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 § 103
2. 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 factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
3. Claims 1-10, 13-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiemstra et al. US 11050463 B2 in view of Venkataraman US 2013/01788203 A1 (cited by applicant).
4. Consider claim 1. Hiemstra (fig 4) teaches a wearable computing device (10 in fig 4) comprising: a primary antenna (40-1) disposed at a first location at the wearable computing device (10); a diversity antenna (40-2)disposed at a second location at the wearable computing device, the second location being different than the first location; a switching device (col 10, lines 39-44) electrically coupled to the primary antenna and the diversity antenna; one or more processors (26); and a non-transitory, computer-readable memory (24). Hiemstra teaches (col 31, lines 57-61) selecting the optimal antenna, but fails to teach the specific process for selecting the antenna comprising: receiving a first signal associated with one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna; receiving a second signal associated with the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna; comparing the first signal and the second signal to determine whether the second signal is indicative of the one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna having a stronger signal reception than the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna; and responsive to determining that second signal is indicative of a stronger signal reception strength than the first signal, generating a control signal for the switching device to perform a switching operation, the switching operation including disconnecting the one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna from a primary communication path and connecting the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna to the primary communication path.
However, Venkataraman, (which implies could be used in a wearable device in 0023) teaches receiving a first signal associated with one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna (para 48 and fig. 3 path 56 ); receiving a second signal associated with the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna (para 48 and fig. 3 path 54); comparing the first signal and the second signal to determine whether the second signal is indicative of the one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna having a stronger signal reception than the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna (para 35); and responsive to determining that second signal is indicative of a stronger signal reception strength than the first signal, generating a control signal for the switching device to perform a switching operation, the switching operation including disconnecting (inherent after selecting the strongest one) the one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna from a primary communication path and connecting the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna to the primary communication path (para 35 and 39). It would have been obvious, before the effective date, to use the teachings of Venkataraman in Hiemstra et al in order to have the wearable device more reliable, thus increasing its potential sales. Method claim 17 is rejected for the same reasons as apparatus claim 1, since the recited elements would perform the claimed steps. CRM claim 20 contains the same limitations as claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons as stated above.
5. Regarding claim 2. Hiemstra et al. teaches a housing defining a cavity (fig .4), wherein the first location (40-1) at the wearable computing device (10) is a first location (82) within the cavity and the second location (40-1) at the wearable computing device is a second location within the cavity; and a separator (88) disposed within the cavity, the separator dividing the cavity into a first portion that includes the first location within the cavity and a second portion that includes the second location within the cavity.
6. Regarding claim 3. Hiemstra et al. teaches wherein the separator comprises a printed circuit board (88).
7. Regarding claim 4. Venkataraman teaches wherein the diversity antenna is configured to communicate over a frequency band associated with a wireless communication standard for a cellular network (0029).
8. Regarding claims 5 and 6. Venkataraman teaches wherein the wireless communication standard is LTE and wherein the frequency band is a range of frequencies associated with low-band LTE (0042).
9. Regarding claim 7. Venkataraman teaches (from 0043…. different types of antennas may be used for different bands and combinations of bands….) wherein the primary antenna is configured to communicate over a plurality of wireless communications standards for a cellular network and a plurality of wireless communication standards for a local area network.
10. Regarding claims 8 and 9. Venkataraman teaches (0042) wherein the plurality of wireless communications standards for the cellular network includes long term evolution (LTE) as well as Wi-fi and Bluetooth.
11. Regarding claims 10 and 18. Venkataraman teaches (143-144), wherein the first signal has a first signal strength value strength value indicating a signal reception strength (RSSI information) from the one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna, and wherein the second signal has a second signal strength value (RSSI information) indicating a signal reception strength from the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna.
12. Regarding claim 13. Venkataraman teaches (para 35) wherein the switching operation further includes disconnecting (switched out) the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna from a diversity communication path and connecting the one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna to the diversity communication path.
13. Regarding claim 14. Venkataraman teaches (para 33) wherein the wearable computing device wirelessly receives data by combining received signals from the primary communication path and the diversity communication path.
14. Regarding claims 15 and 16. Venkataraman (dual antenna mode) teaches (0033) a first signal strength value for the first signal based on the first received signal (as stated in claim 15) and a second signal strength value for the second signal based on the second received signal and using an RSSI value (0039) as appropriate.
15. Claims 11, 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiemstra et al. US 11050463 B2 in view of Venkataraman US 2013/01788203 A1 (cited by applicant) further in view of Wade et al US 10127409 B1.
16. Regarding claims 11, 12 and 19. The combination fails to teach wherein the first signal strength value is indicative of total radiated power (claims 11 and 19) or total isotropic power (claim 12) of one of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna and the second signal strength value is indicative of total radiated power of the other of the primary antenna or the diversity antenna. However, Wade et al (col 53, lines 44-59) teaches RSSI, EIRP and TIS are interchangeable dependent on what measurement for the system is best. It would have been obvious, before the effective date to use the EIRP, TIS or RSSI thus making the system more efficient depending on where it is.
17. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ruaro et al. teaches an electronic device such as a wristwatch may be provided with a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver, satellite receiver, and cellular transceiver. A first antenna may include a radiating slot between a conductive housing wall and a display module. A second antenna may include conductive structures that radiate through a rear face of the device. The WLAN transceiver and the satellite receiver may be coupled to the first antenna. A switch may be coupled between the cellular transceiver and the first and second antennas. Control circuitry may adjust the switch to route signals between the cellular transceiver and a selected one of the first and second antennas based on wireless performance metric data so that the antenna exhibiting superior wireless performance at cellular telephone frequencies is used for cellular telephone communications regardless of environmental conditions.
Pascolini et al US10484112 B2 teaches An electronic device such as a wristwatch may include a housing with a dielectric rear wall. Wireless circuitry in the device may include an antenna formed on or over the rear wall. Matching circuitry may match the impedance of the antenna to the rest of the wireless circuitry. Processing circuitry may gather receive signal strength information and/or phase and magnitude information from radio-frequency signals received through the rear wall. The processing circuitry may track the position of the device and accumulate user statistics over time. The processing circuitry may determine whether changes in loading of the antenna through the dielectric rear housing wall have occurred based on the receive signal strength information, user statistics, and/or phase and magnitude information. If a change is detected, the processing circuitry may adjust the matching circuitry to mitigate any potential antenna detuning as a result of the change.
Jiang CN 208796045 U teaches n intelligent watch with double-antenna structure, comprising a watchband and a dial and a watchband connected to the dial plate, inside of the dial plate is provided with a main plate; further comprising a first antenna structure and a second antenna structure of the smart watch, first antenna structure arranged on the dial, the second antenna structure set on the watchband; the main board connection or is set for detecting smart watch is in the worn state of the detecting module and used for switching the first antenna structure, a switch module of the second antenna structure. the first antenna structure and the second antenna structure are connected to the switch module. The utility model claims an intelligent watch with double-antenna structure, which enables intelligent watch good selection performance of the antenna structure, the performance of the antenna will not become worsened as the volume of the smart watch, and the antenna performance to effectively improve signal quality, increase the using time of the battery.
Conclusion
18. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS A KUNTZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7499. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th from 530am to 330pm and Fri from 530am to 10am.
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/CURTIS A KUNTZ/Primary examiner, Art Unit 2646
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