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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 30 June 2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 13 and 20 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 13 and 20 recite the limitation “a wireless hub” in lines 7 and 8 respectively. For consistency and clarification with “a wireless hub” in lines 1 and 4 of claim 13 and 20 respectively, it is recommended to change “a wireless hub” in lines 7 and 8 respectively, to “the wireless hub”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-8, 10-13, 15, and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Choi et al. US 2002/0022495 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Choi”). NOTE: Choi was cited by the applicant in the IDS received 30 June 2025.
As to claim 1, Choi teaches a method of operating a wireless ecosystem (¶11; figures 2 and 5A-7), the method comprising:
connecting a plurality of electronic devices each having a wireless communications module with a wireless hub (¶¶26 and 145-146; figures 1-2 and 8: master (wireless hub) establishes connection with slaves (electronic devices));
querying the plurality of electronic devices with incremental variations in wireless hub transmission power to determine a reduced hub transmission power for the wireless hub sufficient to communicate with the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶22 and 27; figures 2 and 5A-7: receive link quality information from each slave and, for each slave, incrementally decrease transmission power to the lowest level that still meets quality requirements);
providing to each of the plurality of electronic devices an assigned wireless transmission power for communicating with the wireless hub (¶27; figures 2 and 5A-7: record optimal transmission power for each slave communicating with the master); and
transmitting the assigned wireless transmission power from the wireless hub to each of the plurality of electronic devices for communicating with the wireless hub (¶17; figures 2 and 5A-7: send optimal transmission power to each slave for communicating with the master).
As to claim 4, Choi teaches the method of claim 1, including monitoring at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for a performance metric during an operational state and dynamically adjusting the assigned wireless transmission power based on comparing the performance metric during the operational state to a predetermined threshold value (¶¶11-30; figures 2 and 5A-7).
As to claim 5, Choi teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the operational state includes a phone call and the performance metric includes an audio quality (¶¶11-30; figures 2 and 5A-7).
As to claim 6, Choi teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the operational state includes audio streaming and the performance metric includes a measurement of clipped audio or buffered audio (¶¶11-30; figures 2 and 5A-7).
As to claim 7, Choi teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the operational state includes video streaming and the performance metric includes a measurement of clipped video or buffered video (¶¶11-30; figures 2 and 5A-7).
As to claim 8, Choi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic devices include at least one battery power electronic device and at least one wired electronic device configured to receive power from a power receptacle (¶¶6 and 11-30; figures 2 and 5A-7).
As to claim 10, Choi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the incremental variations include reductions by predetermined percentage in the wireless hub transmission power between sequential querying of the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶11-30; figures 2 and 5A-7; claim 8).
As to claim 11, Choi teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the reduced hub transmission power includes a previous one of the incremental variation in the wireless hub transmission power that resulted in a confirmation message from each of the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶11-30 and 116-117; figures 2 and 5A-7).
As to claim 12, Choi teaches the method of claim 1, wherein connecting the plurality of electronic devices with the wireless hub includes pairing the plurality of electronic devices with the wireless hub and collecting operating parameters for each of the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶10-30, 84, 138, and 142; figures 2 and 5A-7).
As to claim 13, Choi teaches a wireless hub (figure 2) comprising:
a housing (figure 2);
a wireless communication module located within the housing (figure 2); and
a controller located within the housing and in electrical communication with the wireless communication module (figure 2), wherein the controller is configured to:
connect a plurality of electronic devices each having a wireless communications module with a wireless hub (¶¶26 and 145-146; figures 1-2 and 8: master (wireless hub) establishes connection with slaves (electronic devices));
query the plurality of electronic devices with incremental variations in wireless hub transmission power to determine a reduced hub transmission power for the wireless hub sufficient to communicate with the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶22 and 27; figures 2 and 5A-7: receive link quality information from each slave and, for each slave, incrementally decrease transmission power to the lowest level that still meets quality requirements);
provide to each of the plurality of electronic devices an assigned wireless transmission power for communicating with the wireless hub (¶27; figures 2 and 5A-7: record optimal transmission power for each slave communicating with the master); and
transmit the assigned wireless transmission power from the wireless hub to each of the plurality of electronic devices for communicating with the wireless hub (¶17; figures 2 and 5A-7: send optimal transmission power to each slave for communicating with the master).
As to claim 15, claim 15 is rejected the same way as claim 4.
As to claim 17, claim 17 is rejected the same way as claim 10.
As to claim 18, claim 18 is rejected the same way as claim 11.
As to claim 19, claim 19 is rejected the same way as claim 12.
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.
