Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/628,582

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING PERSONAL IOT NETWORK SERVICES

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Apr 05, 2024
Priority
Apr 06, 2023 — IN 202341026099
Examiner
FAYED, RASHA K
Art Unit
2413
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
63%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
89%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 63% of resolved cases
63%
Career Allowance Rate
230 granted / 365 resolved
+5.0% vs TC avg
Strong +26% interview lift
Without
With
+26.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
405
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.8%
-35.2% vs TC avg
§103
71.3%
+31.3% vs TC avg
§102
12.6%
-27.4% vs TC avg
§112
8.9%
-31.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 365 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Priority Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/22/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 4. 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. 5. Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 15, 17-18 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US. Pub. No. 2021/0266326 A1) in view of Shi et al. (US. Pub. No. 2024/0314534 A1). Regarding Claim 1, Chen discloses a method performed by a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN) for managing PIN services (See Par. [81]-[82], [121]-[124] and Fig. 2 of Chen for a reference to an Automated User Management (AUM)-Client [analogous to a PEMC] that receives a registration request message from a registering entity [analogous to a PINE] identifying the entity and the service/device type it offers) the method comprising: receiving, from a PIN element (PINE) of the PIN, a PIN services registration request to register at least one new service (See Par. [89], [111]-[112], [121] and Fig. 8; 121 of Chen for a reference to device 110 [Registree Entity] may send a registration request message to AUM-C 111 [Registrar Entity]. In the request, device 110 may indicate the type of the device 110 and the service ID); determining whether the PINE is allowed to register the at least one new service, and whether the at least one new service is allowed to be offered by the PIN by checking a PIN profile of the PIN (See Par. [90]-[91], [98], [186]-[187] and Fig. 8; 124 of Chen for a reference to AUM-C 111 checks whether device 110 is allowed to register and whether the user is authorized to associate with device 110, and separately queries the AUM-Server, which checks its stored service subscription profile (analogous to a PIN profile) to determine whether the entity is allowed to register with that registrar): and transmitting, to the PINE of the PIN, a PIN services registration response in response to the PIN services registration request (See Par. [92], [96]-[97] and Fig. 8; 127 of Chen for a reference to the AUM-Server [IN-CSE] returns a response back down to the registering entity confirming that the registration has been created). Although Chen discloses an Automated User Management (AUM)-Client, which is analogous to a PEMC, and a registering entity, which is analogous to a PINE, but Chen does not explicitly disclose a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN) for managing PIN service. However, Shi discloses a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN) for managing PIN service (See Par. [172], [174] and fig. 11 of Shi for a reference to a PEMC authentication and authorization of a PINE. The PINE may discover the PEMC or PIN and may determine to join the PIN that is managed by the PEMC). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Shi to Chen. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance; by improving power consumption and increasing the network efficiency, for example, for bulk operations by using devices with IoT capabilities. (Shi; Par. [2]) Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Chen and Shi, specifically Chen discloses wherein the PIN services registration request is transmitted by the PINE in case that the PINE decides to register the at least one new service that the PINE can offer which the PINE was not offering at a time of joining the PIN (See Par. [89]-[91], [187]-[189] of Chen for a reference to that once a new AE/entity such as a thermostat has registered, it separately creates or updates a resource representing a newly offered capability, confirming that new-service registration is triggered by the registering entity's own decision after it is already part of the network). Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Chen and Shi, specifically Chen discloses wherein the PIN services registration request includes at least one of: a PIN identifier, a PINE identifier, and a list of the at least one new service that the PINE is offering, and wherein the list of the at least one new service includes at least one of: a unique service identifier, a human readable description of the at least one new service, and a time duration of when the at least one new service is available (See Par. [84], [89]-[90] and Table 1, Table 3 of Chen for a reference to the fields carried in the registration request: an entity Type (service identifier/description analog), an SL ID (PINE-ID analog), a User ID List (PIN-ID/registrar analog), and a duration field specifying the time period during which the service/device relationship is authorized). Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Chen and Shi, specifically Chen discloses notifying entire PIN entities about first details of the at least one new service being offered, and second details of the PINE of entire PIN entities offering the services (See Par. [88]-[89], [92], [112]-[113] of Chen for a reference to that after registration, the registrar entity creates a new profile-data resource under the record associated with the user, and requests the higher-level entity (IN-CSE) to create and confirm a corresponding <profileData> resource. A notification/propagation step describing both the new service and the offering entity to other elements of the network). Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Chen and Shi, specifically Chen discloses wherein the entire PIN entities include at least one of a PIN server, a PINE with gateway capability (PEGC), or at least one other PIN element (See Par. [7]-[9], [449] of Chen for a reference to the network elements that participate in registration/notification: an M2M/IoT Server (PIN-server analog), a gateway/Middle-Node CSE (PEGC analog), and other Common Service Entities (other-PIN-element analog)). Regarding claim 15, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1, including a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN)personal IoT network element with management capability (PEMC) for managing a personal IoT network (PIN) services (See Chen; Fig. 7; AUM-C 111) , the PEMC comprising: memory (See Chen; Fig. 42C; Memory 44 & 46); a transceiver (See Chen; Fig. 42C; Transceiver 34); and at least one processor (See Chen; Fig. 42C; Processor 32). Regarding claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 3. Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 4. Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 6. Regarding claim 21, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 7. 6. Claims 5, 19 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. in view of Shi et al. and further in view of Wang et al. (US. Pub. No. 2021/0084443 A1). Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Chen and Shi does not explicitly disclose wherein the PIN services registration response includes a success status or a failure status of the PIN services registration request. However, Wang discloses wherein the PIN services registration response includes a success status or a failure status of the PIN services registration request (See Par. [83]-[85] and Fig. 4 of Wang for a reference to an 'IoT Service Registration Response' returned to the requesting device that indicates whether the device's registration request was accepted or rejected [success/failure status] field returned in the registration response message). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wang to the combination of Chen and Shi. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance; by supporting joint IoT service and proximity service registration/de-registration in a more efficient manner for proximity-enabled IoT systems. (Wang; Par. [32]) Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 5. Regarding Claim 23, the combination of Chen and Shi does not explicitly disclose wherein PIN dynamic information with the first details and the second details is updated by at least one of the PIN server, the PEGC or the at least one other PIN element. However, Wang discloses wherein PIN dynamic information with the first details and the second details is updated by at least one of the PIN server, the PEGC or the at least one other PIN element (See Par. [239]-[249] and Fig. 10A & 10B of Wang for a reference to that after de-registration is confirmed, the corresponding server updates its records to reflect that the device/service association no longer exists, [removing the previously stored (dynamic) registration details]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wang to the combination of Chen and Shi. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance; by supporting joint IoT service and proximity service registration/de-registration in a more efficient manner for proximity-enabled IoT systems. (Wang; Par. [32]) 7. Claims 8-14 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. in view of Shi et al.. Regarding Claim 8, Wang discloses a method performed by a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN) for managing PIN services (See Par. [32] and Fig. 1 of Wang for a reference to a first server (analogous to a PEMC) that receives a de-registration message from a device (analogous to a PINE) identifying the service(s) to be removed), the method comprising: receiving, from a PIN element (PINE) of the PIN, a PIN services de-registration request to de-register at least one service (See Par. [166]-[170] and Fig. 7; Step 1 of Wang for a reference to device 304 sends an “IoT Service De-Registration Request” message to the IoT server 308. This message may contain the following fields or parameters: device's location information (geo-location), the address of the proximity manager 306, and de-registration reason); determining whether the PINE is allowed to de-register the at least one service by checking a PIN profile of the PIN (See Par. [177]-[178] and Fig. 7; Step 5 & 6 of Wang for a reference to the receiving server checking stored subscription/registration information for the device before completing the de-registration, analogous to checking a PIN profile to confirm the PINE is allowed to de-register); and transmitting, to the PINE of the PIN, a PIN services de-registration response in response to the PIN services de-registration request (See Par. [182] and Fig. 7; Step 7 of Wang for a reference to the proximity manager 306 sends a “Proximity Service De-Registration Response” to the IoT server 308). Although Wang discloses an Automated User Management (AUM)-Client, which is analogous to a PEMC, and a registering entity, which is analogous to a PINE, but Chen does not explicitly disclose a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN) for managing PIN service. However, Shi discloses a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN) for managing PIN service (See Par. [172], [174] and fig. 11 of Shi for a reference to a PEMC authentication and authorization of a PINE. The PINE may discover the PEMC or PIN and may determine to join the PIN that is managed by the PEMC). