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 . This action is in response to the communication filed on 02/09/2026. Claims 12-15, 20, 23-27 and 32-36 are pending in this application.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/09/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to new claim 36 as filed 02/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues:
a.
Applicant argues that the cited references do not disclose or suggest transmitting the configuration information to “a plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices,” and connecting “a plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices” to the network “simultaneously” as claimed in claim 36 (Reply, page 15).
a.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Ye explicitly teaches the network configuration of a plurality of appliances that are to be configured simultaneously (Ye, ¶ 0046, ¶ 0047, ¶ 0067). Also see details in the section of rejections.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 12-15, 20, 23-27 and 32-35 have been considered but are moot based on the new grounds of rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments. Specifically, the arguments present that the combination of the cited prior arts fails to provide for the amended language, where the rejection below now relies on Guo to teach the step of “determining successful network configuration,” and Marti teaches the connection structure of the laundry treatment device, the sweeper base station and the sweeper.
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 12-15, 20, 23-27 and 33-35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20190246346 A1, published 08/08/2019; hereinafter Huang), in view of Ye (US 20230353454 A1, priority dated 11/08/2021; hereinafter Ye), in view of Marti et al. (US 20160091540, published 03/31/2016; hereinafter Marti), in view of Guo (US 20210266307 A1, published 08/26/2021; hereinafter Guo), and in further view of Cao et al. (CN 113062091 A, published 07/02/2021, included in 03/19/2025 IDS; hereinafter Cao).
For Claim 12, Huang teaches a network configuration method (Huang, ¶ 0004 “… The present disclosure provides a network connection method with good compatibility and simple operation for a home appliance …”) comprising:
receiving, in response to a target electrical device being powered on, a hotspot activation instruction from a user, the target electrical device including a laundry treatment device (Huang, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0046 “… As illustrated in FIG. 1, a home appliance system includes a home appliance 1, a router 2, a server 3, and a mobile terminal 4. In the embodiment, the home appliance 1 is a washing machine, and a computer board controller in the home appliance 1 is a control component of the home appliance, and controls the automatic operation of the home appliance. The computer board controller communicates with the Internet through a networking component, a WiFi module …”; ¶ 0048 “… In step 200, network connection trigger message is received …”; ¶ 0049 “… In some embodiments, a button on a panel connected to the computer board controller and on the home appliance is touched to send the network connection trigger message to the WiFi module in the computer board controller of the home appliance, and the WiFi module receives the network connection trigger message …”; ¶ 0050 “… if the home appliance has not connected to a network or has not successfully connected to a network after being shipped from a factory, the WiFi module automatically receives the network connection trigger message after being turned on …”; ¶ 0057 “… In step 260, if the WiFi module fails to receive the network configuration information broadcast packet within the first preset time T1, or if the WiFi module fails to be connected to the router within the second preset time T2, the WiFi module enters a hotspot mode …”); …
receiving a network connection instruction transmitted by a terminal device, the network connection instruction including a wireless network identifier and a corresponding password (Huang teaches that the network configuration information includes a SSID and password information of a router; FIGS 1-3; ¶ 0060 “… In step 280, if the WiFi module receives the network configuration information within the third preset time T3, the WiFi module exits the hotspot mode and is connected to the router. …”; ¶ 0069 “… Generally, the home appliances in the home appliance system are mostly networked through a router. Therefore, the network configuration information broadcast packet or the network configuration information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a service set identifier (SSID) and password information of a router, and a unique identification code of a mobile client …”; ¶ 0075 “… A mobile terminal is connected to the router. Meanwhile when the mobile client software performs the network distribution, the mobile client software prompts the user to trigger the home appliance to enter the configuration mode and input the router password according to model information of the home appliance selected by the user, then the mobile terminal sends a router network configuration information broadcast packet and searches for the home appliance that is networked with the router …”); and …
Huang does not explicitly teach, but Ye teaches transmitting the hotspot activation instruction to a to-be-connected electrical device …, to cause the to-be-connected electrical device to enter an automatic network configuration phase (Yes teaches the appliance that has been configured with the network sharing the network configuration information with the appliance that is to be configured; FIG. 1, FIG. 2; ¶ 0036 “… The appliance that has been configured with the network obtains the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located within the network configuration range (in which network configuration information can be transmitted via hotspots) of the appliance that has been configured with the network. For example, the appliance, which has been configured with the network, obtains an appliance that carries a series of prefixes of hotspot names or obtains an appliance whose broadcast beacon carries specific manufacturer information, and the obtained appliance may be determined as the appliance that is to be configured with the network …”; ¶ 0046 “… In the present embodiment, the appliance that has been configured with the network automatically finds the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located near the appliance that has been configured with the network. The appliance that has been configured with the network shares its own network configuration information (such as home routing information) with the appliance that is to be configured with the network, allowing the appliance that is to be configured with the network to be bound to the user account of the shared the network configuration information …”), …; …
