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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendments, filed 7/14/2026, have been received and entered. Claims 1-14, 16-17 and 19-20 remain pending in the application. Claims 15 and 18 have been canceled by applicant. The amendments to the Specification and Drawings have overcome each objection and claim 9 has overcome the 112(b) rejection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 4/15/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the marks, filed7/14/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-12, 14, 16-17 and 19-20 under 102/103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of 김동현 et al. (KR 102267854 B1, hereinafter referred to as KR-854) and further in view of Xing, Jinqiang (WO 2021022415 A1, hereinafter referred to as Xing). See detailed rejection below.
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.
Claims 1 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-854 in view of Xing.
Regarding claim 1, KR-854 teaches a power management method, executed by a first electronic device, comprising:
- obtaining, by the first electronic device, a first communication quality between the first electronic device and a second electronic device (KR-854 discloses an electronic device 130 (mapped to the first device of the claimed invention) that obtains a control signal with communication quality information. See page 6, paragraph [0004]).
- obtaining, by the first electronic device, a first motion data of the second electronic device (KR-854 discloses electronic device 130 also obtaining a detection signal from another device 120. The signal contains motion data of that other/second device. See page 11, paragraph [0006]).
- and managing, by the first electronic device, a first transmit power of the second electronic device according to the first communication quality (KR-854 discloses the same device 130 using the channel quality information to determine and manage the transmission power. See page 9, paragraph [0002]).
However, KR-854 does not teach managing, by the first electronic device, a first transmit power of the second electronic device according to a first variation of the first motion data of the second electronic device.
In the same field of endeavor, Xing discloses the concept of using the determination that movement/motion data has greatly changed or not to adjust the transmission power. The examiner interprets that determination to be the variation due to data variation calculating the spread between values in a dataset. See page 7, paragraph [0001], lines 4-8.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 to incorporate using data variation information along with communication quality data to determine transmission power. The motivation to combine is to foster a dynamic and data-driven process that optimizes resource use.
Regarding claim 19, KR-854 further teaches a non-transitory storage circuit, storing a program code and a processor, coupled to the non-transitory storage circuit and accessing the program code to perform (KR-854 discloses a process coupled to a storage circuit. See page 15, paragraph [0002]).
The following limitations are rejected for the same reasons outlined in claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, KR-854 further teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage medium recording an executable computer program, the executable computer program being loaded by a first electronic device to perform steps of (KR-854 discloses a computer readable storage medium that is able to record an executable program and perform that program to perform the operation of the invention. See page 15, paragraphs [0002-0003]).
The following limitations are rejected for the same reasons outlined in claim 1.
Claims 2, 7, 8 and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-854 and Xing and further in view of Rajan, Aneesh et al. (US 20230370862 A1, hereinafter referred to as Rajan).
Regarding claim 2, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, wherein the first communication quality comprises at least one of a received signal strength indicator and a data drop rate.
In the same field of endeavor, Rajan discloses the concept that the communication quality includes but is not limited to the RSSI. See paragraph [0039].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate RSSI being a unit of measure for the communication quality. The motivation to combine is to maintain performance and improve efficiency.
Regarding claim 7, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, in response to determining that the first transmit power of the reference device has been managed, obtaining the first communication quality and the first motion data again, and accordingly managing the first transmit power again.
In the same field of endeavor, Rajan discloses the concept of re-transmitting power of an electronic device after obtaining the communication quality and motion data again. See paragraphs [0014], [0016] and [0018].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate obtaining the communication quality and motion data again to continue the management of the transmit power. The motivation to combine is to adjust the transmit power with the most relevant and current conditions, leading to more reliable power settings.
Regarding claim 8, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, in response to determining that the first communication quality is not managed to be between a first quality threshold and a second quality threshold after the first transmit power has been consecutively increased or decreased for a predetermined times, stopping managing the first transmit power at least for a predetermined time length.
In the same field of endeavor, Rajan discloses the concept of stopping the management of power transmission after a period of time based on the communication quality. See paragraphs [0041] and [0056].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate pausing the management of the transmit power for a timeframe based on the communication quality. The motivation to combine is to conserve energy.
Regarding claim 10, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, in response to determining that the first communication quality has been managed to be between a first quality threshold and a second quality threshold, stopping managing the first transmit power at least for a predetermined time length.
In the same field of endeavor, Rajan discloses the concept of stopping the management transmission of power for a period time when the communication quality has managed to stay within a quality threshold range. See paragraphs [0041] and [0056].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate pausing the adjustments of the transmit power when the quality of the channel appears to be within a stable range. The motivation to combine is to conserve resources and maintain consistent performance.
Regarding claim 11, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, wherein before determining the first communication quality between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, the method further comprises: determining a first initial transmit power of the second electronic device based on a first relative position between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.
In the same field of endeavor, Rajan discloses the concept of predetermining a transmit power based on an initial relative position of an electronic device. See paragraphs [0040], [0055] and Table 1.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate using relative positions of the devices to elect transmit power. The motivation to combine is to balance coverage, interference and energy efficiency.
Regarding claim 12, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, wherein determining the first initial transmit power of the second electronic device based on the first relative position between the first electronic device and the second electronic device comprises: in response to determining that the second electronic device is placed at a first position, determining the first initial transmit power based on a first predetermined power corresponding to the first position.
In the same field of endeavor, Rajan discloses the concept of determining the transmission power based on the first relative position of the devices. This power level is predetermined based on the angle or position of the device.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate using the position of a device to determine a transmit power. The motivation to combine is to balance coverage, interference and energy efficiency.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-854 and Xing and further in view of Shahbazi Mirzahasanloo, Taher et al. (US 20220383881 A1, hereinafter referred to as Shahbazi).
