DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 26 May 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 3-8 recite the term “local” which is a relative term that renders the claims indefinite. The term “local” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a definite meaning or objective boundary for determining what device, system, or location qualifies as “local”. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the claimed “local”. For examination purposes, the term “local” has been construed to be any local device.
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, 3-5, and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (CN 109036543 A) in view of Xu (CN113068167A) and in further view of Weast (US 20160174071 A1).
As for Claim 1, Zhang discloses A method for inter-device communication, applied to a mobile terminal (i.e. target device), comprising:
in response to receiving a to-be-processed data packet (i.e. health data sent to the target device), determining whether the to-be-processed data packet needs to be processed by analyzing a flag field in the to-be-processed data packet (Zhang CN 109036543 A The flag bit is used to determine whether the health data has been transmitted completely. When the target device detects the flag bit, it means that the received health data is complete.)( ¶ 0099 and 0100);
wherein the to-be-processed data packet being sent to local by a first slave device (i.e. monitoring device), and the to-be-processed data packet carries health data of a user collected by the first slave device (i.e. The target device receives health data sent by the monitoring device and sends the target data packet to the server)(¶ 0102);
Zhang does not disclose in response to that the to-be-processed data packet does not need to be processed, obtaining a destination address of the to-be-processed data packet; and in response to the destination address being consistent with a Bluetooth address of a second slave device connected to the local, forwarding the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the user view the health data by the second slave device;
In an analogous art, Xu teaches in response to that the to-be-processed data packet does not need to be processed, obtaining a destination address of the to-be-processed data packet (i.e. when the master Bluetooth device receives the data packet first, whether the slave Bluetooth device meets a first trigger condition (e.g. nack1 not received flag ) for enabling the master Bluetooth device to forward the data packet to the slave Bluetooth device is judged, and if the first trigger condition is met, the master Bluetooth device forwards the data packet to the slave Bluetooth device through the monitoring link. To forward the packet to that particular Bluetooth device, the forwarding device would inherently obtain the destination address of the Bluetooth device from the packet.)( ¶ 0013 and 0015);
and in response to the destination address being consistent with a Bluetooth address of a second slave device connected to the local, forwarding the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the user view the data by the second slave device (i.e. the master Bluetooth device forwards the data packet to the slave Bluetooth device through the monitoring link) (¶ 0013 and 0036).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Zhang to include in response to that the to be-processed data packet does not need to be processed, obtaining a destination address of the to-be-processed data packet; and in response to the destination address being consistent with a Bluetooth address of a second slave device connected to the local, forwarding the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the user view the data by the second slave device as taught by Xu because Xu's teaching of “forwarding and viewing the data” is not limited to any particular data type, and Zhang explicitly discloses that the data packet contains health data. Substituting Zhang’s health data into Xu’s viewing framework would have been a predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions (MPEP § 2143, KSR v. Teleflex), resulting in the user viewing the health data via the second slave device.
Zhang in view of Xu does not disclose wherein the second slave device is an augmented reality (AR) device in response to the first slave device being a wearable device, and the second slave device is the wearable device in response to that the first slave device being the AR device.
In an analogous art, Weast teaches wherein the second slave device is an augmented reality (AR) device (i.e. head worn wearable device 104 – Fig. 1) in response to the first slave device being a wearable device (i.e. wrist based wearable device 106 – Fig.1) , and the second slave device is the wearable device in response to that the first slave device being the AR device (i.e. the first and second slave device are interchangeable based on which one is authenticated first.) (¶0009)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Zhang in view of Xu to include wherein the second slave device is an augmented reality (AR) device in response to the first slave device being a wearable device, and the second slave device is the wearable device in response to that the first slave device being the AR device as taught by Weast for the benefit of allowing either device to serve as first or second slave to improve flexibility in pairing and communication between multiple devices.