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Shi to Chen. The motivation for combination would be to improve network’s performance; by improving power consumption and increasing the network efficiency, for example, for bulk operations by using devices with IoT capabilities. (Shi; Par. [2]) Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Wang and Shi, specifically Wang discloses wherein the PIN services de- registration request is transmitted by the PINE in case that the PINE decides to de-register the at least one service that the PINE currently offers (See Par. [206]-[209] and Fig. 9A; Step 1 of Wang for a reference to that when the IoT server 308 decides to perform proximity service de-registration for some devices, it sends a “Proximity Service De-Registration Request” message to the corresponding proximity manager 306. This message may contain: group identifier which devices belong to, devices' identifiers, and de-registration reason). Regarding Claim 11, the combination of Wang and Shi, specifically Wang discloses wherein the PIN services de- registration request includes at least one of: a PIN identifier, a PINE identifier, and a list of the at least one service that the PINE is de-registering, and wherein the list of the at least one service includes at least one of: a service identifier and a human readable description of the at least one service (See Par. [167]-[170], [206]-[214] and Fig. 6A & 9A; of Wang for a reference to that the IoT Service De-Registration Request/message carries the requesting device's identifier, a group/registrar identifier (PIN-ID analog), and a de-registration reason together with the identifier of the service(s) being cancelled). Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Wang and Shi, specifically Wang discloses wherein the PIN services de-registration response includes a success status or a failure status of the PIN services de-registration request (See Par. [171]-[183] and Fig. 7; of Wang for a reference to the first server receives, from the second server, a response indicating that the device has been de-registered from the second service,[an explicit outcome/status field confirming success], or where de-registration cannot be completed [an explicit outcome/status field confirming failure], non-confirmation) returned in the de-registration response). Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Wang and Shi, specifically Wang discloses notifying entire PIN entities about details of the at least one service being de-registered (See Par. [172]-[178] and Fig. 7; of Wang for a reference to that after a device de-registers a service at one server, that server forwards the de-registration reason and device information to the counterpart server ( IoT server notifying the proximity manager, or vice versa) so that all network elements associated with the device are informed the service has been cancelled). Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Wang and Shi, specifically Wang discloses wherein the entire PIN entities include at least one of a PIN server, a PINE with gateway capability (PEGC), or at least one other PIN element (See Par. [204]-[220] and Fig. 9A & 9B of Wang for a reference to network elements — the IoT server (PIN-server analog), the gateway/coordinator acting as proximity manager (PEGC analog), and other devices in the group (other-PIN-element analog)), and wherein PIN dynamic information with the details is updated by at least one of the PIN server, the PEGC, or the at least one other PIN element, to remove the details (See Par. [239]-[249] and Fig. 10A & 10B of Wang for a reference to that after de-registration is confirmed, the corresponding server updates its records to reflect that the device/service association no longer exists, [removing the previously stored (dynamic) registration details]). Regarding claim 22, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 8, including a personal internet of things (IoT) network (PIN) element with management capability (PEMC) of a personal IoT network (PIN) for managing PIN services (See Wang; Fig. 1; IoT Server 104), the PEMC comprising: memory (See Wang; Fig. 16C; Memory 44 & 46); a transceiver (See Wang; Fig. 16C; Transceiver 34); and at least one processor (See Wang; Fig. 16C; Processor 32) coupled to the transceiver. Conclusion 8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Han et al. (US 2023/0171592 Al) teaches a method and apparatus for encoding a message for transmission to the near-RT RIC that includes the updated RAN UE ID information. Gupta et al. (US 2022/0132455 A1) teaches systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media for use in a wireless network for communicating data over control plane in a 5G system. Stojanovski (U.S. 2021/0127351 Al) teaches techniques for utilizing paging cause values for paging user equipment (UE). 9. Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to RASHA FAYED whose telephone number is (571) 270-3804. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the supervisory Examiner, Un Cho can be reached on (571)272-7919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /R.K.F/Examiner, Art Unit 2413 /UN C CHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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Prosecution Timeline

Apr 05, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
63%
Grant Probability
89%
With Interview (+26.4%)
3y 3m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 365 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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