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
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/07/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant asserts:
That Xu fails to disclose or suggest "displaying the communication status responding to the communication request synchronously on the first application and a second application on the second device," as recited in amended independent claim 1.
The Examiner notes that Applicant appears to distinguish the process described in Figs. 3 and 4 as distinct processes. However, per the context of Xu, the aforementioned processes are not enacted in isolation but rather in tandem. See for example (0232) where Xu, in detailing the process of Fig. 4, references said cellular communication service request. Therefore, given the context of Xu, the cellular communication service request depicted in Figs. 3x directly leads to the cellular communication sharing process depicted in Figs. 4x.
That regarding claim 2 (now incorporated into claim 1 via amendment), Xu fails to disclose or suggest "sending the communication request synchronously to the second application of the second device and a communication network; and sending, in response to the communication network responding to the communication request, the communication status responding to the communication request synchronously to the first application and the second application to display the communication status."
The Examiner notes that the rejection of the previous presentation of claim 1 should be taken into consideration when reviewing the rejection of claim 2, given the dependency of claim 2 upon claim 1. As previously presented in the Office Action mailed on 06/11/2026, Xu discloses (See 0251 and at least Fig. 3B – S3014 and Fig. 4A – S406) that the First device sends a request to Second device to request cellular communication service sharing. The Examiner notes that per the claim language, “a communication network” is generally claimed, thus the broadest reasonable interpretation of “communication network” would be inclusive of the Second device itself, since from the perspective of the First device, the Second device is part of the network through which the First device gains cellular connectivity. Applicant has not provided any specificity regarding what comprises the communication network in the claim or in the arguments presented before the Office. Applicant is invited to amend the claims to further include what entity within the communication network is receiving the request, if different or in addition to the second device.
Applicant’s arguments pertaining to sending the communication status responding to the communication request synchronously to the first application and the second application has been address above in 1.a.i and further via Xu (See 0252) where a 5G signal status is synchronously displayed on both the First and Second devices.
Thus, the limitations of the claims have been addressed and the action herein is made FINAL.
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6 and 8-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 20230422154 A1 to Xu; Zixiang et al.
Re: Claim(s) 1, 14, 17-20
Xu discloses a communication method (Figs. 3a-3c, 4A-4B),
comprising: receiving, by a second device, a communication request sent by a first device (Fig. 3b – S3014),
wherein the communication request is triggered by a first application on the first device (Fig. 3b – S3011. 0185 - An SMS message application in an application layer of the first device performs step S3011 to trigger the cellular communication service request, where the cellular communication service request may be an SMS message sending request);
and displaying a communication status responding to the communication request synchronously on the first application and a second application on the second device (Fig. 4A – S406 and 0251 - after the first device forwards the cellular communication service request to the second device, the distributed cellular communication module of the second device can cause, through the created proxy object of the response interface, the first device to receive the response data corresponding to the cellular communication service request, and can cause the first device to successfully use the cellular communication capability of the second device. Fig. 7a and 0252 - Through step S401 to step S408, the first device has had a capability of using the Modem of the second device, and may use all cellular communication functions of the second device. For example, as shown in FIG. 7a, when the first device is a notebook computer and the second device is a mobile phone, an interface presents a WIFI icon 70 after the mobile phone is connected to WIFI, and the interface presents a WIFI icon 71 after the notebook computer is connected to the WIFI. A connection is established between the mobile phone and the notebook computer by accessing the same WIFI, and then after the mobile phone and the notebook computer collaboratively perform step S401 to step S407, a 5G signal state of a SIM card 1 and a 5G signal state of a SIM card 2 on the mobile phone are both shared with the notebook computer, signal states presented on a 5G signal state icon 72 of the SIM card 1 and a 5G signal state icon 73 of the SIM card 2 on the mobile phone are consistent with signal states presented on a 5G signal state icon 74 and a 5G signal state icon 75 on the notebook computer, and the notebook computer can synchronously obtain the signal states on the mobile phone);
wherein the first application and the second application are applications that support execution of a communication function corresponding to the communication request (See Id. – At the very least, the rendering of the synchronous 5G signal status is on respective applications for each device. See also Fig. 9a – SMS/MMS message status displayed on both devices);
wherein displaying the communication status responding to the communication request synchronously on the first application and the second application on the second device comprises: sending the communication request synchronously to the second application of the second device and a communication network (See Id. and at least Fig. 3B – S3014 and Fig. 4A – S406 – First device sends a request to Second device to request cellular communication service sharing. The Examiner notes that per the claim language, “a communication network” is generally claimed, thus the broadest reasonable interpretation of “communication network” would be inclusive of the Second device itself, since from the perspective of the First device, the Second device is part of the network through which the First device gains cellular connectivity);
and sending, in response to the communication network responding to the communication request, the communication status responding to the communication request synchronously to the first application and the second application to display the communication status (0252 – see as analyzed above where a 5G signal status is synchronously displayed on both the First and Second devices).
