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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for domestic priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) is acknowledged.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 09/11/2024 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-25 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-25 of U.S. Patent No. 11,864,078. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the limitations of claims 1-25 of the instant application are encompassed by the limitations of claims 1-25 of US Patent No. 11,864,078 and are a broader version of claims 1-25 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 1 of the present application is a broader version of claim 1 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 2 of the present application is a broader version of claim 2 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 3 of the present application is a broader version of claim 3 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 4 of the present application is a broader version of claim 4 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 5 of the present application is a broader version of claim 5 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 6 of the present application is a broader version of claim 6 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 7 of the present application is a broader version of claim 7 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 8 of the present application is a broader version of claim 8 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 9 of the present application is a broader version of claim 9 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 10 of the present application is a broader version of claim 10 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 11 of the present application is a broader version of claim 11 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 12 of the present application is a broader version of claim 12 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 13 of the present application is a broader version of claim 13 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 14 of the present application is a broader version of claim 14 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 15 of the present application is a broader version of claim 15 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 16 of the present application is a broader version of claim 16 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 17 of the present application is a broader version of claim 17 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 18 of the present application is a broader version of claim 18 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 19 of the present application is a broader version of claim 19 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 20 of the present application is a broader version of claim 20 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 21 of the present application is a broader version of claim 21 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 22 of the present application is a broader version of claim 22 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 23 of the present application is a broader version of claim 23 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 24 of the present application is a broader version of claim 24 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Claim 25 of the present application is a broader version of claim 25 of US Patent No. 11,864,078.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-25 are objected to as being allowable if the claims were to overcome the nonstatutory double patenting.
Regarding claim 1, the best prior art of record found during the examination of the present application, Chen et al. (US 11,120,032 herein Chen), fails to specifically teach, suggest, or disclose a method, comprising: compiling, by an edge device, data received from a plurality of sensors into one dataset; generating, by the edge device, a first advertisement having a first portion of the dataset and a first identifier associated with the first portion; generating, by the edge device, a second advertisement having a second portion of the dataset and a second identifier associated with the second portion; broadcasting, by the edge device in a mode including a transmitting capability, the first advertisement and the second advertisement, without receiving an acknowledgement associated with the first advertisement, to a backend device; processing, by the backend device, the first portion based on the first identifier, the second portion based on the second identifier, or a combination thereof; configuring the edge device to a mode including a receiving capability for a time period; receiving, by the edge device, an indication that one or more identifiers associated with one or more advertisements were not received; and retransmitting, based on the indication, the first advertisement, the second advertisement, or a combination thereof.
Chen teaches network devices 102 may include network computers, sensors, databases, or other devices that may transmit or otherwise provide data to computing environment 114. Network devices 102 may also include sensors that monitor their environment or other devices to collect data regarding that environment or those devices, and such network devices 102 may provide data they collect over time. Network devices 102 may also include devices within the internet of things, such as devices within a home automation network. Some of these devices may be referred to as edge devices and may involve edge-computing circuitry. Data may be transmitted by network devices 102 directly to computing environment 114 or to network-attached data stores for storage so that the data may be retrieved later by the computing environment 114 or other portions of data transmission network 100. The network devices 102 can transmit data to a network-attached data store 110 for storage. The computing environment 114 may later retrieve the data from the network-attached data store 110 and use the data to perform performing computerized sequence-mining (Chen - column 8 lines 51-67, and column 9 lines 1-9). Claims 2-11 depend upon claim 1.
Regarding claim 12, the best prior art of record found during the examination of the present application, Chen et al. (US 11,120,032 herein Chen), fails to specifically teach, suggest, or disclose an edge device, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more memories, configured to: compile data received from a plurality of sensors into one dataset; generate a first advertisement having a first portion of the dataset and a first identifier associated with the first portion; generate a second advertisement having a second portion of the dataset and a second identifier associated with the second portion; broadcast, by the edge device in a mode including a transmitting capability, the first advertisement and the second advertisement, without receiving an acknowledgement associated with the first advertisement, to a backend device; processing, by the backend device, the first portion based on the first identifier, the second portion based on the second identifier, or a combination thereof; configure the edge device to a mode including a receiving capability for a time period; receive, by the edge device, an indication that one or more identifiers associated with one or more advertisements were not received; and retransmit, based on the indication, the first advertisement, the second advertisement, or a combination thereof.
