DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. This communication is responsive to Application No. 18/696,831 filed on October 17, 2024. Claims 1-16 and 18-19 have been canceled. Claims 17 and 20 have been amended. Claims 21-38 have been newly added. Accordingly, claims 17 and 20-38 are subject to examination.
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
3. The IDSs submitted on 03/28/24, 07/24/24 and 08/13/25 have been entered and considered by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
4. The following claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
in claim 17 “amplitude and temperature” (lines 6-7) should be replaced with “an amplitude and a temperature”; similar objection applies to claims 20 and 38; and
in claim 28 “the trained classifier” (line 3) should be replaced with “the classifier trained” OR in claim 1 “a classifier trained” (line 8) should be replaced with “a trained classifier”; similar objection applies to claim 36.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretations
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. –An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
6. This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “a wireless networking signal received at a wireless communication device” in claims 17, 20 and 38.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If Applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, Applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
7. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
8. Claims 20, 24-27 and 29-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the Applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 20 recites a limitation “the wireless communication device” (line 8). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Hence, renders claim 20 and its dependent claims indefinite.
Claim 24 recites “change in temperature” (line 2). It is not clear whether said “change in temperature” in claim 24 is different form or the same as said “change in temperature” as recited in lines 1-2 of claim 17. Hence, renders claim 24 indefinite. Similar rejection applies to claims 25, 27, 32-33 and 35.
Claim 26 recites a limitation “the indoor space” (line 1). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Similar rejection applies to claim 34.
Reason for Allowance
9. Regarding claims 17, 20 & 38, Wei (US 11,546,035 B2) teaches a method of detecting an environmental cause (Figure 1D & Column 3, Lines 1-4: a flow chart of an environmental CSI data obtaining/reducing step of an event detection method) of a change Figure 2A: 200 & Figure 2B: “First/Second Wireless Device”, “Processor” & “Memory”), the method comprising: extracting channel signal information (CSI) amplitudes for a wireless networking signal received at a wireless communication device (Figure 1D: Step 143 “Compute amplitudes of environmental CSI data of original subcarriers with number Nt”); selecting, from a plurality of subcarriers of the extracted CSI amplitudes, a subset of subcarriers, the selection based on a previously determined Figure 1D: Step 144 “Select first selected environmental subcarriers with number Ns0” & Step 147 “Select second selected environmental subcarriers with number Nr0”); and providing the CSI amplitudes of the selected subcarriers to a classifier trained to determine whether the environmental cause is present (Figure 1D: Step 148 “Generate and store preprocessed environmental CSI data with size [TixNr0]”, Figure 2B: “Event classifier” & Column 5, Lines 25-27: the event classifier is a deep neural network (DNN) classifier and trained by a plurality of labeled CSI data received under the event).
Donegan (US 11,626,002 B2) teaches in Figure 5B a central monitoring system to determine whether conditions exceed expected threshold conditions, identify a security event based on the conditions, classify the security event using machine learning (ML) models and transmit signals to sensor devices indicating information regarding the security event.
Ryder (US 10,002,510 B2) teaches in Figure 7 detecting, confirming, classifying and monitoring a fire.
However, with regard to claims 17, 20 & 38, the prior art of record fails to disclose said wireless communication device (Figure 1: 150, Figure 3A: 301 & Figure 3B: 302) as claimed in “combination” with “the corresponding structure, material or act described in the Applicant’s Specification as performing the entire claimed function and [or] equivalents thereof” where applicable under 35 U.S.C 112(f).
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to SHAWKAT M. ALI whose telephone number is (571) 270-1639. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 8:30AM-3:30PM ET.
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 AIR at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, SAM K. AHN can be reached on (571) 272-3044. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAWKAT M ALI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633