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 . Claims 1-13 were previously pending. Claims 1-6 have been withdrawn and claims 7-13 have been elected due to a Requirement for Restriction/Election. Claim 7 has been amended. Claim 8 has been cancelled. No claims have been newly added. Accordingly, claims 1-7 and 9-13 are currently pending, while claims 7 and 9-13 have been examined in this application.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 9/10/2026 has been entered.
Examiner's Note
Examiner has cited particular paragraphs/columns and line numbers or figures in the
references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the
specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific
limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is
respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the
references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as
the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. Applicant is
reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the
language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to Applicant's definition which is not specifically set forth in the disclosure.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 7 and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ledvina (US 2020/0062217 A1) in view of Smith (US 2015/0230055 A1) and Ghabra (US 2015/0296348 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Ledvina discloses a hand-held unit for communication with a motor vehicle (see at least Figs. 1-3, 10, [0033, 0049, 0156] – a mobile device communicating with a vehicle), comprising: a wireless receiver (see at least Fig. 10, [0028-0030] – wireless protocols); an energy source (see at least Fig. 10, [0050] - battery); and a processing device configured to: negotiate a time interval with the motor vehicle, wherein the negotiating comprises the processing device suggesting one or more time intervals to the motor vehicle and the motor vehicle confirming a selected time interval such that both the hand-held unit and the motor vehicle utilize the confirmed time interval (see at least Figs. 6, 10, [0066-0067, 0114-0115, 0130] – Fig. 6 shows a ranging interval negotiation process… A ranging session can be initiated by sending a ranging start request command containing a set of parameters. The receiving device can decide whether to suggest different parameters by replying with its own ranging start request or to accept the request. If the receiving device decides to accept the request, it can send a ranging start notification event… Examples for the ranging start request can include: a minimum ranging interval (e.g., 30 ms), a maximum ranging interval (e.g., 2,550 ms), a ranging offset (e.g., 30 ms to 2,550 ms), and a ranging timeout (e.g., 300 ms to 25.5 s). The ranging interval can define the amount of time between each consecutive ranging attempts. The minimum and maximum ranging intervals can specify the acceptable minimum and maximum ranging periods, e.g., in units of milliseconds. Either the mobile device or the vehicle may request to start ranging.), receive a series of wireless impulses transmitted from different positions on the motor vehicle in a manner offset by the time interval, and determine a location of the hand-held unit in relation to the motor vehicle on the basis of intervals of time between reception times of the wireless impulses at the hand-held unit (see at least Figs. 1-2, [0030, 0036-0037, 0114-0116] - At time T2, mobile device 210 or vehicle 205 can send an initial ranging message, which can include a series of pulses. These pulses are narrower than the pulses used in the first wireless protocol at time T1. Mobile device 210 can broadcast the initial ranging message so that each of the four UWB antennas 1-4 of the vehicle can receive it. Mobile device 210 can track the exact time (e.g., to nanosecond accuracy) at which the initial ranging message was sent. Each of the UWB antennas can send a ranging response message, which can include an identifier that identifies which UWB antenna sent a particular response message. Mobile device 210 can track the exact times for receiving the four UWB ranging response messages… In some embodiments, mobile device 210 can send the tracked times to vehicle 205, which may use its own tracked times of receiving the initial ranging message at each of UWB antennas 1-4 and the times of sending each of the four ranging response messages to determine the distance between the mobile device and the vehicle. Differences in the times of sending and receiving each of the messages can be used to determine the distance, e.g., when the clocks of the two devices are synchronized. As another example, a time delay of receiving the initial ranging response message and sending a ranging response message can be subtracted from the sending and receiving times at the mobile device 210 to obtain the round trip time, which can be translated to a distance based on the speed of the electromagnetic signal. The known positions of the different UWB antennas in the vehicle can be used to triangulate the position of the mobile device 210 with respect to vehicle 205.).
Ledvina does not appear to explicitly disclose negotiate a time interval on the strength of a capability of the energy source of the hand-held unit; wherein the wireless receiver is activated only if the arrival of a wireless impulse is expected, and wherein a voltage of the energy source is reduced while the wireless receiver is activated.
Smith, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the following limitations: negotiate a time interval on the strength of a capability of the energy source of the hand-held unit (see at least Fig. 6F, [0111-0112] – the mobile device may detect/determine that the amount of power remaining in the mobile device battery is below a predetermined threshold, the mobile device may transmit a signal or otherwise inform grouped mobile devices of the detected low battery condition, initiate operations to converse power, such as by turn off its radio and/or reducing its participation in exchanging information with grouped mobile devices, the mobile device and/or the informed grouped mobile devices may adjust the update intervals with respect to the mobile device to reduce the load on the mobile device).
Ledvina describes various reasons why a device may want to negotiate different ranging intervals (Ledvina – [0066, 0114]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have incorporated the teachings of Smith into the invention of Ledvina with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of reducing battery consumption when the device has a low battery condition (Smith – [0111]).
