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 .
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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/18/26 have been fully considered.
Applicant’s arguments, starting on page 7, with respect to the objection the title have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection the title has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments, starting on page 8, regarding the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Yamaguchi does not teach all the features of the instant claim because Yamaguchi teaches that calibration information is stored in the portable device, while in Yamaguchi the calibration information is stored in the control device. Examiner respectfully disagrees. The term “calibration information” is broad such that a person having ordinary skill in the art may reasonably interpret it as applying to all information associated with calibration. For example, identification information of the portable device is used in calibration as discussed in S253 in Fig. 9 of Yamaguchi, and thus it may reasonably be considered calibration information. Identification information is also obtained from the control device, as in S105-106 in Fig. 6 of Yamaguchi, and is thus stored in the portable device. Thus, Yamaguchi does teach the instant claim.
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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamaguchi (US 20200169842 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yamaguchi discloses:
“A control device, comprising: a control unit that performs calibration processing for calibrating a radio wave intensity of a signal transmitted and received between a control target and a portable device on the basis of calibration information stored in the portable device, wherein” ([¶ 0100]: “In this way, after the calibration coefficient associated with the authorized mobile terminal 10 is read (S253), the radio wave intensity previously stored in S251 is calibrated with the use of the calibration coefficient (S254). As described above, the calibration coefficient is a coefficient for calibrating that the radio wave intensity at the time of transmitting the radio wave by the mobile terminal 10 differs depending on the difference in model or the individual difference of the mobile terminal 10, and therefore, the radio wave intensity is calibrated by using the calibration coefficient, thereby being capable of removing the difference of the model or the individual difference of the mobile terminal 10.”; See Fig. 6.)
“whether or not to cause a controlled device provided in the control target to perform a prescribed operation is determined on the basis of the calibrated radio wave intensity.” ([¶ 0082]: “Then, it is determined whether the radio wave intensity acquired in S201 is larger than the read threshold intensity (S204). Then, when the radio wave intensity is larger than the threshold intensity (YES in S204), it is determined that the authorized mobile terminal 10 is present within the predetermined threshold distance from the vehicle 1 (S205). On the other hand, when the radio wave intensity is smaller than the threshold intensity (NO in S204), it is determined that the authorized mobile terminal 10 is not present within the threshold distance (S206).”)
Regarding claim 2, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein as the calibration processing, the control unit calibrates a received radio wave intensity of a signal received from the portable device on the basis of the calibration information.” ([¶ 0100]: “In this way, after the calibration coefficient associated with the authorized mobile terminal 10 is read (S253), the radio wave intensity previously stored in S251 is calibrated with the use of the calibration coefficient (S254).”)
Regarding claim 3, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “the control device is provided in the portable device, and the control unit calibrates, on the basis of the calibration information, a received radio wave intensity of a signal received by the control target from the portable device, the received radio wave intensity being received from the control target, and transmits the calibrated radio wave intensity to the control target.” ([¶ 0100]: “In this way, after the calibration coefficient associated with the authorized mobile terminal 10 is read (S253), the radio wave intensity previously stored in S251 is calibrated with the use of the calibration coefficient (S254).”)
Regarding claim 4, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein as the calibration processing, the control unit calibrates a received radio wave intensity of a signal received from the portable device on the basis of the calibration information.” ([¶ 0071]: “Thereafter, the threshold intensity thus determined is associated with the identification information previously registered as the authorized terminal identification information in S106 and registered as the calibration information (S109), and then the calibration information registration process of FIG. 6 is terminated.”)
Regarding claim 5, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein the control unit calibrates a received radio wave intensity of a signal received from the portable device on the basis of the calibration information included in the signal.” ([¶ 0071]: “Thereafter, the threshold intensity thus determined is associated with the identification information previously registered as the authorized terminal identification information in S106 and registered as the calibration information (S109), and then the calibration information registration process of FIG. 6 is terminated.”)
Regarding claim 6, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “the control device is provided in the portable device, and as the calibration processing, the control unit calibrates an output radio wave intensity of a signal transmitted by the portable device on the basis of the calibration information.” ([¶ 0100]: “In this way, after the calibration coefficient associated with the authorized mobile terminal 10 is read (S253), the radio wave intensity previously stored in S251 is calibrated with the use of the calibration coefficient (S254).”)
Regarding claim 7, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein the control unit calculates the calibration information on the basis of comparison between a received radio wave intensity of a signal received by the control target from the portable device and a preliminarily stored reference value.” ([¶ 0070]: “Then, the acquired radio wave intensity is compared with a standard radio wave intensity stored in advance, to thereby determine the calibration information (in this example, the threshold intensity) for the mobile terminal 10 to be registered (S108).”)
Regarding claim 8, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein the prescribed operation includes locking or unlocking of a door provided in the control target.” ([¶ 0003]: “Techniques have been proposed for providing various services, such as unlocking (or preparation for locking) a door of a vehicle or illuminating a foot, upon detecting that a person carrying an electronic key approaches the vehicle.”)
Claims 9-10 are substantially similar to claim 1, with the differences amounting to that claim 1 is directed towards an apparatus while claim 9 is directed towards a computer readable medium and claim 10 is directed towards a system. Thus, claims 9-10 are rejected for similar reasons to claim 1.
Regarding claim 11, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein the portable device is separate from the control device and located external to the control device.” ([¶ 0038]: “Therefore, the in-vehicle wireless communication device 100 of the present embodiment employs the following method in order to be able to accurately detect the distance information to the mobile terminal 10 based on the radio wave intensity.”)
Regarding claim 12, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein the control device is an electronic control unit (ECU).” ([¶ 0038]: “Therefore, the in-vehicle wireless communication device 100 of the present embodiment employs the following method in order to be able to accurately detect the distance information to the mobile terminal 10 based on the radio wave intensity.”)
Regarding claim 13, Yamaguchi discloses all the features of the parent claim.
Yamaguchi further discloses “wherein the control device is installed in the control target and the portable device is located outside of the control target, wherein the control target is a vehicle.” ([¶ 0038]: “Therefore, the in-vehicle wireless communication device 100 of the present embodiment employs the following method in order to be able to accurately detect the distance information to the mobile terminal 10 based on the radio wave intensity.”)
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 SAAD KHAWAR whose telephone number is (571)272-7948. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at (571)-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAAD KHAWAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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