transmitting the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password to the to-be- connected electrical device … after the target electrical device has been successfully connected to a network based on the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password, to enable the to-be-connected electrical device to connect to the network based on the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password (Ye teaches the appliance that has been configured with the network sharing the network configuration information with the appliance that is to be configured; Huang teaches that the network configuration information includes a SSID and password information of a router; Ye, ¶ 0046 “… In the present embodiment, the appliance that has been configured with the network automatically finds the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located near the appliance that has been configured with the network. The appliance that has been configured with the network shares its own network configuration information (such as home routing information) with the appliance that is to be configured with the network, allowing the appliance that is to be configured with the network to be bound to the user account of the shared the network configuration information …”; Ye, ¶ 0047 “… the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with the network are allocated through the cloud, such that the plurality of appliances that have been configured with the network may operate cooperatively, and the appliances that are to be configured with the network may be connected to the network more quickly. …”); …
Ye and Huang are analogous art because they are both related to appliance network configuration/connection.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the sharing the network configuration information techniques of Ye with the system of Huang to provide better user experience and higher efficiency of network configuration for a plurality of appliances (Ye ¶ 0042).
Huang-Ye does not explicitly teach, but Marti teaches the to-be-connected electrical device (e.g. Marti exemplifies a vacuum cleaner in ¶ 0040) receiving messages through a base station (Marti discloses that a controller or a coordinator/proxy such as a base station may send messages to an accessory such as a vacuum cleaner; FIG. 1, FIG. 2; ¶ 0019 “… In some embodiments, the base station can function as a coordinator or proxy for the accessories …”; ¶ 0039 “… Network configuration 200 can support automated operation of accessories 204. For example, any of controllers 202 or coordinator 210 can execute program code that sends control messages to one or more of accessories 204 upon the occurrence of certain triggering conditions … The control messages can instruct the accessory to initiate an action …”; ¶ 0040 “… Any number of controllers can establish pairings with an accessory, and each controller can be any type of electronic device that supports user interaction (e.g., through a local or remote user interface) and that can communicate with other devices via wired and/or wireless channels. Examples include mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, dedicated accessory-control base stations, and so on. The accessory can be any electronic device that has a controllable function and that is capable of communicating with other devices via wired and/ or wireless interfaces. Examples include lamps (or lights), fans, thermostats, appliances (refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, etc.) …”);
the to-be-connected electrical device including a sweeper, the base station including a sweeper base station (Marti teaches that a controller or a coordinator/proxy such as a base station may send messages to an accessory such as a vacuum cleaner; FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0019, ¶ 0039, ¶ 0040), and
the hotspot activation instruction being transmitted from the target electrical device to the base station, and being transmitted from the base station to the to-be-connected electrical device and the laundry treatment device (e.g. acting as a controller) receiving information transmitted from the sweeper through the sweeper base station (Marti teaches the coordinator such as the base station facilitating communication between controllers such as the target electrical device or the laundry treatment device and accessories such as the vacuum cleaner; FIG. 1, FIG. 2; ¶ 0024 “… The protocol can further define message formats for controller 102 to send command-and-control messages (requests) to accessory 112 (or other accessories) and for accessory 112 to send response messages to controller 102 …”; ¶ 0033 “… A ‘coordinator’ 210 can be a device that facilitates communication between remote controllers 202(2), 202(3) and accessories 304(1) and 304(2) (should be 204 (1) and 204 (2)). Coordinator 210 can be any electronic device that is present in local environment 206 and capable of communicating with accessories 204 … coordinator 210 can be implemented in a desktop computer, a network access-point unit, a dedicated accessory-control base station …”; ¶ 0034 “… In some embodiments, coordinator 210 can act as a relay or proxy between controllers 202 and accessories 204 … In operation, a controller, e.g., controller 202(2), can establish a secure communication session with coordinator 210 and send a message to coordinator 210 indicating that it wishes to communicate with an accessory in local environment 206, e.g., accessory 204(1). Coordinator 210 can establish a secure communication session with accessory 204(1) and use that session to relay messages between controller 202(2) and accessory 204(1) …”); …
the laundry treatment device is connected to the sweeper base station through one or more data wires, and the sweeper base station is connected to the sweeper via a wireless connection (Marti, FIG. 2; ¶ 0040 “… Any number of controllers can establish pairings with an accessory, and each controller can be any type of electronic device that supports user interaction (e.g., through a local or remote user interface) and that can communicate with other devices via wired and/or wireless channels. Examples include mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, dedicated accessory-control base stations, and so on. The accessory can be any electronic device that has a controllable function and that is capable of communicating with other devices via wired and/ or wireless interfaces. Examples include lamps (or lights), fans, thermostats, appliances (refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, etc.) …”).
