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 .
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, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20180011456 A1 (Hereafter Zhou).
Regarding Claim 1, Zhou anticipates:
A computer-implemented method comprising (Paragraph 4 anticipates: "…wherein the processor is configured to execute the program…" Anticipates a program/method implemented on a processor/computer.):
receiving, from a wearable included in a controlled network, data representative of a gesture executed by a wearer of the wearable (Paragraph 4 anticipates: "...recognize hand gestures of the user and control the smart home through the wireless connection…" Anticipates wearable (smart watch) sending hand gesture to smart home.);
recognizing, based on the data representative of the gesture, the gesture executed by the wearer (Paragraph 4 anticipates: "...switch current working state of the smart home based on the recognized hand gestures of the user." Anticipates recognizing hand gestures.);
identifying, via at least one location sensor, a physical location of the wearer (Paragraph 4 anticipates: "...detect whether the smart watch has entered a sensing range of the smart home;.." Anticipates getting location data of the wearable in reference to the smart home system.); and
directing, based on the gesture excused by the wearer and the physical location of the wearer, a management device included in the controlled network to execute a management action (Paragraph 4 anticipates: "recognize hand gestures of the user and control the smart home through the wireless connection to switch current working state of the smart home based on the recognized hand gestures of the user." Anticipates using hand gesture data to control smart home systems.).
Regarding Claim 2, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 1 and further anticipates:
gathering, via at least one contextual data gathering device communicatively coupled to the management device via the controlled network, additional contextual data associated with the wearer (Paragraph 8 anticipates: "In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to turn off the smart-home-control function of the smart watch when the smart watch has exited the sensing range of the smart home." and Paragraph 10 anticipates: "obtaining a current characteristic value of the arm movement based on the plurality of sets of 3D coordinates; and recognizing a hand gesture of the user associated with the arm movement based on the current characteristic value." Anticipates use of further context for smart home control.); and
analyzing the additional contextual data associated with the wearer to identify a context associated with the wearer (Paragraph 17 anticipates: "...and if the maximum value is equal to the predetermined value, determining that the hand gesture is a shaking motion." and Paragraph 50 anticipates: "When the user wearing a smart watch enters the living room and the sensing range of the smart lights, the smart watch may establish a wireless connection with the smart light and subsequently turns on the smart home control function." Anticipates using contextual data to determine the context.); and
directing of the management device to execute the management action is further based on the context (Paragraph 8 anticipates: "In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to turn off the smart-home-control function of the smart watch when the smart watch has exited the sensing range of the smart home." and Paragraph 10 anticipates: "obtaining a current characteristic value of the arm movement based on the plurality of sets of 3D coordinates; and recognizing a hand gesture of the user associated with the arm movement based on the current characteristic value." Anticipates use of further context for smart home control.).
Regarding Claim 4, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 1 and further anticipates:
recognizing the gesture executed by the wearer of the wearable comprises recognizing the gesture via a local gesture recognition device within the controlled network (Fig. 3, part 241 as described in Paragraph 55 anticipates: "In some embodiments, the smart-home-control module 24 may further include a hand gesture recognition unit 241 and a switching unit 242." Anticipates local (within Smart home) unit for recognizing hand gestures.).
Regarding Claim 7, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 1 and further anticipates:
the management device comprises a home automation management device (Paragraph 50 anticipates: "The following is a specific example to illustrate the proposed smart home control technique." Anticipates usage as smart-home control, another name for a home automation system.).
Regarding Claim 8, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 7 and further anticipates:
the home automation management device executes the management action by directing a smart home device communicatively coupled to the home automation management device to execute a smart home function (Paragraph 50 anticipates: "More specifically, when the user waves the hand upward, the smart lights may be switched on; when the user waves again, the smart lights may be switched off." Anticipates doing a smart home function, lights in this case.).
Regarding Claim 9, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 8, and further anticipates:
wherein the smart home device comprises at least one of:
a smart lighting device (Paragraph 50 anticipates: "More specifically, when the user waves the hand upward, the smart lights may be switched on; when the user waves again, the smart lights may be switched off." Anticipates switching on and off smart lights.);
Regarding Claim 11, Claim 1 anticipates all method requirements of Claim 11. Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 1, and further anticipates:
and at least one physical processor that executes the receiving module, the recognizing module, the identifying module, and the directing module (Paragraph 4 anticipates: " According to an aspect of the disclosure, a smart watch including functions for controlling a smart home is disclosed that includes: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to: detect whether the smart watch has entered a sensing range of the smart home; after the smart watch has entered the sensing range of the smart home, detect whether the smart watch has established a wireless connection with the smart home; after the smart watch has established the wireless connection with the smart home, turn on a smart-home-control function of the smart watch; and while controlling the smart home using the smart-home-control function, recognize hand gestures of the user and control the smart home through the wireless connection to switch current working state of the smart home based on the recognized hand gestures of the user." Anticipates using a processor to execute the methods.).
