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 .
The application of O’Connell et al. for an “electronic lock wake system” filed on February 28, 2024 has been examined.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application number 63/487,614, which is filed on February 28, 2023 and to U.S. provisional application number 63/514,116, which is filed on July 17, 2023.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Drawings
Referring to Figures 14-19, Color photographs and color drawings are not accepted in utility applications unless a petition filed under 37 CFR 1.84(a)(2) is granted. Any such petition must be accompanied by the appropriate fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(h), one set of color drawings or color photographs, as appropriate, if submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system or three sets of color drawings or color photographs, as appropriate, if not submitted via the via USPTO patent electronic filing system, and, unless already present, an amendment to include the following language as the first paragraph of the brief description of the drawings section of the specification:
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
Color photographs will be accepted if the conditions for accepting color drawings and black and white photographs have been satisfied. See 37 CFR 1.84(b)(2).
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show step 1326 in Figure 13 as described in the specification on page 18 paragraph 0066. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-8 and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Buckingham et al. (US# 8,354,914).
Referring to Claim 1, Buckingham et al. disclose a method of waking an electronic device (212) (column 2 lines 24 to 64; see Figures 1 to 5), comprising:
generating a unit of power in a power unit (24) in an electronic device (212) (i.e. A power signal generator 38 is also connected to the primary access control electronics 32. The generator 38 is disposed for generating the electromagnetic power signal 26 which is received by the storage device 24 of the door lock unit 12. The energy storage device 24 may then correspondingly comprise a solar panel arrangement for receiving the light signals 26 and converting them to electrical power. Alternatively and/or additionally, the power signal generator 38 and the energy storage device 24 may comprise split air gap transformers or any other type of magnetic or capacitive coupling arrangements suitable for facilitating transmission and reception of the electromagnetic signal 26) (column 4 lines 5 to 31; column 4 lines 57 to 66; see Figures 1 to 3),
powering the electronic device (12) with the unit of power (24) (i.e. the conversion of the electromagnetic emissions to electrical energy is done in much the same manner as known operations concerning RFID tags. In the case of the invention, the electrical energy is stored in a capacitive circuit of the energy storage device 24 for on-demand use by the secondary access control circuit 16 of the door lock unit 12) (column 4 line 66 to column 5 line 3; column 8 lines 21 to 30; see Figures 3 to 5),
measuring a physical characteristic of an output of the power unit (24) in a power condition reading device wherein the physical characteristic reflects an external event that affected the output of the power unit (i.e. the dynamo 301 is actuated by movement of the door feature 302 and is capable of supplying sufficient electrical energy to the energy storage device 24 to impart the required charge on the device 24. Thus, the door lock unit 312 has available power, as needed, stored in the energy storage device 24. The dynamo 301 generates sufficient electrical energy from a single actuation of the door feature 302 to permit multiple operations of the door lock unit 312, i.e., multiple entries of the door.) (column 5 line 3 to column 5 line 9; column 8 lines 27 to 42; see Figure 4), and
waking the electronic device (12) based on the physical characteristic (i.e. the energy storage device 24 includes discrete logic components which, in response to the dynamo power signal, send an activation signal to the secondary control electronics 16 that wakes up and activates the control electronics 16) (column 5 line 10 to line 36; column 8 lines 43 to 52; see Figures 3 and 4).
Referring to Claim 2, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1 wherein the electronic device (12) comprises an electronic lock (i.e. a door lock unit) (column 3 lines 28 to 32; see Figures 1 to 5).
Referring to Claim 3, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1 wherein the power unit comprises a solar cell (i.e. The door lock unit 12 also includes an energy storage device 24 (e.g., a super-capacitor, a solar panel arrangement, etc.) that receives electromagnetic signals 26 from the lock control assembly 14, converts those to capacitively stored electrical energy, and is connected to the secondary access control circuit 16) (column 3 lines 42 to 47; column 4 lines 23 to 26; see Figure 3).
Referring to Claim 4, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1 wherein the physical characteristic comprises one or more of a voltage level and a current level (i.e. the dynamo 301 is actuated by movement of the door feature 302 and is capable of supplying sufficient electrical energy to the energy storage device 24 to impart the required charge on the device 24. Thus, the door lock unit 312 has available power (i.e. voltage), as needed, stored in the energy storage device 24. The dynamo 301 generates sufficient electrical energy from a single actuation of the door feature 302 to permit multiple operations of the door lock unit 312, i.e., multiple entries of the door) (column 8 lines 21 to 35; see Figure 4).