As for Claim 3, Zhang, Xu, and Weast disclose, in particular Xu discloses in response to receiving a heartbeat packet (i.e. ack/nack packets can be used as heartbeat packets since they are response packets used to determine whether a device can still communicate.), determining whether the heartbeat packet needs to be forwarded (i.e. uses ack/nack confirmation flags to determine whether another Bluetooth device received/responded to a packet. If the slave device fails to acknowledge, the master Bluetooth device forwards the packet to the slave)( ¶ 0009); wherein the heartbeat packet is sent from the first slave device to the local (i.e. the master Bluetooth device(e.g. ar headset can be master or slave device depending on which order it was connected.) sends an ack2 flag to the central device(local mobile terminal)( ¶ 0009));in response to that the heartbeat packet needs to be forwarded, sending the heartbeat packet to the second slave device ( i.e. shows forwarding of an Ack packet from the master slave device(e.g. ar headset) to the slave device(e.g. second slave device) according to the first data packet forwarding rule. )( ¶ 0011);
in response to failing to receive a first response data packet fed back by the second slave device based on the heartbeat packet, feedbacking to the first slave device that the second slave device did not respond (i.e. if one Bluetooth device does not receive a response, the system uses nack1/nack2 no received flags to indicate to the other Bluetooth device that the packet was not received.)( ¶ 0058);
and in response to receiving the first response data packet fed back by the second slave device based on the heartbeat packet, forwarding the first response data packet to the first slave device to allow the first slave device determine that the second slave device being in a connected state with the local (i.e. when a Bluetooth device receives a data packet from another slave Bluetooth device, it replies with an Ack1 confirmation flag(heartbeat); after receiving the Ack1 confirmation, the second slave Bluetooth device sends an Ack2 confirmation(first response data fed back by second slave device) to the central device(local mobile terminal), thereby indicating successful connection of the second device to the central device(local mobile terminal).)( ¶ 0058)
Motivation to combine is similar to that of Claim 1.
As for Claim 4, Zhang, Xu, and Weast disclose, in particular Zhang discloses in response to the to-be-processed data packet needing to be processed, extracting the health data of the user carried in the to-be-processed data packet and saving to the local (i.e. the target device receives health data from the monitoring device and the target device can package the health data, the monitoring device's identification information, and the target device's identification information into a target data packet and send it to the server. The server(local) analyzes the target data packets transmitted by the target device to obtain the user's health status results. The server extracts the health data and at least temporarily stores it before processing.)( ¶ 0102-0103 and 0105-0106)
Motivation to combine is similar to that of Claim 1.
As for Claim 9, Zhang, Liang, and Russell teach, in particular, Liang teaches A device for inter-device communication, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a program for inter-device communication stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the program for inter-device communication is configured for implementing the method for inter-device communication according to claim 1.(i.e. an electronic device further comprising a memory 292; a communication interface (Communication Interface) 293 and bus 294 may also be included. The processor 291, the memory 292, and the communication interface 293 may communicate with each other via the bus 294)( ¶ 201 and 202) (see also rejection above for claim 1)
Motivation to combine is similar to that of Claim 1.
As for Claim 10, Zhang, Liang, and Russell teach, in particular, Liang teaches A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein a program for inter-device communication is stored on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and the method for inter-device communication according to claim 1 are implemented when the program for inter- device communication is executed by a processor. (i.e. Further, the logic instructions in memory 292 described above may be
implemented in the form of software functional units and stored in a computer readable storage medium when sold or used as a stand-alone product)( ¶ 0213 and 0214) (see also rejection above for claim 1)
Motivation to combine is similar to that of Claim 1.
Claims 2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Xu and Weast, and further in view of Russell (US 9210733 B2).
As for Claim 2, Zhang, Xu and Weast fail to disclose sending the Bluetooth address of the second slave device paired successfully for a first time to the first slave device to allow the first slave device save the Bluetooth address of the second slave device, and sending a Bluetooth address of the first slave device paired successfully for a first time to the second slave device to allow the second slave device save the Bluetooth address of the first slave device.
In an analogous art, Russell teaches sending the Bluetooth address of the second slave device paired successfully for a first time to the first slave device to allow the first slave device save the Bluetooth address of the second slave device (i.e. the pairing apparatus 102 writes the Bluetooth address of the second Bluetooth device 234 to the memory 252 of the first Bluetooth device 232, specifically to the memory location indicated at 254; Step 304 – Fig. 3 and Col.6 lines 55-60), and sending a Bluetooth address of the first slave device paired successfully for a first time to the second slave device to allow the second slave device save the Bluetooth address of the first slave device.(i.e. the pairing apparatus 102 also determines the Bluetooth address of the first Bluetooth device 232 and writes 306 it to the memory location 270 within the memory 268 of the second Bluetooth device 234; Step 306 Fig. 3 and Col.6 lines 55-60)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Zhang, Xu, and Weast to include sending the Bluetooth address of the second slave device paired successfully for a first time to the first slave device to allow the first slave device save the Bluetooth address of the second slave device, and sending a Bluetooth address of the first slave device paired successfully for a first time to the second slave device to allow the second slave device save the Bluetooth address of the first slave device as taught by Russell for the benefit of enabling each slave device to store each other’s Bluetooth addresses thereby improving the efficiency and reliability of later Bluetooth connections.
