distribution panel having circuit protection devices installed therein, the circuit protection devices located within slots in the electrical distribution panel (Thornton, “[0014] Numerous aspects of the construction of the inventive smart load center panel provide advantages in this application. These include: [0015] A dielectric chassis insulates components from the panel housing, and defines slots for holding and electrically isolating individual circuit boards, breakers, and other components; [0017] provisioning breaker stabs on individual circuit boards facilitates interposing a relay between each breaker stab and two (or more) sources of power; the circuit boards may additionally contain other electrical components”). The same motivation of claim 1 applies here.
On the other hand, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith fails to explicitly disclose but ABBONDANZIO discloses communicate the augmented image of the data center and the identifier for each device to the at least one of the installation and commissioning resource and/or the energy usage monitoring resource (ABBONDANZIO, “[0034] The establishment of the communications connection may also cause an application, such as the image capture application (210) depicted in FIG. 2, to execute. In the example of FIG. 2, the image capture application (210) includes an image overlay that instructs the user to place a location identifier (the barcode) of the server within marks that are also overlaid on top of the live view of the digital camera of the mobile device. [0044] The method of FIG. 4 also includes providing (402) the stored locations (314, 122) and associated identifiers (104) of the servers to a system management server (114). Providing such stored locations and identifiers may be carried out by providing the example server location table (312) of FIG. 3 to the system management server (114) through in-band data communications, such as wireless data communications through a wireless LAN”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined ABBONDANZIO into the combination of Thornton and Poluri, Smith, to include all imitations of claim 15. That is, adding the communication of ABBONDANZIO to the electrical distribution panel and circuit protection devices of Thornton and Poluri, Smith. The motivation/ suggestion would have been providing (402) the stored locations (314, 122) and associated identifiers (104) of the servers to a system management server (ABBONDANZIO, [0044]).
Regarding claim(s) 19, Poluri in view of Thornton and ABBONDANZIO discloses discloses the system of claim 15. Furthermore, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 5.
Claim(s) 2, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385), and further in view of Smith et al. (US 20140015857) and Wada et al. (US 6172601).
Regarding claim 2, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith discloses The electronic device of claim 1.
On the other hand, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith fails to explicitly disclose but Wada discloses wherein the computer-readable instructions cause the processor to recognize individual object by applying an image edge- detection and matching algorithm to detect a contour of the individual object (Wada, description, “(15) Then, in step S6, the control unit 10 causes the feature point extracting section 22 to extract the feature points from the first and second pictures. Namely, a predetermined number of corresponding portions are searched by comparing the first and second picture data. This kind of searching operation can be done by using the pattern match processing. Alternatively, it is possible to apply the differential processing to the picture data obtained from the video camera 1 to detect the edges of the obstacle 5. Line segments connect the detected edges to obtain a wire frame image of the obstacle 5. Then, each apex of the obtained wire frame image is designated as a feature point. This processing is repeated for each of the pictures, thereby obtaining a plurality of feature points. Based on the comparison between the feature points of successively obtained still pictures, closest feature points are designated as corresponding or congruent points of two still pictures”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Wada into the combination of Thornton, Poluri and Smith, to include all imitations of claim 2. That is, applying the searching corresponding portions based on the comparison between the feature points, which are obtained based on wire frame image of Wada to the circuit protection devices of Poluri, Thornton, and Smith. The motivation/ suggestion would have been providing a method to detection target objects (Wada, abstract, A stereoscopic picture forming section forms a stereoscopic picture image of a detected obstacle based on three-dimensional coordinate data of the feature points).
Regarding claim(s) 9, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 2.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385) and Smith et al. (US 20140015857), and further in view of ABBONDANZIO et al. (US 20170033839) and Wada et al. (US 6172601).
Regarding claim(s) 16, Poluri in view of Thornton, Smith and ABBONDANZIO discloses the system of claim 15. Furthermore, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 2.
Claim(s) 4, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385) and Smith et al. (US 20140015857), and further in view of CURTIS (US 20160162772 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith discloses The electronic device of claim 1.
