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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant essentially argues that the applied references do not teach the amended limitations.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Dhanapal discloses a divider control input to a VCO causing a change in oscillator frequency provided by VCO circuitry based on the divider control input (0060). Thus, Dhanapal clearly discloses/teaches the amended limitation.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6-8, and 10-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10412616 B1 herein Butler in view of US 20200037196 A1 herein Iwai in view of US 20210345454 A1 herein Dhanapal.
Claim 1, Butler discloses a device (Fig. 1: 121, Col 3: 10-25, source application controller), comprising:
a processing system including a processor (Fig. 1: 121, Col 2: 49-55, source application controller consists of CPU and hardware; Fig. 7: 703); and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations (Col 2: 49-65, operating system, therefore memory; Fig. 7: 704, software storage), the operations comprising:
monitoring first traffic associated with a first client device (Col 3: 10-25, measuring of latencies of different devices, thus monitoring of first and second client devices);
monitoring second traffic associated with a second client device (Col 3: 10-25, measuring of latencies of different devices, thus monitoring traffic of first and second client devices);
identifying, based on the monitoring of the first traffic, a first quality of a first connection associated with the first client device (Col 3: 10-25, measuring of different average latencies of different devices, thus identification of quality of first and second connections);
identifying, based on the monitoring of the second traffic, a second quality of a second connection associated with the second client device (Col 3: 10-25, measuring of different average latencies of different devices, thus identification of quality of first and second connections);
determining that the second quality is different from the first quality (Col 3: 10-25, since latencies of different devices are adjusted to be within a window, thus difference in quality of connections);
based on the determining, identifying a first handicap that is to be imposed with respect to at least one of the first connection and the second connection (Col 3: 10-25, introduction of delays to different UEs); and imposing the handicap (Col 3: 10-25, introduction of delays to different UEs so as to maintain latencies of multiple connections to be within a window);
based on the determining, identifying a second handicap that is to be imposed with respect to at least one of the first client device and the second client device (Col 3: 37-56, handing over to maintain the latency requirement), wherein the second handicap includes a change in an operating frequency from a first frequency to a second frequency that is different from the first frequency (Col 3: 37-56; Col 3: 60 – Col 4: 61, latency is controlled based on handing over from one access point to a target access point under a different controller, since a different access point thus a different frequency); and imposing the second handicap (Col 3: 37-56, since handing over the connection, thus imposing).
Butler may not explicitly disclose wherein the imposing of the handicap comprises constraining throughput associated with a second connection; and a third quality of a third connection, wherein the second connection is associated with a first radio access technology (RAT) and the third connection is associated with a second RAT that is different from the first RAT; based on the determining, identifying a third handicap that is to be imposed with respect to the third connection, wherein the third handicap is different from the first handicap; and imposing the third handicap; wherein the change in the operating frequency includes a change in a clock or oscillator frequency associated with an execution of instructions by the at least one of the first client device and the second client device.
Iwai discloses wherein the imposing of the handicap comprises constraining throughput associated with a second connection (0075-0076, relaxing the required segment performance of the second UE (e.g., increasing the delay target (the acceptable delay) or lowering the throughput target)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Butler to include lowering throughput as taught by Iwai so as to facilitate meeting delay and throughput requirements of other devices (0075).
Butler may not explicitly disclose a third quality of a third connection, wherein the second connection is associated with a first radio access technology (RAT) and the third connection is associated with a second RAT that is different from the first RAT; based on the determining, identifying a third handicap that is to be imposed with respect to the third connection, wherein the third handicap is different from the first handicap; and imposing the third handicap; wherein the change in the operating frequency includes a change in a clock or oscillator frequency associated with an execution of instructions by the at least one of the first client device and the second client device.
Dhanapal discloses a third quality of a third connection, wherein the second connection is associated with a first radio access technology (RAT) and the third connection is associated with a second RAT that is different from the first RAT (0003, multi-RAT; Fig. 5: UE connected to EPC via eNB/eLTE eNB and 5GC via gNB); based on the determining, identifying a third handicap that is to be imposed with respect to the third connection, wherein the third handicap is different from the first handicap (0020, 0118, based on determining link quality metrics (LQM) of the different links (i.e. LQMs of different connections to different RATs) to suppress the reporting of low priority data transfer in order to give priority to higher priority data); and imposing the third handicap (0020, 0118, based on determining link quality metrics (LQM) of the different links (i.e. LQMs of different connections to different RATs) to suppress the reporting of low priority data transfer in order to give priority to higher priority data; thus imposing of a third handicap which is different from other handicaps or configurations); wherein the change in the operating frequency includes a change in a clock or oscillator frequency associated with an execution of instructions by the at least one of the first client device and the second client device (0060, a divider control input to a VCO causing a change in oscillator frequency provided by VCO circuitry based on the divider control input). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Butler to include monitoring links on multiple radio access technologies and suppress lower priority data based on link quality metrics as taught by Dhanpal so as to give priority to higher priority active foreground data (0118).
