DETAILED ACTION
The current Office Action is in response to the papers submitted 03/29/2025. Claims 1 - 20 are pending.
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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 8 – 11, 13, and 16 - 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anonymous (Home Assistant: Dashboard) referred to as Dashboard in view of Anonymous (Home Assistant: Automation Trigger) referred to as Trigger.
Regarding claim 1, Dashboard teaches a first electronic device, configured to display a first interface [Page 1; A phone is a mobile device that includes a display to show an interface of the automation system include status of devices], wherein
the first interface comprises information about a first scenario [Page 1; The dashboard shows info of the devices which is a current scenario the system is in].
However Dashboard may not specifically disclose the limitation(s) of wherein the first electronic device is further configured to: after detecting that a second electronic device is close to the first electronic device or the second electronic device is in contact with the first electronic device, send configuration information of the first scenario and device information of the second electronic device to a third electronic device and the third electronic device, configured to: receive the configuration information and the device information of the second electronic device, and associate the second electronic device with the first scenario.
Trigger disclose the first electronic device is further configured to: after detecting that a second electronic device is close to the first electronic device or the second electronic device is in contact with the first electronic device [Page 2, State Trigger; The trigger is based on a mobile device arriving home. The mobile device detects it is near any electrical device in the “home” location when the phones gets the update that it is home], send configuration information of the first scenario and device information of the second electronic device to a third electronic device and the third electronic device, configured to: receive the configuration information and the device information of the second electronic device, and associate the second electronic device with the first scenario [Page 2, State Trigger; Page 4, Device Triggers; When a user changes the state of a device at home after arriving home the new scenario based on the new state of the device and the device information itself is sent to the device running the automation rules, considered the third electronic device, to control the device. The hub associates the device with the scenario the hub puts the system in based on the input from the mobile device].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Trigger in Dashboard, because both are part of the same overall Home Assistant system and therefor using the two systems together would have a high level of predicted outcome working together as part of the overall Home Assistant software.
Claim 13 is a method corresponding to the system of claim 1 and is thus rejected using the same prior art and reasoning mutatis mutandis.
Regarding claim 8, Dashboard teaches the second electronic device is provided with a display, and the display is configured to display information about a scenario associated with the second electronic device [Page 1; The dashboard can be displayed on any device in the system that contains a display such as a phone, tablet, or any other smart screen].
Regarding claim 9, Dashboard teaches wherein the information about the scenario associated with the second electronic device comprises information about a scenario associated with each control component [Page 1; A given instance of a dashboard on any device is information about the current scenario associated with each device shown on the dashboard].
Regarding claims 10 and 16, Dashboard teaches the first interface comprises a first control; and
displaying first prompt information after detecting an operation performed by the user on the first control, wherein the first prompt information is used to prompt the user to enable the second electronic device to be close to or in contact with the first electronic device [Page 1; The dashboard displays control buttons or switches. Where the programming is such that activating on button changes the state of another button telling the user to move to place the two devices close to each other].
Regarding claims 11 and 17, Dashboard teaches the first electronic device is further configured to display second prompt information wherein the second prompt information is used to prompt the user to associate the second electronic device with the first scenario [Page 1; The dashboard can be used to inform the user of the status of the system or the user to perform an action. Changing the state of a device is a second prompt which informs the user of the change which the user then associates the second device to the first scenario based on the state of the device in that scenario].
Trigger discloses display second prompt information after detecting that the second electronic device is close to the first electronic device or is in contact with the first electronic device [Page 2; State Trigger; Page 4, Device Trigger; The trigger being activated causes a state change in a device which would be reflected on a related dashboard of the system such as when a mobile device is home which is near other devices at the home location] and wherein the sending configuration information of the first scenario and device information of the second electronic device to a third electronic device comprises: detecting an operation associated with a user indication, and sending the configuration information of the first scenario and the device information of the second electronic device to the third electronic device [Page 2, State Trigger; Page 4, Device Triggers; The user changing the state of a device is a user interaction that is detected causing the information to be sent].
Regarding claim 18, Dashboard teaches an intelligent device control method, implemented by a second electronic device [Page 1; A mobile device is an electronic device that implements a device control method based on home assistant software].
However, Dashboard may not specifically disclose the limitation(s) of a method detecting whether a trigger condition of a first scenario is met and sending a control instruction to a third electronic device when the trigger condition is met, for the third electronic device to control one or more fourth electronic devices to execute the first scenario.
Trigger discloses a method detecting whether a trigger condition of a first scenario is met and sending a control instruction to a third electronic device when the trigger condition is met, for the third electronic device to control one or more fourth electronic devices to execute the first scenario [Pages 2, State Trigger; Page 4, Device Trigger; The software running on a third device, considered a hub by home assistant, detects triggers of a first scenario sent to the third device to control other devices].
Regarding claim 19, Dashboard teaches that an operation from a user on the second electronic device is detected [Page 1; The user is able to interact with the dashboard to change states of the devices].
Trigger discloses the trigger condition comprises an operation on the second electronic device [Page 2, State Trigger; Page 4, Device Triggers; Triggers can be based on any state change on any device including a mobile device]
Regarding claim 20, Dashboard teaches an operation from a user on a first control component of the second electronic device is detected, and the control instruction carries information about the operation from the user on the first control component [Page 1; The buttons on the dashboard are control components that the user interacts with to send to the home assistant system to change status of devices].
Trigger discloses the trigger condition comprises an operation on the second electronic device by a user [Page 2, State Trigger; Page 4, Device Triggers; Triggers can be based on any state change on any device including a change of a button on a mobile device dashboard by a user].
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anonymous (Home Assistant: Dashboard) referred to as Dashboard in view of Anonymous (Home Assistant: Automation Trigger) referred to as Trigger as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Toni (AMAZON ECHO OR GOOGLE HOME WITH HOME ASSISTANT?) referred to as Toni.
Regarding claim 12, Dashboard teaches the second electronic device comprises a control device [Page 1; The second device can be any other device with a screen which is a control device such as another phone or tablet or anything else device in the system that has a screen that can be used to control the automations].
However, Dashboard in view of Trigger may not specifically disclose the limitation(s) of a control device provided with a button/key and a device capable of detecting the trigger condition, the control device provided with the button/key comprises a smart switch, and the second electronic device supports a near field communication NFC function or a Bluetooth function.
Toni discloses a control device provided with a button/key and a device capable of detecting the trigger condition, the control device provided with the button/key comprises a smart switch, and the second electronic device supports a near field communication NFC function or a Bluetooth function [Pages 1 – 4; The Alexa and Google devices both contain buttons and are able to detect triggers such as voice commands. The button also act as smart switches by switching the functions of the device. Bluetooth was built into Alexa devices since they were first introduced].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Toni in Dashboard in view of Trigger, because it allows additional ways to interact with the home automation system such as using voice to control devices.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 7 and 14 - 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER D BIRKHIMER whose telephone number is (571)270-1178. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5 Hoteling.
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/Christopher D Birkhimer/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2138
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