Regarding Claim 12, Claim 2 anticipates all limitations of Claim 12. Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 2 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 11, thereby fully anticipating Claim 12.
Regarding Claim 14, Claim 4 anticipates all limitations of Claim 14. Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 4 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 11, thereby fully anticipating Claim 14.
Regarding Claim 16, Claim 8 anticipates all limitations of Claim 16. Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 8 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 11, thereby fully anticipating Claim 16.
Regarding Claim 18, reformatting a method as a program is anticipated by creating a system as in Claim 11. Thus Claim 18 is anticipated by Zhou under the same reasoning as Claim 11.
Regarding Claim 19, Claim 2 anticipates all limitations of Claim 19. Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 2 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 18, thereby fully anticipating Claim 19.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 11366529 B1 (Hereafter Reynolds).
Regarding Claim 5, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 1. Zhou does not teach:
determining, based on the data representative of the gesture executed by the wearer of the wearable, that the gesture exceeds a predetermined degree of gesture complexity;
transmitting the data representative of the gesture to an external gesture recognition system external to the controlled network; and
receiving, from the external gesture recognition system, data representative of a recognized gesture.
Regarding Claim 5, Reynolds teaches:
determining, based on the data representative of the gesture executed by the wearer of the wearable, that the gesture exceeds a predetermined degree of gesture complexity (Paragraph 7 (Col. 2 L58-62) teaches: "In other embodiments, the gesture unit, in connection with the analysis unit, interprets sequence gestures, combined gestures, timing gestures, speed gestures, contrasting gestures, handshake gestures, relational gestures, and/or complex gestures." Teaches the gesture unit recognizing a simple starting gesture and passing the complex data to the analysis unit for complex gesture calculation.);
transmitting the data representative of the gesture to an external gesture recognition system external to the controlled network (Paragraph 3 (Col. 1 L46-48) teaches: "The gesture unit and the analysis unit may be included in the same housing and/or be connected wirelessly or by wire." Teaches the gesture unit transmitting to a separate analysis unit.); and
receiving, from the external gesture recognition system, data representative of a recognized gesture (Paragraph 17 (Col. 5 L27-40) teaches: "In another embodiment, a distinct gesture can be used to confirm the tactile or haptic feedback. For example, if a user intends to capture a photograph and the non-visual feedback unit provides feedback identifying that a photo capture gesture was interpreted, the user may provide a confirmatory gesture." Teaches the analysis unit sending information back to the sender.).
Regarding Claim 5, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of the invention to use the external gesture analysis unit taught by Reynolds into the system taught by Zhou above. This would have been obvious because both use gesture recognition to control smart devices for ease of user interaction. Reynolds teaches this in Paragraph 1 (Col. 1 L11-15) "However, executing these actions using one or more peripherals can be cumbersome for a user; often it involves a user pulling out a device and holding it in the user's fingers to interact with buttons or a keyboard, which confines the user's attention.”.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 20150378330 A1 (Hereafter Xi).
Regarding Claim 6, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 1. Zhou does not teach:
the wearable comprises a smart ring device.
Regarding Claim 6, Xi teaches:
the wearable comprises a smart ring device (Paragraph 127 teaches: “… a wearable type apparatus such as a smart hand ring, a smart watch…”).
Regarding Claim 6, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of the invention to swap the watch taught by Zhou for the ring taught by Xi into the system taught by Zhou above. This would have been obvious because both are controllers for smart homes and using gestures as input. Zhou teaches, in Paragraph 61 "The smart watch or the equivalent device”. Xi teaches smart rings as smart watch equivalents in all respects used in Zhou’s specification (Xi Paragraph 24 teaches: “The terminal apparatus 100 and the second terminal apparatus may serve a same user at the same time. The sensor 110 can collect the user data…user data may include various kinds of data of the user, for example, movement data and/or physiological characteristic data of the user.” and Paragraph 127 teaches: “In this embodiment, the first terminal apparatus may be for example a mobile apparatus such as… a wearable type apparatus such as a smart hand ring, a smart watch…”).
Claim(s) 3, 10, 13, 15, 17, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20180011456 A1 (Hereafter Zhou) as applied to claims 2, 8, 11, 12, 16 and 18 above, and further in view of Leonidis, Asterios, et al. “Improving Stress Management and Sleep Hygiene in Intelligent Homes.” (Hereafter Leonidis).
