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 § 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 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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu (US 20200169861, hereinafter “Hu”), and further in view of Davis (US 20200007393, hereinafter “Davis”).
Regarding claim 1, Hu discloses,
A local area network control system based on Bluetooth and user datagram
protocol, comprising: (Paragraph [0019] teaches “a Bluetooth mesh network comprising a plurality of Bluetooth gateways and a server”. Paragraph [0026] teaches that the gateways may connect to the server through “a wired connection (e.g., a LAN connection), or a wireless connection (e.g., Wi-Fi, infrared, a cellular network, etc.)”
a plurality of first Bluetooth devices; a first gateway configured to manage
the first Bluetooth devices; a plurality of second Bluetooth devices; a second gateway
configured to manage the second Bluetooth devices (Paragraph [0023] teaches that “Bluetooth mesh network 100 includes a plurality of Bluetooth gateways 110 ... and a server 120” and “includes one or more Bluetooth devices 130”. Paragraph [0036] similarly teaches “a plurality of Bluetooth gateways 210” and “one or more Bluetooth devices 230”. Paragraph [0037] identifies a first group and gateway as "a living room gateway 210a (primary Bluetooth gateway) and a living room lamp 230a” and identifies a second group and gateway as “a second-floor lamp 230b” and “a third-floor gateway 210b (e.g., secondary Bluetooth gateway) and a third-floor lamp 230c.” Paragraph [0028] further teaches that “the Bluetooth gateway 110 enables one or more Bluetooth devices to communicate with the server 120.”)
a control device (Paragraph [0032] teaches that “the server 120 exercises the appropriate control based on the control request over the to-be-controlled Bluetooth device via at least one Bluetooth gateway among the plurality of Bluetooth gateways 110.”);
the control device is configured to control one or more of the first Bluetooth devices and the second Bluetooth devices via either the first gateway or the second gateway (Paragraph [0033] teaches that “The server 120 selects one or more of the plurality of Bluetooth gateways 110 to be used in connection with implementing control over the to-be-controlled Bluetooth device”. Paragraph [0038] teaches that “server 220 controls the on/off status of the third floor Bluetooth lamp 230c via the Bluetooth gateway 210b deployed on the third floor”. Paragraph [0040] further teaches that “server 120 implements control over the to-be-controlled Bluetooth device 130 ... via one or more of the plurality of the Bluetooth gateways 110”).
However, Hu does not teach the following limitation: wherein the first gateway is configured to broadcast an information exchange request message based on a user datagram protocol, and the second gateway is configured to receive and analyze the information exchange request message to obtain a gateway information of the first gateway, and return an information message based on the user datagram protocol to the first gateway, wherein the first gateway is configured to receive and analyze the information message to obtain a gateway information of the second gateway.
In the same field of endeavor, Davis discloses, wherein the first gateway is configured to broadcast an information exchange request message based on a user datagram protocol (Paragraph [0024] teaches that “The processing server 102 may generate a request message” and that the request message “may include at least a communication address associated with the processing server 102.” Paragraph [0026] teaches that “The processing server 102 may be configured to broadcast the generated request message via a predefined user datagram protocol (UDP) port.”) and the second gateway is configured to receive and analyze the information exchange request message to obtain a gateway information of the first gateway (Paragraph [0027] teaches that “A computing device 104 may receive the request message via the predefined UDP port.” The request contains the processing-server communication address under paragraph [0024]. Paragraph [0040] teaches that received data may be “decoded, parsed, read, or otherwise obtained” and that a parsing module may obtain the carried data.) and return an information message based on the user datagram protocol to the first gateway (Paragraph [0028] teaches that “The agreement message may include at least a communication address associated with the computing device 104 and a transmission control protocol (TCP) port”. Paragraph [0029] teaches that “The computing device 104 may then electronically transmit the agreement message back to the processing server 102 using the predefined UDP port”), wherein the first gateway is configured to receive and analyze the information message to obtain a gateway information of the second gateway (Paragraph [0029] teaches that “The processing server 102 may then receive the agreement message”. Paragraph [0041] teaches that the receiving device may receive agreement messages over the predefined UDP port and that the messages may include “a communication address.” Paragraph [0040] teaches decoding, parsing, reading, or otherwise obtaining received data.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu by specifically providing wherein the first gateway is configured to broadcast an information exchange request message based on a user datagram protocol, and the second gateway is configured to receive and analyze the information exchange request message to obtain a gateway information of the first gateway, and return an information message based on the user datagram protocol to the first gateway, wherein the first gateway is configured to receive and analyze the information message to obtain a gateway information of the second gateway, as taught by Davis for the purpose of providing automatic configuration of a communication network, specifically the discovery and self-configuration and self-healing of communication networks, including blockchain networks, that are partition-resistant via the use of multiple connection times and varying times to live [0001].
Regarding claim 6, Claim 6 is rejected for the same reason discussed above with respect to claim 1, as claim 6 recites the method steps corresponds to the system limitations of claim 1.
