DETAILED ACTION
This application has been examined. Claims 1-18 are pending. Claims 16-18 are submitted as new claims.
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 .
Making Final
Applicant's arguments filed 7/22/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds for rejection.
The claim amendments regarding -- ‘the predicted location of the IoT device’ -- clearly change the literal scope of the independent and dependent claims and/or the range of equivalents for such claims. The said amendments alter the scope of the claims but do not overcome the disclosure by the prior art as shown below.
The Examiner is presenting new grounds for rejection as necessitated by the claim amendments and is thus making this action FINAL.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/22/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds for rejection.
Park disclosed (re. Claim 1) an electronic device comprising: a communication device; memory storing information on a location of the electronic device and reference information associated with each of a plurality of locations; (Park-Figure 11,Column 7 Lines 55-60 , data stored in the first storage 130 includes collected RSSI information of the beacon signals of the things, grouping information for the things, information for grouped things, layout information for grouped things )
identifying a product type of the IoT device based on the device information, predicting a location of the IoT device based on the product type, identifying a signal strength reference value associated with the IoT device based on the reference information associated with each of the plurality of locations, the location of the electronic device, and the predicted location of the IoT device,(Park-Column 7 Lines 65 , a program (application), which compares RSSIs of the beacon signals collected from the things and identifies as user location in the user space, a space group to which a thing corresponding to a beacon signal having the largest RSSI within a range of a preset reference value belongs, Column 13 Lines 55-65, the reference value of RSSI may be differently set depending on areas of space groups to which the things belong. Reference values of RSSI for space groups may be set as reference values, for example, more than −80˜−99 dBm, of beacon signal RSSI of things, which when identifying grouping in initial thing grouping process, are applied to user location recognition in corresponding space groups)
Regarding Claim 16,17
Park-Sarode-David disclosed (re. Claim 16,17) receive, from a server, initial reference information associated with at least one of the plurality of locations; (Park-Column 10 Lines 65 , The second communication module 420-1 receives information including control signals and beacon signals from the HA server 500 and other things 420-2, 420-3, . . . in the user space and transmits the information including the control signals and the beacon signals to the wearable device 300, the other things 420-2, 420-3, . . . and the HA server 500.) and update the initial reference information based on signal strength measurements received from pre-registered IoT devices to generate the reference information associated with the at least one of the plurality of locations. (David-Paragraph 19, respond to detecting the user pointer element moving by recalculating the one or more signal strengths at a second-real world position corresponding to the second canvas position; and/or (v) update the one or more signal strength indications to indicate the recalculated one or more signal strength)
Regarding Claim 18
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 18) wherein the predicted location of the IoT device (Park-Column 13 Lines 55-65, the reference value of RSSI may be differently set depending on areas of space groups to which the things belong. Reference values of RSSI for space groups may be set as reference values, for example, more than −80˜−99 dBm, of beacon signal RSSI of things, which when identifying grouping in initial thing grouping process, are applied to user location recognition in corresponding space groups ) is the same as an actual location of the IoT device.(Park-Column 14 Lines 1-5, if the user location is identified, the things belonging to a space group corresponding to the corresponding location are controlled)
Priority
This application claims benefits of priority from Foreign Application KR10-2022-0100636 (Korea) filed August 11, 2022.
The effective date of the claims described in this application is August 11, 2022.
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) 1-9,11-14,18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US Patent 10408928) further in view of Sarode (US Patent 11455076)
Regarding Claim 1
Park Figure 2, Column 6 Lines 60-65 disclosed wherein user carries the user terminal device 100 to receive the beacon signals, RSSIs received by the user terminal device 100 in similar interference signal I and noise N environment are compared, and the user is close to a thing from which a beacon signal having a RSSI of more than a reference value is transmitted.
