Detailed Action
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1-20 are rejected.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-19 of U.S. Patent No. 11805009. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because each of the limitation of the patented claims in the above rejection is narrower than claim in the instant application. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to omit elements wherein the remaining elements perform as before. A person of ordinary skill could have arrived at the present claims by omitting the details of the patented claims. See In re Karlson (CCPA) 136 USPQ 184, decided January 16, 1963 ("Omission of element and its function in combination is obvious expedient if remaining elements perform same functions as before").
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12267206. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because each of the limitation of the patented claims in the above rejection is narrower than claim in the instant application. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to omit elements wherein the remaining elements perform as before. A person of ordinary skill could have arrived at the present claims by omitting the details of the patented claims. See In re Karlson (CCPA) 136 USPQ 184, decided January 16, 1963 ("Omission of element and its function in combination is obvious expedient if remaining elements perform same functions as before").
Note: The Applicant notes the double patenting rejections and will consider filing a terminal disclaimer when the claims are otherwise indicated as allowable.
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 1-5, 8-11 and 13-15 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jacobson et al (Pub. No.: US 2017/0099157 A1) in view of Louboutin et al (Pub. No.: US 2013/0014232 A1).
As per claim 1, Jacobson discloses a method comprising: - at a computing device (Jacobson, Fig 1-2 item 160 “mobile device”) executing an accessory application (Jacobson, Fig 1-2 item 162 “App”) for controlling an accessory (Jacobson, Fig 2 item 210 “WPAN-discoverable device”) (Jacobson, [0038, 0041], wherein “In addition, the user may control the home automation system using a mobile device 160. The mobile device 160 may include hardware components such as a processor, a memory, a storage device, a display screen (e.g., a touch sensitive display), a LAN interface (e.g., a Wi-Fi interface), a WPAN interface (e.g., a BLE interface), as well as other hardware components. The mobile device may execute a mobile app 162 configured to interface with the host controller 110 and/or cloud services 180, which may provide to the user another home automation control UI, similar to what is provided on the remote control 124, or including extended functionality. The mobile app 162 may further provide a provisioning and configuration UI that may be used as part of implementing the described provisioning and configuration techniques”);- configuring, the accessory to be connected to a first network (Jacobson, Fig 1 item 150 “In-Home LAN”) (Jacobson, [0031, 0056-0057] wherein “As used herein, the term “provisioning” refers to providing a hardware element with network credentials that enable the hardware element to join a LAN. The network credential may vary based on a type of the LAN. For example, where the LAN is a Wi-Fi network, the network credentials may include an SSID and password”, “Upon receipt of such information, the mobile app 162 may retrieve network credentials (e.g., Wi-Fi credentials such as SSID and password) for the in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150 from the host controller 110 over the in-home LAN. At step 430, the mobile app 162 may transfer the network credentials over the WPAN to the WPAN-discoverable device 210 to provision its interface to the in-home LAN”); - after configuring the accessory to be connected to the first network (Jacobson, [0084], wherein “FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example home automation system 700 providing an example of how the techniques discussed in reference to FIGS. 3-5 may be utilized together to self-heal a device that originally was accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150, but has been reset (e.g., factory reset) to lose its network credentials (e.g., in response to corruption of data, a software “lock up”, or other error)”) and on conjunction with detecting the accessory via a connection separate from the first network (Jacobson, Fig 2 “WPAN BLE”) (Jacobson, [0014, 0055], wherein “At step 410, the WPAN-discoverable device 210 advertises its presence on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) and is discovered by the mobile app 162 by exchanging advertisements (e.g., BLE advertisements) on the WPAN”, “In a fourth example embodiment, a mobile app scans on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) to discover a second WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of a home automation system (e.g., a device) that is not accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network). The mobile app retrieves network credentials (e.g., SSID and password) for the in-home LAN over the in-home LAN from a first WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of the home automation system (e.g., a host controller) that maintains the credentials in a local storage device”), determining, that the accessory is not connected to the first network (Jacobson, [0014, 0084], wherein “In a fourth example embodiment, a mobile app scans on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) to discover a second WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of a home automation system (e.g., a device) that is not accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network).”, “FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example home automation system 700 providing an example of how the techniques discussed in reference to FIGS. 3-5 may be utilized