Claims 2, 4, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu, in view of Davis and further in view of Ansari et al. (US 20160226823, hereinafter “Ansari”).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Hu and Davis discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), however the combination of Hu and Davis does not disclose, wherein the gateway information of the first gateway comprises an Internet address of the first gateway and a routing information of the first Bluetooth devices.
In the same field of endeavor, Ansari discloses, wherein the gateway information of the first gateway comprises an Internet address of the first gateway and a routing information of the first Bluetooth devices (paragraph [0183] teaches FIG. 9 depicts a first ANG of Home 1 and a second ANG of Home 2, wherein both ANGs are managed by the Application Service Provider in order to communicate their attributes with each other…..[0186] teaches . At step 742, the ANG of Home 1 may notify presence and networking message server of the presence of the ANG, as well as provide peer to peer connection information (e.g., IP address, port, etc.))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Hu and Davis by specifically providing wherein the gateway information of the first gateway comprises an Internet address of the first gateway and a routing information of the first Bluetooth devices, as taught by Ansari for the purpose of providing and managing interactive user voice-controlled home automation services over at least endpoint devices associated with the gateway device (abstract).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Hu and Davis discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), however the combination of Hu and Davis does not disclose, wherein the gateway information of the second gateway comprises an Internet address of the second gateway and a routing information of the second Bluetooth devices.
In the same field of endeavor, Ansari discloses, wherein the gateway information of the second gateway comprises an Internet address of the second gateway and a routing information of the second Bluetooth devices (paragraph [0183] teaches FIG. 9 depicts a first ANG of Home 1 and a second ANG of Home 2, wherein both ANGs are managed by the Application Service Provider in order to communicate their attributes with each other…..[0186] teaches . At step 742, the ANG of Home 1 may notify presence and networking message server of the presence of the ANG, as well as provide peer to peer connection information (e.g., IP address, port, etc.))
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Hu and Davis by specifically providing wherein the gateway information of the second gateway comprises an Internet address of the second gateway and a routing information of the second Bluetooth devices, as taught by Ansari for the purpose of providing and managing interactive user voice-controlled home automation services over at least endpoint devices associated with the gateway device (abstract).
Regarding claim 7, Claim 7 is rejected for the same reason discussed above with respect to claim 2, as claim 7 recites the method steps corresponds to the system limitations of claim 2.
Regarding claim 9, Claim 9 is rejected for the same reason discussed above with respect to claim 4, as claim 9 recites the method steps corresponds to the system limitations of claim 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, 8 and 10 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 3, the closest prior arts, Hu, Davis and Ansari, whether taken alone or in combination does not teach the following novel feature: “the system further comprising a second local database, wherein the second gateway is configured to save the routing information of the first Bluetooth devices in the second local database and return the information message to the first gateway in a unicast manner based on the user datagram protocol according to the Internet address of the first gateway, whereby the second gateway has the routing information of the first Bluetooth devices and a routing information of the second Bluetooth devices”, in combination with the other limitations in claim 1 and 2.
Regarding claim 5, the closest prior arts, Hu, Davis and Ansari, whether taken alone or in combination does not teach the following novel feature: “the system further comprising a second local database, wherein the second gateway is configured to save the routing information of the first Bluetooth devices in the second local database and return the information message to the first gateway in a unicast manner based on the user datagram protocol according to the Internet address of the first gateway, whereby the second gateway has the routing information of the first Bluetooth devices and a routing information of the second Bluetooth devices”, in combination with the other limitations in claim 1 and 4.
Regarding claim 8, the closest prior arts, Hu, Davis and Ansari, whether taken alone or in combination does not teach the following novel feature: “the method further comprising wherein a step of receiving and analyzing the information exchange request message by the second gateway configured to manage the second Bluetooth devices to obtain the gateway information of the first gateway, and returning the information message based on the user datagram protocol to the first gateway further comprises: saving the routing information of the first Bluetooth devices in a second local database via the second gateway; and returning the information message to the first gateway in a unicast manner based on the user datagram protocol according to the Internet address of the first gateway by the second gateway, whereby the second gateway has the routing information of the first Bluetooth devices and a routing information of the second Bluetooth devices”, in combination with the other limitations in claims 6 and 7.
Regarding claim 10, the closest prior arts, Hu, Davis and Ansari, whether taken alone or in combination does not teach the following novel feature: “the method further comprising saving the routing information of the second Bluetooth devices in a first local database by the first gateway; and returning a confirmation message to the second gateway in a unicast manner based on the user datagram protocol according to the Internet address of the second gateway by the first gateway, whereby the first gateway has the routing information of the first Bluetooth devices and the routing information of the second Bluetooth devices”, in combination with the other limitations in claim 6 and 9.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GOLAM SOROWAR whose telephone number is (571)270-3761. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 8:30AM-5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Appiah can be reached at (571) 272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GOLAM SOROWAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
Prosecution Insights