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 .
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Title of the Invention
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Proposal: "Wireless Connection Establishment Using an Identifier Encoded in a Downlink Signal"
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-7, 9-13 and 15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nicholson et al. (US 2015/0331501, “Nicholson”) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0232653, “Zhang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Nicholson unless otherwise mentioned.
Nicholson comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, a connection method, applied to a first electronic device, comprising
sending a coding downlink signal to a second electronic device ([0023] “by sending the MAC address and other required information of the BLUETOOTH secure simple pairing (SSP) out-of-band (OOB) protocol of the pen to the system through the pen digitizer, i.e., using the pen input data channel.”),
wherein the coding downlink signal carries an identifier of a first communication module of the first electronic device (See aforesaid [0023] for “MAC address”, and [0035] “a pen identification, e.g., MAC address”);
obtaining a request from the second electronic device to establish a first communication connection based on the identifier ([0023] “Once the device (e.g., tablet, smart phone, etc.) has the MAC address (or other such information) of the pen, e.g., touching it or in close proximity therewith, it is a simple matter to initiate a connection (or pairing) to that pen” Note that “obtaining a request” will be discussed in view of Zhang.).
It is noted that while disclosing a smart pen connection, Nicholson does not specifically teach about a preset condition for an adjustment. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zhang as follows;
obtaining a request ([Zhang, 0066] “the Bluetooth device needs to wait for a request for Bluetooth connection sent from a terminal device to the Bluetooth device, and store identifier information of a terminal device with which a Bluetooth connection is successfully established.”);
determining that a communication connection status of the first communication module of the first electronic device does not meet a preset condition ([Zhang, 0195] “When the number of terminal devices that establish Bluetooth connections with the Bluetooth device has reached the maximum number of connections of the Bluetooth device”); and
adjusting the communication connection status to establish the first communication connection with the second electronic device based on the first communication module ([Zhang, 0195] “identifier information of a terminal device with a lowest priority may be first deleted from the memory of the Bluetooth device, then identifier information of the additional terminal device may be added to the memory of the Bluetooth device”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Nicholson by using the features of Zhang in order to provide an avenue to improve user experiences with Bluetooth connections such that “switching between the Bluetooth device and a plurality of terminal devices simpler and more efficient, thereby reducing the complexity of user operations, and improving the user experience.” [Zhang, 0003].
Regarding claim 7, a connection method, applied to a second electronic device, comprising: obtaining a coding downlink signal sent by a first electronic device ([0023] “by sending the MAC address and other required information of the BLUETOOTH secure simple pairing (SSP) out-of-band (OOB) protocol of the pen to the system through the pen digitizer, i.e., using the pen input data channel.”), wherein the coding downlink signal carries an identifier of a first communication module of the first electronic device (See aforesaid [0023] for “MAC address”, and [0035] “a pen identification, e.g., MAC address”); sending a request to establish a first communication connection based on the identifier to the first electronic device ([0023] “Once the device (e.g., tablet, smart phone, etc.) has the MAC address (or other such information) of the pen, e.g., touching it or in close proximity therewith, it is a simple matter to initiate a connection (or pairing) to that pen” Note that “sending a request” will be discussed in view of Zhang.).
It is noted that while disclosing a smart pen connection, Nicholson does not specifically teach about a preset condition for an adjustment. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Zhang as follows;
sending a request ([Zhang, 0066] “the Bluetooth device needs to wait for a request for Bluetooth connection sent from a terminal device to the Bluetooth device, and store identifier information of a terminal device with which a Bluetooth connection is successfully established.”);
obtaining a broadcast message sent by the first electronic device to establish the first communication connection with the first communication module of the first electronic device ([Zhang, 0094] “Step S203: sending, by the Bluetooth device 101, a request for establishing a signal channel and a data channel to the first terminal device 102.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Nicholson by using the features of Zhang in order to provide an avenue to improve user experiences with Bluetooth connections such that “switching between the Bluetooth device and a plurality of terminal devices simpler and more efficient, thereby reducing the complexity of user operations, and improving the user experience.” [Zhang, 0003].
