Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/791,213

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFICATION OF DEVICE UNDER TEST

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Jul 31, 2024
Examiner
WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
Art Unit
2443
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
BLANCCO TECHNOLOGY GROUP IP OY
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allow Rate
666 granted / 835 resolved
+21.8% vs TC avg
Strong +29% interview lift
Without
With
+28.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
863
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.5%
-32.5% vs TC avg
§103
46.5%
+6.5% vs TC avg
§102
32.9%
-7.1% vs TC avg
§112
8.0%
-32.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 835 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 . DETAILED ACTION 2. This action is in response to the application filed July 13, 2024. 3. Claims 1-35 have been examined and are pending with this action. 4. The Information Disclosure Statement filed December 19, 2024 has been considered. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 5. Claims 1-2, 4-11, 13-24, 27-30, and 33-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Slepov et al. (US 2009/0055525 A1). As per claim 1, Slepov teaches a method for identifying a particular electronic device among a plurality of mobile electronic devices connected to a processing station, the method comprising: establishing a protocol stack and respective connections between the plurality of mobile electronic devices and the processing station (see Slepov, [0004]: “Device configuration, control, and monitoring through the Web browser are effected by incorporating into the device necessary circuitry to connect this device to the TCP/IP network, implementing a TCP/IP protocol stack and Web server functionality within the firmware of the device, embedding into the device HTML pages necessary for configuration, control, and monitoring of the device, and providing a so-called common gateway interface (CGI) to allow the inclusion of dynamic data into the HTML pages output by the Web server of the device.”; and [0047]: “Further, in contrast to the Web browser based configuration, control, and monitoring method described above, the system of the present invention relies on devices that establish outgoing connections to the server.”); repeatedly reading information from each of the plurality of connected mobile devices, the information comprising device properties respectively associated with each of the respected connected mobile devices (see Slepov, [0105]: “Central to the server operation is a device data cache that contains a local copy of metadata retrieved from the devices, as well as the copy of the values of all property elements of devices.”; and [0125]: “the server starts retrieving device metadata from the device, which is shown as step 114. This metadata includes five pre-defined read-only properties described above.”); storing the read information in a memory of the processing station (see Slepov, [0017]: “Conversely, events registered by individual devices are collected by the central server and stored in a single database thus offering the user a convenience of viewing all events in one place.”; [0075]: “The first special pre-defined read-only property 91 stores the data on available property elements. The value of the property 91 comprises a data table that contains a definition of every property 71 of the context... ”; and [0107]: “The user of the client software works with the copies of property elements stored in the server cache, and the device controller module of the server makes sure that the changes are made to the devices.”); analyzing the read information to determine that a manipulated electronic mobile device of the plurality of connected mobile devices had a change in one of its device properties (see Slepov, [0040]: “In a summary, properties are internal variables of the device, methods are operations that the device can perform, and events are a way for the device to notify the server of detected changes in the internal or external operating conditions.”; [0069]: “Additionally, the property stores the time and date of the last change made to the value of this property--from inside the device or by the server.”; and page 10, claim 29: “wherein said logic circuit of said device is configured to initiate communications with said computer server upon detecting a change in said device state or change in external or internal operating conditions of said device.”); and generating a visual indicia showing confirmation of actuation of the corresponding manipulated mobile electronic device through a visual representation on a display of the processing station (see Slepov, [0017]: “With this intermediary approach, the user is typically able to simultaneously control, configure, and monitor all or several devices in the system without having to perform repetitive operations on each device. For example, the system may be designed in such a way that giving a specific command to the central server will result in similar commands being sent by the server to each device (node) in the system. Conversely, events registered by individual devices are collected by the central server and stored in a single database thus offering the user a convenience of viewing all events in one place.”; [0038]: “the present invention offers a unifying platform that allows the user to combine devices of different types into a single system without the need for extensive programming or development effort on the server and client software side.”; [0107]: “Human monitoring and editing of the property elements are performed from the client.”; and [0119]: “Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action. Macro steps are not necessarily executed in the linear fashion, the execution of the macro can branch according to the result of execution of the previous steps of the macro”). As per claim 2, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein generating a visual indicia further comprises visually animating on the display an iconic representation corresponding to the manipulated electronic mobile device for a predetermined