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 Objections
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 12 is not complete. 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by LEE (Pub. No.: US 2020/0336185 A1).
With respect to claim 1:
LEE discloses a method, performed in a network node, for handling energy conditions of an energy harvesting wireless device (WD); the method comprising: - receiving from the WD, a message indicative of a present energy storage level and a present energy harvesting efficiency of the WD (fig. 4, parag. 0058 discloses that the two devices connect to each other and share information like energy storage level and harvesting efficiency); communicating, with the WD, based on the received message (parag. 0059 discloses the two devices communicate with each other based on information shared).
With respect to claim 21:
LEE discloses a method, performed in an energy harvesting wireless device (WD) for handling energy conditions of the WD, the method comprising transmitting to the network node, a message indicative of a present energy storage level and a present energy harvesting efficiency of the WD (fig. 4, parag. 0058 discloses that the two devices connect to each other and share information like energy storage level and harvesting efficiency); and communicating with the network node, based on the transmitted message indicative of the present energy storage level and the present energy harvesting efficiency of the WD (parag. 0059 discloses the two devices communicate with each other based on information shared).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2-6, 10, 11, 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEE (Pub. No.: US 2020/0336185 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of YEHEZKELY (Pub. No.: US 2023/0030439 A1).
With respect to claim 2:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated; LEE does not explicitly disclose wherein the present energy harvesting efficiency is indicated as an absolute energy harvesting efficiency value presently available to the WD.
YEHEZKELY discloses wherein the present energy harvesting efficiency is indicated as an absolute energy harvesting efficiency value presently available to the WD (parag. 0030). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of YEHEZKELY into the teaching of LEE for better performance.
With respect to claim 3:
YEHEZKELY discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the absolute energy harvesting efficiency value is indicated as a harvesting power presently available to the WD. (parag. 0024, 0060).
With respect to claim 4:
LEE discloses the method according to claim 1 wherein the present energy harvesting efficiency is indicated based on an energy harvesting capability report of the WD, wherein the energy harvesting capability report is indicative of one or more of: - a type of an energy harvesting resource available to the WD, - energy harvesting capacity of one or more energy harvesting resource(s) available to the WD and - an energy storage capacity of the WD (parag. 0059 discloses resources available).
With respect to claim 5:
YEHEZKELY discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein the present energy harvesting efficiency is indicated as a relative harvesting efficiency in relation to the energy harvesting capacity of the one or more energy harvesting resource(s) available to the WD (parag. 0030).
With respect to claim 6:
YEHEZKELY discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein the present energy harvesting efficiency is indicated as a percentage associated with the energy harvesting capacity of the one or more energy harvesting resource(s) available to the WD (parag. 0030).
With respect to claim 10:
YEHEZKELY discloses the method wherein the message indicative of the present energy storage level and the present energy harvesting efficiency of the WD is comprised in or attached to an uplink transmission received by the network node (parag. 0004).
With respect to claim 11:
LEE in view of YEHEZKELY discloses the method wherein communicating comprises adjusting based on the message indicative of the energy storage level and the present energy harvesting efficiency, a configuration applied when communicating with the WD (parag. 0035 of LEE discloses adjusting and 0030 of YEHEZKELY discloses configuration).
With respect to claim 17:
YEHEZKELY discloses the method wherein adjusting is performed upon the indicated present energy storage level being equal to or lower than a predetermined energy storage level threshold (parag. 0039).
With respect to claim 18:
YEHEZKELY discloses the method wherein adjusting is performed upon the indicated present energy harvesting efficiency being equal to or below a predetermined first energy harvesting efficiency threshold (parag. 0039).
With respect to claim 19:
YEHEZKELY discloses the method wherein adjusting is performed upon the indicated present energy harvesting efficiency being equal to or above a predetermined second energy harvesting efficiency threshold (parag. 0039).
Claims 7-9, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEE (Pub. No.: US 2020/0336185 A1) as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Riemer (Pub. No.: US 2025/0321625A1).
With respect to claim 7:
The rejection of claim 1 is incorporated; LEE does not explicitly disclose wherein the present energy harvesting efficiency is indicated as energy storage level per time unit
Riemer discloses energy harvesting efficiency indicated as energy storage power time (parag. 0233). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Riemer into the teaching of LEE in order to provide a playback device such as a mountable playback device having an on-board energy storage (e.g., a battery, ultracapacitor, etc.).
With respect to claim 8:
Riemer discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein the energy storage level per time unit is indicated as a percentage of the energy storage capacity per time unit (parag. 0233).
With respect to claim 9:
LEE discloses the method wherein the message indicative of the present energy storage level and the present energy harvesting efficiency of the WD is received in one or more of: a UE Assistance Information message, a random-access message, and a Small Data Transmission received by the network node (parag. 0033 and 0040 disclose small data received).
With respect to claim 13:
LEE discloses the method wherein adjusting comprises transmitting the adjusted configuration to the WD (fig. 1A shows item 100 transmitting to 200).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-16 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 AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1846. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, EST.
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/AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649