Xu further discloses:
A method corresponding to the other device in communication with the device performing the method of claim 1 (Figs. 3a-3c, 4A-4B), as required by claim 14;
An apparatus comprising a processor and memory corresponding to the method of claim 1 (Fig. 20 – 2001, 2004), as required by claim 17;
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium corresponding to the method of claim 1 (Fig. 20 – 2004), as required by claim 18;
An apparatus comprising a processor and memory corresponding to the method of claim 14 (Fig. 20 – 2001, 2004), as required by claim 19;
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium corresponding to the method of claim 14 (Fig. 20 – 2004), as required by claim 20.
Re: Claim(s) 3, 15
Xu discloses wherein the communication status comprises a communication process status or a communication result status; and displaying the communication status responding to the communication request synchronously comprises: in response to the communication status being a communication process status, displaying the communication process status on the second application; or in response to the communication status being a communication result status, displaying the communication result status synchronously on the first application and the second application (Fig. 7a and 0252. Fig. 9a and 0302).
Re: Claim(s) 4
Xu discloses wherein sending the communication request synchronously to the second application of the second device and the communication network comprises: sending the communication request to the second application by multiplexing an application layer interface of the second device, and sending the communication request to the communication network by multiplexing a modem processor interface of the second device (Figs. 3a-1 and 3a-2 – distributed bus 3013 and 3024 transmits requests corresponding to requests from applications in the application layer. 0189 - when the first device is the tablet computer 12 and the second device is the mobile phone 11, a wireless connection may be established in a Bluetooth manner or a communicative connection may be established by connecting to same wireless Wi-Fi between the mobile phone 11 and the tablet computer 12 (i.e., the request is via Wi-Fi which is a communication network).
Re: Claim(s) 5, 16
Xu discloses wherein the communication function comprises at least one of: a call function; or a short message function (Figs. 7b and 9a-9b).
Re: Claim(s) 6
Xu discloses wherein the first device does not have an autonomous communication function, and the second device has an autonomous communication function (implicit – the notebook computer of Figs. 7a-7b and 9a-9b is leveraging the cellular communication capability of the cellular device).
Re: Claim(s) 8
Xu discloses determining the communication status in real time according to the communication request responded by the communication network (0252 – synchronous signal states. Fig. 9a – SMS messages displayed on both devices in real time).
Re: Claim(s) 9
Xu discloses sending, in response to the first application on the first device being triggered to execute the communication function, the communication request corresponding to execution of the communication function to the second device (Fig. 3b – S3011-S3014).
Re: Claim(s) 10
Xu discloses determining the communication status (implicit – 0252 – signal states are determined).
Re: Claim(s) 11
Xu discloses wherein the communication process status comprises a status of being sent (Fig. 9a-9b – SMS and call status is displayed).
Re: Claim(s) 12
Xu discloses wherein the communication result status comprises a status of being successfully sent or failed to send (Fig. 9a-9b – SMS and call status is displayed).
Re: Claim(s) 13
Xu discloses wherein the communication status comprises a communication process status or a communication result status; and displaying the communication status responding to the communication request synchronously comprises: in response to the communication status being a communication process status, displaying the communication process status on the second application; or in response to the communication status being a communication result status, displaying the communication result status synchronously on the first application and the second application (Fig. 9a-9b – SMS and call status is displayed. Fig. 7a and 0252 – 5G signal states synchronously displayed on both devices).
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) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu as applied to claims 1 and 6 above, and further in view of US 20240364802 A1 to Shen; Fusheng et al.
Re: Claim(s) 7
Xu discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 1 and 6 above.
Xu does/do not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the first device is not provided with a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, and the second device is provided with a SIM card.
However, attention is directed to Shen which discloses said limitation (Abstract - This application relates to sharing a cellular capability between terminal devices. In an implementation, a method includes: A first device establishes a transmission channel to a second device, where the first device shares a cellular capability with the second device through the transmission channel. The second device implements a cellular communication function by using the cellular capability of the first device. The first device displays a first banner which indicates that the first device is sharing the cellular capability. The second device displays a cellular indication icon based on a cellular status of the first device. 0122 - The second device is a device that does not have a cellular capability, for example, an electronic device without a modem, or an electronic device that has a modem but is not provided with a SIM card. For example, the second device may be a Wi-Fi only (Wi-Fi only) PAD, a PC, a smart screen, or the like, or may be a mobile phone without a SIM card, or may be a vehicle-mounted device).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Xu invention by employing the teaching as taught by Shen to provide the ability for a cellular enabled device to share cellular communication functions with another device not having cellular capabilities. The motivation for the combination is given by Shen (0003-0005).
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 KASHIF SIDDIQUI whose telephone number is (571)270-3188. The examiner can normally be reached on M-R 6:00 EST to 16:00 EST.
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, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on 571-270-1215. 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.
/KASHIF SIDDIQUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
Prosecution Insights