period of time (see Slepov, [0017]: “With this intermediary approach, the user is typically able to simultaneously control, configure, and monitor all or several devices in the system without having to perform repetitive operations on each device. For example, the system may be designed in such a way that giving a specific command to the central server will result in similar commands being sent by the server to each device (node) in the system; and [0119]: “Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action. Macro steps are not necessarily executed in the linear fashion, the execution of the macro can branch according to the result of execution of the previous steps of the macro”). As per claim 4, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein manipulating one of the connected electronic mobile devices includes an operator performing one or more of: changing orientation of the manipulated mobile electronic device through lifting and/or turning the manipulated mobile electronic device; pressing a volume button on the manipulated mobile device; tapping an area of a display of the manipulated mobile electronic device; pressing a home/touch ID button of the manipulated mobile electronic device; pressing an off/on button of the manipulated mobile electronic device (see Slepov, [0021]: “The same wireless connection is used to download from the device an event log containing the history of log ins, log outs, as well as other events such as "engine started", "engine shut off", "excessive speed detected", etc.”; [0041]: “Virtually any device designed to perform a function can be described as a set of properties, methods, and events. For example, a smart remotely-controlled water tank can have a property "water level" to reflect current amount of water in the tank, and methods "turn valve on" and "turn valve off" to control the valve that lets the water into the tank. The smart water tank may also generate a number of events such as "nearly empty", "nearly full", and "overflow".”; and [0063]: “Devices 20 may use a wired or wireless connection to the network, such as WiFi, GPRS, or any other suitable wireless communications media. Some devices 20 may be permanently connected to the network, while some may only connect to the network periodically. For example, devices 20 may be configured to only turn themselves on at predefined time intervals or connect to the network when they detect an event that needs to be reported to the server 10”); covering or approaching a proximity sensor location of the manipulated mobile electronic device; and removal and/or replacement of the manipulated mobile electronic device from a wireless charging pad (see Slepov, [00]: “”; and [00]: “”). As per claim 5, which depends on claim 1, Slepov teaches further comprising: prompting the operator to confirm selection of the device for initiation of a diagnostic or re-provisioning procedure (see Slepov, [0119]: “Once the user orders the execution of the macro, the server performs predetermined sequence of actions. Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action.”); or automatically initiating a diagnostic or re-provisioning procedure for the manipulated electronic mobile device upon determining that the manipulated electronic mobile device had a change in one of its device properties; or causing the processing station to pause further operation of a predetermined process flow until upon determining that the manipulated electronic mobile device had a change in one of its device properties. As per claim 6, which depends on claim 1, Slepov teaches further comprising prompting the operator, by the processing station, to operate specific features of the manipulated mobile electronic device as part of a diagnostic procedure, the operation of specific features including one or more of: pressing a volume button on the manipulated mobile electronic device; tapping an area of a display of the manipulated mobile electronic device; tapping any portion of the manipulated mobile device to impart an acceleration thereto; pressing a home/touch ID button on the manipulated mobile electronic device; changing orientation of the manipulated mobile electronic device; pressing an off/on button of the manipulated mobile electronic device (see Slepov, [0021]: “The same wireless connection is used to download from the device an event log containing the history of log ins, log outs, as well as other events such as "engine started", "engine shut off", "excessive speed detected", etc.”; [0041]: “Virtually any device designed to perform a function can be described as a set of properties, methods, and events. For example, a smart remotely-controlled water tank can have a property "water level" to reflect current amount of water in the tank, and methods "turn valve on" and "turn valve off" to control the valve that lets the water into the tank. The smart water tank may also generate a number of events such as "nearly empty", "nearly full", and "overflow".”; and [0063]: “Devices 20 may use a wired or wireless connection to the network, such as WiFi, GPRS, or any other suitable wireless communications media. Some devices 20 may be permanently connected to the network, while some may only connect to the network periodically. For example, devices 20 may be configured to only turn themselves on at predefined time intervals or connect to the network when they detect an event that needs to be reported to the server 10”); covering a proximity sensor location of the manipulated mobile electronic device; and removal and/or replacement of the manipulated mobile electronic device with a wireless charging source. As per claim 7, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein the one or more of the plurality of mobile devices is connected to the processing station through a wired connection (see Slepov, [0063]: “Devices 20 may use a wired or wireless connection to the network, such as WiFi, GPRS, or any other suitable wireless communications media.”). As per claim 8, which depends on claim 7, Slepov further teaches wherein the wired connection comprises one or more of a USB connection, a Lightning port connection, or a serial port connection (see Slepov, [0085]: “The communications