Referring to Claim 5, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1 wherein the external event comprises a moving object (302) (i.e. the dynamo 301 is actuated by movement of the door feature 302 and is capable of supplying sufficient electrical energy to the energy storage device 24 to impart the required charge on the device 24) (column 8 lines 21 to 35; see Figure 4).
Referring to Claim 6, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: activating a radio transceiver (28) to detect a presence of an antenna (34) near the electronic device (12/312), and waking the electronic device (312) based on the physical characteristic and the presence of the antenna (i.e. after presenting the access card 42, the entrant maneuvers the door feature 302, e.g., the door handle, and activates the dynamo 301 which sends a power signal to the energy storage device 24. The power signal is received by the storage device 24 and, as mentioned above, is converted therein to stored energy. Further, in response to the power signal, the energy storage device 24 awakens the lock unit 312. Upon verification of the access card 42, the control assembly 314 transmits an `unlock` signal 30 via the wireless transceivers 34 and 28 to the awakened lock unit 312 which then unlocks the locking mechanism 18 and confirms such unlocking to the control unit 314 via the transceivers) (column 8 lines 53 to 67; see Figure 4).
Referring to Claim 7, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the unit of power is stored in an energy storage component (24) (i.e. The energy storage device 24 may then correspondingly comprise a solar panel arrangement for receiving the light signals 26 and converting them to electrical power) (column 4 lines 23 to 31; column 8 lines 21 to 35; see Figures 1 to 4).
Referring to Claim 8, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting with a switch controlled by an output of a processor (16) whether to power the electronic device (212) with the unit of power (i.e. upon receipt of a wake-up signal 22, the wake-up circuit 20 sends an electrical charge to the secondary access control electronics 16 which awakens and is activated. The wake-up signal generator 36, the emitted wake-up signal 22, the wake-up circuit 20, and the resulting activation of the door lock unit 10) (column 5 lines 26 to 32; column 7 lines 32 to 36; see Figures 1 and 3).
Referring to Claim 14, Buckingham et al. disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising alerting a remote entity based on the physical characteristic (i.e. the message can, for example, be an alert that the power signal 26 has ceased and that the system 10, 100, 200 requires maintenance) (column 10 lines 11 to 19).
Referring to claims 15-18, Buckingham et al. disclose an electronic device, although different in scope from the claims 1, 2 and 6, the claims 15-18 contains similar limitations in that the claims 1, 2 and 6 already addressed above therefore claims 15-18 are also rejected for the same reasons given with respect to claims 1, 2 and 6.
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.
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 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.
Claims 9, 11-12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buckingham et al. (US# 8,354,914) as applied to claims 1 and 18 and in view of Rogers et al. (US# 11,666,240).
Referring to Claims 9 and 19, Buckingham et al. disclose the method and the electronic device of claims 1 and 18, however, Buckingham et al. did not explicitly disclose wherein a measurement of the physical characteristic is stored in a buffer of samples.
In the same field of endeavor of a charging an electronic system, Rogers et al. teach that wherein a measurement of the physical characteristic is stored in a buffer of samples (i.e. accumulation detection module (ADM) 120 for continuously measuring the physical parameter in terms of exposure dose in an accumulation mode. The ADM is a light-powered sensing system comprising at least one photodiode (PD) for continuously generating photocurrent with a magnitude that is proportional to an intensity of electromagnetic radiation in response to exposure to the electromagnetic radiation (EMR), e.g., emitted from a light surface 180, at least one capacitor (i.e., SC) coupled to the at least one PD in parallel for storing charges accumulated from the generated photocurrent of the at least one PD, and at least one transistor (i.e., MOS) having a source and a drain coupled to the at least one capacitor) (column 17 lines 45 to 61; see Figure 5A).
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for having the capacitor for storing charges accumulated from the generated photocurrent of at least one photodiode taught by Rogers et al. in the energy storage device to receives solar to provide power to the door lock unit of Buckingham et al. because having the capacitor for storing charges accumulated from the generated photocurrent of at least one photodiode would provide a reliable energy storage device for the electronic lock system.