together to self-heal a device that originally was accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150, but has been reset (e.g., factory reset) to lose its network credentials (e.g., in response to corruption of data, a software “lock up”, or other error)”); and- in response to determining, that the accessory is not connected to the first network (Jacobson, [0014, 0084], wherein “In a fourth example embodiment, a mobile app scans on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) to discover a second WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of a home automation system (e.g., a device) that is not accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network).”, “FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example home automation system 700 providing an example of how the techniques discussed in reference to FIGS. 3-5 may be utilized together to self-heal a device that originally was accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150, but has been reset (e.g., factory reset) to lose its network credentials (e.g., in response to corruption of data, a software “lock up”, or other error)”), transmitting to the accessory using the connection separate from the first network, information to (Jacobson, [0057], wherein “At step 430, the mobile app 162 may transfer the network credentials over the WPAN to the WPAN-discoverable device 210 to provision its interface to the in-home LAN”).Jacobson does not explicitly disclose that the information to enable the accessory to connect to a second network. However, Louboutin discloses that the information to enable the accessory to connect to a second network (Louboutin, paragraph [0060, 0073-0074], wherein “Illustratively, portable computing device 102 can be paired with and connected to accessory 104 over a Bluetooth connection”, “If the received user response indicates that accessory 104 should be permitted to access the WiFi network to which portable computing device 102 is connected, the portable computing device can transmit a wireless network access credential for the WiFi network at block 622. In some embodiments, the wireless network access credential can include an SSID for the wireless network and/or security information (e.g., a WEP password, a WPA password, etc.). Based on this information, accessory 104 can connect to the WiFi network associated with the wireless network access credential … In certain embodiments, portable computing device 102 can store and transmit wireless network access credentials for more than one wireless network. Illustratively, in one instance, portable computing device 102 can transmit a wireless network access credential for a first wireless network to an accessory. In another instance, portable computing device 102 can transmit a different wireless network access credential for a second wireless network to the accessory”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Jacobson’s BLE-based self-healing technique in view of Louboutin teaching of provisioning an accessory with credentials for multiple wireless networks such that the self-healing send credentials of a second wireless network different from the first wireless network that the device as connected to as claimed because this would have provided a way to ensure network connection when the previous/original wireless connection is not available anymore.
As pre claim 2, claim 1 is incorporated and Jacobson discloses wherein the second network is determined based at least in part on identification that the computing device is connected to the first network (Jacobson, [0038, 0056-0057], wherein ““Upon receipt of such information, the mobile app 162 may retrieve network credentials (e.g., Wi-Fi credentials such as SSID and password) for the in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150 from the host controller 110 over the in-home LAN. At step 430, the mobile app 162 may transfer the network credentials over the WPAN to the WPAN-discoverable device 210 to provision its interface to the in-home LAN””);
As pre claim 3, claim 2 is incorporated and Louboutin discloses providing a user interface that indicates that the accessory is not connected to the first network; and receiving a selection of a user interface element that identifies the second network, wherein the information to enable the accessory to connect to the second network is transmitted at least in response to the selection of the user interface element (Louboutin, Fig 6, 7a-c , [0065], wherein “If portable computing device 102 determines that it is currently not connected to a network, the portable computing device can provide an alert or message to its user at block 612. In some embodiments, the message can indicate that accessory 104 has requested a WiFi network credential, but that the portable computing device is not currently connected to a WiFi network. FIG. 7b illustrates an exemplary message that can be presented to a user using a touch screen module of portable computing device 102”);
As pre claim 4, claim 3 is incorporated and Louboutin discloses wherein the computing device includes a display and wherein providing the user interface includes presenting, vi the display, the user interface (Louboutin, Fig 6, 7a-c , [0065], wherein “If portable computing device 102 determines that it is currently not connected to a network, the portable computing device can provide an alert or message to its user at block 612. In some embodiments, the message can indicate that accessory 104 has requested a WiFi network credential, but that the portable computing device is not currently connected to a WiFi network. FIG. 7b illustrates an exemplary message that can be presented to a user using a touch screen module of portable computing device 102”);