Marti and Huang-Ye are analogous art because they are both related to appliance network configuration/connection.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the appliance controlling techniques of Marti with the system of Huang-Ye to support an automated home appliance controlling environment (Marti ¶ 0006).
Huang-Ye-Marti does not explicitly teach, but Guo teaches determining, by the laundry treatment device, successful network configuration of the sweeper based on received network configuration success information and identity identifier information of the sweeper … (Guo teaches the sweeper (e.g. an appliance device such as a camera) communicating successful network configuration message with the laundry treatment device (e.g. a mobile phone with an APP) based on the laundry treatment device provided network configuration information (i.e. the username and the access password), the communication between the sweeper and the laundry treatment device is based on the device identifier of the sweeper; FIG. 4; ¶ 0077 “… At 405, the server verifies, upon the reception of information sent from the AIOT router, whether the camera is a device that is produced by a preset manufacturer and uninitialized according to the device identifier; if yes, the device identifier and the device random number are sent to a control end, such as an APP on a mobile phone …”; ¶ 0078 “… At 406, the APP generates, according to the device identifier and the device random number as well as a previously stored username and access password of a network to which the router belongs, a two-dimensional code and displays the two-dimensional code …”; ¶ 0079 “… At 407, the camera scans the two-dimensional code displayed by the APP, and acquires the username and the access password based on the two-dimensional code …”; ¶ 0080 “… At 408, the camera establishes a connection with the AIOT router by using the username and the password, thus completing network configuration …”; ¶ 0081 “… At 409, the camera sends a network configuration success message to the APP …”).
Guo and Huang-Ye-Marti are analogous art because they are both related to appliance network configuration/connection.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the appliance device network configuration techniques of Marti with the system of Huang-Ye-Marti to provide convenience for appliance device network configuration and improve user experience (Guo ¶ 0020).
Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo does not explicitly teach, but Cao teaches wherein: the laundry treatment device is fixedly connected to the sweeper base station, or the sweeper base station is disposed inside the laundry treatment device (Cao discloses a washing machine is fixedly connected to a charging base of a sweeping robot - Abstract).
Cao and Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo are analogous art because they are both related to appliances orientation.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the appliance orientation techniques of Cao with the system of Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo to provide an appliance structure to save the space (Cao, Abstract).
For Claim 13, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein receiving the hotspot activation instruction from the user includes: determining, in response to detecting that a network configuration button of the target electrical device is activated, that the hotspot activation instruction from the user is received (Huang, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0049 “… In some embodiments, a button on a panel connected to the computer board controller and on the home appliance is touched to send the network connection trigger message to the WiFi module in the computer board controller of the home appliance, and the WiFi module receives the network connection trigger message …”; ¶ 0057 “… In step 260, if the WiFi module fails to receive the network configuration information broadcast packet within the first preset time T1, or if the WiFi module fails to be connected to the router within the second preset time T2, the WiFi module enters a hotspot mode …”).
For Claim 14, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein the network configuration button is configured to instruct the target electrical device and the to-be-connected electrical device to be network configured cooperatively (Ye, FIG. 10, ¶ 0047 “… the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with the network are allocated through the cloud, such that the plurality of appliances that have been configured with the network may operate cooperatively, and the appliances that are to be configured with the network may be connected to the network more quickly …”; ¶ 0123 “… In the operation S104, after the network configuration is completed, confirmation information of the ownership of the network configuration of the appliance that is to be configured with the network is obtained …”; ¶ 0124 “… After all appliances that have been configured with the network complete network configuration, the cloud feeds the network configuration results back to the user terminal, and the network configuration results are presented to the user via the APP. The user may complete confirmation of the ownership of the appliance that is to be configured with the network via physical buttons and may upload confirmation information of the ownership of network configuration to the cloud …”). See the motivation to combine for claim 12.