module 26 may communicate with the legacy hardware 25 through any kind of internal interface 27. This interface may be of parallel, serial, or any other suitable type. In case the legacy hardware 25 does not have its own processor, the interface 27 may comprise a set of input-output hardware lines.”). As per claim 9, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein one or more of the plurality of electronic mobile devices is connected to the processing station through a wireless connection (see Slepov, [0063]: “Devices 20 may use a wired or wireless connection to the network, such as WiFi, GPRS, or any other suitable wireless communications media.”). As per claim 10, which depends on claim 9, Slepov further teaches wherein the wireless connection comprises one or more of: a Wi-Fi connection, a Bluetooth connection, a near-field communications connection, an infrared connection, or a cellular telephony connection (see Slepov, [0063]: “Devices 20 may use a wired or wireless connection to the network, such as WiFi, GPRS, or any other suitable wireless communications media.”). As per claim 11, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein the display of the processing station further comprises a graphical user interface depicting a plurality of graphical representations respectively corresponding to each of the connected plurality of mobile devices (see Claim 1 rejection above). As per claim 13, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein upon the corresponding manipulated electronic device being identified by the processing station, providing a confirmation indicia to be displayed and/or annunciated on the manipulated electronic device (see Slepov, [0119]: “Each macro can contain a complex sequence of steps involving property manipulation, method execution, as well as interaction with the user working through the client software. Once the user orders the execution of the macro, the server performs predetermined sequence of actions. Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action.”). As per claim 14, which depends on claim 1, Slepov teaches further comprising initiating, by the processing station, a test or provisioning process on the manipulated mobile electronic device that had a change in one if its device properties (see Claim 1 rejection above). As per claim 15, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein repeatedly reading information from each of the plurality of connected mobile devices further comprises repeatedly reading information from a debug log stored in a respective data structure of a respective memory of each of the connected mobile devices and storing the read information in a memory of the processing station respectively associated with an identifier respectively regarding each connected mobile device (see Claim 1 rejection above); repeatedly using the information read from the debug log to construct and maintain event histories for each respective connected mobile device in the memory of the processing station (see Slepov, [0021]: “The same wireless connection is used to download from the device an event log containing the history of log ins, log outs, as well as other events such as "engine started", "engine shut off", "excessive speed detected", etc.”; and [0069]: “Additionally, the property stores the time and date of the last change made to the value of this property--from inside the device or by the server.”); and repeatedly determining the status of each of the connected mobile electronic devices based on the stored event history (see Slepov, [0004]: “This dynamic data may carry information about present device configuration, mode of operation, state, or any other useful information.”; and [0063]: “Some devices 20 may be permanently connected to the network, while some may only connect to the network periodically.”). As per claim 16, which depends on claim 15, Slepov teaches further comprising reading information from the stored debug log at a plurality of different instants in time, wherein any two successive instants in time are separated by a time period which is sufficiently small so as to avoid an operating system of the mobile electronic device from over-writing any information in the debug log stored in the respective memory before the information can be read (see Slepov, [0063]: “Some devices 20 may be permanently connected to the network, while some may only connect to the network periodically.”; [0069]: “Additionally, the property stores the time and date of the last change made to the value of this property--from inside the device or by the server.”; and [0106]: “One of the operating principles of the system of the present invention is that neither the client software, nor the server software, except for the device controller module, interact with the devices directly. Rather, they access the metadata from the devices that is cached on the server. They also access and modify cached property values that are received from the devices. The device controller module of the server attempts to keep the cached data and the actual data of devices synchronized. Therefore, making changes to the values of property elements stored on the server will result in corresponding changes made to the property elements of device itself--when and if the device connects to the server.”). As per claim 17, which depends on claim 15, Slepov teaches further comprising repeatedly reading information from the debug log at regular intervals (see Slepov, [0063]: “Some devices 20 may be permanently connected to the network, while some may only connect to the network periodically.”). As per claim 18, which depends on claim 15, Slepov teaches further comprising reading only information from the debug log stored in the data structure at one instant in time which is new or additional to the information read from the debug log at a preceding instant in time (see Claim 16 rejection above). As per claim 19, which depends on claim 15, Slepov teaches further comprising: repeatedly identifying one or more entries in, or portions of, the event history which are associated with at least one of the status, the activation and/or the operation of a hardware element of the mobile electronic device (see Slepov, [0021]: “The same wireless connection is used to download from the device an event log containing the history of log ins, log outs, as well as other events such as "engine started", "engine shut off", "excessive speed detected", etc.”; and [0041]: “Virtually any device designed to perform a function can be described as a set of properties, methods, and events. For example, a smart remotely-controlled water tank can have a property "water level" to reflect current amount of water in the tank, and methods "turn valve on" and "turn valve off" to control the valve that lets the water into the tank. The smart water tank may also generate a number of events such as "nearly empty", "nearly full", and "overflow".”); and repeatedly determining the status of the hardware element based on the identified one or more entries in, or portions of, the event history (see Slepov, [0069]: “Property data elements 71 are used for viewing or editing context-specific data and configuring a corresponding functional part of the underlying device. Thus, property data elements 71 provide access to internal variables of the device that guide and/or reflect device operation, mode, state, and other parameters.”; and [0071]: “Event data elements 73 are used for monitoring the state of the context and a correspondent functional part of an underlying device.”). As per claim 20, which depends on claim 15, Slepov further teaches wherein repeatedly identifying the one or more entries in, or portions of, the event history which are associated with at least one of the status, the activation and/or the operation of the hardware element comprises repeatedly searching the event history for at least one of one or more characters, one or more symbols, one or more keywords, and one or more commands associated with at least one of the status, the activation and/or the operation of the hardware element (see Slepov, [0021]: “The same wireless connection is used to download from the device an event log containing the history of log ins, log outs, as well as other events such as "engine started", "engine shut off", "excessive speed detected", etc.”; and [0041]: “Virtually any device designed to perform a function can be described as a set of properties, methods, and events. For example, a smart remotely-controlled water tank can have a property "water level" to reflect current amount of water in the tank, and methods "turn valve on" and "turn valve off" to control the valve that lets the water into the tank. The smart water tank may also generate a number of events such as "nearly empty", "nearly full", and "overflow".”). As per claim 21, which depends on claim 15, Slepov teaches further comprising: repeatedly parsing the identified one or more entries in, or portions of, the event history (see Slepov, [0063]: “Some devices 20 may be permanently connected to the network, while some may only connect to the network periodically. For example, devices 20 may be configured to only turn themselves on at predefined time intervals or connect to the network when they detect an event that needs to be reported to the server 10.”; and [0105]: “This data is extracted from the devices by a so-called device controller module of the server software.”; and repeatedly determining the status of the hardware element based on the one or more parsed entries in, or portions of, the event history (see Slepov, [0069]: “Property data elements 71 are used for viewing or editing context-specific data and configuring a corresponding functional part of the underlying device. Thus, property data elements 71 provide access to internal variables of the device that guide and/or reflect device operation, mode, state, and other parameters.”; and [0071]: “Event data elements 73 are used for monitoring the state of the context and a correspondent functional part of an underlying device.”). As per claim 22, which depends on claim 15, Slepov further teaches wherein the hardware element comprises at least one of: a transducer, a component, a device, an input element, an output element, a control, a push button, a knob, a switch, a key, a keyboard, a keypad, a sensor, an accelerometer, an image sensor, a microphone, a proximity sensor, a motion sensor, a user interface, a touchscreen, an indicator, a display, and a speaker (see Slepov, FIG. 1; and page 9, claim 8: “wherein said device comprises a sensor”). As per claim 23, which depends on claim 1, Slepov teaches further comprising setting, controlling or enabling the mobile electronic device so that an operating system of the mobile electronic device writes information relating to the operation of the mobile electronic device to the debug log stored in the data structure of the mobile electronic device (see Slepov, [0075]: “Property definition comprises the following parts: property name, property format descriptor, various flags (such as "readable" and "writeable"), detailed write and read permissions, property description, and group affiliation. The property definition may also include, when applicable, a custom code that executes when the property is being read or written.”); and [0100]: “"Get property" and "set property" operations are used for reading and writing the values of property elements of the device. "Execute method" operation causes the device to execute specified method.”). As per claim 24, which depends on claim 1, Slepov teaches further comprising: setting, controlling or enabling the mobile electronic device so as to increase a level of detail of the information relating to the operation of the mobile electronic device which the operating system of the mobile electronic device writes to the debug log stored in the data structure of the mobile electronic device (see Slepov, [0075]: “Property definition comprises the following parts: property name, property format descriptor, various flags (such as "readable" and "writeable"), detailed write and read permissions, property description, and group affiliation. The property definition may also include, when applicable, a custom code that executes when the property is being read or written.”; and [0116]: “This metadata includes, among other parameters, a detailed description of the access rights to