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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 2-13, in the reply filed on 6/2/26 is acknowledged. The claims 2-13 are pending. Applicant is reminded to cancel withdrawn claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 1/13/25 with IDS #2-5 fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 because these references does not have a publication date. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered as to the merits. Applicant is advised that the date of any re-submission of any item of information contained in this information disclosure statement or the submission of any missing element(s) will be the date of submission for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements based on the time of filing the statement, including all certification requirements for statements under 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a).
It is noted that applicant did not particularly points out the references germane to the
claims of the current application with the IDS filed 1/13/2025 and 4/17/26. Further, the documents
submitted in the IDS were presented in abundance and that the IDS is technically considered but not reviewed in the full extent possible as the IDS consisting over 1,100 references.
An applicant's duty of disclosure of material and information is not satisfied by presenting a
patent examiner with "a mountain of largely irrelevant [material] from which he is presumed to have
been able, with his expertise and with adequate time, to have found the critical [material]. It ignores the
real world conditions under which examiners work." Rohm & Haas Co. V. Crystal Chemical Co., 722 F.2d
1556, 1573 [220 USPQ 289] (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984). (Emphasis in original).
Patent applicant has a duty not just to disclose pertinent prior art references but to make a disclosure in
such way as not to "bury" it within other disclosures of less relevant prior art; See Golden Valley
Microwave Foods Inc. V. Weaver PopcornCo. Inc., 24 USPQ2d 1801 (N.D. Ind. 1992); Molins PLC V.
Textron Inc., 26 USPQ2d 1889, at 1899 (D.Del.1992); Penn Yan Boats, Inc. V. Sea Lark Boats, Inc. et al.,
175 USPQ 260, at 272 (S.D.FI. 1972)
Accordingly, unless applicant specifically indicates the documents that are material to the claims
of the current application in a new IDS - by pointing out the relevancy of the documents that are material to the claims of the current application, the examiner will consider that none of the documents
in the new IDS are material to the claims of the current application, that the documents are presented in
an abundance of caution.
Examiner’s Notes
The Specification has been reviewed and no known errors were found. However, the lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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 2-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shrivastava et al. (US Pub No 2018/0129172 – same assignee with publication date of 5/10/2018) in view of Mikyung Ha (US Pub No 2014/0197934).
Prior art Shrivastava teaches claim:
2. A method for operating a device of a facility, the method comprising:
(a) sending a message from a first node to a second node, wherein the message is communicated through a network (e.g., window control system interfacing with windows controllers and sensors ¶ 0121 and using a smart home applicance network service through smartphones, teaching a first node, sending a control signal to a window system to control switchable windows ¶ 0121 & Figs. 1A-1B), [the second node has an object identification (ID), and the message comprises a string ID that comprises (i) the object ID or (ii) a group ID with the object ID is associated with] ; and
(b) using the message to operate a device of the facility, wherein the device is coupled to, or includes, the second node (e.g., a smart home appliance control service, sending window tint level command to the window network ¶ 0109).
Shrivastava discloses the claimed subject matter as discussed above with methods of routing commands and messages to specific tintable window or groups of windows in a zone (¶ 0209) and selecting specific window or zone/group of windows to control (¶ 0267-0268), but does not explicitly discloses further details of the second node has an object identification (ID), and the message and the message comprises a string ID that comprises (i) the object ID or (ii) a group ID with the object ID is associated with. However, analogous art from the same field of endeavor teaching smart home automation, Ha teaches server able to identify the home appliances using unique device ID (¶ 0057 & 0093-0095). Therefore, based on Shrivastava in view of Ha, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Ha to the system of Shrivastava in order to “to provide a home appliance which is made to enable to make communication with an outside of the home appliance for receiving different pieces of information from a server or an external terminal easily for extending functions of, and convenient use, of the home appliance by using the information by embodiments of the present invention; and an online system including the same.” (¶ 0032-0036). Hence, it would have been obvious to combine the references to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim(s).
The prior arts above further teaches claim:
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising using the first node to compile the message (e.g., using workstations, portable computers, mobile devices such as smartphones to compile the command @ Shrivastava ¶ 0121-0122 & 0267).
The prior arts above further teaches claim:
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the message comprises (i) a routing address and (ii) a message data (e.g., notification message transmission including unique IP address and a message body @ Ha ¶ 0166-0168 & 0248-0252).
The prior arts above further teaches claim:
5. The method of claim 2, wherein the device comprises a sensor, an emitter, an antenna, or a tintable window (e.g., tintable windows @ Shrivastava ¶ 0002 & Fig. 7).
The prior arts above further teaches claim:
6. (New) The method of claim 2, wherein the network comprises a building management system (e.g., BMS @ Shrivastava ¶ 0064 & Fig. 1D).
Claim 7 is substantially similar to claim 2 above, and therefore the claim is likewise rejected.
Claim 8 is substantially similar to claim 4 above, and therefore the claim is likewise rejected.
Claim 9 is substantially similar to claim 2 above, and therefore the claim is likewise rejected. Shrivastava further discloses the second node to issue an acknowledgement of the message received by the second node (e.g., “incorporating feedback from a window controller” ¶ 0182-0186).
The prior arts above further teaches claim:
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first node routes the acknowledgement to a broker that mediates any messages sent between the second node and the first node (e.g., “incorporating feedback from a window controller, a BMS can provide, for example, enhanced: 1) environmental control, 2) energy savings, 3) security, 4) flexibility in control options, 5) improved reliability and usable life of other systems due to less reliance thereon and therefore less maintenance thereof, 6) information availability and diagnostics, 7) effective use of staff, and various combinations of these, because the tintable windows can be automatically controlled. In certain embodiments, any one or more of these functions can be provided by the system, which may communicate with the windows and window controllers directly or indirectly, via a BMS.” ¶ 0183 and “a BMS may not be present or a BMS may be present but may not directly communicate with a master network controller or communicate at a high level with a master network controller.” ¶ 0184).
Claim 11 is substantially similar to claim 2 above, and therefore the claim is likewise rejected.
Claim 12 is substantially similar to claim 3 above, and therefore the claim is likewise rejected.
Claim 13 is substantially similar to claim 4 above, and therefore the claim is likewise rejected.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHAU LE whose telephone number is (571)270-7217. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, LINGLAN EDWARDS can be reached at (571) 270-5440. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHAU LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2408
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