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 .
1. Claims 1, 3-11 are presented for examination and claim 2 is cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1, the phrase "cannot be" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d). Appropriate correction is required.
As per claim 3-11, these claims are at least rejected for their dependencies, directly or indirectly, on the rejected claim1. They are therefore rejected as set forth above.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
3. 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.
3.1 Claim(s) 1,3 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seok (KR20070072262A) in view of Ishida (US 20110307879 A).
Regarding claim 1, Seok discloses a remote monitoring apparatus of an air conditioner for remotely monitoring or remotely operating an air conditioner (Abstract, a remote management system for multi-type of air conditioner) the remote monitoring apparatus comprising:
a processor (page 5, computer with the local controller); and
a nonvolatile memory to store a first program for remotely monitoring or remotely operating the air conditioner (Page 3, Par. 3 and Par. 6, par. 9, memory in which a final version of a program downloaded from the remote management system is stored through the network), and
a version information of the first program (Page 7, Par. 2-3, the local controller may access the remote management system at regular intervals and report a program version currently in use), wherein the processor executes the first program at a time of activation (Page 3, Par. 5, the local controller of the local air conditioner system downloads a final version of the program from the remote management system and controls the operation of the indoor unit by the downloaded program) to:
(a) connect to a server via a network (page 2, Par. 4, a network connecting the local air conditioner system and the remote management system), and determine whether the first program coincides with or does not coincide with a latest program stored in the server based on the version information (Page 3, Par. 3-8; Page 5, Par. 2, The remote management system checks the version of the program currently being used by the information received from the local air conditioner system. In the case of a program of an older version than the program of the remote management system 10, the final version of the program is transmitted to the local air conditioner system); and
(b) continue executing the first program when the first program coincides with the latest program, and acquire the latest program from the server and execute a program update process of replacing the first program with the latest program when the first program does not coincide with the latest program (Page 3, Page 4-6, Page7, Par.2-6, the local controller may access the remote management system at regular intervals and report a program version currently in use, thereby continuously checking whether the remote management system needs to update the program of the local controller. If it is determined that it is necessary to update the program of the local controller to the final version of the program, the remote management system provides information about the number and size of files so that the local controller can download the final version of the program, and the local controller Download the local controller program of the last version suitable for the type of the local air conditioner system using the information on the number and size of the file),
However, Seok fails to disclose the nonvolatile memory stores, separately from the first program, a second program to execute a verification process for verifying whether or not the first program is a regular program and a backup program to execute at least the program update process, as a result of verification by the second program at the time of activation, the processor executes the first program when the first program is a regular program, and executes the backup program in place of the first program when the first program is not a regular program, and the nonvolatile memory is configured such that a partial area thereof can be set to be a protected area where a data cannot be rewritten; and the backup program is stored in the protected area.
Ishida discloses the nonvolatile memory stores, separately from the first program, a second program to execute a verification process for verifying whether or not the first program is a regular program ([0064], [0067], [0071], If the program folder A is valid at the present, this implies that the program group stored in the program folder A has the latest version of the program installed in the master unit 3. Accordingly, if it proves from the boot flag that the program folder A is the currently valid folder, the program update unit 34 determines, as the update target folder, the program folder B retaining the program group of the older version), and
a backup program to execute at least the program update process ([0038], After the program update process, if the updated program of the latest version does not run, the program folder of the program group of the retained as the backup is started up),
as a result of verification by the second program at the time of activation, the processor executes the first program when the first program is a regular program ([0037], a program update retaining two folders each including the same program group on one storage medium of a device. On the occasion of a program update process, a program group in the other program folder is updated, while the program group in another program folder is retained in the status quo as a backup to execute), and
executes the backup program in place of the first program when the first program is not a regular program ([0038], After the program update process, if the program (the updated program) of the latest version does not run, the program folder of the program group (retained as the backup) undergoing none of the program update process is selected, thereby the program is from the program folder of the program group retained as the back up to be started up),
the nonvolatile memory is configured such that a partial area thereof can be set to be a protected area where a data cannot be rewritten (0018], 0053], [0067] Fig. 1, Fig. 2, The program update unit 34 checks a boot flag in the FROM, Read Only Memory, and thus determines an update target program folder); and the backup program is stored in the protected area (Fig. 1 and 2, [0067], backup program is store or FROM, read only memory. The program update unit 34 checks a boot flag in the FROM 38 and thus determines an update target program folder).
Seok and Ishida are analogous art. They relate to upgrading the program versions.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify integrated management system and a control, taught by Seok, incorporated with program update device, taught by Ishida, in order to capable of fast and reliable program update at a long distance without the hassle of installing.
Regarding claim 3, Ishida discloses the nonvolatile memory further stores a key information used by the second program, in addition to the backup program, the second program, and the key information are stored in the protected area (Fig. 1-Fig. 6, [0053], [0064], the Boot program and Boot flag store in the FROM), and the first program and the version information are stored in an area different from the protected area of the nonvolatile memory (Fig. 8, [0052],[0064], application program, Recovery program and Checksum the program update unit, and the version information store in DRAM).
Regarding claim 6, Seok discloses when the processor executes the program update process, the processor restarts and executes the first program which has been replaced with the latest program (Page 7, Par. 1-8, the local controller accesses the remote management system, reports the version of the program currently being used, and determines whether the program update of the local controller is necessary based on the version information of the program being used in the remote management system. By downloading the final version of the program from the remote management system and executing the program, it is possible to update the program of the local controller from a distance).