event notifications for this event.”); and/or setting, controlling or enabling the mobile electronic device so as to cause the operating system of the mobile electronic device to perform verbose logging. As per claim 27, which depends on claim 1, Slepov teaches further comprising using an external processing resource of the processing station which is external to the plurality of connected mobile devices to repeatedly read information from the debug log stored in the data structure of each of the connected mobile devices (see Slepov, [0002]: “This invention relates generally to techniques for remote configuration, control, and monitoring of machines, equipment or devices over computer networks. More particularly, it relates to techniques for simultaneous configuration, control, and monitoring of the large number of geographically distributed machines or devices over computer networks from one or more locations.”; [0024]: “In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for providing simultaneous remote configuration, controlling, and monitoring of the large number of geographically distributed and disparate machines or devices over computer network from one or several locations.”; and [0110]: “Regardless of which software component or external system is granted access to the property values, such control remains indirect and through the cached copy of these values. Devices do not need to be constantly connected to the server for such property value manipulation to take place.”). As per claim 28, which depends on claim 27, Slepov teaches further comprising using the external processing resource to cause the display of the processing station to repeatedly display information representative of the determined status of each of the connected mobile devices (see Slepov, [0004]: “This dynamic data may carry information about present device configuration, mode of operation, state, or any other useful information.”; and [0063]: “Some devices 20 may be permanently connected to the network, while some may only connect to the network periodically.”). As per claim 29, which depends on claim 28, Slepov teaches further comprising using the external processing resource to cause the display to display information for guiding or prompting a user of the manipulated mobile electronic device to perform one or more actions in relation to the manipulated mobile electronic devices, for example wherein the one or more actions to be performed in relation to the manipulated mobile electronic device comprise activating or operating an input element of the manipulated mobile electronic device (see Slepov, [0119]: “Once the user orders the execution of the macro, the server performs predetermined sequence of actions. Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action. Macro steps are not necessarily executed in the linear fashion, the execution of the macro can branch according to the result of execution of the previous steps of the macro.”). As per claim 30, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches wherein the mobile electronic device comprises a mobile phone, a smartphone, a smart watch, a component of smart jewelry, a portable digital assistant (PDA), a digital camera, an intelligent device for the “Internet of Things” (or “IOT”), a drone device, a mobile subscriber communication device, a tablet computer, a media player, a smart vehicle, a smart TVs, a laptop computer, and an electronic device equipped with an accelerometer (see Slepov, [0011]: “Additionally, the reliability and availability of the data link to the device are typically adversely affected when the device is connected to the network through a wireless link (for example, a Wi-Fi connection) and the device itself is not stationary. This is the case for mobile terminals, portable data collecting equipment, hand-held computers and all other portable devices whose very nature dictates that these devices are constantly "on the move".”). As per claim 33, which depends on claim 5, further teaches wherein the diagnostic and/or provisioning procedure is performed in part on the processing station and in part on the manipulated mobile device (see Slepov, [0002]: “More particularly, it relates to techniques for simultaneous configuration, control, and monitoring of the large number of geographically distributed machines or devices over computer networks from one or more locations.”; and [0024]: “it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for providing simultaneous remote configuration, controlling, and monitoring of the large number of geographically distributed and disparate machines or devices over computer network from one or several locations.”). As per claim 34, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches a system for use in determining a status of a mobile electronic device, the system comprising the processing station including an external processing resource which is external to the plurality of connected mobile device, wherein the external processing resource is configured for communication with each of the connected mobile devices and is configured to perform the method of claim 1 (see Slepov, [0002]: “This invention relates generally to techniques for remote configuration, control, and monitoring of machines, equipment or devices over computer networks. More particularly, it relates to techniques for simultaneous configuration, control, and monitoring of the large number of geographically distributed machines or devices over computer networks from one or more locations.”; [0024]: “In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for providing simultaneous remote configuration, controlling, and monitoring of the large number of geographically distributed and disparate machines or devices over computer network from one or several locations.”; [0110]: “Regardless of which software component or external system is granted access to the property values, such control remains indirect and through the cached copy of these values. Devices do not need to be constantly connected to the server for such property value manipulation to take place.”; and Claim1 rejection above). As per claim 35, which depends on claim 1, Slepov further teaches a computer program stored in the memory of the processing station for use in determining a status of a mobile electronic device, the computer program being configured so that, when executed by an external processing resource external to the plurality of connected mobile device, the external processing resource performs the method of claim 1 (see Slepov, [0128]: “Server commands may include instructions related to the manipulation of property elements, or commands to invoke a method.”; and Claim 1 rejection above). 