DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 3-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wilson et al. (Wilson, US PGPub 2014/0200856).
Referring to Claim 1, Wilson teaches one or more network devices configured to perform radiofrequency sensing (Fig. 1 #100; [0023]), the radiofrequency sensing network being adapted to perform radiofrequency sensing in a first sensing area and a second sensing area, the first and second sensing area being separated from one another by at least one physical separation (Fig. 1 #111; [0024-0025]), the apparatus comprising a baseline determining unit for determining a first baseline and a second baseline, the first and second baselines being determined based on radio-frequency signals received by the one or more network devices of the radiofrequency sensing network ([0021]), the second baseline being determined based on the interaction of the received radio-frequency signals with the at least one physical separation ([0024-0025]) such that the second baseline is derived from radiofrequency signal components associated with signal paths that traverse or are influenced by the physical separation, the first baseline being associated with the first sensing area, the second baseline being associated with the second area and being determined such that the second baseline enables a radiofrequency sensing of events in the second sensing area by the one or more network devices, and a configuration unit adapted to configure the radiofrequency sensing of the one or more network devices to differentiate between events originating from the first sensing area and the second sensing area based on the first baseline and the second baseline ([0024] and [0052-0054]), the configuration unit being adapted to apply processing of radiofrequency signal characteristics to differentiate detected events and to differentiate using events detected in the first sensing area that are attributable to the second sensing area (See Fig. 9A and 9B as well as [0081-0098], wherein the first baseline is determined based on radiofrequency signals received when the first sensing area and the second sensing area are both in the same state with respect to a sensing goal of the radiofrequency sensing performed by the one or more network devices, and wherein the second baseline is determined based on radiofrequency signals received when the first sensing area and the second sensing area are in different states with respect to a sensing goal of the radiofrequency sensing performed by the one or more network devices, the different states including at least a state in which the first sensing area is in an absence state and the second sensing area is in a presence state; [0053-0054].
Referring to Claim 3, Wilson teaches wherein the sensing goal refers to a presence/absence or activity detection of subjects in the first and second area, wherein the state of the first and second sensing area when receiving the radiofrequency signals utilized for determining the first baseline refers to a state in which subjects are absent or not active in the first and second area, respectively; [0053-0054].
Referring to Claim 4, Wilson teaches wherein the sensing goal refers to a presence/absence or activity detection of subjects in the first and second area, wherein the state of the first and second sensing area when receiving the radiofrequency signals utilized for determining the second baseline refers to a state in which subjects are absent or inactive in the first and present or active in the second area, respectively; [0053-0054].
Referring to Claim 5, Wilson teaches wherein the apparatus comprises a user interface unit, wherein the user interface unit is adapted to provide instructions to a user with respect to the performing of specified actions in the first area and the second area, wherein the first and second baseline are determined based on radiofrequency signals received by one or more of the one or more network devices of the network when the user performs the actions indicated by the instructions; See Fig. 8 and [0071].
Referring to Claim 6, Wilson teaches wherein for determining the second baseline, radiofrequency signal paths of acquired radiofrequency signals are determined that are influenced by events in the second sensing area, and wherein the second baseline is determined based on received radiofrequency signals associated with the determined radiofrequency signals paths; See Fig. 9A and 9B and associated text.
Referring to Claim 7, Wilson teaches wherein the first and second baseline are determined based on different signal characteristic ranges of the same received radiofrequency signals; See Fig. 9A and 9B and associated text.
Referring to Claim 8, Wilson teaches wherein for determining the first and second baseline receiving directions for radiofrequency signals received by the one or more network devices are determined and wherein the first and second baseline are determined based on the radiofrequency signals acquired from directions associated with the first and second sensing area, respectively; See Fig. 9A and 9B and associated text.
Referring to Claim 9, Wilson teaches wherein the first and second baseline are determined based on the same received radiofrequency signals; See Fig. 9A and 9B and associated text.
Referring to Claim 10, Wilson teaches wherein the configuration unit is adapted to configure the radiofrequency sensing such that the differentiation between events originating from the first and second area is based on processing instructions with respect to a processing of radiofrequency signals acquired by one of the one or more network devices of the network during a radiofrequency sensing utilizing the first and second baseline; See Fig. 9A and 9B and associated text.
Referring to Claim 11, Wilson teaches wherein the processing instructions refer to filtering out one of the first and/or second baseline from a radiofrequency signal received by the radiofrequency sensing network for differentiating between events originating from the first and second sensing area; [0021] and [0039] at least.
Referring to Claim 12, Wilson teaches wherein the configuration unit is further adapted to configure the functions of the radiofrequency sensing network with respect to a sensed event in the second sensing area based on a predetermined set of rules; See Fig. 7, 9A-9B and associated text of those figures as well as [0100].
Referring to Claim 13, Wilson teaches one or more network devices adapted to perform radiofrequency sensing, wherein the network is adapted to perform radiofrequency sensing in a first sensing area and a second sensing area separated by at least one physical separation, wherein the radiofrequency sensing of the one or more network devices is configured to differentiate between events originating from a first and second sensing area based on a first baseline and a second baseline by an apparatus according to claim 1; See citations of Claim 1 and 3 above.
