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 § 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)(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.
Claims 14-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Buyuksahin (Pub. No.: US 2022/0201586 A1).
With respect to claim 14:
Buyuksahin discloses a method for a user device and for controlling a connection between the user device and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) nodes of a vehicle, the method comprising: establishing a first connection to a first BLE node of the vehicle (fig. 2, item204 established connection with BLE 212); obtaining information on a connection quality of the first connection to the first BLE node (parag. 0058-0060 and 0065-0067 discloses connection quality); and terminating the first connection and establishing a second connection to a second BLE node based on the information on the connection quality (parag. 0058-0060, 0065-0067 discloses terminating first connection and activating the next connection or next BLE).
With respect to claim 15:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 14, wherein terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection comprises: obtaining information on a connection quality provided by the second BLE node of the vehicle; determining whether the connection quality provided by the second BLE node is higher than the connection quality of the first connection to the first BLE node; and terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection responsive to the connection quality provided by the second BLE node being higher than the connection quality of the first connection (parag. 0065-0068).
With respect to claims 16, 21:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises obtaining identity information on the second BLE node, wherein the identity information indicates whether the second BLE node is installed on the vehicle, and wherein terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection comprises terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection based on the identity information (parag. 0081-0083).
With respect to claims 17, 26:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 16, wherein terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection based on the identity information comprises: obtaining identity information of the first BLE node; checking whether the identity information of the first BLE node and the identity of the second BLE node are identical; and terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection if the identity information of the first BLE node and the identity of the second BLE node are identical (parag. 0063).
With respect to claim 18:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 15, wherein the information on the connection quality of the first connection is indicative of a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the first connection and obtaining the information on the connection quality of the first connection comprises obtaining the RSSI of the first connection from a first signal from the first BLE node, wherein the information on the connection quality of the second connection is indicative of a RSSI of the second connection and obtaining the information on the connection quality of the second connection comprises obtaining the RSSI of the second connection from a second signal from the second BLE node, and wherein terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection comprises terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection based on a comparison of the first and the second RSSI (parag. 0016, 0064-0068).
With respect to claims 19, 28:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the first BLE node is installed inside the vehicle and the second BLE node is installed on the exterior of the vehicle or the second BLE node is installed inside the vehicle and the first BLE node is installed on an exterior of the vehicle (parag. 0052-0056 discloses out of band signaling which means BLE can move from one position to the other within vehicle or exterior).
With respect to claims 20, 22:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 19, wherein the first connection serves a communication session between the user device and the vehicle, and wherein terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection comprises performing a handover of the communication session from the first connection to the second connection (parag. 0058-0063).
With respect to claim 21:
The rejection of claim 14 is incorporated; Buyuksahin further discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium having program code for performing the method of claim 14 when the program code is executed on a computer, a processor, or a programmable hardware component (parag. 0092).
With respect to claims 24, 32:
Buyuksahin discloses an apparatus comprising: one or more interfaces for communication; and a data processing circuit configured to: control the one or more interfaces; and execute, using the one or more interfaces, the method of claim 14 (fig. 1 with interfaces and control 106, parag. 0047-0055).
With respect to claim 25:
Buyuksahin discloses a method for a vehicle and for controlling a connection between Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) nodes of the vehicle and a user device, the method comprising: establishing a first connection between a user device and a first BLE node of the vehicle (fig. 2, item204 established connection with BLE 212); providing information on a connection quality of the first connection to the user device (parag. 0058-0060 and 0065-0067 discloses connection quality); and providing information on a connection quality provided by a second BLE node of the vehicle to the user device for terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection based on a comparison of the first and the second information (parag. 0058-0060, 0065-0067 discloses terminating first connection and activating the next connection or next BLE).
With respect to claim 27:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 25, wherein: the information on the connection quality of the first connection is indicative of a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the first connection (parag. 0061 and 0066) and providing the first information comprises transmitting a first signal to the user device for obtaining the RSSI of the first connection from the first signal (fig. 2 with item 212 transmitting to user 204); wherein the information on the connection quality of the second connection is indicative of an RSSI of the second connection (parag. 0061, 0064) and providing the second information comprises transmitting a second signal to the user device for obtaining the RSSI of the second connection from the second signal (fig. 2, item 210 transmitting to item 204 for connection); and terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection based on a comparison of the first and the second RSSI, by the user device (parag. 0058-0060, 0065-0067 discloses terminating first connection and activating the next connection or next BLE).
With respect to claim 29:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 28, wherein the first connection serves a communication session between the user device and the vehicle, and wherein terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection comprises maintaining the communication session through a transition from the first connection to the second connection (parag. 0002-0009 discloses maintaining the connection after BLE1 is deactivated and BLE2 is activated).
With respect to claim 30:
Buyuksahin discloses the method of claim 25, wherein the first BLE node is disposed on an exterior of the vehicle; the second BLE node is disposed on an interior of the vehicle; the first connection serves a communication session between the user device and the vehicle; and wherein terminating the first connection and establishing the second connection comprises maintaining the communication session through a transition from the first connection to the second connection (parag. 0002-0009, also, parag. 0052-0056 discloses out of band signaling which means BLE can move from one position to the other within vehicle or exterior).
With respect to claim 31:
The rejection of claim 25 is incorporated; Buyuksahin further discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium having program code for performing the method of claim 25 when the program code is executed on a computer, a processor, or a programmable hardware component (parag. 0036 and 0092).
With respect to claim 33:
The rejection of claim 25 is incorporated; Buyuksahin further discloses a vehicle comprising the apparatus of claim 32 (fig. 1 with interfaces and control 106, parag. 0047-0055).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1846. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, EST.
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/AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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