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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. 6. Claims 3, 12, 25, and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slepov et al. (US 2009/0055525 A1) in view of Khosropour et al. (US 2014/0108936 A1). As per claim 3, which depends on claim 2, Slepov does not explicitly teach further comprising one or more of: changing a brightness characteristic of the iconic representation; changing a color characteristic of the iconic representation; and displaying text adjacent to the iconic representation corresponding to identification of a device type corresponding manipulated mobile electronic device. Khosropour teaches changing a color characteristic of the iconic representation (see Khosropour, [0065]: “In some embodiments, the user interaction application may provide visual feedback to the user when the user touches a button on the display screen. For example, in some embodiments, the user interaction application changes the lighting intensity of the button (e.g., makes the button brighter) when the user touches the button. In some embodiments, the user interaction application changes the size of the button (e.g., makes the button bigger) when the user touches the button. Other visual changes to the appearance of the button are possible, including changes in color or visual pattern on or immediately surrounding the button, etc.”; and [0272]: “In some embodiments, the user interaction application may modify the color of selectable items (e.g., sign out link on the user device becomes a red button on the input device).”); It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Slepov in view of Khosropour by implementing changing a color characteristic of the iconic representation. One would be motivated to do so because visually distinguishing objects of a GUI are subjective and because Slepov teaches in paragraph [0119], “Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action.”, emphasis added. As per claim 12, which depends on claim 11, Slepov does not explicitly teach wherein all graphical representations corresponding to each of the non-manipulated electronic devices are shown in a darker grayed-out depiction compared to the graphical representation corresponding to the manipulated electronic device. Khosropour teaches wherein all graphical representations corresponding to each of the non-manipulated electronic devices are shown in a darker grayed-out depiction compared to the graphical representation corresponding to the manipulated electronic device (see Khosropour, [0113]: “Even if some GUI elements remain on the primary device display screen, such GUI elements need not be expanded on the primary device display screen (e.g., to show hidden layers of menu options, controls, etc.). Moving such GUI elements to the user interaction device enables the user to access and control such GUI elements on the user interaction device using the user-customizable widgets.”; [0143]: “Another indicator may be a pointer that enables the user to navigate to different functional regions. For example, the user may use the pointer to select a functional region that is visible in the viewer region but might be hidden elsewhere on the display screen.”; [0151]: “In such an implementation, the user can pan within in the functional region to display hidden or partially hidden objects.”; and [0200]: “In such an implementation, the user can pan within in the functional region to display hidden or partially hidden objects.”). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Slepov in view of Khosropour so that all graphical representations corresponding to each of the non-manipulated electronic devices are shown in a darker grayed-out depiction compared to the graphical representation corresponding to the manipulated electronic device. One would be motivated to do so because visually distinguishing objects of a GUI are subjective and because Slepov teaches in paragraph [0119], “Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action.”, emphasis added. As per claim 25, which depends on claim 1, Slepov does not explicitly teach wherein one or more of the plurality of mobile electronic devices comprises an iOS device or an iOS operating system and the method comprises using the syslog relay service when the mobile electronic device is in normal mode. Khosropour (see Khosropour, [0109]: “The primary device may also be a tablet computer, a mobile phone, or a smartphone, wearable device, etc. The primary device may also be any mobile operating system device, which may or may not include middleware and particular applications (e.g. applications for an iOS device, Android device, etc.). The primary device may also be any appliance such as a household appliance or a commercial appliance or industry equipment, etc.”; and [0114]: “A primary device may be local or remote (e.g., in the cloud), which could be running on Windows, Apple, Unix, Linux, mobile (such as iOS, Android, Symbian, etc.) or any other operating system.”). