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 .
The following is a Final Office action in response to communications received on 12/16/2025.
Priority
The applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN202111479042.4 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55. An attempt by the office to electronically retrieve the priority document has failed.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 8, and 11 have been amended.
Claims 2 and 3 have been cancelled.
Claims 1 and 4-14 have been examined.
The rejection of claim 1 for the use of the word “can” and claim 11 for insufficient antecedent basis is withdrawn in light of the amendments made to the claims.
Applicant’s arguments, filed on 12/16/2025, with respect to claim 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C 103 has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 1 is 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1 recites the limitation "the switch-on module" in line 11. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over prior arts of record CN107064686A to Ning et al (hereinafter Ning) and US 20200410139 to Du et al (hereinafter Du).
Examiner’s Note: The examiner used English translations for all the foreign documents used in the current office action. The English translations were provided in the previous office action.
As per claim 8, Ning teaches:
A power-off monitoring method for monitoring and warning the abnormal power-off of an external protective device (EPD) which is electrically connected to the protected device and takes over the input and output functions of the protected device to prevent illegal data transmission of the protected device, wherein the method comprises the following steps:
providing a dedicated power outlet which is not connected to the power supply circuit of the EPD (Ning: [0011]: An abnormal power failure judgment system includes at least a backup power supply module, a main control module, a display module and a wireless communication module. [0101]: In actual applications, during normal operation of the smart refrigerator, it is powered by 220V AC mains electricity. At this time, the backup power module can be charged. When the main control module detects that the smart refrigerator has a power outage, the backup power module can be started to supply power to the main control module, display module and Wi-Fi module, so that the main control module, display module and Wi-Fi module can still work normally after the smart refrigerator is powered off);
monitoring whether the EPD is abnormally powered off, and when abnormal power-off is detected, launching a power-taking mode on the basis of power supply from the dedicated power outlet for warning operation (Ning: [0012]: When the power off of the refrigeration equipment is detected, the backup power module is started and a power off indication message is sent to the display module. [0014]: The display module is connected to the wireless communication module and is configured to, upon receiving the power-off indication information sent by the main control module, send a network connection status query instruction to the wireless communication module, receive current network connection status information fed back by the wireless communication module, and issue an abnormal power-off alarm message when determining that the refrigeration equipment is abnormally powered off).
Ning does not teach: an external protective device (EPD) which is electrically connected to the protected device and takes over the input and output functions of the protected device to prevent illegal data transmission of the protected device. However, Du teaches:
an external protective device (EPD) which is electrically connected to the protected device and takes over the input and output functions of the protected device to prevent illegal data transmission of the protected device (Du: [0005]: In the present invention, various interfaces of a protected host are taken over, and the use of a USB interface or a serial interface device of the protected host must be completed via the external terminal protection device. [0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides an external terminal protection device, including: [0007] an interface control module, used for providing one or more internal interfaces and one or more external interfaces, the internal interfaces being connected to corresponding interfaces of a protected host, and the external interfaces being configured to access one or more external devices).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teachings of Du in the invention of Ning to include the above limitations. The motivation to do so would be to protect the USB interface or serial interface of the protected host without installing security protection software on the protected host (Du: [0005]).
As per claim 9, Ning in view of Du teaches:
The power-off monitoring method according to claim 8, wherein the dedicated power outlet is provided by the power-taking line of the protected device (Ning: [0012]: When the power off of the refrigeration equipment is detected, the backup power module is started. [0013]: The backup power supply module is connected to the display module and the wireless communication module, and is used to provide an operating voltage for the abnormal power failure judgment system when the refrigeration equipment is powered off).
As per claim 10, Ning in view of Du teaches:
The power-off monitoring method according to claim 8, where in the method also includes: taking power from the dedicated power outlet to store the status information of abnormal power-off (Ning: [0061]: When the power off of the refrigeration equipment is detected, the backup power module 11 is started. [0073]: For example, assuming that the backup power module is a 5V rechargeable power supply, after the main control module determines that the smart refrigerator X is powered off, it starts the 5V rechargeable power supply to provide a 5V working voltage to the main control module, the display module and the wireless communication module. [0117]: Specifically, when the display module determines that the smart refrigerator has an abnormal power outage, it can broadcast a voice message (status information) through the speaker that "The refrigerator has an abnormal power outage, please deal with it in time" to remind the user that the smart refrigerator has an abnormal power outage. It was well known to one of ordinary skill in the art that the voice message (status information) has to be stored in a storage module to be used during abnormal power outage).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ning in view of Du as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of prior art of record CN213637191U to Huang et al (hereinafter Huang).
As per claim 11, Ning in view of Du does not teach the limitations of claim 11. However, Huang teaches:
wherein the method also includes: taking power from the dedicated power outlet to transmit the warning information to an external receiving device (Huang: [n0017]: When a power failure occurs on the load, the power failure alarm will upload the power failure alarm information to the cloud platform through the GSM communication module embedded in the SIM card. [n0021]: When the input switch K1 is disconnected, the input indicator light L1 turns off, and the device quickly switches to the backup power supply 2 for power supply. The first AC contactor 5KM1 feeds back the signal to the first power off alarm 7, and the first power off alarm 7 sends a text message reminder, and displays on the network cloud platform that the main power supply 1 has been disconnected).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teachings of Huang in the invention of Ning in view of Du to include the above limitations. The motivation to do so would be to promptly issue an alarm to operation and maintenance personnel when the main and backup power sources switch, solving the problems of traditional sound and light alarms such as disturbing the public and being untimely (Huang: [n0023]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-7 and 12-14 will be allowable if the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C 112 is overcome.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
CN 207571694 U to Shu et al: The utility model claims a computer with power-off protection function, comprising a main machine shell and a power-off protection device of main shell, computer main board and power supply part, wherein the power part comprises a main power supply and a rechargeable battery; cavity-off protection device comprises a control module, a charging module, a discharging module, a power-off and fault detecting module, a power-off delay relay, when working, the host power supply to the computer main board power supply, meanwhile, the main machine power supply through the charging control module to charge the battery; and by the power failure detection module in real time to detect and monitor the host power supply when abruptly encountered, the host power supply, then the power-off time delay relay will delay power-off, the computer main board and control module controls the discharging module conveying to the computer main board by the rechargeable battery so as to prevent the computer main board power-down, so as to reach the purpose of intermittent power to the computer main board.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MADHURI R HERZOG whose telephone number is (571)270-3359. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM-4:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Taghi Arani can be reached at (571)272-3787. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MADHURI R. HERZOG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2438
/MADHURI R HERZOG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2438