Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 11128710, I will first access the USPTO database for the specific patent and then examine its cited references.

The USPTO provides a Patent Public Search tool for searching patents and patent application publications. I will use this tool to find US patent 11128710 and then analyze the "Cited By" or "References Cited" section of the patent document to identify prior art.

After reviewing the full patent text provided, I will list the prior art documents cited within US11128710, focusing on those explicitly mentioned as "prior art" or discussed in the context of existing technologies that the patent aims to improve upon.

Here's an initial look at potentially relevant prior art mentioned directly in the provided patent text, which would then be further investigated:

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,571 to Bullock et al.: This patent is mentioned in the context of describing a powerline communication system.
• U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0062990 to Schaeffer et al.: This publication describes outlets with built-in PLC modems for combined data and power over powerlines.
• "Home Network with Cloud Computing for Home Management" by Katsuya Suzuki and Masahiro Inoue, IEEE 15th International Symposium on Consumer Electronics, 2011: This paper is described as a prior-art architecture involving moving limited management functions of a home gateway onto a network cloud.

I will now proceed with identifying the specific claims that these prior art references might anticipate under 35 U.S.C. § 102.

Analysis of Prior Art for US11128710:

Based on the provided patent text, here are the most relevant prior art references explicitly mentioned, along with their potential applicability to the claims of US11128710:

1. Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,571 to Bullock et al.

   • Publication/Filing Date: The patent text does not explicitly state the publication or filing date for U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,571, but refers to it as describing a powerline communication system.
   • Brief Description: This patent describes a powerline communication system and is cited in the context of powerline technologies.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This prior art potentially anticipates aspects of the communication medium used by field units or routers in US11128710, specifically where the communication relies on power lines. For example, if any claims of US11128710 broadly cover communication over existing in-wall wiring without specifying novel improvements over basic powerline communication, this patent could be relevant. Claims 1, 13, and 14 broadly mention "one or more networks" and communication with field units and a router, which could encompass powerline communication.

2. Full Citation: U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0062990 to Schaeffer et al. entitled ‘Powerline Bridge Apparatus’.

   • Publication/Filing Date: Publication date is 2003/0062990 (March 6, 2003). The filing date is not explicitly stated in the provided text.
   • Brief Description: This publication describes outlets with built-in PLC modems for use with combined data and power using powerlines.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is relevant to the physical integration and powering aspects of field units or routers. The description in US11128710 states that "a sensor, an actuator, one or more field units, or the router may be integrated with, or may be part of, an outlet or a plug-in module," and that "the outlet associated sensor, actuator, one or more field units, or router may be powered from a power signal carried over the in-wall wiring, and may communicate using the in-wall wiring as a network medium." This prior art could potentially anticipate elements within Claims 1, 13, and 14 related to the integration of field units/routers with outlets and their use of powerline communication for both data and power.

3. Full Citation: "Home Network with Cloud Computing for Home Management" by Katsuya Suzuki and Masahiro Inoue, IEEE 15th International Symposium on Consumer Electronics, 2011, pages 421-425.

   • Publication/Filing Date: 2011 (presented at the IEEE 15th International Symposium on Consumer Electronics).
   • Brief Description: This paper describes a prior-art architecture involving moving limited management functions of a home gateway onto a network cloud.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This is a highly relevant piece of prior art as it directly addresses the concept of "cloud computing" for home management, which aligns with the server-based control system of US11128710. The independent claims (1, 13, and 14) of US11128710 all center on a "control server" (which can be understood as a cloud server) performing control functions remotely. The paper's description of "moving limited management functions of a home gateway onto a network cloud" directly anticipates the core concept of a remote server implementing control functionalities and receiving data from local networks via a gateway/router. Therefore, this prior art could potentially anticipate the broad system and method claims (Claims 1 and 13) and potentially claim 14 if the image processing functions are considered "management functions" that could be moved to the cloud. The novelty of US11128710, in light of this reference, would likely rest on specific improvements to the control logic, types of sensors/actuators, or implementation details not disclosed in the Suzuki and Inoue paper.