As for Claim 6, Zhang, Xu and Weast fail to disclose in response to the mobile terminal being disconnected from the local, obtaining the Bluetooth address of the second slave device by querying a local Bluetooth address book; wherein the Bluetooth address of the second slave device being sent to the local after the mobile terminal completes a first pairing with the second slave device; initiating a connection request to the second slave device based on the Bluetooth address of the second slave device; and in response to connecting successfully, sending the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the second slave device display the health data to the user.
In an analogous art, Russell discloses in response to the mobile terminal being disconnected from the local, obtaining the Bluetooth address of the second slave device by querying a local Bluetooth address book (i.e. the memory of each Bluetooth device is configured to store the address of the other Bluetooth device, and the pairing apparatus memory 110 can store the addresses of one or both wireless devices being paired.Memory 252 has a memory location labeled second Bluetooth device address 254)(memory 252 – fig.2; Col. 5 lines 47-56);
wherein the Bluetooth address of the second slave device being sent to the local after the mobile terminal completes a first pairing with the second slave device (i.e. determines the Bluetooth address of the second Bluetooth device and writes the Bluetooth address of the second Bluetooth device to the first Bluetooth device)(Step 304 – Fig.3);
initiating a connection request to the second slave device based on the Bluetooth address of the second slave device(i.e. Step 504 selects a Bluetooth address of a second Bluetooth device written to memory, Step 508 bypasses Bluetooth device discovery, Step 510 receives an indication to initiate a Bluetooth connection, and Step 512 establishes a Bluetooth connection with the second Bluetooth device.)( Step 504, Step 508, Step 510, Step 512 - Fig.4);
and in response to connecting successfully, sending the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the second slave device display the data to the user (i.e., Examples of output capabilities include, but are not limited to: visual displays) (Col. 7, lines 60-62).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Zhang and Xu to include in response to the mobile terminal being disconnected from the local, obtaining the Bluetooth address of the second slave device by querying a local Bluetooth address book; wherein the Bluetooth address of the second slave device being sent to the local after the mobile terminal completes a first pairing with the second slave device; initiating a connection request to the second slave device based on the Bluetooth address of the second slave device; and in response to connecting successfully, sending the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the second slave device display the health data to the user as taught by Russell because Russell’s teaching of “viewing the data” is not limited to any particular data type, and Zhang explicitly discloses that the data packet contains health data. Substituting Zhang’s health data into Russell’s viewing framework would have been a predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions (MPEP § 2143, KSR v. Teleflex), resulting in the user viewing the health data via the second slave device.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Xu and Weast, and in further view of Liang (CN 117749668 A).
As for Claim 7, Zhang, Xu and Weast fail to disclose ending a heartbeat packet to the mobile terminal; wherein destination address of the heartbeat packet is Bluetooth address of the mobile terminal or the Bluetooth address of the second slave device; and in response to receiving feedback information that the second slave device does not respond within a consecutive preset number of times, and failing to receive a second response data packet fed back by the mobile terminal based on the heartbeat packet, determining that the mobile terminal is disconnected from the local; wherein the feedback information is sent by the mobile terminal to the local.
In an analogous art, Liang discloses sending a heartbeat packet to the mobile terminal(i.e. when a slave does not receive heartbeat packet information from a master device(mobile terminal) the slave device sends request heartbeat packet information to master.)( ¶ 0115);
wherein destination address of the heartbeat packet is Bluetooth address of the mobile terminal or the Bluetooth address of the second slave device (i.e. the slave device sends a request heartbeat packet that is forwarded to the master device(mobile terminal) wherein the request heartbeat packet includes the address of the master device.)( ¶ 0018);
and in response to receiving feedback information that the second slave device does not respond within a consecutive preset number of times (i.e. if the master does not receive the slaves heartbeat response within a preset condition, including within a preset time or consecutively at least two times, it sends forwarded heartbeat packet information through a third device)( ¶ 0133 and 0156) and failing to receive a second response data packet fed back by the mobile terminal based on the heartbeat packet, determining that the mobile terminal is disconnected from the local (i.e. if the master does not receive the heartbeat response fed back by the slave device under a first preset condition.it tries forwarding the heartbeat through a third device, and if forwarded heartbeat responses of the slave device are not received under a second preset condition, the master judges that the connection is lost)( ¶ 0203);
wherein the feedback information is sent by the mobile terminal to the local(i.e. the heartbeat response packet is sent from master device(mobile terminal) to the slave device) (¶ 0115).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Zhang, Xu, and Weast to include sending a heartbeat packet to the mobile terminal; wherein destination address of the heartbeat packet is Bluetooth address of the mobile terminal or the Bluetooth address of the second slave device; and in response to receiving feedback information that the second slave device does not respond within a consecutive preset number of times, and failing to receive a second response data packet fed back by the mobile terminal based on the heartbeat packet, determining that the mobile terminal is disconnected from the local; wherein the feedback information is sent by the mobile terminal to the local as taught by Liang for the benefit of improving detection of disconnection between Bluetooth devices.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang, in view of Zhang and Russell.
