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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-14, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a(1) as being anticipated by Farone et al. (US 2014/0187281).
Referring to Claim 1, Farone teaches a method of wireless communication by a wireless device, comprising:
obtaining first information associated with one or more sensors (see paragraph 23 which shows sensors which sense a user device connected to a carry case in addition to sensing the device locked to the belt of a user);
obtaining second information associated with a mode of using the wireless device (see paragraph 33 which shows the determining of the mode of the device which includes a body-worn mode);
determining a position of the wireless device relative to a human body based at least in part on the first information and the second information (see paragraph 33 which shows the determination of the device in a body-worn position); and
transmitting a signal at a transmit power in compliance with a radio frequency (RF) exposure limit based at least in part on the determined position of the wireless device (see paragraph 34 which shows transmit power adjusted according to the device being in a body-worn position).
Claims 10 and 19 have similar limitations as claim 1.
Referring to Claims 2 and 11, Farone also teaches an indication of whether the wireless device is positioned on or off the human body; an indication of a proximity of the wireless device to the human body; or a combination thereof (see paragraph 33 which shows the determination of the device in a body-worn position which implies the device being on or off the human body).
Referring to Claims 3 and 12, Farone also teaches display usage information; camera usage information; audio output usage information; audio input usage information; application usage information; antenna usage information; or a combination thereof (see paragraph 33 which shows the detection of an audio accessory which is audio output usage information).
Referring to Claims 4 and 13, Farone also teaches the display usage information comprises an indication of whether a display of the apparatus is on or off, an indication of an orientation associated with the display, touch history associated with the display, or a combination thereof; the camera usage information comprises on-off states associated with a plurality of cameras of the apparatus, a current view of a particular camera of the apparatus, or a combination thereof; the audio output usage information comprises an indication of a particular speaker of the apparatus being used for audio output; the audio input usage information comprises an indication of a particular microphone of the apparatus being used for audio input; the application usage information comprises an indication of a particular application running on the apparatus; and the antenna usage information comprises an indication of an active antenna among a plurality of antennas of the apparatus (see paragraph 33 which shows the detection of an audio accessory which is audio output usage information where the audio accessory includes a speaker and further noting that all other usage information has no patentable weight since “or” was used in the previous claim that this claim depends on).
Referring to Claims 5 and 14, Farone also teaches the one or more sensors comprising: an accelerometer; an inertial measurement unit (IMU); a capacitive sensor; an infrared sensor; a photonic sensor; a pressure sensor; a radar sensor; a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) sensor; a radio frequency (RF) sensor; an RF impedance sensor; a transceiver; a temperature sensor; or a combination thereof (see paragraph 23 which shows an infrared sensor).
Referring to Claims 8 and 17, Farone also teaches the position of the wireless device comprising: a left cheek position; a right cheek position; a left cheek tilt position; a right cheek tilt position; a left torso position; a right torso position; a left hip position; a right hip position; a left hand position; a right hand position; a pocket; a carrier; or any combination thereof (see paragraph 23 which shows the position as within a carrier).
Referring to Claims 9, 18, and 20, Farone also teaches identifying an RF exposure scenario associated with the position of the wireless device; and identifying the RF exposure limit based at least in part on the identified RF exposure scenario (see paragraph 35 which shows the adjusting of transmit power according to the acceptable exposure limit).
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) 6, 7, 15, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Farone in view of Prendergast et al. (US 2016/0365886).
Referring to Claims 6 and 15, Farone does not teach determining the position of the wireless device using a machine learning model with the first information and the second information being inputs to the machine learning model. Prendergast teaches determining the position of the wireless device using a machine learning model with the first information and the second information being inputs to the machine learning model (see paragraph 11 which shows information from sensors for human proximity to a device entered into a machine learning engine). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Prendergast to the device of Farone in order to better improve the reliability of the device during operation.
Referring to Claims 7 and 16, Prendergast also teaches tracking a movement of the apparatus over time using the first information and the second information; and determining the position of the apparatus based at least in part on the tracked movement (see paragraph 11 which shows the tracking of movement over a period of time to determine whether the device is being held by a human). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Prendergast to the device of Farone in order to better improve the reliability of the device during operation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE YUN whose telephone number is (571)272-7860. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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/EUGENE YUN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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