Referring to Claim 14, Wilson teaches the radiofrequency sensing network having one or more network devices configured to perform radiofrequency sensing, the network being adapted to perform radiofrequency sensing in a first sensing area and a second sensing area, the first and second sensing areas being separated from one another by at least one physical separation, the method comprising: determining a first baseline and a second baseline based on radiofrequency signals received by the one or more network devices of the network, the second baseline being further determined based on the interaction of the received radio-frequency signals with the at least one physical separation physical separation such that the second baseline is derived from radiofrequency signal components associated with signal paths that traverse or are influenced by the physical separation, the first baseline being associated with the first sensing area, the second baseline being associated with the second area and being further determined such that the second baseline enables a radiofrequency sensing of events in the second sensing area by the one or more network devices, and configuring the radiofrequency sensing of the one or more network devices to differentiate between events originating from the first sensing area and the second sensing area based on-the first baseline and the second baseline and applying processing of radiofrequency signal characteristics to differentiate detected events and to differentiate using events detected in the first sensing area that are attributable to the second sensing area, wherein the first baseline is determined based on radiofrequency signals received when the first sensing area and the second sensing area are both in the same state with respect to a sensing goal of the radiofrequency sensing performed by the one or more network devices, and wherein the second baseline is determined based on radiofrequency signals received when the first sensing area and the second sensing area are in different states with respect to a sensing goal of the radiofrequency sensing performed by the one or more network devices, the different states including at least a state in which the first sensing area is in an absence state and the second sensing area is in a presence state; See Claim 1 for citations as this claim is the method associated with the above apparatus.
Referring to Claim 15, Wilson teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage device with computer-executable instructions stored thereon performing the method according to claim 14 when executed by a processor; See Claim 1 and [0100] .
Referring to Claim 16, Wilson teaches wherein the baseline determining unit is adapted to update the first baseline and the second baseline based on previously acquired radiofrequency signal measurements; [0040].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-19 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 23 April 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Wilson fails to teach at least “…the second baseline being determined based on the interaction of the received radio-frequency signals with the at least one physical separation such that the second baseline is derived from radiofrequency signal components associated with signal paths that traverse or are influenced by the physical separation…” The Examiner respectfully disagrees with this statement and points to the cited sections provided above as well at least Fig. 1. [0025] teaches that signals pass through walls 111 and that signal strength is measured, therefore, setting a first baseline of signal strength having no influence from a wall or obstruction and a second baseline based on the presence of a wall or obstruction in the pathway is implied if not explicitly anticipated by the cited paragraphs. Applicant further argues that Wilson does not teach “…the configuration unit being adapted to apply processing of radiofrequency signal characteristics to differentiate detected events and to differentiate using events detected in the first sensing area that are attributable to the second sensing area…” The Examiner respectfully disagrees with this statement and points to the cited sections provided above and emphasizes what is taught in the scenario of Fig. 9A and 9B; [0081] teaches “The first node n.sub.1 902a receives data from all of the other nodes (i.e., node n.sub.2 902b and node n.sub.3 902c) and then communicates that data to the computing device 904, which then processes the data. As can be appreciated, the results of processing the data may be further communicated by the computing device 904 to another computing device (not shown).” And [0091] teaches “When the person 914 or other object enters the network area the signal strength measurements may be disturbed. In heavily obstructed areas, the signal strength may either increase or decrease, depending on the location of the person 914 entering and on the propagation path of the link. As another round of token passing occurs, the signal strength changes are updated in the RSSI/LQI vectors of each of the nodes” This is interpretated that the processing is able to be differentiate between events where there is no person, wall or other obstruction present in an area and when there is some of presence detected within an area.
Applicant argues that Wilson does not teach “the different states including at least a state in which the first sensing area is in an absence state and the second sensing area is in a presence state.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees with this statement and points to the cited sections provided above as it is taught that the system can be … trained such that motion along a particular path does not trigger an alarm, while motion along a restricted path does.” As the network create different signatures and motion paths for the system, the setting of an absence state of present state is implied if not explicitly anticipated by the cited paragraphs as it is taught the system takes into account patterns of motion and presence.
Applicant states that Wilson only discloses a single “base state” used for comparisons and it is assumed that the Applicant is attempting to make the argument that as there is only a single base state then there is no first or second sensing area or that there cant be first or second baselines. As this statement is not clearly taken as an argument, the Examiner will clarify the position of the rejection based on the art. Fig. 1, 9A and 9B all teaches a network of dispersed nodes that are in communication and are used to detect motion or presence. The sensing are might be described as the whole area, as is shown by the figures there are several regions (rooms) in figure 1, hallway with rooms off the hallway as described in the specification. There additional rooms or areas separated by walls, trees or other obstructions create first and second areas. This is supported by the specification as the network can detect presences in one room (first area) or no presence in a different room or area (second area). The Examiner maintains this interpretation of the are is consistent with BRI and maintains the rejections are proper as provided above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WHITNEY T MOORE whose telephone number is (571)270-3338. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 7am-4pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jack Keith can be reached at (571) 272-6878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WHITNEY MOORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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