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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants’ communication filed on 03/14/2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-16 and 21-24 are currently pending in the instant application.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-13, 15-1 and 22-24 are objected to because of the following informalities: Please change “A” to “The” when referring to the gateway apparatus, the network service apparatus, and the communication apparatus in the dependent claims. Otherwise it is ambiguous as it is introducing new apparatuses. E.g. Claim 2 should state “[[A]] The gateway apparatus according to claim 1,…” Appropriate correction is required..
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:
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 1-16 and 21-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Putterman et al. (US 2016/0286543 A1).
Regarding Claim 1 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus (fig. 1 (110)) comprising circuitry configured to:
wirelessly receive, in a Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet, an identifier of a communication apparatus and an indicator of whether the communication apparatus is requesting a wireless connection with a gateway apparatus; (see fig. 1 (125) and par. 0022 “The low power radio signal may be transmitted using a protocol such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE) or iBeacon, and may include a unique identifier assigned to the low power electronic device 135.”);
establish, in response to the Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet indicating the communication apparatus is requesting a wireless connection with a gateway apparatus, a wireless connection with the communication apparatus; (see fig. 1 (130) and par. 0028 “Mobile computing device 110 may additionally establish a wireless connection 130 (e.g., using a bidirectional wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth), and may send commands and/or messages to the low power electronic display device 135 via the wireless connection 130.”);
receive, via the established wireless connection, information from the communication apparatus associated with the identifier of the communication apparatus; and transmit the received information to a web service" (see fig. 1 (120, 132) and par. 0024-0025 where “The information that identifies the user of the mobile computing device may be user account information of a user logged into the electronic device controller application. The mobile computing device 110 may also determine its current location (e.g., latitude and longitude) and include the current location in the query. The mobile computing device 110 may then transmit the query to the electronic device management service 120 via the connection 132 .” Here the information from 135 to gateway 110 identifies the service 120. Also see par. 0029 “This combination of the periodic low energy radio signal with basic device information and a back-end electronic device management service to identify the low power electronic devices based on the device information also enables groups of specific devices to be updated or controlled in seconds.” (i.e. identifies the service).
Claims 14 and 21 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 2 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the web service is associated with the identifier of the communication apparatus" (see par. 0029 “This combination of the periodic low energy radio signal with basic device information and a back-end electronic device management service to identify the low power electronic devices based on the device information also enables groups of specific devices to be updated or controlled in seconds.” (i.e. identifies the service).
Regarding Claim 3 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet is a first type of Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet; and the circuitry is configured to enter a mode to wirelessly receive the first type of Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet in response to receiving or no longer receiving one or more of a set of a second type of Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet" (see par. 0022 “The low power radio signal may be transmitted using a protocol such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE) or iBeacon, and may include a unique identifier assigned to the low power electronic device 135. In one embodiment, the unique identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID) that identifies an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the electronic display device 135, a first assigned numerical value and a second assigned numerical value. If the iBeacon protocol is used, the low power radio signal 125 includes the UUID, a major and a minor, where the major and minor are each 2 byte values.”).
Claim 22 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 4 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a portion of the set of the second type of Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet is configured based on one or more previously received Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packets of the first type" (see par. 0022 “The low power radio signal may be transmitted using a protocol such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE) or iBeacon, and may include a unique identifier assigned to the low power electronic device 135. In one embodiment, the unique identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID) that identifies an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the electronic display device 135, a first assigned numerical value and a second assigned numerical value. If the iBeacon protocol is used, the low power radio signal 125 includes the UUID, a major and a minor, where the major and minor are each 2 byte values.” (i.e. byte values).
Claim 23 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 5 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a portion of the set of the second type of Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet is configured based on an identifier of a communication apparatus indicated by the one or more previously received Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packets of the first type" (see par. 0022 “The low power radio signal may be transmitted using a protocol such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE) or iBeacon, and may include a unique identifier assigned to the low power electronic device 135. In one embodiment, the unique identifier includes a universally unique identifier (UUID) that identifies an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the electronic display device 135, a first assigned numerical value and a second assigned numerical value. If the iBeacon protocol is used, the low power radio signal 125 includes the UUID, a major and a minor, where the major and minor are each 2 byte values.” (i.e. UUID indicated previously).
Claim 24 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 6 Putterman teaches the limitations " A gateway apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the second type of Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet is an iBeacon packet" (see par. 0013 and 0022).
Regarding Claim 7 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the information received from the communication apparatus is a request; and the circuitry is configured to transmit, via the established wireless connection, a response to the request to the communication apparatus" (see fig. 3 (310) and par. 0067).
Claim 16 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above because the claims have similar limitations or have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 8 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet comprises information from which a characteristic of the communication apparatus is derivable" (see par. 0024-0025 “Electronic device management service 120 processes the query to determine whether the user has permission to access the low power electronic device and/or to determine whether any actions should be taken.”
Regarding Claim 9 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to transmit additional information with the received information to the web service" (see par. 0024 “The mobile computing device 110 may also determine its current location (e.g., latitude and longitude) and include the current location in the query. The mobile computing device 110 may then transmit the query to the electronic device management service 120 via the connection 132.”).
Regarding Claim 10 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the additional information comprises a location of the gateway apparatus" (see par. 0024 “The mobile computing device 110 may also determine its current location (e.g., latitude and longitude) and include the current location in the query. The mobile computing device 110 may then transmit the query to the electronic device management service 120 via the connection 132.”).
Regarding Claim 11 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to complete a security protocol to allow authentication and/or encryption of the information received from the communication apparatus via the established wireless connection" (see fig. 3 and par. 0068 “At block 315, processing logic determines whether a requestor of the connection satisfies one or more security criteria. In one embodiment, processing logic determines whether the connection request includes a password that matches a password that is stored on the low power electronic device. If the passwords match (or other security criterion is met), the method continues to block 320. Otherwise, the method returns to block 305.”).
Regarding Claim 12 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet comprises an indicator of whether the communication apparatus is accepting a wireless connection with a gateway apparatus;
and in the absence of the communication apparatus requesting a wireless connection with a gateway apparatus, the circuitry is configured to establish a wireless connection with the communication apparatus only if the Bluetooth Low Energy advertising packet indicates the communication apparatus is accepting a wireless connection with a gateway apparatus” (see fig. 3 (310), par. 0067 “The periodic broadcast may be generated in accordance with a first wireless protocol, such as a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) protocol or the iBeacon protocol. At block 310, processing logic determines whether a connection request has been received. If a connection request is received, the method continues to block 315. Otherwise, the method returns to block 305.”. Here, in the absence of connection request (i.e. no at 310) the gateway waits until BLE includes connection request).
Regarding Claim 13 Putterman teaches the limitations "A gateway apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gateway apparatus is a smartphone" (see fig. 1 (mobile computing device 110)).
Regarding Claim 15 Putterman teaches the limitations "A network service apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the circuitry is configured to access a database associating an identifier of the identified web service with the identifier of the communication apparatus" (see par. 0057 “the query including a unique identifier of a low power electronic device and user account information of a user of the mobile computing device. Authorization module 256 may perform a lookup on the user account and the unique identifier, which may be stored in a data structure (e.g., a database, table, etc.) including assigned unique identifiers 262 and user accounts 264.”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID BILODEAU whose telephone number is (571)270-3192. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00am-4:00pm Eastern Standard Time. 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, Wesley Kim can be reached at (571) 272-7867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/David Bilodeau/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648