For Claim 15, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 12, further comprising: determining, in absence of hotspot activation instruction from the user, to automatically activate a hotspot in response to the target electrical device being powered on (Huang, FIG. 1, Fig. 2, ¶ 0050 “… if the home appliance has not connected to a network or has not successfully connected to a network after being shipped from a factory, the WiFi module automatically receives the network connection trigger message after being turned on …”; ¶ 0057 “… In step 260, if the WiFi module fails to receive the network configuration information broadcast packet within the first preset time T1, or if the WiFi module fails to be connected to the router within the second preset time T2, the WiFi module enters a hotspot mode …”).
For Claim 20, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein: the to-be-connected electrical device is one of at least one to-be-connected electrical device and the base station is one of at least one base station; and the at least one base station has a one-to-one correspondence with the at least one to-be- connected electrical device (Marti discloses that an controller or a coordinator such as a dedicated accessory-control base station may pair with an accessory such as a vacuum cleaner, FIG. 2, ¶ 0040 “… Any number of controllers can establish pairings with an accessory, and each controller can be any type of electronic device that supports user interaction (e.g., through a local or remote user interface) and that can communicate with other devices via wired and/or wireless channels. Examples include mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, dedicated accessory-control base stations, and so on. The accessory can be any electronic device that has a controllable function and that is capable of communicating with other devices via wired and/ or wireless interfaces. Examples include lamps (or lights), fans, thermostats, appliances (refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, etc.) …”). See motivation to combine for claim 12.
For Claim 23, this claim is substantially similar to claim 12 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above. Additionally, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches a computer-readable storage medium storing a network configuration program that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor the method according to claim 12 (Huang, ¶ 0032 “… There is still further disclosed a computer-readable storage medium that stores computer-executable instructions for executing the above methods …”).
For Claim 24, this claim is substantially similar to claim 12 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above. Additionally, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches a household appliance comprising: a memory storing a network configuration program; and a processor configured to execute the network configuration program to (Huang, ¶ 0033 “… A home appliance device is provided and includes one or more processors, a memory, a WiFi module, and one or more programs. The one or more programs are stored in the memory, and when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors enable the WiFi module to execute the above method …”).
For Claim 25, this claim is substantially similar to claim 13 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 26, this claim is substantially similar to claim 14 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 27, this claim is substantially similar to claim 15 and therefore is rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 33, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein: the hotspot activation instruction is transmitted from the target electrical device to the base station through the one or more data wires, and is transmitted from the base station to the to-be- connected electrical device via Bluetooth (Marti discloses the data communications between the devices via wired and/or wireless channels; FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4; ¶ 0033 “… A ‘coordinator’ 210 can be a device that facilitates communication between remote controllers 202(2), 202(3) and accessories 304(1) and 304(2). Coordinator 210 can be any electronic device that is present in local environment 206 and capable of communicating with accessories 204 …”; ¶ 0040 “… Any number of controllers can establish pairings with an accessory, and each controller can be any type of electronic device that supports user interaction (e.g., through a local or remote user interface) and that can communicate with other devices via wired and/or wireless channels. Examples include mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, dedicated accessory-control base stations, and so on. The accessory can be any electronic device that has a controllable function and that is capable of communicating with other devices via wired and/ or wireless interfaces. Examples include lamps (or lights), fans, thermostats, appliances (refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, etc.) …”; ¶ 0046 “… Network interface 316 can provide voice and/or data communication capability for controller 300. In some embodiments, network interface 316 can include radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephone technology, data network technology such as 3G, 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 family standards), or other mobile communication technologies, or any combination thereof), components for short-range wireless communication (e.g., using Bluetooth and/or Bluetooth LE standards, NFC, etc.), and/or other components …”; ¶ 0055 “… Communication interface 436 can provide voice and/or data communication capability for accessory 400. In some embodiments, communication interface 436 can include radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephone technology, data network technology such as 3G, 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 family standards), or other mobile communication technologies, or any combination thereof), components for short-range wireless communication (e.g., using Bluetooth and/or Bluetooth LE standards, NFC, etc.), and/or other components …”). See motivation to combine for claim 12.
