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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/14/25 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 11,879,987 by Davis et al. (Davis) in view of US 2021/0290102 by Burwinkel et al. (Burwinkel).
With respect to claim 1, Davis teaches a method for job site communications management, comprising:
receiving, via a first wireless device, at least one advertising signal, wherein the first wireless headset comprises a low-energy communication transceiver, a speaker, and a microphone; (Col. 5 line 57 – Col. 6 line 13, Col. 6 lines 27-46, Col. 8 lines 20-42, Col. 11 lines 20-Col. 7 line 13 – an advertising beacon signals from a beacon of a power tool is received by a personal wireless device such as a smartphone, advertising may be, for example, Bluetooth low energy (BLE))
determining, via the first wireless device, if the at least one advertising signal denotes at least one approved worksite powered device comprising at least one of a power tool, a power tool battery pack, a battery charger, or a work light; ((Col. 5 line 57 – Col. 6 line 13, Col. 8 lines 20-42, Col. 11 lines 20-Col. 7 line 13 advertising signal includes identifying information of the device, the examiner interprets a connection phase of BLE compatible devices as showing the devices are “approved”).
initiating, via the first wireless device, communication with the at least one approved worksite powered device if the at least one advertising signal denotes an approved device; (Col. 8 lines 20-42, Col. 11 lines 20-Col. 7 line 13, Col. 13 lines 4-41 – wireless device may connect and communicate based on the advertised signal and receive location and additional information) -
the worksite powered device may output an audible alert (Col. 5 lines 45-56 – beacon of a device may have user output such as an audible alert)
Davis does not teach the wireless devices is a headset and further receiving, via the first wireless headset, audio data from the at least one approved worksite powered device; and outputting, via the first wireless headset, audio data received from the at least one approved worksite powered device. Burwinkle teaches a wireless headset using BLE technology can act as a wireless device to receive alerts in relation to operation of a powered tool (Paragraphs 3, 34, 38-40, 76, 160, 162, 172 - audible alert may be provided to an ear-worn device such as a headset in relation to operation of power tools or heavy equipment )
It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the wireless device of Davis include a headset that receives the corresponding alerts of a powered device as in Burwinkle. One would be motivated to have this as ear-worn devices are common in environments using worksite powered devices and it is beneficial to be able to safely alert users of these devices.
With respect to claim 2, Davis as modified teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, via the first wireless headset, local audio data; and transmitting, via the first wireless headset, the local audio data to the at least one approved worksite powered device. (Burwinkle Paragraph 131 – user providing audible response)
Claim 16 is similar in scope to claim 1 and is therefore rejected based on the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID R LAZARO whose telephone number is (571)272-3986. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4:30.
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/DAVID R LAZARO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
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