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Slepov in view of Khosropour so that one or more of the plurality of mobile electronic devices comprises an iOS device or an iOS operating system and the method comprises using the syslog relay service when the mobile electronic device is in normal mode. One would be motivated to do so because Slepov teaches in paragraph [0011] of “mobile terminals”. As per claim 31, which depends on claim 1, Slepov does not explicitly teach wherein a color marker is associated with each of the plurality of connected devices, and each respective graphical representations respectively corresponding to the plurality of connected devices appears in a color associated with the respective color marker. Khosropour teaches wherein a color marker is associated with each of the plurality of connected devices, and each respective graphical representations respectively corresponding to the plurality of connected devices appears in a color associated with the respective color marker (see Khosropour, [0065]: “In some embodiments, the user interaction application may provide visual feedback to the user when the user touches a button on the display screen. For example, in some embodiments, the user interaction application changes the lighting intensity of the button (e.g., makes the button brighter) when the user touches the button. In some embodiments, the user interaction application changes the size of the button (e.g., makes the button bigger) when the user touches the button. Other visual changes to the appearance of the button are possible, including changes in color or visual pattern on or immediately surrounding the button, etc.”; and [0272]: “In some embodiments, the user interaction application may modify the color of selectable items (e.g., sign out link on the user device becomes a red button on the input device).”). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Slepov in view of Khosropour by implementing wherein a color marker is associated with each of the plurality of connected devices, and each respective graphical representations respectively corresponding to the plurality of connected devices appears in a color associated with the respective color marker. One would be motivated to do so because visually distinguishing objects of a GUI are subjective and because Slepov teaches in paragraph [0119], “Depending on the macro, in the cause of its execution, the user of the client may be shown dialog boxes, requested to input data, press a button, or perform some other interactive action.”, emphasis added. 7. Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slepov et al. (US 2009/0055525 A1) and Khosropour et al. (US 2014/0108936 A1), and still further in view of Por (US 2019/0121647 A1). As per claim 26, which depends on claim 1, although Khosropour teaches wherein one or more of the plurality of mobile electronic devices comprises an Android device or an Android operating system (see Claim 25 rejection above), Slepov and Khosropour do not explicitly teach the method comprises enabling USB debugging. Por teaches enabling USB debugging (see Por, [0004]: “Thus, for the purposes of debugging, diagnostic analysis, testing or similar characterization utilization of these communication ports to interface with the components of the SoC has become a critical path to testing the products and ensuring a reasonable time to market. Testing the components of the SoC requires that the communication ports be placed into a debugging mode or similar state.”; [0024]: “The embodiments provide a system and method that is compatible with any communication port type, including any USB port types (Type A/AB/B/C). Being able to debug, diagnose and characterize any form factor without breaking into the chassis and reusing the functional ports for nonfunctional usages is an invaluable tool to achieve greater quality, throughput and to shorten time to market.”; and [0029]: “In response to receiving the port connection signal (e.g., the USB 2.0 port reset signal), the AHD can configure a connection interface 109 to enable a debug, diagnostic, characterization controller 107 to communicate with the USB 2.0 port 121 of the target device 101 and thereby to establish a communication session with the host device 103.”). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Slepov and Khosropour, in view Por, so that the method comprises enabling USB debugging. One would be motivated to do so because events are subjective and Slepov teaches in paragraph [0046] of “The use of the central server has other benefits, such as: centralized user management, coordinated authentication and authorization of devices and instances of client software, correct handling of events generated by devices located in different time zones, and other benefits”. 8. Claim 32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slepov et al. (US 2009/0055525 A1) and Khosropour et al. (US 2014/0108936 A1), and still further in view of Tenenblat et al. (US 2012/0209948 A1). As per claim 32, which depends on claim 1, although Khosropour teach a corresponding visual representation on the display of the processing station changing color for the visual representation (see Claim 3 rejection above), Slepov and Khosropour do not explicitly teach the visual representation is a result of shaking the manipulated mobile device. Tenenblat teaches wherein shaking the manipulated mobile device results in a corresponding visual representation on the display of the processing station changing color for the visual representation (see Tenenblat, [0054]: “the user can review any received updates by, for example, shaking the handheld device 210 or selecting an update button on the graphical user interface displaying a report.”). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Slepov and Khosropour, in view of Tenenblat, by implementing wherein shaking the manipulated mobile device results in a corresponding visual representation on the display of the processing station changing color for the visual representation. One would be motivated to do so because gesture-based color alerts are well-known, routine, and conventional. Conclusion 9. For the reasons above, claims 1-35 have been rejected and remain pending. 10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL Y WON whose telephone number is (571)272-3993. The examiner can normally be reached on Wk.1: M-F: 8-5 PST & Wk.2: M-Th: 8-7 PST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas R Taylor can be reached on 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Michael Won/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 31, 2024
Application Filed
Dec 23, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

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Expected OA Rounds
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3y 0m
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