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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/940,309 filed on 7 November 2024. This application claims FOR priority to FI20236364 filed on 12 December 2023. The preliminary amendment filed on 7 November 2024 amends claims 1-20, and presents arguments is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 1 and 11 recite “upside down.” The Applicant’s specification does not provide an explicit definition of the “upside down.” According to MPEP 2111, examiner obliged to give the terms or phrases their broadest reasonable interpretation definition, consistent with the specification, and awarded by one of an ordinary skill in the art unless applicant has provided some indication of the definition of the claimed terms or phrases. Applicant’s specification, in paragraph 0062, states “the determined orientation is one of upside down, or in a range of 90 degrees to 270 degrees, or deemed as unavailable.”
Claims 1 and 11 recite “the pairable device is not being worn by a user.” Applicant’s specification does not provide an explicit definition of “not being worn.” The Applicant’s specification, in paragraph 0060, states “the controller may deem the smart glasses as pairable when initially worn (or put on) via a user.”
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.
Claims 1-5, 7, 8, 11-13, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2024/0426964 A1 to Merlin et al and in view of CN 115379433 A to Xu.
Regarding Claim 1, Merlin discloses a pairable device (FIG. 4, wearable device 404), comprising: - at least one first sensor (0070 provides for sensors of the wearable device); and - a controller configured to: - receive positional data from the at least one first sensor (0072 provides for a position of the UE 402 relative to the position of the wearable device 404); - process the positional data to detect an orientation of the pairable device (0072 provides for an orientation of the UE 402 relative to an orientation of the wearable device 404); - determine a current pairing condition based on at least the detected orientation (0103-0104 provides for verifying the completed conditions), wherein the current pairing condition is one of pairable, or non-pairable (0073-0074 provides for verifying conditions) and wherein the controller is configured to determine the current pairing condition as pairable when: - the determined orientation is upside down (0078-0079 provides for the orientation of the wearable device is in six degrees of freedom); and - transmit a pairing request, via a communication interface, to at least one user device to enable pairing based on at least the current pairing condition (0106 and 0114 provides for wearable device sending perception information to a UE to enable pairing UE downstream applications from the UE). Merlin doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the controller is configured to determine the current pairing condition as pairable when: the pairable device is not being worn by a user; and the pairing mode is enabled. Xu, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein the controller is configured to determine the current pairing condition as pairable when: - the pairable device is not being worn by a user (FIG. 10 and S1001 provides for the wearable is taken out the box and in the ear picking state); - the pairing mode is enabled (FIG. 7 and steps 722 723 provides for wearable device determines if the UE is within a preset range for sending a Bluetooth pairing request); and - the determined orientation is upside down (FIG. 10 and S1001 provides for the wearable is knocked against the UE device, wherein knocking is within a degree range). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Xu for configuring the wearable device for an ear-removing state. The ear-removing state of Xu, when implemented with the perception sharing of the Merlin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to configure wearable devices in order to pair with a user end device. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the ear-removing state of Xu with the perception sharing of the Merlin system for the desirable purpose of a wearable device communicating with pre-approved devices, or the user end device tapped.
Regarding Claim 2, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive user device configuration from the at least one user device to enable connection therewith (Merlin, 0103-0104 provides for receiving verification information from the UE 604).
Regarding Claim 3, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to detect a motion pattern of the pairable device, via the at least one first sensor, (Merlin, 0080 provides for the wearable device recognizes the UE based on pattern recognition) to transmit the pairing request for enabling pairing with the at least one user device (Xu, FIG. 7 and steps 722 723 provides for wearable device determines if the UE is within a preset range for sending a Bluetooth pairing request). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 4, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device of claim 3, wherein the motion pattern detected via the at least one first sensor comprises at least one of: - an inverse flip motion; - a rotatory motion (Merlin, 0080 provides for pattern recognition and rotation measurements); - a zig-zag motion; or - a user-defined motion.
Regarding Claim 5, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1, further comprising at least one second sensor configured to detect whether the pairable device is being worn by the user and based on the detection, the controller is further configured to determine the current pairing condition (Xu, FIG. 10 and S1001 provides for the wearable is taken out the box and an ear-picking state). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 7, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a tap sequence, via the second sensor, entered by the user to transmit the pairing request (Xu, FIG. 10 and S1001 provides for the wearable is knocked against the UE device, wherein knocking is within a degree range). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 8, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1, wherein: - the first sensor is selected from one of: an accelerometer, a motion sensor, a gyroscope (Merlin, 0030 provides for gyroscope), a magnetometer, a rotary sensor, a tilt sensor, an inertial measurement unit, or a combination thereof; and - the second sensor is selected from one of: a light sensor (Merlin, 0130 provides for light sensors), a touch sensor, a position sensor, a proximity sensor, a skin conductance sensor, or a combination thereof.
