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 Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 26-34 in the reply filed on 07/06/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 26-34 and 46-56 are pending.
Claims 35-45 have been canceled.
Claims 1-25 were previously canceled.
Claims 46-56 have been added.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 26-34 and 46-56 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over their respective claims of U.S. Patent No’s. 11979809 and 10966073. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because instant claim 26’s premises data, characterization, scanning of RF bands, and profile is merely a broader recitation of the limitations in ‘809 claims 20 and 23-25. A similar argument is made regarding the previous instant claim relative to ‘073 claim 16, where the instant claim’s “scanning” is accomplished by the ‘073 claim’s “sniffer” and “detection”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 26-34 and 46-56 are allowable, pending resolution of the above DP Rejection.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the cited references fail to anticipate or render the claimed subject matter (combined with other limitations claimed in the claimed subject matter) obvious over any of the prior art of record, either alone or in combination. Therefore, when taken as a whole application, and incorporating all the respective limitations, none of the prior art discloses the features as claimed. For instance, Ly (US 20190082402 A1), Abedini (US 20180317161 A1), and Dayanandan (US 20160100320 A1) generally disclose scanning RF bands, including for NB-IoT systems. However, the references do not specifically disclose “A computerized method of generating Internet-of-Things (IoT) device profile data, the method comprising: obtaining premises IoT-related data; based on the premises IoT-related data, scanning a plurality of prescribed radio frequency (RF) bands associated with a respective plurality of air interfaces; based on the scanning, characterizing a plurality of IoT devices within a premises; and based on the characterizing, generating data representative of an IoT device profile describing one or more respective attributes of the plurality of IoT devices”, “A computerized consumer device configured to characterize one or more Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices within a premises, the computerized consumer device comprising: a processor apparatus; one or more extant air interfaces; and a storage apparatus in data communication with the processor apparatus and comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed by the processor apparatus, cause the computerized consumer device to: obtain premises IoT-related data; based at least on the premises IoT-related data, repurpose at least one of the one or more extant air interfaces of the computerized consumer device to perform environmental monitoring of a plurality of prescribed radio frequency (RF) bands; based at least on the environmental monitoring, characterize the one or more IoT devices within the premises; and generate data representative of an IoT device profile describing one or more respective attributes of the one or more IoT devices”, or “A non-transitory computer-readable apparatus comprising a storage medium having at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions which are configured to, when executed by a processor apparatus of a computerized consumer device, cause the computerized consumer device to: access a database to obtain premises-specific Internet-of-Things (IoT) profile data based at least on data identifying the premises-specific IoT profile data as being specific to a premises; based at least on the premises-specific IoT profile data, select a plurality of prescribed radio frequency (RF) bands and scan the plurality of prescribed RF bands according to one or more scan schemes; based at least on the scan, characterize a plurality of IoT devices within the premises; and generate data representative of an IoT device profile describing respective placements of the plurality of IoT devices within the premises.” Consequently, these claims are allowable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Walter J DiVito whose telephone number is (571)272-2556. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 8 am - 6 pm (PST).
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/WALTER J DIVITO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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