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
Claims 1 – 20 are pending in this application. Claims 1 and 10 are independent.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by FADELL, Anthony Michael (US-20150006463-A1, hereinafter simply referred to as Fadell).
Regarding independent claim 1, Fadell teaches:
A system for networked occupancy detection and prediction (See at least Fadell, ¶ [Abstract, 0036]; FIG. 1) comprising: two or more modular control units (e.g., motion sensor(s) of Fadell) configured to be communicatively coupled to each other (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0036]; FIG. 1; "…The prediction engine compares its predictions with actual occupancy sensor data, for example, from occupancy sensors 110…"), each modular control unit configured to define a detection zone of two or more detection zones (e.g., rooms and zones of Fadell) and control power to at least one load device (e.g., lighting control to e.g., rooms and zones of Fadell) (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0012, 0027]; FIG. 1), each modular control unit comprising: a backplate comprising a recess that includes a set of backplate electrical contacts (e.g., a well-known configuration inherently embodied within the disclosed motion sensor(s) of Fadell); a contact element configured to receive the power; and at least one device control assembly configured to be removably coupled to the backplate, the at least one device control assembly comprising a set of device control assembly electrical contacts configured to electrically couple with the set of backplate electrical contacts of the backplate when the at least one device control assembly is coupled to the backplate and configured to electrically decouple from the set of backplate electrical contacts when the at least one device control assembly is decoupled from the backplate (e.g., all well-known configurations inherently embodied within the disclosed motion sensor(s) of Fadell), wherein the at least one device control assembly comprises: an occupancy sensor configured to detect a current occupancy state of the detection zone associated with the each modular control unit (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0045, 0065]; FIG. 1), wherein the current occupancy state comprises at least one of being occupied by one or more occupants or being vacant (e.g., such as a vacation or day away of Fadell) of occupants (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0045, 0065]; FIG. 1), wherein the at least one device control assembly is configured to determine occupancy routines (e.g., occupancy patterns of Fadell) based on historical occupancy states of the detection zone and is further configured to predict future occupancy states of the detection zone based on the occupancy routines and current occupancy states of the detection zone (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0014, 0050, 0052, 0065]; FIG. 1), wherein the at least one device control assembly is configured to control the power to the at least one load device through electrical wiring connected to the backplate based on the predicted future occupancy states (e.g., lighting control to e.g., rooms and zones of Fadell) (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0012, 0027, 0050, 0052, 0065, 0087]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding independent claim 10, Fadell teaches:
A system for networked occupancy detection and prediction (See at least Fadell, ¶ [Abstract, 0036]; FIG. 1) comprising: two or more modular control units (e.g., motion sensor(s) of Fadell) configured to be communicatively coupled to each other (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0036]; FIG. 1; "…The prediction engine compares its predictions with actual occupancy sensor data, for example, from occupancy sensors 110…"), each modular control unit configured to define a detection zone of two or more detection zones (e.g., rooms and zones of Fadell) and control power to at least one load device (e.g., lighting control to e.g., rooms and zones of Fadell) (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0012, 0027]; FIG. 1), each modular control unit comprising: a backplate comprising a recess that includes a set of backplate electrical contacts (e.g., a well-known configuration inherently embodied within the disclosed motion sensor(s) of Fadell); a contact element configured to receive the power; and at least one device control assembly configured to be removably coupled to the backplate, the at least one device control assembly comprising a set of device control assembly electrical contacts configured to electrically couple with the set of backplate electrical contacts of the backplate when the at least one device control assembly is coupled to the backplate and configured to electrically decouple from the set of backplate electrical contacts when the at least one device control assembly is decoupled from the backplate (e.g., all well-known configurations inherently embodied within the disclosed motion sensor(s) of Fadell), wherein the at least one device control assembly is configured to control the power to the at least one load device through electrical wiring connected to the backplate based on the predicted future occupancy states (e.g., lighting control to e.g., rooms and zones of Fadell) (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0012, 0027, 0050, 0052, 0065, 0087]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 2 and 13, Fadell teaches:
wherein the current occupancy state comprises an action (e.g., occupant motion of Fadell) of the one or more occupants (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0013, 0078]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 3 and 14, Fadell teaches:
wherein a first modular control unit is configured to predict a future detection zone of the one or more occupants based on the action of the one or more occupants, wherein the future detection zone is defined by a different modular control unit than the first modular control unit (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0029, 0030]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 4 and 15, Fadell teaches:
wherein the action of the one or more occupants is determined based on networked data combined from at least two of the two or more modular control units (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0029, 0030]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 5 and 16, Fadell teaches:
wherein the action of the one or more occupants comprises: moving through the field of view (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0029, 0030]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 6 and 17, Fadell teaches:
wherein the action of the one or more occupants comprises: a direction and a speed of the one or more occupants (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0029, 0030]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 7 and 18, Fadell teaches:
wherein the current occupancy state includes a position of the one or more occupants within a field of view of the occupancy sensor (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0029, 0030]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 8 and 19, Fadell teaches:
wherein the action of the one or more occupants comprises a waving of one or more arms (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0029, 0030]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Regarding dependent claims 9 and 20, Fadell teaches:
wherein the predicting the future occupancy states comprises: predicting the future occupancy states based on the current occupancy states and the occupancy routines using a recursive bayesian estimation (e.g., ) (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0029, 0030, 0044]; FIGS. 1, 5, "…a Graphical Model including Bayesian Network can be used for occupancy prediction…").
Regarding dependent claim 11, Fadell teaches:
wherein the at least one device control assembly is further configured to determine occupancy routines (e.g., occupancy patterns of Fadell) based on historical occupancy states of the detection zone and is further configured to predict future occupancy states of the detection zone based on the occupancy routines and current occupancy states of the detection zone (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0014, 0050, 0052, 0065]; FIG. 1).
Regarding dependent claim 12, Fadell teaches:
wherein the at least one device control assembly is further configured to control power to at least one load device based on the occupancy state of one or more detection zones and the predicted occupancy state of the detection zone (e.g., lighting control to e.g., rooms and zones of Fadell) (See at least Fadell, ¶ [0012, 0027, 0050, 0052, 0065, 0087]; FIGS. 1, 5).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure: See the Notice of References Cited (PTO–892)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IDOWU O OSIFADE whose telephone number is (571)272-0864. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm EST.
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/IDOWU O OSIFADE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2675