Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 19/262,498

SMART SENSORS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jul 08, 2025
Priority
Jul 12, 2024 — provisional 63/670,176
Examiner
YACOB, SISAY
Art Unit
2686
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Alarm.com Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 1m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
716 granted / 931 resolved
+14.9% vs TC avg
Strong +17% interview lift
Without
With
+17.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
945
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.3%
-37.7% vs TC avg
§103
52.5%
+12.5% vs TC avg
§102
21.9%
-18.1% vs TC avg
§112
9.3%
-30.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 931 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . The instant application having application No. 19/262,498 of BERG et al. for “SMART SENSORS” submitted July 08, 2025 has been examined. Drawings Figures 1-4 submitted on July 08, 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.121(d). Information Disclosure Statements The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on August 28, 2025, January 21, 2026 and February 10, 2026 are being considered by the examiner. Claim Objections Claims 16, 17 and 18 are objected to under 37 CFR 1.75(c) as being in improper because a multiple dependent claim/s should refer to other claims in the alternative only, and/or cannot depend on any other multiple dependent claim/s. See MPEP § 608.01(n). Accordingly, the claims have not been further treated on the merits. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103 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 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. 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. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by the Prior Art of WERNER et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0272792 A1) hereafter “Werner”. As to claim 1, Werner discloses a computer-implemented method and one or more computer storage media comprising: accessing i) data for a detected event that was detected using first sensor data captured by a first sensor at a property and ii) second sensor data captured by a second sensor at the property, the first sensor having a different type than the second sensor (home security system comprising several different sensors 104, shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021 and 0097-0098); providing, to an artificial intelligence model trained to determine whether to provide a notification about the detected event, the data for the detected event and the second sensor data to cause the artificial intelligence model to generate output (described in Paragraphs 0019-0021 and 0023); receiving, from the artificial intelligence model, the output that indicates whether to provide a notification about the detected event (described in Paragraphs 0019-0021 and 0023); and performing one or more actions using the output that indicates whether to provide a notification about the detected event (described in Paragraph 0019-0021 and 0023). As to claim 2, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 1 further Werner discloses the method further comprising: receiving, from the first sensor, the data for the detected event; and in response to receiving the data for the detected event, requesting the second sensor data (shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0027-0028, 0032-0033 and 0097-0098). As to claim 3, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 2 further Werner discloses wherein requesting the second sensor data comprises: in response to receiving the data for the detected event, triggering the second sensor to initiate capture of the second sensor data; and in response to triggering the second sensor to initiate capture of the second sensor data, receiving, from the second sensor, the second sensor data (shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0027-0028, 0032-0033 and 0097-0098). As to claim 4, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 2 further Werner discloses the method further comprising: in response to receiving the data for the detected event, determining a type of the first sensor data or a type of the event; determining whether the type satisfies a type criterion; and in response to determining that the type satisfies the type criterion, triggering the second sensor to provide the second sensor data to a system that communicates with the artificial intelligence model (shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0027-0028, 0032-0033 and 0097-0098). As to claim 5, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 1 further Werner discloses wherein performing the one or more actions comprises determining to skip providing a notification in response to determining that the output indicates that a notification about the detected event should not be provided (shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0027-0028, 0032-0033 and 0097-0098). As to claim 6, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 1 further Werner discloses wherein performing the one or more actions comprises: determining an alert for the detected event; and sending, to a device for the property, instructions to cause the device to present the alert (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 7, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 6 further Werner discloses wherein receiving the output comprises receiving the output that indicates the alert for the detected event (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 8, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 7 further Werner discloses wherein receiving the output comprises receiving the output that indicates an audible alert for the detected event (described in Paragraph 0039). As to claim 9, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 7 further Werner discloses wherein receiving the output comprises receiving the output that indicates a procedurally generated alert for the detected event (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 10, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 7 further Werner discloses wherein receiving the output comprises receiving the output that indicates a predetermined alert from a plurality of predetermined alerts (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 11, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 6 further Werner discloses the method further comprising: determining, from a plurality of presentation devices for the property, a proper subset of presentation devices for presentation of the alert, wherein sending the instructions comprises sending the instructions to each device in the proper subset of presentation devices that includes the device (shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0027-0028, 0032-0033 and 0097-0098). As to claim 12, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 1 further Werner discloses wherein receiving the output that indicates whether to provide a notification comprises receiving the output that indicates the proper subset of presentation devices for presentation of the alert (shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0027-0028, 0032-0033 and 0097-0098). As to claim 13, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 1 further Werner discloses wherein performing the one or more actions comprises sending, to a device for the property, instructions to cause the device to perform one