As pre claim 5, claim 2 is incorporated and Jacobson in view of Louboutin discloses wherein the second network is the first network (Jacobson, 0084, wherein “FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example home automation system 700 providing an example of how the techniques discussed in reference to FIGS. 3-5 may be utilized together to self-heal a device that originally was accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150, but has been reset (e.g., factory reset) to lose its network credentials (e.g., in response to corruption of data, a software “lock up”, or other error)”) (Louboutin, [0073-0074], wherein “Illustratively, portable computing device 102 can be paired with and connected to accessory 104 over a Bluetooth connection”, “In some embodiments, the wireless network access credential can include an SSID for the wireless network and/or security information (e.g., a WEP password, a WPA password, etc.). Based on this information, accessory 104 can connect to the WiFi network associated with the wireless network access credential … In certain embodiments, portable computing device 102 can store and transmit wireless network access credentials for more than one wireless network. Illustratively, in one instance, portable computing device 102 can transmit a wireless network access credential for a first wireless network to an accessory”);
As pre claim 8, claim 1 is incorporated and Jacobson discloses wherein the accessory is configured by registering the accessory with the computing device and providing connection information for connecting to the first network (Jacobson, [0011-0014, 0057-0059], wherein “As used herein, the term “provisioning” refers to providing a hardware element with network credentials that enable the hardware element to join a LAN. The network credential may vary based on a type of the LAN. For example, where the LAN is a Wi-Fi network, the network credentials may include an SSID and password”, “Upon receipt of such information, the mobile app 162 may retrieve network credentials (e.g., Wi-Fi credentials such as SSID and password) for the in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150 from the host controller 110 over the in-home LAN. At step 430, the mobile app 162 may transfer the network credentials over the WPAN to the WPAN-discoverable device 210 to provision its interface to the in-home LAN”);
As pre claim 9, claim 1 is incorporated and Jacobson discloses wherein the connection is a short-range connection (Jacobson, Fig 2 “WPAN BLE”) (Jacobson, [0014, 0055], wherein “At step 410, the WPAN-discoverable device 210 advertises its presence on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) and is discovered by the mobile app 162 by exchanging advertisements (e.g., BLE advertisements) on the WPAN”, “In a fourth example embodiment, a mobile app scans on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) to discover a second WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of a home automation system (e.g., a device) that is not accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network). The mobile app retrieves network credentials (e.g., SSID and password) for the in-home LAN over the in-home LAN from a first WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of the home automation system (e.g., a host controller) that maintains the credentials in a local storage device”)
As pre claim 10, claim 9 is incorporated and Jacobson discloses wherein the first network enables communication with longer range than the connection (Jacobson, [0014, 0055], wherein “At step 410, the WPAN-discoverable device 210 advertises its presence on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) and is discovered by the mobile app 162 by exchanging advertisements (e.g., BLE advertisements) on the WPAN”, “In a fourth example embodiment, a mobile app scans on a WPAN (e.g., BLE) to discover a second WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of a home automation system (e.g., a device) that is not accessible on an in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network). The mobile app retrieves network credentials (e.g., SSID and password) for the in-home LAN over the in-home LAN from a first WPAN-discoverable (e.g., Bluetooth-discoverable) hardware element of the home automation system (e.g., a host controller) that maintains the credentials in a local storage device”);
As pre claim 11, claim 1 is incorporated and Jacobson discloses wherein the accessory does not include a display (Jacobson, paragraph 0036, wherein “The devices 112-122 of the home automation system may include lighting devices 112, such as lighting controllers, lamp modules, dimmer modules, switches, keypads, fan controllers and the like; security devices 114, such as cameras/home monitors, motion sensors, home healthcare sensors, related controllers and the like; audio devices 116 and video devices 118 (collectively A/V devices), such as A/V device controllers, infrared (IR) blasters, matrix switchers, media servers, audio amplifiers, cable boxes, and the like; electronic door locks 120 and other types of motor or relay operated devices; HVAC devices 122, such as thermostats; as well as other types of devices”);
As pre claim 13, claim 1 is incorporated and Jacobson discloses wherein the information is sent to the accessory via a wireless access point (Jacobson, [0031, 0056-0057] wherein “As used herein, the term “provisioning” refers to providing a hardware element with network credentials that enable the hardware element to join a LAN. The network credential may vary based on a type of the LAN. For example, where the LAN is a Wi-Fi network, the network credentials may include an SSID and password”, “Upon receipt of such information, the mobile app 162 may retrieve network credentials (e.g., Wi-Fi credentials such as SSID and password) for the in-home LAN (e.g., Wi-Fi network) 150 from the host controller 110 over the in-home LAN. At step 430, the mobile app 162 may transfer the network credentials over the WPAN to the WPAN-discoverable device 210 to provision its interface to the in-home LAN”);
Claims 14-15 and 17-19 are rejected under the same rationale as claim 1-5, 8-11 and 13.