3.2 Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seok (KR20070072262A) in view of Ishida (US 20110307879 A) further in view of Bowe (US 20050114670 A1).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Ishida and Seok disclose the limitation of claims 1 and 3, but fail to disclose the limitation of clam 4. However, Bowe discloses the limitation of claim 4 as follow: Bowe discloses the first program is signed with a digital signature (Abstract, [0037], the server generates and manages the clients' keys that are used to generate a signature), and the processor verifies whether or not the digital signature is regular using the key information in the verification process by executing the second program (Abstract, [0060], [0061], digital signature system is provided on a server for use by remote clients, such as by using a browser. The server generates and maintains all of the users' keys used for producing a digital signature).
Bowe, Seok and Ishida are analogous art. They relate to a server for use by remote clients.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify a digital signature system integrated taught by Bowe, incorporated with the teaching of Seok and Ishida, as state above, in order to provide a digital signature system that has all of its functionality on a server, including generation and maintenance of client keys.
3.3 Claim(s) 5 and 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seok (KR20070072262A) in view of Ishida (US 20110307879 A) further in view of Hill (US 7092794 B1).
Regarding claim 5 and 7-11, the combination of Ishida and Seok disclose the limitation of claims 1 and 3-6 but fail to disclose the limitation of clam 5 and 7-11. However, Hill discloses the limitation of claim 5 and 7-11 as follow:
Regarding claim 5, Hill discloses the server (server 12) includes: a first server to authenticate the remote monitoring apparatus (column 2, lines 1-6, remotely monitoring and controlling an HVAC device includes a server which receives queries from an entry device and data from the HVAC device; the server and includes the location and status of the HVAC devices, as does a user name/password file),
a second server to hold the latest program (column 1, lines 28-column 2, lines 25-27, automatically updating a database in the server relating to a status of the at least one HVAC device), and
the processor requests the first server to perform authentication (Fig. 2A-Fig. 2B, column 3, lines 1-13, the program begins by displaying a menu requesting input for a user name and password the program checks for entries, if entries are received, the entries are read and sent to server 12, after which an interface subroutine (FIG. 3) is invoked in step 218. The interface routine looks for messages from the server and returns control to the entry device program when a non-alarm message is received), and acquires from the first server an information for accessing the second server when a device information of the remote monitoring apparatus coincides with a device information stored in the first server (Claim 1, Fig. 7, column 5, lines 5-10, a server with bi-directional communications access to an entry device and at least one HVAC device and containing stored information relating to the status of said at least one HVAC device and further containing stored information that includes a password and a user name that are associated with said at least one HVAC device which must be properly identified before stored status information can be accessed by the entry device).
Regarding claims 7-11, Hill discloses an air conditioning system (Abstract, Fig. 1, an air-conditioning system 1) comprising: the remote monitoring apparatus (Abstract, remotely monitoring and controlling at least one HVAC device), the air conditioner (HVAC device 14 of Fig. 1); and the server (server 12 of Fig. 1).
Hill, Seok and Ishida are analogous art. They relate to status information to the entry device in response to the querying.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify remotely monitoring and controlling an HVAC, taught by Hill, incorporated with the teaching of Seok and Ishida, as state above, in order to control and diagnose the equipment from a distance with a secure communication link from the central location.
Citation Pertinent prior art
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Blair (US20170314797A1) discloses a remote diagnostic server is in operative communication with the HVAC system, and with the fault detection and diagnostic module. A user device communicates data to the remote diagnostic server that defines an association between the fault detection and diagnostic module and the HVAC system.
Jin-Seok et al. (US 20080196023 A1) discloses a remote management controller and a method for automatically updating the local controller of an air conditioner system, and more particularly, to a local controller, a remote management controller and a method for automatically updating the local controller of an air conditioner system which is capable of enhancing a system administrator's convenience by efficiently updating a local controller by using a remote management system
Gourlay et al. (US20190324738A1 discloses software updates to client devices. A client device (such as a thermostat) executes software to perform one or more functionalities of the device. Upon receiving an indicating that a software update is available, the device waits to download the software update until pre-download conditions are satisfied. Once the software update is downloaded, the device then waits to install the software update until pre-install conditions are satisfied.
Sung et al. (KR20090078565A) discloses a software update method for a system air conditioner is provided to reduce the time for updating and service cost by allowing remote updating of software in the indoor and outdoor units of the air conditioner. A software update method for a system air conditioner comprises a memory in which operation control software is stored.
A reference to specific paragraphs, columns, pages, or figures in a cited prior art reference is not limited to preferred embodiments or any specific examples. It is well settled that a prior art reference, in its entirety, must be considered for allthat it expressly teaches and fairly suggests to one having ordinary skill in the art. Stated differently, a prior art disclosure reading on a limitation of Applicant's claim cannot be ignored on the ground that other embodiments disclosed wereinstead cited. Therefore, the Examiner's citation to a specific portion of a single prior art reference is not intended to exclusively dictate, but rather, to demonstrate an exemplary disclosure commensurate with the specific limitations being addressed. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33,216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1 009, 158 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1968)). In re: Upsher-Smith Labs. v. Pamlab, LLC, 412 F.3d 1319, 1323, 75 USPQ2d 1213, 1215 (Fed. Cir. 2005); In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1782 (Fed. Cir. 1992); Merck& Co. v. Biocraft Labs., Inc., 874 F.2d804, 807, 10 USPQ2d 1843, 1846 (Fed. Cir. 1989); In re Fracalossi, 681 F.2d 792,794 n.1, 215 USPQ 569, 570 n.1 (CCPA 1982); In re Lamberti, 545 F.2d 747, 750, 192 USPQ 278, 280 (CCPA 1976); In re Bozek, 416 F.2d 1385, 1390, 163USPQ 545, 549 (CCPA 1969).
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed Kidest Worku whose telephone number is 571-272-3737. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Ali Mohammad can be reached on 571-272-4105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KIDEST WORKU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119