Claim 2, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 1. Butler discloses wherein the imposing of the handicap comprises injecting latency with respect to the second connection (Col 3: 10-25, introduction of delay).
Claim 3, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 2. Butler may not explicitly disclose wherein the imposing of the handicap comprises constraining a throughput associated with the first connection.
Iwai discloses wherein the imposing of the handicap comprises constraining a throughput associated with the first connection Iwai discloses wherein the imposing of the handicap comprises constraining throughput associated with a second connection (relaxing the required segment performance of a UE (e.g., increasing the delay target (the acceptable delay) or lowering the throughput target)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Butler to include lowering throughput as taught by Iwai so as to facilitate meeting delay and throughput requirements of other devices (0075).
Claim 6, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 1. Butler discloses wherein the operations further comprise: analyzing the first traffic without examining a payload of the first traffic, wherein the identifying of the first quality of the first connection is based on the analyzing (Col 3: 10-25, buffer status and round trip times).
Claim 7, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 1. Butler discloses wherein the first connection is a first wireless connection (Fig. 1, user equipment connected to base stations and application controllers).
Claim 8, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 7. Butler discloses wherein the second connection is a second wireless connection (Fig. 1, user equipment connected to base stations and application controllers).
Claim 10, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 1. Butler discloses wherein subsequent to the imposing of the handicap the second connection has a third quality that is different from the second quality (Col 3: 10-64, since introduction of delay will change the latency of the packet, thus a different quality).
Claim 11, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 10. Butler discloses wherein the identifying of the handicap is such that a difference between the third quality and the first quality is less than a threshold (Col 3: 10-64, introduction of delay to packets places the quality within a latency window).
Claim 12, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 11. Butler discloses wherein the third quality is the same as the first quality (Col 3: 10-64, introduction of delay will lead to no variance in the latency and same quality).
Claim 13, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 1. Butler discloses wherein the operations further comprise: monitoring third traffic associated with a third client device (Col 3: 10-25, it is clear that multiple devices are connected to the source application controllers, thus third, fourth etc. devices); identifying, based on the monitoring of the third traffic, a third quality of a third connection associated with the third client device (Col 3: 10-25, it is clear that multiple devices are connected to the source application controllers, and the source application controllers monitor the connections of the multiple devices); determining that the third quality is different from at least one of the first quality and the second quality (latency of devices vary due to distances and network and buffer conditions; Col 3: 10-50, different latency and highest latency being averaged to stay within the latency window); and based on the determining that the third quality is different from at least one of the first quality and the second quality, identifying a second handicap that is to be imposed with respect to the third connection (Col 3: 10-50, introducing delay based on high latency).
Claim14, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 13. Butler discloses wherein the operations further comprise: imposing the second handicap on the third connection (Col 3: 10-50, introducing delay based on high latency).
Claim 16, analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Butler discloses a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations (Col 9: 1-8). Butler discloses online video gaming (Col 2: 50 – Col 3: 10)
Claim 17, Butler discloses the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16. Butler discloses wherein the operations further comprise: based on the analyzing of the first traffic and the analyzing of the second traffic, identifying a second handicap to be imposed on a second communication device included in the first plurality of communication devices (Col 3: 10-50, measuring different latencies of different devices), wherein the second handicap is different from the first handicap (latencies are based on distances, network conditions along with buffer states of devices); and imposing the second handicap on the second communication device (Col 3: 10-25, introducing of delays).
Claim 18, Butler discloses the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17. Butler discloses wherein the first plurality of communication devices is located at a first location and the second plurality of communication devices is located at a second location that is different from the first location (Col 3: 37-64, devices connected to different access points, i.e. source and target access point, thus first and second plurality communication devices located at different locations), wherein the imposing of the first handicap on the first communication device comprises applying the first handicap to a first connection associated with the first communication device (Col 3: 37-64, introducing delay based on measured average latency of devices, thus imposing of handicaps), wherein the imposing of the second handicap on the second communication device comprises applying the second handicap to a second connection associated with the second communication device (Col 3: 37-64, introducing delay based on measured average latency of devices, thus imposing of handicaps), wherein subsequent to the imposing of the first handicap and the imposing of the second handicap an average quality of first respective connections associated with the first plurality of communication devices is within a threshold of an average quality of second respective connections associated with the second plurality of communication devices (Col 3: 10-64, adjusting delays based on measured latency to maintain an average latency window), the first respective connections including the first connection and the second connection (Col 3: 10-64, devices within source access point), and wherein the identifying of the first handicap and the identifying of the second handicap are based on the threshold (Col 3: 10-64, adjusting of latency based on highest latency to maintain latencies of different devices to be within a window).