Ghabra, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the following limitations: wherein the wireless receiver is activated only if the arrival of a wireless impulse is expected (see at least [0047, 0051] – wireless device 12 is configured to turn off for a time period), and wherein a voltage of the energy source is reduced while the receiver is activated (see at least [0023, 0047, 0051] – battery 36 powers the microcontroller 30 and the transceiver 32… wireless device 12 when monitoring for the receipt of a response signal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have incorporated the teachings of Ghabra into the invention of Ledvina with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation of doing so is that power consumption is more of an issue for the wireless device (Ghabra – [0030]), and by turning off the wireless device for a period between expected signals the power consumption of the wireless device can be reduced.
Regarding claim 10, Ledvina does not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the time interval is extended if a voltage of the energy source drops below a predetermined threshold value during activation of the wireless receiver.
Smith, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the following limitations: wherein the time interval is extended if a voltage of the energy source drops below a predetermined threshold value during activation of the wireless receiver (see at least Fig. 6F, [0111-0112] – the mobile device may detect/determine that the amount of power remaining in the mobile device battery is below a predetermined threshold, the mobile device may transmit a signal or otherwise inform grouped mobile devices of the detected low battery condition, initiate operations to converse power, such as by turn off its radio and/or reducing its participation in exchanging information with grouped mobile devices, the mobile device and/or the informed grouped mobile devices may adjust the update intervals with respect to the mobile device to reduce the load on the mobile device).
The motivation to combine Ledvina and Smith is the same as in the rejection of claim 7.
Regarding claim 11, Ledvina does not appear to explicitly disclose further comprising: a reset generator configured to put the processing device into a predetermined state if the voltage drops below the predetermined threshold value.
Smith, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the following limitations: a reset generator configured to put the processing device into a predetermined state if the voltage drops below the predetermined threshold value (see at least Fig. 6F, [0111-0112] – the mobile device may detect/determine that the amount of power remaining in the mobile device battery is below a predetermined threshold, the mobile device may transmit a signal or otherwise inform grouped mobile devices of the detected low battery condition, initiate operations to converse power, such as by turn off its radio and/or reducing its participation in exchanging information with grouped mobile devices, the mobile device and/or the informed grouped mobile devices may adjust the update intervals with respect to the mobile device to reduce the load on the mobile device).
The motivation to combine Ledvina and Smith is the same as in the rejection of claim 7.
Regarding claim 12, Ledvina discloses further comprising: a further wireless interface for communication with the motor vehicle (see at least Fig. 10, [0039, 0158] - The two wireless protocols can be BT and UWB. Details about each wireless protocol are described below, along with further details about a sequence of messaging between the mobile device and the vehicle... Wireless circuitry 1008 can use various protocols, e.g., as described herein. For example, wireless circuitry 1008 can have one component for one wireless protocol (e.g., Bluetooth®) and a separate component for another wireless protocol (e.g., UWB). Different antennas can be used for the different protocols.).
Regarding claim 13, Ledvina discloses wherein the hand-held unit is configured to carry out a bilateral authentication with the motor vehicle (see at least Figs. 2-3, 5, [0033-0034] - At a first instance in time T1, mobile device 210 can use the first wireless protocol to authenticate the vehicle and vice versa. For example, mobile device 210 can send an unencrypted random number to vehicle 205. Vehicle 205 can encrypt the random number using a shared secret established at the time of pairing, and send the encrypted value in a message to mobile device 210, which can decrypt the message to confirm that the same random number is received.), and to request a predetermined function of the motor vehicle (see at least [0031-0032] - When the mobile device is within a closer threshold, a second operation can be performed, e.g., a door can be unlocked… For example, if a mobile device is approaching the passenger side, then potentially just the passenger door can be unlocked. If the mobile device approaches the back of the vehicle, then a trunk or hatch can be unlocked.).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ledvina in view of Smith, Ghabra, and Hein (US 2008/0252432 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Ledvina does not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the energy source comprises a buffer store in order to briefly provide an increased electric current.
Hein, in the same field of endeavor, teaches the following limitations: wherein the energy source comprises a buffer store in order to briefly provide an increased electric current (see at least Fig. 3, [0023-0024] – Remote control 22 includes battery 64 and energy harvest component 92. Electrical energy generated by harvest component 92 is stored in capacitor 94. Regulator 96 regulates the voltage output from battery 64 as supplied to battery-only bus 98. Regulator 100 regulates the voltage stored in capacitor 94 as supplied to switched bus 102.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have incorporated the teachings of Hein into the invention of Ledvina with a reasonable expectation of success for the purpose of extending the battery life and increasing the usefulness of the remote device (Hein – [0006]).
Response to Arguments
In light of the amendments to the claims, the previous 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the prior art rejections have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record, and not relied upon, considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure or directed to the state of art is listed on the enclosed PTO-892. The following is a list of the relevant prior art that was cited but not applied: Reisinger (US 2021/0245705 A1) and Torborg (US 10,495,737 B1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAITLIN MCCLEARY whose telephone number is (703)756-1674. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:00 am - 7:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Navid Z Mehdizadeh can be reached at (571) 272-7691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CAITLIN R MCCLEARY/Examiner, Art Unit 3669
