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 .
General Remarks
This communication is considered fully responsive to Applicant’s response filed 01/02/2026.
Application filed: 03/04/2024
Applicant’s PgPUB: 2025/0063615
Claims:
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1, 11 and 20 are independent.
Claims 1, 11 and 20 are amended.
IDS:
Previous IDS:
IDS filed 02/19/2025.
Priority/Continuity Data:
This Application claims priority to International Application No. PCT/US24/41835 filed 08/09/2024.
This Application claims priority to Provisional Application No. 63/532,668 filed 08/14/2023.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant’s response, filed 01/02/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive to overcome the prior rejection. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0201429 A1 to Schoenberg et al. (“Schoenberg”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3, 11, 13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0372551 A1 to Fleck et al. (“Fleck”) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0222517 A1 to McLaughlin et al. (“McLaughlin2”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0201429 A1 to Schoenberg et al. (“Schoenberg”).
As to claim 1, Fleck discloses:
a method, comprising:
receiving, by an electronic device connected to a local area network (Fig. 7, 204, ¶0021 of Fleck) and from an accessory electronic device connected to the local area network (Fig. 7, 206 of Fleck), a request to register with the electronic device (¶0032 – Fleck teaches SPDs (smart personal device) subscribing (i.e., request) to services then maintaining those subscriptions (i.e., register, registrations);
registering, by the electronic device, the accessory electronic device for a service provided by the electronic device based on the request (¶0032 – Fleck teaches SPDs (smart personal device) subscribing (i.e., request) to services then maintaining those subscriptions (i.e., register, registrations);
receiving, by the electronic device and from the accessory electronic device, a request to access the service (¶0032 – Fleck teaches SPGD (smart personal gateway device) acts as a service broker to the SPDs providing services and the SPDs consuming services. The SPGD may be an endpoint for those subscribed services to the WAN, and acts as a server to the SPDs subscribed to those services. The SPGD may cache emails which identify one or more of the SPDs subscribed to the email service, and notify the SPDs subscribed to the email service that emails are available (i.e., request to access). The SPGD downloads the emails once and provides them to the SPDs upon request (i.e., provide access)); and
providing, by the electronic device, over the local area network, and to the accessory electronic device, access to the service (¶0032 – Fleck teaches SPGD (smart personal gateway device) acts as a service broker to the SPDs providing services and the SPDs consuming services. The SPGD may be an endpoint for those subscribed services to the WAN, and acts as a server to the SPDs subscribed to those services. The SPGD may cache emails which identify one or more of the SPDs subscribed to the email service, and notify the SPDs subscribed to the email service that emails are available (i.e., request to access). The SPGD downloads the emails once and provides them to the SPDs upon request (i.e., provide access)).
McLaughlin2 discloses what Fleck does not expressly disclose.
McLaughlin2 discloses:
determining, by the electronic device and in response to receiving the request, an activity state based in part on at least one of detected user activity or other accessory electronic devices connected to the local area network (Fig. 15A, ¶0291 – McLaughlin2 teaches that depending on the specific technique used, acquiring the setup code by the controller can incorporate some form of user activity (e.g., entering the code, holding the controller in proximity to the accessory, operating a camera of the controller, etc.), and such activity may serve as confirmation that the user intends to establish a pairing between controller 1502 and accessory 1504, in addition to providing out-of-band confirmation of the identity of the devices.);
providing, by the electronic device, over the local area network, and to the accessory electronic device, access to the service based in part on the activity state (¶0408 – McLaughlin2 teaches which can be used to allow a given controller 2012 to establish a pairing and access door lock accessory; 0411 – McLaughlin2 teaches that once a particular controller 2012 has established a pairing with door lock accessory 2004 (e.g., using any of the techniques described above, including direct or delegated pairing), that controller 2012 can be used to access door. Examiner Note: McLaughlin2 shows that the holding of a controller in proximity to a controller indicates the user activity and state to pair which would allow access to the accessory based on the user activity (i.e,, standing in proximity to establish a pairing in order to gain access to the service provided by the accessory).
Fleck and McLaughlin2 are analogous arts because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to smart devices.
