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 .
This is in response to application 18/609,550 filed on March 19, 2024 in which claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending, of which claims 1, 8 and 16 are in independent form. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1).
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:
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 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Grabowski et al. (US 2016/0327293 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Grabowski teaches A fire alarm system in a building, comprising: (Grabowski, [0003], [0027] building is served by a building management system that includes a fire alerting system. Fig. 4 and [0051] building management system 400 implemented in building 10 includes “fire safety subsystem 430”).
Grabowski teaches a gateway connected to a system control panel for allowing mobile device access to the system; (Grabowski, [0050]-[0055] but particularly [0051] BMS controller 366 (i.e. control panel) controls subsystems including “fire safety subsystem 430” and [0053] communications interface 407 (i.e. gateway) “facilitates communications between BMS controller 366 and client devices 448” including for “mobile phone”).
Grabowski teaches a mobile device used by a technician and connected to the control panel; (Grabowski, Fig. 5 and [0050], [0074] client device is a mobile device used by a technician to connect to the BMS controller (i.e. control panel)).
Grabowski teaches a fire alarm system control application on the mobile device, wherein the fire alarm control system application gains access to the control panel via the gateway; (Grabowski, Fig. 5 and [0077] mobile device runs application to generate GUIs and access BMS system via interfaces/links. Also [0050], [0054]).
Grabowski teaches a database accessible via the fire alarm control system application wherein location and condition information about a plurality of fire alarm system devices is located, such that a search utility in the fire alarm control system application can search the database and identify a particular fire alarm system device from the other of the plurality of fire alarm system devices based on the location and condition information of the particular fire alarm system device; and (Grabowski, Fig. 5, [0077], [0079] locations database 524 stores BMS device locations (i.e. fire alarm locations) and allow as in [0077] searching for devices by “device location, fault status, operating status.”
Grabowski teaches wherein the fire alarm system control application on the mobile device includes a schematic map depicting an actual layout of a part of the building the technician is traversing and the identified particular fire alarm system device. (Grabowski, Fig. 19, [0080], [0180] presents on user interface requested device locations as “floor plan” that indicates the location of the device in conjunction with the technician’s mobile device location. [0113] cam explicitly be a “three-dimensional architectural model” and “location of each BMS device may be shown relative to the architecture of the building.
Regarding claim 2, Grabowski teaches wherein the database includes location information about a floor on which each of the plurality of fire alarm system devices is located and the fire alarm control system application search utility includes the ability to search the database and return results based on the location information (i.e., the user interface 506 may present a GUI that facilitates searching for BMS devices by device name (e.g., device ID), device type, device location, fault status, operating state, or any other variable or fixed parameter describing the BMS devices. In some embodiments, the GUI facilitates identifying one or more nearby BMS devices based on the locations of the BMS devices relative to the mobile device 502; [0077]).
Regarding claim 3, Grabowski teaches wherein the database includes zone information about a plurality of zones within the building each zone having multiple fire alarm system devices and into which each of the plurality of fire alarm system devices is a member of a zone of the plurality of zones and the fire alarm control system application search utility includes the ability to search the database and return results based on the zone information (i.e., a building (e.g., inside rooms or zones, at entrance/exit points, in hallways, etc.) and may be associated with a different emitter identifier 706, 708 for identifying each of the plurality of wireless emitters/receivers 702, 704; [0082]).
Regarding claim 4, Grabowski teaches wherein the database includes loop information about a plurality of loops within the building each loop having multiple fire alarm system devices and into which each of the plurality of fire alarm system devices is a member of a loop of the plurality of loops and the fire alarm control system application search utility includes the ability to search the database and return results based on the loop information (i.e., loop control, feedback control; [0140]).
Regarding claim 5, Grabowski teaches wherein the database includes group information about a plurality of groups within the building each group having multiple fire alarm system devices and into which each of the plurality of fire alarm system devices is a member of a group of the plurality of groups and the fire alarm control system application search utility includes the ability to search the database and return results based on the group information (i.e., The processor 1322 may be a general purpose or specific purpose processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a group of processing components, or other suitable processing components. The processor 1322 is configured to execute computer code or instructions stored in the memory or received from other computer readable media (e.g., CDROM, network storage, a remote server, etc.); [0157]).
Regarding claim 6, Grabowski teaches wherein the database includes service history information for each fire alarm system device and the fire alarm control system application search utility includes the ability to search the database and return results based on the service history information (i.e., the device locating system 1100 is shown to include a location history module 1124. The location history module 1124 may be configured to create and/or manage a location history for devices within a building (e.g., BMS devices, mobile devices, client devices, etc.). A location history for a particular device may include a series of locations (e.g., determined by the location determination module 1120) at which the device has been located in the past. The location history module 1124 may record the locations determined by the location determination module 1120 for each device in the locations database 1122 such that a location history for a particular device can be constructed; [0102]).
Regarding claim 7, Grabowski teaches wherein the database includes suggested maintenance timeframe information for each fire alarm system device and the fire alarm control system application search utility includes the ability to search the database and return results based on the suggested maintenance timeframe information (i.e., The graphical visualization provided by the model visualization module 1130 may facilitate locating a particular BMS device for service or maintenance. For example, service personnel can access the graphical visualization provided by the model visualization module 1130 to identify a specific location of a faulty BMS device (e.g., above a particular ceiling tile, within a wall six feet from the corner of a room, etc.). The specific locations provided by the model visualization module 1130 define the locations of BMS devices more precisely and more accurately relative to traditional systems (e.g., systems which specify only a room location or general physical location). Advantageously, the specific locations provided by the model visualization module 1130 may allow BMS devices to be readily located without requiring service personnel to search in a general location; [0117]).
Regarding claims 8-20. Claims 8-20 are essentially the same as claim 1-7 except that it sets forth the claimed invention as a system rather than a method and rejected for the same reasons as applied hereinabove.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRUONG V VO whose telephone number is (571)272-1796. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thurs. 7am-5pm.
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/TRUONG V VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2156 9/30/2025
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