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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Priority
1. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/28/2024 has been considered by Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
3. 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.
4. Claims 1-9, 11-13 and 15 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitations "...a wireless connection..." in lines 12 and 15; the term “a wireless connection" is previously presented in the claim lines 9-10. It is not cleared that the limitations "a wireless connection" in lines 12 and 15 referred back to the limitation "a wireless connection” claimed previously in lines 9-10. Clarification is required.
Claims 2-9 depend on claim 1. Therefore, the rejection of claims 2-9 are rejected the same as the rejection of claim 1 set forth above.
Claims 11-13 and 15 recite the limitations "...a wireless connection..."; the term “a wireless connection" is previously presented in the independent claim 10, line 15. It is not cleared that the limitations "a wireless connection" in claims 11-13 and 15 referred back to the limitation "a wireless connection” claimed previously in claim 10, line 15. Clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §103
5. 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.
6. Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DeGiovine et al. (U.S PAT. 11,832,207 hereinafter, “DeGiovine”) in view of Talty et al. (U.S PAT. 8,626,144 hereinafter, “Talty”).
Consider claim 1, DeGiovine teaches an IoT system, characterised in that the system comprises: a battery pack, the battery pack being provided with a connecting terminal and a wireless communication module (Fig. 1, col. 4, lines 16-20), the battery pack being configured to be capable of establishing an electrical connection and communication connection with a terminal device by means of the connecting terminal (col. 3, lines 3-18), and to be capable of issuing broadcast information by means of the wireless communication module, the broadcast information comprising identity information of the terminal device connected to the battery pack (col. 3, lines 41-49); and an electronic device, the electronic device being configured to be capable of receiving the broadcast information, and to be capable of operably establishing a wireless connection with the battery pack (col. 3, lines 31-40).
DeGiovine does not explicitly show that wherein the electronic device is further configured to be capable, in a state of having established a wireless connection, of storing identity information of the terminal device, and in a state of the wireless connection being broken, on the basis of the identity information in received said broadcast information matching the stored identity information, automatically establishes a wireless connection with the battery pack which issues the broadcast information.
In the same field of endeavor, Talty teaches wherein the electronic device is further configured to be capable, in a state of having established a wireless connection, of storing identity information of the terminal device (col. 2, lines 41-62), and in a state of the wireless connection being broken, on the basis of the identity information in received said broadcast information matching the stored identity information, automatically establishes a wireless connection with the battery pack which issues the broadcast information (col. 2, lines 14-40, i.e., The Bluetooth low energy master communication device identifies an advertising event broadcast by the slave communication device. The advertising event relates to a notification by the slave communication device of the availability of its services. Verification is made whether the identifier of the slave communication device matches the stored identifier. Wireless communications are autonomously established between the Bluetooth low energy master communication device and the slave communication device without a manual pairing operation in response to an identifier of the slave communication device matching the stored identifier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to use, wherein the electronic device is further configured to be capable, in a state of having established a wireless connection, of storing identity information of the terminal device, and in a state of the wireless connection being broken, on the basis of the identity information in received said broadcast information matching the stored identity information, automatically establishes a wireless connection with the battery pack which issues the broadcast information, as taught by Talty, in order for a reduction of complexity, packaging, and cost of adding a Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) chipset/modem for pairing a BLE-enabled portable device with a BLE-enabled application.
Consider claim 2, DeGiovine further teaches characterised in that the battery pack is further configured such that a wireless connection between the battery pack and the electronic device is broken at the same time as a connection between the battery pack and the terminal device is broken (col. 4, lines 30-45).
Consider claim 3, DeGiovine further teaches characterised in that the electronic device is further configured to be capable, on the basis of a user operation, of breaking, from the electronic device side, a wireless connection with the battery pack (col. 4, lines 30-45).
Consider claim 4, DeGiovine further teaches characterised in that the electronic device is further configured such that, when a wireless connection with the battery pack is broken on the basis of the user operation, identity information of the terminal device associated with the disconnected battery pack is deleted in the stored information of the electronic device (col. 4, lines 30-45).
Consider claim 5, DeGiovine further teaches characterised in that the electronic device is further configured to be capable of establishing a wireless connection with the battery pack, on the basis of a user operation, when the identity information in received said broadcast information does not match the stored identity information (col. 2, lines 14-40).
Consider claim 6, DeGiovine further teaches characterised in that the identity information comprises an ID or MAC address of the terminal device (col. 3, lines 41-49).
Consider claim 7, Talty further teaches characterised in that the broadcast information further comprises state information of the terminal device connected to the battery pack, and/or the broadcast information further comprises identity information and/or state information of the battery pack (col. 2, lines 41-62).
Consider claim 8, DeGiovine further teaches characterised in that the wireless communication module is configured to send out the broadcast information and establish a wireless connection with the electronic device, by means of a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) protocol (col. 4, lines 21-29), and preferably, the wireless communication module is integrated in the battery pack, or the wireless communication module is detachably mounted to the battery pack (col. 3, lines 19-30).
Consider claim 9, DeGiovine further teaches characterised in that the terminal device comprises a power tool, a charger, an adapter or another battery pack (col. 6, lines 36-47).
Consider claim 10, the subject-matter of independent claim 10 relates to a control method for IoT system with features fully corresponding to the characteristics of claim 1. Therefore, the same argumentation presented in relation to claim 1 is, mutatis mutandis, of application to claim 10.
Consider claim 11, the previous rejections of claim 2 apply mutatis mutandis to corresponding claim 11.
Consider claim 12, Talty further teaches characterised in that, when the identity information in received said broadcast information does not match the stored identity information, a user operation causes the electronic device to establish a wireless connection with the battery pack (col. 2, lines 14-40).
Consider claim 13, the previous rejections of claim 4 apply mutatis mutandis to corresponding claim 13.
Consider claim 14, the previous rejections of claim 6 apply mutatis mutandis to corresponding claim 14.
Consider claim 15, the previous rejections of claim 8 apply mutatis mutandis to corresponding claim 15.
Conclusion
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tuan H. Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 272-8329. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00Am - 5:00Pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pan Yuwen can be reached on (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/TUAN H NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649