Regarding Claim 3, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 2, and further teaches:
a network monitoring device (Paragraph 14 teaches: "...a wireless connection module disposed within the smart watch…", wireless being a network of at least 2 devices.);
a location tracking device (Paragraph 8 teaches: "In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to turn off the smart-home-control function of the smart watch when the smart watch has exited the sensing range of the smart home." Teaches location-based control.); and
a statistical analysis device that incorporates gathered data to identify one or more patterns in wearer actions (Paragraph 10 teaches: "obtaining a current characteristic value of the arm movement based on the plurality of sets of 3D coordinates; and recognizing a hand gesture of the user associated with the arm movement based on the current characteristic value." Teaches getting data to allow multiple gestures.).
Regarding Claim 3, Zhou does not implicitly teach:
a sleep monitoring device;
a biometric data monitoring device
Regarding Claim 3, Leonidis teaches:
a sleep monitoring device (Chapter 6.1 Paragraph 2, Page 12 teaches: "A wireless wearable device, as well as the technological equipment and installations of the Intelligent Home are used for the detection of the stress state. In more detail, CaLmi employs a wristband that collects user biometrics, while it utilizes various contextual data in order to better understand the user’s daily activities, health, nutrition, and sleep quality." Teaches wearable collecting sleep data within a smart-home context.);
a biometric data monitoring device (Chapter 6.1 Paragraph 2, Page 12 teaches: "A wireless wearable device, as well as the technological equipment and installations of the Intelligent Home are used for the detection of the stress state. In more detail, CaLmi employs a wristband that collects user biometrics, while it utilizes various contextual data in order to better understand the user’s daily activities, health, nutrition, and sleep quality." Teaches wearable collecting biometrics data within a smart-home context.);
Regarding Claim 3, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of the invention to include the sleep and biometric monitoring device taught by Leonidis into the system taught by Zhou above. This would have been obvious because both teach a smart home technology utilizing wearables to collect user data. Further, including Leonidis’ sleep and biometric data monitoring devices would create "a pervasive system for Intelligent Homes that reduces the stress of their inhabitants." (Leonidis - Chapter 6.1 Paragraph 1, Page 12)
Regarding Claim 10, Zhou anticipates all limitations of Claim 8, and further teaches:
directing the smart home device to transition from a first operational state to a second operational state (Paragraph 59 teaches: "...the switching unit 242 controlling the smart home through the wireless connection to switch current working state of the smart home based on the recognized hand gestures of the user may include..." Teaches switching working/operational state of a smart home based on gesture.);
Regarding Claim 10, Zhou does not teach:
directing the smart home device to provide data regarding a present operational condition of the smart home device to the management device; and
directing the home automation management device to present the data regarding the present operational condition of the smart home device via an output device.
Regarding Claim 10, Leonidis teaches:
directing the smart home device to provide data regarding a present operational condition of the smart home device to the management device (Chapter 6.3 Paragraph 4, Page 17 teaches: “For each of them, it considers the existence and dimensions of the display, the available input controls, and various other aspects that affect interaction, so as to deliver user-friendly and usable interfaces. For example, during a relaxation session, which takes place in the living room, users are able to view the real time visualization of their stress fluctuations and the session’s control menu on their smartphone or on the AugmenTable." Teaches having operational condition compiled for control.); and
directing the home automation management device to present the data regarding the present operational condition of the smart home device via an output device (Chapter 6.3 Paragraph 4, Page 17: “…control menu on their smartphone or on the AugmenTable." Teaches displaying data to an output device (smartphone or custom user interface).).
Regarding Claim 10, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time the invention to include the user interface taught by Leonidis into the system taught by Zhou above. This would have been obvious because both teach a smart home technology utilizing wearables to collect user data. Furter, including Leonidis’ user interface allows users to “…view the real time visualization of their stress fluctuations and the session’s control menu”.
Regarding Claim 13, Claim 3 anticipates all limitations of Claim 13. Zhou in view of Leonidis anticipates all limitations of Claim 3 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 12, thereby fully anticipating Claim 13.
Regarding Claim 15, Claim 5 anticipates all limitations of Claim 15. Zhou in view of Leonidis anticipates all limitations of Claim 5 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 11, thereby fully anticipating Claim 15.
Regarding Claim 17, Claim 10 anticipates all limitations of Claim 17. Zhou in view of Leonidis anticipates all limitations of Claim 10 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 11, thereby fully anticipating Claim 17.
Regarding Claim 20, Claim 5 anticipates all limitations of Claim 20. Zhou in view of Leonidis anticipates all limitations of Claim 5 and further anticipates all limitations of Claim 18, thereby fully anticipating Claim 20.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW DAVID OELBERG whose telephone number is (571)270-7456. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday (7:30-17:00).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Scott Baderman can be reached at (571) 272-3644. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW DAVID OELBERG/Examiner, Art Unit 2118
/SCOTT T BADERMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2118
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