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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 8-10, 14, 17-19, 23, and 26-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Arling (U.S. 12,571,255).
Regarding claim 1, Arling teaches a motorized window covering controller, comprising: control circuitry (118) to: execute a weather data application programming interface (API) to transfer local weather-related data from a weather data provider (external weather server 112); receive at least one input that includes data representative of a desired level of illumination within a space (such as temperatures, precipitation amounts, wind speeds, cloud conditions, etc. as taught in column 8 lines 11-13); receive, via the weather data API (112), the transferred local weather data from the weather data provider (via external weather server 112); and determine at least one of: a final position of at least one motorized window covering or a final angle of tilt of the at least one motorized window covering to provide the desired level of illumination within the space using the received local weather-related data (as taught in column 8 lines 5-17, the system adjusts the window treatment state based on weather information from 112).
Regarding claim 5, Arling teaches the motorized window covering of claim 1. Arling further teaches wherein to receive the local weather-related data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (112), the control circuitry to further: receive short-term predicted local weather data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (as described in column 10 lines 35-39).
Regarding claim 8, Arling teaches the motorized window covering of claim 1. Arling further teaches wherein to receive local weather-related data via the weather data API (112), the control circuitry to further: receive current local weather condition data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (current weather data as described in column 4 lines 5-8).
Regarding claim 9, Arling teaches the motorized window covering of claim 1. Arling further teaches wherein to receive current local weather condition data from the weather data provider via the weather data API, the control circuitry to further: receive the current local weather condition data including at least one of: a current relative humidity value from the weather data provider via the weather data API or a current cloud cover value from the weather data provider via the weather data API (cloud coverage indications as described in column 10 lines 35-39).
Regarding claim 10, Arling teaches a motorized window covering control method, comprising: executing, by control circuitry (118), a weather data application programming interface (API) to transfer local weather-related data from a weather data provider (external weather server 112); receiving, by the control circuitry, at least one input that includes data representative of a desired level of illumination within a space (such as temperatures, precipitation amounts, wind speeds, cloud conditions, etc. as taught in column 8 lines 11-13); receiving, by the control circuitry, the local weather-related data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (112); and determining, by the control circuitry, at least one of: a final position of at least one motorized window covering or a final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering to provide the desired level of illumination within the space using the received local weather-related data (as taught in column 8 lines 5-17, the system adjusts the window treatment state based on weather information from 112).
Regarding claim 14, Arling teaches the method of claim 10. Arling further teaches wherein receiving the local weather-related data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (112) further comprises: receiving, by the control circuitry, predicted short-term local weather data via the weather data API (as described in column 10 lines 35-39).
Regarding claim 17, Arling teaches the method of claim 10. Arling further teaches wherein receiving the local weather-related data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (112) further comprises: receiving, by the control circuitry, current local weather condition data via the weather data API (current weather data as described in column 4 lines 5-8).
Regarding claim 18, Arling teaches the method of claim 10. Arling further teaches wherein to receiving current local weather condition data via the weather data API (112) further comprises: receiving, by the control circuitry, current local weather condition data including at least one of: a current relative humidity value via the weather data API or a current cloud cover value via the weather data API (cloud coverage indications as described in column 10 lines 35-39).
Regarding claim 19, Arling teaches a non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device that includes instructions that, when executed by control circuitry disposed in a motorized window covering controller (500), cause the control circuitry (118) to: execute a weather data application programming interface (API) to transfer local weather-related data from a weather data provider (external weather server 112); receive at least one input that includes data representative of a desired level of illumination within a space (such as temperatures, precipitation amounts, wind speeds, cloud conditions, etc. as taught in column 8 lines 11-13); receive the local weather-related data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (via external weather server 112); and determine at least one of: a final position of at least one motorized window covering to provide the desired level of illumination within the space using the received local weather- related data; or a final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering to provide the desired level of illumination within the space using the received local weather-related data (as taught in column 8 lines 5-17, the system adjusts the window treatment state based on weather information from 112).