For Claim 34, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein: the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password are transmitted from the target electrical device to the base station through the one or more data wires, and are transmitted from the base station to the to-be-connected electrical device via Bluetooth (Marti discloses the data communications between the devices via wired and/or wireless channels; FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4; ¶ 0033 “… A ‘coordinator’ 210 can be a device that facilitates communication between remote controllers 202(2), 202(3) and accessories 304(1) and 304(2). Coordinator 210 can be any electronic device that is present in local environment 206 and capable of communicating with accessories 204 …”; ¶ 0040 “… Any number of controllers can establish pairings with an accessory, and each controller can be any type of electronic device that supports user interaction (e.g., through a local or remote user interface) and that can communicate with other devices via wired and/or wireless channels. Examples include mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, dedicated accessory-control base stations, and so on. The accessory can be any electronic device that has a controllable function and that is capable of communicating with other devices via wired and/ or wireless interfaces. Examples include lamps (or lights), fans, thermostats, appliances (refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, etc.) …”; ¶ 0046 “… Network interface 316 can provide voice and/or data communication capability for controller 300. In some embodiments, network interface 316 can include radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephone technology, data network technology such as 3G, 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 family standards), or other mobile communication technologies, or any combination thereof), components for short-range wireless communication (e.g., using Bluetooth and/or Bluetooth LE standards, NFC, etc.), and/or other components …”; ¶ 0055 “… Communication interface 436 can provide voice and/or data communication capability for accessory 400. In some embodiments, communication interface 436 can include radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephone technology, data network technology such as 3G, 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 family standards), or other mobile communication technologies, or any combination thereof), components for short-range wireless communication (e.g., using Bluetooth and/or Bluetooth LE standards, NFC, etc.), and/or other components …”). See motivation to combine for claim 12.
For Claim 35, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein:
the to-be-connected electrical device is one of a plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices (Ye teaches a plurality of appliances that are to be configured with the network; FIG. 1, FIG. 2; ¶ 0040 “… In an operation S23, appliances that are to be configured with the network may be prompted to the user, and an appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is selected by the user from the prompted appliances, is obtained and determined as the appliance that is to be configured with the network for the current network configuration …”), each of the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices includes a sweeper (Marti discloses that a controller or a coordinator/proxy such as a base station may send messages to an accessory such as a vacuum cleaner, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0019, ¶ 0039, ¶ 0040);
the hotspot activation instruction is transmitted from the base station (Marti discloses that a controller or a coordinator/proxy such as a base station may send messages to an accessory such as a vacuum cleaner, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0019, ¶ 0039, ¶ 0040) to the plurality of to- be-connected electrical devices, to cause the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices to enter the automatic network configuration phase (Yes discloses the appliance that has been configured with the network sharing the network configuration information with the appliances that are to be configured, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0036 “… The appliance that has been configured with the network obtains the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located within the network configuration range (in which network configuration information can be transmitted via hotspots) of the appliance that has been configured with the network. For example, the appliance, which has been configured with the network, obtains an appliance that carries a series of prefixes of hotspot names or obtains an appliance whose broadcast beacon carries specific manufacturer information, and the obtained appliance may be determined as the appliance that is to be configured with the network …”; ¶ 0046 “… In the present embodiment, the appliance that has been configured with the network automatically finds the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located near the appliance that has been configured with the network. The appliance that has been configured with the network shares its own network configuration information (such as home routing information) with the appliance that is to be configured with the network, allowing the appliance that is to be configured with the network to be bound to the user account of the shared the network configuration information …”; also see ¶ 0040); and
the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password to the plurality of to-be- connected electrical devices are transmitted through the base station (Marti discloses that a controller or a coordinator/proxy such as a base station may send messages to an accessory such as a vacuum cleaner, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0019, ¶ 0039, ¶ 0040) after the target electrical device has been successfully connected to a network based on the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password, to enable the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices to connect to the network based on the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password, simultaneously (Ye discloses the appliance that has been configured with the network sharing the network configuration information with the appliances that is to be configured to perform network configuration for the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with network simultaneously; Huang discloses that the network configuration information includes a SSID and password information of a router; Ye, ¶ 0046 “… In the present embodiment, the appliance that has been configured with the network automatically finds the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located near the appliance that has been configured with the network. The appliance that has been configured with the network shares its own network configuration information (such as home routing information) with the appliance that is to be configured with the network, allowing the appliance that is to be configured with the network to be bound to the user account of the shared the network configuration information …”; Ye, ¶ 0047 “… the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with the network are allocated through the cloud, such that the plurality of appliances that have been configured with the network may operate cooperatively, and the appliances that are to be configured with the network may be connected to the network more quickly. …”; Ye, ¶ 0067 “… the appliance that has already been configured with the network configures the network to the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is allocated to the instant appliance that has already been configured with the network. In this way, network configuration may be performed for the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with the network simultaneously, improving the efficiency of network configuration for the appliances. …”). See motivation to combine for claim 12.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20190246346 A1, published 08/08/2019; hereinafter Huang), in view of Ye (US 20230353454 A1, priority dated 11/08/2021; hereinafter Ye), in view of Marti et al. (US 20160091540, published 03/31/2016; hereinafter Marti), in view of Guo (US 20210266307 A1, published 08/26/2021; hereinafter Guo), in view of Cao et al. (CN 113062091 A, published 07/02/2021, included in 03/19/2025 IDS; hereinafter Cao), and in further view of Li et al. (US 20220224559 A1, published 07/14/2022; hereinafter Li).