Claim 19, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1.
Claim 20, Butler discloses the method of claim 19. Butler discloses further comprising: identifying, by the processing system and based on the obtaining of the first analysis and the obtaining of the second analysis (Col 3: 10-64, measurement of a latency of the device while connected to a first access point and a target access point), a second handicap to be applied to a second connection associated with the first communication device (Col 3: 10-64, introduction of delay based on measurement from target access point); and applying, by the processing system, the second handicap to the second connection (Col 3: 10-64, applying the delay for the target access point connection).
Claim 21, Butler in view of Iwai discloses the method of claim 20. Butler discloses wherein the first connection is a wireless connection (see claim 1). Butler may not explicitly disclose wherein the third handicap includes constraining a throughput associated with the second connection, and wherein the second connection is a wired connection.
Iwai discloses wherein the third handicap includes constraining a throughput associated with the second connection (0076), and wherein the second connection is a wired connection (0076, wireless connections and wired connections). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Butler to include lowering throughput as taught by Iwai so as to facilitate meeting delay and throughput requirements of other devices (0075).
Claim 22, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1.
Claim 23, Butler in view of Iwai discloses The method of claim 19. Butler discloses wherein the change in the operating frequency includes a change in a clock or oscillator frequency associated with an execution of instructions (Col 3: 35-56, a different controller is selected to control the latency).
Claim 24, Butler in view of Iwai in view of Dhanapal discloses the method of claim 19. Butler may not explicitly disclose wherein the first RAT is operative in conjunction with 5G technology and the second RAT is operative in conjunction with LTE technology.
Dhanapal discloses disclose wherein the first RAT is operative in conjunction with 5G technology and the second RAT is operative in conjunction with LTE technology (0003, 0020). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Butler to include monitoring links on multiple radio access technologies and suppress lower priority data based on link quality metrics as taught by Dhanpal so as to give priority to higher priority active foreground data (0118).
Claim 25, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claims 1 and 24.
Claim(s) 5 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Butler in view of Iwai in view of Dhanapal in view of US 20220264371 A1 herein Strasman.
Claim 5, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 1. Butler may not explicitly disclose wherein the operations further comprise: analyzing a header of the first traffic, metadata of the first traffic, or a combination thereof, wherein the identifying of the first quality of the first connection is based on the analyzing.
Strasman discloses wherein the operations further comprise: analyzing a header of the first traffic, metadata of the first traffic, or a combination thereof (0003, 0008 and 0079, deep packet inspection), wherein the identifying of the first quality of the first connection is based on the analyzing (0079, deep packet inspection). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Butler to include packet inspection and monitoring of throughput as taught by Strasman so as to enable proper utilization of free bandwidth by higher priority applications to overtake the freed-up bandwidth and to utilize it for transport of cellular data by such higher priority application (0011).
Claim 9, Butler in view of Iwai teaches the device of claim 7. Butler may not explicitly disclose wherein the second connection is a wired connection.
Strasman discloses wherein the second connection is a wired connection (0101). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Butler to include packet inspection and monitoring of throughput as taught by Strasman so as to enable proper utilization of free bandwidth by higher priority applications to overtake the freed-up bandwidth and to utilize it for transport of cellular data by such higher priority application (0011).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20090034474 A1 - Systems and methods for dynamically adjusting the transmission time interval (TTI) for a communications system are presented. The described aspects provide for dynamically adjusting the TTI in a communication session between a base station or nodeB and a wireless device or user equipment between a shorter TTI, which can provide increased data throughput and lower power consumption, and a longer TTI, which can provide more rugged communication link connections. By dynamically adjusting the TTI, the communications link can be optimized for the given communication channel conditions. Determinations, based on indicia related to the communications system conditions, can be employed in dynamic TTI adjustment. These determinations can be formed centrally at the Radio Network Controller (RNC), at the RNC supplemented with user equipment (UE) available information, or formed in a distributed manner between the RNC and UE across a communications system.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm. 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, Nishant Divecha can be reached on (571) 270-3125. 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.
/Mehmood B. Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
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