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.
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 1, 4, 6, 7-9, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LEE (Pub. No.: US 2020/0336185 A1) and further in view of GREENE (Pub. No.: US 2019/0181674 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 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 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).
LEE does not explicitly disclose the energy storage level. Green discloses first sub-assembly 201 and second sub-assembly 204 with first energy storage and second energy storage (fig. 2, item 240 and 250, Parag. 0042 also disclose in response to the first energy storage device 240 being charged to the first threshold energy storage level, the first energy storage device 240 may provide power to the second energy storage device 250 by sending energy to the second energy storage device 250. In some implementations, the first energy storage device 240 may only transfer power to the second energy storage device 250 when the energy storage level of the first energy storage device 240 is above a threshold energy storage level and the energy storage level of the second energy storage device 250 is below a threshold energy storage level).
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 GEENE into the teaching of LEE in thereby allow for convenient wireless powering of wireless devices.
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 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).
LEE does not explicitly disclose the energy storage level. Green discloses first sub-assembly 201 and second sub-assembly 204 with first energy storage and second energy storage (fig. 2, item 240 and 250, Parag. 0042 also disclose in response to the first energy storage device 240 being charged to the first threshold energy storage level, the first energy storage device 240 may provide power to the second energy storage device 250 by sending energy to the second energy storage device 250. In some implementations, the first energy storage device 240 may only transfer power to the second energy storage device 250 when the energy storage level of the first energy storage device 240 is above a threshold energy storage level and the energy storage level of the second energy storage device 250 is below a threshold energy storage level).
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 GEENE into the teaching of LEE in thereby allow for convenient wireless powering of wireless devices.
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 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 7:
GREENE discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein the present energy harvesting efficiency is indicated as energy storage level per time unit (parag. 0023-0024).
With respect to claim 8:
GREENE 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. 0023-0024, 0038).
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).
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), GREENE (Pub. No.: US 2019/0181674 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 and GREENE do 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 and GREENE 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 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 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).
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 12, 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remark, filed 5/8/26, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-19, 21 under 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of GREENE.
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.
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, YUWEN PAN can be reached at (571)-272-7855. 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.
/AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
Prosecution Insights