Park disclosed (re. Claim 1) an electronic device comprising: a communication device; memory storing information on a location of the electronic device and reference information associated with each of a plurality of locations; (Park-Figure 11,Column 7 Lines 55-60 , data stored in the first storage 130 includes collected RSSI information of the beacon signals of the things, grouping information for the things, information for grouped things, layout information for grouped things ) and
at least one processor configured to, based on device information of an unregistered Internet of Things (IoT) device being received through the communication device, set the IoT device as an available IoT device, wherein the at least one processor is configured to set the IoT device as the available IoT device by:
identifying a product type of the IoT device based on the device information, predicting a location of the IoT device based on the product type, identifying a signal strength reference value associated with the IoT device based on the reference information associated with each of the plurality of locations, the location of the electronic device, and the predicted location of the IoT device,(Park-Column 7 Lines 65 , a program (application), which compares RSSIs of the beacon signals collected from the things and identifies as user location in the user space, a space group to which a thing corresponding to a beacon signal having the largest RSSI within a range of a preset reference value belongs, Column 13 Lines 55-65, the reference value of RSSI may be differently set depending on areas of space groups to which the things belong. Reference values of RSSI for space groups may be set as reference values, for example, more than −80˜−99 dBm, of beacon signal RSSI of things, which when identifying grouping in initial thing grouping process, are applied to user location recognition in corresponding space groups)
While Park substantially disclosed the claimed invention Park does not disclose (re. Claim 1)
identifying whether the IoT device is the available IoT device based on a comparison of the signal strength reference value associated with the IoT device with a signal strength of the IoT device.
Sarode Column 9 Lines 6-65 disclosed wherein devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received at a signal strength that is above a reception power threshold (e.g., a predefined signal strength).
Sarode Column 10 Lines 40-50 disclosed wherein devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received within a discovery range and/or a discovery zone. The discovery range may be partitioned into one or more discovery zones. The discovery zones may be identified by the received signal strength at which the discovery message may be received.
Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 1) identifying whether the IoT device is the available IoT device (Sarode-Figure 5, Column 10 Lines 40-50,devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received within a discovery range and/or a discovery zone, Column 30 Lines 15-20, disregarding information obtained from outside of the defined area) based on a comparison of the signal strength reference value associated with the IoT device with a signal strength of the IoT device.(Sarode-Column 9 Lines 6-65,devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received at a signal strength that is above a reception power threshold (e.g., a predefined signal strength).)
Park and Sarode are analogous art because they present concepts and practices regarding device discovery and control. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Sarode into Park. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable a discovery criteria for discovering control devices that meet the discovery criteria. The discovery criteria may include the RSSI or signal strength at which the discovery message was received (Sarode-Column 27 Lines 25-30)
Regarding Claim 11
Claim 11 (re. method) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 1. Claim 11 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 2,12
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 2,12) based on the signal strength of the IoT device being less than the signal strength reference value associated with the IoT device, identify the IoT device as an unavailable IoT device. (Sarode-Figure 5, Column 10 Lines 40-50,devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received within a discovery range and/or a discovery zone, Column 30 Lines 15-20, disregarding information obtained from outside of the defined area)
Regarding Claim 3,13
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 3,13) wherein the signal strength reference value associated with the IoT device comprises a lower threshold reference value and an upper threshold reference value; and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based on the signal strength of the IoT device being between the upper threshold reference value and the lower threshold reference value, identify the IoT device as the available IoT device, (Sarode- Column 9 Lines 6-65,devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received at a signal strength that is above a reception power threshold (e.g., a predefined signal strength).) and based on the signal strength of the IoT device being greater than the upper threshold reference value or less than the lower threshold reference value, identify the IoT device as an unavailable IoT device. (Sarode-Figure 5, Column 10 Lines 40-50,devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received within a discovery range and/or a discovery zone, Column 30 Lines 15-20, disregarding information obtained from outside of the defined area)
Regarding Claim 4,14
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 4,14) predict a plurality of possible locations of the IoT device based on the product type, (Park-Figure 11, Figure 5, the things are grouped according to space groups) and identify whether the IoT device is the available IoT device based on a comparison of a signal strength reference value corresponding to each of the plurality of locations with the signal strength of the IoT device. (Sarode-Figure 5, Column 10 Lines 40-50,devices may receive the discovery message and determine whether the discovery message is received within a discovery range and/or a discovery zone, Column 30 Lines 15-20, disregarding information obtained from outside of the defined area)
Regarding Claim 5
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 5) wherein the reference information associated with each of the plurality of locations stored in the memory is information generated based on a type of living space where the electronic device is located and a size of the living space.(Park-Column 13 Lines 65 , if an area is large as in the living room, the reference value of RSSI is selected widely by −80˜−99 dBm, and if small as in the bathroom room, narrowly by −90˜−99 dBm, thereby preventing errors in the user location recognition.)
Regarding Claim 6
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 6) wherein the communication device is configured to identify the location of the electronic device based on a signal strength of a signal received from a pre-registered IoT device, and to store the location of the electronic device in the memory.(Park-Column 14 Lines 5-10 , if the user location is identified, the things belonging to a space group corresponding to the corresponding location are controlled. The user location recognition is divided into location identification that the user location is identified when the user moves from one space group to another new space group and location identification that the user location is repetitively identified in the same space group.)