Referring to Claim 11, Buckingham et al. in view of Rogers et al. disclose the method of claim 9, Rogers et al. disclose further comprising comparing the measurement of the physical characteristic to a mean value of the buffer of samples (i.e. The deep sleep mode may be characterized as having an average deep sleep current in the electronic system that is less than or equal to 5 μA, 8 μA, or 10 μA. The shallow sleep mode may be characterized as having an average shallow sleep current that, while being very low, is, on average, greater than the average deep sleep current, such as greater than 5 μA, 8 μA or 10 μA. The ratio of deep to shallow sleep mode currents may be greater than or equal to 5, greater than or equal to 10, or greater than or equal to 20. In this manner, the overall system current may be substantially reduced, thereby increasing device longevity or lifetime) (column 25 lines 63 to column 26 line 12).
Referring to Claim 12, Buckingham et al. in view of Rogers et al. disclose the method of claim 9, Rogers et al. disclose further comprising calculating a standard deviation for the buffer of samples and waking the electronic device when the standard deviation for the buffer of samples is outside a threshold (i.e. when the stored electrical energy is equal to or greater than a pre-defined threshold, a wake-up event is generated to trigger the SoC to operates in a run mode in which the physical parameter associated with the stored electrical energy is wirelessly transmitted to a receiver and the stored electrical energy in the energy storing device is discharged) (column 19 line 52 to column 20 line 4; column 21 lines 16 to 34).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buckingham et al. (US# 8,354,914) in view of Rogers et al. (US# 11,666,240) as applied to claim 9, and further in view of Grana (US# 9,142,965).
Referring to Claim 10, Buckingham et al. in view of Rogers et al. disclose the method of claim 9, however, Buckingham et al. in view of Rogers et al. did not explicitly disclose further comprising passing the buffer of samples through a low pass filter.
In the same field of endeavor of a charging an electronic system, Grana teaches that passing the buffer of samples through a low pass filter (i.e. the notch filter (506) includes an inductor Ln and a capacitor Cn. The notch filter (506) acts as a low pass filter and relies on the internal capacity of the single chip micro controller (SCMC) of the local management unit (202x). A notch frequency of the notch filter (506) sits on the switching frequency to suppress noise. In one embodiment, additional or different filters can be used) (column 18 lines 39 to 48; see Figure 10B) in order to reduce noise for improve the energy production performance of the solar panels .
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for having the low pass filter sits on the switching frequency to suppress noise taught by Grana in the energy storage device to receives solar to provide power to the door lock unit of Buckingham et al. in view of Rogers et al. because adding the low pass filter sits on the switching frequency to suppress noise would improve the energy production performance of the solar panels for the electronic lock system.
Claims 13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buckingham et al. (US# 8,354,914) in view of Rogers et al. (US# 11,666,240) as applied to claims 9 and 18, and further in view of Mahar et al. (US# 10,764,079).
Referring to Claims 13 and 20, Buckingham et al. disclose the method and the electronic device of claims 9 and 19, however, Buckingham et al. in view of Rogers et al. did not explicitly disclose further comprising applying a machine learning based filter to the buffer of samples to detect one or more of a person moving toward the electronic device, a person moving away from the electronic device, a person moving past the electronic device, a change in lighting near the device.
In the same field of endeavor of an electronic control system, Mahar et al. teach that further comprising applying a machine learning based filter to the buffer of samples to detect one or more of a person moving toward the electronic device, a person moving away from the electronic device, a person moving past the electronic device, a change in lighting near the device (i.e. comparing module 215-a may further comprise a pattern detecting module 320. Pattern detecting module 320 may be configured to adaptively “learn” user preferences with regard to home automation system operation profiles without the need for direct user input. triggers may include motion data detected by one or more sensor units indicating that a user is moving towards the front door of his home. The received motion data may be compared with a user inputted preference relating to a “home lockup profile,” which may indicate that, upon detecting that a user has exited his home, the interior lights should be turned off, the thermostat should be turned down, and the exterior locks should be secured.) (column 12 lines 25 to 58; column 16 lines 1 to 28; see Figures 1 to 3) in order to provide a security access control automated system.
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for having the pattern detecting module to configured to adaptively learn user preferences to automate detect the user is moving towards the front door taught by Mahar et al. in the energy storage device to receives solar to provide power to the door lock unit of Buckingham et al. in view of Rogers et al. because having the pattern detecting module to configured to adaptively learn user preferences to automate detect the user is moving towards the front door would improve performance of the solar panels for the electronic lock system.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to the enclosed PTO-892 for details.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAM V NGUYEN whose telephone number is 571-272-3061. Fax number is (571) 273-3061. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM-5:00PM Monday to Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Quan-Zhen Wang can be reached on 571-272-3114. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications.
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/NAM V NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685