DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This action is in response to the arguments/remarks filed 4/7/2026.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-8, filed 4/7/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of US2019/0264700 to Huggins et al.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3, 13, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the occupancy information" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 13 recites the limitation "the occupancy information" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 18 recites the limitation "the occupancy information" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huggins et al. in US Patent Application Publication 2019/0264700 (hereinafter “Huggins”).
Regarding claim 1, Huggins discloses a method comprising: collecting, by an application (on remote device 110 in Fig. 1A), sensor data related to a location, the location comprising at least one physical area having a ceiling fan 105 (Fig. 1) positioned therein (paragraph [0022]-[0024]); analyzing, by the application, the sensor data, and determining, a temperature associated with a temperature setpoint (Fig. 2; sensor 230 may be a temperature sensor; paragraph [0030]; paragraph [0050]); determining, by the application, an operational mode for the ceiling fan, the operational mode comprising instructions for the ceiling fan related to a direction and rate of rotation (paragraph [0024]); and causing, by the application, operation of the ceiling fan based on the determined operational mode (paragraph [0024]; simply, the application collects data which determines a state of the fan and a user controls the fan’s speed and rotation direction via the application).
Regarding claim 2, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining occupancy information within the location, the occupancy information indicating at least one of a quantity of people in the location, their positions within the location, or which parts of the location the people are located; and performing the operational mode determination based on the occupancy information (paragraph [0053]).
Regarding claim 3, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: monitoring occupancy information, and determining to change the operational mode; and automatically causing a modification to the caused operation based on the determination to change the operational mode (paragraph [0053]).
Regarding claim 4, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising the operational mode being a summer mode, the summer mode comprising the rotation being in a direction that propels air downwards (as Huggins discloses controlling rotational direction of the fan in [0024], the direction that pushes air down may be considered a summer mode).
Regarding claim 5, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising the operational mode being a winter mode, the winter mode comprising the rotation being in a direction that propels air upwards (paragraph [0024] discloses controlling rotational direction of the fan).
Regarding claim 6, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: collecting sensor data from a sensor proximate to the ceiling fan; and determining a temperature proximate to the ceiling fan, wherein the operational mode determination is further based on the temperature proximate to the ceiling fan (paragraph [0024]; a temperature sensor disposed on the ceiling fan or in the same structure, which is proximate).
Regarding claim 7, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: collecting geographical information for the location; and determining the operational mode based on the geographical information (necessarily so; Huggins discloses in [0074] tracking seasons of the year and controlling the fan based on seasons, so at a minimum this may be considered geographical information because seasons are based on the northern and southern hemispheres).
Regarding claim 8, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a change to a temperature associated with the location; and causing modification of the operational mode based on the determined change (paragraph [0032], [0050]).
Regarding claim 9, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising the application executing on a thermostat within the location (the remote device 110 of Huggins itself may be considered a thermostat; Fig. 1A).
Regarding claim 10, Huggins discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising the application executing on a network location (Fig. 1A; the application running on remote device 110 is executed on the network location of the remote device 110).
Regarding claim 11, Huggins as applied above against claim 1 anticipates claim 11 as Huggins discloses the remote device 110 running the control application has a processor (paragraph [0030]-[0031]).
Regarding claim 12, Huggins discloses the of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine occupancy information within the location, the occupancy information indicating at least one of a quantity of people in the location, their positions within the location, or which parts of the location the people are located; and perform the operational mode determination based on the occupancy information (paragraph [0053]).
Regarding claim 13, Huggins discloses the system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to: monitor occupancy information, and determining to change the operational mode; and automatically cause a modification to the caused operation based on the determination to change the operational mode (paragraph [0053]).
Regarding claim 14, Huggins discloses the system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to: collect geographical information for the location; and determine the operational mode based on the geographical information (necessarily so; Huggins discloses in [0074] tracking seasons of the year and controlling the fan based on seasons, so at a minimum this may be considered geographical information because seasons are based on the northern and southern hemispheres).
Regarding claim 15, Huggins discloses the system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a change to a temperature associated with the location; and cause modification of the operational mode based on the determined change (paragraph [0032], [0050]).
Regarding claims 16-20, these claims introduce no new limitations that are not already addressed above with respect to claims 1-15 and Huggins fan control method run by an application is on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with the application’s programming (Fig. 2 and paragraph [0033]; remote device 110 running the app has memory 210).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Relevant Prior Art:
US9500384 discloses a system (Figures 5-7). The system comprises a sensor device (Figure 4. No. 400); a remote device (Figure 3, No. 300) communicatively coupled to the sensor device, the remote device being configured to obtain data from the sensor device (Column 5, Lines 53-58), generate an instruction based on the data obtained from the sensor device (Column 8, Lines 20-23), access a communications network (Column 8, Lines 8-14), and transmit the instruction via the communications network (Column 8, Lines 8-14); a fan (103) connected to the communications network, the fan comprising a hub; a plurality of fan blades extending from the hub; a motor (101) supported by the hub and configured to rotate the plurality of blades (Column 4, Lines 24-26); a wireless transceiver supported by the hub and configured to access the communications network for communicating with the remote device (Column 4, Lines 51-53); and an electronic processor supported by the hub and configured to control an operation of the fan based on receiving the instruction from the remote device via the wireless transceiver (Column 4, Lines 66-67; Column 5, Lines 11- 21).
US2020/0396295 discloses a “smart” fan that can be controlled by a mobile device to change direction of the fan.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELDON T BROCKMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3263. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5pm EST.
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/ELDON T BROCKMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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