Regarding claim 23, Arling teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19. Arling further teaches wherein the instructions that cause the motorized window covering control circuitry to receive the local weather-related data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (112), further cause the control circuitry to: receive short-term predicted local weather data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (as described in column 10 lines 35-39).
Regarding claim 26, Arling teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19. Arling further teaches wherein the instructions that cause the motorized window covering control circuitry to receive the local weather-related data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (112) further cause the control circuitry to: receive current local weather condition data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (current weather data as described in column 4 lines 5-8).
Regarding claim 27, Arling teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19. Arling further teaches wherein the instructions that cause the motorized window covering control circuitry to receive the current local weather condition data from the weather data provider via the weather data API (112) further cause the control circuitry to: receive the current local weather condition data from the weather data provider, the current local weather condition data including at least one of: a current relative humidity value via the weather data API; or a current cloud cover value via the weather data API (cloud coverage indications as described in column 10 lines 35-39).
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.
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.
Claim(s) 2-4, 6-7, 11-13, 15-16, 20-22, and 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arling (U.S. 12,571,255) in view of Hall (U.S. 2019/0119978).
Regarding claim 2, Arling teaches the motorized window covering controller of claim 1. Arling further teaches the control circuitry to further: receive data representative of a geolocation associated with the at least one motorized window covering (as described in column 4 lines 21-25, weather server 112 determines the location of the window covering by IP address of a router/modem); receive data representative of a compass heading associated with the at least one motorized window covering (compass direction of window covering as described in column 6 lines 44-53); receive data representative of a current calendar date (current calendar date as described in column 5 lines 44-53); receive data representative of a current time-of-day (current time of day as described in column 5 lines 44-53). While Arling teaches control circuitry to adjust the window covering to achieve a desired level of illumination within the space using received local weather-related data, it is silent as to incremental tilting of the window covering by determining a base position or a base angle of rotation of the motorized window covering.
Hall teaches a similar motorized window covering that is responsive to outside weather conditions where the motorized window covering adjusts the level of tilt, and therefore determines a base position or a base angle of rotation, as taught by [0031].
Arling and Hall are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of motorized window coverings responsive to weather conditions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Arling to incorporate the teachings of Hall and provide incremental adjustments of the tilt angle of the window covering. Doing so would allow for fine tuning of the window covering to achieve the desired comfort level of the indoor space.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the motorized window covering controller of claim 2. Arling and Hall further teach wherein to determine at least one of: a final position or a final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering, the control circuitry to further: determine the at least one of: the final position of the at least one motorized window covering or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering using: at least one of: the base position or the base angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering; and the received local weather-related data (as taught in [0031] of Hall, the system is capable of adjusting the level of tilt of the window covering based on received weather data).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the motorized window covering controller of claim 2. Arling and Hall further teach wherein to determine at least one of: the final position or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering, the control circuitry to further: determine at least one of: the final position or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering using at least one of: the received data representative of the geolocation of the at least one motorized window covering; the received data representative of the compass heading of the at least one motorized window covering; the received data representative of the current calendar date; the received data representative of the current time-of-day; or the received local weather-related data (as taught in column 16, lines 6-23 of Arling, the system dictates to the window covering to be adjusted as necessary, and as taught in [0031] of Hall, the system adjusts the level of tilt of the window covering based on received weather data).
Regarding claim 6, Arling teaches the motorized window covering controller of claim 5. Arling further teaches the control circuitry to use the received short-term predicted local weather data (provided from 112) adjust the window covering (column 16, lines 6-23 of Arling) but is silent as to incremental tilting of the window covering by determining a final position or a final angle of rotation of the motorized window covering.
Hall teaches a similar motorized window covering that is responsive to outside weather conditions where the motorized window covering adjusts the level of tilt, and therefore determines a final position or a final angle of rotation, as taught by [0031].
Arling and Hall are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of motorized window coverings responsive to weather conditions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Arling to incorporate the teachings of Hall and provide incremental adjustments of the tilt angle of the window covering. Doing so would allow for fine tuning of the window covering to achieve the desired comfort level of the indoor space.