or more actions to mitigate a likely impact of the detected event (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 14, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 13 further Werner discloses wherein sending the instructions comprises sending, to a device, instructions to cause the device to perform at least one of shutting a water valve or turning off another device (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 15, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 1 further Werner discloses wherein: accessing the data for the detected event comprises accessing the data that indicates that the detected event that likely has an environmental impact at the property; providing the data for the detected event and the second sensor data comprises providing, to the artificial intelligence model trained to determine whether to provide a notification about the detected event, the data for the detected event and the second sensor data to cause the artificial intelligence model to generate output that indicates whether to provide a notification about the detected event that likely has an environmental impact at the property; and receiving the output comprises receiving, from the artificial intelligence model, the output that indicates whether to provide a notification about the detected event that likely has an environmental impact at the property (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 16, the disclosure of Werner further discloses the aspects of claim 1 further Werner discloses the method of any preceding claim, wherein a device comprises both the first sensor and the second sensor (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 17, the method of any preceding claim, in which the artificial intelligence model simulates a smart sensor of the type of the first sensor (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 18, the method of any preceding claim, wherein the data for the detected event comprises one or more of the first sensor data or event data that identifies the detected event (described in Paragraphs 0027-0028 and 0032-0033). As to claim 19, Werner discloses a system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices on which are stored instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations (home security system comprising several different sensors 104, shown in Figure 1 and described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0023-0024 and 0097-0098) comprising: maintaining, for an event type at a property, a prompt that represents an event subtype of the event type, a predetermined output (described in Paragraphs 0019-0021 and 0023), and data that identifies a predetermined action to perform upon detection of the event subtype (described in Paragraphs 0031-0034); receiving, upon detection of an event of the event type using sensor data captured by a sensor for the property, the sensor data (described in Paragraphs 0031-0034); providing, to an artificial intelligence model trained to determine whether to provide a notification about the event, the sensor data for the event and the prompt to cause the artificial intelligence model to generate output for the event subtype (described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0023 and 0031-0034); receiving, from the artificial intelligence model, the output that indicates a response to the prompt (described in Paragraphs 0019-0021, 0023 and 0031-0034); determining whether the output satisfies a similarity criterion for the predetermined output and to perform the predetermined action for the event (described in Paragraph 0019-0021, 0023 and 0031-0034); and performing an action using a result of the determination whether the output satisfies the similarity criterion for the predetermined output and to perform the predetermined action for the event (described in Paragraph 0019-0021, 0023 and 0036-0039). As to claim 20, the claim recites one or more computer storage media encoded with instructions that parallels the computer-implemented method of claim 1. Therefore, the analysis discussed above with respect to claim 1 also applies to claim 20. Accordingly, claim 20 is rejected by the prior art of Werner under the same rationale as set forth above with respect to claim 1. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following cited arts are further to show the state of related art. U.S. Patent No. 12,022,574 B2 to WERNER et al, discloses a method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium comprising receiving, by a processor of at least one sensor device, a signal from a sensor element of the at least one sensor device, wherein the sensor element is configured to sense a physical phenomenon, wherein the signal is indicative of the physical phenomenon as sensed by the sensor element; determining, by the processor of the at least one sensor device, whether a level of the signal is indicative of an alarm condition; and using a cellular radio of the at least one sensor device to send a notification directly to a cloud system in response to the level of the signal being indicative of the alarm condition. U.S. Patent No. 12,621,667 B2 to TANG et al, discloses techniques for improving alarm event detection for security systems are described herein. For example, a security system can receive a first set of data associated with an event in an environment from a first detection device. The security system can instruct a second detection device to detect a second set of data for the environment based on the first set of data. The security system can determine an alarm status for the event based at least in part on a condition of the event output by an artificial intelligence model. The artificial intelligence model can output the condition responsive to receiving an input including the first set of data and the second set of data. The alarm status can include a false alarm event or an alarm event. The security system can output an alarm indicating the event based on determining that the alarm status is an alarm event. U.S. Patent No. 11,069,214 B2 to SOULOGLOU, discloses a method of monitoring for the presence of an event entity in a monitored region comprising receiving, at a first level of detail, first event data from at least one data processing device of a plurality of data processing devices each configured to monitor at least a portion of a monitored region, the first event data indicative of an event entity occurring in the monitored region; processing the first event data to determine the presence of an event entity indicated by the event data; comparing the identified event entity with a data store defining notification events; and responsive to the identified event entity matching a notification event, outputting a notification relating to the identified event entity. Correspondence Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SISAY YACOB whose telephone number is (571)272-8562. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:30-07:00 ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, BRIAN A ZIMMERMAN can be reached at (571) 272-3059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SISAY YACOB/ September 03, 2026Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jul 08, 2025
Application Filed
Sep 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+17.1%)
2y 4m (~1y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 931 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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