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate paring setup and accessory access as discussed in McLaughlin2 with remote service access system as discussed in Fleck by adding the functionality of McLaughlin2 to the system/method of Fleck in order to establish communications between electronic devices and in particular to uniform communication protocols for communicating between controllers and accessories (McLaughlin2, ¶0002).
Schoenberg discloses what Fleck and McLaughlin2 do not expressly disclose.
Schoenberg discloses:
after registering the accessory electronic device for the service (¶0050 – Schoenberg teaches owners of the wireless accessory 201 wishes to locate the wireless accessory, the owner can access a device locator user interface on the mobile device 102. The device locator UI 204 can be associated with a device locator application that is used to locate electronic devices and accessories that are registered with an online account of the user, such as a cloud services)
Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg are analogous arts because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to smart devices.
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate accessory device registration as discussed in Schoenberg with paring setup and accessory access as discussed in McLaughlin2 with remote service access system as discussed in Fleck by adding the functionality of McLaughlin2 to the system/method of Fleck and McLaughlin2 in order to allow users to locate and user devices (Schoenberg, ¶0050).
As to claim 3, Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg discloses:
method of claim 1, and
Fleck discloses:
wherein the accessory electronic device is configured to communicate exclusively via peer-to-peer communications (Fig. 7, Fig. 8 of Fleck; Fleck teaches use of Bluetooth technology between SPD and SPGD).
As to claim 11, similar rejection as to claim 1.
As to claim 13, similar rejection as to claim 3.
As to claim 20, similar rejection as to claim 1.
Claims 2, 4-7, 10, 12 and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0372551 A1 to Fleck et al. (“Fleck”) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0222517 A1 to McLaughlin et al. (“McLaughlin2”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0201429 A1 to Schoenberg et al. (“Schoenberg”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0117149 A1 to Marti et al. (“Marti”).
As to claim 2, Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg discloses:
method of claim 1,
Marti discloses what Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg does not expressly disclose.
Marti discloses:
wherein the electronic device is connected to a wide area network and the accessory electronic device is not directly connected to the wide area network (Fig. 2 of Marti).
Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg and Marti are analogous arts because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to smart devices.
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate network setup as discussed in Marti with paring setup and accessory access as discussed in McLaughlin2 with remote service access system as discussed in Fleck by adding the functionality of Marti to the system/method of Fleck and McLaughlin2 in order to demonstrate usage of direct and indirect network connections (Marti, Fig. 2).
As to claim 4, Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg discloses:
method of claim 1,
Marti discloses what Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg does not expressly disclose.
Marti discloses:
wherein the providing access to the service comprises:
obtaining, by the electronic device, information based on the service (¶0007 – Marti teaches providing automated environments that interact with a controller device capable of determining a user's established routine and detecting when the user deviates from the established routine);
generating, by the electronic device, a notification based on the information and the activity state (¶0007 – Marti teaches controller device can communicate with a coordinator device of the automated environment and/or with specific accessories in the automated environment to modify their behavior accordingly. For example, if the user is not coming home at the usual time, a thermostat accessory can delay heating or cooling of the house, thereby saving energy.); and
providing, by the electronic device and to the accessory electronic device, the notification for modifying an attribute of the accessory electronic device (¶0007 – Marti teaches controller device can communicate with a coordinator device of the automated environment and/or with specific accessories in the automated environment to modify their behavior accordingly. For example, if the user is not coming home at the usual time, a thermostat accessory can delay heating or cooling of the house, thereby saving energy.). The suggestion/motivation and obviousness rejection is the same as in claim 4.
As to claim 5, Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg and Marti discloses:
method of claim 4, and
Marti discloses:
wherein the information is obtained from another accessory electronic device of the local area network (Fig. 2, 202, Fig. 6, 610, ¶0076-¶0077 – Marti teaches controller devices (i.e., another accessory electronic device) can determine user deviations which can be used to determine how accessories respond). The suggestion/motivation and obviousness rejection is the same as in claim 4.