Regarding Claim 7
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 7) a display, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, based on the IoT device being the available IoT device, control the display to display that setting registration of the IoT device is possible.(Park-Figure 6,Column 2 Lines 30, a user interface (UI) generator, which generates a UI for selecting the space group in order to group the non-grouped thing)
Regarding Claim 8
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 8) based on the IoT device being the available IoT device, control the communication device to transmit information indicating that setting registration of the IoT device is possible to at least one of a pre-registered IoT device or a pre-registered user terminal device. (Park-Figure 6,Column 2 Lines 30, a user interface (UI) generator, which generates a UI for selecting the space group in order to group the non-grouped thing)
Regarding Claim 9
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 9) based on the IoT device being set as the available IoT device, control the communication device to transmit to the IoT device at least one of information required for connecting to Internet or information required for connecting to an IoT server.(Park-Column 10 Lines 65 , The second communication module 420-1 receives information including control signals and beacon signals from the HA server 500 and other things 420-2, 420-3, . . . in the user space and transmits the information including the control signals and the beacon signals to the wearable device 300, the other things 420-2, 420-3, . . . and the HA server 500.)
Regarding Claim 18
Park-Sarode disclosed (re. Claim 18) wherein the predicted location of the IoT device (Park-Column 13 Lines 55-65, the reference value of RSSI may be differently set depending on areas of space groups to which the things belong. Reference values of RSSI for space groups may be set as reference values, for example, more than −80˜−99 dBm, of beacon signal RSSI of things, which when identifying grouping in initial thing grouping process, are applied to user location recognition in corresponding space groups ) is the same as an actual location of the IoT device.(Park-Column 14 Lines 1-5, if the user location is identified, the things belonging to a space group corresponding to the corresponding location are controlled)
Claim(s) 10,15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US Patent 10408928) further in view of Sarode (US Patent 11455076) further in view of David (USPGPUB 20220232393)
Regarding Claim 10,15
While Park-Sarode substantially disclosed the claimed invention Park-Sarode does not disclose (re. Claim 10,15) based on receiving, from each pre-registered IoT device, information about respective signal strength between other IoT devices measured by the pre-registered IoT device, and update the reference information associated with each of the plurality of locations in accordance with the received information about the respective signal strength and location information of the pre-registered IoT device.
David Paragraph 55 disclosed wherein each network device may store and maintain “neighbor information,” including a list of neighbor devices that the network device has identified during the listening operations.
David disclosed (re. Claim 10,15) based on receiving, from each pre-registered IoT device, information about respective signal strength between other IoT devices measured by the pre-registered IoT device,( David-Paragraph 55,each network device may store and maintain “neighbor information,” including a list of neighbor devices that the network device has identified during the listening operations) update the reference information associated with each of the plurality of locations in accordance with the received information about the respective signal strength and location information of the pre-registered IoT device.(David-Paragraph 19, respond to detecting the user pointer element moving by recalculating the one or more signal strengths at a second-real world position corresponding to the second canvas position; and/or (v) update the one or more signal strength indications to indicate the recalculated one or more signal strength)
Park and David are analogous art because they present concepts and practices regarding device discovery and control. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine David into Park-Sarode. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable generating and displaying a user selectable list of suggested model devices, selected from a plurality of potential model devices, to be placed at the canvas position and added to the network model, wherein the user selectable list is generated based on: (i) the calculated one or more signal strengths at the real-world position; and (ii) wireless signaling attributes of the plurality of potential devices.(David-Paragraph 16)
Regarding Claim 16,17
Park-Sarode-David disclosed (re. Claim 16,17) receive, from a server, initial reference information associated with at least one of the plurality of locations; (Park-Column 10 Lines 65 , The second communication module 420-1 receives information including control signals and beacon signals from the HA server 500 and other things 420-2, 420-3, . . . in the user space and transmits the information including the control signals and the beacon signals to the wearable device 300, the other things 420-2, 420-3, . . . and the HA server 500.) and update the initial reference information based on signal strength measurements received from pre-registered IoT devices to generate the reference information associated with the at least one of the plurality of locations. (David-Paragraph 19, respond to detecting the user pointer element moving by recalculating the one or more signal strengths at a second-real world position corresponding to the second canvas position; and/or (v) update the one or more signal strength indications to indicate the recalculated one or more signal strength)
Conclusion
Examiner’s Note: In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREG C BENGZON whose telephone number is (571)272-3944. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8 AM - 4:30 PM.
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/GREG C BENGZON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
