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 .
Detailed Action
This action is responsive to the application filed on February 22nd of 2025.
Status of Claims
Applicant filed a preliminary amendment on February 22nd of 2025. Applicant amended claims 3, 10, 15, 18, 23, 26, 30, and 35. Applicant canceled claims 4, 11, 19, 24-25, 27, and 39 – 110. Applicants added new claims 111 – 126.
Drawings
Drawings filed on 02/22/2025 are acknowledged.
Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In Claim 1, limitation 7, “…plurality of control devices is permitted…” should be “...plurality of control devices are permitted…” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 – 3, 5 – 6, 8, 10, 12 – 15, 17 – 18, 20 – 23, 26 – 38, and 111 – 126 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hui et al. (US 20170339653 A1) in view of Bartek et al. (US 20130339847 A1) and Knecht et al. (US 9635043 B1).
Regarding claim 1, Hui teaches a load control system comprising a plurality of control devices configured to communicate via a network according to a network configuration, the load control system comprising:
a first control device of the plurality of control devices configured to:
receive first network optimization advertisement messages from other control devices of the plurality of control devices; (See in Hui, ¶52, which teaches a mesh network device (Elem: 420) (the claimed first control device) receiving a pending commissioning dataset from the leader (the claimed other control devices))
collect first network optimization characteristics related to the plurality of control devices in the load control system based on the network optimization advertisement messages; (See in Hui, ¶38-39, which teaches a number of parameters involved in the dataset, this can include mesh-local prefix, network master key, and the Personal Area Network Identifier (PAN ID))
and determine, based on the first network optimization characteristics, to initiate a first adjustment to the network configuration; (See in Hui, ¶53 - 55, which teaches where the mesh network can determine if a delay timer has expired, the mesh network can update the parameters of the active commissioning dataset)
and a second control device of the plurality of control devices configured to:receive second network optimization advertisement messages from the other control devices of the plurality of control devices; (See in Hui, ¶58, which teaches a mesh network device (Elem: 406) joining a mesh network partition).
collect second network optimization characteristics related to the plurality of control devices in the load control system based on the second network optimization advertisement messages; (See in Hui, ¶59, which teaches the mesh network device retrieving an active commissioning dataset and pending commissioning dataset)
and determine, based on the second network optimization characteristics, to initiate a second adjustment to the network configuration; (See in Hui, ¶60, which teaches the mesh network device updating a local active commissioning dataset with values from the retrieved active commissioning dataset)
determine that the plurality of control devices is permitted to initiate adjustments to the network configuration based on an expiration of a prior network formation period or a prior adjustment stabilization period after a prior adjustment to the network configuration; (See in Hui, ¶53 – 54 and ¶63 - 65, which teaches where the mesh network device is periodically evaluating the pending commissioning dataset’s timer has expired).
and initiate the second adjustment to the network configuration; (See in Hui, ¶60, which teaches the mesh network device updating a local active commissioning dataset with values from the retrieved active commissioning dataset)
Hui fails to teach wherein, in response to receipt of an indication that the second control device has initiated the second adjustment to the network configuration, the first control device is configured to await an adjustment stabilization period before a subsequent determination to initiate the first adjustment or a third adjustment to the network configuration.
However, Bartek et al. is in the same field of an environment where multiple users can collaborate based on feedback. (See in Bartek, ¶37).
Bartek discloses a first user (the claimed second control device) initiating editing within a document (the claimed network configuration), then second user (the claimed first control device) goes to edit the document the first user is working on. When the second user tries to edit the document, the second user has to wait for the first user’s lock period (the claimed adjustment stabilization period) before it is allowed to edit on the document. (See in Bartek, ¶37)It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hui to include Bartek. In doing so, it would prevent flooding the system from multiple changes at once. However, Knecht et al. is in the same field of invention of receiving responses from clients and a server. The server can process the request and transmit a response back to the client. (See in Knecht, Col. 12, Ln. 17 - 32) Knecht discloses a server response (the claimed receipt of an indication) which includes a retry-timeout (the claimed waiting period), which species the predetermined period of time (the claimed adjustment stabilization period) that the client device (the claimed control device) is to wait prior to transmitting another request following the transmission of a first request. (See in Knecht, Fig. 4, Col. 12 Ln. 62 – Col. 13 Ln. 44) It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hui to include Knecht to incorporate alerting the device about a timeout. In doing so, it would provide clarity to the other devices about whether a server is in use or not.
Regarding claim 2, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the first network optimization characteristics and the second network optimization characteristics comprise communication quality metrics measured at the other control devices from which the first network optimization advertisement messages and the second network optimization advertisement messages are received. (See in Hiu, ¶38 - 39, which teaches a number of parameters that a mesh network device uses to operate on the mesh network, which includes a channel and a channel mask, which are used for data transmissions).
