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 .
Detail Action
This office action is in response to the application filed on 5/12/2020.
Preliminary amendment filed on 6/27/2024 is acknowledged. Claims 21-24 have been canceled.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 1 recites the limitation of a management server, comprising a communication unit and a control unit. The management server, communication unit and control unit can be just software modules without specific embodiment of hardware components. Claim 11 recites the limitation of a home appliance, comprising a communication unit and a user interface. The home appliance, communication unit and user interface, without specific inclusion of hardware components can be interpreted as software. Software is not a statutory subject matter. Dependent claims of the above independent claims inherit the deficiency and are rejected for similar reasons.
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) 11, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shim (US 2015/0111539 Al) in view of Pawar et al. (US 2013/0125108 Al) and further in view of Fung (US 2005/0034122 Al)
Per claim 11, Shim discloses
A home appliance, comprising.
a communication unit configured to communicate with a management server;(Fig. 1 discloses home appliance in communication with a server)
a user interface configured to output specific information to a user;([0038], disclose display for displaying an operation status)
and
a control unit in which a plurality of software is installed, wherein in a case where the communication unit downloads a plurality of software data from the management server,
writes the plurality of downloaded software data to the control unit and upgrades the plurality of software, and then the upgrade is completed, the communication unit transmits an upgrade completion report message of the plurality of software to the management server, ([0167], discloses server with an update package for firmware update to home appliance, home appliance downloads and install the update package…A firmware update result is transmitted to the server, server 500 as discloses in [0200] [0266-0267], discloses home appliance transmits a firmware update completion report to server.)
Shim does not, however, Pawar discloses
the upgrade completion report message comprises identifiers of at least a portion of the plurality of software, ([0032], discloses firmware upgrade notification after successful upgrade including version information installed corresponding to identifier of at least a portion of the software.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Pawar into the teachings of Shim to include the limitation disclosed by Pawar. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to inform user of the detailed status of firmware upgrade (See Pawar, [0030])
Shim/Pawar does not, however, Fung discloses
at least a portion of the software is software requiring setting of an upgraded function. ([0006]-[0007], discloses install new software and restores the system configuration after the new software is installed.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Fung into the teachings of Shim/Pawar to include the limitation disclosed by Fung. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to restore system configuration after upgrading software as suggested by Fung (See Fung, [0006-0007])
Per claim 13, the rejection of claim 11 is incorporated.
Shim/Pawar/Fung discloses
wherein the communication unit receives a function setting instruction message in relation to each of at least a portion of the software from the management server, and the communication unit transmits the function setting instruction message to the control unit. (Fung, [0010-0012], discloses post installation module…reconfiguration module corresponding to function setting instruction.)
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shim (US 2015/0111539 Al) in view of Pawar et al. (US 2013/0125108 Al), Fung (US 2005/0034122 Al) and further in view of Hind et al. (US 6,976,163 Bl)
Per claim 12, the rejection of claim 11 is incorporated.
Shim/Pawar/Fung does not, however, Hind discloses
wherein the software is any one of firmware or a contents program, and each of at least a portion of the software is the contents program (C19:21-30, discloses firmware update of a washing machine wash cycle)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Hind into the teachings of Shim/Pawar/Fung to include the limitation disclosed by Hind. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to upgrade washing machine for new parameters not available at time of distribution of product as suggested by Hind (Hind, C19:21-30)
Claim(s) 1-4, 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shim (US 2015/0111539 Al) in view of Pawar et al. (US 2013/0125108 Al) and further in view of Kim (US 2013/0166901 Al)
Per claim 1,
Shim discloses
A management server , comprising:
a communication unit configured to communicate with a user terminal and a home appliance; (see Fig. 1, discloses a server in communication with a home appliance and a user terminal)
and a control unit configured to control the communication unit and to perform an operation in relation to an upgrade of a plurality of software to be installed in the home appliance, ([0167], discloses server transmit firmware update to home appliance and perform update)
wherein in a case where the plurality of software is upgraded completely, the communication unit transmits a first output instruction message for instructing an output of an upgrade completion notification message to the user terminal,
([0167], discloses server with an update package for firmware update to home appliance, home appliance downloads and install the update package…A firmware update result is transmitted to the server, server 500 as discloses in [0200], [0266-0267], discloses home appliance transmits a firmware update completion report to server. [0215], discloses mobile terminal registered with RTI of the server and RTI transmit manageable state information to mobile terminal appears to discloses state information including upgrade completion is transmitted to mobile terminal corresponding to user terminal.)
Shim does not, however, Pawar discloses
the upgrade completion notification message comprises a first notification area notifying that the plurality of software is upgraded completely,( Pawar, [0032], discloses firmware upgrade notification after successful upgrade including version information installed corresponding to identifier of at least a portion of the software.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Pawar into the teachings of Shim to include the limitation disclosed by Pawar. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to inform user of the detailed status of firmware upgrade (See Pawar, [0030])
Shim/Pawar does not specifically disclose, however, Kim discloses
and further comprises a first suggestion area suggesting setting an upgraded function of at least a portion of the plurality of software. ([0005], discloses updating functions by updating software. [0070], [0097] disclose UI includes a message reporting a possibility of upgrading a function……changed the setting information. The reported possibility of upgrading a function related to changes the setting information corresponds to suggestion of setting information. Fig. 18, discloses a display suggesting using existing setting information for upgraded function.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Kim into the teachings of Shim/Pawar to include the limitation disclosed by Kim. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to inform user of setting changes and apply it to improve compatibility as suggested by Kim ([0121])
Per claim 2, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated.