Regarding claim 9, it is a terminal claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “a first electronic device, comprising at least one processor and a memory containing program instructions” and “at least one third electronic device, configured to establish a second communication connection with the first communication module” (See [Zhang, 0195 and Fig. 14] “identifier information of a terminal device with a lowest priority may be first deleted from the memory of the Bluetooth device, then identifier information of the additional terminal device may be added”, and [Zhang, 0196 and Fig. 14] “After the Bluetooth device receives a Bluetooth connection request sent from a terminal device A, since the terminal device 1 has a lowest priority, the Bluetooth device deletes identifier information of the terminal device 1 stored in the memory, then adds identifier information of the terminal device A into the memory”), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claims 2 and 11, the connection method according to claim 1 and the system according to claim 9, respectively, wherein the present condition comprises a quantity of second communication connections established by the first communication module with a third electronic device being less than a preset threshold ([Zhang, 0197] “when the number of terminal devices that establish Bluetooth connections with the Bluetooth device does not exceed a maximum number of connections, a priority of each terminal device may be determined based on a time sequence of establishing a Bluetooth connection between the terminal device and the Bluetooth device and a time sequence of performing data transmission between the terminal device and the Bluetooth device” Also see [Zhang, 0195]).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, the connection method according to claim 1 and the system according to claim 9, respectively, wherein determining that the communication connection status of the first communication module of the first electronic device does not meet the preset condition comprises:
determining that a quantity of second communication connections established by the first communication module with a third electronic device being greater than or equal to a preset threshold (aforesaid [Zhang, 0194 and 0195]); and
adjusting the quantity of second communication connections between the first communication module and the third electronic device to meet the preset condition (aforesaid [Zhang, 0195]).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, the connection method according to claim 3 and the system according to claim 12, respectively, wherein adjusting the quantity of the second communication connections to meet the preset condition comprises: determining an order in which a communication connection is established with the third electronic device; and deleting an earliest third electronic device that establishes the communication connection from a communication connection list (See [Zhang, Fig. 14 and 0196]. See also [Zhang, 0185] for “time sequence of establishing the Bluetooth connection”, [Zhang, 0187] for “first establish a Bluetooth connection with the Bluetooth device has a lowest priority”); or determining a distance between each of the third electronic device and the first electronic device in the communication connection list; and deleting a farthest third electronic device from the communication connection list; or determining an amount of communication data between each of the third electronic device and the first electronic device in the communication connection list; and deleting the third electronic device with the smallest amount of communication data from the communication connection list (These alternatives are not examined.).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, the connection method according to claim 1 and the system according to claim 9, respectively, wherein obtaining the request from the second electronic device to establish the first communication connection based on the identifier comprises:
receiving a coding uplink signal sent by the second electronic device based on the identifier ([0023] “Once the device (e.g., tablet, smart phone, etc.) has the MAC address (or other such information) of the pen, e.g., touching it or in close proximity therewith, it is a simple matter to initiate a connection (or pairing) to that pen”); and in the event the coding uplink signal comprises a first command (aforesaid [Zhang, 0066 and 0195]), confirming obtaining the request from the second electronic device to establish a first communication connection based on the identifier ([Zhang, 0066] “the Bluetooth device needs to wait for a request for Bluetooth connection sent from a terminal device to the Bluetooth device, and store identifier information of a terminal device with which a Bluetooth connection is successfully established.”).
Regarding claim 10, the system according to claim 9, wherein the second electronic device comprising at least one processor and a memory containing program instructions ([0035] “a system 300 includes a device 301, e.g., a tablet or smart phone, etc., that include an input component 302, e.g., touch screen or like surface that accepts pen inputs. The input component 302 accepting smart pen input from a smart pen 303 may be co-located with a display surface, as illustrated, but this is not a requirement. The device 301 includes a processor operatively coupled to the input component 302 and a memory storing instructions that are executable by the processor”) that, when being executed, cause the at least one processor to: obtain the coding downlink signal sent by the first electronic device ([0023] “by sending the MAC address and other required information of the BLUETOOTH secure simple pairing (SSP) out-of-band (OOB) protocol of the pen to the system through the pen digitizer, i.e., using the pen input data channel.”), wherein the coding downlink signal carries the identifier of the first communication module of the first electronic device (See aforesaid [0023] for “MAC address”, and [0035] “a pen identification, e.g., MAC address”); send a request to establish the first communication connection based on the identifier to the first electronic device ([0023] “Once the device (e.g., tablet, smart phone, etc.) has the MAC address (or other such information) of the pen, e.g., touching it or in close proximity therewith, it is a simple matter to initiate a connection (or pairing) to that pen”, [Zhang, 0066] “the Bluetooth device needs to wait for a request for Bluetooth connection sent from a terminal device to the Bluetooth device, and store identifier information of a terminal device with which a Bluetooth connection is successfully established.”); and obtain a broadcast message sent by the first electronic device to establish the first communication connection with the first communication module of the first electronic device ([Zhang, 0094] “Step S203: sending, by the Bluetooth device 101, a request for establishing a signal channel and a data channel to the first terminal device 102.”).
Claim(s) 5, 8 and 14 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nicholson et al. (US 2015/0331501, “Nicholson”) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0232653, “Zhang”) and further in view of Ansari (US 2016/0357188).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Nicholson unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 5 and 14, It is noted that while disclosing a smart pen connection, Nicholson does not specifically teach about partial data of an identifier. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Ansari as follows;
the connection method according to claim 1 and the system according to claim 9, respectively, wherein the coding downlink signal in each frame comprises partial data of the identifier ([Ansari, 0155] “signaling can be effectuated over a plurality of peer discovery intervals such that partial identifiers communicated during each of the peer discovery intervals can be linked (e.g., based upon overlapping bits and/or bloom filter information). The method can include transmitting a first partial identifier during a first peer discovery interval.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify Nicholson by using the features of Ansari in order to support an efficient way of communicating among IoT devices such that “A smart vehicle can be operated by generating a 3D model of a sensor's field of view” [Ansari, 0002].
Regarding claim 8, the connection method according to claim 7, wherein obtaining the coding downlink signal sent by the first electronic device comprises: obtaining a multi-frame coding downlink signal sent by the first electronic device, wherein each frame of the multi-frame coding downlink signal carries a partial identifier data of the first communication module of the first electronic device; and based on a multi-frame of the partial identifier data, the identifier data of the first communication module is obtained ([Ansari, 0155] “signaling can be effectuated over a plurality of peer discovery intervals such that partial identifiers communicated during each of the peer discovery intervals can be linked (e.g., based upon overlapping bits and/or bloom filter information). The method can include transmitting a first partial identifier during a first peer discovery interval. Also, the method can comprise transmitting a second partial identifier during a second peer discovery interval. Further, the method can include generating bloom filter information based upon the combination of the first partial identifier and the second partial identifier.”).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of Ansari are the same as for claim 5.
Conclusion
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/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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