Regarding Claim 11, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1, wherein the pairable device is a handheld device (Merlin, 0119 provides for smart glasses).
Regarding Claim 12, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1, wherein the pairable device is a wearable device (Merlin, 0119 provides for smart glasses).
Regarding Claim 13, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1, wherein the pairable device includes smart glasses (Merlin, 0119 provides for smart glasses).
Regarding Claim 15, similar rejection where the pairable device of claim 1 teaches the method of claim 15.
Regarding Claim 16, similar rejection where the pairable device of claim 2 teaches the method of claim 16.
Regarding Claim 17, similar rejection where the pairable device of claim 3 teaches the method of claim 17.
Regarding Claim 18, similar rejection where the pairable device of claim 11 teaches the method of claim 18.
Regarding Claim 19, similar rejection where the pairable device of claim 12 teaches the method of claim 19.
Regarding Claim 20, similar rejection where the pairable device of claim 13 teaches the method of claim 20.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Merlin/Xu system as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2022/0039179 A1 to Chen et al.
Regarding Claim 6, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device of claim 5. The Merlin/Xu system doesn’t explicitly disclose when being worn by the user as detected by the second sensor, the controller is configured to transmit the pairing request only to a pre-paired user device. Chen, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses when being worn by the user as detected by the second sensor (0128 provides for detecting the earbud is worn by a user), the controller is configured to transmit the pairing request only to a pre-paired user device (0127 provides for automatically pairing based on pairing history). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Chen for automatically pairing with a pre-paired device. The pre-paired history of Chen, when implemented with the perception sharing of the Merlin/Xu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to configure wearable devices automatically in order to pair with a user end device when the ear is detected. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the pre-paired history of Chen with the perception sharing of the Merlin/Xu system for the desirable purpose of a wearable device communicating with pre-approved devices.
Claims 9 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Merlin/Xu system as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2017/0188395 A1 to Kim et al.
Regarding Claim 9, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1. The Merlin/Xu system doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the controller is configured to transmit the pairing request if the number of connected user devices have not exceeded a predefined threshold. Kim, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein the controller is configured to transmit the pairing request if the number of connected user devices have not exceeded a predefined threshold (FIG. 5 and 0101-0105 provides for determining if the pairing list is full of the maximum number of devices). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Kim for configuring a pairing list. The pairing list of Kim, when implemented with the perception sharing of the Merlin/Xu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to determine if the pairing list is full in order to pair devices. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the pairing list of Kim with the perception sharing of the Merlin/Xu system for the desirable purpose of communicating with a pre-approved number of devices.
Regarding Claim 14, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1. The Merlin/Xu system doesn’t explicitly disclose when the current condition of the pairable device is non-pairable, the controller is further configured to transmit a rejection message to the at least one user device upon receiving a pairing request therefrom. Kim, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses when the current condition of the pairable device is non-pairable, the controller is further configured to transmit a rejection message to the at least one user device upon receiving a pairing request therefrom (0099 provides for if the pairing fails, then transmit a pop-up message notifying the event is disallowed). Same motivation as claim 9.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Merlin/Xu system as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2022/0338049 A1 to Ross et al.
Regarding Claim 10, the Merlin/Xu system discloses the pairable device according to claim 1. The Merlin/Xu system doesn’t explicitly disclose further comprising a light arrangement configured to: display a first light pattern to indicate activation of a pairing mode of the pairable device; and display a second light pattern to indicate a successful connection with the at least one user device. Ross, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses further comprising a light arrangement (FIG. 14, visual indicators) configured to: - display a first light pattern to indicate activation of a pairing mode of the pairable device (0110 provides for a blue LED may flash in an alternating matter); and - display a second light pattern to indicate a successful connection with the at least one user device (0110 provides for a solid blue LED may indicate that the receiving mode has connected). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Ross for configuring a color scheme for various connection events. The connection event colors of Ross, when implemented with the perception sharing of the Merlin/Xu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to visually see the pairing step in order to know the connection state between multiple devices. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the connection event colors of Ross with the perception sharing of the Merlin/Xu system for the desirable purpose of communicating with a pre-approved number of devices.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2025/0203681 A1 to Qi discloses wireless pairing for wearable devices.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tonia Dollinger can be reached on (571) 272-4170. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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