On the other hand, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith fails to explicitly disclose but CURTIS discloses wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to find a match between the identifier extracted for the recognized device and a set of predefined identifiers (CURTIS, “[0054] The mobile device 330 can compare the identifier of the first tag against the room identifiers to find a match, and then use the room data of the match to populate the interface screen. [0061] The mobile device 330 can compare the identifier of the second tag against the equipment identifiers to find a match, and then populate the interface with the equipment parameter entry fields, sliders, pulldowns, etc. from the equipment data of the match so that the user can enter corresponding parameter data. [0062] The mobile device 330 can compare the identifier of the second tag (e.g., 132/152) against the equipment identifiers to find a match, and then present the procedure data of the match.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined CURTIS into the combination of Thornton and Poluri and Smith, to include all imitations of claim 4. That is, adding the matching step of CURTIS to the processor of Poluri and Thornton, Smith. The motivation/ suggestion would have been The user of the scanning device (e.g., 330, 380, 385) scans the first tag (e.g., 131/151) to retrieve its corresponding tag information, which is used to identify the room, or the room and the facility (CURTIS, [0053]).
Regarding claim(s) 11, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 4.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385) and Smith et al. (US 20140015857), and further in view of ABBONDANZIO et al. (US 20170033839) and CURTIS (US 20160162772 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 18, Poluri in view of Thornton, Smith and ABBONDANZIO discloses the system of claim 15. Furthermore, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 4.
Claim(s) 6, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385) and Smith et al. (US 20140015857), and further in view of Cody et al. (US 20210196456 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith discloses The electronic device of claim 5.
On the other hand, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith fails to explicitly disclose but Cody discloses wherein the computer-readable instructions cause the processor to communicate the barcode or the QR code to a system installation and commissioning application running on the device, the system installation and commissioning application configured to program the device based on the information contained in the barcode or the QR code (Cody, “[0153] At block 1702, the process can involve loading a pre-programmed suturing process script or program, which may have been previously programmed in connection with the training/programming process as described above. The desired script/program can be loaded in various ways, e.g., by providing input to the system or a computer of the system to load the desired script/program from storage or memory (e.g., stored memory, internal memory, external memory, portable memory, disk, thumb drive, download, etc.), loading the desired script/program from an external source, inputting or providing a code (e.g., scanning a barcode on the target device or materials associated with the target device) such that the system automatically loads the correct script/program for the target device (e.g., based on the input code, scanned barcode, etc.), providing voice commands to load a script/program, and other ways of loading the desired script/program”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Cody into the combination of Thornton and Poluri, Smith, to include all imitations of claim 6. That is, adding the programing based on barcode Cody to the electrical distribution panel and circuit protection device of Poluri and Thornton, Smith. The motivation/ suggestion would have been such that a procedure script/program can be played back for an operator on-demand (Cody, [0152]).
Regarding claim(s) 13, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 6.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385) and Smith et al. (US 20140015857), and further in view of ABBONDANZIO et al. (US 20170033839) and Cody et al. (US 20210196456 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 20, Poluri in view of Thornton, Smith and ABBONDANZIO discloses the system of claim 15. Furthermore, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 6.
Claim(s) 7, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poluri et al. (US 20210248732) in view of Thornton et al. (US 20200136385) and Smith et al. (US 20140015857), and further in view of Gutierrez et al. (US 20230251648 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith discloses The electronic device of claim 1.
On the other hand, Poluri in view of Thornton and Smith fails to explicitly disclose but Gutierrez discloses wherein the computer-readable instructions cause the processor to prompt a user to manually enter an identifier for any devices for which an identifier was not extracted (Gutierrez, “[0008] asset-specific device data may be retrieved by: determining device data for a detected asset does not currently exist in the memory device; prompting a user of the motor vehicle to enter the device data; and storing the entered device data, associated with a unique identifier of the electronic asset, in the memory device”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined Gutierrez into the combination of Thornton and Poluri, Smith, to include all imitations of claim 7. That is, adding the manual input mechanism of Gutierrez to the processor and circuit protection device of Poluri and Thornton, Smith. The motivation/ suggestion would have to intelligent control systems provisioning flexible asset notification and management for in-vehicle electronic devices of motor vehicles (Gutierrez, [0001]).
Regarding claim(s) 14, it is interpreted and rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim(s) 7.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3, 10, 17 is/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:
Regarding claim 3, as amended, it recites, “recognize individual circuit protection devices by creating a frame grid for the electrical distribution panel based on the contour of the individual circuit protection devices, the frame grid defining a plurality of grid slots corresponding to the individual circuit protection devices, wherein each slot number is assigned based on a grid slot containing the recognized circuit protection device”. None of the prior arts on the record or any of the prior arts searched, alone or in combination, renders obvious the combination of elements recited in the claim(s) as a whole
Regarding claim(s) 10, 17, they are interpreted and allowed under similar rationale set forth in claim 3.
Response to Arguments
The applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/GRACE Q LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2618 3/20/2026