Chen teaches network devices 102 may include network computers, sensors, databases, or other devices that may transmit or otherwise provide data to computing environment 114. Network devices 102 may also include sensors that monitor their environment or other devices to collect data regarding that environment or those devices, and such network devices 102 may provide data they collect over time. Network devices 102 may also include devices within the internet of things, such as devices within a home automation network. Some of these devices may be referred to as edge devices and may involve edge-computing circuitry. Data may be transmitted by network devices 102 directly to computing environment 114 or to network-attached data stores for storage so that the data may be retrieved later by the computing environment 114 or other portions of data transmission network 100. The network devices 102 can transmit data to a network-attached data store 110 for storage. The computing environment 114 may later retrieve the data from the network-attached data store 110 and use the data to perform performing computerized sequence-mining (Chen - column 8 lines 51-67, and column 9 lines 1-9). Claims 13-19 depend upon claim 12.
Regarding claim 20, the best prior art of record found during the examination of the present application, Chen et al. (US 11,120,032 herein Chen), fails to specifically teach, suggest, or disclose a tangible machine-readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause a device to: compile, by the device, data received from a plurality of sensors into one dataset; generate, by the device, a set of advertisements having two or more advertisements, each advertisement having a corresponding portion of the dataset and a corresponding identifier associated with the corresponding portion; broadcast, by the device in a mode including a transmitting capability, each advertisement according to the corresponding identifiers, wherein each successive advertisement of the set of advertisements is transmitted without receiving an acknowledgement of a preceding advertisement of the set of advertisements; configure the device to a mode including a receiving capability for a time period; receive, by the device, an indication that one or more identifiers associated with a subset of the advertisements were not received; and retransmit, based on the indication, the subset of the set of advertisements.
Chen teaches network devices 102 may include network computers, sensors, databases, or other devices that may transmit or otherwise provide data to computing environment 114. Network devices 102 may also include sensors that monitor their environment or other devices to collect data regarding that environment or those devices, and such network devices 102 may provide data they collect over time. Network devices 102 may also include devices within the internet of things, such as devices within a home automation network. Some of these devices may be referred to as edge devices and may involve edge-computing circuitry. Data may be transmitted by network devices 102 directly to computing environment 114 or to network-attached data stores for storage so that the data may be retrieved later by the computing environment 114 or other portions of data transmission network 100. The network devices 102 can transmit data to a network-attached data store 110 for storage. The computing environment 114 may later retrieve the data from the network-attached data store 110 and use the data to perform performing computerized sequence-mining (Chen - column 8 lines 51-67, and column 9 lines 1-9).
Regarding claim 21, the best prior art of record found during the examination of the present application, Chen et al. (US 11,120,032 herein Chen), fails to specifically teach, suggest, or disclose a method, comprising: (a) compiling, by an edge device, data received from a plurality of sensors into a dataset; (b) generating, by the edge device, a plurality of advertisements, each advertisement including a respective portion of the dataset and a respective identifier; (c) broadcasting, by the edge device in a mode including a transmitting capability, at least some of the plurality of advertisements, the broadcasting being performed without receiving an acknowledgement associated with any advertisement of the at least some of the plurality of advertisements being received by a receiving device; (d) configuring the edge device to a mode including a receiving capability for a predetermined time period; (e) receiving, at the edge device for the predetermined time period from the receiving device, at least one of (i) an indication that one or more of the plurality of advertisements have not been received; (ii) an indication that the plurality of advertisements have been received; or (iii) no indication; and (f) responsive to receiving the indication that the one or more of the plurality of advertisements have not been received, broadcasting, by the edge device in the mode including the transmitting capability, the one or more of the plurality of advertisements not having been received, the broadcasting being performed without receiving an acknowledgement associated with any advertisement of the one or more of the plurality of advertisements not having been received. Claims 22-25 depend upon claim 21.
Other notable prior art:
Schulman et al. (US 6,472,991 B1) discloses a preferred method (column 2 lines 32-60) and a communication protocol that is configured to extend the battery life of devices that monitor and/or affect body parameters and is particularly useful in a system comprised of a system control unit (SCU) and one or more implanted devices 100, e.g., microsensors 100 c, to monitor biological parameters (column 5 lines 10-27), the system control unit 302 periodically interrogates one or more microsensors (column 5 lines 28-41) and reduces the average power consumption of the implanted devices by reducing the usage duty cycle of the power consuming transmit and receive modes used by the implantable devices to communicate with the SCU while maintaining a sufficient update rate to control and/or monitor the required body parameters (column 2 lines 18-31).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to APRIL GUZMAN GONZALES whose telephone number is (571)270-1101. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm EST.
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/APRIL G GONZALES/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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