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the motorized window covering controller of claim 6. Arling and Hall further teach wherein to autonomously determine at least one of: the proactive final position or the proactive final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering, the control circuitry to further: autonomously determine, based on the received short-term predicted local weather data, at least one of: the proactive final position or the proactive final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering; wherein the received short-term predicted local weather data includes at least one of: a precited relative humidity value; or a predicted cloud cover value (cloud coverage indications as described in column 10 lines 35-39 of Arling).
Regarding claim 11, Arling teaches the method of claim 10. Arling further teaches receiving, by the control circuitry, data representative of a geolocation associated with the at least one motorized window covering (as described in column 4 lines 21-25, weather server 112 determines the location of the window covering by IP address of a router/modem); receiving, by the control circuitry, data representative of a compass heading associated with the at least one motorized window covering (compass direction of window covering as described in column 6 lines 44-53); receiving, by the control circuitry, data representative of a current calendar date (current calendar date as described in column 5 lines 44-53); receiving, by the control circuitry, data representative of a current time-of-day (current time of day as described in column 5 lines 44-53). While Arling teaches control circuitry to adjust the window covering to achieve a desired level of illumination within the space using received local weather-related data, it is silent as to incremental tilting of the window covering by determining a base position or a base angle of rotation of the motorized window covering.
Hall teaches a similar motorized window covering that is responsive to outside weather conditions where the motorized window covering adjusts the level of tilt, and therefore determines a base position or a base angle of rotation, as taught by [0031].
Arling and Hall are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of motorized window coverings responsive to weather conditions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Arling to incorporate the teachings of Hall and provide incremental adjustments of the tilt angle of the window covering. Doing so would allow for fine tuning of the window covering to achieve the desired comfort level of the indoor space.
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the method of claim 11. Arling and Hall further teach wherein determining at least one of: the final position and the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering further comprises: determining, by the control circuitry, at least one of: the final position of the at least one motorized window covering or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering using: at least one of the base position or the base angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering; and the received local weather-related data (as taught in [0031] of Hall, the system is capable of adjusting the level of tilt of the window covering based on received weather data).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the method of claim 11. Arling and Hall further teach wherein determining the at least one of: the final position or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering further comprises: determining, by the control circuitry, at least one of: the final position of the at least one motorized window covering or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering using at least one of: the received data representative of the geolocation of the at least one motorized window covering; the received data representative of the compass heading of the at least one motorized window covering; the received data representative of the current calendar date; the received data representative of the current time-of-day; or the received local weather-related data (as taught in column 16, lines 6-23 of Arling, the system dictates to the window covering to be adjusted as necessary, and as taught in [0031] of Hall, the system adjusts the level of tilt of the window covering based on received weather data).
Regarding claim 15, Arling teaches the method of claim 14. Arling further teaches the control circuitry to use the received short-term predicted local weather data (provided from 112) adjust the window covering (column 16, lines 6-23 of Arling) but is silent as to incremental tilting of the window covering by determining a final position or a final angle of rotation of the motorized window covering.
Hall teaches a similar motorized window covering that is responsive to outside weather conditions where the motorized window covering adjusts the level of tilt, and therefore determines a final position or a final angle of rotation, as taught by [0031].
Arling and Hall are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of motorized window coverings responsive to weather conditions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Arling to incorporate the teachings of Hall and provide incremental adjustments of the tilt angle of the window covering. Doing so would allow for fine tuning of the window covering to achieve the desired comfort level of the indoor space.
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the method of claim 15. Arling and Hall further teach wherein to autonomously determine at least one of: the proactive final position or the proactive final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering, the control circuitry to further: autonomously determine, based on the received short-term predicted local weather data, at least one of: the proactive final position or the proactive final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering; wherein the received short-term predicted local weather data includes at least one of: a precited relative humidity value; or a predicted cloud cover value (cloud coverage indications as described in column 10 lines 35-39 of Arling).