As to claim 6, Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg and Marti discloses:
method of claim 4, and
Marti discloses:
wherein the information is obtained from a remote electronic device external to the local area network, the remote electronic device not being accessible by the accessory electronic device (Fig. 2, 202, Fig. 6, 610, ¶0076-¶0077 – Marti teaches controller devices (i.e., another accessory electronic device) can determine user deviations which can be used to determine how accessories respond). The suggestion/motivation and obviousness rejection is the same as in claim 4.
As to claim 7, Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg and Marti discloses:
method of claim 4, and
Marti discloses:
wherein the notification includes a command to be executed by the accessory electronic device (¶0007 – Marti teaches controller device can communicate with a coordinator device of the automated environment and/or with specific accessories in the automated environment to modify their behavior accordingly. For example, if the user is not coming home at the usual time, a thermostat accessory can delay heating or cooling of the house, thereby saving energy.). The suggestion/motivation and obviousness rejection is the same as in claim 4.
As to claim 10, Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg discloses:
method of claim 1,
Marti discloses what Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Schoenberg does not expressly disclose.
Marti discloses:
wherein providing access to the service comprises at least one of:
providing messaging functionality to the accessory electronic device (¶0021 – Marti teaches light fixture can be connected to access point by a wired connection, and controller can communicate with light fixture by sending messages wirelessly to access point, which can deliver the messages to light fixture via the wired connection.),
providing payment functionality to the electronic device,
providing notification functionality to the electronic device,
providing control functionality of another accessory electronic device to the accessory electronic device, or
providing monitoring functionality of another accessory electronic device to the accessory electronic device. The suggestion/motivation and obviousness rejection is the same as in claim 4.
As to claim 12, similar rejection as to claim 2.
As to claim 14, similar rejection as to claim 4.
As to claim 15, similar rejection as to claim 5.
As to claim 16, similar rejection as to claim 6.
As to claim 17, similar rejection as to claim 7.
Claims 8, 9, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0372551 A1 to Fleck et al. (“Fleck”) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0222517 A1 to McLaughlin et al. (“McLaughlin2”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0201429 A1 to Schoenberg et al. (“Schoenberg”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0117149 A1 to Marti et al. (“Marti”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0091381 A1 to McLaughlin et al. (“McLaughlin”).
As to claim 8, Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg and Marti discloses:
method of claim 4,
McLaughlin discloses Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg and Marti does not expressly disclose.
McLaughlin discloses:
further comprising:
receiving, responsive to providing the notification to the accessory electronic device, feedback from the accessory electronic device indicating a status of the accessory electronic device with respect to the notification (¶0070 - McLaughlin teaches When a visitor rings doorbell, doorbell can send a status message to home application on user device indicating that someone manipulated (e.g., pressed a button) doorbell to cause doorbell to ring).
Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg, Marti and McLaughlin are analogous arts because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to smart devices.
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate controllers and feedback response as discussed in McLaughlin with network setup as discussed in Marti with paring setup and accessory access as discussed in McLaughlin2 with remote service access system as discussed in Fleck by adding the functionality of McLaughlin to the system/method of Fleck, McLaughlin2 and Marti in order to detect users of anomalies (McLaughlin, ¶0006).
As to claim 9, Fleck, McLaughlin2, Schoenberg, Marti and McLaughlin discloses:
method of claim 8, and
McLaughlin discloses:
further comprising:
executing, by the electronic device, a system-level process based on the status of the accessory electronic device with respect to the notification (¶0070 – McLaughlin teaches in response to receiving the message, home application can present a notification on the display of user device notifying the user that doorbell has been rung. The user can then provide input to home application to turn on external light and camera so that the user can view the person at the door using a video feed from camera presented on the display of user device. The user may provide input to home application to cause home application to unlock the door using door lock when the user knows the visitor and wants the visitor to enter home environment). The suggestion/motivation and obviousness rejection is the same as in claim 8.
As to claim 18, similar rejection as to claim 8.
As to claim 19, similar rejection as to claim 9.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAYLOR A ELFERVIG whose telephone number is (571)270-5687. The examiner can normally be reached Monday (10:00 AM CST) - Friday (4:00 PM CST).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oscar Louie can be reached at (571) 270-1684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TAYLOR A ELFERVIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445