For Claim 32, Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao teaches the method according to claim 12. Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao does not explicitly teach, but Li teaches wherein the hotspot activation instruction is initiated by the user using a Near Field Communication (NFC) identifier (Li discloses using an NFC tag to initiate the home device control program, FIG. 3, FIG. 7; ¶ 0089 “… when an NFC tag is disposed on the refrigerator, and the mobile terminal with an NFC device moves closer to the refrigerator, the NFC device on the mobile terminal may sense the NFC tag on the refrigerator, and read the device identifier on the NFC tag, different home devices has uniquely device identifier, so that the mobile terminal may determine the identity information of the refrigerator according to the device identifier …”; ¶ 0117 “… step 2: approaching the mobile terminal to the target home device such as a refrigerator, scanning and detecting the short-distance wireless communication signal (such as Bluetooth signal, radio frequency signal, near field communication (NFC) signal transmitted by the refrigerator, and calculating the distance to the refrigerator according to a signal strength value of the short-distance wireless communication signal and obtaining the device identifier of the refrigerator when the distance is less than or equal to the preset distance, and the mobile terminal may approach a device tag of the refrigerator and sense the refrigerator, and the mobile terminal may move closer to the wireless communication device (such as a Bluetooth hotspot) of the smart refrigerator …”; ¶ 0119 “… step 4: executing the device control program of the refrigerator according to the device information to control the refrigerator …”).
Li and Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao are analogous art because they are both related to appliance network configuration/connection.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the home device control program initiation techniques of Li with the system of Huang-Ye-Marti-Guo-Cao to facilitate controlling the home devices (Li ¶ 0004).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20190246346 A1, published 08/08/2019; hereinafter Huang), in view of Ye (US 20230353454 A1, priority dated 11/08/2021; hereinafter Ye), in view of Marti et al. (US 20160091540, published 03/31/2016; hereinafter Marti), and in further view of Cao et al. (CN 113062091 A, published 07/02/2021, included in 03/19/2025 IDS; hereinafter Cao).
