DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-17 have been submitted for examination and are pending further prosecution by the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
Allowable Subject Matter
With respect to independent claim 1, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest, either solely or in combination, the limitations "outputting an updating command to the electronic device via the wired connection, wherein the updating command has a device ID of the dongle device; scanning and wirelessly receiving a broadcast packet broadcasted by the electronic device, wherein the broadcast packet has the device ID; establishing a wireless connection between the dongle device and the electronic device according to the broadcast packet;" when considered in combination with the other limitations of claim 1.
With respect to independent claim 9, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest, either solely or in combination, the limitations "wherein the control module is configured to output an updating command to an electronic device through the connector, the control module is configured to control the communication module to scan and to wirelessly receive a broadcast packet broadcasted by the electronic device, the control module is configured to control the communication module to establish a wireless connection between the dongle device and the electronic device according to the broadcast packet," in conjunction with the limitation "wherein the updating command and the broadcast packet have the same device ID." when considered in combination with the other limitations of claim 9.
Note, however, that claims 3, 5, 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite (see below).
Claim Objections
The following claims are objected to because of informalities and antecedence issues. It is suggested Applicants amend these claims as follows:
Claim 1
-- outputting an updating command to the electronic device via the wired connection, wherein the updating command has a device identifier (ID) of the dongle device; --
Claim 3
-- sending an ending command to the electronic device to turn off [[the]] power of the electronic device via the wireless connection after the step of updating the firmware of the electronic device. --
Claim 6
-- outputting an [[the]] execution result of updating the firmware of the electronic device to the external host via the another wired connection after the step of updating the firmware of the electronic device. --
Claim 9
-- a storage module configured to store a device identifier (ID) and a first image file; --
Claim 15
-- The dongle device according to claim 13, wherein the control module is further configured to output an [[the]] execution result of updating the firmware of the electronic device to the external host through the another connector. --
Claims 2-8 and 10-17 are additionally objected to due to their dependence on objected parent claim(s).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
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.
Claims 3, 5, 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 3, 5, 6 and 8 recite one or more instances of the phrase "the step of", which implicitly corresponds to a particular limitation in a parent claim. For example, claim 3 recites the limitation "sending an ending command to the electronic device to turn off the power of the electronic device via the wireless connection after the step of updating the firmware of the electronic device." which refers to the limitation "using a first image file to update a firmware of the electronic device via the wireless connection," from claim 1. However, given that claim 1 does not explicitly refer to the establishing, outputting, scanning and wirelessly receiving, establishing and update limitations as steps, the one or more instances of the phrase "the step of" in claims 3, 5, 6 and 8 lack antecedent basis.
Applicants can resolve this issue by removing the step of language from claims 3, 5, 6 and 8, or provide the required antecedence by amending the preamble of affected claims. For example, claim 1 could be amended to recite "A firmware updating method adapted to a dongle device, wherein the firmware updating method comprises the steps of:". Similarly, claim 4 could be amended to recite "The firmware updating method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:" to provide the required antecedence for claim 5 ("...the step of receiving the first image file,").
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 7159018 B2 discloses a method and system for installing software onto a built-to-order computer system using a dongle based identification device coupled to the computer system. US 20090064124 A1 discloses a method and system for updating an image file within an embedded device by using an image updating device physically connected to the embedded device. US 20090254897 A1 discloses a method and system for updating firmware of a cell phone using a jacket within which the cell phone is placed, the cell phone and jacket connected via a wired or wireless connection. US 20170185418 A1 discloses a method and apparatus for updating the firmware of a device using a physically connected device, the devices communicating through cable or wireless connections. KR 20150119056 A discloses a method and system for updating software of a user device using a proxy device by sending an update request from the user device to the proxy device, the update request including a user device identifier, whereby communication between the user device and proxy device occurs via wired or wireless connection. The NPL document "Wireless ATMEL AVR In-Circuit Serial Programmer based on Wi-Fi and ZigBee" introduces a new device for programming ATMEL AVR microcontrollers remotely via Wi-Fi and ZigBee.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEOFFREY R ST LEGER whose telephone number is (571)270-7720. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (IFP) ~9:00-5:00 pm.
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/GEOFFREY R ST LEGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2192
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