Claim(s) 2-3 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi in view of Suetsugu US 2004/0208154 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Suetsugu”). NOTE: Suetsugu was cited by the applicant in the IDS received 30 June 2025.
As to claim 2, Choi teaches the method of claim 1.
Although Choi teaches “The method of claim 1,” Choi does not explicitly disclose “determining if…transmission power”.
However, Suetsugu teaches determining if any of the plurality of electronic devices operating at the assigned wireless transmission power are unable to communicate with the wireless hub and transmitting a revised wireless transmission power to any of the plurality of electronic devices that are unable to communicate with the wireless hub at the assigned wireless transmission power (¶¶45-51; figures 1A-1C).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the method described in Choi by including “determining if…transmission power” as taught by Suetsugu because it provides Choi’s method with the enhanced capability of reducing power consumption (Suetsugu, ¶¶45-51; figures 1A-1C).
As to claim 3, Choi teaches the method of claim 1.
Although Choi teaches “The method of claim 1,” Choi does not explicitly disclose “wherein at…electronic devices”.
However, Suetsugu teaches wherein at least one of the plurality of electronic devices communicates with the wireless hub through forming an intermediate wireless connection with another one of the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶45-51; figures 1A-1C).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the method described in Choi by including “wherein at…electronic devices” as taught by Suetsugu because it provides Choi’s method with the enhanced capability of reducing power consumption (Suetsugu, ¶¶45-51; figures 1A-1C).
As to claim 14, claim 14 is rejected the same way as claim 2.
Claim(s) 9, 16, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi in view of Alam et al. US 2015/0055564 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Alam”).
As to claim 9, Choi teaches the method of claim 1.
Although Choi teaches “The method of claim 1,” Choi does not explicitly disclose “the assigned…electronic devices”.
However, Alam teaches the assigned wireless transmission power is determined based on at least one of a type of electronic device, a location of each of the plurality of electronic devices relative to the wireless hub, and a power source for each of the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶40, 46, and 52-55; figure 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the method described in Choi by including “wherein at…electronic devices” as taught by Alam because it provides Choi’s method with the enhanced capability of flexibly adjusting power level based on different types of criteria (Alam, ¶¶40, 46, and 52-55; figure 2).
As to claim 16, claim 16 is rejected the same way as claim 9.
As to claim 20, Choi teaches a wireless hub (figure 2) configured to communicate with a plurality of electronic devices, wherein the wireless hub includes a controller (figure 2) configured to:
connect a plurality of electronic devices each having a wireless communications module with a wireless hub (¶¶26 and 145-146; figures 1-2 and 8: master (wireless hub) establishes connection with slaves (electronic devices));
query the plurality of electronic devices with incremental variations in wireless hub transmission power to determine a reduced hub transmission power for the wireless hub sufficient to communicate with the plurality of electronic devices (¶¶22 and 27; figures 2 and 5A-7: receive link quality information from each slave and, for each slave, incrementally decrease transmission power to the lowest level that still meets quality requirements);
provide to each of the plurality of electronic devices an assigned wireless transmission power for communicating with the wireless hub (¶27; figures 2 and 5A-7: record optimal transmission power for each slave communicating with the master); and
transmit the assigned wireless transmission power from the wireless hub to each of the plurality of electronic devices for communicating with the wireless hub (¶17; figures 2 and 5A-7: send optimal transmission power to each slave for communicating with the master).
Although Choi teaches “a wireless hub configured to communicate with a plurality of electronic devices, wherein the wireless hub includes a controller configured to: connect…the wireless hub,” Choi does not explicitly disclose “A vehicle comprising: a body at least partially defining a passenger compartment with the body supported by a plurality of wheels; a wireless hub located within the body and configured to communicate with a plurality of electronic devices within or surrounding the vehicle”.
However, Alam teaches a vehicle (¶¶19-28; figure 1) comprising:
a body at least partially defining a passenger compartment with the body supported by a plurality of wheels (¶¶19-28; figure 1);
a wireless hub located within the body and configured to communicate with a plurality of electronic devices within or surrounding the vehicle (¶¶19-28; figure 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve upon the apparatus described in Choi by including “A vehicle comprising: a body at least partially defining a passenger compartment with the body supported by a plurality of wheels; a wireless hub located within the body and configured to communicate with a plurality of electronic devices within or surrounding the vehicle” as taught by Alam because it provides Choi’s apparatus with the enhanced capability of applying the network transmission power optimization in a vehicle network (Alam, ¶¶19-28; figure 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Lu et al. US 2026/0052471 A1 – Method for Power Management, and Multi-Link Device
Tanaka et al. US 10,893,476 B2 – Information Processing Device, and Information Processing Method Using Multiple Multiplexing Methods
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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