Shim/Pawar/Kim disclosed
wherein the communication unit receives an upgrade completion report message of the plurality of software, comprising identifiers at least portion of the software, from the home appliance, and the first suggestion area is generated based on the identifiers of at least a portion of the software. (Pawar, [0032], discloses firmware upgrade notification after successful upgrade including version information installed corresponding to identifier of at least a portion of the software.)
Per claim 3, the rejection of claim 2 is incorporated.
Shim/Pawar/Kim disclosed
wherein the plurality of software comprises at least one of first software requiring setting of an upgraded function, and at least one of second software requiring no setting of an upgraded function, at least a portion of the software corresponds to at least one of the first software, the upgrade completion report message comprises an identifier of at least one of the first software, and does not comprise an identifier of at least one of the second software. (Kim, [0097] disclose UI includes a message reporting a possibility of upgrading a function……changed the setting information. The reported possibility of upgrading a function related to changes to the setting information corresponds the first software. While if no change is detected after comparison, the corresponding software corresponds to the second software)
Per claim 4, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated.
Shim/Pawar/Kim disclosed
wherein the communication unit receives a suggestion agreement message for agreeing on a suggestion of the first suggestion area from the user terminal, and in response to the suggestion agreement message, the communication unit transmits a second output instruction message for instructing an output of a function setting message for setting an upgraded function of at least a portion of the software to the user terminal or the home appliance. (Kim, [0111], discloses input from user regarding selection of a category…items…of the setting information, where selecting corresponds to agreeing on a suggestion. The display category or items corresponds to suggestion of items and selecting items may corresponds to agreeing.)
Per claim 14,
Shim discloses
A method for controlling a user terminal to upgrade a home appliance, comprising:
receiving a first output instruction message corresponding to completion of an upgrade of a plurality of software from a management server; ([0167], discloses server with an update package for firmware update to home appliance, home appliance downloads and install the update package…A firmware update result is transmitted to the server, server 500 as discloses in [0200], [0266-0267], discloses home appliance transmits a firmware update completion report to server. [0215], discloses mobile terminal registered with RTI of the server and RTI transmit manageable state information to mobile terminal appears to discloses state information including upgrade completion is transmitted to mobile terminal corresponding to user terminal.)
Shim does not, however, Pawar discloses
outputting an upgrade completion notification message of the plurality of software based on the first output instruction message, wherein the upgrade completion notification message comprises a first notification area notifying that the plurality of software is upgraded completely, ( Pawar, [0032], discloses firmware upgrade notification after successful upgrade including version information installed corresponding to identifier of at least a portion of the software.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Pawar into the teachings of Shim to include the limitation disclosed by Pawar. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to inform user of the detailed status of firmware upgrade (See Pawar, [0030])
Shim/Pawar does not specifically disclose, however, Kim discloses
further comprises a first suggestion area suggesting setting an upgraded function of at least a portion of the plurality of software. ([0005], discloses updating functions by updating software. [0070], [0097] disclose UI includes a message reporting a possibility of upgrading a function……changed the setting information. The reported possibility of upgrading a function related to changes the setting information corresponds to suggestion of setting information. Fig. 18, discloses a display suggesting using existing setting information for upgraded function.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Kim into the teachings of Shim/Pawar to include the limitation disclosed by Kim. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to inform user of setting changes and apply it to improve compatibility as suggested by Kim ([0121])
Per claim 15, the rejection of claim 14 is incorporated.
Shim/Pawar/Kim discloses
wherein the plurality of software comprises at least one of first software requiring setting of an updated function, and at least one of second software requiring no setting of an updated function, at least a portion of the software corresponds to at least one of the first software . (Kim, [0097] disclose UI includes a message reporting a possibility of upgrading a function……changed the setting information. The reported possibility of upgrading a function related to changes to the setting information corresponds the first software. While if no change is detected after comparison, the corresponding software corresponds to the second software)
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shim (US 2015/0111539 Al) in view of Pawar et al. (US 2013/0125108 Al), Kim (US 2013/0166901 Al) and further in view of further in view of Hind et al. (US 6,976,163 Bl)
Per claim 10, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated.
Shim/Pawar/Kim does not, however, Hind discloses
wherein the software is any one of firmware or a contents program, and each of at least a portion of the software is the contents program (C19:21-30, discloses firmware update of a washing machine wash cycle)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Hind into the teachings of Shim/Pawar/Kim to include the limitation disclosed by Hind. The modification would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to want to upgrade washing machine for new parameters not available at time of distribution of product as suggested by Hind (Hind, C19:21-30)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-9 and 16-20 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 and overcoming deficiency discloses in this office action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
It is noted that any citation [[s]] to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. [[See, MPEP 2123]]
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Philip Wang whose telephone number is 571-272-5934. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday 8:00AM -4:00PM. Any inquiry of general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the TC2100 Group receptionist: 571-272-2100.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lewis Bullock, can be reached at 571-272-3759. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHILIP WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2199
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