As for Claim 8, Liang discloses A system for inter-device communication, comprising: a mobile terminal, a first slave device and a second slave device( i.e. a Bluetooth system including a first slave device 1 and a second slave device 2 configured to be connected to a master device where the master device can be a mobile phone(mobile terminal))( ¶ 0120 and 0061);
wherein destination address of the to-be-processed data packet is the Bluetooth address of the second slave device or Bluetooth address of the mobile terminal (i.e. the slave device sends a request heartbeat packet that is forwarded to the master device(mobile terminal) wherein the request heartbeat packet includes the address of the master device.)( ¶ 0018)).
Liang does not disclose wherein the mobile terminal is configured for determining whether the to-be-processed data packet needs to be processed by analyzing a flag field in the to-be-processed data packet in response to receiving a to-be-processed data packet, wherein the to-be-processed data packet being sent to local by the first slave device, and the to-be-processed data packet carries health data of a user collected by the first slave device; and the first slave device is further configured for encapsulating collected user's health data into the to-be-processed data packet, and sending the to-be-processed data packet to the mobile terminal in response to the mobile terminal being not disconnected from the local, so as to allow the mobile terminal to process the to-be-processed data packet;
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses determining whether the to-be-processed data packet needs to be processed by analyzing a flag field in the to-be-processed data packet in response to receiving a to-be-processed data packet, wherein the to-be-processed data packet being sent to local by the first slave device, and the to-be-processed data packet carries health data of a user collected by the first slave device(i.e. the target device(mobile terminal) receives health data from the monitoring device(first slave) and when the target device detects a flag bit, it determines that the received health data has been transmitted completely.))( ¶ 0099 and 0100);
and the first slave device is further configured for encapsulating collected user's health data into the to-be-processed data packet, and sending the to-be-processed data packet to the mobile terminal in response to the mobile terminal (i.e. server; the instant specification describes a terminal as including a server)( ¶ 0137) being not disconnected from the local, so as to allow the mobile terminal to process the to-be-processed data packet (teaches a target device packages the received health data into a target data packet and sends it to the server. The target data packet can include health data, the identification information of the monitoring device, and the identification information of the target device)( ¶ 0127);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Liang to include the teachings of Zhang for the benefit of enabling the mobile terminal of Liang to selectively process data packets, thereby reducing unnecessary processing and improving timely handling of user health data.
Liang in view of Zhang does not disclose the mobile terminal is further configured for obtaining a destination address of the to-be-processed data packet in response to that the to-be-processed data packet does not need to be processed; the mobile terminal is further configured for forwarding the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the user view the health data by the second slave device in response to the destination address being consistent with a Bluetooth address of the second stave device connected to the local.
In an analogous art, Russell discloses the mobile terminal is further configured for obtaining a destination address of the to-be-processed data packet in response to that the to-be-processed data packet does not need to be processed (i.e. a first Bluetooth device storing and detecting a second Bluetooth device address and using that stored address to establish a connection with the second device)(Step 306 – Fig.3 and Col.6 lines 55-60);
the mobile terminal is further configured for forwarding the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device (Col. 5, line 67 to Col. 6, line 2) to allow the user view the health data by the second slave device in response to the destination address being consistent with a Bluetooth address of the second stave device connected to the local (i.e., Examples of output capabilities include, but are not limited to: visual displays) (Col. 7, lines 60-62).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Liang and Zhang to include the mobile terminal is further configured for obtaining a destination address of the to-be-processed data packet in response to that the to-be-processed data packet does not need to be processed; the mobile terminal is further configured for forwarding the to-be-processed data packet to the second slave device to allow the user view the health data by the second slave device in response to the destination address being consistent with a Bluetooth address of the second stave device connected to the local as taught by Russell because Russell’s teaching of “viewing the data” is not limited to any particular data type, and Zhang explicitly discloses that the data packet contains health data. Substituting Zhang’s health data into Russell’s viewing framework would have been a predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions (MPEP § 2143, KSR v. Teleflex), resulting in the user viewing the health data via the second slave device.
Conclusion
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/J.E./ Examiner, Art Unit 2451
/Chris Parry/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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