Regarding claim 20, Arling teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19. Arling further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the motorized window covering control circuitry, cause the control circuitry to: receive data representative of a geolocation associated with the at least one motorized window covering (as described in column 4 lines 21-25, weather server 112 determines the location of the window covering by IP address of a router/modem); receive data representative of a compass heading associated with the at least one motorized window covering (compass direction of window covering as described in column 6 lines 44-53); receive data representative of a current calendar date (current calendar date as described in column 5 lines 44-53); receive data representative of a current time-of-day (current time of day as described in column 5 lines 44-53). While Arling teaches control circuitry to adjust the window covering to achieve a desired level of illumination within the space using received local weather-related data, it is silent as to incremental tilting of the window covering by determining a base position or a base angle of rotation of the motorized window covering.
Hall teaches a similar motorized window covering that is responsive to outside weather conditions where the motorized window covering adjusts the level of tilt, and therefore determines a base position or a base angle of rotation, as taught by [0031].
Arling and Hall are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of motorized window coverings responsive to weather conditions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Arling to incorporate the teachings of Hall and provide incremental adjustments of the tilt angle of the window covering. Doing so would allow for fine tuning of the window covering to achieve the desired comfort level of the indoor space.
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 20. Arling and Hall further teach wherein the instructions that cause the motorized window covering control circuitry to determine at least one of: the final position of the at least one motorized window covering or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering, further cause the control circuitry to: determine at least one of: the final position of the at least one motorized window covering or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering using: at least one of: the base position of the at least one motorized window covering; or the base angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering; and the received local weather-related data (as taught in [0031] of Hall, the system is capable of adjusting the level of tilt of the window covering based on received weather data).
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 20. Arling and Hall further teach wherein the instructions that cause the motorized window covering control circuitry to determine at least one of: the final position of the at least one motorized window covering or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering, further cause the control circuitry to: determine at least one of: the final position of the at least one motorized window covering or the final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering using at least one of: the received data representative of the geolocation of the at least one motorized window covering; the received data representative of the compass heading of the at least one motorized window covering; the received data representative of the current calendar date; the received data representative of the current time-of-day; or the received local weather-related data (as taught in column 16, lines 6-23 of Arling, the system dictates to the window covering to be adjusted as necessary, and as taught in [0031] of Hall, the system adjusts the level of tilt of the window covering based on received weather data).
Regarding claim 24, Arling teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 23. Arling further teaches the instructions, when executed by the motorized window covering control circuitry, to use the received short-term predicted local weather data (provided from 112) adjust the window covering (column 16, lines 6-23 of Arling) but is silent as to incremental tilting of the window covering by determining a final position or a final angle of rotation of the motorized window covering.
Hall teaches a similar motorized window covering that is responsive to outside weather conditions where the motorized window covering adjusts the level of tilt, and therefore determines a final position or a final angle of rotation, as taught by [0031].
Arling and Hall are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of motorized window coverings responsive to weather conditions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Arling to incorporate the teachings of Hall and provide incremental adjustments of the tilt angle of the window covering. Doing so would allow for fine tuning of the window covering to achieve the desired comfort level of the indoor space.
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Arling and Hall teaches the non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 24. Arling and Hall further teach wherein the instructions that cause the motorized window covering control circuitry to autonomously determine, using the received short-term predicted local weather data, at least one of: the proactive final position or the proactive final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering further cause the control circuitry to: autonomously determine, using the received short-term predicted local weather, at least one of: the proactive final position or the proactive final angle of rotation of the at least one motorized window covering, wherein the received short-term predicted local weather includes at least one of: a predicted relative humidity value; or a predicted cloud cover value (cloud coverage indications as described in column 10 lines 35-39 of Arling).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 11,948,015, US 11,639,632 (both teach automatically adjusting window coverings in response to weather).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Susan M Heschel whose telephone number is (571)272-6621. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 am-4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Troy can be reached at (571)270-3742. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SUSAN M. HESCHEL/Examiner, Art Unit 3637
/Muhammad Ijaz/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3631
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