For Claim 36, Huang teaches a network configuration method (Huang, ¶ 0004 “… The present disclosure provides a network connection method with good compatibility and simple operation for a home appliance …”) comprising:
receiving, in response to a target electrical device being powered on, a hotspot activation instruction from a user, the target electrical device including a laundry treatment device (Huang, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0046 “… As illustrated in FIG. 1, a home appliance system includes a home appliance 1, a router 2, a server 3, and a mobile terminal 4. In the embodiment, the home appliance 1 is a washing machine, and a computer board controller in the home appliance 1 is a control component of the home appliance, and controls the automatic operation of the home appliance. The computer board controller communicates with the Internet through a networking component, a WiFi module …”; ¶ 0048 “… In step 200, network connection trigger message is received …”; ¶ 0049 “… In some embodiments, a button on a panel connected to the computer board controller and on the home appliance is touched to send the network connection trigger message to the WiFi module in the computer board controller of the home appliance, and the WiFi module receives the network connection trigger message …”; ¶ 0050 “… if the home appliance has not connected to a network or has not successfully connected to a network after being shipped from a factory, the WiFi module automatically receives the network connection trigger message after being turned on …”; ¶ 0057 “… In step 260, if the WiFi module fails to receive the network configuration information broadcast packet within the first preset time T1, or if the WiFi module fails to be connected to the router within the second preset time T2, the WiFi module enters a hotspot mode …”); …
receiving a network connection instruction transmitted by a terminal device, the network connection instruction including a wireless network identifier and a corresponding password (Huang teaches that the network configuration information includes a SSID and password information of a router; FIGS 1-3; ¶ 0060 “… In step 280, if the WiFi module receives the network configuration information within the third preset time T3, the WiFi module exits the hotspot mode and is connected to the router. …”; ¶ 0069 “… Generally, the home appliances in the home appliance system are mostly networked through a router. Therefore, the network configuration information broadcast packet or the network configuration information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a service set identifier (SSID) and password information of a router, and a unique identification code of a mobile client …”; ¶ 0075 “… A mobile terminal is connected to the router. Meanwhile when the mobile client software performs the network distribution, the mobile client software prompts the user to trigger the home appliance to enter the configuration mode and input the router password according to model information of the home appliance selected by the user, then the mobile terminal sends a router network configuration information broadcast packet and searches for the home appliance that is networked with the router …”); and …
Huang does not explicitly teach, but Ye teaches transmitting the hotspot activation instruction to a plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices …, to cause the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices to enter an automatic network configuration phase (Yes teaches the appliance that has been configured with the network sharing the network configuration information with the appliances that are to be configured; FIG. 1, FIG. 2; ¶ 0036 “… The appliance that has been configured with the network obtains the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located within the network configuration range (in which network configuration information can be transmitted via hotspots) of the appliance that has been configured with the network. For example, the appliance, which has been configured with the network, obtains an appliance that carries a series of prefixes of hotspot names or obtains an appliance whose broadcast beacon carries specific manufacturer information, and the obtained appliance may be determined as the appliance that is to be configured with the network …”; ¶ 0040 “… In an operation S23, appliances that are to be configured with the network may be prompted to the user, and an appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is selected by the user from the prompted appliances, is obtained and determined as the appliance that is to be configured with the network for the current network configuration …”; ¶ 0046 “… In the present embodiment, the appliance that has been configured with the network automatically finds the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located near the appliance that has been configured with the network. The appliance that has been configured with the network shares its own network configuration information (such as home routing information) with the appliance that is to be configured with the network, allowing the appliance that is to be configured with the network to be bound to the user account of the shared the network configuration information …”), …; …
transmitting the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password to the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices … after the target electrical device has been successfully connected to a network based on the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password, to enable the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices connect to the network based on the wireless network identifier and the corresponding password, simultaneously (Ye discloses the appliance that has been configured with the network sharing the network configuration information with the appliances that are to be configured to perform network configuration for the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with network simultaneously; Huang discloses that the network configuration information includes a SSID and password information of a router; Ye, ¶ 0046 “… In the present embodiment, the appliance that has been configured with the network automatically finds the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is located near the appliance that has been configured with the network. The appliance that has been configured with the network shares its own network configuration information (such as home routing information) with the appliance that is to be configured with the network, allowing the appliance that is to be configured with the network to be bound to the user account of the shared the network configuration information …”; Ye, ¶ 0047 “… the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with the network are allocated through the cloud, such that the plurality of appliances that have been configured with the network may operate cooperatively, and the appliances that are to be configured with the network may be connected to the network more quickly. …”; Ye, ¶ 0067 “… the appliance that has already been configured with the network configures the network to the appliance, which is to be configured with the network and is allocated to the instant appliance that has already been configured with the network. In this way, network configuration may be performed for the plurality of appliances that are to be configured with the network simultaneously, improving the efficiency of network configuration for the appliances. …”);
Ye and Huang are analogous art because they are both related to appliance network configuration/connection.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the sharing the network configuration information techniques of Ye with the system of Huang to provide better user experience and higher efficiency of network configuration for a plurality of appliances (Ye ¶ 0042).
