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 .
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 11-13, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 20160140266 A to Lim et al. (Lim).
In reference to independent claim 1, Lim discloses:
A device for supplying power to multiple connected devices (see [0014]-[0022], and [0032]) comprising: a communication unit; a computer-readable memory; a processor; a multi-outlet as a device for controlling the power supply of a device that can include a program; a power measuring unit (100) which has a communication unit and can collect power consumption information for each device with respect to connected devices; and a power control unit (130) capable of controlling the power supply of the connected devices, if the sum of power consumptions measured for the connected devices exceeds the allowable power supply.
Lim is silent regarding the device being an electronic apparatus, as the device of Lim is a multi-outlet for controlling the power supply of devices. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the prior art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the multi-outlet of Lim to be an electronic apparatus as the multi-outlet is commonly connected to and serves as an extension of and through which electronic apparatuses are powered as disclosed by Lim.
In reference to independent claim 11, Lim discloses: corresponding method of that of the device in claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 and disclose of Lim discussed above).
In reference to dependent claims 2 and 12, Lim further discloses: storing an operation history of the electronic apparatus and the other electronic apparatus in the memory at predetermined time interval, based on a power being supplied again after the power is cut-off while the electronic apparatus is in operation and thus, the operation is stopped, identify the power cut-off as it is identified that the operation history and a current operation of the electronic apparatus do not match, and store a power consumption of the electronic apparatus and a power consumption of the other electronic apparatus at a time of the power cut-off in the memory (the multi-outlet determines the priority of connected devices based on at least the respective power consumption and connection time information, and based on the determined priority and power consumption threshold, cuts off and resupplies power to the connected devices; see [0044]-[0047] and [0054]-[0059]).
In reference to dependent claims 3 and 13, Lim further discloses: identifying a plurality of power consumptions corresponding to each of a plurality of time periods based on the operation information of the electronic apparatus and the operation information of the other electronic apparatus, and wherein the changing of the at least one of an operation of the electronic apparatus or the operation of the other electronic apparatus comprises, based on identifying the power consumption to be equal to or greater than the threshold power, changing at least one of an operation of the electronic apparatus or an operation of the other electronic apparatus of a time period corresponding to the identified power consumption (see [0054]-[0059]).
In reference to independent claim 19, the subject matter claimed is analogous to that of claims 1 and 11 and is likewise taught by Lim.
In reference to dependent claim 20, the subject matter claimed is analogous to that of claims 2 and 12 and is likewise taught by Lim.
Claim(s) 4, 5, 9, 10, and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim in view of KR 20200084377 A to Kim et al. (Kim).
In reference to dependent claims 4 and 14, Lim is silent regarding; a user interface, and re-identifying a power consumption of the electronic apparatus and the other electronic apparatus based on the operation information of the electronic apparatus and the operation information of the other electronic apparatus corresponding to the control command.
Kim teaches an IoT-based outlet management apparatus for similarly managing the power consumption of connected electronic devices including a user interface (“user terminal”) through which a user can manage or control an IoT device and measure the amount of power used (see [0042]-[0057]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the prior art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the device and method of Lim to include the user terminal and allowing for the control and management of the connected devices based on the received signal (i.e. power command) as taught by Kim.
In reference to dependent claims 5 and 15, Lim further discloses: based on the identified power consumption being equal to or greater than the threshold power (i.e. when the sum of power consumptions exceeds the allowable power; see [0047]), controlling the power supply for each connected device (see [0044]-[0047] and [0054]-[0059]). Moreover, Kim further teaches, based on a user command being received from the user terminal, changing at least one of an operation of the electronic apparatus or an operation of the other electronic apparatus based on the user command (i.e. received signal through user terminal) (see [0042]-[0057]).
While Lim and Kim are silent regarding transmitting a message indicating a possible power cut-off to a user terminal, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the prior art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the methods of Lim and Kim to include such a step as a matter of design choice to let the user known, via the user terminal taught by Kim, of the current state of operation of the device.
In reference to dependent claim 9, as taught by Kim: the IoT-based outlet management system (100) is composed of a plurality of IoT devices (110) connected to a smart outlet device (120) (see [0034]).
In reference to dependent claim 10, Lim further discloses: based on the identified power consumption being equal to or greater than the threshold power, controlling the communication interface to transmit a control signal for changing at least one of operations of the other electronic apparatus to the other electronic apparatus (i.e. control unit 130 the power supply of connected devices when the sum of power consumption for the connected devices exceeds the allowable power supply; see [0032]).
Kim further teaches, regarding claims 10 and 16 the electronic apparatus being a dryer and the other is a washing machine (see [0034]-[0039]).
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim in view of KR 20190067604 A to Baek et al. (Baek).
In reference to dependent claim 6, Lim further discloses: further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic apparatus to: store an operation history of the electronic apparatus and the other electronic apparatus in the memory at predetermined time interval (via storage unit 110; see [0021]-[0023] and [0050]),
However, Lim is silent regarding, based on a power being supplied again after the power is cut-off while the electronic apparatus is in operation and thus, the operation is stopped, identify the power cut-off as it is identified that the operation history and a current operation of the electronic apparatus do not match, and store a power consumption of the electronic apparatus and a power consumption of the other electronic apparatus at a time of the power cut-off in the memory.
Baek teaches a smart electric distribution system using a home hub device and corresponding method of operation for similarly controlling and managing power to different devices. Per Baek, when an overcurrent, i.e. a short-circuit event, occurs in a power distribution unit (13), the power supply can be cut off; and power cut-off information can be transmitted to a control unit (11) (see [0021]-[0025]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the prior art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Lim to include a step of transmitting and storing information related to power cut-off events as taught by Baek to allow for updated real-time control of the connected devices based on received information.
In reference to dependent claims 7-8, Lim is silent regarding further computer-executable instructions that: when executed by the one or more processors, a) cause the electronic apparatus to identify a sum of the power consumption of the electronic apparatus and the power consumption of the other electronic apparatus at the time of the power cut-off as the threshold power; and b) cause the electronic apparatus to, based on a plurality of power cut-off histories being stored in the memory, identify a lowest value from the sum of the power consumption of the electronic apparatus and the power consumption of the other electronic apparatus in each of the plurality of power cut-off histories as the threshold power (i.e. real-time power consumption information of a branch wiring is updated, and the threshold power consumption is the maximum allowable power consumption set for each branch wiring; see [0048]-[0061]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17 and 18 are 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ngoc T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)272-7176. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571) 272-9059. 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.
/NGOC T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
Prosecution Insights