Regarding claim 3, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, wherein the first motion data comprises an inertia measurement unit (IMU) data associated with the second electronic device.
In the same field of endeavor, Shahbazi discloses a concept of a device that includes IMUs that are configured to provide motion data. See paragraph [0101].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate using IMUs for a flexible and dynamic way to depict motion data. The motivation to combine is to have continuous monitoring of motion data.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-854 and Xing and further in view of Wang, Pei et al. (US 20230269672 A1, hereinafter referred to as Wang).
Regarding claim 4, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, wherein managing the first transmit power of the second electronic device according to the first variation of the first motion data of the second electronic device and the first communication quality comprises: in response to determining that the first communication quality is better than a first quality threshold and the first variation of the first motion data is lower than a first variation threshold, decreasing the first transmit power of the second electronic device; in response to determining that the first communication quality is worse than a second quality threshold and the first variation of the first motion data is higher than a second variation threshold, increasing the first transmit power of the second electronic device wherein the first quality threshold is better than the second quality threshold, and the first variation threshold is lower than the second variation threshold.
In the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches:
- in response to determining that the first communication quality is better than a first quality threshold … decreasing the first transmit power of the second electronic device (Wang discloses decreasing the transmission power based on the RSSI being greater than a first threshold. See paragraph [0050]).
- in response to determining that the first communication quality is worse than a second quality threshold … increasing the first transmit power of the second electronic device (Wang discloses increasing the transmission power based on the RSSI being less than a second threshold. See paragraph [0044]).
- increasing the first transmit power of the second electronic device wherein the first quality threshold is better than the second quality threshold (Wang discloses increasing the transmission power when the RSSI is less than both the first and second threshold. The examiner interprets this using BRI, where the first threshold has the possibility to be greater than the second threshold in this scenario if the communication quality value is less than both. See paragraph [0044]).
Xing further teaches the concept of:
- determining that the first variation of the first motion data is lower than a first variation threshold
- determining that the first variation of the first motion data is higher than a second variation threshold
- and the first variation threshold is lower than the second variation threshold.
Xing discloses comparing the variation of motion data against various thresholds to determine whether to adjust the transmission power. See page 7, paragraph [0001], lines 4-8.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate comparing the communication quality against threshold to validate transmission power adjustments. The motivation to combine is ensure power changes are targeted and timely.
Regarding claim 5, it is rejected for the same reason outlined in claim 4.
Regarding claim 6, it is rejected for the same reason outlined in claim 4.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-854, Xing and Rajan and further in view of Park, Jae-Seok et al. (US 20210376664 A1, hereinafter referred to as Park).
Regarding claim 9, KR-854, Xing and Rajan teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, in response to determining that the first transmit power of the reference device has been managed, obtaining the first communication quality and the first motion data again, and accordingly managing the first transmit power again.
In the same field of endeavor, Park discloses the concept of outputting a message to request the user to change the position of an electronic device. See paragraph [0130].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854, Xing and Rajan to incorporate a notification to move the electronic device to avoid keeping the device idle. The motivation to combine is to improve signal quality.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-854 and Xing and further in view of Seyed, Shurhabeel Zamir et al. (US 20180175944 A1, hereinafter referred to as Seyed).
Regarding claim 14, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, wherein one of the first electronic device and the second electronic device is a host device, another of the first electronic device and the second electronic device is a wearable device, and before determining the first communication quality between the first electronic device and the second electronic device the method further comprises: requesting a user wearing the wearable device to maintain a predetermined posture for a predetermined duration;
determining a received signal quality associated with the wearable device within the predetermined duration; and determining a first initial transmit power of the wearable device based on the received signal quality, wherein the first initial transmit power is negatively related to the received signal quality associated with the wearable device.
In the same field of endeavor, Seyed discloses a system that provides user feedback through a message notification on a wearable device, prompting the user to reposition their body, which can be interpreted as maintaining their new position. See paragraph [0097] and Figure 1B.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate prompting the user to reposition their body. The motivation to combine is to improve signal quality.
Claims 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-854 and Xing and further in view of Zorgui, Marwen et al. (US 20240251359 A1, hereinafter referred to as Zorgui).
Regarding claim 16, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, managing, by the first electronic device, a reference transmit power of the first electronic device according to the first motion data of the second electronic device and the first communication quality.
In the same field of endeavor, Zorgui discloses the concept of managing a reference power in relation to the communication quality and UE that collects motion data through sensors. The examiner interprets the path-loss evaluation as a form of communication quality analysis. See paragraphs [0089] and [0148].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate managing the reference transmit power based on parameters like motion data and communication quality. The motivation to combine is to improve coverage and optimize resources by adapting to real-time conditions.
Regarding claim 17, KR-854 and Xing teach all aspects of the claimed invention except, obtaining a second communication quality between the first electronic device and a third electronic device; obtaining a second motion data of the third electronic device; and managing a second transmit power of the third electronic device according to the second motion data and the second communication quality.
In the same field of endeavor, Zorgui discloses the concept of a device performing a sidelink positioning procedure with multiple UEs to manage transmit power. See paragraph [0108].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify KR-854 and Xing to incorporate multiple UEs participating in the process of managing the transmit power. The motivation to combine is for higher throughput and improved efficiency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 13 is still 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 CAMILLE J ETIENNE whose telephone number is (571)721-1789. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 9:00- 7:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached at (571) 272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.J.E./Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/RICKY Q NGO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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