Claims 6-7, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jacobson et al (Pub. No.: US 2017/0099157 A1) in view of Louboutin et al (Pub. No.: US 2013/0014232 A1) and Deivasigamani et al (Pub. No.: US 2013/0090115 A1).
As pre claim 6, claim 1 is incorporated and Jacobson and Louboutin do not explicitly disclose wherein the second network is determined based at least in part on heuristics that identify the second network as having a highest score among a plurality of networks identified by the computing device. However, Deivasigamani discloses wherein the second network is determined based at least in part on heuristics that identify the second network as having a highest score among a plurality of networks identified by the computing device (Deivasigamani, paragraph 0021, 0073, 0080, wherein evaluating at least one metric relating to historical connection interruption by a first access point of the network; and based at least in part on the evaluation, selecting a second access point over the first access point for forming the connection, the second access point having a less desirable air interface quality than the first access point, yet a better historical interruption metric than the first access point).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Jacobson and Louboutin in view of Deivasigamani as claimed because this would have provided a way to ensure better network connection and thus improve the performance of the system.
As pre claim 7 claim 6 is incorporated and Deivasigamani discloses wherein the heuristics are based at least in part on historical connection information of the computing device (Deivasigamani, paragraph 0021, wherein evaluating at least one metric relating to historical connection interruption by a first access point of the network; and based at least in part on the evaluation, selecting a second access point over the first access point for forming the connection, the second access point having a less desirable air interface quality than the first access point, yet a better historical interruption metric than the first access point);
Claims 16 and 20 are rejected under the same rationale as claims 6-7.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jacobson et al (Pub. No.: US 2017/0099157 A1) in view of Louboutin et al (Pub. No.: US 2013/0014232 A1) and Donnellan et al (Pub. No.: US 2015/0156601 A1).
As pre claim 12, claim 1 is incorporated and Jacobson and Louboutin do not explicitly disclose wherein the accessory and the computing device are associated with the same user account. However, Donnellan discloses wherein the accessory and the computing device are associated with the same user account (Donnellan, paragraph 0009, wherein “The various examples disclosed herein relate to a mobile device configured to provision a connectable device to a user account. Provisioning is a process for providing data about a connectable device and/or a network and a user account to associate the connectable device with a network/carrier user account, so the connectable device can connect to the network, and operate and obtain services through the network. Such provisioning, for example, may involve entry or modification of account information with the network provider to add the device, establishing permissions or policies applicable to the device in one or more control elements in the network and/or storing some requisite data (e.g., an identifier assigned by the network operator) in the device itself. A connectable device is a device equipped to connect to a network using wired (e.g., optical or coaxial) or wireless technologies, such as cellular, Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth or other radio frequency technologies”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Jacobson and Louboutin in view of Donnellan as claimed because this would have provided a way to improve the security and efficiency of the system by idenfying the accessory belonging to a specific user and managing network access for the accessory in view of the specific user account.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 07/24/206 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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 HAMZA N ALGIBHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-7212. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 am - 3:30 pm.
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/HAMZA N ALGIBHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