Regarding claim 3, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the first network optimization characteristics and the second network optimization characteristics comprise one or more of a noise floor measured at the other control devices from which the first network optimization advertisement messages and the second network optimization advertisement messages are received, or a communication quality metric of network optimization messages measured at the other control devices. (See in Hiu, ¶89 - 90, which teaches sensors that detect various properties and data (the claimed noise floor) such as acceleration, temperature, humidity, sound signals, which can be used for energy-efficiency objectives or smart-operation objectives).
Regarding claim 5, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the network optimization advertisement messages comprise router device network optimization advertisement messages or end device network optimization advertisement messages. (See in Hiu, ¶22, which teaches the mesh network includes routers (Fig 1, Elem: 102), router-eligible end device (Elem: 104), and end devices (Elem: 106), where the routers receive and transmit commissioning datasets over the mesh network data, where routers and router-eligible end devices can assume various roles and combination).
Regarding claim 6, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the first network device is configured to process the first network optimization characteristics using network optimization criteria to determine to initiate the first adjustment to the network configuration, and wherein the second network device is configured to process the second network optimization characteristics using the network optimization criteria to determine to initiate the second adjustment to the network configuration. (See in Hiu, ¶30 & ¶37, which teaches where the leader propagates the network configuration information to the other devices in the mesh network, and an active commissioning dataset and a pending commissioning dataset to determine the active configuration).
Regarding claim 8, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the other control devices from which the first control device receives the first network optimization advertisement messages and collects the first network optimization characteristics comprises control devices within a single hop on the network from the first control device, and wherein the other control devices from which the second control device receives the second network optimization advertisement messages and collects the second network optimization characteristics comprises control devices within a single hop on the network from the second control device. (See in Hui, ¶96, which teaches communication links between the devices).
Regarding claim 10, Hui fails to teach the load control system of claim 1, wherein the second control device is further configured to:
after determining to initiate the second adjustment to the network configuration, set a random backoff timer within a predefined timeframe before initiating the second adjustment.
and after an expiration of the random backoff timer, transmit a message configured to indicate the second adjustment to the network configuration is being performed, wherein the message comprises an adjustment notice.
However, Bartek is in the same field of an environment where multiple users can collaborate based on feedback. (See in Bartek, ¶37).
Bartek discloses a first user (the claimed second control device) initiating editing within a document (the claimed network configuration), then second user (the claimed first control device) wanting to edit the document then must wait the first user’s locking period (the claimed adjustment stabilization period). There the second user must wait until the locking period has run and is then able to edit the document. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hui to include Bartek based on the teachings of Knecht in accordance with the rationale given for claim 1. However, Knecht et al. is in the same field of invention of receiving responses from clients and a server. The server can process the request and transmit a response back to the client. (See in Knecht, Col. 12, Ln. 17 - 32) Knecht discloses a retry-timeout (the claimed backoff timer), which species the predetermined period of time (the claimed predefined timeframe) that the client device (the claimed control device) is to wait prior to transmitting another request (the claimed message) following the transmission of a first request. (See in Knecht, Fig. 4, Col. 13, Ln. 21 – 44) It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hui to incorporate a waiting period for the next configuration which would allow the system to not overload with requests at once.
Regarding claim 12, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the second control device is configured to initiate the second adjustment to the network configuration by being configured to transmit a message configured to perform an adjustment to a role of a third control device on the network (See in Hui, ¶81, which teaches that any of the mesh network devices (the claimed control devices) can server as low power and communication nodes can regularly send out messages to regarding what they are sensing, and send translated messages to other nodes (the claimed third control device) and/or to a central server or cloud-computing system)
Regarding claim 13, the load control system of claim 12, wherein the role of the third control device is a router device on the network prior to the adjustment, and wherein the message is configured to downgrade the role of the third control device to an end device on the network. (See in Hui, ¶22-23, which teaches where there are routers and router-eligible end devices that can assume various roles, and combination roles, within the mesh network).
Regarding claim 14, the load control system of claim 12, wherein the role of the third control device is an end device on the network prior to the adjustment, and wherein the message is configured to upgrade the role of the third control device to a router device on the network. (See in Hui, ¶22-23, which teaches where the router-eligible device is capable of becoming a router when the router-eligible device is connected to additional devices).