Huang-Ye does not explicitly teach, but Marti teaches the to-be-connected electrical devices (e.g. Marti exemplifies a vacuum cleaner in ¶ 0040 and a controller or a coordinator/proxy being able to communicated with a plurality of accessories in FIG. 2) receiving messages through a base station (Marti discloses that a controller or a coordinator/proxy such as a base station may send messages to accessories such as vacuum cleaners; FIG. 1, FIG. 2; ¶ 0019 “… In some embodiments, the base station can function as a coordinator or proxy for the accessories …”; ¶ 0039 “… Network configuration 200 can support automated operation of accessories 204. For example, any of controllers 202 or coordinator 210 can execute program code that sends control messages to one or more of accessories 204 upon the occurrence of certain triggering conditions … The control messages can instruct the accessory to initiate an action …”; ¶ 0040 “… Any number of controllers can establish pairings with an accessory, and each controller can be any type of electronic device that supports user interaction (e.g., through a local or remote user interface) and that can communicate with other devices via wired and/or wireless channels. Examples include mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, dedicated accessory-control base stations, and so on. The accessory can be any electronic device that has a controllable function and that is capable of communicating with other devices via wired and/ or wireless interfaces. Examples include lamps (or lights), fans, thermostats, appliances (refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, etc.) …”);
each of the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices including a sweeper, the base station including a sweeper base station (Marti discloses that a controller or a coordinator/proxy such as a base station may send messages to an accessory such as a vacuum cleaner, FIG. 1, FIG. 2, ¶ 0019, ¶ 0039, ¶ 0040), and
the hotspot activation instruction being transmitted from the target electrical device to the base station, and being transmitted from the base station to the plurality of to-be-connected electrical devices (Marti discloses the coordinator such as the base station facilitating communication between controllers such as the target electrical device and accessories such as the vacuum cleaner; FIG. 2; ¶ 0033 “… A ‘coordinator’ 210 can be a device that facilitates communication between remote controllers 202(2), 202(3) and accessories 304(1) and 304(2) (should be 204 (1) and 204 (2)). Coordinator 210 can be any electronic device that is present in local environment 206 and capable of communicating with accessories 204 … coordinator 210 can be implemented in a desktop computer, a network access-point unit, a dedicated accessory-control base station …”; ¶ 0034 “… In some embodiments, coordinator 210 can act as a relay or proxy between controllers 202 and accessories 204 … In operation, a controller, e.g., controller 202(2), can establish a secure communication session with coordinator 210 and send a message to coordinator 210 indicating that it wishes to communicate with an accessory in local environment 206, e.g., accessory 204(1). Coordinator 210 can establish a secure communication session with accessory 204(1) and use that session to relay messages between controller 202(2) and accessory 204(1) …”);
Marti and Huang-Ye are analogous art because they are both related to appliance network configuration/connection.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the appliance controlling techniques of Marti with the system of Huang-Ye to support an automated home appliance controlling environment (Marti ¶ 0006).
Huang-Ye-Marti does not explicitly teach, but Cao teaches wherein the laundry treatment device is fixedly connected to the sweeper base station, or the sweeper base station is disposed inside the laundry treatment device (Cao discloses a washing machine is fixedly connected to a charging base of a sweeping robot - Abstract).
Cao and Huang-Ye-Marti are analogous art because they are both related to appliances orientation.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the appliance orientation techniques of Cao with the system of Huang-Ye-Marti to provide an appliance structure to save the space (Cao, Abstract).
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed below, thank you:
i. Ha et al. (US 20200107379 A1) teaches that a network system of a home appliance configured to set up a network of the home appliance by using a terminal, and a network set-up method of the same, after converting a home appliance having built with WIFI module into an AP to enable the terminal to be connected to an AP home appliance, the information stored at the terminal is transmitted to the AP home appliance, and thus the WIFI may be set up without a separate manipulation of a user at the time of setting up the WIFI of the home appliance without adding an input/output apparatus such as a display apparatus or an interface, the set-up value of the AP, the device information, and the device authentication key may be changed , and thus is safer from hack attacks , an AP is not needed to be provided, and thus a cost-related advantage may be obtained (Ha, Abstract).
ii. Lee et al. (US 20150139025 A1) teaches that a wireless network configuration method and system for a smart appliance, wherein the smart appliance can start a client mode and an AP mode to connect with a wireless network AP and a portable electronic device separately. When the smart appliance established the connection with the wireless network AP, it will switch from the AP mode to a hidden SSID mode automatically. If an SSID and password of the access point have been stored in the portable electronic device, the portable electronic device will transmit these data to the smart appliance to simplify the operation for wireless network configuration (Lee, Abstract).
Conclusion
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/Z.D./Examiner, Art Unit 2444
/SCOTT B CHRISTENSEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444