Regarding claim 15, the load control system of claim 1,
wherein the second adjustment to the network configuration comprises an adjustment to a relationship of a third control device with another control device of the plurality of control devices on the network, wherein the relationship is a parent-child relationship (See in Hui, ¶25, which teaches a child end device attaches to a parent router, which responds, on behalf of the child end device, to mesh network traffic addressed to the child end device),
wherein the third control device is a child device to another control device of the plurality of control devices to which the third control device is attached as a parent device (See in Hui, ¶25, which teaches a child end device also depend on the parent receive and store all data packets addressed to the child device, this includes commissioning datasets).
and wherein the second adjustment is initiated to change the parent device of the third control device to another control device of the plurality of control devices on the network (See in Hui, ¶22, which can teach the routers and router-eligible devices that can assume various different roles, and combinations of the roles, within the mesh network).
Regarding claim 17, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the first control device is a first load control device configured to control a first electrical load, and wherein the second control device is a second load control device configured to control a second electrical load. (See in Hui, ¶74, which teaches the mesh network devices include a smart home devices).
Regarding claim 18, the load control system of claim 17, wherein the first load control device comprises a first lighting control device, wherein the first electrical load comprises a first lighting load, wherein the second load control device comprises a second lighting control device, wherein the second electrical load comprises a second lighting load, and wherein the first load control device is further configured to:
control the first lighting load based on control instructions sent to the first lighting control device (See in Hui, ¶74, which teaches the mesh network being able to include lighting units);
and wherein the second load control device is further configured to control the second lighting load based on control instructions sent to the second lighting control device (See in Hui, ¶75, which teaches the mesh network devices that can integrate seamlessly with each each/or with a central server or a cloud=computing system).
Regarding claim 20, the load control system of claim 1, wherein the second control device is further configured to:
receive a message that indicates the first adjustment to the network configuration; (See in Hui, ¶52, which teaches a mesh network device receives a pending commissioning dataset).
collect updated network optimization characteristics; (See in Hui, ¶52 – 53, which teaches where teaches where the commissioning data includes parameters for the communication on the mesh network).
and determine, based on the updated network optimization characteristics, that the first adjustment occurred in response to the message. (See in Hui, ¶55, which teaches determine if a delay timer has expired, the mesh network device will then update the parameters of the active commissioning dataset).
Independent and dependent system claims 21 – 23, 26 – 38, and 111 – 126 merely represent a different category of invention from method, device, and non-transitory computer-readable medium claims 1 – 3, 5 – 6, 8, 10, 12 – 15, 17 – 18, and 20, but with similar scope and slight language variation. Therefore claims 21 – 23, 26 – 38, and 111 – 126 are rejected based on the same rationale given for claims 1 – 3, 5 – 6, 8, 10, 12 – 15, 17 – 18, and 20 above.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hui et al. (US 20170339653 A1) in view of Jiang et al. (US 20160241441 A1) and in view of Gokturk et al. (US 20160192203 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Hui and Jiang the load control system of claim 6, wherein the network optimization criteria comprises an advertised cost criteria, and wherein the first network device is configured to process the advertised cost criteria to determine an advertised cost for communications performed through or with each of the other control devices from which the first network optimization advertisement messages are received, and wherein the second network device is configured to process the advertised cost criteria to determine an advertised cost for communications performed through or with each of the other control devices from which the second network optimization advertisement messages are received.
However, Gokturk is in the same field of invention of mesh networks can route traffic within the network and can be configured to select routes which consider and optimize various different criteria. (See in Gokturk, ¶23).
Gokturk discloses where the invention can estimate the cost of communicating with a neighbor. The cost of transmitting over a link is the estimated duration for which the communication medium is used. (See in Gokturk, ¶69)
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention to include communication and calculating the cost. In doing so would allow the invention to have ease of access to relay information between the devices involved in the network.
Claim(s) 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hui et al. (US 20170339653 A1) in view of Jiang et al. (US 20160241441 A1) and in view of Guim et al. (US 20240236017 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Hui and Jiang fail to teach the load control system of claim 1, wherein the first control device is configured to measure a communication quality metric of the first network optimization advertisement messages and collect the first network optimization characteristics for the other control devices from which the first network optimization advertisement messages are received with the communication quality metric above a threshold, and wherein the second control device is configured to measure a communication quality metric of the second network optimization advertisement messages and collect the second network optimization characteristics for the other control devices from which the second network optimization advertisement messages are received with the communication quality metric above a threshold.
However, Guim is in the same field of invention of home automation environments. (See in Guim, ¶105)
Guim discloses that optimization can occur when there is a significant change (e.g., above a threshold level) when there is a significant upgrade in the system or application software. (See in Guim, ¶135).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention to include a threshold limit to determine when optimization can occur. In doing so, it would provide the invention to operate smoothly on an automated schedule.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CELINE AYLIN IMANI whose telephone number is (571)270-0247. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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/CELINE AYLIN IMANI/ 08/27/2026Examiner, Art Unit 2457
/RAMY M OSMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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